2011 Twins Game Logs

2011 Game 25: Minnesota Twins at Kansas City Royals

298 Comments

Scott Baker vs Bruce Chen.

Well that sucked. It does amuse me that the team most often picked to win the division is doing just as well as the Twins. I think only Detroit is doing roughly as expected, though the Royals are very quickly returning to their expected level.

This is an awful streak and it's magnified by starting the season with it. If only there was some way to look at streaks within previous, full seasons...

First, some notes about this season's streak to compare to previous miserable streaks. The Twins have scored 77 runs and given up 124 runs, which comes out to 3.2 scored versus 5.2 against.

In 2010, there was a period when the Twins didn't play particularly well in the middle of the season. Concerning, yes, but no hysterics about it. Taking a look at 2010, I note that from games 85 to 94, seven times were the Twins 9-15 over the previously played 24 games (e.g. games 62-85 the first time). They also were 8-16 once and 10-14 twice. During the 8-16 stretch, they scored 109 runs and gave up 131 runs. That's 4.5 runs/game and 5.5 runs/game respectively. In terms of wins it was worse, but the run differential is just shy of one run a game instead of two runs per games.

Let's try another year that also started poorly but ended up okay. Like 2006. Oh look! They also started 9-15 and hovered around 10-14 for quite a few consecutive 24 game stretches. That was a frustrating early 46 games. Anyway, they scored 96 runs and gave up 148 runs to start the season. And that's with a True Ace anchoring the staff. That's an even 4 runs/game scored and 6.2 runs/game given up. And it got worse! From games 3-26, those figures were 3.7 and 6.1 respectively.

Going earlier, I see in 2003, the Twins were as bad as 6-18 with similar run differentials to this season's differential. Games 72-95 for instance they were 7-17, scored 79 runs and gave up 137.

Now, I am not saying things are going to go just like 2006 and the Twins will have a historically great second half of the season or they finally put some pitcher into the rotation and he pitches quite all right. Instead, awful stretches happen during seasons that otherwise end well. Truthfully, I do not foresee any big changes like in 2003 or 2006 that will dramatically alter the team's true talent level. They could continue to suffer from injuries and finish worst in the division, it happens, but that's a worst case scenario even now and acting like it's fated to be is, well, stupid.

298 thoughts on “2011 Game 25: Minnesota Twins at Kansas City Royals”

  2. If Span ever gets picked off by Chen, I'm going to be very upset. That is one awful pick-off move.

  3. I don't like double plays, but I find myself having a lot of trouble being too upset at Kubel for that, seeing as how he's been pretty much raking so far.

  4. This is such an interesting, complex Tripel, cheaptoy. I love it. I can assume they'll be on the shelves when I go to the store tomorrow, yes? Otherwise, what a tease that would be...

    2. But yeah, that one really did turn out good. I have made sure to save that recipe and back it up in multiple places.

  5. I don't think this free preview of MLB.tv is the greatest sell ever, as often as it's freezing on me.

      1. If I get worse performance than if I was paying for it, then it's definitely a worthless free preview in my eyes. No way I'm respecting a program that doesn't offer its best product to entice you with.

        Then again, it could be my DSL service not being the top of the line as well, in which case, Gameday has served me well enough over the years.

          2. Except the best part of a T1 is the part you aren't using. Well, there is the quality guarantee, but that's not likely used very often either.

              1. Upstream. A T1 is symmetrical, meaning you get 1.544 Mbit/s down and up. For downstream bandwidth, 1.5 Mbit/s is laughable, but the upstream is better than many, many home broadband connections. You might have a slightly better hookup than a home connection as well, which means slightly fewer hops to the important parts of the internet. However, the bountiful upstream is all but wasted with the normal browsing habits of people.

  6. Dick and Bert spent a lot of time extolling the virtues of Jeff Francouer, talking about what a positive addition to the clubhouse he is. I've read a couple of interviews of his, and he spent the majority of the time bitching about how statheads thought he sucked. I wonder if he whines that much in the clubhouse.

    1. I think JoePos wrote in an article that he was a decent guy, but he's generally rather diplomatic when writing about other people.

      1. It always defaults to the home feed. Not sure it's there for the free preview, but you can scroll over the bottom part of the browser and change the broadcast. I can, anyway.

    2. Yes, although it's a bit of a pain. Open Gameday and choose the radio feed, then open the video and mute the sound. Occasionally the video will fall ten seconds behind or so, which will make the whole thing a strange experience.

      1. That's only strange if it Atterbury is calling it instead of Gordo, from what I understand.

    3. I know you radio guys have no choice, but sound off and listening to the ipod is the way to go. Listening to Accelerate by REM right now. Will be moving to some Social Distortion next.

    1. That was pretty awesome. It'd be nice to see if the Twins are in the "getting back up" stage of that race.

  11. Had a small Sicilian pizza at Bellacino's with the Mrs., and I noticed that LNP is batting leadoff tonight for the Cardinals. Thank God we never did that (did we??)

    1. Punto led off 3 times in 2004, 11 times in 2005, 12 times in 2006, 4 times in 2007, and once each in 2009 and 2010.

    2. I'm pretty sure the girls on Jersey Shore think that a chinstrap is a sign of virility.

    3. Hey, that's the only part of my face that grows enough hair for it to be termed a "beard". Can't speak for its attractiveness, though.

        1. This entire sub-conversation has me laughing quite loudly. Makes me need another beer.

  14. kewt story from the KC broadcasters about the crowd singing happy b-d to the 100-year old lady fan.

  17. Silly question, do the problems with the playstation intertubes prevent anyone else from watching the game on their tv via ps3?

        1. Hey, you should shoot me an email with an address where undistilled firewater can be sent.

    2. are you saying that you've been able to watch it? for me, no chance so far (netflix seems to think it's going to have problems, but you seem to be able to get around it).

      1. Naw, I'm back in tejas for the weekend and the ps3 won't let me watch the twins... Just checking to make sure that it's not on my end.

        1. nope. the PS network is still asploded. i think they're saying next thursday at least.

    1. Kubel is making a strong case to allow me to overlook the Hummer ownership to still be my favorite Twin.

        1. I read that somewhere, possibly from a link posted here. Sorry if you were fortunate to miss it the first time and I was unable to keep you blissfully ignorant.

  40. Heh. KC guys got the memo about Scotty B and "pitching up in the zone". The color guy just spent a minute or so talking about how everything that inning was up in the zone.

    1. wait, what? hughes is 9th, and casilla is 2nd? casilla's not even playing at 2B!

  49. I go to get a beer and come back to a 1 run lead during the bottom of the order. Wha happen?

  58. Caps down 3-2 to Tampa with 3 minutes remaining. Rolle the Goalie lights out again.

  71. Danny V!

    Obviously, the Twins just needed me to start watching the game live. I'm taking responsibility for this rally.

    1. That's one of the more unique ways I've seen to make two outs in one plate appearance.

    1. It wasn't so much a double steal as a failed suicide squeeze. They pitched out and Butters just sat there like a little bitch.

      1. The Gameday techs were probably laughing so hard that they couldn't get the right info entered.

          1. I thought it was Valencia's fault, but I have a choppy feed and never really got a good look at what happened. My apologies to Danny and his family.

        2. This game is currently on a free preview for MLB.tv, by the way. (although it does require creating a username-ish thing)

          1. Gameday tells me I'm in a blackout zone. Not sure why, but what the hell ever, I got Dazzle to tell me what's going on.

      2. as i mentioned up there before, the twins just aren't very good at disguising the squeeze.

    1. I dislike Ozzie as much as anyone, but I don't understand that thirty minute waiting period to use social media. What is the point of that, exactly?

      1. i think it was craig c. that mentioned the absurdity of suspending ozzie for 2 games while all 5 of the DUI cases this year weren't suspended a single inning.

        1. I agree. I am wondering if a suspension for a DUI has to go through the Players Union

          1. I'm with you on the not liking him thing, though I can't find anything entertaining about him. I just find him obnoxious.

        1. Starting Kelly Wells as Ozzie Guillen and the other Kelly Wells as A.J. Pierzynski.

    1. Mountie kinda bailed them out on those first two pitches. I bet they woulda done it had they gone 2-0 on him.

  96. I just got a "You are posting comments too quickly. Slow down." error message. That's a first.

  99. wow. this is the first time i've seen ka'aihue's sucking in person (over the internet).

    1. That was supposed to be a response to the "comments" thing above. Then I got the error again, hit back and resubmitted and it didn't stay as a reply.

    1. Actually seeing him at the plate, and then thinking "my goodness, this is a MLB player" is a fairly depressing thought.

    2. I was in Best Buy earlier and they had an MLB 11 The Show demo going. Mauer had a bases clearing double. Casilla managed to just sneak in under the glove of the catcher. Then, I wept a little.

    2. Let him put on weight. That will activate the "diminished skills" clause in his contract.

  114. presented with no comment:

    @CardsInsider: Nick Punto rifles a 2 RBI triple into the RF - Cards lead Braves 5-3 in 11th

      1. Well, Burnett could have pitched better so there wasn't a guy on third with less than two outs.

  129. Someone needs to explain the point of having guys like Casilla on the roster to me, cause I don't get it.

    1. He's on the roster as a pinch runner and defensive replacement. Oh, wait, that was last year when the roster had actual major-leaguers available most games.

  133. on the positive side, we had a starting pitcher who didnt blast a dookie in his pants after throwing an inning

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