It’s Friday!

also available at www.SethSpeaks.net (which is where any updates will be posted):

Good morning! Well, I went to the Twins/White Sox game last night. Not much good to say about the game. It was approximately a month long, I think. As Kevin Slowey’s pitch count rose in the first and second inning, and as the Gordon Beckham home run was landing in the left field second deck, I immediately realized that I was wrong. Anthony Slama would not be coming up, but Jeff Manship would need to instead. After the game, Justin Morneau was put on the Disabled List and Manship was called up. It was an easy decision. With Slowey having a short start, and the concerns about Blackburn, and the “never-know” factor, they need someone who can eat up more than two innings when the starter can’t. That’s Manship. I know his AAA numbers are not very good, but first, they’re better than the other starters, and second, for some reason, he’s found a way to pitch better with the Twins than he has in Rochester. Hopefully that can continue. It happened with Brian Duensing. He was a so-so pitcher in AAA and he has really done a tremendous job out of the Twins bullpen.

John Danks gave up six runs in the second inning, yet still found a way to finish six innings. To me, that’s impressive. Whereas when the Twins starters struggle early, they can’t find a way to get it going at all, and generally don’t get out of the second or third inning.

For those of you trying to find out who the Twins should send down or release to make room for Anthony Slama, here are some numbers from the guys that we most frequently hear should be gone:

• Ron Mahay has given up just two runs since June 1^st, both have been on solo home runs. That is a stretch of 15.1 innings and 15 appearances.
• Jesse Crain has not given up an earned run since June 5^th when he gave up two runs in 0.2 innings. Before that, he had not given up an earned run since May 20^th. So, since May 20^th, Crain has given up two earned runs in 20.1 innings covering 21 outings. He has 19 strikeouts to seven walks in that time frame. That May 20^th appearance dropped his ERA from 7.31 to 6.88, and it is now down to 3.72 for the season.
• Alex Burnett showed early this season what he can do and what he can be, but the about-to-be 23-year-old has certainly struggled of late. In 6.2 July innings, he has given up seven runs in 6.2 innings (9.45 ERA). He has given up multiple runs in three of his six appearances. He also gave up multiple runs in two of his final five June games. That doesn’t include his June 27^th game when he gave up two hits and a walk in 1/3 of an inning and somehow didn’t give up a run. I do think he is a guy who could be demoted to Rochester. The team already used up his 2010 option early in the season, and it might be a good thing for him. Like I said, he has shown just how good he can be, and how important he will be in coming years for the Twins.

Be sure to read LaVelle’s Twins Insider blog from yesterday. He’s got good stuff on Anthony Slama and several more minor league updates including injury updates on Aaron Hicks and Spencer Steedley, and another international signing.  

I must get to work this morning, but hopefully I can spend some time adding more Twins notes at lunch.