In Which Erin Blogs About Whatever Comes to Mind

So the same team that beat Roy Halladay got pwned by Brett Cecil? *sigh*. And now the Twins are back to .500 for what seems like the billionth time this season. This team just stubbornly insists on being perfectly average.

• Twins help Blue Jays set new attendance record:

Uh yeah, sorry about that. I guess the Twins just aren't a huge draw on the road. Even an appearance by Canada's favorite Canuck wasn't enough to put butts in seats:

No, not Don Cherry. The guy standing next to him.

I've covered the topic of bandwagon fans before, and I don't really blame Blue Jays fans for not wanting to shell out a ton of money to watch their team lose. I don't fault Jays fans for not wanting to support an incompetent front office that seems intent on alienating what little remains of its fanbase. I can however, blame them for shelling out a ton of money to watch the Leafs lose. Come on Toronto, how can you support one crappy team with a clueless front office and not another? Of course, Twins fans are the last people who should pass judgment on bandwagon fans. If this weren't the final season at the Metrodome (ZOMG, the final season of indoor baseball!!1!), I doubt this uninspiring team would be boasting nearly 2 million in attendance (or sell out the final home game). My dad and I would go to games in the late '90s because it was cheap and you could get pretty good seats, since the place was practically empty most of the time. Ten years ago today, Eric Milton threw a no-hitter in front of a whopping 11,222 fans (To be fair, he was facing a very weak Angels lineup. Glen Perkins could probably no-hit that squad). Since the Twins teams of that era were pretty bad, while the Vikings were fielding one of the greatest teams in franchise history, I don't really blame my fellow Minnesotans for having other sports-related priorities. Of course, once the Twins put together a decent team again, people started coming out to see them.

• I like Denard Span, I like him a lot

And not just because of the mammoth home run he hit off of Brett Cecil yesterday, either. Span is one of four very good left-handed hitters in the lineup, batting .309/.393/.409 with a 119 OPS+ this season. He hasn't shown much power, but he's only 25 and that might come (or not, he's not very big and never displayed much power in the minors). He's a versatile outfielder with good range and a decent arm, and he is far and away the team's best option to play left field (though he hits more like a center-fielder). He runs well, he walks almost as much as he strikes out, and he makes contact more often than not. There isn't much to not like about the guy.

It's rare that someone like Span, who was widely considered a bust before he even played a major-league game, would have such an impact in his rookie season. His minor league numbers were less than impressive, and he never displayed much discipline at the plate, so his 2008 season (in which he batted .294/.387/.432 with a 125 OPS+ and finished 6th in ROY voting) seemly came out of nowhere. It was tempting to label him a one-season wonder, but he displayed plate discipline and contact skills that don't usually disappear overnight. And indeed, his numbers this year are nearly identical to last, though his power seems to have declined a little. He's drawn comparisons to Kenny Lofton, and the two are strikingly similar, though Span is probably a little more patient at the plate. Considering that Lofton was a solid player for seventeen seasons in the major leagues, that isn't a bad thing at all.

• F-bomb is back, but in the bullpen
  

It's probably for the best. It's no secret that, before going on the disabled list with arm fatigue, Liriano was awful this season. As Dave Allen at Fangraphs writes, his fastball is one of the worst in all of baseball this year. His secondary stuff is obviously still very good, since he was striking out hitters at a rate of 8.13 per nine innings even with that fastball, but he was also getting hit pretty hard. The move isn't permanent, and F-bomb will have a chance to compete for a rotation spot next spring. It's still too soon to give up on Liriano as a starter, since he is only 25 and it is only his first full season in the major leagues since he had TJ surgery, but the Twins better have a viable plan B in case F-bomb once again bombs in the rotation.