Article: Game Thread: Twins@Nationals 4/24 12:35PM

[BK432]

So yesterday, I said this:

 

"Oh Tanner Roark, who are you? You're not a strikeout guy....."

 

 

15Ks later and Tanner Roark is suddenly Clayton Kershaw's long-lost son or nephew or something like that. In fact, the Twins struck out 18 times total yesterday which, in case you're new to baseball, is not good. But it's time to feel good because there's nowhere to go but up from yesterday.

 

Wait, who's this Stephen Strasburg guy?

 

Crap.

 

It's the Sunday getaway game at 12:35 today, and the Twins bring Tyler Duffey to the hill in a spot start due to stiffness in Ervin Santana's back. We all know Duffey and how well he pitched last year after his promotion from Rochester. He came into the spring virtually guaranteed a rotation spot and asked to simply work on his changeup during the spring. The Twins then thanked him for his work with a demotion to AAA.

 

 

Can't fault the Twins for asking Duffey to develop a 3rd pitch - to survive as a starter in this league, you need to keep batters on their heels. But how Duffey throws his fastball and his curveball can feel like four pitches; he's shockingly interesting as Jeff Sullivan noted at Fangraphs.

 

He is going against an increasingly dominant-again guy in Strasburg. He flashed a near-11K/9IP last year and is off to a 3-0 start this year with a 1.25 ERA. He hasn't been quite that good - K rate so far is actually south of 9K/9 and he's benefitting from a .255 BABIP against - but clearly this is a guy who is a low-end ace wrapping up the series against our squad.

 

Yesterday, we saw Miguel Sano play the hot corner and Max Kepler in CF. While it's fun to see the youngsters get playing time and see some defensive flexibility, there are some early concerns from what we're seeing in the defense overall. With a hat tip to Brandon Warne, give his fantastic article a read here.

 

All analysis aside, this is the last Sunday game of April. Next week will mark the arrival of May and a near-entrance to summer. If it weren't raining today, you might be grabbing an icy lager, your headphones and your lawnmower and be giving your lawn its first haircut since last fall while listening to the game. Instead, grab a blanket and cozy up inside as the Twins try to avoid a sweep in the District.

 

--

 

LINEUPS:

 

Minnesota

3B Eduardo Nunez

2B Brian Dozier

RF Miguel Sano

1B Byung-Ho Park

LF Eddie Rosario

SS Eduardo Escobar

C   John Ryan Murphy

CF Byron Buxton

P Tyler Duffey

 

Washington

RF Matt den Dekker

CF Michael Taylor

2B Daniel Murphy

1B Ryan Zimmerman

3B Anthony Rendon

LF Jayson Werth

C   Wilson Ramos

SS Stephen Drew

P Stephen Strasburg

 

[Platoon]

It would be interesting to see the Twins pitchers, against the Twins batters. Would our SO rate go up, or go down?

[Halsey Hall]

 

It would be interesting to see the Twins pitchers, against the Twins batters. Would our SO rate go up, or go down?

After yesterday there isn't much room for it to go up.

[Riverbrian]

I hope Duffey hangs a zero in each inning. (He Might Need To)

 

BTW... Who got sent down.

 

I haven't heard yet... Nothing on TD yet.

 

Someone has to go down for Duffey to come up. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[sampleSizeOfOne]

I hope Duffey hangs a zero in each inning. (He Might Need To)

 

BTW... Who got sent down.

 

I haven't heard yet... Nothing on TD yet.

 

Someone has to go down for Duffey to come up.

 

I thought some one in game thread yesterday said Polanco was sent down. Hold on a minute while check the minutes...

[Squirrel]

I hope Duffey hangs a zero in each inning. (He Might Need To)

 

BTW... Who got sent down.

 

I haven't heard yet... Nothing on TD yet.

 

Someone has to go down for Duffey to come up.

 

Or sent to the DL.

[Danchat]

 

I hope Duffey hangs a zero in each inning. (He Might Need To)

 

BTW... Who got sent down.

 

I haven't heard yet... Nothing on TD yet.

 

Someone has to go down for Duffey to come up. 

Polanco was sent down. I think the reasoning behind it was that tomorrow Santana will return from the DL and basically take Polanco's place.

[Craig Arko]

Polanco -> Rochester.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Polanco was sent down. I think the reasoning behind it was that tomorrow Santana will return from the DL and basically take Polanco's place.

So instead he'll take... Duffey's place.

 

Makes sense in a musical santanas sort of sense...

[Riverbrian]

Thanks

 

So Kepler is the chosen one.

 

I hope he gets some game action when we get back to the American League. 

[Danchat]

 

Thanks

 

So Kepler is the chosen one.

 

I hope he gets some game action when we get back to the American League. 

Yeah, I was expecting Kepler to go down instead of Polanco. Hopefully this means Kepler will get some more playing time. 

 

Though maybe they're waiting for David Murphy to replace Kepler on the bench...

[Mr. Brooks]

I think Kepler will go down tomorrow when Danny Santana is activated, and they will keep duffey (or call up a relief pitcher) until they are sure Ervin Santana can make his next start.

[Willihammer]

Bets on how many different ways Bert will bungle "Stephen Strasburg?"

[Riverbrian]

 

Yeah, I was expecting Kepler to go down instead of Polanco. Hopefully this means Kepler will get some more playing time. 

 

Though maybe they're waiting for David Murphy to replace Kepler on the bench...

 

I'm not sure that Murphy offers anything significant enough to improve the club. 

 

Maybe he does... I'm not sure. 

 

I'm guessing No. 

[jimmer]

Is this just a scheduled day off for Mauer?

[Riverbrian]

Waiting for the game to start... I was flipping and stopped to watch Bowling on ESPN.

 

I haven't watched Bowling in quite some time. I believe it has been years. 

 

Anyway... Some Pro Bowlers are bowling two handed now. No Thumb in the ball... Cradled with two hands and spun down the lane. 

 

And they appear to be quite good at it. 

 

I didn't know this revolution had taken place. 

[Riverbrian]

 

Is this just a scheduled day off for Mauer?

 

I think it's an about time day off for Mauer

 

I really think Park could have made a start earlier at 1B during this National League Road Trip. 

 

Instead of waiting until getaway day. 

[jimmer]

Mauer is leading the league in OBP.

[Riverbrian]

 

Mauer is leading the league in OBP.

 

Park has hit a home run every 10.75 AB's

[Riverbrian]

 

Park has hit a home run every 10.75 AB's

 

Correction... Park has hit a home run every 11 AB's

[jimmer]

and stuck out 33% of the time. which against a strikeout pitcher is pretty interesting.

[spinowner]

 

Waiting for the game to start... I was flipping and stopped to watch Bowling on ESPN.

 

I haven't watched Bowling in quite some time. I believe it has been years. 

 

Anyway... Some Pro Bowlers are bowling two handed now. No Thumb in the ball... Cradled with two hands and spun down the lane. 

 

And they appear to be quite good at it. 

 

I didn't know this revolution had taken place. 

My middle son, who is 20 years old, has been doing this for a long time. He researched Jason Belmonte, who was the first two-handed pro bowler to have significant success, and determined that it was the way to go. He doesn't bowl regularly but he has had several games over 200.

[Riverbrian]

I'm pretty sure... Duffey didn't want to start that way. 

[Riverbrian]

 

My middle son, who is 20 years old, has been doing this for a long time. He researched Jason Belmonte, who was the first two-handed pro bowler to have significant success, and determined that it was the way to go. He doesn't bowl regularly but he has had several games over 200.

 

I used to bowl with my thumb out of the ball and I spun the crap out of it. 

 

I did it one handed and I bowled under 100 quite a bit but I bowled under 100 just throwing it regular so I figured why not. 

[Blake]

 

I used to bowl with my thumb out of the ball and I spun the crap out of it. 

 

I did it one handed and I bowled under 100 quite a bit but I bowled under 100 just throwing it regular so I figured why not. 

The best part about bowling? It's the crash of the ball into the back wall. If the ball hits a few pins along the way, so much the better.

[Riverbrian]

True Story

 

I've got a couple of cousins who have both rolled a couple of 300 games. These guys are so good at bowling that they are pissed if they don't roll a strike and if they don't roll a strike they can explain why they didn't get a strike.

 

They bowl on teams and in a league that is a level far beyond anything I could even imagine. 

 

Anyway.... Back in my early 20's... I'm sitting at home and the phone rings. It's my cousin... Someone didn't show and league started in 5 minutes and he asked if I would fill in. 

 

I told him that I don't belong anywhere near your league and it would be way too embarrassing. 

 

He said... he needed me... the clock was ticking and my handicap would make it all alright. 

 

So I showed up

 

1st Game... I Rolled a 279 

 

2nd Game... I Rolled a 64

 

True Story

[formerly33]

 

True Story

 

...

 

True Story

Cute bookends.

[Blake]

Okay, Duffey's pitch count has climbed in the first inning, though he did escape the trouble he was in. I'm not sure about this game. I may go back to working on my computer and editing grub so I'm not trying to boot so many flavors of Linux.

 

[Blake]

 

True Story

 

I've got a couple of cousins who have both rolled a couple of 300 games. These guys are so good at bowling that they are pissed if they don't roll a strike and if they don't roll a strike they can explain why they didn't get a strike.

 

They bowl on teams and in a league that is a level far beyond anything I could even imagine. 

 

Anyway.... Back in my early 20's... I'm sitting at home and the phone rings. It's my cousin... Someone didn't show and league started in 5 minutes and he asked if I would fill in. 

 

I told him that I don't belong anywhere near your league and it would be way too embarrassing. 

 

He said... he needed me... the clock was ticking and my handicap would make it all alright. 

 

So I showed up

 

1st Game... I Rolled a 279 

 

2nd Game... I Rolled a 64

 

True Story

And I'll bet that story has been repeated by the guys you bowled with many times over the years. Who cares about good? Memorable is where it's at.

[Riverbrian]

 

Cute bookends.

 

I've typed so much crap on TD over the years that if I ever type real crap... I got to bookend it.