The weather right now is pretty...chill.
(1 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10)
Loading... Though I'm still pretty sick, I stayed up much later than intended in part because nibs and I were riffing on Italy-centric puns and I simply couldn't bail until we found one for "Florence." We might be sorta square, gang.
Samesies.
26 Apr 2017
(1 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10)Loading... Date: Saturday, July 13.
Batting stars: Bobby Kielty was 2-for-4. Tom Prince was 1-for-2 with a double, a walk, and a hit-by-pitch. Torii Hunter was 1-for-3 with a double.
Pitching star: Tony Fiore pitched 3.2 scoreless innings, giving up no hits and one walk and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Kenny Rogers pitched seven innings, giving up one run on five hits and four walks and striking out four. Alex Rodriguez was 2-for-3 with a home run (his twenty-ninth), a double, and a walk, driving in three. Rafael Palmeiro was 2-for-4 with two doubles, a walk, and four RBIs.
The game: The Twins got on the board first, as Cristian Guzman scored from first on a Hunter double. Alex Rodriguez homered in the third to tie it 1-1. in the fifth, Rafael Palmeiro hit a two-run double and Carl Everett had an RBI single later in the inning to give the Rangers a 4-1 lead. Texas scored three more in the sixth, getting a two-run double from Alex Rodriguez and another two-run double from Palmeiro. The Twins did not get a man past second after the fifth inning.
WP: Rogers (10-5). LP: Juan Rincon (0-1). S: None.
Notes: Jacque Jones was again out of the lineup, with Guzman moving up to the leadoff spot. He was 1-for-5...Matthew LeCroy was the DH, going 0-for-4...Doug Mientkiewicz was also out of the lineup, with Michael Cuddyer playing first base. Interestingly, when Denny Hocking was inserted into the lineup in the eighth inning he went to first base, with Cuddyer going to third. Cuddyer went 1-for-4...Prince was the catcher, with A. J. Pierzynski out of the lineup...Dustan Mohr went 0-for-4 and was batting .300...Hunter raised his average to .305...Kielty raised his average to .317...Rincon pitched 4.2 innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on eight hits and two walks and striking out five. He would make one more start, then move to the bullpen permanently...Jose Rodriguez relieved Rincon and pitched just two-thirds of an inning, giving up four runs on four hits and a walk. It would be the last major league appearance of his career...Carl Everett is probably more remembered for his opinions about dinosaurs than for his playing career. That's too bad, because he was a pretty good player. He got a few weeks with the Florida Marlins in 1993 and 1994, then got to the majors permanently when he was traded to the Mets that off-season. He was with the Mets for three seasons, 1995-1997, and got more playing time each season despite the fact that he was pretty average for them. He was traded to Houston after the 1997 season, and that was when he really got things going. He hit .310/.378/.526 in two years with the Astros, getting minor MVP consideration in 1999. He then was traded to Boston and had a very good 2000 season, making his first all-star team. He declined after that, although he was still a good enough player for the next two seasons. He bounced back in 2003, batting .287 with 28 home runs and making his second all-star team. He was traded to the White Sox at mid-season. That was his last really good season, although again, he was still a decent player through 2005. He signed as a free agent with Montreal for 2004 but was traded back to the White Sox at mid-season. He stayed there through 2005, had a poor year with Seattle in 2006, played well in the Atlantic League from 2007-2010, and then was done. His major league numbers are .271/.341/.462 with 202 home runs. Those are obviously not Hall of Fame numbers, but they're still quite respectable.
Record: The Twins were 52-40, in first place, leading Chicago by nine games.
A couple of good days for Twins in the Venezuelan League.
Dude I work with decided to work through heavy sickness a few days ago. Now a quarter of the place, including me, is out.
Tommy Corcoran (1869)
Ernest Lanigan (1873)
Al Bridwell (1884)
Ossie Vitt (1890)
George Selkirk (1908)
Gabe Paul (1910)
Herman Franks (1914)
Don McMahon (1930)
Tito Fuentes (1944)
Charlie Manuel (1944)
Ken Reynolds (1947)
Paul Gibson (1960)
Daryl Boston (1963)
Trey Hillman (1963)
Ted Lilly (1976)
Willie Martinez (1978)
Ernest Lanigan was the nephew of the Spink brothers who founded The Sporting News and worked for the publication from the time he was 15. Among other things, he compiled baseball's first encyclopedia, published in 1922, and served as curator, historian, and director of the Hall of Fame from 1946 until his death in 1962.
Gabe Paul was the general manager of the Cincinnati Reds, the Cleveland Indians (twice), and the New York Yankees.
Trey Hillman was the manager of the Kansas City Royals from 2008-2010.
Been a while since we've had a games post, and, like I'm assuming many (some?) of you, I recently had a chance to play some games with family. Holidays are good for that. Some quick rundowns:
CHILDREN'S GAMES
Outfoxed - Someone 'round these parts recommended this one last year, but it was out of stock. I kept it in my Amazon wishlist for a year and we bought it for the kids this year. A good logic mystery solver game for kids. Almost like "Guess Who" but racing against a board and not quite so lame. Too easy for the 8 year old, but still fun for him, and right about perfect for the younger ones.
Memory - It's an old standby, but I've played so much of a PJ Masks version of it lately, and my kids enjoy it, so it gets a mention.
Pokemon - The 8-year-old has gotten really into Pokemon lately, and it's a perfectly fine card game for that age. Every game is different, the characters are fun, luck plays a big role, but not too big, and the amount of variables are enormous. I'm sure we'll be playing this for years, and Aquinas enjoys just collecting the cards too. He also got a DS with a Pokemon game from his godfather. At least it also came with Mario Kart so I'm entertained.
NON-CHILDREN DIVISION
Dice City - My b-i-l's new game. Only played it one time, but it certainly seemed like it could stand a few replays. I think who you play against would probably make a lot of difference. Roll 1 die for each of 5 sections of the board, and the die determines which action you can take. Give up some actions to take other ones. Gain resources from the rolls, use those resources to buy things or build things or attack people. Use those things you bought or built or attacked to gain victory points. I kept to the straight-forward strategy and aimed for the highest value options and won handily while the others playing tried different approaches. If the game is really balanced, replay value could be high. If it's not... much less so.
Betrayal at House on the Hill - One of the more fun games I've played in a while. Starts as cooperative, with everyone picking a character and then exploring a haunted house while various events, items, and omens act upon you (either increasing or decreasing your character's base stats). Die rolls based on your character's stats affect your progress and performance (this sounds more dungeons and dragons-y than it is). All the while, you keep moving closer to the moment when someone in your group betrays you, and then the game becomes that person vs. the rest of the group, in one of 50 different scenarios (chosen based on what triggered the betrayal). You never know who will be the one betraying you, so that adds a nice surprise element. Plus, the betrayer usually gets to control monsters, and both sides have specific goals that are at odds with each other, with secret information that only their side possesses. I am amazed at the replay value here, and I can't wait to try it out again (we played 3 games of it, and I'd happily play all 3 of the specific scenarios again).
I Should Have Known That - Trivia game. As the name implies, general knowledge stuff that everyone *should* know. You get 1 point for each right answer and somewhere between -3 and -8 for each wrong answer. I finished in the positives 1 time out of the 4 we played (and at 0 another time), and I'm probably fair+ at trivia. A worth entry into trivia games, and it moves quickly (4 questions on a card, each person in the game takes 1 turn reading a card, and then you're done, and can move onto another game).
Linkee - Each card has 4 trivia questions. The 4 answers are all related in some way. It may be super obvious or more attenuated. Buzz in whenever you think you know the relationship, because that's the only answer that really matters, but if you get it wrong you don't get another shot at that round. It was okay, but I've played better.
One Night Werewolf - This was a blast. Would love to try it with more people than we had (7) and mix up the roles more than we did. Short version: lots of werewolf roles that you know and love and the others, all of which take night actions in order (as directed by the phone app that auto mods the game for you), and then you have to find a wolf the next day. If you succeed, village wins, if not, wolves win. Some players try to get themselves lynched, some players switch the roles of other players (so can accidentally switch who the wolves are, for example... you can end up being a wolf and not knowing it), etc. 5 minute rounds (plus ~1 minute for night actions), and huge replay-ability. Highly recommend. This would even be the thing that would get me to get a smart phone.
So what did you play over the holiday? What new games did you get? Who wants to come down here and have a game night with me?
Another good day for Willians Astudillo.
Date: Friday, July 12.
Batting stars: Dustan Mohr was 3-for-3 with a double and a walk. Cristian Guzman was 2-for-5 with a triple and a double. Torii Hunter was 2-for-5.
Pitching stars: Rick Reed pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits and no walks and striking out four. LaTroy Hawkins pitched a perfect inning with one strikeout. Tony Fiore pitched a perfect inning with one strikeout.
Opposition stars: Ivan Rodriguez was 2-for-3 with a triple. Alex Rodriguez was 2-for-5 with a home run, his twenty-eighth. Michael Young was 2-for-5 with a triple.
The game: In the second, Hunter led off with a single and David Ortiz walked. Mohr followed with an RBI double, then there were two run-scoring ground outs to put the Twins ahead 3-0. The Twins stayed stuck at three, however, and the Rangers got back into the game. Michael Young tripled home Frank Catalanotto in the third to cut the lead to 3-1. Alex Rodriguez homered in the sixth to make it 3-2. The Twins missed chances to get insurance runs. Ortiz led off the seventh with a double but his pinch-runner, Michael Cuddyer, was stranded at third. In the eighth, Guzman hit a one-out triple and was also stranded. Still, the Twins were up 3-2 with Eddie Guardado ready to pitch the ninth. Guardado started by giving up singles to Juan Gonzalez and Rafael Palmeiro (two pretty good batters), and Ivan Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly to tie the score. The Twins got Hunter to third with two out in the ninth but could not score. They had the bases loaded in the tenth and were turned aside. Mohr led off the eleventh with a single and was bunted to second. Luis Rivas grounded out, but Jacque Jones delivered a line drive single to left to bring home the winning run.
WP: Fiore (7-2). LP: Hideki Irabu (3-8). S: None.
Notes: Hunter raised his average to .304...Mohr went up to .306...A. J. Pierzynski was 0-for-2 (pinch-hit for in the seventh) and was batting .312...Hawkins lowered his ERA to 1.47...It was Guardado's fourth blown save. He had given up runs in four of his last seven appearances, but would not give up another for a month...Fiore was trying to recover from a rough stretch. He had given up ten runs in his last five appearances (six innings), raising his ERA from 2.12 to 3.59...I don't normally associate Ivan Rodriguez with triples, but he had 51 of them for his career. Partly that's just because he played so long, but in every year from 1992 through 2010 he had at least one triple. His high was five in 2005...My memory was that Alex Rodriguez, while still good, hadn't been that great for Texas. My memory was completely wrong. In three seasons there, he batted .305/.395/.615 and hit 156 home runs. He finished sixth in MVP voting in 2001, second in 2002 (to Miguel Tejada--there really is no way Tejada should've won the award over Rodriguez. Tejada had a fine year, but his OPS was 150 points less than Rodriguez', they played the same position, and Rodriguez won the Gold Glove), and won the award in 2003. He also won the Gold Glove in 2003, won the Silver Slugger in all three seasons, and made the all-star team in all three seasons. People held the huge contract against him, and he was never really The People's Choice even when he was in Seattle, but there's no question that he was a great, great player for three years for the Texas Rangers.
Record: The Twins were 52-39, in first place, leading Chicago by 8.5 games.
