Minnesota Twins

Harmon Killebrew, 1936-2011

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image by Flickr user BaseballBacks, used under a Creative Commons license

Harmon Killebrew, the first Minnesota Twin inducted into the Hall of Fame, passed away today at home in the same manner in which he lived his life, quietly and with exceptional dignity. Esophageal cancer claimed the gentle giant at age 74. At his side was his wife, Nita, and their family. For perspective on Harmon and his accomplishments, I direct you to Joe Posnanski's piece, "The Gentleman Called Killer", published just yesterday.

There's much which can be said about Harmon Killebrew, and what he meant to Twins fans, either as a great player, a matchless ambassador of the game and representative of the Twins, or as a Minnesota icon. Feel free to pay your respects below, either by relating a story about Harmon, by sharing some thoughts on his accomplishments, or any other way you see fit.

Keeping Track

Minor Details: Games of 5/13 – 5/16

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ROCHESTER

Friday—Charlotte 6, Rochester 4 in Charlotte.  Ray Chang had three hits.

Saturday—Charlotte 2, Rochester 0 in Charlotte (5 innings).  Rene Tosoni and Jeff Bailey each doubled for the only Red Wings hits.

Sunday—Charlotte 8, Rochester 4 in Charlotte.  Aaron Bates had three doubles.  Chuck James struck out four in 2.2 scoreless innings.

Monday—Rochester at Charlotte.  Postponed.

NEW BRITAIN

Friday—New Britain 2, Portland 0 in New Britain.  Bobby Lanigan gave up three hits and no walks in eight innings.  Steve Singleton doubled and homered.

Saturday—New Britain 6, Portland 3 in New Britain (Game 1—Scheduled 7 innings).  Deolis Guerra gave up one run on two hits and now walks in five innings.

New Britain 4, Portland 0 in New Britain (Game 2—Scheduled 7 innings).  Brett Jacobson and Ryan Mullins each threw three scoreless innings.  Chris Herrmann hit a two-run homer.

Sunday—Portland at New Britain.  Postponed

Monday—No games scheduled.

FT. MYERS

Friday—Dunedin 3, Ft. Myers 2 in Ft. Myers (Game 1—Scheduled 7 innings).  Ramon Santana’s double was the only extra base hit.

Dunedin 7, Ft. Myers 1 in Ft. Myers (Game 2—Scheduled 7 innings).  Nick Romero had two hits.

Saturday—Ft. Myers 4, Daytona 1 in Daytona.  Matt Schuld struck out nine in six innings, giving up one run on three hits and a walk.  Blake Martin struck out four in two shutout innings and Bruce Pugh struck out the side in the ninth.

Sunday—Daytona 8, Ft. Myers 3 in Daytona.  Brian Dozier had three hits.  Brad Tippett gave up one run on three hits in five innings of relief.

Monday—Daytona 6, Ft. Myers 4 in Daytona.  Anderson Hidalgo had three hits.  Steve Liddle had two doubles.

BELOIT

Friday—Quad Cities at Beloit.  Postponed.

Saturday—Beloit 6, Quad Cities 4 in Beloit (Game 1—Scheduled 7 innings).  The Snappers scored all six runs in the third inning.  They got four of their five hits that inning.

Quad Cities 6, Beloit 2 in Beloit.  (Game 2—Scheduled 7 innings).  Wang-Wei Lin had two hits.  Jose Gonzalez struck out three in two scoreless innings.

Sunday—Quad Cities 5, Beloit 4 in Beloit.  Daniel Ortiz had two doubles.

Monday—No games scheduled.

2011 Twins Game Recaps, View from the Ballpark

2011 Game 39: Mariners 5, Twins 2

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Weather: "indoors"
Attendance: 14,859
Time: 2:31

Twins record: 12-27 (last in AL Central, 13.5 GB)
Fangraphs boxscore | MLB Game Wrap

"Highlights":

  • Highest WPA, hitter: Morneau .038 (1-4, SO) | Highest WPA, pitcher: Some band-aid whose name I've already forgotten .003 (1.1 IP, ER, 2 BB)

Lowlights:

  • Lowest WPA, hitter: Cuddyer, -.138 (1-4, R) | Lowest WPA, pitcher: Baker, -.172 (6.0 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 8 SO, 4 ER)
  • Pretty much all of it.

Last night Scott Baker had a very Scott Baker-y outing. The Twins lost.

What else can I say about the game? I fell asleep after Pineda came out, it's now 2:30am, and I'm going to bed. If I've missed something important, talk about it below.

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This week's View from the Ballpark might be too easy, but I like the history behind it too much to let it go.

photo by Flickr user joshbousel

Over the years at least two former Twins have managed here. | photo by Flickr user joshbousel

Remember, no embiggening.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 17

Hal Carlson (1892)
Del Webb (1899)
Cool Papa Bell (1903)
Ace Parker (1912)
Billy Hoeft (1932)
Ozzie Virgil (1932)
Dan Monzon (1946)
Carlos May (1948)
Pascual Perez (1957)
Greg Mathews (1962)
Jose Guillen (1976)
Carlos Pena (1978)

Ace Parker is a member of both the College Football and Pro Football Hall of Fame.  He was an infielder for the Philadelphia Athletics in 1937-1938.

Left-hander Greg Mathews was drafted by Minnesota in the ninth round of the January draft in 1982, but did not sign.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 17 →

WGOM Videos

Meat Puppets – Whirlpool

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i want to give a big thank you to AMR. another great installment in a great line of DJ weeks. well done, good sir. everything wasn't my cup o' tea, but i believe that's the point of DJ weeks, and the WGOM videos in general.

anyway, i believe he expressed regret that he wasn't able to get to the meat puppets, and i was sad he didn't get to it either. well, based on my research, classic MP performances are hard to come by on the YT, but here's one:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bERdZ5uXyEg
1992

AMR, if you've got more, i'd love you to throw some more up below.

5 votes, average: 7.20 out of 105 votes, average: 7.20 out of 105 votes, average: 7.20 out of 105 votes, average: 7.20 out of 105 votes, average: 7.20 out of 105 votes, average: 7.20 out of 105 votes, average: 7.20 out of 105 votes, average: 7.20 out of 105 votes, average: 7.20 out of 105 votes, average: 7.20 out of 10 (5 votes, average: 7.20 out of 10)
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2011 Twins Game Logs

2011 Game 39: Twins at Mariners

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Finally, the Twins get to pick on somebody their own size. The Worst Team in Baseball is 12-256; the Mariners, 16-23 and in last place in the A.L. West, percentage points "up" on the Bitch Sox for second worst record in the A.L.

Seattle returns home from an 0-4 East Coast (err, Bal'more and Cleveland) trip that ended with consecutive rainouts. So they should be well rested.

Pitching matchup

Scott Baker (3.71 ERA, 4.36 FIP, 3.76 xFIP, 97 tRA+, 40:15 K:BB in 43 2/3) vs.
Michael Pineda (2.84 ERA, 2.67 FIP, 3.31 xFIP, 145 tRA+, 45:13 K:BB in 44 1/3)

The 22-year old rookie right-hander Pineda has been very effective to date, echoing his minor league performance (2.49 ERA, 396:93 K:BB in 404 1/3). He's a fastball-slider guy and, according to PitchFx, Pineda has a VERY live fastball (avg 95.1 MPH), with the slider coming in at 84.7. A right-handed F-Bomb??

Oh, and in case that wasn't discouraging enough, here's some salt in your wounds from the Yahoo preview:

Minnesota outfielder Delmon Young(notes) went 1 for 12 with seven strikeouts against Toronto over the weekend in his return from rib soreness that sidelined him nearly a month. Young is a .227 lifetime hitter at Safeco Field with 18 strikeouts in 66 at-bats.

Enjoy some West Coast baseball, kids. I will be at the Girl's violin lesson for most of this one.

At The Movies

Third Monday Movie Day

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Movie of the Month: Delicatessen (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 1991)

Delicatessen is another beautifully shot, dark but ultimately hopeful film from not-prolific-enough director Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Louison (Dominique Pinon, a Jeunet regular), a former clown, moves into a sad, rundown tenement in a rustic (post-apocalyptic?) world, answering an ad to be the building's handyman. The ad's been placed by the tenement's butcher, who draws in helpers, kills them and sells the meat to the tenants, who have little else to sustain them.

The butcher's daughter falls for Louison, and well, that's a movie right there. Highly recommended, and not as dark as it sounds. It's largely a comedy.

I didn't see any terrible movies this month, but the most disappointing was Easy A, a high-school romp very loosely based on The Scarlet Letter. A few good performances can't save the thing from being predictable down to the letter, even by teen comedy standards.

What have you seen?

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–May 16

Cy Rigler (1882)
Watty Clark (1902)
Earl Halstead (1912)
Stubby Overmire (1919)
Dave Philley (1920)
Rube Walker (1926)
Billy Martin (1928)
Rick Reuschel (1949)
Rick Rhoden (1953)
Jack Morris (1955)
Tack Wilson (1956)
Mark Funderburk (1957)
Bob Patterson (1959)
Mitch Webster (1959)
Doug Brocail (1967)
Jim Mecir (1970)

Dave Philley played five of his eighteen major league seasons in Philadelphia, three for the Athletics and two for the Phillies.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–May 16 →

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.