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Fun with Upper Deck: 2008 Box Score Memories: 6 July 2007

Rhubarb_Runner December 28, 2009, at 6:24 am Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired , , ,


2008 Upper Deck A Piece of History Box Score Memories #BSM-35 Justin Morneau [Jersey Red]


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2009 Game 151: Minnesota Cool Guys @ Chicago Stinkers

FirstTimeLongTime September 22, 2009, at 6:05 pm 287 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

Jeff Manship (5.67 xFIP)

versus

John W Danks (4.64 xFIP)

3 Weeks Ago:

Friend of FTLT: So how about those Twinies, do you think they still have a shot?

FTLT: Dude, they are 7 games back, I don't want to say I am done with the season but when Orlando Cabrera is an upgrade you probably should not make the playoffs anyway.

Girlfriend of FTLT: Does this mean that we don't have to watch baseball at night anymore and we can do things that I like?

FTLT: Well, let's wait a couple of weeks before we make any rash decisions.  Come to think of it, I think the Twins still have a fighting shot.

So here we are, 12 games left in the season and only trailing the Tigers by 2.5 games.  The last thing I am going to try to do is compare this team to the teams from seasons past.  Sure, the main characters might be the same as 2006 but the actors are different.  And I would be hard pressed to admit that the series against Detroit didn't have me thinking about the final series Minnesota played against the White Sox last year but they ending scene played out in a less favorable outcome than 2008.

If this team can reach the playoffs, or hell even a 1 game playoff, I will be damn proud of them.  I mean, how can you root against a team soaring towards the playoffs without its MVP? /ducks tomatoes/

Either way, meaningful baseball is some of the best stuff on the planet and we have to be pretty happy with this squad no matter the outcome this season.

With that said, does anyone know the score of the Tigers game?

2009 Game 150: Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox

spookymilk September 21, 2009, at 5:54 pm 335 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , , , , ,

I hate the White Sox with every fiber of my being.  I hate them so much that any time I try to think of a clever name for them in the game log's title, I only think of curse words and such.  It's hard, though, to hate a team that doesn't look much like the one I recall hating for so many years.

The Twins, who can ill afford a loss after last night's clunker, are heading into a city where they've been pretty unsuccessful.  At least the Luckiest Man on Earth is pitching, right?

Nick Blackburn 10-11, 4.34 ERA, 4.93 xFIP, 184.2 IP, 83 K, 40 BB
Daniel Hudson 0-0, 4.76 ERA, 4.60 xFIP, 5.2 IP, 4 K, 0 BB

Zero walks for his career!  Prepare the Unos, boys; you ain't gettin' on any other way!!!

Hudson, a 22-year-old RHP, is going for his first career decision.  It's also his first career start, as his SSS above represents just three relief appearances for the September callup.  He's been pushed aggressively; he spent '08 in Rookie ball while he played for four minor league clubs in this year alone (26 starts, 147.1 IP, 166 K, 34 BB).  He had success at every stop, all in SSS, of course.

Blackburn, on the other hand, is no enigma.  He's a soft pitcher with nice-looking results, provided you don't look too closely.

Last year, Blackburn pitched the most important game of his career at The Cell, and he pitched very well.  Still, we could probably stand to score a few runs for him this time, right?

Go Twins.  We need every series and every game we can get.

2009 Game 132: South Side @ Twin Cities

FirstTimeLongTime September 1, 2009, at 6:00 pm 328 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

Johnathan W. Danks (4.52 xFIP)

versus

Jeffery M. Manship (5.99 xFIP)

The Minnesota Nine effectively stepped on the breathing tubes of the  White Sox last night as in defeat Chicago decided it best to unload a couple of veterans and seemingly play for next season.  I suppose maybe Kenny Williams didn't look to see the rest of his schedule before he picked up $122 million in future commitments to Alex Rios and Jake Peavy.

It is funny, if I didn't have a fanatical dislike for the White Sox, signing Rios and trading for Peavy would have been moves that I applauded by a team, or more specifically the type of moves that I would love for the Twins to make.  Now though, less than a month after committing to Rios' contract the White Sox have traded off a couple of veterans, who while they were to be free agents at seasons end, would have been important for a playoff push in the AL Central.  But now Ozzie and co. have a pitcher who isn't well enough to pitch and another 5 years of Alex Rios and his (belatedly) inflated contract.

Given these moves, and the pieces required to acquire Peavy, I think it is fair to say, as of right now, the ChiSox don't exactly have a bright future.  Sure, Gordan Beckham is tearing the cover off of the ball but other than that is there a single player on the Sox who makes you uneasy in the coming years?  Alexi Rameriz?  Scott Posednik(!)?   Carlos Quinten is the only player outside of Beckham who is worth his weight in salt and he hardly has an excellent track record in the health department.

It makes you wonder about trading prospects; about handing out long term contracts; about how important cost controlled players are to a team.

Let's put it this way, I am happy that the Twins are the Twins and the White Sox are the White Sox.

2009 Game 131: Worst Guys at Minnesota Twins

spookymilk August 31, 2009, at 6:00 pm 281 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , , , , , , ,

At about this time every year, I start obsessing over the standings.  The first teams (in this case, the Orioles and Nationals) are about to fall statistically from division contention and in general, the races are clearing up.  This year, the races are clearer than ever, with no particularly close divisional races.

In the NL, the Rockies and Giants are tied for the Wild Card lead and are trailed by 3.5 games by both the Braves and Marlins.  The Red Sox lead the AL Wild Card race by the same 3.5 over the Rangers.  The closest divisional race, however, is our own (and it looks like it may get a little closer, because as I type this sentence, the Rays lead the Tigers and their amazing late-season acquisition Jarrod Washburn by six runs, still in the first inning.  Yay!).

The best news of all is the remaining schedule for our guys, presented chronologically:

HOME: CWS (3)
ROAD: CLE (3), TOR (4)
HOME: OAK (3), CLE (3), DET (3)
ROAD: CWS (3), KCR (3), DET (4)
HOME: KCR (3)

Not all of it is "easy," exactly, but the series that aren't at least manage to put the Twins' destiny into their own hands for the most part.  The Toronto series stands out as the toughest thing there, but at least it's followed by a nice homestand.  Soooo...howzabout them Tigers (yes, I realize the White Sox are certainly not irrelevant yet, but for our purposes here I'll just include the team we're chasing).

HOME: TBR (1), CLE (3)
ROAD: TBR (3), KCR (3)
HOME: TOR (4), KCR (3)
ROAD: MIN (3), CLE (3), CWS (3)
HOME: MIN (4), CWS (3)

Okay, so granted, it isn't much tougher and doesn't stand out as the kind of schedule that will cost a fisrt-place team a 4.5 game lead, but if you're the team that's chasing, it's those seven head-to-head games that you have to live for.

Today, Nick Blackburn pitches for what seems like the fiftieth time on a Monday this season (note that the Twins have a horrible Monday record...just sayin').

Nick Blackburn 8-9, 4.29 ERA, 4.55 xFIP, 161.2 IP, 68 K, 38 BB
Gavin Floyd 10-8, 3.95 ERA, 4.93 xFIP, 171 IP, 145 K, 56 BB

Floyd has always struck me as the White Sox's Blackburn.  Well, he obviously manages to strike more guys out, but for the most part he pitches poorly, leaves a lot of guys on base (70.4% to Blackburn's 71%) and has benefitted from a low HR/flyball rate (10.9% for both).  Both are guys with decent results but both are just powder kegs waiting to explode.  I wouldn't be surprised to see either of them get shelled tonight.  Floyd's a righty, so let's say it's going to be him, alright?  Plus, the coin flip dictated that this series will be in Minneapolis.  It's stupid that such important games would be decided by coin flip, but it's my understanding that this is how sports work.

This might be a lot of words to spend on a team whose playoff hopes are fairly slim, but this thing isn't over yet, and with any luck, I'll be spending a similar amount of words on them a week from now.  Go Twins!

Your Team Is Not Bad At Hitting With a Runner on Third Base and Less Than Two Outs

ubelmann August 27, 2009, at 2:19 am Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired , ,

Or at least, you should not suppose that your team is the worst (EVAH!) at hitting in these situations. The fans of at least 25-29 other teams in baseball, and perhaps their managers do, too:

''That killed us,'' Guillen said. ''If you watched us all year long, we're really bad with men on third base and less than two outs, maybe the worst team in baseball right now. If someone is worse than us, that's a record. That continues to bite us. Good teams score the guy from third base, and we're not doing that right now. We haven't done that all year long, period.''

Here's how teams in the AL Central have hit with a runner on third base and less than two outs:

.344/.397/.546 -- Cleveland Indians, --3, <2 outs
.310/.342/.518 -- Chicago White Sox, --3, <2 outs
.328/.356/.475 -- Minnesota Twins, --3, <2 outs
.284/.336/.469 -- Detroit Tigers, --3, <2 outs
.278/.306/.412 -- KC Royals, --3, <2 outs

Granted, this is a pathetic division, but Ozzie's Pale Hosers have an .860 OPS in these situations, which is, at worst, a completely respectable performance. Furthermore, they are chasing a team that has been worse in those situations and the team that has been best in those situations totally blew up their team and is rebuilding.

If you look at R/PA (which is, in and of itself kind of misleading), the White Sox look worse, but not even close to as bad as the Royals:

.66 R/PA -- Indians, --3, <2 outs
.65 R/PA -- Twins, --3, <2 outs
.63 R/PA -- Tigers, --3, <2 outs
.62 R/PA -- White Sox, --3, <2 outs
.58 R/PA -- Royals, --3, <2 outs

Probably a better thing to look at would be R/(PA-BB), since a walk doesn't really hurt your chances of scoring a run from third base (or if it does, it was probably an intentional walk, in which case you can't exactly decline the intentional walk):

.75 R/(PA-BB) -- Indians, --3, <2 outs
.72 R/(PA-BB) -- Twins, --3, <2 outs
.69 R/(PA-BB) -- White Sox, --3, <2 outs
.68 R/(PA-BB) -- Tigers, --3, <2 outs
.63 R/(PA-BB) -- Royals, --3, <2 outs

And here, the Mighty Whities are again in the middle of the pack and not in any danger of setting any records for clutch futility. I generally like Ozzie's antics, but pointing the finger at situations like this seems like a sure sign of a weak baseball mind. In the AL, the White Sox are 9th in OPS and 9th in runs scored. If you want to score more runs, worry about hitting better in general. Don't look back at the particular chances you squandered, because you're not getting them back again and you probably didn't do anything out of the ordinary in those situations anyway.

ozzie-guillen-choke

The Metrodome Induces Broken-Bat Singles

ubelmann July 29, 2009, at 12:09 am 35 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , ,

To prove this, I am calling an expert witness:

"I'm not a big fan of broken-bat, bloop singles," Buehrle said. "It just seems like any time at this place you just know it's going to happen. You could be up 10-0 in the ninth inning and something's going to happen in that inning."

It never ceases to amaze me how much of a loser's attitude the White Sox have about the Metrodome. No one else complains nearly as much as those guys about the Dome. Of course, it's possible that no one anywhere complains as much as Mark Buehrle.

2009 Century Mark game: Bad Guys at Twins

spookymilk July 27, 2009, at 6:00 pm 340 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , , , , , , ,

Today, the Twins basically do what they're always doing during my game logs: try to reach .500, and try to do it while winning on Monday for the second time.

Encouraging stat of the day: Morneau, Morneau and Span yesterday brought the Twins' homer total to 111, which is good enough to tie the mark they reached in 2008.  If "wasting history" is an exaggeration, then dude, it can't be by much.  Having a Twins team with power - something we've all wanted for years - and not winning is a bit deflating, even though we all know we're dealing with a pretty uninspiring pitching staff.

Other encouraging thing of the day: it's the White Sox at home, which is usually a recipe for success, since the Metrodome has magical powers that Chicago teams are woefully unprepared to withstand.

John Danks 8-6, 3.98 ERA, 103.1 IP, 92 K - 40 BB, 4.23 xFIP

Glen Perkins 5-6, 5.55 ERA, 84.1 IP, 40 K - 20 BB, 4.91 xFIP

Perkins is just one of the starters who's struggling because he doesn't strike anyone out, though his various owies are a big contributor.

Tonight the Twins start the kind of series that they've been able to dominate in the past in this building, and they can leapfrog the White Sox with a sweep and gain ground on the Tigers, who have to visit Texas.  Though the last week was devastating, the Twins ended up in the same spot as they were in when the road trip started, and this division is still plenty winnable.  However, if the Twins are going to win it, this is the kind of series they absolutely need to keep taking.

Go Twins!

2009 Game 87: Chicago White Sox at Minnesota Twins

sean July 10, 2009, at 6:00 pm 270 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

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.

2009 Game 42: Geminis at Pale Hose

brianS May 21, 2009, at 11:05 am 341 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

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.

Jake Peavy Is Really Good

ubelmann May 21, 2009, at 11:03 am 2 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) ,

Certainly Petco has helped him out somewhat, but I think its effects are somewhat overstated by looking at his home/road splits. That's because:

4.51 ERA -- NL teams on the road, 2008
4.08 ERA -- NL teams at home, 2008

So if you're going to use Peavy's home/road ERA splits:

3.82 ERA -- Peavy, away, career
2.81 ERA -- Peavy, home, career

Then the Petco Park effect on that is more like .50-.60 ERA, not a full 1.01 ERA.

On the bright side, there's also no DH in the NL. Of course, his SSS ERA in interleague play is 3.29. What stands out more to me in his splits is a fairly large platoon split--LHB have an OPS about 150 points better than RHB against Peavy.

Glancing at Aaron Poreda and Clayton Richard's numbers, it doesn't look like the Sox are giving up a whole lot. My initial impression is that this would be a pretty good deal for the White Sox, but Peavy will get expensive soon and pitchers can break catastrophically at any given point in time, so it's not without risk.

And of course, Peavy could still nix the deal or the players the Sox are sending over could turn out to be a lot better than Poreda or Richard.

2009 Game 40: Minnesota @ Chicago White Sox

FirstTimeLongTime May 19, 2009, at 6:01 pm 159 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

Scott Baker (4.61 xFIP)

vs

Mark Buehrle (4.61 xFIP)

Now that we have that out of the way. The Minnesota nine march onto another team that we, as Twins fans, love to hate: the Chicago White Sox.  Earlier this year the Sox took two of three against the Twins in Chicago including a 8-0 loss where Liriano got shelled for 5 runs in 4.2 innings. Luis Ayala also stuck out two batters in an innings work that game while allowing no hits.....

So here we are, the middle of May, 3.5 games behind the first place Detroit Tigers, who, might I add, suck.   Thankfully for the Twins seemingly every team in the AL Central sucks, including the Chicago White Sox.

Here is a little help from U2, hoping to help the Twins in avoiding another stinker tonight.  Because honestly, if Minnesota gets swept by the White Sox, right after the Yankees, I am going to go nuts.

Series Preview in Blog: Chicago White Sox (5/19-5/21)

Big Mak May 19, 2009, at 8:00 am 19 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

First off, we have to pay our respects to Palehose 9. I first discovered Carl Skanberg's comics doing this feature two years ago. It was hilarious from the get-go, and I immediately bookmarked it and checked it obsessively. Partly, it was that I live in Chicago, and so I was already familiar with all the story lines, but mostly it was that Carl was a brilliant cartoonist, and I'm legitimately bummed that I won't be able to follow his strip the same way this year. If you haven't read any of the Palehose series, consider this my strongest recommendation - even if you don't read any other links in any of these posts that I put up semi-consistently - go back and read Palehose 6, Palehose 7, and Palehose 8. The Twins and White Sox seasons are so intertwined that I think Twins fans might enjoy these as much as South Siders.

My favorite from Palehose Seven. And my favorite series from Palehose Eight - Part One - Part Two - Part Three.


Click here to continue reading Series Preview in Blog: Chicago White Sox (5/19-5/21)...

2009 Twins Game 5: Minnesota Twins at Chicago White Sox

sean April 10, 2009, at 6:00 pm 400 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , ,

R.A. Dickey (2008: 5-8, 5.21 ERA, 5.23 xFIP)
vs.
Jose Contreras (2008: 7-6, 4.54 ERA, 4.41 xFIP)

TV: FS-N / Radio: TRN

Happy Knuckleballer Day. Wakefield makes his season debut tonight as well. Here's to many more! Or not so many if your heart can't take it. Or like winning consistently.

This should be a fun matchup. It's where's-the-ball-going taking on can't-pick-an-arm-slot.

Contreras is coming back after rupturing his Achilles tendon on August 9th. Although not scheduled to return until after the All-Star break, his sheer gritty toughness motivated him through the cold, bleak offseason. The White Sox have struggled to score to start the season. Which clearly means they will now. The boxscores for the first two games show wind was out to CF, including 20(!) mph for game one. Not much consolation for Farnsworth though, Thome's homerun had more than enough oomph on it.

R.A. Dickey makes the Twins roster on his second try, wising up to the wily Rule 5 draft. I had the fortune to watch him pitch in both spring training games I attended. One thing I noticed is that his pitches had a certain Neshekness to them. Several times batters stood staring at the ball all the way into the mitt, trying to decipher the unique fluttering of butterflies that governed the pitch. SSST, but judging by his 18:4 K:BB ratio Dickey may have harnessed this awesome power. Or he was just lucky. It's his first appearance of the season, so I'm going with the skillz angle.

Over/under on Bert talking about different arm angles: 7.
Over/under on discussing wildness of knuckleball: 4. Bonus points for Joe Niekro ejection replays.

Series Preview in Blog: Chicago White Sox (4/10-4/12)

Big Mak April 10, 2009, at 8:00 am 11 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

The White Sox hosted the Royals in some pretty cold conditions this week. The opener was pushed back a day due to snow (headline writers had a field day). Other than a three-run homer by Jim Thome, the White Sox bats were just as cold. They lost 2 of 3 in the series and are currently one game behind the first-place Kansas City Royals. Jermaine Dye had a good series with 5 singles, but if you discount Dye and Thome the Sox went 10 for 68 in the series (that's like Twins-without-RISP bad). Not the best results out of the box for a lineup that might contain too many hitters of a certain variety. The Jim Thome homerun off of Kyle Farnsworth, in addition to salvaging Opening Day for the Sox, was tailor-made for a hilarious episode of The Dugout. THIS STORY ONLY ENDS ONE WAY.

The White Sox have a few young players (Ramirez, Floyd, Danks) trying to follow up on good years last year. No one would confuse this year's edition of the White Sox for a team in the midst of a youth movement, and player development hasn't really been one of the organization's strengths, so it's interesting to read about some prospects that have caught Sox fans interest.

I live in Chicago (and I'm going to Sunday's game - it's my way of celebrating Easter. Here's hoping the only eggs I find are put up on the scoreboard by Balckburn, am I right?) and I've really grown awfully tired of Sox and Cubs fans both. And if they ever start discussing one another, forget it. It's good to know that I'm not alone. At least occasionally Sox fans direct their dislikes in amusing directions (I link to that only for the title - it made me chuckle).

--PROBABLE STARTERS--

Dickey v. J. Contreras

Liriano v. B. Colon

Blackburn v. M. Buehrle

I just don't like facing Buehrle. Of course he's pitching the game I'm going to, but what can I do? If the weather is cold, at least we won't be out in the elements for very long with his quick pace. Buehrle had some stiffness in his arm during the spring, which may be a sign of him not being as young anymore. The White Sox seem to think so as they made a point of suggesting Mark try some of this new-fangled "working out" thing in the offseason.

Contreras and Colon spent the spring in a "battle" for the fourth starter position. The long and short of it is that neither of them inspire confidence. It would seem they're both nearing the end of their careers. Perhaps the front office felt obligated to fill the AL Central quota for veteran starters? With the Twins throwing everything out of alignment and not doing their usual part, they were probably just confused.

From the White Sox Opening Day, this is the correct way to "throw" out an opening pitch. Hockey players rule! (I wonder if Beloit will let me do that when I get to throw out my own first pitch?)

 
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