Posts in category GameChat

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

May14th
2013 Leave a Comment Written by CapitalBabs

Given my well-announced nerves for the games following nights of double-digit run explosions, I’m hopeful that Correia can keep the White Sox in line just in case we aren’t hitting as well as we were yesterday.

It’s HOT in Minnesota for the record – it hit 95 at the airport today tying a record high for this day set back in 1932 [correction: NEW record high of 98 at MSP & higher elsewhere] – and who knows if that hot weather will help the ball carry a bit more …

I laughed at a tweet from Chris Parmelee earlier today in which he claimed it’s finally baseball weather! Yeah, if you say so Parmesan. Glad I don’t have to wear all those layers and a cup and go stand in the sun of Target Field.

Chi White Sox

@

 Minnesota
De Aza, LF Dozier, 2B
Ramirez, Al, SS Mauer, C
Rios, RF Willingham, LF
Dunn, A, 1B Morneau, 1B
Viciedo, DH Parmelee, RF
Gillaspie, 3B Plouffe, 3B
Keppinger, 2B Arcia, DH
Wise, CF Hicks, CF
Flowers, C Florimon, SS
  Peavy, P   Correia, P

 

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Every TIME!! I swear.. *sigh* I think there is something called a Run Hangover that means they aren’t in “performance ready” shape the night after they get a lot of runs. It just hasn’t been scientifically/statistically examined… yet.

The White Sox win one… Correia wasn’t on that roll that we would need to have to match up against Jake Peavy. We needed to have him keep the Sox batters as off balance as we expected ours to be.. that didn’t happen so much.

The good news is that at least Willingham got a timely, great hit – maybe he’s breaking HIS streak?

Twins baseball

GameChat – White Sox @ TWINS, 7:10 pm

May13th
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Jim Crikket

It’s always fun to look at the AL Central Division standings and see the White Sox below the Twins and that’s what those standings show right now. Our guys are 2 1/2 games in front of the visiting South Siders.

Of course, that also means that if the Twins don’t take care of business in this three-game series, they could just as easily be looking up at the White Sox (and everyone else in the Division) by the time the series wraps up Wednesday.

The flip side, if you care to be a “glass half full” kind of fan, is that the Twins are also just 2 1/2 games out of first place in the Division, so sweeping the Sox out of town could also certainly improve their spot in the standings.

If anyone saw any of the game Sunday night between Chicago and the Angels, you’ll join me in also celebrating the fact that the Twins will not be facing pitcher Chris Sale this series. He was literally almost unhittable last night, giving up just a Mike Trout ground ball single up the middle.

Meanwhile, it appears Aaron Hicks and Pedro Florimon are over their respective owies enough to return to the Twins line up. Whether that’s a good thing or not, I’ll leave up to each of you to decide for yourselves.

WHITE SOX

@

 TWINS
De Aza, CF Dozier, 2B
Ramirez, Al, SS Mauer, C
Rios, RF Willingham, LF
Viciedo, DH Morneau, 1B
Dunn, A, 1B Doumit, DH
Keppinger, 3B Plouffe, 3B
Wells, C, LF Arcia, RF
Flowers, C Hicks, CF
Greene, 2B Florimon, SS
_  Santiago, H, P _  Hernandez, P, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Baltimore 2 1 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 6 11 0
Minnesota 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 1

If there’s one thing more fun than watching the Twins beat the White Sox 10-3, it’s watching the Twins beat the White Sox 10-3 and listening to Hawk Harrelson explain why it’s happening (the Sox “gave” the Twins 7 of their 10 runs).

Tonight was hopefully Aaron Hicks’ breakout performance. He hit two home runs and stole a home run from Adam Dunn by snaring the ball as it sailed over the center field wall. He even got a curtain call from the fans after his second dinger. It really was great to see Hicks smile out there on the field. Let’s home this helped cleanse him of some of the tension he had to be feeling after his struggles thus far and we’ll start seeing more of this kind of thing going forward.

There were plenty of other solid performances from the Twins, including solid pitching from all involved and a fine night at the plate from Justin Morneau, but there can be only one choice as our BOD. That would be you, Mr. Hick. Keep up the good work!

AaronHicks

Twins baseball   

GameChat – Orioles @ Twins #3, 1:10pm

May12th
2013 Leave a Comment Written by CapitalBabs

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!  … unless you’re a guy and then you just have to wait.

Another day of cool but sunny weather for the boys in Target Field – game time start should be a little over 50. Considering it’s going to be 90 on Tuesday, they should all just count their lucky stars…

I’m going to miss the start of the game again since I’ll be off lunching with my mama but we all eat fast.. ;) JC is also off to be with his mother. Who knows who will be around to chat baseball but I will be later. See y’all soon!

Baltimore

@

 Minnesota
Markakis, RF Dozier, 2B
Machado, M, 3B Mauer, DH
Jones, Ad, CF Willingham, LF
Davis, C, 1B Morneau, 1B
Wieters, DH Doumit, C
Pearce, LF Plouffe, 3B
Hardy, SS Parmelee, RF
Casilla, A, 2B Ramirez, W, CF
Snyder, C, C Escobar, E, SS
  Chen, W, P   Diamond, P

 

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

Not much offense today. Only one Twins hitter had more than one hit and only one Twins hitter had an extra-base hit. It should come as no surprise that, in both cases, the hitter was Joe Mauer.

The Twins had been scoring 5-6 runs a game for a while so I suppose we shouldn’t whine too much about just the second shutout they’ve suffered this season. Just don’t make a habit of it, boys. – JC

 

Twins baseball

GameChat – Orioles @ Twins #2, 6:10pm

May11th
2013 1 Comment Written by CapitalBabs

So JC & I had an entertaining lunch today before going our separate ways – me off to more family stops & more shopping (sheesh) and he, off to the game. Let’s hope that since the weather is not nearly as nice as yesterday, hopefully the baseball will actually be better. It’s still sunny but significantly cooler and a LOT windier. I’m curious as to whether that will effect the game. Let’s hope Worley has great stuff tonight since I think our bullpen could use the break – but I’m not holding my breath.

I’ll be in and out (honestly still trying to take advantage of what outside weather we have to try to catch up to the months of  backlog on yard work) but don’t leave if I don’t answer right away – I’ll be back!

Baltimore

@

 Minnesota
McLouth, LF Dozier, 2B
Machado, M, 3B Mauer, C
Markakis, RF Doumit, DH
Jones, Ad, CF Morneau, 1B
Davis, C, 1B Plouffe, 3B
Wieters, C Parmelee, RF
Hardy, SS Arcia, LF
Flaherty, 2B Ramirez, W, CF
Reimold, DH Escobar, E, SS
  Johnson, S, P   Worley, P

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YAY! They certainly did a better job at giving JC a reason to want to come back to MN later on this season. And the game was entertaining enough that I didn’t fall asleep in the 7th inning! This is also a good measure of a baseball game for me lately.

At any rate, it’s amazing the kind of win you can get when the top – heart of the order is getting on base or clearing a base with every AB. Mauer, Morneau, Doumit and Dozier all seemed to come through at the right moment tonight. And then Burton came in for a ground-breaking appearance in his recover/rehab/return but had told Gardy he felt good and could give him an inning – given our bullpen right now, that was VERY GOOD and he nailed down the save at the end. It was a good game with some great effort all around.

And just because in our discussions, we couldn’t really decide which was better: Mauer’s 3 Runs (+some) or Morneau’s 3 RBI but eventually we decided to give the BOD to Mauer just because he was really making it work tonight and that IBB just went to prove that the Orioles pitching really didn’t want to give him yet another opportunity. So Mauer is BOD!

JOEMAUER

Twins baseball    ,

GameChat – Orioles @ Twins, 7:10pm

May10th
2013 Leave a Comment Written by CapitalBabs

Ok, it’s finally absolutely GORGEOUS in MN for a baseball game!! Seriously, our boys aren’t going to recognize Target Field!

JC made the trip up from Cedar Rapids in order to snag himself a Willinghammer bobblehead – glad he gets a nice night to watch baseball. Of course, I am not going to see it since we have a bunch of running around to – at least we’re doing all that on the motorcycle!

At any rate, with Pelfrey on the mound, I might have a chance to catch the second half when we get back around.. oh… 9′ish. But I’m going to hope that he will maintain the improved pace he showed on Sunday. *crosses fingers*

Baltimore

@

 Minnesota
McLouth, LF Carroll, 2B
Machado, M, 3B Mauer, DH
Markakis, DH Willingham, LF
Jones, Ad, CF Morneau, 1B
Davis, C, 1B Plouffe, 3B
Wieters, C Doumit, C
Hardy, SS Arcia, RF
Dickerson, RF Hicks, CF
Casilla, A, 2B Escobar, E, SS
  Hammel, P   Pelfrey, P

 

 

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I know this isn’t something I should admit but … yeah, I fell asleep somewhere around the 7th. It was still tied last I saw the score but things weren’t headed in the right direction. Of course, given the lead that they had had when I got home, it hadn’t been going the right direction for some time. Granted, they didn’t lose the game until overtime play in the 10th inning but still.

Let’s just say that the later innings last night were just not impressive for Twins baseball fans – either on the mound, at the plate, or in the field. There were LOTS of mistakes and sloppy play from a lot of players – whether they have an excuse or not. And that’s just what I SAW! I didn’t even see the end where we allowed the Orioles three more runs, the lead and the win! That tells me 9 unanswered runs came out of the Baltimore lineup … ouch. It might have been gorgeous weather for baseball but the baseball part of it sure wasn’t pretty. Sorry JC.

Twins baseball

GameChat – Twins @ Red Sox #4, 6:05pm

May9th
2013 Leave a Comment Written by CapitalBabs

The final game of the series – almost here since it’s hard to give you guys much notice with these 6pm games! – but I have to say that as much fun as the Green Monster has been for us, I’ll be glad when we’re away from these BoSox-paced games. Yeesh.

Let’s hope that Correia can continue what he’s been so good at this year so far in getting deep into the game and keeping it moving. I would really love that and I’m pretty sure our now completely over-worked bullpen feels the same.

Minnesota

@

 Boston
Dozier, 2B Ellsbury, CF
Mauer, C Victorino, RF
Willingham, LF Pedroia, 2B
Morneau, 1B Ortiz, D, DH
Plouffe, 3B Napoli, 1B
Doumit, DH Nava, LF
Arcia, RF Middlebrooks, 3B
Hicks, CF Drew, SS
Florimon, SS Ross, D, C
  Correia, P   Lackey, P

 

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boston lagerWOOHOOO!!! It feels good to take a series on the road against an east coast team – especially one that can hit like that BoSox lineup. Considering that pitching is still likely our weakest element, I’m pretty pleased with how the majority of the pitching staff has done tonight… not to mention the whole series. I was a little worried about the freshness of what was available given the heavy use they have had this week. I wasn’t alone in that concern in the chat. So we voted that the bullpen all gets a treat after hanging in there and holding the line tonight. Given their location, they all get a nice Boston Lager!

birthday cakeThe offense started off well early and then we fell behind again but thanks to young Oswaldo Arcia, we retook the lead and held that through the end of the game! (which came far earlier tonight than it had previously in this series) So for an outstanding offensive performance and honestly, very good timing, we voted Arcia as tonight’s BOD! Oh yeah, it just happens to be his 22nd birthday today so Happy Birthday as well!

Minnesota+Twins+Photo+Day+Arcia

Twins baseball    ,

GameChat – Twins @ Red Sox, 6:05 pm

May8th
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Jim Crikket

Programming note: Tonight’s game is on ESPN!

Today’s entertainment revolved around the whole Gardy vs Hicks confrontation from last night. The Twitterverse was apparently alive with comments about an incident that probably would have gone totally unnoticed outside of Minnesota and surrounding states if not for the fact that it occurred in Boston, where everything is magnified 100 times.

Hicks is back in the starting line up tonight and playing center field, so apparently his sins weren’t fatal.

Hopefully, the Twins will do something tonight that will make everyone forget about the other nonsense (and hopefully whatever that something is will be a good something).

 

TWINS

@

 RED SOX
Carroll, 2B Ellsbury, CF
Mauer, C Victorino, RF
Willingham, LF Pedroia, 2B
Morneau, 1B Ortiz, D, DH
Plouffe, 3B Napoli, 1B
Doumit, DH Gomes, J, LF
Arcia, RF Saltalamacchia, C
Hicks, CF Drew, SS
Florimon, SS Ciriaco, 3B
  _Hernandez, P, P   _Webster, P

 

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Seriously.

I have no words to describe this game accurately.

It was just ridiculous and I don’t care who was scoring along at home, I don’t think ANYONE has a matching sheet. In case you were wondering, here’s what the OFFICIAL MLB Play by Play has listed for the top of the 7th inning:

TOP OF THE 7th

 

  
AB# Play String Play Play by Play
68     Defensive Substitution: Daniel Nava replaces right fielder Shane Victorino, batting 2nd, playing right field.
68 ..BFD E5/TH/G Josh Willingham reaches on a throwing error by third baseman Pedro Ciriaco.
69 .BFBFFX 8/F Justin Morneau flies out to center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury.
70 .CD S7/L.1-2 Trevor Plouffe singles on a line drive to left fielder Jonny Gomes. Josh Willingham to 2nd.
71 .FX S8/FDP.2-3;1X3(3);BX2(8643) Ryan Doumit singles on a fly ball to center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury. Double play, first baseman Mike Napoli to center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury to shortstop Stephen Drew to second baseman Dustin Pedroia to first baseman Mike Napoli. Trevor Plouffe out at 3rd. Ryan Doumit out at 2nd.

Despite more officiating miscues than I can count and a strike zone that traveled more than Santa Claus, the Twins were able to make significant use of the Fenway’s historic nature – and goofy field proportions! The whole team gets a beer – or two (or as many as they need to recover) courtesy of Knuckleballs. It was a lot of fun to watch the whole lineup get a hit tonight! And our sincerest congratulations to Ryan Pressley for getting the Win tonight – it was his first MLB Win and he worked hard for it tonight.

The official vote for BOD was a landslide – for the Green Monster.

green monster

 

But if you’re a stickler for having a person as your boyfriend of the day, second place went to Ryan Doumit – who has basically kicked ass this whole series. He kept it up tonight too so we’ll toss the alternative acknowledgement his way.

Ryan Doumit

Ryan Doumit

That being said, let’s hope this officiating crew gets their heads screwed back on before tomorrow’s series finale.

 

Twins baseball    , ,

GameChat – Twins @ Red Sox #2, 6:05pm

May7th
2013 Leave a Comment Written by CapitalBabs

Ok, guys, I’m putting this up and then running off to build my puppy a sandbox. But then I will be back to catch up with the game. We can always hope that this is a bad night for Dempster but regardless I hope it’s a good night for Diamond.

Minnesota

@

 Boston
Carroll, SS Ellsbury, CF
Mauer, DH Victorino, RF
Willingham, LF Pedroia, 2B
Morneau, 1B Ortiz, D, DH
Plouffe, 3B Napoli, 1B
Doumit, C Gomes, J, LF
Parmelee, RF Middlebrooks, 3B
Ramirez, W, CF Drew, SS
Dozier, 2B Ross, D, C
  Diamond, P   Dempster, P

 

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

That was, overall, a very professionally executed ballgame by the Twins. Not perfect, but we would take about 100 more games like that without a complaint.

We’ve kind of been waiting for Ryan Doumit to step up his game (though, admittedly, he’s been getting less regular playing time since Oswaldo Arcia’s promotion), but tonight Doumit certainly made a case for more at-bats. 2 for 4 with a double and a home run absolutely warrants some BOD support.

But Scott Diamond threw seven shutout innings and gave up only three hits in the process. He also called it a night after sitting down the last 15 hitters he faced. For Twins fans who aren’t familiar with seeing that kind of performance, that is called PITCHING. In fact, around here it’s called BOD pitching. – JC

Scott Diamond

Scott Diamond

 

GDJHK

Twins baseball    ,

GameChat – Twins @ Indians #3, 12:05pm

May5th
2013 Leave a Comment Written by CapitalBabs

Apparently Justin Morneau showed up at the ballpark feeling a little stiff and asked to DH today. Ironically, he may have improved the defense behind starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey in the process as Chris Parmelee moves to first base and Oswaldo Arcia moves in to right field.

Pelfrey will need all the help he can get today as the Twins attempt to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Indians this weekend.

TWINS

@

 INDIANS
Carroll, 2B Brantley, LF
Mauer, C Kipnis, 2B
Willingham, LF Cabrera, A, SS
Morneau, DH Swisher, DH
Parmelee, 1B Reynolds, Ma, 1B
Plouffe, 3B Santana, C, C
Arcia, RF Raburn, RF
Hicks, CF Chisenhall, 3B
Escobar, E, SS Stubbs, CF
  _Pelfrey, P   _Kluber, P

 

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So.. yard work took a little longer than I thought it was going to so I ended up missing the first half of the game..  I knew it was a Pelfrey start though so a) I figured that they would probably be on the 3rd inning at 1:30 and b) wasn’t sure that I would have missed anything good anyway. Imagine my surprise when I cam in and found we had the LEAD! And we never gave it up! Glad that we were able to pull a win out.

And just because it was such a great surprise, I give BOD to Pelfrey with hopes he’ll keep it up!!!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Twins baseball    ,

GameChat – TWINS @ Indians, 12:05 pm

May4th
2013 Leave a Comment Written by Jim Crikket

The Hammer is back in the line up and playing left field and Kevin Correia sets out to prove, once again, he’s not putting up his numbers with smoke and mirrors.

The Twins have dropped in to fourth place in the bunched-up AL Central for the first time in over two weeks, sitting 3 1/2  games behind Division leading Detroit and our guys need a win today to pull themselves back up to .500 on the season. – JC

TWINS

@

 INDIANS
Dozier, 2B Brantley, LF
Mauer, DH Kipnis, 2B
Willingham, LF Cabrera, A, SS
Morneau, 1B Swisher, DH
Plouffe, 3B Reynolds, Ma, 1B
Doumit, C Santana, C, C
Parmelee, RF Chisenhall, 3B
Hicks, CF Stubbs, CF
Florimon, SS Carrera, RF
  _Correia, P   _Kazmir, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 3 7 0
Cleveland 2 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 x 7 12 1

It’s really hard to win baseball games when you fall in to a pattern of giving up a couple of runs for every run you score yourselves and that’s pretty much what the Twins did today. They had plenty of opportunities, but couldn’t take advantage. What was most frustrating, perhaps, was that the bottom of the order seemed to do their jobs and it was the top and middle of the order that consistently failed to follow through.

Regardless, the Twins are now a couple of games under .500 and have already lost this series with the Tribe. They’ll try to avoid a sweep on Sunday.

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