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2009 Game 58: Minnesota Identicals at Seattle Seafarers

twayn June 7, 2009, at 2:10 pm 113 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

3:10 p.m CDT
Safeco Field

WFTC29, MLB.tv, TRN

Kevin Slowey (8-1) vs. Erik Bedard (4-2)

They say it's not who you play, it's when you play them. If that's the case, we're getting Erik Bedard at probably the worst possible time. Not that there's ever a real great time to face him,  but he's pitching better than ever this season, and his splits to date would seem to spell even more inevitable doom for the Twins today.

Against left handed hitters Bedard has an opponents' batting average of .185, against right handers he pitches to a .233 average. With the Twin's lefty heavy lineup - advantage, Bedard. In home games, Bedard has a 1.85 ERA, in away games it's 2.72. Hello, Seattle - advantage, Bedard. In day games, Bedard has an ERA of 1.99. In night games, it's 2.79. Seattle start time is 1:10 p.m - advantage, Bedard. On grass, Bedard's ERA is 1.94. On turf, it's .466. Game, set, match, Bedard.

Overall this year, Bedard has a 2.37 ERA, 4th best in the American League, good for an ERA+ of 185. He's 12th on the AL leaderboards with 61 punchouts, tied with Captain Cheeseburger. At thirty years of age, this six-year veteran lefty is having the best season of his life, noticeably better than his overall career numbers. So we have to pin our hopes for generating offense today on regression to the mean, or a wicked one-hopper off Bedard's athletic cup.

I haven't seen either of the games this weekend, but I do like the fact that we've only given up 3 runs in this series, and our starters (including Liriano) have only given up 2. So far it's come done to a pair of pitchers' duels, and with Slowey, who at 8-1 is tied with Zack Greinke for 2nd among AL Wins leaders taking the mound, we could very well get another one in the rubber game today. Let's hope we're on the right side of it if we do.

TWINS (28-29)

1. Denard Span, LF
2. Joe Mauer, C
3. Justin Morneau, DH
4. Joe Crede, 3B
5. Jason Kubel, RF
6. Michael Cuddyer, 1B
7. Brendan Harris, SS
8. Carlos Gomez, CF
9. Alexi Casilla, 2B

MARINERS (27-29)

1. Ichiro Suzuki, RF
2. Russell Branyan, 1B
3. Adrian Beltre, 3B
4. Ken Griffey Jr., DH
5. Jose Lopez, 2B
6. Ronny Cedeno, SS
7. Endy Chavez, LF
8. Jamie Burke, C
9. Franklin Gutierrez, CF

2009 Game 53: Indians @ Twins

FirstTimeLongTime June 2, 2009, at 6:02 pm 285 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

David Huff (xFIP  6.19)

versus

Kevin Slowey (xFIP 4.45)

Kevin Slowey faces off against, Tribe rookie, David Huff tonight at the Metrodome.  This will be Huff's third career Major League start so it almost seems a little bit silly to take any of his big league stats as anything more than a small sample size.  So, let's take a look at his numbers from the minors.  And guess what?  It just so happens that David Huff pitched for the Buffalo Bisons last season!

After being selected as a supplemental 1st round selection in 2006 (39th overall), Huff flew his way up the minor league ladder starting only 25 games before making his way to AAA Buffalo in 2008. While pitching for my hometown 9 , Huff started 16 games averaging 5 innings per start, striking out a batter an inning and allowing 1.7 BB/9. For his minor league career Huff has an impressive 1.11 WHIP.  Coming into 2009 he was ranked as the 8th best prospect in the Indians organization by Baseball America.

In its prospect mine earlier this season, Fangraphs wrote of Huff

David Huff is another southpaw but he is a soft-tosser. The former first-round pick is almost MLB ready, although he may top out as a No. 3 starter. Huff has a four-pitch mix, which includes a high-80s fastball (that can touch 92 mph), a plus change-up, a slider and a curveball. He posted solid numbers in 2008 while splitting the season between Double-A and Triple-A. At the senior level, Huff allowed just 68 hits in 80.2 innings of work. He posted rates of 1.67 BB/9 (obviously he has solid command/control) and 9.04 K/9.

This season (SSS)  Huff's fastball has been averaging 89.2 mph and he has been throwing it nearly 65% of the time.  He mixes his "heater" up with a change up that he throws 20% of the time and  has been clocking in around 81mph.   It seems that he has lost confidence in some of his breaking stuff since coming to the Bigs, as his slider and curve ball are thrown less than 15% of the time combined.

For those of your worried about the Twins lefty heavy lineup against a "soft tossing" southpaw, left handers are OPS'ing 1.186 against the Rookie this season.  It is only three starts, I know, but c'mon that might be enough to keep _elm_n out of the line up, right?

2009 Game 38: MN Good Guys at New York’s Gerrymandering Empire

eschapp May 17, 2009, at 11:00 am 99 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) ,
NEW YORK - JULY 05: Derek Jeter #2 of the New...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

This series has been pretty rough for the Minnesota Boys.  Its also been hard for Minnesota Fans.  Bullpen help, Please?!  Seriously.  It’ll be a shame if the Twins wait until July to address their glaring need for a quality arm in the BP.  Shapiro is also on the lookout.  My money is on the Indians addressing this before the Twins do.

Obviously today would be a good day for a win, and the Twins should probably try to take the bullpen out of the game in whatever way they can.  I was surprised by Burnett’s underwhelming numbers so far this year.  I knew he wasn’t dealing because he certainly hasn’t helped my fantasy team so far, but an 81 tra+ is not good.

Well I have to board my flight to Fargo here at O’Hare so this’ll have to do.  Grammar demons: Have at it.

Today’s Game Information:

Location: New York, New York – New Yaquis

Game Time: 12:05 CDT

Latest Weather: Its raining up and down the east coast, but I’m not sure it will factor into the game being delayed.  Most of the rain appears to be pretty light in nature and kind at heart.

Starting Pitchers:

  • Twins: Kevin Slowey (5-1):
    ERA 4.91
    BABIP 0.370
    tRA+ 115
    tRA* 5.15
    Wins Above Replacement 0.8
  • Yankees: A.J. Burnett 2-1 with:
    ERA 5.36
    BABIP 0.278
    tRA+ 81
    tRA* 5.31
    Wins Above Replacement 0.0

Lineups:

Get caught up on the Series: If you dare

Sunday is always a great day for a Twins game.  Its an even better day for a Twins win.  And I’ve heard that every time the Yankees lose Captain America cries a little bit. Need any more reasons?

Go Twins!

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2009 Game 33: Tigers @ Twins

FirstTimeLongTime May 12, 2009, at 5:32 pm 223 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

Armando  Galarraga (FIP 4.92)

vs

Kevin Slowey (FIP 4.18)

Gents, I have some bad news; as of Monday night the Twins, according to SportsClubStats.com currently only have a 7% chance of making the playoffs.  I know what you are thinking-- Season over, right?  Well, hold your horses, there are still 129 games left in the season and, at least I believe, a lot can happen over that time.

Kevin Slowey, despite his 4-1 start, has been pretty unlucky this season.  He currently is the proud owner of a .380 Batting Average On Balls In Play, once that number comes down, his WHIP should also decrease from the inflated 1.51 mark where it currently resides over his next few starts.

As for Armando Galarraga, he has added an extra strike out per nine over his 2008 campaign but with that he has also increased his walk rate by an equal amount.  With this information, and nothing else, it would be fair to assume that Galarraga is throwing the ball a little bit harder this season.  I am sure that someone in the comments will be more than happy to do the additional research needed to prove this for me.

Sadly, I won't be able to participate too much in tonight's game log as I am off to watch the Buffalo Bisons continue their quest to be the worst team ever to play profesisonal baseball which, I have to admit, is more fun than you might think.  Especially considering how much Bisons manager Ken Oberkfell enjoys curing during post game press conferences.

2009 Game 18: Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Indians

twayn April 25, 2009, at 5:00 pm 126 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , ,

Game Time: 6:05 p.m. CT

Media: TRN, FS-N, MLB.tv

Probable Starters:

Kevin Slowey, RHP (2-0, 5.89)

Slowey has managed to notch two wins with just one good performance on the mound in his first three starts this season. That good performance came in his last start against the Angels, when he gave up just two runs on a Torii Hunter homer in the 2nd inning. Slowey then cruised through his final five innings, retiring 14 of 16 batters faced. Slowey apparently spotted a flaw in his mechanics after his first two starts and made some corrections. He also says that he was throwing too many strikes in his first outing, and that he's learning the value of throwing pitches outside of the strike zone from time to time.

Carl Pavano, RHP (0-2, 9.69)

Pavano's last start was a six inning, 1-run, 4-hit dandy against his former Yankees teammates at the new Yankee Stadium. Unfortunately, the Cleveland bullpen blew the Indians' lead and saddles Pavano with a no-decision. After the game, Pavano said he didn't feel he had his best fastball, but he was able to throw his slider and changeup for strikes. It was Pavano's best start in the short season to date, much better than his first outing against Texas, when he was tagged for 9 runs one-plus innings of work in his Tribe debut.

Notes:

  • The Twins and Indians have matched up pretty evenly in their contests since Gardenhire took the reins. Since the beginning of the 2002 season, the Twins have a 68-64 record vs. the Indians. The Twins have outscored the Tribe 596-594, and the Twins have hit .265 while the Indians have hit .263. The Twins lead in the doubles category (257-224), while the Indians lead in triples (21-16), home runs (165-114) and RBI (574-570).
  • In 11 games since April 12, Justin Morneau is batting .378 with three walks, four doubles, two home runs and six rbi. Morneau has hit safely in 10 of those 11 games and has an OBP of .417. He leads the club in at-bats (68), runs (13), hits (22), total bases (39) and home runs (4), and is tied for the club lead with Jason Kubel in doubles (5) and RBI (13).
  • Outfielder Denard Span went 2-for-5 last night, extending his hitting-streak to five games. He has hit safely in eight of his last nine games, including five multi-hit games, going 13-for-37 with three doubles, three RBI, and three runs scored. Span has started 16 games this season (six in left field, six in center and four in right).
  • The Twins pitching staff has allowed 10 or more hits in eight
    of the first 17 games. For the season, they have given up 167 hits, which is the third highest total in Major League Baseball, trailing only the Baltimore Orioles and the Los Angeles Angels.
  • The Twins have scored four or more runs in seven of their first 17 games. In those games, they have a record of 6-1. When they score three runs or less, the Twins have a record of 2-8.
  • Twins relievers have tossed 6 consecutive scoreless innings and have not allowed a run in four of the last five games. During that span, they are 0-0 with one save, eight hits, five walks and 10 strikeouts, while holding opponents to a .216 average.

2009 Game 13: LAAA @ MT

SBG April 18, 2009, at 5:00 pm 190 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , ,

Probables

Kevin Slowey v. Darren Oliver

I'm writing this before the Friday night game as I'm heading to North Dakota for the weekend, so I don't know if my palate has been cleansed yet from the mouthful of shite that the Blue Jays laid on us this week or if I'm still choking on a losing streak. Whatever the case, I'm circling this one as a game we should get.

The Angels are scheduled to start Darren Oliver here and that should mean a win for the Twins, even though he is left handed. Big Mak alerted me to Oliver's status in his Series Preview in Blog. The long and the short of it is this: Oliver is 38 years old and hasn't made a start in the majors in five seasons. Understandably, the Angels are scrambling for pitching these days and Oliver is going to take the ball. But for how long? Says Oliver, not much more than 40 pitches. If the Twins have anyone with a baseball IQ over about 10, they'll make this guy work and get into the bullpen about two innings into this game.

As for Mr. Slowey, I'm looking forward to some regression to the mean. He's been serving up a hot bowl of gopher ball soup so far this year and I'd like to see that stop. If he's getting knocked around the Twins could blow a golden opportunity for a 'W' and at this point in the season, a 'W' sounds good, even if th

2009 Game 8: Blue Jays at Twins

spookymilk April 13, 2009, at 6:00 pm 486 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) ,

1987 was the first year I ever watched baseball.  Pretty good time to get into it, all things considered.  By 1991, though, I was already done with my "casual fan" stage and had entered the dangerous area of superfandom that I've lived in ever since.

As a result, I was unfortunately in a position to hear that horrible Twins vs. Jays fight song for the ALCS about a jillion times.  Do you remember that?

The games are played on artificial grass

The Twins are gonna knock the Jays on their (silly guitar twang)

Go Twins!  (Annoying keyboard riff)

Go Twins! (Annoying keyboard riff)

I hope someone else remembers that horrifying song.  I think it was the Mankato station that played it over and over.  I think of that little slice of hell every time the Twins play the Blue Jays.

Anyway, today, Jesse Litsch faces Kevin Slowey.  Both are in their mid-twenties, both made their MLB debuts in 2007, and in their 2009 debuts, both pitched six innings, struck out five and gave up five earned runs.  The difference in their all-time records is negligible, as Litsch is 20-19 and Slowey is 17-12.

The most tangible difference here is Slowey's ability to miss bats and walk fewer guys; over their careers, Slowey walks 1.35 men over nine innings to Litsch's 2.33 (both strong numbers), and Slowey strikes out 6.76 men per nine innings to Litsch's 4.73.

Last year, the Blue Jays were 6-0 against the Twins, and in two of those games, Litsch was the winner while Slowey was the loser.  We'll just skim right over that, though.  In fact, the Jays also swept the Twins in the teams' second meeting in 2007.  The last Twin to defeat the Jays was Carlos Silva, on June 28th, 2007.  Yikes.

It looks like it could be a pitcher's duel, and I'm always up for those.  But I wouldn't complain if the Twins' offense exploded again, either.

Game 3: Seattle Mariners at Minnesota Twins

socaltwinsfan April 8, 2009, at 6:50 pm 209 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

Time: 7:05 p.m. CDT
TV: FSN
Radio: TRN/XM 180

For me, one of the most exciting things about the Minnesota Twins in 2009 is their depth. The Twins have five quality outfielders to rotate through three outfield spots and DH, plus they have two quality bats for the infield in Buscher and Harris sitting on the bench. They also have some pretty good options to call up for the bullpen (Mijares, Rob Delaney) and the rotation (Dickey, Humber, Duensing, Kevin Mulvey, Anthony Swarzak).

That depth played a big part in last night's win as Gardy was able to trot out Jason Kubel and Brian Buscher to bat for Jose Morales and Nick Punto in the dramatic ninth-inning rally.

This depth also means that the Twins can weather injuries a lot better. I really feel that there are only three players that they can't afford to have go down for an extended period (if no one else is hurt): Mauer, Morneau, and Nathan.

My biggest concern for this season is how Gardy uses this depth, mainly rotating the outfielders. With five guys for four spots, it should be pretty easy to allow everyone to play about 80 percent of the time (barring injury or trade). The task is made even simpler when two of the OFs are left-handed.

I've been a pretty staunch supporter of Gardy over the years, but I am not blind to his weak spots. One thing he has shown over the years is he does not like to use platoons, however, the outfield situation is not a straight platoon situation. As long as he sticks to the following rules he should be fine:

1) Kubel and Span always start against righties.
2) Cuddyer, Gomez, and Young always start against lefties.

If he rotates Kubel and Span vs. lefties and Cuddyer, Gomez, and Young vs. righties, then they should all start between 75 and 85 percent of the games. Gardy already has me concerned about this.

“I think Cuddy’s solidified himself in right field, which I kind of figured he would,” Gardenhire said. “Cuddy’s played really, really good, and the rest of them are all doing about the same.

Gardy seems to be suggesting that he plans on leaving Cuddyer in right field every day, which would be a mistake. With his age and injury problems, Cuddyer would seem the most likely to need every fifth day off. Plus, it would be difficult for Gardy to stick to Rule 1 without keeping Young and Gomez on the bench for long stretches.

The first couple of games have been very telling since the M's started a righty (King Felix) and a lefty (Erik Bedard). So far, Gardy hasn't broken the rules since Young sat against Felix and Kubel sat against Bedard with Cuddyer DHing. Ideally, I would have liked Span to play left and Young in right since Span has more range to play the bigger corner outfield spot and Young was originally a right fielder and Dewan had him as a +7(!) as a RF in Tampa. However, I can understand Gardy not wanting to rotate more than one OF, so as long as he doesn't do anything stupid like DH Span or Gomez (barring injury) I'll be fine with it.

Update: The lineups are out and Delmon is the odd man out once again. Gardy is sticking to the rules so I'm fine with it, and perhaps it will keep Delmon motivated at improving his game.

On to today's game, here are the pitching matchups:

Carlos Silva (4-15, 6.46 ERA, 1.60 WHIP in 2008) vs.
Kevin Slowey (12-11, 3.99, 1.15)

Wow, that's some kind of awful for Silva. He has "slimmed down" to 250 pounds, so we'll get the first look at the "Svelte Silva." He gave up nine runs on nine hits in his only start against the Twins last year.

Slowey has never faced the Mariners. He has a career ERA of 3.39 in the Metrodome with a .99 WHIP.

I greatly enjoyed the comeback last night, but the first 8 1/2 innings sucked. I like today's pitching matchup a lot better, so let's not wait until the ninth to take a lead. Let's put this one away early. GO TWINS!

Update: Here are the lineups. No Redmond, but good news from LEN3, Mauer has been catching bullpens and will take batting practice and infield tonight. If all goes well, he will be running "soon."  Joe C. says Redmond has been on the field in catching gear testing out his sore groin.

Mariners                                               Twins
Endy Chavez, RF                                Denard Span, LF
Franklin Gutierrez, CF                     Alexi Casilla, 2B
Ken Griffey, DH                                  Michael Cuddyer, RF
Adrian Beltre, 3B                              Justin Morneau, 1B
Russell Branyan, 1B                         Jason Kubel, DH
Jose Lopez, 2B                                   Joe Crede, 3B
Kenji Johjima, C                                Carlos Gomez, CF
Ronny Cedeno, LF                            Jose Morales, C
Yuniesky Betancourt, SS                Nick Punto, SS

I didn't know Cedeno played the OF.

Game 155: Minnesota @ Tampa Bay

FirstTimeLongTime September 20, 2008, at 11:46 am 115 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

Kevin Slowey (xFIP 4.03)
Scott Kazmir (xFIP 4.27)

The roller coaster ride continues. After Thursday nights exhilarating victory the Twins put up a total stinker last night. As per the season it seems.

As of this morning the Twins pitching staff has already given up 33 home runs this month. To put that in perspective, the only month that the Twins gave up more than 30 home runs was in June when Minnesota gave up 35 dingers. Today's date is September 20th. With two games remaining against the Rays along with 3 against the White Sox, and 3 against the Royals, I think it safe to assume that we will pass June's home run record sometime either today or tomorrow.

The good news is that the Twins team is scoring some runs (Last night excluded, naturally). The Twins are now 4th in the majors in runs scored which is pretty interesting considering they are 16th in team OPS so far this season. Even more startling is that the Twins are 22nd in extra base hits , which, considering our record is crazy. Granted, we all know that it has something to do with that crazy RISP AVG but from what I have gathered "regressing to the mean" has become a four letter word of sorts in these parts so I am going to try to avoid going into further detail about the said four letter word.
All in all it seems the more runs we score, the more runs we give up, which, all things considered, is not Twins baseball.

I know that there is still some baseball left in this season. As a fan it is all that we have; hope, staying positive, and each other.

My best friend's father passed away this week and it has gotten me to thinking about this Twins season and how, without each other, some of us might not even be watching games anymore. On Sunday, when the news came in that my friend's father had passed my friends are I were all crushed. This man was a great father and a friend to every single of his son's friends. This is a lot, considering he had five of them. We felt terrible for the whole family: the brothers, the sisters, the cousins, most importantly my friend's mother.

Then the wake happened and we all began talking to each other, telling stories about the man who had such a strong influence on all of our lives. Remembering how he used to sneak us beers when we were 18. About how he would drive us, as kids, to whichever Shopping Mall a Buffalo Bills players was signing autographs that day. Telling stories about how every Friday night he would buy pizza and wings for all of his son's friends. No matter how old they got or how many friends they had. By then end, I will tell you what, he had to be ordering like $400 worth of pizza every Friday night.

After the wake we headed to a favorite bar of his. We talked, we drank, we reminisced as the night drew to a close any grief or sorrow over our lost was replaced by feelings of good will and strong memories of the man with whom many of us had enjoyed our first beer. Remembering the man for how he had changed not only his son's lives for the better but each of ours as well.

Which brings me to my point, this is my first season here as a citizen and I am so appreciative of everyone here. Regardless of this season plays out, I have people to enjoy the highs with and, as of late, I have people to complain a bout the lows with as well. I mean, if I start rattling on about the Twins in Buffalo, well, most people just seem to politely walk away.

I don't mean to come off as crass by comparing death to baseball. Quite obviously there are differences, rather important ones, no doubt. I just wanted to point out that how as citizens, if the Twins totally shit the bed and lose every single one of their games the rest of the season that we have a place to talk it over with people. A place to commiserate about what could have been, and a place to remember the good times, too

And that is what we cannot forget; this Twins team has exceeded expatiations and included itself in a pennant race. No one though that this team was going to be where it is right now in April. So lets appreciate what we have right now, enjoy every second of it because who knows.... next year the AL Central is not going to be any easier.

Game 150: Minnesota Twins at Cleveland Indians

eschapp September 15, 2008, at 4:58 pm 141 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , , , , , ,

After getting rained out on Friday night, I again made the trip from DC to Baltimore to see the Twins play in person on Sunday. Although they lost, it was a fun game to watch. Being at Camden Yards always gets me excited for outdoor baseball in Minnesota. I've posted some pictures I took during the game over here.

The Twins try to gain some ground in the division race tonight against the Indians. Overall the Twins played well this weekend, but they'll probably need two wins against Cleveland to stay in the race. Go Twins! Oh and Cuddy's back and starting at DH today. Hopefully he's swinging a hot bat, because the Twins will face three lefties in Cleveland.
Cuddyer batting against the Orioles

First Pitch: 6:05 CST (7:05 EST) at Jacobs Field Whatever the Indians are calling their field these days.

Probable Pitchers:

For the Twins: K-Slow (12-9, ERA: 3.63, xFIP: 4.06, tRA+: 125 )

For the Tribe: Scott Jeremy Lewis (1-0, ERA: 0.00, xFIP: 4.88, tRA+: 385 ) **Note: Small Sample Size** Here are Lewis's minor league statistics. Lewis appears to have good control striking out 82 and walking 13 in 97 innings.

Pale Hose Watch: The ChiSox start their four game series at Yankee Stadium tonight. Word on the street is that Joe Crede is done for the White Sox, and that his locker has even been cleaned out.

Probable Pitchers:
Sox: Mark Buehrle (xFIP: 4.09; tRA+: 120)
Yankees: Alfredo Aceves (xFIP: 4.22; tRA+: None)

It is okay to root for the Yankees . . . right? Yuck. I can't believe I just typed that, but the Twins need any help they can get.

Game 145: Royales w/cheese @ Twinkies

brianS September 10, 2008, at 6:40 pm 146 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , , , , ,

Is that a Royale with Cheese?
pulp fiction

We won't be using the Metric System for this game, thankfully. Toronto remains in the rearview mirror. Although, I must say that the blood spatters I see in that mirror are heartening. Thank you, Bluebirds of Destruction. Thank you very much. Keep up the good work.

First pitch is at 7:10.

Probables:
Kyle Davies (age 24, 86.3 innings, 4.59 ERA, 5.43 xFIP, 87 tRA+, 49:39 K:BB) vs. Kevin Slowey (24, 139.3 innings, 3.75 ERA, 4.01 xFIP, 124 tRA+, 109:18 K:BB).

On paper, this should be a repeat of last night's glorious victory. Davies has been mediocre throughout his extensive (73 starts over 4 seasons) albeit young MLB career. Pushed into a starting role by the Braves as a wet-behind-the-ears 21-year old in 2005, Davies has combined terrible control (4.6 BB/9) with mediocre bat avoidance (6.3 K/9, 1.70 WHIP). If this guy isn't a Jeremy, I don't know who is. The only thing he has going for him is a low HR/F rate. But, as we know, the Twins aren't exactly the '27 Yankees on that score anyway. He's 2-3 with a 4.76 ERA in five career starts against our boys.

Slowey, on the other hand, continues to defy his utter lack of an out pitch to put up excellent numbers. 18 percent of his pitches this season have been called strikes, with another 8.6 percent swing-and-miss strikes, whereas only 31 percent have been called balls. While he has allowed 19 HRs, that constitutes a very acceptable 11.9 pct of fly balls. His extraordinarily low walk rate and sustained, low BABIP (.285 this season and .291 last year) more than make up for the occasional hanging pitch. Plus, Slowey pwns the KC Gentlemen (2-0 with a 1.23 ERA in two career starts, both this year).

As compelling as the pitching matchup may be, I'm eager to see who Dazz will be calling out in the KC lineup tonight. Last night he went all "get off my lawn" on Ross Gload and Mr. Jose "Don't Show Me Up When I Jog to First Base" Guillen.

Will KC manager Trey "I left Japan for this cr@p?" Hillman pull a Joe Maddon and bench Gload and Guillen tonight for their lack of hustle? I know I would in his place. If I'm gonna go down with the ship, it might as well be fighting for truth, justice and the American Wa Way.

Game 140: Twins v. Blue Jays

eschapp September 4, 2008, at 4:37 pm 89 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) ,

Thirteen down, one to go. Not much to say about tonight's game. After the game, the Twins record on this road trip will either be 5-9 or 6-8, and based upon how people voted in the WGOM poll before the trip started, either record is a disappointment. For what its worth, the Twins were not being blown away in those losses as all eight were by less than two runs. I doubt that comforts anyone. The Twins have been giving away close games for the better part of two weeks . . . like it was their job. Lets hope that this is a correctable error, and that the Twins take charge early tonight. They need to find a way to protect close leads.

First Pitch: 6:07 CDT; 7:07 EST

Tonight's Probable Pitchers:

The Blue Jays will send Jesse Litsch, RHP (9-8, 4.01 ERA) (xFIP: 4.36; tRA+ 92) to the mound. Against Litsch this season RH hitters are batting .264, but LH hitters are hitting to the tune of .296. But like Slowey, Litsch does not allow free passes. For his career Litsch is 2-0, with a 3.18 ERA in three starts against the Twins. It will be interesting to see what lineup Gardy has in store for Litsch.

Kevin Slowey, (11-8, 3.70 ERA) (xFIP: 3.98; tRA+ 125) will put toe to rubber for the Twins. K-Slow leads the Majors in walks issued with just 18 (minimum 20 starts) which happens to be just in front of Jesse Litsch's and Mike Mussina’s 24. Slowey has walked just two batters in his last 44.0 innings pitched and went 94 batters without issuing a walk from July 28-August 13. Slowey is 6-2 in his last 10 Starts.

Since this is the last game of this series and the road trip, lets start off the comments with a couple of questions (if you want to that is):

1. We all know what the low points of the road trip were, but what were any of the memorable high points?
2. Has Pridie taken Harris's spot in the dog house? Or is it a double wide?
3. How do you feel about Every Day Eddie after a couple of appearances? How long of a leash does he get?

The Twins have lost 8 straight against the Blue Jays and all 5 contests this year. Its time to buck that trend. Go Twins!

Game 135: Minnesota at Oakland

SBG August 29, 2008, at 8:00 pm 138 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

Game Time: 9:05 CDT
Scheduled Starters: Kevin Slowey (22nd Start, 127.7 IP, 4.07 xFIP) v. Jeremy Dan Meyer (3rd Start, 8th Appearance, 19.7 IP, 5.55 xFIP)

I don't have a lot of time to prepare a fancy game log tonight. I suppose there are a ton of things I could write about if I had the time, but here's the bottom line. The Twins are facing another left hander and he's inexperienced, with only 38 career major league innings pitched spread out over three seasons. He hasn't been very effective at all.

The Twins just need to score some runs and beat up this A's team. That is basically it.

2008 Game 125: Oakland at Minnesota

SBG August 19, 2008, at 6:00 pm 142 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , , , ,

Game time: 7:10PM
Scheduled Starters: Sean Gallagher (17th start, 19th appearance, 88IP, overall, 7th start, 7th appearance, 29.3IP 5.48xFIP for A's) v. Kevin Slowey (20th start, 114.3IP 4.28xFIP).

You can't win them all, I suppose, so last night's loss can't really be considered that big of a problem. On the spectrum of teams that must be beaten, though, this A's club is pretty close to Seattle (they are, after all, just 6-23 since the break). Last night, the Twins caught a break when A's starter Justin "The Duke of Hurl" Duchscherer was forced to leave the game with an injury in the third inning and the A's were forced to turn to Kirk "Trade a vowel to Hrbek" Saarloos. I'm not exactly up on the A's, but I knew that Saarloos had pitched for the club before. I was not aware that the A's had traded him to Cincinnati last year (Krivskied!) or that he'd come back. In fact, Saarloos had pitched a couple of games in April for the A's, but was sent down to AAA (and removed from the 40 man roster!) only to have his contract purchased yesterday. So, the Twins were facing the journeyman with the funny last name and he totally shut them down. Old Kirk threw 3 2/3 innings of scoreless ball, notching three strikeouts. An industrious A's fan might have described his effort thusly: Kirkkk Saarl000s. So yeah, Blackburn pitched well (he was let down a little by his defense, although giving up a homerun on the first pitch of the game isn't the defense's fault) and the Twins had a chance to win the game late, but for the most part, it was a sad display against a bad club. At least Blackburn gave the bullpen a rest.

Tonight the Twins face someone named Sean Gallagher. Gallagher was obtained from the Cubs in the Rich Harden deal. I'm going to guess that the 22 year old Gallagher throws the ball hard and sometimes he probably even knows where it's going. In his 88 IP, he's got 80 Ks and a whopping 45 walks. Lucky for him, he's facing a club that doesn't value taking walks, so if he's at least close to the strike zone, he might have some success tonight. Then again, the Twins are pretty left handed (Mauer's reverse platoon can't really be the way things are forever) and numbers 7 and 33 do have a good idea about the strike zone. So, maybe our crusty old veterans can get to Gallagher and make him pay for his wildness.

Speaking of Mauer, his 13th in pitches per plate appearance among qualifiers in the AL and 8th in line drive percentage. His GPA (gross production average (OBP*1.8+SLG)/4) is .305 tops on the Twins and seventh in the AL (only one other catcher, Kurt Suzuki, is in the top 50). The kid is good.

In five starts since the All-Star Break, Slowey has given the Twins six innings four times and a nine inning shutout the other time. In those 32 innings, he's got 18 strikeouts and only allowed four walks. That's a ratio I can live with. Against this weak hitting A's team, another long outing is in order. That's all that needs to be said. Oh and this. Score some runs, Twins!

Game 120: Yanks vs. Twins

ubelmann August 13, 2008, at 11:00 am 176 LTEs - (Sorry, but the time to add LTEs has expired) , ,

Rasner vs. Slowey

I have become comfortably numb? Not sure if it's still shell shock from that 10-run inning, but I'm having trouble caring much right now about the team or finding anything worthwhile to say about the team. All of these guys were with the team in spring training. My opinion of two or three of them has significantly changed since then, but it surely hasn't changed in the last two weeks, so I don't know that I really have anything to add here.

5.3 K/G, 2.7 BB/G, 39.8% GB% -- Rasner
4.5 K/G, 2.3 BB/G, 39.5% GB% -- Perkins

So in terms of peripherals, Rasner has been essentially just like Perkins this year. Slowey is Slowey.

SBG says: In case you were wondering what has happened, the host company disabled the comments in my SQL Server file because we were in danger of taking down their entire server. I also have to eliminate the SBG Nation Citizens plugin, because hitting that thing over and over was causing tremendous strain on their server. Sorry folks!

 
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