MIN 4, BAL 1: Kepler Sets Tone, Gibby Brings It Home

A hit is a hit in the end.   Doesn't matter how it happens

… Also major kudos to Gibby.   He really looked comfortable out there today.

It seems that they are feeding off each other and that is a good sign for the team as a whole. Also they know they have to play well to stay in the lineup. That has been missing for a long time. There have been 3-4 favorites always in the lineup regardless of how they played.

a sweep is a sweep. If we could have won half these games last year, Escobar would still be here.(I loved Escobar) The big test is coming in the next 7 games. I hope they're ready. C'mon Guys!! GET EM!

The Twins are 16-9, but only 10-9 against teams not named the Orioles. If they can maintain their 10-9 pace against non-Orioles opponents, they would win 86 games, which could, maybe, be enough to at least grab the 2nd Wild Card

The Twins are 16-9, but only 10-9 against teams not named the Orioles. If they can maintain their 10-9 pace against non-Orioles opponents, they would win 86 games, which could, maybe, be enough to at least grab the 2nd Wild Card

Well, as long as we're extrapolating...

We are undefeated against KC and Detroit and 2-1 against Cleveland. That projects to 51-6 against those three teams. Add in Baltimore and we're 57-6. Just play .500 ball against everyone else and we're 107-55.

Gibby coming around is a huge relief. That bullpen looks rested might come in handy against the damn Astros. Talk to me in four days.

Great win, and the best thing was seeing Gibson nearing peak form. He was having a little trouble nipping the edges with his heater, and he did leave a few pitches right over the middle. Luckily, the Orioles hitters seemed to have very little idea what was coming next, so even when Gibson accidentally pipelined one, they were not expecting it, and they were biting on Gibby's ducking curve a lot. Credit should also go to Mitch Garver for calling a good game and keeping everything in front of him, tho his blocking skills were almost unneeded. 

Great win- this is what contending teams are supposed to do- make hay against the bottom-feeders (Toronto series excepted). 

Good for Marwin to get a couple of gift Rbi's, but man, that's the CF's ball all the way, and Smith came streaking in from left, and made him pull off his line. That's just bad baseball. 

I love Gary Thorne, the O's usual announcer, but man, he was so over the O's making mistakes like this. Love his call on Kep's opening HR... even though I kind of feel for the guy- he's a great baseball announcer.

Good work, Twinks! Now let's get at least a split out of the 'Stros!

That's what I'm talking about!

 

I went ahead and reserved a room at the Marriott for October 22nd to October 30th. I was forced to reserve the entire 8 days because I wasn't sure if we would have 4 games at home or 3 games at home for the World Series and what dates. I'll ask Glunn if I can stay at his house for the other games in L.A. 

 

Now I hope that the front office starts preparing for the World Series as well by getting Nelson Cruz some reps in the outfield when they can't use the DH. 

Kepler's the type of guy who - when he gets on these hot streaks - makes you quickly forget all of his flaws. It's nice to see him coming around. Aside from Gonzalez, I think just about every Twin offensively is meeting or exceeding expectations. It's like best case scenario for just about everyone on offense.

I'll take the sweep. Very interested in watching this Astros series. Sure wish the Twins could have caught a break and maybe played the 'Stros later in the summer instead of back-to-back like this. That said, this crappy weather may work in our favor (although the Twins don't seem to like playing in it much either).

Jake the Astro Tamer is on the mound to start the series, looking forward to seeing if he can do it again!

On the one hand, Gibby's quality starts have both been against the Orioles. On the other, he's consistently getting a little deeper into each game, and that jives with the narrative about him likely needing a little extra time to get on track after that e coli disaster. I'm optimistic (which is not unusual, but still). 

I think this is right on Gibson. Most of his pitching woes early on makes sense in the context of his odd off-season; dropping that much weight that fast due to illness does a number on your stamina and it takes some time to bring that back up. He's looking more like the pitcher he was last season again and should be a guy we can count on the rest of the way.

Sweeping the O's is great. Yeah, they stink, but even a bad team will steal some games and it's nice that they weren't against us. (remember, they took 2 of 3 from the damn Yankees to open the season and split with the BoSox already, both on the road. Those games count too)

Marwin is still scuffling at the plate, but everyone else is doing a really nice job, not a lot of breaks in the lineup. Even Castro is doing well, showing patience paired with pop (he's got the same OPS+ as Astudillo right now)

Very happy to see Kepler heating up. Hopefully he can sustain it. he was super unlucky last year (BABIP of .236) and so far this year he's more inline with his (relatively low) career averages. The power potential has always been there, and it'll be interesting to see if he's really unlocked something or not. I do find it interesting that all of his HRs have been in exactly 2 series, and in both of those series he hit one out in every single game. That's a super-weird "that's baseball" stat, yo.

It’s worth noting that as of this morning, Baltimore’s position players have totaled more fWAR than Cleveland’s. The Orioles are one of the worst teams in recent memory, but they’re still Major Leaguers.