Oh great! I get the Albers game. Plucky Andrew Albers has made his way back to the major leagues (or the Twins rotation) and will get a start tonight against the first-place Milwaukee Brewers. Albers will be 36 years old during the playoffs this season. He has absolutely no future as a major league pitcher and there is very little to suggest that he will fare well against a Brewer club that has surprised me by taking a good lead in the NL Central. Of course, you never know do you? Maybe Lucy won't pull the football away as Charlie Brown approaches, maybe the Washington Generals will defeat the Globetrotters. And so it goes. It is hard to be excited with a rotation that includes (ace) Baily Ober, Griffin Jax, John Gant, Charlie Barnes and Albers. Even if one of them has a good outing, the game gets turned over to a bullpen that includes notables like Alex Colume, Edgar Garcia and Kyle Barraclough. All of the short starts overexpose a bullpen that is shredding in front of our eyes. There is very little hope of seeing much more than five innings out a starter and a good chance that no lead will be safe. 

Oh well, enough positivity! It's been raining in my neck of MInnesota for about 12 hours. In SE Minnesota, the conditions were dry, but not drought stricken, so the rain was welcomed but not regarded as saving crops and gardens. It's still raining in Minneapolis at noon, with showers expected to recur later. The game may be postponed or delayed depending on what the club wants to do. One factor is a wet, muddy track would probably delay the return of Byron Buxton by another day. Not ideal. The weather forecast improves for the weekend, so the Twins will likely get all three games in versus the Brewers. 

Left hander Eric Lauer starts for the Brewers, he is 4-4 with an ERA under four, so he would be a Twins ace. The Brewers have opened an eight and a half game lead over second-place Cincinnati and should coast into the playoffs. Milwaukee is playing better than .600 baseball, getting good pitching and decent run scoring. Could Milwaukee/Green Bay become the home of professional championships? Seems strange to mention Tampa and Milwaukee as sports hotbeds, but here we are. 

Apparently there will be a game today as the Twins have posted a lineup and Buxton is back! Welcome back Buck. Watching you play for the next six weeks might make some of the 2021 season demons go away.

Lineups to follow--enjoy your Friday night everyone!

Pitchers

PLAYER	W-L	ERA	WHIP	IP	H	K	BB	HR
E. Lauer	4-4	3.59	1.25	77.2	68	76	29	11
A. Albers	0-0	2.25	0.75	4.0	2	4	1	1

 

Milwaukee (78-50)

HITTERS	H-AB	RBI	HR	SB	AVG
K. Wong2B	94-330	38	11	9	.285
L. UriasSS	96-387	57	17	5	.248
C. YelichDH	71-284	40	8	8	.250
A. GarciaRF	108-389	76	24	7	.278
L. CainCF	43-180	23	5	9	.239
R. Tellez1B	58-244	28	10	0	.238
M. PinaC	26-144	26	9	0	.181
J. PetersonLF	45-167	27	5	8	.269
P. Reyes3B	12-56	2	0	2	.214

 

Twins (55-72)

HITTERS	H-AB	RBI	HR	SB	AVG
B. BuxtonCF	38-103	19	10	5	.369
J. Polanco2B	125-456	76	24	10	.274
R. RefsnyderLF	26-98	10	2	0	.265
J. DonaldsonDH	83-334	54	19	0	.249
M. Sano1B	75-349	57	22	1	.215
R. JeffersC	40-190	29	11	0	.211
M. KeplerRF	68-329	45	16	8	.207
W. Astudillo3B	44-171	20	7	0	.257
A. SimmonsSS	77-348	27	3	1	.221

Andrew Albers!

 

Brewers won't know what hit 'em!

 

 

Wait, Buxton is back?

 

Like taking candy from a baby!

 

Cue the 35 game win streak!

 

(sadly i just don't think 90-72 will be good enough to make the play offs)

A little sad Kyle was optioned as one of the moves that cleared room for Buxton.

 

Is his last name really a homonym for a particular pastry?

It certainly sounded that way when announcers talked about him...

Happy Buxton is back. Not happy Albers is starting and not Ryan (who could have not pitched in St. Paul).

It's raining fairly hard here in SE Minnesota and my satellite TV has decided to shut down, so is there going to be a game tonight?

4 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

It's raining fairly hard here in SE Minnesota and my satellite TV has decided to shut down, so is there going to be a game tonight?

mlb app says it's in warm up, and mlb.tv has the "the event will begin shortly" screen.

 

I know that is neither a yes nor a no, but so it goes.

15 minutes ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

A little sad Kyle was optioned as one of the moves that cleared room for Buxton.

 

Is his last name really a homonym for a particular pastry?

It certainly sounded that way when announcers talked about him...

??

Aug. 27: C Mitch Garver (low back tightness) placed on 10-day injured list
Garver's move is retroactive to Wednesday and comes after he missed the Twins' past two games against the Red Sox. His placement on the IL cleared a roster spot for Byron Buxton's return.

Albers starting and Refsnyder hitting in the #3 spot? No thanks, I'd much rather watch the Vikings. 

Ex-twin. Frank Viola said in stribune sports that wrong leadership equal no chance to succeed.   I think he is right.   FO needs to be replaced.   

4 minutes ago, Danchat said:

Albers starting and Refsnyder hitting in the #3 spot? No thanks, I'd much rather watch the Vikings. 

Me, too!

10 minutes ago, h2oface said:

??

Aug. 27: C Mitch Garver (low back tightness) placed on 10-day injured list
Garver's move is retroactive to Wednesday and comes after he missed the Twins' past two games against the Red Sox. His placement on the IL cleared a roster spot for Byron Buxton's return.

Yeah, those are stated as corresponding moves, but as i hadn't paid any attention all day, this also happened outside of my paying attention (per the mlbtraderumors)

 

3:27 pm: The Twins announced they’ve selected reliever Ian Gibaut to the big league roster and reinstated Jorge Alcalá from the 10-day injured list. In corresponding moves, Edgar Garcíaand Kyle Barraclough were optioned to Triple-A St. Paul. To open space for Gibaut on the 40-man roster, Minnesota transferred righty Luke Farrell from the 10-day to the 60-day injured list.

 

 

8 minutes ago, Irishman said:

Me, too!

If the two of you happen to check in on the game thread, please let us know what excitement we miss!

Pregame noises are being made on channel.

 

Sounds like the game is on?

game is on, looks like no more rain for the cities until tomorrow night

I went to one of these games at the Dome. Hard to tell which team had the most fans, kinda like hockey in Vegas

Play ball!

Twins need runs tonight

1 minute ago, LVTwinsfan said:

Twins need runs tonight

I dedicate this bad joke to Chief...

 

There is a run in pRUNe, which makes a fine juice, so i hear.

Glen Perkins doing the telecast with Bremer tonight

Albers is tempting me to jinx him (well, more than i already have) with a fine first.

18 minutes ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

If the two of you happen to check in on the game thread, please let us know what excitement we miss!

On KC 7 Vikings offense failed to score a touchdown.   Now it is 7-3.  

Byron at the bat!

12 minutes ago, swanny132 said:

game is on, looks like no more rain for the cities until tomorrow night

Welcome to Twins Daily.

I Expect at least a double

Just now, LVTwinsfan said:

I Expect at least a double

Or not

Well that was gross, Byron.

1 minute ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

Byron at the bat!

Finally!

Refsnyder pulls a Punto!

Donaldson!!!!