The Twins are playing their 108th game of the season today, August 1, which means the regular season is two-thirds done. If they win—and they're leading the Marlins, 4 to 1, through seven innings—it will be their 67th of the season, putting them on pace to win exactly 100 games. They've been sliding, however. On the morning of June 1, their record was 38-18. This morning, it was 66-41, which, if you trust my public school math, means they're 28-23 over the past two months. Moreover their lead in the AL Central over the Cleveland Indians dissipated at one point, a few days ago, to just one game. Right now it's 2.5. While the Twins in July were struggling with the A's and the Yankees (and the Mets [sic]), the Indians were beating up on the poor sisters of the division, the Tigers, the Royals, and the Pale Hose. That's over now. The Twins are finishing up a road trip to Chicago (3-1 against the lowly Sox) and Miami (3-0 against the lowly Marlins, assuming their bullpen doesn't implode in this game I'm watching). In August, they play the Royals three times, the Tigers five times, and the Sox six times (and the Indians four times, August 8-11, at Target Field).
The Twins' July woes, such as they were, can be attributed to shaky pitching, a pretty common mid-season malaise in major league baseball, since everyone's been playing six or seven times a week for four months now. A week ago, in a 3-game home set against the Yankees, the Twins scored 27 runs and lost two out of three anyway. In the second game, the Yankees, trailing 9 to 5 after seven innings, proceeded to score five in the 8th, two in the 9th, and two more in the 10th, and won 14 to 12. This game, and some other less sensational failures, inspired the team to trade for some bullpen help, including this fellow Dyson who is melting down as I type this: four batters, two walks, two doubles, and the winning run is on base with nobody out.
Damn! Polanco has to dive for that ball to keep it in the infield. Tie game now, winning run at third with no one out. I'm signing off before I have to revise the projections in that first paragraph.
Comments