Monday Game Reports

also available at www.SethSpeaks.net -

I was gone at the lake again for the weekend and even took an extra day. I know I didn’t blog, but that isn’t to say there wasn’t plenty of writing going on! Be sure to check back in the next week or so for more information. However, although I did review all of the weekend minor league box scores, I will just post the Monday game reports rather than filling up pages with old box scores.

The Twins were a game above .500, and then they lost to the Kansas City Royals last night, 4-2. They had plenty of opportunities against a wild Luke Hochevar early in the game but were unable to take advantage. At some point, things clicked for Hochevar and he was very good. Nick Blackburn wasn’t as good as he typically is, but he worked out of some tough situations. Until the 6^th inning that is, when he gave up back to back home runs to Alberto Callaspo and Miguel Olivo. Justin Morneau did hit a two run homer later, but it wasn’t enough.

I may not write much today, but if you are interested in my thoughts on a ton of Twins topics, you will certainly want to read through the transcript of yesterday’s SethSpeaks.net Live Twins Chat. Here are a couple of questions with my responses:

2:49	[Comment From Guest] Hi Seth, it is all quiet on the Mauer extension front. Any idea why?
2:50	Two potential reasons: 1.) They’re not talking about it at all yet (possible), and 2.) they are talking about it, but wisely keeping the media out of it. My hope is that it is done very quietly and just one day we hear that it is done.

 

2:56

[Comment From J-Mike] Who from the Twins will be making an All Star appearance this year?

2:58

I would say Mauer and Morneau have a pretty good shot. I think Joe Nathan makes it (or should). I think if it were in an AL park, that Jason Kubel would warrant the DH spot. (but it’s not, so he won’t) I think the Wins will get Kevin Slowey’s name brought up, but i don’t think he’ll make it. I think Nick Blackburn deserves it, but I think his lack of wins to this point probably means that he won’t make it.

 

3:12	[Comment From will] Would you be excited if the Twins sign Miguel Angel Sano? And do you think they really will?

 

3:39

I think that the Twins and Pirates are the two teams that seem to have the best shot, so yes, I do think that there is a decent chance that he signs with the Twins. He is apparently looking for a signing bonus of up to or around $3 million. I’ve said all along that I don’t care if the Twins use shared revenue on big league contracts as long as it is being used elsewhere. Scouting all over the world is one way to do that, and spending this significantly on someone believed to be this good would say a lot to me.

 

4:11

[Comment From darnell] it would be nice if a few more of the twins top prospects were higher than A ball.

4:13

I don’t disagree… but for the most part, the Twins have weaknesses at 2B, RP. They have guys like Tolleson and Dinkelman (and Casilla) as options at 2B. They have Delaney and Slama and Burnett at at least AA for hte bullpen. THey’ll need a 3B next year, and Valencia is in AAA. Martin and Tosoni are OF options at at least AA. Their top catching prospect, Wilson Ramos is at AA. And Mulvey and Swarzak and maybe even Duensing could come up and start if needed. So there is still some depth.

 

And if you’ve got head phones, be sure to listen to last night’s episode of the SethSpeaks.net Weekly Minnesota Twins podcast. We were joined by John Bonnes (aka The Twins Geek) who was at the stadium in Kansas City, part of his baseball trip that has taken him to the Field of Dreams in Dyersburg, Iowa, to Clinton, Iowa, where he saw them playing the Beloit Snappers. He and TVOR then went to St. Louis to see the Twins and Cardinals play on Sunday before heading to Kansas City on Monday night. They will visit the Negro League Hall of Fame before heading home. So, that was a fun conversation. Next, I got a phone call from a listener with some questions and comments. That was unexpected and yet very fun. Then Phil Mackey came on and we talked baseball for awhile. He can be found at www.PhilMackey.com, is the host of Twins Weekly on KFAN, and one of the key contributors to the Minnesota Poker Magazine. Finally, Travis Aune and I discussed the Minor League affiliates for the final 15 minutes. It was a very good show.

MINOR LEAGUE REPORT

Monday – SethSpeaks.net Hitter of the Day – Chris Herrmann, Elizabethton Twins

Monday – SethSpeaks.net Pitcher of the Day – David Bromberg, Ft. Myers Miracle – Blayne Weller, GCL Twins

NOTES AND ANOTHER TRANSACTION

• Travis has been quite busy since I last posted. He posted his choices for the Twins #2 prospect, and the Twins #1 prospect. He also posted a very good Q&A with Tyler Robertson. 
• Aaron Gleeman wrote a good article, What Happened to All the Bunt Hits? He mentioned that last year the Twins tied an MLB record for more bunt hits and this year, they likely won’t have half as many.
• Pat Neshek posted an update on his blog. He basically said that everything is going well, but he talks about several other topics as well.   

ROCHESTER REPORT

Monday – Game 1 – Rochester 0, Scranton/Wilkes Barre 4 – Philip Humber got the game one start. He went all six innings and gave up five runs on eight hits. He didn’t walk any and struck out four. The Red Wings managed just two hits. Matt Macri hit his 15^th double.

Monday – Game 2 – Rochester 1, Scranton/Wilkes Barre 3 – Jason Jones went the distance in this game. He went all six innings and gave up three runs on three hits and a walk. He struck out four. The Red Wings had seven hits, three walks and two doubles in seven innings and still managed just one run.   

ROCKCAT RECAP

Monday –New Britain 3, Connecticut 6 – Carlos Gutierrez is being limited to the number of innings he can pitch. The Twins want to keep his innings down. In this game, he went four innings, but because of the first inning, he probably threw more pitches than they would want. In the first inning, he gave up four runs on six hits. All told, in his four innings, he gave up five runs on ten hits and a walk. He struck out two. Jay Rainville gave up a run in his inning. Then Kyle Waldrop, Jose Lugo and Frank Mata combined for four scoreless innings. Whit Robbins went 3-5 with his 17^th double. Erik Lis and Brian Dinkelman each went 2-4.     

MIRACLE MEMOS

Monday – Ft. Myers 5, Lakeland 1 – David Bromberg got the win in this game with a strong 6.1 innings. He gave up a run on five hits and a walk. He struck out three. Spencer Steedley got the save with 2.2 scoreless innings. Nick Romero went 2-4 with his second and third doubles. Chris Parmelee was 2-4 with his 13^th double. Jair Fernandez went 2-4 with his seventh double. Deibinson Romero was also 2-4. 

SNAPPERS SNIPPETS

Monday – Beloit – No Game Scheduled.  

E-TWINS EXTRAS

Monday – Elizabethton 11, Bristol 5 – The E-Twins got back in the win column in this game thanks to their bats. Chris Herrmann had a big game. He went 4-5 with his second and third doubles, and his first home run. Tyler Ladendorf was 3-5 with his second double. Herbert Lara went 3-5. Danny Rams hit his second and third home runs. Anderson Hidalgo went 3-4 with his first two doubles. Michael Gonzalez went 2-4 with his first double. Liam Hendriks got the start in this game. He went six innings and gave up four runs on eight hits and a walk. He struck out four. Kyle Carr gave up a run in two innings, striking out three. Billy Bullock threw another scoreless inning.    

GCL TWINS THOUGHTS

Monday – GCL Twins 2, GCL Orioles 2 (game postponed in bottom of 9^th, but I probably won’t go back and check the box score tomorrow!) – Blayne Weller gave up only an unearned run on two hits in five innings. He walked none and struck out five. Nelvin Fuentes struck out four in two innings. He gave up a run on two hits. Eliecer Cardenas struck out two in two scoreless innings. Hyeong-rok Choi went 2-4 with his second double. Wang-Wei Lin was 2-4 with his first double.   

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