Archive for game logs from previous seasons.
"Are you ready to do it? Let's do it!" Carl shouted into Anthony's ear.
Anthony stood up and dusted himself off. He'd been crouching in the dirt for the past twenty or so minutes, trying not to think about anything. To go zen, or whatever. Anthony didn't really understand the whole meditation thing, but he knew that he didn't want to think about what he was about to do. It wasn't easy, with Carl jabbering along the entire time with what he thought was a helpful pep talk.
Twins (4-8) vs Yankees (6-6)
6:05 PM CT at Yankee Stadium
Anthony "Spookysilk" Swarzak vs. Phil Hughes
Twins Lineup:
Denard Span CF
Jamey Carroll SS
Joe Mauer C
Josh Willingham LF
Justin Morneau DH
Ryan Doumit RF
Danny Valencia 3B
Chris Parmelee 1B
Alexi Casilla 2B
Yankees Lineup:
Derek Jeter SS
Curtis Granderson CF
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Nick Swisher RF
Raul Ibanez LF
Russell Martin C
Eduardo Nunez 2B
Twins 6, Yanks 4 (I refuse to believe that Matt Capps allowed any runs)
WP: The Marquis de Sade (1-0, 7.2 ERA)
LP: Kuroda (1-2, 5.0 ERA)
SAVE(ONE): Shortening (3)
Fangraphs gets it's wings every time the yankees lose.
Joey G looked at his script and shook his head. Something didn't make sense, but he just couldn't put his finger on it. He was totally down with his starter giving up 4 runs in the first. You've got to build drama, right? But where was the dramatic comeback? Where was the walk off home run? Where was the shaving cream pie to the face? Who were these clowns that dared to defy the narrative? Yeah, these clowns are from Minnesota, and they don't read scripts unless they're acting in awesome commercials.
NYC print tour: NYC is bursting a the seams with printmaking. Universal Limited Art Editions has been producing excellent work for 50 years. Tatyana Grosman founded the press as a way to earn a living supporting her husband who had suffered a heart attack and couldn't work anymore. Some of the folks they printed for included Helen Frankenthaler, Jasper Johns, and Robert Rouschenberg. They're still producing high quality, limited edition, original prints today. Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop has also been around a long time, and offers excellent art. Purchasing a print published by these fine folks allows them to continue offering artists of all skill level "unfettered access" to their presses and master printers. The LeRoy Neiman Center for Print Study is the printing / publishing wing of the printmaking department at Columbia University. They publish work from international, national emerging and established artists. The proceeds from prints sold "sustain future artist and student collaborations, exhibitions, equipment upgrades, and fellowships." And for a slightly different, less formal take on printmaking I give you Cannonball Press. These guys are as legit as they come. Their stated mission is to publish one pass, black and white woodcuts and screen prints that sell for 20 bucks apiece. Their work is impeccable, and for the price you can't beat it. I encourage you to check out their stock of artists and images.
Twins (3-8) vs Yankees (6-5)
7:05 PM ET at Yankee Stadium
Jason "Savior" Marquis, RHP 0-0, -.-- ERA vs Hiroki Kuroda, RHP 1-1, 2.63 ERA 5.27 K/9 4.00 FIP 4.68 xFIP
Lineups:
Twins
Yankees
Go Twins!
After Monday night's victory, I was a little concerned that the Mayans were right about this year. Order has been restored, and all is apparently right with the world: The Yankees beat the Twins again tonight.
Despite actually scoring some runs against Sabathia early in the game, both leads they earned were promptly lost by Liriano who continued his struggles. Once Sabathia had a lead he mowed the Twins down like he seems to do every time they face him. I didn't really have my hopes up since, well, it's the Yankees. Add in watching Span & Gardy tossed by an insecure umpire, and it wasn't a terribly fun baseball game.
Win tomorrow and the series win is still in order. With Jason Marquis on the mound I have no fear!
WP: Cap'n Crunch Sabathia (1-0) | LP: Francisco Liriano (0-2)
Josh Willingham: Awesome baseball player.
Greg Gibson: Terrible umpire. Oh wait, that's redundant. Umpire.
v.
It is a little early in the season to read too much into anything but there is one thing I can say for certain-- the 1991 Minnesota Twins did not win their third game of the season until their twelfth game.
Chew on that one for a minute.
once again, sorry, you guys, i wasn't able to keep a solid eye on the game. the small percentage of eye that did see the game is wondering how often the twins of this monday night will show up to other games. pavano pitched a great game (most likely out of spite). the inverted W and W and inverted W boys did great. clete thomas continues to show he is the answer to all twins' problems (and is apparently a great home base coach). also, i've always had irrational hopes for casilla; and if he can keep making plays like this (and maybe hit a little please?), i'll continue to be happy he's on the team.
anyway, please pretend that i thought up an an awesome way to recap these twins actually beating the yankmes, and then comment accordingly. danke sehr.
First Pitch - 6:05 p.m. CDT
Television - FSN, ESPN
Game Notes
Lineups
Scorecard
Oy. Considering the season start we're having, heading to New York City for a four-game series against the Evil Empire just seems sadistic. What, the brain trust that is MLB scheduling couldn't wait a few weeks to add insult to injury? They couldn't wait until May or June to have the Twins demonstrate their futility in the Bronx?
ON THE HILL
Few things tickle me as much as the fact that the Yankees paid Carl Pavano 40 million dollars for less than 150 innings of work over 4 years, and the Twins have wrung 220+ innings out of the guy each of the past two seasons. So at least in the coveted IPP metric (Innings Pitched per Pavano), the Twins continue to outperform the Yankees. While Pavano has been adequate as expected in his first two starts, he's giving up more hits and more runs that any of us would like and would do well to pitch a bit less to contact and a bit more to the catcher's glove.
On the other side of the street, the Yankees send longtime lefty Twins nemesis Freddy Garcia to the mound. The last time I saw Garcia pitch, Jim Lehland was trotting him out against Ozzie Guillens' White Sox in a rainout makeup game that would send the Sox to a game 163 versus the Twins. The last actual time Garcia pitched, just last week, he threw five wild pitches, the first MLB pitcher to pull that off since 1989.
In a universe where karma moves faster than a rebate check from Menards, the Twins would win this game by ten or twelve runs and Pavano would throw a 130-pitch complete game shutout (come on, you just know that a-hole A-Rod would break up the no-hitter with a two-out Texas league dink in the 9th inning). But I'm going on the record as predicting that won't happen today, or any other day for that matter. All I'm asking for out of this series is a split and I'd settle for just one measly win. With Sabathia pitching tomorrow and former Dodger Kuroda on the hill Wednesday, today may be as good a chance as we get this series.
Play ball!
Jackie Robinson Day. Jack Roosevelt Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. He played 9 years in the majors and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. I could go on, but if you watched baseball today, you already know everything there is to know about #42. Sh*t, even if you didn't watch baseball today you probably already know all about Jackie. He is that significant to the Civil Rights era and the eventual improvement of race-relations in America; a true icon. His inclusion and eventual debut in the majors was carefully orchestrated by Branch Rickey (to me, one of the more interesting characters in MLB history). In case you're still wondering, this game came nowhere near the historic magnitude of Jackie Robinson or even Branch Rickey.
The game ended poorly for Glen Perkins and he took the loss. Robbie Ross took over in the 6th and pitched 2 scoreless inning for the Rangers to notch his 2nd win. Through the early innings, it was the Clete Thomas and Liam Hendriks show. In their season debut for the Local 9, the former Twins draft pick (and recent Tiger) jacked a 2-run homer and had a nice (sort-of?) outfield assist, and the Aussie pitched 6 innings of 1 run ball. After completing 7, the Twins had a 3-1 lead and the top of the order due up. It should have been enough to get the Twins back in the win column, ready to salvage the rubber match of the series against the Dallas, Texas Rangers of Arlington. Except it wasn't... Continue reading Game 9 Recap: Minnesota 3, Texas 4
Alright, dudes, we have some work to do real quick-like if the Twins are going to have a winning record by the time Beau gets back. That should be no problem against the Rangers today, right?
Neftali Feliz has been closing for the Rangers since shortly after his career started, and they made the correct but all-too-rare move to take this great young pitcher and make a starter out of him, maximizing his usefulness. He pitched seven scoreless innings last week, giving up four hits and two walks while striking out four.
Aussie Liam Hendriks is 23 just like Feliz, so they've got that in common, at least. Hendriks started four games last year, pitching 23.1 innings, striking out 16 while walking 6. His ERA in the small sample was 6.17 while his peripheral numbers were much, much better. His K rates in the minors make him a promising pitcher while his BB rates should also make him a favorite of the Twins' brass. The strikeouts dropped a little when he hit AAA, but the walk rate stayed absurdly low (three walks in 49 innings). He doesn't throw very hard, either, so the guy's a Twin through and through.
So, why did I not know just how good this guy was in the minors? Is it because his name makes him sound like an insurance adjuster or something? Well, for whatever reason, I'd forgotten the guy had such promise, and now I've talked myself into being excited for this game. Now just don't remind me that he'll be facing the Texas lineup.
