Saturday, May 17, 2008

Friday and Saturday Game Notes

Thought I would post something real quickly to update the goings on from Friday and Saturday’s games. On the minor league side, there is a lot going on. Ben Revere is incredible… Erik Lis is on a role. Danny Graves got another start. Jeff Manship rebounded from his worst start of the year.

The Twins split the firs two games in Denver against the Colorado Rockies. It’s funny to me when people refer to Coors Field as a home run park when, because of the humidor, it isn’t. In two games, there has not been a home run yet. There have been some well hit baseballs that didn’t go. Joe Mauer flew out to the wall in left. Delmon Young flew out to the warning track in center. Adam Everett got a hold of a couple of balls in Friday night’s game and they were sacrifice flies. A few thoughts on the first two games:

·         Delmon Young is crushing the ball of late. His average is now up to .281. Like I mentioned above, he just crushed a ball to CF that stayed in the park. He had two doubles on Friday night that he hit very hard. He’s been on a tear.

·         Joe Mauer went 0-4 in Saturday night’s game, but he hit at least three baseballs incredible hard and was robbed.

·         Michael Cuddyer --- hasn’t done anything for a long time. Maybe I was wrong? Maybe 2006 was a fluke? I don’t think so, but it’s getting close to a point where the question is fair.

·         Carlos Gomez sat out Saturday’s game after making an incredible play to end the Friday night game. Joe Nathan threw a cookie on 0-2 with two outs in the 9th on Friday. It was crushed to center. I am in awe at how Gomez got to the ball, but when he did, he crashed into the wall and struggled to get back up. Maybe he’s not as good defensively as Torii Hunter at this point, primarily because of the accuracy of his throws, but Carlos Gomez gets to pretty much everything!

·         Livan pitched very well again! Gardy essentially admitted in the postgame press conference that Livan is as good as any hitter they have. Think of it this way. When they pinch hit for Brian Bass later in the game, it was Mike Redmond hitting. Not good!

·         Nick Blackburn is doing a great job of making Baseball America, and John Manuel, look good. Recall they ranked Blackburn as the Twins #1 prospect even though even the Twins people think it was crazy. But again, all that matters is production, and he is certainly doing that! On Friday night, he went seven innings and gave up two runs on six hits. He walked none and struck out five. 67 of his 88 pitches were strikes. Very impressive!

·         When the twins called up Howie Clark from Rochester to replace Matt Tolbert, who apparently continues to try to be the new Nick Punto in every way and tore ligaments in his thumb diving head first into 1B on Thursday, I know a lot of Twins fans were not happy. Many wanted Brian Buscher called up. In my mind, Clark did make some sense. I don’t consider Buscher a big time prospect, but enough of one that he should play every day. Clark is old and should be just fine with not playing and sitting on the Twins bench. He’s veteran enough, with enough big league experience, that he can contribute for the Twins when called upon. Yes, he was named in The Mitchell Report, which isn’t good, but there are likely far more that didn’t appear in the report who cheated too, so oh well.

o   By the way, you can find what Travis Thinks here, and then debate it here. I’ve posted a few comments already.

Kevin Slowey takes on Jeff Francis in the third and final game on Sunday afternoon. Any other thoughts on the Twins?

Twins Minor League Updates

Friday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Joe Benson, Beloit Snappers
Friday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Cole DeVries, Ft. Myers Miracle

Saturday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Steve Tolleson, New Britain Rockcates
Saturday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Jeff Manship, Ft. Myers Miracle

Be sure to check out this week’s Minor League Report by Roger. It is excellent as always.

ROCHESTER REPORT
Friday - Red Wings 4, Columbus 5 – Randy Ruiz went 3-4 with an RBI. Howie Clark, before being summoned to the Twins, went 2-4 with his seventh double. Brian Buscher wnet 2-4 with his fifth double, sixth homer and two RBI. Jose Morales went 2-4. Philip Humber had his best start of the season. He gave up three runs on six hits and three walks in 6.2 innings (and yes, probably his best start of the season). Ricky Barrett gave up a run on a walk in an inning. Casey Daigle then gave up a run on three hits and a walk in 1.1 innings.  

Saturday - Red Wings 2, Syracuse 3 (10 innings) – Through nine innings, each team had scored just one run. So when the Red Wings got a run in the top of the 10th, they were probably feeling pretty good. But then they gave up two runs in the bottom of the tenth to take a loss. Denard Span remained hot. He went 2-2 with three walks and hit sixth double. Jose Morales went 3-5. After a horrible start, he is now hitting .281. Tommy Watkins went 2-5. Sergio Santos got his first Red Wings hit, a double. Danny Graves made a second start for the Red Wings. He gave up one run on six hits in four innings. Mariano Gomez went 2.2 shutout innings and struck out one. Julio DePaula struck out one in a perfect inning. Tim Lahey too the loss. He gave up two runs, one earned, on two hits. Carmen Cali came in and gave up the game-winning hit.

NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Friday – Rockcats, Portland – Rained Out.

Saturday – Game 1 - Rockcats 8, Portland 4 – Steve Tolleson continues his excellent play. In this game, he went 4-4 with three RBI. Trevor Plouffe went 2-2 with his third triple, fourth stolen base and scored three runs. Dustin Martin was 2-2 and hit by a pitch. He stole his 11th and 12th bases as well. Erik Lis hit his 14th double. Ryan Mullins picked up his fourth win. The lefty gave up four runs, but just one earned, on four this in six innings. He walked one and struck out five. Zach Ward’s ERA dropped to 0.35 with another shutout inning.

Saturday – Game 2 - Rockcats 2, Portland 6 – Brock Peterson led the offense in this one. He went 2-3 with his fourth home run. Erik Lis went 2-3. Dustin Martin was also 2-3. Jason Miller took the loss. He gave up four runs on three hits and two walks in 3.2 innings. He struck out five. Jay Sawatski gave up two runs on three hits and two walks in 1.1 innings. Kyle Aselton gave up a hit and two walks in an inning, but somehow no runs. Ben Julianel struck out two in a perfect inning.

FT MYERS MEMOS
Friday - Miracle 2, Tampa 3 (11 innings) – Cole DeVries threw really well in this one. In seven innings, he gave up one run on four hits and a walk. He struck out six. Matt Fox came in and gave up a run on two hits and two walks in two innings. Danny Hernandez is still struggling his way back from surgery. In 1.1 innings, he gave up a run on two walks and a hit. Frank Mata struck out one of the two batters he faced and got out. Brian Dinkelman went 2-4 with a walk and his 13th double. Danny Santiesteban went 2-5.

Saturday - Miracle 3, Tampa 2 – Jeff Manship came back with a strong start following a rough previous start. In 6.2 innings, he gave up no runs on three hits. He walked one and struck out six. Jose Lugo gave up two unearned runs on two hits. In 2/3 of an inning, he struck out two. Anthony Slama got his seventh save, striking out four hitters in 1.2 innings. Brian Dinkelman went 3-4 with his second triple. Wilson Ramos hit his seventh double.

BELOIT BITS
Friday - Snappers 6, Peoria 3 – Joe Benson had a single, his 10th double and his third triple in four at bats. Ben Revere went 2-5. Jair Fernandez hit his first homer of the year, and walked. Garrett Olson and Chris Parmelee each hit a double. Brian Kirwan gave up two runs on eight hits and two walks in six innings. Charles Nolte got the win with a scoreless inning. Brad Tippett got his first save after giving up a run in two innings.

Saturday - Snappers 9, Peoria 8 – After giving up three runs in the top of the 9th, the Snappers scored three of their one to win this game. Chris Parmelee singled in Garrett Olson, who had doubled in the tying run. Ben Revere is incredible. He is now hitting .416 after a 3-4 game in which he walked twice as well. Chris Cates was 2-4 with a walk. Garrett Olson was 3-6 with his sixth double and three RBI. Steve Singleton went 2-4 with a walk and his second triple. Mark Dolenc went 2-3 with two walks and his ninth stolen base. Santos Arias gave up five runs (3 earned) on six hits and two walks in 5.2 innings. He struck out four. Matt Williams got four outs without a run. Spencer Steedley gave up three runs (2 earned) on two hits in 1.1 innings. Blair Erickson came in for the final two outs and struck out two and was credited with his first win of the year.

Have a great Sunday!

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