Game 71: Twins @ Rangers

Kenta Maeda goes for the Twins as they pursue their second sweep of the season.

Let's talk series wins this season shall we?

* There were those first two series, when the beat the Brewers and the Tigers. Followed by 5 series without a series win

* Then they won a series against the Royals at the end of April. Followed by 6 series without a series win

* Then they beat Cleveland two out of three and swept the Orioles. Followed by 6 series without a series win before arriving in Texas.

Enough of that. Yuck.

Amazingly, the Twins have managed to split enough Friday-Saturday games (they've done that 10 times while never winning both days or losing both days until this weekend) that they could end this weekend with .500 or better records on all the weekend days.

Friday 6-5
Saturday 5-5
Sunday 4-5

It's weird to be excited about .500 records, but here we are.

Happy Birthday–June 20

Ned Cuthbert (1845)
Jim Delahanty (1879)
Cum Posey (1890)
Billy Werber (1908)
Andy Etchebarren (1943)
Dave Nelson (1944)
Paul Beeston (1945)
Dickie Thon (1958)
Doug Gwosdz (1960)
Paul Bako (1972)
Juan Castro (1972)
Carlos Lee (1976)
Kevin Gregg (1978)
Kendrys Morales (1983)
Adalberto Mejia (1993)

Cum Posey, played for, managed, and owned the Homestead Grays in the Negro National League.

Paul Beeston has been president and CEO of the Toronto Blue Jays from 1989-1997 and from 2010-2016, at which time he became president emeritus.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 20

Game 70: twins @ rangers

The Twins are maybe a little better than they seem.

That's perhaps an absurd thing to say above t the most disappointing team of my lifetime, but over the last thirty games, they're playing an even .500. that's not GOOD, by any stretch, and it doesn't negate the ridiculous 13-26 record they started the season with (and it won't save them from being sellers at the deadline), but it's not 100 loss territory, either.

Aaaaand, that's about it for the good news. Almost half the games have been started by pit cf hers who currently have 6+ ERAs, including this afternoon's dating participant, Randy Dobnak. The Übermensch was a feel good story when he snagged a long term deal over the winter, but this happy ending has been pretty well ruined by the postscript. He's currently in a race with Matty Shoes to see who can hit 9 ERA first, and much as I believe in Shoemaker's abilities, Randy might get there first based simply in the fact that he's still in the rotation.

Will Randy prove me wrong? I kind of doubt it, but that's why they play the games.

Go Twins!

 

Happy Birthday–June 19

Eddie Cicotte (1884)
Lou Gehrig (1903)
Bill Swift (1908)
Don Gutteridge (1912)
Archie Ware (1918)
Mom A (1925)
Chet Boak (1935)
Bob Aspromonte (1938)
Isao Harimoto (1940)
Jerry Reuss (1949)
Duane Kuiper (1950)
Jim Slaton (1950)
Johnnie LeMaster (1954)
Doug Mientkiewicz (1974)
Alex Prieto (1976)
Dustan Mohr (1976)
Bruce Chen (1977)
Blake Parker (1985)
Jacob de Grom (1988)

Archie Ware was a star first baseman in the Negro Leagues.

Infielder Chet Boak played for the Twins’ AAA affiliate, the Syracuse Chiefs, in 1961, but does not appear to have actually been a part of the Twins’ organization, as records show him belonging to the expansion Washington Senators. One assumes he was loaned to the Twins’ for part of that season.

Isao Harimoto is the only person to have 3,000 hits in Japanese baseball.

I would like to wish a very happy birthday 96th to Mom A. She was not a big baseball fan (she felt I'd had a good game if she didn't have to wash my uniform, which unfortunately happened quite a bit because I sat on the bench a lot), but she came to every game and often worked in the cramped little concession stand even on the hottest days.  I don't know how much longer she'll be with us, but I treasure every day.  Happy birthday, Mom.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 19