Twins vs Rangers, 08-24-2012, 4:05pm

[Brock Beauchamp]

Twins:
Denard Span CF
Ben Revere RF
Joe Mauer DH
Josh Willingham LF
Justin Morneau 1B
Ryan Doumit C
Trevor Plouffe 3B
Jamey Carroll 2B
Pedro Florimon SS
(Brian Duensing P)

Rangers:
Ian Kinsler 2B
Elvis Andrus SS
Josh Hamilton LF
Adrian Beltre 3B
Nelson Cruz DH
David Murphy RF
Geovany Soto C
Craig Gentry CF
Mitch Moreland 1B
(Ryan Dempster P)

[JB_Iowa]

Apparently Fox decided to spare me the agony today. Game of the Week was supposed to be the Twins & Rangers but they changed it to Cardinals and Reds.

[glunn]

Apparently Fox decided to spare me the agony today. Game of the Week was supposed to be the Twins & Rangers but they changed it to Cardinals and Reds.

That was indeed merciful!

[greengoblinrulz]

not so merciful here.....Mitch Williams doin color with Dick Bremer. Cant get much worse as a tandem

[glunn]

And today the agony begins with a leadoff home run by the Rangers.

[sbknudson]

I must like pain, to even be watching this. Maybe I'll make it easy on myself, turn the game off, and squeeze lemon juice on a fresh paper cut - it will probably hurt less.

[Top Gun]

Isn't today the 25th?

[JB_Iowa]

Isn't today the 25th?

So that's the problem. Twins are still playing last night's game.


After the 1st, I thought maybe the Twins could lose by less than a dozen. In the 2nd, that appears unlikely.

[glunn]

I must like pain, to even be watching this. Maybe I'll make it easy on myself, turn the game off, and squeeze lemon juice on a fresh paper cut - it will probably hurt less.

Agreed. This is torture.

[VATwinsFan]

Hmmm, 5-0 with no out in the 2d.

Looks like a replay of last year.

At least I can go see a local class A game in an hour.

[sbknudson]

At this point, I'd leave Duensing out there until he hits a hundred pitches, regardless of the score. This game is basically over; no point burning out the bullpen further. Of course, the way he's going, he'll hit a hundred in the third inning.

[sbknudson]

Would now be a good time for a beanball?

[sbknudson]

So can anybody else pinpoint when the feel of the team changed? Before the road trip you knew they were going to make bad plays, but they were still winning a decent number of games, and you could turn the game on with legitimate hope for an entertaining game.

Right now that's gone. I'm going to say it was after we got swept by Seattle, and now it feels like the first six weeks of the year all over again.

[JB_Iowa]

Hmmm, 5-0 with no out in the 2d.

Looks like a replay of last year.

At least I can go see a local class A game in an hour.

Can the Twins win 1 game in the next week so that they surpass their August 2011 win record???? Not holding my breath.

[JB_Iowa]

So can anybody else pinpoint when the feel of the team changed? Before the road trip you knew they were going to make bad plays, but they were still winning a decent number of games, and you could turn the game on with legitimate hope for an entertaining game.

Right now that's gone. I'm going to say it was after we got swept by Seattle, and now it feels like the first six weeks of the year all over again.

I don't know but during the Twins winning streak people were talking about how good this team was. I remember saying -- wait until we see how the do against Tampa Bay.

The Twins have some hitters that are pretty good against mediocre pitching but if they face a pitcher who is better than mediocre, its a whole different story.

[glunn]

Would now be a good time for a beanball?

It would be better to just start a fight and keep it going until the whole team gets ejected.

[greengoblinrulz]

Hope Esmeril Vazquez is up soon so Duening can finally go back to the pen permanently. MN is weakening both the pen/rotation by having him start because they didnt think they had any other choice.
Taking him out of pen/losing Capps made the pen vulnerable & made Burnett/Robertson have to move later in the game. Huge ripple effect.

[sbknudson]

I don't know but during the Twins winning streak people were talking about how good this team was. I remember saying -- wait until we see how the do against Tampa Bay.

The Twins have some hitters that are pretty good against mediocre pitching but if they face a pitcher who is better than mediocre, its a whole different story.

Terry Ryan agrees with you. We see now why he has been saying he thinks we need to work on the lineup as well as the rotation.

[sbknudson]

Hope Esmeril Vazquez is up soon so Duening can finally go back to the pen permanently. MN is weakening both the pen/rotation by having him start because they didnt think they had any other choice.
Taking him out of pen/losing Capps made the pen vulnerable & made Burnett/Robertson have to move later in the game. Huge ripple effect.

I'd like to see Vazquez up too - I liked what I saw in Rochester - and now there's two open slots on the 40-man there's no reason not to.

[greengoblinrulz]

with another Duening short start.....MN may not be able to go to pen for Diamonds start on TUE. Think that could be Vazquez' start if he doesnt pitch tomorrow (his scheduled start)