Friday June 11, 2004
TWINS WIN IN 15
Good morning! Welp, last night, I went to watch Shrek 2 finally. It is hilarious. Below, you will find a brief review of it. I got home at 10:30, logged on the computer to check out how the Minnesota Twins did against the Mets in the rubber game of their series. I flipped on the TV to see if Baseball Tonight was on. Well, the TV was on Fox Sports Net and I saw that there was a Twins game on. I was surprised that they were showing the replay of the game so quickly. Well, ends up it was still the same game... and there was another 45 minutes to go. So I did watch the 13th, 14th and 15th innings. I saw Torii Hunter make a couple of great catches. I saw the unlikely duo of Luis Rivas and Cristian Guzman setting up the Michael Ryan game-winning single in the bottom of the 15th inning. So today, I will summarize what happened in the Twins win. I will go through the Twins minor league affiliates.
Also, there is still time to answer the Twins related questions below. To repeat from yesterday, I have provided a bunch of Twins questions below and would love to hear your thoughts on them. I hope to get plenty of response so that you will help me write my postings for Monday. I haven't had a Mailbag posting for awhile, so it is time. So, please help me!!! Thanks!
To this point in the season, who has been the Twins:
Best hitter?
Best starter?
Best reliever?
Biggest disappointment?
Biggest surprise?
What are your thoughts on Luis Rivas?
Should Michael Cuddyer play every day? Where?
What should the Twins do with their glut of OF, 1B, DH?
What are your thoughts on the Justin Morneau situation?
Should Doug Mientkiewicz continue to be the Twins leadoff hitter?
Which former Twins player do you think the Twins miss the most (Guardado, Hawkins, Pierzynski, Milton)?
What are your thoughts on Terry Ryan?
What are your thoughts of Ron Gardenhire?
As of now, who do you think will win the AL Central?
Which minor leaguer are you most excited to see move up to the Twins?
Any other general thoughts that you may have on the Twins, the players, the coaches, the season... anything?
Let's talk Twins. I want to give the readers the forum of this site on Monday, so please e-mail me and make your thoughts heard.
Johan Santana finally put together a good game on Wednesday and Kyle Lohse did the same on Thursday. But the bullpen may have been the story again. Lohse started and went 7 innings. He gave up the Mets two runs on five hits, but he walked just one and struck out three. Unfortunately, the offense didn't come through for him. He left with a 2-1 deficit. However, the bullpen was incredible. Five relievers combined for 8 scoreless innings pitched. Aaron Fultz (1), Juan Rincon (2), Joe Nathan (1), Joe Roa (2.1) and Grant Balfour (1.2) were all great.
It was a tough night on the batting averages though. For the Twins, Cristian Guzman was 2-7 and Matthew Lecroy and Luis Rivas were 2-6. Six Twins had just one hit. The big hit was an RBI double by Jose Offerman in the bottom of the 9th. It scored Matthew Lecroy from first base for the game tying run. Lecroy really kicked it into gear to score!
Michael Cuddyer was again on the bench. It is sad because Luis Rivas has actually played pretty well the last couple of games. That means that Ron Gardenhire will continue to be blinded and and keep playing him. Despite the fact that Michael Cuddyer was arguably the Twins best hitter in May, he jumps back to the bench. He sits with the duplicated efforts of Michael Ryan and Jose Offerman.
A good game for the Twins. They needed another series win, and they got that plus some with the sweep of the Mets. Now, they begin a weekend series against Eric Milton and the Philadelphia Phillies. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for the Twins), they will not get to swing against Milton. However, Carlos Silva will get to pitch against his former teammates. Here are the pitching matchups for the weekend:
Friday - 7:10 - Seth Greisinger (2-5, 5.76, 1.66, .314) vs Brett Myers (4-3, 4.03, 1.50, .288)
Saturday - 6:10 - Carlos Silva (6-3, 4.26, 1.46, .311) vs Kevin Millwood (4-4, 4.85, 1.52, .291)
Sunday - 1:10 - Brad Radke (4-3, 3.36, 1.24, .288) vs Paul Abbott (2-5, 6.70, 1.62, .257)
Paul Abbott was released by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays last week after his loss to the Twins. Hopefully the Twins will be able to do that again.
Again, be sure to e-mail me with your responses to the above Twins related questions. I'd love to hear and then post your thoughts on the Twins.
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ROCHESTER REDWINGS
Redwings 0, Columbus 4 - Augie Ojeda and Luis Rodriguez each had a single in this game. Why do I mention them? Well, because those were the only hits for the Redwings as they fell to the Clippers. Henry Bonilla took the loss giving up 3 runs in 5 innings. He walked just one and struck out two. Jeromy Palki gave up a run and struck out three in two innings. Beau Kemp pitched a scoreless inning.
NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS
Rockcats 2, Portland 3- Billy Munoz did not have a hit. Why do I mention this? Well, because he was the only Rockcat starter not to get a hit. Of course, none had more than one hit either in the loss. Jim Abbott gave up three runs in five innings. He gave up 5 hits and two walks. Jon Pridie, Jason Miller and Pat Neshek combined for three shutout innings.
FORT MYERS MIRACLE
Miracle 7, Sarasota 8 - Trent Oeltjen led the Miracle with a 3-4 performance that included a triple. Doug Deeds was 2-5 with a tirple and two RBI. Garrent Guzman had a double and a triple in four at bats. Felix Molina was also 2-4. Manny Tejada started for the Miracle and lasted just four innings. He gave up seven hits and three walks for four earned runs.
THE SWING OF THE QUAD CITIES
Swing , Kane County Postponed - Quad Cities will play a double header today against Kane County.
Any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, e-mail me.
Like I said, last night, I viewed Shrek 2. As I mentioned before, I loved Shrek. I have found that I absolutely love animated feature movies. Shrek, Finding Nemo, there have been a bunch in the last few years. I love the ones that can be watched by a kid, yet as an adult, you can also find very comical. Shrek to is a great example of this.
Shrek and Princess Fiona are now married. We see them on their honeymoon and happy to start their life together, with Donkey apparently, back in the swamp. Her parents, the king and queen of Far, Far Away, have invited them to visit and give them a special ball to celebrate their wedding. As would be expected, her parents and the kingdom are very shocked when they see the two ogres together. Of course, Fiona was supposed to have been swept away by Prince Charming. The King is not happy and goes to The Fairy Godmother to help him get rid of Shrek and clear the way for Prince Charming. To do so, he employs the talents of Puss in Boots, a hilarious new character in this movie. Of course it is a hilarious movie with a very good story and lesson to it. It also has many lines and subtext that would (hopefully) go over the heads of the kids that watch it. There are again many fairy tale characters throughout the movie and some have much more prominent roles, like Pinocchio, the Gingerbread Man and The Three Pigs.
Mike Myers is Shrek again. Cameron Diaz is Fiona. And Eddie Murphy plays Donkey. New this time was Antonio Banderas who does the voice of Puss in Boots. He's great, and the character is wonderful.
Is it as good as the original Shrek? Probably not. But it is an excellent movie. If you liked the first one, you will still love the second one too.
Have you seen Shrek 2? What did you think? Any other movies you would recommend that I watch or rent? I may have to watch a few this weekend. E-mail me.
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**Please head over to The View from The Bleachers and vote in The World Series of Blogs! They have included SethSpeaks in the AL Central contenders.
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That is it for me for today. Have yourself a wonderful Friday and a wonderful weekend!! As always, if you have any questions or comments on anything, please e-mail me.