Marcus Stroman
vs
Pablo López
López takes the mound to cleanse the palate of last night's Minnesota sports.
Opposite him is Stroman with an average ERA this season but a well below average FIP. He both walks too many and gives up too many home runs. Maybe the Twins can get a few of those in the right order and manage more than a single home run.
Logan Gilbert
vs
Pablo López
Game in progress with the Twins up 5-0 early.
Pablo López
vs
Albert Suárez
Another day game alert!
Plus from the last two games: scored seven runs. Not great but not bad and not shutout.
Minuses: everything else.
Pablo López
vs
Cole Ragans
Opening Day Lineup:
Buxton CF
Jeffers C
Lewis 3B
Correa SS
Santana 1B
Kepler RF
Farmer 2B
Castro LF
Margot DH
It's Opening Day. This winter may not have been too active but it was less dark than many previous offseasons of postseason failure. Buxton mans center, Lewis and Correa are on the left side of the infield, and a great pitcher opens the season for the Twins. Here's to the first win of 162.
Ed Willett (1884)
Dave Danforth (1890)
Andy Porter (1911)
Andy Phillip (1922)
Bobo Holloman (1923)
Red Wilson (1929)
Galen Cisco (1936)
Jimmie Hall (1938)
J. R. Richard (1950)
Jeff Burroughs (1951)
Albert Hall (1958)
Joe Carter (1960)
Jose Cano (1962)
German Gonzalez (1962)
Mauro Gozzo (1966)
Jeff Kent (1968)
Tyler Ladendorf (1988)
Justin Topa (1991)
Pablo Lopez (1996)
Michael Harris (2001)
A member of the basketball Hall of Fame, Andy Phillip played minor league baseball in 1947, 1949, and 1952, batting .281 in 123 games.
Bobo Holloman is sometimes referred to as the worst pitcher ever to throw a major league no-hitter.
The father of Robinson Cano, Jose Cano appeared in six games for Houston in 1989.
Two members of the all-Jeff team were born on this day.
We would also like to wish a happy birthday to strategery's son.
I may have had my fill of Minnesota sports this weekend, but once more into the breach, I guess.
Joey Estes
vs
Pablo López
Estes made his MLB debut last week against Seattle. He gave up six runs, five earned, over his 4 ⅔ innings. His MiLB is decent but not great. He's still young as his 22nd birthday happens during this year's Division Series.
The Twins are now 11 wins over .500. Their preseason projections had them barely winning the division at 83 wins. They now predict three additional wins over the final five games to get them to 87 wins. They've finished with 87 wins once as the Twins in 2009 and once as the Senators in 1945. The Tigers finished ahead of them by one win in 1945 but they also played three fewer games. The Senators managed two ties in their 156 games.
López ranks well on several AL leaderboards. He's second in strikeouts; ten more puts him in front if Gausman does not make another start. He's tenth in ERA at 3.61; another solid start would put him ahead of Berríos at ninth with 3.58. Seven shutout innings would put him above Eflin's 3.50 (six scoreless might at 3.4957). His FIP ranks slightly better at sixth with 3.60. Another win puts him at 12 for the season and in a many-way tie for seventh. He's eighth in WHIP, right ahead of Gray. Breaking that apart so he's tenth in the H part and fifth in the W part. K/9 he's third and a high strikeout game might put him second. Fifth in innings pitched, two ahead of Kyle Gibson. Finally, his rWAR is tied with rookie Tanner Bibee for seventh at 3.6 WAR. It's been a great season and he will get first crack at earning a postseason win.
Game in progress. Try to spot Twayn behind home plate.
Tylor Megill
vs
Pablo López
Sorry, busy today, gang. Here's a game log. Our old friend Giolito is back. Enjoy the holiday!
So, Gleeman has probably been the most vocal among the chattering class when it comes to the Twins failing to beef up the bullpen at the trade deadline. That decision to stand pat on the bullpen is looking worse in the rearview mirror all the time. The only pitcher we got was Floro, and we've seen how much help he's been. And can we talk about Carlos Correa? I've reached a point where I dread seeing him come to bat with runners on base because I just can't bear to watch him get paid another $58,000 to ground into another rally-killing double play. Honestly, I've secretly started hoping he'll just strike out in those situations instead.
Pablo Lopez is back on the mound for the Twins today. As frustrating as the bullpen has been lately, the rotation is turning in one solid performance after another (with the occasional outlier). Pablo's got a 9-6 record, a 3.51 ERA, and 187 strikeouts on the season. The Rangers counter with southpaw Andrew Heaney, and we all know about our struggles with lefthanders. He's also 9-6 with a 4.27 ERA and 122 strikeouts. Hopefully the boys are all rehydrated and ready to go after yesterday's matinee in the sauna.
Play ball!
