stringer bell

You can add in the tiebreaker, too. The White Sox earn the tiebreaker with a win today, so the Twins would have to gain four games in the final eight games, a tall order.

As good a lineup as the Twins can put out there. They've really handled Lopez so far and Maeda has been tremendous. Should be easy right? Somehow, I expect the outcome to be in doubt until the final hitter today.

Keep it 1-1 Dobs.

Yes, and for example if Kepler was hitting half of what he did last year against left handers, he would have better numbers than last year.

Hit batter.

Oh boy!

1-0 is not too bad, but I don't know if Dobnak can throw any zeroes.

When was the last time the starting pitchers for both teams wore corrective lenses?

Predictions: Blankenhorn gets his first hit,the Twins hit three homers and Dobnak goes six innings. Twins win 7-2.

In today's Three True Outcomes era, ABC baseball isn't the way to go. Witness the series against the Cleveland club. Cleveland took extra bases, advanced runners, got sacrifice flies and lost every game because the other guys (the Twins) slugged the ball. Both teams last night struggled to hit with runners in scoring position. The key AB was the fake bunt/swing away single the scored the eventual winning run. Chicago defied the odds by getting the heart of the Twins order out when the game was on the line (multiple times). Actually, I wish that the Twins would be better at small ball. In my mind they are at a bit of a disadvantage when playing a low-scoring game because they are so dependent on scoring via the home run. Winning the game on someone's legs (like the Buxton walkoff infield single) is so rare.

One of those games? It seemed like it to me, when Madrigal's blooper fell in just inside the line about 120 ft. from home plate. The Sox tempted fate a bunch of times with Cruz up and he failed each time. Most days that isn't going to happen. Abreu didn't have a big impact either (one of those games). I like Taylor Rogers a lot, but as Chief said, his pitches haven't been as effective. It doesn't look like there's anything wrong with his arm, the velocity is there, but the command isn't what it was last year or the year before that and he's facing far fewer teams. I don't know who would be a replacement--I've seen slippage from Duffey and May and I'd hate to count Clippard or Romo closing games with the <90 mph fastballs. It's interesting to see the Twins resting guys through this crucial stretch of the season while Chicago and before that Cleveland send out the virtually the same lineup every day. I really wanted the Twins to take 3 of 4 from the White Sox (and take the division lead) and now that means they'll have to win the next three.

Ick. Yuck. Ugh.

Here comes.

Well they gave Cruz another chance. Regression to the mean I guess.

I think he's a guy having a pretty good season. Amiright?

Hey! My fantasy team won. Thanks JuJu!

I predict another bloop hit or 8 hop grounder thru the infield.

Got a K.

Need a K.

We can look at it from the Twins perspective. Cleveland had a game like this IIRC.

Bases loaded again. Both teams have tempted fate all night. Something is gonna give.

Angel Hernandez has done a good job with balls and strikes............for Angel Hernandez.

Chicago has left a lot of guys on as well. Let’s see what happens in the second half of the game.

Not worth it try to advance, but nice to see the Twins win a challenge not started by Sanó.

Maybe I'm a traditionalist, but it appears to me that roles available for next year for Rooker would be platoon/4th outfielder and backup at first base and DH in the event of injury. Honestly, having a guy with limited defensive ability and flexibility is not my idea of good roster building. It is also unknown whether Rooker can perform well with sporadic playing time (probably my main complaint about Cave), so unless the roster is really juggled next year, I don't see a role for him. Also, the Twins currently have Kepler, Rosario, Cave, Wade, Kirilloff and Larnach as corner outfielders and Cruz and Sanó to cover first base and DH. There aren't enough roster sports for all of the corner outfielders. The shortened season might have kept the team from dealing with the logjam, but something probably needs to be done by Opening Day of 2021.