Tag Archives: BOD

GameChat – Twins @ Rangers #3, 2:05pm

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The Twins called up Josmil Pinto (catcher of the future?!) to take Justin Morneau’s roster spot yesterday, and today one of the players Morneau was traded for, Alex Presley, will make his Twins debut.  That move will give the Twins 26 players on the active roster.

With rosters expanding today, the Twins could add some additional players, but with AAA Rochester fighting for a Wild Card berth, don’t expect the Twins to make too many moves until later this week.

Last night was another frustrating game from the Twins, as for the 2nd time in the span of a week Minnesota failed to capitalize on a strong performance from their starting pitcher.  Correia, who is 0-2 in his last three starts despite a 2.57 ERA, takes the hill against Travis Blackley, a 30 year-old journeyman who’s bounced around between the bullpen and starting rotation.  Blackley is making just his third appearance (all starts) of the season, he’s pitched a total of 10.0 innings with a 4.50 ERA.

If you don’t laugh when you look at today’s Twins lineup, you’re not human.  Ugly, ugly, ugly Sunday lineup.

Go Twins!

 Minnesota

@

 Texas
 Presley, CF  Martin, L, CF
 Mastroianni, RF  Profar, SS
 Dozier, 2B  Kinsler, 2B
 Willingham, DH  Beltre, A, DH
 Plouffe, 3B  Rios, RF
 Colabello, 1B  Adduci, LF
 Thomas, C, LF  Baker, Je, 3B
 Pinto, C  Moreland, 1B
 Bernier, SS  Soto, G, C
 _Correia, P  _Blackley, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 4 12 0
Texas 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 7 1

So, the Twins with a lineup that consisted primarily of guys who weren’t on the roster at the beginning of the season beat the Texas Rangers today.

Baseball is a funny game.

It sounds to me like BOD honors come down to one of the new guys, either catcher Josmil Pinto or outfielder Alex Presley. Perusing at the GameChat log, there seemed to be support for Presley, so let’s go that way. Welcome to the Twins, Alex, and keep up the good work. – JC

Alex Presley
Alex Presley

GameChat – Twins @ Rangers 7:05pm

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Roster moves all up in here!

The Twins have placed Samuel Deduno and Wilkin Ramirez on the 15-day DL and recalled Pedro Hernandez (yes, that same ineffective Pedro Hernandez) and Darin Mastroianni to take their places.  Joe Mauer will remain on the 7-day concussion DL for a while longer, and there is really no reason to do much of anything with him as rosters expand on Sunday and then Ron Gardenhire can have any number of catchers on the active roster.

Tonight Twins fans will be treated to Yu Darvish vs. Liam Hendriks.

Go Twins!

 Twins

@

 Rangers
 Dozier, 2B  Martin, L, CF
Herrmann, C, C  Andrus, SS
 Morneau, 1B  Kinsler, 2B
 Willingham, LF  Beltre, A, 3B
 Doumit, DH  Pierzynski, C
 Plouffe, 3B  Rios, RF
 Thomas, C, CF  Moreland, 1B
 Mastroianni, RF  Profar, DH
 Florimon, SS  Murphy, Dv, LF
 _Hendriks, P  _Darvish, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 6 1
Texas 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 0

Just about all I read on Twitter today was about how the Twins and Liam Hendriks had NO chance to win against the mighty Texas Rangers and Yu Darvish.

So, imagine my surprise when I check the score after the Kernels’ game tonight and see the Twins and Hendriks beat the Rangers and Darvish.

How could that be?

Seems Mister Hendriks only gave up five hits in six innings and four members of the Twins’ bullpen combined to throw three shutout innings.

Meanwhile, Chris Herrmann and Justin Morneau had back to back home runs off of Darvish. True those home runs constituted 2/3 of the total hits Darvish gave up to the Twins, but so what?

I’m going to call Chris Herrmann the BOD for his two-run dinger. – JC

Chris Herrmann
Chris Herrmann

GameChat – Twins @ Indians, 6:05pm

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Stupid east coast time zone.. hard to get here in time.

Here’s hoping Deduno’s arm holds up!

Minnesota

@

 Cleveland
Dozier, 2B Bourn, CF
Herrmann, C, C Swisher, 1B
Morneau, 1B Kipnis, 2B
Willingham, DH Santana, C, C
Doumit, RF Brantley, LF
Plouffe, 3B Cabrera, A, SS
Thomas, C, CF Giambi, DH
Ramirez, W, LF Chisenhall, 3B
Florimon, SS Stubbs, RF
  Deduno, P   Jimenez, U, P

 

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Cleveland

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woohoooo!!!  so much hitting!! so many doubles!! really hard to argue with a game like that. It does make it hard to pick a BOD though because the boys really spread the offense around including some people who have struggled recently like Willingham..  But considering that my biggest worry going into this game was whether or not we would get any version at all of pre-injury Deduno, I made the executive decision to appoint HIM today’s BOD just for going out there and doing a great job!

Sam Deduno (Photo: Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
Sam Deduno (Photo: Ed Zurga/Getty Images)

GameChat – Twins @ Tigers #3, 12:05pm

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And the rubber match is Albers vs Verlander. I actually wish I could watch this one…

but of course, it’s a day game, I’m at work, I can’t… *SIGH*

Minnesota

@

 Detroit
Dozier, 2B Jackson, A, CF
Herrmann, C, C Hunter, To, RF
Morneau, 1B Cabrera, M, 3B
Willingham, DH Fielder, 1B
Doumit, RF Martinez, V, DH
Plouffe, 3B Tuiasosopo, LF
Thomas, C, CF Infante, 2B
Ramirez, W, LF Iglesias, SS
Bernier, SS Holaday, C
  Albers, A, P   Verlander, P

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Minnesota

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7

11

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Detroit

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12

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Well, what do you say to that… we actually took a series from Detroit IN Detroit with the rubber game against Verlander. That is certainly not something you’d expect and the whole reason you actually have to play the game of baseball – for reasons other than collecting individual player fantasy team stats…

For all that, I still wish I’d been able to see the game but since I didn’t and no one made any expectations known in the chat, I’m choosing Chris Herrmann as today’s BOD for that Double in the top of the 8th to bring Bernier home.

Chris Herrmann
Chris Herrmann

GameChat – Twins @ Tigers, 6:05pm

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Sorry guys! Since it’s Tuesday, I’m not actually here but I popped in and saw we didn’t have a chat yet so here you go!

Mauer was a late scratch because he experienced some dizziness during BP today after taking a couple foul tips to the head recently. We’ll see how long he’s out.

Minnesota

@

 Detroit
Dozier, 2B Jackson, A, CF
Herrmann, C, RF Hunter, To, RF
Willingham, DH Cabrera, M, 3B
Morneau, 1B Fielder, 1B
Doumit, C Martinez, V, DH
Ramirez, W, LF Dirks, LF
Plouffe, 3B Infante, 2B
Thomas, C, CF Pena, B, C
Florimon, SS Iglesias, SS
  Pelfrey, P   Porcello, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 0 3 2 1 0 0 0 6 10 0
Detroit 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 3 11 0

It’s not often the Twins get outhit, but win because they had better pitching.

It’s even less often that they accomplish that against the Tigers. Mike Pelfrey had a good start and the bullpen, while not perfect, was good enough.

Justin Morneau had a big night and he’s our consensus BOD! – JC

MorneauST11d

GameChat – White Sox @ Twins, 7:10pm

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So today’s big news definitely not about a series between the bottom two teams in the AL Central.. LOL It’s all about the replay recommendations put forward by Bud Selig today. If you want to read all about it, HERE you go.

I gotta admit, I’m not a fan of coaches challenges – I’m still in favor of expanded replay but I think it should be between the umps and they should WANT to use it or face the consequences of bad decisions.. putting challenges in the hands of coaches just makes things even more antagonistic in a bad situation.

Anyway, funny how when the White Sox are in Minnesota, the rosters are up way earlier..  I don’t think getting the lineups any sooner will give Pelfrey a head start – he’s just going to have to pitch well.

 

Chi White Sox

@

 Minnesota
De Aza, LF Dozier, 2B
Beckham, G, 2B Mauer, C
Ramirez, Al, SS Morneau, 1B
Dunn, A, DH Willingham, DH
Konerko, 1B Arcia, LF
Garcia, A, RF Plouffe, 3B
Gillaspie, 3B Colabello, RF
Phegley, C Thomas, C, CF
Danks, Jd, CF Florimon, SS
  Rienzo, P   Pelfrey, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chi White Sox 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 9 1
Minnesota 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 1 4 9 0

While I was covering the walk-off win by the Kernels tonight, it seems the Twins were celebrating a walk-off victory of their own!

It looks to me like Mike Pelfrey did fine and the bullpen did well and Trevor Plouffe went deep.

But, while it’s not often we would hand out a BOD award to a guy who only played a few minutes of a game, Chris Herrmann’s walk-off pinch hit RBI single to beat the Bitch Sox certainly seems to warrant it. – JC

Chris Herrmann
Chris Herrmann

GameChat – Indians @ Twins, 7:10 pm

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Wilkin Ramirez got the call to replace Jamey Carroll on the Twins’ roster. I bet there are a few guys in Rochester and New Britain wondering how the hell hitting .172 in your seven rehab games earns you a spot with the Big Club. I know Clete Thomas needed someone who could spell him occasionally in CF with the Twins, but jeez… .172? Really?

Aaron Hicks has been bad in AAA and so has Darin Mastroianni during his rehab and apparently they both claim to still be hurting a bit. If anyone ever tries to tell you that being the guy who is already on the 40-man roster doesn’t really mean much, don’t believe them for a second. The fact that Ramirez is on the expanded roster is the ONLY reason he’s wearing a Twins uniform tonight.

Two young pitchers on the mound in tonight’s game. Andrew Albers gets his second start and his first home start for the Twins and Danny Salazar goes for the Indians. Salazar, for those who may not be familiar, is a 23 year old fireballer. Look for mph readings in the upper 90s. Look for a lot of Twins to be walking back to the dugout shaking their heads.

INDIANS

@

 TWINS
Bourn, CF Dozier, 2B
Swisher, 1B Mauer, DH
Kipnis, 2B Morneau, 1B
Cabrera, A, SS Willingham, LF
Santana, C, DH Arcia, RF
Gomes, Y, C Plouffe, 3B
Brantley, LF Herrmann, C, C
Aviles, 3B Thomas, C, CF
Stubbs, RF Florimon, SS
  _Salazar, P _Albers, A, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Cleveland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Minnesota 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 x 3 4 0

Brian Dozier and Trevor Plouffe provided what little offense the Twins generated with home runs in the first and second inning, respectively. Babs pointed out that this is seven straight games that Dozier has an extra-base hit and he apparently trails only Killer and Tony O for the club record of eight straight, so that’s kind of cool company to be in.

But let’s be honest, the big news tonight was Andrew Albers.

What do you do for an encore when you pitch 8 1/3 shutout innings in your Big League debut? Of course, you follow that up with a complete game shutout in your debut before the home fans at Target Field.

I wonder how many times this guy’s been told he doesn’t throw hard enough or doesn’t have enough “stuff” to ever make it to the Big Leagues. Just goes to show what perseverance can do. I don’t know if he’ll have a short MLB career or a long one and right now I’m not all that concerned about it. I know he’s giving Twins fans a reason to pay attention and something to smile about and that’s not nothing.

I also know this makes two BOD awards for Mr. Albers.

Andrew Albers (Photo: Ed Zurga/Getty Images)
Andrew Albers (Photo: Ed Zurga/Getty Images)

GameChat – Twins @ White Sox #4, 1:10 pm

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There may not be much to play for the rest of the season, but taking a series from the BitchSox at the (Prison) Cell in Chicago would still be nice. Yes, I realize that there isn’t a lot of optimism when Kevin Correia is on the hill, but one can hope, right?

The Twins are an even 3-3 on this road trip, so they also could record their second straight winning road trip with a W today.

TWINS

@

 WHITE SOX
Dozier, 2B De Aza, LF
Carroll, 3B Beckham, G, 2B
Mauer, C Ramirez, Al, SS
Morneau, 1B Dunn, A, 1B
Willingham, DH Konerko, DH
Arcia, LF Garcia, A, RF
Colabello, RF Gillaspie, 3B
Thomas, C, CF Flowers, C
Bernier, SS Tekotte, CF
  _Correia, P   _Quintana, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 5 9 1
Chi White Sox 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 7 0

It’s easy to tell this game was played at the bandbox of a ballpark they have in Chicago and not Target Field. Brian Dozier got the Twins on the board first with a three-run home run and two hitters later Joe Mauer added a two-run dinger. Casey Fien gave up a couple of solo home runs in the Sox’ ninth inning. No way all those home runs happen if this game is in Minneapolis.

Despite the one inning of heroics by a couple of Twins hitters, the BOD award goes to Kevin Correia, who went seven shutout innings while giving up just five hits and 1 walk. He even struck out seven Sox hitters. I’m not sure where Correia found this performance, but I hope he remembers how he did it!

Kevin Correia (photo David Goldman/AP)
Kevin Correia (photo David Goldman/AP)

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

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I’m still waiting for them to put up the rosters for the second game of today’s double header so hopefully by the time I’m done writing my pregame comments – however limited they may be – they will be available to post. If not, I will add them shortly.

So this afternoon’s game was entertaining and more importantly, we won! Or perhaps that is why it was entertaining – I can be somewhat superficial like that sometimes.

Since I was at work and my attention was extremely limited however, I would love if they kept this evenings outing equally as entertaining. We have brought up Liam Hendriks to start tonight – he’s been doing pretty well in AAA so I hope he’s able to keep that up.

Minnesota

@

 Chi White Sox
Dozier, 2B De Aza, LF
Carroll, 3B Beckham, G, 2B
Morneau, 1B Ramirez, Al, SS
Willingham, DH Dunn, A, 1B
Arcia, LF Viciedo, DH
Colabello, RF Gillaspie, 3B
Herrmann, C, C Danks, Jd, RF
Thomas, C, CF Phegley, C
Bernier, SS Tekotte, CF
  Hendriks, P   Leesman, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 9 0
Chi White Sox 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 8 0

It always feels good to sweep the Bitch Sox, no matter how bad the season is going and no matter how bad the South Siders are.

It’s hard to pick a Boyfriend of the Day though. The only Twins hitter with more than one hit was Jamey Carroll, who went an impressive 3 for 5. But Carroll didn’t figure at all in any of the Twins’ scoring.

Chris Herrmann had a solo home run, as did Josh Willingham. Then Oswaldo Arcia added a solo dinger of his own in the 10th inning. Certainly all of those guys deserve baked goods of some sort.

Brian Duensing earned his second win in one day. How often does THAT happen?

But Liam Hendriks, who was called up from Rochester specifically just to pitch this game, gave the Twins 6 1/3 innings of pretty good pitching. He gave up 2 runs on 7 hits and that ain’t bad for an emergency start.

For that effort, Hendriks is our BOD. And it just seems appropriate somehow to use a “throwback” picture of Liam, since he’s likely to be thrown back to the minors after the game. Thus, here’s Hendriks from a few years back as a member of the Beloit Snappers. – JC

Liam Hendriks
Liam Hendriks

 

GameChat – Twins @ White Sox, 1:10pm

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So we have a makeup game this afternoon before the regularly scheduled evening game – Surprise! Honestly, I wish that the Twins could figure out how to update (or just do it) their iCal schedule for those of us who watch it – changes are never updated so let’s hope I’m paying attention… never a good bet.

At any rate, a little injury rotation notation – it’s Friday and I’m in a goofy mood:

Doumit is on the 7-day concussion DL. Not terribly good news but at least we have Chris and things are good there. Honestly, I always had the impression that Doumit’s noggin was especially armored the way he shrugs off most knocks to the helmet. I’m sure this is yet another occasion where he told himself, “wow, that rung my bell” and just kept going – until he got dizzy. He doesn’t strike me as a “get dizzy” kind of guy at all.

BACK from the DL is Josh Willingham. Convenient. Let’s see what he can do with that surgically repaired knee. It’s hard to believe he’s out there after only 5 weeks but they can do remarkable things with surgery and rehab these days. Let’s hope that his bat comes back as well…

I’ve lost track on Gibson’s schedule whether this is supposed to be a good start or a hittable start.. LOL Just joking but I sure hope that it’s a good day. We aren’t in any danger (at this point) of trading places with the White Sox who are just not playing good baseball as a rule this season BUT that never seems to stop this particular rivalry from throwing odd wrenches into the gears. I’ll maintain my general mode of “beat the Sox, whenever & wherever you can” and go from there.

Minnesota

@

 Chi White Sox
Dozier, 2B De Aza, LF
Mauer, C Beckham, G, 2B
Willingham, DH Ramirez, Al, SS
Morneau, 1B Dunn, A, DH
Colabello, RF Konerko, 1B
Arcia, LF Gillaspie, 3B
Plouffe, 3B Danks, Jd, RF
Thomas, C, CF Flowers, C
Florimon, SS Tekotte, CF
  Gibson, P   Danks, Jh, P

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Chi White Sox

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Well that was certainly an enjoyable afternoon! It would be really easy to say today was all about the homerun.. Which is probably true but to be honest, those homeruns were so costly because of all the WALKS. We actually got runs with RISP!

But yeah, in a return to the Justin we remember, a very timely Grand Slam makes him the BOD for this afternoon…

MorneauST11d