Boy…I’m glad I didn’t get to catch much of this game live. Even in fast-forward, I caught myself grimacing with each passing inning. Hardy led off the scoring for Baltimore by belting a solo home run to left-center (while playing solid defense throughout the series. I know it's stupid, but I still can't figure out what they were thinking when they traded him). For a while, it looked like that single run might be all the O’s would need. Something called Jason Hammel no-hit the Twins through 7 innings. Even where they picked up a base runner via walks, Doumit and Willingham graciously helped him out of the jam by hitting into double plays. Jason Hammel came to Baltimore in a deal that sent Jeremy Guthrie to Colorado. The Twins hitters seemed to sense the connection. Continue reading Game 3 Recap: Baltimore 3, Minnesota 1
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Archive for game logs from previous seasons.
2012 Game 3: Twins at Orioles
Well, this has been no fun so far. It's been baseball, which is the best I can say for it. Outside of that, it's been a tiresome 18 innings where the Twins have rarely been in the game.
Anthony Slapstick (4-7, 55 K, 26 BB, 4.32 ERA, 4.04 FIP, 4.67 xFIP, 1.0 WAR in 102 innings) goes for the Twins today in a spot start, facing Jason Hammel (7-13, 94 K, 68 BB, 4.76 ERA, 4.83 FIP, 4.65 xFIP, 1.0 WAR in 170.1 innings). Hammel was one of two pitchers to come from Colorado for Jeremy Guthrie, in a fairly strange trade for the Rockies. Hammel's previous two years were alright, but his 2011 was pretty bad, and I guess that was enough to jettison him for an aging flyball pitcher.
Well, if that means the Twins get to avoid Jeremy Guthrie, who's much better than a Jeremy, I guess that's good.
So, what's the bright side right now? Well, Consensual Pork's 1.089! Yeah, I've got nothin' here. After a season like 2011, I fear this team has a pretty short leash before apathy sets in, so here's hoping they set a better tone with a win here, or at least a loss where they appear to be in it for a while.
I'm not sure how much of this one I'll see, what with this house full of people. Bring it home, gents.
Game 2 Recap: Orioles 8 – Twins 2
I am not sad that I missed this game - like, even a little.
Let's rummage through the wreckage for positives...
- Morneau had a good day. That's a good sign.
- Perkins came in and devoured some folk.
- Mauer displayed boyish charm and tough-as-nails leadership throughout the game.
- Because of this, the Red Sox and Yankees are tied for last place, with three teams above them. That's could be a tough hole to get out of.
- By all accounts, none of the visiting team committed any felonies while playing.
I really hate to think that Liriano showed us a great spring, just to go belly-up when it comes to the regular season, but again, I didn't watch.
2012 Game Number 2: Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles
New season, same result - 'meh' pitching, and 'too little, too late' hitting.
I think Sean had it right last game log when he says that the front office knows what they've got, and they know that it's not happening this season. Fair enough, but I'm impatient - I want a World Series this year. Therefore, I've put together a little cheat sheet for how this team can be turned into a contender. If someone with connections could route this to the powers that be, I'd appreciate it.
Pitching
Obviously, the big problem is going to be pitching, so they must obviously trade for some strong starters, and some strong relievers. I've taken the liberty of drawing up some proposals.
- DFA Jeff Gray (He's letting opposing batters reach at a ridiculous .667 clip. Thanks, but no thanks, Jeff.)
- DFA Matt Capps (obviously)
- Trade Brian Duensing for Roy Halladay (He's got an unsustainable rate of 27.0 k/9 going, so trade him while he's hot)
- Arrange for Kyle Gibson to be fitted with a robotic arm (This whole recovery process is taking too long - time to speed things up a bit.)
- Have some crazy, back-alley doctor remove all of Scott Baker's arm tendons (He can't strain them if they're not there, can he. Ivan'll put some rubber bands in there, or something.)
- "Forget" Jason Marquis at the airport the next time he accompanies them on a road trip (This is a two part plan which may involve pretending that Target Field is closed for the season when he inevitably gets a taxi ride back.)
- Once it gets to the later months, forbid anyone from telling Nick Blackburn that it's not May anymore.
Batting
As we saw yesterday, hitting is going to be this team's biggest obstacle (except for pitching, because Lord, do those pitchers suck). Here's a few quick ways to change that.
- Trade Alexi Casilla for a large potted plant (the plant can trip runners as they round second, and will likely provide a bit more hitting power)
- Put Joe Mauer into a time machine, and tell him to retrieve 2009 Joe Mauer (It'll be sad to see 2011 Joe Mauer go, but we liked the other one better, anyway. Besides, this is the kind of sacrifice a leader has to make sometimes. Cuddy would go back in time to get 2009 Joe Mauer, and he'd probably bring back 2010 Justin Morneau while he was at it.)
- Create an unholy Frankenstein mishmash of Ben Revere's legs and Denard Span's arm. (Den Spavere will be the greatest outfielder ever, while Bard Revan can be safely DFA'd)
- Trade Chris Parmelee for Albert Pujols (The only worry here is that the Angels may not believe that Parmelee is as good as Dick Bremer says he is. In this case, we include Carl Pavano in the deal. Who says no?)
Until my brilliant ideas are brought to the front office, we're stuck with what we've got. What we've got today is..
F. Liriano (0-0, a disappointing 0 k/9, and a awe-inspiring, but probably unsustainable 0.00 ERA)
T. Hunter (0-0, 3.20 FIP, 0 ERA)
Normally, I'd say that the Twins are totally screwed, but come on... this is Tommy Hunter we're talking about.ZiPs has him projected for something like a 5.00 ERA. Even the Twins should be able to get some runs off this guy, right?
Game 1 Recap: O’s 4 – Twins 2
MINNESOTA 2 -- BALTIMORE 4
Lowest WPA - Pavano (7 IP, 4 R, 2 BB, 1 SO), Doumit (0 for 4), and Plouffe (0 for 1)
Highest WPA - Span (2 for 4)
Fangraphs - MLB Recap
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Ron Gardenhire turned to Rick Anderson and asked, "Is Duensing ready?" Anderson frowned and picked up the bullpen phone, speaking only a couple of words. After hanging up the phone, he returned to Gardenhire's side. "Ronald, he's ready, but I have to seriously question why we would use him in this situation."
"This is the perfect time to use him, late in the game, score's tied, Adam Jones is a dangerous hitter coming up."
Anderson blinked in confusion, "Tie game? Ronathan, it's not a tie game. And Adam Jones is right-handed, wouldn't you rather have Duensing come in to face Markakis for the lefty-lefty matchup?"
"Who?"
"Nick Markakis, the right-fielder."
"What are you talking about? Look, it's 0-0 in the eighth inning and I don't have time to do some ridiculous comedy routine with you and your made up ballplayers. We had a bad year last season, and I want to start this off right."
"Made up..? 0-0..? Wait, what do you think happened in the first inning?"
"We walked Hardy, then Pavano got a groundball or two and we got out of the inning. Pavano looked pretty good today, nice to see all those groundballs turning into outs isn't it? Just the one Hardy single on a groundball, but then he got Jones and Wieters and got out of it."
"Rontell, I think we need--"
"No time, got to make the pitching change now. Back in a second. And Rick? We don't need our bullpen walking people, talk to this Gray kid when he comes in, will you?"
Gardy made his way to the mound, and Scott Ullger made his way off the bench to join Anderson at the rail. "What was that about?"
"I think Ronwin has completely blocked Nick Markakis from his memory. He doesn't remember the 2-run homer in the first, or the RBI triple in the sixth, and I bet if we ask him, he won't remember Markakis' lead-off walk leading to a run in the fourth either. What are we going to do?"
"Send him home" Ullger said.
"I'm worried he wouldn't be safe there"
Ullger stared blankly, "Why would that matter?"
"Memory loss could be the sign of any number of serious problems. No, I think we should keep him here and try to keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't forget anyone else in this game."
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To this day Ron Gardenhire believes that Josh Willingham's ninth inning donger won the 2012 season opener for the Twins, Rick Anderson has never corrected him, he figured it was a long season, it's probably best not to get too caught up in one result.
2012 Game Number 1: Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles
Day game alert!
Carl Pavano
vs
Jake Arrieta
I had some stuff written about the offseason, but it seems irrelevant now. It sucks going into a season knowing that finishing at .500 would be a success. I think the front office knows there are problems, but thinks there is no point throwing money at a few extra wins. And I am okay with that.
I recognize that about 28 of the teams actually need to have down years. It is very hard to maintain success over many years; you need everything to go right. However, now we get to play the waiting game. Will this be just a "retooling" or a rebuild?
Here's to everyone returning to form, a great draft, and Ryan swindling trading for undervalued assets. I love baseball, but not never-ending losing.
Game 162 Recaps: Yeah, we already talked about it. Twins Win!
Twins 1, Royals 0
WP: Hot Carl (9-13)
LP: Wood (5-3)
I can has save? No, you may not.
Okay kids, here it is, the crowing of a new King Of The Savers: Jose Valverde ran away with this one by converting 100% of his 49 save opportunities into saved games for the Tigers. Sure, you could say that the guy is a douche, but I think he's got flair. No one celebrates like him, and this year he gets to wear the crown. I've heard that it's good to be king, but this much I know for sure ---> heavy is the head that wears the crown. Watch your back, Jose, and protect your neck.
99 bottles of loss on the wall
99 bottles of loss
take one down pass it around
98 bottles of loss on the wall
Baseball is a funny thing. For me, it's about more than winning and losing, it's about the lapse of time. Baseball is like a time machine that effortlessly takes it's audience simultaneously forward and back. When spring training stats gearing up I can almost smell the fall leaves, and likewise, when the season ends I can almost feel the warmth of the sun on my face. The long dark off season will give us fans time to reflect on the past season, rounding the corners off terrible performances, inflating good performances, and finding hope that next year will be the year. Talking about baseball leads one down the path of well worn cliche, but really, I don't know how else to describe this game. Yeah, our local nine lost 99, and that blows (fersure), but there is more to this game than the final record, and on Wednesday night the nation witnessed some intense drama. Fall will come, winter will follow, and then soon enough we'll be right back here.
2011 Game 162: End of the Road
Carl Pavano v. Bruce Chen?
This season was Bruce Chen'd; won't see the Twins tomorrow night. June was fun.
Go Twins!
2011 Game 161: 100
O'Sullivan vs Swarzak
So, 100 losses today? Or tomorrow?
100 Losses will happen:
- Today (64%, 9 Votes)
- Tomorrow (36%, 5 Votes)
Total Voters: 14
Loading ...2011 Game 160: Yeah, Right.
Rather than talk about the Twins playing out the string, how about a discussion on the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's ballot? Last year we discussed the merits of various candidates in the CoC, but given the musical tastes of the nation a standalone post (and maybe a poll? Spooky?) seem to be merited.
Here's the full ballot:
Guns N Roses*
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts
War
The Spinners
Eric B. & Rakim*
The Cure
Freddie King
Rufus with Chaka Khan
The Small Faces/The Faces**
Donovan
Laura Nyro
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Donna Summer
Beastie Boys
Heart
* first year of eligibility
** Rod Stewart is in already as a solo artist. Ron Wood is in as a member of the Stones. Kenney Jones is not in as a member of The Who.
The rules for nomination are simple: acts become eligible for induction 25 years after their first commercial release, which puts 1986 as the cutoff for this year. Voters can vote for up to five nominees. Who is on your ballot?