All posts by Twayn

Bats: Right Throws: Right

2014 Game 156: Little Stream Place at Land of Sky Blue Water


The last time I watched a Twins game, Ricky Nolasco pitched his best game of the year, eight scoreless innings, and the Twins won, though Nolasco did not notch a Win. Nolasco will likely need to pitch just as well tonight to give the team a chance as the Diamondbacks send Josh Collmenter to the mound. Collmenter is 10-8 on the year with a 3.60 ERA and he's been dominating opponents for the last month or so. Of course, in the grand scheme of baseball this game means absolutely nothing to pretty much anybody, so we've got that going for us.

Congratulations to Kennys Vargas and Jose Berrios for winning Twins player and pitcher of the year honors, respectively. Vargas is one of the reasons I'm sort of excited for Gardenhire's last season as Twins manager next year. He hits baseballs like they stole food from his plate.

In other news, Aaron Hicks has been held out of the lineup for the last two games with a stiff back. It's our clearest indication yet that the young man possesses a spine. Now if somebody would just find his belly and light a fire in it...

Play ball!

2014 Game 123: Royals at Twins


A major league baseball game is scheduled to take place tonight at 7:10 post meridian, central daylight savings time, in downtown Minneapolis, MN. Two teams of 25 players each, the Kansas City Royals and the Minnesota Twins, will contest the game to determine a winner and a loser at Target Field. Each team will designate a starting pitcher, with the Royals selecting Jason Vargas and the Twins electing Trevor May. Play ball!

2014 Game 117: Twins at Astros


Tonight we commence a three-game set against the Astros and we get something old and something new. The something old is Joe Mauer, returning to the team after a minor league rehab assignment in Cedar Rapids stemming from an injury to his right oblique. Mauer had a 12-game hitting streak going before the injury.

The something new is starting pitcher Tommy Milone, acquired from Oakland for Sam Fuld just before the non-waiver trade deadline. Milone this year sports a 3.55 ERA and is giving up just 8.5 hits per 9 innings, which are career high marks in both categories. Unfortunately, his strikeout rate has declined from 7.3 to 5.7/9 innings, but he is still posting a 1.215 WHIP, the lowest of his career so far. Houston counters with Brad Peacock, who has amassed a 16.00 ERA in his last three games. That compares to a 3.71 ERA over his first 11 starts this year for the 26-year old righthander. Play ball!

2014 Game 88: Nice at Sleepless

I don't have a slew of things to say about Seattle, and the less I say about the Twins right now the better my chances of avoiding profanity. I don't know if the Twins are a mediocre team in a bad slump or a bad team in a mediocre slump. Either way, at this point in the season and with my frustration turning quickly to ennui, it's probably just as well that the Twins kick off a seven-game road trip in Seattle tonight before breaking for the All-Star game next week. The games will be on late enough that I can safely ignore them without feeling too much fan guilt.

Tonight the Twins send Kevin Correia (4-10, 4.95 ERA) to the mound. His performance of late is better than his record might indicate, losing five of his last nine starts, but with a 3.50 ERA over that span. Seattle trots out Hisashi Iwakuma (6-4, 3.33 ERA), an All-Star last year who is having just a decent season this year after missing the first month with a torn finger tendon. Play ball!

2014 Game 81: Kansas City vs. Minnesota

Barbeque Ribs vs. Lutefisk
Strip Steak vs. Tater Tot Hot Dish
One Super Bowl Loss vs. Four Super Bowl Losses
All The Children Are Above Average vs. Everything's Up To Date
The Walker vs. Nelson-Atkins
Fountains vs. Lakes

Hard to say who gets the nod tonight. The Twins finally won a 1-run game, so maybe some regression to the mean in that category has started. Chairman Mauer brings a 10-game hitting streak back to Target Field, the boys are playing competitive baseball and there are enough reasons to think this team is not a lost cause if they can just keep their most productive players healthy and on the field for an extended period.

Yohan Pino (0-1, 6.30 ERA) takes the Target Field mound for the Twins tonight, while Kansas City counters with southpaw Danny Duffy (4-7, 2.69 ERA). Play ball!

2014 Game 68: Twins at Red Sox

RIP, Tony Gwynn. I quit smoking several years ago, and I quit chew about five minutes after my first dip of Skoal. Play ball!

Twins Lineup:
Santana, SS
Dozier, 2B
Mauer, 1B
Willingham, LF
Morales, DH
Arcia, RF
Suzuki, C
Escobar, 3B
Fuld, CF

Red Sox Lineup:
Holt, LF
Bogaerts, 3B
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Nava, RF
Drew, SS
Pierzynski, C
Bradley, CF

On the Mound:
Rubby De La Rosa (1-2, 3.93 ERA)
Kevin Correia (3-7, 5.60 ERA)

2014 Game 62: Twins at Bleu Jays

Poutine Start time at 6:07 p.m.? That better be a cash grab first pitch time like the Pale Hosers 7:11 sponsorship deal, because otherwise it makes no sense. Unless it's a metric thing...

When I was about 8 or 9, my mom dropped me off at the park half an hour early for baseball practice. It was hot and I was tired so I sat down under a tree to chill in the shade for awhile. Turned out I picked a tree with a blue jay nest full of chicks and one aggressive mother of a momma. She was able to dive bomb me half a dozen times before I could clear the area, and I'm sure I looked pretty foolish running from a bird. I've been predisposed to dislike blue jays in any form ever since.

On The Hill:
Nolasco (4-5, 5.65) vs. R.A. Dickey (6-4, 4.25)

Ricky Nolasco gets the start for the Twins tonight while former Twin/Met/Mariner/Ranger R.A Dickey gets the ball for the Jays. The Twins bested Toronto in an early April series by taking both ends of a doubleheader made necessary by a weather postponement. Dickey pitched one of those games, but he gave up five runs on seven hits and five walks in 4 1/3 innings for his shortest outing of the season, that one against Kyle Gibson.

The Blue Jays had won their last six series before losing their weekend series to the Cardinals. The Twins are still trying to get back to .500 after splitting a 4-game home-and-away series with Milwaukee and dropping their weekend series to Houston. Enough, already. Play ball!

2014 Game 55: Two Identical Things at Lager Makers


Tonight commences an oddity in Milwaukee, the opener of a four-game, home-and-away series to mark the long-ago rivalry that existed when the Twins and Brewers were in the same league but that MLB likes to keep alive for the sake of marketing. I can appreciate that. The Twins send Kyle Gibson (4-4, 4.81) to the mound tonight to face off with Matt Garza (2-4, 4.84). And of course we have the bonus of Carlos Gomez in the game tonight. Fortunately for us, Gomez won't be out for any type of revenge, even the kind that's served cold. In fact, it seems Gomez really enjoyed his time in the Twin Cities. "I don't have any hard feelings with Minnesota," says Gomez. "I'm always watching highlights from Minnesota, because they took care of me well and had beautiful fans."

I'm sure he's talking about us, citizens. Play ball!

2014 Game 48: Rangers at Twins

When I was growing up, Memorial Day had nothing to do with mattress sales and used car blowouts. My brothers and I would get up in the morning, put on our uniforms and pedal our bikes to Memorial Park, where a 100-foot tall limestone obelisk marks the reburial spot of some 1200 pioneers and soldiers who died defending the village and fort from attack during the American Indian Wars in the 1790s. My older brothers would meet up with their Boy Scout troop and I would go with my Cub Scout pack and we would march in the parade. The women lining the street wore knee-length summer dresses and stylish little hats, and many of the men in shirtsleeves wore neckties. When the parade ended at the Wabash River bridge downtown, the mayor would make a short speech and the honor guard from the American Legion post would lay a memorial wreath in the river and fire a salute with white rifles to those who had sacrificed their lives in duty to country. After the parade it was off to the town park for the Jaycees' barbecue chicken dinner and an afternoon of Legion baseball games. I don't know if it gets any more American than that.

The Twins kick off summer today by opening a four-game series with the Texas Rangers at Target Field (I'll be at game 4 on Thursday celebrating Elder Daughter's 21st birthday). The Twins send Kevin Correia (2-5, 6.52 ERA) to the mound, while Texas counters with sophomore Nick Tepesch (1-0, 3.09 ERA) in just his third start of the season. In a couple of key roster moves, the Twins added Josh Willingham and Oswaldo Arcia back to the active roster and optioned Chris Colabello and Chris Hermmann to AAA Rochester. So we should have seen about all of the infielder-playing-outfield shenanigans we need to see this year. Play ball!

2014 Game 30: Twins v. Tribe

After Opening Day and Home Opener posts last month, I've been sitting the bench so long I nearly forgot it was my turn to do another game log. Tonight the Twins invade Jacobs Progressive a baseball field in Cleveland to commence a 4-game series with the Indians. The Twins enter the series in second place, 4.5 games behind the Tigers, who stole a 3-game march on the rest of the division last week. A win tonight restores the Twins to .500 on the year.

On the hill tonight, the Twins feature Kyle Gibson (3-2, 4.34 ERA) while the Indians send right-hander Zach McAllister (3-2, 8.82 ERA). Mauer may or may not play and Colabella is turning into a pumpkin, but my non-sexual man crush Brian Dozier will be there to pick up the slack. It's been fun watching this team, because it really feels like a team again. When one or two guys struggle, a couple others step up to carry them. Let's hope that carries through for several more months.

Play ball!