Happy Birthday–May 12

Chicken Wolf (1862)
Lave Cross (1866)
Jumping Joe Dugan (1897)
Hank Borowy (1916)
Ed Runge (1918)
Yogi Berra (1925)
Felipe Alou (1935)
Ted Kubiak (1942)
Vic Albury (1947)
Bob Heise (1947)
Joe Nolan (1951)
Lou Whitaker (1957)
Kevin Bass (1959)
Willie Lozado (1959)
Mark Clark (1968)
Wes Helms (1976)
Felipe Lopez (1980)
Evan Meek (1983)

Infielder Willie Lozado was drafted by Minnesota in the third round of the January Secondary draft in 1978, but did not sign.

We would also like to wish a very happy birthday to MagUidhir’s sister.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 12

Game 32 Recap: Twins 7 – Blue Jays 6

MINNESOTA 7 -- TORONTO 6
Twins Record: 9 - 23 (5th in the Central, 30th in MLB)
Highest WPA - Doumit (1 for 2, 2 BB, 2 RBI), Mastroianni (2 for 4, 3 RBI), Bullpen (4 IP, 1 R, 5 H, 0 BB, 2 SO)
NOTES - Twins hitters drew 9 walks, 5 of those runners scored.
Fangraphs - MLB Recap
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Rain delay pushed this one into a West-Coast game time-slot, and with Blackburn going against the homer-happy Jays lineup, you could be forgiven for turning in early. If you did, you will not be surprised to learn that the Jays hit 4 home-runs (Bautista with 2) that accounted for 5 of their 6 runs. But the Twins, armed with the ability to watch Kyle Drabek and Carlos Villanueva throw lots and lots of pitches (not many for strikes), would put across a bunch of runs without hitting any balls over the fence.

Ryan Doumit, who has been hitting well (last 3 weeks - .275/.350/.549), started things off with a 2-run single in the first to erase the 1-0 deficit resulting from Bautista's first homer. Then a nice mix of walks (Mauer, Doumit, Parmelee) and doubles (Span, Willingham) in the 5th broke the game open for the Twins as Darin Mastrioanni's first big-league hit came with the bases loaded to drive in two and cap the 4-run inning.

Blackburn did everything he could to give all those runs right back, giving up 3 runs without recording an out in the 6th, but got pulled with the score 6-5. Both teams would add a run in the end to get us to the final score, with Capps pitching a scoreless ninth to earn a save.

The HR that Perkins allowed to Encarnacion was only the second time all season that a Twins reliever has allowed a run in a Friday game (3 runs allowed in 16 innings on Friday this season - 1.69 bullpen ERA). If one were only paying close attention to the games that one had to recap on Friday nights, one might conclude the bullpen has been pretty good.

Where They Stand

Minnesota is 8-23, fifth in the AL Central, ten games out of first.  The Twins are 2-8 in their last ten games and are on a two game losing streak.

Rochester is 14-19, fifth in the IL North, seven games out of first.  The Red Wings are 5-5 in their last ten games and are on a two game losing streak.

New Britain is 20-13, second in the EL Eastern, one and a half games out of first.  The Rock Cats are 6-4 in their last ten games and are on a one game losing streak.

Fort Myers is 14-20, fifth in the FSL South, thirteen games out of first.  The Miracle is 5-5 in its last ten games and are on a two game winning streak.

Beloit is 20-14, second in the ML Western, one game out of first.  The Snappers are 7-3 in their last ten games and are on a two game winning streak.

Happy Birthday–May 11

Charlie Gehringer (1903)
Rip Sewell (1907)
Eddie Chiles (1910)
Jack Lang (1921)
Nestor Chylak (1922)
Vern Rapp (1928)
Milt Pappas (1939)
Frank Quilici (1939)
Jerry Martin (1949)
Dane Iorg (1950)
Mark Huismann (1958)
Walt Terrell (1958)
Trent Hubbard (1964)
Bobby Witt (1964)
Kerry Ligtenberg (1971)
Francisco Cordero (1975)

This is also the birthday of Twins’ farmhand Miguel Sano (1993).

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 11

Friday Music Day: May 11, 2012

So after Bootsy's been pushing her for months now, I've listened very casually to Sharon Van Etten's Tramp. Well Wednesday night while feeding LBR her bottle, I was shuffling and "Give Out" and "Serpents" both came up, with two songs between them that I likely skipped. It finally clicked, and I've now listened to the whole thing through maybe 5 or 6 times. I'm not 100% on the full album, but of the 12 songs on the album, I'd say at least 7 are pretty great. I still have to unravel some of her lyrics, but now I'm fairly certain I'll put the effort in to do so. Her music's got some mysterious allure and a sense of broken, cynical wisdom. I'm trying to put my finger on why it is so, but I'm getting flashbacks to the first time I listened to the Breeders's Last Splash. (You may remember, but I've never listened to the Pixies, and all I had heard from the band was the single "Cannonball".)

Here's a clip:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msY42F7e32s
Thanks for pushing this so hard, Bootsy!