[faithful2thecall]

October 1, 2018

• Noel Cuevas (Colorado) actually suffered a high ankle sprain in his run in a couple of days ago with the tarp and will be out for at least a month.
• RHP CL Michael Tonkin has recovered from his injury.
• SS Manuel Guzman was called up from AAA.
• Whit Merrifield (Kansas City) suffered a setback in his recovery from a foot contusion that will keep him out 6 days.
• We’re 5th in the latest power rankings.

Minnesota 2 at Seattle 1

WP: Yorman Landa (8-3), LP: Danny Salazar (11-12), SV: Michael Tonkin (15)
HR: MN-Andy Dirks 2 (6), Sea-None

The roof was closed since it was raining outside. Landa and Salazar were dominant in the early innings. Dirks crushed a 3-2 fastball 433 feet to straightaway center for a solo homer with 2-outs in the 5th for our 1st hit and to open the scoring. I ended up lifting Landa after 6.1 innings of 4-hit ball, striking out 8 and walking 2 on 91 pitches. Dirks went down and muscled a 2-2 curveball 388 feet to right for a 1-out solo homer in the 8th to double our lead. I put Tonkin right back into the closer role. Ike Davis hit a sacrifice fly to the right field wall for the 1st run scored against Tonkin this season to get Seattle on the board. Our only hit besides Dirks’ homers was a bunt single by Byron Buxton following Dirk’s 2nd homer.

• With the win we also secured the best record in the AL.


October 2, 2018

Minnesota 7 at Seattle 2

WP: Phil Hughes (15-11), LP: Alex Cobb (9-12)
HR: MN-Danny Santana (6), Sea-A. J. Reed (4)

Santana opened the scoring by hammering a 1-1 fastball 421 feet to right-center for a 1-out solo homer in the 1st. A. J. Reed answered with a RBI double in the bottom of the inning to tie the game. A perfectly executed hit-and-run by Aaron Hicks and Tommy La Stella allowed us to take the lead on a double play grounder by Mitch Garver. Dirks lined a 1-out, 2-run double down the right field line in the 6th to make it 4-1. By the time the carnage was over, we’d added 3 more runs in the inning to blow the game open. Hughes was injured (torn triceps, 4 months) giving up a 2-out single to Rafael Fernandez in the 7th.


October 3, 2018

• Jameson Taillon (Pittsburgh) is out 5-6 months with a ruptured tricep tendon.
• Miami clinched the NL East with a 1-0 walk-off win in 15 innings yesterday over Atlanta on a 1-out RBI double by Yangervis Solarte.

Minnesota 4 at Seattle 1

WP: Jose Berrios (11-9), LP: David Buchanan (9-8), SV: Michael Tonkin (16)
HR: MN-Kennys Vargas (29), Sea-None

The roof was closed because of rain outside. Vargas crushed a 2-2 changeup off the plate inside 432 feet to straightaway center for a 2-out, 2-run homer in the 1st to open the scoring. Berrios had some control issues early, throwing 2 wild pitches in the bottom of the inning to put Seattle on the board. Both Berrios and Buchanan settled down after the 1st and neither offense could get any serious threat going after that. La Stella pulled a 2-out, 2-run double into the right field corner in the 9th to provide some insurance. The Mariners ran themselves out of a potential rally in the bottom of the 9th with runners on the corners with nobody out Cody Asche got himself doubled off 1st on an 8-3 double play. Tonkin then coaxed C. J. Hinojosa to fly out to Andy Dirks to end the game.

• Zack Greinke (Los Angeles Dodgers) threw a 4-hitter against San Diego for his 2nd shutout of the season.


October 4, 2018

• Suspended RHP SP Tyler Duffey was demoted to AAA.
• SS Luis Mateo was placed on waivers.
• The Hughes injury report came through today which is a devastating loss on the eve of the playoffs. I was already planning on going with a 4 man rotation during the playoffs.

Off Day


October 5, 2018

• The Los Angeles Angels secured at least an AL Wild Card spot despite having the day off.

Minnesota 0 at Cleveland 3

WP: Cody Anderson (8-8), LP: Chris Heston (14-11), SV: Ben Rowen (33)
HR: MN-None, Cle-Kyle Seager 2 (19)

The final series of the regular season was in Cleveland and had the potential to be a playoff preview depending on how results played out. Cleveland’s magic number entering the series was 2.

Move over, Vince Coleman! Buxton followed a leadoff single up by stealing 2nd for his 100th stolen base of the season. Seager opened the scoring by pulling a 1-0 fastball 365 feet into the right field seats for a 2-out solo homer in the 2nd. Neither team could do much to get a rally going. Seager’s 2nd homer of the day was a 2-out, 2-run shot to center in the 7th to seemingly put the game away. We got the tying run to the plate with nobody out in the 9th against Rowen in the form of Jon Garcia. Garcia struck out and La Stella could only manage a weak grounder to 1st. Down to my last out, I then rolled the dice and brought Christian Villanueva off the bench to hit for Hank Conger. Villanueva swung through a slider in the dirt to end the game.


October 6, 2018

• Tampa Bay was eliminated from postseason contention.
• St. Louis clinched the NL Central with a 5-1 win over the Chicago Cubs.
• High drama abounds with only 2 days left in the regular season. Toronto and the New York Yankees are tied for the AL East lead and neither team is likely to get a Wild Card. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are tied for the 2nd NL Wild Card spot with Arizona only 1 game behind them.

Minnesota 5 at Cleveland 7

WP: Carlos Carrasco (1-7), LP: Hudson Boyd (3-3), SV: Ben Rowen (34)
HR: MN-Jean Carlos Arias (1), Joe Mauer (11), Cle-None

Arias hammered the 3rd pitch of the game 402 feet to right-center for his 1st MLB homer. Yan Gomes responded with a 1-out RBI double in the bottom of the inning to tie the game. Tyler Naquin added a sacrifice fly to give Cleveland the lead before the inning was over. Mauer went opposite-field hitting a 0-1 changeup 400 feet to left-center for a 2-out, 2-run homer in the 3rd to put us back in front. A 2-out wild pitch by Lewis Thorpe in the bottom of the inning tied the game at 3-3. Naquin then blooped a RBI single to left to put the Indians back in front. Amaurys Minier came through in the clutch, chopping a 2-out, 2-run single up the middle in the 6th to give us the lead. Jose Ramirez hammered a 2-out RBI triple off the wall in left-center to tie the game. Bradley Zimmer followed by chopping a RBI single to right to put Cleveland back in front. Zimmer added a 2-out RBI single to left in the 8th to provide some insurance.

• Asher Wojciechowski (Houston) threw a 2-hitter against the Los Angeles Angels.
• Luke Jackson (Texas) threw a 2-hitter against San Francisco.


October 7, 2018

• Cleveland and Houston will meet in the AL Wild Card game after both teams clinched their spots yesterday.
• Arizona and Texas were eliminated from postseason contention after yesterday’s results.
• SS Luis Mateo cleared waivers and was assigned to AAA.

Minnesota 2 at Cleveland 12

WP; Bryan Price (10-7), LP: Yorman Landa (8-4)
HR: MN-Aaron Hicks (8), Cle-Jesus Aguilar (6), Yan Gomes (19), Tyler Naquin (11)

Vargas ripped a 2-out RBI double off the fence in right-center in the 1st to open the scoring. Aguilar hit a 1-out opposite field solo homer in the 3rd to tie the game. Gomes hammered a 1-out, 3-run homer 432 feet to center later in the inning to give Cleveland the lead. There was a 58 minute rain delay in the top of the 4th. My bullpen just kept pouring gas on the fire, highlighted by a Naquin grand slam in the 6th.

• J. P. Crawford (Philadelphia) suffered a hamstring strain while running the bases in today’s game and will be out for at least 5 weeks.


October 8, 2018

• Jeff Samardzija (Chicago Cubs) is out 6-7 months with a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament.
• We’re 5th in the latest power rankings.
• The Los Angeles Angels clinched the AL West with a 8-3 win over Houston.
• It’s a busy make-up day, with 3 games on the docket. The most important is Toronto visiting the Chicago White Sox, as Toronto is only 0.5 games behind the New York Yankees for the AL East title.

Off Day


October 9, 2018

A pair of tiebreaker games on the slate today.

AL East:

New York Yankees 7 at Toronto 11

WP: Marcus Stroman (14-12), LP: Rafael Montero (10-11)

This game was a power display, as the 2 teams combined to hit 7 homers (6 of them were solo shots however). Toronto raced out to a 10-2 lead through 5 innings and then held on.


2nd NL Wild Card:

Philadelphia 2 at Pittsburgh 7

WP: Nick Kingham (14-10), LP: Tom Windle (5-5)

Philadelphia could manage only 2 consolation runs in the 9th in a game Pittsburgh dominated.


98-64, .605, 8 GA (AL Central Champions), 6 GA (AL Best Record), 4 GB (MLB Best Record)

We didn’t look good the last week or so of the season. Our offense wasn’t hitting and our pitching wasn’t getting anybody out. Hopefully we’ve gotten all that out of the way and are ready to being our drive for the World Series.