2012 Twins Game Log

2012 Game 102: Chicago Quintanas at Minnesota Dudes

285 Comments

First Pitch - 7:10 p.m. CDT
Television - FSN
Lineups

So the Pale Hosers are leading the AL Central and the Twins are, mercifully, out of the cellar at last (thank you very much Kansas City, Cleveland with the assist). We'd all like that situation to be reversed, of course. After all, the White Sox are to the Twins as Jesus Quintana is to The Dude -- a perverse, repugnant arch-nemesis with nary a redeeming quality who nevertheless demands a miniscule measure of grudging respect. I'd like nothing better than to have the kind of starting pitching that the Sox have enjoyed this year. But sometimes you just have to roll the balls that life gives you and hope it's enough to give the pins a good stir.

# Paragraph Break #

In the spirit of eternal cockeyed optimism, the Twins sit 12.5 games back of the Hosers with nine games left to play in the season series. Were the Twins to win all of those remaining games, they would cut that deficit to three and a half games and be contenders before running out of regular season. Of course, it's this kind of thinking that keeps the folks running the Powerball lottery in business.

On The Hill:
Jose Quintana: 4-1, 2.58 ERA, 3.74 FIP, 4.05 xFIP, 1.4 WAR
Cole DeVries: 2-2, 3.64 ERA, 5.47 FIP, 4.60 xFIP, -0.1 WAR

If only there were a recent matchup of these two rookie pitchers by which we could compare their mettle and prognosticate. Oh, yeah. There is. Last week The Jose and Cole Kerabotsos DeVries (honest, that's his middle name, you could look it up) faced off on the South Side of the Windy City in a matchup that kept things interesting until the Twins bullpen gave up nine runs in the final three frames. By all rights, DeVries deserved the Win in that game, allowing just two runs, only one earned, in six solid innings while Quintana allowed four earned runs in six and a third -- including two crushers by The Willing Hammer. Just another example of why the Win is a mostly worthless stat and Tyler Robertson is a mostly worthless reliever.

We need Cole throwing rocks again and The Jose throwing gutter balls. And we need our bullpen to refrain from peeing on our rug.

Play ball!

285 thoughts on “2012 Game 102: Chicago Quintanas at Minnesota Dudes”

  1. Wow, this place is awesome. Still got three tix available. See coc for contact info

                  1. Wattsy put BBQ sauce on a wiener last week. And then deemed it good. Wait til he tries that Franch dipping sauce. 🙂

    1. Like back with Asteroids when you hit the reset button and didn't immediately collide with an asteroid. Good times.

  26. NBC has everything on a tape delay, right? Why the hell do I need an inane interview with John Mcenroe and the US women beach volleyballers when I could be watching sports? Does NBC actually know what the Olympics are?

    3. sports fans dislike the talk pieces and human interest stories (put me in that group), but casual viewers and people who tune in only for the Olympics love that stuff

      1. yeah, I know several people recently who said they can't imagine watching unless they knew personal things about the people so they could root for them

        1. that said, I don't mind hearing some human interest stories; I just wish they were briefer and weren't just about Americans

          2. I'm pretty sure that 90% of the non-American athletes are evil and out to deprive the USA of it's rightful gold medal in each event. Exceptions for the occasional single athlete from a small country. They're so precious. "Oh, look, he's from the Maldives, and he's up here trying to compete with real athletes from real countries that will still be here in 50 years. What moxy!"

    4. what I dont understand is of all the sports that are played at the Games, how beach volleyball get so much primetime coverage while other sports and events like Judo or Archery are relegated to the backwater cable channels

      1. I am guessing more Americans watch beach volleyball than Judo, especially since USA usually doesn't win judo

        1. there was a American gal who got hosed in the match to determine who goes to the Gold medal, but she won bronze and i something like the second American gal to medal.

          I caught that on some channel when I got home from work. It was kinda cool to watch.

        2. The olympics are an awesome time to watch sports you haven't really thought about before, but are damn interesting. I wish I wasn't in the minority on that.

      2. Dude, I was riveted by that archery final. I'm bored to tears by the no-volleyball on the beach.

        1. I just don't get 2-person volleyball. There are no volleys! It's like watching Sampras/Philippousis on the hard courts.

          2. I like watching the beach volleyball, but then, I play a lot of sand volleyball myself. I like the indoor game too, but the skill sets are quite a bit different. There's a lot more specialization in the indoor game, and yes, the volleys are longer and the hits are harder, for the most part.

        2. I watched the cross country event while eating breakfast today. I love the equestrian stuff.

          2. I've found the places to watch whatever event I damned well please. It's the most fun I've had watching the Olympics since...well, pretty much every winter Olympics.

    1. Twins pitcher could start beaning Konerko every at bat, thus depriving him of increasing his average. Then Mauer gets 5 hit every game and passes him.

      1. I wouldn't feel right throwing at Konerko. But it's open season on AJ and Beckham.

  29. Whilst the womenfolk watch Olympian fluff in the living room, I'm relegated to bed to ice my groin. Methinks I wasn't quite ready for that three mile walk yesterday.

    1. Just signed up for a 1/2 marathon on Sat. We'll see how much the Gold Bond cream can help with that.

      1. Not me. But my little brother walked home after his hernia surgery and didn't walk again for three days. Pride goes before the fall, indeed.

          1. Loved any dude with a huge afro back then. Bobby Tolan, Reggie Smith, Dave Cash all rocked pretty nice versions, but Oscar's 'fro was the Mack Daddy of them all.

                1. To a 12 year old kid who was obsessed with his older brothers Sly Stone and Jimi Hendrix records, they were at that.

                  Somewhere at my mom's place are (stereo) slides of me and my younger siblings taken during Camera Day at Dodger Stadium back in 1974. It was Reds v. Dodgers, so I got my pic taken with Smith and Tolan both. I need to grab those next time I go home.

                    1. Billy was totally rockin' the Hammond when last I saw the Slow Hand at the RiverCentre.

  32. Told ya. JW getting street cred, BB crapola due to some back office advice.

  33. evening, all.

    don't think we've done this for awhile: i've got a huge hunk of salmon in the oven (costco, pre-seasoned), a spinach salad with a bacon dressing (and bacon) that i whipped up waiting for it, and a NGBIPA i picked up on the way back from winona this weekend (CT: yours is still sitting there, waiting for some occasion i haven't figured out yet, also i haven't had a lot of BIPAs to compare, so i thought i'd try a known quantity first).

      1. ahh! sorry. by the way, what temp do you recommend it at?

        (also, for some reason, i thought black top was an BIPA. nope.)

        1. 40'ish works. Ice cold would be bad, but any amount of chilling will need a hard pour.

          1. sounds good. i've got it in the fridge for now, but i'll take it out and let it sit for a bit and think about what it's done before i pour it.

    2. Steaks over charcoal. Tried this for the first time. I think I enjoyed the results. I am going to try fooling around with the chips more often before I feel confident saying I know what I am doing. Also, as I mentioned in yesterday's game log I picked up a keg of this. Tapped it tonight and, woah boy, this has got some citrus to it. It reminds me of grapefruit juice beer. At 79 bucks though I really couldn't say no.

      1. I have zero idea why they continue to put up with him. Does getting Escobar mean we won't have to? At least his awful bat comes with an excellent glove.

        1. Without looking at the numbers he seems to have decent range, but that's the most I can say for him based on empirical observation.

          1. UZR thinks he's slightly below average. Bit above average for turning the double-play, bit below average for range, and below average for errors. Seems like an accurate assessment based on what I've seen.

            1. All of which are "excellent" compared to Dozier. That's what I get for listening to other folk talking about middle infielders.

        3. To be fair, he had a really good series defensively against the Indians. I think Dozier has the skills to be a good defensive shortstop. He wouldn't be the first player to make a lot of errors as a rookie and clean that up with more experience.

  44. According to Buster:

    A.J. Pierzynski with a home run tonight. Closing in on 1,600 hits and 150 homers for his career.

    Cue the is he a hall of famer question.

    1. Eventually that crap will be over and the real Olympics will start. Yeah, I'm talking track and field. Until then, no thanks.

      1. Men's 100m swimming = about 1 minute. Men's 100m running = about 10 seconds. Yeah we are a little bit better at that.

          1. Ugh, that was on all damn night last night and it didn't even frickin count. (and someone please explain to me why gymnastics has frickin qualifying events during the olympics when every other sport did that long ago.)

            1. I think last night was to see who competes for the medals, kind of like how swimming has heat to see who are the top 8 to compete for the medal.

              although, from what I understand, the World champ did not qualify, even though she had the 4th best overall score because there is a rule where only up to 2 gymnasts per country can compete.
              Im shocked, controversy in gymnastics

            3. Uh, every event has qualifiers. It takes soccer so long, they have to start two days early.

        1. That Russian team 2 years ago changed my appreciation of that particular sport.

            1. It should be noted that the hottest US curler from that team is from the Madison area.

                    1. This ended up much more tastefully than the last google search I did originating from this site.

                    3. I could tell you I didn't but that would be lying.

                      I can tell you that after that I will never do it again.

                    4. Yeah, it's a bummer that I occasionally want to look around the web for things I've done on film or onstage and only be able to find her, for the most part.

                    2. I forgot actually. Once I saw the picture, I remembered. Not that I minded forgetting.

          1. I'm seriously worried that they're going to fuck it up by not showing it. I mean, I'll know how to see it, but putting up with popups and mismatched sound isn't really what I'm after.

          2. And sadly, not going to be able to watch it live since it's going to be in Sochi, Russia. Now that I look up the city, can't help but feel they're going to have the same problem as Vancouver: too warm.

              1. Also ten hours? Compared to... what? London is +6 compared to us right now. Sydney I think was +16. Sochi being +10 means if they start at 8 AM, that would be 10 PM our time. If they then finished at 10 PM, that would be then be noon our time. So you would only be able to watch if you stayed up or watched during the first part of work/school.

                  1. Yes. As in, the events will be aired mostly while us in the US are sleeping.

                    Edit: I think I get it now. I was confused in thinking dw was comparing it as a similar time difference to Beijing (i.e. been done, it's workable), rather than an additional problem.

                    1. the next Summer games are in Rio. NBC (if they are even a network in 4 years) better be airing some events live in primetime

  54. According to Gameday, it doesn't seem like Span should have been the guy making that catch- he had to run about twice as far as Doumit did to get there.

    1. Cept I'm pretty sure Span running twice as far as Doumit would take half as long.

  56. The wife made a dandy low-sodium beef stew tonight, not an easy endeavor in my experience. Wheat rolls for dipping and sopping and salad to cleanse the palate. That's a fair dinkum cardiac meal.

  59. Now we just need to get through one more inning before we can bring in Burton and Perkins.

    1. At his current pace, Diamond would need almost 200 innings to pass Liriano. He's exactly at 100 right now with only two months left. I highly doubt anyone will have more strikeouts than Liriano for the Twins this season.

  64. My mom just stated that she wants a Span shirt... which means he'll probably be traded tomorrow.

  67. I'm cutting Span some slack on that one. Rios made a great play and threw a bullet to second.

    1. I'm sure he was surprised it was even close. I can't imagine that he's hit many balls off the wall that weren't at least a double.

  77. Time to pick up Daughter the Elder from work. I'm switching to carrier wave for a bit.

  87. Serious question, are the Twins ever going to lose again? Follow up question, if not, will they have home field?

    2. I think Jeff A has the answer to your first question.

      To answer your second question, if we went on a 64 game winning streak to finish the year, we would at least be in the running for home field advantage throughout the playoffs. Wouldn't be a sure thing, though.

      1. Unfortunately, there weren't enough Twins on the All-Star team to ensure home-field advantage throughout the postseason.

  88. Frankie Jamey Carroll he beat his kids the White Sox last night

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiGKC-xqNGA

  89. Woooooo, Carroll with the walk-off! I've been watching, but not commenting because my daughter and I have been watching South Korean pop videos. Yes, really.

    1. My youngest went through a Nipponophile stage when she was ten. She wanted Pocky with every meal.

      1. heh, you should have served her actual japanese food with every meal. natto on everything!

      1. Some of the most (intentionally) hilarious videos I've seen in my life are among the k-pop I've been sampling over the past few days.

  91. Just got a call from Linds' mom and dad. They were at the game, but left after the 8th inning. They wanted me to explain to them what happened.

    I kept the incredulity to a minimum.

    1. Just got home. Some people from my section (dugout club section 2 - amazing seats!!!) left after Dozier's bunt. Seriously, what's the point?

      1. Linds and I still haven't seen a win in Target Field. After this abomination, we'll be staying til the bloody end of each and every game we attend until we change that fact.

        I don't know why you'd leave a baseball game early.

        1. I've left 2 baseball games early in my life.

          One was a doubleheader in the Dome against the A's. There was like a 4 hour break between games with a dog show between them. I'm pretty sure someone else here was at that game as well.

          The other was an ICubs game last summer. It was 100F+ and you couldn't even lean against the backs of the seats. The tickets were free, so we stayed long enough for both teams to get a hit, then left. My uncle only wanted to be able to check another stadium off his list.

          1. I've left several early.
            Mostly because of kids. I've known going in that they might not last to the end. Had to leave this game after the 7th inning stretch.

            I also once left a late-season Indians game at the Dome after the top of the first. I bought my cheap-seats tickets just for the stocking-cap giveaway, but had to leave shortly after play began to catch the last bus that would bring me home.

            1. Children definitely change the equation. I used to take pride in never leaving a game early. Now, if I have kids along, I just tell myself that I've got a good excuse and don't feel bad about it.

              1. Fair point. Children are a variable that I've never had to deal with. I don't have any idea how that will work once that variable is introduced.

                The in-laws had no kids with them.

          2. My grandpa and cousins were at that doubleheader. The total time of the event has now entered into legend. Also one of the games had throwback unis and I believe JC Romero started the second game.

            I think it was the last scheduled doubleheader the Twins ever had.

            1. As I remember, it was me, my younger sister, our younger brother, and Dad at that game. I don't remember where Mom was. Getting my sister to a baseball game at all was hard enough, much less that length of time. We left somewhere around the 4th-5th inning of game 2. I have to admit, I didn't put up much of a fight when Dad decided (at the continued insistence of my sister) it was time to go.

      2. I've been to a couple hundred games and almost always keep score, so that prevents me from leaving early. (My poor parents must have despised me as the oldest of four kids who would refuse to let us leave a game early.) Anyway, I can only ever remember leaving two games early - both times when I didn't have a scorebook for some reason. Once was a mid-90s Indians game (I remember Scott Leius appearing for Cleveland) when they beat the Twins 19-2 or something silly and the other was a pre-surgery Joe Mays game in 2003 when he was getting shelled by somebody.

    2. we thought about leaving to catch the metro, but I wasnt about to let my mom get out of this one. Not a close one with the Sox

    3. I left the 22-inning game at the Dome after the 18th inning at my parents' insistence. Since we got in a doubleheader's worth, I didn't feel too bad.

      1. Sheenie and I stuck around for all of this one a couple of years ago. We didn't get out of the Dome until 12:50am.

        1. pretty much the same story with this one. unfortunately so many fans had left by that point that every white sox fan for 6 sections in any direction knew exactly who was going nuts in the top of the 16th.

          1. Heh, I love that Gardy saved Nathan for that 5-run lead in the 16th. Well, maybe not "love."

  93. Leius only played for Cleveland in '96. He appeared in two games against Minnesota. On July 13, the Indians won 19-11. The day prior, he played in a 7-5 Indians win.

    Mays getting shelled in '03 is gonna need a little more context. His worst home loss that year in terms of runs allowed was June 14th when Arizona won 9-2. Mays pitched 4.2 innings and gave up 8 runs.

      1. Must have been the 19-11 game that I left. The Indians hit 12(!) doubles that day. The AZ sounds right for Mays, but I can't remember for sure. It would have been June when I was home briefly for the summer.

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