Good evening, I'm your guest introducer of today's game thread as the Twins play the Cubs at Wrigley Field tonight. The Twins are solidly in the playoffs, but are a longshot to win the Central Division after losing three of four to the White Sox earlier this week. Only eight games remain and the Twins trail by three games and lose a tiebreaker to Chicago. They have a similar lead over Cleveland for second place in the division which will most likely mean either a #4 or #5 seed and most likely a chance to end the jinx against the Yankees. The Cubs comfortably lead the NL Central, as the only team in the division with a winning record, 

 

Starting pitchers are slated to be Rich Hill for the Twins against Kyle Hendricks for the Cubs. Hill has missed approximately half of the shortened season and has not yet exceeded 5 innings in any start. Hill has compiled a 2-1 record with a 3.81 ERA. Hendricks is 5-4 with a 3.29 ERA, yielding only 6 walks in more than 60 innings.  he

 

Hey, news from the lineups. Buxton has been moved up to leadoff. Maybe he can add to his one base on balls and one stolen base. More likely he'll add to his home run total. Silver Slugger Mitch Garver is back and in the lineup tonight. Kepler gets a day off.

 

LINEUPS:

 

Twins (31-21)

 

Buxton cf

Donaldson 3b

Cruz dh

Rosario lf

Sanó 1b

Garver c

Cave rf

Polanco ss

Gonzalez 2b

 

Hill p (2-1) 3.81 ERA

 

 

Chicago Cubs (30-20)

 

Rizzo 1b

Bryant 3b

Contreras c

Schwarber lf

Baez ss

Heyward rf

Maybin cf

Kipnis dh

Hoerner 2b

 

Hendricks p (5-4) 3.29 ERA

 

Gotta beat the Yankees some time! I think this is the year.

 

(If I keep telling myself that, I feel better...)

Lineup is posted.

Buxton leading off.  Works for me.  

Buxton batting leadoff; Garver back in the lineup.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/game?gameId=401226433

 

I know others are as lazy as me and want to just scroll up to see the line up rather than go to all effort of following a link...

 

Us:

 

Us:

0. Rich Hill ( L) P

1. Byron Buxton (R ) CF

2. Josh Donaldson (R ) 3B

3. Nelson Cruz (R ) DH

4. Eddie Rosario ( L) LF

5. Miguel Sano (R ) 1B

6. Mitch Garver (R ) C

7. Jake Cave ( L) RF

8. Jorge Polanco ( S ) SS

9. M. Gonzalez ( S ) 2B

 

Them:

0. Kyle Hendricks (R ) P

1. Anthony Rizzo ( L) 1B

2. Kris Bryant (R ) 3B

3. W. Contreras (R ) C

4. Kyle Schwarber ( L) LF

5. Javier Baez (R ) SS

6. Jason Heyward ( L) RF

7. Cameron Maybin (R ) CF

8. Jason Kipnis ( L) DH

9. Nico Hoerner (R ) 2B

And i think i got just enough time to watch one more episode before the game starts...

This the place with the ivy, right?

Watching this series with my girlfriends family of Cubs fans....please pray for me

Interesting to hear and see the prospects in St. Paul a little bit.

When Arraez comes back, Adrianza needs to be released. I like Wade and Blankenhorn a lot better.

Watching this series with my girlfriends family of Cubs fans....please pray for me

Ach, you'll be fine.

Just makes it more fun.

 

When Arraez comes back, Adrianza needs to be released. I like Wade and Blankenhorn a lot better.

I don't disagree, but Adrianza's really the only guy who can play SS outside of Polanco. Nobody else has started at SS this year. 

Hill has to go

what has happened to the Twins offense is that they just can't produce a run with a base hit anymore. They can't string two hits in a row. The RBI men are making bad outs. Unless it leaves the park, Twins aren't scoring...at all. 1st inning...another failed opportunity when Cruz and Sano couldn't get the ball out of the infield. And Donaldson whiffs.

 

Hope they work their way out of this. Beat the Yankees? yeah. The sleeping giant has awoken and they are merciless right now.

I was wondering if Sano might be falling into a slump again... numbers since his 3 hit game on 9/5:

 

.121/.171/.394 (.565 OPS)

 

Ugh. He's so good when he's locked in (1.12 OPS from late August to 9/5), but these dry spells really hurt. If this version of him shows up in the postseason (like last year), he's just going to be a black hole in the lineup.

2 walks...

 

Could be worse.

2 walks...

 

Could be worse.

Its worse

My bad.

 

An uphill battle once again.

Nice job by Donaldson catching the runner off 3rd.

Here's what Donaldon's play at third reminded me of. This is one of the most fun plays ever in the history of baseball.

 

 

And by the way, watch the umpire. He was in perfect position throughout the entire play and his out call was emphatic and perfect for the play.

The Cubs are gonna destroy Hill tonight, another short start, another long night for the bullpen. Not letting starters go deeper into games has lasting effects

Here's what Donaldon's play at third reminded me of. This is one of the most fun plays ever in the history of baseball.

 

 

And by the way, watch the umpire. He was in perfect position throughout the entire play and his out call was emphatic and perfect for the play.

Morneau was also talking about that.

 

Great minds think alike...

sure didn't take the Cubs long to show how its done....

Morneau was also talking about that.

 

Great minds think alike...

good stuff

 

what has happened to the Twins offense is that they just can't produce a run with a base hit anymore. They can't string two hits in a row. The RBI men are making bad outs. Unless it leaves the park, Twins aren't scoring...at all. 1st inning...another failed opportunity when Cruz and Sano couldn't get the ball out of the infield. And Donaldson whiffs.

 

Hope they work their way out of this. Beat the Yankees? yeah. The sleeping giant has awoken and they are merciless right now.

 

26 of last 29 runs Twins have scored have come on HR.  That's not gonna bode well for any playoff game.  It's like they turn into a teeball team when guys get on base.

 

Angel Hernandez crew back for more this weekend.  Be prepared for more hi-jinks.

Sano is definitely in the tank right now, but so is Cruz..and we need them both for post season. Cruz somehow has kept his BA over .320 but his production has disappeared....along with most anyone else not named Buxton.

 

Come on Twins...this is ugly

I think Twins hitters need to focus on Hendriks' hittable fastball in the zone, they need to be aggressive.

Alright, Hill has settled down and looks to be grooving.  Let's get him some runs, please.

Alright, let's score some runs!

And maybe hit the ball a bunch too.