Category Archives: 2023 Twins Game Logs

2023 Twins Game Logs

2023 Game Log 4: Minnesota Twins at Miami Marlins

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It's the battle of the M's!!!

While it's not the most robust of opponents, the Twins come into Florida after sweeping the Royals in Kansas City (162-0!). Cueto is actually 5-1 against the Twins with a 2.62 ERA, so hopefully Gallo will smack a couple of dongers for us.

We'll also see our old friend Arraez, who is off to a great start this year. Definitely going to miss him, but hopefully Lopez will soften the blow. Gotta imagine that Luis prefers Florida climes to Minnesota's though. Good on him.

The Twins are so far undefeated on my game log post days (0-0), and I hope that trend continues today. Win, Twins!

2023 Twins Game Logs

Game 3: Twins @ Royals

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It seems reasonable to assume that the Twins will not allow any runs for the entire season.  The sample size is getting larger every day!  Joe Ryan takes the hill this afternoon with an 18 inning shutout streak to extend. Like all Twins pitchers, Ryan has not allowed a run all season.

Twins pitchers have walked 10 Royals in 2 games, which seems a little high.  4 double plays have limited the damage. and the shutout streak has been held intact by the Royals just not getting any hits.

Jax, Thielbar, and Jorge Lopez have pitched in both games this series out of the bullpen, but with a day off in between games, maybe they'd still be available today.

Byron Buxton is almost the entirety of the Twins offense so far. He has all of the Twins extra base hits and has scored 3 of the 4 runs. He continues to be just ... so good.  Buxton and Vazquez each have 4 hits (.500/.500/.688), and the rest of the Twins roster has 7 hits total (.135/.220/.135).

The Twins face Brad Keller today. I swear this is the 30th time they've faced him in the last few years.  Keller has allowed 24 runs in 6 starts against Minnesota in the last two years, a rate of 7.9 Runs/9 with a WHIP of 1.90. More like that, please!

Max Kepler is 7 for 19 with 2 HR against Keller in his career (.368/.500/.737).

Dick briefly mentioned yesterday on the broadcast that the Royals are working on getting a new stadium in the near future.  I was surprised how much nostalgia I immediately felt for Kauffman Stadium.  When we lived in Kansas for 3 or 4 years, we had a lot of great baseball experiences there, tickets were always available, the stadium is really nice, and I met a fair number of WGOM citizens there.  We have talked about going back there with little G, as he has only been to that stadium in utero. Now all of a sudden that seems like it might jump up on the priority list.

 

2023 Twins Game Logs

Game 2: twins @ royals

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Baseball is back. The winter was (err.....remains) long, but that doesn't matter now. Baseball is back.

And the Twins will probably be good! Buxton looks ready to go, we still, against all odds, have one of the best shortstops in baseball, and Jhoan Duran still throws a million miles per hour.

Today, it's Sonny Gray's turn to beat up on the Royals. I might actually be able to watch some of this one, so that will be a treat.

Go Twins!

2023 Twins Game Logs

2023 Game 1 – MN Twins vs. KC Royals

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Opening Day greetings from Minnesota, the land that spring forgot. Outside there are still two feet of snow on the ground and there's a winter storm watch until 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning. Game time conditions in Kansas City, though, should be more pleasant, about 68 degrees and breezy. There's a reason our home opener is never on actual Opening Day.

To say last season was disappointing for Twins fans would be an exercise in understatement. So many things that could have gone right went wrong, and it far too often involved severe bodily harm to key players. By most accounting, if not for a plethora of injuries late in the season the Twins would have won the division. But those are the vagaries of the game that make it so maddening and endearing, and keep us coming back for more year after year.

You generally put your ace starting pitcher on the mound for Opening Day. For Kansas City, that means Donald Zachary Greinke and his 223 career wins, 2882 strikeouts, and 3.42 ERA. It will be the seventh Opening Day start of his career. The Twins, I believe, selected their Opening Day starter by draw and Pablo Lopez pulled the short straw. He'll go to the mound for his first ever Opening Day start with 28 career wins, 489 strikeouts, and a lifetime 3.94 ERA under his belt.

I have no prognostications to offer for how this season will go for the Twins, my crystal ball is perpetually hazy these days. Conventional wisdom says don't be surprised to see the Twins and Guardians battling it out for the division title again come September, but every season starts with a big old question mark. If we're lucky along the way and enough things go right, we get to end it with a giant exclamation point.

Play ball!