Minnesota Twins

Ok, we have a break from the thunderstorms! But that means it is hot and steamy and is ripe air for the long ball – I hope Pedro can keep them on the ground today. Today the Twins are showing The Sandlot after the game in honor of the 20th Anniversary – our favorite Twins Fan turned radio show host will be sporting appropriate gear so say Hi to Lindsay if you see her! Photo by lindsayguentzel • Instagram Otherwise, let’s see if we can salvage this series huh? I’m going to be taking advantage of the NON-rain by putting in a new planting bed in the yard.. sorry folks, but chat away! Boston @ Minnesota Victorino, CF Carroll, 2B Gomes, J, LF Mauer, C Pedroia, 2B Morneau, 1B Ortiz, D, DH Plouffe, 3B Napoli, 1B Arcia, DH Nava, RF Ramirez, W, LF Middlebrooks, 3B Parmelee, RF Saltalamacchia, C Hicks, CF Ciriaco, SS Florimon, SS   Lackey, P   Hernandez, P, P Live Chat Software

This game was painful. Not only because of the blowout loss and the 3rd loss in a row for the Twins, but also because the game lasted nearly 4 hours despite going only 9 innings. David Ortiz had two home runs and Daniel Nava added one of his own in propelling the Red Sox over the Twins 12-5 on Saturday night. Ortiz's damage started right away in the first inning off Twins starter Scott Diamond. With two runners on and one away, Big Papi came to the plate and drove a Diamond pitch over the large scoreboard in right field for a quick 3-0 lead. Then with the lead 3-1 in the 3rd, Ortiz came to the plate again with 2 on and 1 away and singled to right field, making the score Ortiz 4, Twins 1. The Twins did have a threat going in the bottom of the 3rd. Josh Willingham hit a one out double, and then with two outs Oswaldo Arcia and Trevor Plouffe drew consecutive walks off Red Sox starter Ryan Dempster. This brought Aaron Hicks to the plate with the bases loaded, who green-lighted himself on the first pitch of the at-bat and drove a dead-red fastball deep to the right-center field alley, but his drive was caught just short of the warning track by right fielder Daniel Nava. Minnesota did cut the score to 4-2 in the 4th with an RBI single from Justin Morneau, but the Red Sox widened their lead in the 5th. Jonny Gomes and Dustin Pedroia hit consecutive doubles to make it 5-2, and Diamond's day was finished after retiring Ortiz for the first out. In came Anthony Swarzak, and he was unable to quite the Red Sox bats as he allowed a walk, sacrifice fly, and a pair of singles to give the Sox two more runs. In fact, the Twins only escaped the inning as on that last single, Will Middlebrooks was thrown out trying to advance to 3rd base. That five run lead did not last for long, however. The Twins offense had been patient with Dempster, driving his pitch count up to 101 pitches through only 4 innings, and he really only came out to pitch the 5th so that he could qualify for the win. It seemed like manager John Farrell tried to stick with Dempster for as long as he could, but the plan didn't work. Ryan Doumit led off with a double, and then the Twins manufactured a run by using a pair of ground outs by Plouffe and Arcia to bring Doumit home. It looked like Dempster might succeed in battling through 5 innings, but he issued his 6th walk of the game to Hicks, and then alternated stolen bases by Hicks and Pedro Florimon with singles by Florimon and Jamey Carroll to cut the lead to 2 and end his night. In came Clayton Mortensen, and although he gave up a single to Joe Mauer, he got Morneau to fly out to center field to end the threat with the lead intact. It turned out that this was all the Red Sox needed, but they still added some insurance runs later in the game. David Ortiz added his second home run of the game in the 7th inning off Swarzak, and then later in the inning reliever Casey Fien gave up a home run to Daniel Nava that just made it into the flower beds over the right field scoreboard. WP: Craig Breslow (1-0) LP: Scott Diamond (3-4) Studs Jamey Carroll (2 for 4, BB, RBI), Joe Mauer (2 for 5, 2B, R), Justin Morneau (2 for 5, RBI), Ryan Doumit (2 for 4, BB, R), Pedro Florimon (2 for 4, R, 2 RBI) Duds Scott Diamond (4 1/3 IP, 8 H, 6 R, 3 BB, 1 K), Anthony Swarzak (1 2/3 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 3 BB) Player of the Game David Ortiz for going 3 for 4 with 2 home runs and 6 RBI. Roll Call SooFoo Fan, 52 kenzertz, 42 Desert Aaron, 10 DavidRF, 9 less cowbell, more 'neau, 7 kylek037, 6 Caleb A, 2 Gunnathor, 1 twinsbrewer, 1 You cannot have a Top 10 if there are not 10 items on the list, and such is the case tonight. Win Expectancy Source: FanGraphs

Mauer's backup has been behind plate for six of lefthander's seven starts

It’s time for the Twins to get back in the win column. I’m not sure how they’re going to do it, but getting Joe Mauer back in the line up would seem to be a good start. Having Scott Diamond on the mound can’t hurt, either. Diamond and Sox pitcher Ryan Dempster went head to head in Boston and the Twins came out ahead 6-1. I haven’t really followed Twins news today, but I do believe I saw where they activated Cole DeVries… and then optioned him. I do note with interest that Justin Morneau is hitting ahead of Josh Willingham. Phil Miller of the Strib reports that the first time that’s happened this season. I’m covering the Kernels tonight, so I won’t likely be in the chat much, if at all, but for those of you who are, I hope you enjoy the game and the company! RED SOX @ TWINS Ellsbury,   CF Carroll,   2B Gomes, J,   LF Mauer,   DH Pedroia,   2B Morneau,   1B Ortiz, D,   DH Willingham,   LF Napoli,   1B Doumit,   C Nava,   RF Arcia,   RF Middlebrooks,   3B Plouffe,   3B Lavarnway,   C Hicks,   CF Ciriaco,   SS Florimon,   SS  _Dempster,   P   _ Diamond,   P

Is it just me, or have I gone three consecutive weeks with the Twins losing Friday's game, thus causing me to fill this space with some comment about us ranting about the Twins or how the team is looking for redemption tonight? Text

Diamond vs. Dempster is 15th all-Canada matchup of starters since 1900, and first in Minnesota

Ryan Dempster (2-4, 3.75) Dempster is in his 16th major league season and he hasn't shown any signs of slowing down. In fact, his strikeout rate is currently the best it's ever been in his career (11.44 K/9). While he's been doing a great job of missing bats and limiting hits (.203 batting average allowed), he's struggled with the long ball as he's already allowed 9 home runs in 48 innings this year, though a good chunk of those came in his last start against Toronto when he gave up 3 homers and 6 runs in 5 innings. Dempster actually faced the Twins back on May 7th, and he took the loss in allowing 4 runs in 7 innings. There are three main pitches in Dempster's repertoire, and that is a fastball, slider, and splitter. The slider and splitter are his most effective pitches, and he trusts his slider so much that he throws it almost as often as his fastball. Also, Dempster does an odd glove shake while he pitches, which is apparently done so hitters don't see him adjust his pitch grip prior to delivering the ball. Scott Diamond (3-3, 4.08) Scott Diamond is selfish. Why? Well, he has received a decision in every one of his 6 starts this year. However, he hasn't been striking anyone out (3.82 K/9) so in Crash Davis' eyes, he's not really that selfish. Still, Diamond has countered the excessive contact (.296 batting average allowed) by using his excellent control (1.53 BB/9) to keep his WHIP down to a respectable 1.30. Diamond actually opposed Dempster on May 7th in Boston, and he got the win by keeping the Red Sox scoreless through 7 innings. Diamond also throws only three pitches, and he generates a ton of ground balls despite not actually throwing a sinking fastball. Instead, he relies on creating a good downward plane (curse you Bert Blyleven!) and aiming his 4-seam fastball at the bottom half of the zone. It also helps that he can sometimes get some cutting action on his 4-seamer. He will mix in a curveball and change-up as well, and his curveball is slightly above average while the change-up is solidly below-average, according to FanGraphs' pitch values.

I have a confession to make. I, Andrew Bryz-Gornia, do not give my full undivided attention at work. That's right, I slack off. You see, I made a rather important discovery while teaching. FanGraphs has a daily Cover It Live chat at 11 am Monday through Friday, and 11 am just so happens to be when my prep period starts. Thus, while I lesson plan for my final two classes of the day, I am also reading an online chat about baseball with the authors of FanGraphs. You may know where this is going. I chatted with Jesse and we think it would be a great idea to hold a Twinkie Town Cover It Live chat from 5 to 6 pm on Monday night prior to the Twins game against the Braves, hosted by the two of us. If you've never participated in one of these before, essentially you the reader will submit comments/questions to us, and we will pick out the ones we find interesting or provocative and will comment back for all to see. Will you be busy from 5-6 on Monday? No problem, as you can always ask a question or make a comment down below, and we may choose to post it during the chat if we've hit a lull or are flooded with "Are you even a Twins fan!?!?" comments. Plus, an archive of the chat is saved even after it's completed so you can always visit the chat after it's been completed to see everything that was discussed. Jesse and I are both excited about the Cover It Live chat and we hope you will be as well. Remember, post comments and questions below if you want to ask or say something but won't be present on Monday, and you can also send them to us on Twitter using the hashtag #TTchat. As a kid, it's a huge thrill to meet a professional athlete. I don't really remember meeting many players when I was younger, but I know I would have just about had an anxiety attack if I had gotten to do what these two boys got to do. First, we have a lucky kid that got a chance to play catch with Dodgers pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu. No, not on the field or at a charity event, but while the boy was still in the outfield bleachers at Dodger Stadium. Oddly enough, another boy got to do the very same thing with Nationals pitcher Gio Gonzalez, also at Dodger Stadium. BuzzFeed isn't my first choice for getting baseball-related stories, but they posted what could be the worst first pitch ever, which occurred at a Florida State-Stetson college baseball game. The man, who is identified as John Bledsoe, steps up to the mound, attempts to throw the ball, and instead spikes it into the ground toward the first base line. Okay, that's happened before, so what? Well, to make things worse, he then loses his balance and falls forward off the mound. That is how you look terrible throwing a first pitch. After that happened, BuzzFeed then proceeded to collect the 17 "least accurate" (euphemism for "worst") first pitches in history, or at least in the television era. My favorites: Joan Steinbrenner for her "Ah, screw it" hand wave, Karen Peterson for the crazy hair and "Holy (redacted)!" reaction, and Charlie Brown because the catcher (some Philly Phanatic-like thing) doesn't even move. Least favorites: Mariah Carey for no effort on her throw and her obnoxious *giggles* "Oops, did I do that?" reaction, and the Kardashian group attempt because every single one of them had a bad throw. Also, because it's the Kardashians. Congratulations to Joe Mauer on becoming the active leader in batting average, wrestling the title away from Albert Pujols by having a .324 mark. Blame Mauer Bot and thousands of Twins fans still bet the under on an over/under of 129.5 career home runs, however. Nicole Haase, an author of fellow SB Nation blog and Twinkie Town interleague rival Brew Crew Ball has an article about a brand new event the Brewers have rolled out that is tailored towards women. The good news: It's for women. The bad news: It stereotypes women, and it completely eliminated another more successful Brewers-themed event directed towards females. The prior event was titled All-Access For Wo

Rafael Perez pitchedfour innings forTriple A Rochesterbefore being released.The Rafael Perez era ended Friday when the Twins released the veteran left-hander.He had shoulder surgery in 2012, and Cleveland let him go during the offseason. The Twins took a flier on him as spring training camps opened on the strength of a bullpen session, but once he was actually in camp their assessment of his current ability clearly diminished. He never threw a pitch in a spring training game and hadn't even joined a minor league team until this month.It's hardly worth criticizing the Twins for this episode; it was a minor league deal, a small investment that didn't pan out. This is unlike the Tsuyoshi Nishioka signing, which gave reason to wonder if there's a disconnect between the scouts and the major league staff.Still, it was a curious sequence of events. When the Twins signed Perez, they talked about stretching him out as a rotation candidate. As it turned out, he couldn't stretch out sufficiently to claim the lefty specialist role he was accustomed to with the Indians. The scouts saw something the coaching staff didn't see. Or maybe they were just throwing something against the wall to see if it stuck.Perez wound up pitching four innings in Triple A — four innings in which he walked three men, struck out two and allowed one run, on a homer.He had an out clause in his deal — if not on the major league roster by May 1 he could elect free agency — and he waived that clause at the start of the month, but perhaps he and/or his agent think there's an opportunity elsewhere.--- A more significant investment gone sour — Alex Wimmers, the Twins' first-round draft pick in 2010 —took a step forward Friday with his first mound work since his ligament replacement surgery last summer. Wimmers threw all of five innings last season, and it remains to be seen if he sees any action in the minors in 2013.He was seen at draft time in 2010 as a high-floor, low-ceiling prospect; one of the attractions with him was the sense that he was nearly major-league ready. But nothing as worked out for him so far, and the floor has proven to be far lower than anticipated.Wimmers has thrown 62 minor league innings since signing. The Twins have enough invested in him to keep trying, but he's not the pitcher they drafted out of Ohio State, and he may never be that pitcher again.Tim Wood threweight innings forRochester beforebeing shut down.---Bullpen candidate Tim Wood, who is on the 40-man roster, was shut down a few days before his rehab assignment was to expire early this week. An MRI on his balky shoulder was reportedly clean, but there's still clearly an issue of some sort and he's seeking a second opinion.Not long ago I was wondering how, or if, the Twins would find room for him in the major league bullpen. He didn't make it that far. Another example of the truth behind the claim that you never have enough pitchers.