After a shaky start, Joe Ryan settles in nicely (except for hitting Alejandro Osuna twice) and the bats come to life. Good chance to play spoilers this weekend! Inning-by-inning notes:
1: Walker Jenkins almost makes a great catch on a sinking Brandon Nimmo liner, but close only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, curling, darts, and lots of other games. Joe Ryan hits the next guy, and Corey Seager singles home a run. Then Wyatt Langford grounds it right to Royce Lewis at first; he looks home (and
would have had the runner) but Ryan Jeffers is pointing to first, so Royce makes the out there. Ezequiel Duran pops out, and then Ryan hits ANOTHER guy because, I dunno, his dog died in Texas or something. Finally, Ryan gets out of this after 28 pitches. Yeek.
It takes Jake deGrom 17 less pitches and he achieves a much better outcome. Sometimes less is more, you know? Rangers 2-0
2: Well, that was better for Ryan. Maybe he doesn’t need foot/arm/elbow/knee surgery that will sideline him for all of next year. Oh c’mon you know he does. He’ll just have it on the last day of spring training.
Hey, here ya go! Walk, single, single, Royce single! Bringing up Emma Rodriguez with runners on first and third. deGrom remembers he’s a strikeout machine and gets him. Then a weird play; Ryan Kriedler bunts it right back to deGrom. He looks over to first and… nobody’s there. 1B Jake Burger had moved towards where he thought the ball was going; everybody’s safe.
Then Luke Keaschall triples! I mean, I woulda given him a double, ‘cause he gets to third ‘cuz a stoopid throw by RF Nimmo misses everybody trying to cut it off. But, hey, we’ll take it, since soon enough… wild pitch! Keaschall scores! The Twins don’t get anything further out of it, but that was fun. Batting around is fun. Twins 6-2
3: 1-2-3 for Ryan. Maybe only one arm/leg need to be surgeried. One of the guys he hit in the first has to come out, Josh Jung; hope he’s OK and never reads Carl Jung.
Nothing else happens for awhile since I am making a hot dog and my toaster over affects all hitters in a ten-mile radius.
4: As my hot dog finishes, Kreidler takes a walk and Keaschall doubles him home. There’s a two-out liner by Clemens that Nimmo almost catches, but close only counts in depth charges against Jules Verne submarines (Captain Nemo joke). So Keaschall scores. Then Clemens knocks him in. The Twins don’t add any more because they don’t care about you, still Minnesota 8-2
5: With two outs and a guy on first, Ryan hits his third batter of the game; per gintzer, this can get you thrown out of some over-50 baseball leagues. Nothing comes of it.
That’s all for deGrom, who has a contract next year for $37 million (and a mutual option for 2028, if humanity still exists, which I give a 50/50 chance). Gavin Collyer in; he is 6’1” and weighs 165 pounds, so I could wrestle him. I would lose, though. Twins down 1-2-3.
6: A one-out single off the mound, a two-out walk. Ryan notches his eighth strikeout on his 102nd pitch; call it a season, friend Joe.
Keaschall with the one-out single; he’s a homer shy of “the cycle.” He does have 10 so far, it’s not impossible! And now Klobberin’ Kody Klemens has 27. Heirs of the Minneapolis Millers 10-2
7: Other Kody (Funderburk) in; leadoff hitter Danny Jansen almost parks one, but Emma steals it! Good little moment for the home crowd. We’ve seen this a few times from Rodriguez already! Hope the future is fun for him.
8: Tommy Nance in for the Twins. FYI, he’s still under contract for awhile so let’s hope he’s good. Leadoff walk then a DP to end that.
Keaschall comes up with a chance at the cycle and… screw that guy just a dumb old base hit, we hate him now.
9: Mein Gott, the Twins challenge a replay with a 10-2 lead. I know it can help Taylor Rogers’ stats, but c’mon, guys! Anyways nobody scores and Twims Wim! (Yes we spell it wrong on purpose sometimes.)
Studs: Joe after pulling his Radke, Luke for the near-cycle, Emma for the catch, Clemens (3-4, HR, 3 RBI.) Duds: the dang Mariners for not beating both the mediocre Texas teams to the division title.
COTG go to nagurski with an observation about who gets work in TV commercials, sandwiches with an observation about some non-Emma outfield play, BobbyDarwin with an observation about diaphragm contractions, and goose with “So many good outfielders for the twims in its history. Hopefully we’re just watching Emma get started as the new one.”
Thanks to everybody who joined in! I’ve done end-of-season threads where there were seven comments and they were all me.
Next week is Rod Carew’s 81st birthday, so here’s a short fun video about him that popped into the MLB.com film room.
Tomorrow’s game is at 3:10, and features Totally Bad Dude against our own Baily Ober. Catch y’all next time! If there’s any games next year!
