Minnesota Twins Daily Morning Dip: Ode To Joy

Minnesota Twins Daily Dip, October 14th, 2017

Welcome to the October 14th edition of the Daily Dip, your daily piece of news and notes here on Puckett’s Pond, offseason edition. You’ll find the most recent news of the Minnesota Twins organization, stories from around the game, and links to any information you may want to know about the Minnesota Twins or baseball as we work our way through the hot stove season!

Minnesota Twins Scores, News and Notes

Surprise hosted Glendale Friday, losing 7-6. The Desert Dogs scored 4 in the first inning, but Surprise fought back to finish the game down one run with the bases loaded. Chris Paul had a very good game, going 2-4 with a double and a walk, scoring two runs and driving in one. Andrew Vasquez threw a perfect inning with a strikeout. Tyler Jay threw a scoreless inning, allowing a hit and striking out 1. Surprise will play at Scottsdale at 8:30PM CT this evening.

Playoff games yesterday

Houston Astros 2, New York Yankees 1
Two of the best offenses in the game in 2017 got together, and, of course, pitching ruled the day. The Astros were able to piece together a pair of runs in the 4th inning, while the Yankees’ entire scoring was a solo home run from Greg Bird off of Ken Giles in the 9th inning, ending the Astros’ bid at a shutout. Dallas Keuchel was dominant, going 7 scoreless innings, allowing 4 hits and a walk, striking out 10. Jose Altuve went 3-4 with a stolen base.

Game 2 of the series will be today in Houston.

Playoff games today

New York Yankees @ Houston Astros, 3:00PM CT
Starting Pitchers: Luis Severino vs. Justin Verlander
Television: Fox
Series Standing: Astros lead 1-0

Chicago Cubs @ Los Angeles Dodgers, 7:00PM CT
Starting Pitchers: TBD (Jose Quintana, per Bob Nightengale) vs. Clayton Kershaw
Television: TBS
Season Series: Dodgers won season series 4-2

Notes from around baseball

Next: Twins keep Molitor, let go Allen

One Last Thing

In one month, we’ll be at the 14th anniversary of one of the most important trades for the Minnesota Twins in the last 20 years. On November 14th, 2003, the Twins made a trade with the San Francisco Giants that sent away starting catcher A.J. Pierzynski for Giants middle reliever Joe Nathan along with two pitching prospects, highly-regarded former first-rounder Boof Bonser and “throw in” upside flyer Francisco Liriano.

Twins fans largely recognize that deal now for Nathan and Lirano being involved, but most forget about Bonser, in spite of one of the best names in baseball (BOOF!). I know I wasn’t the only one who was an occasional listener to the KFAN morning show with Mike Morris while Bonser was on the team, but tuned in every one of his starting days, knowing his producer would play the “Boof” spoof song over and over at various times during the show.

Bonser worked his way to the major leagues in 2006 and was solid as a starter, but he struggled to keep that success with the Twins. He was traded to the Red Sox after the 2009 season, and he bounced around to four more organizations before his baseball odyssey ended in 2013. Bonser had a great personality, and it is fitting that the one video of Boof on the Twins that is found on YouTube is his part in the “Ode to Joy” commercial that is still one of my personal favorites.

Bonser went 18-25 over 96 games (60 starts) with the Twins from 2006-2008, throwing 391 2/3 innings, with a 5.12 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, and a 125/317 BB/K ratio.

Happy birthday, Boof!

Home/Minnesota Twins News