Friday, May 22,
2009
Friday Morning
Twins Notes
The Twins losing streak
ended at six games. And, it ended in style. The Twins beat the White Sox on
Thursday afternoon by a score of 20-1! Normally I am not a fan of those types
of games, but I really think that the Twins needed a game like that. As great
as the offense was, I choose to start with the start of Nick Blackburn. He has been the Twins top starter much of the
season. In this game, he threw just 83 pitches over seven shutout innings. He
gave up just four hits and walked three.
But everyone wants to
talk about the offense, and rightfully so. The first thing that should be
mentioned is that Ron Gardenhire finally put Joe Mauer in the #2 spot in the lineup.
He has always been a prototypical #2 hitter, the team’s top on-base percentage
guy, but he was also the team’s best overall hitter, so it made sense for him
to bat third. Now, he is proving himself to be a prototypical
#3 hitter, adding power, and he is moved to the #2 spot. But it’s hard
to argue because putting out-makers like Alexi
Casilla and Matt
Tolbert into the second spot makes no sense. Also, Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel have proven that they are
worthy of hitting #3 and #4. Michael Cuddyer has been on a tear for a month now and fits
into the #5 spot. Joe Crede has added some power, so he is ready to fill that
#6 spot. Sure, the bottom of the lineup is pretty weak still, but at least they
bat less than the top guys. It will be interesting to see if Gardenhire would use four left handed batters at the top of
the order against a left-handed starter. (We will find out tonight when the
Brewers send Manny Parra to the
mound to face the Twins.)
As Nick Nelson said on the
MNGameNight.com podcast on Thursday night, “as long as the Twins average 20
runs a game with Mauer in the two-spot in the lineup,
they might as well stick with it.” Hard to disagree with that logic!
·
How did Joe Mauer do
in that #2 spot of the lineup? Not too bad. He went
3-4 to extend his hitting streak to 14 games. He hit two doubles and a grand
slam. Adding a sacrifice fly earlier in the game, and
he drove in six runs. Not a bad day at all.
·
Michael Cuddyer had another big game. He went 4-6 with his eighth
double, sixth home run and three RBI.
·
Matt Tolbert
hit his first home run of his big league career in the 7th inning.
It gave the Twins a 20-0 lead. He had three hits and four RBI on the game.
·
Jose Morales
had three more hits. He also walked twice. The time he got out, he flew out to
the fence in right field. For his efforts, he was returned to AAA Rochester
after the game. The move was obvious as Delmon Young had
to be taken off of the Family Emergency list before Friday’s game.
·
Joe Crede hit his sixth home run, a long shot following the Cuddyer three-run homer.
·
Jason Kubel went 3-4 before being replaced by Carlos Gomez, who add another hit.
Now of course, we need to see
what the team does to respond. The offense certainly has not been the Twins
problem of late. Nick Blackburn has
not been a problem at all. So, each game is very much dependent on that night’s
starting pitcher. On Friday night, Kevin
Slowey and his 4 walk to 35 strikeout ratio will
attempt to keep the Brewers offense down. On Saturday, Anthony Swarzak will make his big league
debut. On Sunday night’s Game of the Week, Scott
Baker will try to put together a strong start. The Twins offense will face
lefty Manny Parra, followed by
righties Braden Looper
and Dave Bush.
If you happen to be going to
any of the Twins/Brewers game at the Metrodome this
weekend, be sure to pick up a copy (or 13/14 copies) of the Twins scorecard. In it, you will be
able to read the Twins Dugout Splinters.
I wrote the Twins splinters for the weekend series. Also, if you are able to
attend the Twins Autograph Party on
Saturday morning, I would recommend it. It is a nice, fun event. You can get autographs
if you want, check out some very interesting and fun memorabilia at the auctions,
and even meet some players. It’s also just fun to people watch!
With that, here are some more
Twins-related articles or stories for you to peruse while downing your Friday
morning cup of coffee:
·
Parker
Hageman wrote another excellent
Award Context article, this one on Rod
Carew’s 1977 MVP season. It is well worth the read!
·
There is plenty
of talk online about the debut of Anthony
Swarzak on Saturday for the Twins. Aaron
Gleeman, Travis
Aune and Josh
Johnson each talked about his promotion as well as the loss of Craig Breslow
earlier this week.
·
Take a minute to
read Travis Aune’s thoughts on the Delmon
Young situation. It is hard to disagree with his sentiment. By saying
that the Twins have to play short-handed the next few days until Young returns
from his mother’s funeral is basically like telling him that his mom waited too
long to die. I understand that MLB’s current currents dictate that a player can
be gone a minimum of three days and a maximum of seven days, and the Twins have
to respond to that. Hopefully the league will look at a situation like this and
show some leniency in the future, maybe altering the rule to say a minimum of
three days, without a maximum.
·
Be sure to add the
Minnesota Twins page at Examiner.com to your list of must-read Twins
sites.
·
During the
Twins/Brewers series, check out Al’s
Ramblings, an excellent blog that discusses the Brewers.
·
Coffeyville
Whirlwind takes a
look at the May 21, 1999, trade of Rick Aguilera to the Chicago Cubs with
some great research.
·
Andrew Kneeland continues The Carlos Gomez
Debate with a well thought out posting at Twins Fix.
·
At his StarTribune.com/yourvoices blog, Doogie Wolfson graded
the Twins
at the one-quarter mark of the season.
MINOR LEAGUE REPORT
Thursday -
SethSpeaks.net Hitter of the Day – Nick Romero, Ft. Myers Miracle
Thursday -
SethSpeaks.net Pitcher of the Day – Kevin Mulvey, Rochester Red
Wings
ROCHESTER REPORT
Thursday –Rochester 5, Norfolk 4 (12 innings) – The Red Wings enjoyed their off day, and came back
with a little overtime effort. Kevin Mulvey started and had a lead going into the 9th.
He got two outs but couldn’t get the third without the game being tied. All
told, he went 8.2 innings. He gave up three runs on six hits. He walked none
and struck out three. Mike Gosling
improved to 5-1 with 2.1 scoreless innings. He struck out four. Bobby Keppel recorded his first save of
the year. He gave up an unearned run in the bottom of the 12th. Alexi Casilla
went 3-5 with his third triple. He is now hitting .353. Justin Huber went 2-5 with his third home run. Matt Macri went 3-5. David Winfree
led of the top of the 12th with his sixth home run.
ROCKCAT RECAP
Thursday – New Britain 7, Reading 1 – Ryan Mullins has been much
better of late. In this game, he got his second win with six strong innings of
work. He gave up one run on five hits. He walked one and struck out four. Frank Mata got four outs, allowing just a walk. Jose Lugo got the next four outs without a run scoring, but he did
give up a hit and walked two. Yohan Pino got the final out. Brian Dinkelman went 2-5 with his third
homer. Erik Lis
was 2-4 with his third homer. Steve Tolleson and Brandon
Roberts were each 2-5 with a stolen base. Jeff Christy was 2-4. Danny
Valencia hit his fifth homer, and Rene
Tosoni hit his sixth home run.
MIRACLE MEMOS
Thursday – Ft. Myers 2, St. Lucie 1 – Nick Romero made his
Florida State League debut, and had a memorable game. He played at 2B and went
2-3 with a walk. His final hit came in the bottom of the ninth inning, a single
that scored the game-winning run. Chris Parmelee went 2-4. Mike
McCardell started and gave up just one run on
four hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out seven. Alex Burnett got the win by pitching
three shutout innings. He gave up one hit and walked one.
SNAPPERS SNIPPETS
Thursday – Beloit 5, Peoria 7 –
The Snappers scored five runs in the 8th inning to cut their deficit
to 6-5, but it wasn’t enough. Dan Berlind started and gave up three runs on six hits and
a walk in five innings. He struck out seven. Michael Tarsi made his first appearance of the year. He gave up a
run on two hits and a walk in two innings. He struck out three. Curtis Leavitt came in for his Midwest
League debut. He gave up two runs on a hit and two walks. But he did strike out
three. Matt Williams gave up a run
on two hits and a walk in his inning. Drew
Thompson went 2-3 with a walk. Ramon
Santana went 2-4 with his seventh double. Jonathan Waltenbury and James Beresford each had two hits in
the loss.
Please feel free to Send me an e-mail, or leave
your questions or comments here.