Twins affiliates don't seem to have done very well while I was gone.
Monthly Archives: April 2019
2019 Recap: Game Nine
MINNESOTA 14, NEW YORK METS 8 IN NEW YORK
Date: Tuesday, April 9.
Batting stars: Mitch Garver was 4-for-5 with two home runs and three runs. Jorge Polanco was 3-for-5 with a home run (his second) and a triple, scoring twice and driving in two. Eddie Rosario was 2-for-4 with a home run (his second), a double, and a walk, scoring twice and driving in two. Jonathan Schoop was 2-for-5 with two home runs and four RBIs. Byron Buxton was 2-for-5 with a double and a stolen base (his third), scoring twice.
Pitching star: Trevor May pitched a perfect inning and struck out one. Trevor Hildenberger retired the only man he faced, which would not normally get him star mention, but it was a very big out.
Opposition stars: Amed Rosario was 3-for-5 with a double. Michael Conforto was 2-for-3 with a home run (his third), a double, and two walks, scoring three times. Brandon Nimmo was 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, and a walk, scoring twice. Pete Alonso was 2-for-5 with two home runs (his fourth and fifth) and three RBIs.
The game: Garver opened the second inning with a home run, giving the Twins a 1-0 lead. It lasted until the bottom of the second, when Conforto doubled and scored on Rosario's double to tie it 1-1. The Twins took the lead back with a four-run third. Polanco tripled and scored on a wild pitch. Willians Astudillo singled and Rosario and Garver hit back-to-back home runs to put the Twins up 5-1. The Mets got two of the runs back in the bottom of the third, with home runs by Nimmo and Conforto cutting the margin to 5-3.
In the fourth, Buxton doubled and scored on a Max Kepler single to put the Twins up 6-3. In the fifth, Nimmo led off with a double. He was still on second with two out, but walks to Conforto and J. D. Davis loaded the bases. Starter Kyle Gibson came out of the game, and Hildenberger came on to retire Jeff McNeil on a deep fly ball to keep the score 6-3. Schoop homered in the sixth to increase the lead to 7-3.
Alonso homered in the seventh to make the score 7-4. The Twins took control of the game in the eighth. Buxton doubled and scored when Ehire Adrianza reached on an error. Polanco then hit a two-run homer to make the score 10-4. The Twins got some insurance in the ninth. Rosario doubled, Garver singled, and Jason Castro hit a pinch-hit single. Schoop followed with a three-run homer to make it 14-4. The extra runs came in handy, as the Mets rallied for four in the bottom of the ninth. Nimmo walked and Alonso hit a two-run homer. A single, a walk, and another single loaded the bases with none out. A walk to McNeil forced in a run and made the score 14-7, still with none out. At that point, Chase De Jong pulled himself together and got a foul out, a force out, and a foul out to end the game.
WP: Hildenberger (2-0). LP: Jacob deGrom (2-1). S: None.
Notes: Garver is batting .467. Astudillo was 1-for-5 and is batting .421. Polanco is batting .405.
Hildenberger, May, and Ryne Harper all have ERAs of zero. Blake Parker has an ERA of 2.25.
Gibson pitched 4.2 innings, allowing three runs on six hits and three walks. He did strike out six. He was pulled one out shy of qualifying for a win, which shows that Rocco Baldelli is more concerned with team wins than pitcher wins. It seems obvious that this is how it should be, but we can all think of Twins managers who did not seem to understand that point.
The Twins used six relievers, which is a lot, but none of them pitched more than one inning and four of them pitched less than one inning. There's no reason all of them except De Jong couldn't pitch again tonight.
De Jong, of course, is the pitcher the Twins just had to have, couldn't get along without, was worth giving up Tyler Austin to have in the majors by Saturday. This was the first time he's pitched, and quite frankly a position player probably could have done as well as he did. It's not De Jong's fault that the Twins let Austin go, of course, and I have nothing against him. I hope he gets another chance, and I hope he pitches well. But it was still a really stupid thing for the Twins to do.
My guess would be that the number of people who expected the Twins to score fourteen runs in a game that Jacob de Grom started was approximately zero.
Record: The Twins are 6-3, in second place in the American League Central, a half game behind Cleveland.
Projected record: We're still on track for 159-3!
April 10, 2019: LOLWut?
What exactly was Marcell Ozuna trying to accomplish yesterday?
Kenley Jansen on Marcell Ozuna's defensive play. pic.twitter.com/gvSzWV6rX1
— Andrew Simon (@AndrewSimonMLB) April 10, 2019
2019 Game 9 — MN Twins at NY Metropolitans
Twins wrap up a long road trip with a visit to Queens and a two game series with the 6-3 New York Mets. Gibson up for the Twins as he comes off a "bad Gibby" performance of 6 runs in 4.2 innings in his season debut. Hopefully we get good Gibby tonight. It will be especially important as the Mets have reigning Cy Young awardee Jacob deGrom on the mound. deGrom is currently tied with Bob Gibson with for the MLB record of 26 straight quality starts so it would be cool if the Twins bats were active early and often. Mets have a few injuries with Yoenis Cespedes, Jed Lowrie, and Todd Frazier all out of the line up. Also the Mets added Robinson Cano during the off season? I swear I didn't hear about that trade. Huh. He usually plays well against the Twins so that's a bummer.
Game time 6:10p locally. Looks like there might be some rain in the forecast but I bet they get this game in.
Twins Line up:
Kepler RF
Polanco SS
Astudillo 1B
Rosario LF
Garver C
Gonzalez 3B
Schoop 2B
Buxton CF
Gibson CF
The Fillmores – East Bank Girls
Trevor and I went to school together, worked together, even lived together for awhile. I always loved hanging out with him. It's nice to see how many people felt the same.
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April 9, 2019: The Big Game
I understand there was a big game in town last night. That's about all I understand.
Happy Birthday–April 9
[Ed. Note: This article has been reposted with information from last year]
Doc White (1879)
Hippo Vaughn (1888)
Vic Sorrell (1901)
Fred Frankhouse (1904)
Claude Passeau (1909)
Zip Payne (1909)
Joe Brinkman (1944)
Peter Gammons (1945)
Nate Colbert (1946)
Kirk McCaskill (1961)
Hal Morris (1965)
Graeme Lloyd (1967)
Rudy Hernandez (1968)
A. J. Ellis (1981)
David Robertson (1985)
Cecil "Zip" Payne was a long-time minor-league player and manager, collecting 2,179 hits.
Joe Brinkman and Derryl Cousins hold the record for most games umpired together, 2,123.
Rudy Hernandez was an infielder in the Mets organization from 1987-1991, reaching AA. With the exception of 2004, he has been a manager or coach in the Twins' organization since 2001. He is currently the assistant batting coach for the major league team.
We would also like to wish a happy birthday to Mama MagUidhir.
There do not appear to be any major league players with connections to the Minnesota Twins born on this day.
April 8, 2019: Wasn’t Expecting That
An old friend was passing through so I met him for drinks in Old Town. After awhile we're chatting with the waitress and we mention we know each other because we grew up in Minnesota. She says, "Really? My dad used to play for the Twins." And of course we ask who her dad is.
Nonchalant as you please, she said, "Rod Carew".
Her’s – Harvey
A week before last, a wrong way driver hit a van going the opposite direction. He and all three occupants of the van were likely immediately killed. In the van was the members of the band Her's, an up and coming band from Liverpool. Also in the van was their tour manager, my good friend Trevor.
I always thought this was the case, but I've been surprised to find out just how much of an impact Trevor had on the local scene. I've been trying real hard not to think about it, but if you don't mind, I'm going to take the next few days to remember my friend.
Today, we'll listen to Stephen Fitzpatrick & Audun Laading of Her's, also taken far too soon.
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2019 Game 8: Twins at Phillies
¡Feliz Día de Berrios!
Before my bypass surgery, the doctors cautioned me that during recovery I would have good days and bad days. They were right. I spent the two weeks before the surgery getting my mind right, and I managed to maintain a positive attitude for the first week or so of recovery. Medications kept the worst of the pain at bay, but I just could not get comfortable enough to sleep at night. After about ten days of sleep deprivation, I started to unravel like a baseball that's had the cover knocked off of it. But forewarned is forearmed, and when the cardiac blues hit I recognized the signs and reached out for help, or rather, my family sternly directed me to get help. Prescriptions for a muscle relaxer and a sleeping aid were forthcoming. After a couple of days on those I was able to sleep for four or five hours at a stretch, and now I'm sleeping pretty much through the night. I no longer feel quanked, the relentless acute pain has diminished to just a nagging soreness, and I feel like I've turned a corner. And the thing that has helped me the most mentally has been the return of baseball and the performance of this Twins team. Watching the games, hanging out in the game logs, and reading as much as I can find online has kept my mind turned outward toward something hopeful instead of inward and focused on my troubles. I still have a long road ahead of me, and I feel once again like I can handle it. If only the weather would get with the program, everything would be coming up roses. But enough about me.
The Twins head into today's rubber game with the Phillies sporting a 5-2 record. If you count Friday night's series opener in which Odorizzi was KO'd in the first inning as an outlier, the team has performed remarkably well. Strong starting pitching has set up solid bullpen work. The defense has been quite good with Polanco showing both range and snazzy leather at short. Yesterday Buxton and Astudillo joined forces for a highly memorable 8-2 flyout/throw out double play that nailed Bryce Harper at the plate as he attempted to score on a sac fly by leaping over La Tortuga. That play alone had me feeling actual joy again. In five games, new fan favorite Willians Astudillo sports a .500 batting average and a 1.458 OPS. In Friday's game, Polanco became the first player of the season to hit for the cycle and now has an OPS of 1.151. After slow starts, Kepler and Rosario are flexing their man muscles and showing some power at the plate. Solid base running has helped put more runners in scoring position and more runs on the scoreboard. Sure, there are still some guys that need to step it up at the plate, but six regulars are batting .300 or better, and ten players have on base percentages at or above the .300 mark. Byron Buxton in particular appears to have figured out how to hit major league pitching and is showing a level of confidence we have not heretofore seen. On paper and based on the early small sample sizes, there's a lot to be optimistic about this year. This is a fun team to watch, and I'm looking forward to an entertaining season.
Opening Day starter Jose Berrios takes the mound again today for the Twins. He's 1-0 with a 1.84 ERA and 14 strikeouts after two starts. The Phils counter with Zach Eflin who was outstanding in his season debut earlier this week, racking up nine strikeouts in five innings of scoreless work. After plenty o' scoring in the first two games of this series. Twins hitters will need to recognize and lay off Eflin's slider if they want to maximize their plate appearances today. If both pitchers bring their best stuff to the mound, we can probably expect another old fashioned pitchers' duel. That's enough words for now, except to say...
Play ball!