AlwaysinModeration

I don’t know. I get the sense the bats are breaking out tonight. Five run rules in effect, mercy rule, etc.

I don’t know, looks formidable to me. Granted, if you could sub in Kyle, Ashley, and Coby, we’d really be talking about a lineup.

OK, back from the neighborhood ballfields and the afternoon Little League game. It was the first game of the fall season, and the rust was definitely showing.The team didn't really put on their best showing, I have to say.The energy levels were low, the strikeouts were high, and the amount of time playing in the dirt probably exceeded the amount of time paying attention to the game. Several kids insisted on wearing their caps backwards, or sideways, or not at all. I promised highlights.Hmmm...digging deep here.There were several putouts in the field, granted all of the "field grounder, step on the nearby bag" variety.Four kids played catcher, and two of them caught some of the pitches, in fact.Several hard-hit balls, including a double to "deep right" / just over second base by our clean-up hitter.One player almost caught a pop-up, sort of.By the end of the game, the bats started to pick it up a bit, timing the machine a bit better...but still a lot of work to do. No one got seriously injured.And every kid managed to bring their glove except for one, so that is a victory right there.For those wondering, there are two team gloves...one lefty catchers mitt and one righty catchers mitt, but, um, each kid has one too. The weather was warm and sunny, and the popsicles were cold and refreshing. Here are five things to think about: 1.Michael Pineda, no longer the Twins ace.You have to wonder if he just pitched his last game for the Twins. 2.Aaron Civale, the Indians' starting pitcher, is not this good. He has pitched seven games in the majors, 41IP with a 1.94 ERA.He's given up 1 homer.In the minors, over 381IP, he pitched a 3.12 ERA with 32 homers.He's due to give up some homers, and he's going up against the greatest home run hitting team of all time.Twins will go yard on this guy at least twice tonight. 3.I question the move to Graterol and the walk of Greg Allen in the game last night.If either had worked, ok.But I'd give a clean inning to start with.And walking Greg Allen? Really?He of course scored. 4.Tonight's game is not a must-win game, not even remotely.But coupled with the Pineda suspension and the Clevinger start against ?? tomorrow, I have to imagine people are starting to get a bit squirrelly.I don't think the team is feeling that.I think they will be loose and score a bunch of runs tonight. 5. Line-ups: Aaron Civale ® 1. Francisco Lindor (S) SS 2. Oscar Mercado ® CF 3. Carlos Santana (S) 1B 4. Yasiel Puig ® RF 5. Jason Kipnis (L) 2B 6. Franmil Reyes ® DH 7. Mike Freeman (L) 3B 8. Roberto Perez ® C 9. Greg Allen (S) LF Jake Odorizzi ® 1. Max Kepler (L) CF 2. Mitch Garver ® C 3. Jorge Polanco (S) SS 4. Eddie Rosario (L) RF 5. Miguel Sano ® DH 6. Luis Arraez (L) LF 7. C.J. Cron ® 1B 8. Willians Astudillo ® 3B 9. Jonathan Schoop ® 2B

Time for perspective. Twins lost a heartbreaker yesterday. Would be great to get a win today before facing Clevinger tomorrow. But more importantly, it's a beautiful day, and I'm about to head out to coach my youngest son's Little League game. We've had one 1.5 hour practice. We have new uniforms (provided by the Washington Nationals baseball club), and it's likely that the whole team will have their glove for the first game of the season. We're ready to roll. Our team sponsor is a local dental practice, and the team cheer is "Don't forget to floss!" - followed by the kids doing the floss dance, of course. Here is our fearsome line-up of 7 and 8 year olds: 1. Ian, 2b (lefty, great contact hitter) 2. Erin, P (new to the team, looks like a gamer...also note, this is machine pitch, so she won't actually be pitching) 3. Kyle, bench (has a mighty swing) 4. Casey, 1B (coach's kid lands in the cleanup spot, go figure) 5. Ryan, SS (got a new buzzcut) 6. Will, C (would catch every inning of every game if he could) 7. Nolan, 3B (newcomer to team but played with another team in the spring; siblings are opting for soccer but he's baseball all the way) 8. Gary, RCF (looking like he will be making major improvements at the plate this fall) 9. Ashley, bench (new to team, great attitude showing up already) 9. Stevie, LF (quiet but steady player) 10. Coby, LCF (lefty, perhaps named after Jacoby Ellsbury?) 11. Hayden bench (a knack for making great plays in the field) 12. Aiden, RF (need to work on smoothing out his swing, but he's everywhere in the field) I'll be back after the game, after the popsicles have been eaten, with some highlights, and some other things to think about. Oh, and go, Twins!

Kiriloff is coming up big in big situations. Gotta love that. And nice to see Balazovic pitching in AA.

What happened to 100?

Wow.

The speed with which the rally squirrel was adopted is a bit comical. I think teams like to have a meme to rally around, but this one seems forced...and not really sustainable?

Well, according to this website bbref.com, Rosario has 47 career assists.

Cleveland has 60 losses, so would need to go 21-0 to get to a max of 102 wins. The Twins have 87 wins, and would need to go 16-6 to finish with 103 wins and guarantee the division win. Twins also need to go 13-9 to get to 100 wins. Definitely within reach.

Devers still hasn’t touched home plate. Astudillo’s at bat, when he took the third pitch, it occurred to me that his plan (or instructions) were to take pitches until he got two strikes on him, knowing that he can always get a bat on the ball. It’s an approach that I wish Eddie would use sometimes as well—they’d both get a bunch of walks, and ultimately, more pitches to hit. Great AB, and great game-winning hit!

Actually only 6 more against the Tribe, if my math is right. 6 of the next 10 games.

What’s amazing about this post is this: Twins through June 2: 40-18. Twins since June 2: 46-34, or....wait for it.... A .575 winning percentage! It’s like a magic trick, jkcarew. I don’t know how you did it. In any event, I just looked up this “second place” thread. The Twins fell half a game behind Cleveland, for exactly one day, Tuesday, August 13. Then they put the pedal to the medal, winning 15 of their past 20 games, gaining seven games back in the standings. Six of the next eleven games against Cleveland, though, so there is still work to be done.

Am I alone in wishing Berrios wouldn’t start tonight, but rather took a few days off and pitches against Cleveland this weekend? 1)I think his arm could use a few days of rest, and 2)The games against Cleveland are sort of twice as important as the games against Boston.

If I follow your logic, I think you are totally for the rotoump.

So, they’ve been better in the past half century?

I’m not saying the spelling makes sense.

Excellent point. All but five starts by the starting five. I don’t think that can be underestimated. That is huge.

Fortunately, late inning German heroics.

Buxton late inning defensive replacement.

Surprised Graterol isn’t in for the ninth here.

I stand in judgment of the Planet Fitness banner behind home plate. Or at least the spelling.

Unfortunately, Miguel Cabrera homered. Fortunately, Ehire homered with a man on.

Lineups: Twins (84-52) Jake Odorizzi ® P 14-6, 3.55ERA 1. Max Kepler (L) CF 2. Jorge Polanco (S) SS 3. Nelson Cruz ® DH 4. Eddie Rosario (L) LF 5. Mitch Garver ® C 6. Luis Arraez (L) 2B 7. C.J. Cron ® 1B 8. Jake Cave (L) RF 9. Ehire Adrianza (S) 3B Tigers (40-94) Jordan Zimmermann ® P, 1-9, 6.24 ERA 1. Victor Reyes (S) LF 2. Willi Castro (S) SS 3. Miguel Cabrera ® DH 4. R. Rodriguez ® 2B 5. Harold Castro (L) CF 6. Dawel Lugo ® 3B 7. Jordy Mercer ® 1B 8. John Hicks ® C 9. T. Demeritte ® RF

Whew. What a week. There was so much Twins news, our heads are spinning. There was good news. There was bad news. There were bombas. There were games (ok, game) without bombas. There were opposite field singles. There were lots of opposing team singles. It kind of reminds me of that classic children’s book by Remy Charlip, “Fortunately”: Fortunately, my friend lent me an airplane. Unfortunately, the motor exploded. Fortunately, there was a parachute. Unfortunately, there was a hole in the parachute. Fortunately, I landed on a haystack. Unfortunately, there was a pitchfork on the haystack. In honor of that timeless book and the head spinning Twins goings on, today’s game thread will take up the fortunately mantle. Let’s see what we’ve got. FORTUNATELY, the Twins have extended their division lead over the Indians to 5.5 games. UNFORTUNATELY, the Twins play the Indians 6 more games in September. Fortunately, the Twins played their last four series against the White Sox and Tigers. Unfortunately, they started that stretch 1-3. Fortunately, they finished that same stretch 7-1. Unfortunately, that stretch is over. After today, anyway. Fortunately the Indians went 5-7 during those same 12 games, losing 3 games to the Twins in the standings. Unfortunately, the Twins play their next four series against the Red Sox, Indians, Nats and Indians again, and unfortunately, could easily give those 3 games in the standings right back. Fortunately, the offense is beastly, having hit the most home runs by any Major League Baseball team ever, with a month to spare. I don’t know if you heard. Unfortunately, the Yankees and the Astros, the likely first round and *cough* second round playoff opponents for the Twins, are also beastly home run hitting machines, on pace to do exactly the same record breaking thing as the Twins. Fortunately, the Twins rotation has been amazingly healthy! Their starting five pitchers have stayed in the rotation almost the entire season, starting all but seven games. Unfortunately, they haven’t been great shakes, especially recently, and three of them seem like they are unreliable or downright unhealthy right now; Berrios is losing velocity and has been lousy in August, Perez has turned back, more or less, into the pitcher he was in Texas, and Gibson was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, which just seems cruel and unnecessary. Fortunately, there is time to get them healthy. Smeltzer and Thorpe (and Stewart) are up and can take a start or two from Gibson, and hopefully Berrios, and hell, hopefully Perez, too. Unfortunately, those starts may be coming against the aforementioned Red Sox, Nats and Indians. Fortunately, the Twins bullpen is here to save the day. What?!? Oh right. Unfortunately, the bullpen has been pretty rough all year. Fortunately, Brusdar. Oh, and fortunately Sergio. And fortunately May and fortunately Duffey, and yes, fortunately Dyson, too. And, Fortunately, Taylor. Rogers. Unfortunately, Nelson Cruz ruptured his tendon. Fortunately, Nelson Cruz is made of kryptonite forged from the fountain of youth. Unfortunately, Byron Buxton keeps running into walls and banging his face on the ground. Fortunately, he’s back now, and seems to be talking about things like “feet first slides” and running into fewer walls. Unfortunately, he may just be a defensive replacement and pinch runner for now. Fortunately, it’s ok, because, well, Tortuga. And fortunately, it’s Labor Day, and fortunately you don’t have to go to work, and fortunately there is baseball on, and fortunately it is your first place Minnesota Twins, and fortunately they are playing against Gardy and his last place Detroit Tigers one last time before it gets real. Go Twins!!