Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–September 30

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Gabby Street (1882)
Nap Rucker (1884)
Johnny Allen (1904)
Robin Roberts (1926)
Johnny Podres (1932)
Craig Kusick (1948)
Dave Magadan (1962)
Yorkis Perez (1967)
Jose Lima (1972)
Carlos Guillen (1975)

Gabby Street was a light-hitting catcher who played in parts of eight major leagues seasons, mostly for the Washington Senators. He was Walter Johnson's primary catcher. He later did some managing and broadcasting. He is best remembered as the first man to catch a baseball dropped from the top of the Washington Monument.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–September 30 →

WGOM Fitness

Trails and such

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I decided I'm going to hike/bike/run across Connecticut - and started this last weekend.

The New England Scenic Trail goes from the MA border down to the Long Island Sound in Guilford.

On Saturday did the Beseck Mountain segment (hiking boots/trekking sticks, etc.) and on Sunday did Bluff Head by Guilford.  All have similar characteristics from north to south (volcanic eruption with westward facing basalt cliffs).

This evening did a trail run from Albany Ave (Reservoir 6 in West Hartford) to Heublein Tower on the Metacomet Trail.  Tough when it starts to get dark around 6ish.  Several trips but no problems.

Tough running on rocks/boulders/roots/etc. but I like the variety compared to running on asphalt.

2015 Twins Game Logs

Game 157: Twins at Cleveland

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Gibson (10-11, 3.96 ERA, 4.02 xFIP) vs. Anderson (6-3, 3.31 ERA, 4.43 xFIP)

Gibson's coming off his shortest and possibly worst outing of the season against this very Cleveland team. Hopefully he's got a mind for some revenge tonight as the Twins are going to need all the wins they can get since those other frickin teams keep not losing. Since the bullpen has been shaky of late, it'd be great to get a good 7-8 innings.

Opposite Gibson is the rookie Cody Anderson, owner of a shiny 3.31 ERA and a less shiny 4.43 xFIP. He's had some trouble striking guys out with just under 5 K's/9, so on paper this looks like a pretty good matchup for the Twins. It would also be nice if they could find the time to score in more than just one or two innings.

2015 Twins Game Recaps

Game 156: Minnesota 4, Cleveland 2

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Winners!

Facing the reigning Cy Young winner, Corey Kluber, the Twins swung early & often and their first five hits went: double (Mauer), double (Sano), homerun (Plouffe), double (Hunter), double (Rosario). These five players accounted for all eight of the hits for the Twins - Brian Dozier added a sacrifice fly and a BB, Herrrmaaann reached twice (BB & HBP) and Escobar also had a BB.

Eddie further celebrated his 24th Birthday with a couple of singles, going 3-4. Despite 114 K's to only 14 BB's, Rosario's had a very nice rookie year: .270/.290/.463 with 18 Doubles, 15 Triples, 12 Homeruns, 49 RBI's, 56 Runs and 11 Stolen bases.

Tommy Milone, tapped to start in place of an ill Phil Hughes a mere four hours before the game, rebounded nicely from his previous two starts at the beginning of September (the results of which - combined with Hughes' return from the DL and Duffy's effectiveness - caused a move to the bullpen). He gave Molitor & Co. 5 2/3 quality innings, allowing only two earned runs on four hits, no walks and four strikeouts. In the sixth, Kipnis blasted a fly ball to deep centerfield that it appeared Hicks had a play on. Instead, he leapt & missed it and the ball caromed off the wall, allowing Kipnis to reach third base. The Indian's rookie SS phenom, Francisco Lindor, then added his second RBI of the night (first was a 1st inning HR) by grounding out to SS. That was all they'd get as the Twins bullpen went on to shut the Cleveland lineup down. Boyer, Fien, Perkins & Jepsen pitched 3 1/3 innings of shutout baseball, allowing only two hits and striking out three (two by Perk-n-Play - yay!).

With this win, the Twins have guaranteed themselves the first .500 or better season in five years. Considering I couldn't find any/we didn't do any predictions this year, I'd say none of us expected much from this club to begin the season. That they're still in the playoff hunt with six games to play is a minor miracle.

For Funzies:
2014 Predictions
2013 Predictions

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.