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2011 Twins Game Recaps, Minnesota Twins

2011 Game 91 Recap: Royals 2, Twins 1

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Weather: 74 degrees, overcast
Wind: 9 mph, R to L
Time: 2:37
Attendance: 39,177

Box Score
Fangraphs

I <3 Ben Revere

This game was all about pitching. The good, the bad, and the ugly. Nick Blackburn pitched a good game. Luke Hochevar pitched a good game. Both went seven innings. Blackburn gave up no runs on four hits and two walks, Hochevar gave up one on three hits and three walks.

Coming out of the bullpen in the eighth, Joe Nathan and Tim Collins were good, neither giving up a hit and only Collins allowing a base runner on one walk.

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2011 Twins Game Logs

2011 Game 91: Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins

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Luke Hochevar vs Nick Blackburn

This has to be a perfect way to start the second half for the Twins. First, a warm-up against the Royals. Four games, more than enough to find the mojo and remind everyone about owning the AL Central. Then, taking on the first place Indians with another four game series. After that, yet another four game series against the other first place team, the Tigers.

I had some stuff written about the four consecutive series against AL Central, breaking down some possibilities. Someone decided to steal it for the game recap though. Instead, I'll close with Win Twins!

2011 Twins Game Recaps

Game 90 Recap: Twins 8, Royals 4

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MINNESOTA 8, KANSAS CITY 4
Record - 42-48 (4th in Central, 1.0 game out of 3rd)
Highest WPA - Liriano (7 IP, 1 ER, 4 SO, 2 BB), Plouffe! (2 for 4, HR, 2 RBI)
Lowest WPA - Danny V. (1 for 5, RBI) - the flyout double play in the first must have hurt him.
NOTES - 5 Twins had multi-hit games (Delmon, Plouffe, Mauer, Casilla, Nishioka)
Fangraphs
MLB Recap
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And so begins the second half.  Right out of the gate after the All-Star break the Twins have three 4-game series at home against AL Central teams.  With the doubleheader against Cleveland on Monday, the Twins will play 12 games in 11 days.  At the end of next week, when the dust clears, everyone in the Central will have played 100 or 101 games, so a lot of the "games in hand" that the Twins and Indians have had for most of the season will be gone.

I could have all kinds of fun breaking down all the potential outcomes over the next week and a half (and, trust me I have the spreadsheets to show that I have), and tell you what needs to happen to have the Indians, Tigers, White Sox, and Twins all within 0.5 games at the top of the standings next Sunday (it's unlikely).  Instead, let's consider what the Twins need to do to make up ground and whether or not they adhered to those guidelines in last night's victory.

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2011 Twins Game Logs

2011 Game 90: Royals at Twins

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The "second half" gets underway tonight in the best way possible, save for maybe the Hosers coming to town. Tonight, the Royals visit a team that's gotten some much-needed rest, as they've faced a total of one pitch since Sunday.

Bruce Chen 5-2, 60.2 IP, 3.26 ERA, 4.19 FIP, 4.37 xFIP, 0.7 WAR
Francisco Liriano 5-7, 83.2 IP, 5.06 ERA, 4.33 FIP, 4.26 xFIP, 0.6 WAR

You know, I expected Chen's basic numbers to look better than Liriano's, but even the advanced stats? Well, huh.

Chen's year has been a success (in Royals terms) mostly because his walks are way down and his homers are down. Standing in his way, though, is the fact that he is Bruce Chen and is a thoroughly mediocre-at-best starter. Still, he's a lefty, so...

Liriano, meanwhile, has crummy K/BB stats on the season, but they've been stumbling toward respectability since his pitch-to-contact nonsense. I'm predicting, not so New Guy-ally, I don't think, that he gets the "second half" started with a bang, leading to the Twins finishing no worse than .500.

So let's get healthy at long last and do this thing, eh?

2011 Twins Game Recaps

Game #89: Twins 6, White Sox 3

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Twins record: 41-48
Fangraphs
MLB Game Wrap

This week I am faced with the prospect of pushing back not just one, but two excellent food-and-drink posts, both of which concern material that I find myself much more interested in than baseball at this point of this season, frankly. So I will once again try to get out of the way and tell you to go read those posts just below here instead. As for today, I'll just say that even I can't complain about taking three of four from Chicago in Chicago.

Hitter of the Week: I'm going to pick the Iceman, just because, since I make my offensive stat charts in sets of eight games and today's game was the start of a new set, I'm going to get a kick out of Iceman's three times reached out of four PAs today keeping him on the top of the chart for a whole week after this, as he won't appear again on this set unless someone else gets hurt.

Pitcher of the Week: I think I liked Brian Duensing and his two very nice starts this week the most.

2011 Twins Game Recaps

Game 88: White Sox 4, Twins 3

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OK, Meat helped me out for the game log, so now that I'm online I can throw up a recap of Saturday's game. Twins lose on a walk-off but the way Buehrle was dealing, this probably shouldn't have been close. Which really pisses me off since Buehrle is on my fantasy team. Oh well, the Sluggies will do fine anyways.

It would really help if Mijares remembered that he once knew how to pitch. It would also help if the Twins realized that Burnett sucks and we need a setup righty.

2011 Twins Game Logs

Game 89: Twins @ Pale Hose

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Hi Everybody! I don't see a game log slated for today so here is an emergency post.

A. Sleetstack (1-2) 3.71 ERA, 108 ERA+
V.
J. Peavy (4-2) 4.83 ERA, 84 ERA+

Lineups:

Twins
1. Revere CF
2. Casilla 2B
3. Mauer DH
4. Cuddyer 1B
5. Valencia 3B
6. Tosoni LF
7. Nishioka SS
8. Butera C
9. Repko RF

Sux

1. Juan Pierre LF
2. Alexei Ramirez SS
3. Paul Konerko 1B
4. Adam Dunn DH
5. Carlos Quentin RF
6. Alex Rios CF
7. A.J. Pierzynski C
8. Gordon Beckham 2B
9. Mark Teahen 3B

Go Twins!

2011 Twins Game Logs

Game 88: JETER GOT HIS 3000TH HIT (Also, Twins and Sox)

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The greatest player in Yankees history hit his 3000th hit today. The good Yankee Captain, as he is called worldwide (even by those who are otherwise oblivious to baseball) because the first player ever to use nothing but willpower and intangibles to guide the ball over the fence for the milestone (the other player to hit a home run for his 3000th hit, Wade Boggs, used some combination of shoe polish and eastern mysticism). Ray's pitcher David Price wept openly, and joyfully ran to give the heroic shortstop a hug, thanking Jeter for allowing him to be used for his higher purpose.

Commissioner Selig decreed July 9th to be "Jeter Day" for 'as long as baseball is played, both on earth and into the stars above'. "Today, he truly has made the intangible 'tangible'" he said in a pre-recorded speech to the President and his Cabinet. In less well-received news, the commissioner's office has decided to continue playing the rest of the games on today's schedule, in blatant disrespect to the All-Star Shortstop's acomplishment. Certainly, there will be a 30 minute mandatory silence period between each inning to reflect on what this moment in history means, but there are many who believe that the rest of the month's schedule should be nullified in favor of the planned month-long Jeterbration to be held nationwide, beginning Sunday.

You are all encouraged to immediately begin making your pilgrimage to New York to pay homage.

For those who prefer to watch Brian Duensing take on Mark Buehrle in today's meaningless contest between two flyover teams, do so knowing that you spit in the face of history.

2011 Twins Game Recaps

2011 Game 87 Recap: Twins 8, Sweatsox 5

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South Side Chicago

Weather: 77 degrees, clear
Wind: 7 mph, left to right
Time: 3:22
Attendance: 27,737

Box Score
Fangraphs

The South Side of Chicago is a place where people end up. They end up packing meat or assembling machinery on a line. They end up in the bar or pool hall Friday and Saturday nights and in church on Sunday morning. They end up in the hospital or jail. Sometimes they end up at the bottom of the lake, sleeping with the fishes.

The Twins blew into Chicago riding the crest of a winning home stand that saw them take two of three from the Dodgers, Brewers, and Rays. And this with a team that's still largely patched together with duct tape and baling wire. Morneau recovering from surgery. Span and Kubel nursing lower extremities. Delmon... okay, forget about Delmon, but having the others unavailable has been a big chunk of why the Twins are in fourth place, seven games back of Cleveland. You have to think had they all been healthy, they could have turned around the outcomes of several of those 19 one-run losses so far this year. But after two days of dominating the White Sox, again, the Twins end up just two wins from overtaking the Hosers for third place. In the best case scenario, the Twins would sweep the Sox while Cleveland and Detroit lose out to the All-Star break, with the Twins having gained 11.5 games on the division lead since the first of June. I won't hold my breath, but stranger things have happened in the game of baseball.

Tonight, even with Blackburn struggling to control his pitches and giving up five early runs, the Twins chipped away with single runs in the first and third. But in the fourth inning they opened fire on Gavin Floyd, who would exit the game after recording just eleven outs and adding seven earned runs to his stat sheet. The Twins, down early, came back from behind and beat the White Sox, and it really doesn't get much better than that. Shoot, if the Twins aren't careful they just might find themselves in a pennant race before this season's over.

2011 Twins Game Logs

2011 Game 87: Minnesota Twins at Chicago White Sox

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Nick Blackburn vs Gavin Floyd

The last time the Twins have lost a series against Chicago was May 19-21, 2009. There was a two game split on May 11-12, 2010, but there's no doubt the Twins would have won the series if given the chance. Overall, the Twins are .732 against the White Sox from 2009 through today.

Blackburn has done his part this year, abusing the White Sox with a 0.61 ERA in 14.2 innings. His FIP is probably quite ugly though, since he struck out only two while walking five. Could you try to keep the ratio above two one today?