stringer bell

Saints play through the 23rd IIRC. The lower minors seasons end a bit sooner.

I noticed Altuve hit for the cycle and wondered if perhaps he got all four hits off Barraclough (he didn’t). It got me to thinking, who is the last pitcher to surrender a cycle in a single game? Has to be rarer than hitting for the cycle.

Regarding Ober, they aren’t really playing service time games with him. He’s solidly over two years service time, but not enough for Super 2. If he claims he healthy, he can’t be put on the IL and his option for this year was already used.

The Twins 10-6 win in the series opener against Cleveland gives them a seven game lead in the AL Central with 30 games left on the regular season schedule. They have eight games remaining in a stretch where they play Texas and Cleveland for thirteen consecutive games. If the Twins emerge from this gauntlet with the current lead they will have all but iced the division championship. Assuming they leave Cleveland with a safe lead, what should the Twins do after that? Here are my suggestions: 1) Rest guys who need it. Not many players have been iron men, but most by now are battling nagging injuries. Correa has noted his foot is still painful, Kepler and Taylor are not 100% and the list goes on. Donovan Solano is 35 and will easily have played more this year than he ever has in the major league career. 2) Protect the rotation. Pablo López is approaching his career high in innings and pitches, Sonny Gray is on track to work his most innings since 2015. There is no need for those guys to go deep and throw a lot of pitches in games if the Twins have a safe lead. 3) Sort out the post-season bullpen. Thielbar, Duran, Pagán and Jax are set. No one else is certain. The Twins would love to have Brock Stewart come back and blow hitters away as he did in the first half of the season. Starters Kenta Maeda, Bailey Ober, Dallas Keuchel and even Joe Ryan could end up as bullpen pieces in the post-season. Maybe a guy like Kody Funderburk is lightning in a bottle. 4) Welcome back returning injured players. Castro, Buxton and Kirilloff are all thought to be ready to return in the next two weeks. All should have large roles for the Twins in the post-season. They will need at-bats to get sharp and it is thought Buxton will get some time in center field (which will also give Michael A Taylor some time off). 5) Keep winning. Except for Tampa Bay (and maybe Cincinnati) future opponents will be looking to 2024 and beyond. Even resting guys like Correa and Kepler and limiting innings for the rotation, the Twins should win a lot of games in September this year. Winning helps a lot of issues.

Three inning saves are quite rare. Headrick got one earlier this year and Jax got one last year. Randy Dobnak got one early in 2021 when he gave up something like five runs in the ninth inning, but the Twins were up by double digits. IIRC, Baddoo hit a grand slam.

One-third of the way to keeping his job for another week. /s/

Great job by the two relievers. Winder gets credit for a save and Funderburk gets the win. I respect the decisions that managers make but I continue to be puzzled by the usage of "long relievers" Sands, Winder and Headrick. One and sometimes two of these guys have been on the active roster and they are never asked to pitch in high leverage situations. Too many times, a short outing or an injury leaves the team pretty short, but no matter what the long guy isn't used. Winder is coming off two outstanding outings, but I doubt they'll ask him to pitch in a higher leverage situation.

You called it!

Hey Royce, major league outfielders get to those short fly balls and they can make the throw back. Lewis is a great talent, but he's got things to work on. He just might be the type to keep getting better and better.

Another possible GDP for Correa. I hate to admit it, but every time this situation comes up, I'm dreading it.

My favorites. These are the City Connect uniforms, correct? Not as gaudy as other teams, but I really like them.

Do they ask Kody to go one more?

Twins have had two clean innings and three tough ones where they yielded six runs. Kody needs another clean inning.

I think they need more.

An old fashioned slugfest.

Wallner is a better (on offense) Joey Gallo.

Mr. Bremer is exaggerating the error call on Correa (now changed to Lewis). If Correa just comes down, he gets the force, but he tried to do too much. Lewis made a bad throw and we've seen Correa be very adroit on double play pivots, but he got greedy.

Charge Correa with a bunch of errors. They always get a double play on the next play.

Yuck. Had an easy out at home and get......nothing.

I think they feel like they can be patient with guys like Correa, Gallo, Buxton and Luplow with a six-game lead. Especially with promising reports on Kirilloff, Buxton and the rest. Specifically, we've seen Gallo hit a bunch of homers in a short time and Luplow has had success in the past against left handed pitching. If they were up or down by a game, they might not be as patient.

Stats are one thing, but not the only thing. We've seen guys with great numbers in AAA struggle when they get to the majors. The coaching staffs in the minors get paid to recommend the right guys for promotion.

Yes, it isn't fair to Ober, but the team will get a chance to save innings from him. If he pitches at all for the Saints, I would guess it would be 3-4 innings in each game. If someone gets hurt they can recall him and he could be added back to the roster any time in mid-September. The Ortega move isn't a screw-up, it is just that the bullpen is short due to having one less member and they've been used a lot due to short starts and extra inning games. This is probably the end of the line for Ortega as a Twin. I doubt they will keep him on the 40-man this winter. The fact is that his chances of pitching after a 15 day stint on the IL were pretty small with all the other pitchers ready to return from injuries. As mentioned, Cleveland is vulnerable to lefties and has been for years. I would not be surprised to see him pitch tonight. If I'm going to be critical, the usage of Winder and Sands is puzzling really puts more pressure on everyone else in the bullpen. Edit to add: They can't add Balazovic back right now unless there was someone placed on the IL. Before Ober struggled again and Keuchel put up two straight good (to great) outings, they could have gone other ways.

In addition, Ortega was moved to the 60-day IL to create space for Funderburk.

I buy the arguments that say Martin should stay in St. Paul for now. I hope/expect he will be on the roster next April and it will be interesting to see how having Martin will effect roster decisions on Willi Castro, Michael A. Taylor, Kyle Farmer, Nick Gordon and Donovan Solano, to name a few. I can't see a roster in '24 with all of those guys. The Twins need more contact and speed and Martin provides that plus versatility. He hasn't played that much outfield until this season. I don't know how good he is as an outfielder, but he certainly seems fast enough to cover a lot of ground.

It is possible that Arraez may not win the NL batting championship after winning the AL crown last year. Freddie Freeman is only nine points behind him. I'm kind of pulling for the ex-Twin, but still like the trade especially if Pablo can get a win tomorrow.