Game 24: Detroit at Minnesota

It's pouring here now, but if the game happens, it's Ace v. Ace (Verlander v. Gibson).

Hopefully the local nine can stick to the pattern they've developed over the course of this young season - win game three of the series. Other than against Oakland, Minnesota has taken Game 3 in every series they've played thus far.

Happy Birthday–April 27

Hi Myers (1889)
Allan Sothoron (1893)
Rogers Hornsby (1896)
Horace Stoneham (1903)
Enos Slaughter (1916)
John Rice (1918)
Greg Kosc (1949)
Willie Upshaw (1957)
Patrick Lennon (1968)
Frank Catalanotto (1974)
Benj Sampson (1975)
Chris Carpenter (1975)
Pedro Feliz (1975)
Luis Perdomo (1984)

 Horace Stoneham was the owner of the Giants from 1936-1976.

John Rice was an American League umpire from 1955-1973.

Greg Kosc was an American League umpire from 1976-1999.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 27

Game 23: Tigers @ Twins

Can I just state for the record how incredibly tired I am of the awful starting pitching? That's been covered? In depth? Good.

I probably won't see much of this one, because I'll be raking and planting grass in the front yard (had a sewer line put in last fall). I expect to come back and see that Hughes struck out 12 in 5 innings before giving up 4 home runs in the 6th. We'll still win, though, because the offense voted "least likely to amount to anything" has turned out to be chock full of overachievers.

Go Twins!

Also, it's time for "Twins on Leaderboards", because that's fun.

rWAR (position players) - Dozier, 8th (1.0)
rWAR (position players) - Plouffe, 9th (1.0)
Batting Average - Kubel, 10th (.319)
OBP - Plouffe, 8th (.412)
Plate Appearances - Dozier, 3rd (109)
Plate Appearances - Mauer, t-6th (107)
Runs - Dozier, 1st (23)
Runs - Mauer, t-2nd (19)
Runs - Plouffe, t-4th (18)
Hits - Colabello, t-6th (28)
Total Bases - Colabello, 10th (46)
Doubles - Plouffe, 1st (10)
Doubles - Colabello, t-2nd (9)
Triples - Fuld, t-1st (2)
Triples - Arcia, Florimon, Plouffe and Kubel t-10th (1)
Home Runs - Dozier, t-3rd (7)
RBI - Colabello, t-1st (27)
RBI - Suzuki, t-6th (19)
Walks - Dozier, 4th (17)
Walks - Pinto, 5th (16)
Walks - Mauer and Plouffe, t-6th (15)
Strikeouts - Mauer, t-7th (26)
Stolen Bases - Dozier, t-5th (6)
Stolen Bases - Florimon, t-9th (4)
Singles - Mauer, t-4th (22)
Extra Bases Hits - Plouffe and Colabello, t-6th (12)
Times on Base - Plouffe, t-3rd (42)
Times on Base - Mauer, t-6th (40)
Times on Base - Dozier, t-10th (38)
Times on Base - Plouffe, t-3rd (42)
Sacrifice Bunts - Florimon, t-3rd (2)
Sacrifice Flies - Suzuki, t-3rd (3)
Intentional Walks - Mauer, t-3rd (3)
Caught Stealing - Colabello, t-4th (2)
Power/Speed - Dozier, 1st (6.5)
AB per SO - Suzuki, 10th (9.8)
AB per HR - Dozier, 4th (12.9)
AB per HR - Pinto, 8th (14.5)
Outs Made - Dozier, 8th (72)
WPA - Colabello, 3rd (1.0)

Well, gee, that was pretty fun...
...now on to the painful side of things
Wins - Fien and Gibson, t-3rd (3)
W/L% - Fien, t-1st (1.000)
W/L% - Gibson, t-10th (.750)
Saves - Perkins, t-4th (5)
Games Started - Nolasco and Correia, t-1st (5)
Home Runs Allowed - Nolasco and Pelfrey, t-6th (5)
Walks - Pelfrey, t-5th (15)
Hits - Nolasco, 1st (43)
Hits - Correia, t-3rd (37)
Losses - Correia, t-3rd (3)
Earned Runs - Nolasco and Correia, t-2nd (22)
Wild Pitches - Gibson, t-2nd (3)
Games Finished - Perkins, t-4th (8)

Well, at least Fien is having fun vulturing some wins.

Happy Birthday–April 26

Jack Barry (1887)
Ray Caldwell (1888)
Hack Wilson (1900)
Bernard Malamud (1914)
Virgil Trucks (1917)
Sal Maglie (1917)
Ron Northey (1920)
Granny Hamner (1927)
Amos Otis (1947)
Tom Norton (1950)
Mike Scott (1955)
Steve Lombardozzi (1960)
Curtis Wilkerson (1961)
Brian Anderson (1972)
Geoff Blum (1973)
Kosuke Fukudome (1977)
Joe Crede (1978)
Alejandro Machado (1982)

Bernard Malamud, of course, wrote the book "The Natural".  He probably wrote some other books as well.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 26