Tag Archives: Justin Morneau

Keeping Track

Random Rewind: 2013, Game Forty-one

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ATLANTA 5, MINNESOTA 1 IN ATLANTA

Date:  Monday, May 20.

Batting stars:  Justin Morneau was 2-for-4.  Josh Willingham was 1-for-3 with a home run, his sixth.

Pitching stars:  Ryan Pressley pitched two shutout innings, giving up a walk and striking out one.  Caleb Thielbar struck out three in two shutout innings, giving up one hit.

Opposition stars:  Julio Teheran pitched 8.1 innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk and striking out four.  Juan Francisco was 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.  Justin Upton was 2-for-4.  Dan Uggla was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his eighth.

The game:  With one out in the bottom of the first, the Braves got consecutive singles from Jason Heyward, Upton, and Freddie Freeman to go ahead 1-0.  Gerald Laird flied out, but Uggla hit a three-run homer to put Atlanta up 4-0.

The game was basically over at that point, but of course they played it out.  The Twins put two on with one out in the fourth but did not score.  In the fifth, Francisco doubled and Melvin Upton walked.  A bunt moved them to second and third and Andrelton Simmons hit a sacrifice fly to make it 5-0 Braves.

The Twins got on the board in the ninth when Willingham hit a home run.  They tried to get back into it, getting one-out singles from Trevor Plouffe and Chris Parmelee, but a pair of fly balls ended the game.

WP:  Teheran (3-1).  LP:  Kevin Correia (4-4).  S:  Cody Gearrin.

Notes:  The Twins used pretty much their standard lineup, without a DH because they were in Atlanta.  Wilkin Ramirez pinch-hit for Correia in the fifth.  Eduardo Escobar went into the game at shorstop in the seventh, replacing Pedro Florimon as part of a double switch.  Ryan Doumit pinch-hit for Thielbar in the ninth.  Oswaldo Arcia pinch-hit for Aaron Hicks in the ninth.

Joe Mauer was batting .333.  He would finish at .324.  Justin Morneau was batting .304.  He would finish at .259.  He would also finish in Pittsburgh, as he was traded at the August deadline for Alex Presley and a player to be named later (Duke Welker).  Not one of the Twins' best trades.

Aaron Hicks was batting .144 at this point.  As you probably remember, the Twins had traded Denard Span during the off-season and handed the job to the twenty-three-year-old Hicks on the strength of a good year in AA.  He clearly wasn't ready, although he did improve his average to .192 by the end of the season.

Correia settled down after the first inning, but still allowed five runs on eight hits and a walk in four innings.  He did not strike out anyone.

Parmelee is listed as the starting right fielder in 2013, but he played just sixty-eight games there.  Doumit, Arcia, and Chris Herrmann also saw significant time in right field.

Record:  The Twins were 18-23, in fifth (last) place in the American League Central, seven games behind Cleveland.  They would finish 66-96, in fourth place, twenty-seven games behind Detroit.

The Braves were 26-18, in first place in the National League East, 3.5 games ahead of Washington.  They would finish 96-66, in first place, ten games ahead of Washington.

Cup of Coffee

August 10, 2016: Fielder

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For all the media talk about Prince Fielder's stardom, I thought this was pretty interesting:

Dude Seasons rWAR fWAR
Justice1440.540.4
Hrbek1438.437.6
D Lee1434.334.5
T Martinez1628.828.7
Konerko1827.623.2
Morneau1427.122.8
M Vaughn1227.031.1
Klesko1626.930.1
Fielder1223.826.8
Brunansky1421.823.3

I don't have any particular conclusion in mind (and I don't mean to diminish Prince's career), but I doubt many observers would have perceived Fielder's value to be as limited as it was – by whichever flavor of WAR you like. That contract was a disaster on more than one level.

MLB

My Favorite Non-Twins

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Things have been a little down around here lately, and not necessarily without reason. But let's not lose sight of the fact that, at it's heart, baseball is fun. And in that spirit, here is my lineup of my favorite non-Twins. Here are my guidelines:

  1. Players cannot currently employed by the Twins
  2. Players can be either NL or AL players
  3. One each of LF-CF-RF (Sorry Adam Jones & Cutch)
  4. As we support an AL team, there is a DH
    • This DH can be any player whatsoever

These are just my favorite players to watch. Not the best, not who I would build a team around, just guys who in their own way bring me some measure of joy when I watch them play ball. And of course, there is no accounting for taste. So y'all should share your favorites too. Follow my rules or don't, it's up to you. I'm not your mother.

WARNING: GIFs abound after the jump
Continue reading My Favorite Non-Twins →

2014 Twins Game Logs

2014 Game 93: Twins @ Rockies

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So, that Tulowitzki dude is something else, eh?

Linds has declared this weekend to be Morneau weekend. She's blocked off our schedules to watch the games, and is wearing the Rockie shirt that my aunt got her. She was crowing after last night's win. Good times.

Today, the Twins try to save face by sending Kevin Correia against some new guy named Tyler Matzek. A cursory look at Matzek's bbref page seems imply that he used to be some sort of prospect, but that he's had a tough time keeping the ball in the strike zone through his trip through the minors. I'd be okay with lots of walks today, but the trick will, of course, be silencing Colorado's bats. Let's hope Mr. Correia is up to the challenge.

(editor's note: sorry, hj, I know it's boring to replay a featured image in back-to-back games, but I didn't have time this morning to find a cool, creative commons picture of a Coors Lite can sitting by a ballfield like I wanted to).

Minnesota Twins, MLB

Justin Morneau traded

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this news probably deserves its own post.

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal
Source: #Pirates acquire Morneau from #Twins for OF Alex Presley.

Morneau leaves the Twins with an MVP award (2006), a second place finish (2008), 3rd on the Twins franchise Home Run list, 5th in RBI, a HR Derby Champ (played under the pseudonym "Jason Morneau") and thousands of fans

2013 Twins Game Recaps, NHL

Game 78: Royals 9, Twins 8

Both teams hit some homeruns...and doubles - 22 hits between 'em. In the end, the Royals did just enough against Twins pitching to eek out a "W".

Positive note - after going a very long stretch of the season without a HR, Mountie has doubled his HR total in the last 10 games to 4. Trader Clete now has 3 on the year...le sigh.

In other news and to much less fanfare - the NHL held it's draft. Colorado selected 17-year-old center Nathan MacKinnon with the first overall pick.

More on what the Wild did below.

Continue reading Game 78: Royals 9, Twins 8 →

2013 Twins Game Recaps

Game 21: Twins 5, Rangers 0

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Twins earn a split of the series with Texas and are now 11-10 on the year. Kevin Correia pitched 8 scoreless innings, scattering 6 hits and picking up 2 strikeouts. He leads all Twins pitchers in Wins (3) and starters in ERA (2.23)  and WHIP (1.07). Morneau hit his 2nd HR of the year, a 2-run shot, and is just behind Willingham in RBI at 11.

The Twins head to Detroit where I assume they'd be happy to replicate the success of their previous trip to Motown.

In other news, the Wild slid bass-ackwards into the playoffs for the first time in 5 years by way of a tiebreaker with Columbus. After an ugly game against Edmonton on Friday night, they beat the Avs in requlation on Saturday to secure the 8th (and final) spot in the Western Conference, finishing the regular season with 55 points at 26-19-3. They now head to Chicago for a best of 5 series. Game 1 is tomorrow (Tues, Apr 30) - puck drops at 7pm.