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  • eschapp 8:10 pm on August 25, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , Miguel Batista, , Raul Ibanez, ,   

    Liriano v. Batista 

    [Note: I've been entrusted with Monday Game Logs over at the WGOM. This is my first attempt, which is cross posted at the WGOM.]

    The Twins begin the second series on their monster road trip tonight. The Twins arrived in Seattle with an improved bullpen and are looking to snap their two game Anaheim slide. The game starts at 9:10 pm for those of you in Twins Territory or 10:10 pm for the unfortunate souls who live on the east coast. But on second thought, the game starts at 3:10 am in Dublin, so maybe EST folk shouldn’t complain.

    Tonight’s Probable Pitchers:

    The Mariners will send Miguel Batista (xFIP: 5.17; tRA+ 62) to the mound. Batista has struggled this year against just about everyone. After tossing at least 6 innings in 23 of 32 starts in 2007, Batista has only thrown 6 innings in 5 of 19 starts this year. (And only 2 times in his last 13.) Adding to his woes, during the first inning of his last 13 starts Batista has allowed 16 hits and 16 runs. This season opponents are hitting .305 in the first inning against Batista.

    Francisco Liriano (xFIP: 5.18; tRA+ 113) will toe the rubber for the Twins. While Liriano’s season ERA stands at 4.24, since returning to the majors he has gone 4-0 with a 1.14 ERA. During that same span, Liriano has held opponents to a .184 batting average with 20 strikeouts and just one home run. Compare those stats with Liriano’s early season ERA of 11.32, which resulted in an 0-3 record. Pat Neshek has already taken note: the road to recovery is a long, hard path.

    (Note: Most people at the WGOM seem to prefer the xFIP stat to evaluate pitchers, but in this case tRA+ seems to be the more accurate measure. If you are interested in learning more about tRA+ check out this article where the basic methodology behind the tRA statistic is explained. For comparison purposes, Cliff Lee sports a tRA+ of 177, and Livan Hernandez’s stands at 93.)

    The Mariners are 48-82 this season and have lost 12 of their last 15 games. Even though the Mariners are struggling, Raul Ibanez has continued his second half tear recording 2 or more hits in 10 of his last 20 games resulting in a .420 average. I’m sure every Twins fan remembers the series Ibanez had against the Twins the first week in August; I’m also sure that the Twins don’t want to see him repeat that performance this time around. In order to win this series the Twins will have to find some way to cool off Ibanez.

    The Twins’ season record stands at 74-56 and they have won 10 of their last 15 games. Mauer, Punto, and Morneau come into this game hitting the ball well, but their efforts have not translated to wins the last two days. Gaffes in the field by both Busher and Gomez cost the Twins too many runs on Saturday and Sunday, which helped to erase great efforts by both Nick Blackburn and Kevin Slowey. If they want to win this series the Twins cannot afford to play sloppy defensive baseball, against a Mariners team looking to spoil someones playoff hopes.

    Since, tonight’s game starts later than usual in the central and eastern time zones, you’ll probably want some pregame reading materials to pass the time. Take a look at this post over at U.S.S. Mariner: Ahhh, Minnesota. My favorite comment might be #18, but gas-mask versus bag-over-head debate is also entertaining.

    Since this is the first game of this series, lets start off the comments with a couple of questions:

    1. The Twins have now tried to solve their bullpen woes with the requisition of Every-Day Eddie: Will this trade be enough to fix the Twins’ bullpen issues? Does Eddie automatically take over the eighth inning role, or do you have a better role to recommend?
    2. Ignoring pitchers and the M&M boys, who must step up to help the Twins win this series?
    3. Bonus pre-game question: Was designating Mike Lamb for assignment the right roster move to make room for Eddie?

     
  • eschapp 1:14 pm on August 24, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    Slowey v. Santana 

    The Twins dug their own grave last night; errors by Busher and a poorly played ball by Gomez dug a hole that the Twins were never able to get themselves out of.  Today, Kevin Slowey (tRA+ 123) takes that mound against Ervin Santana (tRA+ 137).  The Twins need to win this game.  Go Twins!

    Angel Stadium

    3:35PM EST


    Slowey (10-8)

    Santana (13-5)

     
  • eschapp 3:35 pm on August 22, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , , , Joe Saunders,   

    Perkins v. Saunders 

    Great effort by the Twins last night. Span is meaning more and more to the team every start he gets. For example, last night after falling to an 0-2 count, he poked a single down the third-base line scoring the winning run. Its great to have him on the team right now. Plus even though Casilla went 1 for 6 last night, it was a great feeling to have him back in the lineup.

    Hopefully the Twins can squeak out another win tonight against Joe Saunders and his tRA+ of 106. Battling against Saunders for the Twins will be Glen Perkins. Perkins has been slightly less effective than Saunders so far this year, (his tRA+ sits at 91) but he is still having a very good year.  It should be another close game. Go Twins!

    Angel Stadium
    10:05PM EST


    Perkins (10-3)

    Saunders (14-5)

     
  • eschapp 2:17 pm on August 22, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , ,   

    Print – Federal Grants Aimed to Enforce Underage Drinking Laws 

    Good Use of Federal funds?  You be the judge:

    The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times : Federal Grants Aimed to Enforce Underage Drinking Laws.

     
  • eschapp 10:27 am on August 21, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: Angles, , , John Lackey, , tRA+, , wOBA*   

    Baker v. Lackey 

    The Twins begin their long road trip at Angel Stadium tonight with Scott Baker pitching against John Lackey. The Angel’s are probably the strongest team in the American League from top to bottom of their roster, so the Twins will have their work cut out for them.

    John Lackey sports a tRA+ of 96, while Scott Baker’s sits at 110. So far this year Baker has been more effective than Lackey (for an explanation of tRA+ see StatCorner.com: Here and Here) but against the Angel’s potent lineup, he’ll have to be near perfect because the Angle’s lineup sports a wOBA* of .324. But then again, the Twins have a wOBA* of .334 so this game should be pretty even all around. Hopefully the Twins begin to correct their road woes with a win tonight against the Halos. Go Twins!

    10:05PM EST


    Baker (7-3)

    Lackey (10-2)

     
  • eschapp 11:40 pm on August 20, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , ,   

    Print – ‘Hungry’ Twins keeping things fundamental in playoff race 

    This story from USAToday.com came across my desk couch while I was watching CSPAN the Olympics:  ‘Hungry’ Twins keeping things fundamental in playoff race.

    It a great story about the Twins from a national news outlet, and therefore a must read for most proud Twins’ fans.  Like every national story there are parts you have to ignore: chalk it up to the authors buying into stereotypes, or just being ignorant.

    Read the story; ignore the first three paragraphs; enjoy the accolades that the Twins are earning throughout the Major League and even the United States.

     
  • eschapp 9:23 am on August 20, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    Liriano v. Dallas Braden 

    The Twins won a rout last night against the A’s, which made up for their lack of effort loss on Monday. Hopefully they continue last night’s dominance into today’s midday game.

    Game time: 1:10 EST

    The A’s will send out Left Hander Dallas Braden who sports a 4.50 ERA. The Twins will counter with Francisco Liriano who’s ERA stands at 4.97.

    The Twins are going for another series win at the Homerdome. Go Twins.

     
  • eschapp 6:15 pm on August 19, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , Clinton Journal, , , ,   

    Meandering Linkage – 2008 AL Central Division Race 

    Random Twins centered story from the Clinton Journal of South Monroe, Illinois. Author Tim Moran observes that the AL Central Division race will be one of the most exciting in recent history1

    “Both teams play solid, fundamental baseball and one thing is for sure. Neither team will be a quick out in the postseason.”

    Neither teams fundamental baseball skills are exactly impressive this year, at least when considering that they are skilled Major Leaguer players. The Twins have certainly taken a step backwards in this department with Delmon Young, Harris, and Busher in the lineup instead of Bartlett, Castillo and Punto. Defensively, not offensively.

    “The addition of Francisco Liriano has boosted an already motivated Twins squad that is proving their elite status even though every baseball forecaster picked them for last place before the year began.”

    I know that in the preseason the Royals were threatening to place above the Twins, but to my recollection most “baseball forecasters2” picked the Twins to finish fourth out of five teams. But I don’t really want to do the work to prove it, even if proving it were possible. Either way, the Twins are exceeding the expectations that most fans and experts had for them this season.

    “This race is going to be tight until the end and may not be decided until the two teams play in Minneapolis’ Metrodome in the final week of the [regular season].”

    I certainly agree with that statement. Those late season games will prove to be pivotal. Here’s to an exciting September.

    Map of South Monroe, IL

    1. Ignoring the Twins 2006 run.
    2. Baseball Forecaster? Thats a new one for me. I wonder is it is something akin to the Weather Forecaster/Meteorologist dichotomy?
     
  • eschapp 4:10 pm on August 19, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , Marco Estrada, ,   

    Nationals promote Triple-A Pitcher Estrada to the Big League Club 

    See the story here: Nationals promote Estrada from Triple-A – International Herald Tribune.

    Estrada will fill the roster spot vacated by the trade of Luis Ayala.

    Estrada is a right handed pitcher who was starting for the Triple-A club.

    His minor league stats can be found here: Marco Estrada’s Stats from Baseball-Reference.com

     
  • eschapp 1:40 pm on August 19, 2008 Permalink | Reply
    Tags:   

    Slowey v. Gallagher 

    The Twins continue their series with the A’s tonight.
    8:10PM EST

    Gallagher (4-5)

    Slowey (9-8)
     
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