Sunday, May 24, 2009

Regarding Sweeps, HBPs, and New Guys

I love a good sweep when it's my team doing the cleaning up.

Recap
Friday: Twins 11 - Brewers 3
Saturday: Twins 6 - Brewers 2
Sunday: Twins 6 - Brewers 3

And a lot of Twins going Boom!

I'm especially impressed with Justin's grand-slam on Sunday because it came immediately after Milwaukee pitcher hit his second Twins Joe in the hands (both Joe Crede and Joe Mauer were HBP, and Crede had to take himself out of the game because of it). Gotta love how the big Canadian makes a statement. I hope both Joes' hands will be ok.

Oh, and Gardy actually won an argument with an umpire. When Joey Mauer got hit by the pitch, the umpire initially called it a foul ball. Joe showed the bruise, and Gardy marched out to make the case. Well, apparently, either the bruise or Gardy's power of persuasion won the umpire over, and Joe took his base.

~~~~~~~~

No one in my family is quite as, ahem, passionate about baseball as I am, but they generously put up with me. They all actually have lives that don't include the Twins (I don't get it), and they don't really watch the games with me all that often. They're fans, but they don't live and die with every victory and defeat. And they don't really spend time keeping up with the news of injuries, releases, and call-ups.

So, this weekend as I was watching the Twins games and members of my family were walking through the room, the phrase I heard most was, "now, who's this guy?" It would happen while a newly called-up pitcher was warming up or pitching. I heard it a lot.

So, in case your families are like mine and don't know what's going on with the pitching staff, here's a recap:

Glen Perkins is on disabled list, so...
Sean Henn (or Henny-Penny as the guys at Pulling a Blyleven and I have dubbed him) is in the bullpen and pitched on Tuesday against the White Sox and was seen warming up Saturday.

Craig Breslow was placed on waivers and picked up by Oakland, so...
Anthony Swarzak pitched a seven-inning gem on Saturday (I think he looks like a keeper).

Got it?

5 comments:

Liz Strand said...

This has been an odd month. I don't recall the game now, but I remember that one of the Twins' opponents' Managers won an argument with the Ump too, about a runner being called out at force after tagging up as a force, when it should've been a tag. 2 Ump arguments overturned in 1 month?

I'm also a little slow, but just realized the two batters plunked were the two homerun hitters (prior to Morneau's blast).

Katie said...

You mess with our team and we're going to mess with you, it's the Twinkie way. Really no different when Gardy gets kicked out of a game, it just seems to light a fire under the guys and they go out there and get after it.

My family is the same way. My dad is a fair-weather fan and will only watch when we are doing good, but oh boy, I never hear the end of it when we are doing bad. I'm like you, I follow the good, the bad, the call-ups, and releases.

Jim H. said...

In a preseason post on his estimable blog, Joe Posnanski said that if anybody can hit .400 for a season again it would be Joe Mauer. Mauer's hitting .425 right now.

Yes, it's early, but a fan can hope.

THE GRAMMARPHILE said...

How bad is it that I saw "HBP" and thought it meant "hot ballplayer"? It took me a moment to realize it was "hit by pitch." :)

k-bro said...

Hi Grammarphile,

Well, coincedently (or maybe not), the boys who were HBP (hit by pitch) are indeed HBPs (hot ball players). So is the boy who smashed the grand slam. And the boy who hit for the cycle the other day. And the boy who's the starting pitcher for the Twins tomorrow. And...

;-)