So we swept the doubleheader. That was fun. Let's press on toward a sweep of the 'series' variety.
Today, Mike Pelfrey against somebody named Andre Rienzo. Rienzo's making his third major league start.
I predict a riot...of runs. Lots of runs. Also, lots of Twins strikeouts, but as long as they also give us the lots of runs, I'm okay with that.
What a beautiful day. The afternoon was spent changing out mulch around my hops and maintaining the yard. Now it's time for sitting on the deck with a couple of Alaskan Ambers and some grilled chops...
...and hopefully another Twins win.
Deduno vs. the World. I feel confident going with Deduno on this one.
The winning streak is only at three games, but it feels a lot more substantial than that. Optimism reigns supreme. I'm thinking it's not too late for the Twins to be buyers at the deadline.
Kluber vs. Correia tonight. I have a good feeling about this one.
There is a game at noon
Samuel 'Ace' Deduno vs. Phil Hughes
Baby steps now, fellas... let's try for a run, then we can get to the details of how to keep Robinson Cano from bolstering his MVP case.
It took a lot longer than many of us thought it should have, but.
Ladies* and gentlemen, I give you...
Kyle Gibson.
(cue thunderous applause and hopefully more than a strikeout every other inning)
Walters vs. Kluber
I've got a bad feeling about this one. The high-strikeout, low-walk pitchers seem to be eating our lunch this season (anecdotal. no facts or proof to back this up.)
Maybe the Twins will surprise us, though. After all, they do still have Joe Mauer on the team. As you'll see in a moment, he's pretty good at baseball.
Twins on Leaderboards
rWAR - Mauer, 8th (3.3)
rWAR, Position Players - Mauer, 5th (3.3)
Offensive rWAR - Mauer, 4th (2.9)
Defensive rWAR - Florimon, 2nd (1.9) (!??)
Batting Average - Mauer, 4th (.328)
OBP - Mauer, 3rd (.410)
OPS - Mauer, 7th (.902)
Hits - Mauer, t-8th (88)
Doubles - Mauer t-2nd (23)
Triples - Hicks, Dozier, and Escobar, t-10th (2)
Bases on Balls - Mauer & Willingham, t-8th (37)
OPS+ - Mauer, 6th (149)
Times on Base - Mauer, 5th (125)
Hit By Pitch - Willingham, 1st (12)
Hit By Pitch - Plouffe, t-4th (5)
Sac Flies - Morneau, t-4th (5)
Intentional Walks - Mauer, t-6th (5)
Caught Stealing - Dozier, t-2nd (5)
SB% - Florimon, t-9th (87.5%)
BB/9 - Correia, 2nd (1.325)
Games Played - Duensing, t-4th (35)
Games Played - Fien, t-6th (34)
Saves - Perkins, t-5th (18)
Home Runs Allowed - Correia, t-5th (15)
Hits Allowed - Correia, 3rd (102)
Earned Runs Allowed - Pelfrey, 6th (48)
Wild Pitches - Roenicke, t-7th (6)
Games Finished - Perkins, t-6th (25)
Sanchez against Deduno? That didn't go so well the first time. Then again ol' Sam has a 1.50 ERA since then, and since a lot of his other peripherals are sketchy at best, that's the stat I'm choosing to optimistically cherry pick.
So, I fell asleep on the couch during the top of the ninth.
What'd I miss?
Correia vs. Harang
This seems like one that the home team could pull off.
Go Twins.