2011 Twins Game Logs

2011 Game 72: Twins at Giants

301 Comments

Nick Blackburn 6-4, 91 IP, 3.16 ERA, 4.50 FIP, 3.82 xFIP, 0.6 WAR
Ryan Vogelsong 4-1, 64.2 IP, 1.92 ERA, 2.93 FIP, 3.37 xFIP, 1.5 WAR

If you find yourself looking at these numbers and saying, "What the hell is a Ryan Vogelsong?", you're not alone. Although his name seems only vaguely familiar to me, he's actually a couple of months older than I am and he's been kicking around pitching "meh" baseball for seven years now. From 2003-2006 he pitched rather poorly for the Pirates, then completely disappeared until last year when he pitched not so well for the Phillies AAA team, then was traded and pitched not particularly well for the Angels AAA team. So, naturally, now he's an effective starter for the defending champions.

Blackburn is an enigma as well, putting together a season (and, I suppose, a career) that I never saw coming. The Twins are now just seven games under .500 and six and a half games out of first after one of their best stretches ever, and although this is the kind of game that would have filled me with dread a few weeks ago, I'm finding it harder and harder to be pessimistic.

Keep it rolling, boys.

301 thoughts on “2011 Game 72: Twins at Giants”

    1. Exxxcellent, hj.

      The one time I made it, I used waaaay too little ginger. It was good, but too mild.

      1. i used a good 2 tbsp of freshly grated ginger. looks good and chunky so far.

  4. Dick: As hot as the Twins have been the Giants have kind of been struggling lately.

    Hitman: And we are off to a great start tonight.

  5. From 2003-2006 he pitched rather poorly for the Pirates, then completely disappeared until last year when he pitched not so well for the Phillies AAA team, then was traded and pitched not particularly well for the Angels AAA team. So, naturally, now he's an effective starter for the defending champions.

    So you're saying he's on 'roids?

          1. He was certainly the greatest mathematician of the 20th century.

            In case you're wondering, I have an Erdos number of 3! /brag

            2. Had I ever published that Ramsey Theory thing I put a lot of effort into (but got nothing conclusive), I could have had a two or a three, depending upon whether I thought I needed to credit a prof at U Idaho as a co-author, or just his former student at SDSU.

              1. GH, maybe I should help you with "The nation has problems" once, so I can at least get myself a four.

  8. With home runs in the next six games Alexi Casilla will tie the longest streak of consecutive games with a home run.

  9. Supper tonight at Chez Hayes: pan-fried panko-breaded chicken breasts, accompanied by toasted white beans and Swiss chard with garlic, chili flakes, and Parmesan. Fresh CSA strawberries and icebox cookies for dessert.

    1. What, we can't wait until the third inning on these West Coast games? 🙂

      italian sausages are on the grill; sauteed broccoli, tomato and chevre salad. Kirkland Belgian White Ale.

      1. For this you will need:

        1 15.5 oz can of white beans or 1.5 cups dried white beans
        1 Tbsp olive oil
        1 Tbsp sweet butter
        half a medium onion
        4 cloves garlic, or more to taste (I used about 6 cloves)
        1 bunch Swiss chard, leaves washed and chopped
        juice of half a lemon
        .25 cup grated Parmesan
        S&P to taste

        I had a can of cannellinis on the shelf, but you could use Navy beans or any other white bean. Canned beans will probably break down more in the cooking process, absorbing more of the fat in the pan, so you'll need to watch that. Plate presentation will suffer, as the canned beans will get a little mushy.

        Heat about a tablespoon each of olive oil and butter in a saute pan. Once hot, saute the beans until browned. Add the onion and saute, 3-4 minutes. Ad garlic, saute 1 minute. Add greens. Sprinkle greens with .5 teaspoon salt and cover pan with lid to wilt greens. As soon as greens have wilted, add the lemon juice and Parmesan. Season with S&P to taste.

    5. I have left over porkchops awaiting me at home. I'm still at work and super hungry. I want today to hurry up and end.

      1. Was that supposed to be its own post after the throwing error?

    7. I'm not even sure what I am drinking tonight. Ms Buffalo just brings home growlers of beer from work some nights. No matter how lousy of a choice she makes I still end up the winner.

        1. Now if only I can work out a way to control their tap choices.

  13. Blackburn getting some nice movement on his pitches tonight.

  14. I'll be honest - I'm really staying up tonight solely to see how my team does in the start of the World Series. Unfortunately both LCS's went only 5 games, so I didn't get to reset my starting rotation (of course, neither did my opponent). Still, that means Paul Splittorff is scheduled to start 3 games if it goes seven rather than Larry Dierker.

    1. All this talk about OOTP has gotten me pumped up to play online strat-o-matic again.

    2. Dropped Game 1, 4-1. Gary Thomasson hit a grand slam in the seventh to give me a 6-3 win.

  16. Oh, was there any mention on radio or TV last Sunday about Dan Gladden wishing Randy Ready (Padres hitting coach) a Happy Father's Day? It was hilarious.

        1. I love that he has a career OPS+ of 141. It obviously wasn't sustainable, but nobody can take away his awesome looking baseball-reference page.

      1. Krukow was talking about a promo replica Giants World Series ring paper weight (it looked like he was wearing it on two fingers), and said something like "Wow, that's even bigger than the Marlins' 2007 rings!"

        2. The 2003 Marlins rings are beyond ridiculous. A few years ago, I was at a Giants-Orioles interleague game in Baltimore (Bonds and Palmeiro both homered, it was apparently the first time since 1971(? - Aaron and Mays or something like that) that two current members of the 500 HR club homered in the same game).

          Anyway, the game went extra innings and then the Giants scored a few runs in the top of an inning so the crowd had really thinned out. I snuck down and sat about three rows behind the plate and a Marlins scout was sitting next to me with a radar gun. The ring was absolutely absurd. It was wide enough to cover his middle and pinky finger and approximately an inch in height.

    2. They must've confused 1997 with 2007.

      The Marlins franchise proves that success!=fans.

      Move both them and the Rays to New York.

  25. I generally get tired of the MLB.tv commercials within a single game, but it might take me a while to tire of these girls in the Nair commercial.

  27. Why do they keep showing the same woman on the SF Giants feed?

    Oh nvm, they just said she's a weatherperson

    Wait. WTF?

  32. This Jeremy Vogelsong stuff is getting annoying. And I think the trivia answer is Gladden and Chili although Bedrosian could replace Chili.

      1. This Jeremy couldn't even crack the Majors the last few years. What is a sub-Jeremy? A Jimmer?

  37. The only plausible reason for Robby to be wearing gloves is that he's a serial killer. Any other reason is simply unacceptable.

  41. It's no longer a perfect game. Time to chop them to pieces just how Robbie likes.

          1. IIRC, Telly can always use Delmon as an alibi witness. They seemed to be joined at the hip.

      1. Kaat for Versailles?

        (My knowledge of the early Twins comes from Tony LaRussa's Ultimate Baseball, a PC game circa 1993.)

  46. Alright Twins, if you don't rally next inning I am going to bed.

      2. I can promise not to...uh, umm. something.

        oooh, Dazz waxing about garlic fries and beer at the park

      4. next time you pop your old lady, you make her call you "joe". snootchie bootchies.

        1. I had boxes ready to go for you and cheaps, and tragically, they were packed and sent with all my other stuff while I was at work. Argh.

    1. When she came off that way on the Killer story I gave her a pass because it wasn't her team, but she's just totally devoid of charisma.

  49. Dazz: and they grill hot dogs here too. Crazy. Usually hot dogs are boiled in water.

    Shall we tell him about the new science now?

      1. seriously. He said with wonderment that "they have a hot dog here...that they...GRILL. Usually, they are boiled in WATER."

        or something very, very close to that.

    4. Someone needs to tell him they put cheese on hamburgers now. That'll really blow his mind!

    1. As was the dude in the Kirby jersey mouthing "it wasn't me". And now they are tossing the dude who caught the ball! Ha!

  55. I'm watching Mexico-Honduras on Univision. I have no idea what these announcers are saying but they are better than Bert or Dazzle.

  57. Wow, getting kicked out for catching a ball hit to your seat.

    Smooth move Giants organization.

    1. The Twins should offer him free front row tickets to all away games the rest of the season. Best PR move ever!

  58. kicking a fan out for trying to catch a ball in the seats? That's not very cool. But apparently it was a Giants fan???

    2. It appeared to be. A guy with a powder blue retro Twins jersey was two seats away though.

    3. as others noticed, his admonishment of his own actions made him appear to be a giants fan. it was pretty lame to kick him out though.

        1. Yea, this is a Giants game, not an A's game. Nobody's gonna spill their chardonnay to get in the guy's face

        1. I love New York, but my first day there, I saw a guy in a suit accidentally tap the back of another guy in a suit's car, and the "victim" got out, dragged the other guy out of the car, and they beat each other to a bloody mess in broad daylight during lunch hour. I've never doubted any sensational NY story I've heard since.

          1. i had a buddy (from edina) who put the NY evening news on par with most action movies.

  62. I'm guessing he wasn't kicked out - he was just caving to peer pressure and getting out of there.

  64. I've always liked their right field wall. Mauer should hit one off of it...or over it.

      1. Laddie took to hipster culture quickly. He's going to be wearing the old mitten-sized glove in no time.

  67. What a miss by Gio in the Mexico-Honduras game.

    That's why Spurs don't let you play!

  68. Surprisingly enough, the posters on the Giants SB Nation site, Mccovey Chronicles, feel ejecting the fan was the right move.

    1. My favorite post:

      twins-jersey wearing guy had a hand in the melee, didn't he?
      by Hatuxka on Jun 22, 2011 8:52 PM PDT reply

      1. That qualifies as a melee? I don't even think it was a brouhaha. Seemed more like a hubbub.

          2. I think there have already been enough boners in Giants history. (And Steve Garvey never even played for them!)

        3. i don't think it was even that strong. could have been a "to-do", but even that's a stretch.

        1. Really? I'm going to be at a Costco this weekend and am dangerously low on amber colored spirits. Is there a brand that Kirkland compares to?

          1. My palette isn't very discerning, but I usually have Maker's around the house and found any drink with Kirkland in its place was pretty tasty.

      2. This hootch ain't too bad, and at 17.99 for 750ml the price is just right. The label reads "Single Speyside Malt Scotch Whisky", not the best, but far from the worst scotch I've sampled.

        1. I will have to look for that next time -- I know I saw it at my local the last time I was there.

          1. I should add that it's definitely a young whisky with a bit of a pronounced bite on the back end.

            1. Tawny Finley, in a declaration to the Orange County Superior Court, claims her husband, Chuck Finley, used steroids amongst other drugs. She even details that Finley bought the steroids from a man named "Rob" from Mission Viejo, and that she has seen him inject himself. She also claims he bragged about being able to circumvent MLB's testing policy.[3] When told of his wife's accusations, which also included heavy marijuana use and alcohol abuse, Finley replied: "I can't believe she left out the cross-dressing."[4]

              Heh, I love him already.

  73. Alright, that is enough for me. I hope to see a better score in the morning.

  88. Tolbot? How is that an improvement over Blackburn?

    Gotta go pick up friends at the airport, so he will probably jack a donger.

    2. "If you feel like you can't get it over the plate, feel free to just put it on a tee."

  93. This is the first time I've seen him (thankfully). Dumatrait looks like a trucker.

    1. I'm guessing he's unavailable to pitch because he's pitched two innings in each of the past four games for Rochester. Without allowing a baserunner.

  100. Just because they haven't been pitching, don't mean they haven't stopped sucking.

  101. Bullpen, don't make me bail on this game. I'm a west coaster. What message does that send to the midwest dudes who stayed up for this crap?!

  106. Brian Wilson is good, I get that, but do we really have to send in Hoey here?

    Bert: "High ERA, he's had a couple of innings that got away from him." That's an understatement.

  114. At least this year, Wilson's mugshot looks like Wilson.
    Also: Hoey has a very triangular face.

  115. Wilson's beard has gone well past the point of being silly & amusing, but it's not quite reached "so over the top it's hilarious again" status. So I'd sure like to see the Twins smack him around here.

      1. I'm with you here, Spooky (not that he's my favorite non-Twin).
        I enjoy people acting different and never exactly letting us in on the joke.

        1. He was interviewed via Skype on the 4ltr, and in the middle of a question by the interviewer, an S&M gimp casually walked through the frame in the background. When the interviewer freaked out and asked what it was, Wilson pretended he had no idea what he was referring to.

    2. It was fine until they started making commercials about it.

      I enjoy oddities until they become a thing.

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