It wasn’t exactly an overpowering offensive explosion in Kansas City, but Ryan Doumit’s solo home run and some timely hitting by Joe Mauer, Josh Willingham and Doumit (again) were all Sam Deduno and the bullpen needed.
That’s a shutout folks. Yes, it IS possible for the Twins to participate in one of those where the OTHER team scores no runs. And for his part in leading that endeavor, Deduno is our BOD!
So.. remember that fairly hilarious thunderstorm that the Twins and Rangers that flattened Willingham and sent Doumit running for shelter?
Well it turns out that the Yankees & Red Sox had a similar event yesterday and it was pretty much just as funny!! It seems thunder and outdoor stadiums are made for comedy.
Sorry for the late start folks – my computer was not cooperating today so it took far longer than I thought to get this going.
Quick note about the lineup today: Morneau arrived to the park with flu-like symptoms so we get to see Colabello at 1B. I have to admit that while I am going to be listening to this game rather than watching for the most part, I will definitely have to take the opportunity to see how he does for at least a portion of the game.
So I spent the majority of the game cleaning out my car and listening on the radio – because yes, I can actually GET the Twins station in my car, just not in the house and yes, it did take well over 2 hours to clean out my car…
Fortunately, most of the game wasn’t worth paying my full attention to anyway so I could work away and not worry about missing anything.
But! I finished just before the 9th inning and came in to sit and watch the last inning on the TV.. HOLY CRAP AM I GLAD I DID!!!
Who knew that their closer would absolutely fall apart and WALK 3 consecutive batters (Florimon, Escobar and Mauer) and just set up the bases loaded for the heart of our hitting order. Florimon scored on a sac fly from Willingham who still practically scuffed the dirt with his shoes because he really really really wanted that sucker to go out of the park and it almost did but not quite. And then Doumit… runners at first and second and Doumit up hitting lefty against the right-hander who couldn’t keep balls where he wanted them.. Doing a little math for myself and realizing just a good liner ties up the game and a solid double wins it since Mauer isn’t the FASTEST guy on the team but he can move and score from 1st if necessary. And that is exactly how it played out.. Accordingly, Doumit was the team hero AND got himself shaving creamed during the post game interview.. he deserved it I’m sure and he deserves today’s BOD! Congrats!
Once again we’re playing hide and seek with the thunderstorms here in Minnesota – so that should make Seattle feel right at home, right?
It’s VERY dark and clamorous at my house right now but it’s supposed to be on the move and I think we should be clear once the game is ready to go. (I’m doubly hopeful about this since the hubby rode the motorcycle to work today and he’ll be heading home right about first pitch…)
Since we have a nice little win streak going, I think it would be cool to keep that moving don’t you think? Let’s see if Pelfrey can maintain the quicker pace and deeper into the game progress that we really need to see from him.
So I actually missed the very end of the game but it doesn’t look as though I missed much…
I have to give props to Florimon and Parmelee because they seemed like the only ones actually trying to get anything going and Pelfrey actually didn’t do a HORRIBLE job so it is just sad that the offense couldn’t do more to support him.
Ok, so that’s a little play on words that I couldn’t resist.. I saw this video on Facebook a couple days ago and I really liked the sentimentality of it all.
I thought you guys would enjoy a good moment as well.
Ok, we’re doing well against the Brewers and I would really like that to continue. Again, we’re playing a bit of poker game against the Rain and the atmosphere is the house. It could get dicey tonight but since this is our last meetup with Milwaukee, they’ll do whatever they can to get the game played.
Roster note, Plouffe is BACK on the DL. This time it’s for the calf, it’s not retroactive to his previous injury because it’s a new issue and Colabello is coming back up (btw, I have no clue if I’m spelling that right. I’ll have to look it up.)
Let’s hope that we can go deep with the starting pitching again tonight – both hoping that PJ can pitch a good amount of innings AND that we take Kyle Lohse YARD!
I wonder who will show tonight…. Kyle or Lyle?? Welcome back to MN Mr. Lohse.
Wow… just.. wow. Technically this is actually a sweep of two separate series of the same team but since it’s only 4 games, I think we’ve all been thinking of it as a single series. Am I right?
Tonight was the perfect capstone. I have to tell you, the BOD discussion was getting mighty creative as we attempted to dissect the performances of the various players that just ROCKED tonight.. and it was a close battle! There were 4 Homeruns! 4 players went 2/4 and 3 of those four had 2 RBI… It came down to fielding and base-running between those guys that edged it out for one.
And congratulations to PJ Walters for a great outing and to Jared Burton for keeping us from getting ulcers. It was definitely good to have all that run cushion though because the Brewers didn’t give up. Special thanks to Lyle Kohse for that great start.. *snort*
Because it feels really good to finally have a win streak going and to have it be such an impressive use of the bat tonight, we are gifting the entire team with yet another beer bash variation – they ALL get rootbeer floats! (some of those kids are awfully young yet). Not to mention that it’s still plenty warm and humid in Minnesota – it’s about time – so they can cool off and enjoy some relaxation as a team. Good job boys – let’s do it some more ok? Remember how good this feels when we face Seattle tomorrow?
But in all that discussion of BOD, one did win out on the votes by sheer dedication and consistent effort both in the field AND with the bat. Tonight, it’s all Parmesan!
and the Beer Bash continues… we hope. There’s a threat of some pretty severe storms moving in so let’s hope we can get the baseball in. The boys already had to give up batting practice due to earlier rain today so let’s hope that works out as well as it did the last time rain cancelled BP – they hit the stuffing out of the ball!
In further roster shake-up, Colabello has already gone back down to Rochester as Plouffe came off the 7-day DL today. We have a new lead-off hitter to try out tonight as they put Escobar in the 1-hole. We also have Herrmann making his first appearance this season catching so that Mauer can get a little break by DHing. And just for the record, I would love to see Deduno improve over his last outing. I think we won’t get a lot of leeway and it’s imperative that he go as deep into the game as the game can go given the extra innings last night – although if rain interferes, there is little we can do to manage that other than hope someone in the bullpen has something left…
[edit] already had to post a new lineup – VERY late substitution has taken Plouffe out the game and not for the reason you’re thinking. He’s apparently dealing with tightness in his calf which kind of sucks since we already sent Colabello back down and we’re going to be light on the bench tonight…
Hot DAMN!!! And the timing was perfect because I’m listening to thunder as I type this!
Now THAT was some great baseball!! SO many great things happened tonight and so many people did some awesome stuff that I decided we had to combine the beer prize with our traditional baked-goods prizes and start passing out Beer Cakes to the sundry excellent performers!
Everyone except Florimon got a hit tonight, Doumit had 2 RBI and Hicks had a beautiful Homerun that sailed just out of reach of the chasing GoGo. And there was some spectacular defensive plays out there tonight and you know I’m a sucker for the glove work. Aaron Hicks and Chris Parmelee both made RIDICULOUS catches that I can guarantee will make the high light reels and Dozier had some SOLID work in the middle infield including a VERY timely and necessary double play. They ALL get to pick a Beer Cake and enjoy.
But more than anything it was great to watch a WIN and our heartiest congratulations to Samuel Deduno for his first W this season! Yeah, he hit 3 batters.. (oops) but that just solidifies his title of “effectively wild”. And more importantly, going into the 8th inning after last night’s 5+ hour affair is EXACTLY what this team needed tonight. It was a BRILLIANT outing that earned him tonight’s BOD! Good job!
It really does feel like we play a LOT more inter-league play with this schedule but I think it’s just one of those thing that is more because of timing than actual game count.. maybe. I lose track.
So Mauer is back in the 3-hole – IMHO, FINALLY! – and it seems to be one of those things that has the twitter fandom in an uproar. I guess that everyone has their opinion but your best hitter on the team REALLY shouldn’t be your 2-hole guy. I know there is a lot of disagreement on that point.. y’all are just wrong. 😉
Let’s hope Scotty can put the Brewers away tonight and go deep into the game. I would like to start having a reason to send that 13th pitcher back down…
yeah, I don’t know about you but I didn’t make it until the end…
I gave up when Perkins lost the save. I had this horrible feeling it was going to take awhile to fix. It did.. Thank GOD for Aaron Hicks finally getting something out there. Since there was only one person left in the chat by that point – she gets the sole BOD vote and she said Hicks. I can’t even argue that point! So there it is, congrats Mr. Hicks!
We’ll come back to baseball later today, of course, but I want to encourage all of our readers to take a moment’s pause today. For all those who have served in our nation’s military, we thank you. For all those families who have sacrificed, we thank you.
But in the true recognition of Memorial Day and it’s history, we remember those who fell in the service of this country and we honor their memory. This is not Veterans Day -although I esteem them highly and am very glad to have them with us. This is Memorial Day – the time to remember those who never came home paying a cost none of us have ever paid.
There is no way to pay the debt owed for the privileges I enjoy. I can only recognize the depth of loss.
We encourage all our readers to enjoy their Memorial Day in whatever manner they choose but to take a moment during the day to remember those we’ve lost. We use this quote a lot but considering Memorial Day was born out of the Civil War, it seems appropriate.
… The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion …
