Nolasco returns! Lucky for him, he's facing off against the worst offense in the league, so... I'm expecting good things from him. We're adjusting our criteria for "good things", given that it's Nolasco, so I'm thinking he labors through 104 pitvhes in five and a third innings, gives up 3 runs and everyone agrees that it could have been a lot worse.
Noesi takes the hill for the White Sox. He gives up lots of home runs, but that's not exactly a tool in our bag, unless Arcia or vargas gets ahold of one, so... key in on the fact that he doesn't strike many out and that he has a tendency to walk folk? Man, he's not a very good pitcher, is he.
Go Twins!
Forgot that Nolasco would almost certainly be on a pitch count.
My prediction, then is 4+ innings, 75 pitches, 3 runs and a vague sense of disappointment.
That's pretty much what I was about to post. Ugh.
Not far off, except that if the Twins hold the lead, we won't have that much disappointment.
MAD BOMBER!
Twins radio has been playing some solid music as intro cues. Heard Spoon earlier, had Courtney Barnett ("Pedestrian at Best") just now.
Suggestive of Nolasco's pitching abilities?
What's the code for WGOM buck, again?
Yeah, that
That's quality. After all, his pitching is a joke...
But I don't find [nolasco] very funny ("funny" drawn out to seventeen syllables).
Through 3, Nolasco has given up 6 hits in 12 at bats, along with a walk and a hit batter. So...
Franchise Face!
BOMBARDiiER!
DK's on fire today!
Suzuki with the arm today
Bremer mentions that Gaetti was nicknamed "The Rat" because you couldn't get "high cheese past the rat." Huh. I just assumed it was because he looked like one.
I just called him Liza.
Nolasco paying tribute to the opponent in the dugout.
Meanwhile, Josh Willingham in the radio booth with Danny & Cory. 😀
And he is coaching his son's Little League team!!
I have to say, I like Molitor's willingness to do different things with the bullpen.
I know Boyer's been pitching well, but I'm still not very confident to have him come in. Not that there are a lot of better options.
Ditto for Duensing, except for the "been pitching well" part because he hasn't been pitching.
This.
Ditto for Tonkin. Basically, the only bullpen guy I have much confidence in is Perkins.
We saw Molly LaRussa, using three guys to get two outs, but at least they got the outs and we're still ahead.
I think Tonkin was the emergency option. His plan was for Duensing to get the third out and then he ends up walking the guy.
A lot of mediocre pitchers on our side today.
Here's hoping it doesn't matter. ..
If we're lucky, the White Sox will just keep making base running mistakes.
That's a step up for the Twins.
Theoretically, Bonifacio was way out of the basepath, anyway, but that was still a nice play by Perk.
.500!
Since starting 1-6, the Twins are 11-6 and have outscored their opponents 76-58. They're allowing only 3.4 runs per game and have the best record in their division in that stretch.
Also, the Twins are 12-7 when Phil Hughes doesn't start. And it's not like he hasn't been pitching well. His xFIP is 3.52 and his walk rate is slightly better than last year.
Nice interview with Plouffe there.