2017 Twins Game Logs, Minnesota Twins, MLB

Game 21: Twins at Rangers

49 Comments

The Tale of Two Lefty's
Hector Santiago (2-1, 2.19 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 4 BB:17 SO's through 24.2 IP, 3.65 RS/9)
-vs-
Cole Hamels (1-0, 2.77 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 9 BB:14 SO's through 26 IP, 7.62 RS/9)

I actually think Santiago's a better pitcher than I'd given him credit for. As cheaptoy noted, this is probably due to the fact that someone was willing to trade him to the Twins in exchange for Ricky Nolasco.

Fun Fact: Mauer is 0-12 facing Hamels - most at-bats without a hit against any pitcher... so, he's due?

After some early miscues and missed opportunities, the Twins nearly managed a 'GreekHouse call' last night, falling only 1 run short of the necessary 8. Sure wouldn't mind them accomplishing that goal this evening.

Last year the team was never over .500 (closest they'd get was 17.5 games back at 46-66, a .411 winning percentage) through 20 games, they were already 6-14. At 10-10, the fellas are in 4th place, but only 1.5 games behind 1st place Detroit. A win puts the Twins back over .500 on the season.

49 thoughts on “Game 21: Twins at Rangers”

  1. This would be the Twins' first sweep in Arlington in 41 years. As for Mauer, I sure hope he doesn't get a hit off Hamels since he's on the bench. I don't want A) Hamels to still be in the game for Mauer to pinch hit for someone or B) someone to get hurt and Mauer has to come into the game earlier than a normal pinch hitter.

  5. It's almost worth it to give up the base hit to left center one pitch after throwing out a guy trying to steal third with no outs just for the sheer frustration factor.

  6. I agreed with the sentiment that the matte red rangers batting helmets looked great. I would like to extend that to the blue ones as well.

    1. I thought the matte finish left the red models looking a little washed out (on TV, anyway) compared to the bright red softball tops they wore yesterday.

      1. I missed yesterday's game, so I missed those,so missed that comparison .I'm generally in favor of as much bright red as possible, though.

  22. Polanco has had no luck tonight (not that, that was hit all that hard) and it's killing the Twins. Twice hitting into a DP to clear the bases for Sano and now ending an inning so that Sano at best will lead off in the 8th with the Twins down 3 runs.

  23. No Padre here tonight so I'll speak up (before going to bed) - unless Belisle is hurt, there is absolutely no reason to bring in Tonkin here. None.

    2. Belisle is not a guy you want eating up innings. He's supposedly the setup guy. He's already thrown plenty of pitches. His 27 pitches were about twice as many as he's used to pitching. And when you aren't getting any outs, you aren't going to eat up innings anyways.

      1. He didn't need to eat up inning's' ... he needed to get an out. Mostly I'm annoyed that none of 6 relievers could manage to complete an inning. Oh, and that the 8-run inning I asked for in the open came from the wrong squad.

        1. Duffey threw 15 pitches. Breslow threw 8. Pressly threw 5. Molitor chose to use six relievers, each for less than an inning. When you do that, you have no right to complain about being short in the bullpen. You did it to yourself.

          1. Not only that, but the more relievers you throw out there, the more likely one of them doesn't have their stuff that day.

            Molitor's bullpen management has been really off since that first season (warning: anecdotal evidence).

      2. He didn't need to eat up inning's' ... he needed to get a out. Mostly I'm annoyed that none of 6 relievers could manage to complete an inning. Oh, and that the 8-run inning I asked for in the open came from the wrong squad.

  24. Chagrois, Burdi, Melancon, Reed. You guys can't get here fast enough. Coming into the season, I felt the biggest weakness for this team was the bullpen. I haven't seen much to change my mind on that. At least Duffey seems to be working out. Pressly shows great stuff but hasn't been able to succeed with it yet.

Comments are closed.