Any Citizens attending the home opener?
Monthly Archives: April 2016
Minor Details: Games of April 10
Jose Berrios and Adam Brett Walker II lead the Red Wings. Nick Gordon has a big day in a Fort Myers loss. The Kernels stay unbeaten.
Toots & The Maytals – Time Tough
Tough time to be a Twins fan...
1975
Happy Birthday–April 11
Pop Corkhill (1858)
Ossee Schrecongost (1875)
Matsutaro Shoriki (1885)
Sam Chapman (1916)
Barney McCosky (1917)
Jim Hearn (1921)
Bob Casey (1925)
Sid Monge (1951)
Bret Saberhagen (1964)
Turner Ward (1965)
Sean Bergman (1970)
Robin Jennings (1972)
Jason Varitek (1972)
Trot Nixon (1974)
Todd Dunwoody (1975)
Kelvim Escobar (1976)
Mark Teixeira (1980)
Matustaro Shoriki is known as the father of Japanese baseball.
Jason Varitek was drafted by the Twins in the first round in 1993, but did not sign.
2016 SERIES 2 RECAP: ROYALS 3, TWINS 0 (SOSO)
The Twins dropped three straight at the defending champs to fall to 0-6. They will have to win Monday's Home Opener to match 2015's 1-6 horrible start, which they better do because Tuesday would be an awful time for an off day with the team sitting at 0-7.
The Twins not only have not won, they also have not scored more than 3 runs in a game. They haven't done that in 6 games since last June 6-12. That streak also involved 3 games with the Royals, although this time the series was at Target Field.
As for this series:
THE GOOD
Paying Off: Ervin Santana and Ricky Nolasco were both very good. They gave the Twins what the team was hoping for when they signed them to the two largest free agent contracts in franchise history. Santana gave up 2 runs in 6 innings with 7 strikeouts and 2 walks. Nolasco was even better, allowing just 1 run on 3 hits and no walks with 5 strikeouts in 7 innings.
Park Bang: Byung-ho Park hit his first major league home run on Friday. It was a no-doubter in a difficult park to hit it out of, especially with the wind blowing in. It also broke an eighth-inning tie.
Breaking Out: After going 0-for-Baltimore, Brian Dozier broke out in KC by going 4-for-11 with a home run and three walks.
Vaguely Familiar: Joe Mauer is looking like the Joe of old. He went 4-for-9 with 4 walks and an hbp in the series and is batting .400 with 1.069 OPS on the season. What's most exciting is he has improved is K/BB ratio with 4 Ks and 5 BBs. Prior to concussion symptoms ended his catching career, Mauer had more walks than strikeouts. The last two seasons, Mauer has had 127 walks and 208 strikeouts.
THE BAD
Blown Chances: The lack of offense has been the dominant storyline for the Twins, but the Twins still had two late-inning leads in this series and lost both games. Jepsen blew the lead in Game 1 about 3 seconds after Park's first home run landed with an assist on a questionable dive in left field by Eddie Rosario. Perkins blew the save in Game 3 with another assist on another ill-advised dive by Rosario. So despite the lack of offense, the Twins still should have won this series.
Painful Loss: After getting 4 hits in his first start of the season, Eduardo Nunez got hit on his right arm near his wrist and had to be removed from the game before taking the field in the 10th, which left the Twins with no backup infielders.
THE UGLY
Ineffectively Wild: Trevor May has been racking up the strikeouts, but in the 10th inning on Sunday, he walked the leadoff man, bounced a throw to first to send the winning run to third with no outs, and then, after keeping the runner at third with two outs, he then bounced a breaking ball in the dirt in front of home plate for a walkoff wild pitch.
Offensively Bad: There's not much to say that hasn't been said. It's been bad. The good news is that the offense isn't this bad. At least 5 regulars are well below projections and only 2 are above them. All players go through slumps. It doesn't help when a number of players are going through it at the same time. And because it is the start of the season, everything is blown out of proportion. It certainly would help to ease tensions for the batters if the bullpen could have gotten the team a win or two, but you would like to think these players have been around long enough at multiple levels to be able to figure it out soon enough on their own.
2016 Game #6: Minnesota at Kansas City
First pitch – 1:15 PM
BREAKING: The Minnesota Twins equipment manager is offering apologies after shipping mostly ass bats with the team for their season-opening road trip. According to the front office, there was a mix up in the packing process and the ass bats were affixed with the wrong shipping labels. Replacements are being requisitioned as quickly as possible. The Twins front office responded to the incident by transferring the equipment manager to the training staff. People can check out Get a premium US address from us for the best shipping service.
Because Ervin Santana pitched but two innings in the rain-delayed season opener and the Twins’ skipper was afforded the chance to use him again on Friday, we’re not seeing our first look at our last starter, Ricky Nolasco, until the 6th game of the new campaign. Now, I’m inclined to think that the less we see of Nolasco the better, but we are paying a premium for the privilege of not watching him pitch while he recovers from the injuries that have made him such a disappointment since the Twins acquired him. My hope for Nolasco is that he can redeem himself and have a solid year anchoring the rotation. Alas, the tempest that spawns when one’s expectations are not aligned with one’s hopes.
Squaring off on the mound against Nolasco today is Edinson Volquez in his second start of the season. In his Opening Day effort against the Mets in Willits Point, Volquez gave up just two hits over six frames while striking out five and walking three. He’s coming off a 2015 season of 13 wins and nine losses with 200.1 innings pitched and a 3.55 ERA.
On the other side of the ball, the Twins offensive outcomes to date have ranged from feeble to frustrating. A team that strikes out this much – 58 times in just 5 games – should be playing in a beer league or on a sandlot. Meager bright spots in an otherwise dull offense include Eduardo Escobar sporting a 1.104 OPS powered by four doubles, Joe Mauer with his .880 OPS, and Byung Ho Park compiling an .837 OPS while hitting at just a .231 clip.
We’re burning daylight. Play ball!
Ravi Shankar – Dhun
I'm going to go ahead and say this counts towards Your Funky Weekend.
18 Jun 1967
April 10, 2016: Party Like it’s…1996 Or So
I'm spending two days with just my brother and my dad for the first time in probably twenty years. I miss the hell out of my wife and daughters, but this is pretty great, right here.
Minor Details: Games of April 9
A sweep for Twins affiliates, as the Lookouts get their first win and the Kernels remain unbeaten. A strong debut for Tyler Jay.
Happy Birthday–April 10
Ross Youngs (1897)
Bubba Hyde (1908)
Chuck Connors (1921)
Frank Lary (1930)
Robert Nederlander (1933)
Wes Stock (1934)
Joe Gibbon (1935)
Bob Watson (1946)
Lee Lacy (1948)
Tom Lundstedt (1949)
Ken Griffey (1950)
Mike Devereaux (1963)
Starvin’ Marvin Freeman (1963)
Alberto Reyes (1971)
Mike Lincoln (1975)
Andre Ethier (1982)
Bubba Hyde was an outfielder in the Negro Leagues for twenty-six years.
Better known as an actor, Chuck Connors was a first baseman for the Chicago Cubs in 1951. He also played professional basketball, and was the first player to break the glass backboard with a slam dunk in a professional basketball game.
Robert Nederlander is a part-owner of the New York Yankees and was managing partner in from 1990-1991, when George Steinbrenner was suspended.