I mean, a sweep is a sweep, but it wasn't pretty. Especially against one of the historically worse teams ever, but who cares! I'll take it. This next series will be a bigger challenge though.
The M's, like the T's, have good pitching and bad batting. They're at .500 (though have only played 92 games) and they are a +31 to the Twins' +32. Gilbert is having a decent year so far, which isn't good news for the hitting staff.
Fingers crossed, friends!
Morning Baseball for the second Sunday in a row!
Sonny Gray for the Twins.
Sonny Gray
vs
Spencer Strider
The Twins have by far the most strikeouts of any team. Atlanta ranks second in strikeouts per nine (9.64 K/9), a tiny bit ahead of the Marlins (9.57) and Twins (9.56). Out of all qualified pitchers, Strider ranks first in strikeout percentage (39.0%). Pablo López is a distant fifth at merely 30.1%. Joe Ryan is twelfth at 27.4%. If you go by K/9, Strider is at 14.5. There is no one in the 13s or 12s. Ohtani leads the way in the 11s at 11.8. Strider strikes out a ton of batters. Today is a good day for the Twins to shorten up those swings.
Garrett Whitlock
vs
Sonny Gray
The Twins have really optimized this team. Rather than waiting until September to play poorly, they now moved it up to June. The starters were second in ERA in the AL for April and fourth in May. So far in June, they are 13th. The relievers have been slightly more consistent, moving from eleventh to seventh to ninth. Scoring has gone from sixth to eleventh for May and June. It's not good.
Hungry Joe is unavailable so I'm pinch hitting today. I can't say I've been happy with the quality of ball and strike calling over the past couple of weeks, but you really can't blame the Twins' chronic ass-bats on the umps. At the games on Friday and Saturday, I counted 7 Blue Jays in the lineup hitting above .250. The Twins had just two. They had two hitters above .300, we had none. And it's not just low overall averages, it's the complete dearth of clutch hits. Rather than cheer when we load the bases with no outs, I cringe at the prospect of underperforming run expectancy yet again. Combine the ass-bats with some sloppy defense and it gets hard to win games, even when the rotation is killing it and the bullpen is showing surprising signs of adequacy.
Speaking of that rotation, Twins ace Sonny Gray takes the mound today for the home team. He's got a 1.82 ERA (236 ERA+), a 2.02 FIP, and a 1.196 WHIP. He's given up zero home runs while notching 66 strikeouts in 54 innings pitched. No pitcher on the team has done more to help win games this year than Sonny. The Astros counter with J.P. France. He's got a 3.43 ERA in four starts with a 1.19 WHIP. Hope everyone is having a pleasant Memorial Day.
Play ball!
Sonny Gray
vs
Dustin May
West Coast day game!
That battle of the 'ays today and final game against the Dodgers this season. It's been a competitive series so far, at least per the results for someone not willing to stay up past midnight on the opposite coast.
That figures to continue with Gray pitching today. He's been absolutely excellent this year. His May hasn't been as strong but now is a good time to improve his May stats versus a May.
A week ago, I said that playing the Royals, Sox, and Clevelanders at 7-3 would be a disappointment. They lost that game, then infuriatingly lost two against Chicago. So...now 7-3 is the best they can hope for.
Luckily, Sonny Gray is on the mound today, and he doesn't believe on site things like occasionally giving up runs. Of course, with the way our non-Buxton offense has been going, there might be a surfeit of runs, in general. Let's hope for another 2-0 game in our favor.
The Twins are 5-5 in their last 10 games and 10-10 in their last 20. That pace is, of course, enough for them to pull away from the rest of the AL Central as no one else has more than 8 wins in their last 20 games. If they win today, this April will be one of only two 17+ win months we've seen from this team in the last 3+ seasons.
Feasting on the bottom of this division seems like a very solid and doable plan. So far, so good. Minnesota is 5-1 against the Royals, with the only loss coming because they didn't like nibbish's game log yesterday.
Hopefully this game log is more palatable. Sonny Gray goes against Brady Singer. One of these pitchers has an ERA that is 10 times larger than the other.
Sorry, gang, still finishing up my trip so I don't have a lot to say here. Brito's a young pup. May our assbats be fleeting.
Lucas Giolito
vs
Sonny Gray
Rubber match and final game of this homestand.
Giolito was very good in 2021 and not good at all in 2022. So far after two starts, it's been more 2022 than 2021. He's averaged almost two his per inning.
Still no Correa and still Buxton not in the field. Julien makes his MLB debut. He's been great in his nine games with the Saints so far.
Lineup:
Solano, 1B
Buxton, DH
Miranda, 3B
Gordon, LF
Jeffers, C
Larnach, RF
Farmer, SS
Julien, 2B
Taylor, CF
