2011 Twins Game Logs

2011 Game 39: Twins at Mariners

222 Comments

Finally, the Twins get to pick on somebody their own size. The Worst Team in Baseball is 12-256; the Mariners, 16-23 and in last place in the A.L. West, percentage points "up" on the Bitch Sox for second worst record in the A.L.

Seattle returns home from an 0-4 East Coast (err, Bal'more and Cleveland) trip that ended with consecutive rainouts. So they should be well rested.

Pitching matchup

Scott Baker (3.71 ERA, 4.36 FIP, 3.76 xFIP, 97 tRA+, 40:15 K:BB in 43 2/3) vs.
Michael Pineda (2.84 ERA, 2.67 FIP, 3.31 xFIP, 145 tRA+, 45:13 K:BB in 44 1/3)

The 22-year old rookie right-hander Pineda has been very effective to date, echoing his minor league performance (2.49 ERA, 396:93 K:BB in 404 1/3). He's a fastball-slider guy and, according to PitchFx, Pineda has a VERY live fastball (avg 95.1 MPH), with the slider coming in at 84.7. A right-handed F-Bomb??

Oh, and in case that wasn't discouraging enough, here's some salt in your wounds from the Yahoo preview:

Minnesota outfielder Delmon Young(notes) went 1 for 12 with seven strikeouts against Toronto over the weekend in his return from rib soreness that sidelined him nearly a month. Young is a .227 lifetime hitter at Safeco Field with 18 strikeouts in 66 at-bats.

Enjoy some West Coast baseball, kids. I will be at the Girl's violin lesson for most of this one.

222 thoughts on “2011 Game 39: Twins at Mariners”

  2. I got a reprieve, as the Girl's teacher had to reschedule. But with the 10 miles each way plus parking, the ordeal approaches two hours home-to-home.

  3. The over/under for runs tonight is 6.5 with most of the action coming in on the under. I don't wager on baseball often but this is not something you see every day (outside of a Hudson v Halladay pitching matchup).

  4. In the spirit of Movie Day, I'm currently enjoying a Smokey and the Bandit (BBQ chicken, bacon, ranch, BBQ sauce, and cheddar) pizza from Ian's. The Hamm's seemed to be the appropriate accompaniment.

    1. My goodness did you have a lot of Hamm's.

      Myself, I'm planning on watching Game of Thrones then going to bed. Good luck, fellas.

      1. I only bought a 12-pack, but I guess I overestimated the number of people who might drink them. I had to stick to crowd pleasers, which meant keeping things a little uninteresting, unfortunately.

  7. apparently, the new field hands almost didn't arrive:

    LaVelleNeal But Phil Dumatrait and Antony Swarzak have had travel delays and have not arrived yet! #stribtwins
    about 1 hour ago via TweetDeck

    LaVelleNeal Dumatrait and Swarzak have arrived. Twins have a full bullpen. Or as full as it can be. #stribtwins

  8. CLE leading KC 16-1 in the 5th(!) inning. The idea of a baseball team scoring sixteen runs in a single game seems totally foreign to me right now.

    1. Well, it does seem like something the Blue Jays would do.

            1. Bars here do refer to Blue and Blue light as "domestics".

              1. I was in a bar near the U-District one time and asked the hostess what beers they had on tap. She replied that she wasn't sure but that they had "all the Mexicans."

    2. Davies came out after 4 batters (one retired). PBP says shoulder injury.
      Mazzaro (the second reliever, who was tomorrow night's probable starter) pitched 2.1 and gave up 14 ER. He wasn't helped by Jeffress allowing all three of his runners to score, but even if that doesn't happen, he's still pitched 2.1 and given up 11.

      11 hits, 3 walks, 7 outs. Every baserunner he allowed scored.

  12. Mariners PBP (I'll come up with the name) busts out "Now, who is this guy Jason Kubel?" He's made that comment every year I've been here, and Kubel tends to beat up the Mariners pretty badly, as I remember.

    2. The other PBP guy is Dave Sims, and I largely enjoy his work, he seems to enjoy what he does.

    2. You and all of Washington. The locals can't stand the guy. He had a bad year here after several good ones in LA, so they say he's lazy now.

        1. Yeah, and then you have the whole Ichiro =/= team player nonsense. This is a pretty rabid fanbase, but they have their morons just like everyone else.

  17. Looks like I could've gotten good seats tonight. And hey, it's not like it could be worse than the game Beau and I saw last year. Did anyone even reach 3rd, Beau? I seem to remember Cuddyer being not completely terrible.

  22. Have I mentioned that I don't like Chone Figgins Jack Cust?

    I have a feeling I'll be doing this for as long as I can stomache tracking the game.

      1. I really don't mind either player, but if they continue to not suck against the Twins, I will be forced to show more disdain for them.

  24. Was there something wrong with those first two pitches to Morneau? Oh, nevermind, he struck out anyhow.

  26. Was that just the first time Brad Radke was ever compared to Bob Gibson? I suggest that it just may have been.

      1. Bert compared both Radke and Gibson's follow through in their pitching motions to Pineda.

        1. Heh, no. All I saw was a player who had a better than .670 OPS and was projected to hit better than that. Also, he's only 24 so it was possible the breakout could be "real". And my OF is atrocious, so anything better than .550 or so was fine. I might regret not parting with Ramos, but he's my backup catcher and I'm mostly a risk averse person.

          The LaPorta part is because when looking up how Brantley did, I noticed LaPorta on your bench.

          1. My "you don't start a man after he has been traded" idea is really backfiring tonight.

  28. Random memory of the night: Pierzynski's early season home run at Safeco with a clash of the top of the AL in 2001.

    It's hard to think of both a time when the Twins were in first and when I wanted Pierzynski to do well.

      1. He made an out without managing to injure Kubel--it was the best possible outcome!

  30. M's guy says that the Twins should be aggressive early in the count because otherwise Pineda will settle in, then he says "So that should play right into Pineda's hands."

    Um, then why should the Twins do it, then?

    1. I would be fine with a 'no-swing' rule for one night. Just to see how many walks the Twins might get out of it.

          1. I mean, even if they never swung against him.

            Sad that Wakefield was on the mound the last time the Twins won, though. That doesn't feel nearly recent enough.

      2. I would watch that- just walk up there and pretend you're being intentionally walked.

      1. Ichiro! fouled one down the third base line and Bert said "a lot of Ichiro's hits are just like that one".

  35. Sheesh, we couldn't even make it interesting.

    Well, Smoak's on one of my fantasy teams. Is that really my 2011? "At least I have him in fantasy?"

    1. That's how I'm paying attention to the rest of the season. Eerily similar to how I wallowed through the last 13 games of the NFL season.

  37. speaking of interesting, I am NOT drinking Hamms. I'm instead having one of these. Smoov as a baby's bottom.

    1. That looks delicious. I am putting back a couple of Brooklyn Lagers tonight.

  38. To pass the time we should make a list of things that people dislike more than Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven dislikes Scott Baker. I will start, I dislike watching people eat onions like apples more than Bert Blyleven dislikes Scott Baker.

    2. I dislike the eight-song loop that's been playing in my store nonstop for the last three months more than Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven dislikes Scott Baker.

      1. Does this eight song loop include a song by Flo Rida? I heard Flo Rida on a lunchtime shopping jaunt and it caused me to accelerate my shopping.

        1. It has at least four songs that make me wish it instead featured Flo Rida.

          It has The Who's "Baba O'Riley," too, a song I've always loved until this barrage has essentially ruined it for me.

        2. I was blaming it on the Metrodome falling apart or the trees they ripped out. Definitely not Ullger being removed from 3B coach.

    6. LEN III dislikes Kevin Slowey at least as much as Bert dislikes Scott Baker.

  45. Alright, I look forward to reading about an exciting comeback tomorrow morning. Take it home, gents.

  46. Ichiro for HOF discussion. Dazz beats around the bush, implying that Ichiro doesn't go real hard in the OF on defense.

    1. It would be the Twins' luck that JB would get traded to a team they're seeing twice in two weeks.

  48. i was writing a very specific, polite, between the lines "eff you" email so i haven't been paying attention to the game. 0-2? GOSO.

      2. I think it is really funny, it is one of the few shows I catch every week. Should you trust me...eh, dunno.

    3. I decided to re-watch some of The Office (UK) instead of the start of the game. Forgot how funny it is, an all-timer for sure.

        1. I was looking for a specific Tim quote about working from near the end of the series and couldn't find it, so I just settled in and watched a few episodes. Short, but brilliant run. It is also funny to go back and watch the early US Office episodes to see how much it aped the early UK episodes.

            1. Pretty close, from what I remember. Thankfully they found their own voice after a while.

              1. I enjoyed the first season, so I showed it to my wife. She absolutely hated it. She loathed it. After I watched the second season all the way through, I convinced her to give that one a try. Now it's one of her favorite shows. She still doesn't like the first season.

                1. Same thing happened to me with Parks & Rec. Got hooked during season 2 but still didn't care much for the first season when I went back to watch it.

                  Just got to the "If You Don't Know Me By Now" by David Brent music video in The Office Special. Cracks me up every time.

                    1. I was talking to someone at work about that, he does a great job with the characters once he figures them out. They are Tremendous.

                      One thing I thought about the other day - Mark Brandanawicz sure disappeared from Pawnee.

  51. Someone better call 911. Bert has said up in the zone so many times I'm seeing triple.

  52. Just tuned in, at least the Twins uniforms are better than the Spring Training unis the Mariners are wearing tonight.

      1. His approach is pretty bad, though. Everyone watching this game knew Pineda was going to groove a first pitch fastball, which he did. Then Cuddyer swings at a ball up in his eyes. Don't get it.

  64. Dumatrait's facial hair/hairdo combo makes me want to punch him in the face. If the Twins weren't 14 games under .500, this probably wouldn't make me rage so much, but good god.

    1. from my view on the TV from the other side of the living room, i didn't think so either. however, when they came back from replay (SEA feed), they were pitching to the next guy, so i guess someone in the twins dugout knew something more than i did.

  70. I should've known better. It's the Twins cycle.

    "F THIS TEAM!" during the game.
    Suffer baseball withdrawls.
    Decide to watch them again.
    "Hey this isn't that bad!"
    *GUTPUNCH*
    "F THIS TEAM!"

    I hate this season, dudes. 🙁

  79. OK, I've put more time and effort into this game than Delmon has, so I'll call it a night. See if you can write me an interesting coherent recap, CH.

  90. Two runs in from Groundout (Error), Flyout, Single, Groundout (Error), RBI Groundout.

  94. Ahhh, of course the Twins getting skunked would be followed by one of those awful Grand Casino commercials. Ugh.

  95. I'm sure it's just a bug, but when I refreshed, every single comment had "Suck it, Kennedy" overlayed

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