Hosken Bombo Disco

Casey Fein allowed 1,200 feet worth of fly balls that inning.

We had a chance to lock up Fryer for 4/40 two innings ago...

Won't they need to decide what position he'll play before he's extended? That might mean making a career decision on Plouffe.

The Orioles went to the ALCS last year? Pfff.

Help wanted: Image consultant

The manager's show is up on itunes. At 24:30 Molitor says: "We do have Trevor available in probably a longer role, if we need it. Graham is also available in a longer role, if needed." He was talking in context of Sunday's game, however, so it's yet to be seen. The irony is that a tie game going into the bottom of the 9th could be considered a long role (no room for error, but possibility of pitching multiple innings). One possibility today, would have been using Perkins in the 9th to pitch to the middle of the order, and then bringing in May to start the 10th for a few innings. Perkins hasn't made many appearances lately. He hasn't pitched in back to back games in a month. I would guess he's rested.

This is exactly right. The Twins are back to playing well. The Twins really need to make some roster moves but they will still be playing important games a month from now, I have no doubt.

I kind of agree with you today, even though you could say it was the road game thing etc.

Can't you just let us grumble for a bit? *but you are absolutely right

YES

I heard Molitor say on his show this morning that they will be using May in long relief/ mop up duty. *grumble*

Feeling a little bitter at the moment *grumble*

If only bullpens were important...

Don't worry, tie games never go to extra innings.

OK Wait--why don't you go in and tell us what he says

No doubt. This one is kinda sorta justifiable but you sometimes wonder if they've ever seen the run expectancy matrix. EDIT: though perhaps the run scoring matrix is/was skewed by the higher offense in the steroid era. Still, having the out usually seems better than having the extra base.

If it happens, let's both walk into the boss's office together.

Sano already drawing late inning, leadoff walks...

Yeah he sounds almost dominant (Watch the wheels fall off now...) And 7th inning already???

Big game today, with Ervin Santana returning from his suspension to make his first start of 2015. He faces off against Danny Duffy (2-4, 5.44) Lineups TBA Weather: High 80s, summerlike, small chance of passing shower. Lineups TWINS 2B Dozier 1B Mauer RF Hunter 3B Plouffe DH Sano LF Rosario SS Nunez C Suzuki CF Hicks ROYALS SS A. Escobar 3B Moustakas CF Cain 1B Hosmer DH Morales LF Gordon 2B Infante RF Dyson C Butera Thoughts: 1. I was disappointed to hear that the lineups were announced for this game. Not disappointed with the players in the lineup, but that the lineup itself even existed. Instead of Lineups TBA=To Be Announced, we need something like TBRATMOT=To Be Revealed At The Moment Of Truth. The players wouldn’t appear in the game until the last possible instant. Today, for example, we would be surprised to see Drew Butera in the lineup. "Hey look, it's Drew Butera! Adjust! Adjust!" It's a clear competitive advantage. The strategy would be easier for the first team to bat (in baseball parlance, the visiting team), because you could just hide guys in the dugout. The home team would have it more difficult, but it could still work. 2. For example, when in the field, the Twins could use this strategy to their advantage by huddling Escobar, Santana and Nunez all behind second base until the pitch was about to be thrown, and then have them sprint out to their position, surprising the batter. Who will go to shortstop? Who will go to left? I think this could be a thing. Very similar to a football team running a trick formation, confusing the defense to gain an advantage. What say you? 3. Today is the 4th time in the past three weeks we will see the guy we’ve been waiting to see: Buxton, Meyer, and Sano have all made their debuts, and now the veteran starting pitcher Ervin Santana will make his debut. This comes following his 80-day suspension. The fan base has had a crazy sort of courtship and breakup with Ervin Santana, which in my opinion was summed up best in this post from early April. But, bygones and all that—let’s hope he extends an olive branch back to the fans today. 4. Santana can and should be considered the Twins top pitcher, but he has competition. Gibson gave the Twins a gutty performance on Thursday, and Milone followed up with a good one Friday. Two of Hughes last three starts have been excellent, each were 8 innings while allowing just a single run. Santana should be fresh but he also needs to be “on” as the Twins don’t match up well against Duffy to give Santana much run support. Santana pitched for Kansas City in 2013, and in his two wins against Detroit that season, he did not allow a run and allowed only 9 base runners, and recorded 11 strikeouts. The Twins host Detroit for a 4-game series this upcoming weekend and Santana will pitch on Friday. 5. It still amazes me how well the Twins are doing, relative to the rest of the league. Kansas City has the third best Win % in baseball, and yet we trail them by only 3 ½ games for first place in the AL Central. Too soon to think about the wild card game? Probably. But let’s look at what an 86-win pace will get us. Here is a snapshot of win totals for the two wild card teams since the wild card era began in 2012. The first two numbers are win totals of the wild card teams, the third number is the win total of the next best team that didn’t make it: 2012 AL: 93-93-90 2013 AL: 92-92-91 2014 AL: 89-88-87 2012 NL: 94-88-86 2013 NL: 94-90-86 2014 NL: 88-88-82 In the National League, 88 seems to be the magic number. In the A.L., a team probably needs to aim a little higher. It’s worth noting though, that Detroit won the division with 88 games in 2012, the fewest wins of all the A.L. postseason teams. Naturally they went to the World Series. But like most people will agree, it’s a little too soon to be even thinking about any of this. It's been a very good first half. A win today wraps up a 5-5 road trip and would continue to spark post season discussion. A 5-5 trip would be about as good as you can ask for. So, let’s get ‘er done!

Trevor May is avaiable tomorrow. So I predict: Ervin Santana 5 innings + Trevor May 2 innings + the 2 innings Perkins didn't pitch last night, he can pitch tomorrow

All jokes aside, you might actually see Perkins pitch 2 innings tonight.

I might bring Pressley in to face the 1-2-3 hitters up through Cain at least. I guess I didn't realize Pressley was bringing heat like that nowadays.

Pressley is up to 97-98 mph tonight?

Yeah Herrmann had a couple nice moments when the team was going well, back in May. However, I wonder if Fryer would be a better replacement until Pinto is fully healthy.