Monthly Archives: July 2012

2012 Twins Game Log

2012 Game 89: Orioles at Twins

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Happy vacation, Twayn!

It's the Return of the Gentleman Masher! Jimbo's last game in a Twins uniform was against the O's. How coincidental that his first second current return-trip to the Bullseye should be in an O's uniform.

Anyway, I know what I'm rooting for tonight: jacked dongers.

Of course, there WOULD be a lefty on the mound for the Twins in Scott Diamond, so maybe Jim will si
sit instead of start tonight. That would be absolute Boo.

In Diamond's last three starts, he has gone 7, 8 and 8, respectively, while allowing 2, 2, and 3 runs, respectively. He has emerged as the Koufax* of the staff, with a 2.62 ERA, 3.85/3.53 FIP/xFIP, and 45:12 K:BB in 79 innings.

His opposing number tonight will be Chris Tillman. In his only other appearance this season, July 4 against Seattle, Tillman went 8 2/3 of 2-hit ball, striking out 7 and giving up two runs. The big right-hander throws a mid-90s fastball, curve, and changeup. Tillman was part of the package, with CFer Adam Jones, for Erik Bedard back in 2008. He has had several cups of coffee since but struggled to put his game together in the minors (5.58 ERA, 5.31 FIP in 36 starts over three seasons prior to this year).

From the fangraphs piece by Jack Moore on July 5:

Tillman appeared to figure something out in Triple-A this year, striking out over a batter per inning again after dropping to under 7.0 per nine innings in 2010 and 2011. According to StatCorner, he drew 11.4% swinging strikes after marks below 10% in both 2010 and 2011.

Just a look at the radar gun readings shows what happened: Tillman’s fastball is back. He touched 97.2 MPH in the ninth inning — twice — after averaging just 89.5 MPH on his fastball last season. Tillman averaged 95.0 MPH on the fastball Wednesday, and every pitch saw an uptick in velocity — the cutter up to 93.0 from 84.2, the curve up to 77.4 from 75.2, the changeup up to 83.2 from 78.7 (a massive 12 MPH difference from the fastball).

Hopefully, he'll give Consuela and Morneau a couple of belt-high fastballs each tonight.

*Diamond is in his age-25 season. At age 25, Koufax went 18-13 with a 3.52 ERA and led the NL with 269 Ks in 255 2/3 innings while earning his first A-S appearance. So, umm, yea, it could happen.

2012 Twins Game Recaps, Minnesota Twins, MLB

Game 88: Athletics 9, Twins 4

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Long balls v. no balls....long balls win.

Parker gets the win after his guys managed a cumulative 13 hits off of 5 different pitchers (out of 7 total used by the home club) including 4 more homeruns*.

Duensing gets the loss after a 41 pitch first and a total of 7 earned runs during his 2 completed innings. Poor shlub even walked in a run.

The Twins are now 36-52 (and a ghastly 17-28 at home) and 13 games behind the AL Central leading White Sox.

Good news:

Justin Morneau extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a single in the sixth.

Zach Parise threw out the first pitch before the game. That's right - the Wild signed a couple of amazing free agents this off season. Bring on the snow!

Continue reading Game 88: Athletics 9, Twins 4 →

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–July 16

Shoeless Joe Jackson (1889)
Doc Prothro (1893)
Jim Odom (1921)
Norm Sherry (1931)
Eddie Fisher (1936)
Lee Elia (1937)
Terry Pendleton (1960)
DeMarlo Hale (1961)
William VanLandingham (1970)
Kory DeHaan (1976)

The father of former NFL coach Tommy Prothro, third baseman Doc Prothro played in the majors for parts of five seasons and had a lifetime batting average of .318.

No players with connections to the Twins appear to have been born on this day.

Miscellaneous

Pint-Sized Reviews: Port Brewing Old Viscosity Ale

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It's after noon, so I think it is safe to talk about beer on a sunday. 'specially since it is my birfday.

I bought this bad boy at a Bevmo in Vacaville last weekend, on the way home from Oakland, where the Boy got himself a fancy-dancy trombone as his graduation present. Said trombone got a nice workout on Friday at the local pizzeria when his jazz quintet played a gig, in return for pizza and tips. The crowd consisted mostly of parents of the quint, plus a table-full of their friends, but we had a great time, and the pizzeria did a nice chunk of extra business.

This was my early present to myself, after a tasty dinner of baked beans, roasted chiles, and BBQ'd beef ribs. Mmm, dinosaur bones! Hard to resist when they are only a couple of bucks per pound and pretty meaty. I gave them a nice rub, let them stand for an hour, then smoked (indirect heat) for ~45 minutes over hickory chips and charcoal, finishing with just a couple of minutes on direct heat to crisp up the undersides. Fatty, smokey deliciousness.

And this was dessert. Port Brewing is the extension of the venerable and venerated Pizza Port. If you are ever in the San Diego area, I highly recommend a trip to the mothership in Solano Beach (although they now have locations in Ocean Beach, Carlsbad, and San Clemente as well). Excellent pizza, and a bitchin' beer selection. Each location has its own lineup.

Port Brewing was spun off in 2006, locating in Stone Brewing's former facilities. Named Small Brewery of the Year at the 2007 GABF, and Champion Small Brewery at the 2008 World Beer Cup, these guys know what they are doing.

The Old Viscosity Ale is a strong ale that reads like a Russian Imperial Stout. This is a sipping beer that really should be shared with friends. But it is so good you may be tempted (as I was) to keep it all to yourself. Consider yourself warned.
Continue reading Pint-Sized Reviews: Port Brewing Old Viscosity Ale →

2012 Twins Game Recaps

Game 87: Twins vs. A’s: The Video Game!

Yes, now you can relive the excitement of yesterday's Twins/A's game anytime you like. Just copy the following code and enter it into a QBasic shell, then run it. Exciting text baseball action!

10 PRINT "Welcome to today's game pitting the visiting A's against the Twins.
20 PRINT "It's a scorcher out here - hot as hell, really. I don't know how these guys are going to do it."
30 PRINT "Cole De Vries takes the mound, looks in for the sign, and here's the pitch."
40 PRINT "It's a thigh high fastball out over the plate, and the batter crushes it for a home run."
50 LET X=X+1
60 PRINT "The score is now" X$ "to nothing"
70 GOTO 30

You've got all that you need for a riveting game of baseball. Go to it.