GameChat – Twins @ Indians, 6:10 (rain delay)

Just when you thought the Twins had lost players to just about every possible injury, they surprise you and come up with a new way to lose players. In case you haven’t heard Denard Span and Danny Valencia are missing Friday night’s game after Denard rear-ended Valencia’s car on the way to the airport to catch the team flight. Valencia’s fiance was driving his car and we’re thankful nobody was seriously injured, but both players were scratched from tonight’s line up.

Of course, with the rain delay, it’s hard telling whether these line ups will even play.

Hmmmmm… if it rains every day for the next two weeks in every city the Twins are scheduled to play, maybe this team won’t lose 100 games!

TWINS

@

INDIANS
Revere, CF Fukudome, RF
Plouffe, SS Kipnis, 2B
Cuddyer, RF Cabrera, A, SS
Parmelee, 1B Thome, DH
Hughes, L, 3B Duncan, LF
Dinkelman, 2B Chisenhall, 3B
Tosoni, DH LaPorta, 1B
Benson, LF Carrera, CF
Butera, C Marson, C
  _Pavano, P   _Masterson, P
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 2 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 5 9 0
Cleveland 1 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 1 6 11 2

Chris Parmelee continued to demonstrate that he can hit baseballs, but the Twins once again let too many scoring opportunities get away. Matt Capps gave up his 10th home run of the season (this one a walk-off) and Jim Thome added a long dinger of his own just to remind all of us of what we’ve been missing since he left.

GameChat – Seattle @ Minnesota #3, 12:10pm

It sure feels like Fall out there already even though I guess that’s not technically until tomorrow. That being said, it should be a nice if cool day for baseball. The Budweiser Clydesdales are visiting Target Field today… yeah I don’t think that is enough to get the Twins a chance to win either. But here’s hoping!

 

Seattle

@

Minnesota
Suzuki, I, RF   Revere, CF
Rodriguez, L, SS   Dinkelman, 2B
Ackley, 2B   Cuddyer, RF
Carp, 1B   Parmelee, 1B
Smoak, DH   Valencia, 3B
Seager, 3B   Plouffe, SS
Robinson, T, LF   Tosoni, DH
Gimenez, C, C   Benson, LF
Saunders, M, CF   Butera, C
  Beavan, P     Swarzak, P

 

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E

Seattle

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

13

2

Minnesota

0

0

1

0

1

0

0

0

1

3

8

0

 

So the Twins finally pulled off a WIN!!! Hard to believe I know. I wasn’t sure it was ever going to happen again this season but at least we denied the Mariners a sweep. There were a LOT of opportunities that the Twins didn’t take advantage of and quite frankly, Seattle basically handed us this game but I’ve seen our team refuse to accept gifted games before…

And given that there was only two of us in the chat today, it was hard to even remember that task of assigning a BOD!  But today, there was a single player who really made an offensive difference including the walkoff double for the win: Rene Tosoni. So for that standout performance, Rene, you are the Knuckleballs BOD!

 

photo courtesy of Zimbio.com (because we didn't have one, duh)

GameChat – Seattle @ Minnesota #2, 7:10pm

Here we go again!

(and my apologies for the late arrival – everything else is just going slower than it should today)

Seattle

@

Minnesota
Suzuki, I, RF Span, CF
Seager, SS Revere, LF
Ackley, 2B Cuddyer, DH
Carp, LF Parmelee, 1B
Smoak, DH Valencia, 3B
Olivo, C Plouffe, SS
Kennedy, A, 1B Dinkelman, 2B
Liddi, 3B Benson, RF
Robinson, T, CF Rivera, R, C
  Pineda, P   Slowey, P
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Seattle 0 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 0 5 8 0
Minnesota 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 4 14 1

Stop me if you’ve heard this before… The Twins got a good performance from their starting pitcher and jumped out to an early lead. However, they failed to capitalize on several scoring opportunities and, in the end, blew their lead. A late comeback rally fell short.

Yeah… sounded familiar to me, too. – JC

GameChat – Seattle @ Minnesota, 7:10pm

My expectations are predictably low however one would have to believe that the Twins have to be able to win a game one of these days right?

They are reporting that Justin’s surgery to remove cysts from his knee and foot went very well. I guess I’ll take whatever good news I can get these days.

 

Seattle

@

Minnesota
Suzuki, I, RF   Revere, CF
Seager, SS   Plouffe, SS
Ackley, 2B   Cuddyer, RF
Carp, LF   Parmelee, 1B
Pena, W, DH   Valencia, 3B
Kennedy, A, 1B   Hughes, L, 2B
Olivo, C   Dinkelman, DH
Liddi, 3B   Benson, LF
Robinson, T, CF   Butera, C
  Vargas, P     Hendriks, P

 

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E

Seattle

2

0

0

0

0

2

1

0

0

5

13

3

Minnesota

2

0

0

1

1

0

0

0

0

4

12

1

 

*sigh*

GameChat – Twins @ Yankees, In Progress

Holy forgotten game, Batman! If anyone’s paying attention to the Rochester Redwings playing the Yankees in NY in the middle of this homestand, I’m sorry I forgot there was a game today since it isnt’ in my regular schedule!

Turns out the game is closer than it has any right to be ….

 

Minnesota

@

NY Yankees
Revere, CF   Jeter, SS
Plouffe, SS   Granderson, CF
Cuddyer, RF   Teixeira, 1B
Parmelee, 1B   Rodriguez, Al, 3B
Valencia, DH   Cano, 2B
Dinkelman, 2B   Swisher, RF
Hughes, L, 3B   Jones, An, LF
Benson, LF   Montero, DH
Rivera, R, C   Martin, C
  Diamond, P     Burnett, AJ, P

 

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E

Minnesota

0

0

0

1

3

0

0

0

0

4

12

1

NY Yankees

2

1

2

0

0

1

0

0

x

6

15

1

 

Yeah, flying out to NY for one afternoon game and then flying back to the finish the rest of the homestand is weird… but it went pretty much the way you would expect at this point.

Congrats to a couple record-makers in today’s game though.. a) Ben Revere was able to capture the Twins Rookie stolen base record today. That’s pretty cool especially given that he wasn’t here the whole season. b) Mariano Revere is a kick ass relief pitcher. We all knew that but he tallied Save #602 today which makes him MLB’s All-Time saves leader. I don’t know that anyone is going to surpass that mark any time soon.

GameChat – Tribe @ Twins #3, 1:10pm

Morneau’s been shut down for the season… getting a cyst removed from his knee.

Kubel’s available only at DH.

Valencia’s a late scratch with the flu and Tosoni is out with the same bug.

The Twins and ‘Toons have completed the Thome trade with the Twins receiving $20,000 and no player. Nice to see the Pohlads have a little tip money now.

Here’s the lineup, consisting of whatever players are left standing.

INDIANS

@

TWINS
Fukudome, RF Revere, CF
Kipnis, 2B Plouffe, SS
Santana, C, 1B Cuddyer, DH
Thome, DH Parmelee, 1B
Duncan, LF Hughes, L, 3B
Chisenhall, 3B Dinkelman, 2B
Donald, SS Benson, LF
Carrera, CF Repko, RF
Marson, C Butera, C
  _Masterson, P   _Pavano, P
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 6 8 4
Minnesota 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 5 10 2

Another game, another early lead blown, another loss.

Jason Repko took an 88 mph fastball to the head and we all hope Jason’s OK.

GameChat – Indians @ Twins #2, 12:10pm

This is really a cool day for baseball in Minnesota but it’s supposed to start warming up towards more “normal” temperatures for Minnesota – whatever that means. At any rate, I would love to see us break the losing streak.. 6 games is enough for anyone I think.

 

Cleveland

@

Minnesota
Fukudome, RF   Revere, CF
Kipnis, 2B   Plouffe, SS
Cabrera, A, SS   Cuddyer, DH
Santana, C, C   Parmelee, 1B
Hafner, DH   Hughes, L, 3B
LaPorta, 1B   Tosoni, LF
Chisenhall, 3B   Dinkelman, 2B
Carrera, CF   Benson, RF
Crowe, LF   Rivera, R, C
  Gomez, J, P     Swarzak, P

 

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E

Cleveland

2

6

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

10

14

1

Minnesota

0

0

1

0

1

0

0

2

0

4

10

1

 

Story of poor pitching and LOB… again. Joe Benson and Chris Parmelee are still doing their part to say that they really appreciate this early shot at the big league. Even Dinkelman did pretty well today. Just doesn’t add up to much when your pitchers can’t avoid a bat or two.

GameChat – Indians @ Twins, 7:10pm

Ok, TOTAL craziness at my house AND apparently the illnesses are running rampant again…

Valencia is a late scratch because he has the flu – yeah, the last of our starting rotation to succumb but down he goes.

And Mauer is done for the season – official diagnosis from Mayo is that he’s been playing with pneumonia… great. Seriously… we need a live chicken.

oh yeah, welcome back Thome! it’s great to see you! don’t let any of the Twins breathe on you…

 

Cleveland

@

Minnesota
Fukudome, RF   Revere, CF
Kipnis, 2B   Plouffe, SS
Cabrera, A, SS   Kubel, DH
Thome, DH   Cuddyer, RF
Santana, C, 1B   Parmelee, 1B
Sizemore, G, CF   Hughes, L, 3B
Duncan, LF   Dinkelman, 2B
Chisenhall, 3B   Benson, LF
Marson, C   Butera, C
  Jimenez, P     Slowey, P

 

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E

Cleveland

0

1

1

3

0

1

0

0

1

7

10

2

Minnesota

0

0

0

0

2

0

2

0

2

6

9

0

 

Well this was actually the most fun any of the losing games lately have been to watch… Slowey was doing better but .. yeah, not good enough to hold a spot in the starting rotation.

There was a lot of entertainment watching Joe Benson try for the cycle tonight.. I really don’t know what I would have thought about a September callup hitting for the cycle – I wonder if that has ever happened??? (too tired to go find out but if one of our readers knows, please give us a heads up because that would be cool to know.) At any rate, he really did almost get it. In the 9th inning, he came up as the second batter needing just the homerun to make it complete… and then he hit it LOOONG. Missed the homerun by inches.. that’s all. Oh well.

Sadly, it was a one run loss and the winning run was another homerun – off the bat of Jim Thome. Yeah, he’s STILL a Twins killer when he’s not playing for us. I think he owes Joe Nathan a steak or something. But it’s awful hard to begrudge him anything even when he hits the game winner.

Great Local Minnesota Baseball Story

So this year was a pretty great year for the Saint Paul Saints in the big picture. They took the Championship series all the way out to the final game 5 before losing the title to the Grand Prairie Airhogs. But they brought the fight the whole time and made a great go of it. Congrats to the Saint Paul Saints on a fantastic season.

However, there was a fun story that came out of this season about a hometown Minnesota boy… They shared it with fans and now I want to share it with you.

Plucked From Day Job, Supposedly Washed Up Pitcher Leads Minor League Team To Title Game

Originally posted on ThePostGame: Tuesday, September 13, 2011 12:09 pm Written by: Josh Weinfuss

Clark Kent had a phone booth.

All Todd Mathison needs is a grayish-blue Dodge Stratus.

After spending most of September 7 driving around Minnesota to meet clients, the 24-year-old financial planner returned to his office about 4 p.m. at Fringe Benefits Design, a Bloomington company that sells and services retirement plans. Within 30 minutes, he was back in his Stratus for the 20-mile drive to his new office, Midway Stadium, home of the St. Paul Saints. By 5:15 p.m., Mathison was in the parking lot, starting his transformation from businessman-by-day to starting pitcher-by-night. He shed his suit and tie for jeans and a T-shirt, ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and was in the Saints’ locker room by 5:20 p.m.

He was slated to start the first game of the American Association Championship Series against the Grand Prairie AirHogs later that night.

Then, in what was only the latest scene in the screenplay that is Mathison’s on-again-off-again baseball career, the weekday warrior out-dueled Jason Jennings — the same Jason Jennings who won the National League rookie of the year in 2002 as a pitcher for the Colorado Rockies — to a 7-1 win.

And that wasn’t the end of the story.

***
 Three times Mathison has seen his baseball career revived from near-death and all three times he proved his right arm wasn’t ready to retire.

Example A: After pitching the 2010 season for the Saints, Mathison was let go after an up-and-down summer.

“Numbers are numbers,” Mathison says. “That was the end of my professional career.”

But while at a church function a month ago dining on shish kabobs, he got a call from Saints pitching coach Jason Verdugo. The team was in need of an arm for the stretch run and Verdugo gave Mathison two hours to decide. Mathison called his boss at Fringe Benefit Design, who also happens to be a former baseball player, and said he could handle pitching if the Saints worked around his schedule. Later that night, the shish kabob scent still on his fingers, Mathison drove to Midway Stadium and signed a contract. When Mathison re-joined the Saints — an independent team about the level of Double-A — they were tied for the wild-card berth. They won the final game of the regular season to make the playoffs and won their first series against Winnipeg thanks in part to a game Mathison started and the team won in extra innings.

Example B: After turning down a chance to play shortstop at the University of Minnesota, Mathison chose to play at nearby St. Olaf College because the school offered the chance to play baseball and football. A high school infielder, he began to pitch in earnest during fall baseball before his freshman season. Mathison finished his first season 9-0 with an ERA less than two and was named an All-American. He did that while playing shortstop every other game.

“After my freshman year, I still considered myself an infielder,” Mathison says.

He started his sophomore campaign 6-0 before straining an elbow ligament. Knowing an MRI would bench him for the season, Mathison convinced the St. Olaf coaching staff to let him play the rest of the year at first base and DH. When he had the MRI, sure enough the ligament was torn and Mathison was out for the summer (but his hitting prowess earned him the hitting MVP of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference). His college career was capped by going 7-4 and leading St. Olaf to within one game of the Division III World Series.

Then it was off to Zambia, Africa, for a summer project with Campus Crusade for Christ.

“In my mind, thought this was end of my baseball career,” Mathison says. “I was OK with that.”

Example C: When he returned to the states during the summer of 2009, Mathison was playing town ball for the Dundas Dukes and the opposing coach in one of his games happened to be Verdugo. He offered Mathison a tryout with the Saints and eventually signed the 6-foot, 190-pound pitcher for the rest of the 2009 season.

Mathison returned to the Saints in 2010 but was released June 28. And for the next year he worked as a financial planner because, yes, he thought his baseball career was over.

Now, in 2011, he’s still touching 91 mph. And he’s loving it.

“Throwing as hard as I’ve ever thrown,” Mathison says. “There are 35-year-olds who still have hopes. I still have hopes and I always will. If someone called and said they needed a big league starter, I’d say, ‘Yes.’”.

But first there was the matter of the championship series against the AirHogs. Mathison won the first game but the series went to a deciding Game 5. Once again, the 401K salesman would have to go against Jennings.

Mathison pitched well, but not as well as the former MLB star. The Saints lost, 8-5, after Mathison pitched five innings and gave up three earned runs.

Tuesday morning, Mathison sat in the Denver airport, thinking about the whirlwind month.

“It was an absolute blast,” he says. “Great team. It’s just hard to win a title.”

So what now?

“Get back to the office,” Mathison says. “There’s a lot of work to be done.”

And so Clark Kent, suitcase in hand, gets ready to board a flight for his old life and his grayish-blue Dodge Stratus. Again.

Eric Adelson contributed reporting for this story.