So baseball teams are hitting a lot of home runs so far this year, about five percent more than in the most prolific season ever for dingers, and that in the coldest part of the season when balls aren't supposed to carry so well. Apparently the balls have lower drag, which would mean the stitches are not as raised. That would also impact pitchers' ability to get better movement on their throws. Few teams in the game right now are mashing the baseball as well as our own hometown nine. After just a month of games, the Twins have the third highest batting average in baseball (.269), behind only Houston and St. Louis. Their on-base percentage is much lower, 13th in the majors and only nine points above average. But the boys have been bringing out the boomsticks with the team sporting a .514 slugging percentage, the best in the game, and that's good enough to put them atop all teams in OPS at .849 as well. While Eddie Rosario has been en fuego at the plate, it's actually Jorge Polanco who leads the team in OPS at 1.033. Shoot, Eddie's .970 OPS isn't even good enough for second place, which is held by Nelson Cruz at 1.022, one step ahead of Edisito. In fact, the only regular position player on the team right now with an OPS+ below 100 is Marwin Gonzales, who sticks out like Michael Pineda's butt with a 30 OPS+ (Adrianza's sucking the nipple nearest the ass with an OPS+ of just 14). But Rosario does lead the American League in home runs with 11 (third in MLB), and is second in the league in ribeyes with 24, which averages out to one run poked in per game.
On the mound, Jose Berrios is the team's clear ace with a record of 4-1, a 2.97 ERA, 41 strikeouts and only 8 walks. Not only is he pitching the best, he's pitching the most, logging one out above 39 innings pitched, 13 more that the second best innings eater on the team, Martin Perez. Today the Twins send Kyle Gibson to the hill for his fifth turn through the rotation. He's been inconsistent at best, compiling a 6.10 ERA over 20.2 innings. For a guy who seems real reluctant to pitch to contact, he's done his fair share of it, and he's given his share of free passes, too, which accounts for his 1.500 WHIP. Hopefully the offense can provide him plenty of support today and allow him to be more aggressive in the strike zone, which should let him pitch deeper into the game. Not a bad bet considering nearly half of the Twins home runs this year have come at the hands of Baltimore pitchers. The Orioles today are starting Dylan Bundy (who according to BR is a rare switch hitting pitcher). Bundy has no wins and three losses in five starts with a 6.56 ERA. He's also given up one home run for every ten outs he's managed to notch. The sky is fair at Target Field today, a high temperature in the upper 50's is expected, the concrete is most definitely dry and the boomsticks are fully loaded. Play ball!
My goodness.
craziness
Wow.
Boomsticks.
Third try is the charm - I guess his missed on the first two pitches.
Lots of true outcomes so far today.
Bundy cant find the strike zone
Bundy’s pitching like a puppy pees - all over the place.
Buxton go boom.
wow, that was a blast
Dang, I missed it. I was busy picking up cat poop and just figured Kepler drove him in.
Maybe I should have said Bundy’s pitching like a kitten craps.
It was everywhere but the litter box, so apt.
Kepler with 14 bases in his last four plate appearances.
I have a feeling Gonzalez is going to drive in a couple runs. But I'm drunk.
You weren't wrong.
(although you shouldn't have been.)
Keep drinking.
If he won't, I will (am).
Yeah, I think I hit my limit
Dick called Cron a dangerous hitter, which I'd say is a bit generous. But I went to bbref anyway and I didn't realize he's been, while I wouldn't say dangerous, more above average for his career than I thought.
Huh, a seeing eye Texas leaguer.
bloooooooooooooooop
Looks like we got good Gibby today.
Hopefully. Though we do still have a fifth inning to get through yet.
Why are they so concerned about Polanco's arm angle? Gonzalez throws the same way and so does, like, every other infielder.
I never heard--who did we bring up to take A-Stud's place on the roster?
Cave
That's who I thought it would be, unless we decided we needed a fourteenth pitcher. Thanks!
Nice catch Cron
The "See?" thing is not something I normally associate with a carnival barker.
I wish they'd make Dazzle the official scorer for a few games, just so he can find out it's not quite as easy as it looks.
Gibson’s in quality start territory, hope he can stay there.
He's in very good start territory, now.
So, of course, he gives up a home run to Chris Davis right after I say that.
Still a very good start though.
About his best of the year.
Hey, dick just referenced our bsod banner!
Morneau is so refreshing. Never thought hed be a good color guy with how shy he is
He's not shy, he's Canadian.
But yeah, aside from his obsession with Polanco's throwing form, he's pretty good.
Morneau says he's shy.
I know. Is joke.
That may actually work for him, in a way. He focuses on the game and doesn't talk a lot of nonsense.
Gibson finished the day with 7 IP, 1 run on 3 hits, 6 K and 0 BB. He lowered his ERA from 6.10 to 4.88. Caveat, it was against Baltimore.
I approve of that line.
Castro's necklace is amazing.
Twins win, again.
We definitely need to schedule more games against Baltimore.
I dunno. That might not look great to the seeding committee.
If they were twins fans, they'd understand.
Astros beat the Indians to split their series, so Twins are 2 games up in the standings. I've always liked when the Twins were more than 1 game up in the standings. Then in the worst-case scenario, the Twins will still be all alone in first place after tomorrow's games.