What a goofy club. Win series' against the teams ahead of you in the standings: took 2/3 against Detroit and 3/4 against Cleveland, but lose to those chasing you: only 1/3 against KC and in danger of losing 3/4 against Chicago.
In an attempt to salvage a split with the South Siders, the Twins give Jose Berríos the ball whose lone loss in the past four starts was a no-show by the Twins offense in Seattle - 1 run on 4 hits. Jose scattered 8 hits over 7 1/3 innings, allowing only 2 earned runs (the 2nd the result of walking his last batter faced and Duke & Reed combining to untie the 8th inning tie ... in Seattle's favor) while striking out 8 and walking 1.
White Sox counter with 36-year-old RHP James Shields, owner of a 1-6 record on the year with a 91 ERA+, 4.27 FIP & 1.258 WHIP. In his last outing against Minnesota (May 6), Shields left in the 7th with one out, a one-run Chicago lead and runners at the corners. His replacement, Luis Avilan, promptly gave up a 2-run double to Logan Morrison.
Let's see what these two mediocre teams have to offer today.
***BREATHLESS UPDATE*** Molitor has BOTH catchers in the lineup today: Garver DHing and batting 6th, Wilson catching and batting 9th. Per Phil Miller, Sano, 2-18 for the month of June, is on the bench and Kepler is also getting a breather.
Dozier 2B
Rosario LF
Escobar 3B
Morrison 1B
Grossman RF
Garver DH
LaMarre CF
Adrianza SS
Wilson C
White Sox left their shields down today
Wouldn't you if Garver and Wilson are in the lineup at the same time?
Crazy like a fox
Just catching a little of the game during a lunch break. It sounded like Cory was talking about how well the White Sox had played in this series and Dazzle wasn't having it.
It has felt like the Twins have shot themselves in the foot a lot this series - bad baserunning, bad fielding, and a distinct lack of timely hitting.
I don't know if I'd be quick to nullify any talk of good play by the Sox, but I think that the Twins have been losing this series more than the Sox have been winning it.
Adrianza? Hey, we'll take it!
Well how about that?
RRRosario!
ED-DIE!!!!!!
Johnny Damon by way of Manny could get Narváez at home. No chance with Rosario.
Gladden rails against the shift. Meanwhile in the TV booth, the video showed Bert throwing a message pitch over Bremer's head. Weird stuff.
Gladden & Laudner seriously shooing folks off the lawn. But Laudner was right: why shift on a .225 batting ninth spot in the order and give an opportunity for a bunt single?
Turns out, baseball players really don't like bunting. Manfred wondered the same thing but no one wants to beat the shift by bunting.
Laudner made it sound like Twins lost to Orioles earlier this year on such a play, or that's what it sounded like to me.
Parker broke down why Adrianza was in the exact right spot on teh Tweeter. Just didn't go down right.
They were discussing whether the baseballs of today feel different then in the past because players are getting blisters more often now, or something like that. Bert says they feel the same, then he throw it past Dick's head. (which Dick basically told him to do.) That doesn't make it sound any less weird, though.
The laces are thicker.
Finally, another team as bad as the Twins at baserunning.
Berríos now tied with the AL lead in complete games.
I was pretty surprised that he was still pitching in the 8th. Good, efficient game from him.
He had 91 pitches after 7. I wasn't too surprised he pitched the 8th. I was shocked he pitched the 9th.
Jose lowers his excellent WHIP even more today.
There are 7 qualified AL pitchers with WHIP less than 1.00. That's crazy.
Johan Santana in 2006 was the last Twins pitcher to pitch a complete game with at least 10 strikeouts. And that was in 8 innings of a loss. Johan was also the last pitcher to do it in 9 innings of a win, in 2004 against the Royals. Those were the only 2 times Johan did it. Radke?! did it 3 times.