Rough Night for the Twins
A lot of Twins fans a feeling a little big
down these days. The team came into Thursday’s game against the Rays with a 4-7
record and having just lost a 10-5 decision with their ‘best’ pitcher. Twins
fans are starting to realize just how important defense is when you don’t have
any, and specifically you don’t have any range. That’s not the fault of the
players. Their speed is what it is.
Twins fans are frustrated. Likely, the Twins
are very frustrated.
And then came the
lineup for Thursday’s game in Tampa against righty James Shields. A day after
getting the day game after a night game off, Joe Mauer
was not in the lineup for a second straight game. Was it just because Carl Pavano was on the mound and Drew Butera
is his catcher? Was he hurt? Was he just being wimpy.
Soon after, Gardy told reporters that he was “sore”
and that was “all they needed to know.” For me, that made me think that he was
fed up with Mauer. We have heard too many reports of Gardenhire’s frustration with Mauer’s
subtle hints that he shouldn’t play. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was just
sitting him again, benching him to some degree, because of that.
During the game, Drew Butera
came through with an RBI single that gave the Twins a 2-0 lead. The Twins had
12 hits, and four of them were doubles, but again scored just two runs. Joe
Nathan came in for the bottom of the 9th, to protect a two run lead.
With one out, Felipe Lopez had a long at bat the ended with a double. Nathan
then walked Ben Zobrist. On a 3-1 count, Joe Maddon sent the runners and Matt Joyce lined a ball to the
gap which scored both runs and tied up the game. Nathan was able to get out of
the 9th with the game tied. Nathan has been good. All closer’s blow
saves, so that doesn’t worry me in the least. Plus, he held on so the Twins
still had a chance in extra innings.
With two outs in the top of the 10th,
Matt Tolbert singled and advanced to 2B on a passed ball. Danny Valencia came
up big again with an RBI single to give the Twins a 3-2 lead.
Then Matt Capps came in to protect the
one-run lead. He got the first out, but then Super Sam Fuld
singled and Johnny Damon hit a walk-off home run to end the game. Again, Capps
has been tremendous this season. So I’m not worried about him. But what are the
odds that both of the Twins closers (who have both been good) would blow a save
in the same game? The unfortunate thing, besides another loss and the record
dropping to 4-8, was that Carl Pavano’s eight shutout
innings were essentially wasted. Some may question the decision to take him out
of the game. However, with 104 pitches, that’s just the way the game is played.
And, had Nathan been able to close out the game, not one would even mention it.
But then following the game, the news came
out that Joe Mauer was going to be put on the
Disabled List with “bilateral leg weakness.” Whatever that
is. From Livestrong.com:
Bilateral
weakness in the leg muscles can be as mild as a generalized feeling of fatigue
in your legs or as extreme as complete paralysis. Bilateral weakness indicates
a problem in your central nervous system -- in your brain, spinal cord or
nerves. Many disease processes or trauma can cause bilateral weakness in your
legs.
Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/352012-bilateral-weakness-in-the-leg-muscles/#ixzz1JaSO0PWw
Please go here to read
a lot more about bilateral leg weakness, the symptoms, causes, treatments and more. Now I know that sometimes players get
put on the DL and an injury is needed to be called out. Sometimes what it is
called is not exactly what it is. Even if it is bilateral leg weakness, as you
can see, there are many levels of severity. Hopefully some rest, rehab and restrengthening will be in line and it won’t be long before
he is back.
So, the Twins called up 31-year-old, minor
league veteran Steve Holm from Rochester. He will likely get plenty of playing
time while Mauer is out. He has played in 53 games in
2008 and 2009 for the San Francisco Giants, the organization that drafted him
in 2001. That summer, he got to catch a 17-year-old Francisco Liriano. He spent a couple of summers catching Matt Cain.
He has caught Tim Lincecum in the minor leagues, and
Sergio Romo and many other big league pitchers. He is
a defense-first catcher, but he can put together a solid at bat at times too.
Rene Rivera and Danny Lehmann were likely also considered. None of the three
were on the Twins 40-man-roster, so Holm had to be added. The Twins are now at
39 on their 40 man roster.
So, two weeks into the season, things could
not be going much worse for the Twins. The one thing they thought they could
count on, the offense, is not hitting or scoring runs. Delmon
Young has returned to swinging at everything. Several of the Twins key hitters
got off to a very slow start. Tsuyoshi Nishioka
fractured his fibula and is going to be about six to eight weeks which really
highlighted the Twins lack of middle infield quality and depth. That is
accentuated by Alexi Casilla being really bad both
offensively and defensively. Luke Hughes has been called up and held his own,
but now Michael Cuddyer is getting time at 2B against
right-handed pitchers which allows the Twins to get Jason Kubel
and Jim Thome into the lineup, but it also really
weakens and already weak defense. The Twins best pitcher’s work ethic was
(Again) called into question this spring and he has been awful in his first
three starts. Joe Nathan, Matt Capps, Jose Mijares
and (surprise surprise) Glen Perkins have been very
good so far, but the back of the bullpen, where there were some concerns, have
had some struggles.
And another concern in the offseason was what
the backup plan was if (or when) Joe Mauer would go
on the Disabled List. The answer, for me, was that if Joe Mauer
gets hurt, it doesn’t matter who becomes the starter, it will be a big step
down. At least the Twins do have very good defensive catchers that will work
well with the pitching staff. They can bat 8th or 9th and
any offense from them should be considered a bonus. Everyone knows that I was
probably higher on Wilson Ramos than anyone, frequently discussing my plan for
how he and Joe Mauer could split time between catcher
and DH for years to come. However, he’s gone, he’s been gone since July, and
Twins fans need to move on. Secondly, Matt Capps has been tremendous since coming
to the Twins. (Doesn’t mean I think it was a good move long-term, but means
that at least the Twins have had a great return in Capps) Others are upset that
Jose Morales was traded in the offseason too. Again, he was out of options. He
was not going to beat out Drew Butera. Getting
anything out of him was what needed to be done. Obviously right now it would be
nice to have Jose Morales around, but that doesn’t make the trade the wrong
thing to do.
What more could go wrong at the start of this
season? I hate to ask the question because, as we all know, things can always
get worse. There are 150 games to go. It annoys me when people think that it
can’t get better. But as I wrote yesterday, it seems that the more that the
Twins have going against them, the more they come through, and the better they
play. The Twins have played without Mauer before and
done alright. The Twins played last year without Justin Morneau
and Joe Nathan and won 94 games. I’m not intimating that the Twins are better
off losing its star players, but what I am saying is don’t jump off the
bandwagon now. Now is when they need the support, not the complaining.
Thursday
Night’s Twins
Minor League Weekly Podcast – Travis
had a previous commitment. I was a little worried about how I would fill 30
minutes, but somehow, someway, I found plenty to talk about and could have gone
longer. I discussed how the teams are doing and who is off to a fast start, but
I also mentioned the names of some guys who are really struggling through the
season’s first week. I also went much more in-depth with the injury discussion
and the catching carousel.
Catching Carousel: Joe Mauer to the Disabled List, Steve Holm
promoted to the Twins, Danny Lehmann promoted to Rochester, Dan Rohlfing promoted to New Britain.
MINOR
LEAGUE UPDATES
SethSpeaks.net Minor League Hitter of
the Day – Rene Tosoni, Rochester Red Wings.
Seth Speaks.net Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Logan
Darnell, Beloit Snappers
Red Wings Ramblings
Thursday
– Game 1 – Red Wings 3, Lehigh Valley 1
– Eric Hacker started the first game and was excellent. The
threw six shutout innings, giving up just two hits. He walked none and
struck out five. Phil Dumatrait came in for the 7th,
but a hit and two walks later, the bases were loaded with a 1-0 lead. Jim Hoey came in. He struck out the first batter he faced, but
he hit the second to allow the game-tying run. He struckout the next batter. In the bottom of the 7th,
Rene Tosoni hit a two-run, walk-off home run to end
the game. The Red Wings managed just four hits. Ben Revere had a double. Dustin
Martin hit his first home run of the year to give the Red Wings their 1-0 lead
earlier in the game.
Thursday
– Game 2 – Red Wings 3, Lehigh Valley 5 (8 innings) – Kyle Gibson got the nod in the second game. He gave
up two runs on five hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out three.
Carlos Gutierrez pitched a scoreless inning. Chuck James then threw a scoreless
7th inning. He started the 8th inning and gave up one
run. He left with two runners on base. Kyle Waldrop came in and gave up a hit
that scored both runners, but he got the final two outs. Matt Brown was 2-3.
Dustin Martin hit his second home run of the day, and of the season. Rene Tosoni tied the game up at three with a two-run double.
Injury
Notes – Trevor Plouffe
suffered some whiplash and a slight concussion on Wednesday. He did not play on
Thursday. Ben Revere bruised his knee on a stolen base attempt in the second
game. Anthony Slama was activated from
the Disabled List. Ryan Mullins was also activated from the DL, but he was
optioned to Ft. Myers.
Rock Cats Report
Thursday
– Rock Cats 6, Portland 2 – The Rock
Cats finally got to play their home opener. Bobby Lanigan
went the first six innings. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on five hits. He
walks two and struck out four. Cole DeVries did a
great job out of the ‘pen again. He threw three innings of one-hit ball to
record the three inning save. Joe Benson hit his third
and fourth doubles in four at bats. Ray Chang launched his first home run.
Chris Parmelee hit his fourth double.
Miracle Matters
Thursday
– Miracle 7, Bradenton 8 – The
Miracle found themselves down 7-0 after two innings, and 8-2 after three
innings. They made a big comeback, but it came up just short. It was a rough
start for Tom Stuifbergen, to say the least. He gave
up eight runs (7 earned) on nine hits and a walk in three innings. Ryan Mullins
came in and threw three shutout innings. Blake Martin then threw two scoreless
innings. Jhonathan
Goncalves went 3-5. Nate Hanson was 2-4 with a
double. Steve Liddle went 2-5 with a double. James
Beresford was 2-4 with a walk.
Injury
Notes – Paul Kelly will again miss
some significant time. He had a blood clot in his right shoulder. As I wrote
the other day, He left the game earlier this week because his right arm was
numb. He has already had surgery to remove the clots, but they still don’t know
how long he’ll be out. Miguel Munoz appears to be headed toward Tommy John surgery.
I was told that the ligament did not tear, but it actually came off of the bone
(which just sounds painful, doesn’t it?). And Tom Stuifbergen
had a rough start last night, but more worrisome, he left the game with
shoulder pain. It will be evaluated, but hopefully it is nothing serious.
Snappers Bites
Thursday
– Snappers 0, Clinton 2 (13 innings)
– A day after getting just one hit in a 1-0 win over Clinton, it was another
pitcher’s duel between the two teams. This one had no scoring until Clinton
batted in the 13th inning. Logan Darnell started and went eight
shutout innings. He allowed just two hits, walked none and struck out six. Blayne Weller gave up two hits and a walk in 1.2 innings,
but did not allow a run. He struck out four. Clinton Dempster
went 2.1 scoreless innings, but he gave up two runs in the top of the 13th
before Matt Hauser got the final two outs.
Feel free to leave
your thoughts, questions or comments.
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