Delmon Young was reinstated from the disabled list.
Jose Mijares was placed on the fifteen day disabled list.
Anthony Swarzak was recalled from Rochester to Minnesota.
Phil Dumatrait was recalled from Rochester to Minnesota.
Rene Tosoni was optioned from Minnesota to Rochester.
Jim Hoey was optioned from Minnesota to Rochester.
Jason Repko was assigned to Rochester on injury rehab.
Steve Holm was designated for assignment, then outrighted to Rochester.
Yorman Bazardo was placed on the seven day disabled list by Rochester (sore right forearm).
Steve Singleton was sent from Rochester to New Britain.
Ryan Mullins was promoted from Ft. Myers to New Britain.
Daniel Osterbrock was sent from New Britain to Ft. Myers.
Danile Osterbrock was placed on the seven day disabled list by Ft. Myers (shoulder injury).
Logan Darnell was promoted from Beloit to Ft. Myers.
Pat Dean was promoted from Elizabethton to Beloit.
Ben Tootle was activated from the disabled list by Beloit.
Tag Archives: Minnesota Twins
Game 42 Recap: Twins 11, A’s 1
MINNESOTA 11, OAKLAND 1
Record - 15-27 (Last in the Central)
Highest WPA - Blackburn (7.0 IP, 1 R, 5 H, 1 SO) and Morneau (3 for 5, HR, 2 RBI)
Lowest WPA - Plouffe (1 for 5, HR, 3 RBI) - seriously, the guy who hit a 3-R HR ended up with the lowest WPA.
Fangraphs
MLB Recap
----------------
I did not have a chance to see this game as it happened. Work required my attention this afternoon, but I managed to avoid hearing anything about it and once I got home I turned on the replay. Unfortunately, I can't recap the actual game, because someone edited in some obviously fake footage right over the top of what I assume to be the standard 2011 Twins effort.
Instead, I got to see Nick Blackburn pitch an effective seven innings, alternatively aided and hindered by his defense. Meanwhile, the Twins offense put up double digit runs (I know, I know. This was one of the clues that something was up). All those runs were the result of multiple extra base hits (strike two) including a home-run by Rene Rivera (Oh, come on!).
Prior to this "game" the Twins had won two straight, but this is the first time in a long time that Minnesota won a game that was never really in doubt.
Feels good. Too bad it was a fabrication. Anyone care to fill me in on what actually happened?
Game #38: Blue Jays 11, Twins 3
Twins record: 12-26
Fangraphs
MLB Game Wrap
To be honest, I did not watch much of this game today. When I first turned it on, the score was already 2-0. I heard there was a fair amount of _elm_n being _elm_n today. I also noticed that Jose Bautista had more at-bats in which he hit a home run than at-bats in which he did not. Instead, I paid more attention to the Phillies-Braves game on TBS, which was an intriguing pitching duel between Roy Halladay and Tim Hudson, and which featured what appeared to be actual major league baseball players in both teams' dugouts. Dan Uggla put the Braves ahead 3-2 with a homer off Doc in the bottom of the 8th and Craig Kimbrel pitched a damage-less 9th for the save.
On the bright side, I'm ready to see what glories the newly-begun Phil Dumatrait Era has in store for Twins Nation.
Ex-Twins Player of the Week: J.J. Hardy went 2-for-5 with a grand slam (off of fellow ex-Twin Rob Delaney) to finalize his slash line for the week at .400/.444/.640. If there are any other ex-Twins with worthy weekly performances, please direct your humble recapper's attention to them. (Programming note: The Twins Hitter and Pitcher of the Week Awards will be replaced by Ex-Twins Player of the Week for all subsequent weeks this season in which the Twins fail to win a game.)
Happy Birthday–May 15
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)
A. J. Hinch was drafted by Minnesota in the third round in 1995, but did not sign.
Today is also the birthday of Twins’ farmhand Brian Dozier (1987).
2011 Game 37: Blue Jays at Twins
"It's been tough to watch lately. Really tough."
Just about every game log, regardless of writer, has started with some permutation of that phrase. It's been horrifically true, though. When the pitching's good, the offense declines to score any runs. When the offense does click and puts up a gargantuan run total (maybe something like five runs or so), the pitching blows it.
The injuries have played a factor, obviously, but Delmon Young, Joe Mauer, and Jim Thome are not going to turn this team into a division winner. In fact, I'm becoming increasingly pessimistic about our chances of breaking even (we'd have to play 69-57 from here on out to make it to .500. That's .547 from now on, and I don't know if we've seen more than a couple of games all year where they looked like they could play that way for any length of time.)
So, that's that. The team needs to turn around, and they can't wait for the star catcher to come back. They can't wait for the MVP first baseman to get his head right. They can't wait for the "mvp" (lower case) to Just. Stop. Sucking. It needs to happen right now. It probably won't happen (Sean's historical searchings didn't exactly provide a silver lining), but come on... giving up before June is for Pirates fans, right?
We've got Blackburn on the mound today, they've got Jo-Jo Reyes. Both seem to be fairly allergic to striking people out (though Blackburn's 3.5 k/9 is just absurd*), so I guess we can expect lots of hits today. That'll be a nice change of pace, at least.
Blackburn's our "big game pitcher" right? Well, we need this one. Go get 'em, Blackie.
2011 Game 36: Toronto Blue Jays at Minnesota Twins
Number of teams to make the postseason since 1995 that started at 12-23: one. The previous team to do that was the Blue Jays in 1989. In 1981, the Royals made the postseason with a worse record after 35 games, but unless the players plan on striking for a third of the season, I don't think it's a good model. After that, just one more team* did it: the 1974 Pirates.
It doesn't look good my friends.
* Caveat: I only checked for the years since divisional play started.
Game #32: Red Sox 9, Twins 5
Twins record: 12-20
Fangraphs
MLB Game Wrap
The Twins are consistently running out a lot of players who are either just very bad (the catchers, most of the bullpen, Casilla/Tolbert) or some combination of pretty limited and in over their heads (Hughes, Revere, Tosoni, probably Plouffe - although he's been great offensively in all of three games, that will come down to earth, and I'm not sold on his defense at all). Those are all pretty frustrating, but they can only concern me to a point. If all of those guys get lots of playing time because others are hurt, the Twins are probably not going anywhere this season. If, however, many of those guys get replaced by the proper starters, the Twins are still going to most likely need contributions towards success from two guys I am a little more concerned about: Carl Pavano and Justin Morneau.
Pavano went a second straight entire game without striking anyone out today. I harp on this a lot, but it's just a lot less likely to be successful as a pitcher without getting strikeouts. He seems to be getting a little over-hammered - I have his FIP right now at about two runs less than his ERA, but a 4.6-ish FIP still isn't quite where he was at the past couple of years. Morneau, on the other hand, has me concerned that he's not physically back together yet. I have his line after today at .202/.269/.293 so far. I'm a little reminded of the beginning of 2006, when there was much gnashing of teeth over how lost he looked at the plate over the first month, before Gardenhire famously gave him "The Talk" that turned him into a (not-quite-worthy) MVP. His line over March/April that year was .208/.274/.416 - basically the same, except back then he still hit a few homers.
At least one other guy whose physical state/all-the-way-back-ness has been a concern, Joe Nathan, had a pretty good outing today.
Hitter of the Week: Jason Kubel is still pretty close to the only horse in this race.
Pitcher of the Week: Duh.
2011 Game 30 Recap: Twins 9, Crimson Hosiery 2
Weather: 66 degrees, partly cloudy
Wind: 21 mph, out to CF
Time: 2:37
Attendance: 37,798
What's not to love about this game? The Twins jet into Beantown on a wing and a prayer, a wisp of momentum, and a sigh of relief that they were able to best the offensively impotent Pale Hosers in a series deuce on the South Side, a short set featuring a no-hitter the hard way that F-bomb rolled for a 1-0 win. The boys haven't exactly been swinging hot lumber lately. With Butera and Casilla mired below the Mendozza line like sloths in La Brea tar, and Morneau barely above it, and Mauer and Delmon and JI
JIM THOME bruised and benched, our lineup doesn't have the punch of a full-strength squad hitting to expectations. But you wouldn't know it tonight.
Continue reading 2011 Game 30 Recap: Twins 9, Crimson Hosiery 2
2011 Game 30: Minnesota Twins at Boston Red Sox
Knuckleball pitchers may be ageless, but Wakefield's time machine finally broke. Nonetheless, I think he will have a long leash in today's game. Knowing the Twins' offense, they might not be able to score enough runs in a single inning to knock him out of the game and expose the tired bullpen. Instead, they will have time to perfect the single/walk, steal, sacrifice, sacrifice (fly) strategy.
The Red Sox used their entire bullpen for Wednesday's game, including Wakefield, for a 13 inning game in which the starter lasted 4.1 innings. Naturally, the starter in yesterday's game also lasted a mere four innings, but it was mop-up time after that and anyone important was saved for today's game. The Sox have yet to top .500 after failing two previous times. Hopefully the Twins don't notice the "Red" part and treat these Sox like their bleached brethren.
Happy Birthday–May 4
Charley Hickman (1876)
Jack Tobin (1892)
John Tsitouris (1936)
Rene Lachemann (1945)
Ken Oberkfell (1956)
Rick Leach (1957)
Tim Tschida (1960)
Eddie Perez (1968)
Joe Borowski (1971)
Miguel Cairo (1974)
Ben Grieve (1976)
Jason Michaels (1976)
Ryan Jorgensen (1979)
Matt Tolbert (1982)
Kevin Slowey (1984)
We would also like to wish a happy birthday to Twins farmhands Erick Gonzalez (1991) and Matej Hejma (1990).