Masterson vs. Pavano
Don't blink. This could go quick. Pavano has pitched well against his former team and Masterson is facing the Twins, so don't expect much offense.
The Twins need to go 4-8 to avoid 100 losses. I'm not sure it really matters, but maybe it could motivate the Twins to show a little more inspired play. They also need to go 2-10 to avoid the Twins' worst record. Fortunately, the franchise record of 113 losses (in 154 games!!) is safe. The Twins need to go winless and finish the season with 19 consecutive losses to have the Twins' worst record all to themselves. Doesn't seem all that unlikely at this point.
Some other races to look at: Can Benson set the Twins' rookie record for stolen bases? Can the Twins have a game with no players from the Opening Day lineup play in the game? Who will have the worst batting average: Butera, Rivera or Tosoni? Will any Twin get to 20 home runs (Cuddyer's at 18, Valencia 15)? Will anyone get to 70 RBIs (Valencia at 69, Cuddyer 65)?
GO TWINS!!!
Benson has a long way to go to catch up and pass Revere to even tie the rookie record. I do eagerly look forward to a lineup with no one from opening day.
I'm enjoying the race for lowest BA. To have three players still battling to have a shot at that black mark this late in the season is gold.
SEND HIM!!!!
The NFL games and greekhouse's werewolf game are likely going to make this the record-low LTE gamelog. Records falling everywhere!
That particular record won't fall today.
man, I'm close to a nap here. it was a long weekend, and the first two of six nights in hotels out of an eleven night stretch
A shame, since it's probably the only time we'd be able to see the Twins ahead in a game for the rest of the season.
I'm not counting on any lead being safe once the bullpen gets the call.
Prescient.
Meh, got a pretty large sample size to work from on that prediction.
Dazzle: "Most likely gonna be called an error...but, you never know."
Yeah, true dat.
ouch! Repko helmet pitch
Alright, time to wash that nasty Viking taste out of my mouth.
By switching over to a Butters double play with the bases loaded? That's some tough soap.
Seriously. That really didn't help.
I think the Vikings transferred the suck over to the Twins as soon as their game ended.
Butters now at a buck-fitty-five.
On a semi-related note, after yesterday's contest, Adam Dunn's season strikeout total matched his BA: 161.
I consider Drew Butera to be the modern-day Bill Bergen.
He certainly has similar offensive abilities, but I'm not sure his defense is as good.
I'm really not sure how good Butera's defense really is. He has the reputation, but I remember Bill James writing about that once. He wrote that, because there are no good ways to measure catcher's defense, we tend to just assume that any catcher who can't hit must be really good defensively, because we assume there has to be some reason the team keeps him on the roster. The more I watch Butera, the more I think that's the case with him. I don't think he's terrible on defense, but I don't see that he's much above average.
I think his arm is the main reason for his reputation. His game-calling is what I question considering the pitchers have a worse ERA with him behind the plate than other catchers the last two years (other than Steve Holm, who got sent down basically because of poor handling of the pitchers, and Jose Morales, who was not known as a defensive catcher. Both had extremely SSS).
At least the Vikings still have all their timeouts.
So Andy Reid did come over with McNabb? I knew it.
Save them for next week!
What, no one got the trivia answer?! I beg to differ -- the answer they gave was wrong.
Name the Twins players who played at least 10 seasons, all of them with the Twins.
Spoiler'd
Maybe I should turn this off. It seems very likely that my birthday is an omen of evil for Minnesota sports teams.
If it helps, 2011 is the omen.
Happy Birthday, pally!
Thanks!
Oh yeah, what Bo said. Happy birthday! (I'm not very quick today)
All good. The lasagna and beer will help take the sting away (the wife picked me up a Summit sampler pack, which considering what the local store has, is a top shelf choice).
Lol - I stopped by our Hugo liquor store last time in Minny - scanning the shelves, I asked if they had Surlys. They hung their heads and said no, not included in the current distribution pattern, blah, blah, but were trying to get in, etc. Definately, Surly chaps are in the pole position, for now.
Oh, absolutely, but the nearest Surly to my position is well over an hour away. There's Celebrators (which is easily the best beer they have in the store), but they're sold individually, and buying 5 or 6 of those would get very expensive.
That was fun to watch, anyway.
If you didn't want to walk in runs, why did you bring in Mijares?!
Gardy wants that number two pick.
For all the gushing about Burnett, he does have a negative WAR.
And a 5.26 ERA, and a 1.369 WHIP, and a bad SO/BB ratio... it shouldn't take a SABR nut to see that he's been pretty bad this year.
Are you kidding me?
Race. To. The. Bottom.
Send. In. The. Clowns.
An infield hit for JI
JIM THOME.
It's me. It's got to be.
The good news is that we only need 4 runs in 3 innings. No problemo.
Sure thing. #racetothebottom
Century City, here we come!
Look on the bright side!
Legion quality baseball breaks out at Target Field. Four bases loaded walks today.
Its all set up for a dink-off.
If by dink-off, you mean strikeout, yep.
I did leave it open for interpretation.
What a craptastic day. The Raiders and the Vikings blow leads of at least 17 points and the Twins blow a 3-0 lead without using an injury replacement pitcher. This is the best they got, although when you have a seven-game losing streak, I think it's OK to bring in Glen Perkins in the seventh inning before the game is tied. I can't believe the Gophers beating Miami of Ohio and possibly the Lynx are the ones that will save me from a suicidal weekend.
Well, three straight big games from rookies. That's nice to see. Too bad they couldn't have put them all together in one game so the Twins might actually win one. Of course, with the way this season has gone, they would have done it Saturday and still would have lost 10-9.