All posts by cheaptoy

2013 Twins Game Log

Game 55: The Third Place Twins vs. The Where you Expect Them To Be Royals

79 Comments

Lake Deduderino (1-1, 5.11 ERA) vs. Mendoza (1-2, 4.63 ERA)

Hey, its Tuesday!

I just found out Deduno's middle name is Lake, which should make him a great fit for Minnesota because of lakes. Anyway, while I can't read his mind, I expect he'd like to build off of a pretty good start last week against Milwaukee in which he threw the most innings in a game a starter has thrown for the Twins since, I think and without looking this up, Johan Santana was with the team. Granted, it came against what is a very, very bad Brewers team, but on the bright side, this start is coming against a very bad Royals team. Plus, per Pos's recent column on the subject, they hate walks, which is good for Deduno.

More importantly, today marks the return of Clete Thomas. I know the anticipation was thick, and now all that waiting should finally pay off. Probably in the form of many, many strikeouts, though.

Hopefully, the power can continue and the Twins can do what they ought to be able to do against the lowly Royals.

2013 Twins Game Log

Game 42: Is It 2015 Yet?

101 Comments

Welcome back to Tuesday starts, Pelf!

Pelfrey (3-4, 6.57 ERA) vs. Tim Hudson (4-3, 5.12 ERA)

Boy, apathy is really starting to set in for me already. Amazing what two years of losing, a 6-game losing streak and the furious return of the assbats can do for a man's patience, which could be why I keep forgetting I have Tuesday game logs.

Anyway, as I was struggling for words for this game log, Buffalo reminded me that tonight is the NBA lottery. I always get unreasonably excited to see which terrible spot the Wolves end up. Will they fall below their expected slot? Will they move up only to be slotted one pick after they can reasonably be expected to select the guy that will actually help the team? Stay tuned.

 

2013 Twins Game Log

Game 23: A Pelfrey-less Tuesday

88 Comments

This is my first ever game log without the starting pitcher being Mike Pelfrey who single handedly made the Marlins look like a competent offense last week.

Of course, my first Pelf-less night comes with a Verlander start.

Game 23:
Vance Worley (0-3, 6.38 ERA) vs. Justin Verlander (2-2, 1.95 ERA)

I was able to watch Worley's last start thanks to the magic of a national broadcast, and I feel less concerned about his early struggles compared to Pelfrey's. That said, I'm still not expecting much overall from this game. A good Worley start will probably go un-rewarded unless the Twins can be patient tonight and drive Verlander's pitch count up to get to the soft underbelly of the Tigers bullpen. Fortunately, the Twins have recent history on their side as they've already lost the first game of a Tigers series, just like last time!

Prediction: Hicks hits his frist home run off of Verlander as revenge for making him look terrible in the first game of the season.

2013 Twins Game Log

2013 Games 16 & 17: An Entire Series in One Day!

283 Comments

Apparently, as punishment for missing last Tuesday's game log, I have to write about Pelfrey (again!) and the Miami Marlins. But in a fun twist, I get to talk about a whole series all on the same day.

Game 16:

Kevin "Suck it Aaron" Correia (1-1, 2.95 ERA) vs. Ricky Nolasco (0-2, 3.86 ERA)

I'm realistic enough to know that Correia probably won't keep up this pace all season. But if you're going to have some surprising success as a pitcher, Miami is a pretty good team to have to face to keep doing it, with their league low 43 runs scored. Even Kevin Slowey can't win with an offense like Miami's behind him.

Game 17:

Mike "Winner" Pelfrey (2-1, 7.30 ERA) vs. Jose Fernandez (0-1, 3.60 ERA)

A quick perusal of Fangraphs tells me Jose Fernandez is pitching pretty freekin good so far this year, with lots of strikeouts (over 10 K/9). Since it'll be frickin cold at the Bullseye tonight, and the umps will have already spent three-ish hours in the cold earlier, I'm setting the over under on strikeouts for Fernandez at 26.5.

Mike Pelfrey, on the other hand, sucks at the whole "striking guys out" thing. But with the potential cold strike zone, maybe he'll get his first career K tonight.

2013 Twins Game Log

Game 8: Turn on the Lights

182 Comments

Holy cats, a night game! (Maybe. If it isn't rained out, and based on the weather report, that's a very real possiblity.)

Mike Pelfrey vs. Jeremy Guthrie

My first ever game log and it comes against a Jeremy. Fortunately, it also comes in the second game of a series after an opening loss, so I expect a solid, 4-3 victory for the Twins tonight. Maybe. If it isn't rained out.

This will be the first start for Pelfrey since his Wichita State Shockers were removed from that thing that is named after March but not fully contained within March. Hopefully he's had enough time to get over the loss so he can throw some innings against the Royals.

More importantly, Hicks wasn't with the organization when the whole Jeremy curse began, so I fully expect him to hit two doubles and a home run tonight. More realistically, I don't. But, I've been hearing a load about sending him down to Rochester. I don't know his "make-up", but I don't see a problem with letting him hack his way through the whole season barring The Minnesota Curse injury. He can always gain confidence with the extra games against the Astros. Now, it'll be a different story when he strikes out in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 of the World Series. We'll cross that bridge when we get there, though.

Parentgood

Father Knows Best: It’ll Get Better

23 Comments

Its been a couple of months since it all started, so hopefully I can remember enough details to make this somewhat interesting. I wanted to start this installment of father knows best with an ode to the women who have to carry the load for the majority of the lead up and after effects of a birth.

Continue reading Father Knows Best: It’ll Get Better →

Miscellaneous

Brew Day Melee – American Amber Ale

7 Comments

For the second installment of the Brew Day Melee, I decided to make an American Amber Ale. I'm running low with both my kegs, so I'll need something that can be turned around fairly quickly to get one filled back up. It will serve a far greater purpose as I plan to wash its yeast after primary fermentation for use in this year's barleywine.

I'll get to the recipe after the jump...

Continue reading Brew Day Melee – American Amber Ale →