Game Thread: Indians @ Twins, 6/3 @ 1:10 CT
Probable Starters: Mike Clevinger (4-2, 3.14 ERA) vs Kyle Gibson (1-3, 3.57 ERA)

 

- 4 Thoughts -

 

1. Arbitrary Twins splits

I love the excess amount of splits Baseball Reference has for each player. Let’s pull out some arbitrary splits for our starting hitters for the 2018 season.

Mitch Garver
Home- .734 OPS
Away-   .585 OPS

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Miguel Sano
In Wins-  .970 OPS
In Losses-  .614 OPS

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Brian Dozier
6th Inning-  1.402 OPS
9th Inning-  .301 OPS

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Ehire Adrianza (Career)
July- .280 B.A.
March-April- .216 B.A.

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Eduardo Escobar
In a 2-1 Count-  1.364 OPS
In a 1-2 Count-  .268  OPS

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Logan Morrison
2 Outs, RISP-  .931 OPS
Within 1 Run-  .579 OPS

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Eddie Rosario
Vs Blue Jays-  1.462 OPS
Vs Yankees-   .154 OPS

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Max Kepler
2 outs-  .987 OPS
0 outs-  .665 OPS

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Robbie Grossman (Career)

In Wins-  103/164 BB/K
In Losses-  120/235 BB/K

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Well, I hope you’ve learned a thing or two from these totally random splits!

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2. Cleveland’s bullpen

 

Gaze upon their stats and despair:

Look at those ERAs! This is bad… you can tell the situation is dire because they’re trying old Twins retreads (Belisle and Ramirez). The usual gang, Otero, McAllister, and Olsen have been surprising pedestrian. And it’s not like retaining Bryan Shaw would have helped – he’s got a 5.72 ERA and 1.52 WHIP (oh, and he’s leading the league in games appeared for the third straight season!!). At this point, the Indians would love to have the Twins’ bullpen over what they have.

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But what could they do? They did just pick up Oliver Perez, a 36-year-old reliever who posted a 4.64 ERA in 33 innings with the Nationals last year, though it was backed up by a 3.82 FIP, 10.6 K/9, and 1.33 WHIP. It’s a step in the right direction, but they should search the trade market for another option.

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3. Lineups
 

CLEVELAND

1. Francisco Lindor (S) SS
2. Michael Brantley (L) LF
3. Jose Ramirez (S) DH
4. Edwin Encarnacion ® 1B
5. Jason Kipnis (L) 2B
6. Yan Gomes ® C
7. Greg Allen (S) RF
8. Bradley Zimmer (L) CF
9. Erik Gonzalez ® 3B

 

TWINS
1. Brian Dozier ® 2B
2. Eddie Rosario (L) LF
3. Miguel Sano ® 3B
4. Logan Morrison (L) 1B
5. Eduardo Escobar (S) SS
6. Max Kepler (L) RF
7. Robbie Grossman (S) DH
8. Ryan LaMarre ® CF
9. Bobby Wilson ® C

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4. Strat-O-Matic Baseball

Yes, it’s time for another round of Strat-O-Matic Baseball simulation! As the Twins game progresses in reality, I will be synchronously playing a round of Strat-O-Matic baseball with the same two teams using their stats. I will upload a picture of my setup of the game:

As you can see, I’ve developed my own way to simulate the game instead of using the typical cards for each player. The 2018 player cards won’t be available until the end of the year and they’re somewhat expensive, so I’ll use my makeshift methods and see if the result can mimic what happens today. In a game thread last year, here’s what happened: Real life: HOU 5, MIN 3; Strat-O-Matic: HOU 8, MIN 7

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After every half-inning is over, I’ll post what happened over here in Strat-O-Land. Let’s see if we can get a win at Target Field and in the board game!

Edited June 3, 20188 yr by Carole Keller
lineups added

Good job, Danchat!

Just to remind everyone, we still have openings in June for game thread duty. Here are the open dates ... some are series opener games. Just send a PM to Chief and me letting us know which ones you want to do!

 

6/8 LAA

6/9 LAA

​6/10 LAA

6/12 @ DET

6/15 @ CLE

6/16 @ CLE

6/17 @ CLE

6/19 BOS

6/22 TEX

6/29 @ CHC

6/30 @ CHC

I had heard rumors of how bad the Cleveland bullpen is. The rumors didn't do the real thing justice. Is this how we looked to other teams in past years? . They are so bad.......... How bad are they? They are so bad whenever they change pitchers they should bring two in. The second one could just hang in the dugout waiting, he won't have time to cool down.

1. Arbitrary Twins splits

I love the excess amount of splits Baseball Reference has for each player.

Did you know that for his career, Babe Ruth had an amazing OPS of 1.152 against right-handed pitching but against lefties he managed only a paltry 1.128?

Can the Twins win all three games I go to this weekend? I say yes, yes they can!

Did you know that for his career, Babe Ruth had an amazing OPS of 1.152 against right-handed pitching but against lefties he managed only a paltry 1.128?

Pfft, and some people say he's the best baseball player ever...

Other splits brought to us by b-r.com.

 

This year the Twins are 3-12 in games that are decided by 1 run. But they are not too good either in blowout games decided by 5 or more: 5-8. If I did my math right, that means we are to the good by a 16-10 win-loss in normal games. Let's hope for one of these today. Twins by either 2, 3, or 4!!!

Can the Twins win all three games I go to this weekend? I say yes, yes they can!

Oh great, the jinx is on.

 

But you realize that if they do pull this out, you have to attend every remaining Twins game, no matter the location.

Can the Twins win all three games I go to this weekend? I say yes, yes they can!

if they do, I think you could make a case for a GoFundMe to get sponsorship to go to more games

 

Did you know that for his career, Babe Ruth had an amazing OPS of 1.152 against right-handed pitching but against lefties he managed only a paltry 1.128?

Babe Ruth himself, the very greatest of the greats, was also a big, fat piece of ****.

 

#brockmire

This is a pretty big game. A win moves the Twins within 3.5 of Indians, with a 4-gamer against the White Sox coming up (worst team in the AL, in my estimation).

 

There's another 3-gamer with the Indians coming up in June, another 3-gamer with the White Sox, and 3-gamers with the Tigers and Rangers. The tougher series in June against the Angela and Red Sox are both played at home.

 

If this team is going to get back into it, June is the time to do it. Taking 3 of 4 from the Tribe today would be a good start.

Did you know that for his career, Babe Ruth had an amazing OPS of 1.152 against right-handed pitching but against lefties he managed only a paltry 1.128?

This would not have prevented virulent criticism of Molitor for not bringing in a LOOGY to face him in the ninth!

As I said innn another thread, happiness is already doing what you had to do in this series i.e. win two games, and still have a game to go.

 

Let's hope the good Gibson and the bats (again) show up today.

This would not have prevented virulent criticism of Molitor for not bringing in a LOOGY to face him in the ninth!

Clear platoon split there, Platoon.

Did you know that for his career, Babe Ruth had an amazing OPS of 1.152 against right-handed pitching but against lefties he managed only a paltry 1.128?

Paltry indeed.

My splits tend to rip my pants...

Fun stats:

 

In his last 9 games, the FRE is 9 for 9 in save opportunities and has an ERA and WHIP of under 1.

 

In the last 30 days Magill (14.2 IP) and Hildenberger (15.2) both have ERAs under 2 and WHIPs under 1.

 

In the last 30 days, Lynn has the best ERA among starters (3.34 in 6 starts).

 

In the last 30 games Escobar has the most HRs (6) and Rosario has the most RBIs (19).

 

In the last 30 games the Twins have a whopping 5 SB (4 CS).

 

 

 

Fun stats:

 

In his last 9 games, the FRE is 9 for 9 in save opportunities and has an ERA and WHIP of under 1.

 

In the last 30 days Magill (14.2 IP) and Hildenberger (15.2) both have ERAs under 2 and WHIPs under 1.

 

In the last 30 days, Lynn has the best ERA among starters (3.34 in 6 starts).

 

In the last 30 games Escobar has the most HRs (6) and Rosario has the most RBIs (19).

 

In the last 30 games the Twins have a whopping 5 SB (4 CS).

That's definitely something I noticed when compiling the stats for this game, the Indians are far better base runners than the Twins. With Buxton hurt, there's basically nobody on the team who can reliably steal bases.

Fun stats:

 

In his last 9 games, the FRE is 9 for 9 in save opportunities and has an ERA and WHIP of under 1.

 

In the last 30 days Magill (14.2 IP) and Hildenberger (15.2) both have ERAs under 2 and WHIPs under 1.

 

In the last 30 days, Lynn has the best ERA among starters (3.34 in 6 starts).

 

In the last 30 games Escobar has the most HRs (6) and Rosario has the most RBIs (19).

 

In the last 30 games the Twins have a whopping 5 SB (4 CS).

Since many of these categories contain what would seem to be unsustainable contributions by individuals, it this a good thing or a bad thing? Or just a thing to ponder and appreciate? Therein lies the question.

 

Since many of these categories contain what would seem to be unsustainable contributions by individuals, it this a good thing or a bad thing? Or just a thing to ponder and appreciate? Therein lies the question.

The way this season is going I'll take what I can get and enjoy it while I can.

Alright, here comes our first Strat-O-Matic update:

 

Top of the 1st:
 

Lindor flies out to center.

Brantley strikes out looking.

Ramirez strikes out looking.

Nice first by Gibby.

 

Fantastic play by Lindor, Wow

EDDIE "THE ALL STAR" ROSARIO

Rosario doing what Rosario does!

Man, Rosario is so good... he can turn pitches way off the plate into HRs like that. He's playing like an All-Star right now.

ESKY!!! 

 

WOO HOO!

He basically swatted that low outside off the pitch plate like he was holding a canoe paddle. Hitting it was one thing, hitting it with any authority was another. If, and it's a big if, you can continue to make good contact on those kind of pitches, you become very difficult to get out.

Strat-O-Matic Report - Bottom of the 1st

 

Dozier grounds out to 3rd.

Rosario grounds out to SS.

Sano strikes out.

 

Boy, that sure is boring compared to the Eddie offensive explosion we just got.

 

Oh, and by the way - Escobar is now tied for the most doubles in baseball with Lindor, Pillar, and J. Abreu.

That's definitely something I noticed when compiling the stats for this game, the Indians are far better base runners than the Twins. With Buxton hurt, there's basically nobody on the team who can reliably steal bases.

It's better to be good at baserunning than not good at baserunning but it is the least important of the four phases of baseball. Pitching is the most important, followed by batting, followed by fielding, followed by baserunning.