Big Erv Santana back on the mound for the Twins in the proverbial first game of Fall. Kids back in school, kinda rainy forecast, home town nine 3,567 games out of first place. I'm guessing you could get a ticket for cheap if so inclined. Things to watch for: Can Brian Dozier keep up his Home Run assault on the Royals? Can Byron Buxton keep his nice little batting approach going? Now with the roster expanded what fun line-ups will we see? It's all we got folks, cherish it. Four weeks from now we won't have any Twins baseball.
I dont know how to make a fancy table, but I was looking at career stats and found this pretty interesting
Brian Dozier PA: 2965 AB: 2624 R: 410 H: 649 2B:148 3B: 15 HR: 113 RBI: 338 BB: 270 K: 561 .247/.321 /.444 /.766 OPS+109
Trevor Plouffe PA: 2906 AB: 2635 R: 331 H: 649 2B: 148 3B: 10 HR: 95 RBI: 356 BB: 218 K: 582 .246 /.307/.418 /.726 OPS+ 98
Kendrys Morales just hit Target Center. jeebus
BULL DOZED!
How's the weather look?
All the rain is east of the Metro.
Let's make this game official!
No kidding. He's already lost one homer to a rainout.
Are you KIDDING me?
If you are the Royals, for the rest of the series Brian Dozier is an automatic IBB .
Fixed that for you.
That's the brilliance of batting him leadoff. Is any manager truly brave enough to intentionally walk the first batter in the first inning?
How many lead off hitters are jacking dingers at a 73 home run pace?
Love the irony of Dozier squaring to bunt in the main pic.
Yeah, that was one of the jokes in my piece earlier today.
Yeah, sorry for stealing your image so quickly after you posted, but it was too perfect not to.
No worries, free. I recycled it again today.
All the Doziers.
ALL THE HOME RUNS!
Forget 40 home runs. The way Dozier is going, I'm thinking about the possibility of 50 and a franchise record. He's also just 8 extra-base hits away from Tony O's franchise record for a season of 84.
Not to burst your bubble, but to reach 50 homers & surpass Killebrew for the single season franchise record Dozier would need to double the number of homers expected by his 90° rest of season PECOTA projection going into tonight's game.
There are 23 games remaining in the season. He was averaging a home run every 3.5 games. Using that estimate puts him at 45.5 for the season. To get to 50 he needs to average a home run every other game. Four home runs in two games helps a lot, except he needs to do that again. Probably twice.
I think we're both saying is, "There's a chance..."
YDNROER!
Oh no its raining! Hurry up and get three outs!
Where's the Dome when you need it?!?!1!!one??!
If they had a roof, Dozier would already be at 40.
Nice wiggle wiggle by Big Erv.
AND its an official game!
Dick Bremer: "From now on, I think Brian Dozier is going to have to learn how to take a walk."
me: *checks b-r. sees that Dozier's walk rate is 9.0%, second highest of his career. League average is 7.9%*
Dick should leave the talking to Clarence Thomas.
This is a hypothetical quote, right? No way anyone could actually say something that stupid...
(either that, or I was right about my comment last week that Dozier's quotes about his turnaround are anti-Twins-way.)
I'm sure Dick was inferring that he would be taking a lot of IBB.
Yeah, I took it to mean that they will be, if not walking him, then certainly pitching around him a lot more.
So what Dick's really saying is that Dozier is going to have to learn not to swing at a pitch four feet outside the zone? Who does he think Dozier is, RonDL?
I can accept that that is what he meant, but I've read that quote a handful of times and it doesn't read that way. So, if that is what he meant, I'm still annoyed as hell by it because he's a professional paid to talk, and so skills be able to more clearly make a point than that. I know people make mistakes, but having listened to the guy over the years makes me very unforgiving.
I'm a member of the choir, and it's time to pass the offering plate.
If you ever watch old Twins games (which I'm weird enough to do from time to time), Dick and Bert didn't used to be this bad. Even when the Twins had bad teams, they'd have fun with the game and try to give you reasons for hope. Now it seems like all they want to do is find things to criticize. Which is easy enough this year, obviously, but they seem to go out of their way to look for things.
I do remember liking then (or at least not complaining about them) back in the glory days, but that may have been a product of successful excitement. I can believe they were once fine. Dick does have a solid announcing voice and Bert does occasionally give decent insight.
Oh no Trevor Plouffe =( (looks like he reinjured his oblique)
Of course, Drew Butera.
When Santana was pulled from the game, I assumed the Twins were going to lose. I actually thought it would have happened sooner.
generally, it takes 9 innings.
that escalated quickly!
Yes, especially when Pat Light a Fire came in. Wasn't he supposed to throw close to 100? I've not seen him get close.
Seriously, this bullpen is a gas can right now. If I didn't want the Twins to get the top draft pick, I'd be upset at Molitor for pulling Santana with the Twins still in front. The only way the Twins win a close game is if the starter goes at least 7, especially with Santana pitching.
6 RBIs by former Twins tonight.
Neither of whom would have any business on the Twins' 2016 roster.
Not suggesting that. It just seems that former Twins love to play against the Twins and torture them.
Hosmer, Kinsler, and Napoli must have been Twins in a former life