Game Thread: Twins @ White Sox, 10/5/22, 3:10 CT

[wsnydes]

Well ladies and gents, we've made it to the finish line.  It hasn't always been pretty.  It hasn't always been fun.  It hasn't always been entertaining.  It hasn't always been winning.  But it has been baseball.

About a month ago, the local squad was in first place in the division.  Fast forward to today and they're closer to the cellar than the attic.  That's a bit on the disheartening side.  This team has assured themselves of having their second straight losing season.  That's not fun either.  That's not entertaining.  

Now to the good news!  After today, it's all over!  No more suffering (for this season)!  No more losing!  No more botched grounders!  No more strikeouts!  No more runners left in scoring position!  No more runners left in scoring position!  No more runners left in scoring position!  No more David Hasselhoff laden Game Thread openers!  We can watch the playoffs!  We can do something entirely different!  We can come to Twins Daily and talk about the offseason and reset and focus on next season.

As a baseball fan, I'm always curious how other fans spend their offseason time when there's no baseball to eat up their time and energy.  Do you stay invested and watch every playoff game possible?  Do you retreat to the abyss, grow a long, thick beard and hide in a hole away from the light until Spring Training starts?  Do you fall somewhere in between?  Me, I'll usually follow the playoffs a bit.  I'll follow my other favorite team, the Cardinals if applicable, but otherwise I shift my focus to enjoying the fall weather as best I can.  Fire pits and fall cocktails become my sanctuary.  College football becomes more prominent in my schedule until college basketball starts up.  Hockey works its way in there eventually as well.  By the time ST rolls around, I'm ready to jump back into baseball.

Now to today's contest.  The visiting Twins will put Louie Varland back on the hill to face off against Davis Martin of the Pale Hose.  Varland looks to to finish his first taste of the big leagues on a strong note.  Of other interest is Luis Arraez and his mission to stave off Aaron Judge's pursuit of the Triple Crown.  Beyond that, I'm just going to try to enjoy Twins baseball one last time this season.

Lineups:

Twins

DH - Arraez

1B - Miranda

2B - Gordon

3B - Urshela

LF - Cave

C - Sanchez

RF - Wallner

CF - Celestino

SS - Palacios

 

White Sox

DH - Andrus

3B - Moncada

1B - Vaughn

RF - Sheets

2B - Harrison

LF - Payton

SS - Gonzalez

CF - Engel

C - Perez

 

Enjoy the game everyone!  

 

[AlwaysinModeration]

Judge isn’t in the starting lineup for the Yankees, so it kind of looks like Arraez has it sewn up.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Why is Correa on the bench today?$35,000,000 divided by 162 = $216,049.38 sitting on the bench. Why? Get your money's worth Rocco/FO. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

In answer to your question about following the playoffs...my answer is: When the Twins season ends, my baseball season ends...usually in angry frustration...except in 1987 and 1991. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

2 minutes ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Why is Correa on the bench today?$35,000,000 divided by 162 = $216,049.38 sitting on the bench. Why? Get your money's worth Rocco/FO. 

Maybe Rocco is saving Correa for the playoffs. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

7 minutes ago, AlwaysinModeration said:

Judge isn’t in the starting lineup for the Yankees, so it kind of looks like Arraez has it sewn up.

If I were Judge, I would want to be playing and try to get the batting title. I know it is a long shot, but if Judge goes 4 for 4 and Arraez gets no hits, Judge wins the batting title. The fat lady has not sung yet on the batting title in the AL for 2022.  Ted Williams would have played today. 

[SwainZag]

Not how anyone wanted to see our boys end the season but going out with a win would be a nice send off!  A leadoff hit for Luis would almost assure him the batting title outside of an insane game by Judge.

[SwainZag]

Just now, tarheeltwinsfan said:

If I were Judge, I would want to be playing and try to get the batting title. I know it is a long shot, but if Judge goes 4 for 4 and Arraez gets no hits, Judge wins the batting title. The fat lady has not sung yet on the batting title in the AL for 2022. 

Judge hasn't had a day off in 50 games and has struggled at the plate in the last 2 weeks, I don't blame the Yankees who have everything sewn up to give him the day off.  

[wsnydes]

1 minute ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

If I were Judge, I would want to be playing and try to get the batting title. I know it is a long shot, but if Judge goes 4 for 4 and Arraez gets no hits, Judge wins the batting title. The fat lady has not sung yet on the batting title in the AL for 2022. 

Yeah, I'd want it too.  That, and I just want to play.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Just now, SwainZag said:

Judge hasn't had a day off in 50 games and has struggled at the plate in the last 2 weeks, I don't blame the Yankees who have everything sewn up to give him the day off.  

Not me. I'd insist on playing until the fat lady sings. 

[AlwaysinModeration]

One great day at the plate away from a triple crown?  I am really surprised he’s not playing. Plus he could hit 63 or 64, cementing his record.

Once the post season starts there are days off every game or so…

[nicksaviking]

35 minutes ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

If I were Judge, I would want to be playing and try to get the batting title. I know it is a long shot, but if Judge goes 4 for 4 and Arraez gets no hits, Judge wins the batting title. The fat lady has not sung yet on the batting title in the AL for 2022.  Ted Williams would have played today. 

I have a sneaking suspicion that if Arraez ended up 0-3, he'd end up getting pulled.

But I agree, if I were Judge, I'd want to give it a shot.

[Irishman]

49 minutes ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

Maybe Rocco is saving Correa for the playoffs. 

Maybe Rocco is sending Correa to pack his things.....

[SwainZag]

7 minutes ago, Irishman said:

Maybe Rocco is sending Correa to pack his things.....

They are in Chicago.  Everyone will be packing their things when they get back.  I am going to stick by a prediction that Carlos will be back next year on a new deal after he opts out of the remaining 2 years.

[tony&rodney]

Rough lineup. Is it a preview of next year?

[SwainZag]

1 minute ago, tony&rodney said:

Rough lineup. Is it a preview of next year?

I would make a prediction that 4 maybe 5 players in the lineup are even on the opening day roster next year.  Arraez, Miranda, Gordon and Urshela. Maybe Wallner.  

[RpR]

ESPN has C. Hamilton at 1st, why is Gordon at 2nd again, Baldelli wants to see his error number increase, put B. Hamilton at 2nd and save Gordon for pinch hitting, later in the game.

[wsnydes]

3 minutes ago, RpR said:

ESPN has C. Hamilton at 1st, why is Gordon at 2nd again, Baldelli wants to see his error number increase, put B. Hamilton at 2nd and save Gordon for pinch hitting, later in the game.

Happy to see you playing out the season, RpR!

[tarheeltwinsfan]

37 minutes ago, SwainZag said:

They are in Chicago.  Everyone will be packing their things when they get back.  I am going to stick by a prediction that Carlos will be back next year on a new deal after he opts out of the remaining 2 years.

I sure do hope your prediction is correct. 

[SwainZag]

5 minutes ago, RpR said:

ESPN has C. Hamilton at 1st, why is Gordon at 2nd again, Baldelli wants to see his error number increase, put B. Hamilton at 2nd and save Gordon for pinch hitting, later in the game.

Hamilton has played 5.1 innings in his career at 2nd and 6 total innings in the IF, it makes zero sense to start him at 2nd.  

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Go Saints. Beat the White Sox today. 

[PDX Twin]

What I miss about baseball during the offseason is its daily nature. I'll be following English football and the World Cup, but those don't happen every day. I don't watch every Twins game of every inning of the ones I do watch, but I really enjoy having it (and all of you!) there every day.

[RpR]

18 minutes ago, SwainZag said:

Hamilton has played 5.1 innings in his career at 2nd and 6 total innings in the IF, it makes zero sense to start him at 2nd.  

Absolutely no worse than Gordon.

[RpR]

48 minutes ago, SwainZag said:

I would make a prediction that 4 maybe 5 players in the lineup are even on the opening day roster next year.  Arraez, Miranda, Gordon and Urshela. Maybe Wallner.  

Spring training will weed out worst of the newbies; I am just curios to see who wanders into spring training.

[kydoty]

1 hour ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

If I were Judge, I would want to be playing and try to get the batting title. I know it is a long shot, but if Judge goes 4 for 4 and Arraez gets no hits, Judge wins the batting title. The fat lady has not sung yet on the batting title in the AL for 2022.  

Ted Williams is rolling in his cryo-containment unit today.

[SwainZag]

4 minutes ago, RpR said:

Absolutely no worse than Gordon.

A guy who doesn't play the position or the infield is no worse than Gordon?  Hamilton also doesn't hit.  I know Gordon has made 3 errors in his last 5 games but he had 1 error there in the 130 innings before, let's not get crazy.

[wsnydes]

Updated Twins lineup:

Arraez

Urshela

Gordon

Sanchez

Cave

Celestino

Wallner

Palcios

C Hamilton at 1B.

 

Miranda scratched after the lineup was posted.

[wsnydes]

That'll work, Gary!

[Parfigliano]

3 minutes ago, wsnydes said:

That'll work, Gary!

Boom!!!

[Winston Smith]

2 hours ago, SwainZag said:

Judge hasn't had a day off in 50 games and has struggled at the plate in the last 2 weeks, I don't blame the Yankees who have everything sewn up to give him the day off.  

They won't play in the first round so several days off for them. But don't disagree with you.