Game Thread, Twins vs Jays 5/30 @1:10pm CT

[twinsnorth49]

Gametime Weather forecast (courtesy The Weather Network)  Partly sunny, 15 degrees celsius, wind NW 21 km/h, 10% pop. 

 

 

 

Cola how could you?

 

Well that sucked, didn’t it? Damn you to hell Mark Buehrle! And what kind of appreciation for giving you your MLB start was that Chris Colabello? Thanks for nothing. Two run shot in the top of the 9th against 18 for 18 closer Glen Perkins? Tip of the hat to the big Italian there, but don’t expect me to be happy for him, I’d of been a lot happier for him if he did it against the Royals or the Tigers. Cola might be a real feel good story and all but I wasn’t feeling so good about him last night, argh!

 

 

Not much to remember from last night beyond the first, the Twins really have to revisit this whole no more runs after the first 3 innings game plan.  On to today’s proceedings.

 

 

Kyle Gibson (4-3, 2.72 ERA…..wut?) takes the hill vs highly touted prospect and fellow sinkerballer Aaron Sanchez (4-4, 3.98 ERA) in this afternoon’s tilt. After pretty much letting all the horses out of the stable last night, Mollie will be hoping for Gibson to go deep into the game again today. Kyle is coming off a  1 run, 4 hit, 8 inning gem against the ChiSox last week. Sanchez, who debuted with the Jays last summer in the bullpen got off to a rocky start in his first season as a starter this year. After failing to go 6 innings in his first 5 starts he’s been better of late going at least 7 innings in 3 of his last 4.  Sanchez has struggled mightily with walks however, giving up a league leading 5.88/9. Patience with the bats will be the order of the day for the Twins this afternoon.

 

 

Ok, so we’re in second place, not so bad, right? A win today and a KC loss and we’re back on top again. Let’s get to a few thoughts on today’s game.

 

 

1. Homeruns, the Jays sure showed the value of the long ball last night, tying the game in short order with Donaldson’s 3 run blast and then vaulting ahead just as quickly on Cola’s 2 run shot in the ninth.  The Twins also have some mashers lurking in the shadows and it’s only a matter of time before we see one if not more of them again………..right?.......amiright???

 

2. Rain, I like rain when I’m sleeping, I don’t like rain when I’m looking forward to watching baseball, especially on a Friday night with nothing better to do. I’ve only been in a few rain delays as a paying spectator fortunately. I rather enjoyed my first Target Field rain delay a few years back against the Tigers. Firstly, it allowed me to tour the beer stations throughout the concourse, a very valuable extra curricular activity. I’ve since decided that the rail right next to the Fulton’s stand in RF might be my favourite section of the park. Secondly, it allowed a couple of extra hours to adequately prepare me to watch Carl Pavano get shelled by the Tigers.

 

3. Blue Jays, the Blue Jay is a rather noisy, obnoxious bird, not unlike it’s teams fans……..I kid (not really). As the provincial bird of Prince Edward Island, it makes perfect sense that it is the namesake of the local baseball team in Toronto……?????? Actually the Jays name came from a fan contest to name the team and Blue Jays was selected as the winner, mainly as a tie in to the popular (and absolutely terrible) Labatt’s Blue beer that owner Labatt’s Breweries produced. The other reason stemmed from the team deciding that most people would recognize a Blue Jay, so therefore they could steal competing Expos fans who still had no idea what their team’s logo was. 

 

4. Bullpens, while the Twins bull pen has been inexplicably resilient I would prefer   not to see much of it today. I’d like to see the Jays bullpen however, it’s one of the worst in the league, only converting on 6 of 15 save opportunities this far and allowing a whopping .790 OPS in close games in the seventh or later. After watching Colabello crush our spirits last night, I think beating up Liam Hendriks to put the game away would be good karma today.  The Twins basically just have to somehow score 5 runs as Toronto is a paltry 2-23 when they score less than that many.

 

5. Saturdays, I think Saturdays, especially Saturdays in late May are for lazing around, not having to get up for work, drinking coffee all morning and for, well, watching baseball. This belief however was severely tested when I got married and pretty much ceased to be anything but a fantasy when I had children. I love my kids of course (and my wife….whoops), and I suppose it’s my own fault for introducing them to baseball and softball, so that I now have no time to watch baseball on weekends because I am instead out on some godforsaken diamond coaching them and their little friends on how to hit the ball “before” it hits the catcher’s glove. Oh well, it doesn’t last forever I’m told, so I’ll enjoy every minute of it and thanks to the wonderful invention of the PVR, I will enjoy Saturday afternoon baseball on Saturday night, by myself, in peace and quiet. Besides, it could be winter, whereupon I’d be coaching the same little buggers in some godforsaken hockey rink freezing my ass off.

 

 

Enjoy the game everyone…….Go Twins………please…………my sister is insufferable already, let alone if the Jays win this series!

 

 

Starting Lineups

 

Twins

 

1. Brian Dozier 2B

2. Eduardo Nunez DH

3. Joe Mauer 1B

4. Trevor Plouffe 3B

5. Eddie Rosario RF

6. Eduardo Escobar LF

7. Chris Herrmann C

8. Aaron Hicks CF

9. Danny Santana SS

 

SP     Kyle Gibson (4-3, 2.72 ERA)

 

 

Blue Jays

 

1. Jose Reyes SS

2. Josh Donaldson 3B

3. Jose Bautista DH

4. Edwin Encarnacion 1B

5. Russell Martin C

6. Chris Colabello LF

7. Ezequiel Carerra RF

8. Kevin Pillar CF

9. Ryan Goins 2B

 

 

SP     Aaron Sanchez (4-4, 3.98 ERA)

[Craig Arko]

Going to the game; looks to be sunny, breezy, and not too warm.

 

I have a good feeling about this one. Gibson should be able to keep the ball in the park, and that should make the difference.

[Squirrel]

tl;dnr

 

 

 

 

(kidding. Great job ... both yesterday and today. And I'm sure tomorrow's will be, too, so I'll say it now.)

[Halsey Hall]

Nice job.  Now today is the day to break the broom handle.  It is saturday.

[JB_Iowa]

Great Job!  Have fun coaching the kids.  We'll be doing CBU so you may not want to read until you watch the game.

 

Time to start a new winning streak!

[Shane Wahl]

Still believing in Escobar, I see.

[mickeymental]

look at it this way: perkins is still 18-for-18.

[twinsnorth49]

Twins DH, Eduardo Nunez

 

Blue Jays DH Jose Bautista

 

....sigh.

[formerly33]

 

Twins DH, Eduardo Nunez

Blue Jays DH Jose Bautista

....sigh.

Aw, don't worry about it. DH's don't have to hit for power. Just be glad that at least Nunez makes up for it with something; he has a slightly better lifetime batting average than Bautista and this year is .387 to Jose's .232, and, while Bautista has over 4 times as many at bats, Nunez has 57 stolen bases to Bautista's 51. And yes, he doesn't have quite as large of a percentage of RBI as Bautista this year, but if he was batting behind Josh Donaldson every day, who knows? Maybe that's why Mollie stuck him behind Doz.

[Platoon]

I prefer my DH not to have to steal bases, I like when they just make sure to touch them on the way around, while the ump is waiting to hand the pitcher a new ball!

[Hrbowski]

 

Twins DH, Eduardo Nunez

Blue Jays DH Jose Bautista

....sigh.

There is always Ryan Howard.

[twinsnorth49]

 

Aw, don't worry about it. DH's don't have to hit for power. Just be glad that at least Nunez makes up for it with something; he has a slightly better lifetime batting average than Bautista and this year is .387 to Jose's .232, and, while Bautista has over 4 times as many at bats, Nunez has 57 stolen bases to Bautista's 51. And yes, he doesn't have quite as large of a percentage of RBI as Bautista this year, but if he was batting behind Josh Donaldson every day, who knows? Maybe that's why Mollie stuck him behind Doz.

Well that's a lot of white noise, luckily Nunez is raking it at the moment but I'll take Bautista's lifetime .859 OPS over 'Duardo's .697 OPS and let somebody else worry about stealing bases.

[Cap'n Piranha]

I prefer my DH not to have to steal bases, I like when they just make sure to touch them on the way around, while the ump is waiting to hand the pitcher a new ball!

I like it when my DH creates runs, no matter how they do it. If I told you the Twins had a player hitting over .380 in limited at bats, but left off the name, we'd all scream bloody murder every time his name wasn't in the lineup. I say ride Nunez until he turns back into a pumpkin, then leave him on the bench.

[twinsnorth49]

 

There is always Ryan Howard.

Don't you start....

[formerly33]

 

Don't you start....

C.O.N.C.U.R.

[Hrbowski]

http://danny-wild.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Ryan-Howard-27.jpg

[twinsnorth49]

 

http://danny-wild.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Ryan-Howard-27.jpg

 

That's it, you are banned.

[Gibby]

 

 

 

5. Saturdays, I think Saturdays, especially Saturdays in late May are for lazing around, not having to get up for work, drinking coffee all morning and for, well, watching baseball. This belief however was severely tested when I got married and pretty much ceased to be anything but a fantasy when I had children. I love my kids of course (and my wife….whoops), and I suppose it’s my own fault for introducing them to baseball and softball, so that I now have no time to watch baseball on weekends because I am instead out on some godforsaken diamond coaching them and their little friends on how to hit the ball “before” it hits the catcher’s glove. Oh well, it doesn’t last forever I’m told, so I’ll enjoy every minute of it and thanks to the wonderful invention of the PVR, I will enjoy Saturday afternoon baseball on Saturday night, by myself, in peace an quiet. Besides, it could be winter, whereupon I’d be coaching the same little buggers in some godforsaken hockey rink freezing my ass off.

 

 

  That's how I spent my weekends, and a couple weeknights when my kids were still around. I seem to remember freezing my ass off during softball season. While it sometimes felt like a chore. I have really great memories...which old farts seem to value.

 

 

 

[Gibby]

 

 

 

5. Saturdays, I think Saturdays, especially Saturdays in late May are for lazing around, not having to get up for work, drinking coffee all morning and for, well, watching baseball. This belief however was severely tested when I got married and pretty much ceased to be anything but a fantasy when I had children. I love my kids of course (and my wife….whoops), and I suppose it’s my own fault for introducing them to baseball and softball, so that I now have no time to watch baseball on weekends because I am instead out on some godforsaken diamond coaching them and their little friends on how to hit the ball “before” it hits the catcher’s glove. Oh well, it doesn’t last forever I’m told, so I’ll enjoy every minute of it and thanks to the wonderful invention of the PVR, I will enjoy Saturday afternoon baseball on Saturday night, by myself, in peace an quiet. Besides, it could be winter, whereupon I’d be coaching the same little buggers in some godforsaken hockey rink freezing my ass off.

 

 

  That's how I spent my weekends, and a couple weeknights when my kids were still around. I seem to remember freezing my ass off during softball season. While it sometimes felt like a chore. I have really great memories...which old farts seem to value.

 

 

 

 

  I guess I should learn how to use the quote function.

[formerly33]

 

That's it, you are banned.

Silly Canadian....still can't get your U's right.

[twinsnorth49]

 

Silly Canadian....still can't get your U's right.

Dammit!!......Luckily I have ultimate editing power.

[hotshot031]

 

I prefer my DH not to have to steal bases, I like when they just make sure to touch them on the way around, while the ump is waiting to hand the pitcher a new ball!

I really hope you understand sarcasm. 

[zchrz]

Ha Blue Jays announcers saying their pitchers should go take a shot and calm down if they are struggling in the first. 

[Blake]

Saturday and the Twins and a game thread.

 

Life is good.

 

I really hope Colabello pops up every single pitch he sees from here on out. (When he's hitting against the Twins. Everyone else, he can go yard)

[stringer bell]

In Gibby (Kyle) I trust. TD's Gibby however is more entertaining.

[twinsnorth49]

 

Ha Blue Jays announcers saying their pitchers should go take a shot and calm down if they are struggling in the first. 

Likely what Martinez and Tabler aredoing.

[twinsnorth49]

Well, off to daughter's Softball, enjoy the game! Go Twins!!

[stringer bell]

Most of the time, ground balls don't go over the fence. Keep it up, Kyle!

[zchrz]

Same ground ball 3 times, 2 for singles, 1 for a double play, sinker ballers luck.

[Gibby]

 

Saturday and the Twins and a game thread.

 

Life is good.

 

I really hope Colabello pops up every single pitch he sees from here on out. (When he's hitting against the Twins. Everyone else, he can go yard)

 

 

  My wife thinks I'm gardening with her. My timing has been perfect so far.