Game Thread: Twins vs. Indians 4-17 @ 7:10 PM CT

[Comrade Bork]

Here's to Bucky's avg. not going down. I didn't want to see him today anyway :/

[Brock Beauchamp]

Only 1/3 of this outfield trio is excelling like we hoped... Buxton and Rosario = Abysmal at the plate so far

Rosario is suffering from bad luck. We should actually be encouraged by his start, even if the numbers look bad at first glance.

 

HIs BB% is up 3.7% over last season. His K% is down 9.4%. His contact rate is up, his swings outside the zone are down, and he's basically doing everything he needs to do to improve over 2016.

 

Why do his numbers look so bad? His line drive percentage fell off a cliff and he's hitting the ball on the ground too much. On top of that, he has a ridiculous .188 BABIP after posting numbers in the .330 range in 2015/2016.

 

The process is right. Eddie is trying to adjust and the coaching staff needs to wait him out. The results will come in time if he continues to lay off bad pitches and make contact with pitches in the zone.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Y'all take good care of the game.

 

I will miss the forst hour or so, and may subsequently be slow to catch up, seeing how well that worked yesterday...

 

And here's to hoping Chief gets his joke book back and we can return to defcon 5.

[Blake]

 

Rosario is suffering from bad luck. We should actually be encouraged by his start, even if the numbers look bad at first glance.

 

HIs BB% is up 3.7% over last season. His K% is down 9.4%. His contact rate is up, his swings outside the zone are down, and he's basically doing everything he needs to do to improve over 2016.

 

Why do his numbers look so bad? His line drive percentage fell off a cliff and he's hitting the ball on the ground too much. On top of that, he has a ridiculous .188 BABIP after posting numbers in the .330 range in 2015/2016.

 

The process is right. Eddie is trying to adjust and the coaching staff needs to wait him out. The results will come in time if he continues to lay off bad pitches and make contact with pitches in the zone.

I think Dozier has suffered from this a bit also. I watched Dozier blister some balls against Shields but they were all right at someone.

[Brock Beauchamp]

 

I think Dozier has suffered from this a bit also. I watched Dozier blister some balls against Shields but they were all right at someone.

I'm not worried about Dozier at all. He's actually having a pretty good season. His walks are up, his strikeouts are way down, and the only discernible difference between this year and last is that his groundball rate is elevated a bit (not a lot but enough to note).

 

He's just not hitting dingers... yet. If he keeps doing what he's doing, those will come in time. Brian's not a big guy. The home run thing could simply be a weather problem.

[Craig Arko]

My two cents:

 

I somewhat understand the redskin comments, since it does hit on skin color, but the name Indians or Braves doesn't bother me. I'm not aware (and someone can correct that) of those terms being used as racial terms in the same way as words like cracker, spic, the N word, etc. Indian is simply a name for a group of people.  Calling Indians 'braves' was a compliment unlike another word that was used (savages). 

 

Perhaps I'm not up on my racial terms, but I don't see what is derogatory with only that name.  Like someone else said, do we abolish Vikings next?  That's a slippery slope that at one point would have most team names changed.  Blake is right about that, at some point people need to get over being offended so easily.  Perhaps my understanding of those terms is wrong, and if that is the case, I'd like to be corrected.  But without question, political correctness can go too far, and I think this is a good example.

 

I do think Cleveland should simply continue on phasing out wahoo.  They've already been reducing it's prominence in their marketing, but it would be wise to slowly phase in a new logo that doesn't focus on the color of skin. Instead, they could focus on non-racial characteristics of Indians.  I would think there would be a way to keep the name without disparaging the people.

Indeed.

 

 

[70charger]

 

7:10 PM CT
Indians
Danny Salazar ( R)

1. Carlos Santana (S) 1B
2. Francisco Lindor (S) SS
3. Michael Brantley (L) LF
4. Edwin Encarnacion ( R) DH
5. Jose Ramirez (S) 2B
6. Lonnie Chisenhall (L) CF
7. Yandy Diaz (R ) 3B
8. Abraham Almonte (S) RF
9. Yan Gomes (R ) C

Twins
Kyle Gibson ( R)

1. Brian Dozier ( R) 2B
2. Max Kepler (L) CF
3. Miguel Sano ( R) DH
4. Joe Mauer (L) 1B
5. Robbie Grossman (S) RF
6. Jason Castro (L) C
7. Jorge Polanco (S) SS
8. Eduardo Escobar (S) 3B
9. Eddie Rosario (L) LF

Gametime Forecast: 55°F • Clear • 0% PoP

Bro, you are terrible at haikus.

[MNTSchmitt]

Hoping to see Sano drop some bombs today!

[BoofBonser]

Can someone look up the first pitch strike percentage on Joe Mauer this year? Sheesh, make an adjustment.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

 

Hoping to see Sano drop some bombs today!

Two things:

 

He's DH-ing tonight, and

he's kind of cleaned up his defense anyway

 

 

(at least so far he has, knock on wood, fingers crossed, etc)

[crapforks]

Glad to see Sano hit that 1-2 pitch. Looked like he was getting frustrated with the corner call(s)

 

[snepp]

Can we please, please, please get a big hit with guys on?

[crapforks]

Gomes is grateful for the change in MLB rules re: collisions. Sano might win that battle.

[crapforks]

 

Can we please, please, please get a big hit with guys on?

not yet

[70charger]

 

Can we please, please, please get a big hit with guys on?

Nope.

 

[BoofBonser]

 

Can we please, please, please get a big hit with guys on?

no

[Halsey Hall]

3 straight hits and zero runs, that stings.

[BoofBonser]

I forgot to mention this earlier: 

STOP WEARING THE RED JERSEYS

[Platoon]

Except for right field,

 

the line up makes sense tonight.

 

I bet the Twins win. 

 

 

/haiku

I don't do haiku, but I also don't put a noodle arm in RF!

[crapforks]

 

Can we please, please, please get a big hit with guys on?

Ask again. ASK AGAIN!!

[70charger]

Nice rip by Escobar there.

[crapforks]

Rosario does not lay off that first pitch last year

 

[70charger]

Rosario was super frustrating to me last year, especially on high fastballs out of the zone. I'm happy to see his approach progress this year.

[Guest]

Escobar: not a superstar, but underrated and under appreciated.

[Oldgoat_MN]

Let's go big, Sano!

[Bark's Lounge]

The LOB is really getting frustrating.

[70charger]

 

Escobar: not a superstar, but underrated and under appreciated.

 

Definitely agree. He's one of my favorite players to watch on the Twins. He's a pretty good player, and he always seems like he plays the right way and has fun. Nobody wants to see a downer out there, right?

[Guest]

This is what is frustrating with Gibson. Why is he dinking around with Yan Gomes? It seems like he always pitches well for a few innings, then wakes up and remembers he's not been any good, and starts rallies by giving up hits to weak players.

[Bark's Lounge]

 

Rosario was super frustrating to me last year, especially on high fastballs out of the zone. I'm happy to see his approach progress this year.

Rosario's AB really tells me that maybe Dick & Bert's time is antique and has reached it's end. Sure I like traditional baseball commentary, but a little of the modern analytics approach is necessary. I would have liked to have heard Mr. Beauchamp's commentary (as he has done in this thread) about Rosario much, much more than the guys we have totally misrepresenting Rosario's season thus far.

[Bark's Lounge]

 

Escobar: not a superstar, but underrated and under appreciated.

Escobar usually gets the shaft. At least we know he is a super solid MLB player and we can appreciate his contribution..