Twins swept in KC

The Twins had just come from Baltimore after taking 2 out of 3 from the Orioles. The Twins move onto Kansas City with a chance to stay in first in the division. How will the 2013 Twins fare in KC?

Twins pitcher Kevin Correia had pitched such a good game going into the 7^th inning with a shutout. The Twins offense just did not support him. It is easy to be a manager from the couch as the question has to be asked. Did Correia stay into long? He pitched so well it was just a shame hoe had to lose it. It is still encouraging to see a starter have a game like this.

The next day Twins pitcher on the mound, Mike Pelfrey  who went to college at Wichita State University which is about 200 miles from the Royals stadium. It is his first start in this stadium and with friends and relatives to watch the game go south quickly giving up 5 runs in the first inning.

The first 5 Royals got hits and all 5 scored. The last time Kansas City did this was April 2007. I felt so bad for Mike to have people there to watch him and disaster.

I did like the power the Twins had in hitting 3 home runs with Joe Mauer, Josh Willingham and Eduardo Escobar all going deep. The other bright spot was Escobar not only hitting a home run, which was part of a 3 for 4 for the night.

The attendance difference in the two days was quite drastic. The home opener for the Royals a little over 40.000 were in the stands and it was a 3:10 game. The next game was 7:10 start and 11,000 people were there. A difference of 29,000 is crazy or maybe I am wrong to think this way.

Twins first 2 series had lost game one and won game two and three. This time in Kansas City get swept and now return home to face the New York Mets.

The Twins end the series losing by way of a shutout. The first 2 inning alone Twins have bases loaded and could not score. It was later in the game Trevor Plouffe gets a triple and is stranded. The left on base numbers was embarrassing. Thank God the season is early and the team has a chance to keep working on hitting.

The game had to be miserable for the players to play in.  The game appeared to be played in the London fog in appearance. The center field camera made it look so cool. The shot of right fielder, Chris Parmalee wearing a face mask and only his eyes were visible. What a sight!!!

I give the fans credit that were at the game. All I have to say is wow, that is some dedication. The Royals seep the Twins in a series that seemed to have a theme of the Twins just not getting the hit they needed.

Home sweet home and the Twins will be fine. Baseball is back and I am thrilled. Win or lose,it is a never ending subject to talk about.

Thanks for reading

Purplestick

 

Wild come up short in return to the X

The Wild, coming off a long road trip are back to home sweet home and the opponent at the X, the first place Chicago Black Hawks.

Minnesota goalie, Niklas Backstrom is coming off a game where he recorded a shutout. The last time Backstrom faced the Black Hawks he was pulled after one period giving up 4 goals. The question is how would he do against the fast skating and tremendously talented Black Hawk squad this time? Can he get back to back shutouts?

The answer in my opinion, he was outstanding. The only goal he gave up was the result of a terrible pass coming out of the zone. Marian Hossa intercepts a terrible pass and made the Wild pay. A guy who has been in the league since the late 90’s just is too talented to give him any sniff of the net.

I thought one of Niklas’s biggest saves of the night came against Patrick Kane coming in on Backstrom one on one. It could have been easily 2-0.

The ice Tuesday night seemed so slanted to the Minnesota end. It was hard to watch the Black Hawks dominate like they did. The shots on goal were one sided and the scoring chances as well. If Backstrom did not play an A game the score could have easily been 4 or 5 to 0.

It is only one loss but with 9 games left the Wild just put that much more pressure on them making Thursday’s next game against St. Louis. It is a must win especially at home. The last time Minnesota played St. Louis, the Blues played a hard hitting and physical game.

A loss sometimes is hard to find positives, but Tuesday I felt there needed to be some praise. The play of Backstrom kept the team in the game I mentioned already. The two Wild penalty kills went extremely well. The Black Hawks have so many snipers but did not have any success at least in Tuesday’s game. The hustle the team showed was much needed and as a fan I appreciate the effort.

The line of Koivu, Parise and Pominville I really thought would be more of a factor. The line that gets my headlines in this game was the fourth line of Torrey Mitchell, Zenon Konopka and Mike Rupp. These guys played an A game. Rupp took a bad penalty but other than that their hustle even the commentators made comments.

It is time to look ahead for the Wild. It was hard watching them skate off after the loss looking so down. The team is home and can get rest and more practice time. There can be no excuses if the team cannot get up for the next game. I am confident they will not let us down.

Let’s GO WILD!!!!!!

Thanks for reading

Purplestick

 

10 and counting left for the Wild regular season

The Wild after their win Sunday are in 6^th place in a tight West Conference. Here is a look at the standings after Sunday’s play.

1 Chicago 62 pts

2 Anaheim 57

3 Vancouver 48

4 Los Angeles 48

5 San Jose 47

6 Minnesota 46

7 St. Louis 44

8 Detroit 43

9 Phoenix 40

10 Dallas, Edmonton and Columbus all have 39 points

Here is a look at the final 10 games in the Wild Season

Apr 9- Chicago Black Hawks

Apr 11- St. Louis Blues

Apr 13- Columbus Blue Jackets

Apr 15 at Calgary

Apr 16 at Edmonton

Apr 18 at San Jose

Apr 21 Calgary

Apr 23 Los Angeles

Apr 26 Edmonton

Apr 27 at Colorado

10 games left with 6 at home and 4 on the road

The team plays 8 of the 10 games against top 10 in the West. This is setting up for a dog fight for playoff position.

Playoff set up:  1 vs. 8   2 vs. 7   3 vs. 6   4 vs. 5

Who do you want to see the Wild play in the first round of the playoffs on their way to the Stanley Cup Finals?

Thanks for reading

Purplestick

 

 

 

Wild end cross country road trip on a postive note

The Minnesota Wild concluded a 3 game road trip going from west to east in a period of 5 days with a game in Columbus Sunday.

The last 2 games just have been tough to watch as the Wild were falling behind quickly. Thursday in Los Angeles the Wild got shut out for the first time all year to complicate things even further. It is time for a break.

The team finally had a couple days off,so how would they look Sunday night?  Can the Wild get out front for the first time on the road trip?

Wild goalie, Backstrom was pulled after giving up two goals on two shots Thursday. The question is how will he look between the pipes against the Blue Jackets?

 

The Columbus Blue Jackets come into the game going 9-0-3 the last 12 home games. Backstrom is 16-0-2 after getting pulled. There is so much on the line with the season coming to a close.

 

The first period I saw good signs as the Wild appeared to have their legs and although the Blue Jackets did not have many shots on goal, Backstrom looked better.

Columbus is 5^th in the league with a 86 percent penalty kill rate. The Wild go 2 for 3 on the power play tonight.  It has got to be the Wild’s night, I thought and hoped.

The Wild passing was sharp and the results were two beautiful power play goals. New addition Pominville no look behind the back pass to Suter who deposited the puck in the net was a great start to the scoring.

 

The second power play goal was again a work of art watching Mikael Granlund made beautiful feed to Charlie Coyle to give the Wild a 2-0 lead. The power play looked so much better Sunday.

The last hand full of the games the Wild penalty kill was weak giving up to many goals. The game in Columbus the Wild worked so hard and went 4 for 4 killing penalties. What a relief to see the effort and tenacity by all involved on the penalty kill.

Jason Pominville showed Sunday why the Wild gave up so much to get him. The pass setting up Suter’s goal and the final goal of the night as Parise set up Jason to slam it in giving him his first goal as a Wild and his first multi point game for his new team. It is only his 2^nd game in a Wild uniform and look at the results. The nice thing to know is in time the number one line will get better with each shift they skate together.

Backstrom gets a shutout after being yanked in the Los Angeles. It is so nice to have a goalie who can overcome adversity.

It is a fun night to be a Wild fan as we watch our team jump to 6^th in the Wild West Conference.

 

The team now comes home for 3 home games starting Tuesday with the Black Hawks coming to the X.

 

A great team win!!!!!!

 

Thanks for reading

Purplestick

 

Twins break drought in Baltimore

The Twins come into Baltimore for the first road trip of the year. The Orioles were a playoff team last season and expected to be tough again. How will the Twins fare?

One of my disappointments of the Twins was trading JJ JHardy to Baltimore after the 2010 season. Friday he was presented a Golden Glove award for his play at shortstop last season.  The power he displayed as an Oriole is tough to watch as well.

Friday I came home from work and the Twins were up 4-1 and I thought this was awesome and what a way to start the road trip.

One of the areas of strengths in the Detorit series was the bullpen. Friday Casey Fien and Tyler Robertson did not fare so well. The Twins got to watch history as Oriole’s slugger Chris Davis hit his 4^th home run of the year off Robertson. A grand slam and a dagger in my heart as he becomes the 4^th player in baseball history  joining Willie Mays, Mark McGwire and Nelson Cruz to hit a home run in the first four games of the season.

It is only one game and the Twins are still in first place. A bright spot was the bottom of the order had a good day. Hitters 7-9 went 5 for 12 with Chris Parmaleee, Brian Dozier and Eduardo Escobar doing the damage.

Game 2 of the series Twins jump out to a lead but once again the Orioles come back to tie it up again. The hero of this game in my eyes goes to reliever Josh Roenicke pitching 3 innings of 1 hit ball.

Parmalee after having a nice day Friday provides the Twins with a big home run early in the game.  This could be a future great asset to have with a player in the lower part of the batting order with power.

The Twins although early in the season are able to get runs late in the game. Today Justin Morneau comes through in the 9^th to help with the win.

Roenicke pitched great but now add on new Twins closer Glen Perkins comes in and mows the Orioles down 1-2-3. Game over, Twins win!!!!

A Twins win was the first in Baltimore since April 21, 2011. Minnesota teams of late are very good at breaking bad streaks as I refer to the Wild breaking long losing streaks on the road in Vancouver, Detroit and Dallas. Way to go Twins!!!

Sunday’s game once again this young team finds a way to win the game. The Twins come from behind then 2 relief pitchers for the Twins come in and dominate. Jared Burton and closer Glen Perkins both came in and threw nasty pitches making the Orioles hitters look foolish.

Two big plays today late was the bunt by Brian Dozier successfully advancing the base runners and pinch hitter Parmalee sacrifice fly.

Rookie Aaron Hicks comes in with his last at bat of the game with a 1-25 start. What does he do? He gets a single and an rbi.

One coincidence in both series with the Tigers and now Orioles is Hicks gets a hit in his last bat of the series and each hit has provided at least one rbi. His struggling is hard to watch but the guy just does not quit. I am pulling for him to get out of this awful stretch to start.

The Twins won a series over Detroit at home for the first time since 2010. Sundays win gave the Twins their first series win in Baltimore since July of 2010.

It is only 6 games but 3 firsts have occurred already with first win in Baltimore and first series win over Detroit and Baltimore in 2 years.

Do we have something brewing? It is not the name Morneau, Willingham, Mauer yet consistently. It is Parmalee, Dozier, Burton, Perkins and the rest of the team. Batters 1-9, who will be the next hero as the Twins move on to Kansas City?

Thanks for reading

Purplestick

 

Congrats to Coach Adelman for win 1000

A year that started out with high hopes for the Wolves as Ricky Rubio was back. The signing of Chase Budinger and Brandon Roy to go along with Kevin Love and the rest of the gang has not turned out like I was hoping for.

The injury bug hit had watching Kevin Love miss most of the season along with Roy and Budinger. All teams seem to go through it but in the Wolves case just could not get enough wins to get in the playoffs.

I am very happy the way the team has fought the last month picking up some very impressive wins along the way.

 Friday night April 5^th was so disappointing for 2 reasons. The first is Coach Adelman sitting with 999 wins and the team is home to Toronto. Would you not know it was one of four games not televised all season? The Wolves lose a close one so stay tuned for the next game.

Saturday night the Detroit Pistons come to town for another chance at the elusive 1000^th win for Coach.

The injuries and add in Coach Adelman’s personal leave earlier in the season made Saturday night win that much more special. Coach was rewarded as he joins 7 other coaches with this huge accomplishment.

A home game was great for Minnesota fans to get to say thank you in person. This might be his finest coaching job with the Wolves to date.

Thanks Coach and Congratulations

Thanks for reading

Purplestick

New fun at the Metrodome Saturday night

Minnesota sport scene now has a new team. The team is called Minnesota United FC. The first game of their existence was played Saturday night at the Metrodome at 7pm.

The United are part of the National Soccer League and their first opponent wash the San Antonio Scorpions.

I went up to take the game in with my wife and daughter and came away thoroughly impressed with what we saw.

I bought general admission tickets on line for 6.00 for students and 12.00 for adults and at the gate I found out it was 14.00 and 8.00.

The gates opened at 5:30 and we made our way to the area designated for general admission. There were sections for people who paid a little more to sit in assigned seating which was about the area of the 50 yard line. Fans also could purchase tickets on the sidelines.

We sat 5 rows off the field and had a very good view. The attendance number was 6,754 which does not sound like much. The fans that were in attendance I find were very knowledgeable about the game of soccer. The amount of different color soccer shirts and jerseys kids were to the game was fun to see.

The game went 94 minutes and ended in a 0-0 tie.  The chances both teams has made the game so intense including both teams hitting the cross bar. The shots on goal were 5 for each side. The score 0-0 and only 10 shots on goal total would think maybe boring? No way, the skill players showed was so impressive.

I looked to the left a few sections and saw the San Antonio fans. There were 10-12 of them waving their team flags. I am impressed with that kind of dedications from those few of fans.

The United fans were loud and fun to be a part of. There were blow up sticks given out to people. The noise those sticks made were ringing throughout the sections.

The game ended and the fans made their way to the railing just above the field. The United players all had sharpies and made their way thanking fans and signing autographs. My daughter got the whole team and left so happy.

If you love soccer then this is the place for you. If you want to check it out go to their website at mnunitedfc.com for more info and schedule.

Thanks for reading

Purplestick