Thursday, June
18, 2009
Pirates Power
Past Twins
I really don’t want to dwell on
the Twins 8-2 loss last night to the Pittsburgh Pirates. Francisco Liriano actually wasn’t bad. Michael Cuddyer
had a very good game. But the long ball definitely hurt the Twins in this game.
It was a bad pitching game, and the Twins pitching has been so strong the last
ten to twelve games. I’m just not worried about this one game. If you would
like to, you can read my
Game Recap at BaseballDigest.com. Before getting in to my one big story
from the game, here again is the pitching matchup for this afternoon’s
Twins/Pirates series finale.
Thursday – 12:10 – Nick Blackburn (5-2, 3.31, 1.30, .264) vs Zach Duke
(7-4, 3.10, 1.17, .263)
Story of the Game – The Idiot of the Day Award has to go to the
Twins fan in the Home Run Porch that caught
Andrew McCutchen’s 3rd inning home run
and decided it was a good idea to throw it back on the field. First of all, any
fan who catches a home run ball and throws it back on
to the field has to have a little idiot within, but this was a completely different
situation. You see, it was the first career home run for McCutchen.
A fan has to be thinking such things when you are sitting in a location that
could find you catching a little bit of history. At a minimum, the person who
caught the ball could have received a signed bat and signed ball from McCutchen (one of baseball’s best prospects), had the
opportunity to meet and shake hands with McCutchen,
and present him the ball after the game. Doesn’t that sound much better than throwing
the ball back out onto the field? It is a dumb thing to do in the first place.
Do the fans out there encouraging the person to “Throw it Back”
think that the guy who just hit the home run feels disrespected by the fan
throwing it back? Do they think that it motivates the home team? Quick note –
It doesn’t. All it does is slows down the game and highlights even more the
fact that the home team’s pitcher just gave up a home run. But to give up the
opportunity that that person did is inexcusable!
Live
Twins Chat Tonight at 7:30 – I have not
done a Live Chat for a couple of weeks and a lot has
happened in the mean time. We have seen the draft, promotions, demotions, some
injuries, some good pitching, Mauer is still good,
and there is a lot going on in the minor leagues. I will open up the chat room
a little after 7:00 tonight . If you would like to set
an e-mail reminder, join the live chat and ask questions during that time, or
read the transcript later, Click Here.
MINOR LEAGUE REPORT
Wednesday -
SethSpeaks.net Hitter of the Day – Alexi Casilla, Rochester
Red Wings
Wednesday -
SethSpeaks.net Pitcher of the Day – Loek Van Mil, Ft.
Myers Miracle
TRANSACTIONS AND NOTES
·
Steve Hirschfeld was added to the Florida State League All-Star game
roster yesterday. Both Carlos Gutierrez and Danny Lehmann were named to the team
but promoted to AA.
·
The Twins and
Beloit Snappers released reliever Danny Rondon yesterday to make room for righty Tom Wright who is again healthy.
·
Travis posted his
choices for Twins prospects 11-15.
ROCHESTER REPORT
Wednesday –Rochester 10, Columbus 2 – The Red Wings likely needed a game like this. 10 Runs
on 17 Hits is a good way to improve team morale. Bobby Keppel continues to impress on the mound. He won his third
game and dropped his ERA to 2.43 with six strong innings. He gave up two runs
on nine hits. He walked none and struck out five. Armando Gabino continued his role as
well. He recorded the three inning save. He didn’t allow a runner to reach base
and struck out three. Alexi Casilla went 3-5 with a walk, his first home run and
seventh stolen base. Trevor Plouffe was 3-6. Steve
Tolleson went 3-5 with a walk and his second
stolen base. David Winfree
went 2-5 with his 18th double. Justin Huber was also 2-5. Dustin Martin was 1-3 with a walk and
four RBI.
ROCKCAT RECAP
Wednesday – New Britain, Altoona – Postponed by rain.
MIRACLE MEMOS
Wednesday – Ft. Myers 4, Dunedin 8 – Another rough outing for Deolis Guerra in this game hid another strong
performance by Loek
Van Mil. Guerra started and gave up eight runs on ten hits and two walks.
Van Mil came in and threw four shutout innings, keeping his ERA at 0.00. He
gave up two hits, walked two and struck out three. Danny Berg went 2-2 with his ninth double and first triple. Ben Revere was 2-3 with his 27th
stolen base. Deibinson
Romero went 2-4 with a walk and his 13th double. Evan Bigley went
2-4 with his fourth AA.
SNAPPERS SNIPPETS
Wednesday – Beloit 1, Clinton 4 –
Ramon Santana and Dominic de La Osa
each went 2-3 with a walk in this game, but it wasn’t enough for the Snappers.
Santana hit his 14th double. Dan
Berlind gets the loss after giving up three runs
on three hits and two walks in six innings. He struck out seven. Blake Martin gave up a run on two hits
and three walks in two innings. Curtis
Leavitt pitched a scoreless ninth.
Please feel free to Send me an e-mail, or leave
your questions or comments here.