September 2009

This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race


I
love watching Nicky Punto be the gritty player he is and just attack
the Chicago White Sux. I also loved watching the game last night and
seeing the fear that the White Sux felt for Jose Morales (aka the White Sux Killer).
They should know by now though that walks will haunt you…especially
when you walk a Twins player. The team lately has felt like the 2006
teams…the team that Ozzie nicknames the Piranhas. I love it! I
dedicate this clip (from Finding Nemo…and the best one I could find) to our new and one old Piranhas.

Last
night was a gritty game and one that I’m sure had a lot of Twins fans
on the edge of their seats. I was right there with everyone.

I
was tired of seeing Brendan Harris inserted into the line up only to
have him go 0-4 for the third night in a row. I decided that I was
going to watch Harris’s at bats last night (he doesn’t ever get hits when I watch him, so I was being rebellious).
Yeah, he decided to be an *** hat and get his while I was watching.
Now, granted I’m happy he did get hits, because it ended up bringing in
a couple runs for us with the hits that followed (and one himself that he drove in), but seriously…why couldn’t he have got these hits all the other times I watched him throughout the season?

Although
Brian Duensing didn’t go as long as I or the Twins had hoped, he still
pitched well, got into a tough jam and nerve wracking inning and THANKFULLY Bobby Krappel (Keppel) was able to come in and not blow things for a change. I did LOVE how the Twins rang Mark Buehrle up with 5 runs (only 4 earned)
and got him to exit the game by the third inning. It was highly amusing
for me, especially when Buehrle has been a cocky ******* since his
perfect game. Take that Buehrle!

Yes, I was a slacker and didn’t
write yesterday, so I’m going to start with the 3 stars from Tuesday’s
game…and then move onto Wednesday’s 3 stars.

Tuesday’s 3 Stars of the Game:
1. Michael Cuddyer (went 3-4 and continued to be a rock star blasting another home run into the seats)
2. Delmon Young (went
2-3, which is shocking when you’re Delmon…though Delmon wasn’t among
the 4 to get home runs, he still produced quality at bats, which is
nice for a change.)
3. Jason Kubel (Kubel also blasted a home run out of the park and went 2-4 during the night.)

Honorable Mentions: Matty Tolbert and Orlando Cabrera! Way to be rock stars as well!

Wednesday’s 3 Stars of the Game:
1. Brendan Harris (went 2-3 with 2 doubles down the left field line. They were beautiful hits.)
2. Delmon Young (second night in a row Delmon has had quality at-bats and has been consistent with hits. Delmon went 3-5.)
3. Orlando Cabrera (he
went 2-5 only, but had outstanding plays in the field. Sure he had an
error late in the game that allowed a run to score for Chicago, but
after how much good fielding plays he made, I’ll cut him a little slack.)

Today,
an off-day and the final one of the season for the Twins, but the
Indians face our division leader the Tigers today. I’m am not holding
my breath for the Indians to help us out, considering they have lost
their past 10 games, but I’m holding onto hope. I hope the Twins can
find a way to inch closer. All I know is that it would be even harder
to lose out on the division title if we just kept the 2-3 games behind
Detroit and never even had a chance to catch them. I’d rather lose in a
one-game playoff than lose that way.

Cleveland…I hear some
cookies will be in your future if you can help us with this one! Pretty
please? Two games behind is WAY better than 3 games. This is all I’m
going to ask of you this season. Thanks.

Awake and Alive


Okay, first and foremost, my thoughts and prayers go out to Denard
Span who was hit by a pitch last night in the back of his head. I’m
hoping he’s okay and will be back in the line up soon. I’m gonna miss
him while he’s sitting on the bench!

I’m happy that the Twins
decided to bust out the Piranha baseball that Ozzie hates so much and
capitalize on nearly every base hit we acquired last night. We played
MN Twins small-ball baseball. It’s fun and exciting to watch and I hope
they keep the winning up with this.

Detroit did not play last
night, so with last night’s win, the Twins are only 2.5 games
back…just think…if we would have swept the Tigers, we would only be
a 1/2 game behind the division leading Tigers. That would have been
fabulous, but in the Twins fashion, they like to keep us on our toes
and keep things interesting instead of just having things handed to
them. They like to work hard and make everyone think they can’t hack it
only to prove everyone wrong. I hope they have this in them.

I fear for the first round of the playoffs (no matter which team gets there). The first round team will have to face the Evil Empire…aka
the Yankees. Yeah, I’m sure if the Twins bought their team and stacked
their deck, they could easily be in the post season too. Instead we
hire guys who play for love of the game and are gritty players who want
to fight to EARN what they deserve.

I’m just going to move into the 3 Stars of the Game:
1. Nick Blackburn (he pitched a solid 7 innings with no earned runs and only 8 hits given up.)
2. Nick Punto (he went 2-2 with 2 walks and 1 RBI)
3. Orlando Cabrera (he went 2-4 with 2 RBI’s)

Honorable mention: Denard Span…he was a champ that walked himself off the field after getting pelted in the head by the ball. If you didn’t see it go HERE to see the video. It’s scary to watch…luckily he’s okay!

Congratulations to Michael Cuddyer for being the AL Player of the week! I’m proud of you Cuddy
for being the rock star that you are and showing everyone else! Let’s
hope the Twins exercise that 2011 option. I’d like to see you for a
long time in a MN Twins uniform (I’m sure others would agree.)

Desperate
plea from a Twins fan…please boys…wear the Navy jerseys one last
time for Katie and I. We fear that we will have to wait until next
season to see them resurrected.

Pouncing On Tigers

It’s
unfortunate that the Twins couldn’t pounce on the Tigers every day, but
hey, 2 out of 3 is better than getting swept entirely. I think these
wins were well needed and well deserved. I know there were lots of
bandwagon jumpers at the game on Saturday and thankfully a few of them
didn’t show up for the third and final game on Sunday.

I was
happy to leave work on Friday night in time to catch most of the game.
I didn’t want to miss the whole game because I really wanted to see
Brian Duensing.
Although Brian didn’t fulfill my desire for him to wear the Navy
jersey, he still pitched and outstanding game. I think he’s definitely
doing good on his audition for a spot in next years’ rotation. If the
Twins send him back to Triple-A, they are insane. (not that I would put this past the Twins’ front office by any means.)

Friday’s 3 Stars of the Game:
1. Brian Duensing (6 innings, 0 Earned Runs, and only 4 hits. He was a rock star!)
2. Jose “Mo” Morales (2 for 4 as the DH. He was a Detroit killer.)
3. Jason Kubel (2 for 4 as well with a double…anyone who knows Kubel, knows he pulls a refrigerator behind him, so he doesn’t run fast.)

Honorable Mentions: Michael Cuddyer (home run…making his 1-4 night worth it.) and Delmon Young (also went 2-4 in the night)

Saturday
was a little more nerve wracking and I honestly wasn’t sure they were
going to get the kick in their pants that they needed to get the win
done. The score was 2-1 going into the 8th
inning. I was getting tired of watching the game and was exhausted by
the day at work. The Twins had Span and Cabrera reach on a single and a
double, respectively….and then Justin Verlander decided to walk Joe Mauer. I never understand why they like to intentionally walk Joe Mauer with Jason Kubel up behind him. (Even when it was Justin too they did it.) Kubel is a powerhouse and can get the job done, and he did it again. Kubel got a blooper base hit that scored both Span and Cabrera (Cabrera right on Span’s heels too.)

Joe and Kubel were still on base when Cuddy
was a rock star for a second day in a row and he blasted a home run,
bumping up the Twins lead to 6-2. It was a great come from behind win
and the Twins really needed this to show people that they have it in
them to win it.

Saturday’s 3 Stars of the Game:
1. Michael Cuddyer (rock star had back to back games with home runs and he drove in 3 runs…made his 1-4 night worth it again!)
2. Delmon Young (he went 2-3)
3. Orlando Cabrera (2-4 and he read Kubel’s base hit very well to come into home with the lead run.)

This
brings us to Sunday. I’m not sure I even want to talk about this. Katie
and I had such a bad time at the game with just the people around us
that it by far was not the best game to be at. We blame the lady behind
us with the 30 kids (all her own)
that were sneezing on us, hitting and kicking us in the head and the
back on the Twins losing. They made us both crabby and in pain that
it’s the only thing that makes sense.

The Twins’ defense looked
mediocre at best during the game. Catches that they may have made in
other games, they weren’t making and honestly, Kubel is no Cuddy in
right field…I love Kubel, but I like him in left better than right,
to be perfectly honest. I know that Brendan Harris had decent numbers
against Justin Verlander, but with how clutch Jose “Mo” Morales had
been at the plate the past two nights, honestly I think Gardy should
have played him for a third consecutive game.

It definitely was
not a good day at the plate for Denard Span or Brendan Harris. Denard
struck out all 4 times he was up to bat. Brendan Harris also went 0-3;
Cuddy went 0-4. I will give props to Matt Tolbert went 2-4 and Joe
Mauer went 2-4 as well…but two guys can’t pull it all together for a
whole team.

3 Stars of the Game:
1. Matty Tolbert (even though he thinks he’s gangster with Warren G. as his walk on music he still performed well. He also had a stolen base to boot, which if you watched the previous nights’ game, you’d know how hard it is to do off Laird.)
2. Joe Mauer (see above for stats)
3. Nick Punto (sure he only went 1-3, but he did have one of the 2 RBI’s the Twins came up with.)

Note
from yesterday after the game: The rookies dressed up like
teletubbies…funny thing, Bobby Krappel was the purple one. It made me
laugh when I saw this on the news.

To brighten the spirits, I’m
going to include some photos from a friend (Korey). These are not my
pictures, but they are amazing pictures and I have to share! Enjoy!



It’s One Of Those Weeks!


So
I’ve been kind of a slacker lately. What can I say? My only excuse is
that I’ve been incredibly busy with work, so my blog fell by the
wasteland. This is not to say that I haven’t been watching the Twins.
No, quite honestly I’ve been watching them. Well, Sunday for a while, I
won’t lie…I flipped between Twins and football. That damn shiny
object known as football is a killer sometimes.

It’s kind of
fitting that I should write after the great win today by Nick
Blackburn, because this marks win #4 in a row…which means: 3 Stars of the Game are BACK! I love giving these stars out, so it’s nice to see them back with a 4 game winning streak.

Today’s
game wasn’t on TV, but it was quite a good game. Michael Cuddyer was
back to his rock star self (I think it was the promise of Skittles from
Katie tonight that made him want to be a star.) and Nick Blackburn did
good starting pitching. I’m just going to get to the good part here
already: the 3 Stars of the Game.

3 Stars of the Game:
1. Michael Cuddyer (Cuddy went 3 for 4 with 3 RBI’s and his 26th home run this season)
2. Joe Mauer (Joe went 2 for 3 with 2 RBI’s)
3. Jose Morales (Jose also went 2 for 3 with 1 RBI)

Honorable mention: Nick Blackburn. Nick pitched 6 innings with only 2 ER’s. Mr. Pumpkin T*ts pitched well and I’m proud of him!

Last
night, Katie and I and a couple other friends were in the HR porch at
the game. It was such a blast and I’m glad we got to witness a win. We
brought our own makeshift “Fun Flask“
and decided that if anyone got a home run, we’d take a shot. Thanks to
Orlando Cabrera, we took a shot of vodka during the game. Not my
favorite thing to do, but I would have been willing to repeat it if
anyone else from the Twins would have followed suit. I was willing take
one for the team.

Denard Span apparently doesn’t like to waive
at fans during the game. I’m not sure if it was just me making him
nervous when I waived at him or what, but he never waived back at me.
One day, I will get one of our outfielders to waive back at me. Until
then, I’ll just have fun trying.

Now: pictures from the game…and Unplugged. Enjoy.

our prizes from bean bag tossMe and Matty Guerrier
Cuddy’s awesome shirt!
One of the douchebags that sells the autographs he gets…

Joe Nathan looking dreamy Matty G is awesome!
Cuddy’s little guy…SO cute!
CuddyThe rockstar signing my ball!

Game Pics:
Joe Nathan
Fun flask fun… :)
Me waiving at Denard
Denard
Pow wow in the infieldBobby Krappel signing autographs~Nick Blackburn warming upBusted by NickyOur tribute to Nicky

Twins MVP

.hmmessage P
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margin:0px;
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{
font-size: 10pt;
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quite frankly, it was disappointing! Instead check out my guest blog
post on Twins MVB’s site: HERE

Leave some comments!

Tonight:
Katie and I will be stalking the bullpen…err…I mean, sitting by the
bullpen at the game. Tonight takes me down to only one picture that has
been part of the Twins starting staff that I haven’t seen. Carl Pavano,
I’m aiming for you!

Man Eater

So after watching the Twins game last night, I logged into MLB.com
and watched the remainder of the Tigers vs. Kansas City game (at this
point the score was 2-0 KC). I, like the rest of Twins Territory, was
routing for KC to be the Tigers buzz kill again this season and
hopefully help us out again like in 2006. Much to my delight, KC
tromped on the Tigers to win it 5-1…and the Tigers only run came on a
lazy sac-fly that David DeJesus took his time relaying into the infield. I think at that point DeJesus
figured with two outs they had the game locked down, so 1-run really
wasn’t a big deal. For the record, I would have LOVED to see the Tigers
get shut out against KC. KC, work on that today. Thanks!

It was
a night for record breaking and record tying feats. Derek Jeter tied
Lou Gehrig for hits and the Twins beat Roy Halladay for the first time
ever facing him. His record going into last night’s game against the
Twins was 8-0. Now it’s 8-1. Thanks, Justin, Cabrera, and Cuddy (rbi producers)!

I
was floored last night watching Brian Buscher. I’ve never been the
president of his fan club, nor have I been completely been on board
with him starting, but apparently he sure had Roy Halladay’s number
last night going 3-4. He’s got somewhere around a .800 batting average
against Halladay. I sure hope he’s here the next time we face this ace.
Keep it up Brian Buscher!

Today, the Twins can go for a series
win against the Blue Jays. I’m routing for KC also to get the series
sweep against the Tigers later this afternoon.

Update on the Food Shelf giving (for Twins fans): Twins (won 4 games = 8 items); Tigers (lost 2 games = 2 items) Total items so far for Twins fans (donating 2 items for every Twins win, and 1 items for every Tigers loss) = 10 ITEMS! GO TWINS!  Remember, you can donated items for your favorite teams’ wins in the month of September (even if you’re not a Twins fan!)


I think Katie is fighting with Joe Nathan…they last several games
she’s had to turn the game off when Joe comes in to pitch in order for
him to make it through the 9th inning.  I told her maybe it was her and
that she should stop fighting with him.  Katie’s response: “Damn him,
lol.  But if I have to turn him off to win, I will.”  I replied, “It’s
not nice to turn boys off.  Maybe that’s why he’s fighting with you.”

It’s Not The End

end_of_world.jpg
I
think Matthew West’s song “The End” sums up how we should be feeling
about the Twins right now. “Cause sometimes it rains all over your
parade. It’s like you’re reaching for the sun, and you’re landing in
the shade… It may look like the end but it’s only the beginning.” I’m
hoping that it’s not the end for the Twins yet and I’m trying my best
to stay positive this late in the season, but sometimes they rain all
over my parade for sure.

Thanks
to the Kansas City Royals last night for stepping up and beating the
Tigers when we couldn’t beat the Blue Jays. It would have been nice if
we could have stepped up and came back (after Rauch gave up a 3-run home run), but inconsistencies left us on the losing end of the deal.

I
think it’s been a rough year for the Twins. There have been so many
inconsistencies, I don’t entirely blame them. I would think for the
players (minus Morneau, Mauer and Cuddyer…and the pitchers)
are more or less confused and uncertain where they will play in any
given day. One day, Span starts in center field…the next, left field.
Even just looking at the lineups for the past two days, there is a lot
of inconsistencies…
Last nights game:

Span, CF

Cabrera, O, SS

Kubel, DH

Morneau, 1B

Cuddyer, RF

Harris, B, 3B

Young, D, LF

a-Morales, J, PH

Redmond, M, C

b-Mauer, PH

Punto, 2B


Versus Monday Night’s Game:

Span, CF-LF

Punto, SS

Mauer, C

Morneau, 1B

Kubel, DH

Cuddyer, RF

Young, D, LF

Gomez, C, PR-CF

Buscher, 3B

Casilla, A, 2B


Day
to day, how many position players change positions. Is everyone on the
Twins’ team a utility player, or is Gardy just using them like they
are? Could this be where we are faltering?


Last
night, big props to Brian Duensing who is really stepping up lately in
his starting role. I was very proud of his job well done and was
routing for him to have a shut out! I’m not going to lie, after Toronto
got the 3-run lead in the game, I chose to watch the new Melrose Place
instead. (I wanted to see what it was like).
Hopefully the boys won’t be this careless with games when football and
hockey season start up. I wouldn’t want to have to chose those sports
over the Twins!


In other Twins good news: Joe
Crede has been activated from the DL! I am quite happy to have him back
and hopeful that I’ll get to see him play next Tuesday when I’m present
at the game.


In other good news:

Don’t forget to get on board with K-bro
and donate to your local food shelf for every win your favorite team
gets (and for Twins fans, every loss Detriot gets!). This is a great
idea and a great cause. Just imagine how many people we could help and
how much could be donated if everyone in the MLB-blog world pitched in!
It’ll be like the “Pitch in for Pat” campaign…should we make
t-shirts? :)

Doing Something Good

This is an idea my friend K-bro had, so I give her all the credit for this post (since it is from her blog!).  I just figured I’d re post it to try and help this cause.  Please go HERE to check out K-Bro’s blog.

Doing Something Good

I have made a decision. I’ve decided that I like Twins’ wins better than Twins’ losses. Ok, that’s not a recent decision, but I was reminded of this while unclinching my teeth as the Twins let yet another game slip away.

Now,
I’ve heard that baseball players are charitable guys, and I’m aware
that our boys are no different. So, with that in mind, I’ve decided to
implement a plan to give the guys a little more incentive.

Drum roll please….

For every Twins win during the month of September, I will donate two items
to a local food shelf. And not lame generic mac & cheese or cheap-o
ramen noodles either — good, nutritious food that I
would eat. (Actually, for the record, I love mac & cheese and ramen
noodles, but I wouldn’t want to depend on them for survival. I did that
in college — which was a very long time ago.)

And since the
Detroit Tigers are leading the division standings, it’s kind of fun to
see them lose. I want to encourage the teams playing them to keep them
from clinching the division as long as possible. So, for every Tigers’
loss, I will donate one food item. This part of the offer is good until
if and when the Twins are eliminated from the division race.

Won’t this be fun? Twins’ wins = 2 donated items; Tigers’ losses = 1 donated item. I invite you to join me in this plan.

So far this month:
Twins’ wins: 2
Tigers’ losses: 0
Total: 4 items

Ahem. We can do better than that, right? Let’s go, Twins!

~~~

You Gotta Fight!

It seem appropriate that the movies “The Rookie” and “For Love of the
Game” are on AMC today. The Twins appeared to have their B-Squad in
the line up. Brian Buscher, Nick Punto, Delmon Young…and as much as I
love Jeff Manship and as much as he is one of our starting pitchers, he
still is technically part of the B-squad considering he didn’t start
the season with the team. I guess the movie the Rookie would feel even
more appropriate if the Twins were the Rays, but they’re not, but we
did have a Rookie on the mound. I feel the excitement that the friends
and family of Jim Morris feel when Jeff Manship is on the mound. I’m
very proud of how far he’s come in the past several years, following
him through the different minor league systems.

Today’s game had
a great kick off…I’m not sure if the Twins felt they needed to be in
the spirit of Football season, which kicks off soon, of if they just
wanted to show their rookie that they were behind him and could score
more runs than they did on Sunday…and also get more hits. Whatever
the reason for the beating in the first inning, I’ll take it. We’ve
always struggled to beat the Blue Jays and I’m not sure how we did it
today, but we did. I just hope that they can rally and find their sense
of commodore and sweep the series.
With
the loss on Friday and Sunday…the Twins lost the series to the
Indians. As much as I don’t want to, and as much as I love that Scott
Baker and Nick Blackburn both pulled through in my deprivation and wore
the Navy…the Three Stars of the Game can’t come back until we get
back on a four-game winning streak. Remember I said if they lose a
series, the three stars are revoked…well, Cleveland=losing series,
sadly.

Saturday, I was disappointed that the game was not on TV.
I feel so lost when the weekend games aren’t on TV. I know it was
supposed to be on Fox, but apparently the White Sux are more important
in Fox’s eyes that they needed to be showcased instead. Um, hello,
Fox…last time I remember and checked, the Twins were in 2nd place and
still (barely) in contention…and the White Sux were in THIRD. Yes, that’s right, THIRD.
I’m a bit bitter about this, especially because I’m fairly certain that
most Twins fans and Minnesota residence despise the White Sux. Next
time…I may have to express my frustration. Thankfully, I occupied my
time by going to see the animals at the Zoo. Does anyone think this is
what I would look like next to our new pitcher Jon Rauch? He’s
6’11″…and I’m barely 5’3″. Maybe I should just start calling him a
giraffe. Seems fitting.If
it weren’t for the long weekend and my lack of motivation, I’d write
more…but labor day weekend calls for me to be labor-less. Tomorrow
night, Twins take on the Blue Jays again with Brian Duensing taking the
mound.

Well Just Rip My Heart Out

I’m
glad Joe Nathan reminded me today how he is a guy, and at some point in
time every guy breaks a girls heart…especially girls that love them.
It was tough today listening to the game at work and hearing Joe Nathan
give up back to back home runs…I think it was even harder watching
the replay…like putting salt in a open wound. But I found myself
drawn to watching the replay. It was like watching an accident happen
and then being one of those annoying gawkers
that drive slowly past the scene. Don’t get me wrong, I still love Joe
Nathan…I just don’t like the heart ache. I have determined it must be
the fact that Joe Nathan needs a haircut and this must be why he has
been doing so spotty lately.

Overall, and even up until Konerko was down to his last strike, I thought the Twins had this game and I was wishing I was at the game to hold up the sign that Katie and I had last time (see sign)But then Paul Konerko provided to be the ****** bag that he is and got a home run to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th.
Joe Nathan at least is awesome enough to take responsibility for the
loss. I respect people who are willing to own up to their mistakes and
admit when they have screwed up. I know it doesn’t happen to Joe Nathan
very often, it’s just unfortunate that it had to happen in this game.

I couldn’t believe the reversal on Michael Cuddyer’s leaping catch in right field.  For those who didn’t see, Cuddy leaped up and the ball hit the heal of his glove and rolled to the webbing.  Cuddy
squeezed the glove though before it had a chance to come out of his
glove.  He had the ball the whole time however.  We’ll initially they
ruled the catch and out, but after having a pow wow, they reversed the
call and gave the guy a double instead.  It was a BS call but
thankfully it didn’t cost the Twins in the long run.

Brian Duensing was outstanding pitching 7 innings with zero earned runs.  Duensing
has really stepped up and I think he’s surprised a lot of people.  I
knew he was capable of being great and I’m glad to see he’s finally
getting some recognition.  He deserves it.

3 Stars of the Game:
1. Brian Duensing (pitched 7 fantastic shut out innings and looked like a rock star as well. It’s great to see these rookies killing it!)
2. Denard Span (went 3 for 4 and was a rock star…like Cuddy…who tried his hardest to catch that 2nd home run that went over the left field wall!)
3. Jason Kubel (went 2 for 3 with our only 2 RBI’s)

Honorary stars go to:
1. Jose Morales (as a White Sux killer, he is 11-13 against Chicago pitching.)
2. Michael Cuddyer (yes, his “catch” was a real catch…it didn’t hit off the baggie, it was an out. The ball was ALWAYS in Cuddy’s glove. Thankfully that “double” didn’t cost us a run.)

Now, I know that the stupid White Sux
won this game…unfortunately, but they still act like a bunch of whiny
babies when playing the Twins in the Dome. Everything you can think of,
they use as their excuse. For their crying, I offer….Kleenex. Cheers.

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