Uffdah! They Needed That One!

also found at SethSpeaks.net…

Just wanted to take a moment to discuss last night’s Live Podcast. I want to thank all of you who took the time to listen in. I want to apologize to all of you that took the time to answer in. At the 17:55 mark of the show, right in the middle of what was shaping into a very good interview with LaVelle E Neal, something happened. I really don’t know what. It was some sort of technical issue. It took me almost 10 minutes to get back on, and even once I did, I wasn’t sure what had happened. So, if you haven’t listened to the podcast yet, please click here. But again, at the 17:55 mark, it will go silent. However, you can scroll the player to the 27:50 mark where the interview with Ft. Myers Media Relations Director Gary Sharp begins. It actually goes quite well the rest of the way. The live show lasted until 9:00, but Roger Dehring and I stayed online about another half hour, so the podcast did go on. If I were to take out that 10 minute blank section, I think the show went really well and now I look forward to doing another show in the near future. 

Wow! The Twins really needed to win yesterday afternoon. It wasn’t easy, and there were plenty of tense moments, but in the end, they got the win, and coupled with the White Sox loss, the Twins are just one game back of Chicago again. Glen Perkins improved to 12-3 despite giving up four runs on eight hits and two walks in seven innings. Two of the hits were big home runs, a two run shot by Jose Lopez and solo homer by Raul Ibanez. The outing Denard Span played hero. He went 2-5 with a two run double, but just as important, he threw out pinch runner Tug Hulett at home in the bottom of the eighth to preserve a one run lead. That play helped keep Eddie Guardado from playing the goat. Guardado got two outs and gave up a run on three hits. Jason Kubel played hero, driving in a run with a double in the top of the 8th to tie the game. Brian Buscher came off of the bench and after a pitching change brought in a left-handed reliever, he hit a two run single that gave the Twins the lead. Justin Morneau had two hits. Randy Ruiz hit behind Morneau and went 2-3 with a walk. Nick Punto was also 2-3 with a walk. Joe Nathan recorded his 36th save with a perfect ninth inning.

 

The Twins now start a four game series against the Oakland A’s. They will face left-handed starting pitchers in all four games. The Twins will send Nick Blackburn, Kevin Slowey, Francisco Liriano and Scott Baker against Dana Eveland, Dan Meyer, Dallas Braden and Greg Smith. The A’s have been pretty bad since the All Star break, and you can see from the roster that they are building for the future. Carlos Gonzalez is going to be a star. I think Cliff Pennington makes Bobby Crosby very expendable. Like the Mariners, this A’s team will be trying to play the role of spoiler the rest of this season. This is a series that should see the Twins win three out of four games. But again, that’s why they play the games, right?     

 

What are your thoughts on the upcoming series with the A’s? What do the Twins need to do?

 

Twins Minor League Updates

Wednesday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Drew Butera, New Britain Rockcats
Wednesday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Kyle Aselton, New Britain Rockcats

 

ROCHESTER REPORT
Wednesday – Rochester 4, Syracuse 2 – Philip Humber continued to impress with another strong start in this game. He gave up two runs on eight hits in seven innings. He walked none and struck out four. Amazingly, he threw just 79 pitches in those seven innings. Ricky Barrett got his batter out. Bobby Korecky gave up a walk and a hit in 1.2 innings, but no runs, to record his 26th save. Howie Clark went 2-4 with his sixth triple. Alejandro Machado went 2-4 with his 12th stolen base. Trevor Plouffe was also 2-4.

 

NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Wednesday – New Britain 2, Portland 0 – Kyle Aselton was incredible on this night. The lefty went the first 7.1 innings and gave up no runs on three hits. He walked nobody and struck out eight. Rob Delaney came in for the next four outs. Jose Mijares got the final two outs to record his second Rockcat save. Drew Butera went 3-4 with his seventh home run of the year. Danny Berg went 2-3 with a walk.

 

FT MYERS MEMOS
Wednesday - Game 1 – Miracle 0, Lakeland 1 – The Miracle to got to see Tigers Top Prospect Rick Porcello in game one. The Miracle was going with their bullpen to pitch this one. Spencer Steedley started and went 2.2 innings. He gave up a run on three hits. According to Gary Sharp, he left the game with a blister and may be done for the year. David Shinskie then gave up a walk and a hit in 2.1 innings. Jose Lugo gave up three hits in two scoreless innings. The Miracle managed just four hits. Wilson Ramos went 1-2 with a walk. Edward Ovalle hit a double.

Wednesday - Game 2 – Miracle 8, Lakeland 2 – There was little offense in Game One, and then the Miracle started Game 2 with six of the first seven batters getting hits and the team scored five first inning runs. Steve Singleton went 2-4 with his 18th double. Edward Ovalle went 2-3 with his 11th double. Yancarlos Ortiz went 2-3 with his eighth double and third triple. Whit Robbins was 1-2 with a walk, his 13th double and three RBI. Matt Williams started this game. He gave up just one run on three hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out five. Blair Erickson gave up a run in his inning. Anthony Slama got the final three outs.

 

BELOIT BITS
Wednesday – Beloit 10, Kane County 2 – Henry Reyes had a great start and the bats picked him up too. The lefty went the first seven innings and gave up just one run on five hits and a walk. Danny Hernandez struck out two in two scoreless innings. Juan Richardson went 3-3 with a walk, his third double and four runs scored. Allen de San Miguel went 3-4 with two doubles. Yangervis Solarte went 2-3 with a walk. Chris Cates went 2-4 with a walk and his 12th double. Andrew Schmiesing went 2-5 with his sixth double and third stolen base. Estarlin de Los Santos went 2-5.

 

ELIZABETHTON EXTRAS

Wednesday – E-Twins/Pulaski – Game 1 of this postgame series was postponed by rain.

 

GCL TWINS TALK
Wednesday – GCL Twins – No Game on the Schedule.

   

Again, thanks for stopping by and always feel free to e-mail me or comment below.

Live SethSpeaks.net Twins Podcast at 8:00 Tonight!

The second SethSpeaks.net Twins podcast will air live tonight at 8:00 at (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/SethSpeaks). If you have a chance, please listen live. If not, it will be available at the same place approximately 1/2 hour after the show ends. If you are able to listen, there is a chat room where you will be able to ask questions that we will answer. Here is the schedule:

8:00-8:05 –> Introduction

8:05-8:20 –> LaVelle E. Neal III, Twins Insider, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

8:20-8:35 –> Gary Sharp, Media Relations for the playoff bound Ft. Myers Miracle

8:35-9:00 –> Roger Dehring, Twinkie Town – Weekly Minor League Report

There could be a couple other guests to call in as well. Also, the Live Streaming will be complete at 9:00, but if we have more questions in the chat room, we will be sure to answer them and they will be heard on the podcast later.

As always, feedback is welcome!

Maybe Was I Wrong?

This posting can also be viewed and commented on at www.SethSpeaks.net

Before getting into today’s thoughts on last night’s games, I do want to announce that there will be a Live SethSpeaks.net Podcast tonight at 8:00 (central time). You will be able to hear it at www.BlogTalkRadio.com/SethSpeaks, so be sure to check it out if you have a chance. It will be live online for one hour. The chat room allows you to participate by asking questions. I can tell you that there will be a couple of guests on the show. At this time I can not list them all out as I am trying to confirm a few more things. However, I will post a schedule or agenda for the show a couple of hours beforehand. If you are unable to listen to it live, shortly after the show, you will be able to hear it simply by going back to the above web page. Also note that although the live streaming only goes from 8-9, the show can continue and will if we have questions in the chat room. So, it should be a lot of fun, and I really hope you have a chance to listen to it, even if you don’t participate. 

Is it possible? Was I completely wrong? (Note – I know, some of you think that I’m wrong a lot, right?)

 

I seriously thought that this Twins team would show us that they were beyond this. I thought that the very solid series against the Angels in Anaheim showed that this Twins team might be peaking at the right time and playing the game in a way that we should feel confident that they would win the series in Seattle and Oakland. With last night’s 3-2 loss to the Mariners, the Twins now have lost four in a row and the first two games to the lowly Mariners. Believe me, I get it. The Mariners have Ichiro. They have Adrian Beltre. They have Raul Ibanez. These three are legitimate big leaguers. But what else is there?  The two starting pitchers that the Twins have seen to start this series have been Miguel Batista (4-12 with a 6.55 ERA coming into the game) and Ryan Rowland-Smith, and the Twins have combined for four runs in 20 innings against them. The Twins let Rowland-Smith look like a veteran. It was his sixth start of the season. He was walking nearly a batter every other inning. The Twins made him look like an accomplished big league hurler. 

 

How did the White Sox do against these Mariners when they played each other last week? They won the three games by a combined score of 33-8. What has Chicago done this week on the road? They went into Baltimore, a bad team that they should beat, and have beaten them twice so far with one more game left in the series.

 

People can blame the young pitchers. In the first two games of this series, the starters have each provided quality starts. Francisco Liriano gave up a run in six innings. Scott Baker gave up ten hits and walked three, but gave up just three runs in 6.2 innings. The fault on Monday night goes to Joe Nathan and Jesse Crain primarily. And really, there is little to say negatively about the Twins pitching in these two games. These two losses go directly to the Twins bats. But it’s hard to blame the young guys. In last night’s game, Denard Span and Alexi Casilla were each on base twice. Joe Mauer looks tired. Is the long season getting to him? He is again grounding out weakly to the right side of the infield. He needs a day off, which he should get today. Justin Morneau is not taking consistent at bats. After facing a lefty Tuesday night, they will now see five more lefty starters in a row. Does that mean Jason Kubel on the bench with Randy Ruiz getting the bulk of the DH time? When does Denard Span take over CF? Kubel can play RF! Carlos Gomez remains clueless and just swings out of his shoes at all times. At least Delmon’s swing is a good one. He had two hits, including a very big one in Monday night’s game, but then last night he went 0-4 with three strikeouts. Brendan Harris comes in and makes a great defensive play, but it looks like he hasn’t played in four or five days. Maybe it is because he hasn’t played in four or five games! Congratulations to Randy Ruiz for his recognition as the International League Rookie of the Year award and more importantly his first big league home run for the Twins. He has played a lot of late, against lefties and righties. He clearly can hit lefties and soft-tossers. I can see that, but he is being used against everyone right now when there are better options. It’s about using your players in situations in which they can succeed.

 

Now, I am ‘the positive blogger’, right? Usually I am, but this trend of losing to bad teams and completely disappearing against mediocre to poor pitching is frustrating. Remember, this is a team that found a way to beat Randy Johnson, Brandon Webb, Jake Peavy and Greg Maddux consecutively, and now they are losing to guys who either shouldn’t be in the big leagues anymore, or may not be around for terribly long.

 

I’m one to frequently encourage blog commenters that “it’s just one game, they’ll be OK.” I do subscribe to the “One Day at a Time” theory. I think that’s the only way that a team can play. And that is what I would encourage all of us to try to do. The Twins are now two games behind the White Sox and still have nine more games on the road before heading home again. They have lost four in a row. And all they can do about it is go out this afternoon and try to win today.

 

Maybe shocking negativity from me will help. It always seem that as soon as we are ready to write off the Twins, they go on a streak of their own and put themselves, surprisingly, right back into contention. Hopefully the Twins have another surprise in for us and will turn this around. Three days ago, I thought this team had it in them to play tough and do the things that they need to do, and that includes beating teams that they should beat. Now, I’m not so sure. I still am not convinced that the White Sox are a great team either and that plays a big part in me still being optimistic.

 

Today is another day, and Glen Perkins is on the mound. He has been terrific, and it is on his shoulders to help his team out of this funk. His shoulders and the shoulders of the Twins batters.

 

Can they do it? Was I wrong? What do you think?

 

Twins Minor League Updates

Tuesday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Johnny Woodard, Ft. Myers Miracle
Tuesday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Michael Allen, Beloit Snappers

 

ROCHESTER REPORT
Tuesday – Rochester 1, Syracuse 9 – This has to be right up there with the worst starts of Tom Shearn’s career. In just 0.1 innings, he gave up five runs on six hits. He didn’t walk anyone, but he did strikeout one. So, his K-Rate was excellent! Julio DePaula came in and gave up two runs over the next 4.1 innings. Mariano Gomez then threw 2.1 shutout innings. Carmen Cali gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in two innings. Garrett Jones and Luke Hughes each went 2-4. Jones hit his 32nd home run.

 

NOTE – Randy Ruiz was named the International League Rookie of the Year yesterday.   

 

NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Tuesday – Game 1 – New Britain 4, Portland 6 – The Rockcats offense really wasn’t the problem in this game. They did have eight hits in the game, but no one had more than one. Drew Butera had the lone extra base hit, his 17th double. Yohan Pino started and gave up six runs on nine hits in 3.2 innings. He walked two and struck out five. Armando Gabino then struck out two in 2.1 scoreless innings.

Tuesday – Game 2 – New Britain 2, Portland 7 – Game two wasn’t any better for the Rockcats. Jason Miller started and gave up six runs on eight hits and a walk in three innings. Frank Mata came in and gave up a run over two innings of work. Ben Julianel pitched a scoreless inning. The team was unable to muster much offense against former Twin Dave Gassner who gave up two runs on four hits in six innings to pick up the win. Danny Valencia went 2-3 in the game. Brandon Roberts hit his second home run.

 

FT MYERS MEMOS
Tuesday – Miracle 5, Lakeland 7 – Alex Burnett didn’t get much help from his defense in this one. He took the loss after giving up five unearned runs  on five hits and two walks in five innings. He struck out seven. Joe Testa came in and gave up two runs over the final four innings. He gave up four hits, walked three and struck out five. Johnny Woodard led the offense. He went 2-5 with his 12th double, sixth home run and three RBI. Wilson Ramos went 2-3 with a walk. 

 

BELOIT BITS
Tuesday – Beloit 2, Kane County 3 (10 Innings) – The performance of Michael Allen was the story of this game. He gave up just a run on three hits in five innings. He walked none and struck out six. Santos Arias gave up a run in his inning. Blake Martin struck out four in his two innings of work. Charles Nolte gets the loss. He gave up a run on two hits and a walk in 1.1 innings. Michael Tarsi came in to get the final two outs. Mark Dolenc went 2-4 with his 31st stolen base. Estarlin de Los Santos had a walk and his fourth double. He also stole his 15th base.

 

NOTES – Ben Revere has again been out, this time with a knee injury. Yesterday, he was named to the Midwest League’s post season All-Star team. He was also named the League’s Most Valuable Player and the Prospect of the Year. Not bad for a guy who started the season in Extended Spring Training. These choices were made by the league’s managers.  

 

ELIZABETHTON EXTRAS

Tuesday – E-Twins/Princeton – The game was rained out due to rain. On Wednesday, the E-Twins will start their playoffs with a Best 2 out of 3 series against Pulaski.

 

NOTES – Mark Hamburger caught an early morning flight on Tuesday to join his new teammates, the Clinton Lumber Kings. Again, he not only switched teams, but he was promoted to the Midwest League. He entered the game on Tuesday night in the 9th inning with a 5-2 lead. He struggled a bit, allowing a hit and two walks, but was able to pitch a scoreless inning for his first save with the team. 

 

GCL TWINS TALK
Tuesday – Game 1 – GCL Twins 3, GCL Red Sox 6 – Jean Mijares fell to 0-3 after this start. In four innings, he gave up six runs on eight hits and a walk. He did strikeout seven. Blayne Weller made his first pro appearance and gave up two hits, but no runs, in an inning. He struck out one. Jay Sawatski gave up two hits in his inning. Juan Sanchez and Andres Diaz were each 2-3. Sanchez hit his 12th double. Aaron Hicks hit his 10th double.

Tuesday – Game 2 – GCL Twins 2, GCL Red Sox 3 – Jon Goncalves and Michael Gonzalez were each 2-3 in this game. Goncalves also had a walk. Michael Mopas started and gave up no runs on one hits in three innings. He walked two and struck out two. Mauro Schiavoni came in and was perfect for two innings. Khol Nanney gave up three runs on five hits and a walk in just one inning. Kelvin Mota dropped his ERA to 1.07 with a scoreless inning.  

   

Again, thanks for stopping by and always feel free to e-mail me or comment below.

More on Eddie and Monday Game Notes

Also found at www.SethSpeaks.net

Well, it was a very interesting day for the Twins and their fans. I heard of the Twins acquisition of Eddie Guardado approximately thirty minutes before I first saw it in print or heard it on the radio. I saw that I did post it here before any of the others, but only by about ten minutes. So that was kind of fun. But here are just some further thoughts on the trade, first from the perspective of each player:

• Eddie Guardado has pitched 49.1 innings in 55 games so far this season with the Rangers. He went 3-3 with a 3.65 ERA. He also had four saves. Most of the season, he was a set up man for Rangers closer CJ Wilson, but when Wilson had surgery and was lost for the season recently, Guardado took over closer duties. As we have seen, the 37 year old southpaw doesn’t throw very hard anymore. He may top out at 85 mph. Then again, he never was a flame thrower, hitting maybe 91 on the radar gun at times. He has always been able to get by on guts and determination more than stuff. He did have Tommy John surgery last year, but he clearly has come back from that. Guardado spent part of 1993 through 2003 with the Twins. He took over as the closer in the second half of the 2001 season. In 2001 and 2002, he combined for 86 saves. So what will his role with the Twins be? Well, obviously I don’t know, but I have a feeling. Clearly he isn’t taking over the closer’s role! That’s Joe Nathan’s. But the fact that Guardado has been a late inning guy much of his relieving career, I think he can be the Twins 8th inning guy. He can  get lefties out (they are hitting just .172/.236/.297 this year), but he can also get right-handed batters out (they are hitting .228/.282/.376 this year). But I really see him just adding another option for Ron Gardenhire to use. Think of it like this maybe… he can use Guardado and Guerrier in the 8th inning, Crain and Reyes in the 7th inning and Breslow and Bonser in the 6th inning. Having options is really most important. The thing I really like about Guardado is the mental side of his game. He’s been around a long time. He’s pitched in a lot of big games. He won’t be scared or intimidated by any situation. And something I think is vital for any reliever, if he does have a bad game, you know he won’t carry it into the next game.

• To make room for Guardado, the Twins Designated Mike Lamb for Assignment. That means that they will likely eat the rest of his 2008 contract and likely all of his $3.0 million for 2009. It would be hypocritical of me to bash the Lamb signing now. Why? Because when the Twins announced the signing, I really liked it. Although he had never been an every day player, he had played 125, 126 and 124 games the previous three years. He had double-digit homers, plenty of doubles and had taken some walks. The Twins had a need at 3B (we didn’t know that Buscher would be solid, as he has been). The deal was for two years and about $6.2 million. That would give the Twins time to determine who their 3B of the future would be, probably Danny Valencia. I still believe that the deal made sense. Unfortunately, Lamb just did not responded with production. An OPS of about .600 just doesn’t cut it, especially when his defense was sub-par too. I can’t imagine a team claiming him and taking on the contract, so the Twins will eat the contract. I definitely think that someone will sign Lamb as a pinch hitter down the stretch. He is a veteran, professional, left-handed hitter with playoff experience. He is also, from all accounts, a great clubhouse guy and good teammate. Once he becomes a free agent, I can see a team in the playoff hunt taking a flyer on Lamb. I can also see Lamb just sitting out the rest of this season and considering his future. 

• Finally, in order to acquire Guardado, the Twins did have to give something up. According to LaVelle, the Rangers were asking for the likes of Jeff Manship, Anthony Swarzak and Brian Duensing at the trade deadline. Bill Smith was wise to just say no. Two months of Eddie G is not worth that much. However, Guardado could be a very important cog for the Twins in 2008, so the Twins did have to give up something. That ’something’ ended up being Mark Hamburger. As you can imagine, the ridiculous jokes of “Twins Acquire Guardado for a Hamburger” started right away. Sure, Hamburger was a reliever in the Appalachian League, and he is just 1-2 with a 4.17 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. But remember that the lower levels of the minor leagues are more about development than statistics. Some important numbers to note are 13, 40, 36.2 and 96. In 36.2 innings this year, he has walked just 13 and struck out 40. Also important is the fact that when he pitched for the E-Twins on Sunday night, he was regularly touching 96 mph on the radar gun. Hamburger is a local kid, born in St. Paul and went to high school at Mounds View. He then went to Mesabi Range Community College for a year. Then last June, he went to a tryout camp and the Twins signed him that day. So again, he probably has thrown limited innings since he played high school ball in Minnesota and at a small community college in Northern Minnesota. That is why, in my mind, 96 mph might just be the starting point as he gets stronger and pitches more. His 13 saves leads the Appalachian League this year. Because of the lack of pitching prospects in the Rangers system, I think Hamburger has a chance to advance through the system fairly quickly. Hamburger, along with the trade, gets a promotion to the Midwest League. He will report today to the Clinton team.

 

For an absolutely tremendous look at Mark Hamburger, today’s Newberg Report contains a lot of great information. You will definitely want to read it!

 

Secondly, let’s take a look at the trade from the perspective of the two teams:

• Minnesota Twins – For the Twins, Guardado was a guy that just makes sense. They need another veteran bullpen arm to help bridge the gap to Joe Nathan. They also, as a small market team, have to go into every deal thinking not only about today and this year, but of the future. They were able to acquire Guardado for a relief pitcher who was still five levels from the Major Leagues. The Twins have put themselves in a position to compete for a playoff spot in 2008. It would be a shame not to go for it.

• Texas Rangers – The Rangers aren’t going to make the playoffs this year. Guardado was only signed for this year. It would be silly of them to not get what they can for Guardado at this time of the season. Rangers President Nolan Ryan has said that the organization needs more pitching prospects. For a guy they would have controlled for only another six weeks, they got a 21 year old pitcher who hasn’t thrown a whole lot or received a lot of professional coaching in his life and already throws 96 mph with decent control. LaVelle pointed out that someone with the Twins told him that he believes Hamburger has a good chance to pitch in the Major Leagues. Yes, there are no certainties with prospects, but I think Hamburger is worth giving a shot. The Rangers need as many arms as they can get.  

 

SUMMARY

I actually think this is a good trade for both teams. It is a situation where everyone wins. Of course, we don’t know how Eddie Guardado will perform for the Twins over the remainder of the season. We don’t know if he will be the key piece to getting the Twins to the playoffs. But as of today, this is a trade that makes a lot of sense for the Twins. Their biggest need was another bullpen arm, and Eddie gives them that. For the Rangers, they should be trading off some veterans. Clearly they have a little ways to go before they can compete with the Angels. They should learn from the A’s on how to build by trading. But getting Mark Hamburger is a good thing for that organization.

 

One other note that I have to make… the Twins were able to pick up a bullpen arm for a playoff push for a guy that they signed last June out of a tryout camp. Think about that for a moment. I think that speaks volumes for the Twins scouts. Obviously as someone who follows the Twins and their minor league system so closely, this is an interesting trade for me. This is about the level of prospect I would have given up for Guardado to say that it was a good deal for both teams.

 

And now… we shall see how it turns out. For the Twins it is about 2008. For the Rangers, it is about 2011, 2012, and however long Hamburger remains in their system. But for today, I think we can all be happy.

 

What are your thoughts on the deal?  

 

TWINS 2, MARINERS 4 (11 Innings)

• According to Yahoo! Sports Jeff Passan, the Twins pitchers are a bunch of Control Freaks! Agreed.

• Francisco Liriano did his job. He pitched the first six innings and gave up just one run. He gave up five hits, walked one and struck out three. 68 of his 95 pitches were strikes.

• Matt Guerrier was called upon to pitch the 7th inning. He did his job. He pitched a perfect inning.

• Eddie Guardado came in for the 8th inning, and he did his job. He threw 11 pitches and nine of them were strikes. He got three lazy pop ups in the inning.

• Joe Nathan came in with a 2-1 lead for the bottom of the 9th inning, and he did NOT do his job. He left a fat pitch over the middle of the plate for Adrian Beltre to lead off with a double. Jose Lopez had a long at bat that resulted in an error on Nick Punto meaning runners on first and third. Jeff Clement grounded into a double play, but the tying run scored. Let me say this… if everyone else does their job and gets Joe Nathan the ball with a lead, I’m not too worried, regardless of the results of this game.

• Jesse Crain came in for the 10th frame. He did his job. He struck out the first two batters and got Ichiro to ground out to shortstop to end the inning. Well, at least he did his job for one inning. As has been the case most of this year, Crain has been good in one inning stints, but whenever Gardy asks him to go beyond one inning, he gets hit. After walking Raul Ibanez, Adrian Beltre hit a long home run to end the game in the 11th inning.   

• Delmon Young had a very good game. He went 2-3 with a walk and an eighth inning single that drove in Joe Mauer to give the Twins a 2-1 lead.

• This one hurts. Obviously teams like Seattle will beat teams like the Twins. They’re spoilers. That’s what they do. But this one hurts because the goat of the game is Joe Nathan, which never happens. And in the end, I know that Nathan gets the job done most of the time, so given more chances the rest of the season, he will be fine. Just one game, right?

• This is short… I must sleep so I can stay up again on Tuesday night.

 

Any other thoughts on the Twins?

 

Twins Minor League Updates

Monday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Rene Tosoni, GCL Twins
Monday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Anthony Swarzak, New Britain Rockcats

 

ROCHESTER REPORT
Monday – Rochester7, Syracuse 1 – If someone can explain what happened to Anthony Swarzak when he was promoted from New Britain (where he was 3-8 with a 5.67 ERA in 20 starts), please let me know. In this game, he went eight innings and gave up just one run. He allowed seven hits, walked two and struck out six to improve to 5-0 and drop his ERA to 1.89. Tim Lahey pitched a scoreless ninth. Pretty much everyone contributed to the offense. Jason Pridie was 3-5 with his 19th double. Alejandro Machado was 3-5. Bobby Kielty was 2-3 with two walks. Howie Clark went 2-5 with his 16th double. Jeff Christy was 2-4 with his sixth double. Luke Hughes went 2-5. 

 

NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Monday – New Britain 5, Portland 5 – Danny Valencia has certainly found his power stroke in the last couple of weeks. Last night, he hit his eighth home run at a great time. Down 5-4 in the 8th inning, Valencia hit a two run homer that proved to be the difference in this game. It was his only hit and provided two of his three RBI. Matt Tolbert went 2-5. The Rockcats bats scored four runs (3 earned) off of Clay Buchholz who went the first seven innings. Ryan Mullins started and went the first five innings. He gave up four runs (3 earned) on eight hits. He walked none and struck out four. Zach Ward pitched the next two innings, gave up only an unearned run, and recorded his fifth win. Rob Delaney was perfect threw two innings for his fourth save.

 

FT MYERS MEMOS
Monday – Miracle 3, Clearwater 2 – For the first time in a while, Deolis Guerra picked up a win. He improved to 11-8 with six solid innings. He gave up one run on three hits. He walked three and struck out six. David Shinskie threw a scoreless inning. Carlos Gutierrez gave up an unearned run in the eighth. Then Anthony Slama picked up his 25th save of the year with a two strikeout ninth. Garrett Olson led the offense by going 3-4 with his sixth double. Eli Tintor went 2-3 with a walk. Johnny Woodard was 2-4 with his 11th double.

 

BELOIT BITS
Monday – Beloit 4, Kane County 3 (11 Innings) – Jeanfred Brito singled in Yangervis Solarte with the game-winning run in the bottom of the 11th, making Mike Tarsi a five game winner. Brito had gone 0-2, but he walked three times. Chris Cates went 3-5. Steve Hirschfeld’s impressive run continued. He started and in six innings gave up no runs on two hits. He walked two and struck out four. Blake Martin then gave up three runs on a hit and two walks in 1.1 innings. Santos Arias gave up a hit and a walk in 0.2 innings to get out of the 8th inning. Charles Nolte then threw two shutout innings. Michael Tarsi gave up only a walk in his inning.

 

ELIZABETHTON EXTRAS

Monday – E-Twins 7, Princeton 3 – This was a good all-around game for the E-Twins as the playoffs approach. Dan Osterbrook started but went just two innings. He gave up two hits, walked none and struck out four. Lee Martin came in and gave up two runs in four innings to improve to 4-2. He gave up four hits and a walk. Danny Rondon gave up a run on two hits in two inning. He struck out four. Steve Blevins struck out two in a scoreless ninth. Nick Romero went 2-4 with his 10th double. Michael Harrington hit his ninth homer. Nathan Hanson hit his second home run. Jon Waltenbury hit his 22nd double.  

 

GCL TWINS TALK
Monday – GCL Twins 7, GCL Reds 5 (7 innings due to rain) – Rene Tosoni was back in a lineup for the first time since May, and it was as if he never left. He went 3-3 with a homer and three RBI. Aaron Hicks went 2-3 with a walk, his ninth double and 12th stolen base. Josmil Pinto and Jakub Hatjmar each went 2-4. Angelo Sanchez improved to 4-3 with five innings of work. He gave up five runs (4 earned) on ten hits and two walks. He struck out three. Bruce Pugh came in and threw two shutout innings despite giving up two hits and two walks.

   

Again, thanks for stopping by and always feel free to e-mail me or comment below.

Everyday Eddie a Twin Again

I have just heard that Eddie Guardado could very soon become a Minnesota Twin again. Obviously I can’t give any specifics at this time, but my assumption is that he will go through a physical before becoming a Twin. I really don’t have too many specifics. I do know that at least one minor league pitcher in the lower levels will be involved in the deal. I have a feeling that a second prospect will also be involved. I hope to have more information and more specifics in the next day or two. As I hear more, I will let you know. I do not believe that the trade is official at this point, so something could still happen, but if it does go down, you read it here first! J

UPDATE – It is official. Just heard it on XM’s The Show. The trade is Eddie Guardado for Mark Hamburger. Hamburger had been named the Appy League’s top reliever over the weekend.

Weekend Update – 8/25/08

Also be sure to check out www.SethSpeaks.net -

Good Monday Morning everyone! Well, as you noticed, I was out of town from last Tuesday through yesterday, so today it is primarily an update issue. Of course, last night I participated in Marty Andrade’s Weekly Twins Roundtable podcast. It’s always fun, and last night, the 8:00 show had five people on the panel. It was Marty, myself, Josh Taylor, Jeff Straub and D-Wade. The topics covered everything from the Twins bullpen, to Nick Punto, to the minor league system to way more about the Olympics than I care to even know. The show airs live from 8-9 each Sunday night, but although the live streaming stops at 9:00, the podcast continued another 15 minutes. I think you’ll enjoy it, so if you have some time or like some background noise, be sure to check it out. Also, be sure to keep an eye out for the second SethSpeaks.net podcast which should be sometime this week. Speaking of audio files, be sure to take a moment and listen to SBG’s Third Audio post, a great tribute to the recently retired Ubelmann.

 

TWINS 2, ANGELS 2

• I know… I know… The Twins won Thursday night’s game 2-1 in 12 innings and 9-0 on Friday night. The Angels won 7-5 on Saturday night and came back to win 5-3 on Sunday afternoon… so the series was 2-2!
• In the four games, the Twins starters (Baker, Perkins, Blackburn and Slowey) combined to go 27 innings and gave up six earned runs (2.00 ERA) on 27 hits and six walks (1.22 WHIP). And that included the start on Saturday by Nick Blackburn in which he gave up six runs (3 earned) on ten hits and two walks in just 4.2 innings.
• In the four games, the Twins bullpen combined to go 10 innings and give up four runs (3.60 ERA) on seven hits and three walks (1.00 WHIP).
• Going into the series, I think even the most ardent Twins fans would have been thrilled with a series split with the Angels. Of course, once the Twins won the first two games of the series, it would have been nice to get one more.
• The big picture though, in my mind, is that it should verify in a lot of people’s minds, just how good this Twins team is. The Angels are considered, by many/most, the best team in baseball. The Twins split a series with them in Anaheim. Three of the games were close, with the Twins winning Friday in a blowout. One of the losses could or should have been a win.
• Jason Kubel almost hit a home run. Actually, he ran all the way around the bases before the obviously wrong call was overruled. Would have been nice to have that run, but the right call was made.
• From Joe Christensen’s postgame blog:

  Howie Kendrick saw that hesitation and dashed from first-to-third. Kubel’s throw bounced off Kendrick’s cleat (total fluke) for an error, allowing Napoli to reach second base.

  Manager Ron Gardenhire said Kubel “non-chalanted it. No excuse.”

  Kubel said, “I kind of went a little too slow anticipating anything. I just wanted to make sure I caught the ball first of all and just got it in.”

  Justin Morneau said, “They catch us on a play that shouldn’t have been a first-to-thrid play. That pretty much turned the game around.”

  Nothing like this close-knit team and it’s team-first manager throwing one of his better players under the bus. Unfortunately, Kubel has always been one of those guys that Gardy doesn’t mind speaking negatively of. Was it a bad play? Probably. Was the fact that Napoli got second a fluke (as Joe C writes), absolutely. Just another example of the inconsistencies.

• In Sunday’s game, Justin Morneau hit his 20th homer of the season. He drove in three runs putting him at 102 for the season.
• Have to do it… Nick Punto went 3-4 on Sunday to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. In those games, he is 20-46, a nice .435 batting average. He has had at least two hits in eight of those games.
• The Twins now continue their long road trip with three games at Seattle before four games in Oakland. The Twins are far and away a better team than both of those teams, but as Stick & Ball Guy continues to point out, those are the games/teams that scare you. If they win them, they should do that, not a big deal. If they lose, they are incredibly disappointing. I think that the Twins need to win five of the seven games to be really happy. Four out of seven wouldn’t kill them, but it might hurt.
• Any thoughts on the Twins right now? Please discuss in the comments, or send me an e-mail.   
    

Twins Minor League Updates

Friday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – David Winfree, New Britain Rockcats
Friday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Philip Humber, Rochester Red Wings

Saturday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Matt Macri, Rochester Red Wings
Saturday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Bobby Lanigan, Elizabethton Twins

Sunday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Dan Rohlfing, GCL Twins
Sunday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Jay Rainville, New Britain Rockcats

 

• Be sure to check out Roger’s (Abbreviated) Weekly Minor League Update for this week.

• Also, here is LaVelle’s weekly Minor League report. He discusses, among other topics, an historic season at Elizabethton this year.

• At the end of last week, the Twins announced their minor leaguers who will be going to the Arizona Fall League. As I expected, 3B Danny Valencia, SS/2B/OF Steve Tolleson and RH RP Rob Delaney will go. I am pleasantly surprised that OF Dustin Martin will get to go. He was acquired by the Twins in the Luis Castillo deal last season and really has had a nice season at New Britain. Anthony Slama is still in Hi-A Ft. Myers, but he will get to again join Delaney in Arizona. It is deserved. I am only surprised because he is still in A ball. Finally, Tim Lahey was named to the roster. This one is really the biggest surprise. Last winter, the Rays took him with the first pick in the Rule V draft and immediately traded him to the Cubs. He spent almost all of training camp with the Cubs before being let go. The Phillies claimed him and he practiced with them for a few days before they let him go. The Twins were happy to take him back. He pitched out of the Rochester bullpen all season, and honestly, didn’t do very well at all. However, as we know, he has only been a pitcher for a couple of years and simply needs to develop. I wouldn’t give up on him at all.

• My dreams of running into Jennie Finch while walking through the halls of the Metrodome took a big hit over the weekend. The Twins released Casey Daigle from the Rochester Red Wings roster on Saturday to make room for Brian Bass.

• Brian Duensing will return to Rochester from Beijing with a bronze medal.  Congratulations. I have a new theory on the Twins bullpen. Since the Twins are likely to move one of their starters to the bullpen for the playoffs (if they get there), they could bring Duensing up after September 1st and let him start. They could then move Nick Blackburn to the bullpen as I think he could do very well in that role. The other option would be for Duensing to do for the Twins what he did for Team USA, pitch out of the bullpen.   

 

ROCHESTER REPORT
Friday – Rochester 5, Pawtucket 1 – Philip Humber continued his impressive run of starts with a complete game in this start. He gave up a run on five hits. He walked none and struck out eight. The only run came on a home run by recent Red Sox signing David Ross. Garrett Jones’s terrific season continued. He went 2-4 with his 21st home run. Luke Hughes hit his sixth double and drove in two.    

Saturday – Rochester 4, Pawtucket 3 – Brian Bass made his return to Rochester and was immediately put into the starting rotation. He gave up three runs on four hits in four innings. He walked two and struck out three. Julio DePaula struck out three in 2.2 scoreless frames. Mariano Gomez got the final out of the 7th and got his fifth win for it. Danny Graves and Bobby Korecky each threw a scoreless inning to get the win. It was Korecky’s 25th save.

Sunday – Rochester 3, Syracuse 5 – Garrett Jones went 2-4 with his 30th double. Matt Macri (23) and Trevor Plouffe (15) each doubled. Kevin Mulvey fell to 7-9 with this loss. He gave up five runs on seven hits in six innings. He walked none and struck out seven. Ricky Barrett went two scoreless innings in relief.

 

NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Friday – New Britain 3, Akron 2 – Kyle Aselton had a very nice start. In six innings, he gave up two runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out  four. Zach Ward, Jose Mijares and Rob Delaney combined for three innings of scoreless relief. David Winfree went 2-4 with his 27th double, 19th homer and two more RBI (an impressive 87 on the year!). Steve Tolleson (27), Danny Valencia (17) and Dustin Martin (30) each hit a double.

Saturday – New Britain 3, Akron 2 – Jeff Manship is back in the NFL “Expert” Picks this year, and he was back on the mound on Saturday for the Rockcats. He went five innings and gave up two runs. He allowed four hits, walked three and struck out four. Armando Gabino gave up four hits but no runs in two innings. Ben Julianel got his third win with four strikeouts in two perfect innings. Danny Valencia went 2-4 with his sixth homer. David Winfree went 2-4. Drew Butera went 1-2 with a walk and his first triple. Dustin Martin hit his 10th homer.  

Sunday – New Britain 3, Akron 2  – First of all, be sure to note the scores of all three of these weekend games… Then notice the game that Jay Rainville threw. The righty went the first six innings. He gave up one run on six hits. He walked none and struck out eleven. Frank Mata went 1.2 scoreless innings before Jose Mijares gave up a run on three hits in 1.1 innings. Matt Tolbert went 2-4 with an RBI and his seventh stolen base. Danny Valencia hit his seventh homer. David Winfree was hit by a pitch in his first at bat and left the game. Steve Tolleson went 0-4 with four strikeouts.

 

FT MYERS MEMOS
Friday – Miracle/Lakeland – Postponed by Rain.

Saturday – Miracle 1, Clearwater 4 – Cole DeVries saw his record drop back to even, 9-9, with this game. He gave up four runs (3 earned) on six hits in four inning. Spencer Steedley threw three shutout innings. Matt Williams pitched a scoreless eighth. Steve Singleton went 2-4 with his 17th double. Edward Ovalle went 2-4. Eli Tintor knocked his sixth homer.

Sunday – Miracle 0, Clearwater 2 – Matt Fox falls to 7-7 after this loss. He gvae up two runs on five hits and three walks in his 5.1 innings. He struck out eight. Jose Lugo and Blair Erickson went the final 2.2 innings without allowing another run. Unfortunately, the Miracle bats managed just four hits. Wilson Ramos went 2-4 with his 23rd double.

 

BELOIT BITS
Friday – Beloit 2, Burlington 4 – Shooter Hunt continues to struggle with control. In this game, he gave up four runs on six hits in four innings. He walked five and struck out three. Mike Tarsi came in and threw two scoreless innings. Santos Arias threw two shutout innings as well. Greg Yersich went 2-4 with his 14th double. Ben Revere did not play again.

Saturday – Beloit 3, Burlington 5 – Mike McCardell had a rough start (for him) in this one. In 6.2 innings, he gave up five runs on seven hits. He walked one and struck out five. Charles Nolte got the final four outs, two on strikeouts. Yangervis Solarte went 2-4. Allen de San Miguel went 1-2 with a walk.       

Sunday – Beloit 7, Burlington 2 – David Bromberg recorded his eighth win of the year. He gave up one run on five hits and two walks in 6.2 innings. He struck out an incredible 13 batters. Danny Hernandez gave up a run in the final 2.1 innings. Mark Dolenc went 2-4 with his ninth double and 30th stolen base. Andrew Schmiesing was 3-4 with his fourth double. Ramon Santana went 2-4 with a walk. Chris Cates and Juan Richardson each went 2-5. Ben Revere did not play all weekend, still with a sore knee.

 

ELIZABETHTON EXTRAS
Friday – E-Twins 12, Danville 3 – Tom Wright has certainly impressed since he was put into the E-Town rotation. He improved to 4-0 with 5.2 innings of two run ball. He gave up six hits, walked three and struck out five. Steve Blevins got the save by going the final 3.1 innings. He gave up a run on two hits and struck out three.

Saturday – E-Twins 1, Danville 2 – Bobby Lanigan deserved better, but he took the loss in this one. In 7.2 innings, he gave up two runs (1 earned) despite 11 hits. He walked none and struck out eight. Lee Martin got the final out. The E-Twins managed just two hits in the game. Dominic de La Osa went 1-2 with a walk.

Sunday – E-Twins 3, Princeton 6 – Brad Tippett started and went just two innings despite allowing just one hit and striking out two. (If someone knows more, like was there a rain delay or an injury, please let me know). Dan Berlind came in and gave up six runs on five hits and three walks in 2.1 innings. Kyle Carr struck out three in 1.2 innings. Danny Rondon, Jarrod Eacott and Mark Hamburger each pitched a scoreless inning.

 

GCL TWINS TALK
Friday – GCL Twins – No Game Scheduled.

Saturday – GCL Twins 1, Pirates 3 (6 innings – rain) – Martire Garcia is seeing his prospect status rise significantly in my eyes. This game helps! Although the game went just six innings before being rained out, Garcia pitched great. He threw 5.1 innings of no hit baseball and yet, he is the losing pitcher in the game. He gave up three runs, none earned. He walked three and struck out six. Miguel Munoz gave up a hit and a walk in 0.2 innings. The GCL Twins had just three hits. Aaron Hicks went 1-2 with a walk.

Sunday – GCL Twins 7, GCL Orioles 4 – Edgar Ibarra improve to 4-0 with six innings of two-run ball. He gave up six hits, two walks and struck out four. Jay Sawatski, on a rehab assignment, gave up two runs (1 earned) on three hits in one inning. Dan Rohlfing went 2-3 with his first triple and first home run. Reggie Williams went 2-3 with a triple. Aaron Hicks went 2-4.    

   

Have a great week!

Links, Thinks and a 2-1 Win!

Can also read and Comment at www.SethSpeaks.net

Alright, all I was planning on doing was posting the podcast and letting you listen to that, but then this game happened and I’m up and have some time. So I thought I would try to find you some more reading material for you.

·         West Coast games are really tough for Minnesota fans to watch. Night games don’t start until after 9:00 p.m. Most games don’t get done until midnight.

·         Of course, nine innings of this game was done shortly after 11:30 central time. Scott Baker and John Lackey were both excellent Baker went eight innings and gave up only the Mark Teixeira home run in the first inning. He gave up just four hits and walked two. He struck out six. He pitched out of trouble a couple of times. Very good outing.

·         Maybe the most important story of this game was the two shutout innings of relief for Matt Guerrier. As much as the Twins needed it, it is likely that Guerrier and his confidence really needed that.

·         The Twins game-tying first run came on a single by Carlos Gomez. It was good to see Gomez get a couple of hits again. He also stole his 26^th base.

·         Joe Mauer was twice walked intentionally to get to Justin Morneau. I know Morneau gets a lot of the MVP consideration because of the extra homers, I think most baseball people have to realize just how valuable Mauer really is.  

·         Nick Punto led off the top of the 11^th by drilling a ball to right centerfield. Torii Hunter went back and should have easily caught it, but it bounced off of his glove and Punto got to third base. After Carlos Gomez looked like the old Torii Hunter in a strikeout, Torii’s heir-apparent (Span) singled down the left field line to give the Twins the 2-1 lead. Thank you Torii!

·         That meant Joe Nathan for the 9^th!  That meant a 1-2-3 easy inning and a Twins 2-1 victory. That puts them ½ game behind the idle White Sox in the division. That is a very good way to start off the long road trip, especially the performance of the pitchers, Baker and the Bullpen!

·         A reader yesterday asked me the question, “When was the last time that the Twins had four starters with at least ten wins?” So, I went, pen and pad, to Baseball-Reference.com and figured I would have to search for a little while. I started in 2007, and only Johan Santana (15) and Carlos Silva (13) had double digit wins. So, I went back to 2006… and there was our answer. That season, Johan Santana went 19-6, Brad Radke went 12-9, Francisco Liriano was 12-3 and Carlos Silva went 11-15. That was interesting and somewhat surprising, but at the same time it shows that 1.) Wins alone does not tell you must about how well a pitcher throws and 2.) that as long as you’ve got about a .500 team and have 4-5 starter that make most of their starts, you’ve got a chance to get ten wins.

·         If you placed a wager at the beginning of Spring Training about whether Mike Hampton would make a start for the Braves, you could have made some money. But imagine the odds that Hampton and now Carl Pavano would both make starts this season!

·         I never really look at how the Twins affiliates are doing in terms of record. Why? In part because I really don’t care. I’m a Twins fans and look at the players/prospects that hopefully will get to the Twins and contribute. Don’t get me wrong, I hope that the Twins affiliates win and get to play some extra games in. But since I have a few minutes, here is how the team’s stack up.

o   Rochester – After such a horrific start, the team is actually now 67-67. However, they are 14 games out of first place.

o   The New Britain Rockcats are 57-75 and 24.5 games out in their division.

o   Ft .Myers is 28-29 in the FSL’s second half, 12 games back. Fortunately, the team won the first half title, so they will make the playoffs.

o   Beloit is 29-30 right now this second half, and 8.5 games out of first. Their 36-32 record was good for third place in their division in the first half.

o   Elizabethton is 39-23 on the season which is five games ahead of second place Johnson City.

o   The GCL Twins are 32-18, 1.5 games behind the GCL Pirates who are 34-17.

Well, the game is over, so I must sleep! But again, be sure to listen to the podcast from last night and let me know what you think. Have a great Friday!

Live SethSpeaks Podcast at 10:00

At 10:00 central time tonight, I will be hosting my first official SethSpeaks.net podcast. Be sure to check it out here. You can enter the chat room and ask questions which I will answer during the show. This first show will be 1/2 hour long live, but if I have questions, I will continue to answer them as long as they keep coming. I may have a guest or two on the show, so if you have a chance, check it out.

So if you’re watching the game and sitting online, be sure to take a listen. I would love any feedback you may have.

UPDATE 11:10 p.m. – The show is complete. You can listen to it here. I would love your feedback. I wanted to have a first show to see how it goes, to see if I could get anyone to listen to it. Secondly, I wanted to get some feedback to help determine what to do with the show. This was a ½ hour, which seemed about right for this show, but I could push it to an hour. I have had some e-conversations with various people that I would like to get on the show as guests and have had a pretty positive response from them. If I can add guests to the show, then an hour seems almost necessary. But I could do regular weekly or bi-weekly segments. I could just do podcasts from time to time. I could do them whenever I could get an interview. I could do them as discussions for topics on this site, such as my Top 50 prospect lists, or some Twins postseason topics.

This blog entry discusses a few Twins topics and has the daily minor league updates. I have a couple of extra notes on a few of the Twins prospects (specifically on David Winfree and Alex Burnett and others). Then I took several questions from the chat room. This program allows people to call in and ask questions as well. I think this could be a lot of fun over the year and in the offseason, so please let me know what you think.

Monday Game Notes

be sure to check out www.SethSpeaks.net…

I’ve been to enough Twins games this year that off the top of my head, I can’t remember them losing any of the other games, until last night. It was a very frustrating game to watch. It is always fun to be at the ball park though. Here are thoughts on the Twins los and the minor league update.

 

Note – I will again be heading out of town tomorrow night through the coming weekend. I am going to try to keep the site updated at least through Thursday night as possible, so bear with me. I will try to post here, but also be sure to bookmark and check the other site, the TalkinTwinsBB.wordpress.com site, for updates.

By the way, be sure to check out the great Pioneer Press article on the lives of Jennie Finch and Rochester’s Casey Daigle. It’s well worth the read.   

 

TWINS 2, A’S 3

• This game started out with a bang. On the first pitch, Mark Ellis hit a home run over the left field fence. I know a lot of people are upset about that, but really, it’s probably something that should happen more often. How often will a leadoff hitter swing at the first pitch? How often, even if a pitch is right down the middle, will a batter hit a home run? All pitchers want to throw the first pitch of the game for a strike. So I am not all that upset that Ellis homered. It was interesting though, I had forgotten until listening to the postgame show while driving home that it was the second straight game Blackburn allowed the game’s first batter to homer. Johnny Damon did last week.

• Blackburn did give up three runs early, but when he got a double play ball to end the 8th inning, he still had just 99 pitches, 2/3 for strikes. That was a pretty veteran outing by Blackburn that likely goes unnoticed because he isn’t a veteran. In other words, had Livan Hernandez given up (only?) three runs in the first few innings and gone eight innings, all we would be hearing about is how he is an innings eater. So all in all, great start for Nick Blackburn even though he did take the loss.

• I have to be honest. I’m as big a Jesse Crain supporter as there is, but of late, he is just a notch better than Matt Guerrier. Like Guerrier, Crain has had to be used a lot too. Add to that the reminder that he did miss all of last year with shoulder surgery. He has to be running on fumes. There are the excuses. Tonight, he had me about falling asleep on the railing in front of me. I realize he is a ‘maximum effort’ pitcher, but geez, throw a strike once in awhile. You’ve got a 95 mph fastball, an 89-90 mph slider and a good curveball in the upper 70s, throw them over the plate and let the hitter get himself out. How much slower would he throw if he had a somewhat less violent delivery and how much better control would he have? I don’t know the answer to those questions, but I think they’re worth looking into. He gave up a single and then walked Kurt Suzuki after getting ahead 1-2. I am not worried about Crain (or Guerrier for that matter) long term, but I certainly am in the short-term.

• Fortunately, Craig Breslow came in with two on and none out and got a bunt popped up to third base, a broken bat fielder’s choice and a strikeout to get the team out of that rough spot. 

• And that was immediately after the Twins scored their two runs to cut the lead to one. What a crazy play. Joe Mauer tripled over the LF head and the ball rolled back toward the infield. A run was going to score, but Mauer decided to go for third, a risky move. He made it and the ball hit him and went into the dugout, allowing Mauer to score as well.

• Hey Delmon, stay down on the ball. It’s as if you’re swinging to get to your tip toes! Keep your head down too. I hear that helps!

• The Twins took four called third strikes. Each one was argued (Mauer, Kubel, Punto and then Harris to end the game). I remember when I played in Little League and really every level growing up… “don’t go down looking.” If it’s close, swing the bat, especially in big situations. I could understand Kubel’s. It was early in the game and the team was still learning the strike zone. Punto’s was a little less OK. The home plate ump had clearly shown a larger strike zone. Then again, I am certain that if I were to look up most called third strikes over the last three years, Mr. Punto’s would certainly be at the top. And then Brendan Harris took a called third strike to end the game. I didn’t have the angle, but if it was anywhere near the strike zone, swing the bat!

• When the A’s brought in Huston Street to replace Alan Embree with Jason Kubel on first and two outs, I fully expected Gardy to pinch hit Mike Lamb for Randy Ruiz. In my mind, that is the role of Mike Lamb on this team and if he isn’t going to be brought up in that situation, why is he on the roster? Of course, Ruiz responded with a broken bat double, and Lamb came in to pinch hit for him the next time that spot in the order was due up, with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Lamb drew a four pitch walk. So, I disagreed with Gardy and I was wrong.

• Adam Everett did have an error in the second inning when he short-hopped Justin Morneau with a throw to first base. But that was a tough play and he had to rush the throw. In the third inning, Mark Ellis hit a ball that had ‘Single Up The Middle” written all over it, and Everett got to it, spun and got Ellis at first. That was an incredible play. Of course, with his injury luck this year, Everett’s wrist was at the receiving end of a line drive to the dugout, causing him to leave the game.

• During that Jesse Crain time of the game, with my head in my hand, I found myself perusing the lower bowl of the Dome below me. I was noting all of the different Twins jerseys. There were a lot of Mauer’s and Morneau’s. There were several Gomez’s and a bunch of Neshek’s. There were a few Killebrews. I would say, however, that the third most popular shirt in the crowd may have been Hannahan. Jack Hannahan has been the A’s primary 3B the last two years (with Eric Chavez chronically injured). He, like Joe Mauer, is a Cretin-Derham Hall alum. He went on to star for the Gophers. Anyway, there were a lot of Hannahan fans in attendance with green shirts that had his number, 22, in the back, with “Hannahan” on top of it and ‘Is Our Man” on the bottom of it. It was nice to see him get a nice solid single to left in his second at bat.

• Speaking of Hannahan, I don’t know if he has any children or not, but what if he had a daughter named Hannah? Even  better, what if he had twin daughters and named the Anna and Hannah? Tongue-Twisters are fun!

• Denard Span was 2-4 and really hit the ball hard three times. After his called third strike in the first inning, Mauer responded with three straight hits.

• Typically the gates to the Dome have opened two hours before the first pitch. Last night’s game was at 7:10 and the gates didn’t open until about 5:35. I couldn’t get an explanation for that.

• Tomorrow night, the Twins will send Kevin Slowey to the  mound looking for his tenth win. He will go against lefty Sean Gallagher, probably the prize acquisition from the Cubs in the Rich Harden trade that also netted the A’s Matt Murton and Erik Patterson (who looks – and plays – very similarly to his older brother Corey).

• Oh yeah, I know I take a lot of grief for my stance on fans doing The Wave. First, I’ve never said that they can’t, just that it’s dumb! Of course they have the right to. Personally, I don’t get it, and I don’t think it’s fun and frequently, it ruins my site of the game. Last night, the crowd again did the wave, but the timing was what bothered me. The wave started with the Twins out in the field. As if it isn’t hard enough to pick up a fly ball in the ceiling or find a line drive in the lights, now they have to contend with the distraction of the crowd.  

 

Any other thoughts on the Twins

 

Twins Minor League Updates

Monday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Evan Bigley, Elizabethton Twins
Monday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Bobby Lanigan, Elizabethton Twins

 

ROCHESTER REPORT
Monday – Rochester – No Game Scheduled. 

 

NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Monday – New Britain – No Game Scheduled.

 

FT MYERS MEMOS
Monday – Miracle – Game Canceled due to concerns over Tropical Storm Fay. 

 

BELOIT BITS
Monday – Beloit 1, Cedar Rapids 8 – How fun must it have been for Snappers fans to get to see Ben Revere followed by Alexi Casilla down in Cedar Rapids last night? I think that would have to be considered a pretty dynamic top of the order. Revere went 2-5 with his 44th stolen base during the game. Casilla went 1-3 with two walks. JimCrikket was at the game and commented that Casilla looked good. His hit came left handed, and he made a great defensive play in which he sprawled on the infield, on his hands and came out alright. Depending on the severity of the Adam Everett injury, Casilla could be called back up sooner than later. Greg Yersich went 2-4. David Bromberg started and gave up two runs (1 earned) on four hits in six innings. He walked four and struck out seven. Chris Anderson then came in and gave up six runs (5 earned) on eight hits and a walk in just 1.1 innings. Danny Hernandez got the final two outs on strikeouts. 

 

ELIZABETHTON EXTRAS

Monday – E-Twins 16, Princeton 4 – Evan Bigley certainly is doing his best to move himself up the SethSpeaks.net Top 50 Prospect list! In this game, he hit his 13th and 14th home runs and drove in five runs. Jon Waltenbury went 3-6 with his 21st double. Dominic de la Osa went 2-5 with a walk and his 12th double. Nathan Hanson went 2-5 with a walk. Danny Rams went 2-5 with his eighth double and three RBI. Bobby Lanigan recorded his sixth win with six shutout innings. He gave up just three hits, walked none and struck out seven. Kyle Carr struck out three in two scoreless frames. Nathan Fritz gave up four runs on four hits in one inning.

 

GCL TWINS TALK
Monday – GCL Twins 8, GCL Pirates 2 – Jean Mijares picked up his first win of the year in this game. The Venezuelan gave up two runs on five hits and a walk in six innings. He struck out eight. Michael Mopas got the three innings save. Daniel Ortiz, the Twins 3rd round choice in 2008 and an OF from Puerto Rico (sound familiar?), went 2-4 with his second homer. Michael Gonzalez went 2-4 with his first triple and three RBI. Juan Sanchez hit his ninth and tenth doubles and walked once. Herbert Lara hit his first home run. Aaron Hicks was 1-3 with a walk and his fourth homer of the season.

   

Again, thanks for stopping by and always feel free to e-mail me or comment below.

Pregame Notes

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Just a real quick note. But about 4:30, I hope to be on my way to the Metrodome for tonight’s tilt between the Twins and the A’s. I am hoping that Nick Blackburn is up for the challenge of facing the A’s Justin Duchscherer. Either way, I am certain that it will be a great time in Section 220!

 

I wanted to post a real quick update. I will be back later with some thoughts on the Twins game as well as the minor league notes. It will be a shorter posting though. Why? Well, Rochester and New Britain have off days. Ft. Myers game tonight was canceled due to Tropical Storm Fay (which of course could still turn into a hurricane). It is on pace to hit southwest Florida on Tuesday morning but of course, the rains and stormy weather will be there tonight already. I wanted to mention this because I know there are a lot of readers in southwest Florida. Obviously we want to wish them well through the storm as well as the Miracle players and all of the players that are down there on rehab assignments.

 

With David Bromberg on the mound, the Beloit Snappers will face Cedar Rapids. Elizabethton will take on Princeton. This E-Town team has not dominated the Appalachian League as it has in previous years of watching box scores and such, but I just looked and their record is 37-21. Talk of Angel Morales continues to come from all over. There is a diary over at John Sickels site called Angel Morales an Emerging Star? The Baseball Handyman also wrote a quick write up on Morales. Finally, the GCL Twins and GCL Pirates were scheduled to play at 11:00 this morning. I have not seen a box score or know if they played today.  

 

Alright, as always, I appreciate you stopping by. I will also take questions in the comments section and answer them tonight in the blog. So, feel free to ask. Have a great night.