Twins at Braves: News and Notes

It's a three-game set for the Twins at ~~Fulton County Stadium~~ Turner Field.

By Jon Marthaler May 20, 2013, 10:00am EDT

As I'm sure you're aware, this is Minnesota's first visit to Atlanta since the 1991 World Series. In fact, according to Baseball Reference, it's the first visit by the Washington Senators or Minnesota Twins to the Boston Beaneaters, Doves, Rustlers, Braves, or Bees, or the Milwaukee Braves.
Ron Gant was falling off the bag. Kent Hrbek just held the tag on him. Drew Coble was smart enough to see it. That's the end of the story.
The two teams have met three times in the regular season. Weirdly, all three series - in 2002, 2007, and 2010 - took place between June 10 and June 14.
You might remember that Atlanta started the season 12-1. Since then, they're 13-17, but they've still got a multiple-game lead in the NL East.
The Braves' strength has been their bullpen, but at the moment, the whole thing's in disarray. Craig Kimbrel, who led the league in saves two years in a row, is still going pretty strong, but all his setup guys are gone. Eric O'Flaherty tore his ulnar collateral ligament, and Jonny Venters just had Tommy John surgery last week. Jordan Walden is on the DL with shoulder inflammation. The Atlanta 'pen has been the best in the league, but how long can that last?
Upton Update: Justin leads the league with 14 home runs and is slugging .608. B.J. is batting .145, and is the worst qualified hitter in the majors not named Aaron Hicks. This has been your Upton Update.

We're going to look back some day and wonder, "How did Pedro Hernandez ever get six starts for the Twins?" Meanwhile, Kyle Gibson nearly threw a no-hitter Sunday, and ended up with his second shutout in three games, so unless I'm missing something we should see a swap of the two any minute now.
Meanwhile, Cole De Vries finished his rehab but ended up in Rochester, which apparently means that the Twins want him to be average at Rochester for awhile before they call him up.
The Twins have eight guys who have played enough to have qualified for the battling title. Five of them - Ryan Doumit, Brian Dozier, Josh Willingham, Chris Parmelee, and Aaron Hicks - are batting under .225. Dozier in particular has been awful, as he has only managed a Butera-like .450 OPS in May.
The Twins have the longest losing streak in the majors, tied with Baltimore at five games.

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