HBT Weekend Wrapup

Like I said in the recaps, I had a good Father’s Day yesterday. Dinner was a nice steak on the back patio. Talking to a friend about it he said “man, that stinks that you have to cook your own dinner on Father’s Day.” Silly man. My wife does all the grilling in my house. Do I lose man points for that? I dunno, the way I see it, having a beautiful woman bring you grilled meats should count for bonus man points.

Anyway, here’s what you missed as you battled the charcoal:

Well, whaddaya know? The Astros and Rangers have talked about Roy Oswalt. Don’t tell Buster Olney!

Troy Tulowitzki is going to miss 6-8 weeks. Bummer, dude.

Mat Latos: overlooked stud.

Strasburg strikes out 10 but the Nats lose. Some day some idiot writer will tell everyone that he doesn’t deserve to be in the Hall of Fame because he just didn’t know how to win.

Apparently Chase Utley was only mostly dead.

There’s an error in the headline of this post. It should read “Cliff Lee is reDONKulous.”

John Maine has likely thrown his last pitch as a New York Met.

If you had asked me which pitcher led the majors in strikeouts before I read this article I would have made ten or twelve incorrect guesses before getting it right. And I’m someone who reads every single box score each morning.

I’ve got a great idea for a promotion: ten cent vuvuzela demolition night!

Ryan Franklin is probably going to retire after the 2011 season. Good thing this is baseball and not some cop movie, or else Franklin would probably get shot which, while paving the way for his young, loose-cannon partner to exact satisfying revenge, would be rather sad for the Franklin family.

Rick Porcello takes I-75 south to Toledo. Well, I suppose he could have chartered a boat to take him there via Lake Erie and the Maumee River, but the freeway is probably the best bet.

Edwin
Encarnacion was sent down too. Not as easy a trip for him since the
Jays’ AAA team is in Vegas. I mean, he could fly, but why not take a
week and go
the scenic route?

Miguel Montero and Jose Valverde are feuding. If this was wrestling, the equivalent would be, I dunno, Randy Mulkey talking smack to Iron Mike Sharpe.

And while we’re talking 1980s WWF, why not include Lady Gaga as the Cyndi Lauper character?

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled work week. And, uhh, yeah, it’s just we’re putting new coversheets on all the TPS reports
before they go out now. So if you could go ahead and try to remember to
do that from now on, that’d be great. All right?

The Twins trampled the White Sox on Friday night, cruising to a cool 11-4 lead over their division rivals and collecting their sixth double-digit win of 2019. Even more impressive, they picked up their 99th, 100th, and 101st home runs, a feat that’s rarely been matched in a team’s first 50 games of any given season.

The first homer of the night was delivered by Eddie Rosario in the third inning. Working against a single-run deficit, Rosario lifted an 0-1 fastball from the White Sox’ Reynaldo López, planting it firmly in the left field stands and evening the score, 4-4. Two batters later, Rosario’s solo home run got a sequel: a 398-footer from Miguel Sanó, this one postmarked for the upper deck in left.

In the fourth, now leading 5-4, the Twins saw a third and final homer from the bat of Max Kepler, whose center-field blast traveled a projected 397 feet to give the club a two-run advantage. Per MLB Stats, the Twins’ record — 101 homers in 50 games — stands second only to that of the 1999 Mariners, who managed to club 102 home runs before their 51st game of the season.

While the record has undoubtedly been a team effort, Rosario leads the pack with a team-best 15 homers so far this year, closely followed by C.J. Cron (13), Max Kepler (11), and Jonathan Schoop (10). Sanó, whose solo shot marked the team’s 100th home run of 2019, has just five, though there’s little doubt he’ll reach double digits before the end of the season.

According to MLB.com’s Do-Hyoung Park, the Twins also made it to an even 300 runs scored in 2019, for a satisfying average of six runs per game and a new franchise record (previous high mark: 273 runs scored in 1992). With the win, they improved to 34-16 on the year and continue to hold a comfortable eight-game lead in the AL Central.