Author Archives: Jim Crikket

Who Are These Guys?

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Any discussion about who or what is to blame for the Twins bringing up the rear of the AL Central Division this year would eventually get around to focusing on the bullpen. It has, to be frank, been a bit of a mess.

(photo: Foxsportsnorth.com)

But if you want to know what’s led to this little hot streak the team has been riding in June, the answer is arguably the same… the bullpen.

Yes, I know… Matt Capps coughed up a one-run lead with two out in the bottom of the 9th inning Wednesday afternoon when Jack Hannahan took him yard. That’s frustrating and I’m not saying Capps or any of his bullpen buddies deserve their own statues on Target Plaza, but if you haven’t been paying attention, you might not realize that was the first run… earned or otherwise… that the Twins bullpen has given up this month.

The Twins are 6-2 in June and even those two losses (June 1 to Detroit and Tuesday to Cleveland) couldn’t be pinned on the bullpen.

Over the course of the eight games the Twins have played this month, seven different pitchers have appeared out of the pen, throwing a total of 18 innings. They’ve given up eight hits and walked nine hitters (which is a bit high, but the combination of hits and walks is still good enough for a 0.944 WHIP, which is pretty fair). They’ve also struck out 10 hitters.

Capps reminded us today that these guys are still human and I’m not suggesting that eight solid games of relief pitching make up for all the melt downs we endured in April and May, but it does demonstrate how much difference a competent bullpen makes to a team’s success in the win column.

It’s been fun watching the top and bottom of the order zip around the bases and score a few runs, but let’s be honest… the hitting still is not where it needs to be if the Twins are going to make the rest of the season truly interesting. But the starting pitching has continued to be relatively consistent and if the bullpen can continue to pitch well, maybe we’ll all have a little more fun yet this season after all.

And if it turns out they return to their suckage, well, at least they’ll have more time to prepare to represent the US in the seven man bobsled event at the next Winter Olympics (what? there ISN’T a seven-man bobsled event? dang).  If you can’t get the imbedded video to work (and haven’t seen any of the 482 times it’s run on local and national television this week), click here to watch it… the still picture doesn’t do it justice.

There’s been a lot of chatter about the various “skits” these guys have been entertaining fans (and, themselves) with before games. Some people don’t like it. I’m good with it, though. They’re putting in their work and getting the job done on the field this month. Having a little of fun before the game keeps them loose and builds bullpen chemistry. There’s nothing wrong with that.

– JC

GameChat – Twins @ Indians #2, 6:05pm

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Going for a half dozen wins in a row, the Twins take on the Tribe without centerfielder Denard Span again tonight. Denard is apparently having a recurrence of the dizziness/vertigo issues he had a couple of years ago. Let’s wish Denard the best and hope for a speedy recovery so he can get back in the outfield where he belongs.

Tonight, we do get the return of Francisco Liriano AND Brian Dinkelman returns to the line up (as the DH). This should be interesting, anyway!

TWINS @ INDIANS
Revere, RF Brantley, LF
Casilla, A, SS Cabrera, A, SS
Cuddyer, RF Sizemore, G, CF
Morneau, 1B Santana, C, C
Young, D, LF Duncan, DH
Hughes, L, 3B Choo, RF
Dinkelman, DH Cabrera, O, 2B
Rivera, R, C Hannahan, 3B
Tolbert, 2B Marson, C
Liriano, P Carrasco, P

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1
Cleveland 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 x 1 4 0

Well, I guess we start a new winning streak on Wednesday. It was nice to see Frankie back and relatively effective and he got some nice relief work from the bullpen. Too bad none of the hitters showed up for the game.

,

GameChat – Twins @ Indians, 6:05 pm

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ANOTHER early start time? Is there some new rule this year that the Twins can’t play more than four road games in a row in the Central Time Zone?

If you thought you had seen all the weird looking line ups that Gardy could possibly come up with, you were wrong. Tonight, we get Denard Span batting 3rd for the first time since he was a senior in high school! Not that there’s anything necessarily wrong with giving it a shot… Ben Revere and Alexi Casilla have certainly been doing the job as the 1-2 combination, so why not let Denard take that 3rd spot? It’s not like anyone else is exactly hitting well in that position this year.

Oh… and congratulations, Justin Morneau! Playing his 1000th game tonight!

TWINS @ INDIANS
Revere, RF   Brantley, LF
Casilla, A, SS   Cabrera, A, SS
Span, CF   Sizemore, G, CF
Cuddyer, 1B   Santana, C, C
Morneau, DH   Choo, RF
Young, D, LF   LaPorta, 1B
Hughes, L, 3B   Buck, T, DH
Tolbert, 2B   Cabrera, O, 2B
Butera, C   Hannahan, 3B
Baker, S, P   Tomlin, P

 

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

 

WOOHOOOO!!  We win again! That’s 5 games in a row and I’m almost POSITIVE that it’s the first time all season that the boys have been able to do that. Of course, tonight was really the story of the bottom of the order. After the abysmal play vs the Indians last time, it was really great to see some solid baseball. I’m not on speaking terms with any umpires right now but that’s clearly for the best and I usually get over such things very quickly.  All the way around we had some great defense tonigh – even when we had to get 5 outs in an inning. 

The chat discussed the various merits of hitting and defense tonight and have decided to start by acknowledging the very solid start from Baker – here’s a cookie. Also good job Delmon, Cuddyer & Casilla – you also get cookies – they had some questionable moments but all three kept the winning attitude in place. However unlikely it may seem, Tolbert wins the BOD! But he earned it. Good job!

Matt Tolbert had a big night

GameChat – Twins@ Royals #4, 1:10pm

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The Twins go for the sweep in Kansas City this afternoon with a lineup that still looks more like something that should be taking the field for the Red Wings than the Twins, but at least these guys are showing some life! Hopefully, the rest that Denard and Justin are getting this weekend will have them ready for Cleveland.

TWINS @ ROYALS
Revere, CF Gordon, LF
Casilla, A, SS Cabrera, Me, CF
Cuddyer, DH Hosmer, 1B
Valencia, 3B Francoeur, RF
Young, D, LF Butler, DH
Hughes, L, 1B Betemit, 3B
Repko, RF Aviles, 2B
Butera, C Pena, B, C
Tolbert, 2B Escobar, A, SS
Duensing, P Francis, P

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 6 9 1
Kansas City 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 1

That’s a SWEEP!

First sweep of a series longer than 2 games!

First four game winning streak!

Don’t look now, but that 16.5 game lead the Tribe had over the Twins last Thursday is now down to 12.5 and the Twins are headed in to Cleveland for a big series starting Monday!

It will be good to get Denard Span and Justin Morneau back, for sure, but this new generation of piranhas has been fun to watch this weekend. Alexi Casilla continued ripping the ball, Luke Hughes had a couple of hits and scored a couple of runs, and Jason Repko got in to the action, too, with a couple of hits and three RBI!

Brian Duensing hadn’t gotten a W in his past half dozen starts for the Twins, but he threw eight shutout innings, giving up just six hits and 1 walk, while striking out four Royals. For that performance, Brian is our BOD!

Brian Duensing

GameChat – Twins @ Royals #2, 7:10pm

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Something to think about… The Twins started the season with a club-record payroll just north of $113 million. At this moment, $53.2 million of that payroll (eight players) is on the Disabled List, leaving them with an active roster payroll of about $60 million. Thought about in those terms, I’d say the Twins are right about where in the standings I’d expect a team with a $60 million annual payroll to be.

We covered a few roster moves in the GameChat post before Thursday night’s game in Kansas City, but even more moves have been announced since that time. Let’s see if I can give a quick rundown on where things stand with the Twins’ roster at the moment.

The Twins moved Mauer and Nishioka over to the 60-day DL this week to make room for some guys to be added, but the other six are “only” on the 15-day DL.

Three players were dropped from the active 25-man roster. In addition to Thome and Kubel going on the DL, infielder Trevor Plouffe was sent down to Rochester.

Ben Revere returned to the Twins in time to play in Thursday’s game. He’s now going to be joined by infielder Luke Hughes and Brian Dinkelman. Dinkelman has played some infield, but he’s primarily been seeing action in the outfield in Rochester. He’s hit relatively well in Rochester and swings from the left side, which is something Ron Gardenhire considers important since his two lefty DHs, Kubel and Thome, are gone.

The Twins also obtained minor league OF Jeremy Reed from the Brewers and sent him to Rochester to shore up a Red Wings roster that’s every bit as screwed up as the Twins’ roster is.

With Nishioka and Mauer expected to return to action over the next couple of weeks, we’ll soon be speculating over which current members of the 40-man roster the Twins will drop and risk losing to another team’s claim. I personally don’t see any shortage of names I wouldn’t lose sleep over losing, but don’t be too surprised if one of those names is Dinkelman, himself. It wouldn’t be the first time the Twins promoted a guy to get short-term use, only to go ahead and try to pass him through waivers a few days later. In fact, they did exactly that less than a year ago when they brought Matt Fox up for a start (a successful start, at that), then tried (unsuccessfully) to pass him through waivers just a few days later when they needed his roster spot again.

Anyway… one thing we can be sure of is that the game of musical chairs the Twins are having to play with their roster isn’t about to end any time soon.

As for tonight’s game… I hope the gang at Smalley’s 87 Club for the TwinsCentric bash is having a good time tonight! I’ve got some plans with the family for “happy hour”, so I’m not sure when I’ll be online. Lineups aren’t posted yet and since I’m not sure whether one of us will be around to post them when they DO get released, I’m just going ahead and loading up the GameChat now. Hope everyone’s weekend is getting off to a great start! – JC

Minnesota @ Kansas City
Span, CF Gordon, LF
Casilla, A, SS Cabrera, Me, CF
Morneau, DH Hosmer, 1B
Cuddyer, 1B Francoeur, RF
Valencia, 3B Butler, DH
Young, D, LF Betemit, 3B
Revere, RF Pena, B, C
Hughes, L, 2B Getz, 2B
Butera, C Escobar, A, SS
Pavano, P Duffy, P

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 5 11 1
Kansas City 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 9 0

Two in a row! That almost constitutes a winning streak! This was almost like the old days… hits all over the place, including a double and a near inside-the-park-HR by Denard Span, guys running around the bases, trying to take that extra base (even though it doesn’t work sometimes), and a complete game by Carl noStache Pavano.

In fact, that complete game… his 100th career victory… earned Pavano our Boyfriend of the Day award for tonight!

 

,

The Times They Are A-Changin

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Before I launch in to today’s post, I want to remind everyone that the TwinsCentric gang has organized a gathering tonight at Smalley’s 87 Club, near Target Field. They’re going to be joined by Lindsay Guentzel from KFAN and if you’re in the Twin Cities area, you should join them, too! There will be food and drink specials, as well as prizes to give away, and it’s a great opportunity to have some fun with fellow Twins fans. They’ll also be taking (but not requiring) donations to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Since I’m NOT in the Twin Cities this weekend, I’m hoping that one (or both) of our Twin Cities contingent, KL and CapitalBabs, will find their way there to represent Knuckleballs! Game time is 7:00, so get there early! – JC

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For weeks, I’ve been holding out hope that, once the “real” Twins all get healthy, they might stage some sort of comeback. It may not be enough to challenge for the AL Central Division title, but I had hopes that it would at least result in a competitive team worth watching again. I suppose that could still happen, but the reality is that the Twins seem to be losing more of their best players faster than they get already-injured players back from the Disabled List.

I still believe that there is a lot of talent at the Major League level in this organization. If everyone was expected back next year, I’d probably be willing to just write 2011 off as one of those years when you’re simply snakebit and look forward to starting off 2012 with everyone healthy and, with a couple of tweaks to the roster, ready to return the Twins to their rightful spot at the top of the division standings.

Alas, things just aren’t that easy.

As a child of the 1960s, I’ve always thought of Bob Dylan as part icon, part prophet, and part… well… just weird. I used to spend time working my way through his lyrics looking for the meaning. Imagine my shock this week when, as I was listening to a bit of Dylan’s best, I realized that nearly 50 years ago, he was writing about the 2011 Minnesota Twins when he penned The Times They Are A-Changin. But then, he is a Minnesota native, so maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised.

Don’t believe me? Let’s give a listen.

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’.

Who is Dylan talking to here? Maybe he’s telling the front office to wake up and realize they aren’t a small-budget team any more and they need to adopt a new business model before they’ve got the fanciest half-empty ballpark this side of the Pirates’ PNC Park. Or maybe he’s talking to the on-field staff and warning them that “pitching to contact” and “battling your tail off” are not going to get the job done in today’s game. Maybe he’s telling Joe Mauer to listen to his body and start thinking about spending some time learning another defensive position or two. Or maybe he’s talking to us… the fans… because as I look around, it’s obvious to me the waters around us have certainly grown.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who
That it’s namin’
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’.

Well this one is easy. Yes, decades ago, a young Bob Dylan saw the future and it was named “Twins blogs”. He’s talking to all of us in the Twins Blogdom here (maybe some of the traditional media, too, but mostly bloggers). Nobody does more prophesizing than we do and we’re certainly all about speaking too soon while the wheel’s still in spin. We’re being warned that those we’re so anxious to show the way out of town will taste victory in the end… whether in a Twins uniform or otherwise. Mark it down… Alexi Casilla will be the 2012 World Series MVP… somewhere.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside
And it is ragin’
It’ll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’.

You thought he was talking to politicians here, didn’t you? Nope. This is directed at the players (and really, the whole reference to “he that gets hurt” should have been a dead giveaway to you!), particularly some of the “senior statesmen” of the organization. Guys, we’ve all enjoyed having you around through some successful seasons and we will always appreciate your contributions. We don’t really want to see you go. But there’s a battle about to rage for playing time and you’re going to have to prove you can pick up the pace a bit on your performance level, because if you’ve stalled, you’re going to get run over and hurt. Lead or get out of the way, gentlemen.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin’
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’.

This one’s for all you stat-heads and it’s aimed directly at the Twins’ front office. I’m not smart enough to understand all of the sabremetric tools that those like Bill James use to evaluate baseball talent and project success or failure of players, young and old. I also don’t believe you can or should use those metrics exclusively to build your organization. I think scouting is important. That said, when you look around at the talent levels in the Twins minor leagues and particularly at those that are called up to contribute at the Major League level during the course of a season, it’s pretty obvious that the “Twins way” isn’t working very well any more. They’ve come across as an organization that not only stubbornly avoids relying on advanced metrics, but seems to actually take pride in their ignorance. That needs to change… and if the current decision makers can’t change with the times, the Twins need new decision makers.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin’
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’.

Clearly, Bob didn’t expect the Twins and their fans to heed his warnings in the previous stanzas, because here he’s telling us that, while we have all had a nice ride over the past decade or so, winning Division titles and making nearly annual appearances in the playoffs, that ride is over. The Twins are destined to pull up the rear of the AL Central while the Cleveland Indians and this weekend’s opponent, the Kansas City Royals, are about to enter an era of dominance in the division.

Well, that sucks, but at least it’s not the BitchSox.

Then again, I could be wrong about all of this. It’s happened before.

– JC

GameChat – Twins @ Royals #1, 7:10pm

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Our guys (they ARE still our guys, right?) start a four-game series with the Royals in Kansas City tonight and it gives us an opportunity to see what Anthony Swarzak can do for an encore following his near no-hitter on Saturday vs. the Angels. It also gives us a chance to get a good look at some young Royals who are reportedly on the cusp of becoming a pretty fair ballclub.

After the game last night, word came that the Twins would likely be placing either Jason Kubel or Jim Thome on the Disabled List today and that Ben Revere was on his way back up from Rochester. Today, it seems Gardy couldn’t make up his mind which of his lefty DHs to put on the DL list, so he decided to drop both of them from the active roster. That left him short on lefties, so now Brian Dinkelman will be coming up, as well.

I know I’m not the first to say this, but it really is true… this roster and the line ups we’re seeing really do resemble what we’re more accustomed to seeing at road games in Spring Training. At this point, frankly, there’s probably an argument to be made that we all might as well get a good look at the “next generation”.

Joe Mauer caught three innings of extended spring training baseball today and told media he felt “fatigued” afterward. I’m not sure what to make of that and I’m really not sure what else we should expect. If you put anyone behind the plate for three innings after he hasn’t played baseball for three months, there’s a pretty good chance he’ll feel fatigued. Still… I can’t help but feel like there’s a helluva lot more to this story than anyone is reporting. But I could do a 1,000 word post on the Mauer issue itself (and probably will… soon).

Here’s tonight’s lineup:

TWINS @ ROYALS
Span, CF Gordon, LF
Casilla, A, 2B Cabrera, Me, CF
Morneau, DH Hosmer, 1B
Cuddyer, 1B Francoeur, RF
Valencia, 3B Butler, DH
Young, D, LF Betemit, 3B
Revere, RF Aviles, 2B
Rivera, R, C Treanor, C
Tolbert, SS Escobar, A, SS
Swarzak, P O’Sullivan, P

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 1 0 6 0 0 0 1 0 0 8 10 0
Kansas City 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 9 1

Well that was kinda different. I’m not sure that, over the course of the entire game, the Twins really were all that impressive. But wow, that 3rd inning was a piece of work unlike anything we’ve seen in a long time!

No one particular offensive player had a huge game but Denard Span and Matt Tolbert both managed to get a couple of hits, six different guys had RBI and seven different players scored runs. Nice team effort.

The bullpen contributions of Jose Mijares, Alex Burnett and Matt Capps didn’t suck at all, either!

But while his six innings of work wasn’t quite as impressive as his near no-hitter on Saturday, it was still solid enough to earn Anthony Swarzak his second consecutive Boyfriend of the Day award! Do the Twins have a new “stopper”?

Anthony Swarzak

 

Disappointing? Overrated? Not The Twins!

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A few posts ago, I indicated that I’ve been working on a “Who’s Fault Is This Mess?” post. This isn’t it. That subject is still simmering in my mind. Actually, a better word might be “festering”.

But a couple of things caught my eye over the noon hour Thursday as I was glancing through some of the national online media web sites. These, in particular, were from SI.com. First, there’s a column from SI writer Joe Sheehan in which he lists the MLB “All-Disappointment” team. Since I’m a fan of what pretty much has to be absolutely the most disappointing team in baseball this season, I had to click that link! I expected to find just two words… “Minnesota Twins”.

But no.

Sheehan went down the line, position by position, with his list of the most disappointing MLB players this year (with an occasional “honorable mention” for some positions). Here’s his list, which you can read all about for yourself by clicking here :

C : Yorvit Torrealba, Rangers (Sheehan does mention in the introductory paragraph that Joe Mauer is one of the guys he’s giving a “pass” to based on injuries)

1B: Albert Pujols, Cardinals (1B Honorable Mention: Aubrey Huff, Giants)

2B: Dan Uggla, Braves

SS: Hanley Ramirez, Marlins

3B: Chone Figgins, Mariners

OF: Carl Crawford, Red Sox

OF: Alexis Rios, White Sox

OF: Nick Markakis, Orioles (OF Honorable Mention: Austin Jackson, Tigers)

DH: Adam Dunn, White Sox

SP: Chris Carpenter, Cardinals

SP: Ubaldo Jimenez, Rockies

SP: Edinson Volquez, Reds

SP: John Lackey, Red Sox

Closer: Joakim Soria, Royals

Closer: Matt Thornton, White Sox

Not a single Twin on an “All Disappointment” Team!? Hard to believe, isn’t it? Maybe we’re being too hard on our guys!

Disappointing AND Overrated?

Then I saw that a list had been made of the 16 most overrated players, based on a vote of 185 MLB players. You can’t read a Twins blog or participate in a Twins chat without someone going on and on about how overrated this guy or that guy is, so certainly their peers must recognize the obvious, right?

Nope.

Here are the 16 (or you can click here to page through the list): 

1. Alex Rodriguez – Yankees

2. Joba Chamberlain – Yankees

3. Derek Jeter – Yankees

(Yes, by this time I was seeing a pattern emerging. I’m apparently not the only person who thinks anyone wearing a Yankee uniform automatically is overrated until they prove otherwise… and perhaps even then. Players seem to feel the same way.)

4. Jayson Werth – Nationals

5. Jonathan Papelbon – RedSox

6. Nick Swisher – Yankees

7. BJ Upton – Rays

8. David Ortiz – RedSox

9. AJ Burnett – Yankees

10. Manny Ramirez – no longer gainfully employed to play baseball

11. Carlos Beltran – Mets

12. Alfonso Soriano – Cubs

13. Evan Longoria – Rays

14. JD Drew – RedSox

15. David Wright – Mets

16. Albert Pujols – Cardinals

Now a few things stood out about this list.

Five of the top nine most overrated players, according to their peers, are Yankees.

Three of the 16 are RedSox, while the Rays and Mets each had a pair of representatives. (The Rays actually had three, if you count ManRam against them, since he was with the Rays when he quit the game rather than face up to another failed drug test.)

Only one player on the most overrated list was also on Joe Sheehan’s All-Disappointment team… Albert Pujols (and yet, you just know someone is going to step up during the offseason and pay this guy bajillions of dollars over the next ten years).

Then, there’s the most obviously notable thing about this list (at least for our purposes here)… there are no Twins on this list either!

I can really only draw one conclusion from this. Since our players are not overrated and are not disappointments, clearly it was our expectations of the Twins players that were out of whack to start the year. So if we, as a fan base, are disappointed, it’s not the players’ fault, it’s our fault for expecting them to play better than they have!

Whew… I’m glad we got that whole “who’s fault is this mess?” thing cleared up.

– JC

GameChat – Twins @ Tigers #1, 12:05pm, FSN & am1500

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Happy Memorial Day everyone. I’m sure you all join me in honoring and thanking those who have given the last full measure of devotion… as well as their families.

I considered authoring a Memorial Day post, but I don’t think I could do any better than Babs did a year ago. Click here to go back and read her Memorial Day post from last year, as I did.

The Twins go back on the road starting today with a noon game in Detroit.

Jim Thome returns to the line-up and Jose Mijares returns to the bullpen.

From the Twins’ Communication office comes this stat of the day…Denard Span’s lifetime batting average of .363 (74 of 204) is the highest All-Time among players with at least 200 ABs against the Tigers. Keep it up, Denard!

TWINS @ TIGERS
Span, CF Jackson, A, CF
Casilla, A, SS Dirks, LF
Kubel, RF Boesch, RF
Morneau, 1B Cabrera, Mi, 1B
Cuddyer, 2B Martinez, V, DH
Thome, DH Peralta, Jh, SS
Young, D, LF Avila, C
Valencia, 3B Raburn, 2B
Rivera, R, C Inge, 3B
Blackburn, P Penny, P

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 5 10 0
Detroit 2 0 1 0 0 2 0 1 x 6 9 0

That was disappointing.

Sorry I wasn’t more active in the Chat, but my family decided to join me at the bar so I figured I should socialize with them a bit.

I haven’t read a lot of the reports from Detroit after the game, but I think I heard Jason Kubel left with an ankle injury. Had to figure that was coming, didn’t we? One of the few guys who have been healthy AND productive… yeah you knew that couldn’t last this season.

And that call down the LF line in the 8th that led to the Tigers’ winning run was pure bullshit. We have no idea whether the Twins would have won the game but for that call, but the Tigers certainly should not have scored that run.

The pitching held together quite well, including some members of the bullpen who have not been terribly effective lately, so that was something positive.

Enjoy the rest of your Holiday weekend, all!

 

Weirdness

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Ive seen, heard and read a few weird things the last day or so. At least they’re weird to me. When that kind of thing happens to most people, they may have one or two family members and/or a few friends to tell about the weirdness. But most people don’t have blogs (though it sure seems like it sometimes, doesn’t it?). Anyway, I do have a blog so I get to share the weirdness with all you poor souls who stopped by to read this.

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About 12:30 Sunday, I checked out of my hotel and walked a couple of blocks toward Target Field. I thought I would see what sort of price tickets were going for at game time. I knew I didn’t want to stay through the entire game, but if I could get a cheap ticket, I thought I might watch 3-4 innings before heading home.

I left without a ticket sometime near the bottom of the first inning. It was weird to me that there were several ticket “brokers” on the street corners who apparently preferred to eat their remaining tickets rather than sell them for much, if any, below face value. You would think even selling at a “loss” would be better than losing the entire amount paid for that ticket. But I guess not.

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I got to Albert Lea about the 7th inning and decided to stop to eat at Applebees, figuring they had televisions that might be tuned to the Twins game. They did and I watched the final couple of innings there. That wasn’t weird.

What was weird, however, was walking in to the restaurant and finding a picture of myself on the wall in their waiting area.

Granted, it was not a recent picture. In fact, it was a picture of the 1968 conference champion HS baseball team from Albert Lea… a team my dad coached and that I was a batboy for. So yeah, seeing that was a bit weird… but it brought back some great memories.

Future blogger in the circle

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Twitter is someplace you kind of expect to read weird stuff, especially from professional athletes who, it seems, can’t resist Tweeting to the world words that they would not likely utter out loud in public. So it’s no surprise, really, when you see something weird there.

I’m not sure what to make of it, yet… but I found this Tweet from Danny Valencia a bit odd (maybe not quite weird… but let’s see if there’s a story behind it at some point):

dannyvalencia19: Nobody likes a tattle tale, it seems like it’s a common trait of a slightly older generation… #yeaisaidit

Seriously, what’s that all about? I guess since my generation is more than just “slightly” older, I shouldn’t take offense… or mention that people of a slightly younger generation seem to share a common trait of not being able to understand being accountable for their actions. Yeah, I said that. Maybe Danny was just joking around. If so then, yeah, so am I 🙂

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Also from Twitter, we have this exchange involving Twins President Dave St. Peter:

TwinsPrez: Wonder if Calvin ever had $115 million payroll RT @greglw3:@Neilson34 Worst offseason since Griffith let Bostock, Hisle, Campbell all leave.

So, if I’m reading that right, a couple of people Tweeted St. Peter with their opinion that this past offseason was a disaster of historic proportions… and St. Peter’s response was to point out his organization had bajillions of dollars at their disposal that Griffith never had? Huh? Doesn’t the fact that his organization had considerably more resources at their disposal than Griffith did just make the results all the more indefensible?

I like that St. Peter stays in touch with those of us among the great unwashed of Twinsville, but that response was just… well… weird.

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That’s enough weirdness for one day. I’m going to read for a bit. Actually, I’m currently reading “Those Guys Have All The Fun”... I just started it this week and I’ve been reading about the people who started ESPN. Yeah… they were very weird, too.

– JC