It's Jackie Robinson day. It took them too long to make it happen, but better late than never. The game was made infinitely better by Jackie, and the whole "everybody wears 42"thing is a great way to commemorate him.
The Twins sort of need another hot steak. I know it's asinine to complain about their record after last year, but they are 2-4 over their last six
Could there be a weather delay? The radar as of this writing looks like its possible.
The Twins are 6-3 and tied for first place! Adalberto Mejia starts for the locals. I saw him in spring training a few times (on FSN, not in Florida) he looked impressive, throwing strikes and working quick. His first regular season start was not as impressive only getting 5 outs. Maybe it was first start of the regular season jitters.
The Sox are 4-4 and in 3rd place. Dylan Covey start and it his major league debut.
I have been rewatching Star Trek Deep Space Nine and found my favorite Worf joke ever (Of course Worf was a character in Next Generation too) It happened in an episode where the crew plays a baseball game against the Vulcans in the Holosuite and its one of my favorite non serious episode of any Star Trek series. (Most Star Trek series are available to binge on Netflix)
Quick pinch-hit game log.
Twins' Lineup
2b - Dozier
DH - Grossman
1b - Mauer
3b - Sanó
RF - Kepler
SS - Polanco
C - Gimenez
LF - Rosario
CF - Buxton
P - Hughes
I didn't see anything, so here we go! DOZIER! WOO!
You know what's cooler than zero wins? Five wins. -- Kirby Puckett (unconfirmed).
Twins are 5-1 and everyone is relieved we may not have to go through the crap-fest that was the 2016 season. Of course the rain-on-the-paraders like to point out "it's only 3.7 percent of the season, that's like being in the third quarter of the first NFL game." Huh? Who cares? enjoy the fact we have some fun baseball being played. And stop talking about the NFL!
Hector Santiago and his cool 1.80 ERA takes on Matt Boyd and his not-so-cool 19.29 ERA. The Tigers are probably a .500 team this year but they did take down the Beantowners 3 out of 4 games of the weekend. Twins haven't done well in Detroit lately, so by late Thursday afternoon we should have some more answers about what kind of team we will have this year (or not, 9 games is like 6.5 minutes left to play in the first... oh for Christ sake)
Ervin Santana vs. Jose Quintana
The Twins started last year at 2-19 on the road before finally winning a road series in mid-May. Getting a win today to take the series would get this first road trip off to a good start and keep the momentum going after the Twins sustained their first loss yesterday.
This will be the third left-handed starter the Twins will face, which figures to be a year-long struggle for the Twins with 4 starting players left-handed. So far, the Twins are 2-0 vs. lefty starters, but that was largely because their own pitching and defense kept the game close until they could do a lot of their damage against the bullpen. So far, the Twins have actually been better vs. lefties (.770 OPS vs. .702 against righties), but that is largely skewed by the ineptitude of the left-handers in the Kansas City bullpen.
Quintana was the subject of numerous offseason trade rumors after the White Sox traded Chris Sale and Adam Eaton for prospects. Quintana struggled in his first start as his team's No. 1 starter, giving up 6 runs, including 3 home runs, to the Tigers on Opening Day. Santana is hoping to build on his great Opening Day performance of 1 run on 7 innings in a win over the Royals.
I know this might not be a popular opinion around here, but I'm willing to be a contrarian. This season has started better than 2016 did.
After a sweep of the Royals at home, the Twins head east to play the White Sox. The Sox got a new sponsor name for their stadium but I don't recall what it is so I will call it Comiskey Park.
The Sox had a rain out and sit at 1-1 on the season. Twins are tied for first with a 3-0 record.Phil Hughes toes the rubber for the visitors while newcomer Derek Holland starts for the Pale Hose.
Weather should not be a problem, with cloudy and cool tonight and a warmup in Chicago for the weekend.
Jason Hammel (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. Kyle Gibson (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
DAY GAME ALERT! (again)
Kyle Gibson takes the mound for the first time this year after a rough 2016. This will be an interesting start, though, as we'll get to see if playing four square during the offseason pays off. He's in the last year of his contract, so I hope for both his sake and the team's sake that it works. I have been cautiously optimistic heading into this year (because that's what baseball is all about, ammiright?) and the first couple games haven't done much to bring me back down from that. Of course, it's the pitching that is likely to crush our spirits.
I've been able to watch both games, which means I can give reasonably informed opinions backed up by eye-testy stuff. One of the things I've been most happy about in this SSST is Miguel Sano. Dude looks really good to start the year and I've been impressed by his patience. If it weren't for yesterday's wind he'd have a couple extra dingers.
It'd be really awesome to start the season off with a sweep of the Royals, so let's do that.
Starting the season with a win, as opposed to the recent standard "L" is so much fun, I was disappointed the Twins didn't play yesterday. Instead, I watched the Wild clinch home ice for the playoffs and the Timberwolves hang with the Warriors for about 2 quarters before the Splash Brothers blew the thing up.
So, with limited optimism for this season, and with the understanding that Spring Training results mean next-to-nothing, basically all I have to point to today will be historic results.*
The last time the Twins opened the season with a win, 2008, they proceeded to lose the next three games in a row. After 10 games, they were 5-5 and ended the season at 89-74, good for 2nd in the Central (losing Game 163 to Chicago ... booo!)
The last time they won multiple games out of the gate was a decade ago - 2007 - when they won 3, had a couple days off, lost a game and then basically traded wins & losses on their way to a 6-4 start. They went 79-83 and finished 3rd in the Central.
In 2010, the Twins lost their opener, and then pulled off 5 wins in a row, and 7 wins out of the first 10 games. They finished the season with 8 losses in the last 10 games. They still won the Central, but were swept by the Yankees in the LDS and have not returned the playoffs since.
Whatever - I certainly like the idea of a 2-0 start to an 0-2 start. Though I'd argue the Twins are pitching-poor if Hector Santiago is your #2 starter, I certainly wouldn't mind if he can get back to the 2015 version of himself (32 games started, 180.2 IP, 8.1 SO/9, 3.59 ERA, 105 ERA+, 1.256 WHIP).
The Royals counter with Ian Kennedy on the mound.
*Historic results also mean nothing ... but what else am I going to talk about?
