Keeping Track

Minor Details: Games of 6/6

Rochester 5, Norfolk 2 in Rochester.  The Red Wings scored two in the fourth and two in the sixth.  Dustin Martin singled and doubled, driving in four.  Steve Singleton had two hits.  Ryan Mullins gave up one run on five hits and a walk in six innings to get the win.  Cole DeVries struck out three in two shutout innings.

New Britain—No game scheduled.

Jupiter 11, Ft. Myers 3 in Ft. Myers—The Hammerheads scored five in the fourth and four in the fifth, pounding out eighteen hits.  Aaron Hicks singled and doubled.  Edgar Ibarra surrendered six runs (five earned) on seven hits and two walks in 3.2 innings.  Andrew Albers struck out three in two shutout innings.

Beloit—No games scheduled.

DSL Twins 3, White Sox 2 at White Sox (2 innings—suspended game).  The White Sox are still batting with one out in the bottom of the second.  Presumably, the game will be resumed the next time these two teams are scheduled to play.

2011 Twins Game Recaps, View from the Ballpark

2011 Game 59: Twins 6, Indians 4

21 Comments

Weather: 83°F, clear
Wind: 9 mph
Attendance: 15,278
Time: 2:34

Twins record: 22-37 (last in AL Central, 11.5 GB)
Fangraphs boxscore | MLB Game Wrap

Highlights:

  • Highest WPA, hitter: Tolbert .246 (2-4, R, 2 RBI, SO) | Highest WPA, pitcher: Mijares .104 (0.2 IP)
  • The Twins have now managed to string five wins together for the first time this season.
  • The Twins drafted a college middle infielder.

Lowlights:

  • Lowest WPA, hitter: Casilla, -.088 (0-4, GIDP) | Lowest WPA, pitcher: Baker, .067 (7.0 IP, 9 H, 2 HR, 3 ER, 5 K, HBP)
  • Despite drafting a middle infielder, the Twins will still be rostering Tolbert & Casilla for the foreseeable future.

There typically hasn't been much chatter about the actual games in the Monday morning recaps, but just because I run View from the Ballpark that doesn't mean talk about the actual game isn't welcome. Then again, this is the first time that the Twins won on a Monday since the Monday after the Big Move, way back at Game 16. So, if you have observations about last night's break from the trend, do share them.

-------

Here's this week's View from the Ballpark:

photo by Flickr user Curtis Cronn

Though I never was able to attend a game here, this was one of my favorite ballparks in all of baseball. A substantial part of the park actually still exists, but unfortunately has been pitched to the needs of a radically different tenant, erasing a few of the signature elements I really loved about the place, such that the view from this spot no longer exists.

photo by Flickr user Curtis Cronn

Remember, no embiggening.

2011 Twins Game Logs

2011 Game 59: Senators at Naps

192 Comments

The Arizona Diamondbacks are 13-4 since May 20, when they began a three-game sweep of our boys (and 18-5 back to May 14. I just wanted to point that out, because through April, the Snakes were 28th in MLB in FIP (just ahead of the Twins) and 26th in pitching WAR (the Twins were dead last). Now Arizona is in the hunt in the NL West, a half-game back of SF, thanks to much improved pitching (they were middle-of-the-pack in FIP, xFIP and pitching WAR in May).

The Twins ride into Cleveland on the wings of a four-game sweep of the Landed Gentlemen. Not exactly the 1927 Yankees there, but a feel-good weekend nonetheless. But if the Twins are going to make a move, now is the time to get it started, with a series win against the surprise division leaders.

Pitching matchup:

Scott Baker (3.86 ERA, 4.06 FIP, 3.65 xFIP, 66:23 K:BB, 10 HR in 67 2/3)
Josh Tomlin (3.27 ERA, 4.33 FIP, 3.86 xFIP, 41:11 K:BB, 11 HR in 71 2/3)

Tomlin, a righty, has been riding the tiger in Cleveland. He's 7-2, thanks in significant part to best-in-the-majors run support (7.91 r/g), a .213 BAA and unsustainable .213 BABIP, despite not missing very many bats and having given up HRs at the same pace as our boy Scotty. He throws a pedestrian 2-seam fastball, cutter, curve and changeup and recently has been compared unfavorably to Phil Humber. If only we had some healthy, left-handed sluggers to put in the lineup against this Cinderella Story.... Go, Red Wings Rock Cats!!!111one111!!!

First Monday Book Day

First Monday Book Day: The age of recycling

27 Comments

The oldest trick in the literary book is to re-write somebody else's story. And of course, it helps to steal from really good stories.

This month's selection, James Lovegrove's The Age of Odin, is the third in his non-trilogy threesome of godpunk/military scifi retellings of ancient mythological stories. Here, it is Ragnarök with M16s and RPGs.

I was suckered into purchasing this number by the back-cover blurb from The Guardian (actually about another of the three books), "The kind of complex, action-oriented SF Dan Brown would write if Dan Brown could write."

Seriously. I was so amused that the publisher (Solaris Books) had the balls to take such a swipe at another writer on the cover of the book that I gave this one a chance. Now that I have, I will offer my own version of the plug: "The kind of pulpy, shallow action-oriented SF that Neil Gaiman would write if he were 15."

Ok, that's a bit harsh. I found this book mildly entertaining, if derivative (some of the ideas appear to be lifted from -- err, homages to -- Gaiman's fantastic American Gods; in both, the protagonists meet up with more-than-he-seems-to-be old man after a car accident; Gaiman's kills the protagonist's wife; Lovegrove's kills his ex-army buddy; etc. etc.). Lovegrove isn't overly interested in developing either story or character, but he seems to be pretty good at writing blood-and-gore fight scenes. Pretty much the whole book is fight scenes.

This is beach reading, perfect for a teenage boy who has already seen Thor and X-Men: First Class, waiting eagerly for Green Lantern to open. Disposable, largely devoid of any effort to raise Big Ideas, and somewhat hampered by a rather clumsily done development of the bad guy (Loki) as a thinly veiled Sarah Palin. Oooh, so topical! But it reads quickly for its 585 pages. And, perhaps most importantly, it got me in the mood to start George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series.
Continue reading First Monday Book Day: The age of recycling →

Keeping Track

Minor Details: Games of 6/1 – 6/5

3 Comments

ROCHESTER

Wednesday—Rochester 10, Toledo 9 in Rochester.  The Red Wings overcame a 7-0 first inning deficit.  Rene Tosoni and Aaron Bates each had three hits, with Tosoni hitting a home run.

Thursday—Rochester 8, Toledo 0 in Rochester.  Eric Hacker struck out six in six innings, giving up four hits and four walks.

Friday—Norfolk 7, Rochester 2 in Rochester.  Aaron Bates had two hits.  Kyle Gibson allowed six runs (four earned) on nine hits with five strikeouts in five innings.

Saturday—Rochester 5, Norfolk 1 in Rochester.  Dustin Martin doubled and homered.  Scott Diamond allowed an unearned run on four hits and a walk in eight innings.

Sunday—Norfolk 11, Rochester 5 in Rochester (11 innings).  Rene Tosoni had two singles and a double.  Aaron Bates and Chase Lambin each singled and homered.

Continue reading Minor Details: Games of 6/1 – 6/5 →

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.