Happy Birthday–May 22

Al Simmons (1902)
Terris McDuffie (1910)
Jose Valdivielso (1934)
Ron Piche (1935)
Rich Garcia (1942)
Walt Hriniak (1943)
Tommy John (1943)
Jim Colborn (1946)
Jose Mesa (1966)
Al Levine (1968)
Julian Tavarez (1973)

Terris McDuffie pitched from 1930-1954, playing in the Negro Leagues, the Cuban Winter League, the Mexican League, the Puerto Rican League, the Dominican League, the Venezuelan League, the California Winter League, and the minor leagues.  His biography at b-r.com is worth reading.

Rich Garcia was an American League umpire from 1975-1999.

Tommy John was one of the Twins’ television broadcasters from 1994-1996.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 22

2019 Game Log 48: Twins at Halos

Game 6 of a pretty successful (so far) 7-game West Coast swing for the Twins as they try for another victory against the Halos. Michael Pineda back on the mound for the Twins and while still definitely a 5th starter, there have been signs of life from Pineda over the past few starts, including a nice little victory last week against the Mariners. Pineda has not done well against LAAAAA in his career so look out.

Trever Cahill with his 2-4 record and 6.95 ERA for the Angels. He pitched last week against the Twins and gave up six runs in 4.1 innings so hopefully the Twins have his number. Cahill has also given up a MLB leading 14 home runs meaning the Twins’ boomsticks should be out in force tonight. It looks like Ben Andrelton Simmons will be out for the rest of the series against the Twins. Too bad, He’s a fun player. I hope he gets back to raking once healthy (and the Twins have moved on). Ohtani has recovered and will be in the line up tonight.

Another west coast late start as first pitch is at 9:07p. Let’s get a nice little five run lead by the 3rd inning so we can go to bed a decent hour.

If you want some baseball before the Twins game, former Twins pitching stalwarts Tommy Milone and Lance Lynn will be facing each other as the Seattle takes on the Rangers. Check local listings.

Twins Lineup:
RF Kepler
SS Polanco
DH Gonzalez
LF Rosario
1B Cron
3B Arraez
2B Schoop
C Castro
CF Buxton

Happy Birthday–May 21

Fred Dunlap (1859)
Eddie Grant (1883)
Earl Averill (1902)
Hank Johnson (1906)
Mace Brown (1909)
Monty Stratton (1912)
Larry Napp (1919)
Ed Fitz Gerald (1924)
El Tappe (1927)
Moe Thacker (1934)
Barry Latman (1936)
Bobby Cox (1941)
Kent Hrbek (1960)
Bryce Florie (1970)
Tom Martin (1970)
Chris Widger (1971)
Mark Quinn (1974)
Josh Hamilton (1981)
Andrew Miller (1985)
Matt Wieters (1986)

Larry Napp was an American League umpire from 1951-1974.

El Tappe had a twin brother, Mel Tappe, who played in the minors.

We would also like to wish a happy birthday to zooomx.2 and a happy anniversary to Mr. and Mrs. MagUidhir.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 21

2019 Game Log 47: Minnesota Twins at LAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAngels

Ahh, that bit never gets old... (right? RIGHT!?)

Odoreater's out there tonight, his scoreless streak recently snapped, but has still been more than capable of late. Angels are going with an opener in Cole before they bring in Pena. Hopefully we can make them regret that.

I still feel like the Angels are a better team than their record shows, so I'm hoping for a good series on their turf. It's the Twins' fault for starting to make me expect it.