Game 75: Twins @ Royals

Time: 7:15 Central. Vegas Line: -150 MIN / +140 KC

Weather: Chance Of Rain, Start Temp 81°

Opponent’s excellent SB site: Royals Review

TV: FSN. Radio: Sturgis is August 2-11, not now

Royals starter Jake Junis throws a hard sinker and slider. When he falls behind in the count, these pitches go in the middle of the strike zone, and batters can wail much hitting upon them. This is generally a rule with pitchers, they try not to throw pitches into the middle of the strike zone. It’s harder than it looks.

Minnesota starter Martin Perez has been hailed, on this site and by no less an august figure than Sid Hartman, as an example of how genius the Twins’ front office is; we have the technology, we can rebuild him. He’s had a rough go of it lately, with an ERA of 7.58 since a start on May 30th.

Here’s some stat info for sabermetric noobz, though: Perez’s baBIP over those four starts is .371. What does that mean? Well, baBIP is a pretty simple stat; it’s “batting average on balls in play.” (This is why I like it, it’s one I can understand.) Usually, baBIP is going to be around .300 or so; if it’s significantly higher or lower, that means a pitcher is having unusually good or bad luck. .371 is high; it’s likely Perez is neither as bad as those four starts indicate nor as fixed as Sid Hartman suggests.

Your musical theater lyric of the day is “everything’s up to date in Kansas City.” I think it’s from Oklahoma but don’t quote me for sure on that.