On the Road Again
by Jesse on Aug 20, 2008 4:43 PM EDT
in Game Recaps
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PrintMonday: Oakland 3, Minnesota 2
Tuesday: Minnesota 13, Oakland 2
Wednesday: Minnesota 3, Oakland 1
That's not a bad way to do business, although it would have been nice to have borrowed a couple of runs on Monday as an advance off of Tuesday. In spite of taking a pair from the A's however, thanks to a team from Suckville, USA, stopping for three in Chicago, the Twins find themselves a game out of first place. Now it's time for a 14-day road trip.
Honestly, I can't tell you much about what happened the last three days. As of Monday morning I was on a spur-of-the-moment trip to Cromer and the North Sea. You'll get a pic or two at the end, and you'll see what I'm talking about.
So that leaves it all up to you...here's your pop quiz.
1. What was the biggest surprise of the series?
2. What made Kevin Slowey's seven-inning, 12-run spectacular possible?
3. Will Liriano be allowed to pitch seven innings this season?
4. What impressions of the Twins are you left with after this series?
5. Who gets your three stars for the series?
Those are the starts to some discussion topics, so feel free to indulge yourselves. In the mean time, until I'm back and fully operational (and have all the sand out of my hair) tomorrow morning, I'll leave you with our Roll Call from the Oakland series. A hearty well done to caseintheface, whose efforts embiggen us all.
| Name | # of Posts |
|---|---|
| caseintheface | 85 |
| Neil | 65 |
| matty_b | 45 |
| Tony_O | 36 |
| 33MorneauMVP | 32 |
| DedicatedFollowerOfFashion | 27 |
| Andersklasen | 27 |
| tobynotjason | 23 |
| Alexi Casilla All-Star | 17 |
| caluofmn | 12 |
| .mnqwerd | 10 |
| halfchest | 10 |
| FROZEN | 8 |
| cmathewson | 8 |
| Jesse | 6 |
| Eric in Madison | 5 |
| TMW | 4 |
| JD34 | 4 |
| montanatwinsfan | 3 |
| natetheskate | 3 |
| joeiscool12 | 2 |
| Twins Territory | 2 |
| neide | 1 |
| Hoya | 1 |
| BD57 | 1 |
| the Dragon | 1 |
| Jon Marthaler | 1 |
| GACTwinFan | 1 |
| AdamOnFirst | 1 |
Anyway, so where I was for the last two-and-a-half days was just outside of a town called Cromer on the North Sea, where I did a bit of camping. It rained a lot, but views like this were more than enough to get me over it:
See you tomorrow everybody!
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KFAN's Chad Hartman reports
That Brian Bass has been DFA’d to allow a roster spot to open for Alexi Casilla
Twinsbaseball.com confirms
That Bass has been Outrighted to Rochester Not DFA’d as originally thought.
1. What was the biggest surprise of the series?
They gave up 6 runs in 3 games, Justin Duscherer left his start early and the Twins didn’t sweep.
2. What made Kevin Slowey’s seven-inning, 12-run spectacular possible?
Sean Gallagher.
Also pitchers who throw strikes and get ahead in counts generally do well against patient lineups unless those teams’ scouts tell them to swing the bat like the Yankees scouts do. Blackburn tossed 8 IP too.
3. Will Liriano be allowed to pitch seven innings this season?
Not until we start seeing 0-1 and 1-2 counts more frequently.
4. What impressions of the Twins are you left with after this series?
Does it matter? They’re a completely different team on the road.
5. Who gets your three stars for the series?
1 – Justin Morneau
2 – Kevin Slowey
3 – Nick Blackburn (Gave the bullpen a badly needed night off)
Blargh
I was at Monday’s game, and it was extreme. First Twins game, I loved the experience, if only they had won. My first in person major league pitch was a home run which is kinda sweet actually..
Answers
1. What was the biggest surprise of the series?
Saarloos shutting us down after Duchscherer went out of Game 1.
2. What made Kevin Slowey’s seven-inning, 12-run spectacular possible?
Hitting the corners against a team that makes Gomez and Young look like contact hitters. Three K’s for Cust and Gonzalez each.
3. Will Liriano be allowed to pitch seven innings this season?
Not if he averages over 20 pitches an inning like today.
4. What impressions of the Twins are you left with after this series?
Another solid three starts for the young guys. Hope for the bullpen with Boof pitching a bit better.
5. Who gets your three stars for the series?
1 – Slowey
2 – Blackburn
3 – Mauer
Andrew's Answers
1. What was the biggest surprise of the series?
How bad the bullpen sucked.
2. What made Kevin Slowey’s seven-inning, 12-run spectacular possible?
A horrible bullpen. And I guess the fact that Oakland sucks had something to do with it.
3. Will Liriano be allowed to pitch seven innings this season?
Only if the bullpen improves.
4. What impressions of the Twins are you left with after this series?
Our bullpen sucks.
5. Who gets your three stars for the series?
3. Not Boof Bonser
2. Not Matt Guerrier
1. NOT BRIAN BASS
Twins Fix
http://www.twinsfix.com
Pop Quiz
1. Biggest surprise. The snarky answer is that Gomez hit a homer. The honest answer is that the bullpen pitched scoreless ball for all three games, despite a couple of rough patches.
2. Slowey’s fine outing. Adjustments. Slowey is a thinker on the mound. Baker was quoted last week as saying that he couldn’t make an adjustment in the course of a game. I believe Slowey makes lots of adjustments as he goes along.
3. Liriano. Obviously, he needs to get his pitch count down. He threw 110 pitches today, that should be plenty to get him through seven innings at some point in the balance of the season.
4. Twins impressions. Their defense leaves something to be desired at short, third and in left field. The bullpen is going to be a roller coaster ride for the rest of the season.
5. Three stars. #3 Catcher (Mauer and Redmond combined for a nice series) #2 Slowey Career high Ks and season high for the Twins #1 Span He keeps doing good things—at the plate, in the field and on the bases
by Alexi Casilla All-Star on Aug 20, 2008 10:19 PM EDT reply actions
View from the left coast
I have been a Twins fan since 1961, and a Bay Area resident since 1972; I get to see the Twins as A’s fans do. Lately, the two organizations have been on a weirdly parallel path, that of small market teams doing well. They do have significantly different organizational philosophies but appear to have formulas for remaining competitive. Until this year. The A’s are totally identified from their GM’s perspective – Billy Beane is the darling of statheads and bloggers. This year, he went ahead and traded away the core of his team – Harden, Haren, Swisher – for prospects; in the short term, the result seems to be a pathetic team at the major league level, with dreams of dominance 2-3 years away. Conversely, the Twins invested in their core – Mauer, Morneau, Nathan – and seem to have a better short term return. The question is – does this represent a repudiation of the A’s approach, or confirmation of the Twins? And, from the business perspective (ie attendance), what are the implications for decision making by GM’s? Note – A’s tickets are not exactly in high demand. Again anyways, I enjoyed the series this week; it is wonderful to hear games where 30,000 fans are there, committed to enjoying their team. The A’s have forfeited that pleasure, for now.
Quiz
1. Biggest Suprise – The bullpen pitched decently for all three games.
2. Slowey is a Radke. He thinks, changes speeds, and doesnt overpower anybody. He has pinpoint control and he uses it well. And he makes the necessary adjustments. Great Performance by Slowey!
3. Liriano will not be allowed to pitch 7 innings until he can get his pitch count down. Of course, a lot of his pitches seem to be fouled off but he must get ahead of the hitters. That is priority and with say a 1-2 count can throw something out of the zone and see if they will chase. Get ahead = priority
4. Impressions: Starting rotation came out and gave the bullpen a rest (at least for the first two games). Offense heated up in the second game after a paltry performance in the first game. Lets continue the good pitching and decent offense in Anaheim and we may split!
5. Three stars go to: 1. Slowey – 12 Ks is amazing for the young man. 2. J-Morneau – broke out of his slump it seems and once again will carry the Twins on his back. 3. Blackburn and Mauer – Blacky pitched hard in the opener and made a few mistakes but overall was good! Mauer hit in the only two runs in the game with his triple and advance to home on the throw into the dugout.
I'm glad you're back, Jesse.
There were two fires, and cmathewson spilled peanut butter on the couch.
hey at least it wasnt a black cat
otherwise the Twins arent going to win a game on this road trip right?
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