It took him what seemed like FOREVER to heat up but the wait was well worth it - he's so locked in.
Today Kipnis went 3 for 4, with just 1 RBI but ZERO left on base. He got a double and two singles.
Michael Bourn is also kind of keeping pace with Kipinis, with 25 hits in his 78 at-bats in June (a paltry .357). He was right up there with Kipnis in the Minnesota series going 8 for 13, going 3 for 5 today. How he managed to leave 2 men on base, I don't know (well uh, yeah it was those 2 unproductive at-bats, dummy).
Since Bourn was on the DL for a month, and also never really needed time to heat up, his batting average is way higher than Kipnis - .310 to Kipnis' .283. Don't worry, Kip - all that matters is how you play today!
The only other guys who got hits today were Brantley in a pinch hit (heat up! Pleeeeeeease heat up!) and Drew Stubbs who rocked a solo homer in the 7th. And yet, the poor guy's average is just perpetually around .240. His slugging did jump 10 points today, though! Let's not forget to admire his defense, too.
I don't really feel like talking about pitching today, because I'm sick of our stupid bullpen. How is Rich Hill still up here?! Seven earned runs in 4.2 innings (his last 10 appearances)? Is there seriously no other left hander ready to go? What about Scott Barnes? His AAA ERA is 6.48 now but guess what? That's 1.10 better than Oh No Not Rich Hill. Argh!
Carlos Carrasco had his second start since he got back and it was nowhere near as good as the first (7.1 IP, 1 ER). Today he only lasted 4 2/3 and gave up 3 runs. He struck 3 guys out though, that's not too bad. I'm not ready (or qualified?) to make a call on him right now. And there was some sort of scuffle regarding the trainer and Carrasco's leg. He went on to pitch after the visit from the trainer but there may be some news within the next 5 days.
So we didn't sweep the series but oh well, we won the series anyway. Tom Hamilton had the series off from the booth, and it was weird. I know we had a lot of practice with Hammy being gone last year but it's always, always jarring. Today Mike Hargrove was Jim Rosenhaus's partner and he's pretty funny - he's more snide than Tom Hamilton, that's for sure! I definitely would love to hear a Hammy/Rosie/Grover setup on the radio, like we previously had Mike Hegan but I think Grover both enjoys having the luxury of not showing up if he doesn't want to and also not having his job in jeopardy because he wants to be snarky on the radio. So I don't know - I don't see Mike Hargrove joining the broadcast team any time soon.
Tomorrow Tom Hamilton is back and the boys will all be in Baltimore to face the Orioles who are faring pretty well in the East. In fact they're in second place. But they're coming off a 3-game winning streak so I wonder if this is their fall? We'll be happy to assist with that! Not looking forward to seeing that Chris Davis dude. He hasn't gotten a home run in 2 games so he's sure to hit about 3 during our series. Dude's got 7 more homers than Miguel Cabrera - unreal!
It'll be Ubaldo versus RHP 5.56. Sounds easy, right? Should be a fun game, and we've got a lot of stuff on our side. Let's just hope our bats wake up after their Sunday nap.
See you there!
Radio Chatter:
"I bet both those guys were sweatin' it trying to get the triple."
- Mike Hargrove on Travis Hafner and Andre Thornton going for the cycle
"It's gonna be a little bitty one."
- Mike Hargrove on the Omar Vizquel bobblehead
"None of them spoke English!"
"Did they speak Texan?"
"Yeah, sometimes they did."
- Mike Hargrove and Jim Rosenhaus on talking to a multi-cultural battery
"He said 'Carlos go out there and make an out so I can get up there with 2 outs, please.'"
- Jim Rosenhaus on Raburn's 2-out prowess
"Can Toronto make it 11 straight? I'm going to say yes. [...] In the bottom of the 4th it's Toronto 9, Baltimire nothing."
"Boy you really went out on a limb there."
- Jim Rosenhaus and Mike Hargrove
"Do you think we need to apologize to the umpire about that play at first base? No...no, it's against my principles."
- Mike Hargrove
"They'll be getting the aspirin out for him later on, holy smokes."
- Jim Rosenhaus on the Twins' catcher getting popped 3 times today
"I bet both those guys were sweatin' it trying to get the triple."
- Mike Hargrove on Travis Hafner and Andre Thornton going for the cycle
"It's gonna be a little bitty one."
- Mike Hargrove on the Omar Vizquel bobblehead
"None of them spoke English!"
"Did they speak Texan?"
"Yeah, sometimes they did."
- Mike Hargrove and Jim Rosenhaus on talking to a multi-cultural battery
"He said 'Carlos go out there and make an out so I can get up there with 2 outs, please.'"
- Jim Rosenhaus on Raburn's 2-out prowess
"Can Toronto make it 11 straight? I'm going to say yes. [...] In the bottom of the 4th it's Toronto 9, Baltimire nothing."
"Boy you really went out on a limb there."
- Jim Rosenhaus and Mike Hargrove
"Do you think we need to apologize to the umpire about that play at first base? No...no, it's against my principles."
- Mike Hargrove
"They'll be getting the aspirin out for him later on, holy smokes."
- Jim Rosenhaus on the Twins' catcher getting popped 3 times today
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