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
This is a general blogging category.
September 3, 2011 – Since the Division Series format started in 1995, only two AL teams have not participated, the Kansas City Royals and the Toronto Blue Jays. The number of appearances for the rest of the AL teams are listed below.
| Team | Division Series appearances |
|---|---|
| Yankees | 15 |
| Red Sox | 9 |
| Indians | 7 |
| Twins | 6 |
| Angels | 6 |
| A’s | 5 |
| Mariners | 4 |
| Rangers | 4 |
| White Sox | 3 |
| Orioles | 2 |
| Rays | 2 |
| Tigers | 1 |
| Stat | Ranking | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs | 516 | 26th |
| Average | .247 | 21st |
| On base % | .306 | 28th |
| Slugging % | .360 | 27th |
| ERA | 4.53 | 28th |
| Quality starts | 68 | 21st |
| WHIP | 1.42 | 27th |
| Batting average allowed | .277 | 29th |
And that ladies and gentlemen explains why the Twins have one of the worst records in baseball going into September in 2011.
August 31, 2011 – The league begins its 20th season on Tuesday, October 4. The six-team league plays six days per week (Monday-Saturday) in six Cactus League stadiums in the Phoenix area. Salt River Fields at Talking Stick has been added as the new home of the Rafters in 2011, joining Mesa Hohokam Stadium (Solar Sox), Peoria Sports Complex (Javelinas), Phoenix Municipal Stadium (Desert Dogs), Scottsdale Stadium (Scorpions) and Surprise Stadium (Saguaros) as the league venues. Twins players joining the Mesa Solar Sox this year will be: pitchers Cole DeVries, Scott Diamond, Bruce Pugh and Brett Jacobson; Catcher: Chris Herrmann; Infielder: Brian Dozier; Outfielder: Aaron Hicks.
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 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.