Category Archives: 2011 Twins Game Recaps

2011 Twins Game Recaps, Minnesota Twins

Game 116: Red Sox 4, Twins 3

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WP: Albers (4-3), LP: Capps (3-6)

I didn't see a recap for last night's game...perhaps that was done on purpose? I have no doubt this will add very little to the current GOSO sentiment currently enveloping the WGOM, but I'm bored this afternoon and this post from JoeC included some interesting thoughts from the manager about the pitcher last night. Full disclosure, I didn't watch the game - just heard the end of it in the car, but a career high in walks is pretty brutal. However, Gardy seemed to think that F-Bomb did okay.

There were a lot of pitches that were close, borderline, just missing, and we like where the ball was, down around the knees. That's a pretty good start for him. Hopefully he can continue that process.

As you can see from the strikezone plot, Frankie was down in the zone. I guess my hope is that he can continue to work on staying down, throwing strikes and getting ahead in the count for the remainder of the year. His value to the Twins depends on those moments of brilliance associated with that funky delivery and left arm.

 

2011 Twins Game Recaps, Minnesota Twins, MLB

Game 113: White Sox 6, Twins 1

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Well, it was a step in the right direction, but not a big enough one.

Carl Pavano did his thing and gave the Twins a very good start. More than just a quality start, which the Twins did not have in the previous six games. Unfortunately, the Twins forgot how to catch the ball or take a pitch or three against a pitcher they hadn't seen before.

The Twins are now 10 games back and 11 games under .500 with 49 games left. For the Twins to just get back to .500, they will have to go 30-19. It was going to be a historic comeback if it was going to happen, but it's pretty apparent, it's not going to happen. I'd say it is time to play the kids, but really, who would that be? Plouffe, maybe. Call up Luke Hughes and send out Tolbert, I guess. But I think we pretty much know what these players offer. Revere, of course, should get more playing time. Let Delmon, Span, Cuddyer and Kubel rotate an off day.

I doubt we'll see the Twins ease up on the throttle yet. The upcoming series with the Indians and Tigers should take care of that.

I did at least get a chance to listen to TK in the booth. When someone has real insight into the game and chooses to use it, they don't have to have the most dynamic personality to be a joy to listen to. I especially enjoyed his sarcastic jabs at Adam Done and Anthony John.

2011 Twins Game Recaps

Game 112 recap: Burlys 5, Washington Generals 3

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Twayn's not here, so you guys are stuck reading some bS about last night's game.

I am still without a home computer, so this will be a minimalist post.

The toilet has been flushed and the water continues to run on this season. All that really remains is to beat up on the South Siders. So last night's loss, predictable as it was, hurts.

After an ugly top of the first for Not Kevin Slowey (roughly a dozen walks and 18 Nishi errors that somehow led to only one run), our boys gave us some false hope in the bottom half. Ben Revere knocked a croquet ball through the hoop called Adam Done. After Tolbot did something useless, Joe said "this game is easy," and blooped a single. Then the Dude said "screw platoon splits" and dongered.

The Nation rejoiced.

It was not to be. After the Dude, Burly dominated, retiring 22 of the next 24. And, well, Kevin Slowey was still in AAA.

Carlos Quentin did his best Jose Bautista. The Twins offense was helpless. Boo.

2011 Twins Game Recaps

Game 111 Recap: Angels 7, Twins 1

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ANAHEIM 7, MINNESOTA 1
Record - 51-60 (4th in Central, 1.5 games out of 3rd, 8.0 games out of first)
Highest WPA - N/A
Lowest WPA - Liriano (5.0 IP, 7R, 10H, 2 BB) and the entire lineup (6 for 32, HR)

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Another frustrating game in a season that seems to be an exhaustive collection of frustrating games.  Knowing the kind of year Dan Haren was having, it was difficult to be optimistic about the Twins chances, but Minnesota left no doubt as to the outcome of this one.

The infield of non-infielders (well, 50% non-infielders anyway) had a very difficult time turning balls in play into outs.  Seeing as how this is kind of an important part of playing defense, it's not surprising things turned out poorly.  No errors were awarded, but it sure seemed like the Angels got a lot of extra outs.

F-Bomb was not particularly great.  Some of that was the defense behind him, some of it was his own fault.

In addition to the defense being subpar and the pitching being subpar, the offense was (say it with me) subpar.  While the Angels were building a comfortable lead, the Twins sent 22 hitters to the plate to record the first 21 outs of the game.  Jim Thome's 598th career HR leading off the 8th ruined the shutout, and seemed to open the floodgates as the next three hitters singled.  Those three singles led to no runs, in fact they lead to an out as Danny Valencia slid into Jeff "The Wall" Mathis and still hasn't touched home plate.  Add baserunning to the subpar side of the equation.

Add it all up and the Twins were well under par for the day.  Maybe they should take up golf.

2011 Twins Game Recaps

Game 109: Angels 5, Twins 1

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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.

2011 Twins Game Recaps, Minnesota Twins, MLB

Game 107: A’s 8, Twins 3

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Just when you want to believe, the Twins get hammered by a bad offensive team and the Indians go out and get Ubaldo Jimenez. Of course, then the Indians go out and trade Orlando Cabrera for a minor leaguer, so I'm kinda confused, although I guess Cabrera had been relegated to a bench role of late. Also, Jimenez gave up four runs on four walks and two doubles in the first inning before being pulled, presumably when the trade went down, so he may be somewhat of an enigma, something in the lines of a Francisco Liriano.

As for the Twins, it still boggles the mind that Blackburn was handed a starting job over Kevin Slowey, especially after Blackburn's struggles last season. His ERA now stands at 4.49 with a 1.51 WHIP, which is even worse than last year when he could at least blame a sore arm for his struggles. He's now allowed at least four runs in six of his last seven starts and it was the fourth time in that stretch he's allowed double-digit hits. The one slightly encouraging sign was he still was able to get 10 groundball outs, which he must do to have any success.

How bad is it, though, that Blackburn got beat when matched up against a poor man's Slowey. Mancuso is an extreme flyball pitcher without an out pitch. His groundball rate, K rate and walk rate are all worse than Slowey's.

Oh well, at least Span wasn't traded. At least not yet. I did see one encouraging sign that the Twins will be insisting on getting a good deal:

The Twins are insisting on acquiring Storen with Bernadina and minor league infielder Stephen Lombardozzi for Span, according to Jim Bowden of ESPN.com.

That deal I can get on board, although I still would be upset that Span was traded, since he's one of my favorite players. However, Lombo's son is exactly the type of player the Twins need to focus on. He's a second baseman that can actually hit. He's a switch hitter with a career .370 on-base average in over 1,800 PAs. He's batting .318/.360/.429 as a 22 yr old in AAA. His numbers remind me a lot of a second baseman on a Twins championship team, but thankfully not his dad. If he does get traded to the Twins, we should start a pool on how long it will take for Dazzle to take a swing at him.

2011 Twins Game Recaps, Minnesota Twins

2011 Game 106 Recap: Twins 9, White Elephants 5

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Weather: 64 degrees, clear
Wind: 12 mph, in from left field
Time: 3:07
Attendance: 25,656

Box Score
Fangraphs

The baseball season spans half a year. Old timers will tell you how teams need to use that time: Two months to figure out what's wrong, two months to fix it, and two months to make a run for the top of the standings.

For the Twins this season, it didn't take long to assess the problem -- the clubhouse was as much emergency room as dressing room, and player after player was shuttling back and forth between the active roster and the disabled list. Morneau, Mauer, Span, Thome, Young, Baker, Slowey, Nishioka, Kubel, Casilla, Nathan -- all spent time on the DL, seriously testing the depth of the Twins organization.

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