First Pitch 1:10 pm
Kyle Gibson (2-5, 5.02 ERA, 42 K, 1.483 WHIP)
Josh "Little Cowboy" Tomlin (9-2, 3.51 ERA, 68 K, 1.120 WHIP)
For those of you who didn't make it to last night's rain-delayed, extra-inning finish, Max Kepler drove in Mauer from third with an infield grounder that was thrown home as the Indians tried to keep the game alive. I'm not sure where this team is going to finish. With 72 games remaining, they have the opportunity to at least save a little face and dig their way out of the AL Central cellar. They'd only have to pick up 13 games on Chicago to do that. Not a can of corn by any means, but also not out of the realm of possibility considering it's the White Sox we're talking about catching. I've seen some pretty odd things happen in the second half in my day -- seemingly impossible winning streaks and slack-jaw, head-shaking collapses. And that's just by the Twins. But no matter how we finish because of our abysmal start, this team has won me back. You can start to see the nucleus of a pretty good young squad here -- an outfield full of outfielders, an infield with potential and no shortage of pop up and down the lineup -- and that's what I'll be watching for. With the non-waiver deadline looming in a couple of weeks, the Twins are also active sellers in the trade market, so we may find out how much value Ervin Santana has to a contending club (Texas, perhaps?) wanting to bolster its starting rotation. Looks like we got our crappy weather out of the way last night and it's getting close to that time, so...
Play ball!
Jersey/shirsey count:
Neck Tat is Tall
Morneau 5
Dozier 5
Mauer 32
Mientkiewicz
Hunter 6
Punto 2
Cuddyer 7
Sano 3
Thome
Blyleven 2
Molitor
Hicks
Willingham
Carew 2
Jamey Carroll(!)
Buxton 5
Nunez
Neal Broten
Stamkos
Rosario
Johan
Suzuki
Span
Puckett 2
Valencia
Plouffe
Seriously, we go to all the same games.
Please tell me Napoli is retiring after this seasom
Danny Santana is not a good centerfielder
Also, doesn't the ump have discretion on whether or not the guy from first scores? He was almost at home plate
I think that is on fan interference not automatic doubles.
Ah. You could take it out of their hands. Say you're past third when it bounces over, you score
Reminder: today's center fielder is not an outfielder
MAX!
I got a kick out of hearing Gordo in the booth for a bit yesterday, including Dazzle interacting with him. When Dazzle surprised him with play-by-play duties for a half inning, Gordo showed that it isn't exactly like getting back on a bicycle, but Dazzle playfully helped him out:
Gordo: "...hit high in the air to right field. Who's waiting?"
Dazzle: "Right fielder."
I wasn't listening--was that really playful, or was that Dazzle doing his best?
heh heh. No, you could tell Dazzle enjoyed having him around again. There's a nice long clip on the Twins' Facebook page. Provus respectfully stayed out of the way.