{"id":13533,"date":"2012-08-25T14:34:16","date_gmt":"2012-08-25T19:34:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/knuckleballsblog.com\/?p=13533"},"modified":"2012-08-25T23:00:26","modified_gmt":"2012-08-26T04:00:26","slug":"gamechat-twins-rangers-2-305-pm-fox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/knuckleballsblog.com\/2012\/08\/25\/gamechat-twins-rangers-2-305-pm-fox\/","title":{"rendered":"GameChat &#8211; Twins @ Rangers #3, 3:05 pm (FOX)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Of course, the big news in baseball today is about the trade that&#8217;s gone down between the Red Sox and Dodgers, with Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and former Twin Nick Punto all headed straight in to a pennant race. while the Sox get James Loney and a number of minor leaguers in return. The amazing part of this deal, tome, is that the Red Sox were able to not only shed over a quarter of a billion dollars of future payroll (they are only sending $12 million to the Dodgers), but also get several supposedly quality players on top of the salary relief. Are the Dodgers becoming the &#8220;new&#8221; Yankees?<\/p>\n<p>The LA Times story on the trade also mentioned that the Red Sox went after Gonzalez after efforts to acquire Justin Morneau from the Twins last week were unsuccessful. I haven&#8217;t seen any confirmation concerning exactly how those discussions played out. I suspect the Dodgers weren&#8217;t offering a whole lot for Morneau over and above taking on his salary. Then again, they had to take on a lot more salary in the Red Sox deal and still gave up some good young pitchers. Then again, perhaps the Twins simply don&#8217;t want to part with their first baseman. That would certainly say something about their confidence level in Chris Parmelee, wouldn&#8217;t it?<\/p>\n<p>The other possibility would be that the Twins hadn&#8217;t yet sent Morneau through waivers when the Dodgers approached them and someone else claimed Morneau ahead of the Dodgers, nixing a potential deal.<\/p>\n<p>In any event, I have to admit I find it amusing that Nicky Punto finds himself once again in a position to make a deep playoff run. Talk about a guy who just seems to find himself in the right place at the right time.<\/p>\n<p>Anyway&#8230; on to the Twins. Scott Diamond has been suspended for six games for throwing a ball near the head of Josh Hamilton. Seems a little harsh and he&#8217;ll appeal, but in the end he&#8217;s going to end up missing a start at some point.<\/p>\n<p>The Twins face Ryan Dempster this afternoon. Dempster hasn&#8217;t been terrific since being traded to the Rangers, but he did pretty much shut the Twins down earlier in the season when he was still wearing a Cubs uniform.<\/p>\n<p>Josh Willingham is back in the Twins lineup, as is Denard Span, so I guess that&#8217;s something.<\/p>\n<table width=\"433\" border=\"1\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"7\">\n<colgroup>\n<col width=\"182\" \/>\n<col width=\"24\" \/>\n<col width=\"182\" \/> <\/colgroup>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">TWINS<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"TOP\" width=\"24\">\n<p align=\"CENTER\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">@<\/span><\/p>\n<\/td>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">RANGERS<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=452655\" target=\"player\">Span<\/a>, CF <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"TOP\" width=\"24\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=435079\" target=\"player\">Kinsler<\/a>, 2B <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=519184\" target=\"player\">Revere<\/a>, RF <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"TOP\" width=\"24\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=462101\" target=\"player\">Andrus<\/a>, SS <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=408045\" target=\"player\">Mauer<\/a>, DH<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"TOP\" width=\"24\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=285078\" target=\"player\">Hamilton<\/a>, LF <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=425545\" target=\"player\">Willingham<\/a>, LF <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"TOP\" width=\"24\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=134181\" target=\"player\">Beltre, A<\/a>, 3B <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=408047\" target=\"player\">Morneau<\/a>, 1B<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"TOP\" width=\"24\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=443558\" target=\"player\">Cruz, N<\/a>, DH <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=425491\" target=\"player\">Doumit<\/a>, C <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"TOP\" width=\"24\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=461815\" target=\"player\">Murphy, Dv<\/a>, RF <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=461858\" target=\"player\">Plouffe<\/a>, 3B <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"TOP\" width=\"24\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=434567\" target=\"player\">Soto<\/a>, C <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=425206\" target=\"player\">Carroll<\/a>, 2B<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"TOP\" width=\"24\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=502226\" target=\"player\">Gentry<\/a>, CF <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=465753\" target=\"player\">Florimon<\/a>, SS <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"TOP\" width=\"24\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-small;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=519048\" target=\"player\">Moreland<\/a>, 1B <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0<span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">_<\/span><\/span><\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=488846\" target=\"player\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Duensing<\/span><\/a><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">, P <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<td valign=\"TOP\" width=\"24\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"182\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u00a0\u00a0<span style=\"font-family: Arial,sans-serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">_<a href=\"http:\/\/mlb.mlb.com\/team\/player.jsp?player_id=133225\" target=\"player\">Dempster<\/a>, P <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<table width=\"100%\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"1\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr align=\"center\" bgcolor=\"#dedede\">\n<td nowrap=\"nowrap\" width=\"200\"><\/td>\n<td width=\"33\"><strong>1<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"33\"><strong>2<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"33\"><strong>3<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"33\"><strong>4<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"33\"><strong>5<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"33\"><strong>6<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"33\"><strong>7<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"33\"><strong>8<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"33\"><strong>9<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"33\"><strong>R<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"33\"><strong>H<\/strong><\/td>\n<td width=\"33\"><strong>E<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr align=\"center\" bgcolor=\"#ffffff\">\n<td align=\"left\"><a href=\"http:\/\/gd2.mlb.com\/content\/game\/mlb\/year_2012\/month_08\/day_25\/gid_2012_08_25_minmlb_texmlb_1\/bis_boxscore.html\"><strong>Minnesota<\/strong><\/a><\/td>\n<td>0<\/td>\n<td>0<\/td>\n<td>0<\/td>\n<td>1<\/td>\n<td>1<\/td>\n<td>0<\/td>\n<td>1<\/td>\n<td>0<\/td>\n<td>0<\/td>\n<td><strong>3<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>12<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>2<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr align=\"center\" bgcolor=\"#ffffff\">\n<td align=\"left\"><a href=\"http:\/\/gd2.mlb.com\/content\/game\/mlb\/year_2012\/month_08\/day_25\/gid_2012_08_25_minmlb_texmlb_1\/bis_boxscore.html\"><strong>Texas<\/strong><\/a><\/td>\n<td>2<\/td>\n<td>3<\/td>\n<td>4<\/td>\n<td>0<\/td>\n<td>0<\/td>\n<td>0<\/td>\n<td>0<\/td>\n<td>0<\/td>\n<td>x<\/td>\n<td><strong>9<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>14<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>0<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>I&#8217;m going to be honest, I stopped listening to the Twins game when it was 9-0 after three innings. I have no idea what happened after that, but looking at the boxscore, it&#8217;s clear that nothing good happened. Though I suppose the fact that the Rangers ended up with just those nine runs would indicate the bullpen did a job, so there&#8217;s that. Way to go bullpen.<\/p>\n<p>However, I did see the Beloit Snappers beat the Cedar Rapids Kernels 13-2 and it didn&#8217;t start raining until about the 6th inning. It was a good time, even though the game wasn&#8217;t terribly exciting. &#8211; JC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Of course, the big news in baseball today is about the trade that&#8217;s gone down between the Red Sox and Dodgers, with Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett and former Twin Nick Punto all headed straight in to a pennant race. while the Sox get James Loney and a number of minor leaguers in return. The amazing part of this deal, tome, is that the Red Sox were able to not only shed over a quarter of a billion dollars of future payroll (they are only sending $12 million to the Dodgers), but also get several supposedly quality players on top of the salary relief. Are the Dodgers becoming the &#8220;new&#8221; Yankees? The LA Times story on the trade also mentioned that the Red Sox went after Gonzalez after efforts to acquire Justin Morneau from the Twins last week were unsuccessful. I haven&#8217;t seen any confirmation concerning exactly how those <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"http:\/\/knuckleballsblog.com\/2012\/08\/25\/gamechat-twins-rangers-2-305-pm-fox\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  GameChat &#8211; Twins @ Rangers #3, 3:05 pm (FOX)<\/span><span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/knuckleballsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13533"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/knuckleballsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/knuckleballsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/knuckleballsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/knuckleballsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13533"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/knuckleballsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13533\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13541,"href":"http:\/\/knuckleballsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13533\/revisions\/13541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/knuckleballsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13533"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/knuckleballsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13533"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/knuckleballsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13533"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}