Twins record: 56-77
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MLB Game Wrap
Oh hey, the Twins won a game.
Hitter of the Week: Luke Hughes
Pitcher of the Week: Matt Capps
Monthly Archives: August 2011
Sunday Dinner. Pork’d again.
Okay, yeah I know, I know, the pig again. What can I say? Today's recipe once again comes from Mr. Bittman's How to Cook Everything. I'm grilling up a curry mustard pork loin with a little smoke added in for kicks. When I first pushed on CarterHayes to post his mustard recipe it wasn't for this dish, but in hindsight I think that some homemade mustard would have been better than the Dijon I used. Mr. Bittman suggests that the pork loin isn't the most flavorful cut you can get, but I respectfully disagree. Yes, the tenderloin is less fatty and prone to burning, but if you keep your eyes on the prize this cut will hold it's own against any of the more 'porky' selections. This is one of the simplest recipes in Bittman's book, and I'm looking forward to having leftovers, you'll need:
A pork loin roast (I went with a tenderloin two pack about 2 1/4 lbs worth)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard (or some of the good homemade stuff)
2 tablespoons Hot Curry powder
salt and black pepper to taste
a beer to drink while you're grilling
Mix the dijon, curry powder, salt and pepper in a small bowl. This should end up being a pretty thick paste. Rub this paste all over the meat anywhere from 10 minutes to two hours before you grill. Fire up the grill, open a bottle of whatever beer you have on hand. I suggest a Torpedo or Silver Anniversary Ale because the spicy hoppiness should pair pretty well with the nostril singeing spicy pork. If you're planning on smoking this roast, soak a handful of apple, or other hardwood, chips in water for 30 minutes to an hour before you grill. Keep the charcoal off to one side as you'll want to sear the meat over high heat, and then move to a cool spot for indirect grilling / smoking. Keep a close eye on these as they cook, you'll want to remove the tenderloin from the grill when you reach an internal temperature of 150˚ to 155˚. Cover with foil and let rest 10 minutes before you slice thin. Serve with starch and vegetable of your choice. I'm going with smashed yellow potatoes, sauteed green beans, and a small green leaf salad.
Game 133: Tigers at Twins
Brad Penny vs. Brian Duensing
Brad Penny is not a good pitcher. His 3.6 K/9 is worse than Pavano's and is a full 1 K/9 worse than Blackburn's. And he's walking more per 9 than Duensing, so he doesn't have good control to offset a low K rate either.
However, Duensing has been awful of late and the Tigers pretty much feast on lefties.
The Twins need this one to avoid losing 10 games on a homestand. Wow, that's bad. Let's get it done. GO TWINS!!!
Minor Details: Games of 8/27
Syracuse 4, Rochester 3 in Syracuse. The Chiefs led 4-1 after seven. Ray Chang had three hits and Toby Gardenhire had two. Andrew Baldwin took a tough loss, giving up just two runs on four hits and a walk while striking out six in six innings.
New Britain 7, Trenton 4 in Trenton (Game 1--Scheduled 7 innings). Chris Parmelee's bases loaded single in the seventh led to three runs scoring (an error helped) to give the Rock Cats the victory. Chris Herrmann had two hits. Joe Benson hit a home run, his fifteenth. Matt Schuld lasted only four innings, allowing four runs on five hits. Brett Jacobson got the win with two shutout innings, giving up only two walks. Dakota Watts pitched a perfect seventh for the save.
New Britain at Trenton (Game 2). Postponed. The Rock Cats lead Reading by a half game for the last playoff spot.
Ft. Myers 3, Charlotte 0 in Charlotte (Game 1--Scheduled 7 innings). The Miracle scored in the third, fourth, and sixth. Angel Morales singled and doubled. Anderson Hidalgo hit a home run. Edgar Ibarra gave up four hits and two walks while striking out five in five innings. Matt Hauser got his seventh save with two shutout innings, striking out three and giving up one hit.
Ft. Myers 6, Charlotte 1 in Charlotte (Game 2--Scheduled 7 innings). The Miracle jumped to a 5-0 lead after two innings. Danny Rohlfing singled and homered. Aaron Hicks, James Beresford, and Reggie Williams each had two hits. Starter Caleb Thielbar pitched two innings, giving up a hit and three walks but no runs. Clint Dempster got the win, allowing one run on four hits in two innings. Shooter Hunt picked up his first save, giving up no hits but walking four and striking out four in three innings.
Clinton 6, Beloit 2 in Clinton. The LumberKings got a single run in each of innings three through six, then scored two in the seventh to put it away. Jairo Perez and Lance Ray each had two hits, with Perez raising his average to .340. Ryan O'Rourke struck out nine in six innings, but allowed four runs on eight hits.
Elizabethton 5, Bluefield 3 in Bluefield. The Twins scored three in the first and never trailed. Eddie Rosario had two singles and a triple, scoring three times. Miguel Sano singled and homered, driving in four. The home run was his eighteenth. Max Kepler had two hits. Derek Christensen gave up a run on three hits and three walks in six innings. Matthew Summers pitched a scoreless ninth to get the save. The Twins lead Kingsport by three games for the last playoff spot.
GCL Twins 3, Red Sox 2. The Twins scored two in the ninth to get a win in their last game of the season. Fittingly for a GCL game, the winning rally consisted of a walk, an error, a hit batsman, another walk, and another error. Angel Mata threw four shutout innings, striking out five while giving up two hits and two walks. Kyle Wahl pitched the last three innings and got the win, giving up a run on three his and a walk while striking out three. The Twins finished 31-29. The were second in the GCL South, seven games out of first and three games out of the wild card.
August 28, 2011: Back in LA
I don't expect it to be long. It's a long story, but as I fall more out of love with acting and more in love with writing, it's not important for me to be right here in LA incurring expenses as I work toward a deal.
Happy Birthday–August 28
Joe Yeager (1875)
Dode Paskert (1881)
Aaron Ward (1896)
Charlie Grimm (1898)
Paul Bowa (1918)
Tony Gonzalez (1936)
Tom Satriano (1940)
Lou Piniella (1943)
Mike Torrez (1946)
Ron Guidry (1950)
Joel Youngblood (1951)
Darren Lewis (1967)
Jay Witasick (1972)
Tom Shearn (1977)
Carlos Quentin (1982)
Paul Bowa is the father of Larry Bowa and the grandfather of Nick Johnson. He was a minor league infielder who reached as high as AAA, and later became a minor league manager in the St. Louis Cardinals' organization.
We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to bhiggum.
Game 132: Tigers 6, Twins 4
FOX spared me the pain of watching this one, so I don't have much insight on this game, but at least the annoying streak of pitiful offense is over finally. The Twins had gone 61 straight innings without scoring more than one run. And all it took to end the streak was the Twins getting back-to-back home runs by Luke Hughes and Jason Repko off Justin Verlander at Target Field.
The Twins are now 5-19 in August, their second 19-loss month in this season that will seemingly never end. The Twins haven't had lost 20 games in a month since September 1999 when they went 7-21. However, the Twins' record for most losses in a month is safe, at least for August, since the Twins only have four games left. However, they will have to go 2-2 to avoid having their worst month since the Twins went 3-26 in May 1981. Wow, that would kill any hopes for a season real fast.
The Twins are 14-29 since the AS break. Surprisingly, they have outperformed their Pythag by five games on the season.. They are 23-23 in one-run games and 5-4 in extra-inning games.
The Jayhawks – Blue
The Jayhawks: Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Jose Mijares, Joe Nathan, and Jason Kubel. The Minneapolis group sings the song that best describes the way they are making Twins fans feel this season.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUVVGQjWFg4
Or it is the 1995 Jayhawks line up on the John Stewart Show? It is one or the other.
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Loading... Game #(insert game number here): (insert AAA joke here) vs. (insert detroit or large cat joke here)
("Man this team is bad" joke)
(half-hearted statistical analysis detailing just how bad things have gotten)
(oh, wait... we're batting against Verlander today? We're even more out of luck than usual.)
(Make 190-pitch complete game joke.)
(links to these two Gleeman tweets detailing how the Twins aren't very good at anything)
(threaten to volunteer to do house work with the wife instead of watching game, only to chicken out later because the work she's got planned sucks, and bad baseball is better than no baseball until the 8th inning when we've only got ONE FREAKING RUN AGAIN)
(Delmon Young joke)
(snarky condolences to anyone who watches the game)
I mean, if the Twins can phone it in, why can't I?
Race to the Bottom
Someone suggested that it's time for a race to the bottom. Well, it's a little early for the sidebar (the Twins are currently in 31st place for most losses in a season in franchise history, that makes for a long list on the sidebar).
However, I took the time to put the list together, below the fold.