Tag Archives: BOD

GameChat – Rockies @ Twins, 7:10

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and… the Pavano ‘stache discussion begins again.  I don’t fault Sooze and her offering today at all but I was wondering if the focus on his facial hair would continue.  Since Joe Nathan will be in the booth with Dick & Bert as a guest analyst for the whole broadcast tonight (yippee!), perhaps he will be able to keep the discussion regarding the mound on actual pitching..  then again, who knows?

Colorado @ Minnesota
Gonzalez, C, CF   Span, CF
Helton, 1B   Tolbert, 2B
Tulowitzki, SS   Mauer, C
Giambi, DH   Morneau, 1B
Spilborghs, RF   Cuddyer, RF
Smith, S, LF   Kubel, DH
Olivo, C   Young, D, LF
Stewart, 3B   Valencia, 3B
Barmes, 2B   Punto, SS
  Cook, P     Pavano, P

 

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Colorado 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 6 1
Minnesota 0 0 0 5 3 0 0 1 x 9 14 0

 

After a disappointing conclusion to the Atlanta series, this was a HUGE win for fan morale..  *laugh*  at least it was for mine.  As has become his norm, Pavano came in and pitched FABULOUSLY for 7 innings and then let the BP come in with a great lead and clean up.  Great outting which could be considered BOD worthy.  And then there was little Tolby.  Matt Tolbert walked twice and then hit his first HR of the season, his first at home ever, and interestingly enough, he’s now hit more HR’s in Target Field than Joe Mauer.  Sorry Mauer.  But no, the BOD award today goes to Delmon Young!  Again!  He was 3/4 and got yet another RBI – he’s second only to Justin Morneau (only behind by 2) on the team.  Delmon 2.0 is definitely making his mark in this lineup. To Tolbert and Pavano – help yourself to pastries.  Carl, try to keep the crumbs out of the ‘stache.

Delmon Young chasing the BOM

GameChat – Atlanta @ Minnesota, 7:10

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So, JJ Hardy was put on the DL last night after the game and Trevor Plouffe has come up again.  And of course, more DL means more lineup juggling.  Anyone miss the days when we had a great lineup of starters and knew who was going to be where most games???? 

And do NOT get me started on Kubel and Thome being in the lineup with Delmon sitting.

Just to make myself feel better, here’s a link to that incredible Mauer catch from last night.

Atlanta @ Minnesota
Prado, 2B   Span, CF
Heyward, RF   Plouffe, SS
Jones, C, 3B   Mauer, C
Glaus, 1B   Morneau, 1B
McCann, DH   Cuddyer, RF
Escobar, Y, SS   Thome, DH
Infante, LF   Kubel, LF
Ross, D, C   Valencia, 3B
Cabrera, Me, CF   Punto, 2B
  Hudson, T, P     Liriano, P

 

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

 

So it only took the Twins 2 hours and 6 minutes to beat the Braves because Franky was FANTASTIC!  wow…  7 k’s in a row to tie a club record at one point.  He was simply on fire to celebrate the birth of his second son, Francis Javier, who arrived earlier today.  For outstanding awesomeness, Franky gets the BOD and our heartiest congratulations on his growing family!  Kudos to the rest of the team for stepping up!

GameChat – Royals @ Twins #2, 7:10

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I wish I could think positively about our starting pitching tonight – and I’m trying really hard! – but I keep dreading that horrible ‘stache.  Even if Pav kicks a bit of tail, you KNOW that is going to be a major portion of the discussion.  Does that officially count as a team distraction?  Does Carl Pavano/’stache = Kris Benson/Anna Benson as far as non-baseball controversy goes?

I don’t know.. I just don’t like it.

Kansas City @ Minnesota
Podsednik, LF   Span, CF
Kendall, C   Tolbert, 2B
DeJesus, D, DH   Mauer, C
Butler, 1B   Morneau, 1B
Guillen, J, RF   Cuddyer, RF
Callaspo, 3B   Kubel, DH
Aviles, M, 2B   Young, D, LF
Maier, CF   Valencia, 3B
Betancourt, Y, SS   Punto, SS
  Davies, P     Pavano, P

 

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

 

Yay!!  Pavano DID kick serious tail!!  (and yes, the convo was still about the darn ‘stache) And while there was lots of great hitting and fielding (Delmon, Punto, y’all should treat yourself to caribou or something), the very stellar performance of the mustachioed one has earned him today’s BOD.

GameChat – Royals @ Twins, 7:10

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I’m all out of kilter – I’ve tried somewhat weakly to follow the draft during the offday but.. I don’t know these kids. Someday, one of them will be the next big furor the fans are bashing Gardy (or whoever) for not bringing up because he’s clearly read… I will be able to say “I remember when…” but I’m not sure I really will remember.

Injury updates: Orlando went on the DL today (however belatedly) and he’ll be eligible to return to the lineup on the 15th. Hardy got a cortizone shot in that troublesome wrist and he should be able to return much sooner. But he’s still out tonight so the lineup still looks a little wonky – glad to see Cuddy back out there though!

Kansas City @ Minnesota
Podsednik, LF   Span, CF
Kendall, C   Tolbert, 2B
DeJesus, D, RF   Mauer, C
Butler, 1B   Morneau, 1B
Guillen, J, DH   Cuddyer, RF
Callaspo, 3B   Kubel, DH
Aviles, M, 2B   Young, D, LF
Maier, CF   Valencia, 3B
Betancourt, Y, SS   Punto, SS
  Greinke, P     Slowey, P

 

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

 

This was not quite the pitchers duel that I had anticipated…  seems like we broke Grienke last year because our guys sure have figured out how to hit him now – at least they could tonight.  But for all that, Kevin Slowey held up his side of the duel and pitched his butt off.. great outting.  For that, the Chat gave him BOD!!  For all that fun hitting, we give pastries to Valencia, Kubel, and Span – he’s so glad to be back home!  We also would like to present a Cuban sandwich and our deepest thanks to Joe Nathan for such great fun in the broadcast booth without forgetting that there was a game on the field!  Joe, you have a future beyond pitching!

Kevin Slowey pitching for BOD

GameChat – Minnesota @ Oakland #2, 8:10

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um….  remember how last night’s lineup was a little ..  creative?  Guess what happens when Morneau gets the flu and Hardy’s wrist just can’t take anymore…

And when questioned about the unusual lineup and why he didn’t move Mauer up into the 2-spot, Gardy said, “I try not to create another hole in the dike by taking my finger out of one and putting it in another.”

*blink*  *boggle* 

Believe it or not, since Hardy was a late scratch, even the media didn’t know WHO is going to play WHAT position in the IF.  Joe C. at the Strib got a little creative with his lineup tweet:  New #Twins lineup: Span 8, Tolbert 4, Mauer C, Thome DH, Kubel 9, Young 7, Valencia 5, Harris 3, Punto 6. So, we’ll just have to see what is going on when the players come out.

Minnesota @ Oakland
Span, CF   Davis, R, CF
Tolbert, 2B   Ellis, M, 2B
Mauer, C   Suzuki, K, DH
Thome, DH   Kouzmanoff, 3B
Kubel, RF   Rosales, A, 1B
Young, D, LF   Fox, J, C
Valencia, 3B   Gross, RF
Harris, B, 1B   Pennington, SS
Punto, SS   Patterson, E, LF
  Liriano, P     Cahill, P

 

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

 

As if the lineup didn’t start oddly enough, then we had all that drama in the 9th inning to make it REALLY goofy.  Poor, sick Justin Morneau comes out to bat for Harris, the pitcher takes pity and walks him, and they send in Hardy to pinch run.  Odd but then the infield has to shift around to figure out the new ‘hole’ at 1B.  What was that Gardy said about plugging one hole only to make another… ??

Anyway, game chat was not nearly unanimous whent it came to BOD.  Probably the tightest single game competition yet this season.  Frankie did a fantastic job as the starting pitcher and sadly, didn’t get the win.  But Alex Burnette came in and did a brilliant job from the bullpen and got his first Major League win – in front of his family in his home state.  All the RBI’s but one go to Delmon Young which gives him top billing.  But that one other RBI was the WINNING RUN and it belonged poor, much-maligned Matt Tolbert!  So, it has been determined that we have yet another TIE for Knuckleballs BOD:  Tolbert and Young. (doesn’t that sound like it should be a band?) It’s Tolbert’s first BOD ever and Delmon’s second in two days!

Delmon at the plate

GameChat – Minnesota @ Oakland, 9:10

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Injuries are really taking a bite out of the Twins’ ass.  Hardy is still hurting so we’re lucky he’s actually IN the lineup.  Hudson is still out and the whole bottom of our rotation just looks.. weak.  Luke Hughes is back from the DL down in Rochester and will make his first appearance tonight.  *crosses fingers*  I wouldn’t mind trading out for the cutey patootey australian boy.

Minnesota @ Oakland
Span, CF   Davis, R, CF
Hardy, SS   Barton, D, 1B
Mauer, DH   Sweeney, R, RF
Morneau, 1B   Suzuki, K, C
Kubel, RF   Cust, DH
Young, D, LF   Kouzmanoff, 3B
Valencia, 3B   Gross, LF
Punto, 2B   Ellis, M, 2B
Butera, C   Rosales, A, SS
  Baker, S, P     Braden, P

 

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 R
Minnesota 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 5
Oakland 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 4

 

Man, it sure feels good to be back in the win column.  Justin Morneau discussed the losing streak after the game and pointed out that it was a short one but you like to keep those as short as possible.  Well, yes, obviously.  And I I guess that three games is relatively short for ANY streak but losing still sucks. 

The game chat was so excited that they started throwing out names for BOD left and right because it was such a team-wide effort.  So we hope the whole team enjoyed the truckload of pastries shipped to the lockerroom – and that someone dug Nicky Punto out of the pile… Final vote for BOD though goes to Delmon Young for an all-around good game AND the game winning RBI.   It was good to see RBI’s instead of LOB’s. 

Who is the BOM and who will be your BOY… friend?

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If you’ve been a regular Knuckleballs reader or participant in our live GameChats, you know we hand out a BOD (Boyfriend of the Day) award to the Twins player(s) we determine to be most worthy of the BOD title after each Twins win. If you AREN’T a regular reader or participant in our GameChat, then you’ll just have to take my word for it.

With the Month of May closed out, it’s time to tally up all the BOD awards and announce our BOM (Boyfriend of the Month). Naturally, when the season is over, we’ll be adding things up, hosting a big banquet* for all of our favorite Knuckleballs, Batlings, and anyone else we can convince to share a meal with us, and announcing the first (annual?) Knuckleballs BOY (Boyfriend of the Year… how coincidentally appropriate is THAT acronym?!).

*OK so there may not really be a banquet, but it would be cool to get together and have an adult beverage or two, right?

Anyway, we’ve really been spreading the BOD love around. No single player was named BOD more than three times in May. In fact, no player has earned more than three BOD awards during the entire season, to date! But enough with the suspense. The May Knuckleballs BOM is….

Jason Kubel... our May Boyfriend of the Month!

Jason Kubel!

Yes, not only is Jason our BOM for May, he is also the current leader in the BOY race, with 3 BOD awards.

Justin Morneau, Delmon Young, Nick Blackburn, and Denard Span each had 2 BODs in May (after each was shut out in April). Francisco Liriano had 2 BODs in April, but failed to register one in May (making Frankie he unofficial BOM for April… unofficial because we didn’t start awarding the BODs until halfway through the month and, well, a guy should have to win more than twice to get an honor as prestigous as BOM).

Joe Mauer, Kevin Slowey, and Orlando Hudson each picked up one BOD in each month, also giving them two for the year.

Seven other Twins players have received one BOD award each.

So let the battle be engaged for the honor of Knuckleballs BOY! – JC

GameChat – Twins @ Mariners, 9:10 pm

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Ouch, gotta love these west coast games… I’m sure our west coastie fans LOVE finally having games AFTER they get home from work but us poor midwesterners have had to wait sooooooo long for our baseball! Of course, today we had plenty to keep us busy I’m betting – at least I did.

So, lineup news: the update on ‘Lando is that things aren’t as scary as they looked last night. He’s sore but scans found no new damage and he’s likely to fly out and join the team tomorrow. No word on how soon he’ll play but it’s probably a shorter period off than JJ had with his bone bruise. The interesting side-effect is that instead of putting Lexi out there at 2B, it’s Cuddy. Now this could be fun/tense/entertaining/scary!

Minnesota @ Seattle
Span, CF   Suzuki, I, RF
Hardy, SS   Figgins, 2B
Mauer, C   Gutierrez, F, CF
Morneau, 1B   Bradley, LF
Thome, DH   Sweeney, M, DH
Cuddyer, 2B   Lopez, J, 3B
Kubel, RF   Wilson, Jo, SS
Young, D, LF   Johnson, Ro, C
Punto, 3B   Tuiasosopo, M, 1B
  Liriano, P     Fister, P

 

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

 

So Cuddy didn’t embarrass himself or anything at 2B although this was obviously not are BEST defensive arrangement of players.  Sure tried to make things interesting at the end too!  But it’s nice to start with a win.  I believe we have consensus amongst game watchers that the white hats with the gray unis REALLY sucks.  Not a good combo and makes the laundry guys look bad.

Chat awarded the BOD to Justin Morneau for breakdancing in the top of the 9th.  Oh wait, not quite but he did do an awful lot of mashing of the ball and some FANTASTIC defense at 1B definitely earned the recognition even with the entertainment on the basepaths.  All-you-can-eat pastries for the other long ball hitters.

GameChat – Rangers @ Twins #3, 7:05 pm, ESPN & am1500

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A LOT happened in baseball this weekend – some very cool things and some not cool things.  In former Twins notes, Carlos Silva is SERIOUSLY kicking ass this season so far – he’s 7-0 and honestly pitching well.  I’m happy for him – especially since it’s pretty unexpected.  Roy Halladay threw MLB’s 20th Perfect Game and the second one this month.  And Kendry Morales hit a walk-off grand slam to lift the Angels over the Mariners – and then failed to walk off.  Why?  Because he BROKE HIS LEG in the home plate celebration!  I think a LOT of teams will be a bit more restrained in such celebrations in the future but I sure do feel horrible for Morales and the Angels.  Whether or not he’s able to get back before the end of the season is still up in the air.  His surgery to make repairs to the ankle has been put off because he still has too much swelling.

I’m listening to the thunder softly rumble outside and the rain come down in dribbles, so I’m not sure what the fate of the game will be.  Too bad we’re on ESPN schedule and didn’t play this afternoon when we usually would have.

Texas @ Minnesota
Andrus, El, SS   Span, CF
Young, M, 3B   Hudson, O, 2B
Kinsler, 2B   Mauer, C
Guerrero, DH   Morneau, 1B
Hamilton, LF   Cuddyer, RF
Murphy, Dv, RF   Kubel, DH
Smoak, 1B   Young, D, LF
Treanor, C   Hardy, SS
Borbon, CF   Punto, 3B
  Holland, P     Baker, S, P

 

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

 

It certainly feels good to get a sweep in!  The boys did an all around good job if the exceptional still eluded most.  However, Kubel continued to follow the big boys with RISP hitting and Nicky did a brilliant job tonight as well – fun to see him on base that often and STEALING besides.  Even Mauer couldn’t do THAT right tonight.  So for those reasons, we voted to let them share the BOD honors.

a salute to you too BOD!
hit that ball Kubes!

And sadly, for those that saw the final pitch and out of the game, you saw the horrific flying formation that Denard Span and Orlando Hudson attempted – which neither landed successfully.  Hudson seemed to take the worst of the landing and Span actually managed to hang onto the ball in the sacrifice of the body.  For their determination and tenacity and for walking off the field under their own power, we award them the Golden Band-aid!

GameChat – Rangers @ Twins #2, 3:10 pm, FOX & am1500

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Well yesterday was a WONDERFUL birthday at the game. GREAT pitching (my favorite) and lots of fun being at the park! And the view at sunset was amazing!

So let’s see if we can’t have an amazing time today too! It’s HOT and sunny with a breeze today. Could be interesting to see if the heat and a little more humidity lofts balls a bit longer (for whichever team). It could be a factor!

Texas @ Minnesota
Andrus, El, SS Span, CF
Young, M, 3B Hudson, O, 2B
Kinsler, 2B Mauer, C
Guerrero, DH Morneau, DH
Hamilton, LF Cuddyer, 1B
Murphy, Dv, RF Kubel, RF
Smoak, 1B Young, D, LF
Ramirez, M, C Hardy, SS
Borbon, CF Harris, B, 3B
Wilson, C, P Pavano, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Texas 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 3 9 0
Minnesota 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 0 x 8 8 2

Well THAT was FUN!  It was a great game but CJ Wilson is quite the deal – he really had the bats befuddled for awhile but, finally, ‘Lando got to him with a long bomb to tie it up and Delmon followed the lead to bang in the winning run.  The final score just shows that the rest of the batting order followed the momentum started by Hudson.  For that reason, Hudson and Young are awarded Co-BOD’s!  Congratulations boys!  And pastries for Pav and the bullpen!