Category Archives: WGOM

2019 Twins Game Logs

2019 Game Logs: Game 30 – Good @ Evil

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Here we are. The Yankees. The Twins have looked good so far, but looking good is what the Yankees start doing well before they even step on the field. Most teams in baseball struggle to sustain success. The Yankees, with all their resources, find it hard to avoid. I suppose they struggle to sustain failure - they're gonna end up good, without even trying.

Yes, the Yankees have had injuries. No, this isn't the absolute best lineup or pitching staff that NY could have fielded. But it's still darn scary. And it's especially scary because there's a, let's say, "excruciatingly painful", history of when the Twins and Yankees play in May.

But maybe this iteration of the Twins will be something different. Maybe Nelson Cruz and whoever is playing catcher tonight will each hit 3 bombs, because that's what they seem to do. Maybe we'll get Good Gibson showing up to embarrass James Paxton. Maybe Aaron Boone will be dared by his bench coach into having every player only sacrifice bunt, no matter the circumstance. And maybe he'll actually take that dare. I sure hope so.

Or maybe it'll just be some good baseball, either way. I sure hope for that too.

2019 Twins Game Recaps

2019 Recap: Game Twenty-nine

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MINNESOTA 8, HOUSTON 2 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Thursday, May 2.

Batting stars:  Marwin Gonzalez was 2-for-3 with a double and two runs.  Jorge Polanco was 2-for-3 with a triple and a double.  Jason Castro was 2-for-4 with a home run (his third) and a double, scoring twice and driving in four.  Jonathan Schoop was 2-for-4.

Pitching stars:  Jose Berrios pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on seven hits and no walks and striking out five.  Ryne Harper pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit and striking out one.  Trevor May pitched a perfect inning and struck out one.

Opposition stars:  Aledmys Diaz was 2-for-4.  Alex Bregman was 1-for-4 with a home run, his sixth.

The game:  Bregman homered with two out in the first to give the Astros a 1-0 lead.  Each team got a two-out double in the second but did not score.  In the third, singles by Tony Kemp and George Springer put men on first and second with none out, but a strikeout, a fly out, and another strikeout left them there.  Castro led off the bottom of the third with a home run to tie the score at 1-1.

The Twins took control in the fourth.  With one out, C. J. Cron walked and Marwin Gonzalez singled, putting men on first and third.  Schoop delivered an RBI single, Castro had a two-run double, Byron Buxton had a run-scoring triple, Max Kepler hit a sacrifice fly, Polanco doubled, and Nelson Cruz had an RBI double.  In all, six runs scored, putting the Twins up 7-1 and effectively ending the game right there.

They kept playing, of course.  The Twins added a run in the fifth when Gonzalez walked, went to third on a Schoop single, and scored on a fielder's choice.  Polanco hit a one-out triple in the sixth but did not score.  Houston threatened to get back into it in the seventh.  Singles by Yuli Gurriel, Josh Reddick, and Diaz loaded the bases with none out.  A strikeout, a sacrifice fly, and another fly out limited the damage to one run, making the score 8-2, and neither team threatened after that.

WP:  Berrios (5-1).  LP:  Brad Peacock (2-2).  S:  None.

Notes:  Polanco raised his average to .336.  Cruz was 1-for-4 with a double and is batting .302.

Even though it was a day game, Rocco did not go with any sort of B lineup.  The regulars played.  The Twins alternate their catchers quite a bit, so that's not really an issue, but there were no substitutes at any other position, either.

Eddie Rosario was 0-for-4 and is now riding an 0-for-24 streak.  He hit two balls hard, though.  I'm not too worried about him.

Berrios pitched a fine game.  It shows the difference expectations can make, though.  If Michael Pineda ever had a game like this, we'd be ecstatic.  When it's Berrios, we just kind of nod our heads.  We expect Berrios to have games like this every time out.  That's a compliment to him, but at the same time, it's something that shouldn't be taken for granted.

Since reaching a low point of .213 on April 17, Schoop has gone 17-for-50 and is now batting .278.

Entering this series, I said the next ten games would tell us a lot about how good the Twins are.  They're off to a good start, winning three of the first four.  Now, of course, we go to New York to play the Big Bad Yankees.  I have a feeling that this year things are going to be different.  I don't have a lot to back that feeling up--the pitching matchups aren't particularly favorable or anything.  But it's a new day, it's a new team, and I just think this is the year things change.  I guess we'll find out soon enough.

Record:  The Twins are 19-10, first in the American League Central, three games ahead of Cleveland.

2019 Twins Game Recaps

2019 Recap: Game Twenty-six

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MINNESOTA 1, HOUSTON 0 IN MINNESOTA

Date:  Monday, April 29.

Batting star:  Ehire Adrianza was 1-for-1 with a home run.

Pitching stars:  Jake Odorizzi struck out seven in seven shutout innings, giving up four hits and a walk.  Taylor Rogers struck out two in a scoreless inning, giving up a walk.  Blake Parker pitched a scoreless inning, giving up a hit.

Opposition stars:  Justin Verlander struck out seven in six innings, giving up one run on two hits and two walks.  Michael Brantley was 2-for-4.  Carlos Correa was 2-for-4.

The game:  It was an old-fashioned pitchers' duel, except that in the old days both starters would've gone the whole game.  The Astros got a couple of two-out singles in the first but could not score.  The Twins got a two-out double from Jonathan Schoop in the second but did not score.  In the third, Adrianza made sure the Twins scored by hitting a home run to put Minnesota up 1-0.

And the pitchers, on both sides, took it from there.  Houston only got a man into scoring position one more time, in the sixth.  Alex Bregman drew a one-out walk and Brantley followed with a single, but Odorizzi struck out Correa and Yuli Gurriel to end the inning.  The Twins also only had a man in scoring position one more time, when Nelson Cruz had a pinch-hit double leading off the eighth.  He did not score, either.  Correa led off the ninth with a single, but Gurriel hit into a double play and Josh Reddick grounded out to end the game.

WP:  Odorizzi (3-2).  LP:  Verlander (4-1).  S:  Blake Parker (6).

Notes:  Jake Cave started the game in left field, with Eddie Rosario at DH and Cruz on the bench.  Adrianza started at third base, with Marwin Gonzalez moving to first and C. J. Cron on the bench.  Mitch Garver, who has led off a couple of times this season, batted cleanup.  I don't suppose it's exactly rare for a player to bat both leadoff and cleanup, but it is somewhat unusual.

Garver was 0-for-3 and is batting .348.  Jorge Polanco was 0-for-3 with a walk and is batting .327.  Cruz was 1-for-1 and is batting .307.  Rogers has an ERA of 1.98.  Parker has an ERA of 0.96.

I know this isn't exactly brilliant insight, but I feel like the recap wouldn't be complete if I didn't mention how unusual it is for Adrianza to hit a home run off Justin Verlander for the only run of the game.  It was the twelfth career home run for Adrianza in 920 plate appearances.  Not only had Adrianza hit a home run this season, he hadn't had an extra-base hit of any kind this season.  He came into the game with an OPS of .411.  The point is not to be critical of Adrianza.  The point is that it shows, once again, what a great game baseball is, and how you just never know what might happen in any individual game.

It's also noteworthy that the Twins, who are becoming notorious for swinging early in the count, made Verlander throw one hundred pitches in just six innings.  Yes, the strikeouts were part of that, but Odorizzi struck out the same number, pitched one more inning, and still only threw eight-six pitches.

This was Odorizzi's third consecutive good game, and the best of the three.  Over that span, he has pitched 18.1 innings and given up three runs on eighteen hits and just two walks.  He has struck out fifteen.  That kind of pitching would take us a long way this season if he can keep it going.

I don't know why I can't get comfortable with Parker as the closer.  Maybe I got scarred by his Twins debut or something.  He certainly has gotten the job done--he has both an ERA and a WHIP of less than one.  And he was a very effective reliever with the Angels over the last two seasons, so it's not like this just comes out of the blue.  Of course, as long as Rocco is comfortable with him as the closer, it really doesn't matter how I feel anyway.

Yesterday I said that we'd know more about the Twins after their next ten games.  Well, this was just one game, not ten, but it's certainly a hopeful start.  One down, nine to go!

Record:  The Twins are 17-9, first in the American League Central, 2.5 games ahead of Cleveland.

Projected record:  We're still on track for 153-9!