Tag Archives: Nolasco

2015 Twins Game Logs

Game 39: Twins @ Pirates

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Ugh, Nolasco (3-1, 6.38 ERA, 4.85 xFIP) vs. F-Bomb (1-3, 2.96 ERA, 3.19 xFIP)

I am....not so confident in this matchup other than the fact that Nolasco gets to pitch against an NL team. I don't know, maybe it'll help make him less 'ugh' and more 'meh'?

I haven't paid much attention, but it looks like Liriano is generally pitching pretty well this year, striking dudes out all over the place. He does have a .215 BABIP, though, so he might be getting a bit lucky on the balls that make it out into the field. Hopefully that is the case and that average heads north a bit tonight.

In addition to a mid-season interleague matchup, the Wolves have their annual "playoff" tonight (7:30 on ESPN) in which they participate in a selection of ping-pong balls to determine which crappy team gets the good picks in the draft. This event will set off a solid month of speculating just which incorrect pick Flip will make. Should be fun!

2014 Twins Game Logs

Game 37: The Bostons at The Minnesotas

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Ricky Nolasco (2-3, 5.64 ERA) vs. Felix Doubront (1-3, 5.09 ERA)

The Twins return to the Bullseye after spending time in two crappy cities. This doesn't look like a matchup of guys who've gotten off to a good start this year. Doubront has been walking a bunch of guys and not lasting very long into games while Nolasco seems to be prone to the "In Play Run(s)" type of plays. The good news is that Nolsy's last couple of starts have been much better with some increased striking out of guys. Hopefully that trend can keep going tonight. Of course, as is the way of things, this will probably turn out like the last time I previewed an opposing pitcher who walked a lot of guys and hadn't been pitching well. Hopefully the Twin's band of merry infielders can keep the good feelings rolling after the Detroit series win.

For the brewers out there, I recently tried out a new hopping technique, first wort hopping. Flavor/aroma hops are added prior to the boil during the sparging process (could also be done during the grain steeping if doing extract with specialty grains). I made an IPA using this and kegged it on Saturday and wow, the hops really asserted themselves on my initial taste during the kegging process. I will report back once the batch is carbonated if anyone is interested. It better utilizes the hop acids meaning fewer hops could be used to get a similar effect. Plus, it simplified the boil quite a bit. Its always fun to try new things after all these years. Next thing I boldly try might be decoction mashing.

2013 Twins Game Log

2013 Games 16 & 17: An Entire Series in One Day!

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Apparently, as punishment for missing last Tuesday's game log, I have to write about Pelfrey (again!) and the Miami Marlins. But in a fun twist, I get to talk about a whole series all on the same day.

Game 16:

Kevin "Suck it Aaron" Correia (1-1, 2.95 ERA) vs. Ricky Nolasco (0-2, 3.86 ERA)

I'm realistic enough to know that Correia probably won't keep up this pace all season. But if you're going to have some surprising success as a pitcher, Miami is a pretty good team to have to face to keep doing it, with their league low 43 runs scored. Even Kevin Slowey can't win with an offense like Miami's behind him.

Game 17:

Mike "Winner" Pelfrey (2-1, 7.30 ERA) vs. Jose Fernandez (0-1, 3.60 ERA)

A quick perusal of Fangraphs tells me Jose Fernandez is pitching pretty freekin good so far this year, with lots of strikeouts (over 10 K/9). Since it'll be frickin cold at the Bullseye tonight, and the umps will have already spent three-ish hours in the cold earlier, I'm setting the over under on strikeouts for Fernandez at 26.5.

Mike Pelfrey, on the other hand, sucks at the whole "striking guys out" thing. But with the potential cold strike zone, maybe he'll get his first career K tonight.