Category Archives: 2011 Twins Game Logs

2011 Twins Game Logs

Game 113: Sox at Twinkies

100 Comments

It'd be nice if Jim Thome would hurry up and hit number 600, so I can move on with my plan of watching games until we're losing by two, because we're back to the point where the starting pitching is bad, and a Twins lead sometimes seems like an insurmountable deficit. Things are tough to watch, a few players excepted.

The Smartest Pitcher in Baseball takes the mound tonight against Zach Stewart, who is making just his 4th big league start. Our favorite tater-masher should get some good cuts in today.

Let's see some dongers jacked... I mean... umm... yeah.

2011 Twins Game Logs

2011 Game 111: Twins at Angels

140 Comments

Alright, who's hanging around for tonight's game? Last night was worth staying up for, but the previous game wasn't. How does tonight's look?

Francisco Liriano 7-8, 106 IP, 7.47 K/9, 4.84 BB/9, 4.67 ERA, 4.35 FIP, 4.35 xFIP, 0.9 WAR
Dan Haren 11-6, 161.2 IP, 7.29 K/9, 1.34 BB/9, 2.89 ERA, 2.68 FIP, 3.23 xFIP, 4.8 WAR

Good Lord, those are Cy-worthy numbers. He's got a career-low HR/FB rate that's helping a lot, but for the most part, he's just an awesome pitcher. Of course, this could be a marquee matchup depending on which F-Bomb shows up. But again, on the other hand, Haren doesn't walk anybody, so you know Gardenhire's going to preach aggressiveness. Aggressiveness to our guys seems to mean "Swing at anything and everything." This could be painful for the offense.

I think most of us have given up on this team doing anything meaningful from here on out, but I'm still hoping they pull off this unlikely win to keep my faint hopes alive for a few more days. Go Twins.

2011 Twins Game Logs, Minnesota Twins, MLB

2011 Game 109: Minnesota Twins at Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (MUST WIN GAME!!!!!!11)

181 Comments

the dunce

v.

that other santana

welcome back, span. we're glad you’re still here, and we’re glad to have you back.

the twins come back from a rare day off and face off against the LAAAAAAAAAA angels. on the mound is ervin santana, whom i'm told has been pitching alright as of late. since we’re obviously not having a fire sale, might as well start winning, i guess. now's as good a time the start as any...

2011 Twins Game Logs, Minnesota Twins, MLB

Game 108: Twins at A’s

58 Comments

Carl Pavano vs. Brandon McCarthy

The Twins need to win this one. This is the worst team they are playing on this road trip and they have pretty much had their way with Oakland as of late. They have not won their last three series. They haven't gone that long without a series win since the end of May, when they lost four series in a row before beginning this turnaround.

McCarthy is having his best season thus far, mainly be becoming a different style of pitcher. He was mainly a flyball pitcher, but with Oakland he has improved his groundball rate by 50 percent. Combine that with moving from the Rangers' to the A's home ballparks and suddenly his HR rate has dropped to a third of what it was. However, his HR/FB rate is at an unsustainable 3 percent this year, so maybe that luck can change today.

Pavano has had a couple bad starts in a row and needs to reverse that trend against the second-worst offense in the AL.

By the time this game starts, we will know if we should be expecting Denard Span to be up in a few days or a new reliever added to the team. Either way, the team will be receiving help. Let's get this momentum going in the right direction. GO TWINS!!

2011 Twins Game Logs

Game 107: Twins at A’s

213 Comments

After an ugly series against the Tigers and a split against the Rangers, a series against the A's is texactly what we need right now. Going from facing lineups with Miguel Cabreras and Josh Hamiltons to a lineup whose greatest threat is Josh Willingham is kind of a nice change of pace.

Luckily for A's fans, we're going to try to counteract that lineup by bringing out Nick Blackburn tonight. Blackie's been in second-half form lately, carrying a 6.94 ERA over his last seven starts (and that's after a couple of very nice starts in the middle of this month). We've got the resistible force meeting the movable object - which will suck less? Only time will tell.

The Twins get to face Guillermo Moscoso. Guillermo's trad stats look okay (3-5, 3.47 ERA), but he's carrying some ugly peripherals. He's not striking people out (4.5 K/9), he's walking more than a pitcher like him should (3.5 BB/9), and he's giving up lots of homers (1.4 HR/9, which seems high, until you consider he's got a ground ball rate of just over 25%). Combine that with a BABIP of .219, and you would think that this is exactly the type of pitcher the Twins would tee off on (no ground balls, no strikeouts). So, let's see some of that, then.

I expect a high scoring game. However, since I'm expecting that, I'm sure the game will go scoreless until the 17th inning, when Butera will bunt home a run, making Cuddyer the winning pitcher (Jose Mijares won't be used, because no loving manager would put his team's fans through two straight nights of Mijares pitching).

2011 Twins Game Logs

2011 Game 106: Minnesota Twins at Oakland Athletics

176 Comments

Francisco Liriano vs Gio Gonzalez

The MLB.com short blurb on each pitcher sounds rather similar:

Lasting just 2 1/3 innings on Sunday, Liriano clearly did not have his best stuff against the Tigers and was unable to battle through it. The lefty gave up four runs on six hits and four walks with three strikeouts.

For the second time in three starts, Gonzalez was unable to get through the fifth, leaving after 4 2/3 innings. He gave up six earned runs on seven hits, including a homer, and struck out five. His 2.67 ERA is still seventh-best in the AL.

Here's to extending Gonzalez's struggles for a third time in four starts.

2011 Twins Game Logs

2011 Game 105: Twins at Rangers

192 Comments

After suffering the beatdown for the ages, just a couple days later, the Twins are poised for - at worst - a season split. Plus, their best pitcher is going. Well, how about that?

Scott Baker 8-5, 115.2 IP, 8.48 K/9, 2.41 BB/9, 2.88 ERA, 3.35 FIP, 3.48 xFIP, 2.4 WAR
Matt Harrison 8-7, 118 IP, 5.95 K/9, 2.90 BB/9, 3.05 ERA, 3.86 FIP, 3.88 xFIP, 1.9 WAR

Is Matt Harrison the Scott Baker of the south? Their numbers are similar enough, outside of Ks, that I'm guessing he's probably underappreciated down there. Or maybe I'm just cynical because of Bert's endless whining about the bullpen and all that.

Setting aside the usual snark about Baker's unwarranted strained relationship with the jagweeds in the media, he really is having a nice season. To date, Baker's best season was 2008, and this one is on pace to surpass it.

The Twins are six games out as well as six games under, and that seems to be the way it's been for a week or two. Let's take another step in the right direction tonight.