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I really don't want the Twins to become sellers. That is all.
Category Archives: 2011 Twins Game Logs
Game 102: Twins at Rangers
Nick Blackburn vs. Derek Holland
The dreaded West Coast road trip. Unfortunately, this doesn't include a trip to Seattle, where the Mariners are in freefall mode. However, the Twins at least are 7-5 against the three teams they face on this trip, including 3-1 against the Rangers. Normally, I would be fine with a .500 trip, but the Twins need to reach higher. A split in Texas and winning series in Oakland and Anaheim would make for a good trip.
Revere getting the day off today vs. lefty. So, we get ... Jason Repko leading off! [Head slap]. Someone needs to take those lineup cards with the order of positions prefilled away from Gardy.
1. Jason Repko CF
2. Alexi, Casilla 2B
3. Joe Mauer C
4. Michael Cuddyer
5. Jason Kubel DH
6. Danny Valencia 3B
7. Delmon Young LF
8. Trevor Plouffe RF
9. Tsuyoshi Nishioka, SS
Oh well. Hopefully, the Twins will find their offense. But, more importantly, they need to get back to the great starting pitching that carried them out of last place. The key in Texas is keeping the ball on the ground, especially for Blackburn. Look for that early on. GO TWINS!!
Game 101: Tigers at Twins, Happy Bert Day!
I figured this will work for a game log and a Blyleven Hall of Fame speech log. The game was moved back to 3:10 CDT so fans could watch both, and I plan on doing just that.
Blyleven has always been one of my favorite pitchers for the Twins. I didn't know him in his first stint with the Twins, when he was more cantankerous than a character. I became a Twins fan after he rejoined the Twins. I really didn't start following the Twins on an everyday basis until 1986 when a sparkplug of a centerfielder had a breakout year and captured the attention of the nation, at least for the first half of the season. Before that, we moved to Maple Grove in 1984 and we went to a game or two each season, but I really didn't know baseball that well. Blyleven was traded to the Twins in 1985, but I seem to recall there being some buzz about such a good pitcher being acquired by the Twins.
My love affair with the Twins started in 1987. Most Twins fans seem to remember the 1991 team more fondly, but for me, 1987 will always be the best season. 1991 was more about the World Series, but 1987 was about the whole season. There was something magical about that team right from the beginning, especially at the Metrodome. And that team was full of characters, led by Blyleven. He was the biggest character and was terrific most of the season, especially in the big games. Most people forget that he was warming up early in Game 7 after pitching Game 5 three days' prior. If Tom Kelly had had a quicker hook for Frank Viola, who had been hammered in Game 4, Blyleven might have won Game 7 on two days rest and probably would have been the WS MVP. If that had happened, it might not have taken so long for him to get to this day. Look how much mileage Jack Morris has gotten out of his Game 7 moment.
This day for Bert has been a long time coming and I am very happy for him. In fact, I feel like I may have played a very tiny part in this. While I was a sports copy editor for a newspaper, I had a short-lived column about baseball stats, and in one of those columns I discussed the Hall of Fame case of Blyleven. I was surprised when I received a request from the administrator of bertbelongs.com asking if the website could link to my column. I of course said yes and it still is there today. Actually, my discussions about the hall of fame with the columnist at the newspaper may have had more of an effect, since I know he eventually went from a "no" to a "yes" on Blyleven, although I don't know if he was able to vote this year, since he was layed off from the newspaper the same time I was.
But this isn't about me, this is about Bert and I am thrilled for him. I just hope they don't broadcast his speech live. We know how dangerous that can be.
As for the game, the Twins need this one to finish with a winning homestand and to keep it just disappointing instead of a bad homestand. It's Liriano vs. Rick Porcello, who's had a lot of success against the Twins despite Kubel being 11-for-22 against him. It will be interesting to see if Mauer is behind the plate once again. Joe Nathan also could tie Rick Aguilera for the Twins' all-time record for saves. Let's get it done. GO TWINS!!
game 100: tigers @ twins
nibbish needed me to pinch hit for him, so here you go. The fact that this is nibbish only complicates matters.
Not to get all hyperbolic, but this is pretty much the most important game of the season. We need a win today.
Luckily, Light Rail is sure to be up to the task. Go twins!
2011 Game 99: Detroit Tigers at Minnesota Twins
Max Scherzer vs Brian Duensing
I was hoping to be able to write about the Twins tying the White Sox for third place, but that is going to have to wait until tomorrow. Instead, let's investigate the non-Verlander pitchers. Verlander is 13-5 for the season, but the Tigers are 14-8 in games started by him. Makes sense. Especially since he has yet to throw fewer than 100 pitches in a game this year. He only had three last year and five the year before.
Anyway, that leaves the rest of the Tiger staff at 38-38. Tonight's starter, Scherzer, is only 10-5 but the Tigers are 13-7 in his starts despite his mediocre 4.53 ERA. The offense has also scored 5.2 runs/game for him. Note to Duensing: don't let the Tigers score that many runs. Note to Twins offense: despite Scherzer's ERA, he has a decent FIP and pretty good xFIP, so practice some patience.
2011 Game 98: Tigers at Twins
Tonight, the Twins play the first of four against the scarier of the two not-scary-to-any-other-divisions-out-there Central division leaders. Of course, the home field advantage is nullified by the pitching matchup:
Carl Pavano 6-6, 130 IP, 3.88 K/9, 1.73 BB/9, 4.08 ERA, 3.97 FIP, 4.12 xFIP, 1.6 WAR
Justin Verlander 12.5, 157 IP, 8.77 K/9, 1.89 BB/9, 2.29 ERA, 2.70 FIP, 2.96 xFIP, 4.7 WAR
You know, now that Pavano's numbers are starting to look not so bad, it's cruel that I have to set them up against Verlander's ludicrous numbers. Well, Pavano walks 0.16 fewer guys per nine innings. That's something, right? Guys?
This one could get frustrating for the hitters, but hey, Kubel might be back tomorrow, and Verlander isn't all that likely to pitch in back-to-back games, as durable as he is.
Go Twins! Bunt early, bunt often. Get Verlander tossed!
2011 Game Log No 97: Indians at Twins
Day Game.
Again.
And today's a big one. [Motivational Pep Talk] [Great Speeches Youtube Video] [Baseball!]
Pitchers:
TWINS: Nic Blacburn. 3.99 ERA | 4.53 FIP | 3.97 xFIP | 4.68 K/9
indians: Josh Tomlin 4.03 ERA | 4.22 FIP | 3.85 xFIP | 5.07 K/9
Lineups:
TWINS!!!
- Revere CF
- Casilla 2nd
- Mauer 1st
- Cuddy RF
- Tomei DH
- Dan 3rd
- Young LF
- Nishioka SS
- Butters C
indians
- Carrera CF
- Cabrera SS
- Hafner DH
- Santana C
- LaPorta 1st
- Cabrera 2nd
- Chisenhall 3rd
- Kearns RF
- Valbuena LF
Waiting for the game to start? Want to read a story about cheating in baseball? Here's the one where according to Chili Davis all pitchers were cheaters. Via Fangraphs.
Go Twins!
2011 Game Logs Game 96: Cleveland @ Minnesota
Justin "Huge Platoon Split" Masterson
v
Masterson in 2011:
| Season | Split | IP | ERA | TBF | H | 2B | 3B | R | ER | HR | BB | IBB | HBP | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | vs L | 70.0 | - - - | 297 | 78 | 16 | 2 | 34 | 32 | 3 | 17 | 0 | 3 | 41 |
| 2011 | vs R | 58.2 | - - - | 234 | 41 | 8 | 0 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 23 | 2 | 4 | 54 |
I would like to see the following line up tonight:
Span, Laddie, Joe, Justin, Jimmer, L'orange, Repko (9), Nishi, Revere (7).
[pipe dream .jpg]
I have a feeling Masterson is going to make Cuddy look silly tonight. Time for Jimmer and Joe to do some work.
Let's get one back tonight.
2011 Game 95: Diamond in the Rough
Let's hope the Genie in the Lamp grants us three wishes for game two.
1) Fausto Carmona is Fausto Carmona
2) Scott Diamond can do a "David Huff in Game 1" impression
3) Dongers. Lots of dongers for the good guys.
2011 Game 94: Indigenous Persons at Gardy’s Guys
According to the Yahoo preview, the Twins have now attained "surging" status, having won 12 of 16 to threaten to be a factor in the AL Central race.
This game matches up a guy who has a mug shot, but has yet to appear in a Major League game this year, vs. a guy who has no mugshot but has been the darling of the local media for being Not Kevin Slowey.
Huff has thrown 100 1/3 innings in 17 starts at AAA in 2011, with underimpressive peripherals (63:28 K:BB) but impressive outcomes (3.86 ERA, 4.01 FIP). He's a big-ish (6'2", 215 lbs) lefty with a mediocre fastball and a mix of other pitches. In 2009-10 with the Indians, he went 13-19 over 208 innings, with a 5.84 ERA, 5.12 FIP and 5.19 xFIP. Chosen in the supplemental round in 2006 out of UCLA, he doesn't quite qualify as a Jeremy, but he's close.
Stompsnake has bounced back and forth between the big club and Rochester this year, putting up good results despite missing few bats (19:11 K:BB in 40 innings with the Twins, 25:7 in 32 1/3 in Rochester). Hopefully he brought his smoke and his mirrors in his suitcase from upstate New York. In his last appearance for the Twins, on July 10, he held the White Sox to one run on four hits and two walks over six innings, striking out five.
It's a great day to play two, but it would be really nice if Songsack managed to go the distance in this one. How 'bout we get him some runs, boys?
Fun fact: Cleveland is 7-2 against the Royals, 6-10 against the rest of the division, including 1-4 against the Twins.