Sanitized Sanitaries

Originally called the White Stockings, The White Sox won the 1906 World Series with a defensive-oriented team that was called the “Hitless Wonders”. The “Wonders” took on cross-town rivals, the Cubs, in the ’06 Series and faced a team that won the most regular season games (116) and had a winning percentage  of .763. The Sox, on the other foot, had the lowest team batting average (.230 - reminds me of this year’s Twins team  at .244) but still managed to beat the luckless Cubs in 6 games - one of the biggest upsets in World Series history. It was also the first time two teams from the same city faced each other for the title.

The Sox took the World Series again in 1917 but were part of the infamous Black Sox Scandal in the 1919 World Series in which 9 Sox players were eventually banned from baseball for throwing the Series to the Reds. The Sox, thoroughly bleached and disinfected, didn’t win their next World Series title until 2005. This time with former Twin AJ Pierzynski behind the plate and our old buddy Ozzie Guillen, the first Latin American to manage a World Series Champion team, at the helm. Ozzie was the originator of the “Piranhas” nickname for the 2008-era Twins team. Interestingly enough, the Piranhas, often criticized for being a bunch of singles and doubles hitters, carried a .279 team batting average. Mucho better than the current Twins .230. But then some fans claim Batting Average isn't as indicative as other more modern but arcane hitting statistics so do what you want with that bit of information.

Regarding the Piranhas, as White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle explained, “Ozzie calls them the piranhas. They're so annoying when they get on base. They keep your mind off the hitter. They bunt, they steal, they hit-and-run and do what it takes to win games.”

Ah! The good old days! Back when the Twins could do more than hit the occasional long distance homerun… and strike out…and commit fielding errors…and rest up for the play-offs they won’t be in…

Regardless, I doubt will see any Piranha ball today, though we did see a squeeze bunt from the Twins just a few days ago so there is always hope, however Dallas from Chicago has a 6-3 record against the Boom or Doom Twins with an ERA of 3.88 and 51 strikeouts in 11 appearances so odds appear to favor the Sox.

But maybe the Twins will go wild, let Jax pitch into the 7th inning, run a hit-and-run with Sano at the plate, bunt the runner over, pull off a double steal… throw a piranha in the White Sox dugout, the sky’s the limit!

Go Twins!

 

White Sox  67-46.        Twins 48-65

 

Today’s Hurlers

For The Twins:  Griff “The Grifter” Jax. 2-1 5.36 ERA 22K

For The Pale Hosiery: Dallas “Kiss It Goodbye” Keuchel 7-5 4.44 ERA 76K

Line-Ups to Come Later… Hopefully

 

I'm really interested to see if Jax can continue to defy the odds......It would be great if he looked like a legit #4/5 for next year.

1 hour ago, Dave The Dastardly said:

Mortimer Common Day Timerology

I didn't know there was timerology based on Mortimer...

This wouldn't be Snerd, perchance? He was always a little slow.

Nick Vincent? Not Cano? Not Moran? Not Hamilton? 

Line-ups

Twins

Refsnyder CF .323

Rooker LF .168

Donaldson DH .245

Garver C .220

Arraez 2B .319

Sano 1B .212

Astudillo 3B .266

Kepler RF .209

Simmons SS .215

 

Sox

Anderson SS .330

Engel RF .263

Abreu 1B .246

Jimenez DH .297

Moncado 3B .256

Vaughn LF .264

Robert CF .320

Hernandez 2B .235

Zavala C .220

37 minutes ago, Dave The Dastardly said:

Refsnyder CF .323

I am missing Cave already.

So if you take the first letter of the last name of our 4-5-6 batters, you get GAS .....so if nothing else, we can at least threaten Keuechel with getting gassed by our power trio....

Garver has some of the worst hands of any major leaguer I've ever seen.

 

My personal over/under on "balls that Garver doesn't catch that hit his glove" at 3.5/game.

A runner courtesy of strike 3 eluding the catcher's mitt...

 

I'll be okay if that is as bad as it gets, i'll live.

1 minute ago, USAFChief said:

Garver has some of the worst hands of any major leaguer I've ever seen.

 

My personal over/under on "balls that Garver doesn't catch that hit his glove" at 3.5/game.

Is this over the whole season?

Or just the games he starts?

Is that 3Ks and a fly out in the first inning?

 

We are ahead of the curve.

2 minutes ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

Is this over the whole season?

Or just the games he starts?

Yes.

6 minutes ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

Is this over the whole season?

Or just the games he starts?

Inning?

Since I'm retired now, I don't stop on the way home from work at my favorite little neighborhood bar any more. I decided to wander over there this afternoon, just to say hi.

As I was sitting at the bar, a grasshopper walked in, and jumped up on the barstool next to me. 

"Hey there," I said. "Pretty cool. They have a drink here named after you."

After a long pause, he looked at me and said, "They have a drink named Norm?"

Please don't GIDP, Luis.

1 minute ago, USAFChief said:

Since I'm retired now, I don't stop on the way home from work at my favorite little neighborhood bar any more. I decided to wander over there this afternoon, just to say hi.

As I was sitting at the bar, a grasshopper walked in, and jumped up on the barstool next to me. 

"Hey there," I said. "Pretty cool. They have a drink here named after you."

After a long pause, he looked at me and said, "They have a drink named Norm?"

I think its full name was "Regressing to the Norm" but we call it Norm for short.

Just tuned in.  I’m good luck, today!

That’s all they will get. 

1 minute ago, stringer bell said:

That’s all they will get. 

Probably for all nine innings. 

1 minute ago, stringer bell said:

Probably for all nine innings. 

What if we only bat eight innings?

Robo-umps, please. Should be 2-2.

Doubleplay erases walk. I like, i like!

Some of you may know, I spent a good part of the summer in my camper up in northern MN. I got home a couple weeks ago, and Mrs Chief asked how many fish I froze and brought back to Tucson. "Well," I said. "I didn't catch all that many. I froze a dozen walleyes and they're in the freezer."

"Jeez Louise," she said. "Those damn fish cost over $100 each."

"Well then, Dear," I said. "You're lucky I didn't catch more."

Ump owed him that one for ball 1.

 

Sigh.

Long fly ball just a little too long.

I was just about to say, “don’t throw another belt-high fastball”

Men against boys. Sigh.

Griffin Jax's rise to the majors is a nice story. But as with many, many other similar pitchers in the past he has little to no room for error. He's gotta execute almost perfectly because if he doesn't, well, look what just happened.

Alright, Twins.

 

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to keep me awake. 

2 minutes ago, Nine of twelve said:

Griffin Jax's rise to the majors is a nice story. But as with many, many other similar pitchers in the past he has little to no room for error. He's gotta execute almost perfectly because if he doesn't, well, look what just happened.

Roster filler.