2012 Twins Game Log

2012 Game 154: Evil Incarnate at Twins

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First Pitch - 7:10 p.m. (set your digital watches)
Television - FSN

This late in the season, Time is not on our side. But with just over a week to go, we have a chance to at least play the Bandits and help our bretheren in Baltimore (including the Gentleman Masher) steal the American League East division title away from Evil. Of course, it won't be easy, but nothing is when your team has turned into a bunch of bumbling midgets that have stolen the map of all the holes in the Universe (like the one that sucked our starting rotation right into oblivion this season) and you're on the run from Bud Selig the Supreme Being.

On the hill tonight Liam Hendriks will face off against Andy Pettitte in a classic pairing of  rookie non-phenom versus veteran ace. In another time or place I might do a deep and thoughtful performance analysis of the two starters or the two lineups (probability level -99.7%), but honestly, today I feel  so mercifully free of the ravages of intelligence that I won't bother. Hell, gents, this thing only ends one way or the other. But it sure would be nice in the waning days of another lost season to have a hand in knocking the boys from the Bronx off their precarious one-game perch and forcing them into the playoffs as a wild card team instead of a division winner. And besides, you can never get enough of puppies this time of year.

Play ball!

 

 

History, Minnesota Twins

September 24, 2008: Random Day in Twins History

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I used a random number generator to pick a season from the past with the idea that I would quickly highlight the Twins history that occurred today in that year.  The generator sent me to the year 2008.

Twins 3, White Sox 2 - BR Boxscore

The Twins pieced together four shutout innings of relief to win their second straight game against the White Sox while pulling within a half game of first place in the AL Central.  Nick Blackburn allowed two runs in five innings despite pitching around ten baserunners (sound familiar?).  Craig Breslow, Boof Bonser (?!), and Jose Mijares each pitched a scoreless inning before Joe Nathan's 1-2-obligatory-4 ninth inning save, the 200th of his career.  “You couldn’t ask for anything better than that,” Blackburn said of the bullpen.  “They came in, did their job and got those guys out.  No drama.  It was great.”  In Mijares's eighth inning, he retired JI JIM, Paul Konerko, and Ken Griffey, Jr. in order. Continue reading September 24, 2008: Random Day in Twins History →

2012 Twins Game Recaps

Game 153: Twins 2, Tigers 1 (Game 2 of the day/night double header)

Twins sweep the day and come home for the final homestand of the 2012 season on a 2-game winning streak. Burton gets the win, Valverde gets the loss and all is right in the world...except Baby Jeebus went 0-5 in the nightcap, dropping his average to .323.

Fun fact: Twins were 1-7 with RISP and only had 1 RBI - Carroll's single in the 10th.

Perkins pitched a clean bottom half for his 14th save on the season. Walters managed to hold the Tiggers to 1 run on 5 hits over 6 innings and the bullpen held that up.

2012 Twins Game Recaps

Game 152: Twins 10, Tigers 4 (Game 1 of the day/night double header)

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With the win in today's first game, the Twins assured themselves of losing no more than 99 games this year. They are now 63-89 on the season with 10 games left to play - so there's that.

Scott Diamond got back to his winning ways allowing only 2 earned runs on 4 hits while striking out 5 in 7 innings of work. Fein and Burnett pitched the 8th & 9th respectively with the additional Detroit runs coming in the 9th following a Morneau error.

The key inning for Minnesota was the 6th when they sent 9 men to the dish and scored 5 runs. Mauer, Morneau, Plouffe! and Florimon batted runs in and Morneau scored on a third strike passed ball when Villareal covered home for the force but didn't tag Mountie.* I didn't see it, but I'll be honest - I wouldn't have known that rule either. Good on Justin for hustling home and forcing the issue...I think.

Mauer went 3-4 with 4 RBI on the day bringing his BA up to .326 (now .325) - 2nd place in batting average to Miguel Cabrera at .332 - and his RBI total to 83. There's an ouside chance he gets to 100 runs batted in and a good chance he surpasses his highest totals for all but his MVP season (96) in that category. He drove in 84 in '06 and 85 in '08.

*boy that was a tortured sentence.

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.