Winning Streak: 2
Winning Pitcher: Pelfrey (2-1)
Losing Pitcher: Vargas (0-2)
Almost Save (H): Spankleswackkkk (1)
Save: Perkins (3)
Category Archives: 2013 Twins Game Log
2013 Game 13: Angels at Twins
Some dude
v
Some other dude
2013 Game 12: LA Seraphim at Minnesota Gemini
Three weeks ago I was pretty much done with taxes, except for entering one form that my daughter needed to provide. After weeks of nagging, she finally sent it to me last Friday. I plugged it into the old 1040 today, and my refund got a happy ending. What's the lesson? Perseverance pays off. Maybe if the Twins persevere for the next five and a half months they could win the division. Probably not. But it's a good bet it will all come down to the pitching.
Today is Jackie Robinson day around the major leagues and you might see a number 42 here or there. I'll be going to see the movie on Sunday, so no spoilers, please.
Today the Angels send right-hander Joe Blanton to the hill, while the Twins offer Kevin Correia. Blanton in his last start gave up six runs in just over five innings, while Correia gave up three runs in eight innings and carried a shutout through the first seven. One move of note for the Twins, Oswaldo Arcia is called up before tonight's game to replace Wilkin Ramirez, who went on the three-day paternity list Sunday. I didn't even know there was such a thing.
Game 11: Mets at Twins
Okay, fine. Those poor fans last night deserved their free hot chocolate...
Scott Diamond gets his first start of the season this afternoon. He's on my fantasy team, so I'm hoping for a two hit shutout and expecting something mildly Halladay-ish (unfortunately, I'm talking 2013-era Halladay, so...). The Mets are sending out Matt Harvey, who looks something like the exact opposite of the type of pitcher the Twins batters want to be facing right now - lots of strikeouts, and lots of fly balls. Hicks ought to have fun with that.
Either way, it has to be better than last night, right?
Leaderboards
At Bats - Mauer, t-10th (43)Triples - Dozier & Plouffe, t-5th (1)
Walks - Willingham, 2nd (9)
Strikeouts - Hicks, t-1st (17)*
Strikeouts - Willingham, t-8th (13)
Hit By Pitch - Plouffe, 1st (3)
Hit By Pitch - Willingham, t-2nd (2)
Hit By Pitch - Florimon & Doumit, t-8th (1)
Sacrifices - Dozier, t-2nd (1)
Sac Flies - Dozier, Plouffe, & Parmelee t-5th (1)
Caught Stealing - Escobar, Hicks, Parmelee, Dozier, & Mastroianni, t-3rd (1)*
Steal Success Rate - Plouffe, t-1st (100%)
Outs Made - Hicks, t-1st (38)
WPA - Escobar, 7th (0.6)*
rWAR For Pitchers - Correia, 8th (0.7)W/L % - Swarzack, Roenicke, and Perkins, t-1st (1.000)*
BB/9 - Correia, 6th (1.256)
Games Played - Duesnsing, t-2nd (6)
Saves - Perkins, t-6th (2)
Innings Pitched - Correia, 10th (14.1)
Games Started - Worley, t-1st (3)
Games Started - Pelfrey, Hendriks, & Correia, t-8th (2)
Hits Allowed - Worley, 1st (25)
HR/9 - Worley & Correia, t-1st (0.0)
Losses - Worley, t-1st (2)
Wild Pitches - Roenicke, Pressley, Swarzack, & Burton, t-9th (1)
Hit By Pitch - Hendriks, t-8th (1)
Batters Faced - Worley, 7th (65)
Games Finished - Perkins, t-3rd (4)
*At least Hicks is having a better season so far than Brett Wallace (.048/.091/.048 - and he's gotten his 17 strikeouts in twenty two plate appearances).* The Twins obviously lead the majors in being caught stealing - and have fewer successful steals than any other team that tries so often.
* Of course, he made a full 0.5 of that based off of one play.
* All relievers
2013 Game 10: Mets at Winter Wonderland
NWS predicts 35 degrees and dropping temperatures tonight. The Twins might be able to break the coldest game record two weeks into the season. They also predict the precipitation potential as holding at around 50% through the night, so this may be one of the few (only?) games where it actively snows.
Except for the freezing temperatures part compounded by lack of sun, some slight flurries might be preferable to rain. I am sure the players will take solace in that.
Jon "I'm from Ohio and snow is no big deal" Niese
vs
Vance "Sacramento doesn't get snow" Worley
2013 Game 9: Twins vs. KC
Hendriks vs. Davis
Keep your eyes on the sky.
Game 8: Turn on the Lights
Holy cats, a night game! (Maybe. If it isn't rained out, and based on the weather report, that's a very real possiblity.)
Mike Pelfrey vs. Jeremy Guthrie
My first ever game log and it comes against a Jeremy. Fortunately, it also comes in the second game of a series after an opening loss, so I expect a solid, 4-3 victory for the Twins tonight. Maybe. If it isn't rained out.
This will be the first start for Pelfrey since his Wichita State Shockers were removed from that thing that is named after March but not fully contained within March. Hopefully he's had enough time to get over the loss so he can throw some innings against the Royals.
More importantly, Hicks wasn't with the organization when the whole Jeremy curse began, so I fully expect him to hit two doubles and a home run tonight. More realistically, I don't. But, I've been hearing a load about sending him down to Rochester. I don't know his "make-up", but I don't see a problem with letting him hack his way through the whole season barring The Minnesota Curse injury. He can always gain confidence with the extra games against the Astros. Now, it'll be a different story when he strikes out in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7 of the World Series. We'll cross that bridge when we get there, though.
Game 7: First Place Twins at Last Place Royals
For some reason Kansas City has received more than its fair share of musical tributes. Rodgers and Hammerstein gave the city the Broadway treatment with Everything’s Up to Date in Kansas City back in 1943. Over the years the town has been lauded in Leadbelly’s Kansas City Papa, Jelly Roll Morton’s Kansas City Stomp, Buck Owens’ The Kansas City Song, Count Basie’s Kansas City Shout, and Van Morrison’s The Eternal Kansas City, not to mention Kansas City Milkman, Kansas City King, Kansas City 90210, Kansas City Shuffle, Kansas City Funk, Kansas City Blues, Kansas City Man Blues, Train from Kansas City, 18th Avenue (Kansas City Nightmare), and Kansas City Southern by various artists.
Continue reading Game 7: First Place Twins at Last Place Royals
2013 Game 6: Twins at Orioles
So, the Twins are 3-2? I can't believe how foreign that feels, even this "late" in the season. Today, something called Pedro Hernandez, making his second career start (he gave up eight earned runs in four innings for the Hosers last year), will try to keep that going.
Jason Hammel goes for the Orioles, who strikes out his share and walks a few more than average. Last year looks to me like the best year of his career thus far, as he's nothing real special, but unspecial Orioles pitchers have a way of...well, you know.
Meanwhile, last night Tyler Robertson was sent to the minors while it appears that Swarzak is coming back to Minnesota, so get your nicknames ready, won't you?
Game 5: Twins @ O’s
It was a long wait for baseball to return. I missed it more than one might think, considering my team of choice's biggest accomplishment over the last two years was that they avoided losing 100 games. I don't know exactly what my expectations for this year are, but so far they've been exceeding them. As long as they keep playing games that stay interesting beyond the fourth inning, it'll be an improvement over last season, anyway.
Vance Worley makes his second start this evening. He was one of maybe fifteen people crazy enough to be at the Opening Day game in short sleeves, and that endears him to me. Let's see if he can shut down Barry Bonds Chris Davis, and whether or not he can give the bullpen a little bit of a breather. His opponent is...Chris Tillman. Tillman took a huge leap forward in ERA last year while only improving his xFIP a half run or so. He would seem like a prime target for a bit of regression, let's see to that.
Leaderboards That Twins Appear On:
On-Base% - Plouffe, t-10th (.500)
At Bats - Mauer, t-10th (18)
Doubles - Doumit & Willingham, t-7th (2)
Triples - Dozier, t-3rd (1)
Base on Balls - Morneau, t-1st (4)
Base on Balls - Plouffe & Willingham, t-7th (3)
Strikeouts - Hicks, t-3rd (8)
Strikeouts - Willingham, t-7th (7)
Stolen Bases - Plouffe & Parmelee (???), t-7th (1)
Runs Created - Plouffe, t-10th (5)
Extra Base Hits - Willingham, t-7th (3)
Hit By Pitch - Plouffe, t-1st (1)
Double Plays Grounded Into - Parmelee, t-5th (1)
Stolen Base Success% - Plouffe & Parmelee, t-1st (100%)
At Bats Per SO - Morneau, t-10th (13)
Outs Made - Hicks, t-6th (16)
WPA Added - Escobar, 3rd (0.5)
ERA - Pelfrey, t-1st (0.00)
Wins - Pelfrey & Perkins, t-1st (1)
W/L % - Pelfrey & Perkins, t-1st (1.000)
Games Played - Fien & Duensing, t-1st (3)
Innings - Correia, t-5th (7)
Games Strated - Worley, Correia, Pelfrey, & Hendriks, t-1st (1)
Hits Allowed - Hendriks & Worley, t-4th (8)
Home Runs Per 9 - Everyone But Robertson, t-1st (0.00)
Losses - Fien & Worley, t-2nd (1)
Wild Pitches - Roenicke, Pressly, & Worley, t-5th (1)
Batters Faced - Correia, t-5th (28)
Batters Faced - Worley, t-9th (27)
Games Finished - Roenicke, Robertson, Pressly, & Perkins, t-9th (1)
I expect that feature to be a little less exhaustive the next time my turn for a game log rolls around.
Go Twins.