Are we still doing game logs? I'll keep doing my Tuesday until instructed to stop.
Twins pull into Phoenix tonight against the defending NL Champion Arizona Diamondbacks. D-backs a bit disappointing this year, although they are still viable for a Wildcard spot. Twins need to keep with their winning ways if they want to keep pace for the Guardians so should be a fun series. Well except for the excessive heat that is as it is slated to be 105 at first pitch today and 110 on Wednesday and Thursday. Fun! (yes I know they play indoors).
Joe Ryan on the mound and looking to build on a decent season. Brandon Pfaandt on for the Arizona and he's been middling so hopefully Twins literal hot bats will translate into hit.
Twins best starter by ERA and innings pitched looks to continue the winning streak. The Twins lead the Royals by a single game and since they now get to play the A's, the Twins need to keep racking up wins against the middling opponents too.
Tampa Bay Rays come into town and for once are just kind of scuffling along at 4 games under .500. With Yankees and Orioles having monster seasons and the rest of that division pretty competitive, probably no playoffs in sight. Will be interesting to see what the Rays do at the trade deadline (#evergreen). Twins on one of their upswings but this one finally has helped them make inroads within the division as they are only 0.5 game behind the Royals and 5.5 behind Guardians.
Aaron Civale for the Rays, and while a one strike out per inning guy, he's been fairly mediocre this year. Basically he's been a 5-inning, 6-hit guy all season and the Rays have lost the last five games he has started. Pablo Lopez for the Twins and I think mid-June is a good time to start that typical second hand Pablo Lopez surge.
As of 8:15 this morning, not sure if this game gets in as the forecast is for thunderstorms starting right around 5:00p.
The Twins' homestand continues tonight as they kick off a four-game series with the 26-and-44 Athletics. We currently stand eight games back of Cleveland and three behind Kansas City and just three games ahead of the Tigers. It doesn't sit well to be the third-place team in what is widely considered a weak division, but here we are. If we want to gain ground we have to win these games and series against weaker teams, because we sure seem to crumble against the good ones. So maybe that's what we are this year, a little less mediocre than Detroit but a lot better than the White Sox. And friends, that is not an enviable position.
Joe Ryan gets the mound to start for the Twins. His 3.30 ERA, 85 strikeouts and 0.97 WHIP over 13 starts are better than his 4-5 record would indicate, but run support has been scant when the ass bats show up. Luis Medina gets the call tonight for the A's in just the third start of the year for the 25-year old righthander. His short sample size ERA is 5.23 and he's struck out 7 batters over 10 innings. Who know what he'll do tonight.
I don't think I've heard of Austin Gomber before. This being his fourth season in Colorado along with his 98 ERA+ mostly explains that. His best season by ERA so far but not by FIP. Nothing that remarkable about him but he is a lefty and an unheralded draft pick from the fourth round in 2014. He could be this generation's Jeremy.
Twins back on their upswing in a up and down season. Hosting the 20 games under .500 Colorado Rockies certainly helps. Cal Quintrill pitching for the Rox and after a pretty good 2022 season for the Guardians, looks like he's at the journeyman stage of his career. Hopefully Twins batters can feast.
Louie Varland back up for the Twins to give the starters a break in A 13-game streak. Varland didn't really do much in St. Paul to convince anyone he's figured it out, but who knows, maybe the deli spread in a MLB clubhouse will be all the motivation he needs.
Looks like the weather should clear by this evening so should be a nice game for baseball.
West Coast road trip! It's Paddack against H-Dak. Neither pitcher has been particularly good of late, so that and the ballpark might make the ball a bit more lively. You know, provided the batters can get their bats on it.
Twins are good against bad teams (usually), so hopefully they have a few more wins on this side of the Mississippi.
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.
The bad news is we have to play one more series with New York. The good news is it's the Mets, not the Yankees. I think I can say without much argument that among all our rivals the Yankees are the the one true nemesis of the Twins, the Cobra Kai to our Danny LaRusso. In ancient Greek mythology, Nemesis was the dispenser of misfortune to those mortals displaying hubris. It was Nemesis who lured Narcissus to the pond where he fell in love with his own reflection, wasted away and died. How ironic that the team with the most hubris ever should be the nemesis of our humble Twins.
It's Pablo day in the Bronx. Lopez is 5-5 thanks to some spotty run support this year. His ERA sits at 4.84 thanks to a few outings that snowballed, but he does have 75 strikeouts on the ledger. The Yankees will send Marcus Stroman to the mound to start the game. He's a Yankee so screw him and the stats he rode in on. Stats are meaningless when the mere sight of pinstripes turns your team into a quivering mass of fetid failure. Unless, of course, you're measuring the depths of despair.
This is our last chance to beat the Yankees this season. It could definitely happen and I have a feeling tonight's the night, you just have to be believe. And if you really and truly believe that, you might be interested in a very good deal on one of the many fine bridges connecting the five boroughs.
