Riverbrian

Sharp bounce to the left in the grass. The guy probably left his cell phone there.

That foul ball was on the grounds crew.

Our bathroom sink porcelain is blue. It does a great job hiding the toothpaste. And my blue whiskers.

At least your wife let's you in to shave!!!

22 runs in the bottom of the 9th? You gotta believe in your team.

I'm thinking the Orioles will come back and beat the Astros tonight.

It's 8:53 Got that one wrong.

Yeah "I own the bathroom for these 6 hours every morning". "If you also want to get ready for work, get up at 2AM".

Carnac: <opens, blows, removes card> "What does Mrs. Riverbrian say every morning from inside the bathroom to a pacing Riverbrian outside the bathroom".

A win on Sunday?

I'm shocked by the prevailing winds around here. Pennant races are like horse races. Every year there is a back and forth, just like the race track. Leads often change hands, distances are shortened and then lengthened or lengthened and then shortened. It doesn't end until the finish line. No one knows what is going to happen. The Jockey who flipped was Ron Gardenhire riding his horse "Tiger".

Welcome to TwinsDaily. OK... Now I love Jack Morris. The guy gave me a World Series victory that Game 7 with an unbelievable gutty performance against the Braves. I get the reference... Jack Morris was a Man's Man on that mound with it all on the line. However... as you say "Running on Fumes" and reference Jack Morris in the same breath. I feel it is my duty to remind you that on July 28th, 1991. Jack Morris couldn't finish the third inning as he gave up 8 runs to a well below .500 Brewers team. We needed a win that day. The White Sox, A's and Rangers were breathing down our neck. In his next start on August 2nd. He was beaten by Bob Welch and the Oakland A's allowing the A's to creep even closer. In his next start on August 7th... The Angels knocked him out as his ERA rose above 4. All in the heat of a pennant race. I'm not slamming Jack Morris... I wouldn't dream of it. He gave me something special, I owe him. I'm just typing this to remind everyone that Jack Morris produced some gulps in August before being the Jack Morris we remember in October. We do need Jack Morris... We need Kyle Gibson... We Need everyone. Once again... Welcome to Twinsdaily.

2.77 ERA in July without them. You have to consider the possibility that they will produce a worse team ERA after they return.

Things are not always what they seem: I use June 4 as a swing date because it seems like the swing date: (First Indians Series Matchup BTW) From March 28 to June 3 The Twins were 40-18 (During that 58 game stretch) The Indians were 29-30 (During that 59 game stretch From June 4 to Present The Twins are 30-28 (58 Game stretch) The Indians are 41-16 (57 Game stretch) I would say that Indians strong suit has been pitching this year and they suffered their primary DL losses from Pitching and primarily during a period when they were the hottest. The Current Indians Rotation is: Beiber Clevinger Plesac Plutko Civale They got Clevinger back from a first half DL stint but lost Kluber, Carrasco and Anderson for the 2nd half. Their pitching got better as the injuries increased. Indians ERA by Month April 3.48 May 4.44 June 4.11 July 2.77 The Indians have had very few injuries from the Position players. Lindor for the first 18 games (11-7) Kipnis for the first 15 games (8-7) They have been healthy offensive in the 2nd half. Indians OPS by Month April .667 May .725 June .797 July .847 The Indians have simply been getting better at the plate as the year has progressed. However, the Indians offense hasn't reached the Twins level. Twins team OPS By Month April .835 May .874 June .798 July .860 I would say that the primary strength of the Twins has been offense and this is where they have suffered the majority of their injuries while the pitching has shown to be an injury free stability throughout the year. 1st Half D.L. Sano 42 Games (27-15) Astudillo 14 Games (10-4) Cruz 15 games (12-3) Garver 17 Games (14-3) 88 Games lost to injury 2nd Half D.L. Buxton 24 Games (9-15) Astudillo 13 Games (7-6) Rosario 12 Games (6-6) Marwin 9 Games (4-5) Adrianza 9 Games (5-4) Cron 15 Games (9-6) Cruz 1 Game (0-1) 83 Games lost to injury And finally... how has the injury free Twins pitching staff performed by month. Twins ERA by Month April 4.78 May 3.45 June 3.95 July 4.42 There is a whole lotta other nuance to consider but it looks to me like, the Indians got stronger with their injuries and the Twins stayed steady through their injuries. This is a case of the Indians just simply getting better and the Twins declining primarily on the mound. We need the pitching to stop giving up runs and the Indians to start giving up runs. I'll let the Twins offense beat the Indians after that.

Honestly... I have no idea what the result would be... but I want him in the bullpen now. Let's see if he can hang some zeroes in shorter stints. We have the starting rotation concerns that I expressed, that is at the top of my list of concerns but the bullpen isn't complete either and we need a solution for that as well. Moving Perez into the pen may seem desperate but these are the tools we have to work with. Let's see what Perez can do in the pen and let's see what someone else can do in the rotation at the same time. If Perez fails in the pen... give him a little rope but the clock is ticking. Then you yank. I'd imagine that Wes is working on things with him and they want to see if they can restore him back to what he was in April and May but the clock is ticking. Make the move to the pen... right now.

Sure but the Twins didn't fall off the face of the earth to allow the Indians to catch us... The Indians had to leave earth to do it. I didn't expect the Twins to hold their April-May pace and they didn't. I don't expect the Indians to hold their June-July pace. It will be a dog fight from here on out. You are right, when two teams are tied at the top of the standings it is always a combination of both clubs that tells the story. However, if a team has the best record in baseball for a 2 month stretch. You'd expect them to be leading the division. The Indians are tied. Hats off to both clubs and the Twins are a major reason the Indians are only tied. . Bottom Line... The Twins didn't completely fall apart... The Indians had to play incredible baseball to get here.

Hats off to Cleveland It took the best record in baseball since June to catch us. This isn't a statement against the Twins... It's a credit statement to Cleveland. The Indians and Twins are going to be fighting and clawing at each other the rest of the way. Both teams have earned the right to fight and claw at each other.

This is a great article and it's an important article... Yet somewhat of a premature article because of a very important wild card that hasn't come out of the deck yet. INJURIES The rotation has been extremely healthy through August,10th in comparison to what typical teams have to endure during a typical year in at least recent history, if not history. Most teams have gotten longer looks at their 6th, 7th and 8th options in a rotation because of injuries. Because of our health, we haven't. We honestly don't know if we have 6th, 7th or 8th options at this point. We absolutely need to find out. Smeltzer? Dobnak? Stewart? Thorpe? Graterol? More data is needed... meaning more innings at the major league level. Once the front office decided that the price for Stroman was too high. I don't blame them for making that decision... heavy is the head that wears the crown, they have considerations to consider... However, the very second that they didn't trade for a quality starter, they locked themselves into not only finding but needing a quality starter out of Smeltzer, Dobnak, Stewart, Thrope or Graterol. This is where having a healthy rotation has hurt us. If everyone remains healthy. As of today... Berrios, Odorizzi, Pineda and Gibson is the playoff rotation in my mind. I just doubt that everyone will be healthy come playoff time based on history. Then What? Meanwhile, our bullpen still has question marks. Move Perez into the pen immediately to see if that helps the pen and then work on finding someone who can improve the Berrios, Odorizzi, Pineda and Gibson foursome. Not trading for a controllable starter was a huge risk for this year and next year with potentially 4 rotation spots to fill in the off-season. The front office has placed a lot on the shoulders of our farm arms. This is a great article... it's an important article but a premature article.

1. He's already propelled past Perez in my eyes. 2. I'm more surprised that people know where Iowa is.

Puig is an appealing player.

Peanut Butter and Jelly?

Lots of Lefties in the Twins Lineup.

[quote name="Tom Froemming" post="897000" timestamp="1565367621 One last thing I want to add in regard to either a potential Graterol or Kirilloff move is at some point you have to do something. I can get behind the idea of building from within and trusting internal options. That's actually a lot of fun if you follow the minor league system. But if you're not going to be active in free agency, and you're not going to be active on the trade market, you have to do something somewhere. At a certain point it does make some sense to push a prospect or two sooner than maybe you had originally intended to. Could end up being a disaster, but every once in a while you fall into a Luis Arraez situation. This is exactly right. Once the front office says they don’t like the prospect price in trade considerations. At that point... They have committed to internal options. I’m fine with that. It is the job of the front office to weigh the costs and all considerations. But once the decision is made you must move forward. Standing still is not an option. So start calling guys up. We have holes in the bullpen and rotation.