Mar/08991
Great Moments in Minnesota Twins History
Following the 1960 season the Washington Senators moved to the Twin Cities and became the Minnesota Twins. Since becoming the Twins they have had their share of memorable moments. Here is a list of the ten greatest moments in Twins history.
April 11, 1961. The Minnesota Twins defeat the New York Yankees 6-0 in their first game as the Twins for their first win. Pedro Ramos pitches a complete game shut out for the win. Bobby Allison and Reno Bertoia hit home runs.
September 26, 1965. The Twins defeat the Washington Senators 2-1 to clinch the American League Pennant. Jim Kaat pitches a complete game shutout, striking out ten batters.
September 22, 1969. The Minnesota Twins win the American League Western Division title when they defeat the Kansas City Royals 4-3. Bob Miller is the winning pitcher and Harmon Killerbrew hits his 47th home run.
September 23, 1970. The Minnesota Twins win their second consecutive division title when they defeat the Oakland A's 7-4. Tom Hall is the winning pitcher and Bill Zepp gets the save.
September 28, 1987. The Minnesota Twins win their first division title since 1970 when they defeat the Texas Rangers 5-3. Juan Berenguer comes out of the bullpen to get the win and Jeff Reardon saves the game for his 31st save of the season.
October 12 , 1987. The Twins win their first American League Pennant since moving to Minnesota when they defeat the Detroit Tigers 9-5. The Twins win the American League Championship Series 4 games to 1. Bert Blyleven is the winning pitcher.
October 25, 1987. The Twins win the World Series in 7 games when they defeat the St Louis Cardinals. They win the seventh game 4-2 with Frank Viola pitching 8 innings for the win. It is the Twins first World Championship.
October 13, 1991.The Minnesota Twins win their second American League Pennant by defeating the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series 4 games to 1. They win the fifth and deciding game 8-5. With the game tied at 5 in the eighth inning the Twins score 3 runs to take the lead for good. David West pitches three strong innings out of the bullpen for the win and Rick Aguilera gets his third save of the series.
October 27, 1991.The Minnesota Twins win their second World Championship by defeating the Atlanta Braves in seven games. The Twins win the seventh game in 10 innings 1-0 with Jack Morris pitching a complete game for the win. The Twins win the game and the series in the bottom of the 10th when Gene Larkin singles to drive in Dan Gladden with the winning run. Most importantly though, as Kirby homers to keep the Twins championship alive in game 6, the Gold Seat is born.
October 6, 2002. The Minnesota Twins defeat the Oakland A's in the American League Division Series 3 games to 2. In the deciding game the Twins score three runs in the top of the 9th inning and hold off a rally by the A's in the bottom of the inning to secure the win. Brad Radke is the winning pitcher. The Twins advance to the American League Championship Series.
Unfortunately, none of the top moments have occurred in the past 6 years or so. What do you think is the best moment in the history of Minnesota Twins baseball?
Mar/084
New Twins Ballpark
Well, for those of you who are anxiously awaiting a new year of Twins baseball and longing for the sights and smells of outdoor baseball, here are some really interesting specs, pictures and comparisons between the new ballpark and our beloathed Metrodome. Not sure if I just made up the word beloathed or not, but it seems to perfectly describe my sentiments.
Mar/080
Nathan, He’s Good
Along with discussing his impending free agency and how it relates to Jonathan Papelbon, a recent article in the Boston Herald noted that Joe Nathan "has the lowest ERA of any reliever with at least 200 innings since 2004." That's the year when Nathan joined the Twins and during that four-year span he's gone 19-8 with a 1.94 ERA, 160 saves, and a 355-to-80 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 282.1 innings. -from Aarongleeman.com
Mar/080
Twins Update March 1st
With spring training starting here's a Twins update.
Twins ownership will throw in an additional $22 million in ballpark upgrades, bringing the ownerships share to $152 million of the $412 projected cost. The upgrades will include a high-def 103 ft x 57 ft screen. I love the quote from Twins exec Kevin Smith, "Our feeling is we get one shot at this, let's do it right". MLB Link
Liriano continus his comeback but at less than 100 percent. So far the Twins staff has cut back Liriano's bullpen sessions. While pitching this winter in the Dominican, Francisco was hitting 95-mph with his fastball. As the only hope to replace Santana on this year's staff let's hope for consistant high 90's. MLB Link
Twins closer Joe Nathan is still looking for a new contract. Nathan prefers to get something done during spring training. The self imposed deadline has been set for March 31st. MLB Link
Torii Hunter's departure to LA has left a gaping void in center field. Gomez seems to have the inside track. Three players all under 25 lacking MLB experience is what the Twins will have to choose from. StarTrib Link
The Pohlad family has said they plan to own the Twins well into the future. That can only mean they will keep the team for next 20 years or they are waiting to reap the rewards of new stadium revenues before they sell the team for $350 million in 6 years. PioneerPress Link
The new stadium has yet to receive a name. Gold Seat insiders have been hoping for BestBuy Ballpark.
Nov/071
Delmon Young…we got him!
To be fair, the pitch really should have been called a ball... The ump undoubtedly learned his lesson.
Oct/073
New Twins Ballpark Model Unveiled
Follow this link to see a 3-d animation of the new Twins ballpark. Let us know what you think are the biggest positives and negatives of the future home of our favorite baseball team.
Sep/072
“I never liked him, anyway,” Blyleven said, of Sweeney.
An interesting take on Friday's game from ESPN's Buster Olney:
As Scott Baker edged toward a perfect game Friday night, the tension seemed to reflect everywhere, from his face, to the Twins dugout (where his teammates kept a continent of space between themselves and Baker), to the club's broadcast booth.
Play-by-play man Dick Bremer and color analyst Bert Blyleven spoke openly about the possibility of a perfect game, as the middle innings rolled on. By coincidence, Bremer had been asked to sing "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" at the seventh-inning stretch, but he had forgotten about that, he admitted. When a production crew approached him after Baker got the 19th, 20th and 21st outs in the top of the seventh, he thought their presence was somehow related to the special event that Baker was generating. Bremer sang, as asked, and then quickly refocused on Baker and his work.
Blyleven talked about his own no-hitter, how he had approached his catcher during the game and spoke openly about what was happening -- Hey, I'm pitching a no-hitter -- and he acknowledged that when he was broadcasting David Wells's perfect game against the Twins in 1998, he had been rooting for the left-hander to complete the feat, because of its special nature.
We all remember where we were for particular moments in history. I was standing behind on a couch in Nashville when Mookie Wilson's ground ball rolled through Bill Buckner's legs in 1986, and sitting on the same couch when Kirk Gibson dropped his bat head on Dennis Eckersley's slider in 1988.
But we also remember who we shared those moments with, and in this case, it would be Bremer and Blyleven, who were exceptional in describing the drama that was building -- and also in mirroring the feelings of anyone was happened to be watching, whether it was in the Metrodome or via satellite, in New York.
The perfect game ended in the top of the ninth when Baker walked the leadoff hitter, but the fans in Minnesota stood and cheered, partly to honor his near-accomplishment, but partly out of encouragement; he still had a no-hitter in progress.
With one out, veteran slugger Mike Sweeney, one of the game's great ambassadors, came to the plate as a pinch-hitter, for his first at-bat since June 17. It seemed like a good matchup for Baker, because he had been mixing a nasty slider with his fastball all night. Maybe Sweeney would roll over a breaking ball and into a doubleplay, you thought.
Baker threw. Sweeney swung. And when his looper began to drop into an area, in short left-center, where there were no fielders, your heart sank with the ball. Bummer.
"I never liked him, anyway," Blyleven said, of Sweeney.
Perfect.
After the no-hitter was lost, the search was on for the person -- or persons -- who jinxed it, writes Phil Miller. The near no-hitter was the culmination of a couple of crazy weeks for Baker, writes Kelsie Smith. Sweeney described what Baker tried to do against him, within this Bob Dutton story.
Aug/073
Santana K’s 17
Johan Santana took the mound Sunday afternoon and helped pitch his way into what could be the biggest contract ever for a starting pitcher in 2009. Santana went 8.0 innings giving up only 2 hits and striking out 17 in the best pitching performance by a starter since Ben Sheets struck out 18 in 2004.
Already owning 2 Cy Young awards, Santana will make $12 Million this year and $13.125 in 2008. With Zambrano signing a new extension this week with the Cubs for $18M/yr, Santana will likely demand $20M/yr when he becomes a free agent after 2008. Because Santana finished in the top 3 for the Cy Young his contract now kicks in a no trade clause.
As a Twins fan, it would be nice to see Ryan try to wrap Santana up with an extension before the season ends. But as a small market team, it would be interesting to see how many pitchers/hitters/prospects the Twins could receive in a trade, assuming Santana approves. Would a couple 30+ HR hitting outfielders for $8M/yr each give the team more in the long run than one Santana every 5 days?
In the right ballpark, surrounded by the right team, Santana could win 2 more Cy Young's and flirt with 4,000 strikeouts.