2011 Twins Game Recaps, View from the Ballpark

2011 Game 33: Red Sox 2, Twins 1 (11)

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Weather: 60°F, cloudy
Wind: 16 mph, in from CF
Attendance: 37,276
Time: 3:55

Twins record: 12-21 (tied for last in AL Central, 10.0 GB)
Fangraphs boxscore | MLB Game Wrap

Highlights:

  • Highest WPA, hitter: Span .150 (2-4, R, BB) | Highest WPA, pitcher: Mijares .299 (2.0 IP, H, BB)
  • Outfield defense - Revere's diving catch and Span's sliding catch

Lowlights:

  • Lowest WPA, hitter: Tolbert, -.346 (0-5, 1 SO) | Lowest WPA, pitcher: Hoey, -.350 (0.1 IP, H, BB, ER)
  • Tolbert: still batting second
  • MLB's continued employment of Angel Hernandez and Joe West

BOSTON -- The latest rumblings out of the Twins' clubhouse are something else indeed. General Manager Bill Smith accidentally ran his iPhone through the visitor's clubhouse washing machine in Chicago last week after spilling a Chicago-style hot dog on his pants. Smith immediately put the device in a box of rice, to no avail, and had to reluctantly borrow infielder Matt Tolbert's phone so he could make some calls and find a new catcher. Steve Holm wasn't quite Corky Miller bad in his brief appearance, but Bill Smith eventually figured out he wasn't an answer to any question worth asking. Tolbert reportedly told Smith he doesn't make enough for the Twins' GM to call 411 and ask for the Rangers' front office (more on this in a moment), but could swing a call to AAA Rochester as long as it happened on his plan's nights & weekends minutes.

Red Wings infielder Toby Gardenhire is apparently #3 on Tolbert's speed dial, right behind Voicemail (#1) and former teammate Nick Punto (#2). Smith accordingly placed his call to Gardenhire the Younger, who relayed the request for a catcher to Red Wings manager Tom Nieto. Nieto, himself a former Twin, initially volunteered his own services, but apparently requested a few days to iron the fungoes out of his swing, time that Smith just wasn't willing to waste.

In his first season with the Twins, Nieto briefly served as Tim Laudner's backup and outhit regular backup Sal Butera late in the season (.071/.188/.143 for Nieto vs. .063/.118/.125 for Butera in Sept/Oct) before being inexplicably left off the playoff roster. Nieto actually paced Twins catchers in hitting and on-base percentage that year, posting a .200/.276/.314 line to Laudner's .191/.252/.389 and Sal Butera's .171/.217/.243 mark. Overall, Nieto posted an OPS+ of 17 in his Twins career, which spanned 183 plate appearances between 1987-88. When reached for comment, Nieto said, "I out-hit Sal Butera in 1987, and I believe in the depths of my soul I can out-hit his son in 2011." Drew Butera currently owns a positively Buterian .172/.213/.251 line. "But the Twins value defense behind the plate," Nieto continued, "and I accumulated -0.2 dWAR in my Twins career, so Bill Smith elected to pursue other options."

So, that's why Rene Rivera is now with the Twins. But why Rivera instead of, say, Rangers catcher/first baseman Mike Napoli, who has only 63 at bats (but 6 HR) this season despite a career 119 OPS+ and a .238 ISO? Napoli, only 29, is likely still in his hitting prime, and despite whatever Mike Scioscia - Napoli's former manager - thinks, he appears to be a serviceable catcher. Unfortunately, Smith laundered his iPhone and apparently hasn't yet worked up the nerve to tell Jim Pohlad, Dave St. Peter, or Wade Navratil, the Twins' Senior Director of Technology. Of course, Smith could always look up Rangers GM Jon Daniels' number in his laptop's address book, or drop Daniels an email for that matter, but an unnamed source in the Twins' front office divulged that Smith has forgotten how to turn his laptop on. According to another source in the Twins' front office, former Twins GM Terry Ryan and former Twins manager Tom Kelly have offered to call former Twins GM Andy MacPhail, currently the Orioles' President of Baseball Operations, about the availability of Matt "Mauer with Power" Wieters, but Smith has repeatedly expressed the desire to put his own stamp on the club.

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This week's View from the Ballpark:

photo by Flickr user LugoLounge
I know at least 5 6 7 10 Hall of Famers played here. | photo by Flickr user LugoLounge

Remember, no embiggening.

Keeping Track

Minor Details: Games of 5/9

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Rochester 7, Louisville 6 in Rochester. (18 innings).  Matt Brown homered in the eighth to tie the game, then there was no more scoring until the eighteenth, when two-out singles by Dustin Martin, Toby Gardenhire, Brian Dinkelman, and Ray Chang brought in the winning run.  Brown also doubled and singled, scoring three times.  Dinkelman and Martin each had three hits, Chang had two, and Jeff Bailey singled and tripled.  Starter Andrew Baldwin went 5.1 innings, giving up four runs (all in the first) on nine hits.  Carlos Gutierrez pitched three shutout innings and Anthony Slama, Dusty Hughes, and Yorman Bazardo each pitched two.  Chuck James worked a perfect eighteenth for the win.  It was the longest game in the history of Frontier Field.

New Britain 8, Binghamton 5 in Binghamton.  The Rock Cats scored five in the fifth to take a 7-2 lead.  Chris Parmelee and Deibinson Romero each had three hits.  Evan Bigley singled and doubled.  Brett Jacobson pitched four innings, giving up two runs on four hits and a walk.  Spencer Steedley got the win, allowing a run on four hits in three innings.  Cole DeVries gave up two runs in two innings, raising his ERA to 0.87.

Ft. Myers 5, Jupiter 3 in Jupiter.  The Miracle built a 5-0 lead after four.  Aaron Hicks singled and doubled and Nick Romero had two hits.  Matt Schuld got the win with five shutout innings, giving up three hits and two walks.  Dakota Watts came in with the bases loaded and one out in the ninth and got the only man he faced to hit into a double play.

Beloit 5, Cedar Rapids 4 in Beloit (10 innings).  The Snappers led 4-0 after six, but the Kernels scored four in the seventh to tie.  Nate Roberts and Wang-Wei Lin each had three hits and Michael Gonzales and Lance Ray each had two.  Adrian Salcedo pitched six shutout innings before tiring in the seventh; for the game his line was four runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk in 6.1 innings.  Clinton Dempster worked 2.2 scoreless innings for the win and Matt Hauser pitched the tenth for the save.

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I love these guys on record, but have never been able to make a show. I've gotta fix that next time they come through. (As would be expected with this kind of music, sound quality is not great.)
Live at the State Theater, St. Pete FL, 2009
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2011 Twins Game Logs

2011 Game 33: Twins at Sawks

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So, about that winning streak. It was nice, wasn't it? The last two games, not so much.

Tonight, Our Boys make an appearance on Monday Night Baseball on the 4ltr. I'm sure we are all excited to have the nation see our AAAA (AAA?) squad take the field. Will Cuddyer play shortstop?? Go team!

Game time: 6:10 p.m. Central.
Pitching matchup:
Nick Blackburn (4.41 ERA, 5.53 FIP, 4.47 xFIP, 6.18 tRA, 15:13 K:BB, 6 HR, 34 2/3 innings)
Josh Beckett (2.35 ERA, 3.14 FIP, 3.26 xFIP, 3.07 tRA, 35:12 K:BB, 3 HR, 38 1/3 innings)

On paper, this one does not look good. We get Blackie instead of F-Bomb, who has been suffering from "Flu-like symptoms." Mebbe next year, the team can set up a flu shot clinic, please?

Blackburn has been awful in three of his six starts so far, having given up five runs each on April 15 and April 20, then seven in 3 1/3 horrible innings at home on April 28. But there are glimmers of hope, as his other three starts have been quite good, including a solid 6 2/3 inning outing to beat the Bitch Sox on May 4. When things are going well, Blackburn is a league-average pitcher who doesn't miss many bats, but who generates a lot of ground balls. In his three good outings, he induced 35 ground balls against only 17 fly balls and 9 line drives. In his three bad outings -- 27:19:16.

For his part, Beckett has been good-not-great so far. I see some hope in that he gave up 7 fly balls and 3 walks in a rain-abbreviated 4 1/3 innings against LAAAAAA on May 4th in his last start, and got hit hard by the Orioles (4 runs on 2 HR, 10 fly balls and 5 LDs in 6 innings) the start before that.

Fenway Bandbox isn't the sort of place you want to be giving up a lot of fly balls in, so let's hope the Good Blackie shows his beard tonight, and Beckett pipes a few to the Dude and Mountie.

Keeping Track

Minor Details: Games of 5/8

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Gwinnett 5, Rochester 1 in Rochester.  The Braves scored four in the third and were never threatened.  Toby Gardenhire had two hits.  Scott Diamond lasted 3.2 innings, surrendering five runs on eight hits and a walk.  Jeff Manship pitched two scoreless innings.

New Britain 4, Portland 1 in Portland.  The Rock Cats scored three in the sixth to overcome a 1-0 deficit.  Joe Benson singled and doubled and Danny Rohlfing has two hits.  Bobby Lanigan got the win, giving up a run on six hits and a walk in six innings, striking out five.  Tyler Robertson threw three shutout innings to get the save.

Ft. Myers—No game scheduled.

Cedar Rapids 9, Beloit 2 in Cedar Rapids.  The Kernels scored three in the fourth, two in the sixth, and two in the seventh.  Gunner Glad hit a home run.  Logan Darnell allowed five runs (four earned) on six hits and four walks in 4.2 innings.

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.