What do you notice about this lineup?
Castro
Buxton
Larnach
Lewis
Kepler
Santana
Wallner
Lee
Vazquez
Yup, Royce Lewis and Brooks Lee in the same lineup. This has been the dream for a while now, and, hopefully it stays the dream for the next decade or so.
Also, Pablo Lopez pitches against Keider Montero.
Well, they might be.
This is the final series before the All-Star Break and the Twins have been absolutely capturing that old cliche of "win series, and you'll be fine." They've won 6 series in a row and have narrowed Cleveland's lead to 4.5 games, and they've crept closer to that #1 WC spot too. Another good weekend heading into the break should really cement the good feelings.
Joe Ryan pitches against Kyle Harrison.
Now, for some Twins/Giants overlap music to take you into the game...
It has been well established that this year's Twins are very streaky. They've currently won 2 games. Thus, they will win a minimum of 21 more in a row before losing.
Bailey Ober against Logan Gilbert
100 games into the season and I feel like the Twins have gotten all of the hard stuff out of the way - the injuries, the best teams, the long losing streaks, etc. I know that's not how it really works, but that's how it feels. These next 100 are going to be great.
We start with Joe Ryan against Mitch Keller.
"Hey, these are the jerks who eliminated us from the playoffs last year."
"Hey, yeah!"
"It is them!"
"I thought so!"
"Let's get 'em guys!"
And so they did.
Starting with Pablo Lopez finding his stuff against Ronel Blanco, who lost his.
Bailey Ober pitches for the Twins against Jose Urena.
Then the Wolves play. Go Minnesotas!
Good thing it's not the Yankees today. Inauspicious history of Twins/Yanks on this date...
Woods-Richardson against McKenzie.
Time to head back out on the road and continue the success they've been having lately. 15 out of 17!
Joe Ryan starts against Yusei Kikuchi.
As HJ pointed out in the Cup, this 10 game winning streak doesn't exactly make us feel like we're going to keep winning. I guess, in that regard, the test begins... now.
Tanner Houck, who has been very good, pitches for Boston. Chris Paddack who has been... present... pitches for the Twins.
Bailey Ober starts against Patrick Sandoval.
At 11-13, with injuries to many key players, and plenty of painful at-bats, this season has probably been a disappointment for most. But for the School of Athens (the Philosofer household) it really hasn't been so bad. Circumstance has us with a new, much larger TV, and somewhat frequent access to the games as the secondary household on a subscription. Add in the fact that Aquinas and Nietzsche both had their best years of baseball last year, and we've got some eager learners in the house. The girls are getting involved too, asking great questions as the games progress. And Philosofette is excited to actually start getting to put names with faces after too many years of not really knowing who the players are.
Throw in Cory Provus' narration and, well, this has been a great year so far. Lots of baseball to go, and hopefully they keep the streak going now that they're not playing the Sox!
