stringer bell

Hang in there Peter. The Twins are due to win one.

Probably getting ahead of myself, but maybe the Twins need to consider moving Royce to another position. Lewis is okay, but Lee seems like a natural over there, even though he only played ten games at third in the minors.

I think Wallner has been underrated as a defender. He's actually fast, but not that quick and he has that great arm. His routes have improved since his first look in 2022.

Keystone Cops!!

It looks like four innings of bullpen for both teams.

Ump hasn't called a low strike all day, until the first pitch to Larnach.

Too many pitches with two many non-competitive pitches along with a tight strike zone.

Two isn't breaking the game open, but those walks really hurt.

And so is the next one.

Key at-bat early in the game.

I know Lee is a California kid, but when I look at him I see Opie with dark hair.

I think there were a lot of days last year that Rocco was waiting for a thumbs up or thumbs down on players (Buxton and Correa for sure) and the lineup couldn’t be finalized until late.

Kind of a milepost game IMHO. The Astros have been on a long trip, winning two series coming to Minnesota. The Twins have won a bunch of series in a row against bad (Oakland), medium (Arizona) and good (Seattle in Seattle) teams. For the Twins to add a series win against the Astros puts them above Houston in a tiebreaker and solidly in line for the second wild card, if they can't catch Cleveland. It wouldn't be the end of the world with a loss, but Houston then looks to be the better team going forward. It will be tough to hold either team down iMHO. It should be a high-scoring game where the team that takes the best advantage of opportunities wins the game. Go Twins!

And the quandary is how to express one's displeasure. The ownership has appeared tone-deaf and greedy when the pieces are there for a championship. Should I not support the team because of the owners? Falvey and Levine have put together a team that is fun to watch and seems to have a lot of good guys. I want to support that group even if it puts more money in Pohlad pockets, so I shrug and say "go Twins". I can respect people who take a different view. I just like baseball and the Minnesota Twins too much to take that path.

Congratulations to Miranda--no person alive has done what he has done in major league baseball. Also, congrats to Brooks Lee. He has done very well in his first few days in the majors.

Matt Wallner earned his way back to the major leagues by slugging for the AAA St. Paul Saints. Reliable reports have Wallner being recalled today and the pages of Twins Daily have contained much speculation about the corresponding move to make room for Wallner. The Twins could send a pitcher down today and go with 14 position players on their roster for a few days while they wait to activate or promote someone to join the starting rotation, but eventually a position player will be taken off the active roster. I find the move curious only in that there is no obvious candidate for less playing time among the position players. In looking how the lineup could be juggled I still see no one who can be replaced by Wallner who should be getting less plate appearances. Here are the options: 1) José Miranda--Miranda has started frequently against right handed pitching, either at third, DH or first base. All he's done is crush righties. His OPS this year against right handed pitching is 1.012 and his career OPS against right handed pitching is better than against lefties. Even before his 12-12 streak, replacing Miranda vs. right handers should have been a no go. Certainly, he should be in the lineup right now against all pitching. 2) Trevor Larnach--Larnach has been strictly platooned and has served frequently as the DH. It sounds like the toe injury he suffered before the regular season will nag him the rest of the season and is one reason why he has DHed as much as he has. This season has been Larnach's best and his batting average and slugging are up while his strikeouts are down. Larnach has played more in the field recently, so perhaps his injured foot is improving. However, Trevor's overall stats are okay, not outstanding. He played yesterday and had three of his worst at-bats of the season and made a curious play in the outfield. Maybe I'm reading more into those events, but maybe he isn't close to 100% yet. 3) Carlos Santana--Miranda can play first with Larnach/Wallner is left field, that would move Carlos Santana to the bench against right handed pitching. Santana has been a better hitter against lefties again this year and his .708 OPS vs. right handers is about league average. Santana would be a superior glove to Miranda at first base, but Carlos is 38 and on a one-year deal, so resting him against most righties could happen. 4) Brooks Lee--All he has done in four games is hit in each one, drive in runs and play flawless defense. At least until Royce Lewis is healthy, Lee stays in the lineup. The Twins could move Lee to second base and free Willi Castro, but Willi will be in the lineup somewhere. It's quite possible that Willi plays center field when Buxton has a rest day. Congratulations and best wishes to Matt Wallner. I hope he makes the Twins more successful going forward.

He has to finish the game, of course.

Nice catch #30.

Gotta throw more strikes Cole.

Probably the game right here.

Last hitter for Joe.

MIRANDA!!!

70 pitches in four innings for Ryan. Six will probably be his limit. It would be nice to turn the game over to Sands, Okert, Thielbar, but I'm guessing we're going to see Jax and Durán.

Give it a couple weeks.

I don't know if seven will be enough today either.