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!
The Twins stole a win from Felix Hernandez last night, and they should have a little easier sledding this evening against Harang, so maybe the boys will score a couple more runs.
And Chris Colabello was rewarded for his extra inning work with a start at DH tonight.
A very strong performance from Samuel Deduno and a couple of solo home runs powered the Twins to victory. A victory only seen by the lucky few to have a ticket to see the game at Safeco Field because the game was not broadcast.
You know, you look at the line up the Yankees are putting out there right now and you just can’t believe that’s a New York Yankees team. It’s just as hard to understand how the Twins simply can’t beat them.
Maybe Sam Deduno hasn’t had time to figure out he’s not supposed to beat any team wearing pinstripes in Yankee Stadium.
The losing streak is OVER! Both of them, even! 6 game losing streak AND 6 consecutive losses to the Yankees. It feels good to have the boys on the winning side of things this time.
That being said, we still haven’t solved the RISP problem – the boys just decided if they weren’t going to have the guy behind them bring them home, they were just going to have to get home on their own – 3 homeruns in today’s game from Plouffe, Doumit and Florimon! It was great to get the long ball though because it was such a morale booster!
And what is it about the officiating at Yankee Stadium?!?!?! Gardy got tossed after a HORRIBLE (not even close or rational) call at 1B. Clete Thomas was called out for interference/leaving the base path. You know what is funny about that call? Video is really great to show if a runner ever does that.. and sure enough, never happened. No clue where that call came from – even Overbay looked a little surprised. Gardy was more than surprised of course – and as Ron Coomer predicted the moment the call was made, Gardy was tossed for explaining to the ump exactly the relative positions of his head and his ass.
Maybe that was what was necessary because the 1-1 tie didn’t last long after that..
The real story for today is Samuel Deduno. He really kept the Yankees off balance – like he did when he faced them last time in Minnesota on July 4th. At least this time, his colleagues gave him the win! 7 solid innings with only 1 earned run is just about the best we have seen from any of our pitchers lately! So today, he earns our BOD!
and the Beer Bash continues… we hope. There’s a threat of some pretty severe storms moving in so let’s hope we can get the baseball in. The boys already had to give up batting practice due to earlier rain today so let’s hope that works out as well as it did the last time rain cancelled BP – they hit the stuffing out of the ball!
In further roster shake-up, Colabello has already gone back down to Rochester as Plouffe came off the 7-day DL today. We have a new lead-off hitter to try out tonight as they put Escobar in the 1-hole. We also have Herrmann making his first appearance this season catching so that Mauer can get a little break by DHing. And just for the record, I would love to see Deduno improve over his last outing. I think we won’t get a lot of leeway and it’s imperative that he go as deep into the game as the game can go given the extra innings last night – although if rain interferes, there is little we can do to manage that other than hope someone in the bullpen has something left…
[edit] already had to post a new lineup – VERY late substitution has taken Plouffe out the game and not for the reason you’re thinking. He’s apparently dealing with tightness in his calf which kind of sucks since we already sent Colabello back down and we’re going to be light on the bench tonight…
Hot DAMN!!! And the timing was perfect because I’m listening to thunder as I type this!
Now THAT was some great baseball!! SO many great things happened tonight and so many people did some awesome stuff that I decided we had to combine the beer prize with our traditional baked-goods prizes and start passing out Beer Cakes to the sundry excellent performers!
Everyone except Florimon got a hit tonight, Doumit had 2 RBI and Hicks had a beautiful Homerun that sailed just out of reach of the chasing GoGo. And there was some spectacular defensive plays out there tonight and you know I’m a sucker for the glove work. Aaron Hicks and Chris Parmelee both made RIDICULOUS catches that I can guarantee will make the high light reels and Dozier had some SOLID work in the middle infield including a VERY timely and necessary double play. They ALL get to pick a Beer Cake and enjoy.
But more than anything it was great to watch a WIN and our heartiest congratulations to Samuel Deduno for his first W this season! Yeah, he hit 3 batters.. (oops) but that just solidifies his title of “effectively wild”. And more importantly, going into the 8th inning after last night’s 5+ hour affair is EXACTLY what this team needed tonight. It was a BRILLIANT outing that earned him tonight’s BOD! Good job!
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*
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.
Coming off a disappointing road trip before the All-Star Game in which the Twins lost of couple of heart breakers to the Texas Rangers, the Minnesota Twins are likely to aggressively look for offers for many of their current players. While the Twins are “only” 11.0 games out of first place, they are still 13 games under .500 and would have to go 45-32, playing .582 baseball. Only the New York Yankees, the Texas Rangers, and the Washington Nationals played .582 baseball or better before the All-Star Break, so the Twins are looking at a monumental climb just to get back to .500.
Sam Deduno David Goldman, Associated Press
Realistically the Twins would need to approach not just 81 wins to compete in the Central, but something more like 86 wins to win the division (assuming the White Sox Cleveland or Detroit do not play much better in the 2nd half), which would mean going 50-27 in their remaining games. That simply is not happening with the Twins’ current pitching staff. Even if the good Francisco Liriano shows up and Scott Diamond continues to impress, Cole De Vries and Samuel Dedunoare still in the starting rotation!
So what would a realistic record look like going down the stretch? The Twins are 18-17 since June 1, which is a lot closer to the mediocre team many thought the Twins would be heading into the season, than the 18-32 baseball the played before June. In their remaining 77 games, the Twins have 43 games against the AL Central and just 17 left against the AL East and the AL West. Even if the Twins’ front office trades off a couple of their more valuable players, the Twins should still have a decent opportunity to play within a game of .500 baseball against the AL Central teams, going 21-22 the rest of the way. Against the East and West the Twins played very poorly in the first half, posting a winning record only against the Oakland Athletics (3-0). I do not think they’ll be as bad as they were in the first half, and if they manage to go 15-19 against the rest of the AL I will not be surprised. Maybe that is a little bit of a rose colored prediction, but this team has shown in the past month+ that they are capable of putting together stretches of competitive baseball.
That would put the Twins at 36-41 in the second half, and a record of 72-90 to finish the season. That is only 9 games better than the 63-99 the Twins were a year ago, but if the front office is building towards future success, I will be willing to accept the lumps in 2012 in hopes of a brighter future ahead.
