First Pitch: 1:10pm CDT
TV: WFTC-29
Radio: Twins Radio Network
Know Thine Enemy: Halos Heaven
Starting Pitchers
On the plus side, Perkins has a 0.56 ERA against the Angels in his career. Sadly that's just over two starts. There's some question as to exactly how healthy Perkins is, since he complained of being sore when he lasted just one inning against the A's. Strangely enough he was just fine when he beat the White Sox early last week. On the season he's been much more of a ground-ball pitcher than usual, and that might have something to do with the fact that his slider has been extraordinarily more effective this season. According to FanGraphs it's nearly four runs above average per 100 pitches. Let's hope it's as sharp as it was against Chicago.
This is the best Angels' pitcher we've faced this weekend, and it's not even close. Weaver is a 26-year old righty, he's a decent strikeout threat and he doesn't walk an abnormal number of hitters. He's a fly-ball pitcher, with more than 50% of his balls-in-play of the variety, so even though his HR:FB ratio (8.4%) is better than average, the fact that so many of his pitches end up in the air means that he's still giving up a lot of home runs. In addition to that good news, here's more: only three of his last eight starts have been quality, and in July alone he gave up 28 runs in 34 innings. He's come back to earth since his 7-2 start through mid-June, when he had a run of eight starts where he allowed just ten runs. If there's a good time to get Weaver, it's right now.