Wednesday Game Notes
Twins Sweep White Sox
Before
we start, I will be on KFAN, The
Fan Radio Network and KFAN.com at about
10:20 on the Paul Allen show.
The
Twins may be struggling during the early part of this season, and it’s not hard
to come up with several reasons why. There are the injuries to several key
players. There is a lack of defense. There is a lack of offense. There is a
lack of basics. There is the fact that as of now, nine players who started the
year in Rochester have had to play for the Twins, ready or not. There are
logical reasons to understanding the Twins early struggles. Speaking to the
offense, when we see a lineup that includes Casilla, Repko, Butera, Holm, Tolbert,
etc., we shouldn’t expect these guys to be hitting higher than they are.
The
White Sox struggles likewise are surprising. Their bullpen, assumed to be one
of their biggest strengths coming into the season, has been a mess. Their
offense is horrible, almost as bad as the Twins. The difference is that the
White Sox haven’t had the injuries. The offensive struggles have been from the
guys that are their core. In other words, they don’t have guys on the Disabled
List that they can look forward to coming back. Their lineup is their lineup.
On
Wednesday afternoon, the Twins topped the White Sox 3-2 to complete a two-game
sweep. Nick Blackburn gave up just one run on four hits in 6.2 innings. He
walked four batters for the second straight game and struck out just one. Jose Mijares got the final out of the seventh inning. Glen
Perkins came in for the 8th inning and gave up an unearned run on a
walk and a hit. He got just one out before Ron Gardenhire
went to his closer, Matt Capps. Capps got out of the 8th, and
although he put a couple of guys on in the 9th, he got the save.
The
Twins offense did not exactly return to juggernaut-mode in the series. They
scored just four runs in the two-game sweep. Jason Kubel
drove in three of the four runs. He hit the home run that gave the Twins a 1-0
lead in Francisco Liriano’s no-hitter on Tuesday
night. On Wednesday, he drove in the first run of the game with a single in the
first inning. He added a sacrifice fly later in the game. Rene Tosoni drove in the third run of the game that proved to be
needed in the 3-2 win.
With another
day off today, the Twins (11-18) will head to Boston for a four-game series
against the Red Sox who are now 14-16. Amazingly, they are just four games out
in the AL East.
As you
know, Trevor Plouffe and Ben Revere were on the bench
for the Twins on Wednesday. They were added to the roster when Jim Thome and Jason Repko were put on
the Disabled List. I would expect that when the Twins play on Friday night, Plouffe will be starting at shortstop and Revere will be
manning the Green Monster.
Following
the game on Wednesday afternoon, the Twins announced that backup catcher Steve Holm
was being sent down to Rochester. No subsequent move was announced which,
of course, made the Twitter world start thinking. The easy answer is that the
Twins will promote either Danny Lehmann or Rene Rivera to the big league club.
Either would need to be added to the 40 man roster. Because the Red Wings did
not play on Wednesday and the Twins don’t play on Thursday. Holm could be
playing for the Red Wings on Thursday night, and if he can, there is no reason
that the player called up to wait until Friday to go to Boston. That’s the kind
of stuff that makes me wonder if there isn’t something else going on. Could the
Twins be looking to sign a free agent catcher? Could the Twins be working on
finalizing a trade? If so, they would wait until the trade is officially
finalized to announce the Holm move. So, again, I assume that it will be either
Rene Rivera is 27 years old and hitting .200/250/.333 for the Red Wings. Danny
Lehmann impressed in big league camp this spring. He has been the organization’s
top minor league catcher the last two years. After going 6-13 (.462) in New
Britain, he moved up to Rochester where he has gone 7-25 (.280) with a double
and a home run. Of course, I prefer the Twins go with Lehmann, in part, because
I prefer when the Twins promote from within. He was the Twins 8th
round pick in 2007 out of Rice. He is the defensive equivalent to Drew Butera with a slightly better bat. I believe that Butera is a guy who can hit .180-210 in the big leagues
(despite his current .111 batting average). I think that the 25-year-old Lehmann
could hit .200-.240 in the big leagues.
As I
mentioned on my podcast the other night, this is the time of year when
transactions start happening in the minor leagues, and we saw some of that
yesterday. Early in the day, the Twins:
·
promoted
C/OF Chris Herrmann from Ft. Myers to New Britain.
·
Josmil
Pinto moves from Beloit to Ft. Myers to take his place.
·
Ray
Chang was promoted to Rochester on Tuesday night (after the Plouffe
promotion),
·
and
last night, Steve Singleton got the call that he was also headed to the Red
Wings.
Just
as a reminder, I post all of this information, and much more, on Twitter
immediately after I learn of it. So, if you want this kind of information
sooner, be sure to follow me on Twitter.
Ft.
Myers beat Palm Beach last night 6-2. Kane Holbrooks
picked up his first win. The right-hander gave up two unearned runs on six
hits. In six innings, he walked one and struck out three. Blake Martin recorded
the three-inning save. He didn’t give up any runs,
hits or walks and struck out just one. Danny Rams went 3-4. Anderson Hidalgo
went 2-4 with his fourth double. Aaron Hicks was 1-2 with two walks and a
double.
Beloit
beat Wisconsin 4-1. Adrian Salcedo went seven innings
and gave up just one run on five hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out
eight. Clint Dempster struck out five in two one-hit
innings to record the save. Daniel Ortiz went 2-4 with his ninth and tenth
doubles.
Since
the Twins don’t play today, you can follow the Twins minor league teams
throughout most of the day. Here are the times (all central) and starters:
·
Rochester
hosts Gwinnett at 6:05. Anthony Swarzak will pitch
against Braves prospect Mike Minor.
·
New
Britain hosts a double-header against Richmond starting at 9:35 this morning.
Steve Hirschfeld, my choice for Twins minor league
pitcher of the month, will start the first game. Liam Hendriks
will start Game 2.
·
Ft.
Myers will host Palm Beach in their “Cinco de Miracle”
game. Andrew Albers threw 4.2 scoreless innings in relief in his last
appearance, and now he will get a start.
·
Beloit
will host Wisconsin again today, starting at 11:00. Andrei Lobanov
will start for the Snappers.
As
always, if you have any
questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below.
\