Jose Berrios v. Wily Peralta
Last game before the All-Star break, and the Twins have a chance to get to a tie for third place in the division with a win.
Twins haven't had a lot of luck getting wins in Berrios starts of late, losing the last three games despite Berrios allowing only 5 earned runs in 18.1 innings in those three games. Surely that will even out today and we'll get to see good pitching and good hitting combine for a Twins win.
Lucy Ellmann - author of the fantastic Ducks, Newburyport has an essay collection coming out.
Her publisher live-tweeted one of her essays in which she lists things which are "crap". 257 tweets, and it's fun to find the thing that makes you say "now, hold on."
144/ Mindlessness ditto. #LucyEllmann #ThingsAreAgainstUs
— Galley Beggar Press (@GalleyBeggars) July 5, 2021
Anyway, that's as much as I got for reading intro this month. Half-baked crap I tell ya.
What are you reading?
Maybe Kenta Maeda will give us a reason to watch?
I am kind of annoyed that the Royals used 5 relief pitchers yesterday and not a single one of them blew the lead. It's some weird new definition of "relief pitching" that seems particularly unfair when deployed against the Twins.
Happy 4th of July everyone! I hope your weather is nice and your neighbors fireworks last only until bedtime and no longer.
J. A. Happ v. Hentges
My rudimentary weather prediction skills say this game will probably be played.
Remember in 2019 how the Twins would get rained out and then hit like 10 homers the next day? I feel like that happened a couple of times (LA and Baltimore?).
Let's channel that energy today and turn it into a series victory.
Kenta Maeda goes for the Twins as they pursue their second sweep of the season.
Let's talk series wins this season shall we?
* There were those first two series, when the beat the Brewers and the Tigers. Followed by 5 series without a series win
* Then they won a series against the Royals at the end of April. Followed by 6 series without a series win
* Then they beat Cleveland two out of three and swept the Orioles. Followed by 6 series without a series win before arriving in Texas.
Enough of that. Yuck.
Amazingly, the Twins have managed to split enough Friday-Saturday games (they've done that 10 times while never winning both days or losing both days until this weekend) that they could end this weekend with .500 or better records on all the weekend days.
Friday 6-5
Saturday 5-5
Sunday 4-5
It's weird to be excited about .500 records, but here we are.
Once again, the Twins split Friday and Saturday's games and so come into Sunday with a chance to win the series.
The all rookie outfield of Kirilloff-Gordon-Larnach pulled out a win last night. Today we get Refsnyder-Celestino-Larnach. Hopefully the revolving door slows its spin just a little bit going forward.
Pineda on the mound for the Twins, he's had two short stats starts in June, so the seven innings from Berrios last night are really nice.
It's been quite a while since I've read a book that blew me away. I think the best book I've read this year has been The Bookshop by Penelope Fitzgerald which was a beautiful little book of stubborn characters that I loved. But I read that book back in February, and it's been hard sledding since then for really exciting reading experiences.
The Griffin Jax era is (probably) upon us! But first we get another couple innings of Bailey Ober.
I always enjoy a big league debut, even if it isnt an absolute top prospect. Hopefully, there are other enjoyable things in this game as well.
Twins going for the series split after once again splitting the Friday and Saturday games this week.
Brad Keller v. Matt Shoemaker
The Twins started the month of May by scoring 7 runs in one inning against Keller. It's only right that they finish the month the same way.
In writing out the starting pitcher matchup, I can't help but notice that Matt Shoemaker is still in the rotation. Three of his last four stats have been good, and as long as the ball stays in the yard, he's finding a little success.
Yet another Sunday rubber match for the Twins. I'm pretty sure every Sunday game this season has come with the Twins having split the two games before them. So far Minnesota is 3-3 on Sundays, so the weekends have been pretty much a wash.
It's the last time the Wild will play the Golden Knights this season. The final game of the first round playoff series is here. There is just nothing left to say about this series. You know what we're looking at.
Two teams playing each other for the 7th time in a row will never lack for stories. This series is no exception. Talbot and Fleury have gone back and forth. The Wild managed to figure out how to break up almost every single Las Vegas offensive zone pass in game 6, but have struggled to sustain that disruption in almost every other game. Goals have been called back on both sides in pivotal moments. It's been a ride, and as good as you could hope for a playoff series.
Winner gets to start round 2 on Sunday against the Avalanche who haven't played a game in a week.
