Game 136: Royals at Twins

Ian Kennedy vs. Ervin Santana, 1:10 CDT

Joe Mauer is batting over .300 and appears to be a favorite to win a Gold Glove. A pitcher that was named Johan Santana at birth and has a fastball, slider, changeup repertoire is the ace of the staff. A closer named Matt is filling in for an injured All-Star closer. The Twins are in a playoff position with a positive run differential in September. I'm having some major flashbacks to some really good times. But at the same time, I'm really enjoying this day-by-day with the Twins.

82 thoughts on “Game 136: Royals at Twins”

  1. The GCL Twins trail the GCL Nationals 4-0 after six. It's a one-game playoff, so the Twins need to rally if they're to advance to the finals.

    1. And they're done. The GCL Twins lose in the first round of the playoffs to the GCL Nationals, 4-0.

    1. I don't understand why Buxton doesn't steal more. With his speed, it seems like he should have at least 40-50 stolen bases.

      1. Since he's only been caught once, he must be, at worst, mediocre at reading the pitcher, too. So I agree with the confusion.

        1. Assuming they're giving him a green light (which I don't know), the 24 of 25 (and the one time caught being when he overslid) may indicate that Buxton is only willing to run if he's sure he's going to make it. The Twins may need to encourage him to take more chances.

        1. Last year it was--he threw out 48% of baserunners. This year he's at 27%. How much of that difference is on him, how much is on the pitchers, and how much is just random variation, I have no idea.

          The larger point, though, is that Buxton should be stealing more generally.

  2. I'm just gonna make a Crack about Escobar not getting one to the gap now. Maybe that'll motivate him to hit a Homer here.

  3. Everything's up to date in Kansas City
    They gone about as fer as they can go
    They went an' built a skyscraper seven stories high
    About as high as a buildin' orta grow.
    Everything's like a dream in Kansas City
    It's better than a magic lantern show.
    You can turn the radiator on whenever you want some heat
    With every kind of comfort every house is all complete.
    You could walk the privees in the rain and never wet your feet!
    They've gone about as fer as they can go.
    They've gone about as fer as they can go!

  4. I'm sitting on my deck brewing up a batch and I am Frick in surrounded by wasps. Unfortunately for them, they have no idea I am the face of death.

  5. Dazzle says if we get out of this with one run it's a momentum changer! We'll be unstoppable then!

      1. I feel confident saying dazzle is full of crap. I also feel confident he won't let this change his mind.

      1. When I saw the headline, I didn't think it could possibly be cansecoian, but it might just be dumber.

  6. All time Runs scored in Twins history
    1. Kirby 1071
    2. Harmon 1047 (1283 with Sen years combined)
    3. Rod Carew 950
    4. Joe Mauer 944

    1. I'm one who thinks he should get in the hall based entirely on his time at catcher,and that this year (and next year, and the year after, maybe? ), should solidify that.

  7. If we wanted to bunt (and I'm not sure we should have), we should've sent Adrianza up for Gimenez.

  8. We'll never know if it would've made any difference, but I did not like the way Molitor used (and failed to use) his bench in the ninth inning.

      1. I suspect he was still making the decisions. If not, then I don't like the way whoever was in charge did it. When a home run will win the game and you have the bottom of your order coming up, you've got to get your home run hitter off the bench and into the game. And you especially can't allow the weakest batter on the team, who's a poor bunter besides, to bat in that situation.

        1. (that's the joke. The manager gets kicked out of the game, but everyone knows they just manage the rest of the game from the locker room)

  9. Revenge of Pythagoras. All season the Twins have outperformed their Pythag so now when they handily outscore the other team 27-12 and equalize their run differential, they still lose the series.

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