Game 25: White Sox at Twins

Pre-Game Notes

• The Twins took a two-game set from the Padres on May 20 and 21 last year, and the two wins put them at 23-21 after 44 games. It was much better than any of us had expected Minnesota to be by that point. But they would go on to lose their next four games, and so May 23 was the last time the club was above .500. That was 345 days ago.
• Mike Pelfrey has allowed just two runs in his last three starts and on the season sports a 2.25 ERA. His fastball is sitting at 93mph and his ground ball rate (57.7%) is as high as its ever been. Both are legitimate reasons for his improvement so far this spring, even if it can't be maintained: Pelfrey is stranding 85% of his base runners. In short: not only are fewer people getting on base versus Big Pelf this year, but a record number of them are getting left on the bases.
• John Danks' career started well, but the latter half hasn't been as good as the first half. He's getting fewer ground balls, he's stranding fewer base runners, he's getting fewer swinging strikes, and his velocity is down. The cutter isn't as good as it used to be either. Now that I've pointed that out, he'll throw eight shutout innings.

Lineups

Chicago

[Lineup not available as of publication, so assuming just some dudes they find who aren't sick and can maybe run]

Danks (RHP)

Minnesota

Dozier (2B), Hunter (RF), Mauer (DH), Plouffe (3B), Vargas (1B), Arcia (LF), Robinson (CF), Herrmann (C), Santana (SS)

Pelfrey (RHP)