Cleveland (68-66) has recovered a bit in recent weeks after falling below .500 when basically their entire rotation was injured. Minnesota (59-77), on the other hand, continues to stink up the joint after having a pretty decent August. Thankfully, today might be a total loss for Twins fans, as they have Bailey Ober taking the mound against a quite bad Logan Allen (6.62 ERA*). As most of you know, Ober's overall stat line isn't that impressive but in the "what have you done for me lately" category, he shines.

Date	Tm	G	GS	GF	CG	Rslt	Dec	DR	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	HBP	ERA	BF	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	BAbip	Pit	Str	StL	StS	GB	FB	LD	PU	Unk	GSc	IR	IS	SB	CS	PO	AB	2B	3B	IBB	GDP	SF	ROE	aLI	WPA	acLI	cWPA	RE24	DFS(DK)	DFS(FD)
Jul 25 to Aug 30, 2021	MIN	7	7	0	0	5-2	W-L:1-1	4.9	36.2	34	11	10	5	36	5	0	2.45	144	.246	.271	.406	.677	.296	521	68%	16%	13%	0.54		23%	11%	0	57		---%	0	1	0	138	5	1	0	4	1	0	.92	0.717	.00	0.00%	7.58	115.10	200.00
per 162 games		34	34	0	0			24	178	165	53	49	24	175	24	0		699						2531							53	0				0	5	0	670	24	5	0	19	5	0		3.5		0.0%	36.8	559	971

*While that looks great and everything, unfortunately Logan Allen is left-handed, which means the Twins offense will be lucky to post two runs against him over eight innings. After all, there's a reason why Bailey Ober has just a 1-1 record over the past month+ while posting a 2.45 ERA. This team is bad, y'all.

By the way, have you read my new blog post? You should check it out because you definitely want the prize we're giving away at the end of the season.

As for the offense, it's the usual suspects. Simmons is still there. Astudillo gets a start because a lefty is on the mound. Same for Refsnyder. It's increasingly difficult to care about over half this roster, as we all know they'll be gone by the time Opening Day 2022 comes around next year.

But hey, on the bright side we watch Ober today and Ryan on Wednesday! That's fun, right?

Minnesota
1. Byron Buxton (R) CF
2. Jorge Polanco (S) 2B
3. Rob Refsnyder (R) RF
4. Josh Donaldson (R) DH
5. Miguel Sano (R) 1B
6. Brent Rooker (R) LF
7. Ryan Jeffers (R) C
8. Willians Astudillo (R) 3B
9. Andrelton Simmons (R) SS

Cleveland
1. Myles Straw (R) CF
2. Amed Rosario (R) SS
3. Jose Ramirez (S) 3B
4. Franmil Reyes (R) DH
5. Bobby Bradley (L) 1B
6. Owen Miller (R) 2B
7. Daniel Johnson (L) RF
8. Austin Hedges (R) C
9. Oscar Mercado (R) LF

And remember, as always:

28 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

By the way, have you read my new blog post? You should check it out because you definitely want the prize we're giving away at the end of the season.

I've seen the prize ... I concur ... you definitely want it!

15 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

I've seen the prize ... I concur ... you definitely want it!

Wait... What do i want?

I wanna know what i want...

1 hour ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

And remember, as always:

Me too, now that you remind me!

1 hour ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

Wait... What do i want?

I wanna know what i want...

 

It always cracks me up when the third baseman or shortstop tries to throw out Buxton and he's almost off the camera frame by the time the ball reaches first.

Damn ... I missed the top half of the inning

If it weren't for Marcus Semien, Polanco might be looking at a Silver Slugger.

The game is cruising along at a pretty nice pace, something we don't see often enough in today's game.

I can't say I'm mad with Ramirez bunting to beat the shift... we need there to be a movement for batters to punish the shift, thus forcing defensive alignments to trend back towards standard alignments. 

Just now, Danchat said:

I can't say I'm mad with Ramirez bunting to beat the shift... we need there to be a movement for batters to punish the shift, thus forcing defensive alignments to trend back towards standard alignments. 

I believe every LHB should bunt to beat the shift and have been saying that since long before Twins Daily existed.

Yet here we are.

That was a helluva throw by Refsnyder.

sheesh ... no replay on that last play? I wanna see that one again

2 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

That was a helluva throw by Refsnyder.

And it was close, too ... I was going 'hmmm' until I saw the replay ... definitely safe, but not by much

5 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

I believe every LHB should bunt to beat the shift and have been saying that since long before Twins Daily existed.

Yet here we are.

Agreed, even found a couple of instances where Bryce Harper bunted to beat the shift....

1 minute ago, Squirrel said:

And it was close, too ... I was going 'hmmm' until I saw the replay ... definitely safe, but not by much

Yeah, I didn't think he had a chance at the runner but then almost nailed him at second. Perfect play all around.

Man ... I wish we could see Sano throw more often ... 

Wonder what kind of a pitcher he'd have made?

5 minutes ago, mnfireman said:

Agreed, even found a couple of instances where Bryce Harper bunted to beat the shift....

The thing is that people have been saying this since the shift was deployed so heavily against Ortiz and other potent LHB, yet to this day none of them have employed bunting often enough to negate the shift.

At some point, we need to acknowledge that players are not going to bunt in large enough numbers to prevent shifting and deal with the actual shift instead of hypotheticals that continue to not happen.

2 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

Man ... I wish we could see Sano throw more often ... 

Wonder what kind of a pitcher he'd have made?

I think we saw two throwing errors from him in a span of a couple games not too long ago....

Welcome back, Byron.

BUXTON!!!!

Hoping this triggers a nice run for Bux

Nice to see Buxton get back on track. I really hope they get that extension done. I also have no problem giving him huge incentives on basis of games played. When Buck is healthy, he is a superstar. 

Also, hitting looks too easy for Jorge Polanco. Swing... double. Swing... home run. Swing... oh yeah, he adds another double. 

Fun game so far!

I came back into the room to find Pineda on the mound, which was... confusing.

1 hour ago, MMMordabito said:

If it weren't for Marcus Semien, Polanco might be looking at a Silver Slugger.

As if on cue, it's possible Polanco has a higher OPS than Semien after tonight and he definitely has a higher OPS+ (the two entered the night tied).

edit: Actually, Polanco definitely has NOT passed Semien in OPS, as Marcus went 2-5 with 2 HR tonight!

Wow, scary and then really nice play.

Ok Colome… don’t blow it!

I had some non-game related chicken, and then slept through the game...

You know Colome is on his game when guys are lifting the ball, sometimes to the warning track.

/s

Winnah!

Nice.