Game 72: Rockies at Twins

Time: 7:10 Central

Weather: Getting humid, slight chance of cloudbursts, first pitch 88°

Opponent’s SB site: Purple Row

TV: BSN. Radio: Crackling in the signal means electrical storm activity or just your dial needs tuning

27-year-old righty Germán Márquez was first signed as a free agent out of Venezuela in 2011, then traded to Colorado for guys Tampa doesn’t have anymore. He finished fifth in 2017’s Rookie Of The Year voting, was awarded the Silver Slugger for hitting in 2018, and made his first All-Star team last season.

Naturally he’s struggling a bit now, as Colorado is having a tough year so far. Márquez throws a 95-ish fastball about half the time and 87-ish breaking stuff the other half; his fastball is currently given a —BAD value on FanGraphs. His mound matchup, Dylan Bundy, looked like a miracle bargain to start this season, looked like a total lemon after April 23, and was somehow the only Twins starter to do well against Arizona last weekend. Digits:

Well, folks, are you ready for a weekend of ACE?

For those new to the endless party that is TwinkieTown, ACE was the nickname bestowed upon Alex Colomé last season, after he blew a save in the first game and two more in his next six appearances, basically letting us all know the season was over in April.

The moniker was derived from Blog Pope myjah’s original coinage of the FRE, or Fernando Rodney Experience, in 2018, saluting the veteran reliever’s big personality and propensity to deliver big moments on the mound (for good or ill). This got transferred onto Sergio Romo (he of the big beard), who was sometimes labeled SRE, and is now occasionally used for inconsistent hurler Emilio Pagán via EPE (although I prefer His Dark Materials, as gamethread commenters immediately noted Pagán’s bedeviled name & ways).

How is ACE doing this year? Not bad! He’s got a 2.39 ERA and 2.90 FIP, although he’s been almost exclusively used in the eighth inning, not the ninth, and it seems to agree with him; he’s even pitched well in high-leverage situations.

So — wish you had him back?

As to the other “Experiences,” time caught up to FRE in 2019, his age-42 season, and he’s retired now. SRE was fairly below-average for Oakland last season, pitched in a few games for the Mariners this year, and is currently not on any major-league roster at age 39. So, obviously, you wouldn’t want either of them back.

You might want Trogdor (Taylor Rogers) right now, though. Or Brusdar Graterol (part of the Maeda trade that looked so even until Kenta got hurt). We’ll have to wait and see how Jorge Alcalá and Gilberto Celestino pan out, but Ryan Pressly is still looking awfully good for Houston. Or our favorite video game fanatic, Trevor May (although he’s been hurt this season and is on the IL for New York).

Still, those guys were never labeled “Experiences,” so they don’t count for the purposes of this intro bit, which doesn’t have much point, except that Colomé is pretty decent now. Here’s wishing him well, and wishing he gets absolutely thwacked by Twins hitters. (Here’s also wishing well to C.J. Cron, and hoping he gets blanked by — maybe, His Dark Materials?)

Finally: When Mrs. James asked who the Twins were playing this weekend and I said Colorado, she asked “are their uniforms purple?” Purple is one of their colors, yes. I was surprised she knew that, as we have no cable to watch baseball recap shows on. Turns out she just saw the uniform somewhere years ago (maybe when we were staying in a hotel with cable) and liked the purple with the mountain logo. It stuck with her.

She couldn’t remember the team name to save her life, though. When I told her it was “Rockies,” she snorted. “I was thinking of that, but it was just too obvious,” she said. So she likes the jerseys, isn’t a fan of the name.