Tag Archives: Minnesota Twins

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–June 24

Billy Nash (1865)
George Harper (1892)
Rollie Hemsley (1907)
Jim Mills (1919)
Wally Yonamine (1925)
Don Mincher (1938)
Ken Reitz (1951)
Doug Jones (1957)
Tom Klawitter (1958)
Doug Bernier (1980)
Phil Hughes (1986)

Jim Mills spent almost his entire adult life involved in baseball in the Carolinas.  He played college ball at North Carolina State, played minor league ball for nine seasons in the Carolinas, managed in Carolina minor leagues for six seasons, umpired in the Carolina League for two seasons, was in minor league front offices in the Carolinas from 1956-1971, and was president of the Carolina League for seven years.

Born in Hawaii, Wally Yonamine was a star in Japan from 1951-1962, stealing home eleven times.

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2015 Twins Game Recaps

Game 67 recap. Twins 7 Cubs 2.

Have the Twins turned a corner? After struggling the pick up wins in the last two weeks, the Twins have now rattled off 3 wins in a row as they beat the Cubs 7-2.

The Cubs defense gave the Twins some runs by playing clownball, but the Twins were hitting Cubs pitching hard all night long so in the end it didnt matter. Of the 26 hits the Twins have during this 3 game win streak, 13 of them have been for extra bases. Trevor Plouffe led the way with 2 doubles and 4 RBI. The only blemish was Plouffe being nabbed on the base paths twice. Joe Mauer looked like Joe Mauer with a hit and two walks (although one was a non intentional IBB). This were good for the offense and it was nice to see more than 2 or 3 runs scored in a inning/game

Phil Hughes was great tonight, only allowing 2 hits in 8 innings. Of course one of those hits was an Anthony Rizzo home runs because 1) Rizzo is good and 2) Phil Hughes is giving up a lot of home runs this season.  JR Graham pitch the ninth and gave up a Rizzo HR. Why cant the Twins have a young slugger on the team? Home runs are cool!

The Twins are now 37-30 and we in the homestretch to July. Its going to be hard to lose 90 games this year.

 

2015 Twins Game Recaps

Game 66: Cardinals 1, Twins 2

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Padre’s been telling us that it’s tough to beat the good teams, as evidenced by the recent string of losses to the Royals, Rangers and Cardinals. They showed some resolve and, for the second consecutive day, the Twins beat the team with the best record in baseball; their first back-to-back wins in two weeks.

They did it in pretty dramatic fashion, with Kenny[silent s] Vargas blasting a walk-off homerun with 2 outs in the 9th off of Carlos Villanueva (entered with a 0.75 ERA in 24 innings with only 1 previous HR allowed). It was especially nice to see as Vargas had hit into two double plays in the game, including a bases loaded double play to end a Twins threat in the 7th.

Before that it was Joe Mauer - with a stick - ripping his 3rd homerun of the season to the left field bleachers to tie the game at 1-1 with 2 outs in the 8th. Joe is second on the team with 36 RBI. The two teams combined to go 0-9 with runners in scoring position and left a total of 11 men on base. Arguably, the most important part of this game was the starting pitching performances, though neither starter would figure in the decision.

Jaime Garcia stymied the Twins batters for 6 innings, allowing only 4 hits while striking out 4. After the first two Twins reached to start the inning, Matheny then LaRussa’d the crap out of 7th, 8th & 9th, using 5 different relievers. Villanueva took the loss.

After a 3.2 inning appearance his last time out; an 8 run, 11 hit affair in Arlington last week, Mike Pelfrey (5-3) today returned to his 2015 form with 8 strong innings. He allowed only 1 run on four hits including a double to Matt Carpenter and a 7th inning homerun to Jason Heyward while striking out 3 and walking just 1. In doing so, he dropped his ERA back below 3 (2.97), best amongst Twins starters. Pelfrey is currently sporting the best* ERA+ (127) and WHIP (1.358) of his career. He has allowed only 5 HR’s this year, including the one to Heyward this afternoon.

Blaine Boyer continues his zombie act, wiggling out of a 9th inning jam after a leadoff double by Matt Carpenter and groundout put the go-ahead run 90 feet away. He struck out Mark Reynolds and got Yadier Molina to fly out to end the threat. In 31 innings this season, Boyer is 2-2 with a 2.32 ERA, 175 ERA+ and 1.097 WHIP, also the best numbers of his career.

*He did manage a 169 ERA+ in 2012, but only started 3 games before being shut down to have TJ surgery.