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Game Thread: Twins vs Royals, 9/2/17 @ 7:10 PM CT

AlwaysinModeration

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AlwaysinModeration Ft Myers Mighty Mussels

AlwaysinModeration

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Twins (70-64) vs Kansas City (66-67)

Target Field, 7:10pm

 

Onelki Garcia vs Kyle Gibson

 

Starting lineups

TBD

 

The Minnesota Twins Baseball Club tries to even the series against the Royals, after losing the opener 7-6, with the game ending on a strike out with the bases loaded. The Twins almost came all the way back from a 7-3 deficit, but couldn't quite pull off the improbable two nights in a row.

 

Luckily the Yankees and Angels both lost, so the wild card chase remains kind of similar to the day before:

 

1. NYY, 71-63

2. Twins 70-64, 1 GB of the Yankees

3. Angels 69-66, 1.5 GB of the Twins

3. Orioles 69-66, 1.5 GB of the Twins

 

Tonight the Twins start polarizing Kyle Gibson. Gibson has generated some intense discussion on Twins Daily of late, including an article by Nick on his changed mechanics and increased swinging strikeout rate in his recent run of success. Gibson apparently has also changed where he stands on the rubber in order to change his pitch angle.

 

Many are skeptical of Gibson and dismiss his recent run (3.90 in five August starts). Regardless of what you think of Gibson, he is in the rotation right now. So if we want the Twins to keep ahold of their wild card aspirations, we need Kyle to keep rolling with his recent success.

 

Here are some things to think about, other than Kyle Gibson, that are polarizing:

 

1. Sunglasses

2. A Twenty One Pilots song

3. The Arctic?

3. "Climate Change"

5. Joe Mauer's Hall of Fame credentials

 

Let's gloss over 1-4 for a second, and skip right to #5, as we can never beat this horse to death enough. Last night Joe got a pair of hits, bringing his average on the season up to .297. It also brings his career hit total to 1,953, leaving him 47 short of 2,000. In August, Joe played in 28 games, racking up 36 hits. The Twins have 28 games left in the season. If Joe keeps up this hit rate--and plays/DHs every day, he would finish the season with 1,989 hits.

 

I think he gets a gold glove this year. If he can creep over .300 for the year, I think those will be two nice additional building blocks for his career hall of fame case. Once he gets over 2,000 hits, that is another. If he gets to 150 hits on the season, that will be 150 hits in two of the last three seasons. Here is a slightly less polarizing question than the "Joe Hall of Fame" question for folks:

 

Can Mauer get to 2,500 hits?

 

Stepping back a bit, the Twins are down 0-1 in this 7 game series against the Royals (separated by a three-game series with the Rays, but whatever). We all want to see the Twins playing meaningful seven-game series very soon. Well, they are, and they are down 0-1. Definitely don't want to go down 0-2 in this series, especially since the final four games are on the road.

 

Stepping back a bit more, the Twins have 28 games left, and stand at 70 wins, with a 1.5 game lead over two teams. Does 16-12 get them in? If they go 16-12, that means the Angels or Baltimore have to go 17-10 to tie the Twins, which is a tall order. I think that 87 wins is enough to get an AL wild card spot this year, and 86 might be enough.

 

Finally, today's Joe M conversation:

 

Joe Mantegna: Riverbrian, what is the deal? You invite me to join in with the other Joe Ms that one time, and I though it went great. We had good rapport, things were going swimmingly. How come you never invited me back?

 

RiverBrian: Joe, I loved your work on The Simpsons.

 

Mantegna: You're not answering the question.

 

RB: And you and Gary Sinise do amazing hosting the Memorial Day concert!

 

Mantegna: Still not answering. I mean, you could of at least given me a reason!

 

RB: Godfather III, though, questionable.

 

Mantegna: It was frankly, a bit rude to give me the wrong directions to the conversation.

 

RB: And Three Amigos....hmmmm.

 

Mantegna: Is it an Italian thing?

 

José Mesa: Is it a Dominican thing, RiverBrian? How come you never invite me to the Joe M conversation?

 

RB: Well, Joe Table, you are technically aren't a Joe M.

 

Mantegna: I don't know, RiverBrian, I just find you very polarizing.

 

 

Let's go Twins!

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Dantes929 FCL Twins

Dantes929

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LAA has a lot of games against Houston and Cleveland.    Orioles have a lot of games against the Yankees and Cleveland.    We have a series against LAA and NYY.    Lets not forget that they Yankees only have a 1 game lead on us so essentially in your analysis if the Twins go 16-12, the Angels and Orioles have to go 17-10, and the Yankees would have to go 15-13 with a lot of series where these teams play each other which means every time one contender wins another loses.   That's a lot of winning records for teams that have thus far barely maintained a better than .500 record.    To illustrate this point consider that if the Yankees go 15-13 (53.4)  the remainder of the season it will be a better winning percentage than they have maintained up to this point (52.98) and that is the team with the lowest hurdle to making the playoffs.  

Given all the points above I would not rule out 85 or even 84 wins getting in so if it were possible to bank 16-12 I would definitely do so.   

sampleSizeOfOne MVP

sampleSizeOfOne

Verified Member
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They:

 

1. Whit Merrifield (R ) 2B

2. Lorenzo Cain (R ) CF

3. Melky Cabrera (S) RF

4. Eric Hosmer (L) 1B

5. Salvador Perez (R ) C

6. Mike Moustakas (L) 3B

7. Brandon Moss (L) DH

8. Alcides Escobar (R ) SS

9. Alex Gordon (L) LF

sampleSizeOfOne MVP

sampleSizeOfOne

Verified Member
Posted
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Buxton back in CF, hitting 3rd.

Huzzah!

 

For completeness...

 

We:

1. Brian Dozier ( R) 2B

2. Joe Mauer (L) 1B

3. Byron Buxton ( R) CF

4. Jorge Polanco (S) SS

5. Eduardo Escobar (S) 3B

6. Mitch Garver ( R) DH

7. Eddie Rosario (L) RF

8. Chris Gimenez ( R) C

9. Ehire Adrianza (S) LF

Circus Boy First Round Pick

Circus Boy

Verified Member
Posted
Posted

 

LAA has a lot of games against Houston and Cleveland.    Orioles have a lot of games against the Yankees and Cleveland.    We have a series against LAA and NYY.    Lets not forget that they Yankees only have a 1 game lead on us so essentially in your analysis if the Twins go 16-12, the Angels and Orioles have to go 17-10, and the Yankees would have to go 15-13 with a lot of series where these teams play each other which means every time one contender wins another loses.   That's a lot of winning records for teams that have thus far barely maintained a better than .500 record.    To illustrate this point consider that if the Yankees go 15-13 (53.4)  the remainder of the season it will be a better winning percentage than they have maintained up to this point (52.98) and that is the team with the lowest hurdle to making the playoffs.  

Given all the points above I would not rule out 85 or even 84 wins getting in so if it were possible to bank 16-12 I would definitely do so.   

And when a train leaves Cleveland at midnight headed west going 60 mph and you leave in your car from Denver at 3 a.m. going 80 mph headed east, what town would they cross paths and at what time?

AlwaysinModeration Ft Myers Mighty Mussels

AlwaysinModeration

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Lineups (can no longer edit my game thread).

 

1. Whit Merrifield ® 2B

2. Lorenzo Cain ® CF

3. Melky Cabrera (S) RF

4. Eric Hosmer (L) 1B

5. Salvador Perez ® C

6. Mike Moustakas (L) 3B

7. Brandon Moss (L) DH

8. Alcides Escobar ® SS

9. Alex Gordon (L) LF

 

 

1. Brian Dozier ® 2B

2. Joe Mauer (L) 1B

3. Byron Buxton ® CF

4. Jorge Polanco (S) SS

5. Eduardo Escobar (S) 3B

6. Mitch Garver ® DH

7. Eddie Rosario (L) RF

8. Chris Gimenez ® C

9. Ehire Adrianza (S) LF

Blake All-Star

Blake

Verified Member
Posted
Posted

Really, Mr. Gibson just struck out 2 of the first three batters?

 

I really hope this is a trend.

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