Trevor May takes the mound for the Twins today. I'm hoping he has a "progression to the mean" type start, so that his ERA can eke its way out of the abyss, and we can start talking about what to do with Nolasco (and Pelfrey, once he completes his transformation back into a pumpkin). Those seem like better places to trim rather than looking for excuses to not find out exactly what we have in May. If he's a reliever, that's fine, but it would be nice to actually, you know, find out for sure.
The Rays, meanwhile, are sending out Alex Colome, a pitcher who seems to be running low on chances to really catch on with the team.
I'm sort of expecting a bloodbath. Fearful prediction: Twins 8, Rays 2. May pitches like he ought to, and the top of the lineup comes through.
It's late enough in the season now for Twins on Leaderboards, I think. Meaningless, but fun!
Batting
Defensive rWAR - Robinson, 0.9 (t-5th)
Runs Scored - Dozier, 26 (t-5th)*
Doubles - Dozier, 10 (t-5th)
Triples - Santana, 3 (t-3rd)
Triples - Dozier, 2 (t-6th)
Triples - Mauer, 2 (t-6th)
Singles - Mauer, 29 (t-10th)
Extra Base Hits - Dozier, 17 (t-6th)
Sacrifices - Santana, 3 (t-4th)
Sacrifices - Schafer, 2 (t-8th)**
Sac Flies - Dozier, 3 (t-2nd)
Intentional Walks - Arcia, 4 (t-5th)
Intentional Walks - Mauer, 3 (t-8th)
Intentional Walks - Suzuki, 4 (t-10th)
GIDP - Mauer, 5 (t-8th)
GIDP - Suzuki, 5 (t-8th)
Caught Stealing - Schafer, 3 (t-3rd)
Caught Stealing - Hunter, 2 (t-8th)
Caught Stealing - Santana, 2 (t-8th)
Outs Made - Dozier, 109 (8th)
* Dozier is one behind a four-way tie for first.
** Tied with Drew Butera, who has found work as the backup catcher for Kansas City
Pitching
rWAR for Pitchers - Gibson, 1.5 (t-7th)*
Winning Percentage - Pelfrey, .750 (t-9th)**
Winning Percentage - Nolasco, .750 (t-9th)**
BB/9 - Hughes, 0.88 (2nd)
Games Pitched - Thompson, 17 (t-6th)
Games Pitched - Boyer, 17 (t-6th)
Games Pitched - Perkins, 17 (t-6th)
Saves - Perkins, 12 (t-2nd)
Innings Pitched - Hughes, 51 (t-6th)
Games Started - Hughes, 8 (t-1st)
Complete Games - Hughes, 1 (t-1st)***
Home Runs Allowed - Hughes, 10 (t-1st)
Hits Allowed - Hughes, 61 (1st)
Strikeouts per Walk - Hughes, 7.0 (2nd)****
Losses - Hughes, 4 (t-7th)
Earned Runs - Hughes, 27 (t-4th)
Hit By Pitch - Pelfrey, 6 (1st)
Hit By Pitch - Gibson, 3 (t-7th)
batters Faced - Hughes, 215 (5th)
Games Finished - Perkins, 16 (1st)
ERA+ - Gibson, 155 (9th)
* It's worth noting that Gibson is 42nd in the AL in fWAR, so that two systems do not agree on his worth at the moment.
** LOL, Winning Percentage
*** One of five players in the AL with one
**** Number one is Michael Pineda with an absurd 18.3
Nasty pitch by May for the strikeout there.
Ha, Dick and Jack misidentify the Rays' manager for the entire top of the first inning.
Did they call him Johnny Cash?
No, they showed Bobby Wilson goofing off in the dugout and marveled at the loose attitude of the Rays new manager. They remarked on it about three times.
On the one hand, I wouldn't recognize the Rays manager, either. On the other hand, it's not part of my job to be able to.
I was just missing the leader board - nice timing!
I like Perkins' K/BB ratio better. Also, hoping May gets today's win - will match nicely with the rest of our pitchers.
Some bleeders followed by a solid line drive from Rosario.
On the board!
Wooo woooo runs!
Nice pitching by May.
May wriggled out of that one quite well.
Making the other team strand a leadoff triple is cool.
Leadoff triple stranded - Rays are playing TWINS BASEBALL!!
Nice hit by Hunter there.
Bad pitch if you're shifting.
Seems like a silly thing to challenge. Even before the replay Longoria looked safe.
I disagree. Your challenge only matters in innings 1-6, right? How many disputes do you have per year? I say challenge nearly every time you think you have a chance.
I also think he was out, but it was tough to tell.
It might be that I was quite sure he was safe while watching live so seeing Molitor challenge didn't make sense.
Yay an outfielder in left!
Yes! This is why you play outfielders in the outfield, rather than infielders.
This is why you play good outfielders in the outfield... FTFY
Escobar's metrics so far have been better than both Schafer's and Hunter's.
I meant what I said and I said what I meant. Escobar has played a whopping eighteen games in the outfield. That's not enough for the metrics to have any substantial meaning.
This.
Good jump Eddie
Good job to get out of all that with one run. Now if he can just settle down next inning, we'll be fine.
Double E
Amazing hustle, wow
I mostly listen on the radio, but it seems like the Twins have been running the bases really aggressively so far. It can be a tough line to draw. You want to force the action and make the other team make plays, but you don't want to make foolish outs on the bases. So far, the balance seems to be pretty good.
I've seen the term "Molly Ball" tossed around to describe what you are talking about.
The one area where the baserunning aggresiveness hasn't worked has been in stealing bases. I haven't checked recently, but the last time I did, our stolen base percentage was not very good.
And now that I've checked, I see it still isn't very good. Just barely over 50 percent.
Awesome range by Hicks to catch that ball!
This really feels like the type of opportunity the Twins need to take advantage of.
UGH
Second and third with none out and we can't even put the ball in play. That's...just not very good.
One day I want to see a player choke up on the bat. There's probably good reasons they don't anymore, but man.
Well, shoot.
blarg
Part of me feels like Molitor should've taken May out a little sooner. On the other hand, though, if you never give him the chance to go farther, he'll never be able to.
That's pretty much what Molitor said after the game. May had retired four in a row and six of the last seven before the inning, so it wasn't like he was showing signs of tiring. Plus, it was the bottom half of the order. I actually thought he should have just let May stay in the game to finish the inning, at least instead of bringing in Duensing and his 2+ WHIP.
We really need to take advantage this time.
There's one, at least.
And there's another one!
TWINS BASEBALL!!!!!
Duensing does not deserve a win
I hope the hitters apologized to May after the game.
Eeescobar?
For the first time, I'm actually confident about bringing in Blaine Boyer. I hope that's not bad luck or something.
He came through again!
His now 16-inning scoreless streak is the longest active in the majors.
He has been really good since that rough start. It just has taken me a while to start believing it.
That seems impossible, but sort of awesome, given how he started the year.
Dozier with a big insurance run!
Five games over .500! Let the dogs out!
Greatest. Puppies. Evah!
I get the feeling, from listening to the radio broadcasters and the pre- and post-game interviews, that there's a lot more positive attitude around the Twins than there has been for a few years. A lot of that is probably just the fact that they're winning, but I get the impression that some of it is due to Molitor being in charge, too.
I think because of the different manager, people are hoping that this has helped make a real change. I think in years past when the Twins were playing well for a few weeks, there was just a feeling of it being a mirage and just waiting for the hammer to fall.