Saturday, April 5, 2008
Saturday at the Park
The Twins played an afternoon
game today and beat the Royals again. Each of the Twins four full-season
affiliates played afternoon games, including a doubleheader for Beloit. Here
are some thoughts on each.
Twins Thoughts (Twins
6, Royals 4)
The Denard
Span Era has begun! Span got to the field shortly before the game began. He
didn’t play, but I can’t help but be excited for him. As for the game, Justin Morneau had a nice game. He hit a 3-run homer that gave the
Twins a 3-2 lead off of Gil Meche, a lead they wouldn’t
relinquish. He later had an RBI double. Matt Tolbert also went 2-4. Craig
Monroe picked up his first hit of the year, an RBI double. Jason Kubel, who played in RF, drove in the other Twins run.
·
Did you notice
that Adam Everett already has two errors?
·
Did you notice
that Joe Mauer went 0-2 with a walk and a sacrifice
bunt? Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike the sacrifice bunt? Especially
coming from one of the team’s best hitters, and especially when it isn’t in the
9th inning or later?
·
Livan Hernandez improved to 2-0. He gave up four runs on
seven hits in seven innings. He struck out just two, but he walked no one. So
far, so good, I guess!
·
Matt Guerrier pitched a scoreless 8th frame in front
of Joe Nathan who recorded his third save in as many tries.
·
Again, that’s
perfect… get a lead, have the starter go seven innings, let Pat Neshek or Matt Guerrier pitch the
8th with Joe Nathan in the 9th. Another decent option
would be the starter going six with Jesse Crain in the picture as well.
·
Congratulations
to Francisco Liriano and his wife on the birth of
their son, Kevin.
·
How about the
Pittsburgh Pirates? The last two games, their middle infield has
been Luis Rivas at SS and Chris Gomez at 2B!
·
Is there any good
reason this game wasn’t on TV today?
Red Wings Report
(Rochester 2, Richmond 8)
·
Philip Humber got
his first start in the Twins organization and it probably didn’t go as he’d
hope. In four innings, he gave up five runs (3 earned) on eight hits. He walked
none and struck out three. He may have simply had too much control as 48 of his
66 pitches were strikes.
·
Heath Totten, who has no business being in AAA (or AA?) came in
and gave up three runs on four hits in two innings.
·
Mariano Gomez and
Casey Daigle each pitched a scoreless inning.
·
Brian Buscher went 2-4 with a homer.
Rockcats Ramblings (New Britain 1, Portland 2)
·
Anthony Swarzak is off to a much better start for the Rockcats than last year. He allowed just one run on three
hits in five innings. He walked one and struck out four.
·
Yohan Pino went two shutout
innings in relief. He always starts the season in the bullpen. David Shinskie then threw a scoreless inning. Jay Sawatski took the loss by allowing a run in his inning.
·
The Rockcats had just three hits. Dustin Martin had an RBI
double.
Miracle Bits (Ft. Myers
1, Dunedin 5 – Postponed by rain in 7)
·
Deolis Guerra was quite impressive in his Twins organization
debut. He went the first five innings and gave up just one run on two hits. He
walked one and struck out six.
·
Jose Lugo got his
batter out. But then Danny Vais came in and gave up
four runs on four hits and a walk for the loss. And then the rains came.
·
The Miracle bats
managed just three hits. Brian Dinkelman had a
double. Rene Tosoni and Yancarlos
Ortiz had singles. Danny Valencia drove in the lone run.
Snappers Snapshot
(Game 1 – Beloit 1,
Kane County 3)
·
Mike McCardell got the loss. He worked the first four innings
and gave up three runs (2 earned) on five hits. He walked one and struck out
four.
·
Loek Van Mill struck out three in two perfect innings. Has
he turned the corner?
·
Blair Erickson
also pitched a scoreless inning.
·
The Snappers had
five hits total, but Ramon Santana, Danny Lehman and Joe Benson each had a
double.
·
Chris Parmelee went 0-3, but he didn’t strike out!
(Game 2 – Beloit 3,
Kane County 6)
·
Michael Tarsi
gave up six runs (four earned) on nine hits in five innings. He walked one and
struck out five.
·
Spencer Steedley threw two scoreless innings.
·
The Snappers had
just four hits, but Chris Parmelee and Garrett Olson
each hit a home run
·
New Twin Jair Fernandez had a double.
Keep the comments coming and have a good night!