Tuesday Night, May 13, 2008

Tuesday Game Notes

Quick notes on the Twins loss to the Blue Jays and all of the Twins minor league games. Enjoy. Comment.

Twins 3, Blue Jays 5 

• Kevin Slowey gave up three earned runs on five hits in 5.2 innings. He walked two and struck out five. I actually thought he looked really good in the game for the most part. Of course, he falls to 0-3 on the season, but the W-L record says nothing about how a guy pitches. I thought it looked like he threw hard, threw his fastball at a couple of different speeds and then mixed in a change up with curveballs that came in at various speeds. You can see how that could keep an offense off balance. But the two out walk to Matt Stairs in the fourth inning hurt him when Lyle Overbay and Shannon Stewart hit back to back doubles that gave the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead. Many talk about how Slowey doesn't have an out pitch, to which I completely disagree (primarily because of his strikeout rate). Well, those people probably loved the 15 pitch at bat with Scott Rolen that ended with a ground out to SS. That also put Slowey up to 105 pitches. So, the next batter, Matt Stairs, hit a home run and Slowey's night was over.

• I try not to question Gardy too much here. People do way too much of that elsewhere and it's really just annoying. Managers make decisions based on several reasons, and everyone thinks a little bit differently. So, all decisions throughout a game can be second guessed whether they work or not, so I try not to do it. Anyway this isn't a big deal, but if Gardy was going to take Slowey out after Stairs batted anyway, why not have a lefty ready to pitch to him there? There are two answers to that, potentially. First, maybe Gardy and Rick Anderson decided that having Slowey pitch to Stairs was a better option than Dennys Reyes batting against Kevin Mench in that situation. The second, and most likely, reason for letting Slowey bat to Matt Stairs... the glorified Win stat. Had Slowey been able to get Stairs out, he would have completed six innings. Then had the Twins been able to grab the lead in the bottom of the 6th, Slowey could have had a Win.

• Delmon Young has actually been hitting fairly well of late. Before tonight's 0-4, Young had gone 7-19 over his past five games, a .368 batting average. I know that they spent too much time in the pre-game show talking about how Young wants to play every inning of every game, and that is commendable. But with how much it has been brought up, you have to wonder what is really up with it? He's 22! Getting a day off is not a bad thing. It isn't a negative thing. It can be a good thing, especially one day after rolling your ankle. I just don't understand the thinking sometimes.

• You can't help but wonder how the game might have turned out had Justin Morneau's triple been hit a foot or so more toward CF and been a home run. The game would have been tied and the whole scenario may end up playing out differently.

• I wanted to watch Jesse Litsch pitch for the Blue Jays last night! Why? Because he's a quality young pitcher? In part, but primarily because of Patrick Reusse. What, you ask? Well, as I was driving in to the office this morning, I was listening to KSTP. Reusse appears at about 7:45 most mornings, I guess. Anyway, he was talking about how people really needed to watch Litsch pitch. It surprised me that he knew who he was. Well, I am paraphrasing, but Reusse went on to basically say something like --- Litsch looks like the offspring from Deliverance... he looks like he should be driving in NASCAR instead of being a big league pitcher. I actually laughed out loud!

• It was nice to see Jason Kubel unload on a pitch as a pinch hitter in the 8th inning. He hit a home run into the upper deck in right field. It was hit fifth of the year.

• It was good to see Carlos Gomez jump all over a hanger in the 3rd inning and hit his third homer of the year. Later, he drilled a single down the left field line. I don't know if he reads scouting reports, but I can't imagine I was the only Twins fan wondering why he didn't go to second off of the arm of Shannon Stewart!

• Have I mentioned that I am excited that former Twins minor leaguer Luis Maza was called up to the Los Angeles Dodgers? I always thought he should have been given a shot by the Twins, at least in place of Luis Rivas.  

Any other thoughts on the Twins? Tonight Boof Bonser will take on Roy Halladay. Commendable that he's pitched so much and thrown those complete games, but let's not be surprised again in June or July when he goes on the Disabled List with a "Tired Arm" again. Also, I will be at the Twins game at noon on Thursday and get to see Dustin McGowan and his 98 mph fastball.

Twins Minor League Updates

Tuesday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Brian Buscher, Rochester Red Wings
Tuesday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Zach Ward, New Britain Rockcats

Be sure to head over to Stick & Ball Guy's site and read ubelman's Minor League Bonanza. Some interesting thoughts... a bit negative though!

ROCHESTER REPORT
Tuesday - Red Wings 5, Columbus 7 – The bats could not bail out the defense and a bunch of unearned runs in this one. Kevin Mulvey started and falls to 2-5. He gave up five runs (1 earned) on six hits and two walks in just 3.2 innings. Heath Totten came in and got four outs. Ricky Barrett gave up a run on three hits and a walk in two innings. Casey Daigle gave up a run on one hit and a walk in two innings. Brian Buscher led the offense. He went 4-5 with his fifth homer. Chris Basak was 3-4 with his fifth double. Denard Span went 2-3 with a walk and his second homer of the year. He also stole his 12th base. Darnell McDonald and Howie Clark were both 2-4. McDonald notched his 11th double. Clark hit his third triple. 

NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Tuesday - Rockcats 2, Binghamtom 4 – Jay Rainville needed a good start, and for the most part, he did well. He gave up four runs (3 earned) on seven hits and a walk in 6.1 innings. The offense managed just six hits. Steve Tolleson and Dustin Martin each hit a double. Martin had an RBI.

By the way, Zach Ward has been terrific this season pitching out of the Rockcats bullpen. In this game, he went 1.2 perfect innings, striking out one. He is now 2-0 with a miniscule 0.36 ERA. In 14 games, he has thrown 23.1 innings. He has given up 16 hits. He has walked 12, the lone negative in his pitching line. He has struck out 21. He has given up just two runs, and only one of them was earned.

FT MYERS MEMOS
Tuesday - Miracle 10, Sarasota 6 – Deolis Guerra improved to 4-1 with a lot of help from the bats. Guerra gave up five earned runs on six hits and a walk in just five innings. Danny Vais came in and reduced his season ERA to 0.75 with two shutout innings. Anthony Slama gave up an unearned run in his two innings. He struck out four. Rene Tosoni went 2-4 with two walks and his first homer of the year. Danny Valencia went 2-4 with a walk, his second triple and fourth home run. Edward Ovalle went 2-4 with his third homer and three RBI. Yancarlos Ortiz was 2-4 with a walk. Wilson Ramos went 2-5 with his sixth double.

BELOIT BITS
Tuesday - Snappers 7, Clinton 5 – David Bromberg continues to be a strikeout machine. In six innings, he gave up three earned runs on seven hits and two walks. He struck out nine. Brad Tippett then gave up two runs on two hits and a walk in 1.1 innings. Spencer Steedley got his second win by striking out two in 1.2 perfect innings. Garrett Olson was 2-4 with his fourth double. Ben Revere was 2-4 with three RBI. Chris Parmelee, Dan Lehman and Joe Benson each got on base twice.

Have a great Wednesday!

|

Back to Archives           Home