MINNESOTA 3 -- SEATTLE 2
Twins Record: 7 - 18 (2-9 since my last recap, oh boy)
Highest WPA - Mauer (1 for 3, 2 BB, RBI), Bullpen (3 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 5 SO)
Fangraphs - MLB Recap
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Twins win!
Mariners bullpen revealed to be vastly inferior to Minnesota equivalent!
Recap posted much later than expected!
Joe Mauer drove in a key run!
We face King Felix tonight! (focus on the positive)
MINNESOTA 5 -- TAMPA BAY 4
Twins Record: 5- 9
Lowest WPA - Hendriks (5.2 IP, 4 R, 5 H, 2 BB, SO)
Highest WPA - Willingham (1 for 4, 2B, BB, 3 RBI), Carroll (2 for 3, 2 R, 2 BB, 2B), Bullpen (3.1 IP, O H, 1 BB, 2 SO)
Fangraphs - MLB Recap
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Denard Span and Jamey Carroll were on base 6 times in this one (1 double, 3 singles, 2 walks in 10 PA) and scored 4 runs. Joe Mauer could have driven in all 5 runs, but left the bases loaded for Willingham in the 7th because Josh is new to the team and wants to feel like he's contributing. AmenableBacon extended his hitting streak to 14 games, and continues to lead the team in quite a few offensive categories (BA/OBP/SLG/HR/RBI/2B/R/TB/HBP).
The bullpen was stellar getting 13 outs in 14 batters, including Matt Capps retiring Longoria, Scott, and Joyce in order in the ninth. Fun fact: Coming into the 9th, those three hitters hit a homerun every 15.9 PA against the Twins, compared to every 22.7 PA against all other teams. That includes the homeruns by Joyce and Longoria earlier in this game.
The Twins April schedule has been pretty tough, but since being steamrolled by the Orioles, the Twins are 5-6 against LA, Tex, NY, and TB.
MINNESOTA 1 -- TEXAS 4
Twins Record: 2-5
Lowest WPA - Swarzak (7 IP, 4 R, 0 BB, 3 SO), Mauer (1 for 4, SO, GIDP)
Highest WPA - Willingham (1 for 2, R, BB, HBP)
Fangraphs - MLB Recap
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The Twins made some solid contact in the first few innings, but Texas made some sparkling defensive plays to keep the damage to a Danny Valencia sac fly in the second. 1-0 Twins for the first time all season. But would it be enough?
It would not. Swarzak put up another perfectly reasonable start, the big Texas inning was one where the Twins needed a sparkling defensive play or two. Instead the first 5 Rangers reached (4 singles and an error) resulting in 3 runs. Minnesota would get a few guys on base over the course of the game but never get the big hit to bring the game back within reach.
There are plenty of people who will say Texas is better than the Twins. Tonight the Rangers got a little bit more pitching, a little bit more hitting, and a little bit more defense. That was enough to make this a not terribly exciting end to the Twins longest winning streak of the year.
MINNESOTA 2 -- BALTIMORE 4
Lowest WPA - Pavano (7 IP, 4 R, 2 BB, 1 SO), Doumit (0 for 4), and Plouffe (0 for 1)
Highest WPA - Span (2 for 4)
Fangraphs - MLB Recap
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Ron Gardenhire turned to Rick Anderson and asked, "Is Duensing ready?" Anderson frowned and picked up the bullpen phone, speaking only a couple of words. After hanging up the phone, he returned to Gardenhire's side. "Ronald, he's ready, but I have to seriously question why we would use him in this situation."
"This is the perfect time to use him, late in the game, score's tied, Adam Jones is a dangerous hitter coming up."
Anderson blinked in confusion, "Tie game? Ronathan, it's not a tie game. And Adam Jones is right-handed, wouldn't you rather have Duensing come in to face Markakis for the lefty-lefty matchup?"
"Who?"
"Nick Markakis, the right-fielder."
"What are you talking about? Look, it's 0-0 in the eighth inning and I don't have time to do some ridiculous comedy routine with you and your made up ballplayers. We had a bad year last season, and I want to start this off right."
"Made up..? 0-0..? Wait, what do you think happened in the first inning?"
"We walked Hardy, then Pavano got a groundball or two and we got out of the inning. Pavano looked pretty good today, nice to see all those groundballs turning into outs isn't it? Just the one Hardy single on a groundball, but then he got Jones and Wieters and got out of it."
"Rontell, I think we need--"
"No time, got to make the pitching change now. Back in a second. And Rick? We don't need our bullpen walking people, talk to this Gray kid when he comes in, will you?"
Gardy made his way to the mound, and Scott Ullger made his way off the bench to join Anderson at the rail. "What was that about?"
"I think Ronwin has completely blocked Nick Markakis from his memory. He doesn't remember the 2-run homer in the first, or the RBI triple in the sixth, and I bet if we ask him, he won't remember Markakis' lead-off walk leading to a run in the fourth either. What are we going to do?"
"Send him home" Ullger said.
"I'm worried he wouldn't be safe there"
Ullger stared blankly, "Why would that matter?"
"Memory loss could be the sign of any number of serious problems. No, I think we should keep him here and try to keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't forget anyone else in this game."
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To this day Ron Gardenhire believes that Josh Willingham's ninth inning donger won the 2012 season opener for the Twins, Rick Anderson has never corrected him, he figured it was a long season, it's probably best not to get too caught up in one result.
Sounds like Harding in net against the Wings again (he's got 2 starts this season, both vs. Detroit). If you're around, settle in for a long night of getting out-shot.
Writing this in the morning before I head to work, so lets just move to the games.
Another season has kicked off for the Wild, with quite a few new faces. A quick rundown of those who migrated to the State of Hockey to begin the 2011-2012 NHL season.
Dany Heatley - Traded to the Wild from San Jose for Martin Havlat as the search for Marian Gaborik's heir continues. Heatley has the potential to pot quite a few goals and he can be a power-play wizard. The question is whether he will get enough chances to make the difference that a top-notch goal scorer can.
Devin Setoguchi - Traded to Minnesota from San Jose on draft day as part of a big deal that sent Brent Burns to the Sharks. He's averaged 24 goals/year the last 3 seasons, and the hope is that his pairing with Koivu and Heatley will yield him plenty of opportunities to match or exceed those totals.
Brett Bulmer - Made the jump from Canadian Juniors straight to the opening day NHL roster. He was a 2nd round pick of the Wild's in 2010, and he's only 19. More of an energy guy than a goal scorer, and I'd expect him to spend some time in Houston this year, but it's a fun story that he made the team.
Nick Johnson - Spent last year with the Pittsburgh AHL affiliate before coming to the Wild. Nothing special, but could be a role-player.
Darrell Powe - Traded to Minnesota from Philadelphia for a 3rd round pick (2013). Checking-line winger, adjusted plus/minus and Corsi don't think much of him, but I haven't seen enough to really say anything.
Contrast those additions with the loss of Mittens, Brunette, Burns, Havlat and Madden. The biggest impact on the offensive side might end up being a healthy Bouchard and Latendresse. If those guys are healthy and productive, I think this team could be somewhere around a league average offense, which would be a nice change.
Defensively, they are about the same, although they lose the puck-moving of Brent Burns, they look to Marco Scandella and some younger guys to provide that. They should be alright but nothing spectacular in that respect.
So average offense, and a passable defense, does that spell playoffs? It's within the realm of possibility, but I think things need to break right (no injuries, some breakout seasons, etc.).
A win, an honest-to-God win. I haven't seen on of these on my recap day since....
(goes to check the archives) ....
(scrolls further back in the archives) ....
Ah, here it is - July 14 was the last time the Twins won on a Thursday (they moved to 6 games under .500 on that day, 6 games out of first). Which reminds me, let's check out the day-of-the-week standings with 6 days and 7 games (double-header on Saturday, get excited!) remaining.
| W | L | PCT | |
| Sunday | 10 | 14 | .417 |
| Monday | 4 | 15 | .211 |
| Tuesday | 10 | 12 | .455 |
| Wednesday | 12 | 11 | .522 |
| Thursday | 8 | 10 | .444 |
| Friday | 8 | 16 | .333 |
| Saturday | 8 | 17 | .320 |
I would have bet and lost a large sum of money that there wasn't a day of the week over .500 this season. I will note that Tuesday now has the longest losing streak at 8 games (going back to July 26).
4 - 24.
In 4 games against one of the two AL teams with a worse record than Minnesota, the Twins were outscored by 20 runs, Liriano and Cuddyer went on the DL, adpfhoubev- qf7ncs .......
[NARRATOR]: It appears that your recapper has been overcome by the sheer disaster that was this series against the Orioles. He didn't even get to Drew Butera starting all four games, the Twins' starters pitching a total of 15.2 innings, ad;kfhvbn ....
[2nd NARRATOR]: (Looks at two unconscious bodies) I ain't touching this.
NEW YORK 8, MINNESOTA 4
Record - 54-69 (4th in Central)
Highest WPA - Plouffe! (2 for 5), Nishioka (2 for 4, R, RBI)
Lowest WPA - Duensing (5.0 IP, 6R, 3 HR), Morneau (o for 4)
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My wife got a job yesterday, so we went out to The Burger Stand (I got a Smoke Burger with the Ad Astra Ale from the local Free State Brewery) to celebrate. As a result, my viewing of this game is pretty much limited to the first inning plus some highlight clips. On the other hand, I didn't have to watch a very good team beat a not very good team easily and we just theoretically doubled our yearly income as a family.
Add in the burgers and I think that's a win-win for me.
