Tag Archives: BOD

GameChat – White Sox @ Twins, 7:10pm

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So this is the second start in a row, if I recall correctly, for DeVries against the White Sox. I have to wonder if that plays with a guys head just a little bit. Or if the fact that we’ll be facing Liriano tomorrow..

All together, the guys are all probably feeling pretty good about the sweep of the Indians while there are probably some just as much a bit at a loss about Liriano. And whatever else might still happen..

One game at a time, one day at a time. Let’s see if we can get the guys a victory against the WS at home in TF. That would be good..

Chi White Sox

@

 Minnesota
De Aza, CF Span, CF
Youkilis, 3B Revere, RF
Dunn, A, DH Mauer, C
Konerko, 1B Willingham, DH
Rios, RF Morneau, 1B
Pierzynski, C Doumit, LF
Viciedo, LF Valencia, 3B
Ramirez, Al, SS Dozier, SS
Beckham, 2B Carroll, 2B
  Quintana, P   De Vries, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chi White Sox 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 6 10 3
Minnesota 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 12 1

You can’t get a sweep if you don’t win the first game of the series (and you can’t get swept if you DO win the first game of the series) so it’s always good to pick up a W in game 1.

Things didn’t get off to a very good start with Cole DeVries spotting the Sox a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but the offense came right back and evened the game in the bottom of the inning. From that point, Cole did just fine through the rest of his five innings. After that, the bullpen took over. Jared Burton gave up the tying run in the 8th, but otherwise, the pen did just fine.

It’s tempting to give AJ Pierzynski BOD honors for throwing Brian Dozier’s bunt down the RF line to set up the winning run in the 9th, but then we’d have to discount AJ’s 3-run HR in the 1st.

That said, we’ll go with co-BODs again tonight. Denard Span had two web-gem worthy plays in the field to go with a pair of hits. He’ll share the award with Danny Valencia who also had a pair of hits and a pair of RBI that tied the game in the first inning. His other hit was a first-pitch line drive to lead off the 9th inning and set the table for the walk-off victory. – JC

Denard Span
Danny Valencia

GameChat – Indians @ Twins #3, 1:10pm

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As you already are undoubtedly aware, Francisco Liriano has been traded to the Chicago White Sox for a handful of magic beans, and Jeff Manship has been recalled from Rochester to take his place on the 25-man roster, while Brian Duensing will replace Liriano in the starting rotation this afternoon.  The Twins have a chance to sweep the Cleveland Indians, and they’ve outscored the Tribe 23-5 the past two days.  Let’s hope the bats stay hot.

Note of former Twin activity: Lew Ford has finally made it back to the big leagues!! He hasn’t played Major League ball since 2007; doing stints in Japan, Mexico and Independent Atlantic League baseball. He signed a minor league contract with the Orioles this year – the final destination for all former Twins it seems. He very excitedly tweeted that he arrived with the Orioles to play today since they are having injury issues and really need a versatile player on the bench to cover some holes. We all know that that particular roles suits Lew pretty well and I know I’m not along amongst Twins fans wishing him all the best. – CB

 Cleveland Indians

@

 Minnesota Twins 
 Choo, RF  Span, CF
Cabrera, A, SS  Revere, RF
 Santana, C, DH  Mauer, DH
 Lopez, Jo, 3B  Willingham, LF
 Brantley, CF  Morneau, 1B
 Duncan, LF  Doumit, C
 Marson, C  Valencia, 3B
 Kotchman, 1B  Dozier, SS
 Lillibridge, 2B  Casilla, A, 2B
 _Jimenez, P  _Duensing, P

 

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

That’s what it feels like to sweep a series, folks! I know it hasn’t been a frequent occurrence, but it certainly is a good feeling. It’s even sweeter when you do it to a Division rival.

The Twins’ offense “only” scored five runs today, which is less than half of what they put on the board in each of the first two games of the series. Fortunately, a few of the bats were awake enough to do the job. Brian Dozier and Ben Revere each had a pair of hits and Justin Morneau had the big offensive day with three hits, including a monster home run. Revere had the only other extra-base hit, but the Twins stole five bases and scored a run on a wild pitch.

The bullpen was back to being the “good” version today, with Alex Burnett, Jared Burton and Glen Perkins each throwing one shutout inning. But the star of the day… and our Boyfriend of the Day award winner… is Brian Duensing. Pressed in to a spot start following the overnight trade of scheduled starter Francisco Liriano, Duensing gave the Twins six excellent innings. He was efficient (throwing only 70 pitches) and gave up just five hits, striking out a pair and walking nobody. Well done, Brian! – JC

Brain Duensing

GameChat – Indians @ Twins #2, 6:10 pm

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Danny Valencia is back up with the Twins, with Trevor Plouffe on the DL and Danny is in the lineup tonight.

I haven’t been paying much attention to my Twitter feed today, so if there’s other news involving the Twins, I’m simply not aware of it.

Let’s see if our guys can put a second straight total effort out on the field tonight. Then again, it’s probably asking a bit much for Deduno to replicate Diamond’s performance from last night.

INDIANS

@

 TWINS
Choo, RF Span, CF
Brantley, CF Revere, RF
Kipnis, 2B Mauer, C
Santana, C, C Willingham, LF
Hafner, DH Morneau, 1B
Damon, LF Doumit, DH
Kotchman, 1B Valencia, 3B
Hannahan, 3B Dozier, SS
Lillibridge, SS Casilla, A, 2B
  _Masterson, P   _Deduno, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 5 4 1
Minnesota 0 0 0 2 3 5 1 1 x 12 12 1

Big time offense from the Twins two nights in a row? I’m not well versed on the Book of Revelation, but I think maybe that’s a sign of the Apocalypse. Better be prepared. Just our luck, right? The Twins finally pull out of the cellar of the AL Central Division and the world comes to an end.

How do you score 12 runs on just the same number of hits? One way to do it is to go 8-12 with runners in scoring position. Four Twins drove in multiple runs. Ben Revere went 3-5 and Josh Willingham blasted his 27th home run of the season. But the offensive star was Alexi Casilla who had a double and a triple, both with runners on base, giving him 4 RBI on the night.

The Twins also got a second consecutive very good pitching performance from their starter as Sam Deduno went seven innings, giving up just one run and two hits while striking out six. If we wanted to pic nits, we might ask him to cut down on the five walks he issued, but we’re certainly not going to complain tonight.

For their efforts, Casilla and Deduno earn co-BOD awards!

Sam Deduno (Photo: John Swol/TwinsTrivia.com)
Alexi Casilla

GameChat – Indians @ Twins, 7:10pm

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Soooo…  Guess who is a late scratch because his thumb still doesn’t work??  yeah, and headed for the DL after being unavailable to play for 7 days… I gotta say that somewhere (probably the managers office) the air has turned blue from all the cussing. Gardy is likely royally PO’d about this because I got the sense early on that his preference all along would have been the DL but he went along with the info he was given.. which clearly was faulty to begin with. With Plouffe going down, the roulette wheel of replacement players has landed on Danny Valencia. Let’s see what he can do with the opportunity.

note: The irony that no one else would ever know about? The official lineups were actually up sooooo early that I thought perhaps I had the game start time wrong. Of course that would be the day that there is actually a late scratch and they have to fix them.

For all the issues of ‘who is playing what base’, our real issues are always ‘who is throwing the ball’. Tonight, it’s Scott Diamond’s turn and I think all of us have more confidence in him than anyone else in our rotation. Let’s hope he’s able to live up to that.

Cleveland

@

 Minnesota
Choo, RF Span, CF
Cabrera, A, SS Revere, RF
Kipnis, 2B Mauer, C
Brantley, CF Willingham, LF
Santana, C, 1B Morneau, 1B
Hafner, DH Doumit, DH
Lopez, Jo, 3B Dozier, SS
Duncan, LF Carroll, 3B
Marson, C Casilla, A, 2B
  Tomlin, P   Diamond, P

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
Minnesota 3 0 0 5 0 3 0 0 x 11 15 0

It was one of “those” weeks for me at work so I spent a lot of time today/tonight in a bar, but I did remember to have them put the Twins game on one of the TVs, so I was witness to Scott Diamond’s outstanding performance tonight. It was, of course, also a lot of fun to watch Justin Morneau launch a ball on to the plaza and Josh Willingham put one in the bullpens. I couldn’t help but wonder, though, whether I was seeing the last bomb off the bat of either of those gentlemen in a Twins uniform.

In the end, a complete game shutout is pretty much a no-brainer for Boyfriend of the Day and I can’t tell you how pleased I am that Diamond was given the opportunity to finish what he started. A perfect game through 4+ innings and, in the end, a three-hitter. Great job, Scott! – JC

Scott Diamond

GameChat Twins @ Royals 7:10pm

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Ahhh.  Just getting this up in time for first pitch.  More to come later.

 Minnesota Twins

@

 Kansas City Royals 
 Revere, CF  Gordon, LF
 Carroll, SS  Escobar, A, SS
 Mauer, 1B  Butler, DH
 Willingham, LF  Moustakas, 3B
 Morneau, DH  Cain, CF
 Plouffe, 3B  Hosmer, 1B
 Doumit, C  Francoeur, RF
 Mastroianni, RF  Perez, S, C
 Casilla, A, 2B  Betancourt, Y, 2B
 _Blackburn, P  _Hochevar, P

 

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R H E
Minnesota 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 9 0
Kansas City 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 9 0

It took a little longer than perhaps it should have, but a win is a win. Darin Mastroianni put the Twins up with a solo shot after taking a brushback pitch and Josh Willingham finally drove Joe Mauer home with the winning run in the 11th inning.

But the Chat’s vote for Boyfriend of the Day goes to starting pitcher Nick Blackburn, who’s return from Rochester was certainly a successful one. He threw 6 2/3 innings of ball and with relief help from Tyler Robertson, Jared Burton, Casey Fien and Glen Perkins, the Twins got a nice W. –  JC

Nick Blackburn

GameChat – Orioles @ Twins #2, 7:10pm

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So yeah, it’s hot again. The actual temperature isn’t as bad as yesterday but the humidity is still ridiculous.

It’s also just been announced that Matt Capps will be going to the DL with rotator cuff irritation. That can’t be good.. for anybody..

I have no idea if the Twins have any offense left in them after last night but I sure hope that it’s something they know how to do.

Baltimore

@

 Minnesota
Markakis, RF Span, CF
Hardy, SS Revere, RF
Thome, DH Mauer, C
Jones, Ad, CF Willingham, LF
Wieters, C Morneau, 1B
Reynolds, Ma, 1B Plouffe, 3B
Davis, C, LF Doumit, DH
Betemit, 3B Dozier, SS
Flaherty, 2B Carroll, 2B
  Britton, Z, P   Deduno, P

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Baltimore 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 4 9 1
Minnesota 0 0 0 1 3 0 2 0 x 6 13 1

A bit more drama in tonight’s game than was involved Monday night, but it seemed to take just about as long to get the game played. Nevertheless, the Twins came away with another win, 6-4 this time.

The bullpen came up big in this game, with Jeff Gray. Tyler Robertson, Alex Burnett, Glen Perkins and Jared Burton combining to throw 4 and 2/3 innings of shutout baseball. Offensively, Denard Span, Jamey Carroll and Ryan Doumit all contributed two hits each with Doumit also racking up a pair of RBI.

But I’m awarding the BOD honors to Joe Mauer in recognition of his three hits, including one double and a RBI, not to mention a pretty nice diving catch of a foul ball in front of the dugout. – JC

Joe Mauer

GameChat – Orioles @ Twins, 7:10pm

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“Help us Diamond Won Kinobi! You’re our only hope!”

Sadly, even Bert Blyleven agrees – he tweeted out earlier today: Twins need more innings out of their starting staff. Only Scott Diamond has given them the quality innings needed to save the bullpen.

Given the heat and humidity still existing in Minnesota, something tells me that the balls will be flying high & long if solid contact is made. So I’m REALLY hoping that Scotty is able to work a little newbie magic tonight.

It’s nice to see JJ Hardy though.. welcome back, just hope he doesn’t abuse the hospitality.

Baltimore

@

 Minnesota
Markakis, RF Span, CF
Hardy, SS Revere, RF
Jones, Ad, CF Mauer, C
Wieters, C Willingham, LF
Reynolds, Ma, 1B Morneau, 1B
Pearce, LF Plouffe, 3B
Davis, C, DH Doumit, DH
Betemit, 3B Dozier, SS
Tolleson, 2B Carroll, 2B
  Tillman, P   Diamond, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Baltimore 0 1 1 0 3 0 0 0 2 7 13 1
Minnesota 7 1 2 1 0 3 0 5 x 19 20 0

I’m not sure where that offensive outburst came from but it was certainly more fun than being on the receiving end of a butt-kicking. How odd was this game? Well, the Twins knocked the O’s starting pitcher out of the game before the end of the first inning despite the fact that he had given up just one earned run. (The six unearned runs were another matter altogether, I suppose.)

There were plenty of offensive stars from which to select a BOD tonight. Justin Morneau went 4-5 with a pair of doubles and Joe Mauer homered to RF. But tonight’s co-BODs are Denard Span and Ben Revere. Not only did they combine to go 7 for 11 with three doubles and 8 RBI, but they flashed plenty of leg & leather in the outfield, as well!

Denard Span
Ben Revere

GameChat – Twins @ Rangers, 7:05pm

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The Twins have a couple things to be thankful for while in Texas at the moment… First, it’s cooler there than it is at my house in MN – not by much but it IS cooler (of course it is 100 degrees at my house as I type this so it doesn’t take much). Second, no rain.. after the crazy delays of every game in Detroit, it must be nice to look at the clock and start on time.. I’m also grateful for this because those crazy delays were bad enough in Eastern time, no way would I make it to the end of games delayed that long in Central time.

At any rate, we have baseball to play and I wish I could see a little bit just to see Joe Nathan – hopefully, not in his official capacity. My hope is that the Twins offense and Liriano’s pitching can keep us from entering the merest suggestion of a Texas save situation.

Minnesota

@

 Texas
Revere, CF Kinsler, 2B
Mastroianni, RF Andrus, SS
Mauer, DH Hamilton, LF
Willingham, LF Beltre, A, 3B
Morneau, 1B Young, M, DH
Plouffe, 3B Cruz, N, RF
Dozier, SS Napoli, 1B
Butera, C Torrealba, C
Casilla, A, 2B Gentry, CF
  Liriano, P   Perez, M, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 5 9 0
Texas 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 6 2

It always feels good to pick up a game against one of the big boys of the league, doesn’t it? The Rangers demonstrated that they’re capable of playing a little circus-defense and our guys took advantage.

Kudos to Justin Morneau… not only did he pick up TWO hits against a left handed pitcher (something that’s been far too rare this season), but one of them was a line shot two run home run to right field. That was good enough to earn him consideration for Boyfriend of the Day tonight, but in the end, Francisco Liriano earned that honor. Frankie did walk a few more than we like to see, but he kept his cool and gave up just the one run in 6 2/3 innings while striking out six Rangers. – JC

Francisco Liriano

GameChat – Twins @ Tigers #2, 6:05pm

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Obligatory statement about the weather: it’s not as hot here as they said it was going to be – by that I mean it didn’t make it to 100 – just more of the same we’ve had for the last week.

That being said, it’s a lot cooler in Detroit! That’s because it’s RAINING. There is a thunderstorm in progress in Detroit according to weather.com although I haven’t seen anything in the pregame stuff about the weather yet but the thunderstorms aren’t supposed to quit until 7 pm central or so. That’s definitely early enough to get the game in but I haven’t seen any sign that they are talking about delaying the game so maybe things are already easing. *shrug* maybe one of our local Twins weather people will speak up and advise us at some point soon..

[EDIT] according to Ben Collin (TTBB) ‏@bennyc50
Personally I think #MNTwins and #Tigers will have a 1 hr delay at least considering the storms still heading in from the north.

As for the game itself, things look pretty normal lineup-wise. It could be painful to be facing this Detroit lineup if Blackburn is having a bad day. I’m really hoping he has a good day.

Minnesota

@

 Detroit
Span, CF Jackson, A, CF
Revere, RF Berry, LF
Mauer, C Cabrera, Mi, 3B
Willingham, LF Fielder, 1B
Morneau, 1B Young, D, DH
Plouffe, 3B Avila, C
Doumit, DH Raburn, 2B
Dozier, SS Boesch, RF
Casilla, A, 2B Santiago, SS
  Blackburn, P   Below, P

 

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

Remember how everyone brought up the fact that the Twins didn’t hit anything but singles on Monday night? Well, they made up for it tonight. Their 10 hits tonight included two doubles and three home runs. Of course, we need to express our gratitude to Tigers shortstop Ramon Santiago for sucking on defense, but then pretty much the whole world (at least those not named Leyland) knew the Tigers would suck on defense this season from the moment they showed up to Spring Training.

Anyway, our guys get another win and that’s always a good thing. Nick Blackburn struggled, giving up six earned runs in four innings of work, but once again the Twins bullpen was outstanding. That’s become almost routine lately.

Speaking of things being almost routine, both Josh Willingham and Trevor Plouffe hit home runs again! But on the not-so-routine side of the ledger, so did Joe Mauer!

The Boyfriend of the Day voting was close and while I think it’s great when there are so many worthy options, I was personally dismayed that I cast the lone vote for Mauer, who went 3-5 with a 2B and a HR, scoring 3 runs. Then again, Willingham also had a 2B and a HR and nobody voted for him! Trevor Plouffe had some support after not only launching a HR, but also flashing some impressive leather (there’s something we don’t have near enough opportunities to say, right?).

But Jeff Gray pitched two shutout innings, while Kyle Waldrop, Tyler Robertson and Glen Perkins each added one shutout inning of their own. Not only that, but thanks to Plouffe’s outstanding snag of a line drive that turned in to a double play and Mauer’s perfect throw to nail Brennan Boesch trying to steal, the four relievers all actually faced the minimum number of batters possible in their collective five innings of work. Their efforts allowed the Twins hitters to pull out a win AND earned them a collective “group” BOD award! – JC

Jeff Gray (Photo: Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
Kyle Waldrop (Photo: Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)
Tyler Robertson
Glen Perkins

 

GameChat – Twins @ Tigers, 6:05pm

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It’s 92 degrees in Detroit right now… If the Twins thought they were getting away from the tropical heat, it appears they were wrong (although that’s still cooler than my house by 5 degrees). Let’s hope that everyone slept in well air-conditioned hotel rooms.

As far as our pitching match-ups tonight, I would love to see Liam do as well or better than his last appearance. I would also love to see Fister not do anywhere near as well…  It would certainly make life easier for our offense.

But that being said, I haven’t ever really been one of those who wanted to play a bad team just to win… I just want my team to be better than the other guys.

I ESPECIALLY want to see my team beat the Tigers. *GRIN*

Minnesota

@

 Detroit
Span, CF Jackson, A, CF
Revere, RF Berry, LF
Mauer, DH Cabrera, Mi, 3B
Willingham, LF Fielder, 1B
Morneau, 1B Young, D, DH
Plouffe, 3B Raburn, RF
Doumit, C Peralta, Jh, SS
Dozier, SS Avila, C
Carroll, 2B Santiago, 2B
  Hendriks, P   Fister, P

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E
Minnesota

0

0

0

4

2

0

0

0

0

6

13

0
Detroit

0

0

1

0

3

0

0

0

 

4

9

0

Congratulations to Ron Gardenhire for win #900 and to the team for getting 4 wins in a row for only the second time this season. And congratulations to Twins fans for actually having some fun baseball to watch lately. Of course, Perkins is doing his part to lobby for a closing role by trying to give all Twins Territory a heart attack in the process.

It was fun to see the guys actually figure out Fister and get to him to get a sizable lead in the 4th.. unfortunately, they got closer than is actually comfortable in the 5th. So our thanks to Anthony Swarzak for coming in and shutting down a potent offense for almost 3 innings. As his reward, he was voted today’s BOD!