Archive for game logs from previous seasons.
It's been a busy weekend, so I'll keep this short. Scott Baker is very good. Danny Valencia is underappreciated. Bert Blyleven doesn't know what he's talking about. Scott, keep on throwing those high fastballs. Danny, keep on pulling those balls with authority.
Discuss.
Back in game log 35, I made the statement "when the major leaguers on this team outnumber the minor leaguers, they might grab my interest again." In fairness, the scrubs started playing pretty well the last couple of weeks. It seemed for a little while there that I was marveling at the sheer wretchedness of that night's lineup every night, only to have them score a buttload of runs for our suddenly-rock-solid starting pitching staff.
That's all well and good, but now that things are gradually swinging back to "Minnesota Twins" rather than "Minnesota Red Wings", I'm finding myself genuinely excited by the team. Sure, we still have one too many players on the team named "Butera", and Jim Hoey is inexplicably still employed by a major league ballclub, but Tolbert is back to his rightful position as backup utility infielder! Dusty Hughes is elsewhere! Joe Mauer played in a major league game last night.
For all our pessimism earlier this season, we were still invested in just about every game. It looks like the Twins are ready to reward us.
Scott "All Star" Baker vs. Tim "Don't Look At My Record, Either" Stauffer
I expect Baker to have a very good game today, as he builds towards his All-Star resume (in vain, of course). I do not expect the same for his counterpart.
Mauer's back, Valencia hit one a country mile, and our bullpen is nice enough to pad Capps' stats.
It's late and I've been drinking and playing cribbage, so that is all.
Clayton Richard vs Brian Duensing
Jake Peavy with White Sox: 3.3 fWAR for $25.067 million, with $21 million more guaranteed.
Clayton Richard with Padres: 2.8 fWAR for $0.746 million.
I hear Peavy did quite well in his last rehab start though.
The Padres rank dead last in runs scored per game. The Twins next stop, the Giants, rank second to last, a smidgen less than the Mariners. Both have good pitching, although it's helped one more than the other.
Playing well over last two weeks: check
Playing a weaker league: check
Time to take back first place move above .500!
This is going to be quicker than a Delmon Young at-bat against Mark Buehrle.
Twins win. Cuddy jacked a donger. Blackburn wriggled for all he was worth (leadoff guy reached in 4 of his 8 innings). Nishioka returned, made some good plays (and a bad one) at SS, didn't hit much (1 for 4), but then no one did (Twins got 4 hits).
Sweeps of Chicago are always welcome.
Morning baseball (morning here, anyway). Yesterday, the Twins did what they do, beating the White Sox at home. Well, recently, they've beaten them everywhere. How do we feel about today?
Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrly 6-4, 86.2 IP, 3.95 ERA, 3.74 FIP, 4.29 xFIP, 1.5 WAR
Nick Blackburn 5-4, 83 IP, 3.47 ERA, 4.60 FIP, 3.77 xFIP, 0.5 WAR
Buehrle, in his twelfth season with the White Sox, doesn't show signs of being a different pitcher at all. His numbers are totally stable this year in comparison to recent years, so the Buehrle you know is the one that's pitching today.
Blackburn's K/9 is all the way up to 4.99, which might help to explain why he's been so much more successful this year than last. His GB% is a tick up from last year, too, which was up from the year before, which was up from the year before. I never trusted the guy, but it seems like he might turn out to be a good pitcher by sheer force of will. For those playing at home, Aaron Gleeman once made a bet with someone that Blackburn would never get 75 Wins as a major leaguer (I agreed). As of today, his next one will put him over 50% of the way there. I still don't know if he gets there, but I'll say I'm definitely not rooting for him to start failing today.
Twins 4, Pale Hose Uno
WP: Hot Carl Pavano. LP: G. Floyd
Save: I think that Pavano deserves a save here, so let's just give him one.
Twins Record: 27-39, 8.5 games out of first. Wait, what?
Over the last three games the Twins have won three games. More specifically they've won 8 of their last 10. Which is huge. Who needs Joe Mauer anyway? Oh, right, we do.
By the numbers, this was Carl's night. He worked nine innings on 96 pitches, 66 of which were strikes, facing 32 batters. Carl struck out five, walked three, and allowed one earned run. A total of four double plays were turned behind Carl tonight including a 3-6-1 gem that would have impressed kelly wells. The offensive numbers weren't bad either. The MVP had three stolen bases, which doubled his total on the year. Cuddy also went 2-3 and scored two runs. Sweet Ben Revere went 2 for 4 with a double, raising his average to .282, and stole a bag in the sixth. Cassilla went 2-4 with a double and a run scored. Even Dinkelman had a good night at the dish by going 2 for 3 with an IBB. Clearly, opposing teams fear the Dinkeldonger. Carl made it interesting in the last inning by allowing a leadoff hit followed by a double. Pavano then manned up and struck out Carlos Quentin, caught a smoking hot come-backer, and got AJ "assclown" Pierzynski to weakly ground out. That was easy.
Go get some culture at the Guthrie Theater this summer. They've staging God Of Carnage and the H.M.S. Pinafore, several conversations with actors and directors including Rainn Wilson (Dwight from the Office), and they host summer theater workshops for kids and adults.
Hmm...starting to think that yickit has moved on from baseball or something. (But seriously, yickit, if you have something ready go ahead and edit this).
Floyd vs. Pavano.
@
Let's warm up for the first game of the series against the White Sox with a miniature version of The Nation Has Problems, sound good? Great.
On Saturday a Twins starter retired the first 12 batters he faced.
On Sunday a Twins starter retired the first 19 batters he faced.
The last time the Twins opened a series on a Tuesday against the Chicago White Sox the Twins starter did not allow a single hit.
How many batters will the Twins starter, Carl Pavano, face before allowing a hit tonight?
Sadly, there is no spoiler button for when you are writing a post. It seems each of you will have to watch 9 innings of baseball to find out. Oh crap, I hope I didn't give it away.
Let's keep this streak of butt-kicking alive. Win Twins.
Twins record: 26-39
Fangraphs
MLB Game Wrap
[Picture of a giant exploding mushroom cloud, the resulting effect of the dropping of the F-BOMB on the Texas Rangers Baseball Club on the afternoon of June 12, 2011]
Hitter of the Week: The Team MVP, soon-to-be W.A.S.T.E. 2.0
Co-Pitchers Aces of the Week Team: Scott Baker and Francisco Liriano