San Diego Padres and their $250 million dollar payroll come into town for a rare series against the Twins. Even with elite hitters such as Manny Machado, Juan Soto, and Fernando Tatis, Jr., the Padres have been about as ass-batty as the Twins, with near league lows in average and runs scored.
Extremely tall Iowa native Michael Wacha on the mound for the Padres. He was very good last year for Red Sox against the Twins so we will see if that success continues. Louie Varland has pitched ok with no decisions since being called up so it would be nice to seem him get settled and pitch a good game.
Thing I Learned Today: Nelson Cruz plays for the Padres.
Game time 6:40 with decent temps and a slight chance for rain.
I'm starting to feel like May and June were just a mirage and even if this Twins team makes the playoffs it will just be setting up another one and done disappointment. But I'm gloomy and melancholy like that sometimes. I can't say I'm enthused to stay up late and watch a game that starts so close to bedtime, so I'll probably be skipping this one. I probably won't be alone.
With a 7-3 record and a 2.89 ERA and 73 strikeouts, young Joe Ryan takes the mound for the Twins tonight. He's opposed by southpaw Blake Snell (2-5, 4.75 ERA, 71 K). So there you go.
Nineteen games. Over 88 percent of the season is complete and the Twins still in the driver seat for a one game playoff against the Yankees. Since the Twins have hit this “easy” part of the schedule, they’ve kind of scuffled. Lose a couple here, win three in a row there. The other teams in wildcard contention are scuffling too and it seems that LAAAAAA is the only team really interested in playing the spoiler to what was considered unthinkable five months ago: The Twins could be a playoff team.
Two game series against the woeful San Diego Padres. Gibby on the mound and he’s been pretty decent of late, including a 3-0 record and a nice 1.69 ERA. Travis Wood on the mound for the Padres. He came over from the Royals so there is some familiarity there. Wood hasn’t had a lot of luck against the Twins so let’s hope this is the start of a nice winning streak. Game at 7:10p. Going to be gorgeous evening… just what you want in September: Meaningful baseball with fantastic weather in a beautiful ball park.
Yikes, what a difference a week makes. Last week we were basking in the glow of the Jaime Garcia trade, wondering who were we're going to give up to get Sonny Gray or Yu Darvish and putting money under the mattress for playoff tix. Today we sardonically smile at Garcia's Mooch-like tenure with the Twins and welcome the Dillon Gee era of Twins baseball.
But not all is lost. The Twins are playing in a beautiful city and a beautiful ballpark and Jose Berrios on the moun and Byron Buxton roaming centerfield. Let's go show those Padres that (Hamms) bears really are cool.
