Twinkie Town - Gamehub: Orioles at Twins, Game 34An online community of Twins fans mourning the death of Prince Rogers Nelson.https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/52554/tt_fav.png2013-05-12T18:14:31-04:00http://www.twinkietown.com/rss/stream/40881932013-05-12T18:14:31-04:002013-05-12T18:14:31-04:00Fast Reaction: Orioles 6, Twins 0
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<figcaption>Hannah Foslien</figcaption>
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<p>Baltimore pounces early and often against Scott Diamond while the Minnesota offense stalls.</p> <p><span>Scott Diamond</span> didn't have his best stuff today. He wasn't able to hit with his fastball or off-speed pitches on a regular basis, and far too often caught far too much of the plate. On those occasions where the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.twinkietown.com/">Twins</a> had opportunities to put a rally together, <span>Wei-Yin Chen</span> and a quadra <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.camdenchat.com/">Orioles</a> relievers stymied their efforts to the full. Minnesota had runners on base in all of the first eight innings, including four leadoff base runners in the first five innings and runners on second base in the sixth, seventh and eighth, but at every turn they were denied.</p>
<p>As I mentioned in the game thread, this is one of those games where detractors might hold it up as an example of the massive holes in this Twins roster: a Twins pitcher with mediocre stuff who can't get away with bad pitches, a roster that relies of more than a handful of sub-par hitters in order to score runs, and a lack of depth for late-inning pinch hitter replacements. All are things that we knew coming into this season, but that doesn't make it easier to handle on days like today. It was a tough one to watch in terms of the sheer futility that the team ran into at every turn.</p>
<p>Hopefully the Twins can turn it around and get more wins than losses this week as the Twins host the <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.southsidesox.com/">White Sox</a> and <a class="sbn-auto-link" href="https://www.overthemonster.com/">Red Sox</a> at Target Field.</p>
<p><b>ROLL CALL!</b></p>
<ol>
<li><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 9px;">Jesse (64)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 9px;">less cowbell, more 'neau (30)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 9px;">SooFoo Fan (29)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 9px;">DavidRF (29)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 9px;">twinsbrewer (28)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 9px;">montanatwinsfan (18)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 9px;">Caleb A (6)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 9px;">Black Metallic (5)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 9px;">Gunnarthor (3)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 9px;">Sportsavenue (3)</span></li>
</ol>
<div><b>Bullet Point Highlights</b></div>
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<li><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 9px;"><span>Joe Mauer</span> contiued his hot streak today, going 2-for-3 with a double and a walk.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 9px;">Having said that, the tone for the Twins' day was set early. After a leadoff single from <span>Brian Dozier</span> in the bottom of the first, Mauer struck out and Dozier was gunned down for a strike-em-out-throw-em-out double play.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 9px;"><span>Justin Morneau</span> just missed a home run into the right field seats, but was caught in a silly base running gaff. The ball bounced hard off of the facade, and <span>Nick Markakis</span> made a good turn and relay to second base. Morneau was out by at least 15 feet.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 9px;"><span>Ryan Doumit</span> and <span>Eduardo Escobar</span> were the only Twins who didn't reach base.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 9px;"><span>Anthony Swarzak</span> and <span>Ryan Pressly</span> combined to throw 3.1 scoreless innings after Diamond was removed from the game.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 9px;">Baltimore cracked three homers off Diamond - a two-run shot from <span>Chris Davis</span> in the first, a solo shot from <span>Adam Jones</span> in the third, and a solo shot from <span>Steve Pearce</span> in the sixth.</span></li>
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<div><b>Win Expectancy Graph</b></div>
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https://www.twinkietown.com/2013/5/12/4324868/mlb-final-score-fast-reaction-orioles-6-twins-0Jesse Lund2013-05-12T12:34:18-04:002013-05-12T12:34:18-04:00Pitcher Preview: Scott Diamond vs Wei-Yin Chen
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<figcaption>Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption>
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<p>Scott Diamond squares up against the Orioles and Wei-Yin Chen as the Twins try to win another series.</p> <p></p>
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<img src="http://cdn0.sbnation.com/player_photos/l.mlb.com/xt.fss.l.mlb.com-p.20016.jpg"><h2><span>Scott Diamond</span></h2>
<h4 class="player-position">#58 / Pitcher / <a href="https://www.twinkietown.com/">Minnesota Twins</a>
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<p><label>Height:</label> 6-3</p>
<p><label>Weight:</label> 220</p>
<p><label>Bats:</label> L</p>
<p><label>Throws:</label> L</p>
<p><label>Born:</label> Jul 30, 1986</p>
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<p>Since his difficult debut on April 13, Diamond has delivered four consecutive quality starts: 25.1 innings, six earned runs (2.13 ERA), 14 strikeouts, three walks. That's impressive. In that stretch hitters have batted .256/.284/.378. Diamond, in the traditional Twins mold, doesn't have great stuff but does have impressive command, but because of this it was common for people to expect Diamond to regress. If anything, up to this point he's been even better than he was in 2012.</p>
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<img src="http://cdn0.sbnation.com/player_photos/l.mlb.com/xt.fss.l.mlb.com-p.21808.jpg"><h2><span>Wei-Yin Chen</span></h2>
<h4 class="player-position">#16 / Pitcher / <a href="https://www.camdenchat.com/">Baltimore Orioles</a>
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<p><label>Height:</label> 6-0</p>
<p><label>Weight:</label> 195</p>
<p><label>Bats:</label> L</p>
<p><label>Throws:</label> L</p>
<p><label>Born:</label> Jul 25, 1985</p>
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<p>Chen looks confused because, in spite of allowing more fly balls this season than in 2012 (when he gave up 29 home runs in 192.2 innings), he's only surrendered three homers in 42.1 innings.</p>
<p>Against lefties, he's almost exclusively fastball-slider this year. He likes to stay in the zone as well, so it should be interesting to see how aggressive <span>Joe Mauer</span> and <span>Justin Morneau</span> will be. He'll throw more curves to right-handed hitters, and he'll challenge inside with the fastball, but mostly with the fastball and the slider he tries to stay down-and-away. He also likes his changeup against righties, and if it's anywhere but on the outer third then he's missed his spot. None of this has made too much of a difference to hitters: Lefties have posted a .602 OPS this season, and righties have done a bit better but not enough to have beaten Chen up too badly with a .705 OPS.</p>
https://www.twinkietown.com/2013/5/12/4324006/twins-orioles-pitcher-preview-scott-diamond-vs-wei-yin-chenJesse Lund