Twins

[Gunner55]

Ryan had 102 pitches after 4 2/3 but the bullpen picked him up. Blasts by Julien & Castro so Twins win. Magic # is now 9. Getaway day for TB, so it's a 12:10 start with Keuchel taking the mound.

[LPS]

There goes my afternoon.  Another benefit of being a retired and a Twins fan.  Good excuse to take it easy. 

[glenn57]

There goes my afternoon.  Another benefit of being a retired and a Twins fan.  Good excuse to take it easy.

maybe if or when they make the playoffs i might be able to watch them on one of the 200 channels we get!!!!!!

[KEN W]

Bremer says magic number is

                   

                         10

[mike89]

that's what I heard this morning too...   10... 

[LPS]

They just lost.  I fell asleep for a couple of innings since it was during my nap time.  I dreamt that we had a bunch of chocolate chip cookies so was going to have some.  When I woke up I was still thinking of them.  The bad part is that we have no cookies.   

[KEN W]

I knew as soon as Jax came out of the bullpen in the 9th that it was over. 2 outs later, into the 3rd deck in left field.

[Steve-o]

I was at the game.  Can't keep spotting the opposition 4 runs.   

Suprised they put Pagan in for the 5th; wondered if he had been demoted.  Then he came out to pitch the 6th too.  I'm guessing they are starting to stretch him out to pitch multiple inning in the playoffs.  A few of the bullpen guys seem to have lost their edge and are less trustworthy.

[Gunner55]

Bremer says magic number is

                   

                         10

I heard that too, & it looks like I went right from 11 to 9 when both teams won..  However, Cleveland's bullpen gave up a 4-run lead in the bottom of the 7th inning today to lose 6-5 to SF in a later game, so it should be 9 now.    

[Steve-o]

The percentage chance to win the division is now over 99%.  The lead is 7.5 games.  Cleveland had their chance - a slim one - and they were not able to sweep the Twins 6 games in the last month of the season to make it a race.  Time to start watching the AL East and West to see who the Twins will face in the first round.  Here again is a link to track everyone's magic numbers.

American League Winning Magic Numbers

I was really looking forward to seeing Correa play in person.  He makes every play look easy and when he throws, its like a cannon going off.  But he was out of the lineup yesterday.  I'm sure Baldelli gave him the day off on Getaway Day to have two days off in a row.  There will probably be more of that as the end of the season approaches.  His hitting is slumping again, so hopefully rest will make it better and he won't get rusty.  He was only hitting .200 in his last 7 games.    I was going to say it can't get worse than that, but I know it can.

[KEN W]

Leave Jax on the bench.....He has 16 decisions this year,

He has won 6 and after last night's loss, he has lost 10 of them.

[Steve-o]

The good news is... with a 7.5 game lead, you CAN keep sending him out there and give him a chance to work thru whatever it is he is working thru.

I think Jax's upside is higher than Winder, Floro, Headrick, or Funderburk - provided hs isn't burned out from the long season.

[Gunner55]

Taylor is set to rejoin the team on this road trip & Stewart is headed to St. Paul, probably next week, to start a rehab. They will most likely go with just a 3-man rotation, at least for the 1st round, & that makes Maeda & Keuchel available for bullpen duty IMO.

[KEN W]

Keuchel can barely get anyone out. Even his outs are hard line drives. He would be at the bottom of the list. Baily Ober would be number 4 behind Lopez, Gray, and Ryan.

[Steve-o]

Perhaps that is the plan... get Ober fixed in AAA, let Keuchel thrash with the big club, and if Keuchel hasn't figured it out before the playoffs, swap 'em with Ober.

I think the thing was, with Keuchel's seniority, they either had to promote him or lose him.  So I think the next time they send him down, he might be gone.

It was tough watching him yesterday.  Not only were the Rays hitting long balls off him, every one seemed to be over the fielder's head or to the gaps.  The Twins were lucky to get 5 innings out of him with only 4 runs.  Every fly ball the Twins hit seemed to go right to a fielder - 'cept for the triple the twins hit.

[Gunner55]

Keuchel can barely get anyone out. Even his outs are hard line drives. He would be at the bottom of the list. Baily Ober would be number 4 behind Lopez, Gray, and Ryan.

Ober's arm is dead as he's pitched the most innings of his career & more than double the innings of last season. Keuchel has given up 2 runs or less in 4 of his 7 starts, plus he's lefthanded.

[KEN W]

I guess we will see tonight as Ober will start tonight's game against the White Sox.

Maeda pitched pretty well last night.

[Steve-o]

Hard to know what is going on.  I wish I new baseball better.

Are they looking for a 5th starter for the play-offs? 
Do they need a guy who can eat up innings in a blowout play-off loss?
Do they need a guy now who can give the big dogs in the rotation some extra time off in the stretch run?

[dutchboy]

No they will never need a 5th starter in the play-offs. They will have a starter type ready in case of a blow out. They will do what they can to get to Thielbar in the 7th, Jax in the 8th and Duran to finish up.

Somehow they will need to score some runs. 2 to 3 runs a game and they will be golfing early.

[Gunner55]

I guess we will see tonight as Ober will start tonight's game against the White Sox.

Maeda pitched pretty well last night.

I didn't see it anywhere that they'd recalled him yday but I did look & he's pitched pretty well for the Saints the last few times, so I'm not surprised. I would be surprised if they let him get to a very high pitch count though, probably ~ 70-80 pitches.

[Steve-o]

No they will never need a 5th starter in the play-offs. They will have a starter type ready in case of a blow out. They will do what they can to get to Thielbar in the 7th, Jax in the 8th and Duran to finish up.

What about Pagan?  Has he lost their confidence?  Or maybe they go with Jax or Pagan depending on who they fell best about at the time.

[Gunner55]

He's been 1 of their steadiest all season IMO. His stats: 60 games pitched, 63.1 innings, 42 hits, 26 runs, 23 earned runs, only 20 BB, & 56 K.

[KEN W]

They won't need more than 3 starters....Lopez, Gray, and Ryan if they are not injured before then. 4th possible is probably a toss-up.

[Steve-o]

Are you saying they won't get out of the first round?   

[KEN W]

No.....there are more days off between and after series are done. 2 out of 3. Then 3 out of 5, then 4 out of 7. If the series are short it would give more days off and a team could use only 3 starters.

[Steve-o]

I was just pullin' yer leg.  BUT...  if they DO lose the first series, but definition - they will only need three starters.  Let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Who are the best and worst matchups for the Twins in the first round?

[Gunner55]

Texas, who has won 6 in a row & just got done sweeping a 4-game series from the Blue Jays in Toronto, starts a 3 game series in Cleveland tonight. They outscored Toronto 35-9.

[Steve-o]

So if Texas continues to roll over Cleveland and the Whities show no interest in trying...  That Magic Number could be pretty small come Monday morning.   

[dutchboy]

Texas has to much talent to lay down in Cleveland. The White Sux suck but against the mighty Rocco's they might get a game or two. Nothing to worry about. Unless a bus crash or the mob takes out the Twins starting staff they are play-off bound.

[Gunner55]

Ober looked good & so did the bullpen. They scored 8 of their 10 runs with 2 out & went 6-13 w/RISP.