MIN 9, BAL 2: Quality from Berrios, Quantity from the Bats

Dear Rob Manfred:

Can Baltimore move to the AL Central?

Sincerely,

Jordan

May have to give Parker the 9th tomorrow regardless of score just to keep him sharp.

Wow man dont pinch me, if this is a dream i wanna sleep till October

Went to my first game of the year today. This was fun! Had my 3 year old grand daughter with. She points towards left field and says “the fire works are going off over there.” We asked, “are there going to be fireworks after the game?” A moment later a ball leaves Cron’s bat with less arch than a throw by Polanco from deep in the hole. She just looks at us like “told ya”

Equipment question: Noticed Buxton was wearing the left hand protector when he got on base today after the walk. Nice steal of second! Looking at the padded protector, it appears to extend maybe an inch or two beyond where his fingertips would be if barehanded. So I got to thinking, how would he be ruled in say a super close attempted steal of third ( or any base for that matter) if it went to video replay and he beat a tag by the tip of the protector touching the base? Safe? Challenged by opposing manager because of the added length of the padded protector?

Maybe the situation is already addressed by a rule in baseball? Any thoughts?  Thanks!

Marwin Gonzalez needs to be batting ninth.a good sano makes this lineup SCARY! how good are the Kepler and polanco extensions looking right now for the twins?

A strong Sano instead of MG and this might be the best offensiive lineup since...i have no idea when. I suppose one of the M&M/TH/Cuddy years.

I've been super busy the last two days, so I apologize if this has been addressed.

Is Buxton nursing an injury or illness or something?

Benched, off day, start, benched. One start in 4 days, is there a reason?

I've been super busy the last two days, so I apologize if this has been addressed.

 

Is Buxton nursing an injury or illness or something?

Benched, off day, start, benched. One start in 4 days, is there a reason?

He fouled a ball off his leg between the shinguard and knee yesterday... It looked like it hurt like a MF

They sat him today to try to keep him off his feet but said he was available.

Caution: nitpick alert. I think that 3 or fewer earned runs allowed by a starter in 6 or more innings is a good benchmark to use for determining whether he has done his job. But I wish the term quality start wouldn't have been coined for such a start. I'd rather call it a satisfactory start.

This is so fun. But I had to curb some of my enthusiasm when I realize we are 10 - 9 against the rest of the league.  We are a good club and we have a chance.  But after tomorrow - no more Baltimore this season.  So lets say good bye with five more dingers.

That's a pretty solid record when you think about the teams they've played: Cleveland, Houston, NYM, and Philly.. also are 4-0 against Detroit and KC

Equipment question: Noticed Buxton was wearing the left hand protector when he got on base today after the walk. Nice steal of second! Looking at the padded protector, it appears to extend maybe an inch or two beyond where his fingertips would be if barehanded. So I got to thinking, how would he be ruled in say a super close attempted steal of third ( or any base for that matter) if it went to video replay and he beat a tag by the tip of the protector touching the base? Safe? Challenged by opposing manager because of the added length of the padded protector?

Maybe the situation is already addressed by a rule in baseball? Any thoughts?  Thanks!

You are nothing but a troublemaker. I know, because I was thinking the same thing

"You are nothing but a troublemaker. I know, because I was thinking the same thing"

Haha, thanks Kelly Vance...maybe I shouldn't have said anything!  My guess is that the Orioles would have protested the protector when Byron was on first if they felt it gave arguably the fastest base runner in Baseball even the teeniest advantage in stealing a base? They did not so I guess it's OK..... 

As Riverbrian said, it's a game of inches but it makes you wonder....

Anyway, way to go Buck!!!

This is so fun. But I had to curb some of my enthusiasm when I realize we are 10 - 9 against the rest of the league.  We are a good club and we have a chance.  But after tomorrow - no more Baltimore this season.  So lets say good bye with five more dingers.

This is nothing but good.    Orioles have won two games already against each of Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox and Rays.    The biggest reason by far that their record looks so bad is the Twins.   By a large margin I am guessing the two most likely outcomes of a 6 game series with the Orioles is 3-3 and 4-2.   Fortunately, the most likely outcome of a 1 game at home is 1-0 so lets make it happen tomorrow.

I'm willing to give Jason Castro credit for helping Berrios navigate through this game with iffy off-speed stuff. Good job Castro, and he also hit a rocket home run. 

I just wish Kepler would stop hitting those easy pop flies! ;-)

This is nothing but good.    Orioles have won two games already against each of Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox and Rays.    The biggest reason by far that their record looks so bad is the Twins.   By a large margin I am guessing the two most likely outcomes of a 6 game series with the Orioles is 3-3 and 4-2.   Fortunately, the most likely outcome of a 1 game at home is 1-0 so lets make it happen tomorrow.

Listen, this is all great.  I love it.  We have to beat these teams.  But beiting crap, this is what we did under Gardy and the mid 2000s. Is this team ready to beat the Astros when they come into town?  We will see.  Being good is fun, and I love it.  Being good and able to beat a playoff team is different.

Maybe this team will be different.  Just beat good teams, so if and when playoffs happen you are not embarrassed by a truly good team.

21 home runs is 5 games? C'mon video game stuff

About a month before the season began, I predicted the Twins would hit between 225 and 240 home runs.  That's beginning to look conservative.  Unfortunately, we will be done with the O's after today.

I guess roster logjams have a way of working themselves out.  Astudillo to the IL for 10 days or two weeks.  Then he will go to Rochester for a week of rehab before being ready to come back.  Did Cave have time down there to even play in a game?

The big question is what happens when Sano is ready in three weeks?  Gotta believe they do something about the duplication of Gonzales and Adrianza.  Maybe they can package one of them with a good prospect for a relief pitcher.

Only a quality start because Berrios was facing a AAAA lineup (without Mancini). He had nothing as evidenced by the fact that two struggling relievers...May and Mejia...both had innings that were cleaner than almost every inning Berrios pitched. Still, Berrios is not one to give up easily and the 6 innings were important for the bullpen.

This looked like what those Toronto teams in 14' and 15' used to do to the Twins.