TwinsCD

Santana pitched more than well enough to get the win last night. He just got no support.

Got a Sciambigasm on ESPN for that Judge hit.

Back at a previous broadcast entity that I worked for, we used to have a cup in our screening area and if you wanted to pick a guy to hit a HR when he came to the plate, you dropped a quarter in the cup. If he hit a HR, you won what was in the cup. If that was still in play right now, I'd put a quarter in the cup for Judge.

Berrios has thrown 51 strikes...of those, how many of these are foul balls? Good Lord, they just don't swing and miss.

Time to get him out.

I wish someone would break that god-forsaken whistle that they play over the Yankee Stadium PA whenever there's a PA.

This is the most infuriating thing about playing against the Yankees -- they just won't swing and miss at strike 3. Foul it off, foul it off, foul it off. EDIT: Until now.

TAKE AIM AT THAT SHORT PORCH!!

John Sterling kept calling him Byron Bruxton throughout his first AB. I'm tellin ya, driving home from the airport last night and having to listen to that first inning was excruciating. Fortunately, I got out of the car before Judge hit the HR so I didn't have to hear the Sterlingasm.

FSN...friendlier announcers and you don't have to look at that stupid-ass K zone graphic the entire time.

At least someone finally did the research for them going into tonite's game. Last nite, you should have heard Suzyn Waldman flailing away trying to figure it out, finally just throwing her hands in the air and saying, 'well, it's been a while if it's even happened'.

Sigh...so much promise to get left with so little. Sounds like my dating life.

2-out squeeze?

Uh oh....getting the shakes again... And Cederstrom is 0 for 2 on challenges in this series. By all means, show off your 'out' call rather than getting it right.

Off to a good start... And the #1 thing I DESPISE about ESPN broadcasts -- that stupid-ass K zone square superimposed in what they think is the strike zone.

First pitch at 8:10 ET

Baseball Press put precip at 14%. I think Jose is just far enough off the coast that we'll see windy conditions but not much moisture, if any. Weather Channel app calling for just wind and at most, a 20% chance of rain.

Minnesota Twins (78-72) at New York Yankees (83-67) -- Yankee Stadium Season Series -- Tied at 2 Last time out -- Yankees 2, Twins 1 -- Pitching was the name of the game as Jaime Garcia had the Twins flailing early on (9 of first 12 outs were K's) and Ervin Santana escaped more jams than Houdini until the Yanks scratched a run across in the 6th to take a 2-1 lead. From there, the Yankees bullpen took over and Aroldis Chapman saved the oft-booed Dellin Betances by stranding the bases loaded in the 8th and torching the Twins with that 104 MPH fastball in the 9th. The win allowed the Yankees to pull 5 ahead of the Twins for the WC1 position but they got no help in the division as the Bosox won an extra-inning affair against the Orioles. For the Twins, the loss allowed the idle Angels to close within 1 1/2 games for the WC2 spot. Tonight's pitchers: Twins -- Jose Berrios (12-7, 3.84 ERA) -- Berrios faced the Yankees on July 19 at Target Field and was masterful, holding the Yankees to 1 run on 6 hits, striking out 5 in 6 2/3 innings in the Twins 6-1 victory. Lately, though, Berrios has been a mixed bag, getting torched in Tampa followed by an average outing against the Royals followed by a decent start against the Jays that the Twins won late. Yankees -- CC Sabathia (11-5, 3.85 ERA) -- An old nemesis that the Twins just can't seem to stay away from. Lifetime, Sabathia is 18-9 with a 3.16 ERA against the Twins but he hasn't faced them since June 16, 2016, a 4-1 win in which he struck out 7 over 6 innings. He got the win when the Yankees got 3 in the top half of the 7th and the bullpen took it from there. Only 5 players from this year's roster batted in that game (Escobar, Kepler, Grossman, Buxton, and Dozier) Interesting note that may or may not matter -- The Twins have lost their last 9 road games in which Berrios has started. ==================================================================================== I said it in last nite's game thread and I'll say it again here -- nothing brings out the self-loathing more than playing games against the Yankees. The rest of the teams in MLB, I can handle losing to them. The Yankees? No chance. There were playoff years that I didn't watch the rest of the playoffs after the Yankees knocked us out because I was so mad about losing to them. Of course, we're on a collision course for another playoff meeting but first, the Twins have to get there. Tonight would be a giant stepping stone to that destination, especially because the Angels are starting a series with the Indians, who will naturally go into a funk when it means helping out the Twins. Hoping that Berrios can get the Yanks to bite on his pitches like he did at Target back in July and that the Twins' bats can wake up and pound CC early and often. Given how CC reacted to former Twin Eduardo Nunez bunting on him a few weeks back, I wouldn't be surprised at all to see the Twins lay down a few to get CC running. On a personal note, this is my first go at one of these things. I've done a number of hockey ones for the team I root for (they've held that big shiny trophy the last couple of years) and there are a couple of things I always incorporate into the beginning: Rules -- There are no rules. Have fun, cheer hard, kick the 'WOOOOOOO'ers in the teeth. Don't feed the trolls. Great moment in Twins vs. Yankees history (complete with Bremergasm): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSf_Phpo9MM Let's go kick some Yankee tail tonite!! LINEUPS: TWINS Jose Berrios ® 1. Brian Dozier ® 2B 2. Joe Mauer (L) 1B 3. Jorge Polanco (S) SS 4. Eduardo Escobar (S) 3B 5. Byron Buxton ® CF 6. Eddie Rosario (L) LF 7. Robbie Grossman (S) DH 8. Chris Gimenez ® C 9. Max Kepler (L) RF Yankees CC Sabathia (L) 1. Brett Gardner (L) LF 2. Aaron Judge ® RF 3. Gary Sanchez ® C 4. Didi Gregorius (L) SS 5. Chase Headley (S) DH 6. Starlin Castro ® 2B 7. Jacoby Ellsbury (L) CF 8. Todd Frazier ® 3B 9. Greg Bird (L) 1B

A local guy out of U of Minnesota, played in 73 games from 1992-93... J.T. Bruett Flashback to summer of 1996. I'm interning for a TV station in Harrisburg, PA, home of the AA Harrisburg Senators (at the time, a Montreal Expos affiliate...still with the Nationals now). I'm standing down by the first base railing assisting my reporter with his liveshot for the 6pm newscast and I'm wearing a Twins hat. Bruett comes over to me with one of his teammates as he's walking in from batting practice to the dugout and says, 'hey, nice hat'. I come right back with, 'hey, I know who you are' which made his teammate break up with laughter almost like Bruett wouldn't think I'd know I'd be a superfan.

But...but...but....I'm making my 1st MLB (gameday thread) start tomorrow night!!!!

Classic playoff-type game with the low score and the back-and-forth scoring chances. Twins just couldn't get the big hit like the Yankees did. Try again tomorrow nite.

Welp, really good pitching tonite out of the Twins. All you can really ask for in a situation like this.

That looked safe....replay....eh, close

Damn, Smoltz beat me to it....was gonna say the same thing -- Duff tried to tag him before he ever fielded it. Catch the ball first!!

Sigh....bases left loaded again against this stupid franchise.