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Game 90: Twins vs. Crimson HosersBlackburn v. Lester Now that Lester has started throwing more strikes and has his xFIP down to 4.17, I'm less of a hater. The Red Sox are currently in second place in the AL East. I see two clear reasons for this: 1) The Red Sox are not superheroes in a cartoon. Really, everyone in the AL should just be re-tooling for next year. Unless they can come out with cartoons of comparable quality, I just don't see anyone touching the Rays. 191 comments to Game 90: Twins vs. Crimson Hosers |
 Wolves lose again by 22, Kevin Love down to 17 minutes. This is the worst possible situation for the Wolves. They are driving what is left of their fan base with a tremendous stretch of terrible basketball. Their best, or second-best, player has checked out and is getting buried on the bench. I doubt that Love is in their long term plans. How's that O.J. Mayo deal looking now? |
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Glad to see yesterday that the venting over the loss was short-lived and pretty much everyone was able to see the setback for what it was: one game out of 162, a very well-played game despite the loss, and a bad decision by Gardenhire, one I'm pretty sure he's been beating himself up for worse than any of us could.
I think the consensus that Bass was the wrong guy is right on... the only other semi-controversial decision in the game (Kubel vs. Monroe) seemed perfectly justifiable to me and I'm assuming most would agree.
I won't even try to justify Delmon, he may be a first-pitch swinger but swinging first pitch four times especially at a ball way out of the zone in the first inning against a pitcher who wasn't throwing strikes is just inexcusable.
The one benefit of failure is that intelligent people use it as a means to improve themselves by taking a different approach the next time. If Gardy's and Delmon's failures last night serve to prevent them from going to inferior "hot hand" bullpen arms and stubbornly first-pitch swinging no matter what, then maybe those failures are in the long run more valuable than "success" would have been if they would have turned out well and the Twins won the game. Bad strategy rewarded leads to bad habits...
Of course, this is assuming that Gardenhire and Delmon are intelligent enough to respond to failure this way...
Jeebus, Gomez gets picked off on 3-2 count.
off to a blistering start!
And Casilla walks. Gah!
Holy cr@p! Billy Beane is at it again.
Cubs get Rich Harden (26) and Chad Gaudin (25) for right-handed pitcher Sean Gallagher (22), outfielder Matt Murton (26), infielder Eric Patterson (25) and catcher Josh Donaldson (22, at Single-A).
Harden is a wildly talented, but apparently fragile power pitcher. Gaudin had a hot run last year, but appears to be Kyle Lohse-level at best. I haven't really looked at any of the Cubbie prospects yet, but would have to guess that Gallagher is the prize. Donaldson looks like throw-in junk; Patterson like AAAA infield depth. Murton is potentially useful, but the A's/River Cats OF ranks still seem crowded to me.
I know Eric Patterson is the brother of former Cub great Corey Patterson
the Cubs just answered the Brewers move
Which makes the Brewers gamble less palatable.
yah. Gaudin can be very effective as a middle reliever and spot starter. Harden could be great.
I don't really see this from the A's perspective yet, but will look around tonight to see what I can see. I suppose it could just be a risk-averse salary dump with Harden.
The A's weren't out of that race. They probably are now, though.
Yeah seriously. It's gonna be smooth sailing for the Angels.
No kidding. That's a White Flag Trade.
Billy's got some replacement-level starters (with potential to be more) stashed at AAA (Lenny Dinardo, Dallas Braden, Gio Gonzalez, Kirk Saarloos) to go with the guys he has with the big club now (Duchshererererer, who is outstanding; Greg Smith and Dana Eveland, who have been enjoyed above-average outcomes with average peripherals; Blanton, who is a decent 5th starter).
but the offense is the problem. Billy seems to be going with a massive Youth Movement, having called up 3 position players from the Cats in the past 5 weeks (CF Carlos Gonzalez, who could be a stud; 1b Wes Bankston -- taking ABs from last year's phenom, Daric Barton, who has been horrrrrrrible; SS Gregori Pettit, filling in for the dinged-up and enigmatic Bobby Crosby).
Frank has been big hurt since coming over; Chavez is still hurt; Mike Sweeney is hurt. Jack Hannahan hasn't produced at 3b. There's lots of potential in the OF ranks (Ryan Sweeney, Travis Buck, Gonzalez) and Jack Cust has been Dave Kingman Lite. But I don't think that team is ready to compete. And that must be what Billy thinks too.
JD Drew tries to reach third on a ball hit in front of him. We haven't seen that kind of baserunning since Torii Hunter left.
I thought the reports of Youkilis' defense were exaggerated, but wow. He is making some plays this series.
I want to meet the person who first put bacon on a pile of mashed potatos
yum
----
lets go offense!
tacos with crock-potted pulled pork tonight, assuming Mrs S actually took care of it this morning. If not, I'm just gonna open a can of cold baked beans. It's too hot to cook.
Chili dogs, chips, and Diet Dr. Pepper. Now that's gotta be a dw approved dinner.
absolutley!
Hamburgers and some potato concoction on the grill.
why does everything cooked in a crock pot taste better?
Secret sauce.
I usually go with the bratwurst and sauerkraut on top of mashed potatos, though I'll give you bacon. Bacon makes everything better.
Sort of a Minnesotan bangers and mash, eh? Sounds pretty tasty.
I live in southern Wisconsin, so it's a Wisco bangers and mash. But yeah, it's tasty.
Jiminy! Team Bunty McBuntersons.
I know it's just been a few games, but the Harris 3B, Punto SS tandem seems to work well defensively. Punto has the range for SS and Harris has the arm for 3B. I'd think against lefties this would be the way to go.
Between the flaky server and an even flakier Comcast connection last night, I spent about 6 innings failing to connect to the game log. Tonight seems to be much better.
I have a caching thing going, which isn't perfect, but it does speed things up.
every once in awhile, I get a '500 Server Error' and then the site doesnt work for about 5 minutes
it did it again
That's just the server being flaky.
I've gotten this several times, too.
Tangential aside: did you know that Atlanta's area code is 404? There's an NBA joke there somewhere.
Morneau just keeps hitting... he, Punto, and Mauer all are back in 2006 form. I'd love it if Monroe would regain his 2006 form, especially the Oct 2006...
way to go Harris!
triiiiiiiple
Harris! Two out runs are our specialty!
Harris!
Two out RBI for the (T)win(s)
Yay for secondary power!
A Puntonian hit. Lester's looking pretty hittable tonight.
Apparently a good pickoff move, though?
Aye.
Better reinforce the shocks and springs on the Punto Bandwagon if he keeps this up...
Poor baserunning is incredibly annoying.
Twins re-take the lead in baserunning blunders, 2-1. It was said last night and tonight seems to be more of the same: this is playoff-type baseball so far... low scoring, good defense, runs at a premium. It would behoove both teams to not needlessly give away outs on the basepaths...
Bert on Fenway: "This is kind of like going to New York"
I'm sure Red Sox fans would love to hear that.
Some of these pitches being called balls by Blackburn are looking like good pitches to me.
ruh roh. Gordo raises the specter of BoSox pursuing Barry Bighead.
Have we already hashed this out here? If Barry's agent is to be believed, the Twins could have a guy who we'd assume to still be a devastating offensive weapon -- for a very modest salary? From a production standpoint, it's a no-brainer... from a cost standpoint, where's the problem? But obviously, is it worth the baggage, ridicule, bad vibes, and all-around 180 turn from the Twins' philosophy?
Apparently, the Great One would play for the prorated minimum and basically give that back to the club in the form of purchased tickets. So, reportedly, he'd play for nothing.
I heard that earlier this week. Wouldn't it be fun to see Curt Schilling and Barry holding hands and singing Kumbaya?
Separated at birth: George Clooney and Mike Lowell
Unless you were paying close attention, there was no way to know the Twins scored three runs last inning. Gladden's play-by-play calling is monotone and slightly louder monotone. Yeah yeah, I'm bludgeoning a deceased equine.
Dazzle b-day yesterday
his voice sounds like he was celebrating late
Rhu_Ru, where's the trimmed version?
Hmmm... I didn't get much from that interview except "When you live on the street, socks are like gold."
btw, the nephew of Friend of bS, RJ Swindle, got his debut in yesterday. 3 innings of relief for the Phils; he gave up a bomb to his first batter, David Wright, then a couple more hits and one more run before settling down.
Paraphrasing my buddy Stick's summary: if Charlie M wanted him as a LOOGY, why did he debut against three consecutive right-handed hitters (Wright, Beltran, Easley)?
but whatever. exciting trial by fire. He cashed in a couple K's with his 53-MPH eephus-like slow curve.
Gomez struck out on a low slider out of the zone... I don't recall that happening before... anyone else?
Hola folks.
Protein Shake Man!
I prefer my protein frozen- a meatcicle if you will.
"These Twins will drive you nuts with the bunts."
Literally, in the case of Cliff Lee and C.C. Sabathia.
Yes, I defied Sabathia's punctuation embargo.
holy cow! my audio is in front of gameday!
Just in time, since I gotta go pee.
Bert justifies Varitek's inclusion on the All-Star team. All righty, then.
Looks like I flipped on the TV at just the right time. For some reason, the game wasn't recording and when I tuned to 641 the top of the 4th was starting.
Nice to see those 2 out ribeyes again.
Twayn's wife: "Red Sox have a runner on with no outs."
Twayn (from kitchen): "Who's batting?"
Twayn's wife: "Um... um... the bouncy guy!"
that's more informative than lots of Dazz's PBP descriptions.
Nice sign by the Twins fan at Fenway saying "You're Welcome, Boston" for Ortiz, Moss, and KG. I'd never thought of it that way, but Boston has 3 HOFers courtesy of Minny letting them go...
Borderline possible HOFer in the case of Ortiz of course...
Are you kidding, brink? He's a lock.
if he'd been playing in KC or Minny his whole career, different story of course.
Unlike Moss or KG, he doesn't pass the bus test yet. A guy like him could break down quickly... he needs several more years to be a lock, I think. The HOF doesn't hand out a lot of passes to DHes so I think he has a ways to go.
Ortiz is a stone cold lock for the HoF?
Wow, thats a surprise. I didnt think he had the numbers. He has had huge moments in the Playoffs, And been a beast with the Red Sox, but he has 279 career HR and less than a 1,000 RBI
but ... but... he's Big Papi!
I were joaking. He's had a run of really impressive production, but even with the post-season heroics, not enough yet.
WOW what a play by Blackburn! I had flashbacks to Santana there!
Wow. I hope Cuddy's a slow healer.
can cuddy play left?
Probably better than Delmon. But lots of people forget (or never knew) that Cuddyer is pretty much completely deaf in his left ear. So if he played left that could cause some communication problems.
good point, I had forgotten that- I always thought it was the deafness that caused his ineptitude at 3B- right ear to the stands and all.
I always believed that was a contributor to his problems there. He had the necessary gun, but seemed to misplay a lot of balls at third. The ones he got to were pretty much automatic outs, though.
I love Span in right field in Boston. That's saying a lot, 'cause I love Cuddy.
But I'd rather Cuddy in right in the Dome, though.
Dazzle and Gordo were discussing earlier that Cuddys hand is still sore and will not come off the DL for a long time. He still cannot put on a glove and shag flyballs
Defense on display!
D-span has provided some excellent viewing (or listening).
Or reading, in some of our cases.
MLB radio is the best 14.95$ I have spent in a long time. Meatwife disagrees.
I've thought about taking the radio plunge, but from what I remember of Gordo and Dazzle when I'd get a chance to listen to them, and from the comments here of their current abilities, I figure I get a better idea of what's going on from Gameday. I just wish I could afford mlb.tv.
You can listen to the opponents' broadcasts, too. I found I really liked the Marlins broadcasters during Spring Training.
I sometimes choose the Spanish language stations, just for giggles. I used to be pretty fluent, pero no mas.
That's a good point. Also, there is the shear comedy factor of Gordo/Dazzle. I may need to give this a bit more thought.
Twins Territory membership gives you MLB radio, too, for the same price. Not sure if any of the other benefits of Twins Territory membership are worthwhile, but for the same price, I figured I might as well go for it.
I did not know that.
but I certainly agree with meat. Even if MLB declined to send me my SI subscription with my renewal this spring. (and not like I'm really missing that has-been rag anyway).
Holy crap Span has been awesome in RF...
Sending him back to AAA could result in riots in Mpls....
The Red Sox have a better offense by the Twins, but man their bottom 3 is bad -- and really struggling right now. I'd gladly take Harris, Punto, and Span over Crisp, Varitek/Cash, and Lugo...
I didn't mention this yesterday- I never noticed how baby faced Light Rail is. The whole flight home I was shaking my head thinking about how he looked like a 12 year old.
He goes from baby-faced to poltergeist when he puts his "I'm throwing the ball now!" grimace on.
I remember one game where Baker and Jimmy Gobble were both in the game. Looked like Little League.
I was thinking about a game between Baker and a dude for the Jays, Litsch maybe? I can't remember exactly, and I'm lazy, but that was the goofiest looking Gameday mugshot matchup I can remember.
When Baker pitches, I often say, "My favorite 12-year-old is pitching tonight!" When he came up in '05, we guessed that you could've inserted his mugshot into a second-grade class, and no one would notice.
And he seems so humble talking to dicknbert. I like the kid a lot.
Yeah he does sound humble, and yeah I like that kid too.
Blackburn at 63 pitches at 5.2 innings - that's efficient.
That was just an excellent pitch sequence to Manny there. Mighty pretty pitching.
Blackburn's father was a travel secretary....
Blackburn singing in the dead of night...
Brendan "Extra Base" Harris
What are these 'other benefits' you speak of?
I'm a little confused, Gameday just showed "Foul (runner going)" with Harris on third. Was this possibly a mistake on Gameday's part?
Gordo claimed that the squeeze was on, but Span didn't bunt. Instead he swung and fouled.
nope
Span goofed on a squeeze play...according to Gordo
Ok, I can accept that. That makes me feel a lot better about the situation.
No, Harris broke with the pitch and Span lined a foul ball down behind the third base line. Don't know if he missed a sign for the squeeze or what, but Harris could have been killed if he were hit by that ball.
Hoo-hah, M. Span.
Gomez not doing much at the plate this evening - besides sucking.
He'd better pick up his game if he doesn't want to lose any good graces to Span.
Maybe he heard all the bloggers and commenters and is tanking on purpose to help Gardy move the batting order around.
Has Bass started warming up yet???
He'll come in to close.
Hope so. That would mean we have about a 10 run lead.
Yukon Cornelius strokes a triple off the monster. Crax.
My gosh, that would be the best baseball name ever.
Ok, now it's getting serious. Get Breslow and Shaggy up.
Reyes and Guerrier are up.
Cheese/Sampler warming in the pen.
Itchy hook finger.
Probably feeling the heat from the Bass fiasco. He wants it to be made abundantly clear that actually is capable of making intelligent strategic decision.
Another good performance from our starter tonight. And the pitching change means it's time for ice cream.
What kind we talking about here?
Just your grocery store vanilla with Hershey's syrup.
Good enough on a hot day, I say.
Hmmm, I think I would have been inclined to let Blackburn try to close this one out - he has been very effective and a pretty low pitch count. With two outs and one on first, I'd trust him to get it done.
The big sweat is in there. g'git dennys.
That was too easy.
Heck yes Denny.
the Padre has been missing in action of late. Josh Rabe announced his retirement last week. Classy comments to Mandalero.
Wow, Boston really burned thru the players to make one PH move. Cash > Casey > Bailey > Varitek. All that for a strikeout looking.
How many pinch hitter -> new pitcher -> pinch hitter -> reliever iterations can managers go through before one at bat? As many as they want?
I don't know, but if they're allowed as long as they want, they'll run out of players eventually.
I believe that once a relief pitcher is inserted he has to throw at least one pitch or record an out, like with a pickoff. But I could be wrong. My memory of the rule is hazy at best.
What if he gets "injured" during his warm up pitches? Then they would have to let him be taken out.
M & M. Can the third M do something here so I can go home?
Stock not rising for 3M tonight.
Too bad, too. Monroe had a really good at bat there.
Dude! You got a Delmon!
Attaboy Delmon. See how much better it is when you work a count instead of hacking every single time?
Alright Twins! Young delivers another hit.
Can anyone tell me what "pfx" means on gameday pitch stat?
Tremendous clutchiness tonight. But not on nat'l tv, naturally.
Ok, that should do it. I GONE.
Hey boss- I was just shut out of this SBG site for 3 innings (internal server error) Was I sent to the box?
The Big Cheese relieving Dennys Sampler. But really, couldn't we just insert Nathan here? The requisite baserunner is already on.
I've said this before, I'll probably say it again, 3 + out saves are overrated. Gardy apparently feels the same way.
see, now we don't have a save to protect. If Nathan would have come in there he would have been wasted. /snark.
GULP
If ever there was a time for a two-inning freakin save, you'd think this would be one.
With a three-run lead?
Aw nuts.
OH. EM. GEE.
Someone hit the Neshek button
Give 'em the hook.
Blackburn should have just gone for the complete game
Jesus christ.
D'oh.
Normally I'm a fan of stinky cheese.
Why was Guerrier still in there to face the lefty Moss? Why has Breslow not been in a game for since June 30th?
To screw up my fantasy team pitching stats.
So this is what it feels like to have the 3 run lead taken from you.
SBG your server pooped big-time just when I needed to vent.
Oh well....tough loss if they can't score in the 9th. Very tough loss. Even worse than last night's.
Nick F'n Punto???!?!?!
Wow, Punto with the phenomenal at bat.
Why is Span batting and not Kubel? If he sacrifices I am going to flip. I don't trust Gomez to get the run home.
okay, anyone else getting the server error?
Yeah, I'm sure SBG is well aware of it - performance tuning stuff can be a headache, especially on a cheap shared host. I don't envy SBG's task. I like the improvements though.
Yes.
Fly ball. Just a fly ball. fly ball.
yes...many server errors
Man. The guy throws 20 straight fastballs, all at the exact same speed, and it still doesn't matter.
Damn. Damn damn damn. And Livan is pitching tomorrow? Double damn.
This was a very winnable series.
Nothing like lising with your best pitcher sitting in the bullpen.
Yeah, boy, TWO games in a row a late inning bullpen decision decides the game. Joe Nathan left to choke on his millions in the pen. Would I usually trust Guerrier in that inning - sure! But why not bring Nathan in when it's getting close? I mean, you had the meat (no offense, meat) of their order up there. If Manny is gonna kill you with an eighth inning homer, let it be against your best reliever. sheesh.
What do you suppose the average # of two-inning saves or appearances Rivera or Papelbon has in an average season?
Probably zero or close to it. I think the whole league has gotten into a group think on saves. Were the teams in the seventies wrong to bring in guys to pitch two or three innings to save a game? No, I don't think so. Relievers could pitch two times a week, say five innings, get better rest for their arms, and actually be utilized when the game is really on the line. I don't fault Gardenhire for doing what everybody else does, I just wish SOMEONE would stop the insanity!
Holy cr@p, not the 8th inning thing again!! Good to see Nathan will be fresh for the All-Star Game, at least.
Now, before I was rudely interrupted by repeated server errors, I was saying that THIS WOULD BE A GREAT TIME TO HAVE NATHAN PITCH TWO FRIGGING INNINGS!
Okay, I feel much better now. Well, not really, but it was somewhat cathartic.
White Sox blew a two-run lead with two outs in the 11th inning. Now in bottom of 12.
tracking it in the CoC
Never mind. Cabrera just hit an RBI double in the 13th. Probably won't blow a second lead, but you never know.
Royals have bases loaded and 1 out
Mark Grudzilankez up
and a double play ends the game
Just kill me now. PH Grudzielanek hits into a game-ending double play with the bases loaded. Arrrrgghhhh!!. Both Twins and Royals lose after getting the tying run to third with one out in final inning.
I guess Gruds has not played in a while too, some sort of injury. He was the 4th man to bat in the 4th spot. Jose Guillen was taken out in the 8th inning for Joey Gathright. The Royals probably could of use Guillen bat