Game Thread, Twins @ Indians, 8/8 @ 6:10 pm CT

[BK432]

LINEUPS:

 

Twins

2B Brian Dozier

1B Joe Mauer

DH Miguel Sano

3B Trevor Plouffe

RF Torii Hunter

LF Eddie Rosario

CF Aaron Hicks

C   Kurt Suzuki

SS Eduardo Escobar

 

P Ervin Santana

 

Indians

2B Jose Ramirez

SS  Francisco Lindor

LF Michael Brantley

1B Carlos Santana

DH Yan Gomes

RF Lonnie Chisenhall

3B Giovanny Urshela

CF Abraham Almonte

C   Roberto Perez

 

P Trevor Bauer

 

----------

 

WARNING: QUICK SATURDAY EDITION! SATURDAYS WITH A TODDLER WHO DECIDES NOT TO NAP WILL DO THAT TO A GAME THREAD STARTER. I BEG YOUR FORGIVENESS.

 

Remind me never again to breathe a sigh of relief when we take a 6-0 lead.

 

It took just 1/2 an inning for Mr. Pelfrey to let the Indians back into the game in the 4th inning and, with the help of AJ Achter, actually trailed 9-7 after 5 innings. Fortunately, the Twins bullpen actually outdueled the Indians 'pen the last 4 innings. Torii Hunter's solo blast in the top of the 9th gave the Twins the 10-9 lead and Perk took care of business to earn the save.

 

So, yeah, 1-game winning streak! 55-54 feels a heck of a lot better than 54-55. So we march on and hopefully can give ourselves a bit of a .500 mark buffer with another win tonight.

 

The Indians Made A Trade

In a "almost purely for financial reasons" deal, the Indians acquired Chris Johnson and his bad contract from the Braves for Michael Bourn, Nick Swisher and their bad contracts. Indians sent some money too. Not any vital parts traded, but I suppose Johnson could swipe some time from Chisenhall and/or Urshela, especially against LHPs. He won't be playing tonight against Ervin Santana, but should be available off the bench.

 

Pitching

I'll admit it, I'm nutty for Trevor Bauer. Has a good mix of pitches but gives up a ton of flyballs. He has just a .259 BABIP against this year but is also striking out 8.8/9. What's holding him back? Too many HR. 1.3/9 with his flyball tendencies has allowed the ball to fly over the fence against him with too much ease.

 

We get Ervin Santana again tonight. He'll have to right the ship. Games 3 and 4 for Santana gave Twins fans hope that we could ride him until October. But the last two games haven't gone as well, giving up 4 HR and 9 earned runs and King just 5 in 11.2 IP. It's fair to expect a better outing tonight; the Pirates and Blue Jays have clearly superior lineups to that of the Indians, as they were able to tag Santana for an over 20% HR/FB ratio. More of those balls should stay in the yard tonight against the weaker Indians, and he should be able to take advantage of at-bats against Perez, Almonte, Urshela and others to up that K rate.

 

Psychological One-Game Swing.

Let's be honest, as I stated earlier, 55-54 feels tons better than 54-55. At this point in the season, to have fallen under .500 would have felt awful. Instead, the squad is over .500 with a good shot at getting to 56-54 by the end of the night. That psychological swing of coming back to win last night (after squandering the big lead) means more than it probably should on paper.

 

It should be a good night for a Twins victory. Santana has the stuff to shut this weak lineup down, and has already shown that ability in limited starts this year. Twins will score enough off Bauer and the Indians' bullpen to win;  4-1 or so feels about right.

 

Go Twins!

[JB_Iowa]

 

 

 

 

WARNING: QUICK SATURDAY EDITION! SATURDAYS WITH A TODDLER WHO DECIDES NOT TO NAP WILL DO THAT TO A GAME THREAD STARTER. I BEG YOUR FORGIVENESS.

 

 

Quick is best!

 

[ashbury]

Ladies and gentlemen, as of last night tied for third-hottest team in the American League, your Minnesota Twins!

 

/ Blue Jays riding a 7 game winning streak, Angels are winners of 2, no one else has more than 1. Fun With Numbers.

[JB_Iowa]

Anthony Castrovince ‏@castrovince  · 2h2 hours ago 
The $ Indians are sending to ATL is closer to $15M. Not the $10M reported. Braves take on ~$4M of Swisher salary and Bourn/Johnson ~a wash.

[spinowner]

Oh, cripes, I was afraid of this. The red jerseys are back again tonight. I suppose we'll have to endure those horrible things until they lose again.

[JB_Iowa]

OMG, a MAUER HR in the 1st!!!

[Jerr]

Mauer???? Is this Joe Mauer to almost centerfield    

[Riverbrian]

 

Oh, cripes, I was afraid of this. The red jerseys are back again tonight. I suppose we'll have to endure those horrible things until they lose again.

 

Keep the horrible things until you lose. Until then... Bring on the horribleness

[Riverbrian]

 

Keep the horrible things until you lose. Until then... Bring on the horribleness

 

It would be an apt slogan... The Minnesota Twins... Winning Horrible

[Riverbrian]

Did Dick just slam ABBA?

[Squirrel]

C'mon, Rosie … smack it out of here!

[Squirrel]

Okay … i'm not posting anymore.

[Riverbrian]

 

Okay … i'm not posting anymore.

 

You can still post... But Clearly Rosario doesn't like being bossed around. 

[Riverbrian]

 

You can still post... But Clearly Rosario doesn't like being bossed around. 

 

Next time he Bats... Tell him to strike out. 

[Squirrel]

 

You can still post... But Clearly Rosario doesn't like being bossed around. 

Or maybe he doesn't like being called 'Rosie' either.

[SwainZag]

 

Did Dick just slam ABBA?

 

LOL he is boycotting the Rock and Roll half of fame because they are inducted?  Did I hear that right?

[Riverbrian]

 

Or maybe he doesn't like being called 'Rosie' either.

 

Maybe go with Snap Dragon... That's more Manly

[Riverbrian]

 

LOL he is boycotting the Rock and Roll half of fame because they are inducted?  Did I hear that right?

 

Yeah... Dick is probably more into Five Finger Death Punch

[Riverbrian]

Another Bunt

 

A couple of thoughts

 

1. Cross Francona off of Chief's approved list of Future Twins Manager

 

2. Where's String to Thank Tito? 

 

[ashbury]

Next time he Bats... Tell him to strike out. 

Bunting has also proven to be effective.

[ScrapTheNickname]

MLB Trade Rumors mentioned today that Doug Mientieejioejakafjwiz is a possible target to manage the team next year.

[Jerr]

[Jerr]

Make that     

[Riverbrian]

 

MLB Trade Rumors mentioned today that Doug Mientieejioejakafjwiz is a possible target to manage the team next year.

 

You mean Marlins?

[JB_Iowa]

Did I hear Dick right?  The Indians have 5 hits in 8 AB's?

Good grief, Santana.

[JB_Iowa]

Batting Practice for the Indians.

 

Please, Lord, find us a shut-down pitcher somewhere.

[Jerr]

This is what we DID NOT need from Santana today!!!!!!!!!!!

[Riverbrian]

If the Indians keep this up.

 

We will need to score at least 16... Just to force the Tribe to bat in the ninth/

.

[Intramural Legend]

This is painful.  I finally convinced my wife to sit down and watch and entire baseball game with me, and once again, the Twins make it so I don't actually want to watch it. 

[Jerr]

Geesh, play the Twins to fix what ails your team, this is getting really, really ugly.