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Archive for game logs from previous seasons.

2011 Twins Game Recaps, View from the Ballpark

2011 Game 33: Red Sox 2, Twins 1 (11)

45 Comments

Weather: 60°F, cloudy
Wind: 16 mph, in from CF
Attendance: 37,276
Time: 3:55

Twins record: 12-21 (tied for last in AL Central, 10.0 GB)
Fangraphs boxscore | MLB Game Wrap

Highlights:

  • Highest WPA, hitter: Span .150 (2-4, R, BB) | Highest WPA, pitcher: Mijares .299 (2.0 IP, H, BB)
  • Outfield defense - Revere's diving catch and Span's sliding catch

Lowlights:

  • Lowest WPA, hitter: Tolbert, -.346 (0-5, 1 SO) | Lowest WPA, pitcher: Hoey, -.350 (0.1 IP, H, BB, ER)
  • Tolbert: still batting second
  • MLB's continued employment of Angel Hernandez and Joe West

BOSTON -- The latest rumblings out of the Twins' clubhouse are something else indeed. General Manager Bill Smith accidentally ran his iPhone through the visitor's clubhouse washing machine in Chicago last week after spilling a Chicago-style hot dog on his pants. Smith immediately put the device in a box of rice, to no avail, and had to reluctantly borrow infielder Matt Tolbert's phone so he could make some calls and find a new catcher. Steve Holm wasn't quite Corky Miller bad in his brief appearance, but Bill Smith eventually figured out he wasn't an answer to any question worth asking. Tolbert reportedly told Smith he doesn't make enough for the Twins' GM to call 411 and ask for the Rangers' front office (more on this in a moment), but could swing a call to AAA Rochester as long as it happened on his plan's nights & weekends minutes.

Red Wings infielder Toby Gardenhire is apparently #3 on Tolbert's speed dial, right behind Voicemail (#1) and former teammate Nick Punto (#2). Smith accordingly placed his call to Gardenhire the Younger, who relayed the request for a catcher to Red Wings manager Tom Nieto. Nieto, himself a former Twin, initially volunteered his own services, but apparently requested a few days to iron the fungoes out of his swing, time that Smith just wasn't willing to waste.

In his first season with the Twins, Nieto briefly served as Tim Laudner's backup and outhit regular backup Sal Butera late in the season (.071/.188/.143 for Nieto vs. .063/.118/.125 for Butera in Sept/Oct) before being inexplicably left off the playoff roster. Nieto actually paced Twins catchers in hitting and on-base percentage that year, posting a .200/.276/.314 line to Laudner's .191/.252/.389 and Sal Butera's .171/.217/.243 mark. Overall, Nieto posted an OPS+ of 17 in his Twins career, which spanned 183 plate appearances between 1987-88. When reached for comment, Nieto said, "I out-hit Sal Butera in 1987, and I believe in the depths of my soul I can out-hit his son in 2011." Drew Butera currently owns a positively Buterian .172/.213/.251 line. "But the Twins value defense behind the plate," Nieto continued, "and I accumulated -0.2 dWAR in my Twins career, so Bill Smith elected to pursue other options."

So, that's why Rene Rivera is now with the Twins. But why Rivera instead of, say, Rangers catcher/first baseman Mike Napoli, who has only 63 at bats (but 6 HR) this season despite a career 119 OPS+ and a .238 ISO? Napoli, only 29, is likely still in his hitting prime, and despite whatever Mike Scioscia - Napoli's former manager - thinks, he appears to be a serviceable catcher. Unfortunately, Smith laundered his iPhone and apparently hasn't yet worked up the nerve to tell Jim Pohlad, Dave St. Peter, or Wade Navratil, the Twins' Senior Director of Technology. Of course, Smith could always look up Rangers GM Jon Daniels' number in his laptop's address book, or drop Daniels an email for that matter, but an unnamed source in the Twins' front office divulged that Smith has forgotten how to turn his laptop on. According to another source in the Twins' front office, former Twins GM Terry Ryan and former Twins manager Tom Kelly have offered to call former Twins GM Andy MacPhail, currently the Orioles' President of Baseball Operations, about the availability of Matt "Mauer with Power" Wieters, but Smith has repeatedly expressed the desire to put his own stamp on the club.

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This week's View from the Ballpark:

photo by Flickr user LugoLounge
I know at least 5 6 7 10 Hall of Famers played here. | photo by Flickr user LugoLounge

Remember, no embiggening.

2011 Twins Game Logs

2011 Game 33: Twins at Sawks

444 Comments

So, about that winning streak. It was nice, wasn't it? The last two games, not so much.

Tonight, Our Boys make an appearance on Monday Night Baseball on the 4ltr. I'm sure we are all excited to have the nation see our AAAA (AAA?) squad take the field. Will Cuddyer play shortstop?? Go team!

Game time: 6:10 p.m. Central.
Pitching matchup:
Nick Blackburn (4.41 ERA, 5.53 FIP, 4.47 xFIP, 6.18 tRA, 15:13 K:BB, 6 HR, 34 2/3 innings)
Josh Beckett (2.35 ERA, 3.14 FIP, 3.26 xFIP, 3.07 tRA, 35:12 K:BB, 3 HR, 38 1/3 innings)

On paper, this one does not look good. We get Blackie instead of F-Bomb, who has been suffering from "Flu-like symptoms." Mebbe next year, the team can set up a flu shot clinic, please?

Blackburn has been awful in three of his six starts so far, having given up five runs each on April 15 and April 20, then seven in 3 1/3 horrible innings at home on April 28. But there are glimmers of hope, as his other three starts have been quite good, including a solid 6 2/3 inning outing to beat the Bitch Sox on May 4. When things are going well, Blackburn is a league-average pitcher who doesn't miss many bats, but who generates a lot of ground balls. In his three good outings, he induced 35 ground balls against only 17 fly balls and 9 line drives. In his three bad outings -- 27:19:16.

For his part, Beckett has been good-not-great so far. I see some hope in that he gave up 7 fly balls and 3 walks in a rain-abbreviated 4 1/3 innings against LAAAAAA on May 4th in his last start, and got hit hard by the Orioles (4 runs on 2 HR, 10 fly balls and 5 LDs in 6 innings) the start before that.

Fenway Bandbox isn't the sort of place you want to be giving up a lot of fly balls in, so let's hope the Good Blackie shows his beard tonight, and Beckett pipes a few to the Dude and Mountie.

2011 Twins Game Recaps

Game #32: Red Sox 9, Twins 5

6 Comments

Twins record: 12-20
Fangraphs
MLB Game Wrap

The Twins are consistently running out a lot of players who are either just very bad (the catchers, most of the bullpen, Casilla/Tolbert) or some combination of pretty limited and in over their heads (Hughes, Revere, Tosoni, probably Plouffe - although he's been great offensively in all of three games, that will come down to earth, and I'm not sold on his defense at all). Those are all pretty frustrating, but they can only concern me to a point. If all of those guys get lots of playing time because others are hurt, the Twins are probably not going anywhere this season. If, however, many of those guys get replaced by the proper starters, the Twins are still going to most likely need contributions towards success from two guys I am a little more concerned about: Carl Pavano and Justin Morneau.

Pavano went a second straight entire game without striking anyone out today. I harp on this a lot, but it's just a lot less likely to be successful as a pitcher without getting strikeouts. He seems to be getting a little over-hammered - I have his FIP right now at about two runs less than his ERA, but a 4.6-ish FIP still isn't quite where he was at the past couple of years. Morneau, on the other hand, has me concerned that he's not physically back together yet. I have his line after today at .202/.269/.293 so far. I'm a little reminded of the beginning of 2006, when there was much gnashing of teeth over how lost he looked at the plate over the first month, before Gardenhire famously gave him "The Talk" that turned him into a (not-quite-worthy) MVP. His line over March/April that year was .208/.274/.416 - basically the same, except back then he still hit a few homers.

At least one other guy whose physical state/all-the-way-back-ness has been a concern, Joe Nathan, had a pretty good outing today.

Hitter of the Week: Jason Kubel is still pretty close to the only horse in this race.
Pitcher of the Week: Duh.

2011 Twins Game Logs, Minnesota Twins, MLB

Game 32: Twins at Red Sox

81 Comments

Pavanostache (2-3, 5.84 ERA, 1.35 WHIP) vs. Dice-K (2-3, 4.33, 1.33)

Happy Mother's Day, all! MLB marks the day with breast cancer awareness. Any batters who want can use a pink bat. Plus, you'll see pink armbands and cleats, and possibly even gloves. This subject is near and dear to my family as both of my boys' grandmothers have had breast cancer. Fortunately, both were caught early and both are in remission.

Still, this is a worthy cause and not one to be taken lightly. Plus, it's a good reminder to make sure to give your mom a hug (or a call if like me you can't be with her today).

As for the game, Carl Pavano needs to get rid of the beard. He needs to return to the Pavanostache that intimidated hitters into submission last year.

The Twins need to show patience at the plate. Dice-K alwayshas been prone to control problems in the major leagues and the Twins need to take advantage of that. Maybe this can be a breakout game for Justin Morneau. He's 6-for-12 with a home run and two doubles against Dice-K.

This game would have been a media circus if Nishi hadn't gotten hurt. Oh well. At the very least, the Twins can improve to .500 in their last 14 games with a win today. Plus, it would guarantee a split in the series with a chance to win it tomorrow. Let's get er done. Go Twins!!!!

2011 Twins Game Recaps, Minnesota Twins, MLB

Game 31: Red Sox 4, Twins 0

1 Comment

I hate Fox with a passion.

I have discovered the greatest help to baseball watching ever conceived. I record the games with a DVR and I set my Skip function to skip ahead 10 seconds. This allows me to skip ahead between each pitch, eliminating 10 seconds between each one. I also can skip through the commercials, pitching changes, umpire arguments, pitcher-catcher discussions, and, yes, rain delays. Which has been working fantastic until today.

The Twins were on Fox, and only on Fox (I have MLB Extra Innings package that I paid a pretty penny for), and I started to watch it a couple hours after it started. This, of course, means that I have to remain offline, or at least avoid sites that will display the score, as well as other channels, like ESPN. (I once turned on the TV to start watching the game, but it was on ESPN and the Twins score was at the bottom of the screen at the exact moment I turned it on. I would have really been upset, except it showed the Twins won, so I was still happy to watch the game in its entirety). So, I had no idea the Twins went into a rain delay. I was OK about it (I set the DVR to record 4 1/2 hours for each game) because I could fast forward it. I was fine until I saw a different score at the bottom of the screen, which meant the game had resumed, but Fox had not gone back to the game. So, I had to go to the computer to find out that I had missed three innings of the game.

Of course, as it turned out, I didn't really miss much. I listened to the rest of the game on XM, but there wasn't much drama to it, especially once Alex Burnett came in. If the Twins are going to make a move, I would bet on it being a setup right-handed reliever. At the very least, maybe they can give Anthony Slama another shot.

Justin Morneau does not look good right now. A week or so ago, he was hitting line drives and not having much luck. Now he looks like he's trying to do too much and trying to pull everything. He probably should have gotten the whole day off today and not just DH. That is probably the worst thing to do is DH when you are struggling. The player can only sit around and think about his last weak swing instead of go out and play defense. I know some are panicking that this is the result of the concussion and that he'll never be the same, but we have no evidence of that and it's not like he hasn't gone through stretches like this before. He just needs to remember that there is a left field out there as well.

The good news is Kevin Slowey pitched well in his return, so the bullpen has been bolstered. Hopefully, Delmon Young will be back soon as well.

2011 Twins Game Logs

game 31: twins at red sox

112 Comments

Well, hey! I'm able to post a game log from my phone. Good times.

Last night's game was a lot of fun. In fact, the last few games have been. I'm under no illusions that everything's gotten better, but as long as they can fake it until a couple folks get off the DL, we could turn this thing around.

Time to give one of baseball's more annoying fanbases just a little more to bitch about.

2011 Twins Game Recaps

2011 Game 30 Recap: Twins 9, Crimson Hosiery 2

14 Comments

Weather: 66 degrees, partly cloudy
Wind: 21 mph, out to CF
Time: 2:37
Attendance: 37,798

Box Score
Fangraphs

What's not to love about this game? The Twins jet into Beantown on a wing and a prayer, a wisp of momentum, and a sigh of relief that they were able to best the offensively impotent Pale Hosers in a series deuce on the South Side, a short set featuring a no-hitter the hard way that F-bomb rolled for a 1-0 win. The boys haven't exactly been swinging hot lumber lately. With Butera and Casilla mired below the Mendozza line like sloths in La Brea tar, and Morneau barely above it, and Mauer and Delmon and JI

JIM THOME bruised and benched, our lineup doesn't have the punch of a full-strength squad hitting to expectations. But you wouldn't know it tonight.

Continue reading 2011 Game 30 Recap: Twins 9, Crimson Hosiery 2 →

2011 Twins Game Logs

2011 Game 30: Minnesota Twins at Boston Red Sox

169 Comments

Scott Baker vs Tim Wakefield

Knuckleball pitchers may be ageless, but Wakefield's time machine finally broke. Nonetheless, I think he will have a long leash in today's game. Knowing the Twins' offense, they might not be able to score enough runs in a single inning to knock him out of the game and expose the tired bullpen. Instead, they will have time to perfect the single/walk, steal, sacrifice, sacrifice (fly) strategy.

The Red Sox used their entire bullpen for Wednesday's game, including Wakefield, for a 13 inning game in which the starter lasted 4.1 innings. Naturally, the starter in yesterday's game also lasted a mere four innings, but it was mop-up time after that and anyone important was saved for today's game. The Sox have yet to top .500 after failing two previous times. Hopefully the Twins don't notice the "Red" part and treat these Sox like their bleached brethren.

2011 Twins Game Recaps

Game 29 Recap: Twins at Pale Hose

4 Comments

Twins 3, Hose 2
Twins Record 11-18, 9 games out of first place
Fangraphs doesn't think Liriano deserved a No-No either.
Save: M. Capps

crisco

Crisco, always a good idea in the ninth. Matt Capps is now ranked 20th(give or take) in the King of the Savers race with five saves. A rotting corpse in NYC and some dude in Florida are tied for first with 11 saves on the season.

What can I say about a game that I didn't watch? Not a whole lot, but if someone would post a picture of a painting by Jasper Johns involving a broom on flickr with an agreement to share through creative commons I would repost said photo. That and Jason Kuble is swinging the ever loving fire out of the bat right now.

Featured art [Jasper Johns Broom]

2011 Twins Game Logs

2011 Game Logs: Game 29 Minnesota @ Chicago

152 Comments

What a difference a day makes.

TWINS
1. Denard Span, CF
2. Matt Tolbert, SS
3. Justin Morneau, 1B
4. Jason Kubel, RF
5. Michael Cuddyer, DH
6. Rene Tosoni, LF
7. Danny Valencia, 3B
8. Drew Butera, C
9. Alexi Casilla, 2B

Pitcher: Blackburn

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

Pitcher: Danks

Go Twins!