Monthly Archives: June 2023

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–June 3

Ameal Brooks (1907)
Don Osborn (1908)
Barney Morris (1910)
Jim Gentile (1934)
Steve Dalkowski (1939)
Duane Josephson (1942)
Ron Keller (1943)
Ed Glynn (1953)
Barry Lyons (1960)
Steve Lyons (1960)
Nelson Liriano (1964)
Carl Everett (1971)
Bryan Rekar (1972)
Jose Molina (1975)
Travis Hafner (1977)
Ryan Jeffers (1997)
Luis Gil (1998)

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 →

Keeping Track

Minor Details: Games of June 1

SAINTS 11, BISONS 5 IN BUFFALO

Matt Wallner homered in the eighth to give St. Paul a 6-5 lead, and Chris Williams hit a grand slam in a five-run ninth.

Williams was 3-for-5 with a grand slam (his sixth homer), a double, and two runs.
Andrew Bechtold was 2-for-4.
Wallner was 2-for-5 with a home run (his seventh) and three RBIs.

It apparently was a planned bullpen game.
Cody Laweryson, normally a reliever, started and pitched two shutout innings, giving up a walk.
Connor Sadzeck pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and two walks.
Caleb Thielbar struck out two in a perfect inning.
Josh Winder struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.

DRILLERS 5, WIND SURGE 4 IN WICHITA

Kody Hoese singled home a run in the fifth to make it 5-4.  Wichita lost a 3-0 lead after one.

Alex Isola was 2-for-3 with a two-run homer (his eighth) and a walk.
DaShawn Keirsey, Jr. was 2-for-4 with two doubles and two runs.

Starter Aaron Rozek pitched 2.2 innings, allowing four runs on six hits and two walks and struck out three.
Seth Nordlin pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and a walk.
Alex Scherff struck out four in two shutout innings, giving up three walks.

KERNELS 24, LUGNUTS 5 IN LANSING

The Kernels scored seven in the third to take a 9-0 lead.  It wasn't their biggest inning, as they scored eight in the ninth.

Ben Ross was 4-for-6 with two home runs (his fifth and sixth), a double, a walk, four runs, and six RBIs.
Noah Cardenas was 3-for-5 with a walk and three RBIs.
Tanner Schobel was 3-for-6 with a home run (his fifth), a double, four runs, and four RBIs.
Emmanuel Rodriguez was 3-for-6 with a home run (his sixth), a walk, three runs, and four RBIs.
Kala'i Rosario was 2-for-4 with a grand slam (his sixth homer), three walks, and four runs.
Jeferson Morales was 2-for-5 with a walk and threr runs.

Pierson Ohl pitched 4.2 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and a walk and striking out three.
Mike Paredes struck out three in three innings, giving up one run on three hits and a walk.
Matthew Swain struck out two in a perfect inning.

MIGHTY MUSSELS 5, METS 1 IN FORT MYERS

Fort Myers scored two in the second and led the rest of the way.

Rubel Cespedes was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.
Carlos Aguiar hit a two-run homer, his eighth.

C. J. Culpepper struck out six in five shutout innings, giving up three walks.
Juan Mendez struck out six in two shutout innings, giving up a walk.

TODAY'S TILTS

3:30  St. Lucie at Fort Myers (2) (Cory Lewis, 4-2, 2.79, and TBD)
6:05  Cedar Rapids (Marco Raya, 0-0, 2.55) at Lansing
6:05  St. Paul (Randy Dobnak, 2-1, 4.97) at Buffalo
6:45  Tulsa at Wichita (Travis Adams, 1-4, 5.97)

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–June 2

Jack O’Connor (1866)
Frank Verdi (1926)
Bob Lillis (1930)
Larry Jackson (1931)
Bob Bennett (1933)
Jerry Lumpe (1933)
Gene Michael (1938)
Horace Clarke (1940)
Jim Maloney (1940)
Roger Freed (1946)
Jack O’Connor (1958)
Darnell Coles (1962)
Bryan Harvey (1963)
Mike Stanton (1967)
Kurt Abbott (1969)
Raul Ibanez (1972)
Neifi Perez (1973)
Jared Burton (1981)
Tim Stauffer (1982)

Bob Bennett was the baseball coach at Fresno State for many years, winning 1,302 games.

Roger Freed was drafted by Minnesota in 1966, but the pick was voided.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–June 2 →

2023 Twins Game Logs

2023 Game 57: Guardians vs. Twins

16 Comments

Cleveland comes to town to kick off a four-game weekend series tonight, so this is a chance for the Twins to gain some ground head-to-head on a divisional rival. I'm not sure what to make of this team yet since we haven't seen them hitting on all cylinders since April, but I've been duly impressed with the starting rotation. Pablo Lopez has been solid (considering what we gave up I'd like more out of him), Sonny Grey has been phenomenal, but some regression to the mean has to happen eventually, right? The young guys are getting it done, too, we've seen some great starts by Ryan and Varland. The bullpen has been decent, not outstanding but solid enough to keep games winnable in late innings, with some notable exceptions, of course. I don't know what's wrong with Jorge Lopez, for example, the last two outings of his I've seen were horrendous and he simply could not get an out. It's like he's got relief pitcher yips or something, keeps throwing the ball exactly where he doesn't want to. Anyway, tonight we get Pablo Lopez and Tanner Bibee slinging the horsehide. Let's hope the offense we found in Houston made the trip home and shows up for this series.

Play ball!

At The Movies

June 2023 Movie Post

42 Comments

As I mentioned in the Cup the other day, I managed to get caught up with and watch the Ted Lasso series finale the day it was released. That's just big for me, since I haven't seen a finale on the day of release in a long time. I was a little ways behind on Game of Thrones and The Good Place, and other than that, we probably have to go back a decade. For some reason, I really wanted to do that with Ted - I think because, at least in my little middle-aged white male bubble, this show really seems to have been so much of an antidote to the current zeitgeist.

It was a show about connection in a time when we were all distanced from each other. A show about people from all over the world coming together when so many are caught up in nationalism. A show about forgiveness when so many are quick to judge and condemn.

I saw a number of headlines/first paragraphs of articles as this season was going that made it clear the trendy thing to do was to be upset with this season. And, admittedly, there were a few problems (namely the bloated episode length - a little bit of editing would have gone a long way). But those problems weren't the main thrust of these articles - they were hating on Ted Lasso because they were Nathan Shelley at the end of Season 2. This show made them feel everything warm and happy, even when bad things were happening, they just felt so spoken to. But Season 3? It didn't start that way. It was messy and followed lots of other people and things weren't so great, and then Zava shows up, and we don't care about that guy at all, and wasn't Ted going to work his magic on Zava, but no, that's not the way it really works. It wasn't what we wanted it to be.

At least, not yet. And maybe it was just hearing that this was the end of the series, but for some reason - even with my little complaints - I trusted the writers. And the criticism really bothered me. Ultimately, I feel like the writers knew what they were doing. Wandering around for a little while really helped those last 3 or 4 episodes nail what Ted had been and could be. I left feeling very satisfied. And I appreciated that they left most characters at a beginning, not an end. Yes, a few things got left on the table (couldn't you just see Ted wishing he had been able to help Rupert? Man, that would be some juicy conflict!). But in the end, I think the writers brought it home.

Trust the writers. Or, rather... believe.