Time: 7:10 CDT
TV: FSN HD
MLB.tv and radio
Starters:
John Danks (7-6, 3.76; 124 tRA+)
vs.
Nick "Ace" Blackburn (7-4, 2.94; 104 tRA+)
Apparently Blackburn's deal with the Devil did not include complete game shutouts. Always read the fine print Nick, the Devil is a tricky one.
Quick summary of the Yankees' series:
In A.D. 2009
Series was beginning.
Gardenhire: What happen ?
Liddle: Somebody set up us the bomb.
Ullger: We get signal.
Gardenhire: What !
Ullger: Main screen turn on.
Gardenhire: It's you !!
Yankees: How are you gentlemen !!
Yankees: All your win are belong to us.
Yankees: You are on the way to lose.
Gardenhire: What you say !!
Yankees: You have no chance to win make your time.
Yankees: Ha ha ha ha....
Ullger: Gardy !!
Gardenhire: Take off every 'BAT'!!
Gardenhire: You know what you doing.
Gardenhire: Move 'BAT'.
Gardenhire: For great justice.
Time to kick some White Sox ass.
haha nice. GO TWINS!
WASTE: Hitting with runners in scoring position could be big this week.
The Hell, you say!
I wonder what the vegas line is on Dazzle responding to the first homerun of the game as the hitter getting a pitch "middle-half in."
Nice first for Blackie.
Hooray, Twins on tv in HD.
I'll be listening to the volume low on this one.
Its good to see that Danks isn't even close to the strike zone so far.
Two walks to lead off the first. Now let's capitalize. We need some Pauer!
"Hey Danks, you know what that white plate on the ground means, right?"
God dammit, Hawk just asked if the Twins should send the runners..... with Joe Freekin Mauer hitting with a 3-1 count.
Morneau, don't force the issue, man.
Denied on the embedding.
I'm walkin' here!
Stupid YouTube.
Beautiful.
i like being on this side of walking runs in...
Sweet! (Although, who's baseball is that?)
Wow. Has this ever happened in a Twins game before?
The producers should stop showing Ozzie. It's dangerous to point the camera at him at times like this. And in general.
Oh come on, its not like there's kids watching.
DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDE!
That was awesome.
That double was doubly awesome.
AJ's getting pissed. THE Dude!
Double Dude!!!
I'm literally having more fun right now than in the last three games combined.
First base open--time for the IBB.
cuddly sez "eff that jazz"
The good Cuddy!
And the Bad.
I'm amazed any base runners ever get back when lefties pitch since they all technically balk every single time. But that said, there's no way Cuddy should be leaning anywhere but back towards first when he' on.
Hurray for crooked numbers!
Danks for the runs, pally
I remember a Kenny Rogers start where he couldn't get a single out for the longest time...something like seven earned in two-thirds was his final line. Except Kenny was giving up lame bloops, and Danks is just a mess, it seems.
Those weren't no Yankee hits.
Yeah, Twins have pwned everything they've hit.
Haha, White Sox guys are getting mopy already.
i just have to say quickly, after all the bert and dick lamentations, and living in chi-town now, thank gawd i don't have to listen to the hawk day in and day out...
He's frustrating because he shows the ability to make insights on occasion, but he'd rather just be gimmicky and catch-phrasey.
I hear that. That guy is the biggest piece of shit I've ever heard call a sporting event of any kind.
Hawk is putrid, but I really think Joe Buck is worse. Hawk is a dunce, but at least he appears to care about what's going on.
I can agree with this. Joe Buck makes the rage grow. Hawk merely annoys the crap out of me.
Well, as I've said before, I find it really hard to deal with all his negativity. Buck may seem apathetic, but I prefer that to Hawk. Everything that comes out of that dude's mouth is "The Bitch Sox are so unlucky" or "Those umpires are terrible".
I think that we can agree that if we had to listen to either on a regular basis, we'd all commit suicide.
That's for sure. You know it's bad when I find myself defending Joe Buck.
I can laugh at negativity, but Joe Buck has that rare combination of not caring, self-righteousness, overinflated ego, and pompousness that makes me want to punch kittens.
Buck is terrible in a less in-your-face sort of way, so I think I'd prefer him to Hawk. But is mowing the lawn an option? Because if it's between Buck, Hawk, and mowing the lawn, I'm going with the latter.
Oh its terrible, for damn sure. I only bring the sound back up when the Twins are winning because I find their horrible lack of professionalism in those situations to be comical.
Shit, even Dick and Bert don't get whiny when the Twins are down.
actually, you did bring up one of his good points in that it's fun to listen to him when the sux are getting shellacked.
Bad Cuddy.
No way, Cuddyer. What a lapse.
This is what happens when you shuffle your rotation to load up on lefty starters against the Twins.
Smartball (tm)
Didn't Billy Beane write that?
he could be the worst base runner evah !
I've been saying for years, all we need is to have the first four guys walk and then we can start hitting.
Harris playing it big today
Best defensive play Dirty Harry's made all year.
Pujols woulda had that...
Holy crap, does Thome look terrible when running. I think my dad is more limber than that, and he has fake hips.
That modified jersey is excellent.
My dislike for Bremer is at least 75% irrational these days and defies explanation. I don't know what it is, but I can't stand the guy. The way he called that Harris force-out just rubbed me the wrong way. I post this simply to point out that I am insane.
as we were discussing above, would you want him or the hawk?
I would want neither of them. My standard is higher than "well, he's not the worst possible option."
No, I can understand this. I've been wishing for Michael Buffer's death for two decades, and honestly, should anyone give a f*&^ about Michael Buffer?
Agreed. A limited range shortstop making a diving play... All of his plays are diving plays!
For me, I think it's more that every freaking time Morneau catches the ball at first base it's like he's managed to juggle 19 flaming sabers without burning or cutting anyone. Catching the ball on a hop is harder than when it doesn't hop, but many professional ballplayers can do it. I mean, he made a bigger deal out of Morneau scooping the ball at first than he did for Harris laying out to catch a hopping batted ball. Does not compute.
Yeah, I tuned out Dick pretty quick. If Scott Hatteberg can post a -0.7 UZR/150 at first, it can't be that hard to catch the throws.
I react to Bremer's voice like Kramer reacted to Mary Hart's.
I actually kinda like Dick. He has great passion for the game and is about as positive about the game as Hawk is negative. I've come to accept that TV announcers aren't going to always give you the most intelligent or in depth announcing and even an announcer like that would start to sound like a broken record doing 130 or so games a year.
Indeed. That's why I agree with what someone said in some other thread that Dick would be pretty good if he had a competent color guy.
I brought it up, but I don't think I was the only one. I wonder how different he'd be today if he was bantering with a guy who understood statistical analysis and brought up points of interest.
Like I said, I realize that it's mostly irrational at this point, but he really just grates on me.
there goes the complete game shutout... i like getting it out of the way in the 2nd instead of the 8th or 9th.
Hungry Joe, is the new moniker a reference to Catch-22 or Joe Lewis the con man?
a little from column a...
I just hope he wasn't looking towards the bullpen after that run.
Now Hawk's on a serious "get off my lawn" rant about young players.
"They don't want to change anything.. unless.. unless they fail."
Well, I would want to change anything if I wasn't failing either.
Why did the ballboy only pick up the beach ball? It looked like there was some other debris on the warning track. I've about had it with that ballboy, when are we going to finally upgrade that position? It's been obvious for some time now that he's been bringing us down.
Stupid Gardy keeps trotting him out there day in and day out. Why won't that guy trade him fora Freddy Sanchez or somethign?
FIRE GARY AND BALLBOY!!
I read a comment in last night's game story that the key for the Twins is getting a leader like Dazzle or AJ.
Yeah, but the commenter's name was "Nosir,I'mtotallynottherealDanGladden."
That damned Gary!
Gary?
I was channeling Strib Guy-- HONESTLY!!11!
Lazy, punk kids today...
If they weren't in our division, we could fleece the Royals with him.
He's got a Punto-esque -15 VORBB.
Hey now, wasn't he the ball boy who put the full body tackle on the idiot who was running around the field a year or two ago?
Yeah, but what has he done for me lately??!?!?!
That was actually the Red Sox ballboy. IIRC, he was a 28 year old former college wrestler.
Dick: The White Sox resurgence coincided with the acquisition of Posednik.
I wish FJM was still around.
I was just going to Fangraphs to see how much of a surge he's providing.
.310/.368/.399
This is his second best season, ever.
Oh, and he's also 13-for-20 (65%) in SBs this year, so as uninspiring as the above line looks, you also have to consider that he's hurting his team on the basepaths, too.
Tyneresque.
I wonder if he stays awake at night during interleague, thinking of ways to make the Brewers pay.
On the other hand, just imagine if we had Podsednik-like production at 2b? We'd be running away with the division!
You're making me sad, Brian.
Nice play by Punto.
Nice play by Punto there.
the hawk suspects it's those twins kids and their damn metrodome as the reason the sox aren't playing well tonight.
They deffnily a differnt team then when they come to auhr hause.
Oh, I love it when they blame the Dome for their troubles. Love it.
Next year when the Twins are beating the White Sox, will they reference the mystical nature of the Dome, or will they just ignore it completely in favor of new excuses?
They'll have to turn to some kind of excuse--at this point they've used the dome as a crutch for their failures too often to turn their backs on it.
It will be "the Twins are used to their new digs while the White Sox are still getting used to a new stadium".
Bingo. Nice call.
Blackie's gettin hit pretty hard so far considering he's only given up 1 run.
All on the ground!
Except for that one.
And that one.
Smalley's on-screen appearance elicited a "whoa" from this observer. It looks like perhaps he has come straight from the '70s, having skipped the '80s and '90s entirely.
He's leading the league in hair, no doubt.
If only Delmon could run....
They could turn left field into a roller rink. Then he'd get to everything.
I think he would still need some jet skates.
this could lead to some highly comedic coyote-type action with the ball starring as the roadrunner.
Good job fans!
heckuva attempt on that foul ball by Chisox third baseman. He practically leapt in to the seats.
Yeah, it was a nice jump.
the hawk suggests that if you're in a so-called "hostile environment", you need to "go into the stands hard" and make a "hard swipe" to get the ball. wow.
I've always said that the first rule of business is to physically abuse your customers.
That's what she said.
Did he really say that? I tuned out after I heard him say "hostile environment". Wow, indeed....
C'mon, guys. SSS. Hit me with it just once. It's the answer. It's not confidence, and it's not "for whatever reason, he sees the ball out of Danks' hand better." It's sample size. Once, guys. Once?
Nope. There has to be a reason for everything.
Fuck entropy--that's what I always say.
that would invoke enthalpy, would it not?
You know that's a shitty call when even the Sox guys think he shoulda walked.
AJ fall down, go boom. also, i think i posted this earlier this year, but i saw it again recently. i have to admit, it still makes me laugh.
AJ and Lefties
That was the 3rd baseman's ball, right? The play is much easier for him than A.J.. Even if I am wrong, this just further proves to me that A.J. is a jackass.
According to the Sox guys, its AJs because he's played in the dome before and Beckham sucks.
So does that double.
How much proof does a person need?
Michael Barrett: "Not a whole lot."
That run didn't help anything.
Bert is trying to sell me on Ozzie's brilliant pep talk that basically went, "Play well now?" This is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.
UNO!
It appears that he didn't learn much from that first inning. Hawk was right!
Well hello there.
Circle Meat, Bert.
I was referring to the comebacker to Blackburn... what were you referring to?
The beautiful woman who won the Minnesota lottery challenge....
Lucky. All I get to see are Chicago fans.
She was 80. Now, whether FTLT was being facetious or he's a GILF guy? That's a question for him.
I stand by my lamentations of only seeing Chicago fans.
I really just wanted to use "Circle Meat, Bert". It just to happened to be an 80 year old woman.
You have to admit, I was on my game with that one.
a lot of those have been winning since robbie started giving them out...
Our favorite ball boy with another error on that foul grounder.
our favorite ball b_y.
wait, crap. Why did i think an 'o' was a 'd'?
You are a Strib commenter?
I did make comments during games over there before I stumbled into this place. I guess old habits are tough to break?
fwiw, he's been struggling on offense too.
Yeah, I don't suppose he scores all that much.
twayn, I believe you forgot this.
I'm not having as much fun with this game as earlier.
Batting Stance Guy is the best non-player Twins employee.
Also, A.J. Pierzynski is a c*&^.
That was a great catch by Cuddy.
My neighbors are having a rather loud party and cranking Michael Jackson-- this does not please me. For heaven's sake, this man was, more than likely, a child molester, let's stop treating him like he is some sort of messiah!
Thank you. I thought I was some sort of asshole for not giving his death any more thought after I first heard about it.
In the King of Pop's defense, he was acquitted of all charges. And going back and looking at the cases, they seemed a bit fishy.
He was a seriously messed up guy, who lead a pretty crappy life. My take on it is that he just never emotionally matured much past 10 or 11, and just felt kids were his "peers." An adult who hangs out with 11 to 12 year old boys is certainly weird, but I don't think there was ill intent.
Michael Jackson was acquitted and Donte Stallworth only spent 26 days in jail. Some legal system we have.
I'm with Zack. I think "a bit fishy" is generous, which, for the record, doesn't mean I was lurking on eBay for a "golden ticket."
To be fair to the "he's a molester" crowd, I believe he paid $20 million to ensure that a potential victim not testify in a criminal case, which caused a change in California law. Of course, that is still a little fishy (ZOMG, I got $20 million!), but there was a little smoke there.
I rather liked this response.
I'm with that guy.
How often does Cuddyer actually make a play on the wall? Normally when he jumps into it, he completely blows the play.
"Nobody knows the wall better than Michael Cuddyer," Bert? Consistently misplaying a wall doesn't mean a lot, man.
Cuddy is good at playing balls that bounce off the baggie, but not so much when he goes into it.
True, I should've made that distinction.
Ok Blackburn, this is a good time to start missing some bats.
His deal does seem to be expiring. Time for a re-up, Blackie.
I think this time he should trade his soul so he can be the best blues musician ever. Then they could make a movie about it starring Ralph Macchio.
It's such a brilliant plan; how could it possibly fail?
Two words: Ralph Macchio
yer worth the 4 mil, buddy!
Bert seemed pretty excited about Punto throwing that ball "from his kneeeeeeeees!"
I meant Bremer. Poop.
So, do tell. After the mound visit there and the dual meetings in the third, has The Hawk had his coronary yet over "Joe Mauer and those pesky Twins and all the doggone mound visits" yet?
if he did, i successfully tuned it out. however, i haven't seen a ton of twins games lately, but i can't remember the last time i saw gardy out there without the pitching change. he must being emulating leyland...
Hungry joe, this one's on you. I muted it when during the last inning.
Whoa! The Internets say Hawk and Darrin were split up. This is a travesty. That tandem made DicknBert look like real pros.
I'm assuming Hawk and _______ will still get the job done.
Apparently, Steve Stone. I guess CSN was going for the alliteration duo.
Oh, Darrin was a special kind of terrible. Even Sox fans admitted he was in over his head and was simply the cheapest possible option to put in the booth. Imagine Hawk and a random dude with no broadcasting experience at all pulled from the crowd and you'll get the idea.
heh. poor darrin. yeah, he was indeed terrible, but i think the blame was at least 50/50 in that duo.
Agreed. So they fix the situation by putting him in the radio booth. Yikes...
Just in time to motivate the Dude to first! Thank you, thank you.
Grrrr, _elm_n make cheaptoy aaaAANGRyyy!
blackburn still in, eh?
I'm a little surprised too, but he was under 100 pitches coming into this inning.
i wouldn't be shocked if he somehow pulls a losing complete game out of this.
I couldn't hear it, but according to the commercial I just saw it is White Sox tradition to sit as far away from the game in whatever rich-person boxes you can get and drink crappy beer without being able to actually watch the game. Sweet!
Some White Sox fans like to get really close to the action after drinking crappy beer.
I may have mentioned this before here, but I got engaged out on my patio, went inside, turned on a baseball game and immediately that incident happened.
cheAptoy. The big "A" is for angry.
Dig that Scotty Pods. What a buttplug! Er, sparkplug!
Oh, so that's what Meat looks like.
STFU! They circled meat?!!
The sign said "Circle me Bert, it's my sixth birthday."
It was a six year old kid, in a fedora.
Ha!
Walk Punto to get to DSPAN2?? Inconceivable.
Nicky is the last remaining piranha.
Just got here. How's it going? With Danks pitching, I'm hoping they'll be patient and take some pitches /hindsight
I would argue that his seven sacrifice bunts don't "lead" the team but rather make him "last" on the team.
YESSSSS! MISUSE OF "PERFECT" SIGHTING!!!!!
Both guys call the bunt "perfect." IT'S A FREAKIN' OUT, GUYS!!!!!
Hey FAWKS GIY, you might want to cut back on the caffeine.
I'm a writer! Where would I be without dangerous amounts of caffeine?!?!?!??!?!!
I don't know why, but I find unnecessary capitalization and punctuation hilarious. I would never even come near a single exclamation point unless I was being ironic.
But it was the key to the inning.
It actually almost was, wasn't it?
You win this round, The Minnesota Twins.
Sure, walk Joe to get to Justin. Makes perfect sense.
Twins games are so much more fun to watch without the Yankees around.
What the ...? Why is this here?
that's not defensive indifference?
Joe Mauer. That guy, he's the guy, man.
Holy smokes, and I don't think Punto gets home from second, which makes the steal of third worth it. I love it when a plan comes together.
I pity the fool that messes up your plan.
Only guys I know that could blow a car up with a nail gun.
Pity the fool that tell me them lies.
Did Bert say "Joe Thome?" If I wasn't just hearing things thanks to the incessant white noise in my house, that's quite an insult.
Mel Thome.
The Velvet Hammer.
The Golden
FogSmog.Er, Velvet Fog.
This bit has gone underground.
I almost understood you this time!
I'll try and dumb it down for youse.
Good, hard Cheese tonight.
That is some good cheese.
Well, looky there. This game is pretty fun again.
Too bad the stupid Tigers won again.
Take that, ya prick.
Good cheese, good cheese....
Kubes, lumbering to 2nd!
The McKenzie brothers were more than 20 years ago, Dick. You go about two years younger than I am, and nobody knows who they are.
Jenks is going with the Burl Ives look these days.
ohh, good pull, twayn. That's spot-on.
Why hasn't just one of their wives or girlfriends told them that they look like utter douchebags? This White Sox dye job has gone on long enough.
I don't know anyone who thinks shaving an old man's pubes and gluing them to your face is a good idea.
Oh, Sweet Jesus. LOL, sir.
Tollbooth with the grittiness on the paths.
I almost said that it seemed dumb to steal third, then I remembered how good AJ is at throwing out runners.
After they showed his stats, Dick said, "What was it I saw, 55% or 55 attempts?"
Take a wild guess, Dick.
gotterdamerung. A fly ball woulda been nice, ratboy.
That Gomez kid is pretty fast.
Gleeman!
Oh, I see what you did there.
GoGo with the sekret weapon deployment!!!!
Buntastic!
gogogo!!!
Gordo 'bout having a seizure after that, he was so excited
They never expect the bunt.
"Matt Tolbert remains in the game as the designated hitter."
Oh boy, the White Sox must be terrified now.
better them than us.
It's a small step up from taking an automatic out each time through the order.
Next, the obligatory base runner and then the game winning K.
I was way off. But...TWINS WIN!!!
Or three ground outs. That works too.
oh lordy, i just simply love beating the white sox.
The Twins beat NotTheYankees!
Yea, team!
Smoke if you got 'em.
damn. twins have won 10 of 11 against the sox and the dome. noice.
BTW, tonight's Batting Stance Guy stance was Coco Crisp (I think).
pretty fun game to go to. but I dont have a voice now
one thing weird I noticed on my scorecard, was how many '4-3' putouts were made. Everyone on the Sox except one player had a '4-3' next to their line ( total I had was 9 Sox, 2 Twins)