Twins

[KEN W]

You are right......makes for a 3rd place team in the Central behind Cleveland and Chicago.

[dutchboy]

3rd would be about right except I can't root for the White Sux at any time. If they lost every game the rest of the season Dutch would be dancin' in International Falls.   

[Gunner55]

  Don't worry db, their defense is not good, last in the AL & 3rd worst in all of MLB. They lost in 11 to the O's on Thursday after they committed their 3rd error of the game.

[Gunner55]

Good to see Correa, Cave, & Kepler getting their bats going. A few others showing signs too, a lot of the big hits went to the opposite field in the last series. BoSox come to Target Field for 3 starting tonight, 6:40 1st pitch.

[Steve-o]

The deficit is down to 2 games.  Hitting is contagious.  Lets see if they can make a race of this.

Arraez is still making good contact, it's just that he is hitting balls at people.

[Gunner55]

  So many of his hits go to left field that everybody is changing how they pitch to him. Now they're all trying to keep it up & in & that makes going to LF pretty tough. I agree Steve-o, he's made some adjustments to his swing & is now getting the barrel on it quite a bit, usually it's right at someone though. Really glad to have Smeltzer back too, hard to have too many lefties. He will take some pressure off Thielbar along with his ability to do some long relief & he might even take a turn or 2 in the rotation, if needed.

[dutchboy]

I would think Arreaz is getting tired also. It's his first full year playing every day and he isn't a big guy to start with.

[Gunner55]

  I think Rocco tried to give him a couple days off in the last couple of weeks, but he actually got in 1 of those games late. Might've even been the game Polanco got dinged & left early. It was good to see him get a couple to fall in for hits last night. That 2 out 2B to RF by Urshela was huge too.

[Gunner55]

 Pretty how they set up Gordon to get the curtain call the next inning after his grand slam.

[LPS]

Darn right.  That was pretty cool!

[Steve-o]

I saw in the pregame that Jhoan Duran is the first pitcher ever to throw a 100+ MPH "off speed" pitch. 

Don't ask me how/why 100.8 MPH qualifies as "off speed" but it must have something to do with the grip, the movement, and the fact that it was 3 mph slower than his fast ball.
 

[Gunner55]

Some clutch hitting by Correa & Miranda yday  , so back tied for the division today. Fulmer struggled but everyone else pitched well. NYY today @ noon.

[dutchboy]

Yanks are scuffling to win. If the Twinks were to sweep them somebody in New York would get fired. On the other hand they could sweep the Twinks and everything would be roses again.

Taking the bike towards Ely today so I need to find a radio station that carries the game to listen to on the way back.

[Gunner55]

Archer, Megill, & Pagan all hung 1 slider each & they didn't miss it. Twins have been missing those same pitches & hitting into double plays instead a lot lately. It's a 6:00 game tonight & Ryan gets the ball.

[Steve-o]

Double header today.  It will be a tough test against a team that "has the Twins' number," which might be the biggest understatement in the history of modern day baseball.

And we dropped another 1/2 game to the Guardians (1.5 back).  If they aren't careful, they are going to need a sweep against the Guardians this weekend just to pull close - with no chance of pulling ahead.

[KEN W]

Twins blow another one. Way to many chances blown. Runner thrown out at the plate. Bullpen gives up tying runs, then winning runs in the 12th. Really tough to watch. I might just skip the second one and watch a good movie.

[mike89]

when I left HH they were up and now I see this...  good lord!! 

[LPS]

That 3rd base coach sending Celestino home and he didn't have a chance to get there.  That may have cost us the game.  I watched a little of the second game and switched channels.  The bright spot was how good that new kid they brought  up from the minors did pitching.  Was great to see him smiling when the guys congratulated him.

[Gunner55]

  I not totally sure that was the 3rd base coaches fault. Celestino got a late jumped like he didn't see the ball when it came off the bat & there was nobody out, so he really didn't have to go. I would have to see the play again, but I would like to think the coach was trying to hold him up & that's the way Perkins sounded too. The Twins had 4 errors from the 8th inning on & you can't give good teams that many extra outs & expect to win.   I agree though, that play was a game changer. 

[Steve-o]

I was listening to the radio and Gladden and Provis put that one squarely on the 3rd base coach's indecision (send 'em, hold 'em, wait, no...) and him finally waving Celestino thru.

Two back, tied with the Whities.  Shaping up to be a tense weekend. 

[Gunner55]

  I'm curious to hear what, if, they have anything to say on that play during today's game. It's a 6:00 game & Gray gets the ball.

[Steve-o]

They might talk about it in the pre-game, but I don't think it will come up in either the TV or Radio Broadcast unless the Twins make another base running blunder.  Lemme know what they say.

[KEN W]

This weekend's series with Cleveland will tell a lot.

[Steve-o]

Yep.  Could be in a tie for 1st.  Could be 6 games back.

[dutchboy]

Once they get Larnach & Kirilloff back thats the last you will ever see of Celestino.

[LPS]

What a game they played last night.  Good win!

[Gunner55]

Once they get Larnach & Kirilloff back thats the last you will ever see of Celestino.

Larnach went on the 60-day IL on 9/1 & for Kirilloff it was 8/23, so I don't think either of them will see much more action this season.

[Gunner55]

They might talk about it in the pre-game, but I don't think it will come up in either the TV or Radio Broadcast unless the Twins make another base running blunder.  Lemme know what they say.

You were right, only mention of it that I heard was during the pre-game & there was no mention of who was at fault.

[KEN W]

Interesting discussion last night about possible rule changes for next year. Rules committee meets today.

2 infielders on each side of 2nd base
Infielders must have 1 foot on the dirt.
Time clock on pitchers....15 seconds with no one on base. 20 seconds with runners on
Batter can call only 1 time out and step out of box.
Mechanical strike zone.

[Gunner55]

What a game they played last night.  Good win!

Good job by Thielbar to get out of the 8th inning but I thought Fulmer was going to walk in the tying run. Good play by Miranda to get to the bag on the last out too. Lopez pitched pretty good IMO too, but he wasn't getting ANY calls. Bundy @ 7:10 tonight.