All posts by freealonzo

2019 Game 113 — Barves at Twins

Well that was a fun, big boy win last night, Odorizzi looking like his spring 2019 self, Mays hitting 100 on the radar gun to finish 2 solid innings, Jake Cave botching a simple grounder in the outfield, Sano’s pitch hit blast... Here’s a little Freealonzo Fun Fact: Last time the Twins beat Atlanta with a walk off homerun in Minneapolis, these same two teams played the next day and the Twins, with their ace on the mound, won in extras. Can history repeat itself?!?

Atlanta has Mike Foltynewicz on the mound who's back to the bigs after pitching about as well as I can pronounce his name earlier in the season. A 6.37 ERA, more hits than innings pitched, and a 2-5 record on a first place team. Also the dude gives up nearly 2.5 bombas per 9 innings so sorry 1964 Twins home run record, looks like your place in history could be gone by 10:30p tonight.

Berrios on the mound for the Twins and a team that looks like it’s locked in right now. Should be a glorious night for baseball. 7:10p first pitch. Enjoy.

Twins Line Up
CF Kepler
SS Polanco
DH Cruz
LF Rosario
C Garver
2B Arraez
3B Sano
RF Gonzalez
1B Cron

FMD – Willie Nelson

Tonight I’ll be seeing Willie Nelson at Target Center. This is a bucket list show for me as I have never seen the Red Headed Stranger. Given that Willie is 86-1/2 years old, it very much could be the last chance I’ll have too.

Now I know he relies pretty heavily on his family at these shows but who cares, it’s Willie Freakin’ Nelson.

So does anyone have any bucket list artists they want to see? After tonight it will be Van Morrison, Patty Griffin, and Radiohead for me.

Who’s on your bucket list. Also drop ‘em if you got ‘em.

Game 106: Twins at Marlins

Finally the schedule flips as the Twins take on the struggling Miami Marlins while Cleveland hosts the Astros. Miami has the worst record in the NL and a -97 run differential so here's hoping the Twins can take advantage and win all three of these interleague games. They will have to do it without the hot bat of Nelson Cruz as no DH this trip and Baldelli has no plans to play Nelly at First Base.

Jake Odorizzi on the mound for the Twins and he's definitely regressed to the mean after a monster start to the season. This Miami lineup seems like the perfect time to get back to the Odo we saw in May. Marlins have rookie Zac Gallen on the mound, who has pitched competently for a last place team. Last outing against the White Sox was stellar as he threw 7 scoreless innings. Hopefully it was due to the line-up and not that he has found his way.

Marlins stadium (whatever its called) not super conducive to the bomba so the Twins may have to score runs the old fashioned way this series.

Game time at 6:10p.

Twins Lineup:
RF kepler
SS Polanco
C Garver
LF Rosario
3B Sano
2B Arraez
1B Gonzalez
CF Buxton
P Odorizzi

Game 93: Mets at Twins

The New York Metropolitans come to Target Field for a two-game interleague series. The Mets have had another disappointing season and signs are they may be dumping players at the deadline. Maybe Noah Syndergaard or Jacob DeGrom can change lockerooms before they move on from Minneapolis. Zach Wheeler, who was also probably on the trading block, goes on IR, so the Mets probably have no chance to trade him.

Steven Matz on the mound for the Mets and he's been not super great this year. Michael Pineda for the Twins and has been a 6 inning, 5 hit guy recently, which has been nice especially after a rough start to the season. Looks like a nice set up for a Twins win and hopefully sweep as the Athletics and Yankees line up for visits to Target Field later in the next 10 days.

Rain late afternoon but forecast looks like game will get in.

Twins Line up:
Polanco
Gonzalez
Cruz
Rosario
Cron
Kepler
Sano
Schoop
Castro

FMD — Road Trip

So the kids and I are driving out to Glacier National Park a week from Sunday. It's a 17 plus hour drive there and then back so I need to think about what songs I want for the drive. The family rule is that the driver gets to pick the songs so I will be subjected to the whims of a 24 and 26 year old as well. What do I pick when it's my turn to drive? I've always thought R.E.M. was good road trip music and also good guitar trippy stuff like Built to Spill or Ride is always fun. When I drove to Memphis last year I did the whole 11 CD Stax set, which literally brought me to the City limits of Memphis. I listened to Minneapolis-based musicians on the way home. I could just put the needle on my Guided By Voices collection, I bet I easily have 35 hours of their music :o)

So what songs/artists/genre's do you like on a road trip? What's the purpose? Keep you awake, fit the setting, something you haven't heard before?

Also drop 'em if you got 'em.

2019 Game 78: Tampa Rays v. Minnesota Twins

Twins back at Target Field for a quick 3-game homestand after a quick 4-game road swing through Kansas City. Injuries, some poor defense, non-clutch hitting have left the Twins at (checking notes.....) 5-5 over their last 10 games. Unfortunately Cleveland has suddenly started to play well and have picked up three games on the Twins over that time. Kyle Gibson on the mound for the Twins and unfortunately bad Gibby showed up last time out, I thought he was left behind in a closet somewhere. Blake Shell on for the Rays and he was shelled (see what I did there?) in his last outing -- lasting only 1 out and giving up 6 runs. Let's hope he doesn't all of sudden get healthy for the Rays today. Rays in the middle of a 10 game road trip that hasn't gone super great for them, hopefully their June Swoon is greater than the Twins minny (see what I did there?) swoon.

7:10P start, great night for a game.

Twins lineup
SS Polanco
C Garver
DH Cruz
LF Rosario
1B Cron
CF Kepler
RB Astudillo
3B Sano
2B Schoop

2019 Game 72: Boston Red Sox at Minnesota Twins

So the game after "The Bunt heard around all 10,000 lakes." Will the Twins be able to put behind them one bad half inning of baseball? Will Jorge Polanco be dropped in the batting order as punishment? Will Max Kepler have to watch YouTube videos of Paul Molitor run the bases? (UPDATE: Kep not in lineup tonight... hmmmm) Most likely the Twins will demonstrate the resiliency they have all year and put together another good game of fundamental baseball and the smashing of home runs to thrill the hometown fans.

David Price on the mound for the Bosox, and while maybe not as dominant as in the past, he's pitched decently this year and has a good 10.5 So/9 innings stat. Price was terrible his last start giving up 6 runs in 1.1 innings to the Rangers. Hopefully Price rides that negative momentum into this game as well. Michael Pineda for the Twins and has shown signs of getting better lately, including a 2 hit, 1 run outing over 5.2 innings last week.

Buxton on IL, so I decided to honor him in the featured image. Get better my man.

Beautiful night for baseball, C'mon Twins, let's kill this 2 game losing streak. I'm going to Wednesday's game and don't want the fans all angsty tomorrow.

Twins Lineup
SS Polanco
C Garver
DH Cruz
RF Rosario
1B Cron
RF Gonzalez
3B Sanyo
CF Cave
2B Schoop