Indians at Twins: Well, Isn't This Fun?

Recap:
Monday -- Indians 3 - Twins 9
Tuesday -- Indians 4 - Twins 6
Wednesday -- Indians 1 - Twins 5

Record: 92-60, your 2010 American League Central Division Champions! 

What can I say that hasn't already been said? Not only is this team fun to watch, but they're also playing very good baseball right now. Obviously, it helps that the White Sox fell into a nasty swoon, but I believe that even if the Sox had played normally, the Twins would still have taken the Division -- they're that good. It is nice to give a few of the everyday-guys a day off now and then so they're fresh for the playoffs. They still have work to do; they want home-field advantage for the first round -- they have to have a better record than the Rangers to do that -- if not for both the ALDS and ALCS -- they have to have a better record than everybody for that. They also don't want to lose momentum. Fresh and sharp should be the goal now. I'm not worried; I think they'll be ok.

I'm still pretty giddy, and tired, from last night, so here are some random thoughts, in no particular order:

• I watched the end of the A's-White Sox game after the Twins game. If you're not familiar with White Sox announcer Hawk Harrelson, suffice it to say I'm not a fan. Anyway, right when I tuned in, he was doing his best to convince his listeners that the Twins are very good and they deserved the playoffs, blah blah blah. He sounded pretty despondent, but at least he was trying. Anyway, as he was talking about the Twins' season, he went on to talk about the man who was instrumental to the great record: Jon Rauch. Um, really? He even threw out the "the straw that stirred the drink" cliche. What, is he forbidden to talk about Jim Thome? I mean, nothing against Rauch, but I don't really think he did that much heavy lifting for the whole season. Whatever.
• During the celebration, Denard Span was joking about Danny Valencia's swagger. It was hilarious; Danny was enjoying the attention. Denard even said that everyone should "hide your daughters" from Danny. But he never said anything about hiding Danny from us cougars. Rawr.
• Speaking of the celebration, I liked how it was fun, yet not too wild. I think that if they're going to have an over-the-top-bachelor-party-type party, they should save it for a bigger championship. Also, you should go check out my buddy Betsy's pictures on her blog. She was one of the lucky fans who stayed at Target Field to celebrate with the boys.
• On Wednesday, most of the back-up guys got to play. There was a lot of joking on Twitter about the degree of hungoverness the boys would be. I'm sure they weren't really in that bad of shape. That's what Red Bull is for. But I bet their eyes were still stinging from the champagne. However, they all did a nice job, so it's all good.

A's at Twins: Sweep out the Ugly Shoes

Recap:
Friday -- A's 3 - Twins 4
Saturday -- A's 0 - Twins 2
Sunday -- A's 2 - Twins 4

Record: 68-50, 3 games ahead

Well, isn't that nice. A very groovy sweep, with the added bonus of gaining some ground in the division (thanks Tigers!). I like it a lot!

I've gotta admit, I didn't catch much of Friday's or Saturday's games. (I'm really really bummed that I missed Duensing's gem -- I was hanging out with friends who wanted to watch the Vikings preseason game. I know, I know, but they're great friends anyway.)

So, since I went to Sunday's game, I'll talk about that. I had a wonderful time.

• Beautiful day for baseball. After the recent hot and humid streak Minnesota's been having, it was an absolutely glorious day. It was maybe a bit breezy, but not too chilly.
  
  
  
• Ok, I know I'm a grown woman. Heck, even my kids are grown. But I bought myself a package of Twins Silly Bandz.

(If you don't know what Silly Bandz are, don't worry about it. You'll find out soon enough.)
• Remember the breeze? Well, it's a lot swirlier inside the ballpark. To which, my husband proclaims "it's too windy, there's no way anyone's hitting a homerun today." This comes into play later.
• The 9-year-old girl who sung the National Anthem was fantastic. 
• Twingo! I've never done Twingo -- I don't know why; it just never happened. But I quickly learn that it's kind of hard...I mean how often does one see CI, K-PB, or 7-4 anyway? This also comes into play later.
• I want to hug Jason Repko. Ain't no way Delmon Young makes those catches.
• About the fifth inning or so, I find myself shushing guys around me for saying words that rhyme with "bo bitter." Yes, I'm superstitious. 
• About the same time, I notice Kevin Slowey is getting into some 3-ball counts, but he's been also getting a lot of called third strikes. 
• My son seems to have every play that happens printed on his Twingo card. And when Slowey plunked Mark Ellis, he won. He got a t-shirt.

(He thought it was lame, so he gave it to me.)
• Remember the wind and what my husband said about it? Yeah, well Jim Thome went ahead and proved him wrong...right after I told my mom "Jim Thome is horrible against lefties." I guess he showed us, huh? It was awesome that the guy who caught that hot tater was wearing a Thome shirt.
• And then the booing...Kevin Slowey had pitched 7 innings of no-hit baseball, and Gardy took him out and went with Rauch to start the eighth. Many fans were not happy about it. And said so. I agree with Gardy's decision -- Kev just missed a start with elbow soreness; there's no need to re-sore it. Also, he was beginning to pitch erratically and leave some pitches up; he was getting outs by sheer luck. When he hit Ellis, it was pretty clear he was done. Gardy made the right choice. I don't really blame the fans for booing, though. It was turning out to be a special game, and we wanted it to stay that way. It's not very often that an average fan gets to see a no-hitter, and we were mad that it wasn't going to happen this time. Gardy may have made the right decision, but it doesn't mean we have to like it. For what's it's worth, I didn't boo. I don't ever boo (well, that's not exactly true; I've been know to boo an umpire or two). But I did groan when I saw Rauch come out. I would've rather seen Guerrier or Crain.
• Rauch rewarded my groaning by giving up two doubles, and both those runners scored. So much for that. Crain makes it a little interesting by throwing a wild pitch, then getting one of those famous 6-5-4-6 fielders' choices. But then he gets one of those Slowey-esque called third strikes.
• This was my first chance seeing Matt Capps live. Single. Double-play. Ground-out. I'll take it.
• If there was any negative about this game, it was that the Twins left 12 (twelve!) men on base. Not good. Not good at all. But, as long as they win...
  

Rays at Twins: Long Weekend; Loooooong Series

Recap:
Thursday -- Rays 5 - Twins 4 (10)
Friday -- Rays 1 - Twins 2
Saturday -- Rays 8 - Twins 6
Sunday -- Rays 7 - Twins 4

Record: 44-38, 1/2 game behind Detriot

I hope everyone had a swell long holiday weekend. As a lake lover, I had a wonderful weekend. As a Twins lover, not so much.

I went to Thursday's game, and after demolishing my ankle before the game started (safety tip: if you're old and clumsy like me, don't attempt to climb down to the lower row by stepping on the seat below -- it's likely to fold up with your ankle still in it and entangle you like a bear trap, and then your son will refuse to help you but instead take a picture of you while you're hollering in agony), I had a blast! For 8 and 2/3 innings. Then when Rauch walked Crawford to get to Longoria, I literally felt something in my gut. I knew what was about to happen. And I didn't like it. Alas, my gut was right. And Longoria hit that double that blew the save.

Friday's game was a lot of fun. I always love a good pitchers' duel, and Price and Baker didn't disappoint. And the offense squeaked out just enough hits to win it. Which makes me wonder...it seems like the Twins can always beat good aces -- Price, Santana, Halladay -- so why don't they just pretend all pitchers are aces and go ahead and beat everybody?

So this series was kind of a dud. I don't really like 4-game series to begin with. Add to it that it was on a holiday weekend when I was also doing a lot of other fun things, it really kind of made it hard to watch.

The offense was satisfactory -- any time your teams scores 4 or more runs, they should win the game. They always kept fighting, too; they consistently managed to get the tying run to the plate in the late innings. And, for the most part, the starters did their jobs (*ahem* Blackie, you can do better -- keep working on it, pal). So, it was the bullpen that had a hard time. They've been so good; I hope this is just a hiccup.

I have to say that I'm quite proud of Jim Thome for taking his spot at tenth on the home run list. I would've been happy for him regardless of what uniform he wore; it's extra fun that he had "Twins" across his chest. I admit that watching that Killebrew "atta boy" message did bring a tear to my eye.

I'm also proud of Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau for their All Star Game selections. I think it's pretty cool that a non-coast team has two starters -- and deservedly so. I'm also proud of Delmon for his extra-ballot selection. Make sure you vote for him, because, admit it, you hate Youkilis and Swisher as much as I do.

From the Rays to the Blue Jays. I don't know if it means anything, but I've noticed a inordinate number of actual blue jays in my neighborhood lately. So, you know, Go Twins!

Twins at Phillies -- Scoring, Styles, and Surprises

Recap:

Friday -- Twins 5 - Phillies 9
Saturday -- Twins 13 - Phillies 10 (11)
Sunday -- Twins 4 - Phillies 1

Twins take series 2-1
Record: 40 - 29

~~~

I wasn't able to watch Friday's and Saturday's games, but I was able to listen on the radio. It's kind of too bad I couldn't see them, because I would have seen a whole bunch of things that surprised me. I also would have seen a whole bunch of runs, some from some unlikely sources.

It's kind of funny that even though a lot of people say that the Twins have a National League-style of play (that is, they usually have a "get on, get over, get in", or station-to-station, approach), they executed one near-comeback that fell short, one actual comeback win, and one straight up victory using a mostly American League style. That is, they hit a lot of homers.

There were so many surprising things that happened in this series, I found myself shaking my head often. And sometimes laughing.

• The Twins starting pitching was a.w.f.u.l. for two games in a row. Both Blackie and Slowey have had their ups and downs, but to have such terrible starts in a row was very disconcerting. Blackie was so good in May, but his June has been a little shaky. On the flip side, Slowey was shaky earlier, but he got better and we all thought he had turned things around. But to see them both so bad during the same series was pretty surprising. I hope this was just a glitch for both of them, and they'll amend things soon. They need to address their consistency issues.
• Speaking of starting pitching, I was quite pleasantly surprised with Carl's gem on Sunday. When the Twins re-signed him, I was pretty much ambivalent. I knew he would bring experience to the rotation and that he's a capable pitcher, but I never really regarded him as ace-like. I didn't have any great expectations for him facing Roy Halladay -- he would have to be ace-like because the Twins weren't going to get many runs. I couldn't be happier to be surprised. It must be the 'stache. If he thinks it makes him pitch better, I suppose I can live with looking at it.
• How about those homers, huh? Now it's not terribly surprising that Morneau hit two during this series. It wasn't even all that surprising that Thome and Mauer each hit one, but it's been a while since they've done that and I had been wondering if they remembered how. Even Span's wasn't terribly surprising -- just nice. But Punto and Butera? Where did those come from? Especially Butera's because it was so important. Huge "no-way" factor with that one.
• Speaking of homers, I was a little surprised to hear that some Philly fans gave Thome a standing-o when he hit his. Well, I must say I was more impressed than surprised. With that homer, Thome has now hit one against all 30 teams. So I thought it was pretty cool that the smart baseball fans recognized a great baseball moment. And shame on the Philly writers and talk-show hosts who are scolding those fans. I would have done the same thing if the situation was reversed.
• Not only was I surprised that Justin was able to stretch a single into a double when Victorino tried to throw behind him as he rounded first and then Howard wound up hitting him in the back (not officially a double from a scorekeeper's perspective, but he did wind up on second base nonetheless), but I was also surprised that he actually planned that way (at least this article makes it sound like it). Really? Baserunners plan this kind of stuff? I thought it was dumb luck. Do they practice this? Do they have "get hit in the back while running to second" practice during spring training?

Oh, and finally, I really regret that I didn't get to see Jon Rauch batting, um...bunting, with two strikes, and succeeding.

Ok, So Now What Am I Supposed To Do?

k-bro note: Ok, if I had known that talking about Joe Nathan's elbow was going to turn into a three-part series, I would've warned you ahead of time. But if you allow me this one last indulgence, I promise I won't need to go on any more. Call it working through my grief, if you will.

Ok. He knew it. The Twins knew it. You knew it. I knew it. Joe Nathan's going to have Tommy John surgery. I wish him all the best, and I sincerely hope that he can return next season and pitch for many years after that. In fact, I hope he realizes that he has super healing powers and comes back in time for September call-ups and pitches better than ever. Yes, I realize there's no sense in being delusional.

Joe will be impossible to replace on the mound. Surprisingly, I'm not terribly worried about what the Twins are going to do. For one thing, even an average pitcher can successfully convert about 80% of the save opportunities*. Plus, whoever the Twins initially choose will have a pretty short leash -- blow two saves or labor through three times, and ... next. Really, my gut tells me it'll be ok. And who knows, someone may surprise all of us and just shine in the role.

But, I really want to talk about the most important thing. What am I going to do? Ok, this may not be the most important thing, but it's well documented that I'm all in favor of anything that's all about me. You see, this whole ordeal has taken a toll on me -- more so that I thought it would. Turns out he might be my baseball boyfriend. Who knew?

It's not just that he's one of the best closers in the game, although that's a big part of it. But, I always had a good time watching him pitch. I love that he's twitchy. I love that he always made me nervous. And I really love his curveball -- no, I mean REALLY love it; oh my.

Actually I have this "thing" with him -- I have ever since his first pitch in a Twins uniform. I talk to him when he's on the mound, right through the TV or radio. I always say "Joe, no interesting." Always. And I get my kids involved -- I make them say it too. I know he hears me, and he usually responds well (for the record, for that blown save against the Yankees in the playoffs, I was at my kid's football game and unavailable to talk to him -- don't think that didn't kill me). Between his nervousness and my encouragement, it's a great relationship, and it works.

So, who am I going to have this relationship with now? Who am I going to talk to while he's on the mound? What am I going to say? You don't understand how extremely important this is to me (yes, yes, I know I don't really have this much power over the players, at least the core of my brain knows it -- there's no reasoning with the core of my gut).

Neshek? Possibly; he's got potential, and he's fun to watch. But his elbow is kind of iffy, and I'd stress out too much worrying about both the game and his arm.

Crain? Nah. He annoys me. I have an automatic dim view set on him, so regardless of how he performs, I'll think he sucks. Can we even take him seriously?

Guerrier? Maybe, but he's kind of boring -- he doesn't even twitch. But if he can get saves, I can overlook that.

Rauch? Nope. I refuse to talk to him. I mean, I want him to do well, for the good of the team and all. But I can't see myself having fun watching him pitch.

Mijares? Um, I don't think he'll even get a chance. Do you?

Somebody new? Wow. That'd be like a first date. I won't even know him, and it'll be all awkward.

So, what's a girl to do? I guess I'll figure it out along with everyone else. But, really, it'll be ok. Right?

*I think I read that somewhere, and I'm not sure where, so I can't verify this. But it sounds plausible. So, if I'm wrong, don't yell at me.

Don't Let That Revolving Door Hit You in the Ass

So apparently, one of two things happened today: either Bill Smith read my blog and actually hung up a help wanted ad at the dome, or he finally cleaned off his desk and found the Post-It Note that said "get pitching help" that he wrote to himself weeks ago

Whatever happened, it's time to welcome some new pitchers to the Twins; they picked up Ron Mahay from the Royals and Jon Rauch from the D-backs. Welcome to Minnesota guys. Good luck, have fun, do well.

But this also means that the revolving door in the Twins pitching rotation just continues to spin and spin. I can't keep up.

So I did a little research, looking back at the Twins press releases over the season. I learned that of the 23 men who are or were Twins pitchers (including Mahay and Rauch), only three have been with the team the whole time without a stint on the DL or a visit to AAA. Your superstars are Blackburn, Nathan, and Guerrier.

Here's my list:

Liriano - opening day, dl 8/18
Slowey - opening day, dl 7/4
Blackburn - opening day
Perkins - opening day, dl 5/18, reinstated 6/16 (Crain), dl 8/12
Dickey - opening day, optioned 8/7
Nathan - opening day
Crain - opening day, dl 4/20, reinstated 5/3 (Morales), optioned 6/16, recalled 7/22 (Mulvey)
Guerrier - opening day
Ayala - opening day, released 6/22
Humber - opening day, optioned 4/17, recalled 8/18 (Liriano), optioned 8/28
Breslow - opening day, claimed 5/20
Duensing - opening day, optioned 4/15, recalled 7/2 (Henn)
Baker - dl, reinstated 4/15 (Duensing)
Mijares - called up 4/20 (Crain)
Morillo - acquired 4/17 (Humber), outrighted 5/1
Henn - called up 5/18 (Perkins), optioned 7/2
Swarzak - called up 5/20 (Breslow), optioned 6/13, recalled 7/4 (Slowey), optioned 8/21
Keppel - called up 6/22 (Ayala)
Mulvey - called up 7/15 (Morales), optioned 7/22
Pavano - acquired 8/7 (Dickey)
Manship - called up 8/12 (Perkins)
Gabino - called up 8/21 (Swarzak), optioned 8/28
Rauch - acquired 8/28 (Humber)
Mahay - acquired 8/29 (Gabino)

(The names in parenthesis are the guys whose roster spots were filled by the listed guy.)

Confusing, ain't it?

I'm a visual thinker, so I decided to create a picture chart to figure it out (blue arrows mean to the Twins, red means away from the Twins):




Nope, that's not any better, is it?

And there are rumors that more might be coming. Great.

Also, for the record, I've typed the word "Mahay" about 15 times today, and I haven't spelled it right on the first try yet. He just might have to be known as Mayhay in this blog.

[Edit: If you read this before about noon Saturday, you saw a grave error on my part; I forgot Scott Baker (I guess I should say that you didn't see it). In my defense, he started the season on the DL and the Twins never posted a press release announcing his activation. That's where I got my information, so I kind of forgot about him. Sorry, Scotty. I should have used the transaction list instead of the press releases. It's fixed now. The picture is fixed too.]