Weather: 82 degrees, partly cloudy
Wind: 5 mph, R to L
Time: 2:46
Attendance: 27,450
Umpires: HP - Tim Tschida. 1B - Jeff Nelson. 2B - Marty Foster. 3B - Bill Welke
Three times this season the Twins have won three games in a row and failed to extend the streak to four. Three times. They failed again tonight in Arizona, their inaugural inter-league game of the 2011 campaign, but you have to give the boys credit for making it interesting. If you told me after the seventh, down by four runs in the wreckage of a five run Diamondback inning, that the boys would come back and break my heart in the ninth I would have offered up an earnest guffaw.
If you missed this game, you missed a chance to shed a little cynicism in the late innings and hope, really hope, that our boys would overcome the odds to surge from behind and grasp victory from the jaws of defeat. On the other hand, you missed the chance to have your heart broken when our two best sluggers failed to feast on a hitter's favorite meals - a fat mid-eighties 'fastball', and a hanging curve.
This was not a game that I enjoyed losing. But on a day like today, you have to keep things in perspective. I had fun watching tonight's game. I laughed, I cried, I cheered. It just wasn't in that order. And really, what more can you ask from a ballgame?
Three times this season the Twins have won three games in a row and failed to extend the streak to four. Three times.
Free four!
httpv://youtu.be/49k6_5j1HzU
nice write-up, and great cut. i think i've mentioned it here before, but this is the album that got me into pink floyd. the specific song was "wots... uh the deal?". having just celebrated 30 years on this planet, a bit over twice as long since i discovered this album, that song rings even truer. great, along with the game, and the memories, you've made me extra depressed. nice work, twayn.
(two quick thoughts on the video: 1) this guy really likes his record player. b) this sounds closer to 30-31 rpm than 33 1/3.)
It seems like a lot of fans get more worked up about rallies that fall short than I do. That was as fun as a loss can get. The most disappointing part was having the lead in the seventh. If we had a right-handed setup reliever that Gardy trusted, I'm sure Duensing would have been out of there before it all fell apart after the home run. With any decent luck, the Twins could have scored 12 runs what with some great defense by the Diamondbacks and some at-em balls. Plus, Kubel's poorly placed triple. I wonder how long it's been since the Twins had a shortstop with eight RBIs in three games?
I wonder how long it's been since the Twins had a shortstop with eight RBIs in three games?
Cristian Guzman had 8 in 2 games back on June 23 and June 24 of 2001
Yeah, but how many did he have in three games? *crosses fingers for Plouffe*
he had 8.
That was also the last time we had an All-Star shortstop. It's easy to forget how good he was that year, since he never had an OPS+ over 80 in the rest of his time in Minnesota. He had an OPS+ of 110 in 2001 and was better than average defensively.
Plouffe is now fifth on the team in RBIs and fourth on the team in HRs in 10 games. He was third in HRs after his HR yesterday until Juicy homered in the ninth.
The really good sign is that he has six walks and just seven strikeouts and his BABIP is just .276, so if anything, he's been unlucky.
I'm liking Plouffe the more I see him, maybe because I envy other teams with shortstops who have some pop. I'd really like to see Mauer, Plouffe, Nishi, and Span up the middle. That's a solid defensive alignment that's also going to deliver good offense.
I'm not convinced that Plouffe is solid defensively, but if he's at least passable, that'll do.
Well, I was comparing him mainly to Casilla.
Free four!
Excellent, sir.
When Butters hit the double in the ninth, the feed shows he has 3 doubles on the year. HOW? How can a guy hitting half of the Mendoza line have 3 doubles?
Because he has 78 ABs? He's still slugging below the Mendoza line. Even a blind squirrel ...
He's still slugging below the Mendoza line.
Oy vey.
It's really sad when you look at your interleague lineup's batting averages in the box score and you can't really tell where the position players stop and the pitchers/pinch-hitters start.