Welcome back, Eddie (and me)

First off, thanks to all those who offered kind words over what was a tough couple weeks for me and my wife, although to be honest, I get the feeling I made it sound like things were worse than they actually were.
I'm fine. Definitely heart-broken about losing our baby, but there's plenty of time to make another go of it (he he), and the rest of that shit, well, I'm pretty much the greatest guy I know, so I'm sure I'll manage.

I was extremely excited to hear the Twins re-acquired Eddie Guardado today, and he went out and set the Mariners down 1-2-3 in the 8th.
So it only made perfect sense that when the Twins finally get the 8th squared away, Joe Nathan would blow the save in the 9th.
Even worse, Jesse Crain followed up a solid 10th inning by blowing it in the 11th.
Again.
I've been extremely patient with Crain, as he throws hard and is coming off a major injury, but he's really, really struggling right now, and I don't know how the Twins can really justify using him in any real meaningful situations. He's been terrible for the last month.
The good news is Matt Guerrier had a nice 7th, and Guardado should be solid in the 8th.
In 50.1 innings, Guardado has allowed only 38 hits and just three homers. Lefties hit just .167 against him, and righties only .252.
When you factor in that much of the damage he has allowed (including all three homers) came in Arlington (a decidedly hitter-friendly park) there's even more reason to think Guardado can be effective. More than anything, he's a guy who wants the ball and will attack hitters. That's what the Twins need.
Too bad they didn't land Latroy Hawkins, too. They said they were interested, but lost out to the Astros. In 10 games for Houston, Latroy is 2-0 with a 0 ERA, with 12 Ks in 7 innings.
That'd be nice to have.

On Sept. 1 rosters expand to a maximum of 40 (though most teams only add 4 or 5 guys).
The only guy I know for sure the Twins will call up is Bobby Korecky, who looked decent in a brief callup earlier this year and has a 2.90 ERA and 25 saves for the Red Wings. He could help down the stretch, and if he does, the Twins could probably squeeze him onto the playoff roster through an injury loophole.

It's worth noting also that Boof Bonser has shown signs of emerging as a decent reliever. I thought it was a waste to use him as a mopup guy while forcing Brian Bass into key situations, as Boof seems ideal for short relief. Throws hard, has one plus offspeed pitch, and in relief he can just come in and chuck it, not having to worry about pacing himself.

Philip Humber and Kevin Mulvey, the two 'other' prospects the Twins acquired from the Mets in the Johan Santana trade (besides blue-chippers Carlos Gomez and Deolis Guerra) have rebounded from slow starts to finish strong at Triple-A Rochester.
Humber is 9-8 with a 4.66 ERA, but in his last 10 apperances is 5-1 with a 2.56 ERA. That's huge, because his career had previously appeared headed in the wrong direction after Tommy John surgery.
Mulvey is 7-9 with a 3.73 ERA, and is 4-2 with a 3.28 ERA in his last 10 games.
Both of them have a good chance to be called up.

Guerra, by the way, has regressed. In his second full year at high A ball, he's 11-8, but with a 5.26 ERA, and a frighteningly low strikeout rate (68 in 126 innings, with 70 walks). He's still only 19, but the numbers are reason for concern at the very least.

A sleeper candidate for a callup is Anthony Swarzak. Since being called up from Double-A New Britain, he's made six starts for the Red Wings, going 5-0 with a 1.89 ERA.
He's only 22 and those six starts represent his only experience above the Double-A level, but the numbers speak for themselves.
On top of that, he was 3-8 with a 5.76 ERA at New Britain.
Weird.
Looking even lower, lefty Robert Delaney has a 1.11 ERA with 38 Ks and only five walks in 32 innings for New Britain, but I doubt they're interested in having him skip Triple-A to join a pennant race and start his arbitration clock.

To make room for Eddie G., the Twins cut Mike Lamb, who said he was "embarrassed for getting fired".
Lamb was bad, no doubt about it, but of all the Twins failed free-agent signings this year, he was the most defensible. He'd posted an OPS of over .800 three out of the last four years. Last year he had a very robust .366 OBP and .453 slugging percentage. And he's still only 33.
There was just no reason to think he wouldn't provide pretty solid production. It just didn't happen.
And now the Twins have to pay him $3.3 million next year.

I'm Thinking About It

Bringing back Twinstown, that is.
As you may know, my Argus Leader blog is no longer accessible. I will not get into the reasons here. There has been some talk that it may be revived at some point, but frankly, I don't know if I'm interested in doing that.

That would, of course, mean that the door has been cracked open on coming back here on a somewhat regular basis.
We'll see.

A big reason I put this blog on hiatus is that it didn't feel like anyone was reading it. I don't really feel like spending an hour each night putting something together for four people. The Argus blog was getting thousands of hits, so there was a little more motivation to keep it updated.
And to be honest, I'm hesitant to advertise Twins Town too much, for obvious reasons. Getting thousands of people here would probably land me in even more trouble.

Over the last couple months I've nearly been fired, found out my wife was pregnant, decided to retire from amateur baseball following the season, taken the Roadrunners to the state tournament (still ongoing), suffered the crushing blow of a miscarriage while away from my wife in Rapid City getting drunk with my teammates, all the while considering just where the hell my adulthood is actually headed.

So, like I said, I'm thinking about it.