58 thoughts on “Game 88: tigers @ twins”

1. Good first inning by Hughes.

2. Does anyone else think there's been more complaining about balls and strikes this year than ever before? Not to say it isn't justified, it just seems like there's been more of it.

3. He didn't come out and say it, but Provus sounded like Santana should've had that one. Any thoughts?

   1. Should have been caught

4. I'm up in the family section. Where is the wgom contingent?

   1. I just saw a few of you climbing the stairs.

      1. But did you take a picture?

         1. Should have, but didn't

5. Beautiful bunt

6. If only we had a better batter than Suzuki coming up right now. Well, maybe the blind squirrel will find an acorn.

   1. He did!

   2. Suzuki hasn't been good this year, but he's had bad luck as well. His .251 BABIP is the lowest of the Twins regular players.

      1. He also has a very low line drive % and is slow. His BABIP is right around the midpoint of his past five years. I don't think "luck" is the right word.

         1. Right. Last year was an anomaly in BABIP for him. For 2010-2013, he had BABIPs of .245, .244, .269, and .245, respectively. His current .251 BABIP is right in line with that history. Not luck. It's who he is. He hits a lot of ground balls and is really slow, and he lacks power (his HR/FB ratio is atrocious -- under 5 pct each year 2012-present; in comparison, Joe "doesn't hit for pauer" Mauer has never had a season with a HR/FB ratio under 5.1 pct, and is right at his career rate of 10 pct this year).

            1. I would also point out that Suzuki has been swinging more at pitches, both out of the strike zone (28.6 pct so far this year, up from 24 pct last year and 26.3 pct for his career) and in the zone (62.1 pct this year compared to 59 pct last year and 59.4 pct career) and that last year he was well above his career rate of contact on pitches swung at out of the zone (79.2 pct last year, compared to 75 pct this year and 75.2 pct career), using pitch f/x data.

               He's never been a good fastball hitter (last year was basically a career best against fastballs, and he still was below average), and that has continued this year.

7. The replay looked like he was safe at third. Late tag

8. bases loaded, no outs -- what's the Twins' expected runs scored for this situation?

   1. Ah, two. nice

9. Random jerseys and shirts so far:

   Neck Tat is Tall
   Rivas(!)
   Sano

   1. Add Punto, Arcia, Revere, Valencia, Vargas, and Pudge Rodriguez

      1. Below me right now I count :

         Hunter 8
         Mauer 20
         Dozier 8
         Perkins 4
         Miguel Cabrera 5
         And, weirdest of all, one Allen Craig.

10. Hits from the bottom of the order really do make a tremendous difference.

11. Nice shut-down inning from Hughes.

12. There's Joe, clogging bases again.

13. I don't know if it was a good baserunning play by Sano, but assuming he had a decent chance, I like aggressive baserunning.

    1. Sounds like he really didn't have much of a chance, though.

       1. Didn't have much of a chance, but decent chance Mauer was going to be out at home

14. Game seeming to be in hand, gutters cleaned, I'm gonna go fall asleep listening to the radio. This is a good day.

15. Triples are sexy.

16. Well, there's your obligatory home run. Doesn't sting so much in a 7-0 game.

17. Dozier's an all-star!

18. Hughes, you can stop pitching to the score any time now.

19. Better get the bullpen going.

20. Better make the change before it's too late.

    1. Got away with leaving him in, thanks to what apparently was a bad third strike call, but I'm still not convinced it was the right decision.

21. So was it a bad call on Martinez?

    1. Yes.

    2. The graphic showed there was the tiniest bit of a gap between the ball and the edge of the strike zone. It wasn't nearly as egregious a call as the FOX guy color analyst was saying it was and certainly wasn't worth getting ejected from the game for. If I was coaching, I'd tell my player that it was too close to be taking, but I think Victor Martinez just got froze by the curveball.

22. Question: when a DH is ejected, do you have to name a substitute right away, or can you wait until his turn comes up in the batting order?

    1. I saw the ump writing something down. My guess is you have to. I mean, you have to before the 1st inning as well.

23. Billy Hamilton stole third base on the throw back to the pitcher. Dang that kid

24. What's the point of having rules about the time in which you need to ask for a replay if you're going to just ignore those rules when you feel like it?

25. I really like that Sano has proven that he can lay off that low outside pitch.

    1. Agreed. I really like that he can take a slider on the outside corner and hit it off the wall. This kid is going to be special.

26. Made it to the game today. Great ovation for Dozier when the All-Star announcement came through.

    1. Are you in the group with the other WGOMers?

       1. Was not aware of other WGOMers. Was not aware I was coming until Noonish.

          1. They're in section 310, row 11 if you go looking for them.

27. Big home run by Hunter.

    1. Yeah, that allows for some breathing room.

       1. And it's looking like we're going to need it.

28. So, this is cool. For voting in the final All Star vote, MLB.TV is giving me a free 14-day free trial. Looks like i get to watch the next few Twins games.

29. Twins broadcasters have sure been hyping Hicks since he came back. He's done okay, but he hasn't been that great. But on the other hand, it's nice to hear the organization building up its young players rather than tearing them down.

30. Minor Details is caught up. At least until after today's games, when it'll probably get behind again.

31. A good time was had by all. We almost made it to the end of the eighth seventh before leaving. That was much later than we were originally hoping so that was great.

    The Pirate picked the longest half-inning for a visit. I wasn't sure if he would ever be making it back.

    1. Most definitely! And that was quite a fun half-inning that the Pirate and Valet joined us for.

       Zee, I'm sorry we didn't see you!

       1. Oh, and the jalapeño is already talking about the next baseball game he'll attend.

          'Spoiler'	SelectShow
          He really wants to get the peanuts.

32. Had to bail for a surprise 50th birthday get together - glad to see I left things in good hands. Oh, and Bull Dozier

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