Monthly Archives: April 2019

2019 Twins Game Recaps

2019 Recap: Game Twenty-two

4 Comments

HOUSTON 7, MINNESOTA 1 IN HOUSTON

Date:  Wednesday, April 24.

Batting star:  Jorge Polanco was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fifth.

Pitching stars:  None.

Opposition stars:  Justin Verlander struck out eight in eight innings, giving up one run on four hits and no walks.  Mickey Brantley was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer (his fifth) and a walk, scoring twice.  Josh Reddick was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer (his third) and a walk, scoring twice.  Robinson Chirinos was 2-for-4 with a double.  Carlos Correa was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fifth.

The game:  Correa homered leading off the second to give the Astros a 1-0 lead.  In the third, Alex Bregman hit a two-out double and Brantley followed with a two-run homer to make it 3-0.  Polanco homered with one out in the fourth to get the Twins on the board and cut the lead to 3-1.

Houston got the run back with interest in the bottom of the fourth.  Reddick walked and scored on a Chirinos double.  Chirinos later came around to score on a pair of wild pitches and the score was 5-1.

The Twins never got back into the game, thanks to the pitching of Verlander.  Other than the Polanco home run there was only one time when they got a man past first base.  The Astros added two runs in the eighth when Brantley singled and Reddick hit a two-run homer.

WP:  Verlander (4-0).  LP:  Kohl Stewart (0-1).  S:  None.

The game:  Max Kepler returned to the leadoff spot.  He played center field, with Willians Astudillo in right and Byron Buxton on the bench.  Ehire Adrianza played second base, with Jonathan Schoop on the bench.

Polanco's average is .366.  His OPS is 1.119.

You never go into a game thinking you have no chance to win.  On the other hand, any fair-minded observer would have said that this was likely to be a pretty tough go for the Twins.  In the first place, Houston is simply a very good team.  More than that, though, the Astros were using Justin Verlander, who is a very good pitcher and has always been hard for the Twins to deal with.  The Twins were countering with Kohl Stewart, who--well, let's just say he's not Justin Verlander.

Given that, this game actually went much better than it might have.  Stewart was able to fill up six innings and not embarrass himself.  In fact, if not for a couple of gopher balls, he'd have been right in the game.  I know you can't just discount the home runs, but the point is that he wasn't all that far away from pitching a pretty good game.  As it was, he at least saved the bullpen.  Your fear, when you bring up a AAA guy for a spot start, is that he'll be so overwhelmed that you have no choice but to take him out in the second or third inning.  Then you end up using five relief pitchers in a game that you're not going to win anyway.  By going six innings, Stewart saved the Twins from having to do that.  Granted, with an off-day today that's not as important as it otherwise would have been, but it's not nothing, either.  The season is long, relievers can only warm up so many times and pitch so many innings, and you hate to waste those times and those innings in blowout games.  Good job by Stewart, and to a lesser extent by Fernando Romero, for filling up the innings.

Record:  The Twins are 13-9, in first place in the American League Central, a half game ahead of Cleveland.

Projected record:  We'll just have to settle for 153-9!

WGOM Videos

New Kids On The Block — Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)

Video

I'm really tired. I have a headache. Tomorrow ain't looking much better. So ya'll getting this. Jordan Knight has some effing pipes and he carried four guys on his back for eleven years.

 

1 vote, average: 6.00 out of 101 vote, average: 6.00 out of 101 vote, average: 6.00 out of 101 vote, average: 6.00 out of 101 vote, average: 6.00 out of 101 vote, average: 6.00 out of 101 vote, average: 6.00 out of 101 vote, average: 6.00 out of 101 vote, average: 6.00 out of 101 vote, average: 6.00 out of 10 (1 votes, average: 6.00 out of 10)
You must be a WGOM Citizen to rate WGOM Videos.Loading...
Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–April 25

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)
J. P. Howell (1983)
Garrett Mock (1983)
Robert Andino (1984)

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 →

2019 Twins Game Logs

2019 Game 22: Minnesota Twins at Houston Astros

19 Comments

Kohl Stewart makes his 2019 debut trying to win the rubber game of the series. He brings a 6.00 ERA from Rochester, most it it from his previous start. He surrendered six runs over 4.1 innings.

Verlander meanwhile is lossless and continuing his late career resurgence into 2019. After a promising start to the series, I'm feeling less confident about winning it now. But now is as good a time as any to break that lack of losing streak!

2019 Twins Game Recaps

2019 Recap: Game Twenty-one

3 Comments

HOUSTON 10, MINNESOTA 4 IN HOUSTON

Date:  Tuesday, April 23.

Batting stars:  Jonathan Schoop was 2-for-4 with two doubles.  Eddie Rosario was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his tenth.

Pitching star:  Ryne Harper retired both batters he faced.

Opposition stars:  Tyler White was 2-for-2 with a walk and two runs.  George Springer was 2-for-3 with two walks, scoring twice and driving in two.  Carlos Correa was 2-for-4 with a double.  Josh Reddick was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs.  Jose Altuve was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer (his ninth) and a walk.  Wade Miley struck out seven in six innings, giving up three runs on three hits and a walk.

The game:  It looked good early.  Mitch Garver led off the game with a single, Nelson Cruz drew a one-out walk, and Rosario followed with a three-run homer, putting the Twins up 3-0.  The Astros got on the board in the third, as White walked, Max Stassi singled, and Springer had an RBI single, but a double play got the inning back under control and the Twins still led 3-1.  It was just a temporary reprieve, however.  In the fifth, Reddick doubled and White singled, putting men on first and third with none out.  Stassi flied out, but Springer had a run-scoring double and Alex Bregman delivered a two-out two-run single to put Houston ahead 4-3.

Meanwhile, the Twins had not had a baserunner since Schoop led off the second with a double.  They hit some balls hard--it's not like there were helpless up there--but still, Miley closed out his evening with fifteen consecutive batters retired.  Hector Rondon came in to start the seventh and retired the first two men he faced.  Then, however, Schoop doubled and Max Kepler came through with a single to tie the score 4-4.  The Twins got men to second and third with two out, but Garver's fly to deep left ended the inning.

And then things fell apart.  Trevor Hildenberger came in to start the seventh.  A single and two walks loaded the bases with one out.  Bregman's sacrifice fly gave the Astros a 5-4 lead.  Adalberto Mejia came in to give up a run-scoring single to Michael Brantley, making the score 6-4.

It didn't get better in the eighth.  Tyler Duffey had come on to get the last out of the seventh and remained in the game.  An error and a single put men on first and third, and another error scored a run.  A passed ball put men on second and third, still with none out.  Stassi and Springer struck out, giving hope that the Twins might at least have a small chance to come back in the ninth.  That hope was dashed as Altuve hit a three-run homer to put the game out of reach at 10-4.  The Twins went down in order in the ninth.

WP:  Rondon (2-0).  LP:  Hildenberger (2-1).  S:  None.

Notes:  With a lefty starting for Houston, Garver was moved to the leadoff spot, with Max Kepler batting eighth.

Garver was 1-for-4 and is batting .405.  Jorge Polanco was 0-for-4 and is batting .372.  Harper lowered his ERA to 2.70.  Hildenberger was charged with two runs on one hit and two walks in two-thirds of an inning, but his ERA is still 2.16.  All four runs off Duffey in 1.1 innings were unearned, so his ERA drops to 1.69.

Rosario's homer made him the first Twin to ever reach ten homers before May 1.  Of course, back in the day, the season didn't start until the middle of April.  Still, it's an achievement, and he deserves credit for it.

I feel like the Twins' bullpen has done fairly well overall, but when it goes south it seems to go clear to Antarctica.  Last night the relief pitchers combined to allow six runs in 2.2 innings.  Four of the runs were unearned, but that's still not good.  They walked three in that span, which obviously contributed to the troubles, especially in the seventh inning.

Twins batters did not have a lot of luck last night.  The play-by-play at b-r.com indicates five deep fly balls for outs, plus one line drive out.  That's not to say that the Twins deserved to win, but had just a couple of those hard-hit balls been hits, things might have gone differently.

It sounds like Kohl Stewart is coming up to make the start tonight against Justin Verlander.  That does not seem like a favorable matchup for the Twins, to put it mildly.  Still, it's baseball.  One never knows what might happen.

Record:  The Twins are 13-8, in first place in the American League Central, 1.5 games ahead of Cleveland and Detroit.

Projected record:  We'll just have to settle for 154-8!

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–April 23

Bob Ewing (1873)
Howard Ehmke (1894)
Harry Harper (1895)
Andy Cooper (1896)
Ed Musial (1922)
Frank Lucchesi (1927)
Lou DiMuro (1931)
Terry Tata (1940)
Ivan Murrell (1943)
Bill Singer (1944)
Pat Zachry (1952)
Bill Krueger (1958)
Mike Blowers (1965)
Omar Vizquel (1967)
Todd Jones (1968)
Chipper Jones (1972)
John Barnes (1976)
Carlos Beltran (1977)
Wellington Castillo (1987)
Miss SBG (2007)

Andy Cooper pitched in the Negro Leagues from 1920-1939.  He managed the Kansas City Monarchs to four consecutive Negro American League Championships from 1937-1940.  He also holds the Negro Leagues career record for saves with 29.

The brother of Stan Musial, Ed Musial played in the minors in 1941 and from 1946-1950.

Frank Lucchesi managed in the minors for twenty-three seasons and in the majors for seven seasons.

Lou DiMuro was an American League umpire from 1963-1982.

Terry Tata was a National League umpire from 1973-1999.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 23 →