Tag Archives: Joe Mauer

Episode 90: Mauer’s Injury and Midseason Awards

Posted on by

You can download the new Talk to Contact (@TalkToContact) episode via iTunes or by clicking here, and if you want to add the show to your non-iTunes podcast player, this is the RSS Feed2014-MLB-ASG-Caps

The Twins have struggled mightily on the road recently, but thanks to Kyle Gibson, they were able to snap the road losing skid at 10 games before coming home to drop two of three to the Kansas City Royals. This week we take a look at what’s been going wrong for the Twins and what it means for the franchise going into the All-Star break.

Joe Mauer is on the DL, Brian Dozier is slumping, and Josh Willingham can’t seem to find a hit to save his life (or the team). We were lucky enough to have a full booth of podcasters tonight, and the gang gave out mid-season awards for both the American and National Leagues.

This week’s show features a good deal of disagreement amongst the four of us, so be sure to let us know who you think was right and who was wrong by sending us tweets or emails. We also used some “adult language” so this show may not be suitable for young children or sensitive old people.

Enjoy the show.  


You can follow Cody on Twitter (@NoDakTwinsFan) or read his writing at NoDakTwinsFan, you can find Paul on Twitter (@BaseballPirate), and you can find Mr. Jay Corn on Twitter (@Jay__Corn)!

If you enjoy our podcast, please take a couple extra minutes and rate and review our show on iTunes.  iTunes ratings and reviews are the reason the Twins continue to do #AskATwin.

Episode 89 – The Roster Crunch and Jorge Polanco

Posted on by

You can download the new Talk to Contact (@TalkToContact) episode via iTunes or by clicking here, and if you want to add the show to your non-iTunes podcast player, this is the RSS Feed.

camo

This week we spend time talking about the series of roster moves and player swaps that lead to Jorge Polanco being called up from High-A Fort Myers to the Big League club. We talk about Byron Buxton‘s rehab, Kendrys Morales finally hitting a home run for the Twins, and the Twins’ struggles on the road. We go Down on the pond and talk about Pat Kelly (Cody and Jay interviewed Pat but the audio did not come through clearly, so we have a write up on that interview coming soon) and what he’s been doing since he was drafted in the 12th round of the 2014 draft.

We talk beer, baseball, and we take some questions for the listeners.

Thanks for sticking around!

 

You can follow Cody on Twitter (@NoDakTwinsFan) or read his writing at NoDakTwinsFan, you can find Paul on Twitter (@BaseballPirate) and you can find Mr. Jay Corn on Twitter (@Jay__Corn)!
If you enjoy our podcast, please take a couple extra minutes and rate and review our show on iTunes.   iTunes ratings and reviews tell us how to get to Sesame Street.

 

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

Posted on by

Can we do it? A four game sweep would be pretty amazing. Hopefully, we’ll have a window of dry long enough to get the game in but I think we should all cross our fingers.

I also think we have a chance for a good pitching start today with Hughes out there. It would be a real shame if we had three bad starts in a row – the bullpen would greatly appreciate a little bit less need or their abilities today.

Chi White Sox Minnesota
Eaton, CF Santana, D, SS
Beckham, G, 2B Dozier, 2B
Abreu, 1B Mauer, 1B
Dunn, A, DH Willingham, LF
Ramirez, Al, SS Morales, K, DH
Gillaspie, 3B Arcia, O, RF
Sierra, RF Suzuki, K, C
De Aza, LF Escobar, E, 3B
Flowers, C Fuld, CF
  Danks, Jh, P   Hughes, P, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chi White Sox 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 8 0
Minnesota 1 2 0 3 0 0 0 0 x 6 11 1
Kinda says it all, doesn't it!?
Kinda says it all, doesn’t it!?

Woohoooo!!

No, really.. a 4 game sweep of the White Sox! (that hasn’t happened in literally 20 years) Actually, if you take it as simply four home games, the Twins haven’t had a four game home win-streak since 2007. But it’s just that much more special that it was a four-game sweep of a division rival – that we don’t like very much.

There were several really good performances in today’s game (not that I saw any of it) but surprisingly, none of them was from Phil Hughes. And he readily admits it. I feel bad for the bullpen that had been leaned on heavily for the last couple games and it turned out that they were leaned on again today. Swarzak came in and pitched two innings and Fien did a share but since Perkins has had the ninth the last two games in a row, Burton went out there today to get the Save and he got it well. I think the whole team was feeling the pressure though and some really awkward pitch rulings from the ump had Gardy out in force for a little Show Time – and the much more rare ejection.

Sam Fuld was there doing a little bit of everything and Willingham was holding his own but once again, it was Mauer who seemed to carry the team today. It’s really good to have you back and we’ll give you the BOD gain!

GameChat – White Sox @ Twins #3, 1:10pm

Posted on by

Hello from Hrbek’s at Gate 14!!! JC and Babs (and Andrew, Baby Margaret and Molly) are enjoying a Happy Birthday celebration for KL!

It’s an absolutely stunning day for baseball and I hope that we’re able to gift KL with a sweep of the White Sox. Wouldn’t that be just the perfect birthday present? I think so.

Chi White Sox Minnesota
Eaton, CF Santana, D, SS
Beckham, G, 2B Dozier, 2B
Gillaspie, 3B Mauer, DH
Abreu, 1B Morales, K, 1B
Dunn, A, DH Arcia, O, RF
Ramirez, Al, SS Suzuki, K, C
Viciedo, RF Parmelee, LF
De Aza, LF Escobar, E, 3B
Nieto, C Fuld, CF
  Rienzo, P   Correia, P
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chi White Sox 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 3 9 0
Minnesota 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 x 4 9 2

man, what an absolutely beautiful day for baseball.. We all had a warm but wonderful time and the Twins were very generous to the series win for KL.

There was some really awkward ways to get on base today though. Walked in runs, hit batter walked in runs.. it was entertaining. It was a fun bit of small ball actually!

I think the most exciting inning of the game however was the 5th – and the return of Joe Mauer. He hit a patented double to knock in a pair of runs and then, crossed home plate himself on a single by Morales. That was all we needed to get the win – which is good because we didn’t get any more. The pitching kind of tried to give it up and Perkins made us all flash back to last night when he gave up one of the cushion runs but he held on and kept the Save instead of hoping they’d give him the Win. But since Josh Willingham’s kid as the Jr. PA didn’t actually improve the score and Mauer made the win possible, he is today’s BOD! I hope you’re actually back to stay this time.JOEMAUER

 

GameChat – White Sox @ Twins, 7:10 (Maybe)

Posted on by

The radar in the Twin Cities area reportedly is making some folks doubt whether tonight’s series opener with the White Sox will actually get played, but if it does, it will be Yohan Pino’s MLB debut.

It would be a real shame (for me) if it isn’t played since it’s being televised on CSN (the Sox network), making it one of the rare times I would actually get to see a Twins game on TV. Yes I know it would be a shame for Pino, too, but it’s all about me.

I’ll be heading up toward Target Field about noon tomorrow to catch the Friday and Saturday games and I’m looking forward to that. – JC

Chicago @ Minnesota
Eaton, CF Santana, D, SS
Beckham, G, 2B Dozier, 2B
Gillaspie, 3B Mauer, 1B
Abreu, 1B Willingham, LF
Dunn, A, DH Morales, K, DH
Ramirez, Al, SS Suzuki, K, C
Viciedo, RF Parmelee, RF
De Aza, LF Escobar, E, 3B
Flowers, C Fuld, CF
  Quintana, P   Pino, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Chi White Sox 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 0
Minnesota 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 x 4 9 0

Let’s give the rookie and the vet co-BOD awards, shall we? Of course, in this case, the rookie pitcher, Yohan Pino, and the vet, Joe Mauer, aren’t all that far apart age-wise.

Pino started out by striking out the first two batters he faced and other than a couple hiccups in the 3rd inning, he pretty much cruised through his first seven innings of work as a Big Leaguer.

Mauer had a pair of hits and, more importantly, a pair of RBI. Kind of reminded you of a guy who used to catch for the Twins the last few years. – JC

Yohan Pino
Yohan Pino
Joe Mauer
Joe Mauer

Episode 83: Chicken Parm and (Pinto) Beans

Posted on by

Chris Parmelee hit a walk-off home run to steal a game against the Boston Red Sox, and he’s named after a popular italian food. That’s called bi-winning. You can download the new Talk to Contact (@TalkToContact) episode via iTunes or click here you can download the new episode, and if you want to add the show to your podcast player, this is the RSS Feed.

parm

The Twins Phil Hughes out dueled Justin Verlander in Detroit and the Twins stole the series from the Tigers. Did Phil Hughes do enough to garner this week’s Pitcher of the Week?

The Twins have been making roster moves left and right, call-ups, send-downs, concussion DL stints galore. We review what’s been going on with the roster and what may be coming as Josh Willingham begins his rehab. Byron Buxton is back on the DL, is it time to be worried?

Joe Mauer is set to overtake Kirby Puckett in career WAR, but are you ready to admit that he’s a better player? We tackle that debate and more. 

This week’s Down on the Pond profile is on Twins AAA LHP Kris Johnson. Hopefully he doesn’t tear his UCL like Jose Fernandez and seemingly everyone else in baseball.

 

You can follow Cody on Twitter (@NoDakTwinsFan) or read his writing at NoDakTwinsFan, you can find Paul on Twitter (@BaseballPirate) and you can find Mr. Jay Corn on Twitter (@Jay__Corn)!
If you enjoy our podcast, please take a couple extra minutes and rate and review our show now that it is back on iTunes.  iTunes ratings probably help MLB decide which podcasts to blacklist.

Episode 82: Kicked off of iTunes, Tough Joe Mauer, and Darren Wolfson

Posted on by

iTunes and MLB, tyrants of industry, don’t cha know!  You cannot download the new Talk to Contact (@TalkToContact) episode via iTunes but if you click here you can download the new episode.  And if you want to add the show to your podcast player, this is theRSS Feed. 

selig-736642

In our little part of the internet, the big news this week was MLB asking iTunes to remove several baseball themed podcasts because of what they believe was copyright infringement.  We were one of the podcasts removed, we were fired up, and spent the first ten or so minutes discussing this entire situation.

We also had the opportunity to purchase some free tickets through ScoreBig.com, an online ticket auction site. We detailed the purchase process and the pros and cons of using this ticket provider.

Then we finally circled back around to Twins news.  We talked about the phantom DL and Mike Pelfrey, Aaron Hicks’ concussion, and the current Twins roster construction. Jay took a strong stand on Joe Mauer’s toughness, and Eric strongly disagreed.
Darren Wolfson joined us for almost thiry minutes to give us the scoops on the upcoming MLB draft, and all thing Twins.
We closed out the podcast with our regular segments selecting hitters and pitchers of the week, talking beer, baseball and the news.
101 minutes of fun.  Thanks for listening.

You can follow Cody on Twitter (@NoDakTwinsFan) or read his writing at NoDakTwinsFan, you can find Paul on Twitter (@BaseballPirate) and read his writing at PuckettsPond.com, and you can find Mr. Jay Corn on Twitter (@Jay__Corn)!
If you enjoy our podcast, please take a couple extra minutes and tell iTunes and MLB that we think what they did on Wednesday really stinks.

GameChat – Orioles @ Twins #2, 1:10

Posted on by

Wow, if you live in MN and have been tolerating the weather this week, today is GORGEOUS!! The sun is out and the 50’s are so much better than it was… Since Nolasco did help out the bullpen last night, we should be set to take this to the birds but some actual offense would help a lot.

Baltimore @ Minnesota
Markakis, RF Dozier, 2B
Machado, M, 3B Mauer, 1B
Cruz, N, DH Plouffe, 3B
Jones, Ad, CF Colabello, RF
Clevenger, C Kubel, LF
Hardy, SS Pinto, DH
Pearce, 1B Suzuki, K, C
Lough, LF Fuld, CF
Schoop, 2B Florimon, SS
  Chen, W, P   Correia, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Baltimore 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 2
Minnesota 1 0 1 0 1 0 3 0 x 6 12 0

Not only was the weather a VAST improvement over the previous week but a win is too!! Correia just kept going out each inning.. having a discussion with Andy at the end of each one but then going out for the next until he’d completed 7. Again, that makes for a nice continued break for the over-worked bullpen. I like that. Kudos and pastries for our starter today! The tough part is coming up with a BOD today… I still battle back and forth. My gut says Dozier but the numbers say Mauer.. since I have no one to discuss it with at this point, I’m just going with both!

Photo Credit: Betsy Bissen
Photo Credit: Betsy Bissen
Brian Dozier
Brian Dozier

Episode 74: Joe Nathan’s Cy Young Candidacy

Posted on by

You can download the new Talk to Contact (@TalkToContact) episode via iTunes or by clicking here.

TigerBeat

 

The Detroit Tigers look to be the best team in the division, and it’s not close. They’re offense will beat you into submission and their pitching will have you doing all you can to scratch and claw a measly run or two across the plate. They are the team the Twins wish they were.This week on the podcast we are joined by Bryan Craves (@DisplacedTgrFan) to recap what’s been happening in Motown since the Tigers were bounced out of the playoffs last season.

 

You can follow Cody on Twitter (@NoDakTwinsFan) or read his writing at NoDakTwinsFan, and you can find Paul on Twitter (@BaseballPirate) and read his writing at PuckettsPond.com!

If you enjoy our podcast, please take a couple extra minutes and rate and review us on iTunes. Ratings and reviews help us land more impressive guests for the show.

Episode 72: Reviewing the White Sox

Posted on by

You can put it on the board… YES! This week we are joined by lifelong Chicago White Sox fan Tom Flynn (@Mighty_Flynn) to check in on what’s been happening on the South Side of Chicago since the season came to a close. You can download the new Talk to Contact (@TalkToContact) episode via iTunes or by clicking here.

HawkBoard

We check in on just about every relevant ex-Twin, including Johan Santana, who threw off a mound for several teams and Matt Garza, who signed with the Brewers. Eric takes the gang through a quick round of pepper and eventually we get around to discussing other happenings in baseball, including the new rule concerning collisions at home plate. Strangely enough, Drew Butera is mentioned a handful of times throughout the podcast and there is even talk of a dog running a sausage race.

Thanks for the download. You can follow Cody on Twitter (@NoDakTwinsFan) or read his writing at NoDakTwinsFan, and you can find Eric on Twitter (@ERolfPleiss) and read his writing at Knuckleballs, and you can find Jay Corn on twitter @Jay__Corn! If you enjoy our podcast, please take a couple extra minutes and rate and review us on iTunes. Ratings and reviews have magical iTunes powers that will help Johan regain some of his Cy Young prowess.

Thanks for listening!

 

You can follow Cody on Twitter (@NoDakTwinsFan) or read his writing at NoDakTwinsFan, and you can find Paul on Twitter (@BaseballPirate) and read his writing at PuckettsPond.com!

If you enjoy our podcast, please take a couple extra minutes and rate and review us on iTunes. Ratings and reviews will help Jason Bartlett make the 25-man roster.