This Week in Ex-Twins

Arizona organization (AAA Reno) activates David Winfree from the disabled list.
Cubs purchase the contract of Ramon Ortiz from AAA Iowa.
White Sox organization (AAA Charlotte) places Michael Restovich on the seven day disabled list.
Dodgers place Casey Blake on the fifteen day disabled list.
Yankees organization (AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre) releases Bartolo Colon.
Yankees organization (AAA Scranton/Wilkes-Barre) places Mike Lamb on the seven day disabled list.
Oakland assigns Grant Balfour to Sacramento (AAA) on a rehab assignment, then activates him from the disabled list.
Pittsburgh assigns Joe Beimel to Bradenton (A) on a rehab assignment, then sends him to Altoona (AA).
San Diego promotes Bobby Kielty from San Antonio (AA), where he was on a rehab assignment, to Tucson (AAA).

Minor Details: Games of 7/7

Rochester 6, Lehigh Valley 4 in Rochester.  Chase Lambin hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to break a 4-4 tie.  Lambin was 3-for-3; he also singled, doubled, and walked, scoring three times.  Delmon Young and Steve Singleton each had two hits.  Scott Diamond pitched seven innings, giving up four runs (three earned) on ten hits and a walk.  Dusty Hughes worked a scoreless eighth, walking two, to get the win, and Jim Hoey struck out the side in the ninth to get his second save.

New Britain 4, New Hampshire 3 in New Hampshire (12 innings—completion of suspended game).  Chris Herrmann’s two-out single brought in Yangervis Solarte with the winning run.  Seven Rock Cats had one hit each.  Blake Martin worked four shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out three.  Tony Davis got the win with two shutout innings, giving up one hit and striking out two.  Ex-Twins Yohan Pino and Bobby Korecky each pitched for the Fisher Cats, with Korecky taking the loss.

New Britain 5, New Hampshire 2 (Game 2—Scheduled 7 innings).  The Rock Cats scored all of their runs in the seventh inning.  Evan Bigley had two hits.  Steve Hirschfeld struck out five in six innings, giving up a run on three hits and two walks to get the win.

St. Lucie 5, Ft. Myers 1 in St. Lucie.  The Mets scored three in the sixth to break a 1-1 tie.  Jon Goncalves had two doubles.  Aaron Hicks singled and doubled.  Pat Dean allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits in six innings.  He struck out five and walked none.

Beloit 10, Peoria 4 in Peoria.  The Snappers scored four in the fourth to take a commanding 8-3 lead.  Andy Leer had two singles and a double.  Lance Ray singled and homered.  Jairo Perez singled and doubled, bringing his average back up to .396.  Wang-wei Lin had two hits.  B. J. Hermsen gave up three runs on six hits and a walk in six innings.

Elizabethton 9, Kingsport 7 in Kingsport.  The Twins built a 9-3 lead after five, then held on.  Roy Larson had two two-baggers.  Tyler Koelling singled and homered, driving in three.  Miguel Sano singled and tripled, raising his average to .310.  Rory Rhodes, Matej Hejma, and Justin Parker each had two hits.  Starter Pedro Guerra struck out six in 3.2 innings, but also allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits.  He walked none.  The win went to Bart Carter, who struck out two in 1.2 scoreless innings.  Madison Boer struck out the side in the ninth for his third save.

GCL Orioles 3, Twins 1 (Game 1—Scheduled 7 innings).  The Orioles scored single runs in the third, fourth, and sixth.  Drew Leachman singled and tripled.  Hung Yi Chen struck out four in three innings, giving up an unearned run on two hits and no walks.  Cole Johnson took the loss, as he gave up two runs (one earned) on two hits and three walks while striking out four in four innings.  The Twins made four errors.

GCL Twins 3, Orioles 1 (Game 2—Scheduled 7 innings).  A two-run third provided all the runs the Twins needed.  Aderlin Mejia and Jorge Polanco each had two hits, with Mejia raising his average to .368.  Starter Bobby O’Neill pitched three shutout innings, giving up just one hit.  Matthew Tomshaw got the win, striking out two in two shutout innings.  Luis Nunez worked the last two innings, allowing a run on three hits and a walk while striking out three to get the save.

DSL Diamondbacks 14, Twins 4 at Diamondbacks.  The Diamondbacks scored five in the first and ten in the first four.  Dubal Baez and Pedro Estaba each had two hits.  Starter Javier Vargas faced six batters and did not retire any of them, giving up three hits and a walk and hitting two.  He was charged with all five first inning runs.  Each of the four relief pitchers allowed at least one run as well.  The Twins made three errors, walked eight batters, and hit four.

Friday Music Day: July 8, 2011

Long awaited, my summer 2011 mix:

Perfect for little ears
1. Adele "Set Fire to the Rain"
2. WU LYF "Dirt"
3. Shakira f. El Cata "Rabiosa"
4. Tristen "Baby Drugs"
5. Battles "Ice Cream"
6. Katy B "Louder"
7. Hooray For Earth "No Love"
8. Ha Ha Tonka "1928"
9. Jonti "Firework Spraying Moon"
10. Fleet Foxes "Helplessness Blues"
11. Buraka Som Sistema "Hangover (BaBaBa) (Radio Edit)"
12. JKR70 presents Clay Hughes "Love I Gave You"
13. Dionne Bromfield f. Lil Twist "Foolin'"
14. EMA "Milkman"
15. LMFAO f. Lauren Bennet and Goon Rock "Party Rock Anthem (Radio Edit)"
16. Thurston Moore "Benediction"
17. Zammuto "YAY"
18. My Morning Jacket "Holdin On To Black Metal"
19. Chris Brown f. Benny Benassi "Beautiful People"
20. Beyoncé "End Of Time"

Dirty Addendum
1. The Weeknd "Wicked Games"
2. Beyoncé "Countdown"
3. Rihanna "Man Down"
4. Nicki Minaj f. Ester Dean "Super Bass"
5. Vybz Kartel "Go Go Wine"
6. Frank Ocean "Novacane"
7. Shabazz Palaces "Swerve... The reeping of all that is worthwhile (Noir not withstanding)"

See if you can tell which ones I've got dedicated to Chuck James in my heart.

Happy Birthday–July 8

Hank O'Day (1862)
Ivey Wingo (1890)
Clint Brown (1903)
Salty Parker (1912)
Antonio Ramirez Muno (1927)
Hector Lopez (1929)
Al Spangler (1933)
Darrell Brandon (1940)
Ken Sanders (1941)
Jim Ollom (1945)
Lerrin LaGrow (1948)
Alan Ashby (1951)
Terry Puhl (1956)
Bob Kipper (1964)
Jerome Walton (1965)
Bobby Ayala (1969)
Danny Ardoin (1974)

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to AMR’s daughter.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–July 8

2011 Game 86: Twins at Hosers

Hey, the White Sox! This should be fun.

Carl Pavano 5-6, 4.19 ERA, 3.90 FIP, 4.13 xFIP, 1.5 WAR
Philip Humber 8-4, 2.69 ERA, 3.51 FIP, 4.02 xFIP, 2.1 WAR

Well, that looks like a personnel decision that hasn't worked out for the Twins, but I suppose we knew that when Santana was traded in the first place.

Humber strikes out a lot more guys than Pavano at this point, but he walks considerably more, too. It would appear that this very good year is thanks in part to a .222 BABIP, but his 103 innings aren't an insignificant sample, so it looks like Humber might just be a better than average starter.

Pavano, meanwhile, continues to look more like Blackburn, striking out nobody and being prone to the occasional shelling. The Twins have been owning the White Sox in recent years, but I'm not all that comfortable tonight. Hopefully I'll be able to see it - the internet at the place in Phoenix isn't great. Hopefully Dumatrait and Burnett won't get anywhere near it, either.

Classic Album Reviews: R.E.M. — Murmur (1983)

 

It’s hard to describe how much a breath of fresh air Murmur was in 1983. Punk was a spent force and spandex clad hair bands were beginning their mighty popular rise -- a force that would go unabated  for over 10 years (thanks Nirvana!) As with most 20 year olds college kids at the time, I was discovering all the punk and post-punk I missed living as a teenager in suburban flyover land. However there wasn’t much that was new, that I could call my own. Then came Murmur.

To be honest, I don’t remember exactly where or when I first heard Murmur but I do remember being pretty much an early adopter of the band. It really was something that you never heard before. Finally a band that belonged to you and your friends and not to a bunch of jaded old punks, self-important baby boomers, or long-haired hippies. Critics talked about “jangly” guitars like the Byrds but I never heard that. It was dreamy, atmospheric with lyrics that were indecipherable and the lyrics you could hear didn’t make any sense. Here is the first verse of Radio Free Europe:

Beside yourself if radio's gonna stay.
Reason: it could polish up the grey.
Put that, put that, put that up your wall
That this isn't country at all

Don’t worry Michael Stipe doesn’t know what it means either.

Any band can do dreamy and atmospheric but what makes someone want to listen over and over again is that the songs have to be good, even if you can’t understand the lyrics, and Murmur is full of good songs. Radio Free Europe was the big hit of course even if Cities 97 has played it to death. Pilgrimage, Talk About the Passion, and Shaking Through have always been favorites. Catapult has a perfect bass guitar and drum opening that’s never been done before or since. Mike Mills was the most accomplished musician at the time the album was recorded (bring it you Pete Buck defenders!)  and you can tell as the bass work is exquisite. Michael Stipe’s voice really is a 4th instrument and the arcane lyrics add to the moodiness.

A great example of Stipe’s vocal work is in Talk about the Passion. During the end of the second verse there are strings accompanying Peter Buck’s guitar.  It repeats its refrain and then Stipe’s vocal humming comes in right with the strings and you literally cannot tell where the strings end and the vocals begin. Truly an amazing song. Peter Buck’s guitar on Shaking Through is simple yet adds a complexity to the song as it complements the vocals and a piano.

I’ve enjoyed this album for nearly 30 years and I cannot even think of not having it for another 30, it’s simply that good. The songs have many layers and can be uplifting when you need a jolt or quiet when you need some introspection time. You can focus on a specific musician or have the songs wash over you like a shower.  Regardless of what kind of music you like, this is one album that crosses genres and should be in everyone’s collection.

 

Minor Details: Games of 7/6

Rochester 7, Lehigh Valley 0 in Rochester.  Four Red Wings pitchers combined to throw a no-hitter.  Jeff Manship pitched the first four innings, walking two and striking out four.  Jake Stevens worked the next three, walking one and striking out four.  Kyle Waldrop and Jim Hoey each pitched a perfect inning.  Stevens was credited with the win.  Dustin Martin doubled twice and scored three times.  Nate Roberts had two hits.  Chase Lambin drove in three runs.  Delmon Young hit a double in four at-bats.

New Britain 1, New Hampshire 0 in New Hampshire. (Game suspended in the bottom of the third).  The game will be completed before the regularly scheduled game this evening.  The Rock Cats do not have a hit yet; the run scored on a two-base error, a wild pitch, and a ground out.  Deinys Suarez did the pitching for the Rock Cats.

Ft. Myers 3, St. Lucie 2 in St. Lucie (11 innings).  The winning run scored on an error, a wild pitch, a fly out, and another error.  Derek McCallum had two hits.  Jhon Garcia worked six innings, giving up a run on six hits and two walks.  Matt Schuld got the win, giving up a run on five hits in four innings.  Matt Hauser pitced a perfect eleventh to get the save.

Peoria 3, Beloit 2 in Peoria.  The Snappers scored two in the top of the seventh to take a 2-1 lead, but the Chiefs got two in the bottom of the seventh to win.  Michael Gonzales singled and hit his twelfth homer of the year.  Andrew Achter gave up a run on four hits and a walk in six innings, striking out five.  Jose Gonzalez took the loss, allowing two runs on three hits in two innings.

Elizabethton 9, Kingsport 3 in Kingsport.  The Twins scored four in the first and four in the third.  Miguel Sano singled, doubled, and tripled, scoring three times to raise his average to .303.  Nick Lockwood singled and doubled.  Jairo Rodriguez had two hits.  Todd Van Steensel pitched five shutout innings, giving up four hits and a walk.

GCL Orioles 5, Twins 3 at Twins (Game 1—Scheduled 7 innings).  The Twins had five hits and made four errors.  Angel Mata allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits while striking out three in three innings.  Tyler Herr took the loss, surrendering three runs (two earned) on five hits and a walk while striking out three in 2.1 innings.

GCL Orioles at Twins (Game 2).  Postponed.

DSL Twins 3, Padres 2 at Twins.  The Twins scored two in the eighth to overcome a 2-1 deficit.  The Twins had only three hits in the game while making three errors.  Starter Felix Jorge gave up two unearned runs on a hit and a walk while striking out three in three innings.  Jose Abreu pitched three hitless innings.  Melciades De La Cruz got the win with a scoreless eighth and Francisco Nunez got the save with a scoreless ninth.

Cuddyer’s Teammates

I've been following and enjoying Michael Cuddyer's weekly web column for FSNorth. I often get behind and catch up on a few weeks' worth at once. Today, I read the two most recent columns, including this one from June 29th: "Teammate bonds stand test of time". In it, he remarks:

If I had to guess, I would say I have had more than 100 teammates since I began my major league career, and I have played for only one team!

Well, that's the kind of info that I can muscle my way through a bunch of data to find! Just a few hours on b-r.com!

In honor of Cuddy's All-Star selection, I present the following list of all 172 players that have been Michael Cuddyer's active-roster teammate on the Twins for at least one day.

Continue reading Cuddyer’s Teammates

Name Games
Justin Morneau 1003
Torii Hunter 993
Joe Mauer 862
Nick Punto 747
Jacque Jones 727
Jason Kubel 706
Cristian Guzman 554
Luis Rivas 549
Corey Koskie 542
Doug Mientkiewicz 514
Lew Ford 494