2011 Twins Game Logs

Game 107: Twins at A’s

213 Comments

After an ugly series against the Tigers and a split against the Rangers, a series against the A's is texactly what we need right now. Going from facing lineups with Miguel Cabreras and Josh Hamiltons to a lineup whose greatest threat is Josh Willingham is kind of a nice change of pace.

Luckily for A's fans, we're going to try to counteract that lineup by bringing out Nick Blackburn tonight. Blackie's been in second-half form lately, carrying a 6.94 ERA over his last seven starts (and that's after a couple of very nice starts in the middle of this month). We've got the resistible force meeting the movable object - which will suck less? Only time will tell.

The Twins get to face Guillermo Moscoso. Guillermo's trad stats look okay (3-5, 3.47 ERA), but he's carrying some ugly peripherals. He's not striking people out (4.5 K/9), he's walking more than a pitcher like him should (3.5 BB/9), and he's giving up lots of homers (1.4 HR/9, which seems high, until you consider he's got a ground ball rate of just over 25%). Combine that with a BABIP of .219, and you would think that this is exactly the type of pitcher the Twins would tee off on (no ground balls, no strikeouts). So, let's see some of that, then.

I expect a high scoring game. However, since I'm expecting that, I'm sure the game will go scoreless until the 17th inning, when Butera will bunt home a run, making Cuddyer the winning pitcher (Jose Mijares won't be used, because no loving manager would put his team's fans through two straight nights of Mijares pitching).

213 thoughts on “Game 107: Twins at A’s”

      1. I swear, if they trade him, I'm going to be really disappointed. There might be only two or three (Mauer, Cuddy, and Baker) that I'd be sadder about.

            1. Mauer's contract would be pretty difficult to move at this point, enough to make it impracticable to the point that it isn't something to worry about for a long time. I feel the way nibbish does about Span and Baker, though. (But not Cuddyer; I do think they should be/should have been shopping him around.)

              1. Baseball and business-wise, it makes a lot of sense. I'd like to see a good return on Cuddy, but part of me would be sad, just because Cuddy's the last tie to pre-2002.

                  1. I wasn't necessarily referring to the eeconomics of a possible trade, but rather the fact that the relationship between fan, player, and club is generally more emotionally driven by the former. Rather it makes economic or business sense to trade Mauer in one situation or another won't figure into it for a majority of fans who have a more visceral connection with Mauer.

          2. I think following him on twitter helped. He seems like a very personable guy. Plus, it's been a while since we've had a good leadoff hitter who we were willing to use as a leadoff hitter.

            I still like Baker, though, and Mauer's just Mauer.

            1. I love Baker, but I think I love Span even more. And, yes, it's in part because he's so well-cast as a leadoff hitter, even if the Twins can't understand that a similar player should hit second.

  8. Over on Gameday, I can get a Matt Capps badge if he gets two strikeouts tonight. What, do they expect him to pitch five innings?

        1. There's been a seeming uptick in "citizens with the same thought at the same time" lately.

          1. I've noticed that. Girls all get on the same cycle when they spend too much time together, and guys all make the same smartass jokes.

  9. K, Blackie, don't suck. It's been a while since I've been able to watch a full game, and I'd like a good one. Plus, I just got Red Dead Redemption, and I'd like to have a good reason to not be playing it right now.

    1. I can think of something that will give you a good reason to not be playing it down the road...

        2. There's a certain horse race at a certain point in the game that has me not having touched it for about 3 months.

            1. I hope you have better luck with it. I don't know why developers have to put things like these into games that they otherwise nailed.

              1. Rockstar games seem to have it the worst. They really need to understand that I don't play Grand Theft Auto for the racing missions.

                1. I don't think I'm giving up any spoilers here when I say, if they'd have let me cheat and shoot the other racer's horses, I wouldn't have minded so much.

              1. I don't remember exactly where, but there was one race about 3/4 the way through that I had to have tried 4 dozen times. I loved the game other than that part, and I did end up beating it, but Lord, did that part suck.

                1. I don't remember what that might be. Perhaps I got super lucky within the first few attempts.

                  I loved that game. For me, it was the perfect difficulty level.

                  1. Everything else was just right, and I do love every game in that series (well, one through three, anyway... can't speak to any others). Naughty Dog (and by extension, Insomniac) has come out some brilliant games.

                    1. 1-3 are the only ones Naughty Dog made. The others were by outside developers.

                      Insomniac is my favorite developer, all things considered. I've pumped sick hours into Ratchet and Clank.

                    3. The games by outside developers are surprisingly solid, actually. Just a few days ago I accidentally deleted my gamesave in the most recent one, though.

                      Similarly, R&C has two games done by outside developers (Size Matters and Secret Agent Clank), and both of those are pretty good too. You can tell the budget is smaller, though, when you notice the backgrounds aren't very detailed.

  12. This could be a long one, dudes. It's an hour earlier than last night's, though, so hopefully a few more of you will stick it out with me...

    2. I'm gonna try, but I've been out doing yard work all day and am frickin tired.

    4. Like I mentioned earlier, I haven't been able to watch a ballgame in a while, so I'm in this one for the long haul (unless it becomes unbearable to watch, always a chance when Blackburn's pitching).

                1. Wow, good for you, dude. I remember thinking that you were probably a smoker, too, because your voice seemed raspy.

                  I smoked for nine years and it was about three years after quitting that I could finally speak clearly into the late hours.

                  1. I'd probably just been doing a lot more talking than I usually do that day (I think I had some other gathering that I attended earlier that day too).

  18. Turns out the FIL is breaking out a crapload of the good liquor tonight. I might see this whole game, but I'll be lucky if I remember it.

  25. Can Denard Span catch a flight to Oakland tonight to play in tomorrow's game?

  26. Ok, so WTF just happened? Gameday says someone tripled with the bases loaded, yet the A's only have 2 runs total.

    1. I believe we've had "contract with the devil expired" Blackburn for about a month now, haven't we?

  28. Blackburn on the mound and a Sandra Bullock jaunt my wife turned on the tv. This day sucks.

  31. Looks like I picked a great time to flip it over to the Twins game. Saw Mackey tweet that Blackburn's throwing everything down the middle, so is he doing that to some batters AND walking other guys?

    2. He's taking the Crapps approach- if it's over the plate, it's in the middle. Plus, if the the other team hits it, it goes to the warning track or further.

    3. Pitches right down the middle for some...pitches way off the plate for others!

  34. Hey, nibbish, FYI: I sent the cheaptoy blonde ale to secondary just now and put in the dry hops. It looked really good in the siphon tube.

      1. My goal is to bottle it next weekend on Saturday, then try to drink it sometime around the end of August.

  35. Attempted sac bunts in the first inning (with a guy on second, FFS), potential Span trade for a reliever, Delmon Young.

    Damn, I'm just not liking this team right now.

  38. Anyone else think Joe told Blackburn that he's getting the signals crossed up and that he is, in fact, NOT asking for a pitch right down the middle?

      1. Based on the called third strike to Kubel, three feet outside might not be a bad idea as long as he hits the glove.

  39. Miss Congeniality, that's the name of the movie my wife turned on tonight that I couldn't recall the name of. F*ck is it awful.

      1. As bad as it probably is to lean on alcohol for things like that, I had beer to take my mind off of it.

    2. And yet, if I made a list of the five worst movies I've seen (in part) of hers, that might miss the list. She is a film-killer.

      1. I'm in that same boat. So it probably makes sense to just give up complaining about them since I will rarely/never be a fan of it. At least it wasn't Cuddyer at the plate, that's my least favorite of all.

        1. I decided to make peace with the bunt in certain situations, even though I never like it. I should do the same with the hit and run, even though I like it less than the bunt. It's a ridiculous risk.

      1. I'm trying to hold down the fort here, too, though I'm getting pretty toasted on New Belgium Triple.

        1. I don't see me holding down this fort for too much longer, though, because Blackburn games make me break out in hives.

          1. The best part about it is that my wife bought it for me on Thursday out of the blue.

              1. There was a discussion about it a while back in which, I believe, bS came up with a pretty good one. But I can't remember it right now.

                1. I think I started it as a joke, saying you couldn't call her either "cheap" nor "toy." But yeah, I don't remember what bS said.

                  1. Someone did come up with a pretty good one, though. I should really go back looking for it.

      2. I'll hang in for at least a while longer while I drink gin & sodas. The Twins seem to be pushing me towards making them doubles...

        1. I'll make you a deal: you're allowed to make every drink the strength of the previous A's hit. If they hit a double, you mix a double. If they jack a donger, God help you.

          1. Haha, considering I need to be able to function tomorrow and the Twins have gone to the bullpen, I think it is a good idea to pass

  43. Ah, a fair ball that just clears the third base line...either the most beautiful or disgusting thing in baseball, depending on who you're cheering for.

        1. It is a sickness, but I absolutely love hearing the dumb trades radio callers come up with.

          "Hey, what do you think about a Delmon and Blackburn for Hanley Ramirez trade? The Marlins could really use an outfielder and a starting pitcher. I guess we could throw in Dumatrait if they demanded bullpen help."

          2. Its dumb because if you're gonna propose something stupid, you might as well aim a bit higher than a talented malcontent.

          3. Rosterbation is hilarious. I often wonder if the radio dudes actually believe these trades are possible, or if they're just throwing out outlandish returns to garner listeners.

    1. To be fair, Blackburn didn't have his best... oh, hell with it. Eff you, Blackie.

  49. Anyone else have a feeling Valencia's non-play there will get way more attention than it should in the post-game press conference?

    1. Blackburn's a gamer, Valencia needs to make that very difficult play to bail out his crappy pitcher who's battling his tail off.

    2. The viewpoints towards certain players that I like by the Twin's coaches and FO are testing my patience.

    1. Twins Geek was going off about how he was the key to the Twins' playoff appearance a couple of years ago. Apparently 3-4 timely hits offset a couple hundred super-shitty at-bats.

      2. There hasn't been a whole lot of Twins Geek content this season that I've found persuasive.

        2. If nothing else, he was my gateway to the Twins blogging community. I don't keep up with his work these days but sometimes see a re-tweet that doesn't strike me as insightful.

          1. Certainly. In my opinion, he and Gleeman are the two original pillars of Twins Blogdom, and TG did more for molding that into a "community"-oriented direction than anyone. I don't mean to disparage his importance to that, I just don't find much in his writing or analysis that I agree with or am persuaded to agree with much any more.

    2. Keith Law: "The Giants, tired of playing a statue (Tejada) or an automatic out (Crawford) at short, acquire Orlando Cabrera, who is both"

  54. What's Shortstack doing striking everyone out? That's not the proper, scrappy way to do things.

        1. I had one of the crappiest margaritas I've ever had the other day. A new "Mexican" restaurant opened here in town and they server their margaritas out of a f*ckin punch dispenser-thing.

          1. I think serving their margaritas out of punch dispensers is the usual thing, man. I can't recall a time - whether the margarita was terrible or excellent - that I wasn't served that way in a Mexican restaurant.

        3. My hard liquor snobbery is limited to gin, which is the only hard liquor I drink enough of anymore to really know what kinds I like (or don't). About a decade ago I went from drinking Tanqueray No. Ten to Bombay Sapphire, and then about three years ago to Hendrick's, which I absolutely love.

          The only tequila I've really ever latched onto is Tres Generaciones, which I first had at a dinner with my best friend's family at their home near Seattle. Typically they'd drink vodka (they're Armenian-Russian folks who emigrated from the USSR), but my buddy's allergic to vodka, so they also keep tequila on hand for toasting, which is huge in that culture. I drink the plata, as things aged in oak cause me to redeposit them later.

          1. OMG. Believe it or not, it turns out that Tres Generaciones is what I'm currently drinking.

            The very worst drinking experience I eve had was due to Tanq No. Ten. As a result, I almost never touch gin anymore.

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