Posts tagged BOD

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

Apr7th
2013 Written 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 baseball   

GameChat – Twins @ Orioles #2, 6:10pm

Apr6th
2013 Written 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 DayThe 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, General   

GameChat – Tigers @ Twins #3, 12:10pm

Apr4th
2013 Written 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

 

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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!

Twins Dairy Queen Cake, 6/21/2012Our 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!

Trevor Plouffe

Trevor Plouffe

 

 

GameChat, Twins baseball   

GameChat – Tigers @ Twins #2, 3:10pm

Apr3rd
2013 Written 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

 

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Minnesota

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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!

Escobar-Eduardo-2

 

GameChat, Twins baseball   

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

Mar21st
2013 Written 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.

Escobar-Eduardo-2

 

GameChat, General, Spring Training    , , ,

GameChat – Tigers @ Twins, 7:10pm

Sep28th
2012 Written by CapitalBabs

Happy Fan Appreciation Weekend! or something like that anyway.. they have all sorts of things going on at Target Field this weekend that may or may not have anything to do with baseball.

What I know for sure is that the Twins could not have ordered a better weekend weather-wise for the final home stand. It’s stunningly gorgeous outside for the end of September – will still be in the 70′s at first pitch and lovely sun. Minnesota really shines in the fall and I hope that everyone is taking advantage of it.

Of course, the real story of the day is that the Twins officially released Nishioka this afternoon – at his request. I think he has realized that they just aren’t going to put him in the big games if he can’t play the way we want him to and he has decided that he either can’t or isn’t willing to continue on the path he’s been on. I think it’s really a very good decision for both parties. The Twins are free & clear of the money he’d have been owned and I think he’ll be happier for the decision. Also, having this decided now means that they will have that dynamic removed as they are looking for off-season moves for the team.

As for tonight’s game, the Tigers currently have a solid 2 game lead on the White Sox. Do I think we could change that by beating them each of the three games? No, looking at the math, I don’t think so. So, let’s hope that a) the offense remembers what they do with the sticks and how to run smart baseball b) the defense doesn’t get caught bird-watching or anything silly like that and c) Diamond goes out there and does what we know Scotty really knows how to do… and I admit that a little Tiger Circus never fails to disappoint on the entertainment scale…

Detroit

@

 Minnesota
Jackson, A, CF Span, CF
Infante, 2B Revere, RF
Cabrera, Mi, 3B Mauer, C
Fielder, 1B Morneau, 1B
Young, D, DH Doumit, DH
Peralta, Jh, SS Plouffe, 3B
Dirks, LF Carson, LF
Garcia, A, RF Escobar, 2B
Laird, C Florimon, SS
  Smyly, P   Diamond, P

 

 

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What do you know? That was a FUN game! We managed to meet Cabrera head on and still never let him score (especially off a better-than-his-average throw from Ben Revere to home plate).

The fun started with a fantastically pitched game from Scott Diamond. That is quite the lineup and he did very well. It should make him feel good about his chances for next year. It’s really a nice way for him to be looking at the end of the season with performances like this.  He went 7 scoreless innings and then tagged by Omar Infante in the 8th but Burton finished that well.  Then Perk got one of the quickest Saves all season. To our pitching staff tonight, my husband says, “have a Summit on me, it’s National Drink A Beer Day!”

But the vote for BOD was unanimous – Ryan Doumit. He just did a brilliant job with the stick tonight. He just sewed it up with a crucial double, a home run and all 4 RBI belong to him. Yep. No debate.

Ryan Doumit

GameChat, Twins baseball   

GameChat – Yankees @ Twins #2, 7:10pm

Sep25th
2012 Written by CapitalBabs

so.. Phil Hughes has kind of been on a roll lately – he’s trying for win #17 this season. I would love to see him not quite get there.

Of course, that means our offense will have to do something about that..

and who knows what we’ll get from Vasquez up against the Yankee lineup.

Let’s try this again. It might really be a good idea to win this game tonight because I don’t think we want to rely on the chances of beating Captain Cheeseburger on Wednesday to avoid a Yankee series sweep.

If there was any roster news today, I’m unaware of it… just haven’t been in the loop on news today, sorry. – JC

NY Yankees

@

 Minnesota
Jeter, SS Span, CF
Suzuki, I, RF Revere, LF
Rodriguez, Al, 3B Mauer, C
Cano, DH Morneau, 1B
Swisher, 1B Doumit, DH
Granderson, CF Parmelee, RF
Martin, C Plouffe, 3B
Ibanez, LF Carroll, 2B
Nix, J, 2B Florimon, SS
  Hughes, P, P   Vasquez, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
NY Yankees 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 1 4 9 0
Minnesota 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 0 x 5 8 0

Yes, I know the Twins have lost 90 games and are playing out the season, but it’s still fun to beat the Yankees, right?

Esmerling Vasquez threw a nice six innings of baseball. The bullpen wasn’t perfect tonight, but they managed to keep things from getting out of control long enough for the bats in the lineup to put together a four-run 7th inning and hang on for a 5-4 Twins win.

Denard Span had a big two-out double in that inning, followed by an RBI single by Joe Mauer. Mauer had three hits in the game. I was apparently the only person in GameChat still awake at the end of the game and I couldn’t decide between the two for the BOD award so we’re going to let them split it. – JC

Denard Span

GameChat, Twins baseball    ,

GameChat – Twins @ Tigers #2 & #3, 12:05pm & 6:05

Sep23rd
2012 Written by CapitalBabs

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.

Good luck guys!

Game #2:

Minnesota

@

 Detroit
Span, CF Jackson, A, CF
Revere, RF Infante, 2B
Mauer, DH Cabrera, Mi, 3B
Willingham, LF Fielder, 1B
Morneau, 1B Young, D, DH
Doumit, C Peralta, Jh, SS
Plouffe, 3B Dirks, LF
Escobar, 2B Garcia, A, RF
Florimon, SS Laird, C
  Diamond, P   Scherzer, P

 

 

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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.

Minnesota

@

 Detroit
Revere, CF Jackson, A, CF
Carroll, 2B Berry, LF
Mauer, C Cabrera, Mi, 3B
Willingham, LF Fielder, 1B
Morneau, 1B Young, D, DH
Doumit, DH Boesch, RF
Plouffe, 3B Peralta, Jh, SS
Carson, RF Avila, C
Florimon, SS Santiago, 2B
  Walters, P   Smyly, P

 

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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!

Jamey Carroll

GameChat, Twins baseball    ,

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

Sep19th
2012 Written by Jim Crikket

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.

TWINS

@

 INDIANS
Span, CF Choo, RF
Carroll, 2B Kipnis, 2B
Mauer, DH Cabrera, A, SS
Willingham, LF Santana, C, C
Morneau, 1B Brantley, CF
Parmelee, RF Hafner, DH
Plouffe, 3B Canzler, 1B
Herrmann, C Chisenhall, 3B
Florimon, SS Rottino, LF
_Hendriks, P _McAllister, P

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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

GameChat, Twins baseball   

GameChat: Twins @ Indians, 6:10 pm

Sep18th
2012 Written by Jim Crikket

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.

TWINS

@

 INDIANS
Span, CF Choo, RF
Revere, RF Kipnis, 2B
Mauer, C Cabrera, A, SS
Willingham, LF Santana, C, C
Morneau, 1B Brantley, CF
Doumit, DH Canzler, DH
Plouffe, 3B Chisenhall, 3B
Carroll, 2B Kotchman, 1B
Escobar, SS Carrera, LF
  _Walters, P   _Huff, P

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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:

  1. Duensing who threw 3 innings with 1 hit and no runs after a short, somewhat shaky but not irreparable start from PJ.
  2. Mastroianni who manufactured the tie breaking run and got himself to home on an error in the top of the 12th.
  3. 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

 

GameChat, Twins baseball   
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