John Bonnes

Aaron and John review a plethora of weird roster moves, wonder about the impact of Joe Mauer's bat, discuss pineapple sauce with Lindsay Guentzel, endorse Eduardo Escobar, compare John's facial hair to Jack Morris' and interview Aaron's favorite bartender at Stella's. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]~~~ Sunday's win was big because it gave the Twins a series victory heading into a long and difficult road trip. It was also big because it gives YOU 50% off your order from PapaJohns.com on Monday with the promo code "TWINSWIN." ~~~

Sponsored by Switch My Trip May arrived three days late, but Saturday The Sun found clouds it could occasionally hurdle. The gloom passed and Twins Territory awoke from abad dream, one filled with wind and rain and Dodgers and losing baseball stacked on top of losing baseball on top of desperate roster moves and game-winning line drives that die an early death, suffocated by leather. But on Saturday The Sun shone, warming the fans who sat down the third base line, which was almost all of them, because SUN. It warmed Twins bats and fueled the ongoing transformation of Trevor Caterpillar to Butterfly Plouffe, who sprung forth and staked the Twins to an early 1-0 lead in a very unbutterfly-like way, because butterflies don't know what a gapper is, let alone how to hit one. The Twins are looking to switch things around this year. Every week, Metro Transit recognizes a Twins player who successfully switched the outcome of a game for the better. The Sun softened Brian Dozier's glove and quickened his twitchy wrists which offered a sacrifice in the form of white horsehide, launched to the upper facing of the left field bleachers. And Dozier's sacrifice pleased The Sun. The Sun relieved the bilateral weakness from Joe Mauer's manhood, empowering all 6-feet 3-inches of man muscles to slug an opposite field home run that delivered Dozier and Pedro Florimon and a lead incapable of dissipation. But mostly The Sun shone brightest on Kevin Correia, who reflected it and dazzled Orioles batters for seven innings. It warmed his hands and it strengthened his grip and his pitches played with The Sun, darting away from lefties bats... and even further away from right-handers. The Sun brought back memories of last year, when Correia was younger and effective and a bargain and – dare I say – the staff leader. And it dissolved last Friday’s nightmare of artillery shots bouncing off outfield walls and an overmatched Chris Colabello in right field, running for his life. And it melted the 7.33 ERA over a full point - still a bad dream but a dream in which Correia still has a major league career, which is not an unpleasant slumber. And the Twins won and spring returned and Byron Buxton was healthy again and reporting to the home of The Sun, Fort Myers. For who better to entrust with his future? And who better to provide our Big Switch? Why fight traffic and parking? Say Switch My Trip for the next Twins game. Metro Transit can provide you and your whole family a train ride to the game. Planning your trip is as easy as clicking on this link.

~~~ sponsored by Ticket King ~~~ OK, you can come out now. The bad weather has (mostly) passed. It’s going to be 60 degrees, one of the best young players in baseball will be visiting and Mike Pelfrey will not be pitching. That sounds like a pretty fair weekend to grab some great seats at Target Field. In fact, it sounds like a pretty fair weekend to all the Twins Daily guys, who will be attending Saturday’s game. (Say “Hi.”) Slogging Along It’s been a sluggish start for the Orioles who entered May with a .500 record, the first time they’ve started that “poorly” over the last three years. By May 1st last year, they were already five games over .500, just like they were the previous year. But in the AL East, it hasn’t hurt them. They are in second place in the packed division because the entire division is sluggish. As of Thursday, not a single team in the division had scored as many runs as their opponents. While the records for the teams vary between four games over to five games under .500, the run differential of all the teams are between -6 and -12. None have been good; none have been terrible. Slippage The same can be said about the Orioles pitching and hitting. Neither is necessarily a dire problem, but neither is quite as effective as they were last year. Last year’s offense ranked fourth in the American League with 4.6 runs per game; this year’s lineup has slipped to seventh (4.5 runs per game). Last year’s pitching was sixth overall (4.38 runs against per game) while this year’s arms have slipped to ninth (4.75 runs per game.) And remember: last year’s Orioles didn’t make the playoffs. The team got a mix of good news and bad news this week offensively. The positive news was the activation of Manny Machado on Thursday. The 21-year-old is a rising superstar in major league baseball, a mix of power, speed, defense and youth that might be the most coveted third baseman in baseball right now. However, on Sunday, slugger Chris Davis was placed on the DL with an oblique injury. Davis crushed 53 home runs last year, including one at Target Field. Barring a postponed game, he won’t go yard here this year; this is the Orioles only scheduled trip to Minnesota. Sloppy Starts Baltimore’s offense could use a boost because a few players in the lineup are really struggling. Twins fans might be surprised to hear that one of them is JJ Hardy, who the Twins traded to the Orioles three years ago to make room for (cringe) Tsuyoshi Nishioka. (And if you think I mentioned Nishi just so I could include this picture on the right, you could not be more correct. Let's admire it again, shall we?) Anyway, Hardy's hitting just .242 with no home runs and a .258 on-base percentage. He’s also been battling a hamstring strain that kept him out of the lineup last week. He should play this weekend, but hopefully his turnaround will wait until after the Orioles leave town. Ditto that sentiment for pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez. Jimenez was signed to a $50M contract this offseason to help anchor the top of the rotation. He’s been an anchor alright: 0-4 with a 6.59 ERA entering Friday’s night’s start versus Ricky Nolasco. Jimenez’s control has been brutal this year, walking seventeen batters in 27 innings. That’s also led to relatively early exits: he has yet to get more than six innings of outs. ~~~ If you would like to see Manny Machado up close, I see row 2 and row 3 seats right be third base available for Friday’s game. Saturday you can bake in the sun for the whole game in Section 125. And on Sunday, I’d consider the $17 tickets in Section 240, so I can watch the Twins for two hours and then retire to the nearby Town Ball Tavern to watch the Wild at 3:00. All are an even better deal if you use the promo code DAILYDOUBLE, which will get you 10% off and supports Twins Daily. Whatever your needs, your local ticket supplier, Ticket King, can help. ~~~

~~~ sponsored by Ticket King ~~~ The Dodgers have been to Target Field before; just three years ago the Twins (despite a dismal year) took two of three, serving as dismal hosts. With Minnesota in the middle of a week-long rainstorm, the Dodgers might be back quite a bit sooner. There is no point in avoiding it: the story for this series is the weather, so let’s break it down…. The Possible Makeup Dates There are three dates this year that the Dodgers and Twins both have open and they’re all on Mondays: May 19 – The Twins will be wrapping up a homestand against Boston and Seattle and the Dodgers will be leaving Arizona and be on their way to New York City to play the Mets on the 20th. Also, both teams (at least right now) have an off day earlier that week, so it wouldn’t be such a hardship. This date seems like it would work best. July 28 – The Twins will be concluding a nine-game homestand and the Dodger will be finishing a nine-game road trip. This one doesn’t work out quite as well because the Dodgers would need to fly from San Francisco on Sunday and back home on Tuesday, but it’ll work. August 25 – The Twins will be ending a 10-game homestand against AL Central teams and the Dodgers be wrapping up their own homestand too. Again – this game isn’t exactly on the Dodgers flight path. They would leave LA, fly to Minneapolis, play a game and then go back to Phoenix to face the Diamondbacks. Actually, “a game” might be optimistic. If two games are cancelled, I suppose one of these days could host a doubleheader. I also suppose this presents a unique opportunity for those people who are buying Twins tickets on the open market (such as at TicketKingOnline.com). All of these dates generally have a lot nicer weather then you’ll see right now. Why not buy some seats super cheap and wait to see which game you get? I can think of three significant risks to that plan: 1) The game might be played as scheduled in really miserable conditions. 2) The game might be part of a doubleheader on Thursday, when there is a slightly lesser chance of rain. 3) The rescheduled game could be on a Monday afternoon, which could be good or bad depending on your work schedule. An Unbelievable Story Oh yeah, you might want to know a thing or two about the Dodgers. First: Yasiel Puig. Puig’s stats this year aren’t quite as gaudy as last year, when he was called up as a 22-year-old, hit .319 with 19 home runs and 11 stolen bases, finished second in Rookie of the Year voting, garnered votes for the National League MVP and led the Dodgers from last to first in the NL West over the last 100+ games of the season. His was easily the most exciting story in baseball last year. And yet his story may have already been topped. Recently, the story of his escape from Cuba was detailed in Los Angeles Magazine by Jesse Katz. A quick summary: drug lords, Cuban informants, double-crossing HVAC contractors, threats with machetes, lawsuits, chicken blood and a dead boat captain. I dare you not to click the link. Anyway, you’ll find him in right field, so you might want to shoot for something in Section 103, where I see $15 tickets. (Which is coincidentally in Target Field’s craft beer corner. Just saying.) No matter how his story ends, it might be able to tell your grandkids someday that “you saw him when….” Pitching Matchups Your guess is as good as mine as to how the pitching matchups will look if there’s another rainout. Kyle Gibson is up next and will likely get a chance to bounce back after his first rough outing and after having a couple of extra days of rest. Mike Pelfrey should pitch the second game, but if either of those first two games are cancelled, might the Twins just stick with Ricky Nolasco on Thursday and skip one of Pelfrey’s starts? The Dodgers rotation is bringing some star power, as they are wont to do. They’ll start with Zach Greinke, who is 0-3 with a 5.63 ERA lifetime in Target Field. Then comes Dan Haren, who is sporting a 3-0 record and a 2.03 ERA so far. If they get all three games in we’ll see Josh Beckett, who has recovered from a thumb injury and has a 2.45 ERA in four starts. ~~~ Obviously, this is a chance for some bargains, especially considering the drawing power of the Dodgers. There are $4 tickets for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. If you’re a Dodgers fan, the seats around their dugout are a little more scarce, but I see a pair right next to the dugout for each game for $55-$62. That becomes an even better deal if you use the promo code DAILYDOUBLE, which will get you 10% off and supports Twins Daily. Whatever your needs, your local ticket supplier, Ticket King, can help. ~~~

Aaron and John talk about th Twins' no-swing approach, Alex Meyer's new pitch, car problems, dumping Mike Pelfrey, waiver wire madness, Josmil Pinto's first 40 game, ugly rotation numbers, seeing each other out in the wild, Paul McCartney, and how not to party. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com.

~ Sponsored by Switch My Trip ~ From condemnation to redemption. Trevor Plouffe traveled that path over the span of three innings in Wednesday’s win over the Rays. It also appears he may be well along that path in his Twins career. It isn’t often that a player goes from goat to hero in the same game, but Plouffe did Wednesday, and thus wins our Big Switch award this week. Plouffe had the most damaging at-bat and the most valuable at-bat for the Twins – and believe it or not, we can measure these things. Sabrmetrics has come up with a nifty statistic called Win Probability Added (WPA) that never would have been practical in a world before computers. It’s easiest to understand if you start at the back of the acronym and work forward: it measures how much a player ADDS to the PROBABILITY of a WIN. Here’s how it works: ~ The Twins are looking to switchthings around this year. Every week, Metro Transit recognizes a Twins player who successfully switched the outcome of a game for the better. ~ Something like 30 years of baseball games were broken down at-bat by at-bat. Each situation was noted: the difference in score, the inning, the outs, and which bases are occupied. The total number of games that ever had that situation was counted. And then the total number of times the team that was in that situation won was counted. The result is a very precise percentage that indicates historically how likely a team is to win a game given a situation. Let’s use Plouffe’s at-bat in the ninth inning to show you how it works. You can follow along on the Fan Graphs site, which elegantly tracks games this way, play by play and in a summary. When Plouffe strode to the plate in the top of the ninth inning, the Twins had lost a 4-4 lead but were threatening to push the deciding run across the plate. Sam Fuld had opened the inning with a double and had advanced to third base on Brian Dozier’s ground ball. Joe Mauer had been walked to set up the double play. Teams in that situation – tie game, top half of the ninth inning, runners on the corners, one out – had won 69.2% of their games. But when Plouffe obliged with a sharply hit ball to the shortstop that turned into an inning-ending double-play, the scales turned completely. Historically, the chances of winning a game going into the bottom of the ninth tied are only 37.4% Plouffe’s double-play had cost the Twins 32% of Wednesday’s game. But it didn’t cost them the game. Because Casey Fien escaped a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the ninth. He then held the Rays without a hit in the tenth and eleventh innings. Fien, by the way, is the unheralded hero of that game. Nobody contributed more to that win. His heroics also gave Plouffe another chance in the 12th inning. This time Plouffe came through. Mauer led off the 12th with a soft infield single to start the rally. Colabello got the accolades two batter later, finishing off a four RBI night that tied a record for the most RBI in April by a Twins player. But it was Plouffe’s double in between the hits that most helped the Twins win. That knock moved the needle from the Twins having 58% chance to win to an 82% chance. While Colabello provided four RBI and a viral video, it was Plouffe’s double that turned the 12th inning from interesting to inevitable. Plouffe has become far more interesting, too. We’ve seen a hot streak from him before; he hit 13 home runs in the span of a month in 2012. But we’ve never seen this combination of power, average and plate discipline from him before. Most encouraging is that he’s hitting right-handed pitching. Over his career, he’s flashed power against right-handers, but holds just a .232 batting average, including 234 strikeouts compared to just 77 walks. This year? He’s hitting .327 with as many walks as strikeouts (12). Plouffe entered the year with a question hovering over his career: how soon before uber-prospect Miguel Sano takes third base from him? If Plouffe continues to hit like this, the same question exists, but it’s no longer a threat; the way Plouffe is hitting now, his bat would play at just about any spot on the field. From condemnation to redemption – in a game, and maybe in a career. That is indeed A Big Switch. ~~~ Why fight traffic and parking? Say ‘Switch My Trip’ for the next Twins game. Metro Transit can provide you and your whole family a train ride to the game. Planning your trip is as easy as clicking on this link.

sponsored by Ticket King Your first place Minnesota Twins? Not yet, but with Detroit coming to town retaining a one-game lead, you could be hearing that phrase as early as tonight. In fact, if you don’t hear it Friday night, you might need to wait a while, because the Tigers are bringing out their big guns for games two and three. Granted, it's a pitifully low standard, but a game for first place, even in April, allows a guy to fool oneself that it means something. That’s my #5 reason to grab a great seat to tonight’s game at Target Field . But there are more: #4 – Get ‘Em BEFORE They’re Hot The Tigers scored the second most runs in MLB last year. This year they’re 27th on that list. Read that last sentence again. To be sure, they had some defections from their lineup, starting with Prince Fielder, who was traded to Texas for Ian Kinsler - but Kinsler really replaces Omar Infante, who signed with the Royals. The Tigers also lost Jhonny Peralta and then lost his replacement, Jose Iglesias, for the season with stress fractures in both of his legs. Their team OPS is almost 50 points lower than they finished last year. But that OPS is still 732, which is slightly higher than the Twins 730 OPS, and would be good for eighth in MLB. Detroit’s real problem is that they have only hit .212 with runners in scoring position. Coincidentally (or not) that also ranks 27th in MLB. That’s not likely to continue. A team that’s hitting .265 overall (6th place) is likely to see their clutch hitting progress to the mean, and with it, their offense. A turn against the Twins starting rotation might be just the thing to spark them. So I'm getting a ticket for Friday, before the Tigers get hot. #3 – Avoid the Aces The Tigers have a hell of a poker hand, getting dealt three aces in Max Scherzer, Anibal Sanchez and Justin Verlander. The latter two will take the hill on Saturday and Sunday vs. Phil Hughes and Kyle Gibson. I like a challenge as much as the next guy, but criminy…. Friday night’s game is a little more reasonable. Kevin Correia, who is the heavy favorite to win “Twins Man-crush Who They Will Angrily Justify Re-signing To A Stupid Contract This Offseason” Award, will face Rick Porcello. Porcello is no slouch – he’s sporting a nifty 3.15 ERA this year – but he also hasn’t won a Cy Young Award or ERA title yet. I’ll choose the game he starts. #2 – Sun > Rain I wouldn’t mind seeing Verlander pitch on Sunday, but there is no guarantee that we would see him pitch. Paul Douglas is describing it as “Cloudy and Soggy. I’ll take the highs of 65 on Friday and Saturday instead, thank you very much. #1 – The Offseason In Minnesota Is Long No, I’m not talking about the fact that the Twins season has basically been over by mid-August for the last three years. I’m talking about the insanely long and bitter winter, when wearing a Twins cap for any extended period of time leads to your ears CLIMBING INSIDE OF YOUR HEAD TO BEAT YOU ABOUT THE BRAIN REPEATEDLY. The Twins have a solution and it’s being given to the first 10,000 fans who show up to the Friday night game where the Twins take back the AL Central, however briefly. We’ll see you there. ~~~ It seems like Minnesota agrees with me. You're going to want to get your tickets early, because tickets are scarce for Friday's tilt, with the cheapest being $19 at TicketKingOnline.com. Saturday, you'll find a lot more, with tickets starting at $12, with plenty on the lower level. Or, if you're a gambler by nature (or happy to come back later in the year for a possible rainout) you can find tickets for Target Field on Sunday for just $7. Plus, if you use the promo code DAILYDOUBLE, you’ll be supporting Twins Daily and get 10% off. Whatever your needs, your local ticket supplier, Ticket King, can help. ~~~

sponsored by Freehouse When it comes to bars and restaurants around their ballpark, baseball fans like their institutions. There is something comforting about finding a place that fits them, a place they can share with their kids, both now and later, the same way they share their favorite game. In short, they’re looking for a sense of community. We’re proud to welcome Freehouse as a new entry to the pregame and postgame scene and sponsor of Twins Daily and Gleeman & the Geek. I’ll be shocked if they don’t become one of those institutions. Indeed, judging by the crowd on a recent Saturday when there wasn’t a Twins game, they may already be. Their name implies they get the community focus; a “free house” is a neighborhood pub in England that isn’t tied to the beers of just one brewery. (Freehouse, despite having a brewery on site, is a “free house.” They also serve other commercially available beers on tap, including locals like Summit.) The layout retains that focus; as you walk in the door, a large rectangular bar is the first area you encounter. However, there’s lots of room for lots of areas of focus, because it’s a big place. Behind the bar is a large dining area. Behind that is a large kitchen. On the side are the tanks where they brew their (as of a month ago) seven types of beers. This is the largest and most ambitious restaurant opened by Blue Plate Restaurant Company, which also owns The Lowry, Edina Grill and Groveland Tap. Aaron and I visited about a month ago for our “Baseball is Back!” episode and reviewed their food and beer “live” as it was placed in front of us by manager Dave Wohlforth. Admittedly, we're their target market. Freehouse’s tagline is “Breakfast to Beer” which could just as easily be the motto of a mashup of Aaron’s and my Twitter feeds. We mostly sampled pumped up traditional favorites. For brunch, Aaron ate the lion’s portion of the Ciabatta French Toast, which had a sweetness accentuated by a touch of cayenne. Their most popular item is the $1000 Burger made with short rib, brisket and duck fat. And my favorite was the Roto-Bird, which is “just” a perfectly prepared rotisserie chicken. When I go back, I want to bring some risk takers, so I can taste a few of their more adventurous offerings. Like Lobster Mac n Cheese that includes Cheez-its. Or the Bone Marrow or Oxtail appetizers. Or the entire section of their menu titled “Jars.” We also made our way through the beers. The four originals are solid examples of traditional styles: a kolsch, an IPA, a brown and a stout. The brown was my favorite. I’m partial to that style, but this went beyond my personal preferences; it was a smooth, rich, toasty draught without being too heavy. Beyond those, Freehouse is extending their range with a wheat, a hoppy amber, a west-coast IPA and a Bock, which wasn’t ready when I was there. I’m not a wheat guy, but I’d recommend the other two for someone who wants to be challenged beyond the basics. Freehouse opened back in December and has already demonstrated the ability to stick around and please a crowd, whether they happen to be near a ballpark or not. Fortunately for Twins fans, they are. And fortunately for Twins Daily members, they’re one of the first bars and restaurants, along with Mason’s to support Twins Daily’s efforts to build a community around the independent voices following Twins baseball. Please welcome them, follow them on Twitter and stop by before or after your next Twins game and thank them for their support of Twins Daily.