stringer bell

A little perspective--the last three series have come against playoff teams, the Twins went 6-5. Seven of those games were on the road. The Twins pitched pretty well, didn't hit great against three good pitching staffs, but probably the series against the White Sox cost them the Central Division.

Forgot to mention Garver. I guess he and Sanó have wait until Tuesday to warm up.

Slumping Twins--1) Kepler, 2hits, 2 runs, 3 RBI 2) Polanco double 3) Gonzalez double 4) Two hits and a walk 5) Sanó, well not everyone can break out at once.

Four runs off Darvish. That is pretty good. Moved his ERA over 2.

OK. We need more runs, please!

Ouch! Had a chance to do something.

Good start!

Lineup notes: no Cruz or Buxton tonight, at least to start the game. Sanó at DH for the first time this year, with Wade getting another start at first base.

The Twins conclude their week in Chicago with a Sunday night game against the Cubs. The Twins have won two of the first six games against the White Sox and Cubs (leaders of the AL Central and NL Central respectively. However, last night's win clinched a playoff spot for the Twins. They appear to be on a collision course with the Yankees, who finally lost today, giving the Twins a chance to be the home team for the first round of the playoffs. Starting pitchers are Yu Darvish for the Cubs and Jose Berríos for the Twins. Darvish has had a fantastic season with a 7-2 record and less than 2 ERA. Darvish's WHIP is under 1.00. Berríos has found his form after struggling through the first half of this shortened season. Both teams have had unexpected struggles on offense. The Cubs and the Twins have both scored about 4.5 runs per game. The Cubs have a team batting average of .227 with a team OPS of .716, the Twins are slightly better. The season has reached 54 games, which would be a third of a full season. Multiplying the counting numbers by three would give projections for a full season. Some notable numbers: Cruz would have 48 homers, the Twins would hit in excess of 250 homers, but score somewhere around 720 runs, and have less than 200 doubles. LINEUPS: Twins (32-22) Kepler rf Donaldson 3b Rosario lf Sanó dh Wade 1b Polanco ss Garver c Cave cf Gonzalez 2b Berríos p (4-4) 4.15 ERA Chicago Cubs (31-21) Happ cf Rizzo 1b Bryant 3b Schwarber lf Contreras dh Heyward rf Baez ss Caratini c Kipnis 2b Darvish p (7-2) 1.86 ERA

With the two days off in the coming week, there is no need to do a bullpen game, but in lining things up for the playoffs, I suppose they might. The playoffs start on Tuesday and there aren't any off days. The Twins did clear a 40-man spot when they outrighted Littell, so I think they can add Bailey if they want to.

I will second what Morneau has been saying about Sanó's defense. He hasn't let many balls get past him and he's fielded grounders well. The only problem he had, mostly early in the season, was chasing balls that should be fielded by the second baseman.

Now, he probably be available tomorrow.

Five runs and two guys thrown out at second base. Weird inning.

I prefer "well seasoned".

92 pitches for Pineda, most under some stress. I don't think it makes much sense to bring him out for the sixth. They hit quite a few balls hard and the bullpen is rested.

Pinch runner paid off.

Tight zone for this ump. Outside of a pitch or two, the zone has been consistent. Pineda has only fanned one, but he's surviving.

Big at bat, nice play by A-Ray!

Throw strikes Big Mike.

How about a crooked number in the first inning. It would be really cool to see some more line drives.

A good baseball guy. I'm not sure if he was able to change as the game changed, but players played hard for him. One might say they "battled their tails off"while playing for Gardy.

The Twins only need one more win to clinch the postseason, or losses from Detroit and Seattle. Tough to imagine that they will catch the White Sox, who still lead by three games plus have the tiebreaker. Houston is below .500, so also tough to imagine them falling behind them. Cleveland trails the Twins by two games plus the tiebreaker. Looks like a fifth seed and a trip to the Bronx.

Second guess is always better. Sure, if you know Donaldson is going to hit a three-hopper into the shift, you send the runner. The team is counting on the heart of the order--Donaldson, Cruz, Rosario and Sanó to produce, which is the right call. For all of his speed, Buxton is still not an accomplished base stealer. Maybe he develops that skill, I sure hope so. You don't have to look very far to see the problems with the Twins. They are almost totally homer dependent. Line drives seem to be a thing of the past and 300 foot fly balls are just too common. The Twins have fewer doubles per game than every team, they don't steal bases and if the ball doesn't go over the fence, it takes a lot of singles and walks to score. Player after player--Polanco, Arraez, Kepler, Gonzalez, Garver, has fallen off dramatically. Sanó, Rosario, Cruz are down in OPS a bit. Only Buxton has been better than last year and as noted, it's not complete (only two walks and 1 stolen base). Last year, the Twins scored over 800 runs, this year if the season was 162 games, they'd barely score 700. Pitching and defense are much improved, but for a team built around offense, they have really let down there.

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

I think Bailey is a sneaky pick to start a game if the Twins reach the second round. It would depend on his health and the lack of health for Odorizzi, but I do believe they'd rather have Bailey than Dobnak if both are healthy.