Getting the roster news out of the way, the Twins have activated Matt Capps off the DL. If I’m being honest, I’m not terribly excited about that but I really just need to get over it.
That being said, he’s probably the only pitcher on the roster that the Yankees have even heard of…
I ALWAYS want to beat the Yankees. ALWAYS. But I do have to admit that the battle with the Orioles has been about the only baseball story I have found interesting this September. Could make for an even more interesting October.
As my husband said: “The #mnTwins really need to remove the chapter about the Yankees being unbeatable from the New Player Orientation Packet. #planahead.
The little bit of offense they got going in the bottom of the 9th was just not enough to battle through the lead that the Yankees had built up – too little, too late.
But Congrats to Pedro Florimon on his first MLB Homerun! I wonder if they’ve found the ball yet…
There aren’t many years when I would look at the Twins schedule over the final week of the season, see a series with the Yankees, and be happy to see it, but that’s the case this year. The Twins are playing for virtually nothing other than the chance to be a spoiler, while the Yanks are clinging precariously to their perch atop the AL East standings.
The Twins no longer even have to worry about the whole, “will we lose 100 games?” thing anymore. The worst they can do now would be to repeat last season’s 99-loss debacle.
New York, on the other hand, has just a one-game lead over the Orioles and, in case anyone has forgotten, this year it matters whether they win their division or drop to a Wild Card spot. Twins fans likely have still not forgotten 2010, when the Yankees pretty much intentionally lost enough games down the stretch to hand the Rays the AL East title, in order to gain what they believed (and rightfully so) to be a more advantageous first round match-up against the Twins than they felt they would have against the Rangers.
This year, however, there’s a one-game “play-in” game that the Wild Card teams have to survive, just to move in to the “real” League Division Series.
And this year, the Twins have an opportunity to knock the Yankees off their pedestal before the postseason even gets underway.
At least a Yankee series is an excuse to post my favorite Yankee picture in our library
Of course, it won’t be easy. The Twins will send three starting pitchers to the mound this series that most Yankee fans have probably never even heard of. I’m not sure even the Yankee players have heard of Liam Hendriks, Esmerling Vasquez, and Sam Deduno. Deduno will be pitching on just three days’ rest, thanks to a very short 2.1 inning performance on Saturday. The Yankees pitchers are somewhat more familiar. Andy Pettitte goes tonight, followed by Phil Hughes and CC Sabathia.
So how can Twins fans even imagine our guys giving the Orioles any help this week? Why shouldn’t we expect the vaunted Yankee lineup to just steamroll the Twins’ AAA-level starting pitching?
First of all, this Yankee lineup will not be confused with the ’27 Yankees. In fact, it wouldn’t be confused with the 2010 Yankees. Some of the names are the same, but not all… and some that are the same are hardly looking like their younger versions.
Yes, Derek Jeter is still there, as are Alex Rodriguez, Robinson Cano and Curtis Granderson. But Jeter, while still hitting for a very nice average, has been slowed a bit by an ankle injury recently and DH’d two of the three games against Oakland this past weekend. Cano is still as dangerous as ever, but A-Rod and Granderson are simply not performing like Yankee superstars are supposed to perform. On the other hand, Ichiro seems to have found new life lately. In fact, from what I’ve watched, if it weren’t for Ichiro, the Yankees would already be looking up at the O’s in the standings.
But the rest of the Yankees batting order has been made up of names like Swisher and Nunez and Ibanez and McGhee and Nix and (Andruw) Jones and Martin and Stewart. Most of them may be very serviceable Major League ballplayers, but they will not (or at least should not) strike fear in the hearts of Twins pitchers… or even Red Wings pitchers.
Maybe all three Yankee starting pitchers will mow down Twins hitters and throw three consecutive complete games. We know the Twins are certainly capable of using nothing but assbats for several games in a row. If that happens, yes, this series could be real ugly. However, if any of the games turn in to bullpen battles, you have to like the Twins’ chances a bit more.
Maybe there are enough new Twins in the batting order who are not aware of the Clubhouse myth that the Yankees simply can not be beaten by the Twins… ever. If so, then maybe there’s a chance our guys could help out my “other favorite team,” the Orioles, this week.
I would love to see the Yankees have to survive a play-in game against the Athletics (or better yet, NOT survive that play-in game) just to move on to the ALDS. Admit it, so would you.
Iowa Boy Makes Good
BJ Hermsen
It just wouldn’t be right if I didn’t acknowledge and congratulate fellow Iowan and Twins minor league pitcher BJ Hermsen this week. Hermsen was named the Twins’ minor league organization’s Pitcher of the Year recently. Hermsen hails West Delaware HS, about an hour from Cedar Rapids and has quite a following in the area. During his tour with the Beloit Snappers on his way up the organizational ladder, Hermsen made a small number of starts in Cedar Rapids against the Kernels and the stands behind the visitors dugout were always packed with his friends, family and fans.
I met BJ and his dad during his first Spring Training after being drafted out of high school by the Twins and both men could not have been friendlier. It’s great to see good people get recognized and here’s hoping Hermsen continues to progress professionally and can “pitch in” to help the Twins fill out their rotation at some point in the future.
So today actually is the double-header to make up for Friday’s rainout. No, really it is. It also makes for a LOT of baseball today but at least there isn’t any rain in today’s forecast. Fall baseball has definitely begun however since it’s not supposed to even reach 60 degrees.
This game went pretty much like you’d expect until the 6th inning… and then the TWINS actually started getting RUNS! Scott Diamond also seemed to get things figured out and settled down by the 4th inning or so and had a pretty darn good outing!
But today the BOD went unanimously to Joe Mauer. Thanks Joe!
Game #3:
We did a pretty good job of going through the Detroit bullpen this afternoon, let’s see if we can get to them again. Let’s hope that PJ can keep us in it long enough to have that make a difference.
Well THAT was fun!!! I think close games are entertaining. This was a hard fought game from the pitching standpoint and PJ did a very good job! Jared Burton also pitched an IMMENSE bottom of the 9th against the heart of the Tigers order in a beautiful way. For that they both get a classic internet High Five! I hope he keeps it up!
Apparently the Twins are 6-0 when it comes to winning double-headers. I don’t know why that is but I’m not going to argue. I like winning, I like beating the Tigers. I’m not so fond of helping the White Sox reach the post season but.. I like beating the Tigers.
We all agreed that tonight’s BOD was the ever ‘youthful’, Jamey Carroll. He might be mad at himself for getting that out at 2B but he still is the one who got that winning RBI. Don’t be so hard on yourself, Jamey and enjoy the recognition of all that you have brought to your new team!
Quite frankly, watching last nights rain delay programming was more interesting than this game.. and it was the 50 Greatest Twins.. again.
Oh, and I was right afterall – the double header IS tomorrow.. The Twins just never update their iCalendar file so I had the game start time as 6… yeah, they had changed it at some point. Silly Twins
It’s getting to be that time of year where little that happens before the game truly affects much what will happen DURING the game. So, we have a pretty normal lineup today and Deduno hoping to continue his improvements on the mound. The Tigers lineup is always a good test!
[EDIT]The game is currently under a rain delay – which could be extensive. But if the weather allows at all, they’ll get the game in tonight because there’s just not much season or travel time left. Current estimates have the heavy rain arriving about 6:30pm CT and the game POSSIBLY starting approximately 8-8:30pm. *crosses fingers*
[EDIT] From MLB on Twitter: OFFICIAL: @Tigers–@Twins postponed; split doubleheader set for Sunday. @WhiteSox can bump lead to 2 ½ games with win over@Angels tonight.
Episode 5 of the Twins related baseball podcast, Talk To Contact, is now available for download via iTunes or by clicking here.
In Episode 5 Paul and I discussed Scott Diamond, Liam Hendriks, Chris Herrmann, Josh Willingham and a bunch more Twins topics. We also had a special guest, Knuckleballs’ very own, Jim Crickket on the podcast to discuss the Twins new player development contract with the Cedar Rapids Kernals. Later in the post we answered some questions from Twitter, talked about beer and what we’re watching as the season winds down.
You can follow Paul on Twitter (@BaseballPirate) or read his writing at the Puckett’s Pond.
The Cedar Rapids Kernels held a press conference Wednesday to introduce their new Major League affiliate, the Minnesota Twins. It was actually more of a public introduction to which the press was invited, but that was certainly the right approach by the Kernels. Affiliation changes are big deals in the local communities and when your organization hasn’t had a change in 20 years, it’s an even bigger deal.
(Image: Kernels.com)
I would have liked to attend, dressed head to toe in Twins gear like many of the crowd gathered in the Kernels’ conference room, but my schedule didn’t really allow for it yesterday. My conflicting meeting did end early enough for me to tune in to the live streaming feed being broadcast online by one of the local media outlets, so I did get to see some of the comments from the Twins’ Bill Smith and then most of the questions being fielded from media and the public by Smith and Jim Rantz.
For a good sense of how the press conference went and the enthusiasm expressed by pretty much all in attendance, from the Kernels, the Twins and the public, check out Jeff Johnson’s report at the Cedar Rapids Gazette’s website. There’s a video clip, as well. Jeff covers the Kernels beat for the Gazette (as well as the local Junior Hockey League team, the RoughRiders), so some of you might want to start following Jeff via the usual social media outlets.
I admit that I have reasons for being happy about this affiliation that go beyond the obvious advantages for the Kernels and 99% of the baseball fans in the area. Yes, the Twins farm system is stronger than the Angels right now and probably will be so for quite a while. The Twins build their MLB team from within, while the Angels have become one of the richest teams in baseball and will likely continue to build by buying free agents and supplement them with the occasional super-prospect they uncover, such as Mike Trout.
If you run a minor league team, you’re better off with a MLB affiliate committed to drafting and developing talent. of course, we could debate how well the Twins have been doing that the past few years, but let’s do that another time. The fact is, that’s their model. So make no mistake, this is a huge “win” for the Kernels and we congratulate their Board and GM Doug Nelson for getting this deal done.
The Twins have a good fan base in the area and this deal clearly makes those of us who are members of that base happy. That should translate in to a few more butts in the seats at the local ballpark, but not nearly as many more as having a competitive team on the field would account for. From that standpoint, the Twins’ timing couldn’t be better. It would be almost impossible for them to send a team to Cedar Rapids next season that would lose more games than the team the Angels sent this season. Their 53-86 record was by far the worst in the Midwest League.
There’s been a lot said and written about how much better next year’s team is likely to be and the Twins brass certainly has brought up the success that their Appy League team in Elizabethton had in 2012 as evidence that expectations should be high in Cedar Rapids next year. That’s fair and I, too, believe the team has the potential to be very good.
But before we order MWL championship rings quite yet, Kernels fans (and Twins fans, too) need to keep one often-overlooked fact in mind. There’s a reason Elizabethton wins a lot and that players who move from E’town to Class A sometimes don’t look as good as hoped right away.
Those players are skipping a level of competition in the process.
No, they aren’t skipping a level within the Twins organization, but there is a whole level of minor league ball that the Twins have elected not to have an affiliate in and that’s “Class A-short season.” Many of the players that Max Kepler, Byron Buxton and their friends were up against this year will be sticking around extended spring training for their respective clubs and then playing in the NY-Penn League or Northwest League next summer, while many of the Elizabethton players are skipping straight to Cedar Rapids in April.
I don’t necessarily think there’s anything wrong with the Twins’ approach, but I’d point out that it does fly in the face a bit of the perception among many fans that the Twins don’t push their players through the system quickly. That case might be made for some guys after they reach the full-season minor league level, but not so much before that. Of course, we also know that guys do stick around E’town for more than one season at times, too, but that still means those players have faced somewhat lesser competition levels by the time they reach the MWL.
Just sayin’ there’s more to the issue than what we see on the surface sometimes and while I’m anxious and excited to see the team the Twins put on the field in Cedar Rapids next season, I’m not expecting them to go undefeated or anything.
But, as I said, I have other reasons for liking this match-up between Minnesota and my home town team and they are admittedly very selfish reasons.
First, obviously, it gives me more stuff to write about here at Knuckleballs. Don’t worry, this will not become an “all Kernels, all the time” blog. It has been, is, and will continue to be primarily a Twins blog. But we’ve always reserved the right to write about whatever we darn well please, Twins-related or not. That’s why you’ve had to put up with me writing about the Kernels before… and the Hawkeyes… and Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant.” But, yeah, I’ll clearly have a much better excuse to write more about the Kernels next season now that they’re part of the Twins family. How much more remains to be seen, but I’ll certainly mention them from time to time (that’s me… the king of understatements).
But, speaking of my Alice’s Restaurant rant from a ways back, here’s my REAL selfish reason for wanting this relationship: I have come to believe that this affiliation is my last-best hope of ever seeing Twins baseball on cable television in Cedar Rapids. In fact, if I HAD been at the press conference Wednesday, I probably would have asked the Twins crew if there was any chance this deal might nudge Fox Sports North and Mediacom together to the point where FSN would at least be an option on the local cable system.
So, imagine my pleasure when someone in the crowd asked pretty much that exact question.
Of course, I was less impressed with the Twins response, but hey… I’m not giving up hope. Rome wasn’t built in a day and signing an affiliation agreement won’t make Eastern Iowa a full-fledged member of “Twins Territory” overnight. I’m a patient man. (Stop that laughing, right now!)
While the Twins people did give the same standard, “that’s out of our control,” response to the television question that their President, Dave St. Peter gave to me last winter, they did mention a few other ways that they plan to work on as initial steps to make us all feel like part of the Twins family.
For instance, it sounds like Cedar Rapids may well get a stop on the Twins Caravan in January. That’ll be nice. I’ve never made the effort to drive a couple hours north to Mason City or whatever border community the Twins have ventured in to previously, but they do sound like fun events. I would expect a very big crowd in CR for that if/when it comes to pass.
By the way, I believe Kernels staff will also be set up at Twinsfest in January, so if you attend, make sure you stop by and say hi. Doug and his folks are a great group of hard-working people that I’m sure you’ll enjoy getting to know. (Tell them I said that, will ya? I could use the brownie points.)
The Twins reps also alluded to making efforts to find a local radio affiliate to carry Twins games on the radio. They mentioned also that they’re excited about the fact that all of the Kernels games are carried on the radio and that Twins fans everywhere will be able to catch those games online. In addition, those of you who are blessed to be in an area that does carry FSN, it sounds like you may actually get to watch a few Kernels games on FSN next summer.
Honestly… I think that’s great. Good for all of you. But you have to admit that it’s ironic (or, to my mind, moronic) that you folks in Minneapolis may well have more opportunities to see Kernels games on your televisions than I’ll have to watch Twins games here in Cedar Rapids, because of the MLB blackout of the Twins on MLB.tv, etc. But that’s all I’ll say about that… today.
For now, I’ll just say it feels good to be at least one step closer to having my home town become a real part of Twins Territory. Thank you and congratulations again to the Kernels organization, as well as the Twins.
That was frustrating just because I think we really had a chance to actually GET this sweep in Cleveland… and then Swarzak just didn’t have it in the 10th… again. And they had him intentionally walk Santana and Brantley to LOAD THE BASES with one out.. seriously? well, you see how that turned out.
But before that it was basically a fairly even match-up back and forth with some interesting moves and some sloppy play on both sides. It’s really not a surprise we’re now tied for last place in the division. When Cowboy Joe West can’t help laughing his butt off on the field, you know that you didn’t play defense at 2B very well… *snort*
Highlights for me were the spectacular catch by Denard Span – another web gem style clip – and the hilarious home run by Plouffe in which he was on his way back to the dugout before he realized that he needed to actually go RUN the BASES because the hit had gone OVER THE WALL. So funny. – CB
Let’s see if the Twins can get the job done in a regulation nine innings tonight.
The news today involves yet another injury. Darin Mastroianni has a torn tendon in a middle finger (insert juvenile off-color joke here) and will be limited to pinch running duties for the rest of the season.
On a happier note, Chris Parmelee will leave tomorrow to return home to LA for the birth of their first child. Congratulations, in advance, Chris!
Another Chris, Chris Herrmann, is getting his first-ever Major League start behind the plate, which is very cool. It would be even cooler if Chris can be a good-luck charm for his battery-mate, starting pitcher Liam Hendriks, who’s still trying to get his first MLB win in his 18th start.
Oh… and this afternoon, the Twins and Cedar Rapids Kernels announced at a press conference today that they’ve entered in to a new four-year player development contract. I heard the press conference, which was open to the public, went well.
Liam Hendrik’s FINALLY gets his first WIN!! He also took a double shaving cream pie to the face in the post game interview courtesy of Pedro Florimon and Alexi Casilla. Today was not his best outing to be honest but it wasn’t a bad one. After going soooooo many starts without a win, piles of no decisions and a handful+ of losses, it must be the most amazing feeling to finally have this part behind him. I’m also happy that the TEAM got a win – that always feels good.
Liam also gave a LOT of credit where credit most definitely due – Chris Herrmann. He may not have gotten a hit tonight but he did get his first MLB RBI. However, that’s not what was so good about his job tonight. He had an amazing catching debut managing to keep a LOT of bad pitches from becoming bad situations; at least one truly stellar throw to 2B; and a few great tags. He did everything you would expect from an experienced MLB catcher with none of the cross-ups you could leave room for in a newbie. For that we have to be truly thankful and we give him his own shaving cream pie! (ours is much easier to clean up)
Additionally, I don’t know whether to be grateful or disappointed that Gardy went face to face with Cowboy Joe West and managed to stay in the game. It might even be a first… is Gardy losing a step at the end of the season or is he just not feeling the pressure since there is no pennant to be racing.
Lastly, tonight’s BOD was a unanimous choice – Josh Willingham. He earned it and in a big way: 4 hits, 4 RBI and in general, fantastic presence in the offense. Considering it was yet another 1 run game, and another save for Perkins (thank you for shaving btw), we needed every bit of offense we were able to round up tonight. Good Job Willy! – CB
Glancing at the Twins line up, it kind of looks like the closest thing Gardy can come up with to a legitimate “A line up,” right up to the point where you see who’s pitching. Tonight we have the return of P.J. Walters. I’m going to be honest, I don’t really remember enough about him to opine about whether I’m glad he’s back or not. I guess at the very least, I’m glad he’s healthy again.
What a long time to watch the Twins play the Indians. And for the record, I’m pretty sure there were more people tweeting about the Twins game than were sitting in the stands watching the game. BUT! Our endurance was rewarded! Our boys managed to get the WIN! It’s been a bit since we saw that and it feels good to come back and get a win in the division fight..
It was a battle from early on – we got an early lead that disappeared almost immediately and stayed tied or a run apart for most of the game. Nothing like making a game late in the season go 12 innings. And breaking that final tie took a LONG time.
A few highlight players:
Duensing who threw 3 innings with 1 hit and no runs after a short, somewhat shaky but not irreparable start from PJ.
Mastroianni who manufactured the tie breaking run and got himself to home on an error in the top of the 12th.
Florimon who ended up getting the actual winning RBI since we needed BOTH of the runs we got in the 12th to get the win.
All these guys deserve a steak dinner. Seriously, there was a point when I thought this game would never end.
But the real standout effort tonight came from Joe Mauer – who else? He was on base every at bat, 3 hits, 2 walks and an RBI. For such an outstanding plate performance, he earned today’s BOD! – CB
