stringer bell

We might need more than four runs to win tonight.

Way to go, Bert. Great call!

Stashak is eligible to come off the IL today if I am not mistaken, so he could be the obvious choice to replace Littell. As far as 40-man space, is it possible that Littell's injury could put him on the 45-day list (ending his season) but creating 40-man space for the promotion of Jeffers? It is my assumption that someone was DFAed yesterday when Jeffers was promoted. Can that DFA be withdrawn if room has been made by another transaction (45 day for Littell)? I'm also assuming less than great news for Littell. He's pitched himself to the fringe of the roster and something wrong with the area around the throwing elbow sounds pretty ominous.

Break out the champagne! And the Tigers were down 5-0.

Randy Rosario back in the Big Leagues recalled by the Royals with Salvi Perez going on the injured list. Rosario has toiled for both the Cubs and the Royals and hasn't put up great numbers, but he has a 6-0 lifetime record.

You can continue the conversation about the Twins vs. Royals in the game thread in the Minnesota Twins Talk forum. Hey, in 48 hours we'll be done with the pesky Royals. http://twinsdaily.com/topic/39853-game-thread-twins-royals-705pm-cdt-8212020ad/

Thanks for the personal insight. I was living in Rochester in '87 too, who knows we might have crossed paths!

Lineup thoughts--Rocco does use his bench and it seemed astute last year. He seems committed to keeping Kepler in right field this year and I think that is a good idea. That does box him in with Buxton's injury because Cave is a lefty and the only practical center fielder (aside from Kepler). Polanco didn't hit the ball sharply in the last series and in his career has been a better left handed hitter. I hope Arraez can get on the field soon, but Vargas has looked pretty good to me.

It is a night game in KC, but yes Jeffers is catching back-to-back games.

Yes. Gearrin was DFAed to make space for Vargas. There still will have to make room for Jeffers.

Sit down Taylor.

Mostly agree with the decision to pull Berríos, but it would be nice to get 7 from a sharp starter more than once a month.

Really interesting game. The Twins have made contact and got hits, but haven’t put many runs on the board. I think they’re getting close to breaking out of their team hitting slump.

Let’s break it open!

15 plate appearances (both teams) in this game and no one has hit the ball hard.

Nice first inning for Berríos!

I think Jeffers’ recall is a signal that Garver won’t be back for awhile. I hadn’t heard anything about Buxton, but it sounds like more extreme caution. I sure hope so.

Really bad news about Buxton. What happened? Ugh.

I respectfully disagree. But even if I did agree, what do you propose Twins' management should do? Have Rocco throw a tantrum? Bring up a bunch of rookies? Trade for the long awaited ace? Seriously, I think if the Twins keep hitting like they have so far, they won't last long in postseason. However, this club, with improved pitching and defense including a deep bullpen is much better equipped to win low-scoring games than last season. For the Twins to be a juggernaut, the hitters need to hit like they did last year and the starting rotation needs to hit on all cylinders.

The Twins are 16-9, a .640 winning percentage, and if they win today will have won their last three series. They have done this despite an appreciable offensive drop from players who have shown to be productive. Two Twins regulars have an OPS over .800 and no one is doing appreciably better than last year. They have gotten close to zero from their biggest offensive acquisition and very little from their newly extended first baseman and Silver Slugger catcher. It figures that in the final 35 games of this strange season they will produce closer to the level of 2019 than to continue as they have so far--Team .236 BA, .723 OPS when last year they had a team .270 BA with an .832 OPS. It appears that Donaldson will soon be ready while the struggling Garver might have to go on the injured list. Overall, the team's position player health is pretty good. If the regulars stay healthy there really isn't any place for a hitting prospect to get consistent at bats. The pitching staff has had more injuries, although none seem particularly serious. For the season, the pitching has been very good although the starters haven't gone deep in games much. I suppose there is room in the bullpen to replace Thorpe and perhaps Smeltzer, but the starting rotation will have perhaps as many as seven candidates within two weeks. Cleveland is playing well right now despite all the controversy. The Twins still look like an absolute lock for postseason. I don't think it is time to panic or even shake things up.

Sounds about right. Of course, Garver might go on the injured list, in which case there would be a chance to either keep Thorpe or bring up both a fresh pitcher and backup catcher.

It looks like Littell drew the short straw and was sent to St. Paul, unless he was put back on the injured list.

Garcia's double wasn't tremendously well hit, but it wasn't a pop fly either. Rogers allowed a bloop single and walked Yelich. With better luck, he gets an easy save, but he left a lot of breaking balls up. I think Taylor Rogers should have been a All-Star last year. He was that good and worked many multiple innings in the first half of the season. He hasn't been as sharp this year and everything is magnified by the truncated season. The Twins have the luxury of being nearly certain to make the expanded playoffs, so I think they can get Rogers extra rope to find sharpness or make adjustments.

I think he will be all right, but the breaking balls were up in the zone where it is much easier to lob over an infielder's head. Rogers has been far from overworked, and never really has had arm trouble. I suspect he'll be all right, but he really hasn't been sharp.

I just checked, and indeed it is. Good on him. Buxton as the "free runner" was huge in the 11th. I'm not as upset with the usage of Rogers. The one thing I did notice in his outing was that too many breaking ball were up in the zone. Is this part of the plan?