Nothing like an unplanned baseball game taking place on a should be off day! The Twins were part of the third rainout in Los Angeles since 1995, and will finish their season series against the Angels this afternoon. Minnesota has already locked up the season win, as well as the series win. They will also travel back to Minnesota with another successful road trip.

 

The Pitchers:

Martin Perez (6-1, 2.89 ERA, 53 K's) vs Matt Harvey (2-3, 6.35 ERA, 34 K's)

 

Martin Perez would be the clear cut choice for most improved player in the American League if the season were to end today. However, it does not. The former top 100 prospect has put together an amazing year on the bump for the Twins, and are making the Twins FO look like geniuses. Perez is striking out exactly one hitter per inning, which is a massive upgrade from where he used to be. He is walking half a batter more per 9 innings, but that is something I am willing to accept for someone that looks like an All-Star. Speaking of All-Stars, Matt Harvey has been very bad ever since being injured. The Dark Knight is struggling in LA. He looked like he maybe turned the corner in Cincy last year, but Great American Ballpark can make almost any pitcher look good. He has walking a full two more batters this year per 9 than he did last year, and his strikeout rate has also fallen. He is also giving up his fair share of long balls, which could spell trouble against this Twins lineup.

 

 

The Lineups:

 

Twins

 

CF Max Kepler L
SS J. Polanco S
RF M. Gonzalez S
LF E. Rosario L
1B C.J. Cron R
DH Luis Arraez L
3B Miguel Sano R
2B J. Schoop R
C W. Astudillo R

 

Angels

 

LF D. Fletcher R
DH Mike Trout R
1B A. Pujols R
C J. Lucroy R
3B T. La Stella L
2B Luis Rengifo S
RF Kole Calhoun L
SS Zack Cozart R
CF B. Goodwin L

 

The Twins are giving Byron Buxton a well deserved off day, and Max Kepler will start in center field. Marwin Gonzalez will make his second start of the season in right, which saw him misplay a ball last time he was out there. Luis Arraez serves as the DH, which I don't even think he would believe if you told him that just a few days ago. Sano is back at the hot corner after homering in his last at bat, and La Tortuga is starting behind the plate on National Turtle Day. Only two Twins have ever seen Harvey before. However, some Angels are very familiar with Martin Perez as he started for divison foe Texas for quite some time. Mike Trout is hitting just .217 off the lefty in 23 AB's. Albert Pujols has better luck, hitting .385 in 26 at-bats, including a homer. Shohei Othani is being given the day off, which isn't surprising given a lefty starter on the mound for the Twins. Let's just hope Tommy La Stella doesn't keep hitting like an MVP candidate.

 

Mill's Moments

1. Nelson Near Return

Nelson Cruz is eligible to come off of the DL tomorrow, and I think he should be activated sometime this weekend if all goes well. At the start of the week the answer to the roster crunch was seemingly clear. You option Luis Arraez back to Rochester. However, he has made that choice much more difficult. Arraez has hit the cover off the of the baseball since his debut, and is passing the eye test with flying covers. The only other choice is to send Ehire Adrianza packing. However, he is out of options, and would have to clear waivers. I am almost certain he would be claimed by someone, and he is even starting to hit the ball well as of late. I still think the solution is to send Arraez down whenever Cruz is activated, but it makes an interesting situation.  

2. Terrible Trevor

Trevor Hildenberger was sent down a little over a week ago after nearly blowing a huge lead against the Angels, and his return to AAA has not been promising. In his first game he threw one inning against AAA affiliate of the Rays, the Durham Bulls. He gave up 4 earned runs on 3 hits. The problem wasn't that he was not locating his pitches, as he threw 19 of his 27 pitches for strikes. He was just very hittable, even in AAA. His second outing was not any better, as he gave up 3 earned in two innings against the Buffalo Bison. The Toronto affiliate also didn't take any walks, but just hit Trevor around the park. This is very concerning, and makes me wonder if he is either battling an injury, or tipping his pitches. Whatever it is, the Twins need to get him right for a late season run. 

 

This Day in History: 1991 - Kirby Puckett strokes five singles and a triple in the Twins' 10-6 loss to Texas at the Metrodome. It is the second time the outfielder has collected six hits in a game, making him the first major leaguer to have accomplished the feat twice.

 

Pick to Click: Jonathan Schoop is going to get a significant extra base hit in today's game

 

Go Twins!!!

 

 

 and La Tortuga is starting behind the plate on National Turtle Day

 

F Awesome!

 

This is why they don't send Willians back to AAA

 

"If a [turtle] is crossing a busy street, pick it up and send it in the same direction it was going – if you try to make it go back, it will turn right around again."

Ewww, that gif.

 

Robbie. Gross, man.

 

Trevor Hildenberger was sent down a little over a week ago after nearly blowing a huge lead against the Angels, and his return to AAA has not been promising. In his first game he threw one inning against AAA affiliate of the Rays, the Durham Bulls. He gave up 4 earned runs on 3 hits. The problem wasn't that he was not locating his pitches, as he threw 19 of his 27 pitches for strikes. He was just very hittable, even in AAA. His second outing was not any better, as he gave up 3 earned in two innings against the Buffalo Bison. The Toronto affiliate also didn't take any walks, but just hit Trevor around the park. This is very concerning, and makes me wonder if he is either battling an injury, or tipping his pitches. Whatever it is, the Twins need to get him right for a late season run. 

 

 

The Twins don't need him for a late season run. They need the FO to go out and get 1 or 2 reliable BP arms. Trevor will not be in the Twins BP again this season if the Twins keep winning.

“Rocco Baldelli said Nelson Cruz and Jose Berrios flew home and are in Minnesota today. Cruz is preparing to be activated tomorrow, and Berrios is starting against the White Sox on Friday night. Twins aren't due in until 11 pm or so.” - Phil Miller

Speaking of Trevor Hindenberger, what's up with Mejia? I never followed him too closely, but looking at his progression through the ranks on milb, his dropoff this season is a-w-f-u-l. Was his injury at the end of last season one that usually takes a while to regain form from?

 

This is interesting

 

 

This is interesting

 

We traded him to the White Sox? .... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

 

We traded him to the White Sox? .... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

 

Ha, don't even start.

 

 

This is interesting

 

I see he's hanging out in the Budweiser beer garden deck. Is he even old enough to get up there?

 

Can you guess which one is the real La Tortuga? Happy Turtle Day everybody!

I concur that Trevor will not be back this year.  At this point, how do you trust him in any kind of a leveraged situation?  Given that there will be quite a few sellers this year who do not have an MLB franchise in Minnesota and that the Twins do have some cards to play, why would you bring him back up unless we were hit with a  pile of bullpen injuries?...which also doesn't seem as likely as it was in previous years.

 

Early last year, Trevor struggled and his breaking ball frisbeed across the zone and got whacked.  He modified something last year in the minors to make his breaking ball move down and out to a righty instead of floating across the zone.  Could he make the necessary changes to get that movement back?  Sure...but this year's Twins are in a different position than last year's Twins and that is why I don't see him back.

Interesting game today - looks like there's about 86 people in the crowd. LaTroy Hawkins also had somewhere else to be so Dick's got a bunch of "guest broadcasters" with him today. Falvey's doing the first couple innings as the color man, this should be...interesting. Not quite as interesting as what's going on with Graterol. Wow....

Matt Harvey vs. Martin Perez....these are the two players at the heart of the new best-seller: "Dumpster Diving 101".

 

Interesting game today - looks like there's about 86 people in the crowd. LaTroy Hawkins also had somewhere else to be so Dick's got a bunch of "guest broadcasters" with him today. Falvey's doing the first couple innings as the color man, this should be...interesting. Not quite as interesting as what's going on with Graterol. Wow....

LaTroy has a graduation to be at 

 

I see he's hanging out in the Budweiser beer garden deck. Is he even old enough to get up there?

Can he afford to get up there?

Great game thread opener today.

Nice job by Perez!

Anybody know who named Astudillo "La Tortuga," and when?

 

Fantastic play by Eddie!

Ruh, roh, Raggy!!  

 

Zoiks, a wild pitch!!

Schoop that one out!!

 

 

 

 

 

Pick to Click: Jonathan Schoop is going to get a significant extra base hit in today's gam

 

 

 

 

Can't say I didn't tell ya!!!

Schoop there it is

Man, this feels like something really special. But I also thought that about my last relationship so..

Amazing!!  We are getting the #$% spoiled out of us.

This is why the Angels are bad.

 

Harvey - $11 mill (more than any Twins starter) ... That's on top of all the other bad contracts.

This is just absurd at this point

lololololol

Oh my......