TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. “History never looks like history when you are living through it” – John Gardner, former Secretary of Health
May 26, 2011 – Nick Blackburn threw 127 pitches in a complete-game win against the Mariners on Tuesday, May 24. That’s the third-most pitches thrown in one game for Minnesota since Ron Gardenhire became their manager in 2002. Eric Milton threw 131 in 2002 and Kenny Rogers matched that total a year later. Source: Elias
May 22, 2011 – Since the Twins came into existence in 1961, the Twins have an all-time extra-inning record of 365-333-2. Twins Manager Ron Gardenhire has a career-record of 88-60, a .595 winning percentage, in extra-innings.
May 22, 2011 – Ft. Myers infielder Brian Dozier is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for May 14-20. Dozier hit safely in six of seven games last week for the Miracle (including three games with three hits), batting .433 (10-for-30) with two doubles, two triples and seven RBI. Dozier, 24, was selected by the Twins in the eighth round of the 2009 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of Southern Mississippi. For the season, in 40 games, Dozier has batted 149 times and is hitting .315 and has scored 28 runs, hit 1 home run, knocked in 15 runs, and stolen 10 bases while playing shortstop. Dozier has committed 8 errors.
May 13, 2011 – What a sad day. Harmon Killebrew the “face” of the Minnesota Twins and a MLB Hall of Famer has decided to enter hospice care. A story released by MLB.com can be found here. Harmon’s career stats can be seen here.
May 5, 2011 – The Twins have announced today that they will call up catcher Rene Rivera from Rochester on Friday prior to the Twins playing the Red Sox at Fenway Park. The right handed hitting 27 year old Rivera is 5’10” and weighs in at 230. Rivera was originally drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 2nd round of the 2001 amateur draft. Rivera appeared in 53 big league games for the Mariners between 2004-2006. Rivera became a free agent in 2007 and since then has spent time in the Dodgers, Mets, and Yankees organizations before the Twins signed him as a free agent in December of 2010. Rivera hit .200 with a .250 on-base percentage and a .333 slugging percentage in 13 games with the Rochester Red Wings this season. He also had two doubles, one home run and six RBIs. Rivera has 10 strikeouts in 45 at bats. The Twins previous back-up catcher Steve Holm, was returned to Rochester yesterday.
May 5, 2011 – As the Twins depart Chicago and head for Boston, they find themselves with a 11-18 record and have scored a grand total of 89 runs which comes out to an average of 3.07 runs per game and the team is on pace to score 497 runs, an all-time low. The pitching staff has given up 151 runs which equates to 5.21 runs per game. That is a huge spread and does not bode well for the Twins based on their run scoring history.
In 2010, the Twins finished 94-68 and scored 781 runs (4.82 per game) while the pitching staff gave up 4.14 runs per game.
In 1965 when the Twins played in the World Series and won 102 games, the most in their history, that team scored an average of 4.78 runs per game while giving up 3.79 runs per game. In 1982 when the team went 60-102, they scored 4.06 runs per game and gave up 5.06 runs per game.
In 1996 the Twins scored a team high 877 runs, that is 5.41 runs per game while the pitchers gave up 5.56 runs per game and the team finished with a 78-84 record. The Twins lowest scoring team scored just 562 times, a measly 3.47 runs per game while giving up 3.37 runs per game in 1968 and they finished with a 79-83 record. The current day Twins team is on a pace that will have them scoring 65 runs less then their previous lowest scoring team. Just as an FYI, MLB lowered the pitching mound from 15 inches to 10 inches after the low scoring 1968 season. Is someone secretly raising the pitching mounds across MLB this year?
So unless the 2011 Twins turn things around quick, they are in deep trouble with a team that scores only 3.07 runs per game and gives up runs at a pace of 5.21 runs per game. Let’s hope that things change quickly.
May 3, 2011 – Francisco Liriano no-hits the Chicago White Sox 1-0 at on a chilly night at U.S. Cellular Field. Liriano entered the game with a 1-4 record and a 9.13 ERA. Liriano faced 30 batters, walking six and threw 123 pitches, 66 for strikes. Liriano only struck out two White Sox batters. According to Francisco, he has never pitched a complete game, not even in the minors where some games are 7 only innings.
Update – More on No-Hitter – from ELIAS
His 9.13 ERA entering the game was the highest for any pitcher coming into a start in which he threw a no-hitter (minimum of five starts). The previous high was St. Louis’ Jose Jimenez’ 6.69 ERA when he threw his no-hitter, June 25, 1999 against Arizona.
His mound opponent, Edwin Jackson, threw a no-hitter last season. Liriano became the first pitcher in Major League history to throw a no-hitter against an opposing starter who had thrown a no-hitter the season before.
Liriano became just the second left-handed pitcher to throw a no-hitter against the White Sox in Chicago, the other being Jesse Tannehill for Boston in 1904.
Liriano walked six and struck out two, becoming the second pitcher since 1900 with four more walks than strikeouts.
Liriano’s two strikeouts were the fewest for a pitcher in a no-hitter since the Dodgers’ Jerry Reuss struck out two San Francisco Giants in his no-hitter in 1980.
Liriano became the fifth pitcher born in the Dominican Republic to throw a no-hitter, the others being Juan Marichal (1963), Ramon Martinez (1995), Jose Jimenez (1999) and Ubaldo Jimenez (2010).
May 1, 2011 – The Twins were pounded by the Kansas City Royals 10-3 at Kauffman Stadium. Twins pitcher Carl Pavano took the loss bringing his record to 2-3 for the season. Pavano gave up 12 hits and 7 runs in 5.1 innings. After Pavano was removed from the game he took a bat to the trash can in the dugout and put on some good swings on it, better than some of the Twins hitters did during the game. “That’s as frustrated as I can get,” Pavano said. “It actually felt pretty good. I just kept whaling away with it. The (bat) wouldn’t break. I couldn’t break a bat in the dugout and I couldn’t break any out there (on the mound). It was embarrassing.” He said his outburst “wasn’t pointed towards anyone.” “I told my manager (Ron Gardenhire) that it wasn’t pointed at him or anyone else,” Pavano said. “It was my frustration. Was it the most mature way to deal with it? No. But it wasn’t pointed at anyone. It actually felt amazing. I’d like to go out and do it again.”
This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by MLB Advanced Media. Too bad because it was fun to watch.
May 1, 2011 – New Britain (Double-A, Eastern League) right-handed pitcher Cole DeVries is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for April 23-29. DeVries made two relief appearances for the Rock Cats, recording two saves, allowing one run on one hit in 5.0 innings (1.80 ERA), with no walks and nine strikeouts. DeVries, 26, was signed by the Twins as a non-drafted free agent out of the University of Minnesota, he has not allowed a run in seven appearances (14.2 innings pitched) this season, while converting all four of his save opportunities. Cole has walked just one batter, while recording 21 strikeouts. Source: Twins Presspass
April 30, 2011 – Damn! I am more upset at watching the Twins lose to Kansas City and Tampa the last few days than the Twins are, what is up with that? After watching the Twins lose again last night at Kansas City, I am convinced the time has come to make some moves. There is an old saying that says that the first thing you need to do when you find yourself in a hole is to STOP DIGGING! This team needs a major shake-up, a wake-up call, but I am not sure exactly what should be done first, there are so many things to do. The Twins need to find a shortstop; Casilla has had his chances time and time again and not delivered, time to move on. I don’t think Plouffe is the answer either but you might as well give him his shot. The bullpen is a mess, no one knows their roles and how long can the Twins baby Nathan? Put him in a 7th or 8th inning role and get on with it. Get some stability in the bullpen again. Liriano will never be the ace pitcher everyone has envisioned, he has the skills but he does not have the demeanor or the ability to use his skills. You have two choices here, turn him into a reliever or trade him at a diminished value. Liriano doesn’t want to be a reliever? Tough, he isn’t pitching like a big league starter right now; he might be just what they need in the bullpen. Put Slowey in the rotation to replace Liriano and give Blackburn a couple more starts to see what he can do. If he can’t get on the straight and narrow, then call up Gibson and plug him in as a starter. As much as I hate to do it, the Twins should play Cuddyer at 2B until Nishioka gets back from his broken leg. An outfield of Delmon, Span, and Kubel works for me or keep Tosoni in the outfield and bat Kubel at DH. If Repko doesn’t start hitting soon I send him down and keep Tosoni as the 4th outfielder. Forget about bringing up Ben Revere, what good is an outfield with both Span and Revere in it? Catching? You just have to make do with Butera and Holm until Mauer can get healthy again. I have to wonder what the real story is with Joe Mauer. Justin Morneau has been just plain abysmal, where is the clutch hitter we used to know? I sure hope that Morneau does not go through with what happened to Jimmie Hall after he was beaned. Valencia? Sure he leads the team in RBI’s but he could be doing so much better. What can’t I shake the feeling that Valencia is developing an attitude and thinks he is a star? Maybe it is all that time he spent hanging around A-rod? Cuddyer? Maybe the pressure of playing for a new contract is getting to him, he has not hit anywhere like he should be hitting, right now he looks like a 7 or 8 hitter at best.
You think I am too harsh here in my thoughts? Come on now, the team is 9-16 after 25 games and 15% of the games are behind them. Only three teams in baseball have won as few as 9 games, the Astros, the Padres and the Twins. I don’t think the Twins are this bad but so far they have done nothing to make you think they can get better in the near future and get back in the Central Division race where they are already 8 games back and the calendar still shows it is April. The team continues to score at a pace of 3 runs a game being our scored 128 to 80, that will not get you many wins with this pitching staff. Right or wrong, Twins management has to be thinking that Joe Vavre might be the easiest scapegoat and send him packing and bring in some fresh blood as a hitting coach. Oh, and let’s not forget our third base coach Steve Liddle in all of this. His approach to sending and stopping runners at 3B hasn’t been much to write home about either.
When I watch this team play I see no life, no one is having fun out there, it is just a job. At the end of the game they have their heads down as they slowly shuffle down to the clubhouse. Where is the fight in this team? The team plays like they think all they have to do is show up and they will win, the times have changed boys, the times have changed, look at the AL Central standings, it reads Royals, Indians, Tigers, White Sox and the Twins. When is someone going to kick, scream, yell and cuss that this crap has got to stop and get out on the field and lead by example by getting a clutch hit or putting an opposing batter on his butt? Do the Twins have a leader? I have not seen one, but then again Gardy and Bill Smith have not shown much leadership either.