Nothing fixes a reeling baseball team like a homestand against the 2018 Orioles and Royals as Twins look to add to their 5 game win streak. Aaron Slegers on the mound for the Twins after a nice outing last week. He also pitched decently six weeks ago against the Royals. Ian Kennedy pitching for KC and his 1-8 record reflects pitching for a team already 40 games (!) under .500 on July 10th.
First pitch at 7:10 at Target Field, weather should be nice and clear by that time too.
Sorry, gang, this last week has been kinda awful. Thankfully the bruises are finally fading.
Anyway, it's a Berríos night, so even though it's only the Royals, we've do have a chance to make an entirely undeserved five game win streak. Sweet!!
The Twins have a chance to pull off a rare 4-game sweep today (the last one I could find was August 2017 in Milwaukee). Yes, it's against the more-hapless-than-our-team Baltimore Orioles, but they don't judge by degree of difficulty in baseball, just runs scored. Jake Odorizzi is on the mound for the Twins, the Orioles feature Alex Cobb. If the Twins can cut their deficit in the division to single digits before the All-Star break, they might be able to make at least a little run to keep things interesting through the dog days. They get another series with KC after the break, then it's Blue Jays and Red Sox before going head-to-head with Cleveland. Hey, it's baseball. Weird stuff happens all the time.
Play ball!
Gibson looks to take advantage of the Fountain of Pitching Goodly that is the Baltimore lineup.
Hopefully, he successes!
I'm at the cabin, therefor the game log will be entirely unbaked.
Go Twins!
I've been dealing with flood issues so I havent been that in tune with the Twins for the last few weeks, but man, the O's are a bad team. I hope the Twins sweep them this weekend!
Home sweet home. The Twins, as badly as they've played lately, are still twelve games better than the Orioles. The Baltimores have the worst record in baseball, a half game worse than Kansas City. Clearly, that's no fun if you're an Orioles fan, and I really don't take much delight in seeing other teams struggle (the Yankees excepted). Still, it's nice to know that there are still a few teams worse than we are.
As bad as Baltimore is, their starting pitchers have not been uniformly terrible. Andrew Cashner, who starts tonight, was very good last year for Texas. This year he's 2-8, but his ERA is 4.48, which isn't awful. On the other hand, his WHIP is 1.57, which is pretty terrible. On the other hand, the Twins have found ways not to hit some terrible pitchers.
Aaron "Sluggo" Slegers gets the start tonight. He started really well in Rochester, but has not done as well lately. A 3.55 ERA with a 1.21 WHIP is still pretty good, though. Paul Molitor says he was called up for the start because "it was his turn", which doesn't exactly inspire confidence. The Orioles are next to last in scoring runs, so maybe Sluggo can treat them like Mr. Bill.* It's time to break this losing streak. Go Twins!
*Nothing like a forty-year-old pop culture reference to show how cool you are.
Maybe Berrios can stop the losing streak. Maybe the Twins will be inspired by Independence Day. Maybe I'm grasping at straws. Well, you've got to grasp at something. Go Twins!
First half of the season done and the Twins are um... on a 70-92 pace. Ugh. This first half has stunk, the Twins stink, injuries, suspensions, poor base running, bullpen disasters, walk off losses, disappointing performances by key players.... You name it, The Twins built this.
Jake Odorizzi against Junior Guerra today. Odorizzi righted his ship last start as he went 6 strong innings after a bunch of disastrous starts. Guerra is one of those decent guys that the Brewers typically toss out there.
3:10p game and its only broadcast on something called Facebook Live. Seems like a good place to have the game as only the olds are on Facebook these days. Also, Willians Astudillo playing second base today, so that's something. Wasn't he a catcher? At this rate he may take a 9th inning pitching spot before he sees time behind the plate.
Go Twins.
It's game eighty-one. After this one, the season will be half over. The Twins will be either eleven or nine games under .500, depending on how this one goes. Buxton is in AAA. Sano is in high-A. We have a catcher on our roster who's batting .132. Our big free-agent slugger is batting .192 with nine homers. Of the two starters we acquired, one has an ERA well over five and the other isn't too far under. Tonight, Jorge Polanco comes back. The Twins are acting as if he's some sort of savior, rather than a player with limited defensive skills who nearly lost his job a year ago.
But hey, we've got Willians Astudillo! And each day is a new day. And it's baseball, where even the worst team can beat the best team on a given day. Maybe we'll be given a good day today. It's Kyle Gibson against Brett Suter. Let's do this! Go Twins!
"We know we're better than this, but we can't prove it."
- Tony Gwynn
The Cubs send Jon Lester to the mound today. He's got a 2.18 ERA on the year (191 ERA+), and had a 1.13 ERA in June. His ERA at Wrigley is 1.25. His WHIP is 1.084. I guess what I'm saying is he doesn't allow a lot of run(s) or runner(s). Lester has 10 wins already and will likely contend for a Cy Young award. The Twins counter with Lance Lynn. He also has numbers associated with his pitching performance. They are not as good as Lester's and he will likely not contend for a Cy Young award. To my mind this season is still far from over and we have yet to stray into GOSO territory. But if you look real hard and squint your eyes a little, you can almost see it from here. Play ball!
