james2334

The Cleveland game is postponed. They will play a doubleheader tomorrow. Let's hope they also get to extra innings before they come to Minnesota!!

Great job by Smeltzer. I liked that Rocco took him out when he did and didn't let the big bats for the Royals get a another look at him. I did not like how Rosario came out of the box on the ball off the wall. I don't care if guys admire their home runs, but it better leave the ballpark if they stand and look at it. It would have probably still been a close play at second, but run hard out of the box! I also didn't like when Polanco argued strike 3 the other day on a check swing when the ball got past the catcher. You have a better chance of getting to first running than you do arguing a check swing. That stuff needs to get cleaned up.

I would like to see the Twins add Duran to the bullpen. I know he hasn't pitched above A ball and he's not on the 40, but he has a live arm, he hits upper 90's on his fastball and he has to be added to the 40 after the season anyway. We need something in the bullpen that's better than what's there now.

You do realize that the Twins are first in Home runs, first in RBI's, tied for first in Batting Average, tied for first in runs scored, first in slugging percentage, first in OPS, second in total hits, second in doubles, and have the fifth fewest strikeouts in all of baseball. But hey, there's always room for improvement right?

I'm pretty sure Trevor Bauer is the starting pitcher for the Indians tomorrow and not Jake Bauers. Although that would be very entertaining.

I knew as soon as I complained, they would activate Buxton within the hour. It was strategic.

I'm starting to wonder if we will see Buxton again before the All-Star break.

No kidding. I was imagining an outfield with Sano in left and Astudillo in right and it reminded me of when we had Arcia and Sano in the outfield together...sorry I just threw up a little in my mouth.

If Kepler is unavailable tonight and one of the starting outfielders gets hurt does that me we get to see either Sano, Garver, or Cruz play outfield? Oh joy!!!

Great win, but if Buxton is going to continue to be out and Kepler is going to miss time they have to call up another outfielder, right? I mean they can't just run Cave, Austudillo, and Rosario out their with no back up on the bench? Am I the only one that sees a problem?

I would expect the cost to be extremely high to acquire him. He is not just another player to that franchise and the fan base will be extremely upset if they trade him for anything less than a huge haul of prospects. He won 3 World series for them. I imagine it would be like the twins trading Kirby Puckett back in the day. The Twins should get him if the price is right, but they shouldn't empty the farm system for him.

I don't know if I prefer watching one style over the other, but I do enjoy watching two teams with different styles of play squaring off. With analytics taking over the game a lot of teams are taking similar offensive approaches and it can be boring watching everyone strike out, walk, or hit a home run. I can appreciate the fact that KC has given the middle finger to the analytic approach to hitting and instead is committed to playing small ball. It hasn't worked out too well for them and in the era of the juiced ball I'm not sure what the ceiling is for that style of play, but sometimes if you zig when everyone else zags who knows?

For some reason KC is a tough match up for the Twins. It seems odd because the Twins are 23 games ahead of them in the standings, but all 9 games with them have been tough. The Twins have won 6 of the 9, however, KC has actually outscored them 42 to 40. I think the most telling stat is the errors, 12 errors for the Twins and only 3 for the Royals. I think this may have something to do with the difference in style between the two teams. The Twins emphasize power and extra base hits on offense, while on defense they are willing to live with weaker defenders on the infield while the Royals emphasize putting the ball in play, stealing bases, and pressuring the defense to make plays. I think over the long haul the Twins strategy is better, but I think the Royals can give teams with weaker defenders a lot of problems. Also the fact that Buxton only really played one full game out of the 9 can't be ignored.

My first thought was "maybe they saw something they can fix", but then again if they could fix broken relievers they should start by fixing the guys they already have.

I know that it doesn't really make sense for Rooker to come up for 3 days, assuming of course that Buxton is healthy enough to play by Tuesday, however it's just painful watching Cave hit right now. Almost as painful as watching Astudillo play right field.

If the over/under for combined strike outs for Sano and Cave is 6, who takes the under?

Am I the only one who thinks that maybe Cave should go back down and Rooker take his place? Rooker seems to have earned a shot and Cave just doesn't look good right now.

I would agree that the offense can score plenty of runs without Buxton and at this point they could probably go the rest of the season without him and still win a weak Central Division. However, if they get to the playoffs and Jake Cave is in Center field I would expect it to be a short playoff run. I think this team with Buxton can play with anyone (assuming of course that they upgrade the bullpen at the trade deadline), I think if he's out it's a different story.

Byron Buxton is the most important everyday player on the team. There I said it. He is the best defensive player, the best base runner, and one of the few guys that can manufacture a run when the offense is struggling. The drop off from Buxton to Cave is huge, on both offense and defense, a bigger drop off than any other position. Add to that the fact that when he makes a great catch or turns a single into a double it seems to fire up the whole team. He's the one player we can't afford to lose for significant time.

If we look at this game rationally we would realize that Buxton, Garver, and Polanco are 3 of our best hitters against left handed pitching and none of them played. Their replacements went a combined 1 for 10 with 2 walks and a single. In normal circumstances Cave and Castro don't start against left handed pitching, but that's the situation the Twins were in. Ultimately, the game hinged on the starters and Gibson just didn't have the control. You can't walk that many guys and think you are going to hold that line-up down. Boston also had the advantage of an off day today which allowed them to not have to rest as many players.

I don't know that it's fair to dump on Cave after one game in which a lot of guys struggled to hit. Also, I agree on La Tortuga, he is some type of mythical creature that brings joy and winning with him wherever he goes.

Not their best line-up, but Rocco is probably thinking about the fact that he has a 10 game lead in the division and he wants to keep his middle infielders and his catcher healthy. This one game won't make or break the season and they still might win. Also, I tend to give a manager the benefit of the doubt on line-ups when he's 48 -24 and has the best record in baseball.

Actually Poppen is not a reliever, he's a starter. I'm assuming they chose him because he can give them multiple innings if Gibby has a short start.

I'll be the crazy fan that defends Sano. And my defense is this: It's a a long season, all hitters go through peaks and valleys. Hot streaks and cold streaks. Remember when Kepler was 0 for 21? Remember when Marwin couldn't hit anything for the entire month of April? Peaks and valleys. Also when you consider that Sano is an all or nothing hitter his valleys will look worse and are filled with strike outs. On the other side his peaks are filled with home runs and doubles. Right now he is in a valley, but I believe a peak is on the horizon. I'll also defend Garver on the pick off, even though it was a bone headed play. He was trying to get a good lead so that if the ball was put in play on the ground he would be able to beat a throw home. He wandered farther than he should have and he should have slide back into third. It was a good lesson for him to learn in a regular season game. Now he knows not to do that again.

I would guess they call up Smeltzer. They need someone who can give them innings if Gibby has a short start. What I love about Kepler is he seems to have his biggest games when everyone else is struggling. He's not one of those guys who compiles hits and home runs in 12-2 wins and then goes ofer in the one run nailbiters.