It's Monday. I'm hungover. The Twins are still sucking hard. But, oh well. At this point, not much more to do than run out the clock.
(Hmm, well that's not very cheery. I should try to make this a little more optimistic.)
Fresh off the sucktacular game against the Tribe yesterday, the Twins head off on a 7-game road trip against the Tigers and the Mets. The Twins have lost 10 consecutive road games, good for the fifth longest streak in franchise history. The last time the Twins won a road game was almost a month ago in Atlanta.
(Damnit, that wasn't much better. Okay, there's got to be something nice to say somewhere at the bottom of the barrel here.)
Hopes aren't high for turning it around tonight either as they're 2-10 against the Tigers this year while getting absolutely shellacked in the process (the season series is currently scored at 71-43). Mauer, one of the few bright spots on the team at Comerica, isn't in the lineup tonight.
(Dude, why are you even trying anymore?)
Miggy and Victor hold spots 1 and 2 respectively for most HRs against the Twins by an active player. In addition to both of them having great seasons against the Twins, Justin Upton has been smacking them around for at a .404 clip with nine runs scored, two doubles, three HRs and eight RsBI.
(...)
Oh, sorry. Uhh... one more HR from Dozier will make him the second player in Twins history with 40+ HRs. Let's root for that, I guess. Also, Santana's pitching tonight, so it might not be as bad as usual...?
(Umm, thanks, I guess.)
Minnesota Twins vs. Detroit Tigers
(53-90) (76-66)
Comerica Park
2100 Woodward Avenue
Detroit, Michigan
48201
7:10 PM EDT
Game Previews
Minnesota Twins Official Game Notes
Baseball-Reference
MLB
Yahoo! Sports
Minnesota Twins Starting Lineup
1. Dozier, 2B
2. Grossman, DH
3. Sano, 3B
4. Vargas, 1B
5. Suzuki, C
6. Kepler, RF
7. Escobar, SS
8. Rosario, LF
9. Buxton, CF
Detroit Tigers Starting Lineup
1. Kinsler, 2B
2. Maybin, CF
3. Cabrera, 1B
4. Martínez, DH
5. Martinez, RF
6. Upton, LF
7. McCann, C
8. Romine, 3B
9. Iglesias, SS
Probable Starting Pitchers
Ervin Ramon Santana
7-10, 3.58
v.
Daniel David Norris
2-2, 3.94
And a second baseman hits a leadoff home run. I think I've seen this before. Unfortunately, it wasn't Dozier. But, hey, that means the Twins are going to win right? What's really astounding about Dozier's season when it's compared to the rest of the league is that he never gets to face Twins pitching.
The drought is over. The big 4-0 for Dozier. One second baseman HR deserves another.
Almost got 41
Another ½ inning to make this game official for Dozier; don't want to lose another HR to the weather, no matter how nice it is in Detroit tonight.
I think he is out!
He was called safe!
well cr@p
Next goal: HR #42 to tie the MLB record by a second baseman
don't know how many of his lead off the game, but 11 would give him a tie with Jacque Jones for team lead for a season and 3-way tie for 4th in MLB
18 career lead off HRs, for Dozier, 5 this year.
Only 5? Must have all been in a row, because I'd have sworn he had more than that this year
He's only had about 40% of his PAs as a leadoff batter, although he's lead off more than any other single spot in the batting order. He's hit 25 HRs as a leadoff batter, so 1/5 of his batters from that position are leadoff. Since a leadoff batter gets 4 or 5 at-bats every game (barring a perfect game), I would say that's pretty close to what you would expect, maybe a little lower than expected.
I'm not saying I expected more, I'm saying I could have sworn I had heard more this season. And it's not like Jacque hit 44-55 HRs back in 2002.
I thought the record was 43.
Davey Johnson does have 43 home runs that season but one was as a pinch hitter.
and 2 of Doziers have been when he wasn't the 2nd baseman, but I'm not sure what counts
This won't be a problem when he hits 50.
True, true.
Kyle Hendricks loses a no-hitter in the 9th. For fun, Joe West sticks his craw in the game and ejects Maddon.