Category: J.A. Happ

December 6, 2021

For the Twins, a shrewd deal to retain Buxton and a head-scratcher for pitcher Bundy

The Twins front office showed off some excellent negotiating skills to retain and extend outfielder Byron Buxton, keeping the brilliant but often injured Buxton in Minnesota on a seven-year, $100 million deal. Frankly, it’s a steal of a deal for the Twins who agreed to a number of incentives on paper that could pay Buxton... Continue Reading »

July 31, 2021

Twins trade Jose Berrios, Happ and others on busy deadline day

It wasn’t a rebuild, but the Twins certainly retooled — to borrow a word from president of baseball operations, Derek Falvey — sending a handful of players to other teams on Friday, including a bit of a shocker: Right-handed pitcher, Jose Berrios, the homegrown Twin who compiled a record of 55-43 with a 4.08 ERA... Continue Reading »

July 29, 2021

Hit all the home runs you want, but it means very little if you can’t stop the other team

In the end, it always comes down to good pitching. And the Twins simply do not have enough of it. Despite hitting seven home runs, including another grand slam, and rallying from a 10-0 deficit, Twins pitching couldn’t shut the door on the Detroit Tigers who went on to win 17-14, taking two of three... Continue Reading »

July 19, 2021

All is not well in Twins Territory

The Twins headed into the break with a 7-2 record against the Detroit Tigers. Unfortunately, they emerged from it at 7-5 after they were swept by the Tigers on Saturday and Sunday. This is not a good sign. The Twins, other than all-stars Nelson Cruz and Taylor Rogers, essentially had the week off to rejuvenate... Continue Reading »

July 9, 2021

Finally, a little offense for the Twins

The Twins scored five runs against the Detroit Tigers on Thursday, which wouldn’t normally be cause for celebration, but it is in this case because the Minnesota club scored only two runs over two games against the Chicago White Sox, both of which were losses (no surprise). The Twins fell behind early, then rallied to... Continue Reading »

July 4, 2021

So much for making a stand against the AL Central

A week ago there was optimism. The Twins had taken two of three games from the Cleveland Indians, improved to 10 games under .500, moved as high as third place in the division, and facing a new month of games against division rivals, it appeared that maybe, just maybe, the Twins were ready to turn... Continue Reading »

June 28, 2021

Twins rebound nicely after Game 1 dud

The Twins lost to the Cleveland Indians on Thursday, mustering all of six hits in the 4-1 loss at Target Field. After the 10-7 loss on Tuesday to the Reds, it amounted to two straight losses and a feeling that the Twins really aren’t ready for prime time. But they won 8-7 on Friday and... Continue Reading »

June 12, 2021

Momentum, if you want to call it that, quickly extinguished after Twins lose to Astros

There was a lot of talk about “momentum” after the Twins’ thrilling, come from behind win over Aroldis Chapman and the New York Yankees Thursday night. Losing 5-3 going into the bottom of the ninth, the Twins hit back-to-back two-run home runs to first tie the game and then won it in walk-off fashion, 7-5.... Continue Reading »

June 4, 2021

Yeah, whatever

Is it any wonder the Twins are losing when so many of their players are hurt? Here’s the injured list: Caleb Thielbar, Max Kepler, Mitch Garver, Byron Buxton, Rob Refsnyder, Kenta Maeda, Luis Arraez and Devin Smeltzer. And when you have that many injured players you call up rookie prospects to fill those holes, and... Continue Reading »

Hi, I’m Rolf Boone, Twins fan.

I became a fan of the Minnesota Twins after a friendly wager in the early 1980s. I survived Ron Davis, the meltdown in Cleveland, Phil Bradley at the Kingdome and then marveled at a rising generation of stars and two World Series wins in 1987 and 1991. Brad Radke made the 1990s bearable, while Kirby Puckett’s eye injury, exit from the game and eventual death made it almost too much to bear. The new century ushered in more talent — Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau — and consecutive seasons of playoff baseball, followed by consecutive seasons of losing baseball. A winning season returned in 2015. So here we are. Go Twins.