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Bats: Right Throws: Right
2016 Twins Game Logs

2016 Game #62: Scarlet Hosiery (36-25) at Matched Pairs (18-43)

31 Comments

First Pitch 1:10 p.m.

Rick Porcello (7-2, 4.04 ERA, 68 K, 1.084 WHIP)
Pat Dean (1-2, 4.75 ERA, 22K, 1.484 WHIP)

The Curse of 2016 continues for the home team with news that Phil Hughes actually suffered a compression fracture of the femur from a wicked line drive smash to the knee and not just a bruise and will be out six to eight weeks. Trevor May was also sent to the DL with a sore back, and Glen Perkins was moved to the 60-day DL after experiencing very slow progress in his rehab.

I've never in my day seen a team as snake-bit as this year's constitution of the Twins. I don't even know what to say about this team and the size of the hole they continue to dig anymore. We have 100 games left after today, and we're on pace to go 47-115 for the season, according to my Indiana algebra. For perspective, the worst season in franchise history belongs to the 1904 Washington Senators, who lost 113 games out of 157 for a .252 winning percentage. The worst Twins record on record was the 102 loss team of 1982. I guess the good news this year is we're only slightly under-performing our Pythagorean of 20-41.

The Red Sox are going for a sweep today in what will be David Ortiz's last game against the Twins. If there's any more appropriately symbolic indictment of the perennial mismanagement of the Minnesota Twins, it's David Ortiz and his career numbers (.286/.379/.551/.931/141 OPS+) standing at the plate today against a ragtag collection of Twins players struggling to prevent an historically bad losing record.

Rick Porcello on the hill for Boston against left-hander Pat Dean for the Twins. Normally I'd say "Play ball," but...

Fuck it, Dude. Let's go bowling.

2016 Twins Game Logs

2016 Game #56: Tampa Bay at Minnesota

48 Comments

First Pitch 1:10 pm CDT

Tyler Duffy (2-4, .457 ERA, 36 K)
Drew Smyly (2-7, .477, 70 K)

Yeah, we suck, but the Rays aren't exactly tearing up the AL East this year, so this has actually been a competitive, dare I say, almost entertaining series. Since this is supposed to be a gorgeous summer day and we haven't been to a game yet and because I found a good deal on StubHub, the wife and I will be at the ballpark for this one, sitting in seats 7 and 8 of row 1 of section 115. The togs of fandom shall be donned. Beer, hot dogs, and peanuts will be consumed, and a Twins victory attained. Or not, we'll see about that last one.

Play ball!

2016 Twins Game Logs

2016 Game #49: Twins (14-34) at Mariners (28-20)

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First Pitch - 3:10 pm CDT

Ricky Nolasco (1-3, 5.54 ERA, 46 K)
Taijuan Walker (204, 2.70 ERA, 47 K)

Cowabunga! The Twins are riding the crest of a winning wave, three in a row now with a chance to notch a sweep against a pretty good Mariners team. You wouldn't think that winning two games in a row on the road would be a big deal, but this year we have to find our pleasure in the small accomplishments. Nunez continues to be a lot of fun to watch, Joe Mauer is hitting again after slumping for a few weeks, with Plouffe! sidelined with a sore knee we may get to see Sano play a little third base and an outfielder play right field. Buxton has been tearing it up in Rochester; with Mastroianna on the DL and Rosario shipped down, we could see the kid back in the show before long. Grossman has been a nice edition and gives Molitor more outfield flexibility. His slash line (.375/.500/.625/1.125) is a short sample size fluke and he's bound to regress before too long, but it's nice to see while it lasts.

On the mound today, the Twins Ricky Nolasco squares off with Taijuan Walker. Nolasco had a very good April but he's had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad May, posting an 8.14 ERA. He lasted less than three innings in his last start, giving up six runs to the Royals on Monday. At just 23 years old, Walker is having a solid season, though he is 0-4 with a 3.96 ERA in his last five starts, but with eight unearned runs in that span he's had some bad luck and/or some bad fielding behind him. Walker has faced the Twins once, throwing a complete game one-hitter against them at the end of last July.

Play ball!

2016 Twins Game Logs

2016 Game 43: Blue Jays at Twins

51 Comments

First Pitch 1:10 p.m.

Phil Hughes (1-6, 5.70 ERA, 1.29 WHIP, 27 K)
Marcus Stroman (4-1, 4.23 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 43 K)

Phil Hughes was far from bad the last time he pitched, giving up just one earned run, but he went only 6.1 innings on 75 pitches. It was later revealed that he's been throwing with shoulder fatigue, so we can probably include the Twins training staff in the whole total system failure thing. Today he squares off against Marcus Stroman, who is coming off his worst start ever after giving up 7 runs on 13 hits to the Rays. Momentum, thy name is today's starting pitchers.

Meanwhile, in Bizarro World, the Atosennim Sniwt have won 31 of their games so far this season while losing just 11 for a .738 winning percentage. They lead the league in Slugging and OPS, ERA, Saves, and WHIP. The Sniwt maintain a sizable lead on their division, and are favored by many to win the Bizarro World Series.

Play ball.

2016 Twins Game Logs

2016 Game #36: Minnesota Targets (9-26) at Cleveland Progressives (17-16)

34 Comments

First pitch: 12:10 CDT

Beat the drum and hold the phone
The sun came out today
We're born again
There's new grass on the field

I've always tried to be optimistic, but my choice of rooting interests often makes that incompatible with reality. For the first time in their last 9 attempts, the Twins won a game of baseball yesterday. And we need to celebrate that. The Buddha tells us the root of suffering is desire. The Twins losing so frequently drives me crazy because I want them to win. It's the wanting that causes the suffering, not the losing. So I've swapped my optimism for appreciation. I live in a major league city and get to watch a major league team try to play baseball almost every day. I can attend a home game anytime I have the hankering. That's way more than I had growing up. So maybe we're looking at 100 losses this season. You can't say the boys aren't finding interesting ways to lose.

Tyler Duffy and Trevor Bauer on the mound today.

Play ball!

2016 Twins Game Logs

2016 Game 25: Tigers at Twins

57 Comments

http://cdn.aquila-style.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Capture1.jpg

First pitch 1:10 p.m.

Ricky Nolasco (1-0, 3.25 ERA, .904 WHIP, 24 K)
Mike Pelfrey (0-4, 4.64 ERA, 1.922 WHIP, 9 K)

I'll admit to inaugurating this season with a sense of irrational exuberance. The first few series knocked that out of me in pretty short order, though. And there's still plenty to be pessimistic about as we start the second month of the season today. After appearing to be righting the ship, the Twins have lost 7 of their last 10 games. They are 10 games below .500, 9 and 1/2 games behind division leading Chicago, and 6 and 1/2 games out of the wild card race. The starting rotation has been more than decimated by injury with Santana and Gibson on the DL, our regular closer is injured and ineffective when healthy, and his substitute isn't nearly as solid as he was last year. The bullpen has shown flashes of brilliance but an annoying inconsistency. The offense is improving but remains sub-par in many spots up and down the lineup. Jeebus, what I'd give to have a catcher who can hit again.

The odd thing is that I'm not terribly concerned. I never expected this team to do any more than than contend for a wildcard, and to be honest I'm enjoying watching this team, even with all of its flaws and miscues. There are bright spots here. We have pretty decent starting pitching with some depth in the organization, and now we finally get to see what Alex Meyer and Jose Berrios can do in the show. Duffy continues to impress. There are some good arms in the bullpen and some good hitters always worth watching. The return of very-high-BA/OBP Joe Mauer has been thoroughly satisfying to watch. Every time our Korean crusher comes to the plate, my wife starts chanting "Park bang, Park bang, Park bang..." After finding a regular spot in the lineup due to injuries, Nunez at first blazed and continues to burn brightly at the plate, hitting the ball like it sassed his mother. But we sucked in April. Nothing new there for this team, the Twins haven't finished the month above .500 since 2010. We've got a young team (average age just over 27) with too many infielders playing outfield, so there will be errors in the field and streaks at the plate. But there should also be some exciting baseball and in the end that's all I ask for, just make it interesting.

Today I'm feeling a little upside-down because I'm actually looking forward to watching both Mike Pelfrey and Ricky Nolasco pitch -- Pelfrey because I expect him to be the same pitcher we let go, and Nolasco because he doesn't appear to be the same pitcher we've had (off and on) for the last two years. That's all I got.

Play ball!

2016 Twins Game Logs

2016 Game 18: Twins at Nationals

111 Comments

They say a baseball season gives you two months to figure out what's wrong with your team, two months to fix it, and two months to contend. This team may need more time on the front end than that.

Due to stiffness in Irvin Santana's back, Tyler Duffy will get today's start for the Twins. Duffy did well in limited time last year and contended for the the final rotation spot throughout spring training. He'll square off against Stephen Strasburg because what the [redacted], it's not like we haven't faced enough really good starting pitching already this year, right?

So yeah, the Twins play so far this season leaves something to be desired. But what the hell, folks, it's the only game in town.

Play ball.

2016 Twins Game Logs

2016 Game #12: LA Heavenly Host at Minnesota Gemini

117 Comments

1:10 PM CDT

Kyle Gibson 0-2, 4.22 ERA
Nick Tropeano 1-0, 0.00 ERA

Things to be worried about today:
• The Twins rank last in the American League in runs scored, home runs, and slugging percentage.
• The Twins rank second to last in the American League in batting average, OPS, and total bases.
• The Twins rank third to last in the American League in hits and on base percentage.
• Death and taxes.

Things to be happy about today:
• Two in a row is officially a winning streak.
• The Twins have a chance to sweep the Angels.
• Byung Ho Park hits really, really long [redacted] home runs.
• Joe Mauer is playing like Joe Mauer again. With a stick.

Let’s play ball, Dude.

2016 Twins Game Logs

2016 Game #6: Minnesota at Kansas City

64 Comments

First pitch – 1:15 PM

BREAKING: The Minnesota Twins equipment manager is offering apologies after shipping mostly ass bats with the team for their season-opening road trip. According to the front office, there was a mix up in the packing process and the ass bats were affixed with the wrong shipping labels. Replacements are being requisitioned as quickly as possible. The Twins front office responded to the incident by transferring the equipment manager to the training staff. People can check out Get a premium US address from us for the best shipping service. 

Because Ervin Santana pitched but two innings in the rain-delayed season opener and the Twins’ skipper was afforded the chance to use him again on Friday, we’re not seeing our first look at our last starter, Ricky Nolasco, until the 6th game of the new campaign. Now, I’m inclined to think that the less we see of Nolasco the better, but we are paying a premium for the privilege of not watching him pitch while he recovers from the injuries that have made him such a disappointment since the Twins acquired him. My hope for Nolasco is that he can redeem himself and have a solid year anchoring the rotation. Alas, the tempest that spawns when one’s expectations are not aligned with one’s hopes.

Squaring off on the mound against Nolasco today is Edinson Volquez in his second start of the season. In his Opening Day effort against the Mets in Willits Point, Volquez gave up just two hits over six frames while striking out five and walking three. He’s coming off a 2015 season of 13 wins and nine losses with 200.1 innings pitched and a 3.55 ERA.

On the other side of the ball, the Twins offensive outcomes to date have ranged from feeble to frustrating. A team that strikes out this much – 58 times in just 5 games – should be playing in a beer league or on a sandlot. Meager bright spots in an otherwise dull offense include Eduardo Escobar sporting a 1.104 OPS powered by four doubles, Joe Mauer with his .880 OPS, and Byung Ho Park compiling an .837 OPS while hitting at just a .231 clip.

We’re burning daylight. Play ball!

2015 Twins Game Recaps

Game 39: Twins 8, Pirates 5

3 Comments

The Twins posted a nice albeit oddly uncomfortable win in their first inter-league game of the season, carpet bombing the F-Bomb by scoring early and often on Pirate's starter and former Twin Francisco Liriano. Brian Dozier led off the Twins offensive attack with a solo homer in the first. In a wild six-run second inning, Suzuki started things off by scoring on a wild pitch. Trevor Plouffe capped the inning with a two-run blast that in between saw Joe Mauer drive in three runs with a bases-clearing single. The Twins ended their scoring in the third when Suzuki crossed home on a ground-ball double play off the bat of Robinson. With eight on the board and a seven run lead after three, it seemed like the game was in the bag, but this is baseball and there would be cause for concern before this one ended.

The Pirates got on the board in the bottom of the second when Jose Tabata sort of singled on a two-out ground ball that Dozier should have handled to end the inning but didn't, allowing Jung Ho Kang to score from third base. The Bucs added another run in the fourth inning when Pedro Alvarez literally boated a blast off Nolasco over the right-field wall and into a docked runabout. With two runners in scoring position and one out in the bottom of the fifth, the Pirates chalked another run on a 6-3 putout off the bat of Kang, driving in Neil Walker. Nolaco gave up another run in the sixth inning when Walkers double to right field with runners on the corners scored Josh Harrison. With Aaron Thompson relieving in the seventh, Marte scored the last Pirate run on a Harrison single.

Damn near a quarter of the way through the season, the Twins find themselves in fairly unfamiliar territory, holding third place a half game behind the Tigers and just three games the behind division-leading Royals. I have to admit that I'm enjoying the ride so far, even as I wonder how long the engine will hold up when it's sort of low on oil and coolant, and the gas gauge is broken so I'm not sure if we're going to run out of fuel next week or next month, and at least a couple of the tires are nearly bald and could blow out any time now. There are problems with this team's pitching and defense (Danny Santana has ten of the Twins' 25 errors this year, contribution greatly to his team-low -0.7 WAR) but so far the offense has been good enough to get us where we are - five games above .500 and averaging 4.5 runs per game with a +2 differential. It ain't exactly championship caliber, but it's good enough to make things interesting and keep the puppy photographers in business for the time being.