Tag Archives: Minnesota Twins

2012 Twins Game Log

2012 Game 10: Twins at Yankees

340 Comments

First Pitch - 6:05 p.m. CDT
Television - FSN, ESPN
Game Notes
Lineups
Scorecard

Oy. Considering the season start we're having, heading to New York City for a four-game series against the Evil Empire just seems sadistic. What, the brain trust that is MLB scheduling couldn't wait a few weeks to add insult to injury? They couldn't wait until May or June to have the Twins demonstrate their futility in the Bronx?

ON THE HILL
Few things tickle me as much as the fact that the Yankees paid Carl Pavano 40 million dollars for less than 150 innings of work over 4 years, and the Twins have wrung 220+ innings out of the guy each of the past two seasons. So at least in the coveted IPP metric (Innings Pitched per Pavano), the Twins continue to outperform the Yankees. While Pavano has been adequate as expected in his first two starts, he's giving up more hits and more runs that any of us would like and would do well to pitch a bit less to contact and a bit more to the catcher's glove.

On the other side of the street, the Yankees send longtime lefty Twins nemesis Freddy Garcia to the mound. The last time I saw Garcia pitch, Jim Lehland was trotting him out against Ozzie Guillens' White Sox in a rainout makeup game that would send the Sox to a game 163 versus the Twins. The last actual time Garcia pitched, just last week, he threw five wild pitches, the first MLB pitcher to pull that off since 1989.

In a universe where karma moves faster than a rebate check from Menards, the Twins would win this game by ten or twelve runs and Pavano would throw a 130-pitch complete game shutout (come on, you just know that a-hole A-Rod would break up the no-hitter with a two-out Texas league dink in the 9th inning). But I'm going on the record as predicting that won't happen today, or any other day for that matter. All I'm asking for out of this series is a split and I'd settle for just one measly win. With Sabathia pitching tomorrow and former Dodger Kuroda on the hill Wednesday, today may be as good a chance as we get this series.

Play ball!

2012 Twins Game Recaps

Game 7 Recap: Rangers 4 — Twins 1

MINNESOTA 1 -- TEXAS 4
Twins Record: 2-5
Lowest WPA - Swarzak (7 IP, 4 R, 0 BB, 3 SO), Mauer (1 for 4, SO, GIDP)
Highest WPA - Willingham (1 for 2, R, BB, HBP)
Fangraphs - MLB Recap

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The Twins made some solid contact in the first few innings, but Texas made some sparkling defensive plays to keep the damage to a Danny Valencia sac fly in the second. 1-0 Twins for the first time all season. But would it be enough?

It would not. Swarzak put up another perfectly reasonable start, the big Texas inning was one where the Twins needed a sparkling defensive play or two. Instead the first 5 Rangers reached (4 singles and an error) resulting in 3 runs. Minnesota would get a few guys on base over the course of the game but never get the big hit to bring the game back within reach.

There are plenty of people who will say Texas is better than the Twins. Tonight the Rangers got a little bit more pitching, a little bit more hitting, and a little bit more defense. That was enough to make this a not terribly exciting end to the Twins longest winning streak of the year.

Keeping Track

Where They Stand

Minnesota is 2-4, fourth in the AL Central, three games behind Detroit.  The Twins have won two consecutive games.

Rochester is 5-3, second in the IL North, one game behind Lehigh Valley.  The Red Wings have lost one consecutive game.

New Britain is 5-3, second in the EL East, two games behind Reading.  The Rock Cats have won one consecutive game.

Fort Myers is 4-3, tied for second in the FSL South, one game behind St. Lucie.  The Miracle has won four consecutive games.

Beloit is 3-4, tied for fourth in the ML West, two games behind Burlington and Cedar Rapids.  The Snappers have lost one consecutive game.

2012 Twins Game Recaps

Game 166 4 Recap: LALALA Angels 5 – Minnesota Twins 1

5 Comments

i don't have much for you guys, but thankfully this game didn't warrant much. didn't see it. kept a very wandering eye on gameday for the first few innings, but that was (mercifully) it. just a couple points to note:

  • the twins have scored 6 runs in 4 games this year
  • the twins have tied the franchise worse start of 0-4 in `69 and `81 this year
  • the twins have yet to, in general, not suck this year

please note that the "When will teh Suck End?" tag was already stored in the .org database.

2012 Twins Game Recaps

Game 1 Recap: O’s 4 – Twins 2

6 Comments

MINNESOTA 2 -- BALTIMORE 4
Lowest WPA - Pavano (7 IP, 4 R, 2 BB, 1 SO), Doumit (0 for 4), and Plouffe (0 for 1)
Highest WPA - Span (2 for 4)
Fangraphs - MLB Recap

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Ron Gardenhire turned to Rick Anderson and asked, "Is Duensing ready?" Anderson frowned and picked up the bullpen phone, speaking only a couple of words. After hanging up the phone, he returned to Gardenhire's side. "Ronald, he's ready, but I have to seriously question why we would use him in this situation."

"This is the perfect time to use him, late in the game, score's tied, Adam Jones is a dangerous hitter coming up."

Anderson blinked in confusion, "Tie game? Ronathan, it's not a tie game. And Adam Jones is right-handed, wouldn't you rather have Duensing come in to face Markakis for the lefty-lefty matchup?"

"Who?"

"Nick Markakis, the right-fielder."

"What are you talking about? Look, it's 0-0 in the eighth inning and I don't have time to do some ridiculous comedy routine with you and your made up ballplayers. We had a bad year last season, and I want to start this off right."

"Made up..? 0-0..? Wait, what do you think happened in the first inning?"

"We walked Hardy, then Pavano got a groundball or two and we got out of the inning. Pavano looked pretty good today, nice to see all those groundballs turning into outs isn't it? Just the one Hardy single on a groundball, but then he got Jones and Wieters and got out of it."

"Rontell, I think we need--"

"No time, got to make the pitching change now. Back in a second. And Rick? We don't need our bullpen walking people, talk to this Gray kid when he comes in, will you?"

Gardy made his way to the mound, and Scott Ullger made his way off the bench to join Anderson at the rail. "What was that about?"

"I think Ronwin has completely blocked Nick Markakis from his memory. He doesn't remember the 2-run homer in the first, or the RBI triple in the sixth, and I bet if we ask him, he won't remember Markakis' lead-off walk leading to a run in the fourth either. What are we going to do?"

"Send him home" Ullger said.

"I'm worried he wouldn't be safe there"

Ullger stared blankly, "Why would that matter?"

"Memory loss could be the sign of any number of serious problems. No, I think we should keep him here and try to keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't forget anyone else in this game."

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To this day Ron Gardenhire believes that Josh Willingham's ninth inning donger won the 2012 season opener for the Twins, Rick Anderson has never corrected him, he figured it was a long season, it's probably best not to get too caught up in one result.

2012 Twins Game Log

2012 Game Number 1: Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles

424 Comments

Day game alert!

Carl Pavano
vs
Jake Arrieta

I had some stuff written about the offseason, but it seems irrelevant now. It sucks going into a season knowing that finishing at .500 would be a success. I think the front office knows there are problems, but thinks there is no point throwing money at a few extra wins. And I am okay with that.

I recognize that about 28 of the teams actually need to have down years. It is very hard to maintain success over many years; you need everything to go right. However, now we get to play the waiting game. Will this be just a "retooling" or a rebuild?

Here's to everyone returning to form, a great draft, and Ryan swindling trading for undervalued assets. I love baseball, but not never-ending losing.