Twins-Diamondbacks: Perfect weather for indoor baseball :(
Posted on June 21st, 2008 – 3:56 PMBy La Velle
Watched some of the White Sox-Cubs game before I headed to the Dome. Caught all of the disastrous fourth inning for Jose Contreras. The Cubs hit four homers in the inning - including two by Jim Edmonds - as the Cubs rolled to a 11-7 win.
It was an example of how it doesn’t only happen to the Twins. The Cubs’ game plan clearly was take advantage of Contreras pitching away all the time and pound hits to the opposite field. Contreras never tried to back anyone off the plate to help his cause. When Jim Edmonds hits two opposite field homers, something has to be done.
Baseball Prospectus has updated postseason odds up. Notice how the third-place Tigers have better postseason odds than the Twins.
I don’t know how the Twins can finish better than a couple games over .500. I even pegged them for 78 wins at the beginning of the season. But who is going to run away with the division?
The White Sox smoked the Twins two weeks ago but haven’t played well since, expect for beating up on Pittsburgh. The Twins have stabilized. The big question is if Detroit can fix its pitching staff.
I keep reminding myself that it’s not who you play but when you play them.
Update: Matt Macri did all his pre-game work and seems to be fine, but the Twins were waiting for the results of the MRI to be read. With an off-day on Monday, there’s a chance Joe Mauer will start on Sunday. Michael Cuddyer not only is back with club following the birth of his son but he showed up in time for the autograph party too.
Paul Molitor is here. Terry Steinbach is here. Even Jamie Ogden is here.
Lineups
D-Backs (39-35): 1. Stephen Drew, SS. 2. Conor Jackson, 1B. 3. Orlando Hudson, 2B. 4. Chad Tracy, DH. 5. Mark Reynolds, 3B. 6. Chris Young, CF. 7. Chris Snyder,, C. 8. Justin Upton, RF. 9. Alex Romero, LF. Pitching: Micah Owings.
Twins (38-36): 1. Carlos Gomez, CF. 2. Alexi Casilla, 2B. 3. Joe Mauer, C. 4. Justin Morneau, 1B. 5. Michael Cuddyer, RF. 6. Jason Kubel, DH. 7. Delmon Young, LF. 8. Brian Buscher, 3B. 9. Brendan Harris, SS. Pitching: Nick Blackburn.
39 Responses to "Twins-Diamondbacks: Perfect weather for indoor baseball :("
Boy Lamb sure doesn’t play much anymore.
LEN3, any report on Macri?
The Twins poor run differential will kill them in any odds or rankings report
Im sorry to hear about your white sox taking it on the chin again today,geez thats too bad, but im even more sorry to hear your negativity towards the twins…its got to be hard to be a beat writer for a team in this division when your a sox fan..seems to me that youd be better off in chicagoland…and i can tell you how the twins can play better than .500 ball, they just keep playing ball like they are now and all will be just fine, in spite of len3 and his comments
I think with almost half the season complete we can say that it’s not mere chance or a pattern of playing against good teams at the right time that has the Twins above .500. I’m not saying they’re a World Series, or even a playoff team, but .500 is not unreasonable.
Jamie Ogden, my favorite White Bear Lake celebrity. Go bears!
great nite for the kids to be at the dome tonite, with all the twins hall of famers on hand, killebrew, oliva, carew, hrbek, and all the rest ….what a treat and hopefully a great game to boot….go twins, take it to them, and the chisox opened the door again today…..take advantage…
Man, we gotta fire Vavra and Gardy already. They can’t do crap against this pitcher. The Twins got lucky that they got the Unit when he is old, otherwise that game would have been worse than this one ;0
Wow, what a bunt
Way to go Justin
That was HUGE!
Come on sac fly!
good eye there Koobs
Bert keeps calling the D-back pitcher “Owens”…lol
YES, way to go Delmon, guess Vavra lives another day 
Nice clutch inning by the Twins! Baseball prospectus be damned!
maybe they should be signing vavra to a long-term contract.
Was suprised when I came on here that there wasn’t any Vavra bashers posting at that time yet, since they were being dominated at that time. Heck, my post didn’t even bring them out of their shells. Well, guess it is too late for them to start their bashing now since the Twins just posted a NICE crooked number on the scoreboard. Like I have said many times already, you don’t need homers to score big innings.
Yep, way to go good guys.
Um Lavelle, weren’t the Twins supposed to sweep Washington because the vaunted Diamondbacks were coming in? What do you say now? LOL
LaVelle,
It seems your Psychic stuff with the Baseball Gods seems to have worked.
You need to reverse it, so all the whiners and moaners will come back.
Regards,
Hey MMT, Are you trying to inspire more neuroses? If I have computed correctly, this win puts the Twins 2 1/2 games back of the beloved southsiders. Four games retrieved in two weeks. To quote a well-known and self-proclaimed oracle, YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD, YES!! One more manana, boys!
There’s no joy in ripville!After being shutout for 6 innings,the darn Twins scored 6 in the 7th.You could almost hear the fire Vavra mantra building.Delmon had the game winning single(it wasn’t a homer,that gives you complainers something to complain about).The rally was started with a Mauer bunt(but he can’t hit home runs).Don’t despair,Livan might get lit up tommorrow,then you can start the mantra about dumping Livan and firing Anderson!
Kinda funny, I jumped on here in the middle of the 7th. expecting to find abunch of whining and complaining, to find none.
Not one word good or bad about the game at that point.
I am happy to see that there is some fire in the belly of these players. I fully expected to see them come thru, and was rewarded with a big inning.
These guys just keep getting after it, and hustle, hustle, hustle.
Gotta love the way that Cuddy stretched that misplay into a double too.
Glad to see a win, and now the Twins are 2 1/2 back, not bad for a team that got swept in 4 games to the Sox. Guess the DiamondBacks are a sucky team too, just like the Nats, at least that’s what I am sure some of the resident commenters are thinking right now.
Lets see how Livian does in the game tommorrow. He is the one that started this string of wins by starters, and it sure would be nice to see him continue it too.
Me Too-All you really can expect from these players is hustle.As long as they give it their all you really can’t complain!
Hustle, shmustle. Rack up another WIN for the Twins. Winning is what it’s all about, and we have now won another series from a #1 team in their division. Blackburn looked like he coulda gone 9 tonight. Keep in mind, he didn’t even start the season with the Twins. There are a number of late arrivals to the Twins clubhouse that are making major contributions. Heck, the weak link in the lineup today was Gomez (again). Time to give HIM a day off, like was done with Delmon?
Vavra-bashers will probably return tomorrow.
Why?
Two words.
Brandon Webb
No one is unhittable, but that guy is tough.
what will lavelle have to say today…its going to be kinda tough to go neg on them today after the last few games…oh im sure he can find something …hes a pro
Dave T, don’t say anything about winning is all that matters. I got laughed at by Fire and the crowd of whiners by trying to state pretty much the same concept. Too bad those guys don’t have anything to whine about right now, since Fire has been pretty quiet lately, since his Fire Gardy and Vavra verbage has gotten pretty old.
What are the odds that the Houston combo on the left side of the infield are both released before the end of July? Despite his poor average and lack of power, Lamb’s rbi totals have been pretty good. Gardy really likes the way Buscher goes about his business and the kid looks much better defensively at third than a year ago.
does anybody know the word on aaron hicks? why is he not playing for the GCL twins? he did sign, but hasn’t yet reported?? i’ve been anxious to see how he starts
Trav,
“why is he not playing for the GCL twins? he did sign, but hasn’t yet reported?? i’ve been anxious to see how he starts”
Relax, they only played one game without him.
Hicks was in the starting lineup last night in the GCL Twins 2nd game.
He was batting 3rd, playing CF, had 2 plate appearances (0-1 with a walk)
Game was stopped and postponed due to rain.
thanks for the update, even though i don’t remember getting worked up. they played the first two games without him, so i was curious when we could expect to see him.
Sorry Trav,
It looks like I was the “worked up” one.
Hicks had two singles in four at bats tonight.
Played CF, batted third, now batting .500.
I made a comment a few days ago about The Nationals sucking, which is in large part, why the Twins swept them. Someone responded by talking about the D-backs being good. The Diamondbacks WERE good in April and on into the beginning of May. But it’s been going worse lately. They were 19-8 in April. They were 11-17 in May. And they were just 8-9 in June coming into this series. They gone down hill since April. As they said on TV (an attestiment to just how bad the division is), they lost 13 of 21 games a one point and actually increased their division lead by .5 games in that span.
So yes, they’re in first place, but the Twins would be too if they were in that division.
Also read somewhere that the Twins have fewer wins in Interleague play (all time) than only the Yankees and A’s (by only like 4 wins too). So another good sweep. This time of a better team, but still not a really good team.
I am VERY interested (and to be honest excited) to see what (if anything) Bill Smith does at his first trade deadline. Especially if the Twins are still in contention (and if they are now, they really should be in another month).
I’ve been wishing for Adam Dunn for quite a while…
I just hope that BS doesn’t trade away players (like someone who shant be named, did last year) unless we are truly done.
Watch out for Detoilet, they’re creeping toward 500.
“The White Sox smoked the Twins two weeks ago but haven’t played well since, expect for beating up on Pittsburgh.”
ESPN flashed the “11-7″ thing since Ozzie’s rant during the Cubs game last night. Failing to acknowledge that 11 of those came from 7 in a row from the Royals and Twins (who were playing FAR worse then than they were now).
“The Twins have stabilized. The big question is if Detroit can fix its pitching staff.”
For Detroit, it seems like a matter of “Can these guys straighten it out”, as I don’t think they have much they can move at the deadline for pitching help. This is where that whole “Selling the farm” situation rears it’s ugly head. D-Train is d-railed and they traded most of the guys they’d have called up by now in his place.
“I just hope that BS doesn’t trade away players (like someone who shant be named, did last year) unless we are truly done.”
I could see the Twins standing pat, since they don’t have much in the way of “moveable” talent. Gomez, Young, Mauer, and Morneau would appear to be the only “untouchables”. Casilla, Harris, and Buscher are producing but could be moved if something better is available. Cuddy and Kubel are the only guys in the lineup that I see as potentially “on the block”.
Looking down the Twins bench: Redmond, Lamb, Punto, Monroe…doesn’t exactly yell “Immediate help” in the trade market. Or at least, nothing that a “seller” would be looking to trade for (age being one factor)
They just gave Cuddy a new contract- willn’t be moved. I actually hope we add, rather than subtract.
