Tag Archives: BOD

GameChat – A’s @ Twins, 3:05 pm, FSN & am1500

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Yes, I know it’s early but I have an errand to run quick before the game starts AND they have the lineups out early so here we go!  You’ll notice that since Nishioka is out, Gardy has moved everyone up a spot in the lineup.  There are a lot of people very happy to see Mauer in the 2 hole – I’m one of those ones that think it’s ok temporarily and I’m hopeful it doesn’t stay that way.  There has also been some discussion that Cuddy has been taking balls at 2B in order to be ready to be Gardy’s ever-adaptable injury backup.  That would allow more opportunities for Thome to play because that would put Kubel in Cuddy’s spot in RF.. y’all know how I feel about that.  The bottom line is that Hughes and Cuddy are likely to fill whatever needs we have at 2B until Nishi is back.  Tolbert supposedly will STAY in the utility role.

Oakland @ Minnesota
Crisp, CF   Span, CF
Barton, D, 1B   Mauer, C
DeJesus, D, RF   Morneau, 1B
Willingham, LF   Young, D, LF
Matsui, H, DH   Cuddyer, RF
Suzuki, K, C   Thome, DH
Ellis, M, 2B   Valencia, 3B
Kouzmanoff, 3B   Hughes, L, 2B
Pennington, SS   Casilla, A, SS
  Anderson, B, P     Pavano, P

 

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

 

Leave it to the Twins to make sure that the home opener is as dramatic as possible for the sake of the fans watching at Target Field and at home.  We were facing a terrific young pitcher who proved exactly how good he can be and Pavano came in a little TOO amped up because of opening day and the couple extra days of rest.  He was a bit crazy the first inning and managed to let the A’s score a run without even getting a hit but he settled down very well for every inning following.

What proceded was a frustrating series of out after out after out on both sides.. the Twins didn’t even get a runner to 3B until the 8th inning.  But that was definitely a sign of things to come and after a string of solid little hits to get baserunners, up came Mauer to drive in the go ahead run.  It really couldn’t get scripted any better than that.

And then… oh… then… my, oh so special boyfriend, Joe Nathan came up for his first save opportunity at home.  You just can’t get any more dramatic than that.. unless, of course, you throw in the fact that Joe Nathan is apparently a superstitious, emotional sap of a man!!  It turns out that in the final game of the 2009 season, he grabbed himself a handful of dirt from the metrodome mound with the full intent of putting it out there during the first game of the 2010 season in order to bring some of the Dome’s good luck over the Target Field…  He had no way of knowing that he would never get to pitch in the 2010 season at Target Field.  But it turns out that he kept that little baggy full of dirt the whole time and sure enough, what do you think he did today during BP?  yep, he dumped that little baggy of metrodome dirt out there on that mound.  And then, he got to actually make his first appearance on the home opener!!  I had the shivers like I can’t even describe.

Of course, Twitchy had to make us all a bit nervous – kind of sharing the experience since he admitted to having nerves equal to some of the major moments of his career – but that Save came and he held that 1 run lead and I hope that he is beginning to settle a lot of hearts and minds that yes, he is ready to be back in that role.  He was one of the best closers in MLB and he might have to do things just a little differently than he did before but he’s still the guy who knows how to get it done!

Given the way the game went, we in the gamechat have to admit that we were unable to come to a consensus on a single BOD.  So given today’s remarkable game, we have decided that we are giving today’s BOD to the whole team for an astounding group effort.

GameChat – Twins @ Yankees #2, 6:05, FSN & am1500

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Over the noon hour today, I was catching up on my reading over at Joe Posnanski’s blog and came across something I feel compelled to share with everyone as we wait for our guys to prepare to do battle with the Evil Empire once again.

In one of Posnanski’s recent posts, he paraphrased something the late, great Buck O’Neil said a few years back and while the subject of the discussion was the ability (or rather the perceived lack thereof) of the Kansas City Royals to compete with the Yankees, if you can’t draw some parallels to the Twins’ situation right now, then you really just aren’t paying attention. You can (and should) read the entire post by clicking here, but let me paste a couple of the more pertinent paragraphs, too. The background is regarding a panel that Posnanski participated on in Kansas City a while back.

So that’s what we were talking about on the panel — the Royals utter inability to compete with the Yankees — when suddenly Buck O’Neil raised his hand. He was in the crowd, and he stood up, and here’s what he said: “OF COURSE we can beat the Yankees.” Everybody in the room stopped, because that’s what Buck’s voice did to a room. I don’t have his words memorized, but he said something like this:

“OF COURSE we can beat the Yankees. It’s not even a question. The Yankees can only play nine players at a time. They can’t sign all the good players out there and play them. They can’t use more than one pitcher at a time. They can’t play two shortstops or three center fielders. They have nine guys, we have nine guys. They might be able to get nine more expensive guys, but that doesn’t mean they get nine BETTER guys.

“Baseball is the fairest game in the world. It doesn’t matter if the other guy is bigger than you or taller than you or stronger than you or faster than you. The only thing that matters is who plays the game better. I’m sick of excuses. People say we can’t beat the Yankees. That’s ridiculous. We beat the Yankees before when we had players like George Brett and Frank White and Amos Otis and Willie Wilson and Hal McRae. Yeah. We just need to find the players and develop them into good players. If we don’t do that, it’s not the Yankees fault.”

Were truer words ever spoken? Sure we can (and forever will) hold Bud Selig and his co-conspirators accountable for fostering an environment that tilts the playing field in the Yankees’ favor year after year, but in the end, someone with the Twins organization simply needs to stand up and say, “enough is enough!” If we don’t do that, it’s not the Yankees fault.

There’s another paragraph I want to share… it’s about the genuine dislike that the old Royals teams of the late 70s held for the Yankees.

Then the Royals came to town, and from 1976 to 1980 they had a rivalry with the Yankees that matches anything in baseball history. Four times in five years, they faced each other in best-of-five playoff series to determine the American League pennant. “I hated the Yankees,” George Brett said. “I mean that sincerely. I HATED those guys.” One series ended on the famous home run of Yankee Chris Chambliss. Another ended with Kansas City’s Fred Patek in the dugout, his face red with tears. The only Royals victory of the four was clinched when Brett turned on a neck-high fastball from Goose Gossage. There were fights, there were titanic performances, there were famous moments like when Cliff Johnson threatened to fight Kansas City’s spiritual leader Hal McRae before one game, to which McRae replied: “I don’t fight extra men.”

THAT is the attitude I’ve been waiting for years to see our Twins have toward the Yankees. Where is it? I don’t know if anyone has an answer to that question, but until someone finds it, I’m not sure the Twins will ever conquer the Evil Empire.

– JC

With that, here are tonight’s lineups. No Morneau tonight for the Twins. Let’s go chew up and spit out some Captain Cheeseburger!:

TWINS @ YANKEES
Span, CF Jeter, SS
Nishioka, 2B Swisher, RF
Mauer, C Teixeira, 1B
Young, D, LF Rodriguez, A, 3B
Cuddyer, 1B Cano, 2B
Kubel, DH Posada, DH
Valencia, 3B Martin, C
Repko, RF Jones, An, LF
Casilla, A, SS Granderson, CF
Duensing, P Sabathia, P

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

I really don’t know what to say about this game other than the right team came out on top!

I do have to laugh a bit at the thought of the Steinbrenners avoiding eye contact with GM Brian Cashman as Rafael Soriano, the pitcher they overruled Cashman on and forced him to sign, totally crashed and burned. The rest of the Yankees “vaunted” bullpen didn’t exactly have Soriano’s back, though, either. The sight of Nick Swisher stumble/falling/diving for DY’s bases-clearing bloop double to right field was pretty funny, too. He kinda makes me glad to have Delmon in our outfield.

It was great that our guys once again didn’t let that immediate 4-run deficit kill their spirit (though, seriously, can we stop spotting the Yankees four runs every damn game… please?), but it was pretty tough to really come up with an offensive nominee for Boyfriend of the Day. Brian Duensing took a page out of Scott Baker’s book last night and hung in there after a rough start to the game. So Young and Duensing get some honorable mention for BOD (along with honorable honorable mention to Rafael Soriano, without who’s effort the comeback would not have been possible).

But in the end, it was just too tough to come up with just one relief pitcher to bestow tonight’s BOD upon. Matt Capps pitched not one, but TWO, perfect innings, on a mere 16 pitches. And our old friend Twitchy McXanax (aka Joe Nathan) sure looked like his old self out there nailing down the game with a perfect 9th inning. So for your combined efforts, Matt and Joe, you are our first co-BODs of the season.

Matt Capps
Joe Nathan

GameChat – Twins @ Blue Jays #3, 12:07 pm, FSN & am1500

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If you haven’t read JC’s weekend rants, you really should – we would like ALL our readers to join in to see if we can’t start raising the discussion about the MLB.tv blackouts – “watch every game” my butt.  It’s ridiculous and fans actually should push back.

Bak to Twins baseball, it would be really great if the Twins could actually win one game in Canada this weekend. I would like that.

Minnesota @ Toronto
Span, CF Escobar, Y, SS
Nishioka, 2B Rivera, J, DH
Young, D, LF Bautista, J, RF
Morneau, DH Lind, 1B
Cuddyer, 1B Hill, A, 2B
Kubel, RF Encarnacion, 3B
Valencia, 3B Snider, LF
Butera, C Arencibia, C
Tolbert, SS McCoy, CF
Blackburn, P Cecil, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 1 4 10 2
Toronto 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 3 8 2

That was a bit more dramatic than I would have preferred it to be, but at least there will not be a 0-162 season in the Twins’ immediate future.

It’s good to get out of Toronto with at least one win before moving on the take on the Evil Empire tomorrow. It would have been nice to have Nick Blackburn go a bit deeper in the game, but at least he battled his tail off while he was in there and certainly accounted for the best performance by a Twins starting pitcher so far. Jason Kubel, Danny Valencia and even Drew Butera had significant offensive contributions, while Matt Capps put up a shut-down inning in a set up role for Joe Nathan. Twitchy certainly reminded us of his flair for the dramatic, giving up a run and loading the bases before getting the final out for the first save of the year.

But the GameChat’s pick for the first Boyfriend of the Day (that’s BOD, for you newbies around here) is Denard Span. Denard had a couple of big hits, including a home run for insurance that provided what turned out to provide the margin of victory!

Denard Span

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GameChat – Blue Jays @ Twins #3, 12:10 – DAY GAME!

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My gut feeling is that I might be sitting here by myself for awhile:

a) it’s a day game and I don’t know how many people are thinking about the early start.

b) with the continuing disappointing endings, more and more people find something better to do with their weekend time – like laundry or bathing the cats…

Let’s hope the boys can give us something to really cheer about today – it would sure make what is already a beautifully bright and sunny day a little better!

Toronto @ Minnesota
McCoy, LF   Span, CF
Escobar, Y, SS   Hudson, O, 2B
Bautista, J, RF   Young, D, LF
Wells, V, CF   Thome, DH
Overbay, 1B   Valencia, 3B
Hill, A, 2B   Kubel, RF
Buck, J, DH   Morales, J, 1B
Encarnacion, 3B   Casilla, A, SS
Molina, J, C   Butera, C
  Marcum, P     Duensing, P

 

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

 

WALK OFF WINS RULE!!!!

Really, they are a lot of fun.  It kind of sucks to be down in the score but when you are only down by one and your bullpen pitches rock solid, they are a lot less frustrating and the final result is fantastic.  Duensing wasn’t GREAT today but he did a good job of getting himself out of some jams and did the job we expect of a big league pitcher.  Still would have liked to see him go a couple more innings.  It was good to Slowey come in and pitch well even if it was only for an inning.  So all together, the pitching for the day was uplifting instead of depressing!

The offense could have been a LITTLE better (my opinion) but it sure did start off well with a beautiful triple from Orlando Hudson.  That sucker was very nearly a HR.  There were a couple long bombs that the wind apparently kept in the park – Track Death strikes again.

But interestingly enough, the bat that was the story of the game belonged to Alexi Casilla.  When he’s on, he’s really on and he had a great day at the plate, including the walkoff RBI.  And his glove wasn’t bad today either – strong throw for an out at home looked really impressive.  I would like him to keep that up!  But the efforts of the day earned him a unanimous BOD in the gamechat.  Way to go Lexi!

 

 

 

GameChat – Twins @ Royals #3, 7:10

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Ok, focusing on the positives!  Morneau has had 4 straight symptom free days!!!  He’s doing much better and is going to get to work out WITH the team again when they are in town.  It’s not likely that even when he can start playing that he’ll be manning his spot for the first round of the playoffs but… assuming the Twins start playing better, *knock on noggin* he may be able to join them yet for this post season.  Mauer also was looking and feeling good during BP so who knows, we may yet see him as a pinch hitter tonight…  and the swelling in JJ Hardy’s knee is gone so that is good news too. 

Now for the Twins do their part to improve the general mood in Twins Territory.

Minnesota @ Kansas City
Span, CF   Dyson, CF
Hudson, O, 2B   Aviles, M, 2B
Young, D, DH   Butler, DH
Kubel, RF   Ka’aihue, 1B
Cuddyer, 1B   Betemit, 3B
Valencia, 3B   Gordon, A, LF
Repko, LF   Betancourt, Y, SS
Butera, C   May, C
Casilla, A, SS   Miller, Ja, RF
  Baker, S, P     Hochevar, P

 

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

 

Holy CRAP!  The Twins remembered how to win a game!  But before we get all caught up in patting them on the back, I just have one thing to say as far as a criticism of tonight’s game goes: 10 LOB, 2-9 with RISP.  Ugly.

Thanks again to Kbrobaseball for making this for me - must order this someday.

But enough grousing since the goal is to win the game and we actually got more runs than we gave up!  woohooo!!  It’s really that simple!  It doesn’t take much but even that has been alarmingly difficult lately.  Scott Baker actually tried a new fad – he was striking out hitters!  Yes, he let some get on which just made him always pitch under tension.  Joe Nathan will tell you that it sure works for him so as long as the job gets done, I don’t care.  Finally, we had a starter go 100 pitches and not have runs in the double digits.  Beautiful.  Nine K’s didn’t hurt either.  For remembering how to be a starting pitcher, we proudly award Scooter his very own bowl of spicy gumbo for kicking it up a notch tonight.  Hope it reminds him of home!

And speaking of pitching, our bullpen ROCKED!  Matty G., Tito, Cappy!  y’all were fantastic and there was actually FLAILING tonight!  How pretty.  In honor of our southern theme, the whole bullpen can feast on Chicory coffee and beignets.  Eat up quick boys because they’re best when they’re hot – just like bullpen pitchers!

But there really was a unanimous star of tonight’s game.  Delmon Young has joined a fairly elite group of Twins players.  He’s apparently only the 5th Twin all time to hit 20+ Hr, 40+ 2B, & 100+ RBI in a single season.  Tonight, he sneaked his 20th HR just barely inside the foul pole to give us the lead.  And then we didn’t let them have it back.  Delmon even managed to get another RBI later in the game!  So yeah, that officially gets him tonight’s BOD.  Congrats for yet another one on his significantly large season total.

GameChat – Indians @ Twins #3, 12:10

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A) I don’t think I want to know what that clubhouse carpet smells like today.

B) I wonder how many of the boys showed up today with aching heads – in addition to whatever else was a bit sore.

C) I really feel bad for poor Nick Blackburn because the guys in the field behind him??  definitely a day game roster and I’m sure they were all partying just as hard as the regular starters (if not harder given that they are on average younger) and it’s a LOT of BRIGHT sun out there today.

STILL, given all that?  what a beautiful day for baseball in MN and the Team and fans alike have a lot to celebrate today.  I hope Kris is taking pics and notes and such and can give us a personal account tomorrow.. *hope*

Cleveland @ Minnesota
Brantley, CF   Span, CF
Sutton, SS   Casilla, A, SS
Choo, RF   Kubel, DH
Hafner, DH   Valencia, 3B
Duncan, S, LF   Morales, J, 1B
Nix, J, 3B   Tolbert, 2B
LaPorta, 1B   Revere, LF
Valbuena, 2B   Repko, RF
Gimenez, C   Butera, C
  Carrasco, C, P     Blackburn, P

 

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

 

This was a game played on pure adrenaline.  Yes, it was all the young guys who probably bounce back faster than the more regular guys but still, they all seemed almost hyper-active today – which caused both great plays and some bonehead ones.  But they were obviously having fun and brought the bats and finally got around to giving Blackburn’s STELLAR outting some run support.  

Blackburn earned his 10th win of the season plus had some great fielding plays to top off fantastic pitching.  For holding his ground and having a great start even though everyone was probably holding their heads after partying last night, I’ve gone all out and granted him a baked alaska!  Enjoy!

And Jose Morales finally got a start at 1B!!!  And he did a REALLY good job!  I’m sure he was very nervous but he held his ground, kept his head on his shoulders AND brought his bat to work today!  He drove in 3 runs and finally is settled as Cuddyer’s back up at 1B just in case.  And yay for Cuddy getting a day off.  For such a great effort, Morales gets a Dairy Queen ice cream cake! 

Plus, just because the “B” lineup did such a good job of not letting this be a giveaway game because the day and situation, they get an all-you-can eat ice cream sundae buffet.  Enjoy boys!

But today’s BOD, by vote of the chat, was Alexi Casilla.  He led the team with energy level for sure and provided a LOT of instigation to keep the boys all moving.  He went 3/4 with 2 Runs and a super hot Triple!  good job kid!

GameChat – Indians @ Twins, #2, 7:10

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First some good news:  if you haven’t already heard, Joe Mauer’s MRI today came back with good news.  It’s just some inflammation, they’ll likely give him a cortizone shot and he should be back in 4-5 days.  Justin Morneau still doesn’t have any specific prognosis other than extremely imminent fatherhood.  Obviously, that also effects his possible playing time.  But I wish him the best with that and health and safety for mom and baby!!  I can’t wait for news.

The somewhat less than good news:  because of the shortened schedule between the end of the game tonight and tomorrow’s noon game, even if the Twins DO clinch tonight, they will not be allowing fans to stay and track the White Sox game as they need to get the field ready for tomorrow.

The bad news:  Hardy is a late scratch from the lineup tonight due to a migraine.  Punto gets his spot at short.

Cleveland @ Minnesota
Brantley, CF   Span, CF
Sutton, SS   Hudson, O, 2B
Choo, RF   Kubel, RF
Hafner, DH   Cuddyer, 1B
Brown, J, 1B   Thome, DH
Marte, A, 3B   Young, D, LF
Crowe, LF   Valencia, 3B
Valbuena, 2B   Punto, SS
Marson, C   Butera, C
Carmona, F, P   Baker, S, P

 

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 4 10 0
Minnesota 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 4 x 6 12 1

 

Tonight is definitely a night of landmarks.  This season’s 3 millionth fan walked through the gates to see a game at Target Field – this the most people to come see Twins baseball in a season since sometime in the 80’s, I think, and we still have a lot more to go.

800 Wins with the MN Twins

And our most sincere Congratulations to Ron Gardenhire for his 800th win as Manager of the MN Twins!  There are many who give him a lot of criticism but I gotta say that he’s been someone I have respected more in this game than any other manager I can think of.  This isn’t an easy job and he knows how to make his boys shine.  Sadly, that particular talent has kept him as the bridesmaid never the bride in the MOY honors but .. maybe this year!  Thanks for all you do Gardy!

And of course the biggest landmark that we’re all waiting for is whether or not this win is able to clinch the division title for the 6th time in 9 years.  Apparently the boys are still in the clubhouse watching the White Sox just like we’re all doing here at home.  They had all planned to go home tonight because it’s a short night before tomorrow’s noon game but I think the turn around rally of tonight’s game just has the whole team pumped up and they want to wait it out.  I hope they are having a great time in that clubhouse and really enjoying the game of baseball and the experiences of this season so far.

Tonight really did work up the energy tonight because it started pretty roughly.  Baker didn’t have a GREAT outting to speak of.  He’s obviously still working some things out.  It wasn’t horrible but he’s not ready to be a post game starter quite yet.  But once that turn around started, it seemed like EVERYONE was contributing.  So just in case the boys are planning to be doing any imbibing tonight, as a special one night occurance, we here at Knuckleballs are providing a giant sub sandwich for the whole team – all you can eat so the boys can keep themselves well-snacked while watching the Sox in California.

However, the special BOD award for tonights game chat does go to Jim Thome for his leadership tonight, including 2 hits, a HR, 2 RBI and a walk.  It was brilliantly done and I was MOST impressed by that lovely single to left field beating the fielding shift!  Great job, Big Jim!

GameChat – Indians @ Twins, 7:10

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For a day that seriously started out like CRAP here in the Twin Cities, it’s sure awfully nice now.  The sun came out, the sky is clear and the temp has finally climbed up to about 70 for the start of the game.  That’s WAY better than I thought it was going to be.  It’s still a bit breezy and the boys really don’t want to think about pushing the game to extra innings since there are thunderstorms on their way in right about when the game SHOULD end.

The sun seems to be shining on our injury situation too.  Mauer’s knee situation really isn’t serious and he should be back soon.  Kubel is feeling MUCH better and Gardy says he’s champing at the bit to get back out there but they are giving one more day to be sure.  It will definitely be a relief to have a couple of our biggest bats back soon.

Cleveland @ Minnesota
Brantley, CF   Span, CF
Cabrera, A, SS   Hudson, O, 2B
Choo, RF   Cuddyer, 1B
Duncan, S, LF   Thome, DH
Nix, J, DH   Young, D, LF
LaPorta, 1B   Valencia, 3B
Marte, A, 3B   Hardy, SS
Sutton, 2B   Morales, J, C
Marson, C   Repko, RF
  Gomez, J, P     Duensing, P

 

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

 

Today was the Two-out Hit Parade!  If my count is right, all 9 of the Twins runs were scored with 2 outs.  But maybe they were trying to add a little tension/spice into a game that otherwise seemed to be flowing pretty well.  Of course, given my difficulties in staying awake – completely un-game related – maybe it’s just my imagination how easy it seemed to be.

But there was some beautiful baseball tonight and the magic number currently sits at 3 for however much longer.  It could be down even further depending on what happens out in Oakland tonight with the White Sox.  And still, the Twins are right at the top of baseball with the Yankees and Rays – all within a game of each other – again for now.  The boys are pretty excited and they should be because for them, it appears the sky is the limit.  Span and Young both had good nights at the plate and Duensing really held steady as the starter out there again when we really needed a comeback feel – so they all get cookies and all the milk they can drink.

Then there was Hardy – quietly getting on base time after time.  It’s so much fun to see the confidence he has in himself when he approaches the plate now that he’s healthy.  He’s a completely different player than he was 2 months ago and still flashing the glove – NIFTY double play with a no-look backwards shovel pass from Alexi Casilla to Hardy on 2B.  This isn’t possible without an extreme amount of trust in these players that they know he’s going to be there to do his job no matter what.

And with the opposite – loud and in charge – Danny Valencia kicked off the scoring drive tonight by hitting yet another DEEP homerun into the OF upper deck.  It’s really great to see him be successfull as a rookie.    So both he and Hardy can help themselves to as many Krispy Kremes as they want.

But tonight’s BOD vote goes to the man who is still just making it happen day after day.  Michael Cuddyer went 2/4 with 3 Runs and 2 RBI.  Yes, I know I keep calling for him to get a day off but it’s not because I think he’s failing in any way or looking tired.. it’s just because, wow, he’s really doing it right day in and day out. 

GameChat – Athletics @ Twins #2, 12:10 pm

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So Span is still sore which gives Revere a little more playing time.  He sure is awfully excited to get that opportunity and I’m glad he’s enjoying himself.  Span is on meds for the shoulder (a rotator cuff bruise according to reports) and is feeling better.  Kubel is also feeling better but still getting another day. Mauer gets a little more time off from the plate so Butera gets another start.

This actually looks like a pretty classic Gardy afternoon game lineup – you’d never know this was nearing the end of the regular season but with that realization, you might know that the numbers are in the Twins favor.

Oakland @ Minnesota
Crisp, CF   Revere, CF
Barton, D, 1B   Hudson, O, 2B
Ellis, M, 2B   Mauer, DH
Cust, DH   Cuddyer, 1B
Powell, C   Young, D, LF
Davis, R, RF   Valencia, 3B
Iwamura, 3B   Hardy, SS
Carter, LF   Repko, RF
Pennington, SS   Butera, C
  Braden, P     Slowey, P

 

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

 

Another win!!  The magic number is down to 6 and all three teams – Twins, Yankees and Rays – are within a .5 game of each other for the best record in all of MLB baseball.  Wow.  This is a lot of fun people.  For all of us who were Twins fans when winning was not nearly as frequent an occurance, this is a real treat.

We have a few honorable mentions for individual plays in today’s game:  JJ Hardy had a SPECTACULAR leaping catch for liner that really was well over his head – perfect timing and full-extension allowed him to snowcone a catch that otherwise was a guaranteed hit.  Butera had a beautiful shot to the LF corner that gave him a double to set up a scoring opportunity.  And Ben Revere managed to get his first MLB RBI!  You can tell he’s having a great time up here.  I hope it continues.

And then there were some truly beautiful performances that went throughout the game.  Kevin Slowey is BAAA-AAACK!!  Wow was it fun to watch him pitch today!  He finally has easy and confident delivery working again.  He just had an EXCELLENT day on the mound against a team that seems to know how to hit pretty well minus poor Chris Carter.  For that, the Chat awarded him a steaming mug of hot chocolate and I’ll throw in a piece of cake too.  I hope he continues this!!! 

Another of the games standout performances was Jason Repko out in RF.  Over and over again, he made spectacular catches and .. well.. have I mentioned his ARM recently?!?!  wow, can that guy throw the ball.  Our starting OF’s should be really glad that his BA is kind of low.  He’s got major league fielding ability that’s for sure.  For that, he gets a massage (to keep that arm nice and limber) and a refreshing beverage of his choice.  Keep it up man and I hope we keep you around!

But the STAR performance of the day was DANNY VALENCIA!  He hit a timely 3 run HR to break the tie game.  And we never gave up the lead after that – we never even scored another run after that so he truly was the person most responsible for giving Kevin Slowey another win.  Viva Valencia!

GameChat – Twins @ White Sox, FINALE, 7:10

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This is it – the final game against the White Sox this year.  Given the facial expressions on Ozzie’s face last night, he’s really not expecting much.  I hope our boys don’t take that for granted though.  I want to see full effort from them but we still have most of our starters out there so I don’t think Gardy is going easy. Repko is still out there in Kubel’s place but Kubel is still dealing with some soreness. It’s better for him to get healthy and healed up right now than wait and lose him later.

You’ll also notice that Mauer is catching Pavano tonight instead of Butera.  I think that is a way to make sure the guys are comfortable and familiar with each other again going into a possible post-season run.  If you are in a division championship series or even further, you don’t sit one of the best players in the game because your starting pitcher has a preference.  It makes me feel pretty good about the relationship between Gardy and Pavano – which one is the manager still seems to be clear.  And I don’t think it was ever a tense issue either – I just think it’s good to know that he’s keeping ALL his options open.  If it’s the appropriate move to have Mauer DH instead of catch, they have the option to put Butera out there but I don’t know if I want that to be the default position.  Pavano is a professional, a veteran, AND an excellent pitcher so he has the ability to do a fantastic job no matter who is catching him.  Go guys!

Minnesota @ Chi White Sox
Span, CF   Pierre, LF
Hudson, O, 2B   Vizquel, 2B
Mauer, C   Rios, CF
Cuddyer, 1B   Konerko, 1B
Young, D, LF   Ramirez, M, DH
Thome, DH   Quentin, RF
Valencia, 3B   Pierzynski, C
Repko, RF   Ramirez, A, SS
Hardy, SS   Morel, 3B
  Pavano, P     Buehrle, P

 

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 3 0 0 3 0 0 0 2 8 12 1
Chi White Sox 0 0 1 1 0 3 0 0 0 5 9 1

 

Kinda says it all, doesn't it!?

 

It was most DEFINITELY not pretty but they got it done.  We swept the White Sox and the magic number is down to 8.  Fantastic!  Homeplate ump, Jerry Crawford, made a bunch more enemies tonight and REALLY contributed to more walks in this game than I have seen in a long time.  I also think this was the longest game where Beuhrle pitched this whole season.  Sheesh.  It took forever.

There were some moments of … drama.  Pavano clipped Paul Konerko across the face early in the game.  I was glad to see that Konerko was for the most part unhurt and stayed in the game.  That’s one tough boy right there.  Of course, even though it was obviously unintentional, you knew there was going to be some retaliation.  It was a bit amusing because Twitter and the Gamechat immediately lit up with speculation that Delmon was in for it now.  I’m sure he also wondered – but breathed a sigh of relief when Cuddy, who had the first AB in front of him, took a hit to the shoulder in front of him.  He just took it quietly, and took his base… and then managed to score in the course of the inning so that was cool.  And Konerko got a little of his own back with a nice solo shot HR in his next AB.  My fears that things would start to really escalate after that were allayed.  There was another HBP later in the game that got Ozzie all riled up again because Crawford wouldn’t call a 2 strike pitch with RISP intentional… goodness.

Anyway, the whole bullpen deserves recognition for getting the job done tonight even though it made us all a little nervous.  Every pitcher on our side except Capps gave up at least one walk tonight – which reflected more on Crawford’s strike zone consistency than their pitching I think.  But for dropping the hammer when it mattered, I would like to present a whole buffet of pastries with which to treat themselves.

And the offense really had it going tonight too.  Joe Mauer hit his 200th career double.  He just keeps racking up mark after mark for himself.  It’s amazing what he has done with his career so far and I still think of him as a kid – I’m going to have to get over that one of these days.  But just as a nice reward, he gets a special order Peanut Butter and Jelly donut.  If you’ve never had one, seriously, you should try it.  It seems like something that would appeal to him.  The BOD tonight goes to Delmon Young though.  Again.  He was 3/5 with 2 Runs, 2 RBI, a towering HR and a beautiful, surprise catch in the OF.  It was a good night for Delmon.