First things first. Apparently the Twins entered in to a conspiracy of sorts to prevent our DVD giveaway contest from proclaiming a winner. Almost two full weeks after announcing our contest to give away a set of Twins 1991 Championship Season DVDs to the person who could correctly predict the game in which Joe Nathan would break the team record for saves, he still hasn’t had an opportunity to accomplish that feat.
So, as we indicated in the original contest post, we’ll determine the winner on a random basis from among the 15 readers who entered our contest. Here is how we will go about declaring a winner:
Below is a list of those who entered the contest. Next to each name are two numbers I’ve assigned randomly from numbers 1-15 and 16-30. The winner will be the person assigned the number that is equal to the total runs scored by the Twins and White Sox in the first game of their upcoming series in Minnesota.
AW: 5, 20
Max: 9, 30
Shaun Streich: 15, 28
BobZ: 10, 24
MukMuk: 1, 17
bob miller: 3, 16
mark: 14, 27
lecroy24fan: 7, 23
Trish: 13, 29
Melissa: 12. 21
AW: 2, 19
E: 6, 22
UpperDeck: 4, 25
David: 11, 26
Rick: 8, 18
(If the Twins and Sox get in to a real slugfest and score over 30 runs combined, we’ll just add 30 to the numbers assigned to each entrant above and declare the winner on that basis. I refuse to let the Twins’ ineptitude draw this thing out any further!)
BOYFRIEND OF THE MONTH: JULY
Remember back last month when the Twins didn’t suck? I know… it’s not easy sometimes to remember back that far. But trust me, in July the Twins did win some ballgames and after each victory, our GameChat folks bestowed a Boyfriend of the Day award on the Twins player they felt was most deserving of recognition for their efforts in that particular game. As is our tradition, we then tally up those BOD awards each month and pronounce a lucky Boyfriend of the Month.
This one wasn’t really even close.
Danny Valencia, Brian Duensing, Joe Mauer and Michael Cuddyer each were honored with Boyfriend of the Day awards twice in July but for the first time this season, one player racked up four separate BODs from our GameChat contingent. Glen Perkins has been clutch when he’s been called on in tight situations. We just wish we could see a few more of those opportunities going forward. But for his outstanding work in July, Glen Perkins is da BOM!
*yawn* Another west coast game… I swear I’m actually a nightowl but there’s something about baseball at this time of the night back home that just puts me right to sleep every time. Especially the way so many of these games have been going lately. My only request for the team tonight is the Twins give me a reason to stay awake for the end of the game.. is that too much to ask?? I would REALLY love to award our ’91 World Series DVDs prize to someone tonight. That would be good enough.
Also – Thome is sitting tonight because he came to work today with a stiff neck.. I don’t know what that means for his availability off the bench.
It certainly was in this game. In fact Jason Kubel came just a few feet from being the third Twins player to hit two HRs in this game. Instead, he had to “settle” for two doubles to go with his one HR. Scott Baker got off to a good start, but he hit a wall in the 3rd inning (or maybe the wall hit him?). Enter Anthony Swarzak, who followed with five innings of one-hit shutout baseball.
Delmon Young ripped two home runs, which certainly makes him worthy of BOD consideration, along with Swarzak and Kubel. But matching him home run for home run was Michael Cuddyer and one of his home runs was a tie-breaking grand slam HR, which gave Swarzak and the Twins a mid-game boost and that earned Cuddy the majority of the GameChat’s BOD votes, with Swarzak and Young also garnering enough support to earn them baked goods of their choice.
This is certainly a different line up tonight. Danny Valencia and Tsuyoshi Nishioka have seats on the pine while the Twins field an infield of Mauer, Plouffe, Hughes and Tolbert.
Sure looks like the Twins could use Denard Span in their line up and Denard Tweeted earlier today that he expected to play his last game for Rochester tonight and then rejoin the Twins in Oakland. But, not so fast… Ron Gardenhire, who had previously been quoted as saying Span needed to play 3 straight games of nine innings for Rochester, now told reporters that he’d have to see Denard play 5-6 straight games.
WTF? Why?
There’s only one reason I can think of and I don’t like it a bit. It’s got to be the trade talk heating up.
If Span is healthy enough to be playing baseball, there’s absolutely no legitimate reason to keep him in Rochester instead of having him play those games for the Twins. None. Nada. Not when Gardy is throwing the kind of players on his line up card that we’ve seen the last couple of games.
A 12-hit attack with the top four in the order all having multi-hit games and a starting pitcher who gives 7 strong innings. Those are the results we expected to see this season… even if the line up wasn’t exactly what we envisioned.
Joe Mauer, Trevor Plouffe and Michael Cuddyer provided most of the offensive fireworks, but we do want to encourage Frankie to provide more performances like this one. He coughed up the early 2-run lead by giving up a HR in the bottom of the first inning, but that’s all the damage done. Liriano was definitely helped out of a couple of jams by inning-ending double plays, but all told it was a very good performance, earning him our BOD honors.
Let’s hope we get the “good Brian” tonight against the Rangers. It would really be nice to get back to the days when a starting pitcher gave us 6-7 decent innings. It wasn’t really THAT long ago, was it? Just seems like forever.
Rumors continued to swirl today about a possible Denard Span trade to the Nationals for a handful of magic beans (or something of approximately the same value). I have to say that if Bill Smith makes a deal even remotely similar to what’s being bounced around Twitterworld, I’ll be totally on board with everyone who wants to call for his dismissal. It’s almost like he’s telling us, “so you think that deal I made with the Nationals last year was terribly one-sided in favor of Washington? Let me show you how much worse I can let them rip me off!”
Ah well… the Tigers and Indians both lost this afternoon (in fact the Toons got no-hit by the Angels), so without even playing a game, the Twins managed to gain half a game in the standings on both teams. This has me thinking the Twins should just take the next 14 days off… maybe they’ll find themselves tied for first place by mid-August.
Well that’s the kind of game we were all wanting to see!
Five different guys with multiple hits, including three from Jason Kubel! Lexi had two doubles (although he did pull up lame on the last one and it sounds like he’ll miss some time with a hamstring issue… dammit) and we got another HR from Cuddy. And yes, finally, the Chairman yanked his first HR of the season in the first inning to start the scoring. The bullpen also did another nice job.
But the star of the game was Brian Duensing. The Twins got exactly what they needed from him. He went 6.2 innings, scattering 7 hits and giving up just one run. He walked just one while striking out 6. That badly needed quality start earns Brian our BOD award!
Wow.. I go to ValleyFair for ONE day and look what kind of stuff I miss!! Are you kidding me? Cuddyer finally gets his chance to pitch and I was standing in line for the Wild Thing.. it’s just not right (nor was that score). If, like me, you didn’t get to see Cuddyer pitch, here’s a link to the video – if I can figure out how to embed it, I’ll do it but right now, it’s not letting me: Cuddyer Pitching.
However, the blessing of missing the game last night was that I didn’t witness what was apparently a hell of bad pitching, WORSE fielding and a complete lack of offense. When I called in for an update, I was informed that the Rangers line looked like a golf score each inning – par, par, birdy, birdy… Whoever thought of that is a genius but what a horrible concept when it’s the opposing team.
I’m looking forward to seeing CJ Wilson – I really love watching him pitch – but I would REALLY like to see the Twins get to him tonight. We need some offense.
Certainly an exciting game! Things didn’t look so great when Texas put a 5-spot up against Carl Pavano in the 4th inning to take a 7-3 lead. But the offense kept chipping away, with contributions from up and down the batting order, not to mention pinch hitters Jim Thome and Joe Mauer who both came through with pinch hit doubles late in the game. Joe Nathan got the save (which means you need to enter the DVD contest below in a hurry… before Joe gets his next save).
But our BOD tonight is Glen Perkins. Glen entered the game with two men on base and nobody out in the bottom of the 8th inning and sat three straight hitters down without giving up a run, keeping his team within one run. That’s clutch BOD material. – JC
So Jason Kubel came back Friday and Scott Baker returns today. It’s about time to end this “can’t beat the Tigers” BS, isn’t it, guys?
Everyone else can beat the kitties so there’s no reason to think the Twins shouldn’t be able to.
Brad Penny’s been pitching well lately for the Tigers even if he hasn’t been getting the Wins to show for it. It’s time for Twins hitters to step up. If they embarrass themselves today like they did last night, it will be in front of a near-national audience on FOX.
That wasn’t exactly the offensive breakout game I’ve been hoping for, but we’re going to just enjoy the win, right?
Getting ahead on the scoreboard early was a nice change and Scott Baker looked pretty damn good to me in his first game back from the DL. He only went five innings but they were a really good five shutout innings.
Danny Valencia launched a solo shot and Delmon Young had a nice two-run double. Joe Nathan slammed the door shut and Phil Dumatrait threw a scoreless inning of relief, as well.
Tsuyoshi Nishioka was the only Twins hitter with more than one hit, collecting two singles (though neither figured directly in the scoring). But his biggest contribution was in the field. He ran down three flares in shallow left field, a couple of them very nice plays in critical situations. In addition, Glen Perkins not only pitched a scoreless inning of relief, but struck out Ordonez and Cabrera back-to-back to cap his work. For those performances, Nishi and Perk are our co-BODs today!
So… final game of the Indians series.. we break even if we win this today. Which would be VERY good.. at least we’d still be where we started on Monday and last night’s comeback win should be pretty good for morale.
Of course, the story for the day is still the hellish weather. I’m contributing this little bit of something a friend (several actually) shared on Facebook:
Yeah, you have to wonder if Cleveland keeps double checking their plane tickets to make sure they are in Minnesota. This is the land of the frozen north right?? Welcome to summer in a state covered with water folks – we get humidity and heat.. and today the combo is still working against us. At least it’s a bit better than both Monday and yesterday out there. Humidity is actually dropping a tad already and yes, it’s over 90 but the heat index isn’t over 100.. yet. They are saying there is supposed to be a BIG break in the weather tonight before the heat returns on the weekend. It will be a gorgeous day tomorrow.. looking forward to one beautiful day at least! Anyway, lets see what the boys have to work with after this tropical marathon.
Interestingly, even though it’s a getaway day and the final game of the series, it seems that both teams are putting out their regular starting rotation of players – no one gets a day off – which I think is an indication how seriously both teams are taking this division battle.
WOOHOOOO!!!! That was exciting, frustrating, dramatic baseball! There was passion, tragedy, aggravation, relief, miracles & errors – everything you want in a division race actually. It seemed as though each player had a moment you wanted to pat him on the back and then immediately followed by something that made you want to strangle him.. Butera was BRILLIANT throwing out base-stealers but a passed ball (which Blackburn totally misplayed at the base) let a run in. Speaking of Blackburn, it was a GREAT outing from Nick on a day that eats pitchers and spits them out but the 4th inning was PAINFUL and the aforementioned fielding goof cost an out that could have saved Butera’s error by getting an out. Yeah, it was Butera’s error but in my book, there is no excuse for a pitcher not getting an out because he’s on the wrong side of the base. But even after that, he came back out and pitched great again. So I’m granting both Butera and Blackburn rootbeer floats as a cooler/reward.
We also had some CRAZY miscues on the defense – like Revere getting to one of those ridiculous OF flies he catches up to and then missing the catch in the sun. On the other hand, Joe played 1B today by his request and managed to use every inch of his 6’5+” frame to rescue errant throws on several occasions. One of my favorite moments of the game included a misthrow from Casilla to Mauer at 1B that Mauer seemed to miraculously dig up and get the out. Even Lexi knew he owed Mauer in a HUGE way because as the players entered the dugout, Casilla tackled Joe in an impromptu hug shocking Mauer and delighting the fans who witnessed the event via tv broadcast. I’m hoping to find a pic of the event to share with you because the WTF posture from Mauer and the sheer ridiculousness of the activity will entertain us all. However, Lexi also had some really good AB’s and overall had a good game so both he and Mauer also get rootbeer floats for their efforts. Until I find a pic of the actual hug – here’s a pretty entertaining interview with Mauer where he & Casilla joke about the hug – there’s a clip of it right at the end.
Thanks to Thrylos, we have a screen shot from the video!! Thanks Thry!
But as was necessary last night, the game was tied and required late inning offensive heroics to get us back in the lead and eventually get us the win. You’ll never guess who got another terribly important bases-loaded hit to give us the lead… yeah, Danny Valencia. His team was also pretty excited about his efforts today because several of his teammates decided to gang-pie him in the postgame interview… yeah, he can have a rootbeer float too if he can ever get all the shaving cream out of his mouth but until then, he was voted todays unanimous BOD!
The REAL joy comes in the fact that for now, the Twins are once again 5.5 Games back in the division race and set to take on the newly division-leading Detroit Tigers. The boys should have great morale and motivation to bring every ounce of their ability and luck to continuing the upward climb for the season. *crosses fingers, toes, hair & whatever while holding breath*
Wow, I thought sitting through YESTERDAY’s games was a hot deal. It’s like some little blond girl is staring at a dopplar screen and saying “it’s baaaa-aack.” We’re looking at temps around 95 degrees for game start time and given the ridiculous levels of humidity, the heat index says 117 degrees. Yeah, that’s even worse than it was yesterday. At least they are only playing one game today – too bad it’s after the last three. At least the evening looks clear for any more storms so we shouldn’t have to deal with any rain delays.
After yesterday’s performances though, I have to say that as long as Liriano holds it together for more than 5 innings, the problem is going to be OFFENSE. We simply have to see more guys hitting more often with men on base. Gotta start getting runs before the last inning of the game.. first rule in the baseball primer is: you win when you score more often than the other guys. If we’re able to win tonight and tomorrow, we’re at least back to where we started in relation to Cleveland. We fought pretty hard to get to the point where we were in striking distance. I would hate to see all that dissipate in a single series.
At any rate, thinking positively, I think we can do this. Win Twins!
I have to say that game didn’t exactly come with the offensive outburst I think many of us have been hoping to see, but a win is a win and the guys certainly came through with a big ninth-inning come-from-behind walk-off win over the ‘Toons.
Frankie wasn’t exactly efficient, but he survived six innings of 1-run pitching and the bullpen arms of Dumatrait, Capps and Perkins were just about perfect, so can’t give anything but praise to the pitching staff tonight. They also got some excellent defense from their team mates behind them, as well.
But at the end, when it was needed the most, Michael Cuddyer doubled and then read Danny Valencia’s game-winning base hit perfectly to score from second base behind Joe Mauer. So Cuddy and Danny V are our co-BODs tonight! – JC
It’s hard not to look forward to the next eight games in seven days against the ‘Toons and Tigers, but the Twins need to focus on not letting today’s game against the Royals slip away. It’s important to win this series, too.
It sounds like it’s going to be another hot one at Target Field, so let’s hope everyone stays hydrated and comes out of this game healthy… and with another win!
Wow.. what a game! Starting at the end because we WON and that puts us 5 games back in the division (serious progress) Nathan got his 2nd Save in his third straight appearance in a solid and decisive way. It was a thing of beauty and for that he gets a tall frosty adult beverage of his choice to cut the heat.
Of course, the REAL story of the game was Jim Thome hitting the longest HR in Target Field so far – estimated at 490 ft – which gave him HR #596. It’s good to see him start to get to his rhythmn back. It’s even better when he drives in three runs in the process and gives us the win! So for that, Jim Thome is today’s BOD!
As post-game news goes, Twins made several moves before tomorrow’s double-header & not all of them for good reasons.
Scott Baker has been put on the DL with a strained flexor muscle in his right arm – this is retroactive to July 7th.
Matt Tolbert was optioned back to Rochester.
Scott Diamond’s contract was picked up and he’ll come up to start tomorrow night’s game.
Chuck James is also being called back up to add a fresh arm to the bullpen.
Don’t forget that there is a makeup game at 12:10 tomorrow before the regularly scheduled 7:10 game and that will likely still have extremely high temperatures & humidity which will make the double-header a real challenge for both teams. Hopefully, they won’t have have to deal with any serious storms in the process.
First things first, the Twins are retiring Bert Blyleven’s number today and the festivities start at 5:30 if you are able to turn into FSN early. For those who are watching from elsewhere and won’t have that coverage, I’m sure that there will be clips later on the Twins website and Kristie is at today’s game hopefully getting us some pictures from a first-hand view.
Secondly, the “official” word came down from Tom Pelissero on Twitter that Matt Capps is out at Closer and the assignment has been returned to Joe Nathan. I’m definitely in favor of tha move and that does NOT mean that I don’t think that Capps is a bad pitcher or should go to AAA. I just think he needs a little less pressure as he works through a fairly common for all pitchers downturn in his stability. Let the man go through hte same kind of “rehab” that Nathan did working through the beginning of this season and get him back to being a good pitcher.
Thirdly, just a reminder for Twins fans everywhere working off an original calendar: Monday is now a day/night split double header to make up for the earlier rainout with Cleveland. The first game will be at 12:10 and the second at 7:10 as originally scheduled.
I would like to see Pavano be able to go out and do a solid outting and get us back into the win column – sadly, Blackburn did a good job last night but the offense is going to have to break out the bats if they want to get the W.
It’s good to get back in the W column again, but this 4-3 win over the Royals seemed more difficult than it should have been. Nevertheless, as Nuke said, “winning is better than losing.”
The night got off to a great start with the Twins doing a great job on the ceremony retiring Bert Blyleven’s #28. It was well done, without dragging on the way some of those things do.
The Twins gave Carl Pavano some early run support, which is always appreciated by starting pitchers. Pavstache threw a nice game, though he called it an early night (for him) after just 97 pitches in seven innings. On the other hand, maybe it was just the heat and humidity. Glen Perkins K’d two in a perfect 8th inning and Joe Nathan, in his return to the closer role, gave up a lone single to close out the Royals in the 9th. All three pitchers deserve our thanks and a cold brew of their choice (assuming all the good beer in Minnesota hasn’t been pulled off the shelves due to the shutdown).
It was an odd night offensively for the Twins. Some infield hits. Some questionable defense by the Royals. Some odd baserunning. In the end, our GameChat’s Boyfriend of the Day award goes to the only guy to get more than one hit for the Twins… and the guy who came through with the game-winning 2-out RBI in the bottom of the 8th inning. Michael Cuddyer, you are our BOD! – JC
