Posts in category GameChat

GameChat – GAME 7 2011 World Series!! 7:05pm

Oct28
2011 Written by CapitalBabs

So there is just no way that tonight can match the intensity of last night so don’t expect it. BUT it’s fun to see how each team will respond since Carpenter is coming in on short rest, Harrison is obviously overmatched, Napoli is coming banged up, and Holliday has been benched… I think this has been a fantastic series and can’t wait to see what happens!

Texas

@

 St. Louis
Kinsler, 2B   Theriot, 2B
Andrus, SS   Craig, LF
Hamilton, CF   Pujols, 1B
Young, M, 1B   Berkman, RF
Beltre, A, 3B   Freese, 3B
Cruz, N, RF   Molina, Y, C
Napoli, C   Furcal, SS
Murphy, Dv, LF   Schumaker, CF
Harrison, P   Carpenter, P

 

 

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Texas

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St. Louis

2

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6

7

1

 

Well this game just proved that the ’91 world series was still better despite both having a thrilling game 6. There is just no way to have the same kind of intensity in Game 7 (unless you have a 10 inning complete game shutout).

But there had to be a winner and now we have one. The St. Louis Cardinals have won it all and are the 2011 Champions!

Posted in Post-Season

GameChat – 2011 World Series, #6, 7:00pm

Oct27
2011 Written by CapitalBabs

 

Texas

@

 St. Louis
Kinsler, 2B   Furcal, SS
Andrus, SS   Schumaker, CF
Hamilton, LF   Pujols, 1B
Young, M, 1B   Berkman, RF
Beltre, A, 3B   Holliday, LF
Cruz, N, RF   Freese, 3B
Napoli, C   Molina, Y, C
Gentry, CF   Punto, 2B
Lewis, C, P   Garcia, J, P

 

 

 

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Texas

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St. Louis

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10

13

3

 

ok, if you didn’t see this game then there is absolutely no way I can accurately convey what happened… wow… right up there with the best world series games ever played..  Congrats to Freese for pretty much single-handedly keeping the Cardinals in this game and the hitting a walk off homerun? yeah… There are just no words. If you have 4 1/2 hours of free time, it’s totally worth watching a replay.

The only downer was the poor fielding and numerous errors… but the sheer determination made up for it.

I don’t know what else they could find to pull out in Game 7 to even come close to this.

Posted in Post-Season

GameChat – 2011 World Series Game 5, 7:05pm

Oct24
2011 Written by Jim Crikket

With the Series all tied up at two games each, we go back to the Game 1 pitching match-up with Chris Carpenter of the Cardinals facing off with Texas’ CJ Wilson.

I know it’s a 7-game series, but it sure seems to me that the winner of this game becomes the heavy favorite to take home the hardware when it’s all over with. Josh Hamilton looked to me like he was getting better cuts at the ball Sunday night and if that’s indicative of him feeling healthier, I like the Rangers’ chances. Then again, I predicted the Rangers to win the Series in 7 games, so I could just be reaching for some kind of basis to ultimately prove me right.

It should be a good game, despite all efforts of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver to ruin it with their horsecrap announcing.

CARDINALS

@

 RANGERS
Furcal, SS Kinsler, 2B
Craig, RF Andrus, SS
Pujols 1B Hamilton, CF
Holliday, LF Young, M, DH
Berkman, DH Beltre, A, 3B
Freese, 3B Cruz, N, RF
Molina, Y, C Murphy, Dv, LF
Schumaker, CF Napoli, C
Punto, 2B Moreland, 1B
  _Carpenter, P   _Wilson, C, P
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
St. Louis 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 7 1
Texas 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 x 4 9 2

And now we go back to St. Louis with the Cardinals needing to win both games there in order to dig themselves out of the hole they dug. I’m not sure who’s more to blame for the loss in game 5, the players who collectively went 1 for 12 with runners in scoring position or their manager who seems intent on proving how smart he is… and failing miserably.

Posted in Post-Season

GameChat – World Series Game 3. 7:05 pm

Oct22
2011 Written by Jim Crikket

Jayson Stark Tweeted today that, in the past 60 years, there have been only three World Series that have started out with three straight games decided by just one run (1972, 1974, 1995). Will we see another such event tonight?

It has been a great Series so far, but I suspect that we’re going to start seeing more runs scored now that the venue has moved to Arlington, Texas.

Glancing at the line ups, it appears that Cardinal Manager Tony LaRussa has implemented a limit of just one former Twin in his starting line up for any one game. Thus, with Kyle Lohse on the hill, Nick Punto rides the pine.

CARDINALS

@

 RANGERS
Furcal, SS Kinsler, 2B
Craig, RF Andrus, SS
Pujols, 1B Hamilton, CF
Holliday, LF Young, M, DH
Berkman, DH Beltre, A, 3B
Freese, 3B Cruz, N, RF
Molina, Y, C Napoli, 1B
Jay, CF Murphy, Dv, LF
Theriot, 2B Torrealba, C
  _Lohse, P   _Harrison, P
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
St. Louis 1 0 0 4 3 4 2 1 1 16 15 0
Texas 0 0 0 3 3 0 1 0 0 7 13 3

In a game that brought back some chilling memories for Twins fans (Kyle Lohse’s evil twin “Lyle” made an appearance in the 4th inning for the Cardinals), the big story was Albert Pujols hitting not one, not two, but three home runs. You KNOW somewhere in the back of his mind, he’s thinking, “Wow, it might be fun to play half my games in this bandbox.”

Anyway, worst case scenario now for the Cardinals is that they’ll get to play more baseball in St Louis, even if they drop the next two games to the Rangers… and I think we can dispense with all of the “these games are too low scoring” crap.

.

Posted in Other baseball

GameChat – Oct 1st Post-Season Games

Oct01
2011 Written by CapitalBabs

Thought I would just put up an updated post-season schedule and a chat window for all those who might like to partake. I’m still dealing with the moving out/moving in requirements from one roommate to another so I’ll join in when I can.

 

 

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Arizona

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Milwaukee

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8

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St. Louis

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Philadelphia

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Tampa Bay

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Posted in Post-Season

GameChat – Royals @ Twins #3, 7:10pm. The End.

Sep28
2011 Written by Jim Crikket

This is it. Game 162. The last game of the season.

For the Twins, anyway.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, the two Wild Card races are heading in to game 162 in a dead heat. The Rays and Red Sox could still have to play a game 163, as could the Cardinals and Braves. I have to say, as frustrating as it is being a Twins fan right now, being a Red Sox or Braves fan and having to face the prospect of watching your team totally collapse your way right out of the playoffs before they even start might be even tougher. Anyway, there are four games certainly worth keeping an eye on tonight.

Finally, in the “if Ted Williams were alive, he’d kick your ass” category, we have Jose Reyes. Reyes entered the day with the narrowest of leads over the Brewers’ Ryan Braun for the NL Batting Title. In his first PA today, Reyes laid down a bunt and beat it out… then promptly told his manager to remove him from the game in order to put his lead over Braun in the bank. Why? Because he’s a pending free agent and his agent thinks he can get more money on the open market with that batting title in his pocket. I’ve never liked Reyes much and never really had a good reason why. Now I do.

Tonight is not only the Twins’ last game of the season, but also John Gordon’s final game as the voice of the Twins on the radio. Gordo isn’t what he used to be (then again, who of us is?), but he’s been an icon of the organization for many Twins fans for a very long time. We wish him all the best.

This will also be the last game in a Twins uniform for a number of players… we just don’t know exactly which ones, yet. Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, Joe Nathan and Matt Capps all could be free agents. Kubel, Nathan and Capps aren’t probably going to see action, but I hope fans find a way to express their appreciation for the years of service that Cuddyer, Kubel and Nathan, in particular, have given the organization.

Here’s tonight’s line up:

ROYALS

@

 TWINS
Dyson, CF Revere, CF
Giavotella, 2B Plouffe, SS
Butler, DH Cuddyer, RF
Hosmer, 1B Parmelee, 1B
Perez, S, C Valencia, 3B
Moustakas, 3B Tosoni, DH
Cain, RF Dinkelman, 2B
Maier, LF Benson, LF
Escobar, A, SS Butera, C
  _Chen, P   _Pavano, P
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0
Minnesota 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 10 0

One run on 10 hits? Seriously. Hey, let’s just celebrate the 0 errors!

Carl Pavano saved his best for last, throwing a complete game, 5-hit shutout at the Royals to wrap up the season.

Denard Span hit a pinch-hit double in the bottom of the ninth, setting up Trevor Plouffe’s game winning single.

All to make retiring broadcaster John Gordon’s final “call” a memorable one.

So why not 4 BODs? (after all, it’s not like we’ve had very many of them the last couple of months anyway).

Carl Pavano

Denard Span

Trevor Plouffe

John Gordon (Photo: MPR/Jeffrey Thompson)

,

 

 

Posted in Twins baseball - Tagged , , , ,

GameChat – Royals @ Twins #2, 7:10pm

Sep27
2011 Written by Jim Crikket

So it comes down to this… need to win the last two games to avoid losing 100 games on the season. I’m not really sure losing 99 games is all that much different than 100, but I guess it’s just always better to win than lose, so let’s see what happens.

By the way, in case you haven’t heard, we won’t have Ozzie Guillen to kick around any more. Ozzie and the BitchSox parted ways and it sounds like he’ll be managing the Florida Fish next season.

ROYALS

@

 TWINS
Dyson, CF Span, CF
Giavotella, 2B Revere, LF
Butler, DH Valencia, 3B
Hosmer, 1B Parmelee, 1B
Perez, S, C Plouffe, SS
Moustakas, 3B Tosoni, DH
Cain, RF Benson, RF
Maier, LF Tolbert, 2B
Escobar, A, SS Rivera, R, C
  _O’Sullivan, P   _Swarzak, P
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Kansas City 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 4 14 1
Minnesota 0 1 0 0 2 4 0 0 x 7 11 3

That’s a win! Joe Nathan had to make things a little interesting in the 9th and the Twins did manage to get outhit 14-11, but none of that matters when you end up with more runs than the other guys. Anthony Swarzak threw a nice 6 and 1/3 innings (if you just look at the 2 runs he gave up and not the number of hits) and Chris Parmelee keeps making an impression as he hit yet another home run.

But Rene Tosoni is our BOD tonight in honor of his grand salami, in the 7th inning!

Rene Tosoni (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

Posted in Twins baseball - Tagged ,

GameChat – Royals @ Twins, 7:10pm

Sep26
2011 Written by CapitalBabs

Ok, if you’re not watching Monday Night Football, there’s actually a baseball game on!

Kansas City

@

 Minnesota
Dyson, CF   Revere, CF
Cabrera, Me, LF   Dinkelman, LF
Butler, DH   Cuddyer, RF
Hosmer, 1B   Parmelee, 1B
Perez, S, C   Valencia, 3B
Moustakas, 3B   Plouffe, SS
Cain, RF   Tosoni, DH
Giavotella, 2B   Hughes, L, 2B
Escobar, A, SS   Butera, C
  Paulino, F, P     Slowey, P

 

 

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Minnesota

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So the Twins and I have something in common for this game: we both started it with the best intentions of being there for the whole game..  Clearly, we both failed. Given that this is the last series of what turned out to be a dismal season, you’d think they’d be done setting records.. but yeah, apparently you’d be wrong. Sadly, this time it was Kevin Slowey who accomplished a “goal” of note: it’s been 60 years in MLB since another starting pitcher made at least 8 starts and lost them all… ouch.

“I feel like the sixth inning was kind of a microcosm for my season,” Slowey said. “Just an absolute dearth of consistency. Make a few good pitches and then leave one over the plate.”

Yes, Kev, I think that says it all.

Sadly, it also inched them closer to one more ridiculous number… this was loss #99. We have two games left in the season. Anyone think we can win them both to avoid that dreaded #100??? yeah, me neither.

Posted in Twins baseball

GameChat – Twins @ Indians #4, 12:05pm

Sep25
2011 Written by CapitalBabs

Really, I would love to see the Twins win ONE of the games against the Indians this weekend.. Please?

Minnesota

@

 Cleveland
Span, CF Fukudome, RF
Revere, LF Kipnis, 2B
Cuddyer, DH Santana, C, 1B
Parmelee, 1B Hafner, DH
Valencia, 3B Duncan, LF
Plouffe, SS Chisenhall, 3B
Dinkelman, 2B Donald, SS
Benson, RF Carrera, CF
Butera, C Marson, C
  Hendriks, P   Carmona, P
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Minnesota 2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 6 11 0
Cleveland 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 9 0

I didn’t see the game but I heard the last couple of innings on the radio, but what I do know is that the TWINS WON! :)

The bullpen limited the Tribe to nothing but goose-eggs and as surprising as that might be, it wasn’t the most surprising thing to occur in this game. That honor would be the one pitch that Jim Thome played third base before being replaced in his final appearance before the home crowd in Cleveland. I’m sure the fans gave the future Hall of Famer an appropriate send-off.

In the end, it took an extra inning to accomplish the feat, but the Twins won 6-4, with Rene Tosoni hitting a solo HR to lead off the 10th (after being stranded at the plate to end the 9th when Joe Benson got thrown out stealing for the 3rd out) and Michael Cuddyer combined with Chris Parmelee to add an insurance run with a double and single, respectively.

But I’m going to give Boyfriend of the Day honors to Denard Span. Span had 2 hits (a double and a triple), scored two runs and made a terrific diving catch in the field. And let’s face it, it’s just damn good to see Denard out there healthy and playing good baseball! – JC

Denard Span

Posted in Twins baseball

GameChat – Twins @ Indians #3, 6:05pm (game 2 of 2)

Sep24
2011 Written by Jim Crikket

Apparently the Tribe had so much fun beating up the Twins this afternoon that they want to play another game tonight.

The Twins have five games remaining in their season. They need to win three to avoid a 100-loss season. Think they can do it? Yeah… me either. But we can hope!

TWINS

@

 INDIANS
Revere, CF Fukudome, RF
Plouffe, SS Cabrera, A, SS
Cuddyer, DH Santana, C, 1B
Parmelee, 1B Thome, DH
Valencia, 3B Duncan, LF
Tosoni, RF Chisenhall, 3B
Dinkelman, LF Marson, C
Tolbert, 2B Phelps, C, 2B
Butera, C Carrera, CF
  _Diamond, P   _Talbot, P
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 1 2 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 6 11 0
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 0 5 2 0 x 7 11 0

SSDD. Same shit, different day.

Scott Diamond pitched a beautiful five innings and the Twins, thanks largely to Drew Butera’s hot bat (yes… I really wrote that) staked Diamond to a 6-0 lead. He ran out of gas in the 6th, however. Burnett, Mijares and Capps had all kinds of gas left and they immediately threw it on the fire. By the time those three did their damage, the Twins trailed 7-6. Kyle Waldrop pitched a nice 8th inning in the first MLB appearance his parents got to see in person, so at least there was that. One might wonder why Mr. Waldrop wasn’t called upon instead of three guys who have been blowing games all season, but hey… whatever.

Posted in Twins baseball
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