game on the FOX mothership in selected areas!
Tag Archives: Minnesota Twins
2021 Game 62: Damn Yankees vs. Twins
Game Time - 7:10 p.m. CT
I laid down to take just a short little rest and it somehow turned into a nap and then I overslept and the thing that woke me up was a nasty leg cramp and I realized I hadn't done the game log yet and I have to get to the grocery store before dinner and goodness gracious it is hot out there. There is something uncanny and underworldly and supremely infuriating about the way the Yankees dominate the Twins. I've not seen the likes of it in my lifetime and it's a record of Twins futility that goes back more than 20 years now. Over the course of the 2010's decade, the Yankees beat the Twins 53 times and only lost 21 games. That's a 71.6 winning percentage. In the decade before that the Bronx Bombers clobbered the Twins with a 57-25 record (69.5%). You have to go all the way back to the 1960's to find a decade where the Twins actually have a winning record against the gentlemen in pinstripes and even then just barely when they won 90 and lost 87 (50.8%). And back then we had players like Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Rod Carew, Bob Allison and Cesar Tovar and pitchers like Jim Kaat and Jim Perry and Mudcat Grant. And I can tell you without hesitation or a shadow of doubt, this here Twins team ain't built like that.
J.A Happ gets tonight's start for the Twins, his first against the Yankees since he played for them. Happ has been pretty bad lately. He hasn't recorded a quality start since late April, his 5.61 ERA is heavily front-loaded considering his 10.17 ERA and .360 opponents batting average over his last five appearances. Michael King gets the honors for the Yankees. He's been much better out of the bullpen than he has as a starter and opener where he's failed to notch a win in four attempts and holds a 7.89 ERA. If I had to make a call about tonight's game, I'd say bet the over and hand the Yankees a broom. I could be way off base, though, because the devil is always in the details. Play ball!
Twins Log Game 60 – Yankees and Twins
Here we go. Two division heavyweights who have been eyeing each other all season, waiting to see how they match up in perhaps an early playoff preview as they finally get to test their mettle against the best baseball has to offer....
Dang, I shouldn't prewrite these game logs in April apparently. Yankees in town and while we all are familiar with the Twins disappointments this year, the Yankees are only 2 games over 500, mired in 4th place in the AL East, also besot with injuries. Jordan Montgomery on the mound for the Yanks and he's okay I guess, but definitely the Twins can tee off on him a bit. Big Mike Pineda for the Twins coming off a pretty disappoint start last Tuesday.
Will be a steamy one at Target Field tonight but our good friend Twayn will be there making sure everyone is fully hydrated, finds their seat ok, and generally acts civil. Hey Twayn, it's ok if you give the old dude in a crisp Jeeter shirsey the twice over. Those guys are always trying to move into seats they didn't buy.
First pitch back at 7:10p. Let's go Twins!
Twins line-up
RF - Garlick
DH - Donaldson
2B - Polanco
1B - Sano
C - Jeffers
LF - Larnach
CF - Refsynder
3B - Astudillo
SS - Simmons
Happy Birthday–June 7
Bones Ely (1863)
Ed Wells (1900)
Dusty Boggess (1904)
Rosey Gilhousen (1913)
Herb Score (1933)
Roger Nelson (1944)
George Mitterwald (1945)
Don Money (1947)
Thurman Munson (1947)
Bobby Marcano (1951)
Bill Hohn (1955)
Tim Laudner (1958)
Heathcliff Slocumb (1966)
Donaldo Mendez (1978)
Virgil Vasquez (1982)
Mark Lowe (1983)
Luke Farrell (1991)
Dusty Boggess was a National League umpire from 1944-62.
Rosey Gilhousen was a long-time scout who is credit for signing George Brett and Dan Quisenberry.
Bobby Marcano was an all-star in Japan.
Bill Hohn was a major league umpire since 1989-99 and 2002-10.
Happy Birthday–June 4
Tim Murnane (1851)
Tony Venzon (1915)
Billy Hunter (1928)
John McNamara (1932)
Phil Linz (1939)
Terry Kennedy (1956)
Tony Pena (1957)
Kurt Stillwell (1965)
Scott Servais (1967)
Rick Wilkins (1967)
Darin Erstad (1974)
J. C. Romero (1976)
Cody Stashak (1994)
Tim Murnane had a long and varied career in baseball, but is best remembered as a sportswriter in Boston.
Tony Venzon was a National League umpire from 1957-71.
John McNamara managed six different major league clubs, going to the World Series with Boston in 1986.
2021 Game Log 54 – Twins at Orioles
Wow, game 54. That means after tonight the season will be 1/3 over. Besides June 1 being the start of "meteorological summer," it can also mean we are heading into the meat of the baseball season. Twins in the second game against the Orioles looking for their 17th win in a row against this team. Wow, that's hard to do, especially since they only play some 6-7 games a year, so the win streak goes back to 2018 or 2019 (I didn't check).
Big Mike on the mound tonight and he's been what you would expect from a 3rd or 4th guy on your staff, steady performance. Some better than others, decent numbers, Ks, etc. Bruce Zimmerman for the O's and he's been pretty lousy on a lousy team including a 5.15 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP. Woof.
Game time a 6:05p and should be a glorious night for baseball in Baltimore. Let's keep that streak alive Twins!
Twins Lineup
LF - Garlick
3B - Donaldson
DH - Cruz
C - Garver
RF - Kirilloff
2B - Polanco
1B - Sano
CF - Refsnyder
SS - Simmons
2021 Game Log 48: Orioles at Twins
Twins playing better lately and with a little bit of juice so let's hope it continues against the Orioles tonight.
O's put up Dean Kremer tonight. I have him down as a reliever so not sure if Baltimore is going with an Opener situation. As with most Orioles, he hasn't been very good. Hopefully the Twins can tee off on him. Jose Berrios for the Twins and he's been decent but not great. I'd love to see 7-8 nice innings from Jose tonight.
Should be a gorgeous night for baseball and will be my first game. I am not sure if I've even seen a game on TV as I am in Bally Sports Network hell. Looking forward to it. Not sure if I will spend for pricey tix or do the cheap, walk around route.
6:40 first pitch!
Twins Lineup
DH - Kepler
3B - Donaldson
RF - Kiriloff
1B - Sano
2B - Polanco
C - Garver
LF - Larnach
CF - Refsnyder
SS - Simmons
2021 Game Log 47: Baltimore Orioles at Minnesota Twins
In my CoC post today I joked that Baltimore was hanging out in the basement with us, but I hadn't realized they were coming to town. As mentioned, we've got the two worst teams in baseball here, so I'm sure it will be a riveting game. The Battle for the Basement!
Matty Shoes is coming off one of his better starts of the year against the White Sox, though that's a bit of a low bar. He's had success against the Birds in his career (again, low bar), so hopefully he turns in a solid performance. John Means is actually leading the AL with a 1.70 ERA, so everyone might want to prepare for Assbats™.
Friday game at Cleveland in progress
Rob Refsynder hitting bombas like we all predicted
2021 Games 15 and16 (Redux): Twins at Angels
Game Times - 3:07 p.m. CDT & 6:07 p.m. CDT
The White Sox own the Twins this year and brother do they have the receipts. After losing yesterday's matinee and the home series to the Pale Hose in what's become a typically scowl-inducing fashion, the Twins hopped a plane to the West Coast to make up two games with Anaheim from April that were postponed because of the COVID. They'll do that with a doubleheader today, after which the team will wing its way to Cleveland to open a weekend series on Friday. That's a lot of miles to log in just a couple of days.
In game one of today's twin bill, the Gemini will send southpaw Lewis Thorpe to the mound. He was added as the 27th man (I still have not internalized this rule) to the roster for the makeup games. His only other appearance this year opened the truncated series in Anaheim on April 16th that's being completed today, a spot start in which he gave up two runs on three hits over four inning. The Angels counter with right-hander Alex Cobb coming off the injured list for his first trip to the mound since Star Wars day. He threw five scoreless innings against the Rays in his last start before he was sidelined with a blistered finger.
Game two today figures to be the better pitching matchup of the pair, with the Twins featuring Jose Berrios and the Angels handing the ball to Griffin Canning (no, that is not some mythical beast putting up preserves). Both Berrios and Canning hold 3-2 records and pitched well in their last starts. Canning has an overall ERA of 4.78 after some rough outings in April, but he's notched a 1.59 ERA over his last three games. Berrios leads the Twins with 49 strikeouts and his ERA sits at 3.74 on the season.
It seems the statfreak mentality has taken hold among some in the media and the prophets of doom are already casting their gaze to the trade deadline and speculating on what the Twins could get for looming free agents like Nelson Cruz and J.A. Happ and Big Mike Pineda. They may be right, maybe this is a lost season and the front office should look beyond this year already, but then again a lot of people lost good money betting against the New York Giants when they were down by 13 games in August of 1951. Now I'll always have to wonder what they could have gotten in return for Bobby Thompson if only Chub Feeney had been a little more aggressive with his roster moves.
Play ball!