Monthly Archives: June 2024

2024 Twins Game Logs

2024 Game Log 60 – Twins at Yankees

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Twins been playing well lately so no better time to show up at the Bronx for a three gamer against the Yankees. Yanks appear to be great this year - mashing and pitching (I'm not going to look up their fielding stats). Judge and Soto just crushed the Giants this past weekend in a manner rarely seen. No worries, Twins at Yankee Stadium always seems to work Minnesota's way. I'm hearing from the control booth that this is incorrect.

Luis Gil on the mound for the Yankees and he's been lights out this year. Nice little discussion in the CoC this morning about past Twins connections/possibilities. Bailey Ober for the Twins so seems like another mis-match. Royce Lewis back for the Twins (and batting 5th) so at least we have that to look forward to. I'm all negative here but the Yankees just seem on another planet this season so let's at least get one game over the next few days and move on to the rest of the schedule. It's summer and lots of time for great baseball.

Game on TBS but not sure if blacked out in Minnesota.

First Pitch: 6:05p.

Keeping Track

Minor Details: Games of June 3

FCL RAYS 2, FCL TWINS 1 AT TWINS (GAME 1--7 INNINGS)

The FCL Rays scored in the sixth on an error to break a 1-1 tie.

Multi-hit games:  None.

Home runs:  None.

Multi-RBI games:  None.

Stolen bases:  Omari Daniel 2 (6).

Pitching prowess:  Anthony Narvaez struck out nine in four innings, giving up an unearned run on three hits and a walk.  Eider Machuca struck out four in three innings, giving up an unearned run on a hit and a walk.

Opposition standout:  Jeremy Pilon struck out seven in 4.2 innings, giving up one run on two hits and three walks.

FCL RAYS 7, FCL TWINS 0 AT TWINS (GAME 2--7 INNINGS)

Jose Contreras hit a two-run double in the second to break a scoreless tie.  The FCL Twins had one hit and made four errors.  Our guess is that the record of teams having more errors than hits is not good.

Multi-hit games:  None.

Home runs:  None.

Multi-RBI games:  None.

Stolen bases:  None.

Pitching prowess:  Yency De Jesus struck out three in three innings, giving up two unearned runs on three hits and two walks.

Opposition standout:  Contreras was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.

Record:  The FCL Twins are 13-9, in third place, two games behind the Rays.

DSL TWINS AT DSL NATIONALS

The game was suspended in the bottom of the third inning with no score.  It will be completed Wednesday.

TODAY'S TILTS

10:00  DSL Mets Orange at DSL Twins
11:00  FCL Twins at FCL Rays
5:30  Fort Myers (TBD) at Tampa
6:05  Cedar Rapids (John Klein, 3-1, 3.89) at Great Lakes
7:05  Wichita (Jaylin Nowlin, 3-2, 3.38) at Northwest Arkansas
7:07  Syracuse at St. Paul (Caleb Boushley, 5-1, 4.24)

Keeping Track

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)
Aaron Nola (1993)
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 →

Keeping Track

Minor Details: Games of June 2

ST. PAUL SAINTS 8, ROCHESTER RED WINGS 1 IN ROCHESTER

St. Paul scored four in the fourth to take a 4-1 lead.

Multi-hit games:  Tony Kemp was 3-for-6 with a double and two runs.  Diego Castillo was 2-for-3 with two walks and two runs.  Matt Wallner was 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, two runs, and three RBIs.  Yunior Severino was 2-for-4.  Alex Isola was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs.

Home runs:  Wallner (9).

Multi-RBI games:  Wallner 3 (30); Castillo 2 (21); Isola 2 (20).

Stolen bases:  Yoyner Fajardo (3).

Pitching prowess:  Randy Dobnak pitched six innings, giving up one run on three hits and five walks and striking out three.  Nick Wittgren struck out two in a perfect inning.  Ryan Jensen pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.  Kody Funderburk pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.

Opposition standout:  Travis Blankenhorn was 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.

Record:  St. Paul is 25-31, in eighth place, 14.5 games behind Omaha.

SPRINGFIELD CARDINALS 6, WICHITA WIND SURGE 2 IN WICHITA

Springfield scored four in the ninth to break a 2-2 tie.  Wichita had ten hits but was 1-for-12 with men in scoring position.

Multi-hit games:  Kyler Fedco was 2-for-2 with a double and two walks.  Jeferson Morales was 2-for-3.  Kala'i Rosario was 2-for-4 with a home run and a double.  Aaron Sabato was 2-for-4.

Home runs:  Rosario (5).

Multi-RBI games:  None.

Stolen bases:  None.

Pitching prowess:  Andrew Morris pitched six innings, giving up one run on three hits and two walks and striking out three.  Mike Paredes pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition standout:  Max Rajcic struck out seven in 5.2 innings, giving up two runs on nine hits and one walk.

Record:  Wichita is 19-31, in fifth (last) place, 10.5 games behind Springfield.

LAKE COUNTY CAPTAINS 8, CEDAR RAPIDS KERNELS 1 IN CEDAR RAPIDS

Lake County scored four in the third to take a 5-1 lead.  Cedar Rapids made two errors and issued four walks in the inning.  For the game Cedar Rapids made six errors and walked seven.

Multi-hit games:  Dillon Tatum was 2-for-3 with two doubles.  Jose Salas was 2-for-3 with a walk.

Home runs:  None.

Multi-RBI games:  None.

Stolen bases:  None.

Pitching prowess:  Ricardo Velez struck out two in two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk.  Keoni Cavaco pitched a scoreless inning, giving up one hit and striking out one.

Opposition standout:  C. J. Kayfus was 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and two runs.

Record:  Cedar Rapids is 30-20, in second place, 1.5 games behind Wisconsin.

FORT MYERS MIGHTY MUSSELS 2, BRADENTON MARAUDERS 1 IN FORT MYERS

Fort Myers took a 2-0 lead with single runs in the second and third and made it hold up.  Bradenton scored one in the ninth and had the bases loaded when the game ended.

Multi-hit games:  Payton Eeles was 2-for-3 with a walk.

Home runs:  None.

Multi-RBI games:  None.

Stolen bases:  None.

Pitching prowess:  Samuel Perez struck out five in four innings, giving up one hit and one walk.  Ben Ethridge pitched four shutout innings, giving up one hit and three walks and striking out two.

Opposition standout:  Connor Oliver struck out four in three shutout innings, giving up two hits and three walks.

Record:  Fort Myers is 24-27, in fourth place, ten games behind Clearwater.

TODAY'S TILTS

9:00  FCL Rays at FCL Twins--doubleheader
10:00  DSL Twins at DSL Nationals

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 →

The Nation Needs A Drink

The Rally Cocktail

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If you find yourself torn between coffee or an after dinner drink, or you find your energy flagging on a Saturday night but you want to rally, or when, as JJ Cale put it, your day is done and you want to ride on, coffee-based cocktails might be just the thing. The last couple of times I've partied with my work colleagues at a hotel bar the espresso martini was all the rage.

One of the more famous coffee drinks is the Dude's signature beverage, the white Russian. There are, of course, different approaches to making coffee cocktails and many variations to explore, I think some dark rum and coffee mixing may be in my near future.  Some of these cocktails use coffee liqueur like Kahlua, which has rum as its base spirit, in the mix and others use straight coffee, but the recipe we tried uses an espresso simple syrup that's just equal parts espresso and sugar. We had some Cafe Bustelo in the kitchen so that's what we used.

It was a bit later than usual last weekend when we got around to settling down in the ultra lounge to catch up on some TV. We had at least a couple of hours of programming to watch and we were already a little tired. That's when Mrs. Twayn, who was perusing her iPad, found a recipe for the espresso Old Fashioned. We had a few each, felt nice and relaxed and still managed to stay awake for Welcome to Wrexham, a new episode of Hacks, and (most of) a Saturday Night Live recording. Here's the recipe:

2 oz bourbon (I'm liking Old Forrester these days) or rye
1 oz espresso simple syrup
4-6 dashes orange bitters
Orange peel or slice

Plop ice into a mixing glass, add liquid ingredients and stir.
Strain into short glasses filled with ice, squeeze the orange peel or slice over the top and drop it in.
Enjoy in moderation, you are still old and need your sleep.