Posts tagged BOD

GameChat – Royals at Twins #3 7:10pm

Sep13th
2012 Written by Eric Pleiss

The biggest baseball news in Minnesota today had nothing to do with the Twins.  The Saint Paul Saints are going to be building a brand new stadium.  Look out, Target Field!

Last night the Twins were let down by the starting pitchers, the bullpen and Ryan Doumit‘s defense.  Tonight they have a chance to salvage a win in a 3 game home series with the Royals.  In the first two games Minnesota has been outscored 19-6, so even keeping the game close would be an improvement.  The Royals are sending Luis Mendoza to the hill and the Twins are countering with the winless wonder, Liam Hendriks.  Mendoza is not very good, and Hendriks has not proven he is any good yet, so this could be a fun game for fans that like offense.

Joe Mauer and Chris Parmelee are still out of the lineup, but at this point I would assume that Ron Gardenhire and the Twins are erring on the side of caution and making sure these guys are 100% before putting them back in the line up.

 

 Kansas City Royals

@

  Minnesota Twins
Lough, RF  Span, CF
Escobar, A, SS  Revere, RF
Gordon, LF  Willingham, DH
Butler, DH  Morneau, 1B
Perez, S, C  Plouffe, 3B
Moustakas, 3B  Mastroianni, LF
Cain, CF  Escobar, 2B
Hosmer, 1B  Butera, C
Giavotella, 2B  Florimon, SS
 _Mendoza, L, P  _Hendriks, P

 

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

Well that sounded like a fun game (at least the last few innings) anyway. Liam continued to struggle, giving up a couple of runs in the first inning, but the Twins offense managed to stay within striking distance and ultimately took the game in to extra innings, winning 4-3 in the 10th.

The Twins bullpen did a real job tonight. Hendriks survived five innings, but that left five innings of work from the pen. Robertson, Fien and Burton not only worked one shutout inning each, but none of them gave up so much as a hit. Glen Perkins followed with two shutout innings, giving up just one hit. That’s some pretty impressive work and it would be quite easy to just give the Boyfriend of the Day award to that group.

You could also make a case for Denard Span. While he had only one hit, it was a walkoff double in the 10th inning and that’s pretty BOD-worthy. For that matter, Alexi Casilla, who entered the game as a pinch runner, led off the 10th with a double of his own and ended up scoring on Span’s double and that was pretty sweet work on Lexi’s part.

But tonight’s BOD award is going to Trevor Plouffe. Not only was Plouffe the only Twins hitter with more than one hit, one of his two hits was a home run in the 9th inning that sent the game in to extra innings. Beyond that, Plouffe made a diving defensive play in the 5th that saved a run. Without that play and the homer, this game was another loss. For that, Trevor is our BOD! – JC

Trevor Plouffe

GameChat, Twins baseball   

GameChat – Indians @ Twins #4, 7:10pm

Sep10th
2012 Written by CapitalBabs

So the final game against the Indians.. I would like to win the series, how about you?

It’s a phenomenally gorgeous day to play baseball outside and I hope Deduno has that EFFECTIVE part down to his “Wild” today.

Cleveland

@

 Minnesota
Choo, RF   Revere, CF
Brantley, CF   Casilla, A, 2B
Santana, C, DH   Mauer, C
Canzler, LF   Morneau, 1B
Kotchman, 1B   Willingham, DH
Chisenhall, 3B   Doumit, LF
Phelps, C, 2B   Plouffe, 3B
Lillibridge, SS   Carson, RF
Marson, C   Florimon, SS
  Masterson, P     Deduno, P
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 3 0
Minnesota 0 0 0 1 0 2 3 1 x 7 10 0

You know, that was kind of the Twins performance we used to be much more accustomed to seeing. Good starting pitching, followed by a couple innings of shut down work by the bullpen. Some timely hitting, speed on the basepaths and excellent defense. Almost makes you a little misty-eyed to see it again, doesn’t it?

There was support for Alexi Casilla and his flashy leatherwork for Boyfriend of the Day honors. I’m a big Lexi fan and I acknowledge that time may be running out for him to get one more BOD award in his Twins career, but there were a couple of other performances that have to rate just a bit higher.

Sam Deduno went seven innings and gave up just three hits. Somehow, though, he gave up almost as many runs. His six strikeouts were pretty nice, but then there were those three walks. That’s pretty impressive.

But BOD honors tonight go to Pedro Florimon. He showed some pretty fancy glovework, himself, but he also added a double, a triple, a couple of runs scored and an RBI. I don’t know if this is the kind of performance we can expect from Pedro consistently, but wouldn’t it be nice if it was?

Pedro Florimon (Photo:Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

 

GameChat, Twins baseball   

GameChat – Indians @ Twins #3, 1:10pm

Sep9th
2012 Written by CapitalBabs

So Minneapolis is a busy place this afternoon! Vikings are kicking off the NFL season at home hosting the Jaguars while the Twins finish off the series with Cleveland. And of course, I have 15 things going on so all of the above are going to be hit & miss for me to catch.

Given that the this is a rubber match for the Indians, I’m really hoping that Esmerling Vasquez has a fantastic Target Field debut – not that I don’t always hope our starting pitcher is fantastic. It might be a day game but our boys aren’t leaving town since the home stand still has another week to go. I’m hoping that means that the offense remembers that it can hit the ball!

And the weather is absolutely perfect to be outdoors watching baseball while the rest of the Minnesota is indoors watching the Vikings in the Dome. I’ll take the baseball… at least while I’m not going out to pick up my new dryer….

Cleveland

@

 Minnesota
Choo, RF Revere, CF
Kipnis, 2B Carroll, 2B
Cabrera, A, DH Mauer, DH
Brantley, CF Morneau, 1B
Santana, C, 1B Doumit, C
Canzler, LF Parmelee, RF
Lillibridge, SS Mastroianni, LF
Donald, 3B Escobar, 3B
Marson, C Florimon, SS
  Kluber, P   Vasquez, P

 

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

Seems pretty much everyone had other things to do today that were more important than hanging out online during the Twins game, but I made it home just in time to hear Justin Morneau’s walk-off solo shot down the right field line.

Vasquez wasn’t exactly impressive and a couple members of the bullpen weren’t entirely helpful, either, but Casey Fien and Brian Duensing both managed to put out a fire or two and keep the Twins in the game.

But today was a bit of a “throwback” day for the Twins… if you can call going back about 4 years “throwback.” In any event, today it was an M&M day. Joe Mauer had three hits, finishing just a home run short of hitting for the cycle. No problem, though, because Morneau hit a couple of them, including the game winner in the bottom of the ninth inning.

For that bit of heroism, Justin is our Boyfriend of the Day! – JC

Justin Morneau

GameChat, Twins baseball   

GameChat – Indians @ Twins #2, 6:10pm

Sep8th
2012 Written by CapitalBabs

First things first: Congratulations TK! I think it’s wonderful that the Twins are choosing to honor your accomplishments in this wonderful way.

The Twins chose to paint the field with TK’s number as part of the ceremony to retire his number.

Second, Cole, can you please have an amazing outing and let the Twins have a great game to keep TK from being frustrated while watching?

Third, offense, what do you say you do your part and make a contribution or two?

Cleveland

@

 Minnesota
Choo, RF Revere, CF
Kipnis, DH Carroll, 2B
Cabrera, A, SS Mauer, C
Santana, C, C Willingham, DH
Brantley, CF Morneau, 1B
Canzler, 1B Doumit, LF
Phelps, C, 2B Parmelee, RF
Hannahan, 3B Plouffe, 3B
Carrera, LF Florimon, SS
  McAllister, P   De Vries, P

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E
Cleveland

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

4

0
Minnesota

0

0

2

0

1

0

0

0

x

3

7

0

Pretty sure the Twins HAD to win tonight or TK would have kicked their ass.  But then again, Cole really pitched a beautiful game. Anytime the home team can work with a shutout of the visiting team, they really don’t have to do too much. For that, Cole DeVries is voted today’s BOD!

Cole DeVries (Photo: Hannah Foslein – Getty Images

GameChat, Twins baseball   

GameChat – Twins @ White Sox #2, 7:10pm

Sep4th
2012 Written by CapitalBabs

I would be very happy if Scott Diamond could return to the form he possessed earlier this season rather than the struggling performance I saw at Target Field last week….

And we have our first appearance of Eduardo Escobar. I’m intrigued to see what he does since I haven’t ever seen him play – we got him in the Liriano trade if I recall correctly.

Minnesota

@

 Chi White Sox
Revere, CF De Aza, CF
Carroll, 2B Youkilis, 3B
Mauer, C Dunn, A, DH
Willingham, DH Konerko, 1B
Morneau, 1B Rios, RF
Doumit, LF Viciedo, LF
Parmelee, RF Ramirez, Al, SS
Plouffe, 3B Flowers, C
Escobar, SS Beckham, 2B
  Diamond, P   Quintana, P

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E
Minnesota

0

7

0

0

10

0

1

0

0

18

17

1
Chi White Sox

3

0

0

1

0

0

0

4

1

9

13

1

Well THAT was unexpected.

Oh, and don’t let me forget to say FUN! Diamond had a little rust to shake off after his suspension in the first inning but after that, he put together what I would call a solid start and got his 11th win of the season. I won’t quite call it great but it was certainly nothing to sneeze at with this hitting lineup.

But the Twins bats sure did their best to make fools of a few White Sox pitchers tonight and I have to say that only one error for the Sox somehow doesn’t really give the right impression. Think Detroit. Think Circus. That’s what the WS defense resembled tonight. It was … weak.

But the Twins offense wasn’t a slouch – there were several guys you could point to that really lifted the team. Doumit had 3 hits, 3 runs and 3 RBI and Parmelee only had one hit and still managed to get 4 RBI while they both hit the team’s only home runs! For that they receive all the cold beer they can drink (well not all, it’s a school night and they have a day game tomorrow). On second thought, we’re going to make that rootbeer floats just to be safe. I would much rather they can both contribute in equal quantities tomorrow without disability.

But, the room agreed on someone who was perhaps a more unexpected hero – in his very first MLB game with the Twins, against his former team, Eduardo Escobar managed 2 runs, 3 RBI, a walk AND also performed well on the field with no errors (thank you), 5 assists and 2 putouts. Not bad for a kid who was just called up. Also not bad to earn your first BOD of what I hope will be many!

GameChat, Twins baseball   

GameChat – Twins @ Royals

Sep1st
2012 Written by Jim Crikket

It looks like most of the Knuckleballs crew have holiday weekend plans that will make it difficult, if not impossible for us to get line ups posted for the games today and possibly all weekend.

But I’m putting up the Chat window in case anyone decides they’d like a place to hang out during the Twins games!

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 10 0
Kansas City 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 7 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 9 1
Kansas City 2 0 1 2 0 0 2 0 0 7 14 0

I saw neither of  these games. I can tell you all about Iowa’s narrow escape against Northern Illinois and a lot about the scare that Northern Iowa put in to the Badgers. I could even converse somewhat intelligently about Iowa State’s win over Tulsa. And of course, I could tell you all about how the Kernels came up just short against the Lumber Kings. But as for the Twins, I got nothing.

Glancing at the boxscores, I’d say Cole DeVries must have done well in the first game and it’s nice to see Chris Parmelee go deep in the second game. Joe Mauer hit a grand salami in the second game as well, it seems.

But it’s pretty rare that a relief pitcher saves two games in a single day and that’s exactly what Glen Perkins did today. (In fact, according to MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger, Rick Lysander was the last Twin to record two saves in a single day, in 1984.) So, to honor the occasion, let’s award Perk the BOD award for today! – JC

Glen Perkins

GameChat, Twins baseball   

GameChat – Mariners @ Twins #3, 7:10pm

Aug29th
2012 Written by CapitalBabs

Ok, I’m actually able to join the gamechat tonight so I would sure as heck love it if the Twins could put on a better game than they did last night while I was actually in TARGET FIELD. *sigh*

Seattle

@

 Minnesota
Ackley, 2B Revere, CF
Robinson, T, LF Carroll, 2B
Seager, 3B Mauer, DH
Jaso, DH Willingham, LF
Smoak, 1B Morneau, 1B
Thames, E, RF Doumit, C
Olivo, C Parmelee, RF
Figgins, CF Plouffe, 3B
Kawasaki, SS Florimon, SS
  Vargas, P   Deduno, P

 

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E
Seattle

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

1
Minnesota

0

0

3

2

1

0

3

1

x

10

16

0

WOOHOOO!!! I finally have a chance to sit and watch a game and join the chat and they have a fantastic one! A little piece of me wishes they had played this game LAST night while I was there but I’ll take a win regardless.

And this game is a no-brainer for the difference… Deduno just pitched better than Scott Diamond did. Oh yeah, and Deduno? holy crap! 7 shutout innings and 9 k’s.. and NO WALKS! yes, from Mister Not Sure Where The Pitch Will Go. It was so great that even though Plouffe finally got another Homerun, Samuel STILL gets a unanimous vote for BOD.

Sam Deduno (Photo: Ed Zurga/Getty Images)

GameChat, Twins baseball   

GameChat – Minnesota Twins @ Texas Rangers #4, 2:05 pm CDT

Aug26th
2012 Written by Eric Pleiss

The Minnesota Twins have not won a game since Monday, August 20, and the closest they’ve come was the following day in a 4-1 loss to the Oakland Athletics.  Since then the Twins have lost by 4, 4, 8 and 6 runs, bringing their season-long run differential to -111, only the Cleveland Indians (-134) have a worse run differential in the American League.

A win today does nothing to help Minnesota in the standings, but it will go a long way toward bringing up morale in the clubhouse of a team that’s been clobbered for the better part of a week.  Cole De Vries has a 10.64 ERA over his last 3 starts, he will need to turn things around this afternoon or the Twins will be in another big hole against a high powered Rangers offense.

 Minnesota Twins

@

  Texas Rangers
 Span, CF  Kinsler, 2B
 Revere, RF  Moreland, 1B
 Mauer, 1B  Hamilton, LF
 Willingham, LF  Beltre, A, 3B
 Morneau, DH  Cruz, N, RF
 Plouffe, 3B  Murphy, Dv, DH
 Carroll, 2B  Soto, C
 Butera, C  Gentry, CF
 Florimon, SS  Hernandez, L, SS
 _De Vries, P  _Feldman, P

Let’s get it!

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

Here is something that happened earlier today: The Minnesota Twins, previously referred to as a professional baseball team, won a contest of baseballing against an actual real-life baseball club.  A club, known as none-other than the Texas Rangers.  It was pretty fun.

BOD Voting?

Ben Revere had his 6th career 4 hit game and was on base 5 times, despite only hitting the ball out of the infield once.  For his performance this afternoon the fans in the Knuckleballs blog GameChat (BaseballPirate and myself, though BaseballPirate was inactive, so really I just picked whoever I wanted), decided to give Ben Revere a nice warm German style beer.  Enjoy that beer, Ben.

Jeff Gray pitched a third of an inning and gave up 3 runs, which was pretty impressive for a guy who has no business being on a Major League Baseball team.  Anyways, his run-surrendering performance woke up the bullpen and then Casey Fien, Jared Burton and Glen Perkins closed out the game against the high-powered Rangers offense without surrendering another run.  For his wake-up performance, Jeff Gray is the BOD.  Hopefully he woke up Terry Ryan and Ryan outrights Gray and assigns him to some lesser level of baseball, perhaps Triple-A baseball.

Anyways, enjoy it Gray, you earned it.

Jeff Gray, IRONIC HIPSTER BOD SELECTION  (Photo: Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

General    ,

GameChat – Minnesota Twins at Oakland Athletics 9:05pm

Aug20th
2012 Written by Eric Pleiss

The Twins made waves this afternoon when it was announced that Nick Blackburn and Tsuyoshi Nishioka had been outrighted from the 40 man roster.  They’ll still remain with the Minnesota organization and Blackburn will join Nishioka in Rochester.

Twins have just 1 win in their last 9 games, so it would be nice for them to do something positive tonight.  Hasn’t been a Boyfriend of the Day in almost a week!

 Minnesota Twins

@

 Oakland Athletics 
 Revere, CF  Crisp, CF
 Mastroianni, RF  Gomes, J, DH
 Mauer, C  Reddick, RF
 Willingham, LF  Cespedes, LF
 Morneau, 1B  Carter, 1B
 Doumit, DH  Donaldson, 3B
 Plouffe, 3B  Norris, C
 Carroll, 2B  Rosales, SS
 Florimon, SS  Weeks, 2B
 _Duensing, P  _McCarthy, P

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 7 15 2
Oakland 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 1

It’s been a while, so I’m not 100% sure, but I think that’s what they call a WIN!

The Twins racked up 15 hits and we’ll let it pass that only one of them was an extra-base hit (a double by Willingham). The Hammer certainly earned baked goods of his choice, as did Joe Mauer, with both of them ripping 3 hits a piece. Brian Duensing also earns a few pastries with his six innings of excelling mound work (5 hits, 1 BB and 7 Ks!).

But tonight’s (or is it this morning’s?) BOD award goes to Pedro Florimon, who also came up with three hits of his own. He also walked once, putting him on base four times. He scored three of the Twins’ seven runs on the night. Just to prove he can do it all, he also turned in some pretty fancy leatherwork. That total package earns him the BOD.

Pedro Florimon (Photo:Otto Greule Jr/Getty Images)

GameChat, Twins baseball   

GameChat – Tigers @ Twins, 7:10 pm

Aug13th
2012 Written by Jim Crikket

The bad news is that the Twins just got swept in a 3 game home series with the Rays. The good news is that they get to start a series against a Central Division team. On top of that, they won’t even face Justin Verlander in this series.

also – Trevor Plouffe is back and the Twins optioned Nishi back down to Rochester. No, he has not been DFA’d.. yet… one wonders how long they have him taking a bench spot either there or here. – CB

TIGERS

@

 TWINS
Jackson, A, CF Revere, CF
Dirks, LF Mastroianni, RF
Cabrera, Mi, 3B Mauer, 1B
Fielder, 1B Willingham, LF
Avila, C Morneau, DH
Young, D, DH Doumit, C
Boesch, RF Plouffe, 3B
Peralta, Jh, SS Carroll, SS
Infante, 2B Casilla, A, 2B
  _Sanchez, An, P   _Deduno, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Detroit 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 3 6 0
Minnesota 0 0 1 0 1 3 3 1 x 9 18 0

What’d I say? It only takes getting back to the Central Division in order to turn the Twins’ fortunes around.

It’s been a rare occasion when the hitting, defense, starting pitching and bullpen all come together, but this was one of those nights.

Four different hitters had three hits a piece and a couple more added a pair of hits, contributing to the Twins’ 18 hit attack. Jeff Gray finished the game off with 1 1/3 perfect innings, including a game-finishing strikeout.

But the consensus co-BODs of the night were starting pitcher Sam Deduno, who upped his record to 4-0, and outfielder Darin Mastroiani, who had a home run among his three hits and added 3 RBI. That’s a combination of pitching and hitting we’d like to see a bit more of!

Sam Deduno (Photo: Ed Zurga/Getty Images)

Darin Mastroianni (Photo: CapitalBabs)

GameChat, Twins baseball    ,
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