The daily grind 6-13

That “coveted” Twins match-up has been a nightmare for the past 2 weeks.  I wouldn’t touch Blanton with someone else’s team.  If you want a guy to start tomorrow, look at Erasmo Ramirez.  He gets the Padres in Safeco.  7K/9, 1.7BB/9, under 1HR/9 in the PCL this year.

Question:  Who is Alex Smith?  I see Josh Outman as the listed starter for the Rockies.

Brian Roberts is up and lead off yesterday, he could make an interesting gamble. His ownership spiked a bit already but he wasn’t someone hugely stashed so he might be under the radar in some leagues. Both Oliver and ZiPs projects a .270ish average with a 10ish homer and 20ish steal pace over a full season. It’s obviously unclear how much he can or will play, but the O’s aren’t exactly brimming with 2B options and the fact that they hit him leadoff right away suggests he’ll have an opportunity if he can produce and stay healthy.

The coveted Twins now have a 120 wRC+ at home and a ML best 165 wRC+ over the last 7 days. They do suck (79 wRC+) against RHP though.

It doesn’t matter how bad you think the names written on the lineup card are, the fact remains they’ve performed much better than people have given them credit for this year. If you’ve consistently played opposing pitchers in Target Field this year, you probably haven’t done all that well.

They are the 4th best hitting home team in the majors after the Rockies, Rangers, and Cardinals and 10th best overall in terms of wRC+.

Let’s look at the names though: Willingham (168), Mauer (135), Plouffe (120), Mourneau (118), Span (111), Doumit (103) all better than average hitters this year. That’s 2/3 of their lineup.

Definitely stick with Doumit.

The Twins have scored 144 runs in the last 25 games, 5.76 rpg, since Justin Morneau returned from the DL on May 16. As long as their key guys are healthy, I think they’re probably not such a “coveted” match-up for opposing pitchers, anymore.