stringer bell

I don’t mind going for the win in the ninth.

I wanted to see Kirilloff walk them off.

Smalley was calling them sliders….potato—pa tah toe.

Infield hit, now two missed strike calls.

Cleveland bullpen gave up three, Twins bullpen (in one less inning) gave up two. That’s the way it goes. I’d definitely take the Cleveland ‘pen over the Twins ‘pen, but on any given day………

Two extra RH batters against a guy with reverse splits. I imagine we’ll see both Gordon and Larnach in the next two games.

Celestino still has an insanely good BABiP, but it has regressed to the mean of late.

One game isn’t validation or verification, but I’m pretty optimistic that Kirilloff is going to be a fine player including a middle-of-the-order hitter.

Seems like Joe’s fastball is deceptive, but he’s now been seen by the teams in the division and they now have a chance to adjust to him. His pitches are okay, but not overpowering. If he can’t dominate with the fastball, he not going to be dominating with his other pitches.

I don’t think the Straw at bat ends well for the Twins.

Wake up guys!

Nice they got the pickoff, still Ramírez makes this a high-stress at bat for Ryan vs. Naylor.

Civale has reverse splits. Also, the Twins will be facing three righties in the series, so finding the alternate right handed hitters a start might make sense.

Offense so far looks……….offensive.

Civale may or may not have been nursing an injury to put up those poor numbers. I think he’s better than he’s been so far this year.

Got Reyes, but Gonzalez got a big hit.

This Gonzalez kid makes Cleveland much better.

Reminiscent of the crazy play against the Tigers when the Twins walked off on a bad throw. Both sides made mistakes on the play, no harm done this time.

Two singles set up Ramirez. Yikes!

This would line Winder to come up for the doubleheader against Cleveland on 6/28. Depending on how he fares, he could be optioned to St. Paul of stay with the Twins either in the bullpen or the rotation.

Civale and Reyes are being activated from the IL. Ramirez is playing, was there any doubt? This series should be fun.

Sanchez and Celestino in and no Larnach? I'd much rather see Trevor in there, but I do see that in Civale's splits that he has struggled against right handed hitters. Or, maybe this indicates that Larnach will be heading across the river when Polanco returns from the IL.

Off the top of my head scouting report on the Guardians. They have been surprisingly good so far this year. Surprises include two or three position players who have stepped up and a really good bullpen anchored by Clase, who is probably going to be very good for a long while. The starting rotation was viewed as their top strength going in and has been okay, but not really exceeded expectations. This club is probably more vulnerable to injuries than most, but right now they are playing the best ball of anyone in the AL Central.

I have posted opinions about each of the players in question. I think the Twins are most likely to find an injury before any of the five is optioned or DFAed. Regarding Kirilloff, I’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t put up above-average numbers going forward. Miranda needs to be more selective, and play better defense. Larnach needs to go back to the all-fields approach that netted him a .300 average and 130 OPS through May. Celestino has benefited from an unsustainable BABiP, but he’s lacking in power and he’s not fast enough that his legs are a weapon. Gordon is versatile and runs well, but he’s a “break glass in an emergency” shortstop. Garlick is a real power threat against left handed pitching, and totally replaceable in every other aspect.

Garlick was activated Sunday.