Game 126: Yankees at Twins

The good news is the Twins have a chance today to avoid losing a series to the Yankees for the first time since Aug. 11-13, 2008.

The bad news is the Twins are sending Nick Blackburn to the hill, who is going through a bad stretch. He has given up at least four runs in four of his last five starts, although his one good start came against the Red Sox, the one team with a better offense than the Yankees. So, you never know.

Since the Delmon Young trade, the Twins are averaging 5 runs per game and that stretch includes facing Justin Verlander and C.C. Sabathia. Hopefully, they can do better than that against Ivan Nova. They'll most likely need it. GO TWINS!!

218 thoughts on “Game 126: Yankees at Twins”

  1. D'oh. Morneau out with a sore foot, heading into series finale against Yankees

    YANKEES (76-48)

    1. Derek Jeter, DH
    2. Curtis Granderson, CF
    3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
    4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
    5. Robinson Cano, 2B
    6. Nick Swisher, RF
    7. Russell Martin, C
    8. Brett Gardner, LF
    9. Eduardo Nunez, SS

    Starting pitcher: RH Ivan Nova (12-4, 4.21 ERA)

    TWINS (55-70)

    1. Ben Revere, CF
    2. Trevor Plouffe, 2B
    3. Joe Mauer, 1B
    4. Jason Kubel, RF
    5. Jim Thome, DH
    6. Danny Valencia, 3B
    7. Rene Tosoni, LF
    8. Matt Tolbert, SS
    9. Drew Butera, C

    Starting pitcher: RH Nick Blackburn (7-10, 4.53 ERA)

      1. I wasn't going to say anything, but I'm Carl Sagan. You probably aren't surprised, since I constantly can't help but introduce the WGOM to advanced astronomy.

        1. I wasn't going to say anything, but I'm Carl Sagan.

          Odds against: billllllions and billllllions.

        2. Good to meet you Carl, I'm a big fan! Also, I'll be expecting a lot out of you in the next The Nation Has Problems.

  2. Just think, the next time I'll watch a game with you guys, I won't be lying on the floor!

      1. I see no reason to doubt the moving company here in Charleston. It's the one in Des Moines that sucks. Of course, it was still only in Indiana yesterday afternoon, so there could be delays.

      1. According to BB Ref, He was "only" 10 for 16 against Blackburn. I could've sworn he killed him even worse than that.

        Amusingly, he's 0-4 against Matt Capps.

  3. Today's text poll of the day on the Yankees broadcast, best Twins player of all-time:

    Carew
    Oliva
    Kirby
    Killebrew

    1. Carew is the franchise career leader in rWAR and has three of the top 10 seasons (1, 4t, 9). Harmon is the career leader in offensive rWAR. I'd go with Sir Rodney.

          1. Three championships with them, plus he was on the 2001 team where the world series was cancelled after game 6, so I'm thinking true Yankee.

            1. I thought Jeter won that one in Game 5 and then they felt sorry for the expansion team and played a couple exhibitions in their home park.

  4. You know, if you don't strike anyone out, it is a really, really bad idea to walk a lot of batters. Just sayin'.

  5. Jeter is up with the bases loaded, that can only lead to an 8 run home run--or so the 4ltr has lead me to believe.

    1. I'm surprised that the 4ltr doesn't do live lookins every time Jeter comes to the plate.

  6. Blac_burn's second inning reminded me of Richie Tenenabaums's last tennis match.

      1. Margret Blac_burn was watching on from the Legend's Club, I'm sure of it.

  7. Dick claims to know the basics of human anatomy. I want him to prove it by explaining where babies come from.

  8. So the Calf has learned how to crawl in the past week. Holy heck, these things can really fly once they figure this thing out, huh? I am getting up every 90 seconds to re-position him.

    I give myself a week before I order some sort of baby cage from amazon.

    1. C'mon, it's not like he called him Dusty Highes, or Jim Hoey, or Jeff Manship, or Eric Hacker, or... holy crap we've had a lot of awful relief pitchers this year.

      1. Yeah, that can't be argued. I don't know whether to be annoyed that Jeter is drawing tons of money to suck or to be thrilled that the Yankees are paying tons of money for Jeter to suck.

        1. Assuming he does make it to 1 rWAR, he'll be paid $15 dollars for that one win he provided.

          In fairness, it was probably against the Red Sox, so it was worth it.

  9. Phew, the baby swing is put together and the Pack'n'Play set up. Now I deserve another beer.

      1. I'm trying to get either my pilsner keg or my smoke stout keg emptied for the american amber I made yesterday. I should probably be drinking the smokestout in honor of smokestout's scoreless innings today.

      2. I've got a "Homebrewing is a Metaphor For Life" Amber Ale that I made. It's smooth and delicious, if a little less carbonated than I'd prefer.

        Since I mowed the lawn earlier today, I've also had three gin and tonics. That, combined with some quality Twins pitching wiggling and that last Yankees error make the world feel pretty alright.

      3. Speaking of beer, someone was talking about the Summir 25th anniversary the other day. I saw a sixer of the extra pale with "25th Anniversary" on it. Is that just a different packaging for the extra or is it a different beer altogether? (I know I could look it up, but that doesn't facilitated conversation very well.)

        1. The epa with 25th is just special packaging, the silver anniversary is a double IPA and worth keeping an eye out for.

          1. Ok, that's what I kinda figured. I am definitely interested in what Summit would do with a DIPA.

            Another question, I've got a brew day post I'm working on. Would those that care prefer to read about it this evening or tomorrow morning?

      1. I can't believe that idiot continues to go on about steroids and makes claims to know who never touched them, and none of the producers suggest that he stops (or maybe they do, but he's got too much power or too little control over himself). Now, I'm not going to say I want Thome to be proven dirty one day, but I just can't take the naivete of the people who continue to use "he's a nice guy who respects the game" to prove that he never juiced, whereas Palmeiro and Ortiz enjoyed the same arguments until the days they were caught.

        1. I heard it said that it's a good thing Rodriguez is clean, so once he passes Bonds all will be right in the world. Yep, that worked out.

          1. I read that at the time. I don't know whether to laugh or cry at the fact that writers and announcers continue to praise certain players for being clean no matter how many times they get burned.

  10. Tosoni, Tolbert, and Butters with nobody out and runners at 2nd and 3rd. Advantage -- Yankees.

      1. I think it has been made pretty clear that I am the weakest of the banner makers on staff.

  11. I wonder if Nova is going to let Liriano wear number 47 next season after he is traded to the Yankees or if Nova will make Frankie pick a new number.

      1. The nation of tejas doesn't care for the pig. True story, I had to order a boston butt from my local grocer. I'm setting out on an epic plan to cook my way through Bittman's How to Cook Everything one sunday dinner at a time.

        1. I love that book.

          but seriously? Have you tried a Mexican grocery/carniceria? Surely there is one (or two, or three) in your town?? what about these guys???

          1. Yeah, there are a few spots that I frequent when looking for specialty items, but the quality of meat is not terrific. The above is mostly tongue in cheek, but I was shocked, Shocked, that I had to order the pig this week. I will say that the quality of the cut was excellent.

            1. Yea, that is shocking.

              I live in a community that is ~50 pct hispanic. My local Food For Less grocery store has piles and piles of mangoes, papayas, chiles, big bulk food bins of dried beans, a large section of dried chiles, seven or eight different brands of tortillas in assorted sizes and types, Mexican sodas, etc., etc. In the meat section, I can get goat, beef tongue, tripe, pork butts and fresh hams, chuck roast cut thin for carne asada, 3 different brands of chorizo, 3-4 different brands of mexican cheese, etc.

              On the other hand, I discovered yesterday that it doesn't sell tofu. (I had to go to the other grocery near us, which is more "upscale")

  12. The TBS feed is blacked out for me here, but the Quad City Swing - Beloit Snappers game is on the Mediacom channel, so that's kinda cool.

  13. Bert: You're not going to get a .280, .290 average from Swisher but you'll get some power.

    Is Bert really still unaware of OBP? He knows Swisher's valuable, but he still can't figure out why?

  14. to top it all off, I just dropped my french press carafe in the sink, shattering it, and sliced my hand open. Just a minor-league cut, to go with the theme.

    1. Twins training staff will let you know in 4-7 days whether or not you might require further medical care.

  15. Well, at least it only took a hair over 3 hours. If the Twins have to suck, I'm glad they can do it in a reasonable amount of time.

  16. Looks like meat was right. Expect Blac_burn to be without a beard tomorrow.

    Blackburn described the pain in his forearm as "sharp." #Twins will make roster move of some kind tomorrow. Swarzak starting Friday for sure

    1. Maybe if they send Blackburn, Baker, Slama, and Gibson to get Tommy John at the same time they can get a bulk discount?

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