Well, wasn't that something? I turned off the game in the 7th, because my wife wanted to watch a movie (The new Bourne movie, or, as I like to call it, Very Serious People Walking Quickly), so.... yeah.
I won't be missing today's game, though, because I'm stuck at work on this beautiful day, and I brought my walkman. So I imagine I'll get to finally hear a little bit about this kerfuffle between Boston and Baltimore that no one seems to want to have an opinion about.
It's Jackie Robinson day. It took them too long to make it happen, but better late than never. The game was made infinitely better by Jackie, and the whole "everybody wears 42"thing is a great way to commemorate him.
The Twins sort of need another hot steak. I know it's asinine to complain about their record after last year, but they are 2-4 over their last six
I know this might not be a popular opinion around here, but I'm willing to be a contrarian. This season has started better than 2016 did.
I like old ballparks. I mean, I like unique ballparks in general, but the crazy angles and quirks of Fenway make it look like something out of a different era. This is not a major league ballpark, it's a relic, and that's kind of awesome. Target Field and Petco and the post-Camden parks are great places to catch a ballgame, but there's something pretty cool about Fenway.
Nolasco vs. Price doesn't seem like a particularly good matchup for Twins fans, but who knows? Price doesn't throw a knuckleball, and Nolasco might let them hit it into the hands of our defense...but he might win anyway!
Twins on Leaderboards
Batting
Triples - Buxton - t-7th (4)
Walks - Mauer - t-3rd (54)*
Strikeouts - Sano - t-9th (94)
Stolen Bases - Núñez - 3rd (23)
Singles - Núñez - t-6th (77)
Hit By Pitch - Dozier - t-7th (7)
Sacrifice Bunts - Buxton - t-10th (3)
Sac Flies - Núñez - t-5th (5)
Sac Flies - Dozier - t-8th (4)
Intentional Walks - Mauer - t-3rd (8)
Caught Stealing - Santana - 1st (8)*
Caught Stealing - Núñez - t-4th (6)
Steal Success % - Núñez - 10th (79.31%)
Power/Speed - Núñez - 5th (15.8)
Pitching
BB/9 - Nolasco - 7th (1.962)
Games Pitched - Pressley - t-2nd (47)
Complete Games - Santana & Hughes - t-4th (1)
Shutouts - Santana - t-2nd (1)
Hits Allowed - Nolasco - 5th (130)
Earned Runs Allowed - Nolasco - 6th (64)
Wild Pitches - May - t-3rd (8)*
Winning streak!
We might not get a whole lot of these this season, so it's worth getting excited over them, no matter how seemingly insignificant.
You know what would go nice with that winning streak? A long winning streak.
Hughes tries to make that happen tonight. Wade Miley tries to stop him, but other than having a pretty full beard in his bbref photo, I'm not convinced. The Twins weren't supposed to win last night, and they dominated, surely they can take on Grizzly Adams and his 4.51 FIP, right?
Twins on Leaderboards
On Base Percentage - Mauer - 10th (.389)
Base on Balls - Mauer - t-3rd (29)
Base on Balls - Sano - t-6th(26)
Strikeouts - Sano - t-2nd (67)
Stolen Bases - Santana - t-4th (10)
Stolen Bases - Nunez - t-9th (8)
Hit By Pitch - Park - t-5th (5)
Hit By Pitch - Núñez - t-10th (3)
Hit By Pitch - Dozier - t-10th (3)
Sacrifice Hits - Murphy - t-6th (2)
Sacrifice Hits - Rosario - t-6th (2)
Intentional Walks - Mauer - t-3rd (5)
Caught Stealing - Santana - t-3rd (5)
AB per HR - Park - 8th (15.2)
BB/9 - Hughes - 7th (1.664)
BB/9 - Nolasco - 10th (1.904)
Games Pitched - Pressly - t-3rd (24)
Games Pitched - May - t-7th (23)
Complete Games - Hughes - t3rd (1)
K/BB - Nolasco - 10th (4.182)
Losses - Hughes - 1st (7)
Earned Runs - Nolasco - t-8th (32)
Wild Pitches - May - t-2nd (6)
Well, that was a fun week...
The 1-4 record (in which our opponents outscored us by 17 runs) was bad enough, but between Pohlad's comments ('don't blame us! blame this ragtag crew we've assembled!') and the rampant shuffling of deck chairs, it would be easy to lose faith.
That's not what we're going to do, though. The team is on pace for 117 losses, but I don't think this is one of the worst teams in modern baseball history, so pretty soon, we'll see #itshappening everywhere, and we will have to remind ourselves that no... it's not happening yet. Soon, though. Probably. I'm sure there will be a winning streak around the bend somewhere.
It probably won't start today, though.
If you ignore the crazy awful 0-9 start, the Twins are a .500 team. That seems about right. It's disappointing to be staring at a 7-16 team, but I would guess that it'll even out quite a bit over the course of the season.
Also, the Twins might be getting below average production from almost every spot in their lineup, but one position hasn't been a problem...
| Rk | 1B |
|---|---|
| 1 |
MIN
0.5
|
JMIVGABB, indeed. He's gotten on base in every game so far, and has gotten on base twice in 14 of them.
Today, Tyler Duffey will try to provide some stability in what has suddenly become a topsy turvy rotation. Remember when everyone was wondering where Duffey and Berrios were going to fit, and who was going to falter first? Yeah. Good times.
Twins on Leaderboards
Batting Average - Núñez - 10th (.382) *
On Base Percentage - Mauer - 1st (.451) *
Games Played - Mauer & Sano - t-10th (23)
Plate Appearances - Dozier & Mauer - t-7th (102) *
Triples - Suzuki, Núñez, Buxton & Mauer - t-8th (1)
Bases on Balls - Mauer - 2nd (20)
Bases on Balls - Sano - 4th (16)
Strikeouts - Sano - 2nd (22)
Stolen Bases - Núñez t-5th (5)
Singles - Mauer & Núñez t-10th (18)
Runs Created - Mauer- t-9th (18)
Times on Base - Mauer - 1st (46)
Hit By Pitch - Núñez - t-2nd (3)
Sacrifice Bunts - Rosario & Murphy - t-1st (2)
Sacrifice Bunts - Dozier, Duffey, & Buxton - t-7th (1)
Intentional Walks - Mauer - 1st (5)*
Intentional Walks - Escobar & Rosario - t-9th (1)
Caught Stealing - Núñez & Santana - t-7th (2)
AB/K - Mauer - 9th (8.9)
AB/HR - Park - 8th (12.4)
Outs Made - Dozier - t-7th (74)*
WHIP - Nolasco - 4th (0.904)
BB/9 - Nolasco - 2nd (0.976)
BB/9 - Hughes - 10th (1.780)
Games Pitched - Fien - t-3rd (12)
Games Started - Hughes - t-1st (5)Complete Games - Hughes - t-1st (1)*
Hits Allowed - Hughes - t-10th (32)
K/BB - Nolasco - 2nd (8.000)
Losses - Hughes - t-1st (4)
Losses - Gibson & Jepsen - t-7th (3)
Wild Pitches - May t-1st (4)
Wild Pitches - Perkins, Milone, Santana, & O'Rourke - t-10th (2)
Hit By Pitch - Gibson - t-9th (2)
The only pitcher doing much in the way of positivity right now is Ricky Nolasco.
Sure.
Makes sense.
We can say that, right? They don't exactly have to win out in order to keep in the race, but damn near. They've committed the cardinal sin of allowing two teams to separate them from that second wild card spot. The Astros might fall apart, but they might not, and the idea of the Scoscias sneaking in there appalls me (okay, the idea of watching a lot of games with Mike Trout where I'm not rooting for him to fail does make me a little happy).
Luckily, that margin is still pretty small. The Twins could do themselves a huge favor by winning tonight. The Astros already won today, so at best, they'll be merely keeping pace, but they could theoretically retake the Scoscias, and that's roughly 1/3 of what matters.
Attempting to defend the Twins' honor tonight will be Tyler Duffey, who's been a very pleasant surprise since joining the major league rotation. There's been debate over whether or not he'll be able keep it up, but hopefully, even if his carriage is a pumpkin, he'll be able to freeze the clock's hands at 11:55 for a little while longer.
Possibly/Probably the Last Twins on Leaderboards of the Season
Games Played - Mauer - 150 (t-10th)
At Bats - Dozier - 595 (5th)
Plate Appearances - Dozier - 668 (3rd)
Runs Scored - Dozier - 99 (3rd)
Doubles - Dozier - 37 (t-5th)
Triples - Rosario - 15 (1st)
Strikeouts - Dozier - 143 (8th)
Extra Base Hits - Dozier - 69 (t-5th)
Sacrifices - Santana - 7 (t-7th)
Intentional Walks - Mauer - 12 (5th)
Double Plays - Plouffe - 27 (1st)
Double Plays - Mauer - 20 (t-8th)
Stolen Base % -Hicks - 80% (6th)
Outs Made - Dozier - 470 (1st)
Power/Speed - Dozier - 15.8 (8th)
BB/9 - Hughes - 0.93 (1st)
Saves - Perkins - 32 (t-6th)
Games Started - Gibson - 31 (t-5th)
Home Runs Allowed - Hughes - 29 (t-1st)
Walks - Gibson - 63 - (9th)
Hits Allowed - Pelfrey - 192 (t-7th)
Strikeouts per Walk - Hughes - 5.875 (2nd)
HR/9 - Pelfrey - 0.607 (2nd)
Losses - GIbson - 11 (t-9th)
Hit By Pitch - Pelfrey - 12 (t-2nd)
Games Finished - Perkins - 45 (9th)
Wow. Don't give up on the Twins, eh? Or if you do, don't give up on them in the 7th inning, when you've already invested just under two hours in the game. I mean, the Orange is the New Black finale was good, but...
Anyway, today, we've got Alfredo Simon taking on Phil Hughes. Simon has crafted an acceptable followup to his AllStar campaign last season, whereas our man Phil seems to be pitching quite a better better as of late (though those strikeout numbers are still down. Get 'em up, Phil!)
Prediction: Twins 7, Tigers 1
Today, we've got a sub 4 (Aaron Sanchez, 4-4 3.98 ERA) and a sub 3 (Kyle Gibson, 4-3, 2.72 ERA) going at it. Pitcher's duel, right?
...eh
