When the strike zone looks like a diamond, what does July 2nd mean for a developing country and other early game day thoughts.

Just some sporadic thoughts on an early game day:

• The Twins won today at Milwaukee to take the series 2-1 from the Brewers. The Twins' record is up to .500 and are still 6 games in the loss column behind the Detroit Tigers in the second place of the AL Central.
  
  In today's game there were a lot of strike 3 calls and a lot of strike 3 non-calls by Hunter Wendelstedt, the home plate umpire, leaving players from both teams rolling their eyes. Here is Wendelstedt's strike zone today according to Brooksbaseball.net:
  
  
  
  This is a very consistent strike zone for both teams, but there is a little problem. It has the shape of a diamond and not of a square and it is shifted a bit to the left (from a LHB perspective). At least Wendelstedt is true to his name (wendel means "spiral" in German). It almost seems that he was calling balls and strikes with his right ear on his right shoulder... Try it and look at the picture. That's a pretty darn good strike zone with your ear on your shoulder



• Jerry Springer, has a TV "Show" that involves around (for lack of better descriptors) sad stories with some sort of controversial background, which usually end up in hair pulling and fights among his guests, which are usually targeted to a day time stay at home audience (I think.) Now it looks like is bridging into AAA English Baseball. God save the Queen.



• July 2nd is the start of the period for international signings in baseball. This day is akin to powerball lottery jackpot in the Dominican Republic. Here is an absolutely great three-part (make sure you read all 3) story with accompanied videos on what baseball means to the Dominicans, what does life and baseball look like to a 16 year old super prospect, like the Twins' target Miguel Angel Sano and what it means to be a Dominican Baseball player. Well worth 15 minutes of your time



• Bring on the Birds. The Twins are starting a 3 game weekend series tomorrow night at St. Louis against the Cardinals; here are some unstructured thoughts about this series:
  
  
  • Detroit has built a seven game winning streak. The Twins better try to sweep this one to stay close
  
  
  • I don't want Mauer to sit, but if he sits Morales and not Redmond better be the person who replaces him
  
  
  • I was listening to New York's WFAN 660 this afternoon (my default station in my car; sports talk) and Mike Francesa was talking about Albert Pujols being the next big steroid revelation (for what it counts)
  
  
  • It's going to be close to 100 degrees and fairly humid, which means that starters (of both teams) need to show extra stamina out there
  
  
  • It looks like the team will have a second baseman on the roster; either Punto or someone else, if Punto's MRI looks bad today. Since Casilla is in Gardenhire's dog house, I suspect that Tolleson will be the lucky guy who will make the trip west. I hope he get the opportunity to play and shines and sends down Tolbert and/or Buscher
  
  
  • If Gardenhire starts Cuddyer at second base as it has been reported, he needs a straight jacket. On the other hand that might give Young and Gomez some deserved plate appearances, but is suspect that the Twins' pitchers are not in love with the thought of Cuddyer as a second baseman
  
  
  
• Here is an actual piece of news: Shooter Hunt resurfaced at the GCL league today