YokelRidesAgain said:

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What a start!

What a Donkey!

Joey finishes the day as the last Minnesota batter, adding a third K looking to his tally, and bringing his tally for the young season to: 0 for 6 with 4 strikeouts.

With the Twins facing another right-handed starter tomorrow, the King has a good chance to continue his climb up the MLB strikeout leaderboard!

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At the cutting edge of the 1 true outcome movement

Since Rockhead keeps pencilling him in at the seventh spot, Joey needs to take advantage of his limited opportunities.

It may be a tougher challenge today: in five career plate appearances against KC starter Brad Keller, Donkey is 0 for 1 with 4 walks and no strikeouts.

With his quick start to the season, Joey Gallo has moved into 312th place all time in career ttrikeouts, surpassing current players Starling Marte and Anthony Rizzo.

He needs 1 today to tie Howard Johnson for 311th at 1,053. Hojo took 14 seasons to get to 1,053, and had 5 years in a row where he topped 100.

On the all-time list, Nelson Cruz has a shot to reach the Top 10 this year. He's currently 16th at 1,871. Willie Stargell is #10 at 1,936, so that's 65 to go. Miguel Cabrera is #6 all time at 2,031, but is more than 250 behind #5 A-Rod.

Giancarlo Stanton is currently tied for 40th all time and needs just three to get to 1700. If he can stay healthy and strike out 175 times this year, he's going to soar into the top 15.

Donky is up to 28th among active players at 1,052, now staring down Manny Machado who is 20 strikeouts ahead of him at the moment.

After 3 games, the ML strikeout lead is shared by Max Muncy and whoever the hell Elehuris Montero of Colorado is. Each has 7. Joey is tied for 17th with 4.

Donkey just can't miss the ball against this guy. He gets a double and comes around for a run scored.

It's probably best that he hit at least .100, so give him a mulligan on the last at bat.

BA-DONK-A-DONKEY!!!

Joey takes the reliever deep for his first homer of the year!

Take note, Rockhead. Your "leadoff" hitter has an OPS of .091 .083, which is, uh, bad.

PUT JOEY IN HIS RIGHTFUL PLACE.

I cut King Donkey from one of my fantasy teams today because it's negative points for strikeouts.

Fool me once, Donkey

The Porkchop Express said:

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I cut King Donkey from one of my fantasy teams today because it's negative points for strikeouts.

Fool me once, Donkey

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If it wasn't for you Donkey would have had a sombrero today.

Bad juju, bro.

OMG HE DID IT AGAIN!!!

3 RUN BLAST FROM THE DONKEY!!!

LEADOFF! LEADOFF! LEADOFF!

ETA: Donkey is on pace to narrowly miss the MLB record for strikeouts with 216, which would be a cruel disappointment, but also on pace to hit 108 home runs. That would probably get us 10 more years of guaranteed Donkey.

Cowardly reliever walks Donkey on 4 pitches, robbing him of the chance for a strikeout, or the first 3 HR game of his career.

All of a sudden Joey's OPS is 1.364, which is somewhat better than "Leadoff" Max Kepler's .071.

Fortunately I didn't cut him on both teams!

YokelRidesAgain said:

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Cowardly reliever walks Donkey on 4 pitches, robbing him of the chance for a strikeout, or the first 3 HR game of his career.

All of a sudden Joey's OPS is 1.364, which is somewhat better than "Leadoff" Max Kepler's .071.

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according to Manfred, analytics like this are ruining the game

Just wait until the weather really starts to warm up in Minneapolis and he becomes the free swinger we all know

redline248 said:

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Just wait until the weather really starts to warm up in Minneapolis and he becomes the free swinger we all know

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Joey Gallo, hotter than a Minnesota summer!

I'm not sure how this is even possible, but apparently Joey Gallo has no previous at bats against Johnny Cueto.

Joey will just have to close his eyes and swing as hard as he can, just like he does against every other pitcher.

Twins "leadoff" hitter Max Kepler has been removed from the game with knee soreness!!!

Could we be looking at LEADOFF DONKEY tomorrow against defending NL Cy Young winner Sandy Alcantara?

It's what you could call Platinum Potential!

Joey Gallo is the AL MVP right now. Hottest hitter on the hottest team. The world is not enough for KIng DOnkey.

We're waking up this morning to a four-way tie atop the MLB strikeout leader board.

A pair of Dodgers - JD Martinez and Max Muncy, along with Christian Yelich and Michael Conforto. The NL West holding down 3 of the biggest whiffers in the early going.

Looking down the list, I see some familiar names - Matt Olson and Aaron Judge tied at 10th with 7 each, Kyle Schwarber also has 7 and is hitting .059. Yoan Moncada, who led the majors with 217 in 2018, also has 7.

Eugenio Suarez hanging out at 23rd with 6, and Joey G tied for 80th with 4, but currently 6th in OPS and 2nd in SLG,

I really want Joey to break the strikeout record, but it also would be fantastic to see him have a monster season after the Rangers, Dodgers, and Yankees all gave up on him. It's a win-win!

I like Joey Gallo. Really, I do. I don't want him to strikeout, I want him to play well and be successful, at something other than striking out.

As a Rangers fan, I've followed Donkey's career pretty closely. I wasn't happy the Rangers traded him but looking back, I'm pleased at what they got in return. Joey has always been a high K guy (obviously), but he was working on lowering his strikeouts and being more patient before he was traded. I think NY broke him for a while but I hope he has a comeback year.

I was at his last game in NY last summer with my brother and nephew. He had a 3-0 count in his first AB and my brother said something to the effect of, "I guess he won't strike out here." I responded that Joey can snatch a strikeout from the jaws of a 4 pitch walk. Sure enough, three pitches later he was getting booed by the home crowd and skulking back to the bench. He was lifted later in the game and traded to LA a few days later.

Here's to Joey batting over .200 this year!

Rockhead has moved Joey up to fifth in the lineup, but still holding him out of the leadoff spot, which now goes to Flash Gordon's son Nick, who is hitting .100.

Real four dimensional chess there, Baldelli.

Joey's numbers against tonight's starter, Sandy Alcantara, are surprisingly anemic: 3 for 8 with a walk, 2 extra base hits, and only two strikeouts.

K SWINGING FOR DONKEY!!!

ETA: 2 Ks SWINGING FOR DONKEY!!!
Twins need a rally to bring him to the plate again.

FINAL: Donkey doesn't get a 4th at-bat as Alcantara completes the 1-0 shutout.

Rockhead might want to reconsider letting a guy with an OPS of .142 bat lead off against the Cy Young winner.

It's deja vu, all over again.

Doing his best Aaron Boone impression, Rockhead Baldelli benches American League home run leader Joey Gallo against some left-handed lugnut for the Florida Fish.

In his place, batting 3rd in the lineup, is something called Donovan Solano.

The Porkchop Express said:

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Joey gets the ball to pinch-strikeout and DELIVERS!

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You can't get to Joey's level without taking advantage of every opportunity

Matt Olson picked up a Golden Sombrero on Tuesday, and he and Nick Castellanos have moved into a tie for first in strikeouts with 12 each. What's really remarkable is that Olson is doing that despite hitting .308 with an OPS way over 1.000. Olson has the chops to make a run at the top of the charts in strikeouts. He's gone over 160 twice in a season including 170 last year.

Jocephus is tied for 34th with 7. He has the day off because of weather and then starts his home season tomorrow vs. the Astros.

Big Joey is in the 7 hole today for the Twins' home opener vs. the Astros. Byron Buxton is leading off, so good news for Donkey fans cuz guy gets hurt by April 15 every year and they'll have to get a real man in there to lead off.

Now a 6-way tie for first at 12 strikeouts after a mild schedule yesterday. Usually you have to pay extra for that.

A wasted opportunity for Joey in his first AB today. A popup.