Random Rumblings

• Even as the Yankees were knocking around Nick Blackburn last night, I couldn’t but think about the great position the Minnesota Twins are in to make the playoffs. In August, the team will play just seven games against teams with winning records and they still have 34 games against the likes of Cleveland, Kansas City, Oakland and Seattle. Meanwhile, the White Sox, who currently lead the Twins by a half game in the AL Central, will play 16 of their next 19 against above .500 teams and still have seven games apiece to play with Yankees and Red Sox as well as a three-game sets with Tampa Bay and the Angels.
  
  Match that with the fact that while most American League teams are either going to sit still or make subtle moves at the trade deadline, the Twins will be recalling Francisco Liriano from AAA, where he has been borderline dominant over his last ten starts.
  
  If Liriano can provide even a fraction of the impact he had a few seasons ago, the Twins, who some people (me) thought would be a 100 loss candidate, will have a chance to trump even the Rays as baseball’s best story and play in October.
  
  
• The big stat everyone keeps talking about when referring to Derek Jeter is his poor line drive rate, and I have to ask, how long have statheads been calculating this number? Because I’m pretty sure Jeter’s is far better known for his inside-out bleeders to right field than he is for hitting the ball hard. How much worse is his line drive rate now than it was five seasons ago?
  
  No matter what, it won’t be Jeter’s fault if the Yankees don’t make the playoffs this season. The blame can go to the injuries first, but then it’s on Robinson Cano and Alex Rodriguez, two guys whose line drive rates with runners in scoring position must be dreadfully low.
  
  
• Isn’t about time to be fed up with Manny?
  
  
• When we were told Danilo Gallinari might not be physically ready for the NBA season, I thought it meant he needed more time in the weight room, not that he was going to be bother by chronic hamstring problems.
  
  
• I don’t claim to know anything about the NFL, so I let ESPN and Sports Illustrated tell me exactly what to think. For that reason, I’m going say Jeremy Shockey is going to have a huge impact on the Saints this year.
  
  That was a team everyone liked to get to the Super Bowl last year and then everything just went wrong. Shockey will bring a lot to that offense.
  
  
• And hopefully, for West Haven’s Rob Jackson’s sake, Jason Taylor has much less of an impact on his new team.
  
  
• The British Open with Tiger Woods probably would have been like the Super Bowl with only one team, but without Tiger, it was like Super Bowl without a ball, and the ratings reflected that.