Game Thread: Twins at Astros, 5/3/16 @ 7:10 PM CT

[Sir_Eugene11]

Twins (8-18, 5th AL Central) vs Astros (8-18, 5th AL West)

Line: HOU -143

O/U: 8.5 runs

 

Meyer (0-0, 18.00 ERA) vs McHugh (2-3, 6.65 ERA)

 

Minute Maid Park, Houston, TX
Forcast: Overcast, 58F, 0% of Precip.

 

TV: FS-N
Radio: Go 96.3

 

Minnesota Twins Lineup:

1. CF Danny Santana ®

2. 2B Brian Dozier ®
3. 1B Joe Mauer (L)
4. RF Miguel Sano ®
5. 3B Trevor Plouffe ®
6. DH Byung-Ho Park ®
7. SS Eduardo Escobar (S)
8. C Kurt Suzuki ®
9. LF Eddie Rosario (L)

 

Houston Astros Lineup:
1. 2B Jose Altuve ®
2. RF George Springer ®
3. SS Carlos Correa ®
4. LF Colby Rasmus (L)
5. 1B Tyler White ®
6. DH Preston Tucker (L)
7. CF Carlos Gomez ®
8. 3B Luis Valbuena (L)
9. C Jason Castro (L)

 

Not only did the Twins snap a 4-game losing streak last night but Jose Berrios notched his first win while ending Dallas Keuchel's 17-game home winning streak with a 6-2 victory. The Twins now match the Astros 8-18 record heading into tonight's game against right hander Collin McHugh. Opposing him will be Alex Meyer in his first start of the year, hoping to follow Berrios' first win with one of his own. After Santana and Gibson's stint on the DL, Duffey and Berrios have been pitching well and it'd be great to see another young pitcher try to enhance his resume for the starting rotation. Although my non-standard game threads haven't brought much luck so far this season, back-to-back wins would be a great way to start this 6-game road trip!

 

Fun Fact: My last thread consisted of Kepler's first start of the year. Tonight, Alex Meyer. Next time, any guesses?

 

As always, go Twins!

[bluechipper]

No Oswaldo Arcia again? It's not like Eddie Rosario has played all that well defensively this year to justify him playing more than Arcia.

 

It's good to see Trevor Plouffe back in the lineup though.

[alarp33]

Santana leading off, Rosario in lineup, Arcia on bench.     

[Tibs]

 

Santana leading off, Rosario in lineup, Arcia on bench.     

Who would you rather see leading off? There doesn't seem to be a better option at the moment.

[alarp33]

 

Who would you rather see leading off? There doesn't seem to be a better option at the moment.

 

His obp since the start of last year is .246.  He likely wouldn't even be in my lineup, so I would basically lead anyone else off.  

[Winston Smith]

Isn't there an unwritten rule about putting your high OBP guys at the top of the order? If somebody would just write them all down it would be a lot easier!

[HitInAPinch]

Plouffe is in the lineup.  OK, who's the schmuck that didn't send me the memo?

[Pardon My Dinger]

Has Plouffy participated in a victory this year? 

[bluechipper]

 

Has Plouffy participated in a victory this year? 

He had 8 hits in the 3 game sweep of the Angels.

[Pardon My Dinger]

 

He had 8 hits in the 3 game sweep of the Angels.

 

[Tibs]

 

His obp since the start of last year is .246.  He likely wouldn't even be in my lineup, so I would basically lead anyone else off.  

The only other option to leadoff is Dozier and he hasn't hit well to this point, so Molitor doesn't have much of a choice. There really isn't a leadoff hitter on the roster. Only reason Dozier would be considered is he can work the count and take some walks.

[Tibs]

 

Isn't there an unwritten rule about putting your high OBP guys at the top of the order? If somebody would just write them all down it would be a lot easier!

Mauer, Sano, and Nunez are the only ones who have OBPs that would be considered high at this point.

[Riverbrian]

 

 

 

 

Fun Fact: My last thread consisted of Kepler's first start of the year. Tonight, Alex Meyer. Next time, any guesses?

 

 

 

Billy Chapel?

[Riverbrian]

You can all rest assured that Paul Molitor does not use the small sample size of Batter vs. Pitcher when constructing his lineup. 

 

3 Twins have hit home runs off McHugh and 2 of them are on the bench. Suzuki, Nunez and Arcia

 

2 Twins are Oh-Fer against McHugh and both are in the lineup. Dozier and Rosario. 

 

I'm not implying that BVP should be considered but just pointing out that it appears that Molitor uses the metric out of anger at the metric. 

 

 

 

 

[Craig Arko]

Here's to young Mr. Meyer dealing a good one. Sorry I'm going to miss it.

[David HK]

I know it's early in the season, but I'm already looking at the standings. Is it possible- Possible, I ask you- that we can find ourselves, after this crucial series, not at the bottom of the AL suck-barrel?

[USAFChief]

 

Here's to young Mr. Meyer dealing a good one. Sorry I'm going to miss it.

Ditto.

[twinssouth]

Mega ditto

[ScrapTheNickname]

 

Who would you rather see leading off? There doesn't seem to be a better option at the moment.

You're like a chess player, always one step ahead. Yes, no one there to bat first or second but those who are batting first and second, so sad, so true.

[AlwaysinModeration]

Who would you rather see leading off? There doesn't seem to be a better option at the moment.

If only the Twins had the guy with the highest OBP in the league, now that would be a guy they could put in the lead-off spot.

[ScrapTheNickname]

David HK wrote, "I know it's early in the season ..." and that got me thinking ... What time of the season is it, really? I did a quick calculation ... 16% of the season is finished ... the life expectancy of a U.S. citizen is 79 years ... What is 16% of 79 years? Answer: 12.6 ... So ...

 

... The season is a 7th grade student. In other words, The Twins are just entering puberty, have zits, find it hard to concentrate, need a girl/boyfriend REALLY bad, and can't talk to their parents (The Front Office, I guess). You can fill in the rest.

 

All I know there are many years ahead to look forward to before this season falls over dead in the living room of a heart attack, or by some wild chance, gets a full body and brain replacement and goes the distance to the Playoffs.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

...

 

Fun Fact: My last thread consisted of Kepler's first start of the year. Tonight, Alex Meyer. Next time, any guesses?

I'll go with James Beresford...

 

As always, go Twins!

Go... where?

 

Oh, excellent intro by the way. Not sure if there is a standard for game threads...

 

I like the use of formatting.

[Foghorn Leghorn]

 

Santana leading off, Rosario in lineup, Arcia on bench.     

Logic and Molitor do not mix. 

Best of luck to Meyer tonight

[twinssporto]

Young Master Meyer is going to pitch a great game (everyone knock on wood)...Go Twins!  Good Lord I love baseball!

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Here's to young Mr. Meyer dealing a good one. Sorry I'm going to miss it.

 

 

Ditto.

(Sorry twinssouth, there be a limit on quoted blocks of text, apparently)

 

I am already missing you...

 

Me, i'm going to swing like Oswaldo at this game, and enjoy it to the hilt... Er, i mean the knob. At the end of the bat. Is there a more formal name for it?

[Tibs]

 

 
 

(Sorry twinssouth, there be a limit on quoted blocks of text, apparently)

I am already missing you...

Me, i'm going to swing like Oswaldo at this game, and enjoy it to the hilt... Er, i mean the knob. At the end of the bat. Is there a more formal name for it?

Mr. Knob

[Foghorn Leghorn]

I am laughing really hard now

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Santana pulls a Dozier!

 

Er, 1-0.

[Tibs]

NICE START

[HitInAPinch]

No Freaking Way!  Go DANSAN !

 

and here I was just thinking Santana coulda used a day off