Joe Evans (1895)
Jimmy Wasdell (1914)
Al McBean (1938)
Yukata Enatsu (1948)
Bill North (1948)
Rick Waits (1952)
George Brett (1953)
John Smoltz (1967)
Scott Watkins (1970)
A. J. Hinch (1974)
Josh Beckett (1980)
Justin Morneau (1981)
Brian Dozier (1987)
A. J. Hinch was drafted by Minnesota in the third round in 1995, but did not sign.
First Pitch - 7:10 p.m. CDT
Television - FSN (Twin Cities), STO (Cleveland)
Game Notes
Lineups
Scorecard
After too many games against east and west coast teams, it's time to flip this season over and give it a good shake so we can focus on losing within the division now. The Twins kick off a two game series tonight against the Indians, just the second divisional series for the team this year. About ten minutes before the first pitch, Daughter the Younger will commence her final orchestra concert of the year. Las Vegas has set the line at 7-to-1 that I'll be watching the concert instead of the game tonight. Play something sweet, play something mellow, play something I can sink my teeth in like Jell-O.
Continue reading 2012 Game 35: Indiginous Tribe vs. Split Zygotes
In searching for a positive theme to this year, I've mostly come up with this: if the season ended today, the East would have three teams in the playoffs, and it would be the teams not in New York and Boston.
The Central's not so nice, as I've taken to watching the Twins on mute and favoring the NBA playoffs and various movies. Tuning out when the Twins are playing the Blue Jays is always a good idea to some extent, of course, but at least we've won one or two already (I wrote this before the Saturday game, as my schedule will rob me of seeing that one and this one.
The very American Ricky Romero will be facing the very Canadian Scott Diamond, so let's not screw this up with any stupid chants out there, eh, New Guy Target Field?
Actually two weeks.
Ben Revere was optioned to Rochester.
Josh Willingham was activated from the paternity list.
Drew Butera was recalled from Rochester.
Sean Burroughs was designated for assignment, then was sent outright to Rochester.
Erik Komatsu was claimed off waivers from St. Louis.
Clete Thomas was designated for assignment, then was sent out right to Rochester.
Justin Morneau was placed on the fifteen day disabled list.
Brian Dozier was recalled from Rochester.
Scott Diamond was recalled from Rochester.
Liam Hendriks was optioned to Rochester.
P. J. Walters was recalled from Rochester.
Danny Valencia was optioned to Rochester.
Matt Maloney was designated for assignment.
Darin Mastroianni was recalled from Rochester.
Deolis Guerra was promoted from New Britain to Rochester.
Michael Hollimon was placed on the seven day disabled list by Rochester.
Luke French was promoted from New Britain to Rochester.
Samuel Deduno was placed on the seven day disabled list by Rochester.
Rene Tosoni was activated from the disabled list by Rochester.
Pedro Florimon was promoted from New Britain to Rochester.
Joe Benson was sent from Rochester to New Britain.
B. J. Hermsen was promoted from Fort Myers to New Britain.
Caleb Thielbar was promoted from Fort Myers to New Britain.
Wilkin Ramirez was promoted from Fort Myers to New Britain.
Shawn Roof was signed as a free agent and sent to New Britain.
Madison Boer was promoted from Beloit to Fort Myers.
Daniel Ortiz was promoted from Beloit to Fort Myers.
Nelvin Fuentes was promoted from Beloit to Fort Myers.
Cole Nelson was promoted from Beloit to Fort Myers.
Kyle Waldrop was assigned to Fort Myers.
David Hurlbut was promoted from Elizabethton to Beloit.
Drew Leachman was promoted from the GCL Twins to Beloit.
Kyle Knudson was activated from the disabled list by Beloit.
Tony Davis was released.
Matt Parker was released.
MINNESOTA 7 -- TORONTO 6
Twins Record: 9 - 23 (5th in the Central, 30th in MLB)
Highest WPA - Doumit (1 for 2, 2 BB, 2 RBI), Mastroianni (2 for 4, 3 RBI), Bullpen (4 IP, 1 R, 5 H, 0 BB, 2 SO)
NOTES - Twins hitters drew 9 walks, 5 of those runners scored.
Fangraphs - MLB Recap
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Rain delay pushed this one into a West-Coast game time-slot, and with Blackburn going against the homer-happy Jays lineup, you could be forgiven for turning in early. If you did, you will not be surprised to learn that the Jays hit 4 home-runs (Bautista with 2) that accounted for 5 of their 6 runs. But the Twins, armed with the ability to watch Kyle Drabek and Carlos Villanueva throw lots and lots of pitches (not many for strikes), would put across a bunch of runs without hitting any balls over the fence.
Ryan Doumit, who has been hitting well (last 3 weeks - .275/.350/.549), started things off with a 2-run single in the first to erase the 1-0 deficit resulting from Bautista's first homer. Then a nice mix of walks (Mauer, Doumit, Parmelee) and doubles (Span, Willingham) in the 5th broke the game open for the Twins as Darin Mastrioanni's first big-league hit came with the bases loaded to drive in two and cap the 4-run inning.
Blackburn did everything he could to give all those runs right back, giving up 3 runs without recording an out in the 6th, but got pulled with the score 6-5. Both teams would add a run in the end to get us to the final score, with Capps pitching a scoreless ninth to earn a save.
The HR that Perkins allowed to Encarnacion was only the second time all season that a Twins reliever has allowed a run in a Friday game (3 runs allowed in 16 innings on Friday this season - 1.69 bullpen ERA). If one were only paying close attention to the games that one had to recap on Friday nights, one might conclude the bullpen has been pretty good.
It is baseball. Kind of.
Here is the preview of the game from covers.com. They don't like the Twins chances. I can't really say I blame them.
First Pitch - 7:10 PM CDT
Television - FSN
Game Notes
Lineups
Jeebus, did the guys at the MLB Genius Bar secretly realign divisions and put us back in the AL West? This makes three series against this stupid Angels team in just over a month. Know how many series we've had against division opponents in that time? One. So yeah, I'm sick and tired of Torii Hunter kicking our collective ass (stop throwing him breaking balls in the strike zone, already!) and having to counter real starting pitching with our currently constituted rotation. It's like charging the beaches of Normandy with a slingshot and a bag of marshmallows for ammo. Oh, and Pujols is starting to hit the ball again. So we have that to look forward to. On the bright side, our offense this year is better than Oakland's. But on the dark side, they are the only AL team with an offense worse than the Twins at the moment.
ON THE HILL
Jered Weaver (4-0, 1.61 ERA, 2.00 FIP, 2.88 xFIP) - Last time out this guy threw a no-hitter. He was one walk and one passed ball from a perfect game. To be fair, he was facing one of the worst hitting lineups since the '62 Mets, but you have to tip your hat anyway. Weaver is the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter, then face the same team in his next start since Derek Lowe did it in 2002.
Francisco Liriano (0-4, 9.97 ERA, 6.75 FIP, 5.44 xFIP, ) - This guy is yet another reminder that spring training hype has all the substance of a popcorn fart. By now everybody except Liriano knows what Liriano's problem is. If pitching smarts were chocolate density, the F-Bomb would be a Three Musketeers bar. Because consistently overthrowing sliders when you get behind in the count only gets you further behind in the count. Consistently.
Play ball!
MINNESOTA 3 -- SEATTLE 2
Twins Record: 7 - 18 (2-9 since my last recap, oh boy)
Highest WPA - Mauer (1 for 3, 2 BB, RBI), Bullpen (3 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 5 SO)
Fangraphs - MLB Recap
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Twins win!
Mariners bullpen revealed to be vastly inferior to Minnesota equivalent!
Recap posted much later than expected!
Joe Mauer drove in a key run!
We face King Felix tonight! (focus on the positive)
George Gore (1857)
Garry Herrmann (1859)
Eppa Rixey (1891)
Red Ruffing (1905)
Goose Tatum (1921)
Chuck Hinton (1934)
Chris Cannizzaro (1938)
Davey Lopes (1945)
Dan Iassogna (1969)
Darren Dreifort (1972)
Ryan Dempster (1977)
Ben Revere (1988)
Better known as a member of the Harlem Globetrotters, Goose Tatum played in the Negro Leagues for several years in the 1940s.