Game 91: Twins at Red Sox
Posted by SBG on Wednesday, July 9th, 2008 at 11:25 am
ubelmann must have been doing some late night physics equations or something. The starters are Josh Beckett and Livan Hernandez. Looking at that matchup makes the last two losses sting just a little more.
interesting lineup
Minnesota
D. Span cf
A. Casilla 2b
J. Mauer c
J. Morneau dh
J. Kubel rf
D. Young lf
M. Lamb 1b
N. Punto ss
B. Buscher 3b
Boston
J. Ellsbury cf
D. Pedroia 2b
K. Youkilis 1b
M. Ramirez lf
M. Lowell 3b
S. Casey dh
J. Varitek c
B. Moss rf
J. Lugo ss
Minnesota
L. Hernandez
Boston
J. Beckett
Gogo gets a day off. Good.
Yes, but Kubel in right field at Fenway kinda scares me. Span has speed to cover territory that Kubel does not. It will probably be okay, but it scares me anyway.
Kubel has average range for a corner OF--better than Cuddyer anyway.
Not better than D-SPAN, though. Then again, not many do. The kid is fun to watch play out there.
Thanks for covering my lazy butt, SBG. These day games sneak up on me sometimes.
Hello, all
what's up nibbish? I'm pessimistic about our chances today, but I suppose that balances out the optimism I was feeling most of the game last night.
Just sitting at work hoping to actually enjoy today's game.
I'll second the pessimism.
Beating the Sox today is on my Beckett List.
...and they're off....
Morneau with two homeruns today.
Halfway there!
There's one!
Seven pitch at bats that end up in a walk to start the game are good.
Working the count? Taking a walk? I don't think D-SPAN is cut out for this leadoff biz.
How many leadoff walks have there been this year? I know I was at one game that it happened, but can't think of any others off the top of my head.
First, find all the games where OKGo didn't lead off, then...
Yeah, but a pickoff and caught stealing makes him fit right in.
In Spring Training, Jason Kubel stole a base on Jason Varitek. I can't listen to the game today, but that caught stealing better have been the pitcher catching him. Otherwise, DSPAN might need to reconsider his major league stealing career.
Caught stealing, pitcher to Shortstop. Same stuff as last night.
Thanks. That makes me feel better about it, as in 'at least it wasn't caught stealing by Varitek' way.
Heavy traffic today at the WGOM. Let's see how things hold up.
When did Carl Crawford become the Twins' baserunning coach? Awful this series.
Is this the start of calls for Jerry White's head? Equal opportunity ripping at the corners.
Has anyone ever called for a 1B coach's head?
Didn't they fire the first base coach in New York (Mets) before Willie got the axe? Or was that in Seattle. I get my bloodlettings confused.
That's gotta suck. "Bob, we're going to go with someone else to hold the guys' batting gloves and yell 'back!'"
aw, cr@p!! Someone get Carew on the phone, and get him with the team immediately! There are way too many POs and CSs lately
The Twins sure have sucked at baserunning lately. How many runs is it costing them? Span certainly would have scored on that double, and there would have been other runs scored in the previous two games. Very annoying.
Certainly was some fine timing on that CS.
Torii's leadership skills rubbing off on Span.
Wow, they are really making Beckett work here. It's 86 degrees in Boston this afternoon with a hot wind. Tire this sucker out!
No homer? Pitiful!
Attaboy Mauer. First three Twins batters have seen 19 pitches. Not something that tends to happen with Gomez getting things started.
Baby Jeebus drives in
twoone.Mountie!!!
WOOOOOT
CAPTAIN CANADA!!!!!
Halfway there, New Guy! Morneau HRs!!!!!
New Guy is on the board!
There's the first one! I might actually get one right today!
Stupid rally-killing HR.
I was just going to type the same exact sentiment.
Should I be worried about any plagues or anything?
I'd be so excited right now if I could only prevent myself from thinking about who the Twins will be sending to the mound in the bottom half of the inning...
Get Nathan in here, stat!
My gameday audio is on the fritz. I think it's my network here at work.
For every time Kubel strikes out, we need a picture from that beer commercial (Bud Light, I think?) where the guy gets annoyed and says, "Dude," in various intonations.
NESN's pitch tracker showed that one to be high.
Minor league umpire (Scott Barry) filling in behind the plate today. Hope he's not from New England.
Not the easiest assignment in the world--I'm thinking the fans in Boston are probably a little more animated than, say, the fans in Miami.
I wish FSN would have a pitch tracker
Be careful what you wish for--there's a pitch tracker for Mariners games, but the strike zone is always drawn in too small. Even though almost no pitches show up as strikes, they have yet to remedy this situation.
Who thinks 3 runs are enough today? Anyone? Bueller?
Good thing Morneau's gonna hit ANOTHER home run.
Dang right!
Maybe, but I have to like the precedent set by our batters forcing Beckett to throw 34 pitches. He keeps that up, it'll be a rough night for Sox fans.
After last night, I don't think three runs is enough after seven innings, let alone one. Not that I think the Twins are done scoring, especially if they can force Beckett to continue to throw a lot of pitches.
MLB.com is blocked by the filter at work as "pornography". However, twinsbaseball.com still works.
But now I can't get gameday audio to work. It froze and when I reloaded, it's trying to use Silverlight, which I don't have and can't install at work. Think clearing my cookies and cache should allow me to chose which media player?
yeah, there should be an option to use "classic version" when you first go to today's audio page
There is an option at first, and I always choose "Classic" because I don't have the new software. Somehow my browser selected Silverlight when I refreshed and now there's no way to change back that I can find.
The whole Silverlight experience was just a giant debacle for me. Like Alexi Casilla in 2007, it's not ready for prime time.
I would want to pitch very carefully to Manny. First base open=no meatballs, please.
Even though I think that there's a good chance that Lamb has Sexsoned, this is a good use for him. Gardy found one of the few right-handed pitchers in a stretch with lots of lefties, and it was on a day game after a night game, so putting Lamb at first gets Morneau a bit of a rest.
I know it's statistically insigificant, but isn't Lamb like 4-5 against Beckett? That would seem to be a perfect example of Gardythink.
True, but most of the time I feel like he picks whatever numbers justify the move that he makes. Not so much that the numbers dictate the moves, but that his intestines decide the moves and then he finds some way to rationalize the move to his brain through a small sample size statistic or something.
Yes and it was mentioned in Joe C's blog, so you know that is exactly why he is in there.
And on a day when Span is subbing for Gomez in the field, so Kubel is in right, which means that Lamb's bat is subbing for Gomez against a right-handed strikeout pitcher.
Anyone else think that Ozzie got a two for one deal when he sold his soul to the devil in 2005, and he's cashing in his extra chit this year?
Nice job, Livo! Three ground balls in the first inning is a very good sign.
Is that a new Twins Territory radio ad about OKGo?
It almost seems like a miracle that Livan got through that inning without giving up any runs.
How's the server running? It seems okay from where I'm sitting. Anyone having any problems?
Have had no problems today.
Hate to say it, but I'm kinda liking this Punto kid.
Beats having Willie Bloomquist around. Well, at least for now.
Don't look now, but Punto is hitting .304. When's the last time he had a BA above .300?
He was above .300 for most of 2006
Server seems ok.
Punto: you can't stop him. You can only hope to contain him. Tiny. Super. Hero.
and, naturally, on that comment the server poops on me.
Judging by the number of people on line, this is one of the heaviest times, ever. Taking the top 50 down seems to have helped. I think taking the recent comments off of the individual pages is next.
Slowish for me so far, but no freakouts yet.
DSPAN seems very patient at the plate this trip to the majors, yet also seems to take a good rip at the ball once in a while too. I like.
Seems sort of Casilla-ish... and honestly, the way the Twins are, you can't have enough of that.
Something seemed to click for Span in the second half in AAA last season in the patience department. Also, I read somewhere that he's had laser eye surgery in the last year or two.
dandy little pitch to strike out Casey
yummmm
How funny! Livan strikes out Casey and MLB.com's gameday says Strikeout Presented by One-a-Day. Obviously, they've seen Livan in action before.
hahaha, gold
Cap'n Tek is really batting .215? He's an all-star?
What was Kurt Suzuki doing?
And last night, Bert was justifying the selection. Something about how he handles the pitching staff and how much he's meant to the game, blah, blah, blah. I couldn't believe it. This isn't Willie Mays here. He's had a nice little career, but it's not like he's on the short list of great players of his generation or anything.
Heretic, his leadership intangibles alone make him an ideal HOF candidate.
He still doesn't catch Wakefield right?
So he handles the pitching staff except when it's a pitcher that is difficult to handle. Kudos.