Game Thread: Twins @ Oakland, 7/19/15, 3:05 PM CDT

[spinowner]

Minnesota Twins at Oakland Athletics

 

07/19/2015, 3:05 PM CDT

 

Weather forecast: Clear, 84, winds W (toward right field) 4 mph

 

Pitchers:

Minnesota: Tommy Milone (5-1, 2.84)

Oakland: Jesse Chavez (4-9, 3.40)

 

Lineups and batting order:

 

TWINS

Dozier 2B

Rosario RF

Mauer 1B

Hunter DH

Plouffe 3B

Hicks CF

Robinson LF

Fryer C

Santana SS

 

ATHLETICS

Burns CF

Canha 1B

Zobrist 2B

Butler DH

Smolinski LF

Lawrie 3B

Phegley C

Reddick RF

Semien SS

 

OK, so this is my first time opening a game thread. I think I’ll take the time-honored five things approach.

 

1. During Friday’s game Jack Morris commented that O.co Coliseum is a different park at night in that batted balls do not carry well to deep parts of the outfield. His belief is that a prevailing breeze in from the outfield at night is responsible. While that may be the case and that would indeed be a factor I think it’s primarily due to the fundamental properties of gases. In a nutshell, the stadium is very close to sea level, humidity tends to be low and evening temperatures tend to be cool. These conditions result in denser air. This causes greater drag on a ball moving through the air. As a result the ball will lose velocity more rapidly than in less dense air and fly balls will be less likely to carry well. Also, denser air has a greater effect on a spinning ball, meaning pitches will break more. Factor in the huge amount of area in play in foul territory, by far the most in the major leagues, and it’s easy to understand why most pitchers have more favorable statistics in this stadium than elsewhere.

 

2. Speaking of pitching, this will be the first time Tommy Milone has pitched against the Oakland Athletics. The fact that the Athletics have never batted against him is probably more significant than the fact that he used to pitch for them. Jesse Chavez last faced the Twins on May 5. He got the win in a 2-1 game, giving up only an unearned run in 7.1 innings.

 

3. Speaking of pitching, I’d like to plagiarize Ann Bauleke. During the late ’80’s and early ’90’s she had a column in City Pages, a free newspaper published weekly in the Twin Cities. One of her columns included a passage similar to this:

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have pitching, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have pitching, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have pitching, I gain nothing.

Pitching never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

And now these three remain: batting, fielding and pitching. But the greatest of these is pitching.

 

4. There were comments on Friday night’s game thread, presumably from people located in the Central or Eastern Time Zone, about hating games played on the west coast. Well, picture in your mind a fan (or an owner) of a team located in the Eastern Time Zone. West coast games are an hour later than in the Central, meaning decreased viewership and therefore decreased advertising revenue. I think that’s the primary reason that major league baseball has an unbalanced schedule. The powers that be try to spin it that it builds rivalries but I think that’s secondary.

On the surface one might think that unbalancing the schedule is unfair. A mediocre team in a weak division (like this year’s New York Mets, for example) has an easier path to the playoffs than an above average team in a strong division (like this year’s Chicago Cubs, for example).

But what if the schedule were more balanced? Central division teams, or, more accurately, teams located in the Central Time Zone, have an advantage when it comes to interdivisional games because there is less of a time differential traveling east or west than for Eastern Time Zone and Pacific Time Zone teams. A more balanced schedule means more games outside a team’s division and outside a team’s home time zone. For that reason the current unbalanced schedule, less mathematically pleasing though it may be, may actually be fairer.

 

5. I believe in Bigfoot. I’ve seen him play. He was on the Twins’ roster for five years and was on two World Series winning teams. I’m referring, of course to number 26 (and later 62), Al Newman. He’s only 5’9” but he’s gotta have at least size 13 feet. By the way, he is currently managing the Alexandria Blue Anchors in the Northwoods League.

 

After last night's close loss, let's see if the boys can bounce back today. Go Twins!

[USAFChief]

Nice job, spinowner!

 

Shameless plug: looking for game thread vols for the second and third games of the upcoming LAAofAofCofUSA series.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Fryer is catching (as per common practice w/ day after night games)

 

Funny no one seems to mention him in the "next phenom" thread...

 

Good job with the thread intro!

 

I bet that's what Paul actually wrote in Corinthians thus quoted, it just got mistranslated due to a lack of baseball knowledge at the time...

 

mmm... Pitching. We gots it. And i ain't hangin' my head about last night. If all are losses are like that, well, meaningful late innings can lead to meaningful September games, and at least one happy fan.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Great story about pitching. Some guy named Bob Feller made his MLB debut on this date 79 years ago--he could pitch.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Great story about pitching. Some guy named Bob Feller made his MLB debut on this date 79 years ago--he could pitch.

Nice to hear 'bout that Feller. I think i had a book about pitching he wrote when i was a kid.

 

That is to say, i had it when i was a kid. Not sure when he wrote it.

 

Isn't there something off of i 80 in western Iowa associated with him?

[sampleSizeOfOne]

CBU

 

No one has posted since the game started...

 

Oh, you want to know about the game?

 

0-0 after 1 (before 2)

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Isn't there something off of i 80 in western Iowa associated with him?

His hometown?

[sampleSizeOfOne]

His hometown?

Probably, and an associated museum that is advertised. But not as heavily as Wall Drug, or i'd remember what it was...

[stringer bell]

Send him.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Send him.

Hicks went... On strike 3, so we'll never know if he'd have made it or not.

[stringer bell]

Feller was from Van Meter IA IIRC. The story was that a major league scout was looking for directions, and asked young Bob, who was behind a plow on the farmstead. The story was that Bob picked up the plow to point to the high school ball field.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

CBU 2-0 after 2, courtesy of a runner gettin' to first on an errant Santana throw, and a homerun down the left field line.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Feller was from Van Meter IA IIRC. The story was that a major league scout was looking for directions, and asked young Bob, who was behind a plow on the farmstead. The story was that Bob picked up the plow to point to the high school ball field.

That's pretty good!

 

I particularly like a story i don't remember quite where or when i heard it, where a Texan, tryin' to impress an eastern farmer says something like "back in Texas, i can drive all day and not get to the other side of my ranch!"

 

The farmer responded... "i had a car like that once..."

[drock2190]

Not feeling very confident about the Twins chances today.

 

Oh well, 1-2 in Oakland isn't the worse thing.

[mickeymental]

 

CBU 2-0 after 2, courtesy of a runner gettin' to first on an errant Santana throw, and a homerun down the left field line.

i like danny, but worth noting: a two-out error.

[stringer bell]

To paraphrase the great Yogi: Is it getting late early?

[stringer bell]

I don't think Escobar catches that bloop.

[glunn]

Milone is pitching a great game against his former team.  He deserves some run support.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Probably, and an associated museum that is advertised. But not as heavily as Wall Drug, or i'd remember what it was...

That's right. There was the museum that closed after he passed away.

[jimbo92107]

Surprisingly sloppy play by the Twins. This is how teams without great hitting lose ballgames.

[drock2190]

 

Milone is pitching a great game against his former team.  He deserves some run support.

 

*scratches head

[stringer bell]

Looks like one of those days.

[howeda7]

Well this game was over quickly.

[jimbo92107]

I was just thinking how Billy Butler reminded me of Ron Coomer. Now I'm thinking Butler has a little more pop than Coomer did.

[GCTF]

We might see Trevor Mop today.

[JB_Iowa]

Apparently Milone is still on Billy Beane's payroll.

 

(Just kidding)

[glunn]

It all went bad very quickly today.  But maybe the Twins can score some runs and come back.

[Aggies7]

Wow, what a dud of a game.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

 

3. Speaking of pitching, I’d like to plagiarize Ann Bauleke. During the late ’80’s and early ’90’s she had a column in City Pages, a free newspaper published weekly in the Twin Cities. One of her columns included a passage similar to this:

If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have pitching, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have pitching, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have pitching, I gain nothing.

Pitching never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.

And now these three remain: batting, fielding and pitching. But the greatest of these is pitching.

 

!

First Corinthians Chapter 13 New Interleague Play Version

[twinsnorth49]

Closing out last night's game would have made this easier to stomach.