2011 Twins Game Recaps

Game 42 Recap: Twins 11, A’s 1

9 Comments

MINNESOTA 11, OAKLAND 1
Record - 15-27 (Last in the Central)
Highest WPA - Blackburn (7.0 IP, 1 R, 5 H, 1 SO) and Morneau (3 for 5, HR, 2 RBI)
Lowest WPA - Plouffe (1 for 5, HR, 3 RBI) - seriously, the guy who hit a 3-R HR ended up with the lowest WPA.
Fangraphs
MLB Recap

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I did not have a chance to see this game as it happened.  Work required my attention this afternoon, but I managed to avoid hearing anything about it and once I got home I turned on the replay.  Unfortunately, I can't recap the actual game, because someone edited in some obviously fake footage right over the top of what I assume to be the standard 2011 Twins effort.

Instead, I got to see Nick Blackburn pitch an effective seven innings, alternatively aided and hindered by his defense.  Meanwhile, the Twins offense put up double digit runs (I know, I know. This was one of the clues that something was up).  All those runs were the result of multiple extra base hits (strike two) including a home-run by Rene Rivera (Oh, come on!).

Prior to this "game" the Twins had won two straight, but this is the first time in a long time that Minnesota won a game that was never really in doubt.

Feels good.  Too bad it was a fabrication.  Anyone care to fill me in on what actually happened?

 

9 thoughts on “Game 42 Recap: Twins 11, A’s 1”

  1. What actually happened:

    The Twins lost, 5 to 0.
    Tyson Ross pitched 7 innings, gave up only 3 hits, no walks and struck out seven.
    The three hits were singles by Kubel, Valencia and an infield hit by Casilla.
    Blackburn gave up four walks, struck out one and gave up back-to-back home runs in the 4th to Coco Crisp and Daric Barton.
    Phil Dumatrait came on in relief and walked three in two innings. He threw a ball behind the head of Cliff Pennington.
    Anthony Swarzak pitched the last two innings, gave up two runs on four hits, two walks and a strikeout. He narrowly avoided a scare in the 7th when it appeared he may have broken his ankle jogging in from the bullpen, but he only twisted it.

  2. Your next clue it was a fabrication is the Fangraphs link gives me an "Error Page". Maybe it'll be fixed by morning, but for now it appears Fangraphs does not believe the Twins could win in a laugher.

    1. Sorry about that. The link to the fangraphs page changes from the "live" version to the archived version that I linked to. As a consequence the link doesn't work until they convert it over to the archived box score.

      Long story short, the link works now.

  3. Coming into this game, the Twins' Pythag record was 11-30. They were closing in on being outscored by 100 runs before the end of May. This team has been astoundingly bad, but the best sign is seeing Morneau drive two balls hard to right-center, and the homer against a lefty was really nice. Delmon looked much better, robbed of a hit up the middle and lining out to right field before singling to left. And it sure is nice to have a shortstop that can drive the ball. Plouffe's great hitting probably won't last based on his minor track record, but then again Span figured things out late and is better in the majors than he was in the minors overall. It would be nice if Plouffe could make me more confident about his throws to first, however.

  4. I wonder if this had something to do with it:

    Daneekas Ghost
    May 19, 2011 at 9:12 am · Reply
    I think there is an effective back end of the bullpen forming, I just worry about overuse. Every game the Twins are winning is close with high leverage situations from the 6th inning on. Gardy just can't use these guys over and over (particularly Nathan) every night. Another example where the offense coming around could cure a lot of what ails this team.

    Clearly, the Twins read the WGOM.

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