All posts by freealonzo

2019 Twins Game Logs

2019 Game 54 — Brewers at Twins

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Game 54 means 1/3 of the season is over. Day after Memorial Day means the Spring portion of the season is over too. By this time we should be able to get a sense of who the real teams are and who the pretenders are. Obviously all is good in Twins land. Best record in baseball, on pace to smash the Home Run record, 10 game lead on Cleveland -- who doesn’t really look like a team able to play at a .600 pace the rest of the season, Oddo, Perez, Berrios looking great, even bad Gibby has been stuffed in a closet somewhere. Nelson Cruz should be back in the line-up any day, Mitch Garver on track to recover from his injury, Buxton doing (good) Buxton things, the list is endless. So settle in folks, we should have a fun summer of Baseball, and on the Tuesday after Labor Day, hopefully I’ll be writing up a post about Fall baseball coming up and how the Twins need to set up their line-up for the playoffs.

Brewers in town for the second game of a weird two-game series. I still don’t understand why MLB doesn’t like money. Bring the Brewers in for a 3-game series over a summer weekend, and update the software on your cash registers as people will be handing over the money on tickets, food, beer, and souvenirs like there was no tomorrow. Zach Davies on the mound for the Brewers with his gaudy 5-0 record, 2.43 ERA. Since he pitched two innings last night hopefully the formally teenaged-racist Josh Hader will have to take a night off today.

As mentioned earlier, Twins called up Delvin Smeltzer to make his MLB debut. Twins got him as part of the Dozier trade with the Dodgers and by all accounts was only a matter of time before he made it to the big club. Let’s hope for a successful first outing, perhaps a couple of early Twins homeruns will help tamp down the butterflies.

Games back at 7:10p. Looks like a nice but cool night to be at the ballpark.

Twins Lineup
Max Kepler RF
Jorge Polanco SS
C.J. Cron DH
Eddie Rosario LF
Miguel Sano 3B
Marwin Gonzalez 1B
Jonathan Schoop 2B
Jason Castro C
Byron Buxton CF

Friday Music Day

FMD – Happy Birthday Bob Dylan

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Bob Dylan turns 78 today. Fun fact: Bobby Z is 2 years older than my mother and they were practically neighbors during his time in Duluth, living only 4 blocks apart. She doesn’t think she ever met him at the playground or on the street.

Whatever appreciative or benign feelings you have for Dylan you have to give him his due on how he changed popular music. There’s literally a library of books written about him, so I’m not going to add any more words to his legacy. Just maybe today pause and throw a Dylan song or two on whatever music listening device you have and raise a glass to a true musical genius. May his never ending tour be truly never ending.

2019 Twins Game Logs

2019 Game Log 48: Twins at Halos

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Game 6 of a pretty successful (so far) 7-game West Coast swing for the Twins as they try for another victory against the Halos. Michael Pineda back on the mound for the Twins and while still definitely a 5th starter, there have been signs of life from Pineda over the past few starts, including a nice little victory last week against the Mariners. Pineda has not done well against LAAAAA in his career so look out.

Trever Cahill with his 2-4 record and 6.95 ERA for the Angels. He pitched last week against the Twins and gave up six runs in 4.1 innings so hopefully the Twins have his number. Cahill has also given up a MLB leading 14 home runs meaning the Twins’ boomsticks should be out in force tonight. It looks like Ben Andrelton Simmons will be out for the rest of the series against the Twins. Too bad, He’s a fun player. I hope he gets back to raking once healthy (and the Twins have moved on). Ohtani has recovered and will be in the line up tonight.

Another west coast late start as first pitch is at 9:07p. Let’s get a nice little five run lead by the 3rd inning so we can go to bed a decent hour.

If you want some baseball before the Twins game, former Twins pitching stalwarts Tommy Milone and Lance Lynn will be facing each other as the Seattle takes on the Rangers. Check local listings.

Twins Lineup:
RF Kepler
SS Polanco
DH Gonzalez
LF Rosario
1B Cron
3B Arraez
2B Schoop
C Castro
CF Buxton

2019 Twins Game Logs

2019 Game 41: Angels at Twins

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Last Thursday the Twins had come off a nice little 4-2 road trip, including a three game sweep of the Blue Jays. They had the best record in baseball and I had already placed a lawn chair on the Nicollet Mall to save may space for the inevitable victory parade. Now it’s Tuesday and the Twins have lost 3 of last 4 at home to the Tigers and Angels, Nelson Cruz is nursing a sore wrist (not a good sign for a power hitter), and Jose Berrios was Lance Lynn-like last night. What happened, the Twins have to do something! “Forget it Jake, it’s a long season.”

Kyle Gibson on the mound for the Twins and we’ve seen the emergence of Good Gibby lately. Let’s hope that continues. Angels going with an Opener tonight with Cam Bedrosian pitching first inning and then Felix Pena coming in afterward. This will be the third time this season Pena will have had an opener. I wonder if Cam has any fond memories of Minnesota when his dad pitched here? Usually the local paper writes something up along those lines.

Game time 6:40p. It promises to be another very pleasant night. I hope you can get to the ballpark or other enjoy the game as the Twins try to right the ship back toward my parade route. That lawn chair cost me $8.00.

Friday Music Day

FMD — In Remembrance

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So today is the 5th anniversary of my wife's death. Wow, 5 years. Anyway, are there songs that remind you of those who have gone before? Maybe it was your dad's favorite song on the radio or a song from a concert you went to with your cousin or friend from high school. Perhaps the song just is evocative of the person, reminds you of their character or the journey they went through. I have many such songs with Elaine but Ghost from Neutral Milk Hotel is one that always draws strong feelings for me. On Facebook I posted another such song, River from Patty Griffin's latest album.

Do any songs move you to remember someone?

Also drop 'em if you got 'em.

2019 Twins Game Logs

2019 Game 34: Minnesota Twins at Toronto Blue Jays

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So the Twins once again showed some resiliency by stomping on the Blue Jays 8-0 last night after a disappointing weekend at Yankee Stadium. This a characteristic that was in short supply of previous Twins teams and a nice switch. More please.

Jose Berrios up for the Twins tonight and has pitched about as well as advertised and as we all hoped: 5-1 record, 0.97 WHIP, a strikeout an inning, and an 8-46 walks to SO ratio. He’s establishing himself as easily the staff ace and a legitimate MLB #1 pitcher. Blue Jays have Aaron Sanchez who’s been pretty average this year. He got rocked last game he pitched which contributed mightily to his 1.49 WHIP. My hope is that these trends continue for tonight.

Vlad Jr. has been up to the bigs for about a week now and Blue Jays fans finding out that it’s not easy for a 20-year old to walk right into a MLB lineup and start mashing. An .152 average with no HRs and 1 RBI is pretty humbling no doubt, but the guy will eventually rake. Let’s just hope that it’s not for a couple more days.

Game time at 6:07p Central. C’mon Twins smoke the Jays, but wait until after you defeat Toronto on the field.

Lineup:
RF Kepler
SS Polanco
DH Cruz
LF Rosario
C Garver
1B Gonzalez
2B Schoop
3B Adrianza
CF Buxton

2019 Twins Game Logs

2019 Game 21: Twins at Astros

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Twins up against the Astros again after a nice mashing last night. Michael Pineda up for the Twins and he has done as well as expected through four games with a 2-1 record and almost a SO per inning. Also at 6’7”, 265 lbs, I wonder if he had been born in the United States if Pineda would have played football or basketball, the dude is huge. Wade Miley on the mound for the Astros and if you’ve been forgoing anything in a Lent-like fashion until the Twins faced a lefty starter, well today is the day you can finally partake. Congratulations on getting this far with that. Miley has been serviceable but doesn’t throw a ton of strikeouts. He has held opponents to 3 earned runs or less for 20 straight starts, so he’s got that going for him. Which is nice.

Important game for the Twins to win as Verlander up for the ‘Stros tomorrow. Be nice to get a win tonight and not have to worry about Wednesday’s game. First pitch at 7:10p.

Twins Line Up:

C Garver
SS Polanco
DH Cruz
LF Rosario
1B Cron
3B Gonzalez
2B Schoop
RF Kepler
CF Buxton

Friday Music Day

FMD – Billy Bragg

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So Billy Bragg is in town for a 3 night stay at the Fine Line with a career-spanning set last night, his first 3 albums tonight, and albums 4-6 Saturday. In addition, he had a book reading at Magers and Quinn Wednesday and showed up at Driftwood Bar a couple times this week for a few songs. Quite the Minneapolis residency!

I’m going tonight and Saturday and I’m especially looking forward to tonight’s show as those first few albums were really important to me in my early 20’s. Punky urban folk that about politics, sexual relations, unions, war... all the stuff that makes an idealistic 23 year old tick. I saw him in 1986 at the 930 Club in DC and after the show he invited anyone who was interested backstage to talk about U.S. policy toward Nicaragua. Heady stuff.

Those first albums are on a collection called Back to the Basics and I would strongly urge you to take a listen. Great music that still resonates 35 years later.

Also drop ‘em if you got ‘em.

2019 Twins Game Logs

2019 Game 14: Toronto Blue Jays at Minnesota Twins

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Twins and Blue Jays in game two of a 4 game tilt at Target Field. Blue Jays put up Aaron Sanchez who is 1-1 and pitched decently early in the season but still hasn't gotten out of the 6th inning. Speaking of short starts... Twins have Kyle Gibson who is 0-0 but an ERA of 7.71 and hasn't gotten out of the 5th inning yet. As usual, Gibby has looked good for a while then has one bad inning. Twins could use a good outing tonight as cracks in the bullpen starting to show up.

Game time 6:40. Beautiful night for baseball, hopefully more people show up tonight. First pitch at 6:40p.