Results tagged ‘ Dan Gladden ’
Two Good Teams
This past weekend, the Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves (both leaders of their respective divisions) played some hard-fought games that brought to mind another series between each club that you might remember:
On Friday night, Francisco Liriano and Tim Hudson locked horns in an epic pitchers duel (I was at this one in person!). Frankie struck out seven batters in a row at one point (tying a club record), and the Twins did Hudson in with one productive inning in the seventh.
For Saturday’s game, another pitching lockup commenced, this time with Nick Blackburn taking the hard-luck loss to Derek Lowe.
In the finale, Kevin Slowey came back down to earth after a series of outstanding starts, and the Twins effectively lost after the second inning (down 5-0). Delmon Young did continue his hot hitting with a three-run bomb, though.
Notes:
-It was nice to see the Twins organization recognize Bobby Cox before the opening game of the series (Cox has announced his retirement from managing effective at the end of this season). He truly is a class act who will be sorely missed by Atlanta and all MLB.
-Boy, is Delmon ever on a tear! Of course, he is also prone to those bone-dry stretches as well, so is it really necessary to re-hash the Garza/Bartlett for Young/Harris trade every time he goes on a streak?!
-We need to get healthy. We may be able to beat some NL clubs (like the incoming Rockies) with the likes of Danny Valencia and Trevor Plouffe in the lineup, but we need O-Dawg and JJ back to compete with the big boys offensively.
Preview (36-27, 1st, 2.5 GA DET): Aaron Cook (2-3, 4.76) vs. Carl Pavano (6-6, 3.92). Does Pavano ever get a no-decision? I’m kidding…that’s actually a positive thing, as it means he’s pitching deep into games.
Twins News X 2
First off, Jacque Jones is back (to a minor league deal, of course)! Talk about hedging the bet with Delmon Young.
Also…
Greg Gagne was recently inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame. I know he was around for two World Series titles (of course, so were Dan Gladden, Randy Bush, and Allan Anderson, for that matter), but this seems like a pretty big reach to me. Perhaps the lack of a steady SS presence since Gags was a factor, but I’d like to hear from some Twins fans who remember him “in his prime”.
The New “Voice Of The Twins”
Until he passed away a year or so ago, Herb Carneal was known as the “voice of the Twins”, as he had essentially (he might have missed one season) been with the Twins since they moved from Washington in 1961. A week or so ago, it was announced that the Twins signed current radio broadcaster John Gordon to an extension, keeping him with the team at least through the 2010 season (the first in Target Field).
While older folks will also consider Carneal to be the greatest Twins broadcaster, I would have to give that nod to “Gordo”. Not only does he have a “charismatic voice”, but he can also make any situation exciting (“down by nine, bottom of the ninth, Mariano Rivera on the mound…let’s get those rally caps on!). I don’t miss too many televised Twins games during the season, but when I do I don’t feel as if I am being short-changed, and that, to me, is the sign of a great radio broadcaster.
Dan “Dazzle Man” Gladden will again be joining Gordon in the broadcast booth next season, while his replacements may include Jack Morris and Kris Atteberry.
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