Monthly Archives: April 2015

Game Logs, NHL

Game Log: St. Louis Blues @ Minnesota Wild, Game 6

27 Comments

It's pretty simple at this point.  The Wild need to win one of the next two games to move on and face the Blackhawks (again).

The Wild have really only had 10 good minutes over the course of the last two games.  Fortunately that was enough to steal game 5, so now they get to feed off the home crowd and hopefully replicate game 3.

Historical facts:

  • The Wild are 3-2 in game 6 historically (3-1 at home).
  • This is the first time the Wild have played game 6 with a series lead.
  • When they have won game 5, they are 2-0 in game 6 (both times in 2003).
  • The Wild have never won a series in less than seven games.

2015 Playoff facts:

  • In series where the two teams were separated by less than 10 points in the final standings, the lower seeded team is leading or tied in all 5 series (17-11 record)
  • In series where the two teams were separated by 10 or more points in the final standings, the higher seed has an 11-3 record and leads in or has won all 3 series.
  • The Wild and Blues were separated by 9 points in the final standings.
Keeping Track

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 →

2015 Twins Game Logs

Game 17: Twins @ Mariners

45 Comments

The good news is that we don't have to watch our favorite team take on Felix Hernandez any more in this series.

Trevor May (1-1 4.76 ERA, 3.04 FIP)
vs.
James Paxton (0-1 8.40 ERA, 4.64 FIP)

I should really do xFIP, but I'm about to go run some errands, and I can't be arsed to do anything other than a quick bbref lookup. It looks like this Paxton fellow has been almost as good as Hughes at keeping the ball on the correct side of the outfield fence. I'd expect that to change.

On that note: the Twins as a team have 8 home runs. Nelson Cruz has 9.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–April 25

3 Comments

John Henry “Pop” Lloyd (1884)
George Fiall (1900)
Bill Grieve (1900)
Roy Parmelee (1907)
Bobby Estalella (1911)
Red Flaherty (1917)
Ed Vargo (1930)
Lew Krausse (1943)
Kerry Taylor (1950)
Greg Wells (1954)
Larry Pashnick (1956)
Tony Phillips (1959)
Darren Holmes (1966)
Joe Buck (1969)
Brad Clontz (1971)
Jacque Jones (1975)
Garrett Mock (1983)
J. P. Howell (1983)

Shortstop Pop Lloyd was called the Black Honus Wagner.

A member of the basketball hall of fame as part of the “Renaissance Five” team, shortstop George Fiall played in the Negro Leagues from 1918-1931.

Bill Grieve was an American League umpire from 1938-1955.

Red Flaherty was an American League umpire from 1953-1973.

Ed Vargo was a National League umpire from 1960-1983 and was an umpire supervisor from 1984-1997.

Kerry Taylor played for the GCL Twins in 1968.  He then went into the Army and was killed in the Vietnam War.

The son of Hall of Famer Jack Buck, some sources say that Joe Buck is also a professional baseball broadcaster.

Garrett Mock was drafted by Minnesota in the fourteenth round in 2002, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 25 →

2015 Twins Game Recaps

Game 16 recap. Seattle 2 Minnesota 0

6 Comments

Phil Hughes was awesome. 8 innings, 9 strikeouts, 0 walks (natch), but two solo home runs as all King Felix needed as the Seattle Mariners beat the Twins 2-0 in a game played in a little over two hours.

Hernadez was dominant early, taking a perfect game into the 5th inning before Trevor Plouffe hit a solid single. The Twins made some waves in the later innings of the game but could not plate the run. The best chance was in the 6th. Suzuki reached 2nd on a hit/error combo. Moved over to 3rd on an infield single by Jordan Schafer (he made one bunt attempt but whiffed), but Hernandez slammed the door.

One is supposed to cheer for the home team, and perhaps I am underselling how awesome Phil Hughes pitched tonight,  but I appreciate good baseball and watching King Felix is pretty darned good. I dont have a MLB package and the Mariners are never on national TV, so I dont get to watch him as often as I would like. Perhaps the M's will be half way good this year and get some national love.

NOTES

- Phil Hughes has 2 complete games as  a Twin. Both are 8 inning losses.

-This is Hughes' 4th career complete game. His first complete game was a shutout. But only 6 innings in a rain shortened game.

-Other pitchers with 2 CGs as a Twin: Brian Duensing, LaTroy Hawkins, Livan Hernandez, Les Straker, Luis Tiant, Bill Campbell, and more.

-Schafer's 6th inning infield single broke a 0-21 slump. Perhaps his time as a Twin is done at the end of April.

-This was Hernadez's 24th career complete game and 10th shutout.  CC Sabathia lead active players with 38 CGs and Tim Hudson leads with 13 SHO

-The Twins had 5 hits, all singles. This is the third time this year they have been extra baseless.

-The is the third time the Twins have been shutout. The first two happened in  Detroit in games 1 and 2.