Joe Christensen is reporting that the Twins have dropped Lew Ford, Josh Rabe, and Tommy Watkins.
I think the Twins underrate Ford to a certain degree these days, as it seems to me that he could've helped the team out down the stretch in a platoon role with Tyner. Still, he's not a necessary component [...]

Emergency intervention here. Jake Peavy (19-6, 2.36 ERA, .203 BAA, 234:64 K:BB) vs Josh Fogg (10-9, 4.79 ERA, .289 BAA, 89:57 K:BB).
In the interests of finding a Safeco-like comment about Fogg, he went 6 2/3 shutout innings his last start, Sept. 26 at the Dodgers.

Matt Garza vs. Julian Tavarez
Game results I would like to see today:
- Twins win
- Rockies win
- Mets win
- Phillies win
- Padres lose
Of course, whenever these four-way tie situations present themselves, it never works out, because getting four games to go a particular way is generally tough to do, but it'd be kind of fun nonetheless.

Carlos Silva vs. Tim Wakefield
This is kind of an interesting pitching matchup. I think of each pitchers as kind of a trick pitcher. Wakefield with his knuckleball and Silva with his two-seamer. Of course, Silva has seemingly been less of a one-pitch pitcher these days, but that's still how I think of [...]

Kevin Slowey vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka
I've been swamped at work lately, and I don't have a whole lot to say about the Twins. I'm going to try to watch at least one of the two games this weekend, because the off-season is always too long, but for tonight I'm getting dragged to the Mariners game. [...]

Boof Bonser vs. Josh Beckett
If I had to rank the four AL teams according to how much I don't like them, for whatever reason, I would rank them this way:
1. Red Sox
2. Angels
3. Yankees
4. Indians
I just can't stand the Red Sox anymore, and it would be great if the Twins could sweep the Red Sox [...]

Johan Santana vs. Jair Jurrjens
Johan's last start left kind of a bad taste in my mouth. Hopefully some fall weather, Comerica's spacious dimensions, and Johan's pitching will conspire to keep the ball in the yard and runs off the board.
There will be no Cy for Santana this year, but I'm still hopeful for [...]

Matt Garza vs. Yorman Bazardo

Carlos Silva vs. Nate Robertson
To make the playoffs, Detroit has to essentially win every remaining game while the Yankees lose every remaining game. Not gonna happen.
Silva and Robertson are both pretty bland innings guys at this point.
As far as the lineup today goes, I have two comments:
1) Watching Matthew LeCroy catch could prove to [...]

Gavin Floyd vs. Kevin Slowey
Last home game of the season for the Twins, who are 40-40 at home.
The Sox have done a pretty good job with Floyd. PECOTA projected Floyd to have a 6.09 ERA, with about a 5 K/9 and 4 BB/9, and based on his track record, that seems pretty reasonable to [...]

Javier Vazquez vs. Scott Baker
It's Convention Time!! Hopefully the lads (and lasses?) have a good time at the game.
If you're like me, and rely on mlb.tv (or extra innings) to watch the games, it looks like we'll be blacked out. Usually I blame this on FOX, but I'll blame this blackout on FOX's [...]

Mark Buehrle vs. Johan Santana
Kubel's been hot and Buehrle's a lefty--will he make the lineup?
Other things that you might want to cheer for tonight:
- Beckett vs. Kazmir turns out to be a slugfest that TB ultimately wins even though Kazmir can't get out of the first and can't strike anyone out
- Fausto Carmona gets [...]

Vicente Padilla vs. Matt Garza
I'm kind of annoyed that Padilla is going to be pitching today. He threw at Nick Swisher so blatantly in the last start that he has been given a seven-day suspension (pending appeal, of course), and his manager asked him to apologize to the team for forcing the bullpen [...]

Kevin Millwood vs. Carlos Silva
Just in case this makes anyone feel better, the Twins have had the fewest strikeouts in major league baseball so far. Of course, it hasn't really helped them to score many runs, but who needs those anyway?
Something tells me Silva wouldn't be making this start if he wasn't a [...]

Edinson Volquez vs. Kevin Slowey
Slowey's 28% GB% so far is mind-bottling. His strikeout and walk rates are pretty acceptable right now, but that GB% is crazy. He's gotten a lot of pop-ups, but still...
Volquez is regarded as a good prospect in some corners. Control looks to be his Achilles' heel, though he's [...]

Jair Jurgens vs. Scott Baker
Based on his PECOTA card, Jurrjens was a ground-ball heavy pitcher in the minors that doesn't get many strikeouts, but should be better than Bazardo. He's recently had trouble with his shoulder, but apparently felt fine against the Rangers last time out.
I think Baltimore was the last time the offense [...]

Yorman Bazardo vs. Johan Santana
Now that Morneau has 30 HR, I would love to see Santana lead the league in SO, ERA, and pick up another three wins. And now that I've jinxed him, I'd like to say that he's had a great season either way. As we know, he's been a [...]

Nate Robertson vs. Matt Garza
Taking a look at the roster, these Bill Smith Twins seem to be a lot like the Terry Ryan Twins. It always amuses me that some day, when someone takes over for Bill Smith, they will mention the team's record while he was in control, and this game will count [...]

Carlos Silva vs. GilgaMeche
Silva continues his push for a Meche-ian contract this offseason. His numbers are a pretty reasonable match to what they were in 2004--except a few more strikeouts. I don't think it's crazy to think that Silva could consistently perform at this level--but I think it'd be crazy to give [...]

Scott "Light Rail" Baker vs. Kyle "Excited To See The Twins" Davies
Mauer and Morneau are a combined 0-11 against this guy. That can't last forever.
Baker has a 3.04 ERA in his last 10 starts--giving the Twins 68 IP, 47 SO, and just 14 walks and 5 HR in that time, giving [...]

John Bonser vs. William J Buckner
A poor start today and Boof probably swaps roles with Slowey. That might not be a bad idea, honestly. Boof had an exciting run last year, but his overall track record is not as strong as Slowey's, mainly in the control department, which I tend to think [...]

Johan Santana vs. Jon Garland
The way things are going, I fully expect Jim Thome to get home runs 498, 499, and 500 today, Joe Mauer to re-injure himself, Chris Heintz to break his femur, and Pat Neshek's arm to fall off--all in the first inning.
Okay...maybe not. But six-game losing streaks will make you [...]

Matt Garza vs. Jose Contreras
With an afternoon game after a night game, it seems likely that Jose Morales will start at catcher today.
In other news, I heard that Country Joe West has a special three-night stand this weekend in Chicago. It was a close call last night, but don't worry--Joe was able [...]

Carlos Silva vs. Javy Vazquez
Pitting the AL's worst second-half offense against the AL's worst first-half offense. Or if you're a season totals person, simply the two worst offenses in the AL. I bet FOX can't wait until tomorrow, when they get to broadcast these guys nationally.

Fausto Carmona vs. Scott Baker
Fausto Carmona is clearly in the top tier of pitchers in the AL. As the most extreme ground ball starter in the AL this year, Carmona also represents a bad matchup for the Twins, who hit more ground balls than anyone in baseball anyway, and have been worse against GB [...]

Aaron Laffey vs. Kevin Slowey
Neither Laffey or Slowey has much of a major league career, but thus far their ground ball tendencies couldn't possibly be more different. Slowey's 27% GB% would be the lowest in the league (by about 10%) if he qualified, and Laffey's 72% GB% would be the highest in the league [...]

C.C. Sabathia vs. Johan Santana
As best as I can tell, this will be just the fourth time that Sabathia and Santana have been matched up head-to-head. As two of the league's best pitchers, this game has the potential to be a fun pitcher's duel.
In games that Santana started this year, the Twins are 16-14. [...]

Brian Bannister vs. John Bonser
The Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals: more daytime baseball than you can shake a stick at.

Brandon Duckworth vs. Carlos Silva
SBG Nation Convention Day!! (Edit: Baker got me so excited that I jumped the gun--sorry for any confusion.) It's only about five hours 'til game time as I write this, so I'm not really sure if I'll be awake for the game, and thanks to FOX's silly blackout rules, [...]

GilgaMeche vs. Scotty "Light Rail" Baker
Meche has outperformed Baker so far this year overall, but not by much.
Meche started the season with a much, much higher GB% than he ever had before in his career (~60%), but it has since plummeted down to his typical ~40% GB%. (GB/FB/LD graph here.) Of course, he [...]

Kyle "Cyclone" Davies vs. Matt Garza
Normally I would be excited for a double-header, but no. All I can really hang my hat on right now is that at least we're not throwing games away in the middle of a real pennant race.
Kansas City, believe it or not, has recently been hitting worse than the [...]

Santana vs. Captain Cheeseburger
We probably get to hear more nonsense about trying to bunt on C.C. even though it's been of little-to-no use in the past. Like the game against Bedard, if Kubel and Buscher sit, I don't really mind. Sabathia's a legitimately tough lefty.
As far as the Twins' chances at this point [...]

Boof!@#!$ vs. Jake Westbrook
Today at his Strib blog, Joe Christensen reports the following information regarding Bonser and Westbrook: their wins, losses, ERA, and hits plus walks per game over the last three starts; their wins, losses, and ERA against their opponent. [Caution: I'm about to get a little carried away.]
I first find this [...]

Carlos Silva vs. Paul Byrd
Silva continues his contract year push and Byrd continues his Cy Young Award push.
As far as I can tell, the Twins and Indians are going to battle with these players (more or less) in this series. (The numbers shown are post-All-Star Break.)

Pos
Dude
AB
OPS
OPS
AB
Dude

C
Redmond
58
0.727
0.751
148
Martinez

1B
Morneau
156
0.768
0.923
132
Garko

2B
Casilla
89
0.548
0.818
44
Cabrera

3B
Punto
109
0.467
0.626
159
Blake

SS
Bartlett
137
0.848
0.720
156
Peralta

LF
Tyner
93
0.800
0.700
84
Lofton

CF
Hunter
151
0.882
0.836
168
Sizemore

RF
Cuddyer
108
0.801
0.810
104
Gutierrez

DH
Kubel
88
0.798
0.711
128
Hafner

Sample size issues abound here, but I would [...]

Light Rail? vs. Erik Bedard
They're adding a new line to the light rail system, so Slowey might be up as the emergency starter for this game.
Erik Bedard shouldn't need an introduction, but thanks to the Yankees-Red Sox Rivalry Networks ESPN and FOX (and the general crappiness of the rest of the O's), you don't [...]

Matt Garza vs. Radhames Liz
Well, it looks like the Orioles have hopped on the where-can-we-find-a-soft-spot-for-our-prospect-pitchers-to-land? Hey-let's-pick-on-the-team-without-an-offense! train. Radhames, or Thin Lizzy as I like to call him, pitched a no-hitter on June 2nd this year in the AA Eastern League. And it wasn't even against the Rock Cats!
It sounds like Thin Lizzy [...]

Johan Santana vs. Jeremy Guthrie
Who is this Jeremy? Guthrie, a Scott Boras client, didn't feel that Pittsburgh's $1.7M bonus was enough for him when they drafted him in the third round in 2001. The Indians drafted him in the first round the next year, and Guthrie signed for a $2M bonus. [...]

I’m not sure, but I think ubelmann drove in five runs for the Rangers last night in their 30-3 pounding of the once pitching rich Baltimore Orioles. Regardless of whether that was him or not, I know that he’s not available for tonight’s Game Log (maybe that was him pitching for the [...]

Hello, Citizens of SBG Nation, this is SBG with your Game Log for the last game of the series against the Seattle Mariners. As you may know, our esteemed citizen, ubelmann, normally writes these previews for your consumption, but he is not available to write today’s offering. Contrary to what you might [...]

Hopefully, our friend ubelmann hasn’t joined some death cult where he has to kill himself upon the arrival of a comet or something. His whereabouts remain unknown and if he doesn’t show up by around Thursday or so, I’ll start to get worried. Thus, it’s me filling in again for the u-ful one.

Tonight, we’ve got a Jarrod Washburn vs. Scott “Light Rail” Baker matchup.

For all I know, ubelmann has run off and joined the circus, so I’ll grab the reins here and provide you with a preview of tonight’s game against the Seat…
WHOOOOOSH!
WTF was that?
Ah yes. That was El Tren Grande roaring through the Texas Rangers lineup Sunday afternoon. What a show he put on. [...]

ubelmann continues his exile from SBG Nation, so I'm filling in with today's Game Log post.
The Twins have a record of 13-47 in the American League leading 60 games that they have played where they have scored three or fewer runs, a .217 winning percentage. The average AL team is 9.4-38.1 in [...]

Once again, our boy ubelmann is off doing some non-WGOM stuff, leaving me to mind the store.
The Twins continue their three game series with the Texas Rangers tonight after winning the first game by scoring on a ground out and a wild pitch. Carlos Silva pitched seven innings, allowing only a [...]

Hello, ubelmann fans, and sorry to disappoint you. Yes, it's your former best buddy, SBG, filling in for your new best buddy, ubelmann with tonight's game log. ubelmann has decided that some stupid wedding is more important than tending to the WGOM. Where is the love?? In his absence [...]

Scott Baker vs. Jarrod Washburn
No time for a proper intro today. Baker has a better strikeout rate and better walk rate than Washburn, but is more of a fly ball pitcher. Safeco is usually great for fly ball pitchers, but during the day the ball flies better than it does at night. And as always, [...]

Matt Garza vs. Horacio Ramirez
If ever there was a pitching matchup that showed how ridiculous it is to give pitchers credit for wins and losses--which are team outcomes--this is the one.
1.70 ERA, 1-3 W-L -- Matt Garza
7.12 ERA, 7-3 W-L -- Horacio Ramirez
Ramirez is a bad, bad pitcher. He has the same number of [...]

In one corner, weighing 208 pounds, with an xFIP of 3.67, pitching for the Minnesota Twins, we have Johan "El Presidente" Santana.
In the other corner, weighing 230 pounds, with an xFIP of 3.19, pitching for the Seattle Mariners, we have "King" Felix Hernandez.
This could be a really great pitching matchup between two guy with [...]

Boof? vs. Jered Weaver
This season is degenerating into the bad old days when everyone would kick the pants off the AL Central. Well, the good days were fun while they lasted, I guess.
I'm guessing there's no way that Kubel's in this lineup since he left the game with an injury last night. I'm sure [...]

Carlos Silva vs. John Lackey
There's really no reason that the Twins should win this game, except that sometimes crazy things happen, like a lucky Nick Punto home run.
I noticed this comment from Joe Christensen over at his STrib blog:
The Twins aren’t going to win many games when Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau both fail [...]

Scott "Light Rail" Baker vs. Kelvim Escobar
Escobar is very good, but good in a pretty generic way. Solid across the board, but not really spectacular in strikeouts, walks, or ground balls.
Baker's GB% is back down to 33% right now, and that concerns me because it looks like he's been lucky on home runs lately.
I [...]

Matt Garza vs. Kyle Davies
Davies appears to have control problems and doesn't get that many ground balls. He's also right-handed, which will prevent Gardy from making some of his more infuriating lineup decisions. Davies also doesn't get a ton of strikeouts (5.9 K/G while pitching in the NL.) This would appear [...]

Johan Santana vs. Odalis Perez
Post-ASB:
.252/.309/.381 -- Twins
.289/.333/.419 -- Royals
3.0 R/G -- Twins
5.0 R/G -- Royals
Two more runs per game for the Royals since the All-Star break? Ugh. If you want to see a team absolutely steamrolling through pitchers, though:
.328/.401/.556 -- Yankees
7.8 R/G -- Yankees
The Twins' best hitter since the All-Star break has [...]

I noticed last night that the Twins' offense had some trouble getting started. Maybe they need some of these?

Paul "Death To Bartlett" Byrd vs. Carlos Silva
Silva's been putting together a campaign not unlike his 2004 season. He's had some rough starts lately, but he could just as easily have a string of decent outings, too.
From Joe Christensen (who is presumably relaying the reasoning behind today's lineup):
Nick Punto replaces Jason Bartlett at shortstop [...]

Fausto Carmona vs. Scott "Light Rail" Baker
Fausto Carmona is good. Not 3.27 ERA good, but his xFIP ranks him 9th in the AL. By xFIP, though, Baker is not very far behind.
As of now (2:25AM PDT), espn.com shows the Twins with 67 runs after the All-Star Break. That's last in all of [...]

Aaron Laffey vs. Matt Garza
FOX tabbed this as one of their games of the week, so we've got an early start time today. Check your local listings, you might get this game on broadcast TV.
[Note to espn.com: I went to your site today to check the Twins' recap. Your recap headline said: "Santana [...]

Captain Cheeseburger vs. Johan Santana
It turns out that last time around, Josh Barfield was our greatest help in scoring runs off of C.C. I fully expect that the Twins will have three left-handed batters in the top four spots of the lineup, which sure seems to me like it will make it easier [...]

Brian Bannister vs. Boof!
At first glance, Bannister might look unlucky--with the nice ERA and mediocre W-L record--but 5.0 K/G and 2.5 BB/G with a 40% GB% doesn't impress me greatly. He's a decent middle-to-back of the order guy, something the Royals have had trouble developing recently, but soon enough he'll allow some more home [...]

Terry Ryan, you have failed.
And I don't mean in the last two weeks. I mean that over the last year, you have failed.
Over the last year, you have failed to make one single, solitary move that meaningfully improves the Minnesota Twins as an organization. How are the Twins different today than they were [...]

Hey, look, Carlos Silva is pitching for the Twins today. Silva hasn't pitched for the last four days, so really, it's like the Twins just traded for a new pitcher. Wheeee!!
Speaking of trades, the Twins also recently "traded" Luis Castillo for Alexi Casilla. Boy, I can't wait for Casilla to make a [...]

Gil Meche vs. Scott "Light Rail" Baker
Much has been made of Meche taking big strides forward this season. Here's my take on it:
Take a look at Meche's GB/FB/LD rates over the years, and in particular, this year. For the first 10 starts this year, he was doing something he'd never done before [...]

Matt Garza vs. Captain Cheeseburger
Try not to break the mound while you're dominating our hitters today, C.C.
Garza has a pretty formidable task today, and he's been a little lucky so far this season, so I don't have such a good feeling about this. I'm still hoping we get to see Garza continue [...]

Johan Santana vs. Jake Westbrook
Westbrook ==> Ground balls
Ground balls ==> Death to Twins offense
Westbrook's not been as good as in previous years, but don't let the 6.20 ERA fool you--he hasn't pitched that badly.
UPDATE: Punto-free lineup, featuring Bartlett at SS, Buscher at 3B, White at DH, and Tyner (the least bad of all the options) [...]

Boof! vs. Paul Byrd
Today's burning lineup question: Punto or Bushwacker?
The Twins' offense has the second fewest strikeouts in all of baseball. (And the only team below them has played one fewer game.) This is, of course, by design. The Twins love guys who can put the ball in play. It also [...]

Carlos Silva vs. Jesse Litsch
The Twins have been shut out in 9% of their games. That just seems crazy to me. (Then I remember that Lew Ford, Jason Tyner, and Nick Punto have all gotten significant playing time this year and it all makes sense.)
Litsch is kind of a groundballer, but he's allowed [...]

Scott "Light Rail" Baker vs. Dustin McGowan
Forecasted to be a replacement level pitcher by PECOTA, McGowan promptly raised his middle finger and proceeded to post a 4.17 xFIP so far this season. He's a right-hander with GB tendencies. I'm not really sure what to expect today.
As a team, Toronto is hitting .294/.366/.473 [...]

Santana vs. Shaun Marcum
Santana continues his push for the Cy Young Award, offense struggles against mediocre pitching, blah, blah, blah.
Apparently teams are allowed to swap players in what is known as a "trade," but after July 31st players must pass through waivers before being "traded." Actually, I think I've heard this song and dance [...]

Joe Saunders vs. Matt Garza
Joe Saunders takes the place of the imposter Santana. Saunders is a young-ish (26 years old) lefty, who doesn't look like anything special to me. If he stays healthy, he could be a back-of-the-rotation innings eating kind of pitcher. A lot of lefties with 6ish strikeout rates [...]

Jered "The Good" Weaver vs. Boof!
Weaver's peripherals hardly match his ERA at all. Boof (4.22) has a better xFIP than Mr. Weaver (4.72), and by a reasonably large gap. The last time around, Boof seemingly kept giving Vlad pitches to hit. Let's see if he can be a bit more successful [...]

John Lackey vs. Carlos Silva
The last time the Twins saw John Lackey was the last time Nick Punto hit a home run. Let's revisit that moment through the eyes of Hit Tracker Online. A brief explanation of what Hit Tracker is:
How Hit Tracker Works: Hit Tracker is a spreadsheet tool that [...]

I think ubelmann's probably hungover after drowning his miseries over the last couple of games. Shhh. Don't wake him, he needs his sleep.
Today it's Scott Baker v. Jeremy, uh, Jeremy Bonderman. Gotta like that matchup for the Twins.
Baker's been pretty good the last five times out, if you forget about that [...]

Andrew Miller vs. Santana
Programming note: This game appears to be on ESPN's Wednesday Night Baseball.
Andrew Miller is a great prospect, and probably a bit better than his peripherals. That is, his stuff would indicate that his peripherals should get better as time goes on. If his peripherals don't improve, then he'll probably regress.
Last [...]

Nate Robertson vs. Matt Garza
Robertson's a decent enough pitcher, but always seems to pitch better than he should against the Twins.
I attended the Tigers-Mariners game in person last Friday, to do some advanced scouting for this series. Okay, the second part is a lie, but I did attend the game, and I even [...]

Dan Haren vs. Boof!
2.30 -- Dan Haren ERA
4.11 -- Dan Haren xFIP
4.19 -- Boof Bonser xFIP
Haren's a nice enough pitcher, but I'd really like to see him crash and burn in the second half.

Joe Blanton vs. Carlos Silva
Seems like this would've been a great matchup for an eating contest, or maybe a wrestling match.
Blanton's been legitimately good this year, so adjust expectations accordingly. The opponents' pitchers for this series remind me of the last series against the White Sox. After starting off with two mediocre-to-bad [...]

Lenny DiNardo vs. Johan Santana
DiNardo is a decent lefty who gets a ton of ground balls (60% GB%). I think we all know how that song and dance has gone, but just as a reminder:
.272/.343/.396 -- vs. RHP
.261/.317/.406 -- vs. LHP
.272/.341/.407 -- vs. FB
.289/.355/.427 -- vs. avg.F/G
.240/.305/.355 -- vs. GB
The platoon (L/R) splits [...]

Scott Baker vs. Chad Gaudin
Back in 2003, the Twins had an 8-game losing streak going into the All-Star break. Then, immediately after the break, they swept a 4-game series with the Oakland A's en route to a 46-23 second half record that won them the division. I vote for doing that again.
Gaudin [...]