Baseball Thread...

[.Walt]

Now our Ace is out four to six weeks.  Worst season ever.  :'(

red, i'm sorry....for real!

[red]

Thanks Tripps.  We won tonight!

[.Walt]

Thanks Tripps.  We won tonight!

winning is the first step towards healing

[red]

Oh that feels so good when the Big Hurt goes yard.  I lied about not watching anymore games this year.... ;D

[red]

Two in a row baby!   8-)

[.Walt]

twins are already behind, damn it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

[Jellyfish]

4 game skid....aweful.  >:(

[red]

4 game skid....aweful.  >:(

We just kicked a nine-gamer, and are starting to steady the ship.  Your boys won't go another without a win.

[.Walt]

4 game skid....aweful.  >:(

i know  >:(

i was listening to the sports radio station out of minneapolis, and they were saying how johan was tippin' his pitches to the batters on his change up. they said, that was the reason why he has done so poor lately.

but who knows?

[.Walt]

the bats came out today for the twins, holy smokes!!

[Jellyfish]

the bats came out today for the twins, holy smokes!!

16-4....mainly due to the Tigers starter Vasquez who had never started an ML game....Twins teed off on him early and they just got on a hot streak.Tori had 2 homers.This was good mentally for the Twins regardless of the reasons.

[Jellyfish]

Great article about yesterdays game from the home site:

05/14/2007 1:49 AM ET
Hunter's big night fuels Twins
Bonser lasts five innings; Minnesota tallies 22 hits
MINNEAPOLIS -- Throughout a very rough homestand, the Twins said it would take just one big hit to get things turned around and going in the right direction.

The problem on Sunday night was determining just which of the team's season-high 22 hits was that spark.

It was a night of banging the ball around like the Twins had not seen in some time. And the runs just continued to pile on the scoreboard as the club knocked the Tigers around in a 16-4 victory at the Metrodome.

"Obviously, this is a big boost for us here to see the ball fly around the ballpark for us this time," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Now we have to see if we can carry it on. It's a good win and now we go on the road and feel like we have a chance to swing the bats and score some runs."

Over the first eight games of their homestand, the Twins could manage just a total of 20 runs. But in one breakout night, the team nearly matched the number to break out of its offensive slump.

A lot of that had to do with Torii Hunter delivering some big hits. Just a few nights after Hunter made what he called one of the top five catches of his career, he followed it up with one of his best offensive career performances.

Hunter delivered a career-high seven RBIs as part of a two-home run night, including a three-run homer in the first that helped the Twins overcome an early 2-0 hole. It was the seventh time in his career that he had delivered a multi-homer game, and Hunter admitted this one was pretty special.

"That was exciting," Hunter said. "I've been known for my glove the last couple of years, but I feel like I've been getting better at the plate. If I could just stay this way the whole season it would be nice, but in baseball -- no chance. So I've just got to enjoy the moment."

It seems unlikely Hunter's offensive prowess will disappear any time soon, as he's hitting .324 on the year with eight homers and 29 RBIs. But the display he put on Sunday night was enough to leave his skipper in awe.

"Torii was unbelievable," Gardenhire said. "He was driving the ball out of the ballpark, and those were some big pick-me-ups. Those are the hits that we've been waiting for somebody to come through with, and he did. Then we got on little roll there where the hits just kept going through. We put the bat out there and it seemed to go in the right place."

The offensive fireworks came on a night when the Twins were a little unsure of what they would find when facing Tigers rookie right-hander Virgil Vasquez, who was making his Major League debut.

Just one night after the Tigers embarrassed the Twins, the Twins returned the favor on national television, getting to the opposing pitchers over and over and over again. And it began when the Twins pegged the 24-year-old rookie starter for six runs on nine hits over just 2 2/3 innings. It was the shortest start by a pitcher in his Major League debut since Matt Garza's first outing at the Metrodome last season.

Things got started when Luis Castillo banged a triple off the right-hander to lead off the first. From there, there was no stopping the Twins.

In fact, six of the first seven batters recorded hits off Vasquez. It was during that stretch of hits that Hunter belted a three-run homer to put the Twins up, 4-2.

All 11 Twins batters recorded at least one hit in the game, but it wasn't until after Hunter's second homer in the seventh inning, which followed a two-run double by the center fielder in the fourth, that the final Twins starting position player got his first hit.

Catcher Mike Redmond delivered his first hit of the night in spectacular fashion, belting his first home run since July 6, 2005, on a solo shot off Wilfredo Ledezma that same inning.

"I didn't know everybody else had a hit, but I was thinking to myself, 'We're going to have 18 hits tonight, so I'd better get going or I'm going to be sitting on an 0-for-4 here real quick,'" Redmond said with a chuckle. "The home run was great, but we needed this win more importantly than anything else."

The win was already well in hand, but the Twins weren't finished adding runs to their lead, including more homers. In the eighth, Michael Cuddyer delivered his third homer of the year, belting a three-run shot off Jose Mesa.

Boof Bonser earned his first victory of the season, even though he didn't have a stellar outing. He gave up four runs on six hits over his five innings of work.

"He didn't have great stuff tonight, but he battled through it," Gardenhire said. "That's a great lineup and a great team over there. And you have to make a lot of pitches. He got through five and our bullpen did a great job carrying us the rest of the way."

Maybe it was the pink bats that had something to do with the big night, or a revamped lineup for this game, but one thing's clear -- the night changed the Twins' demeanor.

"You could sense that," Hunter said. "It was like the weight was being lifted off these guys -- and me. It was a lot of fun, guys in the dugout had smiles on their faces and it was pretty exciting. The music is playing now and guys are back to themselves."

[.Walt]

thanks jelly  :)

we need to sign torii.

[.Walt]

so in one of my fantasy baseball leagues, somebody offered me trades like thome for nick punto. bonderman for david weather, manny for some shitty player and vlad for some other shitty player. and when finally i got sick of even looking at the trades. i said something about it. then  he locked my team and dropped my players.

and he's a chicago fan, only if both chicago teams had that power. maybe they would win a world series more than one in 138 years between two teams.

[Jellyfish]

How in the hell do you lose a game where your starting pitcher strikes out 11 batters?...geez...great performance by Santana but the bats let him down bigtime today.

[.Walt]

went to the satuday game between the twins and the brewers. nice to see a win. came damn close to a sweep.

[MickeyReds]

I love the Philadelphia Phillies. I dont love how they have not made the playoffs in 14 years.

[.Walt]

red this is the first match up of the year between our team. tough loss for the twins tonight.

[Taterbug]

I hope he has a bad day  :)

[red]

Good series between my two favorite teams (Jays/Twins).  Too bad the Jays couldn't have mustered the third game.  Doc's back this week!

This is kind've relevant to this thread, here's my stats from my first slow-pitch game of the year...
1 / 3 - Single, reached on an error and a ground out.
1 Error (first play of the game!)

We lost 6-3, but I was really impressed with our team.  Game two tonight, stats to follow!