Twins Are Flying Now-Six in a Row!

I was a little nervous about the Twins winning this one.  So much is being written about them facing all the worst teams in baseball, that I felt the jinx might be on.   But Baker and the bullpen managed to beat Seattle   and take their winning streak to six in a row.


Hubby and I went by car to the game because it looked a lot like rain.  We found a free parking space on the west side of the stadium about 45 minutes before the game.  Add that to all the money I saved shopping at Kohls on game day and I should be rich.

Our row in Section 320 was a little cramped tonight.  The gentleman to my right was a little large and my Hubby is a husky man too, so I was squeezed in between, staying pretty warm.   Since we were so early we got to see some pre-game activity.  Little did I know that it was possible to have FOUR ceremonial FIRST pitches, the last by Ken Burns, baseball documentary maker extraordinaire.    Apparently he's making the PR rounds for a new one.  

Baker took the mound, supposedly healthy, but I think he struggled quite a bit.  Still he kept the Mariners scoreless until the 6th inning so can't complain about that.     Thome got his 13th homer right after I said, "hit a homer" so he was obviously listening.  Really good ears that Thome.   The most interesting hit of the night was by Alexi Casilla.  He hit a long fly ball to right centerfield over the fence.  The fireworks went off and he began to round the bases.   Then the umps stopped him at 3rd saying the ball was still in play.  After a review of the hit, they gave him his home run.  Guess that'll teach future long ball hitters to ignore the fireworks or the scoreboard folks to hold off just a little bit before firing them up.

Morneau and Mauer Ready to Fly

Mauer Looking a Little Frightened Before Take-Off

After Baker gave up three runs in the sixth, the bullpen came in.  Crane continues to be impressive.  We also got a first look at the new closer, Capps.   He threw a lot of strikes but they weren't overpowering.  Let's hope after a bit more rest he'll be able to fan a couple more.

Didn't take my camera to the game.  Just got lazy.  But I'm not without some entertaining photos to share.  Morneau and Mauer took a different sort of flight last weekend, into the Mississippi River.  The Twins were the inspiration for a Flugtag flying machine.

Let's hope the back half is more successful than the flugtag flight!

Frankie Gets a Big 6-0 Win and Debut of the Slama Rama

Hubby and I got to enjoy Game 3 of the Cleveland Series as guests in the General Mills seats, Section 110.   We had a perfect day: hot, clear and a winning pitcher, Francisco Liriano.

Hubby Consuming Liquid

Beer Vendor

Frankie was throwing strikes and Hubby and I were downing the soda.  We each downed two souvenir cup sodas plus split a Diet Pepsi bottle sold by the one and only soft drink vendor (at least that we could spot).  There are a million beer vendors.    Can't imagine how much liquid Frankie was consuming.

Liriana and Butera Confer

It was a terrific game.  Frankie threw over 100 pitches and gave up zero runs to those spoiler Indians (aka The Tribe).   He also helped out in the fielding department.  With bases loaded, he fielded a hard hit bouncer directly at him then threw to home for the force out.  Then Butera quickly threw to first to get the double play.  Now that's TWIN'S BASEBALL!

Delmon continued his hitting dominance gathering three more RBI's.  Will be tough for Morneau to catch up when he finally gets over his big headache.   The infield line up of Punto/J.J./Orlando is feeling good to me.  Suppose it may go by the wayside when Morneau returns, but I want to go on record saying I like it.  I'd put Kube back on the DH list.

The big fun was watching Anthony Slama's, Slama Rama,  debut in the majors.  He fanned two batters and looked pretty awesome doing it.  Will look forward to his next outing.

Just Two Fans

On a statistical note..
 
The Twins home record is 30-20 or .600 winning percentage.  My record is 10-3 or .769.    Am I a lucky charm or will our records eventually look more alike?

Twins beat Sox in Exciting Ninth Inning Rally

I need to write this quickly before another disastrous outing by a Twins pitcher.

I witnessed a miraculous come from behind win over the White Sox on Sunday. Nick Blackburn was not very good but he was not horrible either. While I am not a big fan of the contact pitcher, I was hoping he'd do well. He seems appropriately humble when talking about his recent performances. After pitching five decent innings, he fell apart. The Twins fell behind. I figured by the 8th inning it was pretty much over. I amused myself watching the four-year old in front of me consume a cup of chocolate chip cookies, his second treat of the game.

But the bottom of the ninth turned out to be one exciting inning. With bases loaded, Delmon Young hit a blooper to drive in the tying run, then a wild throw toward home gave Cuddy the chance to run home for the win.

We were all hoping winning the series against the Sox and the exciting way we won the last game would add up to a great start to the second half of the season. But the very next outing with Baker pitching against Cleveland proved we've got some major problems to fix. Baker's outing was worse than Blackie's and the Twins offense was pretty sad too.

I'll be at the third Cleveland game tomorrow. let's hope we are on a good roll.

Twins Mugged by the Weather and by Tampa Bay

There wasn't a whole lot to love about yesterday's game v.s. Tampa Bay. We lost and it was not pretty.

As I was sitting in my seat up in the air looking at the advertisement for M&M's (not the boys, the candy) in the outfield, I thought, today M&M's would definitely melt in your hand. It was hot and muggy.

Blackie had on sleeves. Really? Made me sweat just to look at him. It's no wonder that he blew a throw to first base. Hands were probably all sweaty. It was the little bunt that could. Lots of runs by Tampa after that mistake. We came back with a few runs of our own, but too few too late to make a difference.



So I don't want to talk about the game. It was hot and frustrating for all in attendance. The folks playing Twins BINGO even lost. (Speaking of which, whatever happened to TWINGO?) And the kid sitting near us tried in vain to get Bert to circle him.


So here's good news. We discovered that for the price of a beer you can park free in Lee's Liquor parking lot, at least for an afternoon game. Hubby had to chug it in order to make the first pitch. Next time, we'll allow a bit more time. Thanks Lee's. Maybe if it's another hot, muggy day, I'll have one too. Maybe we'll win the next one too.

Time for the All-Star Break. Got to get my Delmon vote in!