Terry Ryan, you have failed.
And I don't mean in the last two weeks. I mean that over the last year, you have failed.
Over the last year, you have failed to make one single, solitary move that meaningfully improves the Minnesota Twins as an organization. How are the Twins different today than they were [...]
Today against KC pitching (all left-handed):
12 PA, 11 AB, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 SO, 0 R, 0 RBI -- Twins' LHB
21 PA, 20 AB, 7 H, 1 BB, 1 SO, 5 R, 4 RBI -- Twins' RHB
Jason Kubel can't hit against left-handed hitters because platoon advantage matters, but then we cram all of [...]
Hey, look, Carlos Silva is pitching for the Twins today. Silva hasn't pitched for the last four days, so really, it's like the Twins just traded for a new pitcher. Wheeee!!
Speaking of trades, the Twins also recently "traded" Luis Castillo for Alexi Casilla. Boy, I can't wait for Casilla to make a [...]
Joe C. reports that the Twins made no more deals today.
It should never have come to this.
Name: Big Mak (or Ray Felix)
Hometown: Marshall, MN (world headquarters of Schwan's Ice Cream)
Town I Currently Live In: Evanston, IL
Profession: Graduate Student at Northwestern University (Chemistry)
Bats: R (singles hitter, good patience)
Throws: R (not very well, shoulder is suspect)
Positions: Corner outfielder (wait, a glass-armed outfielder with [...]
The Twins ended a fantastic month of July (18-8) with a 15-2 clubbing of the Texas Rangers. Torii Hunter, fresh off the DL, hit his 15th home run of the season. Nick Punto had four hits (just like he did this July -- oh wait, that was in one game). The [...]
Parting is such sweet sorrow. Man, I'll miss KG (if it's true).
Sports Card Trader magazine cover - March 1992 - vol. 2 #11
"KIRBY PUCKETT: Minnesota's Mighty Man"
From The Porter Wagoner Show in '68. He may be crazy, but ol' George has an incredible catalog of songs. If you close your eyes, you can almost smell the bourbon.
I ran across this while investigating some other matters:
PrAVG/PrOBP/PrSLG -- Dude
.250/.334/.323 -- Nick Punto
.295/.348/.347 -- Luis Castillo
And for that matter:
PrAVG/PrOBP/PrSLG -- Dude
.280/.329/.359 -- Jason Tyner
.295/.348/.347 -- Luis Castillo
Yes, Castillo is a better hitter than those two guys. Was he a significantly better hitter? Not really.
I point this out not because I've suddenly embraced [...]
Match the line to the Twins player:
.120/.241/.120, 9 games -- Player A
.138/.219/.172, 9 games -- Player B
Bonus round:
.261/.308/.304, 9 games -- Player C
Answers (and more) after the break:
Gil Meche vs. Scott "Light Rail" Baker
Much has been made of Meche taking big strides forward this season. Here's my take on it:
Take a look at Meche's GB/FB/LD rates over the years, and in particular, this year. For the first 10 starts this year, he was doing something he'd never done before [...]
Luis Castillo is gone, essentially. There are details to take care of, but there has been so much talk of him to the Mets over the last few weeks that it's kind of a case of "where there's smoke there's fire." (Actually, if the Mets really want Castillo, they might want to think [...]
Front page Strib.com: "The Boston Herald reports the final package will likely have the Celtics sending Al Jefferson, Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Theo Ratliff and a No. 1 pick to Minnesota to acquire Garnett."
The NFL Network puts the kibosh on Deion Sanders's follow up column on the Vick sitcheashun.
Harmon Killebrew, when asked about Barry Bonds in Cooperstown this week, said, "We should just shoot him." Apparently, Killer was joking (he punctuated the comment with a "hearty laugh") and it's hard to know the context or what lead up to the comment, but let's just say that it was an unfortunate choice of [...]
I'm not sure I should even be doing this preview. I've seen what happens to people who try to cover the Royals. If Emil Brown asks about me, I was never here.
Minnesota Twins (53-51) vs. Kansas City Royals (47-57)
The Twins have been alternating series wins and losses since the break. Hopefully the [...]
Good series against Cleveland. Sell.
The Twins salvaged the third game of a three game series against Detroit, winning 6-4 in one of the most memorable games of the year. Jeremy Bonderman had pitched a shutout until the eighth inning, outdueling Johan Santana. Then, the roof fell in.
Minnesota - Bottom of 8th
Score
Jeremy Bonderman pitching for Detroit
DET
MIN
J Morneau reached [...]
Louisville rockers in fine form on Letterman. With the Boston Pops, summer 2006.
Matt Garza vs. Captain Cheeseburger
Try not to break the mound while you're dominating our hitters today, C.C.
Garza has a pretty formidable task today, and he's been a little lucky so far this season, so I don't have such a good feeling about this. I'm still hoping we get to see Garza continue [...]
Lucy and I traveled down south to CarterHayes territory in order to visit Mr. and Mrs. Van Pelt -- or more accurately -- to give them some time to see their granddaughter. When we used to come down here -- and I'm typing this in their basement at 6:00 Sunday morning -- damned insomnia [...]
The Twins suffered a second straight defeat to the Detroit Tigers, losing 8-6. The Tigers got to Brad Radke early, scoring four runs in just three innings. Kyle Lohse came on and gave up two more runs in the fourth. The Twins got 14 hits, including Justin Morneau's 28th home run of [...]
I present to you two teams...
.268/.335/.398, 4.95 R/G -- Team A
.273/.329/.418, 3.36 R/G -- Team B
...except that they aren't really two different teams. Team A is the Twins before the All-Star Break, and Team B is the Twins 14 games after the All-Star Break.
In total, after the first 102 games of the season, the [...]
Sweetheart of the Rodeo-era Byrds getting back to the country on this Dylan classic. From '68 (?)
Johan Santana vs. Jake Westbrook
Westbrook ==> Ground balls
Ground balls ==> Death to Twins offense
Westbrook's not been as good as in previous years, but don't let the 6.20 ERA fool you--he hasn't pitched that badly.
UPDATE: Punto-free lineup, featuring Bartlett at SS, Buscher at 3B, White at DH, and Tyner (the least bad of all the options) [...]
Russell Branyan was released by the Padres today. Branyan is far from an ideal player. He has little-to-no defensive value, strikes out a lot, and doesn't hit for a high average.
BUT...Branyan has one very major league tool--he can hit for power. His isolated slugging of .229 this year puts him near hitters [...]
Why was Nick Punto in the lineup Friday night? Can only be one thing: Scrubini Fixation.
The Twins lost the first game of a four game series with the AL Central leading Detroit Tigers 3-2 in ten innings falling out of a second place tie with the White Sox and 9.5 games behind the Tigers. Francisco Liriano started and went eight innings, striking out 12 batters, allowing 2 runs in [...]
Phil Lynott shows Bob Seger how it's done. Flash pots, smoke, platform heels. Looks like 1978.
0-4
Key error in decisive inning
"Sacrifice" bunt with one out and a runner on first in the 3rd inning of the game
SO looking to end the game
"I can't even put a finger on what it is, because I don't feel awful. I know I'm not hitting very well at all, to say the least, but I [...]
Boof! vs. Paul Byrd
Today's burning lineup question: Punto or Bushwacker?
The Twins' offense has the second fewest strikeouts in all of baseball. (And the only team below them has played one fewer game.) This is, of course, by design. The Twins love guys who can put the ball in play. It also [...]
Will Carroll on Bob Costas's little chemist and the logic (or lack thereof) of the accusations against Bonds.
Minnesota Twins (51-50) @ Cleveland Indians (59-43)
The Twins look to notch their first win this season against Cleveland in a three game weekend series on the road. If they don't get that elusive win this season, it doesn't matter too much. First of all, the Twins have essentially played themselves out of the [...]
May the Twins have better luck in Cleveland than The Tap.
Many of my comments regarding whether or the Twins should trade Torii Hunter and Luis Castillo has been under the supposition that both players will be Type A or Type B free agents. Well....that might not actually happen.
Let's look at Hunter first. I had sort of been assuming that he'd be a Type [...]
Live @ Grimey's Records, Nashville, TN.
The Akron duo rocks a handful of lucky shoppers with a Robert Pete Williams cover.
The Twins, fresh off of a sweep of the Chicago White Sox and winners of 12 out of their last 13 games had a day off. Up next: a four game series with the AL Central leading Detroit Tigers.
No game today, so naturally, there's no game thread. If you scroll down the main page, though, there should be plenty of stuff to keep you busy if you've been away for a couple of days.
Even so, I ran across a quote yesterday in Earl Weaver's wikipedia page that seemed relevant to this season. [...]
Prime Time with his take on the Michael Vick sitcheashun.
Name: zooomx
Hometown: St. Cloud
Town I Currently Live In: Alexandria
Profession: Restaurant Manager
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Positions: played them all, began with SS, CF and Pitcher. The first baseman's glove came with the extra 50 pounds
Greatest Career Achievement in Baseball/Sofball/T-ball: played men's fastpitch league and tourneys at the [...]
Reusse brings some clarity to the situation: trade Hunter, trade Castillo, trade Silva. No Top Jimmy-esque hand wringing about Torii, no wishful thinking about the 2007 campaign. This season is over, get what you can for next year.
Now, there's been plenty of talk about whether or not trading a player like Hunter is [...]
[contributed by: Rhubarb_Runner]
Baseball Cards magazine cover - March 1992 - Issue #77, vol. 22 #3
"Kirby Puckett: Minnesota's Mighty Man"
Will Terry Ryan sell?
Michael Cuddyer and Justin Morneau both homered as the Twins completed a sweep of the Chicago White Sox 7-4 and pulled into second place in the AL Central and 1/2 game behind the Yankees for the Wild Card lead. The Twins remained 8.5 games behind the Detroit Tigers. The Game Log had 221 [...]
Curt Schilling weighs in on Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and steroids in general. Again.
Ubelmann's post concerning the 7-9 hitters yesterday brought to mind these numbers that I've been compiling over the last couple of days with a similar goal. I was looking at the consistency (and lack thereof) in the Twins offense. In my searches for the Series Preview in Blog, I came across an article [...]
Not necessarily "live" on British television. The year is 1968. And for those who didn't know, Steve Marriott was a ROCK STAR!
This one goes out to Scotty "Light Rail" Baker.
The Twins optioned Darnell McDonald to AAA Rochester and hint that they'll call up 3B Brian Buscher. You have to wonder about this turn of events. Why did the Twins not bring up Buscher before? Did they sour really fast on McDonald, or are they throwing in the towel and trying to [...]
Citizen twayn notes:
Over at Nick and Nick’s they’re doing a sidebar feature called Bottom of the Barrel, tracking the offensive performance of the 7-9 hitters in the lineup since the AS break. After today’s game (1-9), they’ve fallen below the Mendoza line to .197, but it’s not updated to reflect today’s game yet. Seriously, when [...]
The 2007 Twins can call it a day.
Back on March 30th, I speculated that the Twins could put this lineup out on the field for a getaway day:
1. Luis Rodriguez - 2B
2. Nick Punto - 3B
3. Chris Heintz - C
4. Michael Cuddyer - RF
5. Jeff Cirillo - 1B
6. Jason Tyner - CF
7. Rondell White - LF
8. Mike Redmond - DH
9. Jason Bartlett [...]
Carlos Silva vs. Jesse Litsch
The Twins have been shut out in 9% of their games. That just seems crazy to me. (Then I remember that Lew Ford, Jason Tyner, and Nick Punto have all gotten significant playing time this year and it all makes sense.)
Litsch is kind of a groundballer, but he's allowed [...]
[contributed by: E-6]
Summer of '49
From the Ed Sullivan Show, 1966. As romantic as the Stones ever got. For Stick and Lucy.
Jason Bartlett hit a dramatic three run home run in the top of the seventh inning to break a 1-1 tie and propel the Twins to a 4-3 win over the Wild Card leading White Sox. Johan Santana allowed three runs in seven innings to pick up his 12th win against five losses. [...]
On June 16th, 2007, Ron Gardenhire suprised me and expressed rather firm support for extending the Light Rail:
Gardenhire was emphatic that Friday night's starter, Scott Baker, would make his next scheduled start against the Mets on Wednesday.
Baker lasted just 4 2/3 innings and gave up six earned runs in Friday's loss. After a brilliant start [...]
Scott "Light Rail" Baker vs. Dustin McGowan
Forecasted to be a replacement level pitcher by PECOTA, McGowan promptly raised his middle finger and proceeded to post a 4.17 xFIP so far this season. He's a right-hander with GB tendencies. I'm not really sure what to expect today.
As a team, Toronto is hitting .294/.366/.473 [...]
Bud's gonna head to SF to watch Barry, but won't be a part of any on-field celebration.
Name: Dean E. Carlson
SBG Name:Freealonzo. I was friends with Alonzo Newby as an undergrad at the U. During the Gopher academic scandal it looked like Clem was setting up Alonzo as the patsy. At the same time I was looking for a nom de web and came up with Freealonzo. Been [...]
See? Home runs don't win games.
Sports Illustrated cover - October 28, 1991
"World Series"
"The Twins and the Braves tangle for the title"
The third place Twins defeated the Chicago White Sox 7-4. Joe Mauer hit a three run homer and Cuddyer and Morneau supplied back-to-back shots. It was Morneau's 26th home run of the season. Brad Radke pitched six innings to get the win. The Twins moved to 57-41, 9.5 games behind the [...]
Local boy tears it up with some help from Josh Frieze (Vandals) on drums and Dave Minehan (Neighborhoods) on lead guitar. With introduction by Moses. Replacement Level.
Knockin' On Mine
Knowledge adds, wisdom lets slide
Santana vs. Shaun Marcum
Santana continues his push for the Cy Young Award, offense struggles against mediocre pitching, blah, blah, blah.
Apparently teams are allowed to swap players in what is known as a "trade," but after July 31st players must pass through waivers before being "traded." Actually, I think I've heard this song and dance [...]
From ESPN.COM:
The Daily News reported Sunday, citing unidentified law enforcement sources, that Donaghy will cooperate with authorities and possibly name other officials and players involved in the betting scandal.
On Monday, the newspaper reported that former neighbors of Donaghy's in Pennsylvania say they were approached more than a year ago by a private investigator they believed [...]
I apologize for not getting something together for the Angels series, our cats dumped a vase of flowers on our keyboard and the bottom row stopped working for a couple of days. Being that 'Los A_geles', 'A_ahei_', and 'A_gels' all required use of the 'n' or 'm' key, I decided to pass on that [...]
Accused fixer Tim Donaghy worked game 3 of the Suns-Spurs series.
It's the dog days of summer. Woof.
The third place Twins once won the rubber game of the series with the Cleveland Indians, collectively striking out 17 in