2013 Twins Game Log

2013 Game 103: KC George Alexanders vs. MN Emily & Marens

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While none of us have had a lot of recent experience seeing the Royals atop the Twins in the standings, there was a time when the more wrinkled and bent among us did. Back when pant-legs were still short and stirrup socks were long, when free agency and the designated hitter rule were busy destroying the game as we knew it, back before expansion and realignment and wild cards made a mockery of what winning a pennant was all about, and when lawns were gloriously free of trespassers, the Kansas City Royals were an elite ball club in the seven-team American League West, perennial contenders who made it to the more exclusive playoffs seven times between 1976 and 1985 and won the World Series in the final year of that stretch. (Suck on that sentence, Mr. Faulkner.) The Royals rosters back in those days were a litany of greats -- George Brett, Steve Balboni, Frank White, Hal McRae, Bret Saberhagen, Dan Quisenberry and Charlie Liebrandt to name a few. But then the team fell on hard times.

For the past two decades the Royals have been the doormat of the AL Central and haven't made the playoffs since that World Series championship in 1985. But things may finally be changing for the better in the City of Fountains, the Paris of the Plains. Rebuilding a baseball franchise, especially a small market franchise, takes time and skill and luck and plenty of patience. The Royals seem to have assembled a nucleus of good young talent supplemented by decent veterans that could take them places in the coming years, much as the Twins did starting back in 2002 when the Get To Know 'Em boys, under threat of contraction, won their first division title in eleven years. The average player age on the Royals roster is under 27, and that's with fossil remains like Miguel Tejada, Bruce Chen and Jeremy Guthrie skewing the numbers north. Time will tell, but the Royals could well be a team to keep an eye on in the years to come, and if Terry Ryan doesn't do something about the dearth of pitching prospects, the Twins could find themselves looking up at the south end of the Royals a lot more than we've become conditioned to over the past four lustrums.

After a winning West Coast road trip the Twins welcome the division rival Royals to Target Field to kick off a six-game home stand. Tonight's game will be the first for Joe Mauer since he flew home a week ago for the birth of his twin girls and missed six games. That's just three games per kid, so nobody really has reason to complain. It will be nice to have Joe back in the lineup, but given Gardy's proclivities don't hold your breath expecting him to bat second, you can probably just pencil him into the three-slot on your lineup card now.

After facing the best starting pitchers that the Angels and Mariners have to offer in Jared Weaver and Felix Hernandez, the Twins will run into another buzz saw tonight as the Royals send Ervin Santana to the mound. Santana is in the midst of a rebound coming off a down season last year, currently sporting a 3.06 ERA (good for a 134 ERA+) and an impressive 1.077 WHIP. The Twins counter with Mike Pelfrey, who brings his 5.15 ERA (80 ERA+) and a 1.505 WHIP to the mound. Pelfrey has been showing incremental improvement over the past couple of months, lowering his ERA in each of his last eight starts. Let's hope he can avoid hitting another one of those walls that have limited him to less than 100 innings pitched so far this year. The bullpen could use a break.

Play ball!

119 thoughts on “2013 Game 103: KC George Alexanders vs. MN Emily & Marens”

  4. oh, if Brian Dozier is out for a length of time, that could hurt the team. Because is he super in the field and can hit enough to stay in the lineup.

    1. this is judging by the Luis Rivas Standard?

      KillDozier this year: 231/303/383. 88 OPS+. Rivas with the Twins: 262/307/383, 80 OPS+

  7. Even though TK says the Twins medical staff will get Dozier right soon, I have my doubts. Don't know why I do, but I just do.

    1. They probably have him stretched out on his left side to help balance the ill humors. They will rotate him once the leeches are ready to come off.

  12. Mauer trying to steal? Dude, seriously? You are sleep deprived. You don't have the legs to steal.

          1. I took it as an homage to the heroic creativity of my contrarian thesis. Alternately, he may have just been calling me an asshole.

  15. something tells me that Pelfrey is going to struggle to get to the sixth tonight.

      2. I always took ct as more of a Mike Marshall, circa '79 kind of guy.

  18. It looks like it might be a good time to turn into the Mets game if you have a baseball package.

  29. If you give a Mous a Meatball...
    Watched the replay on Gameday. Not a fan of the Royal announcers.

  30. Gladden bares all with growing up with used cars - El Camino.

    Like didn't everybody?

        1. My grandpa had a emerald green Hornet, I think a '73 or '74. Pretty color, ugly car.

        3. My first was a hand-me-down '73 Dodge Coronet Crestwood station wagon, green with obligatory faux wood trim and 318 cubic inches of Mopar V-8. I called her Della Streetcar after Perry Mason's secretary, my friends called it the party barge. We used to go out on the back roads and take turns riding the luggage rack at dangerously high speeds. I'm so glad I have girls instead of boys.

          1. At least your station wagon had a V8. My '77 Ford Fairmont was a 200c.i. straight six with a 4-speed manual.

          2. My first was a '67 Ford Galaxy 500, two-door with vinyl roof, iffy brakes and no heat, which was a definite drawback in the winter.

            2. That would be a sweet restoration project car, especially if it had the 7-liter Thunderbird engine.

                1. About fifteen years ago or so my car died and my uncle loaned me his '67 VW Beetle. No auxiliary heater and of course the air-cooled engine, so I also had to scrape ice off the inside of the windshield. Not a good car for Minnesota winters.

                2. Trick is to lower the back windows to let the humidity from breathing to escape. Man I wished I knew that 25 yrs ago.

              2. I was up close and personal for a couple of years with a 1972 Chevy Nomad. I believe I may have mentioned one incident in particular at the old basement: driving with the h.s. girlfriend to visit some colleges my senior year, I lost the top half of the H (linkage problems), leaving me with second and reverse. In Minneapolis. 100 miles from home. It was awesome.

                The first car I actually owned was a used Honda Civic, which got totalled in northern Virginia (one the way home from the grocery store) when I made the mistake of going through a green light.

    1. Dick was promoting Arcia as recently as the game before he got demoted.

  32. Joe Mauer just "walloped" a ball fifty feet short of the fence. Dick out Gordo'd Gordo on that one.

    1. I assumed that is what they meant by no homers since the all star break. Or maybe he got lucky during vacation?

  36. Freaking Gameday. It still shows 4-1 on the scoreboard and the box score, but at least the scoring summary shows Twins have scored twice.

    2. I thought that was just my crappy super slow netbook that was showing the score still at 4-1.

      1. Ditto. Lotsa scores were stalled.
        When mlb.com isn't working, I like CBSsports.com's scoreboard.
        Nice and light. No geegaws or flimflam.

  40. So, Jake Peavy was a last-minute scratch for the Hosers tonight. Wonder where he's heading.

    1. I saw a three way deal: Peavy to ARI, Ian Kennedy to LAAAAA, Pale Hose get good propects in return

  41. Southpaw pitcher, three straight lefty hitters, three straight hits. Good thing Gardy played the percentages there.

  44. So this will be three straight seasons of the Twins failing to cash in on Kubel, Cuddyer, the Hammer, Morneau, the Dunse, Burton, etc. The only guy they've traded is Liriano! Every other terrible team manages to trade off three or four guys.

    1. Has there been much serious interest in Morneau? I suppose if the Twins picked up all of his salary someone would take him.

      1. And TR wasn't going to trade him unless he could get a major haul in return. Perk is a damn cheap closer through his 2016 option year.

      1. All three of those trades were in August, requiring the players to pass through waivers.

    1. Too bad they aren't playing each other. Could he just stay on the field if someone brought a new jersey out for him?

      2. The wife and I went to the game when Dougie Baseball got traded to the BoSox. Heard the news on the way to the Dome. He got a standing O when he took the field.

  46. Everyone says we need to speed up the game of baseball. Why not have two outs per inning, rather than three? TV would love it because you could get a game done in two hours. Fans would love it because there'd be less bunting and more emphasis on the long ball, which is what people want. If they had that rule last night, the Twins would've led 2-0 going into the ninth, Perkins would've come in, and the Twins would've won. Git R Dun, Billy Smith! We'll just have to settle for 104-58!

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