Can we take a mulligan?
Tag Archives: Minnesota Twins
Happy Birthday–September 9
Abner Dalrymple (1857)
Frank Chance (1876)
Dots Miller (1886)
Doc Johnston (1887)
Frankie Frisch (1898)
Waite Hoyt (1899)
Hugh Mulcahy (1913)
Jay Ward (1938)
Paul Roof (1942)
Jerry Mumphrey (1952)
Tom Foley (1959)
Alvin Davis (1960)
Jim Corsi (1961)
Todd Zeile (1965)
Joey Hamilton (1970)
Dan Miceli (1970)
Mike Hampton (1972)
Edwin Jackson (1983)
Alex Romero (1983)
Kyle Davies (1983)
Michael Bowden (1986)
Dots Miller’s given name was John. He got the nickname “Dots” because when he first came up, a sportswriter asked teammate Honus Wagner who the new guy was. Wagner, in his thick German accent, said, “Dot’s Miller.”
Hugh Mulcahy has one of the worst nicknames in the history of baseball. In four seasons as a starting pitcher for the Phillies, he twice led the league in losses. He went 45-89 for his career, leading to the nickname “Losing Pitcher Mulcahy”.
The brother of Phil Roof, Paul Roof was a pitcher for four seasons in the Braves’ system, never going higher than Class A.
Game 137: Twins 6, Royals 2
The Twins scored first in the 1st with a homerun by Aaron Hicks, his 10th of the season. KC came back to tie it at one in the home-half of the 1st, and didn't score another run until the 7th. Between those two runs, the Twins added five more, with Eduardo Escobar notching 3 hits, 3 RBI's, a 2B and a walk. Since taking over as the primary SS at the end of July, Escobar is slashing .313/.375/.565 with 19 extra base hits, 18 RBI and a 1.548 WPA. Nice.
Also kinda fun - with his homerun yesterday, Hicks is the 5th Twins player with double-digit homeruns this year, and Rosario (9), Escobar (9) and Mauer (8) are all within striking distance.
Also showing up to play was pitcher Tommy Milone who went 7 innings, allowing only 2 runs on 6 hits while striking out 4. After a rather average August (1-1, averaging only 5.1 innings per start and 2.6 ER's per start) Tommy has now put together back-to-back 7 inning starts in September, earning his 7th & 8th wins of the season and dropping his ERA to a career best 3.54.
Minnesota is 6-4 over their past 10 games, 1.5 behind Texas for the 2nd Wild Card spot (and 2 games ahead of the Angels).
Game 137: Twins at Royals
Already ahead!
Game 133 Recap: White Sox 6, Twins 4
Game 132 Recap: Twins 3, White Sox 0
Milone again (naturally).
Game 131 Recap: Twins 8, White Sox 6
All's well that ends well.
Game 128 recap: No Mauer, No Sano, No Problem. Twins 3 Astros 0
Joe Mauer was getting a day off (He has played in 125 of 128 games and only batting .231 against Scott Kazmir) and Miguel Sano getting a day off because of a tender hamstring. Well, the regulars and fills in made do and scored enough runs to get the Twins another win this week.
Eduardo Nunez replaced Sano and he hit a home run and got another RBI on a fielder choice (and really a nifty play by Jose Altuve. Made the stop deep to his right and threw an off balance throw to get Nunez by a half step). Torii Hunter drew a bases loaded hit-by-pitch to get the other run.
Kyle Gibson was OK, going 5 2/3 scattering 4 hits, issuing 4 walks, and striking out 4. The bullpen then went to work with Glen Perkin coming in the game in the 7th and striking out two. He looked like his pre-All Star Game form striking out two. Trevor May's assortment of 95 mph fast balls and dipsy-do curveballs pitched a clean 8th. Kevin Jepsen made things hairy in the 9th but got enough outs to preseve the shutout.
NOTES
-The Twins won a game despite only getting 3 hits. Two of those hits were for extra bases.
-Eduardo Nunez had a "whoopsie" moment when he tossed a ball towards first base and it ended up somewhere near the State Fair.
- After getting swept by New York the Twins have won 7 of the last 8 games.
- Kevin Jepsen notched his 4th save in a Twins uniform. Other notable pitchers 4 saves: John Candelaria, Hector Carrassco, Mark Portugal, Pete Filson.
- Kyle Gibson made his 67th career start as a Twin. That is 38th on the Twins list. If he pitches one more full season, he will crack into the Top 25. I find that fascinating because to me it goes to show how much roster turnover the Twins have had. Although Nick Blackburn made 137 starts and is 16th on that list, so sometimes stability is not the best.
Game 128. Astros at Minnesota!
I think the phrase "biggest game at Target Field in 5 years" is a bit overblown, but hey its sports, everything is hyperbole!
No Mauer (tough matchup against Kazmir) and no Sano (tender hamstring) tonight for the Twins. Kind of a bummer, but whatever the Twins have dealt with worse. Like the evaporation of a starting pitcher getting more than 15 outs.
Kyle Gibson will try to buck that trend, again.
Game 127 Recap: Rays 5, Twins 4
Well, shoot.
It hurts to lose a winnable game. It was all right there for the Twins. They led 4-2 after four innings and 4-3 through five. But then Tommy Milone was perhaps left in a bit too long, the score was tied, and then Kurt Suzuki, who we're constantly told is a really good defensive catcher, allowed a passed ball to score what turned out to be the tying run.
It hurts to lose a winnable game. The Twins, who had been so good with men in scoring position throughout the winning streak, went 1-for-6 in that situation last night. Had they managed one more hit with men in scoring position, they might have won the game.
It hurts to lose a winnable game. But on the other hand, during the winning streak, they won some losable games, too. At some point, it was probably bound to even out. It might have been easier to take if the winning streak had ended with an 8-2 loss, but the result in the standings would've been the same.
Still, a 6-4 road trip against three fairly good teams is nothing to be ashamed of. We come home to play another good team, the Houston Astros. There's a sentence I didn't expect to write this season. Kyle Gibson, who has been alternating good and bad games, goes for the Twins. He'll face Scott Kazmir, who's having an excellent year and who handled the Twins pretty easily the last time he faced them. It won't be easy, but we know how it's going to come out. Tonight we start our season ending thirty-five game winning streak! We'll just have to settle for 100-62!