Twins stumble out of the gate into the 2nd half of the season
After finishing the first half of the season on a strong note, winning three straight series, the Twins looked like they were still on vacation, dropping two out of three games to the historically terrible Colorado Rockies. They did manage to avoid getting swept, but now they get to travel to Los Angeles and face the Dodgers.
The Past Week on Twinkie Town:
- Need to vent about the Twins? Or provide some reasons to calm down? Check out our Game Threads and join the conversation!
- In case you forgot what happened this past weekend, our Game Recaps are back as well!
- Zach Koenig recounts Brian Dozier’s feats at the 2015 All-Star Game.
- Matt Monitto provides breakdown of Rob Manfred’s historic announcement after the All-Star Game festivities. (Satire)
- With the trade deadline coming up, Ben Jones looks at the Twins’ options.
- Zach Koenig highlights a major milestone in Rocco Baldelli’s managing career.
Elsewhere in Twins Territory:
- Theo Tollefson at Zone Coverage looks at the Twins connections for the recently-drafted Quentin Young.
- Aaron Gleeman at The Athletic provides his trade value big board of Twins players. ($)
- Phil Miller at the Star Tribune delves into how relievers get over a blow-up. ($)
In the World of Baseball:
- Not much has changed after a weekend of games. The Tigers came out of the All-Star Break looking a little shaky, only taking one of three games against the Rangers. However, they still maintain a 1.5 game lead over the next closest team, the Toronto Blue Jays.
- The NL standings have changed after the weekend, with the Cubs and Brewers tied with 59-40 records. The Twins’ next opponents, the Dodgers, are behind by 1.5 games.
- Theo DeRosa at MLB.com looks back at a simpler time when pitchers still stepped into the batter’s box.
- Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passant at ESPN provide their own big board of trade deadline candidates.