Monthly Archives: September 2015

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–September 27

Whit Wyatt (1907)
Dick Hall (1930)
Dave Wickersham (1935)
Gary Sutherland (1944)
Mike Schmidt (1949)
Bob Veselic (1955)
Don Schulze (1962)
Todd Blyleven (1972)
Vicente Padilla (1977)
Jon Rauch (1978)
Jon Garland (1979)

Todd Blyleven is, as you probably know, the son of Bert Blyleven. He pitched in the minor leagues for seven years, getting as high as AA, then was a scout for eight years.  At last report, he was the digital marketing manager for Shock Doctor Sports in Orange County, California.

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2015 Twins Game Logs

Game 154: twins @ MUST WIN GAME

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We can say that, right? They don't exactly have to win out in order to keep in the race, but damn near. They've committed the cardinal sin of allowing two teams to separate them from that second wild card spot. The Astros might fall apart, but they might not, and the idea of the Scoscias sneaking in there appalls me (okay, the idea of watching a lot of games with Mike Trout where I'm not rooting for him to fail does make me a little happy).

Luckily, that margin is still pretty small. The Twins could do themselves a huge favor by winning tonight. The Astros already won today, so at best, they'll be merely keeping pace, but they could theoretically retake the Scoscias, and that's roughly 1/3 of what matters.

Attempting to defend the Twins' honor tonight will be Tyler Duffey, who's been a very pleasant surprise since joining the major league rotation. There's been debate over whether or not he'll be able keep it up, but hopefully, even if his carriage is a pumpkin, he'll be able to freeze the clock's hands at 11:55 for a little while longer.

Possibly/Probably the Last Twins on Leaderboards of the Season

Games Played - Mauer - 150 (t-10th)
At Bats - Dozier - 595 (5th)
Plate Appearances - Dozier - 668 (3rd)
Runs Scored - Dozier - 99 (3rd)
Doubles - Dozier - 37 (t-5th)
Triples - Rosario - 15 (1st)
Strikeouts - Dozier - 143 (8th)
Extra Base Hits - Dozier - 69 (t-5th)
Sacrifices - Santana - 7 (t-7th)
Intentional Walks - Mauer - 12 (5th)
Double Plays - Plouffe - 27 (1st)
Double Plays - Mauer - 20 (t-8th)
Stolen Base % -Hicks - 80% (6th)
Outs Made - Dozier - 470 (1st)
Power/Speed - Dozier - 15.8 (8th)

BB/9 - Hughes - 0.93 (1st)
Saves - Perkins - 32 (t-6th)
Games Started - Gibson - 31 (t-5th)
Home Runs Allowed - Hughes - 29 (t-1st)
Walks - Gibson - 63 - (9th)
Hits Allowed - Pelfrey - 192 (t-7th)
Strikeouts per Walk - Hughes - 5.875 (2nd)
HR/9 - Pelfrey - 0.607 (2nd)
Losses - GIbson - 11 (t-9th)
Hit By Pitch - Pelfrey - 12 (t-2nd)
Games Finished - Perkins - 45 (9th)

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–September 26

Gus Schmelz (1850)
Bob Coleman (1890)
Bobby Shantz (1925)
Mel McGaha (1926)
Dave Duncan (1945)
Jim Gideon (1953)
Rich Gedman (1959)
Steve Buechele (1961)
Dave Martinez (1964)
Brian Shouse (1968)
Brian Looney (1969)

Gus Schmelz managed several teams in the late 19th century.  He is one of the few who became a manager without having played professionally.

Bob Coleman managed in the minor leagues for thirty-five years.  He had the most wins as a minor league manager when he retired, 2,496, a mark since passed by Stan Wasiak.

Former Knicks player Mel McGaha was the manager of the Kansas City Athletics from 1964-1965.

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2015 Twins Game Recaps

Game 153 recap. Do I have to?

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MIN 4 2 0

DET 6 13 3

 

Thats right, the Twins scored 4 runs on 2 hits. One of the hits was an almost Grand Slam by Eddie Rosario. The ball hit the top of the wall and Rosario got his 15th triple of the year. He now has more triples (15) than walks (14) this year. Crazy.

Rosario then tagged up on an ball hit about 110 feet to the right side of second base. Ian Kinsler's "holy moses this guy is tagging up!" throw short hopped the catcher and it was 4-0 Twins and it looked like the Twins were on cruise control and the Tigers were planning golf outings in the Carribean.

The Mike Pelfrey wobbled a bit. Pelf was rock solid the first four innings but gave up a bunch of hits in the 5th, but only 1 run and his night was through. In hindsight it might have been better to try to get 6 innings out of him because the bullpen was leaky again (except Blaine Boyer of all people).

Casey Fien and Glen Perkins manged to allow 7 base runners and 5 runs in their 5 out combined appearance. Once could say its just a one time thing for Perk but he has been struuuuuug-gling since July. He may say he is healthy, but it may be time to just shut him down for the year.

I keep telling myself competitive September baseball is fun, but then a soul crushing loss to a bad baseball team happens and wonder why go through the emotions. Then I look at the box scores are the last 4 years and see something like this actual lineup and think" yeah this year is pretty good".