All posts by freealonzo

2023 Twins Game Logs

2023 Game Log 49 – Giants at Twins

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Oof. Twins have lost five of last seven games all to California teams and for the most part have looked pretty lousy doing so. Sonny Gray on the mound for the Twins tonight and although he has pitched well all season, he hasn't won a game yet in May either. Alex Cobb for the Giants.

Twins have a tough stretch of games coming up and it would be nice to feast upon the so-so Giants. If the rest of the Central wasn't so lousy I'd be worried about going all GOSO on the Twins but I think we can still count on some good baseball throughout the summer, especially with Gray, Ryan, and Lopez heading up the starting rotation.

Game time 6:40 and looks like a glorious night for outdoor baseball.

2023 Twins Game Logs

2023 Game Log 43 – Twins at Dodgers

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So an up and down night at Chavez Ravine Monday with poor starting pitching, a Twins team that battled back to take a late lead, crappy umpiring, and then a bullpen implosion. Hollywood is just down the way from the ballpark, it should take notes on the drama and villains from last night. Now the Twins have to bounce back with a depleted bullpen and a shot at Clayton Kershaw. Hopefully, Phil Cuzzi is no longer behind the plate and along the 3rd baseline where he belongs. (Narrator: Cuzzi in fact should not be along the 3rd base line either).

Bailey Ober on the mound for the Twins and he's done really well and making a case for staying up in the bigs. Thing I learned today: Bailey Ober is tall! He's listed at 6'9". Unfortunately for the Twins, Clayton Kershaw putting up great regular season numbers again. Perhaps we can use some Hollywood CGI magic and convince him today's outing is a playoff game.

First pitch at 9:10p Central and looks like a glorious night for baseball out in southern California.

2023 Twins Game Logs

2023 Game Log 36 – Padres at Twins

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San Diego Padres and their $250 million dollar payroll come into town for a rare series against the Twins. Even with elite hitters such as Manny Machado, Juan Soto, and Fernando Tatis, Jr., the Padres have been about as ass-batty as the Twins, with near league lows in average and runs scored.

Extremely tall Iowa native Michael Wacha on the mound for the Padres. He was very good last year for Red Sox against the Twins so we will see if that success continues. Louie Varland has pitched ok with no decisions since being called up so it would be nice to seem him get settled and pitch a good game.

Thing I Learned Today: Nelson Cruz plays for the Padres.

Game time 6:40 with decent temps and a slight chance for rain.

2023 Twins Game Logs

2023 Game Log 30 – Twins at White Sox

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Twins at The Rate for the first time this year against the comically bad White Sox. White Sox have spent the first month of the year mixing poor pitching and lousy batting to their usual menu of atrocious fielding which unsurprisingly has led to a sub .300 record. You hate to see it.

Michael Kopech on the mound for the Whities and even though the Twins can bring out the ass bats with the worst of them, hopefully Kopech's 7.01 ERA and 1.71 WHIP will strike no fear in Twins batters hearts. Joe Ryan puts his undefeated record on the line and looking to add a league leading 6th win to his 2023 totals.

Looks like a chilly but dry night for baseball on the Southside tonight. First pitch scheduled for 6:10.

Twins Lineup:
DH - Byron Buxton
2B - Jorge Polanco
SS - Carlos Correa
LF - Trevor Larnach
3B - Jose Miranda
RF - Max Kepler
1B - Joey Gallo
C - Christian Vázquez
CF - Michael A. Taylor

2023 Twins Game Logs

2023 Game Log 24: Yanks at Twins (And Wild/Wolves Playoffs)

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We can experience something tonight that has not been aacomplished since 2001. With a Twins victory tonight they will take the season series from the Yankees. Twins have Joe Ryan on the mound and he's been quite effective this year with a 4-0 record, 0.89 WHIP and 10.4 k/9 innings. Nestor Cortes for the Yankees and he's been pretty decent this year as well, even though he took the loss against the Twins last week at Yankee Stadium. Should be a nice, if chilly evening for baseball.

In addition we have Wild and Wolves playoffs tonight. Feel free to use this post to comment as well. Game times are actually Midwest friendly with the Wild set to start at 7:00p and the Wolves at 8:00p. Loons also play tonight against Detroit in the USA Open Cup at 6:30p. So depending on your sport, you are covered tonight. If you just like Football, I guess you can take tonight to put the finishing touches on your mock draft board.

First pitch at 6:40.

2023 Twins Game Logs

2023 Game Log 17 – Twins at Bosox

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It's a rare local one team night as the Twins take on the Red Sox in Boston while the Wolves and Wild get a day off from the playoffs.

Boston seems to be scuffling again this year with a 8-9 record and I'm not really sure what their plan is. It seems like the ownership group has taken their eye off the ball so to speak and are more interested in their other teams they own (Liverpool, FC, Pittsburgh Penguins). Chris Sale on the mound for the Red Sox and it looks like he may be cooked. He's 1-1 for the year but has not looked good as his 11.25 ERA and 2.08 WHIP indicates.

Sonny Gray on the mound for the Twins after coming off a nice weekend split with the Yankees. Gray has been lights out this year and I'd like to see him go deeper into games now that he is apparently over his flu-like illness. Concerns about the bats as Max Kepler seems to be done as a MLB hitter and Byron Buxton has been dreadful since his 2nd base collision last week.

Looks like a pleasant night for a game in Boston and given the 6:10 game start, we can get to bed early to prep for the upcoming late night baseketball and hockey playoffs.

2023 Twins Game Logs

2023 Game Log 11 – White Sox at Twins

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Ten games in and I think we can see a definite pattern here. Twins starting pitching is pretty good and the hitters not so much. Ten games is practically the definition of SSS so I'm still in a wait in see situation, especially as it relates to pitching.

Old Twin friend Lance Lynn on the mound for the Whities and he's been terrible this year, again SSS but he has an ERA of 9.0 and a WHIP of 1.90. Yikes! New staff ace Pablo Lopez on for the Twins and I'm really looking forward to see how he does at Target Field.

Should be a gorgeous night for baseball and given game times this year, you can wrap up this game and move directly to Twolves-Lakers without missing a beat!

First pitch at 6:40.

Twins Lineup

2023 Twins Game Logs

2023 Game Log 5 – Twins at Marlins

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So few complaints with the Twins start of the season huh?

Twins in Miami for game two of the the 3-game series against the Marlins and this may be the toughest match up of the season thus far. Kenta Maeda on for the Twins in his first game back since August 2021. His Spring Training was meh at best so it will interesting to see if he has his old form back.

Twins face a legimate ace in Sandy Alacantara, the reigning National League Cy Young winner (unanimously no less). Alacantara didn't have a great outing opening day so we'll see how does against the Twins bashers.

Game at 5:40p so get your dinner plans set.

Twins Line up
1. Gordon, 2B
2. Correa, SS
3. Larnach, RF
4. Miranda, 3B
5. Gallo, 1B
6. Solano, DH
7. Castro, LF
8. Vázquez, C
9. Taylor, CF

No Buxton but available to pinch hit apparently.

Friday Music Day

Friday Music Day – Ticketmaster is bad

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Whether you are a event-goer having to use Ticketmaster or not, I think everyone is aware how bad and expensive the ticket buying process is in general but especially if using Ticketmaster. Lots of news lately about trouble getting tickets and/or the expense with the mega-acts like Taylor Swift or Bruce Springsteen but it also trickles down to the lesser acts. I'll describe my experience this week.

Nick Cave is coming to the State Theater in October and since I follow Nick Cave, I received information on a Artist Presale for this past Monday, a full four days prior to the "general public sale" happening today. I'm a huge fan and would be willing to pay for good seats. So on Monday, I log into Ticketmaster a few minutes prior to the presale and get put in the queue. 10:00a rolls around and I'm like #240 or so, which was disappointing but whatever. As soon as my number comes up, there's a technical issue and I'm put back in the Queue. Now I'm like number 450! I wait around and this time I get in but now all the good tickets are gone. What!!!??

There's literally more presales during the week so I think I will try those but just for the heck of it, try about 30 minutes later in case some tickets got released. Oh I have a $50 Ticketmaster Gift Card, so I'm not as price sensitive as I may normally be and I'm willing to pay for good seats. Sure enough I found a Row O ticket for the face value of $110, even though I was hoping for better. In the process of buying the ticket, I noticed a ton of seats are now being released but now at a higher price. First 7 rows or so are now $217 and tickets around Row 0 are $135 (this is before fees mind you). The $217 ticket are "Premium" and the $135 are due to dynamic pricing. They were literally not available 5 minutes after the presale opened but are now 45 minutes later.

I close the sale and thank my lucky stars I got the seat that I did at the price ($30 in fees which is 27% btw). I was curious so I checked the State Theater presale yesterday right at 10:00a. There was probably less than 100 ticket listed for sale (all at those higher prices). So if you got a presale notice from the State Theater and thought you had a decent chance of getting a ticket to see Nick Cave, you were sadly mistaken.

This is definitely a "First World Problem" and frankly I don't know how to change it but it is frustrating nonetheless and I am worried that fans are getting priced out of seeing their favorite acts. Also the Artists need to take a stand as well, like Robert Smith did of the Cure. I know they get a cut of the fees and increased dynamic or platinum pricing so they are in on the game too.

Anyway, drop your lists if you got them or just feel to vent about Ticketmaster.