Lan's Minnesota Twins (The Show 09)

[Ty]

This is setup so well, and very detailed. Good job! Keep it up!

[Cane_Mutiny]

Nice dynasty you have going. Hope you figure out your slider situation and keep it going.

[LanteriX]

April 15th, 2009

Hill, Jays Dominate 6-1

Minnesota (AP) - It's not abnormal to see Nick Blackburn give up a ton of hits. I'm going to have to get used to that.The second year starter scattered 10 hits over 5 innings, but managed to limit the damage to only 2 runs. The Twins bullpen wasn't as fortunate however, as they allowed 8 hits over the next 4 innings, allowing 4 more runs in a 6-1 loss. Really though, the two runs the Jays scored in the 5th was all they would need as Shawn Hill was razor sharp tossing a complete game on 109 pitches allowing just 1 run on 3 hits while striking out 4. The lone run came in the 9th inning on a solo homer by Denard Span.

Six Blue Jays hitters had multi-hit games. They were led by Wells' 4 hit performance, and followed closely by Overbay and Barajas' 3 hits each. Scott Rolen was the lone man to not record a hit in this one. The Jays also only struck out 4 times, 3 alone by Adam Lind. For the Twins, Span, Morneau, and Casilla each had 1 hit and that was all for the offense. Pitching wise, we already mentioned Blackburn. Bonser gave up 1 run on 3 hits in an inning of relief, while R.A. Dickey gave up 3 on 4 hits before Mijares pitched 2 scoreless innings of relief.

It doesn't get any easier for the Twins either as they will face perennial Cy Young candidate Roy Halladay in the final game of this series.

Box Score

		1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   R   H   E
TOR		0   0   0   0   2   1   3   0   0   6   18  0
MIN		0   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   1   1   3   0

				Toronto Blue Jays

BATTING		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
Rios, RF	5	1	2	1	0	0	.229
Lind, LF	5	0	2	1	0	3	.324
Wells, CF	5	1	4	0	0	0	.439
Rolen, 3B	5	0	0	0	0	1	.216
Overbay, 1B	5	1	3	1	0	0	.333
Barajas, C	5	1	3	2	0	0	.407
Hill, 2B	5	0	1	0	0	0	.194
Inglett, DH	4	1	1	0	0	0	.225
McDonald, SS	4	1	2	1	0	0	.357
Batting Totals	43	6	18	6	0	4

BATTING
2B: Rios, Lind, Wells, Overbay, Hill
HR: Barajas
RBI: Rios, Lind, Overbay, Barajas 2, McDonald
GIDP: Rolen, Barajas

BASERUNNING
SB: Inglett

PITCHING		IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
S. Hill (W, 1-1)	9.0	3	1	1	0	4	3.21
Pitching Totals		9.0	3	1	1	0	4

				Minnesota Twins

BATTING		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
Span, RF-CF	4	1	1	1	0	0	.380
Young, LF	4	0	0	0	0	0	.304
Mauer, C	4	0	0	0	0	1	.250
Morneau, 1B	3	0	1	0	0	1	.425
Crede, 3B	3	0	0	0	0	0	.187
Kubel, DH	3	0	0	0	0	0	.333
Casilla, 2B	3	0	1	0	0	1	.433
Gomez, CF	1	0	0	0	0	0	.161
Cuddyer, CF-RF	2	0	0	0	0	0	.428
Harris, SS	3	0	0	0	0	1	.428
Batting Totals	30	1	3	1	0	4

BATTING
HR: Span
RBI: Span

BASERUNNING
SB: Casilla

PITCHING		IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Blackburn (L, 0-2)	5.0	10	2	2	0	2	7.83
Bonser			1.0	3	1	1	0	1	1.42
Dickey			1.0	4	3	3	0	0	6.00
Mijares			2.0	1	0	0	0	1	1.58
Pitching Totals		9.0	18	6	6	0	4

[LanteriX]

April 16th, 2009

Twins Sign Veteran Reliever

Minneapolis (AP) - The Minnesota Twins have announced today that they have signed 18 year veteran and 43 year old Mike Timlin to a major league contract worth 720K over one year. Timlin struggled last season with Boston going 4-4 in 49.3 IP and a 5.66 ERA. He did, however, look strong in workouts he participated in this spring so the Twins are willing to take a chance that he can provide another arm in middle relief.

R.A. Dickey was re-assigned to AAA.

[LanteriX]

April 16th, 2009

Baker Bounces Back, Twins Still Falter 4-3

Minnesota (AP) - Anytime you face a pitcher of Roy Halladay's caliber you're going to be in for a long day. Today was no different. The Twins struggled mightily making any kind of solid contact off the former Cy Young winner managing just 1 hit through 7 innings before finally getting to him in the 8th. Scott Baker turned in a quality, albeit ugly, start after getting lit up in his previous outing going 7 strong allowing 8 hits, 1 walk, 1 K, and 3 runs.

The Blue Jays struck first in the 4th inning following a leadoff triple by Vernon Wells. Scott Rolen drove him in with a sacrifice fly. Then Rod Barajas would double to left and be driven in on a single to center by Aaron Hill. The Jays would extend their 2-0 lead to 3-0 in the top of the 7th on a two-out RBI double by Vernon Wells.

The Twins finally got an opportunity to get to Halladay in the bottom of the 8th. Kubel singled to center and Casilla beat out an infield hit to put two on with nobody out. Halladay would quickly regain his composure forcing a pop up from Carlos Gomez and a fly out by Nick Punto making it two on with two out for the top of the order. Denard Span wouldn't allow the inning to end with nothing going up on the board a he laced a 2 out single to center scoring Kubel from second to cut the lead to 3-1. The Jays elected to go to the pen instead of sticking with Halladay who was only at the 96 pitch mark. Delmon Young drove in Casilla singling a Tallet slider to center to cut the lead down to 3-2. Tallet would escape further trouble as he forced a ground out from Mauer to end the inning.

The Jays would score what proved to be the most important run of the game in the top of the 9th off Twins setup man Jesse Crain. McDonald led of the inning fighting a 1-2 slider off into right field off the end of his bat and then was promptly driven in on an RBI double extending the lead to 4-2. Overbay was intentionally walked to setup a double play possibility. Wells would fly out to shallow center and then Scott Rolen would ground into an inning ending double play.

The Blue Jays turned the ball over to B.J. Ryan who blew a save earlier in the series for the bottom of the 9th. He quickly registered two outs on a flyout by Justin Morneau to the warning track in the left centerfield gap, and a 3 pitch strikeout to the ice cold Joe Crede. Then, the RBI double from Rios in the top of the 9th really became huge as Cuddyer, who pinch hit for Kubel, homered to left on a hung slider cutting the lead down to 4-3. That was the last of the offense, however, as Ryan struck out Casilla with a 2-2 slider ending the ballgame.

The Twins fell to 6-5 with the loss. They will remain home for a 3 game set with the 8-2 Angels. Liriano will faceoff with John Lackey in the opener.

Box Score

		1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   R   H   E
TOR		0   0   0   2   0   0   1   0   1   4   11  0
MIN		0   0   0   0   0   0   0   2   1   3   6   0

				Toronto Blue Jays

BATTING		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
Rios, RF	5	0	2	1	0	0	.245
Overbay, 1B	3	0	0	0	1	0	.310
Wells, CF	5	1	2	1	0	0	.435
Rolen, 3B	4	0	0	1	0	0	.195
Barajas, C	3	1	1	0	1	0	.400
Hill, 2B	4	0	1	1	0	0	.200
Snider, LF	4	0	2	0	0	0	.278
Inglett, DH	4	0	1	0	0	1	.229
McDonald, SS	4	2	2	0	0	0	.375
Batting Totals	36	4	11	4	2	1

BATTING
2B: Rios (2), Wells (5), Barajas (1)
3B: Wells (1), Snider (1)
RBI: Hill (3), Rios (9), Wells (4), S. Rolen (6)
HBP: L. Overbay
SF: S. Rolen
GIDP: S. Rolen

PITCHING		IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
R. Halladay (W, 2-0)	7.2	4	2	2	1	7	1.96
B. Tallet (H, 1)	0.1	1	0	0	0	0	0.00
B. Ryan (S, 2)		1.0	1	1	1	0	2	6.00
Pitching Totals		9.0	6	3	3	1	9

				Minnesota Twins

BATTING		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
Span, RF	4	0	1	1	0	2	.370
Young, LF	4	0	1	1	0	1	.300
Mauer, C	4	0	0	0	0	1	.227
Morneau, 1B	2	0	0	0	1	0	.405
Crede, 3B	4	0	0	0	0	2	.167
Kubel, DH	3	1	2	0	0	0	.367
a-Cuddyer, PH	1	1	1	1	0	0	.448
Casilla, 2B	4	1	1	0	0	1	.412
Gomez, CF	3	0	0	0	0	1	.147
Punto, SS	3	0	0	0	0	1	.294
Batting Totals	32	3	6	3	1	9

a - Batted for Kubel in the 9th.

BATTING
HR: Cuddyer (3)
RBI: Span (7), Young (9), Cuddyer (8)
HBP: Morneau
GIDP: Kubel

PITCHING		IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Baker (L, 1-1)		7.0	8	3	3	1	1	5.82
Timlin			1.0	1	0	0	0	0	0.00
Crain			1.0	2	1	1	1	0	1.50
Pitching Totals		9.0	11	4	4	2	1

[LanteriX]

April 17th, 2009

Twins Acquire Garciaparra

Minneapolis (AP) - The Twins have announced today that they have acquired 13-year veteran Nomar Garciaparra from the Athletics today in exchange for Joe Crede. Each player was a free agent signee in the offseason by their respective teams.

Garciaparra, a two time batting champion and career .314 hitter has spent much of the last five years of his career fighting various injuries, but when he is healthy he is still a very good offensive player. While he may never regain his all-star, some would say hall of fame, form of the late 90s and early 2000s, the Twins hope he can provide consistent offense. They plan to insert him into the lineup in the #2 spot, while bumping Young down to 5th.

Oakland is hoping that Crede will provide a bit more offense at 3rd base as Eric Chavez is but a shell of his former self at the hot corner. They will likely platoon.

[LanteriX]

April 17th, 2009

Six Run Fifth Propels Twins to 8-4 Victory

Minneapolis (AP) - Sometimes all it takes is one bad inning to make or break a ballgame. John Lackey got a harsh reminder of that reality today courtesy of the Twins. Lackey cruised through the first 4 innings allowing 3 hits and 1 walk before things turned ugly, and fast, as he would allow a total of 7 hits and 6 runs in the bottom of the 5th.

It was the bottom of the order that actually got to Lackey first in the fifth with Casilla and Punto both singling to center and right respectively. Gomez would drive in Casilla from 2nd and setup 1st and 2nd with no one out. Then, what was intended to be a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position by Span turned into an infield single loading the bases up with nobody out for the newly acquired Nomar Garciaparra. Nomar simply knows how to get the job done in those situations as he is a career .328 hitter with RISP and .359 with the bases loaded. He would indeed deliver to start the Twins explosion driving in two and setting up first and third with still nobody out.

Mauer would make it 4-1 with a sacrifice fly to left field. Morneau, who struggled all game, struck out looking to make it two outs and pulled the Halos closer to getting out of the inning with the game still somewhat within reach. It wasn't to be however, as Juan Rivera made a terrible decision on a sinking liner off the bat of Delmon Young, electing to go for a diving catch instead of playing it off the hop and holding him to a single. Instead, the ball would get by to the wall scoring Nomar, and advancing Young to second with a double making it 5-1. Kubel would drive in Young from second on a shot back up the middle, finally chasing Lackey from the game. Casilla would record his second hit of the inning off reliever Moseley on a blooper, but Moseley would force Punto to line out preventing any further damage.

The Angels would not lay down as they scored three runs in the top of the 6th to pull it back to within two at 6-4. Liriano was only able to record one out in the inning before deferring to Matt Guerrier. Guerrero led the inning off with a double, and was driven in by Mike Napoli. Rivera lined out to left, and was Liriano's lone out. After giving up a single to Abreu and a walk to Hunter, he was lifted. Quinlan jumped on Guerrier's first pitch lining one into center and knocking in two of Liriano's runners and putting guys on 1st and 2nd with 1 out. Aybar would ground out slowly to first and Morneau's only play was to the bag to make it 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. Guerrier made a great pitch to Figgins forcing him to squib one back to the mound. It was not an easy play by any means to get the speedy Figgins, but the throw was in time to get him to get out of trouble.

Guerrier would stay in the game until 1 out in the 8th before the ball was turned over to Breslow who required the final two outs of the 8th as the Twins middle relief chipped in with 2.2 scoreless innings. The Twins would get two insurance runs in the bottom of the 8th on a surprising two run homer from Carlos Gomez (who went 2 for 4 with 3 RBI and 2 runs scored for a change). Joe Nathan would close things out, despite it not being a save situation as he has only appeared in two games thus far this season and needed some work out of the pen.

Box Score

		1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   R   H   E
LAA		0   0   1   0   0   3   0   0   0   4   12  0
MIN		0   0   0   0   6   0   0   2   X   8   12  0

				Los Angeles Angels

BATTING		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
Figgins, 3B	5	0	1	0	0	1	.293
Kendrick, 2B	5	0	1	0	0	1	.278
Guerrero, RF	4	2	3	0	0	0	.395
Napoli, C	4	1	2	2	0	0	.364
Rivera, LF	3	0	0	0	0	0	.389
Abreu, DH	4	1	1	0	0	1	.279
Hunter, CF	3	0	2	0	1	0	.262
Quinlan, 1B	4	0	2	2	0	1	.261
Aybar, SS	4	0	0	0	0	0	.143
Batting Totals	36	4	12	4	1	4

BATTING
2B: Guerrero 2 (2)
RBI: Napoli 2 (10), Quinlan 2 (2)
HBP: Rivera
GIDP: Guerrero, Aybar, Quinlan

PITCHING		IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
J. Lackey (L, 2-1)	4.2	10	6	6	1	5	3.63
D. Moseley		2.1	1	0	0	0	1	0.00
D. Oliver		1.0	1	2	2	1	0	2.70
Pitching Totals		9.0	6	3	3	1	9

				Minnesota Twins

BATTING		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
Span, RF	5	1	2	0	0	0	.373
Garciaparra, 3B	3	1	2	2	1	0	.250
Mauer, C	3	0	0	1	0	0	.213
Morneau, 1B	4	0	0	0	0	2	.370
Young, LF	4	1	1	1	0	3	.296
Kubel, DH	3	1	2	1	1	0	.394
Casilla, 2B	3	1	2	0	0	1	.432
Punto, SS	4	1	1	0	0	0	.289
Gomez, CF	4	2	2	3	0	0	.184
Batting Totals	33	8	12	8	2	6

BATTING
2B: Young (3), Kubel (4)
HR: Gomez (1)
RBI: Mauer (6), Young (10), Garciaparra 2 (7), Gomez 3 (6), Kubel (6)
SF: Mauer
SAC: Casilla

BASERUNNING
CS: Span (1)

PITCHING		IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
F. Liriano (W, 2-0)	5.1	8	4	4	1	4	5.19
M. Guerrier (H, 1)	2.0	2	0	0	0	0	2.45
C. Breslow (H, 1)	0.2	0	0	0	0	0	3.60
J. Nathan		1.0	2	0	0	0	0	3.00
Pitching Totals		9.0	12	4	4	1	4

[LanteriX]

April 18th, 2009

Hunter, Halos Get Payback in 9-1 Win

Minneapolis (AP) - A lot of players thoroughly enjoy beating up on their old teams throughout major league baseball team. Torii Hunter is one of those players. Hunter went 3 for 5 with two doubles and a home run, scoring three times, and helping to lead the Angels over the Twins 9-1. Guerrero once again tore up the Twins pitching driving in 3, while Kendrick chipped in with two in front of him. Four other Halos had an RBI each.

The game really hadn't gotten out of hand until the 7th and 8th innings as Slowey was rather effective through the first 6 innings allowing 3 runs on 5 hits, but nothing out of the ordinary. Unfortunately for the Twins it looked like the wrong decision to send him back out for the 7th inning as he would eventually allow 3 more runs on 4 hits and a walk putting the Twins in a huge 6-1 hole. Mike Timlin would not help the cause either as he would allow 3 more runs to score in a total of 1 inning pitched. Both pitchers got themselves in serious trouble with two outs in their respective innings.

The Twins lone run came on back to back doubles in the second inning by Delmon Young and backup catcher Mike Redmond.

The Twins fell to 7-6 with the loss, while the Angels improved to 9-3. The series will conclude tomorrow with Glen Perkins (0-0 3.55 ERA) facing Ervin Santana (1-1 1.38 ERA).

Box Score

		1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   R   H   E
LAA		1   0   0   0   2   0   3   3   0   9   16  1
MIN		0   1   0   0   0   0   0   0   0   1   5   1

				Los Angeles Angels

BATTING		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
Figgins, 3B	2	2	0	0	2	0	.279
Kendrick, 2B	5	1	3	2	0	0	.317
Guerrero, RF	5	0	2	3	0	0	.395
Napoli, C	5	0	1	1	0	1	.342
Rivera, DH	5	0	1	0	0	0	.366
Abreu, LF	5	0	1	0	0	1	.271
Hunter, CF	5	3	3	1	0	0	.298
Izturis, SS	5	1	1	1	0	0	.345
Morales, 1B	4	2	4	1	0	0	.286
Batting Totals	41	9	16	9	2	2	

BATTING
2B: Guerrero (3), Hunter 2 (4), Rivera (5), Morales (1), Napoli (2)
HR: Hunter (1)
RBI: Kendrick 2 (9), Guerrero 3 (8), Hunter (2), Morales (4), Napoli (11)
Izturis (5)
HBP: Figgins

FIELDING
E: Figgins (2)

BASERUNNING
SB: Kendrick (1)
CS: Figgins (3)

PITCHING		IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
K. Escobar (W, 2-0)	7.0	5	1	1	3	3	2.65
S. Shields		2.0	0	0	0	0	2	0.00
Pitching Totals		9.0	5	1	1	3	5

				Minnesota Twins

BATTING		AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
Gomez, CF	4	0	2	0	0	0	.214
Span, RF	3	0	0	0	1	0	.352
Nomar, 3B	3	0	0	0	1	1	.231
Morneau, 1B	4	0	0	0	0	2	.340
Young, LF	4	1	1	0	0	0	.293
Kubel, DH	4	0	1	0	0	1	.378
Redmond, C	4	0	1	1	0	0	.333
Punto, SS	4	0	0	0	0	1	.262
Tolbert, 2B	2	0	0	0	1	0	.100
Batting Totals	32	1	5	1	3	5

BATTING
2B: Young (4), Redmond (1), Kubel (5)
RBI: Redmond (1)
GIDP: Span

FIELDING
E: Garciaparra (1)

PITCHING		IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
K. Slowey (L, 0-1)	6.2	9	6	6	1	1	6.27
M. Timlin		1.0	5	3	3	1	1	13.50
J. Mijares		0.2	2	0	0	0	0	1.42
B. Bonser		0.2	0	0	0	0	0	1.29
Pitching Totals		9.0	16	9	9	2	2