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Game Thread: Twins vs. Royals, 8/4/19 @ 1:10pm CDT

SwainZag

By SwainZag
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SwainZag Cedar Rapids Kernels

SwainZag

Community Moderator
Posted
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Hello and welcome!  I cannot believe it is already August.  Here in Montana we had snow on the ground mid-way thru May leaving a very short Spring before really jumping into summer.  Today is one of my childhood friends birthdays.  Growing up August 4th was always a great time, his parents always threw the best parties but it was always bittersweet.  His birthday was always synonymous with the stretch run of the Summer.  Montana Fair will be next week and school would always start in 3 or so short weeks.  Now that I'm old, things aren't that different.  Yes, the party won't be as fun, we will probably meet up for a beer though.  Yes, the fair won't be as fun as it was always the time to see the people you didn't see all summer, hopefully catch a glance at your crush because you were too shy to talk to her.  But we will probably go and eat some fried food and people watch.  School will start in 3 weeks or so and all that means to me now is my commute to work will take about double the time it does in the summer.  I think there's a Kenny Chesney line that says, "The more things change, the more they stay the same."

 

ANYWAYS, how bout those Twins eh?  26 games over .500.  I believe it is the high water mark of the season.  They were 24 games over on June 12th, before taking a summer hiatus for most of June and July.  The Twins will send Jake Odorizzi to the bump today, looking for his 13th win.  The Royals will counter with 24 year old Brad Keller.  Keller shutout the Twins thru 7 innings back in June before an 8th inning Mitch Garver bomba put the Twins up 2-0, which would stand as the final score.  

 

This season has been so much fun for me, and I'm sure many of you.  Most years you could pick 1-2-3 things to define a season.  "Oh the season Mitch Garver broke out, yeah I remember that."  This season?  I don't think I could even pick just 10 impactful things.  I can't even pick out a favorite moment or game, the good times just keep coming....and we still have roughly 1/3 of the season left. 

 

I am stealing this from the game recap thread from yesterday and closing with it, because it's ridiculous.  Since July 24, Nelson Cruz has hit .500/.581/1.308.  The guy is 39.  Oh yeah, he has two 3 HR games in there.  

 

 

Good Guys

 

1. CF Max Kepler (L)
2. 2B Luis Arraez (L)
3. DH Nelson Cruz ®
4. LF Eddie Rosario (L)
5. 3B Miguel Sano ®
6. SS Ehire Adrianza (S)
7. 1B C.J. Cron ®
8. C Jason Castro (L)
9. RF Jake Cave (L)

 

SP Devin Smeltzer

 

 

Bad Guys

 

1. Whit Merrifield DH
2. Alex Gordon LF
3. Hunter Dozier 3B
4. Jorge Soler RF
5. Cheslor Cuthbert 1B
6. Bubba Starling CF
7. Humberto Arteaga  SS
8. Nicky Lopez 2B
9. Cam Gallagher C

 

SP Brad Keller

 

Edit:  Apparently Jake will not be on the mound today, and Twins will start Devin Smeltzer who wasn't on the roster when I started this thread.

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bighat Cedar Rapids Kernels

bighat

Verified Member
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Sam Dyson to the 10-Day IL with right biceps tendinitis. His return to the American League has picked up right where it left off, unfortunately.  Twins clearly want to wipe the slate clean, give the guy a break, and just pretend these first two appearances never happened. Of course, he could be genuinely hurt, which is also bad. Regardless, looks like the Twins will have to wait and see what they have for another week or 2.

 

Dyson and Buxton news aside, this team is hitting so well that they might not need to worry. Great to see Cron back, just about everyone is hitting now. Excited to see how Smelzer does, should be a fun game to watch! Go Twins.

ashbury GOAT

ashbury

Verified Member
Posted
Posted

I am stealing this from the game recap thread from yesterday and closing with it, because it's ridiculous.  Since July 24, Nelson Cruz has hit .500/.581/1.308.  The guy is 39.  Oh yeah, he has two 3 HR games in there. 

Someone else pointed out his BABIP during this period is a possibly unsustainable .538 (or maybe it was an even higher number, over a shorter period of time).

 

However, what this overlooks is that he can still keep bashing the HRs because those don't factor into BABIP - they're not deemed "balls in play". Flyball to HR ratio might be another story, but I'll leave that aside - I'm personally going to count on 3 HR per game from Nelson for the rest of the season, including of course the playoffs.

 

/ edit - actually, over his last two games, his BABIP is 1.000. Now THAT's something I'm willing to agree is not quite sustainable. 9 PA divvied up as 4 HR, 2 other base hits, 2 strikeouts and 1 walk. We're entering Ryan LaMarre territory here.

bighat Cedar Rapids Kernels

bighat

Verified Member
Posted
Posted

 

Is Odorizzi just being pushed back a day or is he hurt? Any information?

 

Not hurt, just being pushed back a day.

ashbury GOAT

ashbury

Verified Member
Posted
Posted

Is Odorizzi just being pushed back a day or is he hurt? Any information?

Yes. No. (Respectively.)

 

 

/ this is a game thread, what did you expect?

 

 

/ edit - guess bighat has info. I'll stand by my answer. :)

PDX Twin Ft Myers Mighty Mussels

PDX Twin

Verified Member
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I just read that Brian Dozier finished the 8th inning on the mound in Arizona last night. They had already used their "emergency pitcher," a left-handed outfielder, and he threw so many pitches he had to come out. Dozier was the "back-up emergency" pitcher and replaced him, with the lefty playing 3rd base (and the 3b moving to second).

 

We never had that problem with Gimenez, but who is the emergency pitcher now?

LVTwinsfan FCL Twins

LVTwinsfan

Verified Member
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I just read that Brian Dozier finished the 8th inning on the mound in Arizona last night. They had already used their "emergency pitcher," a left-handed outfielder, and he threw so many pitches he had to come out. Dozier was the "back-up emergency" pitcher and replaced him, with the lefty playing 3rd base (and the 3b moving to second).

 

We never had that problem with Gimenez, but who is the emergency pitcher now?

Sano should be
ashbury GOAT

ashbury

Verified Member
Posted
Posted

I just read that Brian Dozier finished the 8th inning on the mound in Arizona last night. They had already used their "emergency pitcher," a left-handed outfielder, and he threw so many pitches he had to come out. Dozier was the "back-up emergency" pitcher and replaced him, with the lefty playing 3rd base (and the 3b moving to second).

 

We never had that problem with Gimenez, but who is the emergency pitcher now?

Dyson.

 

Oh wait, you didn't mean the pitcher who causes them.

PDX Twin Ft Myers Mighty Mussels

PDX Twin

Verified Member
Posted
Posted

 

AND DIDNT ESCOBAR  HIT A H.R. OFF DOZIER ?

 

Yup, looks like he did. The Washington Post story didn't talk about that.

TwinsCD FCL Twins

TwinsCD

Verified Member
Posted
Posted

 

Yikes-

 

One of the shakiest nat'l anthem renditions in recent memory.

 

Nails, meet chalkboard.

 

Yeah, that was...something.  But he can still fall back on that 1985 Star Search win.

Blake All-Star

Blake

Verified Member
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I look at Dozier, Merrifield and Soler and see some players that, if KC finds some pitching, are going to be a real thorn in the side for the Twins.

TwinsCD FCL Twins

TwinsCD

Verified Member
Posted
Posted

 

I look at Dozier, Merrifield and Soler and see some players that, if KC finds some pitching, are going to be a real thorn in the side for the Twins.

 

They've got a really good base to work with much like they did with Hosmer, Gordon, Cain, and company back in 2010-11 area.  We saw what group matured into.

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