BOD – Page 10 – Knuckleballs

GameChat – Marlins @ Twins, 1:10pm

Posted on 23 April, 2013 by CapitalBabs

WELCOME BACK, RED DOG!!

No, really, ignore all that snow! Go ahead, I’d love to see the naked batting practice! (metaphorically only). Of course, I’m at work so no TV anyway – gameday won’t show it.

I’ve really been excited for this series and the ONLY reason is because I’m so excited for Redmond having this opportunity. I just wish his team was doing a little more for him. wow.

That being said, let’s all give major props to the Target Field Grounds Crew! Nothing like 6+ inches of snow overnight to have to remove from the field and the stands in time for a double header. Let’s see what the boys can do with the cool but sunny conditions!

Miami	@	Minnesota
Pierre, LF		Dozier, 2B
Polanco, 3B		Mauer, C
Stanton, RF		Willingham, LF
Dobbs, DH		Morneau, 1B
Ruggiano, CF		Parmelee, RF
Mahoney, 1B		Plouffe, 3B
Olivo, C		Arcia, DH
Green, N, SS		Hicks, CF
Solano, D, 2B		Florimon, SS
Fernandez, J, P		Correia, P

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

It was a cold but beautiful afternoon for baseball!! Correia had his 4th consecutive start go at least 7 innings for us so that is definitely a great deal. I wish they’d let him try for 8 today because Burton didn’t have his best stuff and almost let the Marlins of all teams, back into the game but Perkins shut the door hard and fast.

My heartiest congratulations and BOD as well go to Oswaldo Arcia for his first MLB Home Run!! The only player for the Twins who has hit a home run at a younger age was Joe Mauer in 2005. Now I feel old. But still… it was a great shot – 401 ft – and we needed every single one of his 3 RBI to keep a hold of that lead and get the win. So congrats Oswaldo – you are this afternoon’s BOD!

GameChat – TWINS @ White Sox #2: 1:10 PM

Posted on 21 April, 2013 by Jim Crikket

I admit that I’ve been paying more attention to the Cedar Rapids Kernels this spring than I have the Twins. So, to prepare for putting up today’s GameChat post, I thought I should kind of check to see how the Twins have been doing.

Guess what? As the construction worker fan in Major League observed about Lou Brown’s Indians, “These guys ain’t so fuckin’ bad.” (Sorry for the f-bomb, but if Big Papi can get away with saying it on live TV, I can get away with it in a movie quote, right?)

In fact, speaking of Lou Brown, the Twins now have accomplished an official Lou Brown defined “winning streak,” by racking up three straight wins!

On top of all that, our guys are only a half-game out of first place in the American League Central Division. True, they needed that winning streak just to get their record back up to .500 on the year and both the Royals and Tigers are sitting a half-game ahead of them, but unlike those two teams, the Twins get to play the Bitch Sox today! So, we’ve got that going for us. (Imagine that line in my best Bill Murray/Carl Spackler voice).

One reason I haven’t followed the Twins much this season is that I’m actually getting paid to go to Kernels games (is this a great country or what?). Another, of course, is that I don’t get to watch Twins games due to the MLB Blackout rules.

So, yesterday the Twins were on FOX locally. And I was at a Factory Outlet Mall. Don’t judge me. Like many things in life, it was one of those things that sounded like a good idea when plans were made at a bar on Friday night*.

But today, the Twins are on WGN here in Cedar Rapids, so I finally get to watch a game! (Don’t worry, I’ll have Hawk Harrelson on mute, while I likely listen to the Kernels on the radio). Well, I’ll see MOST of the game, anyway… I’m supposed to go to the theater to see 42 around 4:00. The Twins need to put up lots of early crooked numbers for me today.

So let’s watch the Twins celebrate the 52nd anniversary of their first home game as the Minnesota Twins on this date in 1961 by bitch slapping the Bitch Sox. – JC

*Speaking of things that sound like a good idea at a bar and turn out, well, less good… if you’ve got a couple of minutes, click this link to a pretty entertaining article about being in locked-down Boston the day after a one-night stand. (Hat tip to @TwinsGeek for Tweeting the link this morning.)

TWINS	@	WHITE SOX
Carroll, 2B		De Aza, LF
Mauer, DH		Keppinger, 2B
Willingham, LF		Rios, RF
Morneau, 1B		Konerko, 1B
Doumit, C		Dunn, A, DH
Plouffe, 3B		Ramirez, Al, SS
Arcia, RF		Gillaspie, 3B
Hicks, CF		Flowers, C
Escobar, E, SS		Wise, CF
_Diamond, P		_Floyd, P

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Minnesota	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	0	0	5	6	1
Chi White Sox	0	0	0	1	0	1	1	0	0	3	5	0

EXCELLENT! Yes, it was a shorter series than planned but it’s still a SWEEP! And it’s a series win ON THE ROAD and against a DIVISION OPPONENT! These are all very good things. It also means the Twins are back ABOVE .500. Am I shouting a lot? yep.. considering my outlook at the end of spring training, I consider any win a bonus at the this point and well, it’s ALWAYS good to beat the White Sox. 😀

It was nice to see Hicks get a hit today and get a steal besides. It was great to see Diamond have such a great outing and get his first Win. I hope we get to see a LOT more of those. Perkins got his second save in a row which I ALSO would like to see more of. All in all, it was a great game with a lot of highlights to enjoy but all votes agreed that today’s BOD vote goes to Josh Willingham for the 3 RBI double. I’m sure glad he’s over the flu!

Now if only we could get some warm weather so that it actually FELT like baseball season … here’s the warning: we might actually get snow in Minnesota again tomorrow – just in time for the homestand against the Marlins. yay…

GameChat – Twins @ White Sox, 2:05pm, FOX

Posted on 20 April, 2013 by CapitalBabs

It took me a minute to find the game on the schedule – oh yeah, Fox Saturday..

So let’s see what the weather is like in Chicago today – it’s cool but SUNNY in Minnesota. I would totally take an afternoon game in MN right now.. wonder if they are as lucky at US Cellular.

Minnesota	@	Chi White Sox
Dozier, 2B		De Aza, LF
Mauer, C		Keppinger, 2B
Willingham, LF		Rios, RF
Morneau, 1B		Dunn, A, DH
Parmelee, RF		Konerko, 1B
Plouffe, 3B		Gillaspie, 3B
Arcia, DH		Ramirez, Al, SS
Hicks, CF		Danks, Jd, CF
Florimon, SS		Flowers, C
Worley, P		Peavy, P

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
Minnesota	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	8	0
Chi White Sox	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	1

Well that was a cold day and I’ll give it to all the pitchers who did well with cold hands but I’ll still say this, it was better than it was in Minnesota so it does make me wonder what the weather was like last night for the game they postponed… but anyway, it was still a cold day to play all the pitchers get Hand-warmers as congratulatory gifts for the Win.

But today’s BOD goes to Ryan Doumit for the heads up play in the 10th that finally broke the tie and gave us the win!

GameChat – Angels @ Twins #2, 7:10pm

Posted on 16 April, 2013 by KL

I’m finally posting my first GameChat of the season, and I’ll be around for at least part of the game! The MLB At Bat app told me the Twins won last night, so here’s hoping for more of the same this evening. CapitalBabs and her other half will be in attendance at the game, and while it’s not especially warm, it is sunny, so perhaps it won’t be bitterly cold?

LA Angels	@	Minnesota
Bourjos, CF		Dozier, 2B
Trout, LF		Mauer, C
Pujols, DH		Morneau, 1B
Hamilton, RF		Plouffe, 3B
Trumbo, 1B		Doumit, DH
Kendrick, 2B		Parmelee, RF
Iannetta, C		Ramirez, W, LF
Jimenez, 3B		Hicks, CF
Romine, SS		Florimon, SS
Vargas, P		Pelfrey, P

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
LA Angels	0	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	2	6	10	0
Minnesota	0	3	1	1	2	0	1	0	x	8	15	1

Babs here – yay for seeing live baseball!! Yes, it was chilly at the ballpark tonight AND we were on the first base side which always seems to be about 5 degrees cooler than the 3rd base side. At any rate, Andrew and I both dressed appropriately so we were just fine to sit and enjoy some baseball without losing any major or minor appendages.. I’m hoping that I was able to grab some decent pictures of all the new guys to add to our gallery since there are so many we don’t have yet! I sure had plenty of time since the pace of the pitching tonight resembled a Yankees game.

But what a game! I’m not sure who this team is with all the offense but it does make it a lot more fun to watch. Lineup switched around a bit tonight and Dozier was leading off – guess what, that worked out WELL. He had a good night and I like seeing the effort. The switch to 2nd base has been good for him and I see a very positive future for that.

Also looking good tonight – most of the time – was Florimon. That boy has some incredible throws across the diamond tonight and if he can work on the butterfingers thing he has going a bit, I’m excited to see him improve.

Pelfrey looked good but slow – I have a hard time with slow. But any game where pitching isn’t a major weakness, I’ll call good. Swarzak looked really good – wish he could have gotten the 4 inning save but not today.

However, once again, the offensive show was really ignited and sustained by Joe Mauer. A second consecutive 4 hit game, this one with 3 RBI. It’s great to have fans cheering him when he comes up to bat again. Tonight, he’s our BOD!

GameChat – Angels @ Twins, 7:10pm

Posted on 15 April, 2013 by CapitalBabs

There will be a Moment of Silence before the start of the game tonight to recognize the victims from today’s events at the Boston Marathon. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those involved.

For baseball itself, tonight’s game is “confuse the heck out of everybody night” with the whole team wearing Jackie’s 42. I was always a big supporter of ONE PERSON wearing the number and letting teams figure out however they chose who that player would be… It’s my personal opinion that having everyone wear really makes it a lot less special. There are a lot of people who will probably disagree with that but as you guys already know, that doesn’t change my opinion one iota. 😉

Anyway, let’s see what happens tonight.. it’s still kind of cold out there folks!

LA Angels	@	Minnesota
Bourjos, CF		Mastroianni, CF
Trout, LF		Mauer, C
Pujols, 1B		Morneau, 1B
Hamilton, RF		Doumit, DH
Trumbo, DH		Parmelee, RF
Kendrick, 2B		Plouffe, 3B
Iannetta, C		Arcia, LF
Harris, B, SS		Dozier, 2B
Jimenez, 3B		Florimon, SS
Blanton, P		Correia, P

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
LA Angels	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	9	1
Minnesota	1	0	1	1	1	1	0	3	x	8	12	1

oh yeah, THAT’s why we’re Twins fans. Wins are so much more fun than losses – even in the cold! Lots of good things to report tonight.

Young, Oswald Arcia made his MLB debut and made a real job of it too – collected his ball for his first hit, did a great job of running the bases and a fair job of manning Left Field in the Minnesota cold – of course I still don’t know what he looks like because he was wearing a full face mask most of the time.. poor kid.

Hicks replace Arcia later in the game and walked off the field with both 2nd and 3rd base tucked under his arm… ok, not really but a great steal of 2nd and a heads up advancement to third left him pretty much owning scoring position at that point.

Of course, the hometown boy seemed to feel like getting some positive attention from fans again – I think he missed us. Mauer went 4/5 with a everything for a cycle but a triple. On pretty much all occasions that would be enough to get voted BOD but not today. It’s still worthy of recognition so for a spectacular offensive performance that definitely seemed to liven up the rest of the lineup, we award Mauer a glass of fresh, Minnesota milk.

correia — April 8, 2013. (AP Photo/Orlin Wagner)

But for fans of a team that HAS good hitters while feeling a bit stretched by our starting pitching rotation, I think it was only natural that there was a significant lead in vote totals for Kevin Correia! We have a starting pitcher who got outs and a win and went 7 innings!! I don’t care if it is a little sad that for us this feels so uniquely special. The truth is this: you start to value something more when it’s rare. Thanks Kevin!

GameChat – Twins @ Orioles #3, 12:35pm

Posted on 7 April, 2013 by CapitalBabs

Ok, a bit of roster news that you may have already heard but then again, maybe not. Officially this morning, the Twins brought up Anthony Swarzak and Pedro Hernandez and put Cole DeVries on the DL while optioning Tyler Robertson.

Swarzak is maybe not 100% yet from my read of the situation since he just got his wisdom teeth removed and had to deal with a gum infection on top of it. But apparently he’s still able to play. Who knew.

Let’s see what the boys have for us today!

Minnesota	@	Baltimore
Hicks, CF		Markakis, RF
Mauer, C		Machado, 3B
Willingham, LF		Davis, C, 1B
Morneau, 1B		Jones, Ad, CF
Doumit, DH		Pearce, DH
Plouffe, 3B		Hardy, SS
Ramirez, W, RF		Reimold, LF
Dozier, 2B		Teagarden, C
Florimon, SS		Casilla, A, 2B
Hernandez, P		Hammel, P

With their win today the Twins have improbably won their first two series of the year and are sitting at 4-2 heading into the second week of the season. The Twins played another enjoyable game this afternoon. Pedro Hernandez made a spot start for the injured Cole De Vries and while he didn’t pitch great, he pitched five innings, and while he gave up three runs in the bottom of the second, throwing more than a third of his 83 pitches, he was otherwise effective against the Orioles lineup. The Twins picked up a pair of runs in the third inning on a flyball that Adam Jones lost in the sun, then tied the game and eventually took the lead on an Aaron Hicks RBI single in the seventh. Anthony Swarzak made his first appearance of the year, pitching an inning and a third, and Brian Duensing, Jared Burton, and Glen Perkins finished off the game for a come from behind four to three victory.

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

For his efforts in the spot start, the Knuckleballs chatters and myself have selected Pedro Hernandez as the Boyfriend of the Day, with some milk and cookies for the bullpen as well.

Pedro Hernandez is everyone's boyfriend today! (Bruce Kluckhohn/Minnesota Twins-Getty Images) — Pedro Hernandez is everyone’s boyfriend today! (Bruce Kluckhohn/Minnesota Twins-Getty Images)

GameChat – Twins @ Orioles #2, 6:10pm

Posted on 6 April, 2013 by Eric Pleiss

Twins look to get back above .500 and even the series with the Orioles. Twins are looking for another solid pitching performance from a surprisingly solid starting staff.

Vance Worley is back on the bump looking to build on his first performance of the year when a few tough-luck ground balls led to some early runs.

Twins	@	Orioles
Hicks, CF		McLouth, LF
Mauer, C		Machado, 3B
Willingham, LF		Markakis, RF
Morneau, 1B		Jones, Ad, CF
Doumit, DH		Davis, C, 1B
Plouffe, 3B		Wieters, C
Parmelee, RF		Hardy, SS
Dozier, 2B		Flaherty, 2B
Florimon, SS		Reimold, DH
_Worley, P		_Tillman, P

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

Minnesota Twins Photo Day The Twins picked up another win and are back above .500. This was a very enjoyable game with the lead changing hands a couple of times before the Twins ultimately won the game in the top of the 9th with a base hit from Justin Morneau. Morneau would have been the run away BOD winner if not for the yeoman’s work from Josh Roenicke, pitching three innings of scoreless relief before turning the ball over to Glen Perkins for the save.

Way to go, Mr. Roenicke! Your very first BOD!

GameChat – Tigers @ Twins #3, 12:10pm

Posted on 4 April, 2013 by CapitalBabs

I think Twins fans and Detroit fans can both agree that we’re ok with not having Fister out there today… save him for the Yankees in Detroit, right? (and that means we don’t have to – Verlander was bad enough.)

Game time temps are actually pretty similar to yesterday even though the game is kicking off 3 hours earlier – not too bad for April in Minnesota. Of course, it’s been better but it’s been worse too. I’ll take almost 50 and see what happens. At least the sun is shining and the wind is light.

We get to see Carroll at 2B tonight and I have to admit that I like him out there. I’m ok with Dozier’s progress but with Pelfrey on the mound, I have to admit that I feel more secure and positive with the defense behind him with Carroll instead.

*shrug*

That’s probably just me though…

Detroit	@	Minnesota
Jackson, A, CF		Hicks, CF
Hunter, To, RF		Mauer, C
Cabrera, M, 3B		Willingham, LF
Fielder, 1B		Morneau, 1B
Martinez, V, DH		Doumit, DH
Kelly, LF		Plouffe, 3B
Peralta, Jh, SS		Parmelee, RF
Avila, C		Carroll, 2B
Infante, 2B		Florimon, SS
Porcello, P		Pelfrey, P

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

WOOHOOO!!!! Yes, folks that is a Series Win! against the TIGERS! (gotta love divisional opponent wins). We’re officially over .500. I’m trying to remember how long it took us to get there last year and I’m pretty sure it was more than a month… We haven’t actually won an opening series since 2010!!! That being said, it’s still only the first series and there is a lot of baseball left to play and they won’t all go like this. We are smart fans and we know better.

BUT that doesn’t mean a good day of baseball doesn’t feel amazing!

Our heartiest congratulations to Aaron Hicks for FINALLY nailing in that first MLB hit! That must be a huge relief to have that taken care of now.

Have some cake – have a party! Grab your souvenir ball and be ready to do it again! Welcome to the Big Leagues.

Also deserving some congratulations is our pitching staff who I think we saw almost all of today… but again, holding that lineup to 2 runs is nothing to sneeze at. Post-game party at Butcher & the Boar‘s Bourbon Bar!

The difficult part of a commanding win is always picking the BOD – who really gave you that extra edge to win? Today the votes went to Trevor Plouffe for knocking in the go-ahead run and really getting the 2-out party started. For that, he is today’s BOD!

GameChat – Tigers @ Twins #2, 3:10pm

Posted on 3 April, 2013 by CapitalBabs

Ok, let’s try this again shall we? (Do it better this time.)

Game 2 of the season has a significant improvement in first pitch temperature – it’s supposed to be in the 50’s by that point but it’s already 10 degrees warmer than the warmest point of the game on Monday. Oh, and the wind isn’t trying to blow us away either. Those are important factors for fans and players alike.

I haven’t yet seen Correia pitch – nor will I today since I’m at work watching on Gameday – but I am intrigued to see what he can do for us.

Detroit	@	Minnesota
Jackson, A, CF		Hicks, CF
Hunter, To, RF		Mauer, C
Cabrera, M, 3B		Willingham, LF
Fielder, 1B		Morneau, 1B
Martinez, V, DH		Doumit, DH
Dirks, LF		Plouffe, 3B
Peralta, Jh, SS		Parmelee, RF
Avila, C		Dozier, 2B
Infante, 2B		Florimon, SS
Sanchez, An, P		Correia, P

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

Well THAT was unexpected! They literally left this until the very last minute to pull this win out of their butt. But a win’s a win. I’ll take it. I’ll be happy about it. Congrats to Perkins for getting a win. That being said, the starting performance for Correia was pretty darn good. He went 7 innings (FANTASTIC in early spring) and only gave up 2 runs and a walk. I’ll take that any day.

Like Monday, it would have been nice if the offense had been able to string some things together earlier in the game than the 9th inning.

Just about everyone had to flee before the end of the game (including me) so BOD was a bit of a bare-bones affair but since the win was so late in the game, there wasn’t a lot of discussion really needed. Eduardo Escobar, by virtue of actually getting 2 RBI is today’s BOD!

GameChat – Twins vs. Yankees – 6:05pm – FSN+

Posted on 21 March, 2013 by Eric Pleiss

The big news tonight is that the Twins’ top prospect, Miguel Sano, will be starting at third base in place of the injured Trevor Plouffe. So if you managed to tear yourself away from the Men’s NCAA basketball tournament for a couple hours, you are being rewarded with a glimpse of the future. Unfortunately almost all of the other establish Big Leaguers stayed back in Fort Myers, so you’ll be seeing plenty of hot Drew Butera action this evening as well.

It might seem like half of the Yankees are injured, but a top of the lineup featuring Brett Gardner, Ichiro Suzuki, Robinson Cano and Kevin Youkilis can do a lot of damage, especially if Liam Hendriks is missing his spots.

Enjoy the game!

Minnesota Twins	@	New York Yankees
Hicks, CF		Gardner, CF
Dozier, 2B		Suzuki, I, LF
Clement, DH		Cano, 2B
Parmelee, 1B		Youkilis, 1B
Sano, 3B		Hafner, DH
Mastroianni, RF		Boesch, RF
Benson, LF		Nunez, E, SS
Butera, C		Nix, J, 3B
Florimon, SS		Stewart, C, C
_Hendriks, P		_Phelps, D, P

Despite striking out a combined 15 times, the Twins picked up a Spring Training win against the Evil Empire, 6-1. Even more impressive, the Twins pitchers, Liam Hendriks, Cole De Vries and Pedro Hernandez held the Yankees to just one hit! Hendriks and De Vries pitched four innings a piece with Hendriks allowing the only hit and an unearned run.

Miguel Sano did not disappoint in his first Spring Training appearance going two for five at the plate and adding a nice defensive play at third base that included a corner-to-corner throw to get the runner by half a step at first base.

All in all a pretty enjoyable game, and any time the Twins beat the Yankees, there is much rejoicing.

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

There was a lot of discussion after the game when we were voting on the Boyfriend of the Day (BOD, the equivalent of a game MVP). There were votes for Drew Butera and his 3 RBI, votes for the pitching staff’s one-hitter, and a vote apiece for Aaron Hicks and Miguel Sano. Since no consensus could be reached (and Spring Training stats don’t matter) I get to pick whoever I want.

Congratulations EDUARDO ESCOBAR! Escobar was one-for-one with an RBI as a late inning defensive replacement for Brian Dozier. I’m more confident by the day that Escobar will be on the roster for Opening Day, so consider this your formal introduction to the Twins utility infielder.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
					1	2
3	4	5	6	7	8	9
10	11	12	13	14	15	16
17	18	19	20	21	22	23
24	25	26	27	28	29	30