2011 Twins Game Logs

2011 Game 37: Blue Jays at Twins

327 Comments

"It's been tough to watch lately. Really tough."

Just about every game log, regardless of writer, has started with some permutation of that phrase. It's been horrifically true, though. When the pitching's good, the offense declines to score any runs. When the offense does click and puts up a gargantuan run total (maybe something like five runs or so), the pitching blows it.

The injuries have played a factor, obviously, but Delmon Young, Joe Mauer, and Jim Thome are not going to turn this team into a division winner. In fact, I'm becoming increasingly pessimistic about our chances of breaking even (we'd have to play 69-57 from here on out to make it to .500. That's .547 from now on, and I don't know if we've seen more than a couple of games all year where they looked like they could play that way for any length of time.)

So, that's that. The team needs to turn around, and they can't wait for the star catcher to come back. They can't wait for the MVP first baseman to get his head right. They can't wait for the "mvp" (lower case) to Just. Stop. Sucking. It needs to happen right now. It probably won't happen (Sean's historical searchings didn't exactly provide a silver lining), but come on... giving up before June is for Pirates fans, right?

We've got Blackburn on the mound today, they've got Jo-Jo Reyes. Both seem to be fairly allergic to striking people out (though Blackburn's 3.5 k/9 is just absurd*), so I guess we can expect lots of hits today. That'll be a nice change of pace, at least.

Blackburn's our "big game pitcher" right? Well, we need this one. Go get 'em, Blackie.

327 thoughts on “2011 Game 37: Blue Jays at Twins”

  2. twitter

    RhettBollinger
    The #Twins also decided they will wear their 1961 throwback jerseys for all home games in honor of Harmon Killebrew

    1. so, the jokes about the throwbacks ("why, yes, we WOULD like to throw back numbers X, Y, and Z") are off limits, right?

  3. I'd like the team to make it to .500 this year. Maybe if we make today the arbitrary starting point for the season they might make it...

  4. I'm not writing off this team yet.

    I wrote off Casilla as shortstop, but then again the Twins started a season with Castro at short and Bautista at third. That was 2006. They ended that season pretty well.

    Guys just need to get healthy, and certain players(Morneau, Cuddyer, Nathan) need to start rebounding.

  10. I remember we used to have a Gold Glove-caliber first baseman who could make goalie stops on low throws.

    1. While Morneau has been good at receiving throws, I don't think he's ever done well enough at fielding his position to deserve much Fielding Grammy consideration.

    2. Also, and my eyes might be letting me down here, I've never thought Morneau's technique for receiving throws at first base has been all that textbook. It often seems as though he makes a big sweeping motion with his glove to catch the ball on the in-between hop, rather than being able to reach out more and get the ball on the short hop.

      1. Yes, but in the last couple years he's usually at least knocked the ball down if he doesn't field it cleanly. This year, the throws are constantly "squirting" (Ted's word, not mine) past him and allowing runners to advance.

      1. Hopefully he gets angry and hits a ball about 600 feet in his next at bat.

        1. Sometimes its the club, sometimes its the guy spinning the club all over hell before swinging.

  24. OK, this game isn't on (broadcast) TV although it's an afternoon game on a Saturday? So Fox can air a night BoSox-Yankmes tilt?
    What the F... Someone doesn't want my kids to become Twins Fans, I guess.

    2. In fairness, the Twins don't want your kids to become Twins' fans this year.

    3. I'm no big FOX fan, but with so many teams on cable-only deals, I think it would be fantastic for the league if MLB and FOX (or ABC or NBC or CBS, really) treated Saturdays during the regular season the way that the NFL treats Sundays. Play every local game in the local markets, and show some national games on top of that. It's not like FOX is doing anything better with that airtime on Saturdays--for instance, right now, they are showing paid programming in Seattle.

      It's not always going to be the best match-up for neutral observers, but I think it would be great promotion for the league, and would probably pay off in increased ticket sales down the road.

      1. I've advocated this over the last couple years- how else are you going to bring new fans to the sport? If you have to buy the programming, you're already a fan.

      2. I think that would be great. Therefore, MLB and the broadcast networks will never go for it.

  26. The Twins have already scored as many or more runs than they have in 1/3 of their games this season!

  29. I understand umpires screwing up on outside corner strikes, but calling a pitch 6 inches off the inside corner a strike? Good Lord.

      2. Me too. They can call both the outside and the inside corner perfectly.

        BENDER/CALCULON 2012!

        1. One's always drunk and the other's a self-important windbag. It wouldn't be that much different from the way we have it now...

          1. I'm trying to figure out if that's 100% true. I think Angel Hernandez might be tripping.

  30. Back from basketball. My daughter's team won their last game of the season today -- their first win in about five weeks. Proof that everything is possible.

    We're gonna win this game

    /New Guy optimism

      1. they got after it, battled their tails off, and did the little things. So, how could they not?

    2. their first win in about five weeks.

      If they win today, that's about right for the Twins as well.

    2. Blackie doin' a good job missing bats when the other team isn't crushing the sh!t out of the ball.

  40. This reminds me of the great Santana-Silva reverse of several years back.

  41. I'd give 2 errors to the SS on that play--one for the bobble and one for the throw.

  43. Morneau needs to get his patience back. Take a Koskie approach to the plate.

  45. All five of those pitches to _elm_n were out of the zone according to Gameday.

  46. Is Nick Blackburn the Twins best starter, Scott Baker excepted?

  47. Think I got the Twins trivia for today; not sure if it's soon enough to win, though.

    The boxscore for the game when it happened is U.G.L.Y.

      1. It's neither of us.
        Vic Albury? Matt Garza must have been the first starting pitcher to bat.

        1. actually, on further consideration, maybe Cuddy should bat leadoff.

          With the bases empty this year, he was hitting (prior to today) 299/338/463. With runners on: 164/261/197

  57. radio guys dissing Rivera's "hit". Hah.

    BlackJack: "We don't give errors here."

    Tru dat.

    1. Scorekeeper is just being a dick. .ooo doesn't seem as bad as .083 since you can just pretend its his first at-bat.

      1. with Mauer having taken BP yesterday, mebbe the scorekeeper figured that this might be Rivera's last real chance to record a "hit."

      2. Really? Because if that's the case, I had a lot of first at-bats in Little League.

  58. DicknBert lamenting the inability of the opposing team's pitcher to pick up a meaningless stat.

    1. I'm hoping that a Twins pitcher--any Twins pitcher--will pick up said stat today.

    2. The jokes on them. He's still going to pick up a meaningless stat as long as we hold the lead.

      1. Crapps hates said stat and also another meaningless stat. Hence his campaign to blow the stat.

  63. Wait, what? They can access baseball-reference.com in the booth? And they know what it is?

    1. It's annoying the crap out of me. I just want the former players in the booth to shut up.

      1. Eh, when Dazzle is reigned in a little, he's serviceable. From the couple of games I've heard with Ted and Dazzle, I'd take them over Dick'n'Bert.

        1. Ted and Dazzle was better- throw Morris in there, and there's too much GOML.

          1. Oh, right. Morris is a meathead. He's actually annoyed me a little less today, but between bottling some brew and painting the bedroom, I haven't been paying too close attention.

      2. I should rephrase- when Ted gets them to expand on some of the same old crap they constantly trot out there, it's worthwhile. Unfortunately, Blackjack and Dazzle constantly ride the same ol' horse they've been riding for the last thousand broadcasts, and Ted can't always get them to talk about something that requires thought.

  70. Twins should have tried a squeeze there and test the catcher's throwing hand (I realize two strikes, but look at the ultimate result anyway).

          1. That must be it. I became more and more enraged as I mashed the keyboard.

            1. I'm surprised there haven't been more bolded comments in the past few weeks.....

  80. I thought this was when AJ & Hoey are supposed to come in: tie game, runner on base.

  83. Capps frustrates me. When I want a good outing, he sucks. When I expect a poor outing, he shines.

      1. I think his foot was on the bag before the glove had the ball. It was closer on the replay that it looked live, for sure, but I still think he was safe.

          1. Well, I'll rescind my criticism of blue. That's a tough call no matter which way it goes.

  86. Uhh, Gameday just implied that Plouffe fouled a pitch off that should have hit him in the face. Is this accurate?

    1. Yup, saw that earlier this week. He didn't even get to hit a walk-off HR before this one.

  90. I would appreciate Kubel just ending this game here. Extras are for suckers.

    2. I would appreciate Kubel Morneau just ending this game here. Extras are for suckers.

  100. dick was going on and on about the shift for about 20 seconds before someone in the booth thought it best to have a camera maybe show what he was talking about.

  104. I'm guessing Rauc knows not to throw a strike from here on out to _elmon.

    Christ I couldn't even finish typing that.

  108. Sadly, the blueprint for striking out Delm_n is the same as it is for Cuddy. And just as well known.

  113. I'm sorry, Cuddy, but that awful at bat quickly erased a lot of the goodwill you'd earned this game.

  117. Those Kwik Trip commercials where they explain how to add $1.50 to things really annoys me.

    1. See, that's because you've missed the point. They're actually about how to subtract $1.50.

  118. Screw it, I'm going to go make dinner. If they win, they win. If they lose, I'll just drink the pain away.

    2. Your list is making me queasy, what with all the swinging and weasels and such.

  121. Great Moments -- that second pitch (called a ball) to Davis was right in the middle of the zone according to Gameday

  123. When did Perkins become one of our best relievers? He's pitched pretty well lately.

    2. It helped that everyone else started sucking, but I think being able to go into the season knowing that he was a reliever might have helped(?). He was always going to be a fringe guy if they kept him as a starter. Looking back to '07 when he only appeared out of the bullpen, he had his previous high season strikeout rate and his best FIP, though this year he's been even better than that.

  125. Perkins is the Twins' best relief pitcher right now, and I don't know that it's particularly close. I wonder what it would take for him to overtake Capps in the depth chart.

    1. three years of closing for some other club so that he could be a "proven closer".

      1. Let's trade him to the Mariners so that we can trade back for him in 2014.

    2. Sending one of our best prospects somewhere else and then overpaying Perk by a few millions dollars.

  126. I notice they don't do the 10-second pause for Station ID before _elm_n's at-bats.

  130. Well, at least we made Rauch work a whole 6 pitches to get through the inning.

  131. What will Gardy do?

    A) Let Perkins pitch to Bautista
    B) Order Bautista IBB
    C) Lift Perkins and have a terrible right-handed pitcher pitch to Bautista

      1. The single did force his hand a bit. I think he was going to Hoey no matter what happened to Patterson, though.

  141. I want Bautista's head on a pike, and I want to hold his still beating heart in my bloody hand.

  143. BlackJack: "Hoey just been having a tough time locating his fastball."

    Me: Somewhere over the frickin' fence would be my guess.

  144. I know it's the AL and all, but apparently Gardy hasn't gotten the memo that Bautista is hitting like Barry HGH Bonds.

          1. I think it's warmup time. Slowey might not be able to warm up quickly enough. It doesn't seem like Gardy has the ability to plan far enough ahead to have him start warming up an inning in advance.

  148. Seriously, this team is a frickin joke right now. I say GOSO unironically now as its clear Gardy has given up.

    1. Does it make it better if Gardy hasn't really given up but is just trying to go with what's worked for him in the past? (Matching up pitchers for platoon advantage.)

      1. The way Hoey's been basically getting no one out this year, there had to be someone better to bring in to face Bautista there. I don't see how that was anything other than conceding the game.

        1. Bautista has a 1.500 OPS against left-handed pitchers so far this year. Small sample, sure, but Hoey's performance so far is a small sample, too. Letting Perkins pitch to Bautista would probably have been a bad move (many would have considered that to be conceding the game), and generally speaking in a tie game it's really hard to ask the manager to intentionally walk a base runner into scoring position.

          Basically, Bautista made us squirm by being so good, Perkins put us in an awkward spot allowing the lead-off single, and then the bullpen depth let us down. It also seems like to me that Hoey's not as bad as he's looked lately.

          1. Gardy better have a statement that Slowey is injured then, because he'd have been a million times better choice than Hoey. This place might be a really small sample size, but everyone here knew that Bautista was hitting a home run as soon as Hoey was announced. I'd wager that sentiment was felt all over Twins Territory as well.

            1. Really? I didn't figure Hoey would give up a home run to Bautista. Sure it was possible, but Slowey's a fly-ball pitcher so he wouldn't have made me feel all that safe anyway, and I think the Twins are being careful with Slowey. If they were going to bring in Slowey, they probably should have done it to start the inning.

              At any rate, I just think it's unfair to say that Gardy was giving up by putting Hoey in there. I think he believes Hoey is a decent pitcher, and I don't think that's entirely unreasonable.

  150. Holy crap that was fast, I swear I was int he kitchen for two minutes. Now a walk.

    I get the pleasure of seeing these guys in person tomorrow. Woo Hoo!

    1. i think unclewalt has the privilege of watching the twins suck in crappy weather today.

  151. Gardy is struggling to adjust to having a really weak bullpen. Normally I could see why you'd go for platoon advantage there, but right now the Twins don't have any relievers that are really good enough to trust against Bautista in a tie game. Would walking Bautista with a runner on first and none out in a tie game be pretty extreme? Yes, but his slugging percentage is over .800. He's averaging four bases every five at-bats!

  154. I have a feeling that resale tickets to Target Field are going to be less expensive over the short term.

  158. nibbish, you're getting your lots-o-hits, I believe someone else called for a blowout, and the blown save was spookied by about half the citizens. At least we can't say we didn't know it was coming.

  159. Radio guys saying Gardy wouldn't have a position player pitch at home, it's disrespectful to the fans. What the hell do they think this is? I'd rather see Cuddy give up some bombs than watch the 'pen stink up the joint. Ted sounds like he agrees with me. And here comes Bombs-Away Burnett. Crap.

    1. The Twins need some relief pitchers that they don't feel obligated to lift every time an opposite-handed hitter comes to the plate. Then we might avoid some of these 7-pitcher innings.

  161. So, how much higher would Morneau's hit have to have been to keep this game from sucking?

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