This is horribly late, my apologies for that. Great game for the boys last night. Pavano pitched a real stinker, but the bats kept the boys in the game. Watching them make Feliz look like Matt Capps was a sweet, sweet bonus. A Rangers fan was riding me hard on Monday night, and told me to "let him know when Mauer hits something other than a single," so there was a little extra in my fist pump when Mauer stroked that double into left.
Nathan looks filthy, and it makes me happy. I hope he takes sole possession of being All Time King of Savers: Twins Division tonight so meat has that to write about tomorrow.
Final Score: Minnesota Twins 9, Texas Rangers 8 Twins Record: 48-55, 7.0 GB in the AL Central. WP: Glen Perkins (3-1) | LP: Neftali Feliz (0-2)
This was one of those games that even though the hometown nine won, it wasn't terribly satisfying. Early in the game, they had some hits against Shields but never really seemed to string together enough to get an extended rally. The runs they scored were on a ground out and a bloop single that got past the Rays' right fielder. Clearly the more concerning things are Baker leaving with an elbow injury & Capps's continued ineptitude.
Everything the training staff said yesterday made this seem like a minor injury for Baker, but their track record is spotty at best. If Baker is out of the rotation for significant time, this will definitely hurt the Twins' chances of making a comeback. He's definitely been the ace of the staff, and I would be pretty bummed if he lost significant time since he has been so darn good. I want Slowey to be freed and I look forward to seeing Gibson in the rotation, but I do not want it to come at the expense of Baker's rotation spot.
Capps has been crapp in his last three outings, and I don't want him on the mound at all. He's pure butt right now. He needs a couple days off to get his mind right. He needs some low leverage work to get sorted out. Early in the season, I liked him as the middle-late inning fireman. If Nathan can take over 9th inning duties, Perkins can continue to ball outrageous, and Capps can reclaim that role the bullpen would be much better for it. There's no sense in throwing him out there to get pounded in the 9th over and over just because he's the "closer."
The Indigenous People & Tigers lost last night. Seven back. I can hardly believe it. I can't wait for the Indians & Tigers to come to town after the All Star Break.
Final Score: Minnesota Twins 3, Tampa Bay Rays 2 Twins Record: 38-46, 7.0 GB in the AL Central. WP: Scott Baker (7-5) | LP: James Shields (8-6)
Well this sure was fun. The game started as I left my office, and by the time I got to my car it was already decided.
In the top of the first the Twins decided to celebrate the summer solstace by not making outs. This plan was, of course, ruined by Pavano's strike out and Joe GIDPer hitting into yet another double play. When all was said and done, the Twins tagged Madison Bumgarner for 9 hits, and 8 runs. He pitched one third of an inning. Yikes.
With a lot of room for error, Pavano pitched an efficient game. Thankfully he pitched much better than he hit batted. You chose the right profession, Carl. The game was essentially on cruise control until the 9th when Alexi "Babe Ruth" Casilla muscled up and hit his second homer in the last two games. If you extrapolate that out over the rest of the season, methinks Alexi will be in the running for MVP.
Eight wins in a row, three of them against the teams in last year's World Series, and two against the South Siders? Twins baseball is fun again. I am still surprised every time I see that they're under .500 on account of how good they've been playing. I'm thinking this is going to be a fun summer.
Final Score: Minnesota Twins 9, San Francisco Giants 2 Twins Record: 32-39, 6.5 GB in the AL Central. Do you suppose the Tigers & Native Persons hear footsteps yet? WP: Carl Pavano (5-5) | LP: Madison Bumgarner (3-9) Madison Bumgarner's Game Score Last Night? 2.
I almost think it was better when the team was getting blown out. It is very frustrating to have the bullpen rip the team's guts out over and over. Kevin Slowey needs to man up and pitch 300 innings out of the 'pen, and the Twins should send their 5 best prospects to the Angels for Torii Hunter who could play in the middle infield and the outfield and close. If they made these moves, I'm sure the team would win their next one hundred and nine games in a row.
I apologize, but between their poor play and stuff in my life I have very little to say about this game or this team right now. I assume you all understand. Now I will return to listening to "Let's Get This Paper" by Rich Boy (Warning: Explicit Lyrics, absolutely bananas beat) on repeat for the rest of the evening.
Final Score: Detroit Tigers 8, Minnesota Twins 7 Twins Record: 17-36, 15.5 GB in the AL Central. This may as well be 115.5 GB. WP: Al Alburqerque (3-1) | LP: Kevin Slowey (0-36)
All the optimism and hope I had at the beginning of the season has mostly evaporated at this point. I tell myself that all I want is for the Twins to play competitively, and if they're going to be miserable they end up with a protected first round draft pick.
Easier said than done, I guess. The last few games have been gut wrenching. So tonight when Blackburn got into trouble in the 7th, and Casilla gunned down Olivo at the plate to seemingly get out of trouble, I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. I was totally expecting Brendan Ryan to run into one and deposit it over the fence. Or just hit some junk ball down the line. I was expecting the worst possible outcome.
So when they wriggled out, I was shocked. I spent the rest of the game waiting for that other shoe to drop. As we approached the 8th & 9th innings, I was wondering who in the world would pitch if the Twins got the lead. I was both relieved that Capps & Nathan were unavailable, and horrified at the Rochester Red Wings waiting in the 'pen to try to save the game. Blackburn had an efficient 8th and came out in the 9th to get the complete game win.
So, apparently all they have to do to win is to keep the bullpen from getting involved? Sounds like an easy blueprint for success! But they can worry about tomorrow tomorrow. The Twins beat the Mariners and the Cameron Curse tonight. It's been a while since the Twins won one at home. Feels good, man.
Final Score: Minnesota Twins 4, Seattle Mariners 2. Twins Record: 16-31, 14.5 GB in the AL Central. Could the Indigenous People lose a few, please? WP: Nick Blackburn (4-4) | LP: Doug Fister (2-5)
It is strange to feel strange about winning a game. But it is a good feeling. I was disappointed with yesterday's lineup because I badly wanted them to win one in honor of Harmon. They still managed to win the game because they got great pitching. Liriano pitched a great ballgame, and it feels to me like he's turned a corner. I am definitely looking forward to his next start. Perkins has obviously had a robotic arm transplanted onto his left arm, and Capps was the Proven Closer that he is. The offense still feels like it's spinning its wheels, but to hear that Nishioka, Thome, and the sissy catcher Mauer are all down in extended spring training gives me a glimmer of hope.
Still, a win is a win. The offensive futility of both teams seemed fitting yesterday, in retrospect. They both got 3 hits and scored a total of 3 runs.
RIP, Harmon.
Final Score: Minnesota Twins 2, Seattle Mariners 1. Twins Record: 13-27, 11.0 GB in the AL Central. Worst record in MLB. WP: Francisco Liriano (3-5) | LP: Felix Hernandez (4-4)
I'm not even sure what to say to this one. Monday's game was a heartbreaking loss despite the inability to get any runs across the plate. To get blown out and burn up two starting pitchers the next night is like salt in the wound. Also we got skunked by Rick Porcello. I only paid partial attention to the game, and I instead spent my time on more worthwhile ventures. I think it was for the best.
I still think it's too early to freak out too much but I'm getting pretty close to giving up. Delmon's supposed to be be back on Friday, so I hope that's the start of us getting some of the regulars back. But who knows if that will be enough to counteract The Curse of #6org.
I apologize for the half-baked post, but really, it's hard to give full effort when Matt tolberting Tolbert is batting second.
Final Score: Detroit Tigers 10, Minnesota Twins 2. Twins Record: 12-22, 11.0 GB in the AL Central. Worst record in MLB. WP: Rick Porcello (3-2) | LP: Francisco Liriano (2-5) Witty Remarks?: I'm all out of them. The Twins are terrible right now.
I am sorry for getting this up so late, but at the same time, I don't think anyone wants to relive this. Mercifully, I was too busy at work to get to listen to either game yesterday. I don't think I could have taken getting no hit by Jeff freaking Niemann for 6 innings. Since I didn't watch the game, and haven't watched a game in many days I don't have a whole lot to add. Everyone's hurt, nothing is going right. I hope they can win some games this weekend, and get some folks healthy.
Final Score: Tampa Bay Rays 6, Minnesota Twins 1. Twins Record: 9-15, 7.0 GB in the AL Central. WP: Cy Niemann (1-3) | LP: Anthony Swimtrunks (0-1) I Really Miss: Joe Mauer. Something I'd Really Like: A .500 record.
Well. That sucked. "Staff Ace" Pavano was ugly, Nathan gave up a huge bomb in his first "low leverage" work since being relieved of closing duties, seemingly half of the team is on the shelf, and the bats are still made out of ass. I guess that's the bad news.
The good news is that there are 145 baseball games left in the season. The good news is that one of those games is tomorrow. The good news is that the Twins' east coast road trips are almost over. The good news is the offense can't possibly be this bad all year. The good news is that maybe the equipment manager will realize that he meant to order ash bats. The good news is that the White Sox have lost 6 in a row. The good news is that Tigers have given up 13 runs (and counting!) to the Mariners.
The silence is deafening.
Part of what I love about the WGOM, and a big part of what drove me to register and join the community, is that the people here are level headed (StatFreak101 excepted) and are comfortable riding out the ebb and flow of a baseball season. It is unfortunate that this isn't the prevailing attitude I hear about the Twins. Sports radio, the Star Tribune comment section, and lots of other Twins blogs are just frustrating to even look at. I assume a lot of this is due to the poor showings of the other professional sports teams, but this is a completely different team in a completely different sport. It sucks that this negativity rolls over for the Twins as well.
At least we have our little corner of the internet. This winter was long and very difficult, for a number of reasons. Twins baseball was one of the things I was looking forward to the most to try to get out of that funk. The season hasn't exactly started well, but it's early. Hey, the Twins won two out of their last 3. If they do that for the rest of the season, they'll be in good shape. I look forward to enjoying (most of) the rest of the season with you all in game logs, riding out the ebbs and flows together.
Final Score: Baltimore Orioles 11, Minnesota Twins 0. Twins Record: 6-11, 6.0 GB in the AL Central. WP: Jake Arrietta (2-1) | LP: Carl Pavano (1-2) Things I'm Looking Forward To: Not playing the AL East. Already Pitched More Innings Than Clay Condry: Eric Hacker.
