It’s Official! Bert Blyleven is in the Hall Of Fame!
It took 14 years* but it was worth the wait! Bert now has a plaque in the National Baseball Hall of Fame! Get souvenirs here!
*I never quite understood why it took 14 years for Bert to get voted into the Hall of Fame! His numbers never changed during those 14 years! He always had 3701 strikeouts, 287 wins and 60 shutouts and the best curveball in baseball! It should take 14 seconds to add Bert to their ballot! Gotta love the Baseball Writer’s Association of America! It’s difficult to understand why Bert wouldn’t end up on more ballots over a 14-year span.
Trade Deadline!
The trade deadline came and went with the Twins not making one deal. They talked to a lot of teams but couldn’t finalize anything. I’m assuming they were asking for too much or value their prospects more than other teams do or just weren’t willing to give them up. It’s easy to look back and say that was probably a good thing. This team isn’t playing good baseball right now!
The closest thing to a trade acquisition right now will be getting Morneau back and maybe bringing up Kevin Slowey to take a spot in the rotation.
Ten & Twelve!
After the White Sox completed the sweep on Sunday, the Twins are now 10 games back of division leading Detroit and 12 games under .500 at 51-63 (26-28 at home & 25-35 on the road). They had been playing pretty good baseball for awhile there and looked like they could make it interesting in the division race.
Since their 8-game winning streak and their run of 15 wins in 17 games at the beginning of June, they’ve gone 19-24! That’s not going to get it done! They have played pretty well within their division at 22-20 (7-4 vs CHW, 6-3 vs CLE, 1-8 vs DET, 8-5 vs KC) and still have 30 division games left (13 at home, 17 on the road) so they still have a chance to do something but it’s hard to believe in them the way they are playing right now.
The Twins have 7 games left against Chicago (3 road, 4 home), 9 against Cleveland (6 road, 3 home), 9 against Detroit (6 road, 3 home) and 5 against Kansas City (2 road, 3 home). Their other 18 games left are against Boston (3 home), New York (4 home, 1 road), Baltimore (4 home), Los Angeles (3 road) and Seattle (3 home).
Winning every series until the end of the season would be a 34-14 record for the rest of the season giving them a record of 85-77. Detroit would need to go 24-24 the rest of the way to bring their record to 85-77. That’s not so crazy considering they went 29-30 last season and 33-29 in 2009 from August to October but it all depends on the Twins playing better baseball.
Obviously they have to find a way to beat Detroit. Going 1-8 so far this season in embarassing and if that continues, the season will be over if it isn’t already.
Playing the Boston Red Sox may be just what the Twins need! Sometimes playing the best team in the league will bring out the best in your team. Well, here they are, the Boston Red Sox will bring their 69-43 record to Target Field starting tonight with Scott Baker pitching against Tim Wakefield!
Canadian Rehab
Justin Morneau has played the last three days for the Twins triple-A minor league affiliate Rochester Red Wings and has gotten better with every game. Friday he went 0 for 4 in a 4-1 loss, Saturday he went 1 for 4 in a 9-1 loss and Sunday he went 3 for 5 with a 3-run double, 2 runs and 4 RBI in an 8-0 victory.
He’s expected to play around 10 games in Rochester and could return when the Twins go to Detroit next week. Morneau’s return could make it difficult to get Joe Mauer more starts at first base so could he play somewhere else in the future?
The Return of Slowey?
With the recent struggles of Nick Blackburn and Brian Duensing, you have to wonder if Kevin Slowey will get a chance to start again for the Twins. He’s been pitching well in his last couple starts in Rochester.
Blackburn is expected to make his start on Wednesday against the Red Sox but if he struggles, expect some kind of change to the rotation with possibly Anthony Swarzak taking his spot with Slowey being another option.
20 years ago in 1991
1991 was the last time the Twins won the World Series and it was one of the most memorable and greatest series in baseball history with a Puckett home run in game 6 to force possibly the greatest game 7 ever. Reminiscing this weekend was fun especially when you get stories like this. “It’s only a game” after all.
This is great and probably how most people react to a Jim Thome Home Run!!
Links to great articles from the past couple weeks
The Jose Bautista Story– (SI.com – Joe Posnanski) – 6/22/2011
- Great article on how Bautista persevered and stayed confident in his ability as a hitter.
- A little older than a couple weeks but I probably follow too many things in my Google Reader so I’m always way behind in reading everything
Tom Powers: Michael Cuddyer, the man who makes the Twins go, adds crafty baserunning to his resume– (Pioneer Press – Tom Powers) – 7/20/2011
- I’m not sure “crafty” is the right word but Cuddy definitely made an impact running the bases late in the game on July 19th. Every day he’s “hustlin’!”
The catcher: Baseball’s most demanding and least appreciated job – (thestar.com – Morgan Campbell) – 7/20/2011
Twins’ Mauer has been first-rate at first base – (foxsportsnorth.com – Tyler Mason) – 7/20/2011
Joe Mauer, Twins both benefit when he plays at first base – (Pioneer Press – John Shipley) – 7/20/2011
Gardenhire’s treatment of Mauer could backfire: A Fan’s View – (Yahoo! Contributor Network – Blair Reynolds) – 7/21/2011
Tsuyoshi Nishioka: A study of two hitters – (TwinkieTown.com – Jesse Lund) – 7/21/2011
Trevor Plouffe, Denard Span and the hope of a late-blooming prospect – (AaronGleeman.com – Aaron Gleeman) – 7/21/2011
Baseball: Who among today’s stars are most likely to get in and who figures to be left out of the Hall of Fame? – (LATimes.com – Ben Bolch) – 7/22/2011
Twins Talk: Mauer’s best position for Twins is still catcher – (argusleader.com – Matt Zimmer) – 7/23/2011
Booing the boy next door – (nytimes.com – Tyler Kepner) – 7/25/2011
The Delmon Young Quandary – (Fangraphs.com – Brandon Warne) – 7/26/2011
Norristown Catcher Finds Himself In Special Company– (NorristownPatch.com – Joseph Santoliquito) – 7/29/2011
- Chris Harvey is a catcher that stands at 6’5” tall and weighs 215 pounds so he is getting a lot of Joe Mauer comparisons and should be drafted in the 2012 MLB First-Year Player Draft
Slowey’s future with Twins is “completely up to him” Gardenhire says – (1500espn.com – Phil Mackey) – 8/7/2011
