All posts by freealonzo

2024 Game Log 73 – Rays at Twins

Tampa Bay Rays come into town and for once are just kind of scuffling along at 4 games under .500. With Yankees and Orioles having monster seasons and the rest of that division pretty competitive, probably no playoffs in sight. Will be interesting to see what the Rays do at the trade deadline (#evergreen). Twins on one of their upswings but this one finally has helped them make inroads within the division as they are only 0.5 game behind the Royals and 5.5 behind Guardians.

Aaron Civale for the Rays, and while a one strike out per inning guy, he's been fairly mediocre this year. Basically he's been a 5-inning, 6-hit guy all season and the Rays have lost the last five games he has started. Pablo Lopez for the Twins and I think mid-June is a good time to start that typical second hand Pablo Lopez surge.

As of 8:15 this morning, not sure if this game gets in as the forecast is for thunderstorms starting right around 5:00p.

Schedule first pitch at 6:40

2024 Game Lot 67 – Rockies at Twins

Twins back on their upswing in a up and down season. Hosting the 20 games under .500 Colorado Rockies certainly helps. Cal Quintrill pitching for the Rox and after a pretty good 2022 season for the Guardians, looks like he's at the journeyman stage of his career. Hopefully Twins batters can feast.

Louie Varland back up for the Twins to give the starters a break in A 13-game streak. Varland didn't really do much in St. Paul to convince anyone he's figured it out, but who knows, maybe the deli spread in a MLB clubhouse will be all the motivation he needs.

Looks like the weather should clear by this evening so should be a nice game for baseball.

6:40 first pitch.

2024 Game Log 60 – Twins at Yankees

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.

2024 Game Log 54 – Royals at Twins (and Wolves Game Log)

Game 54 meaning, the Twins are 1/3 through their 2024 MLB season. I guess we'd take 5 games over .500 at this point but it's been a roller coaster to get there with both winning and losing streaks dominating the season. Game two of a four game series and it really feels like the Twins need to win three of four to keep pace.

Cole Ragans on the mound for the Royals and he's a big strikeout guy, so I get nervous with Twins bats being shut down. Simeon Woods Richardson for the Twins and he's buttressed the bottom of the Twins starters and one of the reasons Twins fans haven't been as nervous about the pitching staff as it was coming into the season. Should be a fun game

Timberwolves-Mavs start about an hour after Twins game starts so we can use this post as a basketball game log as well.

First Pitch: 6:40

Tip Off: 7:30

2024 Game Log 48 – Twins at Nationals

Oof. What a difference a week makes. Last Tuesday, I was writing a game log basking in a 17-3 streak. Seven days later I'm staring at seven consecutive losses and the Twins have looked pretty lousy at the plate, in the field, and on the mound for most if not all of those seven losses. Good thing the Timberwolves have taken a bit of the spotlight off this team.

One would hope a visit to Washington, DC and a mediocre Nationals team would help. Maybe the team should head over to Howard University hospital and check out the Griffith Stadium plaque to remind them of the 1924 World Series winning team that is part of Twins history. Or maybe the fact that they are facing the very hittable Patrick Corbin will change the Twins luck. Joe Ryan on the mound should help too.

First Pitch at 5:45.