Day: June 2, 2010

GameChat – Twins @ Mariners #3, 9:10 pm

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Well there was a LOT of baseball news today and none of it is the kind you can jump up and down about.  1) Ken Griffey, Jr announced he is retiring – apparently effective immediately – which means his very last plate appearance was against the Twins.  2) Alexi Casilla will be having surgery to remove the bone spurs in his elbow.  He’s expected to be out 4-8 weeks.  3) Michael Cuddyer’s Father-in-law passed away.  He’s penciled in for tonight but then tomorrow he’ll be put on bereavement leave for 4 days.  No one knows yet who will get called up but I’m betting it will be announced in the post-game interviews or tomorrow morning.

addendum:  4) Jim Joyce, 1B ump, screwed over Armando Galarraga’s attempt at a perfect game – yes, I know it would have been the third one in less than a month but still…  the video evidence on replay is more than enough to have Mr. Joyce wishing he could take a few days off work.  I actually feel bad for the Tigers on this one even though they won.  Fausto Carmona was also pitching a hell of a game but Detroit pulled it out, 3-0.  The Tigers have never had a pitcher throw a perfect game and I guess they’ll just have to wait for another opportunity where the umpires actually let it happen.

Let’s hope that with all the distractions for both teams, everyone can focus and have a good game of baseball.

Minnesota @ Seattle
Span, CF   Suzuki, I, RF
Hardy, SS   Figgins, 2B
Mauer, C   Gutierrez, F, CF
Morneau, 1B   Sweeney, M, DH
Cuddyer, RF   Bradley, LF
Kubel, DH   Lopez, J, 3B
Young, D, LF   Kotchman, 1B
Tolbert, 3B   Johnson, Ro, C
Punto, 2B   Wilson, Jo, SS
  Slowey, P     Lee, Cl, P

 

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H
Minnesota 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 5
Seattle 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 8

 

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Nobody likes umpires today.

Sometimes you need a sense of humor

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Last night’s loss in Seattle was flat out ugly. The hitters couldn’t hit a soft-tossing pitcher. Nick Blackburn’s sinker wouldn’t sink and he got knocked around by a team who’s 2010 offense has been… well… offensive. Most of us who stayed up to watch/listen to the entire game wondered, after the fact, why we had lost sleep to witness that futility.

But today’s another day and tonight presents a whole new game and most of us will do it all over again.

To get us through the day though, how about a bit of humor? A few quotes from around Twins Territory.

More tattoos than meet the eye?

Ron Gardenhire, on the subject of Jon Rauch’s stiffness in his right hamstring: “It doesn’t affect him when he’s pitching, just when he’s getting tattoos.” I don’t think I wanna know where he’s getting that tattoo if it makes his hamstring stiff.

After getting his “call up” about midnight Tuesday, Matt Tolbert went to Rochester’s Frontier Field to get his equipment, then tried to catch a few winks before his 5:30 am flight: “I worry about oversleeping, so I set a bunch of alarms.” Good thinking Matt. “Sorry I missed the game, Gardy. I overslept,” probably wouldn’t go over real well.

The "biggest second baseman" you've ever seen?

Starting pitchers follow a specific routine on the day of their starts. Apparently, checking the lineup card is not part of Francisco Liriano’s routine. This observation from Frankie after Ichiro led off Monday’s game by grounding out to Michael Cuddyer at 2B: “I was like, ‘What’s Michael doing here?’ I didn’t know he was playing second, so I was really surprised.” Welcome to the club, ‘Cisco… we may have found out about it long before you noticed, but you certainly weren’t the only one “really surprised”.

And what did the Twins “real” second baseman, Orlando Hudson, think of Cuddyer’s performance? “He looks good. That’s the biggest second baseman I’ve ever seen.” Hey, Cuddy… I think O-Dog just called you “fat”.

O-Dawg, in a rare... very rare... quiet moment

Speaking of Hudson… Gardy, can you tell us how Lando’s doing? “He’s really upbeat, I can tell you that, because he’s talking. No, wait, that’s every day.” I suspect Hudson will be in the lineup REAL soon… if only to give Gardy a few minutes’ peace on the bench while the Twins are in the field.

I want to thank Joe Christensen at the StarTribune and Kelsie Smith at the PioneerPress for the quotes… and for giving this tired Twins fan something to smile about over his coffee this morning. – JC