Jelly Gardner (1895)
Whit Wyatt (1907)
Dick Hall (1930)
Dave Wickersham (1935)
Gary Sutherland (1944)
Mike Schmidt (1949)
Bob Veselic (1955)
Don Schulze (1962)
Todd Blyleven (1972)
Vicente Padilla (1977)
Jon Rauch (1978)
Jon Garland (1979)
Matt Shoemaker (1986)
Simeon Woods Richardson (2000)
Todd Blyleven is, as you probably know, the son of Bert Blyleven. He pitched in the minor leagues for seven years, getting as high as AA, then was a scout for eight years.
Jelly Gardner (1895)
Whit Wyatt (1907)
Dick Hall (1930)
Dave Wickersham (1935)
Gary Sutherland (1944)
Mike Schmidt (1949)
Bob Veselic (1955)
Don Schulze (1962)
Todd Blyleven (1972)
Vicente Padilla (1977)
Jon Rauch (1978)
Jon Garland (1979)
Matt Shoemaker (1986)
Simeon Woods Richardson (2000)
Todd Blyleven is, as you probably know, the son of Bert Blyleven. He pitched in the minor leagues for seven years, getting as high as AA, then was a scout for eight years.
Whit Wyatt (1907)
Dick Hall (1930)
Dave Wickersham (1935)
Gary Sutherland (1944)
Mike Schmidt (1949)
Bob Veselic (1955)
Don Schulze (1962)
Todd Blyleven (1972)
Vicente Padilla (1977)
Jon Rauch (1978)
Jon Garland (1979)
Matt Shoemaker (1986)
Todd Blyleven is, as you probably know, the son of Bert Blyleven. He pitched in the minor leagues for seven years, getting as high as AA, then was a scout for eight years.
Whit Wyatt (1907)
Dick Hall (1930)
Dave Wickersham (1935)
Gary Sutherland (1944)
Mike Schmidt (1949)
Bob Veselic (1955)
Don Schulze (1962)
Todd Blyleven (1972)
Vicente Padilla (1977)
Jon Rauch (1978)
Jon Garland (1979)
Matt Shoemaker (1986)
Todd Blyleven is, as you probably know, the son of Bert Blyleven. He pitched in the minor leagues for seven years, getting as high as AA, then was a scout for eight years.
Brad Keller v. Matt Shoemaker
The Twins started the month of May by scoring 7 runs in one inning against Keller. It's only right that they finish the month the same way.
In writing out the starting pitcher matchup, I can't help but notice that Matt Shoemaker is still in the rotation. Three of his last four stats have been good, and as long as the ball stays in the yard, he's finding a little success.
Yet another Sunday rubber match for the Twins. I'm pretty sure every Sunday game this season has come with the Twins having split the two games before them. So far Minnesota is 3-3 on Sundays, so the weekends have been pretty much a wash.
In my CoC post today I joked that Baltimore was hanging out in the basement with us, but I hadn't realized they were coming to town. As mentioned, we've got the two worst teams in baseball here, so I'm sure it will be a riveting game. The Battle for the Basement!
Matty Shoes is coming off one of his better starts of the year against the White Sox, though that's a bit of a low bar. He's had success against the Birds in his career (again, low bar), so hopefully he turns in a solid performance. John Means is actually leading the AL with a 1.70 ERA, so everyone might want to prepare for Assbats™.
Wins are good. Maybe the Twins can get another today?
Lucas Giolito
vs
Matt Shoemaker
Well, can't lose tomorrow at least.
The Twins are 25% done with the season. FanGraphs has the Twins at 79 wins now, down nine wins from the preseason. I suspect the gap will increase by the All-Star break.
Crudely projecting out existing stats to 162 games gives us:
Record: 57 - 105
Runs scored: 745
Runs allowed: 871
Pythag prediction: 69 - 93
Lineup:
Arraez - 2B
Polanco - SS
Cruz - DH
Kepler - CF
Sanó - 1B
Larnach - LF
Astudillo - 3B
Garlick - RF
Rortvedt - C
Things are going well! Playoff spot has been clinched with plenty of season left, now it's time to get everyone in line for the postseason and ....
Hang on. I've got the wrong Minnesota team here.
(shuffles notes)
Ah! Here we are.
Everything is terrible! They'll never make the playoffs and there's not nearly enough season left for them to turn it around and play better.
Matt Shoemaker v. Wil Crowe
Winning this series against the Pirates would be a good place to start. To do that the Twins look to Matt Shoemaker, who has been bit by the home run early in this season. Every run he has allowed so far has come from a home run, including a 3-run homer off Alcala that scored the two runners that were bequeathed by Shoemaker in his last start in Oakland.
5 home runs in 14.1 IP isn't really a recipe for success, but he's only allowed one other extra base hit. So keeping the Pirates in the yard will maybe be an indicator of how this start goes.
Wil Crowe goes for Pittsburgh. This will be the 5th appearance in his career (4th start). He's pitched 9 innings in the majors and allowed 5 home runs and walked 10 hitters. In his lone appearance this year, he faced 5 batters. Two strikeouts, a single, two walks and two wild pitches.
Fangraphs says the following about Crowe:
[Crowe] works with below-average velo, he’s a below-average athlete, he’s had health issues ... and has now struggled during his first big league trial, at age 25/26. I wonder if his fastball will gain a few tick in relief, and I think it needs to based on how loose his location of it was in 2020.
Hopefully, the Twins can feast on Crowe. And if they don't I guess I'll be ... eating ... crow?
(That was bad. I feel bad about that)
Matt Shoemaker v. Chris Flexen
All three series the Twins have played have split the first two games. They've managed to win the rubber game in the first two series, and turn to Shoemaker to try to keep that pattern going.
Last time out, Shoemaker got quite a bit of run support, and only allowed 3 hits over 6 innings, so I say let's do all of that again and see how it goes.
Flexen is the first right-handed starting pitcher the Twins have seen this series. So far (in ~200 PA) the Twins are a little less successful at the plate against righties (.242/.333/.453) but an .786 OPS certainly isn't a bad thing, just less than their .854 OPS against lefties (~100 PA).
Further reading?
I thought this story about scouting during COVID and Flexen's journey from the KBO back to the major leagues was pretty interesting.
Well, the Twins basically got the series sweep, if not technically (I forget what happened at the end of that first game). I'd call it a decent start to the year.
They hop over Lake Michigan for a three game set with Tigers, all DAY GAME ALERTs. Looks like we'll be spending our lunch breaks with the Twins this week.
A lot of familiar faces in the other dugout this series, including Akil Baddoo who cranked a donger on the first major league pitch he saw. I have a feeling he won't be offered back to the Twins this year...
Shoemaker makes his Twins debut facing off against Jose Urena in a battle of the righties. Nelson Cruz also debuts in his natural position, so hopefully the Boomstick can start to get into a groove. It's a nice, warm day to enjoy some afternoon baseball.
