Happy Birthday–June 4

Tim Murnane (1851)
Tony Venzon (1915)
Billy Hunter (1928)
John McNamara (1932)
Phil Linz (1939)
Terry Kennedy (1956)
Tony Pena (1957)
Kurt Stillwell (1965)
Scott Servais (1967)
Rick Wilkins (1967)
Darin Erstad (1974)
J. C. Romero (1976)
Cody Stashak (1994)

 Tim Murnane had a long and varied career in baseball, but is best remembered as a sportswriter in Boston.

Tony Venzon was a National League umpire from 1957-71.

John McNamara managed six different major league clubs, going to the World Series with Boston in 1986.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 4

2021 Game 56: Minnesota at Kansas City

Game Time - 7:10 p.m CT

Well, for awhile there the Twins were showing some signs of life with a series win at Cleveland and a sweep of Baltimore at home before losing a home series to Kansas City. Another road series against Baltimore did not prove to be the tonic it's been for a few years now as the boys foundered like an overloaded crab boat on a stormy Chesapeake Bay. The Twins will complete this road trip with a series in Kansas City before returning home to take on the Yankees and and the Astros. Injuries have taken a big toll on this team and rendered it more or less replacement level at way too many positions, and of course there's the bullpen that's been an albatross all season long. It's been a disappointing first trimester to say the least, but as players return from injuries there's hope for improvement. That's what I keep telling myself, anyway.

The Twins send J.A. Happ to the mound today while Kansas City will counter with a southpaw of their own in Kris Bubic. He faced the Twins last Friday and pretty much had their number, giving up just one run on four hits over six innings. Happ has been quite good over his last two starts, recording 15 strikeouts in those outings. Let's hope that 38-year old arm has enough experience to hold down the Royals' offense, and that our lineup is more effective against the 23-year old from Cupertino that it was the last time out. Play ball!

Happy Birthday–June 3

Don Osborn (1908)
Jim Gentile (1934)
Steve Dalkowski (1939)
Duane Josephson (1942)
Ron Keller (1943)
Jim Dwyer (1950)
Ed Glynn (1953)
Barry Lyons (1960)
Steve Lyons (1960)
Nelson Liriano (1964)
Carl Everett (1971)
Bryan Rekar (1972)
Jose Molina (1975)
Travis Hafner (1977)

Don Osborn won 201 games in the minors.  He later was a minor league manager, pitching coach, and scout.

Some old-timers say Steve Dalkowski had the fastest fastball ever.  He struck out 1,396 batters in 995 minor league innings.  However, he also walked 1,354, which is why he never made the majors.

We also wish a happy birthday to hungry joe's son, Ravenous Rick!

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 3

2021 Game 55: Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles

Randy Dobnak
vs
Matt Harvey

Twins now 33% done with the season. At the 25% mark I did some simple projections on record and run scoring for the team. Let's do it again.

Record: 66 - 96 (+9 wins since last time)
Runs scored: 750 (+5 runs)
Runs allowed: 822 (-49 runs)
Pythag prediction: 75 - 87 (+6 wins)

FanGraphs still projects the team at 79 wins, unchanged from two weeks ago. I think I still take the under for that number but the 75 - 79 win mark feels about right.

Lineup
Polanco - SS
Donaldson - 3B
Kirilloff - LF
Cruz - DH
Larnach - RF
Astudillo - 1B
Gordon - 2B
Jeffers - C
Celestino - CF