I mean, I hope this is happening.
Greinke vs. Gibson! This one is really testing me, as I want to see the game sevens in the hockey playoffs tonight, but the Twins have been rained out for days and it's a game with a rare opponent and a nice pitching matchup. We'll see, I guess.
At any rate, I'm having as much fun watching this team as I have in years. Patience! Runs! Who knew?
It's pouring here now, but if the game happens, it's Ace v. Ace (Verlander v. Gibson).
Hopefully the local nine can stick to the pattern they've developed over the course of this young season - win game three of the series. Other than against Oakland, Minnesota has taken Game 3 in every series they've played thus far.
Can I just state for the record how incredibly tired I am of the awful starting pitching? That's been covered? In depth? Good.
I probably won't see much of this one, because I'll be raking and planting grass in the front yard (had a sewer line put in last fall). I expect to come back and see that Hughes struck out 12 in 5 innings before giving up 4 home runs in the 6th. We'll still win, though, because the offense voted "least likely to amount to anything" has turned out to be chock full of overachievers.
Go Twins!
Also, it's time for "Twins on Leaderboards", because that's fun.
rWAR (position players) - Dozier, 8th (1.0)
rWAR (position players) - Plouffe, 9th (1.0)
Batting Average - Kubel, 10th (.319)
OBP - Plouffe, 8th (.412)
Plate Appearances - Dozier, 3rd (109)
Plate Appearances - Mauer, t-6th (107)
Runs - Dozier, 1st (23)
Runs - Mauer, t-2nd (19)
Runs - Plouffe, t-4th (18)
Hits - Colabello, t-6th (28)
Total Bases - Colabello, 10th (46)
Doubles - Plouffe, 1st (10)
Doubles - Colabello, t-2nd (9)
Triples - Fuld, t-1st (2)
Triples - Arcia, Florimon, Plouffe and Kubel t-10th (1)
Home Runs - Dozier, t-3rd (7)
RBI - Colabello, t-1st (27)
RBI - Suzuki, t-6th (19)
Walks - Dozier, 4th (17)
Walks - Pinto, 5th (16)
Walks - Mauer and Plouffe, t-6th (15)
Strikeouts - Mauer, t-7th (26)
Stolen Bases - Dozier, t-5th (6)
Stolen Bases - Florimon, t-9th (4)
Singles - Mauer, t-4th (22)
Extra Bases Hits - Plouffe and Colabello, t-6th (12)
Times on Base - Plouffe, t-3rd (42)
Times on Base - Mauer, t-6th (40)
Times on Base - Dozier, t-10th (38)
Times on Base - Plouffe, t-3rd (42)
Sacrifice Bunts - Florimon, t-3rd (2)
Sacrifice Flies - Suzuki, t-3rd (3)
Intentional Walks - Mauer, t-3rd (3)
Caught Stealing - Colabello, t-4th (2)
Power/Speed - Dozier, 1st (6.5)
AB per SO - Suzuki, 10th (9.8)
AB per HR - Dozier, 4th (12.9)
AB per HR - Pinto, 8th (14.5)
Outs Made - Dozier, 8th (72)
WPA - Colabello, 3rd (1.0)
Well, gee, that was pretty fun...
...now on to the painful side of things
Wins - Fien and Gibson, t-3rd (3)
W/L% - Fien, t-1st (1.000)
W/L% - Gibson, t-10th (.750)
Saves - Perkins, t-4th (5)
Games Started - Nolasco and Correia, t-1st (5)
Home Runs Allowed - Nolasco and Pelfrey, t-6th (5)
Walks - Pelfrey, t-5th (15)
Hits - Nolasco, 1st (43)
Hits - Correia, t-3rd (37)
Losses - Correia, t-3rd (3)
Earned Runs - Nolasco and Correia, t-2nd (22)
Wild Pitches - Gibson, t-2nd (3)
Games Finished - Perkins, t-4th (8)
Well, at least Fien is having fun vulturing some wins.
Rick Porcello
v
Kevin Correia
Since last week, the Twins were 3-3. If we assume they were a 70-win team before the season, then performing like that for the remaining 141 games means they're now instead a 72-win (okay, 71.9) team. A few more weeks of this and they will cease to be on pace for another 90-loss season.
I'd really like to head home with a series win here.
Continue reading 2014 Game 21: Minnesota Twins at Tampa Bay Rays
I'm posting this from work, so my usual deep, meaningful analysis will have to be eschewed.
Pelfrey vs. Odorizzi. If I were the pregame on-field reporter, I'd ask the opposing pitcher if his teammates make fun of him using "Over Easy" or if they just focus on the fact that "Odor" is in it. These are the things that keep me up at night.
Gibson (3-0, 0.93) vs. Price (2-1, 4.39)
I think its safe to call Gibson the ace of this "staff" at the 11% point of the season after three good outings, with that last one being pretty stupendous. It may have been somewhat smoke and mirrors, since he's not striking out a whole lot of guys at 4.7/9, so hopefully we aren't looking at a Blackburn type of situation. I don't think that is the case, but I'm not the most optimistic of sports fans. I mentioned it last night in the CoC, but if Gibson can keep this going the starters for next year might be halfway competent, which would be nice.
His poor opponent is David Price, who recently got knocked around by the punchless Yankees, who are just 22nd in runs scored, but, like, top 5 in dollars per run scored (possibly as high as #2 behind the Dodgers). He's striking a bunch of guys out, though, and has had a couple good outings with a couple bad outings. Hopefully today is one of the bad outings.
On an unrelated topic, I used a new hoppinh technique on Saturday that was kind of fun called first wort hopping. Making an IPA, I took the hops I was going to use near the end of the boil (where flavor/aroma hops are added) and put them in the kettle during the sparge before the boil. This is said to increase the utilization of the flavor/aroma acids in the hops. It simplified things, for sure, and I'm excited to see how it turns out.
Since leaving Minnesota last week, having been swept out of town by the Twins, the Royals have a 5-game winning streak they hope to push to six by returning the favor and finishing a 3-game sweep of the Twins. We hope not, but it will depend on pitching.
Yordano Ventura, a 22-year-old righty out of Samana, Samana, Dominican Republic, gets the start for Kansas City. Don't be surprised to see three digits on the radar gun today - Mr. Ventura touched 102 mph last year. In 5 starts between this year and last, he's posted a 2.22 ERA/4.16 FIP/.988 WHIP with 2.9 BB/9 and 9 SO/9.
Facing Ventura will be 27-year-old Phil Hughes, a righty out of Mission Viejo, CA, USA. Signed to a 3 year/$24 million dollar contract last offseason, Mr. Hughes is currently 0-1 through 3 starts with a 7.20 ERA/3.75 FIP/1.667 WHIP with 3.0 BB/9 and 10.2 SO/9. In 30 starts last year, he went 4-14 in 30 starts with a 5.19 ERA/4.50 FIP/1.455 WHIP with 2.6 BB/9 and 7.5 SO/9.
And apparently, Joe Mauer is very good at bunting too, but people still hate him.
Lineups:
1. B. Dozier, 2B
2. J. Mauer, 1B
3. T. Plouffe, 3B
4. C. Colabello, RF
5. J. Kubel, LF
6. J. Pinto, DH
7. K. Suzuki, C
8. A. Hicks, CF
9. E. Escobar, SS
1. N. Aoki, RF
2. O. Infante, 2B
3. E. Hosmer, 1B
4. S. Perez, C
5. A. Gordon, LF
6. B. Butler, DH
7. M. Moustakas, 3B
8. J. Maxwell, CF
9. A. Escobar, SS
Twins have Correia.
Royals have Chen.
My father-in-law's computer has a virus.
Go Twins.
Ricky Nolasco
v
Jason Vargas
Since Nolasco did so well last time against the Royals, the schedule makers kindly arranged for him to face the Royals again. The Royals are coming off a sweep of the Astros, but anyone could do that (except the Yankees).
BR's SRS score has the Twins tops in the division with a 0.6. I'm sure it will improve greatly after the 149-game win streak finishes.
