155 thoughts on “2012 Game 41: Twins at Brewers”

  1. NOTAYANKEEFAN • St Paul, Minnesota • 2 hours 27 minutes ago Report Abuse
    Even though the Twins have a good record against Greinke.They will lose today because they have a "Birth Defect" for a pitcher taking the mound today.

    I don't know, that's pretty flawless reasoning, too.

  2. Greinke vs. Marquis. I don't know if there could be a more lopsided matchup between these two staffs.

    My logic from yesterday holds, though.

  3. When I was at Miller Park yesterday and Mauer came in to pinch hit, then promptly grounded into a double play... well, let's just say I was glad I wasn't at Target Field.

    1. I'm not quick to jump on Mauer, but his excess of groundballs is starting to become concerning. He's hitting like he did with bilateral leg weakness.

      1. Well, I absolutely love Mauer, but even I was frustrated at that. I can't imagine dealing with a chorus of boos on top of that.

        1. Yeah, booing the best player on their team is dumb, even if he's struggling. I don't get it. I wouldn't boo my own players unless they looked like they were actually slacking off.

          1. That's because everyone thinks he's slacking off. Thanks to the Twins' handling of Mauer's injury recovery last year and people like Barreiro and Top Jimmy spewing their bullshit, people generally think that Mauer's a slacker. So, despite a good half decade as arguably the best player in the American League, he gets zero benefit of the doubt. The what have you done for me lately crowd, instead being shamed into silence, has become, I don't know, the arbiter of whether he's a bum, completely ignoring his track record.

            1. The folks at the big A didn't boo pooholes in his two at bats before his third home run of the season, and they cheered like nobody's business when he hit his third hr of the season.

        1. I wonder if the dude is just worn out. All the years of playing through and then rehabing from injuries have to take a toll on one's body.

          1. He's played in all but two games. I like him playing at first occasionally, but it's turned into playing at first most days, catcher some, and DH the rest. I don't think Gardy has ever been good with giving players time off to rest.

            1. It sure seems like he used to give the regulars some days off. Maybe I'm just old and my memory is failing me, though.

          2. On April 29, Mauer took a foul ball off the inside of his leg near his knee. At the end of that game, he was batting .325/.419/.438. He took one game off and then batted .179/.324/.250 over the next 16 games. It may have been a coincidence, but it sure seems like he was being hampered by that leg. He has seven hits in 2+ games this series, so hopefully that means he's feeling better, but if this had been pre-2011, I would imagine he would have had more than one day off to recover. Now, just like Morneau and Cuddyer, he's going to play through it no matter how bad he plays.

  4. Why do broadcasters love Morneau but ridicule Mauer? I will never get it.

  5. I am starting to think that Jason Marquis might be done.

  6. It's funny because his ERA is better than Liriano's and Blackburn's. Oh. That's not funny?

  7. rule 6.06

    A batter is out for illegal action when --
    (a) He hits a ball with one or both feet on the ground entirely outside the batter’s box.
    Rule 6.06(a) Comment: If a batter hits a ball fair or foul while out of the batter’s box, he shall be called out. Umpires should pay particular attention to the position of the batter’s feet if he attempts to hit the ball while he is being intentionally passed. A batter cannot jump or step out of the batter’s box and hit the ball.
    (b) He steps from one batter’s box to the other while the pitcher is in position ready to pitch;
    (c) He interferes with the catcher’s fielding or throwing by stepping out of the batter’s box or making any other movement that hinders the catcher’s play at home base. EXCEPTION: Batter is not out if any runner attempting to advance is put out, or if runner trying to score is called out for batter’s interference.

    1. It doesn't look like our fielders are going to be able to keep up with him.

    1. You'd have to think that's it for him. He hasn't shown any hint of promise during even a single start this season.

      1. you can go back to preseason and find maybe 3 innings where Marquis was just OK.

    1. I was thinking this morning that with Sean Foreman's *-reference.com empire having stats for the Olympics, I should start analyzing those stats in advance of the summer games.

  8. Dick unknowingly admits that line-up protection is a myth. I don't think he realized it though.

  9. We are under a tropical storm watch here. Funny, it doesn't look like tropical storm outside.

  10. I see I should have gone ahead and missed today's game like I did yesterday's. Call up more AAA pitchers!

  11. Well, down 10 runs seems like a perfect time to empty the bench and give some regulars some rest...of course playing NL rules and not having much of a bench in the first place, that's going to be tough to do.

      1. We should have just moved Marquis to the outfield when we pulled him. Then he would have gotten to hit, too!

  12. I see that working faster only made sure Marquis gave up more runs before the bullpen could get ready to come in. Oh well. We won the series, I'll have time to spend with the family and maybe this will be the end of Marquis into the rotation until he figures out his problem.

    1. It seems as though there's a fundamental difference in the power of Pavano's and Marquis' facial hair. It threw everything off. The intangibles suddenly became tangible, and our home field advantage got turned around on us.

  13. Did the Brewers just swap their RF and 1B for defensive purposes like Gameday is telling me? What would be the point of that, exactly? If the players are better defensively in those spots, why wouldn't they have started there?

    1. It's probably like beer league softball where you get people experience at different positions when the game gets out of hand.

      1. That seems like the most reasonable explanation, but I still think it's a strange thing to do.

        1. Considering that this is allegedly big-time professional baseball and not beer league softball, yeah, I'd say it's pretty strange.

  14. Twins apparently were worried that they didn't quite have a death grip on the worst run differential. I think it's pretty safe to say they do now.

  15. With 11 doubles through 41 games, Mauer is on pace to tie his career high of 43 doubles.

  16. whoa, this might be awesome

    Dustin Morse ‏@Twins_morsecode
    I don't see anyone getting warm in the #Twins bullpen. Drew Butera may stay in to pitch.

  17. Butera has shown more movement on his pitches than anything Marquis was throwing up

  18. Well, he balked on literally every pitch he was throwing, but he had the quickest tempo of any pitcher I've ever seen anywhere.

    ...also, no runs scored, and he struck out Carlos Gomez. This trumps Cuddy, IMO.

    1. Hey, he still is going to need to pitch the ninth after the Twins score 15.

    2. Unfortunately his velocity didn't last more than five pitches. Still, mid-80s matches Pavano.

  19. Hunter Wendelstadt threw out the Brewers pitcher for throwing a pitch behind the batter

  20. Drew Butera: 3rd catcher and 13th pitcher. Like manna from heaven, which is to say, about as useful as Darko Milicic.

      1. Wouldn't that be the eight outfielder?

        Span, Revere, Willingham, Doumit, Komatsu, Mastroianni, Plouffe is already 7. Then there's Mauer, who played there last year...

      1. Grand Slam: 1965.

        "Pitcher" walked and run scored: 2011. Santana also did it in 2007, but he wouldn't qualify as a "pitcher".

          1. Oh, I thought you meant he scored at some point, not that he scored a run. This one-ups Butera's I think. 1968, Jim Roland pitches the top of the 14th and gives up the go-ahead run. In the bottom of the 14th, with the score now tied (on Carew's RBI groundout) and the bases loaded from an intentional walk, he walks to score the winning run.

            1. Jim Roland pitched for ten years from 1962 through 1972 (he spent 1965 in the minors), so never had the DH. 93 plate appearances over those ten years and he had one RBI.

  21. 2 out of 3, and 4 wins in the last 5 games. Even though ti was a blowout, things are on the upswing.

  22. Reading the game log without having to listen to this crappy game: priceless.

    1. But, you did miss the most important part: Butera pitching. Unfortunately, I don't see video available yet.

  23. Remember when everyone was upset the Twins traded Luis Castillo for Drew Butera. Totally worth it now!

    Second best part of the game is when Hunter Wendlestadt proved himself to be a giant ass by tossing a pitcher in a blowout game.

    1. You got to see Butters pitch in person. I was there for Prince Fielder's inside-the-parker in the Dome. Anyone else seen anything else that boggles the mind like that?

      1. I can't compete with that, but I was at the Metrodome once when a game was delayed due to a power outage. It must have been about 1992. I seem to remember that Bill Krueger was pitching.

      2. I saw Carew hit a home run to center field, Harmon play for the Royals, and Joey Belle's first major league home run.

      3. I watched the Tampa Bay Devil Rays (of terribleness) commit something like 6 errors on the same play against the Washington Nationals (of terribleness) at RFK Stadium (of terribleness). It was probably the single-most little league play ever in MLB. I don't really remember it perfectly, but if I recall correctly there were at least 3 overthrown balls on the same play (missed ball at 1st, throw to second went into the outfield, throw home was overthrown and there was no back up for the catcher.) It wasn't even A level ball.

        I saw Fielder's first MLB home run too. And the Yankees walk off the field because of the "dangerous" conditions their outfielders faced in an away park. Ha!

      4. I wen to this game right after the Emery board incident. That was the first game of a four-game domination of Oakland. I also saw the Twins rally from two runs down in the 9th against Eckersley in 1991 in a series that all but clinched the division for the Twins. I also was at the longest game in Metrodome history, I believe it went 23 innings, but my parents only lasted through 18, so I had to listen to Pedro Munoz's walkoff homer on the radio.

  24. If you're going to end a winning streak, you might as well do it big. We'll just have to settle for 135-27!

  25. And hey, my wife and daughter (at her first ever ballgame) made it on tv on the Lucroy grand slam. They're the two above the bullpen that didn't get up when it got out. I, of course, was out getting beer and so completely missed it.

    1. Also, it was clear that Glen Perkins is not as proud of being a Pony as I thought he would be.

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