and so closes april 2011 for the twins. there's been precious little of the first, a whole lot of the middle, and way too much of the latter. but, this is where the protagonist stands up, brushes himself off, and turns it all around, right? right?!?!
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZVBzQh1K7E
(6 votes, average: 8.83 out of 10)
Loading... I'm pretty sure that this recent stretch is a loyalty test for Twins fans. The team has managed to look absolutely awful since that tiny hopeful stretch last weekend. I choose to handle this game log the same way I've handled all Twins conversation for the past week or so...
I'm going to change the subject.
Beer brewing has been going well. I'm actually brewing up a batch of Wisconsin Spring Porter right this very minute... hang on, let me check my temperature.... looking good.... Time to add in some maple syrup.
I do have one question for all the brewmasters that this place has accumulated. How does one achieve the balance between getting enough hops into the beer, without adding a ton of sediment? When I made my hopnog, it had fantastic hoppy flavor (like, really hoopy tasty flavor), but since I ended up tossing the hops directly into the wort, it ended up with a ton of sediment, which I'd prefer avoid, since the final product was good, and tasty, but also quite heavy and near opaque. Last time, we steeped the hops, rather than toss them directly in, and the finished product had less sediment, but also less hoppy flavor.
Regardless, beer brewing is becoming a very enjoyable hobby, and the compliments the finished product has received ar sort of addicting (most of my friends have never had homebrew before, so their reviews end up anywhere from "damn tasty brew" to "best beer I've ever tasted".) So I'm pretty happy with what's been going on thus far. It's a great hobby to get into.
Oh wait... this is a baseball-related site? Oh.
Duensing vs. O'Sullivan - I'm tired of impassioned entreaties, I'm tired of excuses, I'm tired of the reasons that we haven't been winning lately. Just win. Watching baseball is about a hundred times more fun when the cheered for team wins, so get on that. Go Twins!
Weather: 73 degrees, partly cloudy
Wind: 17 mph, right to left
Time: 2:53
Attendance: 31,407
The Crisis
These are the times that try men's souls. The summer and the sunshine will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their team. The Royals are not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as winning should not be highly rated.
Okay, so I took a little liberty with the words of Thomas Paine. And I'm not sure you can call this a crisis just yet. It probably is too early to panic. The sky probably isn't falling. Being eight games under .500 is worrisome in August, sure, but not so much to spark heartburn about at the end of April. Did I mention that it's probably too early to panic?
Beck might go down as one of the more underrated musicians of the past 20 years.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kawrGYnlKzk
Let the argument commence in the LTE's below.
(6 votes, average: 7.33 out of 10)Loading... Well that sucked. It does amuse me that the team most often picked to win the division is doing just as well as the Twins. I think only Detroit is doing roughly as expected, though the Royals are very quickly returning to their expected level.
This is an awful streak and it's magnified by starting the season with it. If only there was some way to look at streaks within previous, full seasons...
First, some notes about this season's streak to compare to previous miserable streaks. The Twins have scored 77 runs and given up 124 runs, which comes out to 3.2 scored versus 5.2 against.
In 2010, there was a period when the Twins didn't play particularly well in the middle of the season. Concerning, yes, but no hysterics about it. Taking a look at 2010, I note that from games 85 to 94, seven times were the Twins 9-15 over the previously played 24 games (e.g. games 62-85 the first time). They also were 8-16 once and 10-14 twice. During the 8-16 stretch, they scored 109 runs and gave up 131 runs. That's 4.5 runs/game and 5.5 runs/game respectively. In terms of wins it was worse, but the run differential is just shy of one run a game instead of two runs per games.
Let's try another year that also started poorly but ended up okay. Like 2006. Oh look! They also started 9-15 and hovered around 10-14 for quite a few consecutive 24 game stretches. That was a frustrating early 46 games. Anyway, they scored 96 runs and gave up 148 runs to start the season. And that's with a True Ace anchoring the staff. That's an even 4 runs/game scored and 6.2 runs/game given up. And it got worse! From games 3-26, those figures were 3.7 and 6.1 respectively.
Going earlier, I see in 2003, the Twins were as bad as 6-18 with similar run differentials to this season's differential. Games 72-95 for instance they were 7-17, scored 79 runs and gave up 137.
Now, I am not saying things are going to go just like 2006 and the Twins will have a historically great second half of the season or they finally put some pitcher into the rotation and he pitches quite all right. Instead, awful stretches happen during seasons that otherwise end well. Truthfully, I do not foresee any big changes like in 2003 or 2006 that will dramatically alter the team's true talent level. They could continue to suffer from injuries and finish worst in the division, it happens, but that's a worst case scenario even now and acting like it's fated to be is, well, stupid.
I am sorry for getting this up so late, but at the same time, I don't think anyone wants to relive this. Mercifully, I was too busy at work to get to listen to either game yesterday. I don't think I could have taken getting no hit by Jeff freaking Niemann for 6 innings. Since I didn't watch the game, and haven't watched a game in many days I don't have a whole lot to add. Everyone's hurt, nothing is going right. I hope they can win some games this weekend, and get some folks healthy.
Final Score: Tampa Bay Rays 6, Minnesota Twins 1.
Twins Record: 9-15, 7.0 GB in the AL Central.
WP: Cy Niemann (1-3) | LP: Anthony Swimtrunks (0-1)
I Really Miss: Joe Mauer.
Something I'd Really Like: A .500 record.
more jeff tweedy in bands other than wilco? sure, why not? and on bass, no less (who does he think he is, sir paul mccartney?). i'll even throw in jay bennett as a bonus. if only jody stephens had been playing with them, that would have been an even more perfect tie-in.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9URKii6m6qw
1996
(3 votes, average: 9.00 out of 10)Loading... In general, it takes a lot for the NBA and NHL playoffs to pry my eyes from the Twins. This year, it's getting harder and harder to resist the urge to favor them over my injury-riddled, assbatting Twins.
The good news is that our starter today, Anthony Slapshanks, has as many Wins as Rays starter Jeff Niemann.
Stripsearch hasn't pitched in the majors since he did so rather poorly in 2009, and his 2010 in AAA was nearly as bad. He was 5-12 last year with a 6.21 ERA and a 4.75 FIP. This year he's off to a better start, but the Rays are a far tougher test than he's had in a couple of years, even without Longoria.
Niemann is off to an awful start, with a 7.08 ERA and a 5.30 FIP in 20 innings, but his .348 BABIP is so much higher than his career .287 mark that he's bound to regress soon. Still, if the Twins can't beat up on a right-hander at home after a couple of beatings in a row, it's going to be a tough pill to swallow. Well, the playoffs are only a click away. I suppose the draft is, too, but I only watch that when a friend is around to tell me who the hell all the players are, and the friend who was going to do that is sick.
Go, Twins. Let's get a split out of today, at least. Win one for the Smokestack.
TAMPA BAY 15, MINNESOTA 3
Record - 9-14 (Tied for last in the Central)
Highest WPA - HA!
Lowest WPA - Blackburn (3.1 IP, 7 R, 8 H, 4 BB)
Notable - Judging by the fact that there were no LTEs in the game log concerning the game from 1:39-2:04, not much.
-----------
Rene Tosoni got 2 hits in his debut.
The Rays didn't score any runs in the fifth inning.
That's all I got. Beatings will continue (7:10 tonight!) until morale improves.
As in 1% of our team is healthy.
Rather than making the easy joke about Smokestackelcrack starting tonight for the Twins I used this site to create a comic about Ron Gardenhire looking for players.
Enjoy the strip, reading left to right, below.