For the first time in quite awhile, the Twins game was very enjoyable to watch on Friday night. Scott Diamond had his best pitching performance in his big league career by throwing a complete game shutout with only three hits surrendered. He was remarkably efficient by throwing less than 100 pitches during his nine innings on the mound. With some not so smooth outings in his last few appearances, it was good to see Diamond get a fantastic start under his belt and hopefully he can stay on track f
It was a rough week for the Twins in Chicago as the team got swept by one of their biggest rivals in a three game set. Minnesota won't have to wait long to get another shot at the White Sox as Chicago will come to Minnesota at the beginning of next week. For now, the focus of the club will turn to the Cleveland Indians over the weekend, a series where the Twins could play spoiler to a team trying to get back into the division race. Even with the team playing some important games over the cour
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6Qdgqbf61Ng/UBCQSvFvHiI/AAAAAAAADFQ/-4pM2fCneSs/s320/Trevor+Plouffe+Danny+Valencia+Minnesota+Twins.jpg For what seems like the 100th time, the Twins are taking their time deciding whether or not a player should be put on the disabled list. Trevor Plouffe has an injury to his thumb and he has missed five consecutive games as he tries to recover. He tried to work out over the last couple of days and it sounds like gripping and swinging the bat have been tough for him to
The Twins seemed to be sitting pretty on Tuesday evening after a couple of long balls from Josh Willingham and a very solid start from Cole DeVries. The bullpen took over in the seventh inning and the White Sox decided to put on a slugfest for the rest of the game. During the explosion by the bullpen in the final two innings, the Twins offense failed to score any more runs and the game ended with a final score of 11-4, an ugly blowout loss at the hands of the White Sox. Tomorrow afternoon, the
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-K_VClOccTc8/UA4Qt482pAI/AAAAAAAAC-I/EhjxB2NHgnc/s320/HendriksTranslation.jpg Twins fans have gotten a couple of different glimpses of Liam Hendriks since the September of last season. In that time at the big league level, the 23-year old pitcher has been less than underwhelming to the tune of an 0-7 record with an ERA of 6.71 in 12 starts. His struggles with the Twins have meant more than one trip back to Rochester this season after making the rotation out of spring tr
My usual edition of "Friday Links-N-Thinks" had to be pushed back because of some other commitments. Since I am in the process of moving back to North Dakota after two years in the Cities, it has been a crazy couple of weeks of packing boxes and moving furniture. Remember to keep checking in as I will continue to post about the Twins in the midst of moving back to my home state. My regular schedule just might need to switch itself up a little bit in depending on when I have internet access and w
After an offensive explosion on Monday night, the Twins made things a little bit more interesting on Tuesday when they didn't take their first lead in the game until the seventh inning. This comeback was spurred on by four two out hits with Ben Revere and Joe Mauer knocking in the runs to make the difference in the 6-4 final score. It seemed like a showcase game for Joe Mauer as he went 3-for-4 in the game including an RBI and one walk. He also made a tremendous diving catch on a bunt attempt wh
After having their starting pitchers struggle for most of the series against the Oakland A's, the Twins made sure their pitchers didn't have to worry about giving up runs on Monday night. The Twins offense exploded for 19 runs against the Baltimore Orioles including seven runs in the first inning. This was more than enough for a rested Scott Diamond who hadn't pitched in over a week and a half. In all of this offensive explosion, it is interesting to note that the Twins only had one home run in
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hEnUEQv6SHU/UAOQotUCM9I/AAAAAAAACyU/nBWJzKxqgXU/s320/SwingSun.jpeg Since the Twins took Aaron Hicks with their first round pick in the 2008 MLB Draft, there has been plenty of talk about the athletic outfielder fitting into the future plans of the Twins organization. Hicks was one of the highest draft picks the Twins had prior to drafting Byron Buxton in this year's draft and he seemed to have all of the tools to make him a very valuable player. It hasn't been a fast r
Happy Friday! I hope you made it through the week and you are looking forward to the weekend. It's hard to believe that it is already the 13th of July. Where is the time going from this summer? Make sure you spend some time this weekend enjoying the warm weather and the wonderful outdoors. It won't be long and we will all be stuck inside for another frigid winter across Twins Territory. At least the Wild should be worth watching this season with their newest additions. The Twins resume play toni
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gDD7ASQjXpA/T_7LaKz1SbI/AAAAAAAACuA/Oqs2L1Y7oag/s320/MauerLiriano.jpg The Twins still have one more day before they kick off the second half of the 2012 season so this gives the players and their fans another day to enjoy a break from the world of baseball. Now with the addition of the extra Wild Card team in each league, it seems that plenty of teams find themselves in reach of a playoff spot at the All-Star Break. In the American League, every team except the Twins
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Prince Fielder put on quite the show in the Home Run Derby last night after a slow start in the first round. His violent swing helped him to win his second career Derby title by beating out Jose Bautista in the final round. Over the years, the Derby has turned into quite the spectacle as it last for three hours or more. ESPN provides a ton of camera angles so fans can see some of the best power hitters in the game take their hacks at the
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With the All-Star Break at hand, it marks the unofficial midpoint of the 2012 season for the Minnesota Twins. Coming off of one of the worst seasons in franchise history, it was hard to have optimism for the 2012 campaign. There were question marks surrounding players that missed large chunks of last season due to injury, the bullpen had some unproven arms, and the starting rotation needed to prove itself. All of these story lines have pl
The Fourth of July holiday means that the All-Star Break is quickly approaching and the Twins are near a break that might be good for a team that is struggling to find pitchers for their starting staff. There has been a well-worn road from Rochester to Minneapolis as the Twins try to find players to record outs for the big league club. Casey Fien and Sam Deduno will be the latest Red Wings to get called up to play with the Twins. After putting together five consecutive wins, the Twins lost bac
A rain delay in Detroit held up the start of the Twins game for an hour and a half. When the game got underway, it turned into a back and forth contest between the Tigers and the Twins. The Twins bash brothers of Josh Willingham and Trevor Plouffe each added another home run to their totals for the season as they continue to try and match each other for the team lead. Even Joe Mauer was able to hit his second home run in the past week with an opposite field home run in the later innings of the g
Glen Perkins came into the ninth inning in Detroit with a two-run lead to work with and he sure made things interesting by allowing Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder to reach on singles. In the end, Perkins was able to get out of the jam and the Twins were victorious for the fourth straight game. It was interesting to see the Twins put together six runs without managing an extra-base hit. This was especially intriguing after a weekend where the team went homer happy against the Royals pitching s
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2ml1ZioYWw4/T_D48dTN0oI/AAAAAAAACh4/2iQJMPGHdhI/s320/mauer_willingham_640.jpg On Sunday afternoon, the 2012 MLB All-Star rosters were announced for the American League and the National League. There were a few different candidates that had the opportunity to be selected to be the Twins representative. Joe Mauer is near the top of the AL in a variety of batting categories and he plays a premium defensive position. Josh Willingham started off the season on quite the run
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After a rough series with the White Sox, the Twins had an off day on Thursday to enjoy the Harmon Killebrew Foundation Golf Tournament and other activities in the Twin Cities. The team will pick up play this weekend with four games against the Kansas City Royals and that includes a day-night doubleheader on Saturday. At this point last season, the Twins made a run to pull themselves a little closer before the All-Star Break and this serie
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CmydG0JkmKs/T-0AJJlItXI/AAAAAAAACco/K4BK-a6NIYg/s1600/300_fanforum.jpg As part of the Twins off day on Thursday, the Twins held their sixth Fan Forum with current third baseman Trevor Plouffe and left-handed pitcher Scott Diamond. This conference call allows season ticket holders, "On-Deck" members, and group organizers to ask a variety of questions in the hour long event. There were also multiple prizes given away including on
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f_PHNj070Po/T-oBZjPoBhI/AAAAAAAACY4/Wy7rJR20WXA/s320/2012+All+Star+ballot.jpg Frequent visitors to this site might have noticed the logo on the right side of the page for the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. There are a few different obligations that come along being part of this organization. Through out the year, the members vote on who should be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, all of the end of the season awards (MVP, Rookie of the Year, etc), and various other thi
With all of the talk before the game about Twins hitters destroying Gavin Floyd, it was bound to happen that he was going to put up a good performance. Over the course of seven shut out innings, he struck out nine Twins batters and only gave up five hits. Liam Hendriks had his best start of the season throwing over six innings to the tune of three runs with an Alex Rios home run being the big dagger. In the ninth inning, the Twins made things interesting by loading the bases with two outs in t
The Twins got their homestand off to a good start against the AL Central leading White Sox. An outstanding performance from Francisco Liriano was more than enough to lead the Twins to the victory. It was a milestone win for the Twins franchise in their new home as it was the team's 100th victory at Target Field. In that time span, the team is only a couple games over .500 so it would be nice to get that winning percentage a little higher. It's another Tuesday so that means I will be covering all
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yaAI7GTYUMk/T-fh2GGYd_I/AAAAAAAACVY/tJSPVaCpYMA/s400/RevereHR.jpg It's not like searching for El Dorado or the Fountain of Youth because people have seen it before. Unlike the sightings of Big Foot or the Loch Ness Monster, there is more than tangible evidence that this is not just a fluke of nature. It happened as recent as last season for Triple-A Rochester but there still might need to be an expedition to find
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last night's Twins game got ugly in later portions of the game with Jeff Manship giving up some bombs. One of the home runs even took one bounce and was out of the stadium. Overall, it wasn't the best series but the Twins did manage to pull out one victory. Francisco Liriano and Liam Hendriks put together one of their best starts of the year in the series and Josh Willingham had a late inning home run to lead the team to victory. Now th
It is officially the first day of summer and that means action will be heating up across the baseball world. The Twins found themselves in a pitchers duel in Pittsburgh with Francisco Liriano throwing one of his best games of the year. A rough seventh inning meant that Liriano wasn't able to pick up the win but a late inning home run from Josh Willingham pushed the Twins to a 2-1 victory. Some injuries to the Rochester bullpen forced the Twins to make some transactions in the farm system. Car
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?
At this point in the pre-season, I’m just so happy to be seeing games again, I don’t care about the Twins record in 2023. I think they’ll win it all, unrealistically speaking 🙂
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?· 0 replies
