All posts by Zack

I go hard in the paint.

Game 55: Royals 1, Twins 0

I wonder if the Twins will consider retiring Bruce Chen's number when his playing days are over. Going by the eye test, he's the greatest pitcher the Major Leagues have ever seen. The boys definitely got Chenned last night.

On a positive note, Liriano looked pretty sharp again. I guess that means the front office can maybe move him for something. I don't know, I'll be sad to see him go. I hope he looks good while he's still in a Twins uniform.

I hope they can win the series tonight, but with Nic_ BBlac_bburn on the hill, I won't be holding my breath.

Game 18: Minnesota Twins 2, Boston Red Sox 11

That sucked.

To be honest, games like this are going to happen and I have a little bit of trouble getting too worked up over it. Mostly what games like this do is make me think of other close games the team could have won that they failed to. There's been two to three games this year the Twins had a good shot of winning and ended up losing. If they have those, the 5-13 record is closer to 8-10. That seems a hell of a lot better.

It's a long season, but I really don't want to put up with a whole season of .278 baseball. It'd sure be nice if they could get some reasonable starts so the team isn't always in a hole.

Well onto the next. 149-13, go.

Game 11 Recap: Minnesota Twins 3, New York Yankees 8

After Monday night's victory, I was a little concerned that the Mayans were right about this year. Order has been restored, and all is apparently right with the world: The Yankees beat the Twins again tonight.

Despite actually scoring some runs against Sabathia early in the game, both leads they earned were promptly lost by Liriano who continued his struggles. Once Sabathia had a lead he mowed the Twins down like he seems to do every time they face him. I didn't really have my hopes up since, well, it's the Yankees. Add in watching Span & Gardy tossed by an insecure umpire, and it wasn't a terribly fun baseball game.

Win tomorrow and the series win is still in order. With Jason Marquis on the mound I have no fear!

WP: Cap'n Crunch Sabathia (1-0) | LP: Francisco Liriano (0-2)
Josh Willingham: Awesome baseball player.
Greg Gibson: Terrible umpire. Oh wait, that's redundant. Umpire.

Dressy Bessy – “Live to Tell All”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F03anIQNoFo

Dressy Bessy is one of the many offshoot bands on the Elephant 6 family tree. John, the guitarist, also plays in Apples in Stereo. I found out about both bands from the incredible Heroes & Villains compilation inspired by the Powerpuff Girls. Really. Anyway, this is one of my favorite Dressy Bessy songs. I hope you all enjoy.

PS: Tammy Ealom is adorable, isn't she?

5 votes, average: 5.40 out of 105 votes, average: 5.40 out of 105 votes, average: 5.40 out of 105 votes, average: 5.40 out of 105 votes, average: 5.40 out of 105 votes, average: 5.40 out of 105 votes, average: 5.40 out of 105 votes, average: 5.40 out of 105 votes, average: 5.40 out of 105 votes, average: 5.40 out of 10 (5 votes, average: 5.40 out of 10)
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Game 153 – Mariners 5, Twins 4

Only nine more games, thank god. The Twins made it interesting in the 9th, before channeling the early 2010 Twins to remind us all they are the 2011 Twins:

• League pitching.
• Tosoni pinch-hitting for Butera.
• Tosoni singled to center.
• Revere singled to center, Tosoni to second.
• Plouffe safe at first on a sacrifice plus pitcher League's throwing error, Tosoni to third, Revere to second.
• Cuddyer struck out.
• Parmelee grounded into fielder's choice, first baseman Carp to catcher Olivo, Tosoni out, Revere to third, Plouffe to second.
• Valencia grounded out, third baseman Liddi to first baseman Carp.

Yuck. That's ten losses in a row. Bring on the Mark Appel era.

Game 135: Twins lose again, Zack struggles to care

I didn't get to watch or listen to this game at all, as I was working until midnight at my former job as part of a consulting gig I offered to take on until I can transfer all the knowledge I amassed during my tenure there. I have very limited internet access at my new job, so I won't be able to post tomorrow, so I wanted to get something up.

I checked in a couple times during the game and was surprised to see they scored 6 runs. I was less surprised that they lost anyway thanks to their craptastic bullpen. As I can't give a whole lot more than that on the game, I thought I'd start a post which may be early to talk about the 2012 Twins (who I sincerly hope earn their W back).

I think part of the big problem they're going to have next year is that the there is a very thin crop of middle infielders, which I still think is their most glaring need. I don't mind having Plouffe, Nishioka, Casilla, or Hughes manning those spots occasionally, but we basically have four guys who should be backups as the starters. And the depth beyond that is... well, I don't consider that depth. It's too bad Jose Reyes has probably played himself into a $100+ million deal. We could sign a Type A free agent without surrendering a pick!

I'm assuming that Span & Revere are for sure in the outfield. I'm guessing one of Cuddyer or Kubel will be back. I'm thinking Tosoni & Benson will be in the mix at some point. I don't have a lot of concerns here other than Cuddyer getting a giant albatross of a contract.

The starting pitching was clearly exposed this year, and who knows what they'll ride into next year with. The bullpen is, um, less than adequate. I'm hoping they can restructure something to lock up Nathan for another couple of years. I hope Neck Fat isn't a disaster again. I hope Perkins continues to be lights out. I would like Duensing back into the 'pen. After that, I hope they can find someone on the scrap heap and not pay them outrageous sums of money.

I think right now outside of Mauer, Morneau, Span, and Valencia, I don't know who I'd be too attached to on the roster to carry over into next year. I think next year's team is going to look vastly different. I hope there is a front office shakeup. Any chance they can go hire Andrew Friedmann to overhaul the team? I just don't want them to think everything will be fine when they're healthy. This team had horrible health and was unlucky... but there were a crapload of problems beyond that.

What are your thoughts on what next year's team will look like? Thinking about a better roster next year is about all I have left.

Game 128 – Orioles 8, Twins 1

Another Twins game, another brutal loss. Tonight they were murdered by accused murderer manslaughterer Alfredo Simon and the mighty 49-77 Orioles. JJ Hardy reminded us again how stupid that trade was. I imagine the rest of the season will continue to be like watching a dog take a dump in your lawn in slow motion. Only 34 more games to go, then we can start counting down towards Spring Training and the beginning of next season when the Twins will finally be at .500 again.

Final Score: Bodymore Orioles 8, Minnesota Twins 1.
Twins Record: 55-73, 15.0 GB in the AL Central.
WP: Alfredo Simon (4-6) | LP: Brian "Right Handed Batters Have a .961 OPS Against Me" Duensing (8-13)

Game 109: Angels 5, Twins 1

Another game, another stellar start from a Twins starter who isn't Scott Baker. To be honest, I went to bed before the end of the game, but that didn't change the outcome. Before I fell asleep, I basically planned on posting a picture of Kevin Slowey and begging that he be called up, but my brain had other ideas.

So last night I had a dream about Kevin Slowey. I was in West Acres, which was a high school. I was high school aged, but I was the Zack I am today instead of the Zack I was in high school. Anyway, I had two random friends with me who don't actually exist, and we were all friends with Slowey.

I don't remember most of the dream, but what I remember is that at one point I got a song stuck in my head and started playing air guitar. I wasn't humming the song, but everyone kind of knew what the song was, and we were an "air band." Mr. Slowey was playing the air bass, and we were jamming out pretty good together. Every few moments, Mr. Slowey reached his hand into this cardboard locker we were standing next to and pulled out a joint which he took many drags off of.

This went on for a bit, and then I woke up. I decided I probably needed to share my dream with you all. I guess there are two morals to the story. First, I have very strange dreams. Secondly, Kevin Slowey needs to be in the rotation. Right now. Maybe I won't have any more weird dreams about him, then.