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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?

2011 Twins Game Logs

2011 Game 86: Twins at Hosers

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Hey, the White Sox! This should be fun.

Carl Pavano 5-6, 4.19 ERA, 3.90 FIP, 4.13 xFIP, 1.5 WAR
Philip Humber 8-4, 2.69 ERA, 3.51 FIP, 4.02 xFIP, 2.1 WAR

Well, that looks like a personnel decision that hasn't worked out for the Twins, but I suppose we knew that when Santana was traded in the first place.

Humber strikes out a lot more guys than Pavano at this point, but he walks considerably more, too. It would appear that this very good year is thanks in part to a .222 BABIP, but his 103 innings aren't an insignificant sample, so it looks like Humber might just be a better than average starter.

Pavano, meanwhile, continues to look more like Blackburn, striking out nobody and being prone to the occasional shelling. The Twins have been owning the White Sox in recent years, but I'm not all that comfortable tonight. Hopefully I'll be able to see it - the internet at the place in Phoenix isn't great. Hopefully Dumatrait and Burnett won't get anywhere near it, either.

2011 Twins Game Recaps

Game 85 Recap: Spoiler! Twins Lose.

1 Comment

Oh, the spoiler feature doesn't work in the headline.
Twins 5, Rays 12 (The 7 runs they scored in the 8 + 9th innings were enough to win without the other 5 they scored)
LP: A. Burnett WP: The other team.
Twins record 38-47, 8.0 games out of first (3 games ahead of the Royals(!)/small victories/)
Save? not.

Oy. I'm glad that I watched this game while I was in the studio because at least I accomplished something of value on my own. Frankie wasn't sharp, but the offense picked him up. Sinkingship was called on to relieve F-bomb, and pitched quite well surrendering just one hit and one walk while striking out 3 in two innings pitched. After Mijares stuck out the dude who he was asked to strike out gardy decided it would be a good idea to bring in Burnett. Previously, I had been under the impression that the only time it was a good idea to bring in Burnett was when the other team had already won the game, but I guess I was wrong about that. Alex's line for the day reads like the script for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, he gave up 4 hits, a walk, and 4 earned runs over one and a third innings pitched. Awesome. Dumatrait came on for the ninth and expanded the suck by securing two fast outs and then letting some dude named Long"donger'oria jack a three run shot. Boo.

Cuddy had an allstar day at the dish, and TK thinks that Joe Mauer shouldn't be a catcher. That about sums up this stinker.

I was all set to link to the Mill City Museum, but they're closed because the man is holding them down. Boo.

2011 Twins Game Logs

2011 Game 85: TB visiting MN

166 Comments

21-9 just feels so much better than 17-37. Twins are looking to sweep the Rays at home for the first time in six years. Wade Davis versus Francisco Liriano in the Twins' most important game of all time.

Lineups:
Twins
1. Revere         8
2. Casilla        4
3. Cuddyer        3
4. Homie        DH
5. Valencia    5
6. Tosoni        7
7. Repko 9
8. Rivera        2
9. Nishioka    6

Rays
1. Damon        DH
2. Zobrist        9
3. Longoria    5
4. Upton        8
5. Rodriguez    4
6. Kotchman    3
7. Ruggiano    7
8. Shoppach    2
9. Johnson        6

GO Twins!

2011 Twins Game Recaps

2011 Game 84: Twins 3, Rays 2

1 Comment

This was one of those games that even though the hometown nine won, it wasn't terribly satisfying. Early in the game, they had some hits against Shields but never really seemed to string together enough to get an extended rally. The runs they scored were on a ground out and a bloop single that got past the Rays' right fielder. Clearly the more concerning things are Baker leaving with an elbow injury & Capps's continued ineptitude.

Everything the training staff said yesterday made this seem like a minor injury for Baker, but their track record is spotty at best. If Baker is out of the rotation for significant time, this will definitely hurt the Twins' chances of making a comeback. He's definitely been the ace of the staff, and I would be pretty bummed if he lost significant time since he has been so darn good. I want Slowey to be freed and I look forward to seeing Gibson in the rotation, but I do not want it to come at the expense of Baker's rotation spot.

Capps has been crapp in his last three outings, and I don't want him on the mound at all. He's pure butt right now. He needs a couple days off to get his mind right. He needs some low leverage work to get sorted out. Early in the season, I liked him as the middle-late inning fireman. If Nathan can take over 9th inning duties, Perkins can continue to ball outrageous, and Capps can reclaim that role the bullpen would be much better for it. There's no sense in throwing him out there to get pounded in the 9th over and over just because he's the "closer."

The Indigenous People & Tigers lost last night. Seven back. I can hardly believe it. I can't wait for the Indians & Tigers to come to town after the All Star Break.

Final Score: Minnesota Twins 3, Tampa Bay Rays 2
Twins Record: 38-46, 7.0 GB in the AL Central.
WP: Scott Baker (7-5) | LP: James Shields (8-6)

WGOM Videos

Carl Perkins & Friends – That’s Alright Mama/Blue Moon Of Kentucky/Night Train To Memphis/Amen

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i'm kinda digging on the other perkins, but not as much as this one.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCvE1aoYgDs
1985

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