Keeping Track

Caribbean Series: Day Three

Mexico 4, Venezuela 2.  Carlos Valencia’s two-run double highlighted a three-run sixth for Mexico.  Iker Franco had two hits for Mexico. Starter Rolando Valdez worked seven strong innings, giving up just two unearned runs on four hits and no walks while striking out five.  Luis Ayala allowed two hits but no runs in the ninth to get his second save of the series.  Adonis Garcia led Venezuela with two hits.  Starter Brian Sweeney took the loss, giving up four runs (one earned) on four hits and a walk while striking out six in 5.1 innings.  Pedro Guerra pitched a perfect eighth with two strikeouts for Venezuela.

Dominican Republic 6, Puerto Rico 1.  The Dominican Republic broke a scoreless tie with two in the fourth and put the game away with three in the sixth.  Pablo Ozuna had three singles and Erick Almonte had two to lead the Dominican Republic.  Raul Valdes got the win, allowing just an unearned run on five hits and a walk in six innings.  Ramon Garcia worked the final three innings scorelessly, striking out three while giving up one hit, to get the save.  For Puerto Rico, Jorge Padilla had three hits.  Starter Bobby Livingston took the loss, allowing two runs on five hits and a walk in 3.2 innings.  Pedro Florimon was 0-for-3 but walked and scored for the Dominican Republic.  Rene Rivera was 0-for-4 for Puerto Rico.  Nelvin Fuentes walked both men he faced and was charged with a run for Puerto Rico.

The Dominican Republic is in sole possession of first place with a perfect 3-0 record.  Second is Mexico at 2-1, followed by Puerto Rico at 1-2 and Venezuela at 0-3.  The Series is a six-game round robin.

WGOM

Making ‘Sausage’ and a Point

16 Comments

Last week we had a Truck Time with Twayn and bS commented "I want to see some sausage-making pictures too." Funny thing is, I was actually in the process of making sausage* so this one is for brian. Unfortunately, I neglected the camera during the mixing/stuffing portion so all you get is the recipe and directions. However, the smoking, eating and drinking the Point Classic Amber was the fun part - so here you go!

Continue reading Making ‘Sausage’ and a Point →

NBA

Game 24: .500 is in sight: the search for Curly’s gold

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last night, there was no local tv coverage for our beloved Pups. Instead, FSNorth airs college hockey. No, not the Gophers, or any of the other WCHA Minnesota teams. (an aside: notice FSN never shows St. Cloud, Duluth, Bemidji, or Mankato hockey? Its like the Gophers are the only college hockey team in the state #bitterOutstater) They show Michigan-Miami (OH). Really? Heck, they could of showed North Dakota hockey and it would of made more sense.

Well tonight, once again there is no local tv for the most exciting team in market. FSNorth has got Wild hockey on the air, and I wont be bothered to watch that because they play at Dallas and the Wild hasnt won at Dallas since Manny Fernandez was the netminder (Im guestimating there, its been a long time) so once again I'll be monitoring the game on WCCO. The move from KFAN to WCCO seemed odd at the time. Why would the mighty Good Neighbor join up with a pack of misfits like the Wolves? Its not like they are going to bring in the ratings. Anyways, Im glad they are on there because out here in the southern hinterlands 'CCO comes in fine at night where KFAN (AM)dropped signal strength at sundown.

The Houston Rockets are back in town for the 7pm game. Kevin McHale was booed hard last time they were here. Did he deserve it? Probably not, but I just think it was the loyal fans of the team letting out years and years of frustration on inept draft picks and stupid coaching hirings and firings. Maybe the boos will be gone tonight.

Pek! had a monster night last night with 27 and 11 and should replace Darko in the starting lineup. Rubio is freaking awesome. @WolvesRadio tweeted some great numbers about Rubio

@rickyrubio9 becomes the 4th player in #twolves history to have a Pt/Ast Db-Db and have 6+ steals. #nba

In the last 5 2nd halves, @rickyrubio9 has 28 assists and 2 turnovers. #twolves #nba

@rickyrubio9 leads the #nba in 4th quarter assists with 56. #twolves

lets get that .500 mark!

Keeping Track

This Week In Ex-Twins

Atlanta agrees to terms with Dusty Hughes on a minor league contract.
Atlanta agrees to terms with Peter Moylan on a minor league contract.
Baltimore signs Pat Neshek to a minor league contract.
Baltimore agrees to terms with Dennys Reyes on a minor league contract.
Baltimore agrees to terms with Willie Eyre on a minor league contract.
Baltimore agrees to terms with Steve Tolleson on a minor league contract.
Cubs agree to terms with Matt Tolbert on a minor league contract.
Cubs agree to terms with Matt Garza on a one year contract.
Colorado agrees to terms with Brendan Harris on a minor league contract.
Houston signs Livan Hernandez to a minor league contract.
Texas signs Ron Washington to a two-year contract extension.

Keeping Track

Australian League Playoffs

Sydney 6, Melbourne 2 in Melbourne.  Sydney scored three in the seventh to take a 6-0 lead.  Mitch Dening hit two home runs, driving in four for the Blue Sox.  Tyler Collins also homered for them.  Eliot Biddle had two singles and a double to lead Melbourne.  Justin Huber hit a home run for the Aces.  Brad Thomas worked seven strong innings for Sydney, giving up a run on four hits and a walk while striking out six to get the win.  Nic Ungs took the loss for Melbourne.  He struck out ten in 6.1 innings, but allowed six runs on eight hits.  The only Twins to play were Jacob Younis, who was 1-for-4 and scored once for Sydney, and Joshua Hendricks, who was 0-for-2 for Melbourne.  Sydney takes a 2-1 lead in the best-of-five series.  The winner will play Perth for the championship.

Keeping Track

Caribbean Series: Day Two

Mexico 2, Puerto Rico 0.  Mexico scored twice in the bottom of the fourth, and that was all the scoring in the game.  Karim Garcia of Mexico was the only player to have two hits in the game.  The only extra-base hits came on doubles by Jesus Garcia (Mexico) and Irving Falu (Puerto Rico).  The shutout came at the hands of three ex-Twins pitching for Mexico.  Randy Keisler worked seven innings, giving up four hits and a walk to get the win.  Dan Serafini faced two batters, striking out one and walking one.  Luis Ayala retired the final five batters of the game to get the save.  Matt DeSalvo took the loss for Puerto Rico, allowing two runs on three hits and three walks in 3.2 innings.  The only Twins player to appear in the game was Rene Rivera, who was used as a substitute for Puerto Rico but did not bat.

Dominican Republic 5, Venezuela 2 (13 innings).  Andy Dirks singled in the go-ahead run in the thirteenth and Erick Almonte doubled in a pair of insurance runs.  Pablo Ozuna had three hits for the Dominican Republic.  Almonte drove in three runs for the game.  Cesar Suarez had three hits and drove in a run to lead Venezuela.  Lorenzo Barcelo worked five shutout innings for the Dominican Republic, striking out six while giving up six hits.  Merkin Valdez threw two shutout innings to get the win in relief.  Jairo Ascenzio pitched a perfect ninth to get the save.  Starter Tyson Brummett gave up two runs on seven hits in 4.2 innings for Venezuela.  Jon Hunton allowed the three thirteenth inning runs in his second inning of work to take the loss.  Pedro Florimon was 1-for-3 with a double and two walks for the Dominican Republic, scoring twice.

The Dominican Republic moves into first place in the six-game round robin with a 2-0 record.  Puerto Rico and Mexico are 1-1, while Venezuela is 0-2.

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.