Twins on a four game winning streak. Only 1.5 games behind the Clevelanders. Byron Buxton should be ready to play this week. All looking rosy for the Twins after a dreadful late April. Could be a nice pitcher's duel today with Jake Odorizzi up against Carlos Martinez, who's been pretty dang good this year. Perfect St. Louis weather for an afternoon game. If I worked in downtown St. Louis, probably a great day to play hooky and head over to the ballpark.
12:10p Start.
Kyle Gibson as losing streak stopper ... What could go wrong?
Its always nice to host the White Sox after a disastrous home series against a good team. Hopefully they can complete the sweep this afternoon because they head to Cleveland tomorrow with Boston right after that. It could get ugly, folks. The White Sox are pretty crappy, so they should have no problem today.
Jose Quintana (3-8, 5.07 ERA, 4.35 FIP) vs. Nik Turley (0-1, 12.46 ERA, 4.75 FIP).
Oh. Crap.
On the bright side, Turley's FIP is waaaaaaaay lower than his ERA, so maybe he's just been really unlucky in his first two starts? (also small sampe size). I'm not confident in that, so I'll go ahead and predict its going to require a good deal of runs today. Fortunately, Quintana hasn't been particularly good this year either. If you like good pitching, might want to cover your eyes for this one.
After their third loss in a row, the Twins are still (technically) atop the AL Central.
Hopefully, they can avoid a sweep here against the best team in baseball. It could happen.
DAY GAME ALERT!
Jharel Cotton (2-3, 5.00 ERA, 3.56 FIP) vs. Kyle Gibson (0-3, 8.06 ERA, 6.99 FIP)
The FIRST PLACE Minnesota Twins finish up the series against the A's at noon today. Quite a difference a year makes as the Twins were a depressing 7-18 at this point last year and, uhhh, it wouldn't get any better from there. It was starting to look like things were headed to 2016 there for awhile, but there's apparently nothing like the AL west (and the Royals) to help turn things back around. Even better, after the first two games of this series, the Twins are back to .500 at home.
Unfortunately, however, Kyle Gibson takes the mound today. I'm on record as preferring he lose his spot in the rotation to Berrios and be given a comfy seat in the bullpen. There's just something about the way he pitches that bugs me and the bad results certainly make that irritation seem much worse. Also, Berrios.
I don't know anything about Jharel Cotton, probably because he's only had 10 starts for the perennially irrelevant A's. It looks like he's struggling with command this year, walking 4 per nine. That should bode well for the Twins who've, from the eye test at least (too lazy to look it up), are showing a rather patient approach these days.
DAY GAME ALERT!
From hell's heart, we stab at winter: Baseball is back! The Twins open the year in Balmore, or at least they'll try to. Rain is threatening throughout the afternoon, so we'll see when/if the game starts. We've been waiting so long though that a little more waiting shouldn't hurt, right? Yeah, me neither...
Here are two teams on the bubble, with both expecting big things this year. And judging by the poll in today's CoC, everyone is full of optimism!!!!11 Let's start things off on the right foot, eh? Here's hoping the first the inevitable 162 game win streak is an entertaining one!
Continue reading 2016 Game 1: Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles – Opening Day Edition
DAY GAME ALERT!
Good evening gentle ladies and sirs, and welcome to the Queen City, the pride of Ontario, Toronto the Good. After stumbling through 3-6 homestand, the Twins visit O, Canada for the first time since June of last year.
Minnesota's been historically lousy in Toronto, but they've played well against the AL East this year. As the Twins are only one game up on the Jays for the 2nd WC spots, this series has some significance. Taking the mound tonight will be the PEDestroyer, Ervin Santana, trying to bounce back from his first loss of the season. Facing off will be some schmo named David Price, who will be making his debut in the Blue Jays uniform. So, you know, no real point in the watching this game.
Continue reading 2015 Game 105: Minnesota Twins vs. Toronto Blue Jays
You guys know it's a day game, right? Go Twins!
Oy. If I didn't have the Hope Springs Eternal optimism of some of the other Citizens to buoy my spirits somewhat, I'd certainly have sunk into a deep despondency long ago. That said: Oy.
The hometown nine have managed a single win during this homestand after suffering their 10th (!) shutout of the season, and are in the midst of some ridiculous number of consecutive scoreless innings. But really, when you think about, there's... um, if you-- well, erm. Yeah.
A lot of Citizens in attendance today, so let's try not to harsh their mellows, eh? To do so, the Twins send Staff Ace Phil Hughes™ to the mound. However, the Wahoos counter with Kluber, who's been none too shabby himself. If you like low scoring affairs, good thing you're a Twins fan this has the makings of a duel.
Oh yeah, and no TV today.
Continue reading 2014 Game 126: Cleveland Indians vs. Minnesota Twins – DAY GAME ALERT
The Twins hope to keep their home winning ways intact (relatively to their recent sojourns) in this rubber match against the Royals. A series win would certainly be a nice boost as they prepared to host the Yankees for a 4 game affair. Oh yeah, and:
DAY GAME ALERT
Continue reading 2014 Game 83: Kansas City Royals vs. Minnesota Twins
