Happy Birthday–April 15

Jim Creighton (1841)
Ed Abbaticchio (1877)
Ed Bailey (1931)
Willie Davis (1940)
Ted Sizemore (1945)
Jeromy Burnitz (1969)
Milton Bradley (1978)
John Danks (1985)

Until Henry Aaron came along, Ed Abbaticchio held the "first in the alphabet" record.

There do not appear to be any major league players with connections to the Minnesota Twins born on this day.

Game 8: Rangers at Twins

Today, the Twins will be trotting out this lineup:

1. Span, CF
2. Caroll, SS
3. Mauer, C
4. Morneau, DH
5. Willingham, LF
6. Doumit, RF
7. Valencia, 3B
8. Parmelee, 1B
9. Casilla, 2B

If that lineup looks familiar, it's because it was the opening day lineup, and most likely the one the management hoping to get a lot of mileage out of. Whether or not this is the lineup that the team ends up with, and whether or not it's the one that shows some punch, it's worth noting that this is the third time they've used it in this young season. I'm sure you remember that the team used their opening day lineup precisely never after opening day, partially due to Nishioka getting hurt, then sucking horribly, partially due to a million injuries. What you might not be aware of is the fact that there were only 3 lineups that ended up being used 3 times over the entire of last year, and none that were used more than three times.

The Twins probably won't contend for anything this year, but at least it's looking like we'll have a fairly consistent lineup to see day after day. There's a bit of comfort in that.

Today, Nick Blackburn (4.04 xFIP, 7.50 ERA) tries to find a little bit more luck, while Yu Darvish (5.23 xFIP, 7.94 ERA) tries to show that his ugly first start wasn't the shape of things to come.

Total team record, 2-5
Saturday record, 0-1

Happy Birthday–April 14

Cannonball Redding (1890)
Marvin Miller (1917)
Gordon Gillespie (1926)
Don Mueller (1927)
Marty Keough (1934)
Pete Rose (1941)
Joe Lahoud (1947)
Ron Schueler (1948)
Greg Maddux (1966)
David Justice (1966)
Greg Myers (1966)
Mike Trombley (1967)
Brad Ausmus (1969)
Steve Avery (1970)
Gregg Zaun (1971)
Kyle Farnsworth (1976)

Gordon Gillespie holds the record for most wins by a college baseball coach.

It must be kind of a bummer for a big league ballplayer to not only not be the best player born on the day and year he was born, but to not even be the best player with his first name born on the day and year he was born.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 14

Game 7 Recap: Rangers 4 — Twins 1

MINNESOTA 1 -- TEXAS 4
Twins Record: 2-5
Lowest WPA - Swarzak (7 IP, 4 R, 0 BB, 3 SO), Mauer (1 for 4, SO, GIDP)
Highest WPA - Willingham (1 for 2, R, BB, HBP)
Fangraphs - MLB Recap

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The Twins made some solid contact in the first few innings, but Texas made some sparkling defensive plays to keep the damage to a Danny Valencia sac fly in the second. 1-0 Twins for the first time all season. But would it be enough?

It would not. Swarzak put up another perfectly reasonable start, the big Texas inning was one where the Twins needed a sparkling defensive play or two. Instead the first 5 Rangers reached (4 singles and an error) resulting in 3 runs. Minnesota would get a few guys on base over the course of the game but never get the big hit to bring the game back within reach.

There are plenty of people who will say Texas is better than the Twins. Tonight the Rangers got a little bit more pitching, a little bit more hitting, and a little bit more defense. That was enough to make this a not terribly exciting end to the Twins longest winning streak of the year.

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.