Here I am, trying to buck the recent trend of Game Log previews. Enough of the Donald Judd/Carl Andre/Richard Serra stuff already!
First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 Central, 4:05 Left Coast.
Probables:
Scottie Baker (4.28 xFIP, 115 tRA+, 1.20 WHIP, .389 SLGA, 123:39 K:BB in 153.67 innings) vs.
Cliff "Cy Young" Lee (3.64 xFIP, 165 tRA+, 1.06 WHIP, .335 SLGA, 157:28 K:BB in 210 innings).
Can everyone just STFU about K-Rod and the MVP? He's not the best pitcher in the AL, or even the best closer in the AL.
Cliff Lee is the runaway favorite for the Cy Young this year and he deserves it. He has been outstanding. A big part of his (rather unexpected) success this year can be attributed to his newfound appreciation for the ground ball. He's at a career-high 44.8 pct, up from a string of five consecutive seasons between 33 pct and 36 pct of batted balls. All of the gain has been at the expense of fly balls (28.1 pct, compared to 37.3 pct last season; he's never been below 33.8 pct FB before). Additionally, fewer of the balls-in-air are landing over the fence (2.9 pct, compared to 8 pct last year).
I don't know what he's done to conjure up these shifts in outcomes, but I hope he forgets all about his new attitude tonight.
Scottie, on the other hand, is who we thought he was. His GB pct is in the low/mid 30s, as it has been every year, his FB rate in the mid-30s, his ball pct right around 30. All in line with every year of his ML career. One thing is up slightly: his K rate is at 19.5 pct, compared to the 16s in '07 and '06; and one thing is down slightly (for the better): his BABIP of .286 is well below his .325 last season and .348 in '06. I suppose that could just be luck.
So, I'm hoping for a pitcher's duel tonight. Let's keep the tinder in the bullpen tonight, shall we, Scottie?
To accompany tonight's game I'm recommending the Resurrection Ale from The Brewer's Art. Not that I've had it. But we could use a little intervention, you know?? Jeff A, you got any pull??
Not a fan of Minimalism, eh, doc? Just as I suspected. I'd always pegged you as a Jeff Koons fan.
I kid! I kid!
ooooooh, I like that!
It's not that hard to ape being an artist.
I think I went to school with her. She's a hack.
Speaking of Mr. Koons, I find this to be interesting and sad all at the same time.
K-Rod is not even the most dominate closer
thus hew should not even be in talks about a Cy Young award
As for tonights game, well I threw the old scorecard into the bonfire
we are good for a weeks worth of wins now
Enough of the Donald Judd/Carl Andre/Richard Serra stuff already!
I, too, have had enough of those jokers. How 'bout some Janine Antoni to start the game.
Ooh. I like that.
Still, I think the Twins recent play is best summed up by Kiki Smith's Tale.
Man, we must be on the same wave length. I was going to post that Image but wused out.
It was just too fitting to pass up.
I have found that my prayers for Twins victories are answered more frequently if I pray them on nights the Twins hit and pitch well.
This might be a silly questions but does anyone know why the Twins are nicknamed the Twinkies?
I have no idea
because they were creampuffs throughout the 1970s??
nice walk Darnell
lets make this a run
Sorry FTLT, I think that we need to start off with a positive jam.
I will never be upset about anyone posting a hold steady video.... hint E-6, New Guy, brianS...
It's been done once, but we're prolly due again.
The WGOM: No Repeat Years.
big hit for Justin
on the board!
Mountie!
Is it wrong that I was surprised by that hit?
Only if it wasn't wrong of me to not be surprised by the double play.
Oh, I wasn't surprised by that at all.
Okay, Scotty, you got a run. Make it stand up.
That's a start. Only the fifth first-inning run allowed by Lee this year (four earned).
Hi everybody! Long time, no see.
Hello Mr. Popular, a couple of name drops for you on AG's live chat today.
Really? I guess I'll have to go check that out. Maybe I haven't been Earl Battey'd just yet.
Better than Earl Battey'ed than me. I am more of a Adam Johnson.
Only twenty-six outs to go!
Is that Emo Philips who says "I played two more machinessss...and I won two more jackpotsssss." ??
Down to twenty-five outs!
Hey fellas. It's been a weird day today, I could use some Twins winning to help balance things out.
Here's a suggestion, SB....throw some freakin' strikes!
I get the feeling the Tribe has some kind of vendetta against the Twins. It looks like they're trying real hard to beat us, which is kind of unusual for a team out of the pennant race this late in the season. The looked a little bit too happy with that walk-off job last night.
Hey, we're ahead! Only eight innings to go!
Hey guys. I probably won't be around long. I want to go on a run in a bit. We'll see if that motivation carries through to fruition.
Oh, for crying out loud.
Ugh.
Harris, if you aren't going to hustle during a pennant race, just when are you planning to?
Looks to me like he was hustling, and got pushed off of the bag. Bad call.
I'm going by Dazzle, which is always dangerous, but he said Harris jogged out of the batter's box, thinking it was a home run, and then had to go hard to try to make it to second. If that's right, I assume it would not have even been a close play had he run hard initially.
Dazzle is probably right.
But still...the umpire made the wrong call in that situation.
doh
That is one way to get on base....
The umps cost the Twins a run this inning...
Harris was CLEARLY pushed off the bag by Cabrera...bummer.
Big AB here for Denard.
Here's my question. I thought it looked like he was more knocked off balance off the bag than pushed off the bag. Does that make a difference in the call?
It shouldn't, no.
If the defensive player makes any malicious contact with the runner, it's defensive interference; which it clearly was.
Was it malicious, though? Or was he just keeping the tag on (which is legit), or was it the amount of force with which he applies the tag? (Trying to learn the rules here!)
It wasn't a normal play IMO.
He attempted to tag Harris, and in doing so, he "pushed" him with the tag...resulting in Harris coming off the bag.
If the umpire had a second look, he probably wouldn't have called Harris out.
Like this?
Top Ten Twin Moment.
I was at that game! Scott Leuis's GWHR landed a few rows in front of me.
Game 7 my fav game. Knobbers' fake toss disses Lonnie Smith, sweet.
Down to twenty-three outs!
It's kinda like the Doomsday Clock.
Twenty-two!
Only seven innings to go! I have a worship team meeting tonight, after which I fully expect to learn of a Twins victory. Make it happen, guys!
You're the one with the worship team, so you do what you can to make it happen too. But us laity will do what we can as well.
Ditto. I have church tonight (leaving very shortly). I would like to come home to a win, please.
Great catch by Buscher.
Brian, I don't know if you can get any of this stuff, but I decided to pick up a sixer of Capital Brewing's Oktoberfest. If I would have known you were going to recommend the Resurrection Ale, I would have tried to swing by a good beer store and get one.
I'm about due for a trip to BevMo, cheaptoy. I'll look for it.
on the other hand, I just shelled out ~50 percent of my car's Blue Book value to get the chunks of catalytic converter removed from my exhaust system and a new one (cc, that is) installed. So maybe I'm drinking plebian beer for a while.
It's brewed down here near Madison, and isn't very big, so I don't know what their distribution is like. But, if you do see any, it is an extremely solid brewery.
Now, for plebian beer, I highly recommend getting yourself some Mountain Creek if you can. It's about $6/case down here and still has alcohol in it.
Phil Hughes has 57 pitches through 2 innings versus the Sox.
Yikes.
I'm about to start eating my dinner. It's a tense situation. In fact I'd go so far as to proclaim it a...
Big Burrito here for DK.
I hope it ends up as big as your head.
Don't worry, that's physically impossible.
lalalalalalalabamba!
of course, their burritos...well, they're big.
I just saw a commercial for them the other day, so it was fresh on my mind. Of course, now I want a burrito.
+5 Scovilles
Come on Young!!!
I am surprised that he didn't swing.
Here I am, trying to buck the recent trend of Game Log previews. Enough of the Donald Judd/Carl Andre/Richard Serra stuff already
Doc, is that the door to your
root cellarbomb shelter?"Tony Smith, New Piece, 1966, Loretto Park (Houston, Texas)."
It is the exemplar of minimalism at The Repository. But yea, it looks a bit like a bedroom wall I once painted.
What a FANTASTIC plate appearance by Harris.
Lee BB's Delmon on 4 pitches...and he goes up there swinging at the 1st pitch. What a douche.
Stat of the night: Twins have scored the most runs in baseball since the AS break. Indians are second just one run (total) behind the Twins. I'm guessing this was before today's games.
That's the kind of situation the Twins pounced on when things were going well. Lately we just look back at the end of another loss and mourn the missed opportunities.
Does anyone have experience in finding housing over-seas? I'm having a hell of a time finding a place in Dublin.
You aren't just going to sleep in a gutter outside the pub??
Most nights, yes, but I need a place to store my rugby boots.
Craigslist?
Couch Surfer?
Already got a listing up and replied to several others.
Cliff Lee up to 53 pitches
thats a good sign for us
dw- making the first trade of the FF season. I like the move for you. You needed a qb.
serious!
Jeff Garcia is never going to play, and there was nothing on the waiver wire
I've managed to have a starting RB not receive a carry in each week. First, it was McGahee going from probable to not playing and then last week the Steelers didn't trust Mendalhall. Thankfully, I had some incredible week 2 performances.
Only one 2-0 team through two weeks. Sadly, that means SoCal is 0-2 but there is a lot of season left right?
Will- if you are interest in a RB I just sent over a trade offer.
Yankees offense sputtering versus the Sox.
They've hit into 2 DP's so far through 3 innings...Sox up 1-0.
Just out of curiosity, why is Buscher playing 1b against a lefty? Does Randy Ruiz have no defensive ability?
Correct. Not a lick.
That's pretty much correct.
Anyone else even more motivated to punch Bert in the face after his latest moronic rant about pitchers and pitch counts?
I didn't hear the rant, but have heard enough of Bert to understand where you're coming from. I always try to remember the I love farts shirt picture, which helps with anything I hear him say.
Boy, this team is killing themselves right now.
Tolbert Stuck Between Stations
Chips Ahoy!
Gomez!!!
Go-Go-Gone!
GoGoOverTheFence!
Go Go!
W00t! I think Gomez is actually learning to be a better hitter.
See, good things can happen when you don't bunt, GoGo.
Carlos!! Woo Hoo!
Bizarro Cliff Lee says home runs good, strikeouts bad!
Yes, this is a big inning for S-Bake.
I'm going to go ahead and call all innings for the rest of the season "big innings".
check out the wood on that Adam guy!
Dude's compensating for something.
Eve had to choke up.
It's only a "big inning" if StatFreak says it is.
Clayton Richard shutting down the Yankees right now.
Losers.
I don't agree with that pitch call...not one bit.
Baker is blowing away Peralta with fastballs and he chooses to go away from that and hang a fat slider.
Gee, it's not like you to second-guess...
Run-roh.
Anderson needs to call an exterminator.
Carl is the pitching coach for the other team, E-6.
Whatchu talkin' about, Willis?
Is it just me, or does it seem that we are giving up homeruns at an extreme rate? I'm talkin' like (bertin') blyleven-esque...
You were saying?
I was just about to say that my advanced personal, anecdotal metrics suggest we are going to score double digit runs for the next 5 games.
Yes. This is definitely the worst four-game stretch of the season in HRs allowed. The Twins have allowed 13 in the last 3+ games. Only twice before had the Twins had stretches of at least four games of multiple HRs allowed. One was at the beginning of September and was just four games with 9 HRs allowed. The longest stretch was seven games at the beginning of June and included the sweep in Chicago. The worst stretch there was 11 HRs allowed in the Chicago series.
This is the last outdoor game on the schedule for the Twins.
Well that lead was fun while it lasted.
Good night.
Ugh. Pronk'd.
Blech. Way to ruin the buzz, Scottie.
Crap. Crap. Crap. $#%!@#$%
These HRs allowed are getting real old.
Only one more season before we move to a hitters park!
That's 28 HR's allowed by this staff in September.
Banging Camp
The Minnesota Twins Almost Killed Me.
BTW FTLT--We did play Finn and Co. once.
I saw that above. I suppose that I am just hoping that it would still be relevant to play some before the Chicago series.
Chicago Seemed Tired Last Night?
I'll see what we can do.
Lets see what the Twins can do first.
Lord, I'm Discouraged.
Maybe there is still time for Constructive Summer?
what are the dates on the ChiSox series?
23-25
Gordo: "The Twins have now given up 169 home runs."
Me: "On this roadtrip??"
time to scratch and claw back to the lead
Can we hit some dingers instead? I don't want to hear about "Twins Baseball".
TPTGTRW
ummm
yeah
It's the standard line whenever an analyst talks about the seemingly overachieving Twins.
gotcha
What is the best unit of measurement to describe how far away _elmon's bat was away from that curveball?
clues?
Parsec
Seconds.
Delmon Young is the only hitter that I've seen who is consistently late on 80-89 MPH fastballs.
For this tremendous bat speed, the guy sure stinks.
I assume this will be Baker's last inning.
Delmon Young is the most lightweight .287 hitter I've ever seen. He wouldn't know a clutch hit if it nailed him between the eyes. I hope the Twins can trade his sorry ass during the off-season.
I wish Jesse Crain preferred his children to playing baseball.
BP thinks he's about league-average this year. I think that's about right. His WXRL is zero for all intents and purposes (-0.008) too.
on the other hand, BP has Brian Bass at +0.528 WXRL, so mebbe it's a junk stat
BP with some Mountie Love.
Crap crap crap
Great.
Well, at least it wasn't a homer...
Half-Bakered cr@p.
Great managerial decision there, Ron.
I am finding it difficult to defend most of your decisions as of late.
I don't think you've ever defended one of his decisions, have you?
Or was that sarcasm? Your CAPS lock was off.
Find me decisions that I should be defending.
Brown v. Board of Education.
So maybe Baker shouldn't pitch off of three days rest so much...
Well, that was totally stupid. I know Peralta homered last AB, but you have to walk Choo in that situation. And you definitely pull Baker there, he was clearly out of gas. Oh well. Its not like I didn't know this game was lost when it was apparent Baker wasn't going to get through six innings, let alone 7 or 8.
I'm out of here now, I might check on the score later, but its obvious where this one is headed. Hopefully, the Yankees can summon a rally against the Sox.
You either do 1 of 2 things in that situation...
A) Walk Choo to face Peralta...regardless of him HR'ing in his previous AB or not. (Ron loves his SSS)
B) Bring in Mijares, who was warmed according to Dick, to face Choo.
Gardy failed, which allowed Baker to fail.
Excellent! The strike-him-out/don't-throw-him-out.
Boy, Span has sure become somewhat average since his 2 HR game in Baltimore.
striking out against the cy young winner...'average' in a 4 game period...that's pretty low on the list of complaints for Twins fans these days.
3-17 since that game, not including tonight.
Yes, but the real blame should go to _elmon. He's a disgrace not only to all the Youngs of the world, but to pretty much any carbon-breathing lifeform.
StatFreak's list of complaints knows no bounds.
Yankees take the lead, 2-1, on a Mike MacDougal WP.
well, then, I'll just go out on a limb and say you like complaining. good for you.
I'm back and this sucks. The season was fun while it lasted. If this team, which is pretty much completely dead, can somehow make the postseason (or even force a one-game playoff), then I'll finally know How a Resurrection Really Feels.
If you want to experience a resurrection, just check out this.
Some nights it's just entertainment, and some other nights it's work.
closed circuit to E-6 and New Guy: I shifted my instruments to the week of Sept 2
ct 4. If you guys follow suit, we will have ample room for ChiSox-themed musical entertainment for that (probably anticlimactic) series Sept 23-25.
We'll Hold Steady. (And maybe some other drinking songs.)
Yeah
Sapphire, brainSwhat about my brains?
A few too many Stella's tonight I suppose
Crain and his inability to throw the ball to first base.
Is Buscher going to issue a beatdown to Papa Jesse for that??
This game seems to be taking forever.
Chamberlain goes 1-2-3 on the Sox, Yankees up 2-1 heading to the bottom of the 8th.
I'm itching to go break in my new catalytic converter. How about some runs, boyos?
atta boy, Chairman!
crax. And I had a quality Mountie image all loaded up.
Monentum is changing. White Sox are losing. Cmon Delmon.
Alternate Young Love
Let's hear it for carbon-based life forms!
here, here.
Just when I thought you couldn't get any worse, you go and do something like this....and TOTALLY REDEEM YOURSELF!
The grass on this baseball field is a real pretty shade of green.
what about on the other side of the fence, twayn?
There, too.
but I thought the grass was always greener....
hey Delmon!
I would like to see Kubel here.
You all realize this is just setting us up for a big cheese souffle collapse, right??
Naturally, but I like hope.
Yanks are up 5-1, top of the 9th.
Game over in the Bronx. 5-1 final.
Ok, I'm out. I fully expect to read another tragic box score in the morning. But maybe....
How do the Twins not have 20 runs tonight?
Cliff Lee.
Hey! Jose!
a comedy of errors on that play
why is it that all of our Sept. callups are better fielders than the guys up in the majors all year?
I will tell you what, I like this Mijares kid. Though, I don't know if he has an out pitch.Mauer doing his best Tarvaris Jackson impression there.
Wow, what a great play by Punto, definitely saved a run. That was Knoblauch-esque.
Mijares for President
A bullpen we can believe in
Matteroni and Cheese with a runner on third. Nurse! More Thorazine! Stat!
has Guerriers arm fallen off yet?
Wishful thinking.
Unfortunately, no.
How did _elmon look on that play? I only have audio. Should I be upset with him?
Stoopid, but no more than usual.
He didn't really have a chance to catch it on the fly, but he did a big flop in front of the ball and let it get by him to the wall. Runner on third was going to score, but he could have prevented the extra base if he'd just kept his feet.
_elmon is slow enough to begin with, but on a bum wheel, he looks like Sal Fasano running around out there.
I've never seen a pitcher more responsible for the collapse of a team than Gurrier. And Gardy's at fault for stubbornly using him over and over and over again. I've never uttered these words in my life, but I can't help myself: Gardy deserves to be fired.
Guerrier's been terrible, but I can only blame Gardenhire so much. If anyone deserves blame, you gotta go to Bill Smith for not grabbing some arms when the pen started to break down. Let's face it -- pretty much any button he pushes for the pen blows up on him lately. When Craig Breslow and (in a tiny sample size) Mijares are your best relievers for the last month, you know something has gone, terribly, terribly wrong.
Gardy deserves a significant amount of blame.
He continues to run out Guerrier night after night KNOWING what is going to happen...his love affair with matchups has cost this team TOO many times this season. Too many.
You're right, he could always put Reyes--whoops, um, Boof--wait, what about Nathan? Ummmm.....
Look, I'm just as frustrated by Gardenhire's bullpen moves as anyone at times... but here's some perspective folks: go to ANY MLB team blog like SBG... try White Sox Interactive... or Sons Of Sam Horn... not to mention any Cardinals blogs... you will see hundreds of posts absolutely railing on the bullpen use of Ozzie Guillen, Terry Francona, and Tony LaRussa... yes, the managers who won the last 4 WS rings.
Now, those guys have their faults -- and LaRussa is something of a running joke here for bullpen overthinking -- but they are not idiots... those are some excellent managers. But all of them have had their bullpen struggles, especially this year, and I think it's human nature for anyone to look to blame someone when Crappy Reliever du Jour blows a game for one's favorite team...
And it's simply giving too much credit/blame to what the manager can control. Would I manage things differently than Ron has at times? Sure. But calling for his firing is pretty silly IMO.
No firing...just a swift kick in the head...or two.
Hmmm. Guerrier continues to do his part to torch the Twins' postseason hopes. I was not a happy camper at all when Mijares got pulled there...
Nor was I. In fact, I told my wife as soon as Cheese dick came in that the runner on third was going to score.
the Twins are in 'free fall' mode lately
Where is that damn nurse?
Just typical of what this season has become for the Twins.
I really don't understand why Gardy continues to run Guerrier out there night after night...hasn't it become clear what he has to offer?
who else is he going to use? He already used Crain, Bonser in unavailable...he emptied the bullpen last night. There's nothing. No option is good right now.
He could have, um, stuck with Mijares...?
That would have been okay.
Gomez then top of the order- lets make some things happen.
Dick is reporting that Buscher left the game and he seems mystified as to why... seems pretty obvious to me he hurt his wrist when the runner ran into him when Crain made that errant pickoff throw.
BTW, if anyone is wondering why Ron is loath to not play Justin at 1B, in the last two games I recall that Morneaux played DH instead of 1B, it came back to bite the Twins... Mike "Shorty" Lamb wasn't tall enough to catch Everett's high throw in KC that allowed the tying run to score in the 8th... and Brendan "Shrimpy" Harris wasn't tall enough to catch that line drive there in the 7th that pushed the lead to 2 runs.
It's official - Gardy is an idiot! All he has to do is do nothing and leave Mijares in and we are most likely out of the inning. Instead, he has to do his best "Casablanca" imitation and round up the usual relievers who predictably give up the usual runs. As soon as Guerrier came in I told my son he would give up more than one run before the inning was done and he didn't let me down. Someone needs to tell Gardy that our usual relievers suck right now and he needs to try someone else if he wants to play in October. Time is almost out to still save this season and giving away winnable ball games is not the way to do it.
That about sums it up me boy.
Gardy's love affair with matchups, typically with the likes of Guerrier, Reyes, Guardado, and Crain, have burnt this team more than it's helped them.
I'm off to watch the conclusion of John Adams from HBO. Now where did Twayn leave those little orange pills?
Try the T79s.
Hey guys...don't worry!!! Worst case scenario...the Twins will still be 2.5 games behind the Sox with 3 left versus them!!!
(That's the saying of someone who fails to accept reality)
Hmmm... suddenly this inning is interesting.... Morneaux with RISP and a guy who's thrown a bajillion pitches this inning....
ISTR Justin getting a big hit late against Perez here in Cleveland a couple months ago...
Why don't you take those doggies of yours out for walk. Get some fresh air.
Question, genius: can a 2.5 game differential be made up in 3 games between the two teams separated by that differential?
Question: Do you honestly expect the deficit to be 2.5 games by next Tuesday?
Twins @ Tampa Bay for 4
White Sox @ NYY for 1, @ KC for 3
You are insufferable. Seriously.
Oh, baby!
There is no one else I would rather have batting in the next two spots.
Yeah, me too.
Too bad the system failed there.
That Joe Mauer can really hit.
I'd be OK with Morneau bulking that MVP resume up some more with a big hit in this AB.
Deer Home Plate Ump: how about getting a little help on that check swing call, mmmkay?
Alright, maybe the Twins will fair better in the 9th while I am in bed.
At some point -- whether this season ends in triumph or tears -- we've gotta do a Top 10 list of "Most Soulcrushing Losses" for the season. It is stunning how many they have to choose from, but I'd put last night's right up there with the 8-7 loss to the Mariners that went down pretty close to the same way.
My vote goes to the 10-run inning game in Seattle. That's really when the shite started flowing downhill, and it really hasn't stopped since.
That one pretty much sent ubelmann packing, so I'll vote for that one.
That was a bad one and deserves "Honorary First Shot Into The Hull Of The Good Ship Twins" award, but that just doesn't approach the level of soulcrushing of last night's doozy, IMO. Heroic comebacks that turn into humbling losses are much worse... and for that matter, I'd call the blown saves by Nathan in Toronto, Oakland, and Seattle (the 2nd one) more devastating. It's one thing to be 5 runs up and nine outs away from victory... but there's something terribly unsettling about being only 3 outs away from a win against a BAD offensive team -- no matter the margin for error -- that trumps any 10-run disaster in the 7th inning...
My vote goes to the blown save in Oakland. Up 2-1, losing on a wild throw to third. 2 runs score on the error to lose the game. That hurt. Bad.
I like that idea
only if there is a counterbalance list with 'Top 10 awesomly awesome wins'
Heh. Good call. I'm sure it's just the dizzying numbness that all this suckitude has brought, but I'm having a hard time recalling 10 thrilling triumphs.
Although I will say, the Twins do have an amazing win that easily trumps any of the improbable defeats they've suffered -- that 5-run comeback in KC way back in May... with 1 out and the Royals leading 8-3, Kubel hits a single. Delmon strikes out. Then bada boom, bada bing, a Mike Lamb (who?) single, a Brendan Harris single, and a Carlos Gomez single later, next thing you know Craig Monroe (who?) hits a 3-run jack with 2 outs to tie the game. Twins win in extra innings.
Yes, that's right: the clutch hits were delivered by Lamb, Harris, Gomez, and Monroe. That's like hitting on 19 four times in a row and getting a 2 every time.
The Twins have suffered some whiplash-inducing Win% busters, but I'd guess that a team would be expected to win 99% of games in which it leads by 5 runs with none on in the top of the ninth at home. I'd reckon that they'd be expected to win 99.5% of games in which they still lead by 5 with a runner at first with two outs.
OK, so it was the Royals, and they were floundering at the time... and the Twins didn't do it against the Mexicutioner -- just Ramon Ramirez and Joel Peralta. I don't care, that was about 15 shades of awesome that night.
IBB'ing Sizemore with a lefty on the mound...then bringing in Korecky to face Carroll....
Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....
Someone needs to take away Gardy's position of running this pitching staff...please.
Yep. He did a terrible job in that inning in managing the team to 0 runs allowed. (rolls eyes)
Heh. Gardenhire's gona fire all his bullets tonight... empty that clip, Ron.
Yes, Gardy, let's prolong this game with yet another pitching change.
Hopefully he gets fined with that new length of game rule that MLB has.
Well, something tells me that the Twins no longer play the fastest games in the American League. Just a hunch, but I'm too heavily medicated to care about verifying it.
Of all sad words of tongue and pen
The saddest are these: Nick Punto, the last hope for the Twins.
ABIDE
Never mind...
/me finishes beer, goes to bed
Valium would've helped that bash...
Good night, everyone. Sweet dreams.
You've been crazy-funny today, twayn. Thanks. It helped offset all that fuss 'the cutter' was making two beds over.
On this date, September 17th, 2007, the Philadelphia Phillies were 2.5 games behind the New York Mets in the NL East.
The Phillies had a record of 81-69, while the Mets had a record of 83-66...2 games behind in the win column, and 3 behind in the loss column...totaling a 2.5 game deficit.
Coincidentally, the Twins sit, a year later, at 82-70 while the Chicago White Sox are 84-67...again, 2 games behind in the win column, and 3 behind in the loss column...and like the Phillies, facing a 2.5 game deficit.
What does this mean? Well, nothing really...but it's fun to compare the two I guess because of how the Phillies season ended up turning out.
The one difference? The Twins actually get the face the team they're trailing while the Phillies had to hope and watch the Mets collapse without playing them.
There, that's better! I knew you had that in you somewhere!
Shockingly, the Twins postseason odds improved after tonight according to ESPN.com's Cool Standings...
Their odds are now at 33.8% with the White Sox having a 66.2% of making the postseason. I believe Minnesota's odds, before tonight, were closer to 20%.
its probably because there is now one less road game to play
if the trend continues, where the Twins and Sox win/win or lose/lose the same day, our odds go up some
thats my theory
Mujica the win, Mijares the loss
sounds like a couple of drinks
BTW, Mijares deserved much, much better than that. A single up the middle on a close, close play at 1st. A near double play on a brilliant fielding play by Mijares on another close, close play at first. An inexplicably terrible throw by Mauer for a very costly error. A horrible misplay by Span allowing the runner to advance to third. Another error (was it actually charged to _elmon? probably not) in LF. I'm sure the run was earned, but it's about as poorly as a defense can play behind you with the run still being earned.
I'll take one, you buying?
I'll give this one a try:
Mujica - 1 shot rum, 1 shot Midori, 1 shot lime juice. Shake with ice, strain into short cocktail glass, garnish with Maraschino cherry.
Mijares - Fill tall cocktail glass with ice. Add 1 shot rum, 1 shot Amaretto, 1 shot sweet & sour. Fill to top with club soda. Garnish with lemon or lime slice.
Or, make up your own recipes.