Six-game losing streak? Meh. No biggie. I lived through 2006. Below-average offense? Hey, we are better than the Royals, and they are in first second place! Worst ERA+ in the league and pitchers not missing bats? Umm, Houston? Got a Rule 5 you can send us?
Actually, I feel pretty good about today's game. It's International Pitch Like a Pirate Day! (and no, I'm not talking about Ian Snell or Jeff Karstens) Our man Blackie is gonna burn his way through that ChiSox lineup, baby! And I can just feel offensive movement coming against Colon -- or is that the burrito I had last night?
Game time: 1:05 PM Central
Radio: TRN
Pitching Matchup
Nick Blackburn (2-2, 4.38 ERA, 115 tRA+, 23:14 K:BB in 49.3 innings) for the Twins
Bartolo Colón (2-3, 4.21 ERA, 115 tRA+, 25:14 K:BB in 32 innings) for the ChiSox
The Sox have now won 10 of their last 11 vs. the Twins at the Cell, which is getting pathetic. Yahoo tells us that the Sox entered this series last in the league in runs per game, next to last in BA and coming off an eight-game stretch in which they hit .208. And yet, they have scored thirteen runs the last two games. I'd like to think that the season performance is more indicative of their true offense (think Skanberg). So, with an even-steven pitching matchup, advantage to our boys, right? Right?
Go Twins.
this is up early today. oh, wait... it's an early game today. i think i got up too early today.
Day Game Day Game Day Game! I now have plans for a Fargo afternoon! I'm listening to my Hold Steady Pandora station in preparation.
Go Go Gadget Gemini Baseball Hitting Machines!
Twins official site has it at 1:05 CDT.
Joe C has the Twins lineup and ... Joe Mauer batting second! Yep, the Twins' first four hitters are lefties, and of course they are the Twins' best four hitters. Cuddyer batting fifth, too. Morales is catching in his final game before being sent back down. Tolbert and Punto on defense, so hopefully Blackburn can keep the ball on the ground.
Now this is a lineup shake up I can believe in.
Way to go, Gardy
*Twayn's "blind squirrel/nut" image here*
Twins official site has it at 1:05 CDT.
DOH! I misread the "2:05" as "12:05"...and then brain-farted. Fixed. Sorry to get everyone up in a tizzy.
Hmmm…I might try to stick around this game log thing for a little while this afternoon. Mauer batting #2 has me all atwitter.
Okay, new day, new game. It starts out 0-0. The past is past. "Everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new." GO TWINS!
nice Biblical quote, although I think that it may be used out of context a little. On the other hand, Mauer is in the game today.
Well, yes, I'll admit that when Paul wrote that, he probably did not have the Minnesota Twins in mind. But when you've lost six in a row, you take hope where you can find it.
Paul wrote that? I thought it was Ringo.
Paul's dead.
The Beatles are bigger than Mauer.
Sacrilege!
If they had ever toured, we could have Beatles week around here and the kids could rate Hey Jude a "5".
The Gospel according to John
To think I'd rank the Beatles as high as a 5!
St. Paul!
man I'm slow today. It took me until now to figure out why the word 'Geminis' is in the title of this post.
Okay, Colon gives up homers to each of the first four batters he faces, and gets pulled for Clayton Richard. Then, mid-inning, further through the game, Peavy approves the trade, meaning Richard is unable to continue pitching. They try to stop him as he's pitching, but he's already started his motion, and falls down or something, and is hurt. Then, SD backs out of the trade due to the injury of Richard.
(Actually, I'm thinking Richard is going to like Petco and the NL west.)
for what it's worth, it's looking like peavy's going to veto the deal.
Gameday has Colon with a 88 MPH fastball and a 87 MPH change. Nice.
Joe Mauer ... is ... so ... freaking ... good!
He just couldn't stand batting under .400.
ACK!
:lol:
this never gets old
Wait, wait, wait. Did Mauer get an RBI on that double? I. Don't. Think. So.
pwned
Uncle Festus!
Wasn't Festus the guy on Gunsmoke?
No, that was a made-up holiday on Seinfeld.
Fester. Uncle Fester.
Right. When you eff up the joke, it loses a little steam.
Then you look at that chump DannyB and start laughing again.
Festering. (Like this joke.)
We've had more production from the #2 slot in this game than all the previous games this season.
I'm pretty sure there was this one game where the second-baseman* got a single and an RBI.
*Therefore, batting second.
Well, he should have passed the previous production by the end of this game then.
I think RBI-single ~= double, so think all is about equal now.
I'll second that !
Now let's have the right-handers keep it going.
Or not. One is better than none, but it sure would have been nice to get more.
duuuuuude
Tis better to have abided and lost, than never to have abided at all. And still lost.
thats beautiful :tear:
Bravo!
Well, we got the lead. Maybe this will last past the first batter in the first.
Let's at least get an out before they tie it up or worse.
That's one way to do it. We actually got an out when we picked off a runner. The last two pickoffs have resulted in stolen bases against the Twins.
that work for ya?
Oh, snap! Even Mauers D improves from the #2 slot
And he's not even catching!
okay, conference call confusion there. sorry.
what's the injury delay?
Konerko is the only player in the Sox lineup today with a BA over .300. I fear progression to the mean.
Konerko's like a .230 batter, right? Don't fear that regression. Oh, you mean the rest of the order...
.278 career.
Geez. Alexei has walked nine times this season, four have come against the Twins, the team that is the stingiest at walking batters.
we fear him, I guess
Heavy traffic today. Can we get this game log filled to 614?
will the page explode when that happens?
Last time, the game log became inaccessible, so yeah!
50 per inning isn't going to cut it.
If we play extras, we'll get there.
If so, it's threads like this that'll get us there.
Only eight innings to go!
Sacrifice to 2nd, sacrifice to 3rd ?
The best we can get out of Tolbert & Punto
Don't be greedy.
The lineup disagrees.
Kubel just has too much range! Phew!
The Twins have finished an inning with the lead since the eighth inning last Friday in the first game against the Yankees.
WAIT?! Nick Punto got a run in?!
That Nick Punto is a heady player.
We've forgotten about our best offensive weapon ... the bunt! Screw those home runs. We need more bunts!
bunt, head-butt. Same difference.
head-butt. Transposition error there, bS.
Gordo: 'off the head of Punto!'
me: 'probably knock some sense into him'
i didn't see it, but i'm guessing that if he dove head first, he would have been out, right?
I've got the radio, so Im no help
Not quite. Betemit threw that ball about five feet on the home side of first.
Bunting wins ballgames.
BuntingJoe Mauer wins ballgames.C'mon Joe, we need homers, only homers from here on out. Sacrifice flies are for mortal men.
Come on, Dude. Make them pay for walking the Mountie.
Joe Mauer with the RBI!
Uncle Festus, er, Fester strikes again!
Thank goodness you didn't make that the default avatar.
I can still do that!
*shudder*
RBI!
DUUUUUUUUDE
The Dude love shitting in ChiTown
I don't know if that's true or not, but he sure likes HITTING in ChiTown.
(Gotta figure out how to get that edit button function back.)
I hope the folks in the offices next to mine don't hear me cracking up after reading this...
The Dude leaves his mark on Chicago.
The dude abideth! Take that, Ozzie. Don't be IBBing Morneau!
Bah, Hinske would have hit a homer.
Turns out he was just saving that for Cuddyer...and Crede. Wow!
He fixes the cable!
Cuddy go boom!
Holy Cow!
CREDE!
BACK TO BACK BABY
Runs! Beautiful runs!
Twins really pumping lead into the Sox this inning ... sweet.
Aw crap. Another seven-run inning. Oh wait! It's the Twins doing the scoring!
What in the world? I'm on the phone for five minutes, and it's 8-0?
What the hell is going on here?
It's all so very confusing. How do I get back to the other side of the looking glass?
Go ask Alice.
Five bucks for a concert ticket. Inflation really sucks.
Um, yeah, we were due for one like this.
Way overdue in day games. The Twins came into this game hitting .220/.314/.284 in day games.
As close as Gordo made it sound, or does John need a nap?
At the fence. Just a bit too high.
Remember, everyone, the key to the inning was the bunt.
Morales sucks! Send him down! Hee hee!
Young has sooooooooooo many more RBIs than he does.
I was in a foul mood last night after getting in the car and quickly listening to a 2-0 lead becoming a 7-2 deficit thinking "Man, these are the type of things that never happen for us. We never turn a close game into a rout this quickly with a seven spot"
and here we are.
I've projected it out and we're due to score 49 runs in the 3rd.
I'm thinking only 13.
Debbie Downer.
Pure %(@**ng genius, are you using fangraphs?
It's the beauty of continually compounded interest.
Is Neil a tax-lawyer?
It was funny listening to Hawk lament the bad luck of the previous inning. "It all started with a seeing eye single"..."then the error". I know that 6 of those runs were unearned, but it's not like Colon wasn't largely responsible. The Twins were just smoking balls all over the place.
My gameday just said pitching change " Lance Broadway replaces Lance Broadway" ...WOW
How weird is it that they have two pitchers with exactly the same name? And an unusual name at that!
no, that was a pants change - "Lance Broadway wets Lance Broadway"
Man, that pansy can hit!
Joe Mauer's third PA in the 3rd inning. At this rate, he'll have the PA's for the batting title in no time!
aarrrgg!! i hate the twins. six days of crap, then this. now, we'll score 3 runs over the next 4-5 games.
I wouldn't categorize the Yankees series as crap. Very crappy outcomes, sure, but they actually played pretty good baseball in that series. It can be hard to win a hand when the other guy has almost 3 times as many chips in his stack.
Let's enjoy this right now instead of finding more ways to be frustrated.
you realize that i won't feel good about this game until after it's over, right?
For knocking in the Spandemonium. All 9 starters have scored already.
Seriously, we have to stop using that picture.
I don't even understand it. Maybe it's better that way...
It's Barreiro. Though it looks an awful lot like a pen!s.
*yawn* only 1 runs scored that inning
So I'm thinking putting Mauer in the 2-hole might be a good thing to continue trying.
no arguments here.
No lineup curse can withstand a Joe Mauer exorcism.
Gardy believes in "playing the hot hand," maybe he believes in "playing the hot lineup."
Can we somehow put him in the 2-hole and the 3-hole? That would be sweet.
We could employ a ghost runner. It would be awesome.
Oh boy, here we go...
Crede saves!
Rats. I was hoping for a triple play.
I thought for sure the Podsednik walk was intentional to set that up...
Keep this one on ice, fellas. We're probably gonna need it.
Can we throw some of these runs in there for later?
Yeah, but leave a little room for some beer.
You guys smell that? That's sole possession of third place wafting past our noses.
Smells like burnt Hawk.
Double digits!
If all the scorers in the league are reluctant to score errors, which seems to be the case, then I have to think that's what MLB wants, or at the very least, MLB is okay with it.
Okay, so 49 runs was wrong, but I am starting to see a pattern and now predict we will win 33-0.
Crap, I'm bad at this.
Almost halfway there.
"The smallest worm will turn, being trodden on."
So I pick up my daughter from school, and all nine of the hometowners score a run?! This is acceptable. I mean, I'd love to actually see these things happening, but as long as you guys can confirm the existence of all these runs, I guess it's a start.
Dazzle laying sod all over the place, and then telling everyone to get off of it.
Awesome unintentionally funny ad on MLB.com:
Yankee Stadium III = empty seats
F*&^! F@#(*&@&!@$&)!@*)(*()!~~~~~~!!!!
HOW the F*&^ do I get these photos to show up?!!!!?!?!??!??!
I give up. I can't believe how much this is torquing me off.
you probably have to save the image, then transfer it to a host sit like Photobucket
I just heard a sox fan on the FSN broadcast say to Mauer: "Why don't you be a man and play catcher"
Hilarious.
I just got out of a meeting; nothing out of the ordinary has happened today, right?
Same old same old.
I see that both Punto and Tolbert struck out. Ho-hum for the Twins today.
And they are now sporting identical batting averages. Both below .200. Oy.
Sheesh, you'd think Kubes would want to pump his slugging a bit and hit for some extra bases...
The way guys are swinging the bat right now, I really like 1-6 in this lineup. It's so tantalizing - seems like if we can start getting some average pitching this team could win some games.
Are Gordo and Dazzle seriously suggesting that Morales might be moved to second base. I like the guy, but Craig Biggio he ain't.
Dick 'n Bert latched on to that line too. I don't think that playing infield in A ball means what they think it means.
Redmond is almost a fossil; this team is going to need a different backup someday, and having one that can switch hit pretty well and isn't going to see a lot of time behind the plate isn't a bad thing.
He was originally a second sacker. They converted him to catcher in low A ball in 2003. Not saying he'd be a good 2B, there's probably a reason they moved him.
Looking at the numbers, there was definitely a reason they moved him from 2nd. 7 errors in 23 games his first year, 9 errors in 41 games his 2nd year. That works out to about 35 errors per 162 game season. Yikes.
Wonder what we could get for Morales in a trade ...
tolbert...? got the rbi...?
A lot more relaxed in the 8 hole. Plus with the Dangerous Punto behind him....oops I only have so much bullsh*t in me.
Don''t forget the bunting.
Since the Twins are leading by 11 runs, I expect Punto to get a bases clearing triple here.
In play, run(s)!
Oh, but not a triple... that was a nice try though.
Punto speciality: FC with a run scored.
Twins have hit two balls off the wall, have a walk and a single to the outfield and have scored only one run. I'd be upset if we were'nt already up 11-0.
Former Royal Loogy Jimmy "Gobble" Gobble!
Span, Morneau, and Morales all need an RBI yet. Unless Morneau gets a bases-loaded BB, he's not getting much of a chance.
Yeah, because Morneau's the one guy you don't want to beat you.
Mauer is gobbling them all up. Talk about selfish.
Afternoon folks.
Just in time for Mauer salami, quite apropos.
W00T!
Holy Joe!!!!!!!!one!
Mauer salami!
That's a lot of Barreiros.
Oh, sure, he can do that in a blowout. Let's see him come through in the clutch.
WHERE CAN I SIGN UP FOR THE MAUER CULT ALREADY?
you mean the mauer cult... of personality?
I'm expecting several dozen Uncle Fester image posts here...
Eat shit Uncle Festus!!
I think the Twins are gonna get to triple digits today.
Memo to E-6: we're going to need another cooler.
I should go out for Indian food more often.
My goodness he's locked in.
I'm afraid to reload. They're multiplying!
Who is that guy?
That is Dan Barreiro, Mauer's biggest critic.
brilliant! :lol:
Sure killed that rally there.
You know in 30 minutes I have to drive to Prior Lake to watch the boy's baseball game. I'm going to actually relish listening to Uncle Festus.
Hee hee, Prior, I get it.
It's an Uncle Festus miracle!
Holy shit, we're going to run out of Prior jokes.
should of drafted Dewon Brazelton
So, how much is Joe going to require for his contract extension now? The historical tithe is 10% of the income, so at the time of death for Grandpa Carl, would be about $360,000,000.
Why does this happen when I cannot watch the game? Oh well, I suppose that I will have to go out celebrating in a few hours.
2-run homer and the Twins will have the HR cycle today
Cuddyer 4tw?
I'll still take 4-5, etc.
Wow. We're watching something very special here folks. Hopefully, this isn't just a power binge for one month, but a break out for Mauer. He's going from best hitting catcher to just best hitter in the AL.
Just today, Mauer has a double to center, a double to right, a fly ball to the wall in left and a grand slam to center. Incredible.
I agree. He's having kind of an off day.
I could echo the same thing about Cuddyer. Hopefully today's game indicates bigger things to come.
Todays' question to keep the game interesting. Which position player pitches for the Pale Hose ?
They should allow Ozzie to pitch the ninth.
Only if they wire him for sound.
Meanwhile, Blackburn is pitching a pretty efficient game. Not missing bats as usual, and a little good luck, but at least throwing any juicy mistake pitches over the plate.
...and it's time for the defensive replacement, ho ho.
73 pitches through 6.
Career most pitches is 108, and most innings is 8 (not the same game). I think he could get there.
He's gotta pitch through a lot of time on the bench
Woah. Who are these guys playing the White Sox? I don't believe we've been introduced.
Too bad this isn't the first game of a double-header...
uh, Uncle Festus?
We're going with it. So what if it's wrong.
Hey, I'll go with it too!
Where the **** has this been all ****ing season?! Heck, where was this the last 6 games? Can we use some of these runs for that dreaded Yankees series?
Way to go guys, don't use it all up here.
We're using our rollover runs from last month.
I think you forgot to close your tags.
/statfreak
I just missed the second grouping of scoiring because of my shower. I've managed to see zero of the runs. What is wrong with me?
Never mind: just saw run #17.
Don't hold up Cuddyer -- Morales needs the RBI!
Morales is Spanish for "little Mauer", right?
OMG TOLBERT!
Ha! Gordo: "Matt Tolbert's hit a home run and he doesn't even know it."
He put the brakes on as he rounded first.
WEE HAWWW! It's a hootenanny on the southside!
This is epic. Wish I were watching, but Gameday Mini is pretty sweet, too. TWENTY!
I just put my daughter to bed and missed those three runs! GAAHAAHHAAAH!
33-0 is looking a little more likely than it was 30 minutes ago.
Trust the math.
Looks like we might win this one.
giggle giggle. This is ridiculous.
I actually switched to the White Sox audio, it's quite amusing to listen to.
In games like this, Hawk has been known to get up and leave. Has that happened yet?
Nope. He's reminiscing about 2005.
I assume he's complaining about a ruling back in the 2nd inning yet. . . a borderline call that went for the Twins.
I'm about to leave work (Gameday). I have XM radio in the car and will be gettting the White Sox feed, oughta be fun.
Mauer is now hitting .417/.519/.853. His ISoP is .436. His career Slugging is .467 coming into this game.
Oops. Make that .417/.512/.853. I forgot his sac fly.
If that line was OBP/SLG/OPS it would be a great line. He is amazing right now.
if that line was OBP/SLG/OPS, the math would be wrong ;-)
Not by my California math, doc! ;)
Touché (at the major-league level).
Four Home Runs and a score of 20 - 0, and they're still stuck on that f-ing bunt by Punto. Good god.
If you're gonna defend the stupidest play in baseball, might as well go all out.
My mom just e-mailed me saying "did you know the Twins are winning 20-0!" Gotta love her.
D@mn HRs; now we gotta start this rally from scratch again.
Mauer with a 1.319 OPS. A homer every 9 at bats. That'll settle a bit, obviously, but SoCal's right, he's coming out as the best hitter out there. If he keeps up even a fraction of this and isn't unanimous MVP, then we are obligated to raise serious hell.
I like the Gameday (Yahoo Gamechannel, actually) photo of "Gobble" Gobble, still in his Royals hat. Apparently, MLB doesn't think it is worth updating his picture.
How the hell did the Twins fail to score in the 5th?
No team has ever scored in all nine innings, (although home teams have scored in all 8 innings they've batted).
How the hell did the Twins fail to score in the 5th?
(Looks at the pbp)... It was Mauer's fault!
Yeah, I think it was Span, Mauer and Morneau that inning too.
It was the wind's fault! The Sox radio color guy said he thought the ball hit by Mauer was gone off the bat and that it just got knocked down by the wind.
So Joe doesn't control the wind? Jeebus, what are we PAYING him for?
So, what did I miss?
Oh, 20 runs on 20 hits. I'm still not impressed with this Mauer kid.
Mercy pinch-hitter.
And now he needs some time to rest his little suzzie legs? Chump.
Screw it, I am using my mlb.tv account now. Boss be damned.
Do not pinch hit for Baby Jesus! He needs the ABs for the batting title! Damnit, Gardy, if he ends up 1 PA short of the batting title, I'm going to....
Actually, do nothing about it.
If he ends up one short, he'll almost certainly win it via rule Soandsoandso, as mentioned here.
what if he's one hit short? Or one non-AB PA?
Point taken
Mauer needs these PA's to win the batting title. C'mon Gardy!
If I laughed when I looked at the score, does that mean that this qualifies as a laugher?
Dazzle used the phrase 'and this one's a laugher' during the 5th inning
Let's just give him a gold glove right now. Crede is amazing!
What, the pussy can't even play 9 innings as DH?
I'm going to see him in my sleep.
Crede with the Willie Mays Hayes catch.
So the Twins are going to go 1-6 on this road trip and yet outscore their opposition.
Isn't this a good place to bean AJ?
My favorite AJ plunking was this game. The A's were pissed at him because of he wouldn't shut up in the previous ALDS and had threatened to bean him. Then, they did in the 8th with a 2-run lead and a runner on (not intentional), but the ball got wedged between his arm and torso underneath his armpit. He grabbed it, waved it at Zito, and then threw it away (just hilarious AJ comedy).
Then, Kielty was announced as the pinch-hitter. I was alone in the Home Run Porch and turned to the stranger next to me and said, "Kielty's homering now." (Those were the days when he crushed LHP.) He works the count full and then launches one down the LF line that hooks foul by about 10 feet. Next pitch, gone. Twins win, 4-3.
Just pure AJ hilarity getting under the A's skin.
ah. too slow. Hard to bean him when he's in the dugout.
It's just a little more obvious when you throw at him.
Now they're throwing at us. There's a reason they're called the Bitch Sox.
Gordo brought up the Twins biggest run differential in a game. Its 21 on June 4 ,2002. Also the 25 hits the game is a team record
I remember that game well. I was watching it in the dorm room of some of my friends, one of them left for a while and then came back.
Him: "Have the Twins scored 10 more runs since I left?"
Me: "Maybe, how many did they have when you left?"
I was at that game. It was fun. :)
What happened to Dickey and his rubber arm?
Suddenly, Mijares and Nathan need some work.
That wasn't the best throw by Tolbert, but after seeing the replay I'd have to pin that one on Punto.
Shoulda left Blackey in. Now the floodgates are open.
If they would have brought Mijares in one inning earlier, he could be going for the classic 19-run save.
well, this team record will still hold now. biggest win margin in a shutout
not.
oh wait, I see what you mean.
I'm going to take credit for this one, fellas. First game log of the year ... maybe my first in two years.
Win!
We expect you back tomorrow.
I'm crediting Alfred E. Neumann's leadership.
What about largest margin for a road win? Do we have that?
16 maybe? I dont have a full B-R subscription so that might be wrong
the last time the Twins scored 20 on the road was in 2007 during that infamous double header on the South Side
Yep, that's the largest margin prior to today. Can't do a direct search for margin of victory, which is a pain.
The Twins, since game one of the Yankee series:
42 Runs For
35 Runs Against
Granted, the White Sox haven't batted in the 9th yet.
I wonder where Redmond will be coaching next season.
Most runs allowed by the White Sox looks like its 21 back in 1970
Can we stop pretending Punto is a MLB-caliber bat?
They're keeping his defense in the game to hold the lead.
Only guy in the starting lineup to have neither a hit nor a walk. Crede had one, Span had two, everyone else reached at least 3 times. Morales reached five times. What a game.
20 runs, 20 hits, and Punto is 0-5.
Going home after a game like that has to feel almost as bad as a loss.
But his bunt was the key play in the game!
We're putting Nathan in? Awww, come on.
Gordo helpfully tells us that this is not a safe situation for Nathan.
Make that "save situation". It probably is pretty safe.
I don't know...are the Ligues at the game?
You can never be safe playing in Chicago. You never know when rabid fans will run out on the field and attack you.
Oh sure, Sox Machine can get over to say hi today...
Teaching lessons, a Twins win/pleasant game log, a nap, and a show to play. All in all, an excellent day.
I think we need about 20 displays of fireworks.
here ya go.
oooooh
ahhhh
How often do you get to say 'a score of runs'? Nice win. Nice fireworks - don't have to buy them in Sconny anymore either!
Oh man. That was a great game to be at. And I've got new desktop wallpaper:
I'll post some more pics
tomorrowthis weekendwhen I get to it.thats beautiful!
I wonder what Ozzie said during his post game talker.
Don't know, yet. They're using a 7-
second-hour delay.Bartolo Colon was charged for 8 runs, but 1 earned. That looks like its not even close to a R/ER differential record. Tim Wakefield was once charged with 11 runs, but 1 earned
I'm really enjoying the mlb.com highlights of the home runs from today. They're very minimalist from a Hawk standpoint, which is aways appreciated.
I did enjoy the call on Cuddyer's home run because the other yahoo up there was trying to tell me the pitch was supposed to be up and in (which is where it ended up), despite the very obvious down and away location of the catcher's glove.