492 thoughts on “2011 Game 162: End of the Road”

  1. The Rays color guy won't stop saying that "The Rays have to be weary of" things. Wary, buddy. They have to be wary. It would not be helpful for the Rays to be tired.

    1-0 Yankees, Top1.

    2.  
       
       
      BIG
      cccclittlelittleC
      cccclittlelittlecc

      What beguns with C?

      ccccCamel on the ceiling
      ccccC....c....C

        1. Saw this on the shelf tonight before putting AJR down.
          I just spent 20 minutes getting the html just right (on my PC).
          It was a learning experience though:
          I learned not to attempt to replicate the illustration as ascii art.

  7. Remember that game where the T_ins blew both a 9th and 10th inning lead against the Rays? (Yeah, me neither)

    Anyway, I'm kinda glad they lost that game now.

    1. Remember the game that Perkins saved after Capps almost blew it? I kindof wish Gardy would have let Capps melt down out there.

      Remember when, in the top of the 11th in Bostown, the Twins had runners on second and third with two outs and couldn't pinch-hit for Rene Rivera even though he had started? I wish there would have been anyone worth pinch-hitting with.

      Or when Gardy went to Hoey in the bottom of the frame so Carl Crawford could hit a walk-off double? I wish the team had a better bullpen.

    2. Remember when you asked what we would name our penguin in Survivor and we said "Teixeira is a douche" and you picked "Ron Cey" instead? I bet you're regretting that right about now.

      1. I never doubted that Teixeira was a douche. Ron Cey just made me laugh so hard (to this day, it kills me that there were two baseball-related answers to that non-baseball-related question, even considering the contestants).

      1. Speaking of which, I saw this on Andrew Sullivan's site today.

        This is a study about how, if you are a utilitarian, you should probably do the world some good and shut up about what you really think is best.

        1. Every time I see him I want to puke. Thanks a lot for that one, Bill. I mean we don't want to have a knee jerk reaction, but that trade should be a fireable offense.

            1. Oh I do. Good thing he doesn't need all that speed when he's trotting around the bases after jacking a donger, huh?

              In my opinion the head of the front office should save the manager from his own stupidity in a case like that. But both should have a better grasp of positional scarcity and value before making a moronic trade like that.

            2. Dung makes great compost. Compost makes for a great soil additive. Great soil makes for great perennials. Great perennials = all star talent. ?itshappening

      1. I went back and watched and it looked like he wiggled a tiny, tiny bit. But that's a stupid call to make in a game like this.

  15. Last night, the Kubel you might not be here next year interview. Tonight, it's the Cuddyer version. Mike, I like you, despite the fact that Top Jimmy likes you, too.

      1. I've got the O's game on my TV and the Twins game on my 2nd monitor with ambient sound. So the who Incockski interview was just the two of them sitting there. It was nice.

    3. Was there an interview with some kid named Kirby on the pregame or postgame last night?
      If so, that was my cousin, Kirby.

      His mom put pictures on facebook. There's one with Kirby talking to Francoeur.
      Another with either Melky or Brayan bad angle: can't see his face, only his neck, can't see his number.
      Somehow, Chris Getz got into 8 of the 11 pictures that she posted.

  18. One last "what's in your glass?" thread (in a 2011 Twins game log, anyway).

    I've got one of my "Homebrewing is a Metaphor For Life" Amber Ales. Awful name, delicious beer.

    2. Awful names are why I quit naming my brews. I had some milk, and that's been about it. I've been busy as hell this week at work and not getting much sleep at home, so I'm taking the week of from the beers. I plan to get myself plenty drunk Saturday, though, so I can make myself forget that Madison will be intolerable that day. (and to make absolutely sure I don't go there.)

    3. I'm trying to decide whether I want to "man up" and drink my Mom's Miller Lite.

      Sigh. Should have gone to liquor store tonight.

          1. I live in the largest beer market in the US. Yeah, we got all kinds of beer here bud light, miller light, and coors light. We got both kinds of music, too, country and western.

            1. that's because you didn't get it cold enough. Did you check to see if it was Supercold?

              /stoopidadcampaignideas

      1. Water, at the moment. About to head home, where I will have a Kirkland Belgian White while contemplating dinner.

  19. Alright, apropos to nib's comment, I've come up with a new drinking game -----> take a shot every time you hear dick / bert say "the last time as a Twin". I'm dialing 911 for myself right now.

    1. Oish, I need to be alive for work and anniversary tomorrow. How about I take one when he mentions that this isn't the way the Twins wanted their season to go...

      ...wait

    1. Its really annoying that two of my least favorite players of all time on two of my least favorite teams of all time hit home runs tonight.

    3. It took 15 seconds for Mitch Williams to bring up his height and inversely proportional amount of heart. Actually Mitch, I think he has the smallest amount of heart of anyone on the team.

  22. Oh, man. TB's tv crew says that Joe West has always had high marks as a ball and strike guy. Hi-larious.

    1. This is actually true. Joe West is thought of as a joke because he likes to make a show sometimes, but as an umpire he's really quite good.

      3. I have no doubt (none) that we'll see a few of those should Revere become our centerfielder, but the ones he makes might make up for it.

      1. +9 UZR already. Heh, included in that is a -3 for his arm. Assuming it's his true rate, that's a +15 over a full season.

      1. I would've enjoyed Gordo providing the play-by-play for the entire game. Seeing the video with his voice made me realize what we've been deprived of for the last several years.

        As an added bonus, Dazzle stayed mostly silent!

        1. As an added bonus, Dazzle stayed mostly silent!

          If this happened more often during the radio broadcast, I'd be a happier person.

  37. Ooh, Butera's second sac bunt of the night! 'Cause the first one obviously worked so well, let's do it again!

  38. The Yankees are still in the 7th, whereas the Twins have finished the 7th, despite the fact that the Yankees started an hour earlier.

    1. And how about after that triple? I didn't see it, but a triple on a pop-up to the 1B is rarely a good thing.

        2. Gameday said pop-up to Parmelee. Evidently whoever writes the descriptions is not watching the game, either.

  42. I, for one, am shocked that Venters & Kimbrel look worn out on their 85th & 79th appearances tonight. Sheesh. Braves look like they're about to cough up the lead. Darn it, I wanted a play-in game.

      1. Having recently finished an essay by Craig Wright in THT's Baseball Annual about that, I think that Leyland is doing more good than harm by letting Verlander pitch beyond the arbitrary 100 pitch limit.

        1. I agree completely- I don't see any reason to take a pitcher out until he starts to get tired or starts to lose effectiveness.
          And why 100 pitches? You never count warmup pitches or throws to first, so why do only pitches to home plate count?

      2. Absolutely. Now I want the Twins to not score this weekend.
        I've been having "CG-L" feel all night for Pavano. Might as well be a 10-inning CGL.

        1. What's the last time an AL pitcher went more than nine, if it's not too much trouble to look it up?

          1. I'll let you (or just spooky) guess. Hints: 2007 and probably who you were thinking about ahead of Harang.

  53. Dick: this ballpark already paid for itself with the increased attendance.

    This is quite possibly the dumbest thing ever said on a Twins broadcast. And the competition is stiff.

  54. Happy New Year, everybody. Let's hope the Twins have turned the page along with Pavano's mustache.

  58. I'm torn. I really wanted the locals to reside in Century City all winter, but I feel for the 'Stache. Plus, it ain't like Bill Smith is gonna be all chuff after losing 99.

    Where do I turn?

  61. I don't think we really need to extend this season. Let's get a run here and we'll get 'em next year.

  70. The Twins are going to win 63 games! The Twins are going to win 63 games! That's it, they've won it!!!!!!!!!!

      1. Yeah, now just a bad season. Not historic. I think it's safe to say the last two months were historically bad.

      1. First series after the break? Home stand against the Royals, Twins went 3-1, my kids' first game at the Bullseye.

  75. Wow! After losing so many of their past 50 games, the Twins go 3-1 for the last week of the season.

    BIG
    cccclittlelittleC

    Averted!

  76. Does anyone else think the Yankees Rays feed looks awful in HD? Is that just a result of the turf?

  77. MLB Network just pointed out that Angels catchers this year are hitting .191 with 10 homeruns. We're supposed to be jealous, right?

    1. On that note, not many managers would pinch hit for an all-star for the last at bat of the season with a guy who's batting .108 on the year.

      .....I say as he hits the game tying home run....

      Edit: the "all star" was meant sarcastically, as a reference to all the people who were saying he should be one. I'm almost certain that made no sense, but it would be dishonest to delete it.

  92. Twins were only 27-33 in one-run games? I was thinking it was more like 17-43.
    I guess a lot of those were big leads that were nearly frittered away.

      1. Plus, she had her hands right near the top like she was going to pull it down. I think she was just trying to show of the "Rays" part, but still...

    2. I thought for sure that chick in the Rays tube top was gonna flash the camera.

      Nancy Grace is at the Trop?

  94. Amazing! I just turned on the Rays game to see the bottom of the ninth. I had seen the score earlier and didn't bother checking in until I saw it was 7-6. Wow!

    2. The Rays had a text poll last night about the Rays' 2011 MVP, and Farnsworth was one of four choices. I was flabbergasted, but a quick glance suggested that he's had a pretty damn good year. Not a team MVP year, but this is the team that gave their MVP to their 8th-best starting hitter one year, so whatever.

      1. Oh, he's been quite good for the Rays, and is likely one of the reasons they're in the position that they're in.

        Be that as it may, the words "Former Yankee Great Kyle Farnsworth" just don't make a bit of sense.

  101. Incredible. Two wildcard races tied and one game from each race goes extra innings on the last day.

  102. I have no idea what the weather's like in Baltimore, but I betcha that if TBR wins their game, the umps call that game, after a phone call from Selig. (Actually, my guess is that Selig has them on the phone and says "Don't you dare call the game unless I tell you to." Allan seems biased towards manufacturing drama, rather than biased towards NYY-BOS rivalry as ESPN is.)

        1. Funnily enough, I did some math at work earlier this week. I'm not 100% on it, but I know it's more than anyone else in the office knows.

          Outside one of the managers' officecubes there was the equation x+y = 14 on the whiteboard. Someone filled in 7+7. I put something similar to this:

          For x, y ∈ℝ, let x=x', x'∈ℝ. => x=x', y=14-x'

          I couldn't quite think how to properly phrase it, but essentially I was trying to say there are an infinite number of combinations for the equation since it had 2 variables and no second equation to make it a binary system.

          1. Haha. Yeah, that is some good freshman math--picking only one of the many possible solutions. You want to do this one as a set: {(x,y): y=14-x} for example.

      1. With a Twins win (walkoff!) to avoid the big C, the Rays winning, and Red Sox losing, I'd say that it would be the best day in baseball all year.

  109. I'm trying to figure out who is more surprising on the Yankees. Eric Chavez (as mentioned above) or Scott Proctor. I thought Torre destroyed Proctor's arm and ran him out of the league about 5 years ago.

  110. I'm trying to watch two games while getting some work done. You can see how much work I'm getting done.

    2. I actually logged out of my office's server. Three browsers running five gameday windows seemed to make things too slow.

  111. In hope the Rays finish it off here. Then I can go to bed and read about the O's comeback in the morning.

  114. Cuddy beats Valencia for the best batting average on the team, .284 to .246.
    They were the only two players to have enough PAs to qualify.

          2. Pavano ended up with more IP than last year. He didn't have a good year, but there's a lot of value in that, especially with such a bad bullpen.

            1. If he would have had to come out for the tenth, he would've set a new personal best in IP. As it stands HE was one out short of tying his personal best.

        1. I meant with the pitchers combined. A lot of those teams had low numbers of batters, but multiple pitchers. I knew the batting qualifying alone wasn't that out of the ordinary.

                1. Have you found any nimbus offerings around phoenix? If not, a trip to Tucson should be in your near future.

  119. At what point do the Phillies and Yankees put a position player on the mound? Wouldn't that be something.

    2. Philles and Braves have each used eight pitchers, while the Yankees are on number eleven. Rays are at a measly seven.

  122. Hunter Pence with the two-out RBI infield single to put Phillies ahead in 13th. Who will close for the Phillies?

  124. Going back to that Yankees lineup. Current BAs:
    1. Ramiro Pena, .100
    2. Golson, .100
    3. Eric Chavez, .258
    4. Posada, .236
    5. Dickerson, .265
    6. Gardner, .259
    7. Romine, .158
    8. Nunez, .265
    9. Laird, .190

    DoctorProctor still pitching...

      1. I've been reading how Boston's loss of a late lead has been the worst ever. Well, now ATL has actually lost it, BoSox may still make the playoffs.

      2. Braves 9-18 in September after having at least a .593 win percentage in each of the four previous months.

      1. Since being traded to Minnesota, Punto's teams have gone to playoffs in 5 of 8 seasons and played Game 163 in another.

  128. Can anyone tell me why Maddon, with the season on the line, PH Dan Johnson for Sam Fuld?
    I just can't wrap my head around it.

    3. The booth guys figured he knew he needed a home run, as opposed to trying to scratch a claw a run out with two outs. Johnson is more of a home run hitter than Fuld.

      .108 AVG and one home run in 80+ at bats this year, though. That is one hell of a gut feeling.

      1. This kind of stuff doesn't mean anything to me, but it might to Maddon: check out his splits vs. BOS and NY the last few seasons compared to vs. everyone else.

      2. Worse than that.
        Against RHP, .057/.153/.075 in 53 AB.
        Fuld vs RHP: .255/.320/.387

        Off to b-r to find career splits for the two.

        1. Career, Johnson
          vs RHB: .232/.332/.406
          vs NYY: .214/.309/.514, 7HR, 70 AB
          vs BOS: .254/.333/.507, 5HR, 67 AB
          Hi Lvg: .287/.389/.507, 12HR, 272 AB

          Career, Fuld
          vs RHB: .250/.334/.363
          vs NYY: .217/.217/.565, 1HR, 23 AB
          vs BOS: .333/.333/.667, 1HR, 27 AB
          Hi Lvg: .242/.378/.333, 0HR, 66 AB

  130. I loved the shot of Mark McGwire grinning like an idiot in the background of the Cardinals' celebration.

    1. I wish I could buy MLB network a la carte for just one night.
      I just hope mlb.com's one commercial for tonight isn't that guy from Skid Row trying to sell me a Volvo.

      1. Yes, it's been pretty much all I've needed for the past 90 minutes. It's a shame that Harold Reynolds is their go-to guy because his analysis leaves a lot to be desired, but the access is unmatched.

  137. What a play by Longoria! This is just like Game 163 with the Tigers with improbably bad baserunning, fluky clutch hits, etc.

  143. Chris Davis looked like he was dragging both LeCroy and Redmond behind him as he labored into second on that double.

  171. I missed a Joey Gathright sighting (well, on Gameday), while looking up splits.
    Oh well: Suck it, Paplbone!

    4. Both HRs were crushed however. Low line drives that just cleared the wall, but would have been long gone if they had got underneath them slightly.

    3. And there's still baseball being played! A's only have a two run lead on the Mariners, who are jockeying for the third draft pick. Wait, via Baltimore's win, M's have that locked up.

  187. LONGO!!!!!!!!!!!! How perfect is that?! Rays eliminate Red Sox and force Yankees to go 12 in the final game of the season. Longo for MVP?

    3. I should rephrase....GREAT night of baseball, but I really was looking forward to a one game playoff.

    1. Torii was going to do that for the Royals in 2006, but the league advised him that he'd be running afoul of a certain set of rules.

  194. This was the funnest non-Twins-related baseball day in a long time(and grammarest too).

    And the Twins won in a walk-off!

    2. Oh, no doubt. Scott Proctor pitched in four innings, and threw 56 pitches. Scott. Proctor.
      If the tables were turned, Francona would have done the same thing.

      Boston did benefit from DoctorProctor on Sunday night, though.

      Also, didn't you hear that the Yankees only have one day off until the ALDS begins, which is more than 1,000 miles away. Also, they had to play a late-evening extra-inning game today. They'll be lucky if they get home tonight until 4 or 5am. So, it'll really only be like 90% of a day's to rest.

  198. It was like the first round of the NCAA tourney, only with baseball.
    Maybe this will make Allan rethink the play-in game.*

    *My big question is this: What about ties?
    Will two teams tied for the final WC spot get to play a tiebreaker?
    What about if two teams in a division are tied, but one gets to be the division champ and the other goes the the WC play-in game.

    If those things aren't settled via play on the field (tiebreaker games), then I'm much less against the two-WC play-in plan.

    Secondary question: will the "Division Champ won't play WC team in LDS if from Same division" rule still apply? Because I like that. Anything that keeps schedules up in the air, and gives teams less time to plan for a specific opponent is good in my mind.

  199. Alright! My first live look-in of the night since the Twins' game finished!
    9th inning of A's at M's! Catch the excitement!

    1. Bailey struck him out!
      A's win! A's WIN!
      WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
      19th best record!
      Rockies get the 10th pick in the draft!

  201. First time since 1953 the Yankees blew a seven-run lead in the eighth inning or later. Astounding.

  202. The one odd thing about tonight was the O's announcers were more excited about their win than the Rays announcers were after Longo's HR. Very subdued. You would have thought it was a mid-August game.

      2. I was referring to the TV guys. The radio guys sounded like you would expect. The TV guys didn't sound stunned, they just sounded like "Well, wasn't that nice."

  203. Every division winner in baseball finished with at least 94 wins. Hasn't happened since 2002 when the Twins had the worst record of division winners with exactly 94 wins.

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