stringer bell

Congratulations Eddie! He's done well (SSS) for the Braves so far. In other former Twin news, Ildemaro Vargas has been added to the D-Backs roster, presumably for the rest of the season. He's played for three teams this year after playing for three teams in 2020.

Bleep bleep autocorrect!!

My favorite “old friend” was Michael Cuddyer. Still is my favorite all-time Twin. Cuddly and Moreau both won batting championships for the Rockies and Cuddyer got a chance to play in the World Series for the Mets.

While it is worth noting that Sanó has struck out a bit less this year (per PA), it is equally important to point out that there has been no overall improvement in his numbers. Apparently, he is what he is—an inconsistent slugger prone to slumps and strikeouts. When he came into the league, I thought he had a chance to be another Frank Thomas, but his profile looks much more like Mark Reynolds or Chris Davis.

Nice inning, but they have to do more than slug. Pitching, defense, and base running are all lacking.

Pitching stats: W-L ERA WHIP IP H K BB HR M. Pineda 6-8 3.87 1.22 93.0 95 79 18 15 H. Ryu 13-8 4.11 1.19 157.2 153 131 34 20

Blue Jays Lineup: MIN Lineup TOR Lineup HITTERS H-AB RBI HR SB AVG G. SpringerDH 60-233 37 17 3 .258 M. Semien2B 158-585 94 39 15 .270 V. Guerrero Jr.1B 173-545 103 45 4 .317 B. BichetteSS 169-577 93 25 22 .293 T. HernandezRF 150-490 103 27 11 .306 C. DickersonCF 78-300 26 5 4 .260 L. Gurriel Jr.LF 130-459 80 19 1 .283 D. JansenC 33-150 19 8 0 .220 J. Lamb3B 27-134 18 7 0 .201

I hope the Twins can keep the Jays in single digits for at least two of the three games. If I were a betting person, I would bet they don't.

Bad decision by the big guy. He really needs to be better than that.

Jax really can't survive if he continues to fall behind in the count.

Nice play Chulo and Miggy.

Lots of "cans of corn" so far, with the exception of the drive against the right field wall by Ramirez.

The Twins entertain Cleveland tonight in the finale and rubber game of a three-game series. Griffyn Jax takes the hill versus Cal Quantrill for the future Guardians. In looking at the future, Cleveland looks like they will be competitive as soon as next year. They have MLB-ready pitching and improved production from position players. Surprisingly, the Twins have won the season series and played some of their best ball this year against Cleveland. Griffin Jax gets another chance to stake a claim on a rotation spot next year. The USAFA grad has had some moments, but his overall numbers are poor due mostly to his inability to keep the ball in the park. At this point, everything is about 2022. Who will be on the 2022 roster? Who can they count on to contribute? The Twins need to develop pitchers and position players to be competitive as soon as 2022. Besides that, we can enjoy 2021 POY Jorge Polanco and witness long homers from Sanó and Buxton and imagine what kind of season Buck might have had if healthy. Lineups: Cleveland (70-73) Straw cf Zimmer rf Ramirez 3B Reyes DH Bradley 1B Chang 2B Hedges c Gimenez SS Mercado LF Quantrill p 5-3 3.04 ERA Minnesota (64-82) Arraez 3b Buxton cf Polanco 2B Donaldson DH Kepler rf Sano 1B Gordon SS Jeffers c Cave LF Jax 3-3 6.72 ERA

Tough to win games when Sanó and Donaldson are struggling.

Lots of traffic on a Twins site, with the Vikings opener at the same time. First and third, nobody out in the top of the first.

This goes back to the 80s, but John Butcher, who was acquired with Mike Smithson before the 1984 season, owned the Baltimore Orioles. Lifetime he was 6-1 and he had a winning record against only one other team (Oakland). In Butcher's two full seasons with the Twins, he was 5-1 vs. the Os.

I noticed that Gordon was getting his first start at short. Good for him. He’s performed better than expected in the role of utility player. Let’s hope he can handle SS.

The Twins face Kansas City tonight in the second game of their three-game battle to stay out of the basement of the American League Central. Starting pitchers are Brady Singer for the Royals and Michael Pineda for the Twins. Today is September 11th. It is the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the United States wherein the World Trade Center was destroyed. Where were you on this date in 2001? Those of us who are old enough will most likely remember exactly what they were doing that fateful day. My memories focus on my family members, who were newly spread around the country and my worries for their wellbeing. A visit to the site of the WTC years later left me feeling sad and angry at the loss of innocent life. I remember Michael Cuddyer recounting his experience in the aftermath of the terrorist attack. He was to be called up to the Twins for the first time when the world changed. It delayed his debut by a week and he was basically stranded until he met up with the team later. Also, because of a game-winning home run for New Britain, he unwittingly saved the life of Brad Thomas, who pitched for the Twins, and was scheduled to fly on one of the doomed aircraft. Here's the link: https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2016/09/12/how-michael-cuddyer-unwittingly-saved-a-teammates-life-on-911/ In checking out this story, I looked at the record of the 2001 Twins. They had been the story of the league early, but fizzled in the stretch to finish second in the AL Central (to Cleveland). The Twins were going to be pretty good for several years in the early 2000s, but were just too young in 2001. It was Tom Kelly's last hurrah as a manager and he set up his successor (Gardy) with a really good team. Changing the subject a bit, we're now 21 years into the 2000s. Who will be the first Minnesota Twin player to be born in this century? Another question to ponder is about home runs, Harmon Killebrew stands far and away as the top home run hitter for the Twins. He hit 475 as a member of the Twins and 84 more playing for the predecessors. No one else has hit 300 for the Twins. The top home run hitter in this century is Torii Hunter, who hit 205 for the Twins since 2000. Is someone currently on the roster going to exceed Torii? Will someone who is currently in the organization hit 300 homers for the Twins? I'd like to know what you game threaders think. Finally, another topic for discussion--errors and fielding. We all know that some errors are unavoidable--a catcher throws to second and the ball goes into center field because no one covered or a good one-hop throw hits a base runner and kicks away allowing someone to advance--and we also know that a low number of errors doesn't guarantee that someone is a good fielder. Many immobile defenders don't get a lot of errors because they always play it safe and they have no range. However, I do think that if a fielder has a lot of errors, it indicates they aren't a good defender (I'm looking at you Chulo and Miggy). Both Polanco and Sano have a lot of errors for their position and we've all seen them make fine plays, but it seems both guys have concentration lapses and make boots or bad throws on relatively easy plays. Further, it seems to me that both Sano and Polanco have been prone to the really poor decision and have made many ill-advised and hurried throws. Back to today (and pardon this meandering), here are the lineups. Enjoy! Royals (64-77) @ Twins (62-79) PLAYER W-L ERA WHIP IP H K BB HR B. Singer 4-9 4.58 1.54 116.0 130 117 49 9 M. Pineda 5-8 3.99 1.23 88.0 90 76 18 15 HITTERS H-AB RBI HR SB AVG W. Merrifield2B 158-574 68 10 40 .275 N. LopezSS 124-416 38 2 19 .298 S. PerezC 148-541 104 42 1 .274 A. BenintendiLF 110-419 57 15 8 .263 C. SantanaDH 110-498 63 19 2 .221 M. TaylorCF 108-441 50 11 12 .245 E. OlivaresRF 20-88 10 5 2 .227 H. Alberto3B 54-212 20 2 2 .255 H. Dozier1B 85-419 41 11 3 .203 ITTERS H-AB RBI HR SB AVG L. Arraez3B 107-360 36 2 2 .297 B. BuxtonCF 45-157 22 12 5 .287 J. Polanco2B 142-512 83 27 10 .277 J. DonaldsonDH 97-387 62 22 0 .251 M. KeplerRF 75-366 46 16 10 .205 N. GordonSS 34-144 11 1 6 .236 M. Sano1B 86-395 64 26 2 .218 J. CaveLF 27-141 10 3 1 .191 B. RortvedtC 11-80 5 2 0 .138

Mondesi will steal second guaranteed.

Gotta pinch hit Arraez for Simmons here.

Tempting fate, Facing Perez in a game situation.

The entire bullpen has pitched much better as of late, even against the good teams. Nice to see Alcala coming back from the IL and really looking sharp.

C'mon. Four runs from the first four batters and six innings later, nothing?

The game has changed dramatically in the last few years. 13 of the 15 outs on balls put in play in this game have been hit in the air. Three more fly balls have left the yard.

Monday.