Twins head down to St. Pete to play the scorching hot Rays for a three game series. Rays by far have been the best team in MLB this year with a 43-19 record and only six losses at the horror dome known as The Trop. They are doing this with the 3rd lowest payroll, at $73.2 million, or roughly the cost of two Carlos Correas.
Louie Varland on for the Twins and he's showing signs that he can be a serviceable number 4 or 5 guy. Zach Eflin for the Rays and of course his 7-1 record is going to reflect how well the Rays are playing but his WHIP of 1.0 and nearly a strikeout an inning may play havoc with the assbats the Twins seem to be lugging from town to town these days.
First pitch at 5:40p
Game 6 and the Dodgers are on the doorstep.
Gonslin on the mound for the Dodgers and he's been fairly pedestrian during the playoffs so I think he may have a short leash, especially with Buehler slated for tomorrow they can probably dig deep into the bullpen if need be. Snell pitching for the Rays.
Been an entertaining series thus far so here's hoping for at least one more good game. First pitch at 7:08p. Apparently the roof will be closed. Not sure if they is an advantage for one team or not.
Here we go Rays v. Dodgers
Did you know the LDS playoffs can go more than 4 games? Huh. I guess there still is baseball in 2019. Chat here if you'd like.
In baseball, there are real-deals, wannabes, and has-beens. But some players fall into a different category, the what-could-have-beens. After nearly a year on the disabled list, Phil Hughes makes his return to a major league mound today. One can't help but wonder what his career would have been like had he not been plagued with injuries. When healthy, he's been very, very good, but his career feels like one long series of rude interruptions. 2014 was without a doubt his best year; he won 16 games with a 3.52 ERA and a thoroughly ridiculous 11.67 K/BB ratio while garnering seven Cy Young award votes. I'm too old and jaded to expect Hughes to return to his 2014 form, I don't think anyone does. But if he can stay healthy and throw 160 innings or so he can still be a significant rotation asset for this team. Tampa sends right-hander Yonny Chirinos to the hill, he's got an ERA of 2.70 and 15 strikeouts, but he got touched for five runs in his last outing after pitching 14.1 scoreless frames over his first three starts. Play ball!
Santana (2-4, 5.53 ERA, 4.99 xFIP) vs. Karns (7-5, 3.44 ERA, 3.81 xFIP)
Interestingly, Santana's ERA and K/9 are the same. He's also not pitched well since starting his season. It'd be nice of him to reverse that tonight.
The Twins face Karns who's having a pretty good year. Hopefully that means he's not a middling Jeremy who will dominate the lineup. That said, I fully expect Sano to punch a couple holes in the roof at the Trop tonight.
Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.
