Twins affiliates go 3-1 on the road. The Snappers play Twins baseball. Miguel Sano hits his fourth home run.
THIS SPOT RESERVED FOR MEAT
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjUaWnuDL6w
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Loading... Third Monday Movie Day
Movie of the Month: Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) (2006, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck)
The winner of the 2006 Academy Award for Best Foreign Film certainly deserved it. Beau's been ragging on me to see this for something like a year, and I had it at home from Netflix for three months (I have a bad habit of putting off foreign movies because I can't look away from the subtitles and my kids distract me a lot).
It was worth the wait. Wiesler (Ulrich Muhe) works for the East German secret police, the Stasi, and bugs the houses of artists and writers, documenting their activities to see if they're western sympathizers. At times I forgot I was watching a German movie, since it's easily compared to McCarthyism in America.
Wiesler follows the lives of a playwright and his girlfriend and becomes increasingly sympathetic with them, and is forced to start making some difficult choices.
The playwright, the girlfriend and various other secret police and artistic types all turn in fine performances, but Muhe is the clear star and commands attention any time he's onscreen. According to IMDb, the script particularly resonated with Wiesler, since he as a theater actor was observed by the Stasi, and he later found out that his wife at the time was registered as an informant. Sadly, the film that launched Muhe from a supporting player to a lead actor proved to be one of his last, as he died in 2007 at age 54 of stomach cancer.
The script is near flawless and the whole thing leads to a satisfying and yet utterly believable ending.
I can't recommend this one enough.
April 16, 2012: Expectations
My go-to phrase has been "Well, they won't lose 99 games again." I hope I haven't been lying all this time.
Game 9 Recap: Minnesota 3, Texas 4
Jackie Robinson Day. Jack Roosevelt Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball when he joined the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947. He played 9 years in the majors and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962. I could go on, but if you watched baseball today, you already know everything there is to know about #42. Sh*t, even if you didn't watch baseball today you probably already know all about Jackie. He is that significant to the Civil Rights era and the eventual improvement of race-relations in America; a true icon. His inclusion and eventual debut in the majors was carefully orchestrated by Branch Rickey (to me, one of the more interesting characters in MLB history). In case you're still wondering, this game came nowhere near the historic magnitude of Jackie Robinson or even Branch Rickey.
The game ended poorly for Glen Perkins and he took the loss. Robbie Ross took over in the 6th and pitched 2 scoreless inning for the Rangers to notch his 2nd win. Through the early innings, it was the Clete Thomas and Liam Hendriks show. In their season debut for the Local 9, the former Twins draft pick (and recent Tiger) jacked a 2-run homer and had a nice (sort-of?) outfield assist, and the Aussie pitched 6 innings of 1 run ball. After completing 7, the Twins had a 3-1 lead and the top of the order due up. It should have been enough to get the Twins back in the win column, ready to salvage the rubber match of the series against the Dallas, Texas Rangers of Arlington. Except it wasn't... Continue reading Game 9 Recap: Minnesota 3, Texas 4
2012 Game 9: Rangers at Twins
Alright, dudes, we have some work to do real quick-like if the Twins are going to have a winning record by the time Beau gets back. That should be no problem against the Rangers today, right?
Neftali Feliz has been closing for the Rangers since shortly after his career started, and they made the correct but all-too-rare move to take this great young pitcher and make a starter out of him, maximizing his usefulness. He pitched seven scoreless innings last week, giving up four hits and two walks while striking out four.
Aussie Liam Hendriks is 23 just like Feliz, so they've got that in common, at least. Hendriks started four games last year, pitching 23.1 innings, striking out 16 while walking 6. His ERA in the small sample was 6.17 while his peripheral numbers were much, much better. His K rates in the minors make him a promising pitcher while his BB rates should also make him a favorite of the Twins' brass. The strikeouts dropped a little when he hit AAA, but the walk rate stayed absurdly low (three walks in 49 innings). He doesn't throw very hard, either, so the guy's a Twin through and through.
So, why did I not know just how good this guy was in the minors? Is it because his name makes him sound like an insurance adjuster or something? Well, for whatever reason, I'd forgotten the guy had such promise, and now I've talked myself into being excited for this game. Now just don't remind me that he'll be facing the Texas lineup.
Game 8 Recap: Twins vs. Run Expectancy Charts
The Twins won this battle handily. Run Expectancy put up a good fight, but the Twins persevered against the odds, stranding 15 runners on base (including 3 innings where they left the bases loaded).
"Our hitters were just clutch" Ron Gardenhire said in his post-game presser, "you gotta figure that some runs are gonna score with how many times we got guys out there on the basepaths, but our hitters dug in there, and made sure that those runners stayed where they belonged. I saw Doomy [Twins rightfielder Ryan Doumit] get up there in the fifth, and I didn't even worry, I knew he had it covered. This is a big win for our guys, now we just gotta get in the frame of mind to go out there tomorrow and do it again."
Indeed, the Twins accomplished most of their magic with some incredibly well-timed strikeouts and weak pop flies, frustrating REC's attempts to average things out. At times, REC just seemed snakebit.
"I don't want to talk about it" REC's manager stated after the game, "this loss doesn't even seem real right now... 21 baserunners, and only 2 score? Seriously. What the hell."
Minor Details: Games of 4/14
Another split. Lots of late-game action. Angel Morales has four hits.
April 15, 2012: This is Your Final Warning
Get your taxes done, dudes!
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.