New on Wildshow Minnesota: Twins at Angels Preview!

Here at Wildshow Minnesota we are introducing something new: Twins series previews!
They will be written by a new member in the Wildshow crew, he goes by the name of Joe.
Here is his report:

Series Preview: Twins at Angels
The Twins are on a five-game winning streak right now, after a solid finish to the White Sox series and a two-game sweep of the Cardinals.  However, the next contender is a bit tougher: The Los Angeles Angels (of Anaheim) are 22-14, and currently sitting in the second AL Wild Card spot.
    The Angels have been mediocre for the past few years (remember when they lost to the White Sox so we could clinch the playoffs?), and Mike Trout, ESPN’s best fantasy prospect several years running, always seemed to be on a team that couldn’t get him anywhere.  Now Mike has some company. Shohei Ohtani, the Japanese two-way star, is hitting .333, and has a 4.10 ERA in 5 starts on the mound. Albert Pujols had the worst WAR of any Major-Leaguer last year, but is doing better this year. He just got his 3,000th career hit last week.  Andrelton Simmons has one of the best batting averages in the Majors, and the rest of the team is pretty good too.
    Now that you’ve read a paragraph about how the Angels are the best team ever, let me remind you that the Twins are pretty good.  Eddie Rosario has been lights-out in the past week, hitting extra-base hits like no one’s business. Speaking of those, Eduardo Escobar leads the Majors in them, and Max Kepler has had doubles in the past few games as well.  On the defensive side, the Twins gave up 1 run on 6 hits in the two game series in Saint Louis. Fernando Romero, the newest member of the rotation, had another shutout on Monday, and has pitched 11 ⅔ innings in two starts with no runs allowed yet.
    The best part of all of this is that the Twins have done it without some very key players-Miguel Sanó, Byron Buxton, and Jason Castro were all on the disabled list with a hamstring injury, a fractured toe, and a torn meniscus, respectively.  Buxton originally was put on the DL because of migraines, but fractured his toe with a foul ball during his minor-league rehab assignment. He understandably skipped out of a second one, and is back in the lineup for the first game of the series.  Hopefully he’ll play well and help to continue the Twins’ dominance.

Here are the pitching matchups:

Thursday: José Berrios vs. Garrett Richards, 9:07 PM
“La Maquina” has only pitched against the Angels once, early last season.  As a result, he hasn’t faced their hitters a whole bunch. However, he faced Ian Kinsler and Justin Upton when they played for the Tigers, and had one game against Luis Valbuena when he was with the Astros in 2016.  The Angels’ roster has 32 plate appearances combined against Berrios, and they’ve only hit .222, albeit with 4 walks. Ian Kinsler represents the only RBI against Berrios, but he has 3 of them.
Garrett Richards has a little bit more experience against the Twins, and a little bit more success.  Standout Twins performances against him include Logan Morrison (5-18, including 2 doubles) and Robbie Grossman (4-11).
The game will be on national broadcast, on Fox Sports 1.

Friday: Lance Lynn vs. Tyler Skaggs, 9:07 PM
    Lance Lynn is pretty darn good against the Angels.  Since he spent all his time before the Twins in the National League, he doesn’t have a whole lot of experience, but the Halos have only hit .188 against him.  Ian Kinsler is 2-5, and Martin Maldonado is 2-4 against him. Zack Cozart, who was a divisional rival with the Reds when Lynn pitched for St. Louis, is a measly 7-for-39; however, 3 of those hits are homers.
    Skaggs has only ever faced two Twins, despite being in Anaheim since 2014.  Robbie Grossman is 1-5 with a walk, and Jason Castro is 2-3.

Saturday: Kyle Gibson vs. a to-be-announced Angels pitcher, 8:07 PM
    Kyle Gibson has not fared well against the Angels.  The team has a .282 average against him, with 12 extra-base hits.  Justin Upton and Mike Trout have on-base-plus-slugging averages north of 1.000 against Gibson, and Ian Kinsler is almost at that mark as well.
    This part of the Angels rotation has been a game of musical chairs between a whole bunch of guys, so at this point it’s hard to say who will take the mound.  Stay tuned for updates and stats.

Sunday: Fernando Romero vs. Shohei Ohtani, 3:07
    Both pitchers are in their first major-league season, and the Twins and Angels haven’t played yet, so no batter-vs.-pitcher stats are available to report.
Both of them are also pretty good pitchers.  However one of them has given up runs in his career and the other one pitches for the Twins.  That’s a good sign. Additionally, Romero won’t have to pitch to Ohtani’s designated-hitter side.  When Ohtani pitches, the Angels usually start Jefry Marte at 1B, while Pujols moves to DH. Marte has a slash of .333/.393/.569 on the year.

I just realized that Shohei Ohtani and Jefry Marte have the same exact batting average.  That alone wouldn’t be worthy of a conspiracy theory, but the average is made up of three “3’s”.  Ohtani and Marte, Illuminati confirmed.

​Go Twins!