Month: September 2013

Talk to Contact – Episode 52 – The Ryan Doumit Lovefest

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Episode 52 of the Twins baseball podcast, Talk To Contact (@TalkToContact), is now available for download via iTunes or by clicking here.

Ryan Doumit Pumpkin

Eric spends most of this episode belittling Ryan Doumit and then trying to convince me that Doumit should play more often than I think is reasonable. We talk about Twins prospect Tyler Jones and wonder aloud what the roles will be for players like Doumit, Josh Willingham, Trevor Plouffe and Chris Parmelee. Summer is officially over and pumpkin beers have arrived across America. Tune in to find out about Paul’s favorite pumpkin beer and a bunch of Twins talk.


 

You can follow Cody on Twitter (@NoDakTwinsFan) or read his writing at NoDakTwinsFan, and you can find Paul on Twitter (@BaseballPirate) and read his writing at PuckettsPond.com!

If you enjoy our podcast, please take a couple extra minutes and rate and review us on iTunes(ratings and reviews have magical iTunes powers).

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GameChat – Tigers @ Twins, 7:10 pm

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The big news today, of course, is that the Twins have finally taken my advice and shut Joe Mauer down for the rest of the season. I honestly have no idea why this decision wasn’t made weeks ago. Had they done so, Joe could have been just taking his time and letting his brain heal in its own time, rather than with a daily “Mauer watch” in the media.

It’s obviously concerning that he’s still dealing with concussion symptoms and at some point we can have a discussion about whether he should continue to catch, but that can wait.

For now, just get better, Joe.

Tonight, the Twins take on the Tigers and Justin Verlander. Good luck with that, guys.

TIGERS

@

 TWINS
Jackson, A, CF Presley, CF
Hunter, To, RF Herrmann, C, RF
Cabrera, M, 3B Dozier, 2B
Fielder, 1B Willingham, DH
Martinez, V, DH Pinto, C
Dirks, LF Parmelee, 1B
Infante, 2B Thomas, C, LF
Avila, C Escobar, E, 3B
Santiago, R, SS Florimon, SS
_ Verlander, P   _Pelfrey, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
Detroit 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 10 0
Minnesota 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 4 14 0

Hey, get this: The Twins beat the Tigers and the almighty Justin Verlander!

OK, not really… since Verlander shut out the Twins for his six innings of work, but at the end of the day (almost literally, given how long the game took to play) the Twins won the game 4-3.

Mike Pelfrey only gave up 1 run. That’s pretty good. He might deserve BOD, but he earned $100,000 for hitting the 150 innings mark and that’s enough of a reward for his efforts, isn’t it?

Brian Dozier tied the game with a home run in the 9th and scored the winning run on Josmil Pinto’s RBI single in the 11th. So E and I voted unanimously for Doze.

Brian Dozier
Brian Dozier

GameChat – Twins @ Athletics #4, 3:05

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The A’s magic number is 1, so a win over Minnesota today will allow the Twins to watch an opponent celebrate a season’s worth of hard work and success as that team clinches a berth in the postseason.

The Twins might want to get used to that. It’s quite likely the Tigers will celebrate the same thing at some point during their upcoming series with the Twins and even the Indians could conceivably clinch a wild card spot during their series with the Twins next weekend.

I hope someone on this team is at least thinking they might like to be able to do that some day, too, but I honestly have a hard time imagining anyone on the Twins’ current roster still being around the next time the Twins are playing postseason baseball. No, not even Joe.

Anyway, here are the lineups that will face off today. Note, Josmil Pinto is DHing today even though Josh Willingham told Gardy he was healthy enough to play. Gardy’s response was that Pinto is swinging the bat better. That had to smart.

TWINS

@

 ATHLETICS
Presley, CF Crisp, CF
Dozier, 2B Lowrie, SS
Plouffe, 3B Donaldson, 3B
Arcia, LF Moss, LF
Pinto, DH Cespedes, DH
Parmelee, 1B Reddick, RF
Mastroianni, RF Barton, 1B
Florimon, SS Vogt, C
Fryer, C Sogard, 2B
  _De Vries, P   _Gray, S, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 1 0 3 0 0 0 1 0 2 7 12 0
Oakland 0 6 1 1 1 1 1 0 x 11 11 1

Oswaldo Arcia, Alex Pressley and Brian Dozier had good games today. The good news is that those three guys may actually have a shot at being key contributors next year. The bad news is that, thanks to pitchers that may also be part of the team next year, seven runs was not enough to win.

Up next, the Twins get to lay down for the Detroit Tigers.

GameChat – Twins @ Athletics #3, 3:05 pm

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I just got home from the Hawkeye thrashing of Western Michigan and I’ve got a family birthday thing to go to now, but I thought I would post the GameChat just in case there’s someone still paying attention to what the Twins are doing out in Oakland.

As for me, I’m pretty much out of things to say about the Twins at this point.

TWINS

@

 ATHLETICS
Presley, CF Crisp, CF
Dozier, 2B Donaldson, 3B
Plouffe, 3B Lowrie, SS
Arcia, RF Cespedes, DH
Doumit, DH Young, Ch, LF
Pinto, C Callaspo, 2B
Parmelee, RF Suzuki, K, C
Colabello, 1B Reddick, RF
Florimon, SS Barton, 1B
  _Hernandez, P, P   _Parker, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 6 2
Oakland 1 5 0 0 0 0 2 1 x 9 16 0

So the Twins ONLY lost 9-1 tonight. Sweet.

GameChat – Twins @ Athletics #2, 9:05 pm

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Been a long day and I just got home but I ALMOST got here in time to get the lineups posted before game time!

TWINS

@

 ATHLETICS
Presley, CF Crisp, CF
Herrmann, C, C Donaldson, 3B
Dozier, 2B Lowrie, SS
Arcia, RF Cespedes, DH
Willingham, DH Norris, D, C
Parmelee, 1B Young, Ch, LF
Escobar, E, 3B Callaspo, 2B
Thomas, C, LF Reddick, RF
Florimon, SS Barton, 1B
  _Albers, A, P   _Colon, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 4
Oakland 0 3 0 1 5 2 0 0 x 11 11 0

11-0? Seriously? Just… wow.

Looks like Michael Tonkin threw a couple of nice innings at the end of the game, so I guess there’s that.

GameChat – Twins @ Athletics, 9:05 pm

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Ah, west coast games.

I’ve got to get up a bit after 5 am Friday morning, so there’s no way I’m going to be awake when this one ends tonight. In fact, I’m not sure I’ll be around when it starts.

Word is that last night was the annual rookie hazing night, with 17 players having to dress in womens’ clothing. Unlike prior years, however, it seems photos were not encouraged. Part of me wants to thank whoever made that decision.

The Dodgers clinched the NL West today and celebrated by jumping in the pool at the D’Backs stadium, which apparently the Arizona folks didn’t care for.

I didn’t even know the D’Backs had a pool, but I’m not sure which I find sillier… the Dodgers jumping in it or the D’Backs being pissed off about it. Maybe the silliest thing is the media making a big deal about it.

Anyway, here are tonight’s Twins/A’s lineup:

TWINS

@

 ATHLETICS
Presley, CF Crisp, CF
Dozier, 2B Donaldson, 3B
Plouffe, 3B Lowrie, SS
Arcia, RF Moss, LF
Doumit, DH Reddick, RF
Willingham, LF Smith, S, DH
Pinto, C Vogt, C
Parmelee, 1B Barton, 1B
Florimon, SS Sogard, 2B
  _Correia, P   _Straily, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 2 0 6 10 0
Oakland 0 0 0 2 0 4 0 2 x 8 11 2

 

GameChat – Twins @ White Sox #3, 1:10pm

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MIRACULOUSLY was released from jury duty selection (for today) in time to get over and put up a post for a game I can’t watch because I’m frantically trying to catch up on the office work that I have held away from…

Minnesota

@

 Chi White Sox
Presley, CF De Aza, CF
Dozier, 2B Ramirez, Al, SS
Plouffe, 3B Viciedo, LF
Arcia, LF Konerko, 1B
Doumit, DH Dunn, A, DH
Colabello, 1B Semien, 3B
Thomas, C, RF Danks, Jd, RF
Escobar, E, SS Phegley, C
Fryer, C Garcia, L, 2B
  Diamond, P   Danks, Jh, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 7 1
Chi White Sox 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 3 6 0

Hey, the Twins won!

I’m looking over the stats and game story and I can’t come up with anyone who makes a living swinging a bat who’s worthy of BOD consideration. Looks like the bullpen did a nice job, which is excellent to see.

But Scott Diamond somehow managed to give up just three runs on five hits in 6 1/3 innings, all without recording a single strikeout. Not exactly a dominating performance, but at this point it’s good enough for BOD. – JC

Scott Diamond
Scott Diamond

GameChat – Twins @ White Sox #2, 7:10 pm

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Two of the worst baseball teams in the American League are playing one another tonight. Here are the lineups:

TWINS

@

 WHITE SOX
Mastroianni, CF De Aza, CF
Dozier, 2B Ramirez, Al, SS
Plouffe, 3B Viciedo, LF
Arcia, RF Dunn, A, DH
Doumit, DH Konerko, 1B
Willingham, LF Danks, Jd, RF
Pinto, C Beckham, G, 2B
Colabello, 1B Phegley, C
Florimon, SS Semien, 3B
  _Pelfrey, P   _Quintana, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 3 10 0
Chi White Sox 0 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 x 4 11 3

The Twins lost again. Let’s all pretend it’s a shock. Please let this season end soon.

GameChat – Twins @ White Sox, 7:10 pm

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The Twins haven’t been better than many teams this season, but the White Sox are one of the few. That’s good with me. If there’s one thing worse than a really bad year, it’s a really bad year and losing a lot to the White Sox.

No Brian Dozier in the lineup tonight, which is different.

TWINS

@

 WHITE SOX
Presley, CF De Aza, CF
Escobar, E, 2B Ramirez, Al, SS
Plouffe, 3B Gillaspie, 3B
Arcia, LF Konerko, 1B
Willingham, LF Dunn, A, DH
Parmelee, 1B Viciedo, LF
Pinto, C Danks, Jd, RF
Herrmann, C, RF Beckham, G, 2B
Florimon, SS Anderson, B, C
  _Hendriks, P _Johnson, E, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 8 0
Chi White Sox 7 0 0 2 0 2 1 0 x 12 13 1

I watched the first 1/3 of an inning. It’s all I could take. No idea what happened after that, but it couldn’t have been good.