Twins Gameday Graphics for 2012 Season

Time to continue a tradition of creating various graphics to be used in the WGOM Twins’ game logs this season. This is the fourth year I’ve done a little screen capture and MS Paint magic with the hometown team.

These are under construction, so I’ll be adding more as we go. Some I’ve carried forward from last season, but I should revise them a bit, too.  Let’s see what we have so far:

Scotty “Light Rail” Baker:

 

Carl Pavano

Francisco “F-Bomb” Liriano

Nick Blackburn

Matt Capps:

. . .

And in addition:

A Voice Made For Texting

Not long ago, some of the gang at WGOM got the idea of creating an audio podcast where a handful of Citizens could discuss various topics of interest. While I had some interest, I was content to sit back and see how it would go. When the date of the inaugural recording was nearing, it looked like participants were going to be scarce, so I threw my TC hat into the ring.

When last Saturday rolled around, I made sure I had Skype working and was as ready as I would ever be. We wound up with two hosts and two guests, and discussed various offseason topics, primarily focused on the Twins, as you’d expect at that website. I think it went pretty well, all things considered, and we fortunately set a nice low bar for future Pepper! episodes.

Anyway, here it is, in all it’s unpolished glory. Thanks to Mags and Spooky for hosting, and best of luck with future recordings (including #2 this Tuesday). I’ll be happy to jump back in again when others have had their chance and there’s a need for participants.

NCIS: Duryea, PA [2011 Topps Update]

Here’s a great card from 2011 Topps Update. It has a cool photo: bright colors, action shot, foreground image, and I like the horizontal format.

2011 Topps Update #177 Rene Tosoni

Now the question is, can we identify exactly what play is captured on this card? What can we tell right off the bat, so to speak?

Well:
1) no, it’s not Busch Stadium, this is in fact Target Field in Minneapolis
2) it’s a day game
3) #12 is shortstop Alexi Casilla
4) in order to make any deadlines for the Update set, it had to be a game from earlier in the season, and the long sleeves bear that up
Also, this isn’t a typical toss to the cutoff; probably an XBH or a deep flyball with a runner on first.

Once more I’m amazed with the gang at WGOM for their dogged investigations. What did they determine?
– Tosoni and Casilla only played in six home games together in which they were in the field and the opponent got a base hit
– of those six games, the first game of the April 28^th doubleheader looks promising
– there were two doubles hit to left in that game, both by Ben Zobrist; since both were scoring plays, there was a chance it would be in the MLB archives, and it was!
– the play is a two-out, two-run double in the 7^th inning
– the Rays won a 15-3 laugher; Ben Zobrist set a team record with 8 RBIs in this game
– the photo was of Tosoni playing in his first game in the majors; he collected his first two hits and was 2-for-4

So there you have it — another case successfully solved.

CSI: Duryea, PA [2011 Topps series 2]

Time for another case of detective work, this time from 2011 Topps series 2:

2011 Topps #501 Tsuyoshi Nishioka RC

Series 2 Topps finally has Nishi’s rookie card, and it features a play at the keystone. Can we tell exactly when this play occurred?

Well, here are some clues:
1) Twins are playing the Blue Jays; Jose Bautista is bearing down on second
2) Away uni, so they are playing in Toronto, and this is Nishi’s first year, so the photo is from early this season
3) Most certainly an attempt at a double play. From Alexi Casilla’s position in the background, it looks like he may have originally fielded the ball.

Once more I posted this at WGOM and the investigation was a no-brainer. In summary:
– while the Twins opened the season against the Blue Jays, the third game Bautista did not reach second base during the time Casilla played as a late defensive replacement, leaving April 1^st and April 2^nd as possibilities
– On April 2^nd, Bautista was not involved with any plays at second base, leaving…
– …April 1^st (no, it’s not an April Fool’s Joke) — in the bottom of the 6^th inning, Adam Lind grounds weakly to short, and Bautista is the lead out in a 6-4-3 DP to end the inning.

The Twins lost the opening day game in a Pavano-fuelled HR-fest, 13-3. Thank goodness things have improved since then

2011 WGOM Season Graphics

Well, normally I have the various season graphics in place before the season started, but it never happened this year, and, well, better late than never.

These are some of the ones I’ve built or gathered for use in the game logs at WGOM.org

Kevin Slowey:

Michael Cuddyer:

Joe Mauer:

Glen Perkins:

Delmon Young:

Alex Burnett:

NCIS: Grand Prairie, TX [1995 Pinnacle]

Before we get started: I was listening to the Twins game last night, and I made sure I had Baseball-Reference queued up for when the 4^th inning rolled around. I fired off an email with the answer to the Twins radio trivia question, and later heard my name announced as the winning answer — fourth time this season. Question? “On this date in 2005 against the Padres, which Twins player got his first major league RBI?” Answer: Glenn Williams

——————–
Stumbled over this card while going through a binder today, and considered it a prime prospect for another NCIS challenge:

1995 Score Pinnacle Artist Proof #91 Chuck Knoblauch

What can we uncover regarding the play on the front of this card?

My initial examination revealed:
1) Twins second baseman Chuck Knoblauch, and Detroit baserunner Lou Whitaker
2) it’s a day game and outside; must be at Detroit
3) initially looked like a stolen base attempt, but Lou is not someone who would be stealing, particularly in the second-to-last season of his career. We’re probably looking at an erroneous throw from the left side of the infield.

I challenged the regulars at WGOM with this one, and again they didn’t let me down. Here are their findings:
– the patch on Whitaker’s sleeve confirms that this play was from 1994
– Whitaker had no stolen base attempts against the Twins in 1994
– the only candidate for this play occurred in the bottom of the 7^th inning of this game on June 5^th, 1994.

Whitaker singled to lead off the inning. On a 1-1 count, Travis Fryman hit a ball between short and third; the throw to second was off the mark and Knobby had to leap for it — either a tough play or a generous offical scorekeeper, as it was ruled a single. Must have fired Knoblauch up though, as he hit his second homer of the game in the Twins’ half of the 8^th, the go-ahead and last of the Twins’ three runs. Interestingly, the first six runs scored in this game were all on solo home runs, but in the bottom half of the 8^th the Tigers took back the game for good. Carl Willis didn’t do Scott Erickson any favors in this one.

WGOM At Kauffman Stadium: Twins 6, Royals 0

Once more Gene and I scheduled a weekend trip to KC to see a Twins/Royals game at beautiful Kauffman Stadium. Unlike last year, we set up a tailgate party, invited several more of the WGOM gang, and unfortunately it was probably 40°F warmer.

It had hit 100°F the day before in St. Louis, so we had a bad feeling it would be a scorcher. We started setting up folding chairs and grill a bit after 10:30, and then folks played a little “where’s Waldo?” until everyone had located our location.

left to right: Rhubarb_Runner, Sheenie, Dread Pirate Will, Mrs. Mak, Big Mak, sean, MagUidhir, Gene, Joe

NCIS: Duryea, PA [2011 Topps Heritage]

Just picked up my first of this year’s Topps Heritage, and when I saw this card, I immediately considered it a great candidate for the next NCIS: Duryea, PA post:

2011 Topps Heritage #311 Derek Jeter

This was from a Target blaster. So, what can we uncover here?

Here’s what I noticed initially:
1) that’s backup catcher Drew Butera bearing down on Jeter
2) it’s a day game; makes sense for “Butters” to be catching
3) he’s not necessarily all that fast, yet he’s there with his take-out slide
4) take look at the ball in each frame

Once again the gang at WGOM has nailed this one. Here are the findings:
– Butera only played in New York on two occasions: May 15^th and May 16^th
– on the 16^th he was only used as a pinch runner for Jim Thome, and scored on Jason Kubel’s grand slam
– the only time he was on base in the other game was after a leadoff single in the top of the 8^th. He was out at second, but on a Denard Span 1-6 fielder’s choice.

So, it’s as was initially expected; Jeter does NOT make the double play. Looks like we can call BS on Topps for this one.