Winning is good.
Category Archives: 2015 Twins Game Recaps
Game 64 Recap – Cardinals 3, Twins 2
A friend and I decided to head on down from the Twin Cities of Illinois (Bloomington Normal) and catch my favorite team visiting his favorite team.
The game started out like a lot of Twins games have this year with the Twins getting a quick run in the first inning. Then there was a rain delay, followed by a lot of non-Twin scoring, followed by another rain delay, followed by a quick run that I didn't even realize scored (I forgot there was a runner on when the second rain delay hit).
The biggest mistake Gibson made was an 0-1 pitch to Mark Reynolds in the third, causing two runs to score. The Twins never could really figure Wacha out. The rain was enough to take Wacha out, but the Twins wasted opportunities in the last innings. First there was the Buxton caught stealing. You apparently do not run on Yadier Molina. It wasn't even close. Hunter got a single on the next pitch. So instead of 2 on with 1 out, it was 1 on with 2 outs, and Mauer popped up to end it.
In the ninth, the twins had two on with Escobar batting. I thought we possibly had a chance, and was really hoping for Buxton to have another shot at the plate. Instead, Escobar hit a long fly ball to deep right field, but it wasn't deep enough.
Overall, I had a great time at the game. I got to visit Ballpark Village, which is a pretty cool area to hang out before the game. We were walking through the Fox Sports Midwest Live bar area, when a guy stopped me and asked me to play this (rigged) trivia game with a Cards fan. It was broadcast on the big screen in the bar. He asked me questions about the Cardinals (How many titles, when Busch opened), while he asked the other guy what state the Minnesota Twins played in. I was a good sport and let the other guy win, and I got a free beer out of it (Me of all people). I don't drink beer very much, but they had an apple ale and I was happy to partake.
Our seats were on the third base side, where the wall tilts toward the outfield. We were in the second row. (that is to say there was a row of seats in front of us, and in front of those seats was the field) It was awesome. We had a couple balls come relatively close, but none close enough.
It's the second game in a row that I've had to endure a rain delay. (My previous game was my encounter with Denard Span at a Cubs/Nats game in 2013). At least we had ponchos and stayed relatively dry.
During the second rain delay, my friend and I walked over to the Twins dugout to see if we could see any of the guys. The only guys still there at this point were Mauer and Buxton, sitting together, talking about God only knows. Maybe it was a passing of the torch. Maybe they were discussing Clash of Clans, who knows. It was a cool thing to see, and it's the closest I've ever been to those guys.
All in all, it was disappointing to see them lose, but it was fun to have great seats and to see our guys up close. Here's hoping that they can get some revenge on the Cards and start up their year ending 98 game winning streak. We'll just have to settle for 132-30.
Game 62: Buxton’s Twins 4, Gallo’s Rangers 3
SoCalTwinsfan Junior, Jr. ran into the living room while sporting a Minnesota Twins jersey with a 25 on the back. He ran over to his grandfather and jumped on his knee.
S: "Whatcha doing, Grandpa?"
G: "Watching Byron Buxton's final baseball game."
S: "You mean of the season?"
G: "Nope. It's the final game of his career. He's retiring after today."
S: "But he's the best baseball player in the world!"
G: "No doubt about it. But he says he's too old to play such a difficult sport. He's going to try something easier. He's already signed a contract with the Timberwolves." Continue reading Game 62: Buxton’s Twins 4, Gallo’s Rangers 3
Game 60 recap. Texas 6 Minnesota 2
The Baseball Gods are a fickle lot. When they allow you to build a win streak, they give you gifts like the other team making a bone headed running mistake or make a bunch of defensive miscues that leads to runs. When they want you to lose, the reverse the role and your favorite team drops the line drive to center field that allowed the winning run to score. The 8th inning saw 4 Twins pitchers give up 4 runs and record 3 outs. Thats not good.
The Tommy Milone who pitched in Rochester showed up tonight going 7 innings and striking out 8. The only blemish was giving up a 2 run HR to Elvis Andrus (of all people).
The Twins had their chance to blow the game in the first inning as the first three batters reached base. But Wandy Rodrigue Only one scored. The Twins other run came on a Brian Dozier home run. Because all he does is score runs.
The Twins are now at 33-27. Lets hope the win total goes to the good on Saturday.
Game 59 Recap: Royals 7, Twins 2
Where do we go from here?
Game 58 Recap: Royals 2, Twins 0
Nothin' from nothin'.
Game 57: Royals 3, Twins 1
We've known all year that the fellas wouldn't keep up the opportunistic scoring in bunches with men on base indefinitely, or even without interruption. Unfortunately, over the past 10 (5-5 record), they have averaged 3.2 runs per game, or just under 1.5 runs less than they averaged through the first 47 games.
Last night, the Twins scattered 8 hits over 9 innings, the lone run coming off a Rosario homerun in the 7th. Their best opportunity to score came with the bases loaded and one out in the 3rd after a couple of infield singles and a Hicks double. Unfortunately, as sometimes happens in baseball, the next batter - Hunter - hit into a double play and the inning was over.
In the 5th, Escobar made it as far as second before Dozier flew out and again in the 7th, Escobar was on second with two outs and Dozier struck out to end the home half.
This year, Dozier is hitting .091/.375/.091 with 2 out and RISP (not good) but Hunter is a much more robust .381/.480/1.048 in that spot and is slashing .500/.500/.750 with 1 out and the bases full.
Plouffe was 0-4 last night and is hitting .150/.171/.250 in his last 10 games.
Of the regulars,* only Dozier, Hunter & Plouffe have an OPS+ over 100 and only Dozier (.268 BA) has an OPS over .800. The team leader in RBI is Hunter with 36, with only 3 GDP in more than 200 AB's. As I noted, sometimes the GDP happens in baseball, but you'd like to think that one in the 3rd inning won't end your last, best chance to score.
On the mound, Hughes took his 6th loss of the year, despite pitching 7.2 innings and allowing only 3 earned runs on 7 hits. The last run charged to Phil resulted from Thompson giving up a single to Hosmer and allowing an inherited runner to score. The first runs charged to Hughes came courtesy of a Kendrys Morales bomb in the 2nd. Hughes allowed a lead off single to Hosmer after getting ahead 0-2, and then fell behind 3-1 to Kendrys before grooving a fastball which was promptly deposited in the upper deck in right center. He settled in nicely after that, allowing only 5 hits in the next 21 at-bats.
All in all, it wasn't a bad outing from Hughes, he just didn't get any help from the offense.
End result, the Royals have moved in front of the Twins for 1st place in the Central by mere percentage points. They'll have 2 more games to take the top spot back. They still have the second most wins in the AL, behind only Houston.
*Minimum 45 games played and 150 at bats.
Bear Image Copyright: Gerald D. Tang
Game 56: Twins 2, Brewers 0
There were no smoke and mirrors needed on Sunday as the Twins got a legitimately good pitching effort from Mike Pelfrey against a bad Brewers team and it was enough to avoid getting swept by the team with the worst record in the majors.
The good news is a number of other good teams have stumbled recently so the Twins still have the best record in the AL.
Fortunately, the Twins aren't blind to some of the underlying problems. After the game, the Twins demoted Danny Santana to Rochester and called up Kennys Vargas. That means the Twins only have the Eduardo's to play shortstop, with Escobar getting the starting nod. The guess here is that another middle infielder will be called up (probably Bernier) when the Twins decide they are recovered from the doubleheader and the ensuing bullpen game on Saturday enough to go back to "just" a 12-man pitching staff.
More efforts like Pelfrey's on Sunday will speed up the process. He had 7 Ks and 1 semi-intentional walk in 8 innings. he did give up 1 hit an inning, but it was never more than 1 and the defense helped him stay in the game longer with three double plays plus one great diving catch by Nunez to prevent a double down the line that would have put the tying run in scoring position with two outs in the eighth inning.
Glen Perkins closed it out with another save. He's 21-for-21. I'm a little surprised this isn't receiving more hype than it is. The bullpen has a nice shiny ERA overall, but Perkins is the only real dominant pitcher in the bullpen. At least manager Paul Molitor has recognized that enough to bring him in twice for four-out saves. Hopefully, the Twins won't be slow to make changes when they are needed, especially with some legitimate power arms in the minors.
Up next for the Twins will be the Royals in a battle for first place. The Royals have been using their own smoke-and-mirror act this season. The Twins are the only team in the AL with less strikeouts than the Royals, who somehow still sport the league's second-best ERA.
Game 55 recap: Milwaukee 10 Twins 5
Sometimes awesome things happen at baseball games. The hot topic around the Twins-sphere today was Joe Mauer's bunt in Boston. Today, he answers the critics by pulling (!) a 3run (!!) home run (!!!) to tie the game at 5. Or a guy with a sub 5.0 k/9 rate getting 9 strikeouts in 7 innings. Good job Kyle Gibson!
Sometimes not so awesome things happen, like the Brewers taking sinkerballer Kyle Gibson deep 3 times. Or Torii Hunter misplaying a line drive that leads to the go ahead run. Or an infield fly that travels 25 feet from home is allowed to drop in and Adam Lind can easily lumber in from second base to score a run. And also not awesome is the Twins losing to the Brewers. yuck.
But, there are still two more games in the series. We can still get a series win.
Notes:
- Mauer's home run was his 111th of his career and passed Roy Smalley on the Twins HR list. Next up is Jacque Jones with 132.
-Mauer is already 10th on the franchise RBI list. With 3 tonight he has 722. Rod Carew had 733 and Torii Hunter added one more tonight, he has 747
- Kyle Gibson had a career high 9 strikeouts. His previous high was 8 and that happened only two starts ago against the White Sox.
Game 53 Recap: Twins 8, Red Sox 4
Good comeback.