Monday, May 12, 2008

Weekend Update

Good morning everyone! Welcome to Monday! This is a real quick weekend update posting. Be sure to comment or e-mail me. Be sure to check back later tonight or tomorrow morning for another Q&A with a Twins minor leaguer.

I was gone pretty much all weekend, so I had to go through some minor league box scores and Twins box scores and some other reports to see how it went. The other thing is that when we got home last night, it was about time for Desperate Housewives and the season finale of Brothers & Sisters. I have to ask the readers of this site what shows you have been watching since the end of the writer's strike. I have been asking people of late if it is almost sacrilegious for me to say that Brothers and Sisters is a better show right now than even Grey's Anatomy. With that, let's talk Twins and their minor leaguers. 

• Well, apparently during the Twins game, the team sent out a press release that basically said that the MRI on Pat Neshek's elbow showed that there was an acute partial tear of his UCL. I had a message from someone close to teh situations saying that they had both good news and bad news. The good news is that Neshek will not need surgery. The bad news is that it is an elbow tear. He will be in a splint for about a month and is being told not to throw for three months. That means he is just starting to play some catch in mid-August. To get to 100%, he is going to need some time. I think that the Twins are smart in planning his rehab to get him back to 100% for the beginning of 2009.  Neshek was put on the DL which allowed Glen Perkins to be called up. Bobby Korecky likely would have been sent down without the injury to Neshek.

• Nick Punto is also on the DL right now with a hamstring injury. He has been adequate this year. Alexi Casilla was called up to replace him on the active roster. I don't expect Casilla to play a lot, but his speed is intriguing.

• Good weekend for Adam Everett. He returned to the lineup on Friday and went 2-3 with two doubles and a walk. On Sunday, he made some very good defensive plays to go with his big two run home run on Sunday.

• As you all know, I've been driving the Jason Kubel train for several years, and that certainly is not going to change any time soon. However, Craig Monroe's two home runs likely will mean less at bats for Kubel.

• Big game winning, two out, two strike single by Mike Lamb off of Jonathan Papelbon to left field to give the Twins a 7-6 win. He followed that by going 3-4 on SAturday. On Sunday, he had quite the web gem on a diving catch.

• Justin Morneau went 5-7 in his last two games.

• Glen Perkins was very good in his debut against the Red Sox on Saturday night. His line against the defending champions before he gave up the back-to-back homers in the top of the 7th was six innings, seven hits, one run, no walks, three strikeouts. It's too bad because he deserved better.

• The Twins have won two of three against the Red Sox in this series. Heading into the series, a split of the four games would have been a good goal. Now that the have won two, it would be great to switch it up. 

That is all I have. Any other thoughts on the Twins?

Twins Minor League Updates

Friday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Dustin Martin/David Winfree, New Britain Rockcats
Friday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Dan Berlind, Beloit Snappers

Saturday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Steve Singleton, Beloit Snappers
Saturday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Tyler Robertson, Ft. Myers Miracle

Sunday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Danny Valencia, Ft. Myers Miracle
Sunday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Zach Ward, New Britain Rockcats

Be sure to check out Roger's Weekly Minor League Update at Twinkie Town. La Velle's Sunday Minor League report is also now available online with the primary section on standout Luke Hughes!

ROCHESTER REPORT
Friday - Red Wings 3, Buffalo 4 (10 innings) – Brian Duensing has been pitching better again of late. In this game, he gave up two runs (1 earned) on seven hits in six innings. He walked none and struck out three. Mariano Gomez gave up a run on two hits in 1.2 innings. He struck out two. Julio DePaula walked one but did get one out as well. Tim Lahey fell to 1-2 as he gave up the 10th inning run. Darnell McDonald went 2-5 with his 10th double. Randy Ruiz went 2-5.

Saturday - Red Wings 3, Buffalo 2 – Another start for Francisco Liriano, and it was certainly another step forward. He gave up just two runs on five hits in six innings. He walked just two and struck out five. Ricky Barrett got the win with two shutout innings. Danny Graves, just moved up to Rochester, got his first save with a perfect ninth. Brian Buscher went 2-4 with his third double. Jose Morales went 2-3. Randy Ruiz hit his second homer and drove in two runs.

Sunday - Red Wings 2, Buffalo 4 – Garrett Jones led a lackluster offense in this one. He went 2-4 with his fifth and sixth doubles. Howie Clark went 2-3 with a walk and his fourth double. Philip Humber took the loss to fall to 1-4. He gave up four runs on eight hits and three walks in five innings. Casey Daigle gave up three hits and a walk, but no runs, in 1.1 innings. Carmen Cali got the next five hitters out. Julio DePaula worked a perfect ninth inning.

NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Friday - Rockcats 11, New Hampshire 12 – This was certainly a great day for the bats. Unfortunately, the pitching just did not come through. Brock Peterson went 3-4 with a walk. Steve Tolleson went 2-4 with a walk and a triple. Dustin Martin went 2-3 with two walks, his second homer and four RBI. David Winfree knocked two homers, his sixth and seventh of the year, and drove in four runs. Drew Butera went 2-4 with his second double. Trevor Plouffe went 2-5. Oswaldo Sosa started and lasted just four innings. He gave up five runs on seven hits and four walks. Jay Sawatski then gave up three runs on four hits and two walks in just one inning. Zach Ward pitched a scoreless inning. Armando Gabino then gave up four runs on two hits and four walks in 1.1 innings. Ben Julianel struck out two hitters.

Saturday - Rockcats 3, New Hampshire 5 – Yohan Pino finally had a rough outing. He gave up five earned runs on six hits and a walk in five innings. Zach Ward went 2-2 shutout innings, with three strikeouts, to drop his season ERA to 0.39. Kyle Aselton got the final out. Felix Molina went 2-3. Toby Gardenhire, back with the team, went 2-4. David Winfree hit his 8th home run.

Sunday - Rockcats 7, New Hampshire 4 – Ryan Mullins improved to 3-2 with six solid innings. He gave up three runs on six hits and two walks. Kyle Aselton gave up a hit and two walks in one scoreless innings. Ben Julianel gave up a run on four hits and a walk in two innings. Steve Tolleson went 2-5 with his fourth homer and four RBI. David Winfree went 2-4 with his seventh double. Brock Peterson, Toby Gardenhire, Felix Molina and Jeff Christy each added a double.

FT MYERS MEMOS
Friday - Miracle 7, St. Lucie 3 – Alex Burnett had a decent start, but it was a blast from the past that got the win. Burnett gave up three runs on six hits and two walks in 5.2 innings. Danny Vais went 1.1 innings and gave up just one hit. Then Errol Simonitsch threw a perfect inning in his return after missing a lot of time the last couple of years due to injury. He got the win. Anthony Slama gave up two hits, but he struck out the side in a scoreless ninth inning. Danny Berg went 2-4 with his second homer. Johnny Woodard went 2-5 with his fifth double. Danny Valencia came in late as a pinch hitter and went 2-2 with his 11th double. Rene Tosoni hit his second triple and drove in three runs.

Saturday - Miracle 11, St. Lucie 3 – After giving up 15 base runners in about five innings in his previous outing, Tyler Robertson got his first Florida State League win in this one. In six innings, he gave up just one run. He allowed five hits and walked three. He also struck out seven. Danny Hernandez is still trying to work his way back to full strength. He gave up two runs in two innings. Danny Vais pitched a scoreless ninth. Danny Valencia went 3-5. Johnny Woodard went 2-3 with a walk. Danny Berg went 2-4 with his second double. Danny Santiesteban went 2-4 with his sixth double. Juan Portes hit his second homer while Wilson Ramos hit his third homer.

Sunday - Miracle 7, St. Lucie 5 – What a weekend for Danny Valencia. In this game, he was 4-5 with two doubles. For the weekend, he was 9-12! Juan Portes went 2-4 with his seventh double and also stole his third base. Yancarlos Ortiz went 2-3 with his first triple. Cole DeVries gave up five runs on ten hits in five innings. He walked three and struck out one. Jose Lugo struckout two in one shutout inning. Robert Delaney picked up the win as he went two scoreless innings. Anthony Slama recorded his sixth save with a scoreless ninth.

BELOIT BITS
Friday - Snappers 3, Burlington 0 – Dan Berlind has really started the season a little slow, but he improved to 3-2 with his best outing of the year in this game. In seven shutout innings, he allowed just two hits and two walks to go along with five strikeouts. Spencer Steedley struck out four in two perfect innings for his second save. Ben Petsch went 2-4. Chris Cates was 1-2 with two walks. Joe Benson stole two bases and Ben Revere stole one.

Saturday - Snappers 5, Burlington 4 – Brian Kirwan improved to 3-1 with the win in this game. The righty went the first 5.1 innings and gave up four runs on ninth hits and a walk. Blair Erickson struck out four in 1.2 shutout innings. Steven Hirschfeld struckout three in two scoreless innings for his first save. Steve Singleton led the offense, going 3-4 with his third double. Ben Revere and Joe Benson each hit their second triples. Greg Yersich and Ramon Santana each went 1-2 with two walks.

Sunday - Snappers/Burlington – Postponed by Rain. 

I will be back later with a Q&A with a Twins minor leaguer, so be sure to check back. Have a great week!

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