Twins vs. Orioles
Twins final stats:
Rays vs. Yankees
Rays Final Stats:
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Twins vs. OriolesWell, not exactly how the Twins wanted to start the season off, but it is what it is. I did see some good things today though, Carroll was really solid at shortstop, he made some great defensive plays. Chris Parmalee looked great at firstbase too, as a long time Twins fan, it is going to take some time getting used to not having Justin Morneau at first, but I think that Parmalee has a great future over at first. Josh Willingham ended his Twins debut with a 2-Run Homerun, which is good to see! I'm looking forward to this season still and I think that the Twins are still going to have success! Twins final stats: Rays vs. YankeesTHIS GAME WAS FUN! I didn't get to watch the game, but it was fabulous to keep track off! Loved how it started early on with them intentionally walking S-Rod to get to Carlos Pena and then he hits a grand slam! WELCOME HOME CARLOS PENA! What a cool moment, I saw a highlight of it and the Trop almost blew up! It went crazy! Yankees scored a couple of runs and the 9th inning magic was back! Desmond singled and then Zobrist tripled him home to tie the game and Mo blew the save. Then they Intentionally walked Longoria and Scott to get to S-Rod, who had a fantastic at-bat but ended up striking out. It was Carlos' turn again.. Could he do it again with the bases loaded? He didn't get a grand slam, but he got a single to win it for the Rays! I'm so glad that Carlos got to have a happy homecoming for the Rays, he is going to have a great season!
Rays Final Stats:
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Hello everybody! It's only a few days away from Opening Day and I have the excited went of letting everybody know that starting today and going hopefully throughtout the season, I am going to have a guest contributor to my blog once in awhile. Her name is Hannah (@hpacluv97) and she is a big baseball fan! I'm not sure how often or how many times she is going to blog for me, but I'm looking forward to combining our thoughts and hopefully covering some more teams for you guys this year! Here is Hannah's first blog: Tampa Bay Rays: Lineup: Adding people this offseason who can get on base and hit the ball,such as Jeff Keppinger and Luke Scott,and bringing back Carlos Pena will help the Rays gain more runs during games.As for the lineup as a whole,no one on the team had a batting average of over .280 last season.(Joyce had highest BA at .277,while Lobaton had the lowest at .176) If the Rays were to start hitting well enough to match other areas where they have high expertise (such as pitching) they may not only win more games,but possibly end up in the World Series. Bullpen: Going into the 2012 season,it looks like the Rays have been working very hard to have a strong bullpen.Adding Fernando Rodney and moving Wade Davis down to the bullpen will only make the bullpen stronger.As of right now,it looks like Kyle Farnsworth will be the main closer through the season.He saved 25 games last year and was injured part of the season.If he stays healthy,he will continue to be the main closer it looks like. Defense: There is no doubt that the Rays have a very strong defense system because they have amazing speed and accuracy.That being said, BJ Upton on the DL and Sam Fuld being out 4-5 months for surgery leaves the outfield in question.Right now,Jennings has the most speed in the outfield out of Joyce,Zobrist,and himself.When balls come their way,they're going to need to run and catch the ball.Having Jennings in center where he could run either way until BJ comes back is the Rays best option.Also,having veteran,Jose Molina,behind plate will help the Rays defensively as well. Starting Rotation:The Rays starting rotation is arguably the best in the AL and all of baseball.When you have a guy with a 4.09 ERA (Jeff Niemann) in the 5th starting postion,its a sign that you have a very strong rotation.James Shields had 11 complete games last season,Jeremy Hellickson was named AL rookie of the year,and Matt Moore didnt let a single run happen during the ALDS game 1 against the Rangers,and that was his 2nd game ever in the majors.David Price was in somewhat of a slump last year;if he has his mojo back there's no doubt in my mind he will be a candidate for the Cy Young. Final Verdict: If the Rays outfield suffers because of BJ and Fuld's injury, possibly trading Niemann or Davis for an outfielder will be the best option for the Rays.That being said,I'm positive the Rays will end up in the postseason. Atlanta Braves: Lineup: The Braves have strong bats in McCann and Freeman. This being Chipper's last season, one he comes back from surgery, if he does, I expect him to leave with a big band! As for Heyward, if he gets out of the slump he was in last season, and plays like he did in the 2010 season, he can help the Braces out a lot. For Uggla, if he's not in a slump, he will contribute a lot to the lineup, like last year when he went on a 30 day hitting streak! Bullpen: The Braves have a very strong bullpen with young arms, such as Venters and Craig Kimbrel, who had 47 saves in his first season in the majors. He also won NL Rookie of the Year. Christhain Martinez recently getting a DUI and possibly missing a few games, may hurt the bullpen. Defense: McCann is very good behind the plate and Freeman may possibly be an All-Star this year and play during the All-Star game because Pujols and Fielder moving to the AL. The Braves outfields are error prone and they need to go ahead and find a new 3rd basemen for when Chipper's on the DL and next year when Chipper retires. Rotation: Their rotation is pretty strong with Hanson, Hudson and Jurjens. The majority of their pitchers have decent speeds, but nothing really powerful. Although, they can get the job done in the NL East. Final Verdict:On paper, the Braves look like an obvious postseason candidate. They have problems playing under pressuse, look at last season when they had a 9 game lead on the Cardinals and blew it all in September and especially on September 28, 2011 against the Phillies, they lost in extra innings. Milwaukee Brewers: Lineup:Having slugger Ryan Braun on your team will help any team's lineup. Hart, Morgan, Gamel, Weeks and Braun all had batting averages over .255. Izturis and Ramirez have lower batting averages. Not having Prince Fielder in the lineup anymore may hurt the Brewers. Bullpen: The Brwers have two very strong cloers in John Axford, who has saves 71 games in his career and KRod (Francisco Rodriguez) who has saves 291 games in his career. Any team would want both of these closers on their team, because they can pitch out of most situations given to them. Defense: Not having Prince Fielder on first base will be the Brewers biggest challenge this year because not only did they lost a great defensie player, they also lost a leader in the clubhose. There outfield is pretty strong with both Hart and Braun having 2+ All-star selctions. Having Aramiz Ramirez on 3rd base was a good move for the Brewers because is very good at 3rd base and also has 2+ All-Star nominations. Basically, their defense can get the job done, but it's nothing special. Rotation: None of the Brewers starting pitchers (Gallardo, Greinke, Wolf, Marcum and Naverson) had ERA under 3.50.Being in the NL Central, the Brewers are very lucky that there was only one other strong team in their division, The Cardinals. The starting rotation isn't the Brewers strong point. Final Verdict: Even though they have strong bats and bullpen, if you don't have a strong starting rotation it can reck a team. It's possible that the Brewers make the postseason again, but by the looks of it, it's not very likely. As I was watching the Twins 30 clubs in 30 days last week, I decided to make a list of things that I think the Twins need to have a successful season and return to post season! I think that the Twins will have a chance in the AL Central this year, I don't see a reason why they couldn't. They are getting players like Josh Willingham and Ryan Doumit, but power hitters. They are also getting back MVP's Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer- who if are healthy can be everything for this team. Below is my list of things that the Twins need to have! Enjoy and there are only 7 days till Opening Day! 1)The first thing that I think it going to be very important to the Twins is the M & M boys. The importance of there health and productivity. They really need to stay healthy this year, they missed a lot of games last year and that obviously effected there numbers. A couple years back, when they were both healthy and slugging, they were incredible to watch. I felt like it was almost garunateed that something exciting would happen with either Jusitn Morneau or Joe Mauer. Last year, we rearely got to even see them in the line up together, that was disappointing as a Twins fan, but I like disappointing as an overall baseball fan cause they can truly be a dynamic duo. We all know that they have MVP and All-Star talent. I am extremely excited to watch the M & M boys back in action this season! 2)Another thing that I think is important for the Twins this season is to see what Matt Capps can do. Is he going to be the closer he was in 2010 when he came over? Or Matt Capps of the 2011 season? I am, along with almost everybody is hoping that Matt Capps is back to 2010 form because, he was actually solid. As a fan of the game, I'm going to forget about Matt Capps' bad season and just support him for a good 2012 season! 3) This is kind of a no brainer, that we need good pitching this year, but there is one pitcher that sticks out for me is Francisco Liriano. It is very intriguing because, he has had a fantastic spring this year and I think that Liriano still has a great arm and that he can still be a fantastic pitcher. I believe that he is going to be one of the key to success for the Twins this season, they need him to be the Francisco Liriano, when he was at his best, he just needs to keep calm and not get all wild like he tended to do last year, including the game that he threw his No-Hitter against the Chicago White Sox. 4) Brian Duensing moving to the bullpen is going to make our bullpen even stronger! He is definitely a great pitcher and he has actually had better numbers in the bullpen. He is going to be there to set up Matt Capps with Glen Perkins and he is going to have to have a lot of success, because the Twins have a virtually new bullpen compared to a few years ago. 5)Having a consistant 2B and SS combo is going to be so important! The Twins infield made so many errors last year and a lot of people think it is because the players never had a chance to get comfortable with each others style of play. There were so many different combo's in the middle infield. A lot of the Twins pitchers are groundout pitchers and it is going to be so important for them to have a second baseman and shortstop to be comfortable, with simple things like the fundamentals. Vote here! This weeks player of the week has been absolutely on fire this week and I guess this whole Spring Training. He is 4 home runs this Spring and 13 RBIs. He actually hit a home run right before I made this blog, ironic! He has been playing quite a bit and has just been racking up the hits. He has 15 hits this Spring, is batting .361. This week's player of the week is Luke Hughes.
Luke Hughes is battling for a job in the big leagues this year, and he has made quite the case for himself. His numbers aren't only impressive, but he has versatility and can play a few different positions. This could be something that might help him make the big league roster. Nothing is for sure right now, he still might start the season in AAA. His game on March 24th was a great game, he went 5-for-5 in the Twins 19-4 victory. Luke Hughes is leading the team in home runs and RBI's this spring. Player of the Week- Luke Hughes! p.s. Sorry that this blog is so short and not colorful like the rest, I've been extremely busy the last few days with sickness, and taking care of some stuff with family and schoolwork so I didn't have a bunch of time to look at stats or edit this blog, there are probably a lot of spelling errors, but atleast it was done. Have a great week! -Morgan. I had spring break last week and I decided that, that would be a good time to do another Q & A! I had lots of time to ask questions and with lots of baseball players tweeting because of Spring Training. As I'm sure that most of you know, I was asking questions when someone told me that my questions were being featured on MLB! I was asking questions off of my photography account so not a lot of people would see the answers from the athletes. Obviously a lot of people ended up seeing because my questions were on MLB! I think that this was super cool and it made me really happy. I did get more answers after so only four the answers were on the website. I'm not really sure when my next Q & A is going to be, mainly because I'm running out of questions to ask, so you can tweet me With "Q & A idea:" so I know what you are talking about! Brian Duensing (@BrianDuensing52) - Thome's 600th homer LaTroy Hawkins (@LaTroyHawkins32) - Perfect game David Wells 5-17-97 I think Adam Jones (@simplyaj10)- Manny's 500th bomb David Freese(@dfreese23) - Big Mac's 500 & 501. Gwynn just missed 3000, same night Jeremy Guthrie (@jguthrie46) - Jeter becoming Yankee's all-time hit king. David Hernandez (@DHern_30) - Jeter breaking the all time Yankee hit record Brandon McCarthy(@BMcCarthy32) - without thinking about it further, prob Buehrle's no-hitter Elliot Johnson (@ElliotJohnson9) - Jeter's 3000th hit is up there. Eric Young Jr. (@EYJr) - My dad retiring a Rockie #sorryimbias :) Anthony Bass (@AnthonyBass45)- Trevor Hoffman's retirement ceremony at Petco Park in 2011 Brad Ziegler (@bradziegler) - Sept 16, 1996... was a soph in HS... Saw Paul Molitor's 3000th hit at Kaufmann Stadium in KC. Ryan Howard (@ryanhoward) - not so much on milestones, but doc halliday's perfect game, and of course a world series ring. Now I know that I didn't get as many replies as I normally do, but I don't have much time anymore now that I'm returning to school, so I thought I would just blog the answers that I do have! Happy Spring! :)
Time for week number two of Player of the Week, the Twins played a game every single day this week and sometimes even had two games. The player of the week this week is someone that I've actually never even heard of till Spring Training this year but this player has had a fantastic week. Yesterday he went 4-for-4 (4 singles) with an intentional walk. He is batting .571 with 8 hits and 4 RBI's this Spring. The Player of the Week for the week of March 12th-March 18th is Mike Hollimon. I'm not sure if I was just out of the loop or what, but I hadn't heard of him till this year's Spring Training, he plays 2nd base and will most likely not make the team out of the Spring Training, but he is definitely looking like his bat in Major League ready. As for I don't know much about Mike, I don't really have any other information about him other then he is making a name for himself! Player of the Week- Mike Hollimon Alright, so I'm going to start a blog that is going to be published weekly. It is going to be called Player of the Week, this is going to most likely be based just on the Twins since that is the team that I pay the most attention too, I may occasianly base it on another team if there is something really noteworthy. This is just going to be based on what I think, I will write a blog with a few stats, intereting facts and why they won the Player of the week award. The post isn't going to have a certain day to be posted but I'm assuming either Saturday or Sundays. I will hopefully have some other things to blog about as well, but I was always post a Player of the Week. This weeks player of the week is based off of Spring Training, clearly, because the regular season hasn't started. This player is entering his 3rd season with the Twins, in the big leagues. He has proven to have a lot of power and in his rookie season, he proved that he could hit for average too. He was one of the very few people last year, that kept healthy for most of the season. He has been working hard this offseason and he is appearing to look great so far in Spring Training, he has played in 6 games and is hitting .353. He is also proving that his power hasn't left him yet. For the week of March 4th- March 11th, the Player of the Week is Danny Valencia. Danny Valencia has hit 2 home runs, actually in back-to-back days and has 5 RBI's already in Spring Training. Danny has had some very interesting tweets lately on twitter, much brings me to the point that you should all follow Danny on twitter. Danny also changed his number from 19, to 22 this season. Maybe that's what is bringing all of his good luck! On the broadcast the other day, Dick and Bert talked about how Danny has realized that the critism that the coaches have been giving him, is just to help him, I'm hoping that he has a successful and productive year this year for the Minnesota Twins. Follow him on Twitter, unsure why he is still @dannyvalencia19 , but he still is. Player of the Week- Your Twins 3rd basemen, Number 22, Danny Valencia!
Woo! I'm excited, this is my first ever 1 on 1 Q & A. Instead of asking a bunch of players questions and gathering them for a blog, I contacted Michael Schlact via twitter and asked him if he would do a Q & A! He said "Of course!" right away! He is a great guy and I'm very happy that he he agreed to do a Q & A with me! He is very fan friendly on Twitter and always has time to reply to fans and talk baseball! He is a current free agent but spent some time with the Texas Rangers. Enjoy! Q:What is your all-time favorite baseball memory? A: It has to be when I was drafted. That was the culmination of all the hard work I'd put in throughout my amateur career. Q: Favorite player growing up? Or your role model? A: I grew up watching a lot of Braves baseball. John Smoltz was my favorite player. He did a lot of good in the community also! Q: What was it like spending some time with Texas? A: I lived there from 2007 - 2010 playing baseball, and I loved it. The people, food, baseball, everything. Q: What is it like playing independent ball? A: The league I was in, the Atlantic League, was a AAA level league. It had lots of former big leaguers, great stadiums, and high level of competition. Q: Favorite thing to do in the off season? A: Travel and see new places and visit family. We love relaxing! Q: Obviously, it is awesome to play for any big league team, but if there was one team that you really want to play for, who would it be? A: I'd go anywhere with an opportunity. The Braves are my hometown team, so I'd like that a lot. Q: Favorite city to visit? Or favorite vacation destination? A:My wife and I had our honeymoon in Maui. It doesn't get any better than that! I'm so happy that I finally got to do my first Q & A with a player, I hope that I have a lot more to do soon. You shall all go follow Michael on twitter now @michael_schlact ! I want to start off this blog by saying. What I am about to say is my OPINION. Although there are some facts, most of the following is what I believe.
Ryan Braun was proved innocent today. And that is really all that matters. To me, It doesn't make any sense why MLB "Vehemently disagrees". I believe that Ryan Braun is innocent, I believe that he went through the process unfairly. There have been 12 cases before Ryan Braun that players have tested positive and didn't win their appeal. Although, there is one BIG difference between their cases and Ryan's. Braun's test was released...Never did they release ANY of the other players test until after they were proved guilty. Although it is unsure who released the "positive test" information, but it was incredibly unfair to Ryan. This is the #1 thing wrong with the process. I'm not saying all this because I like Ryan Braun, I really do believe that Ryan is innocent. It was reported earlier that his test sample wasn't even sent to the test place until 2 days after he took the test. That is the #2 Thing wrong with the process. Although we don't know what Ryan said in his appeal, we just know that Braun won't be serving a 50 game suspension at the beginning of the 2012 season. I was writing down some thoughts while reading the tweets & watching MLB Network that I thought were interesting.
I think I am going to end this by saying that no matter what happens, Braun is innocent and that he is going to play this year. I think that it is going to be hard for Braun to get his image back because no everyone is going to believe his case. I, as a big baseball fan, believe that he is innocent and I wish him nothing but the best of luck. Everyone, NL MVP or not, is innocent until proven guilty. I've had a little break from school and since all the catchers and pitchers are reporting to camp, I'm getting really excited for baseball. I decided that I was going to do a random post about some of my random thoughts. I was thinking about some of the offseason trades and free agent signings. Some of them are more important than others. I've combined some of my favorites and some of the most interesting or shocking of the offseason.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________ I know that, that is just a few of the off season signings that took place. Those are the most interesting to me, I'm extremely excited for the season to start because I can't wait to see how all these players produce with their new teams! Who are you looking forward to watching the most this season? |