Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Quick Day
Good morning everybody!
The Twins won again! I have a couple of thoughts on that game. We also have last night's minor league report. To start today, I need to briefly discuss the game Chris Coste had yesterday for the Phillies. Coming into the game, he was 3 for his last 4, but just 3-17 in his few big league at bats. In yesterday's Phillies/Red Sox 12 inning game, Coste went 3-6. He had an RBI single in the 7th and came around to score on a Jimmy Rollins triple. Later, he had another single and a double. He is now 6-23 on the year, a .261 average. You can keep up with Chris Coste's stats on the left side of this screen. There is some interesting Coste discussion at the game comments of the Beerleaguer's blog.
Have you ever watched Wife Swap? What a horrible premise for a TV show! But it is rather entertaining to watch!
OK, let's get to baseball...
Have a great day! Please feel free to e-mail me or leave Comments below.
Last night, the Twins beat the Dodgers 8-2 in the first game of their three game series. It was a mix of strong pitching and some big hits, as well as another big offensive day for one of the Twins stars. Here are some quick thoughts on the game:
Just yesterday I commented that Joe Mauer was just 5-21 (.238) over his past six games. Well, last night he went 4-5, so over his last seven games, he is 9-26 which is a .346 batting average. That is the reason that it is not always smart to look at small sample sizes. Each of his four hits drove in at least one run. He had two singles, a double, a triple and five RBI. He is back up to .377.
Michael Cuddyer's batting average may never reach the .300 mark, but he has been quite productive! Last night, he was 2-3 with two walks and two RBI.
Nick Punto was 2-3 with two walks as well. I just will never, ever understand his 'need' to dive headfirst into first base. It is dumb. It is an injury risk, and it does not make the runner get to first quicker!
Luis Castillo was also 2-5, and he scored four runs. So, you will notice that the top four hitters in the Twins lineup combined to go 10-16 with four walks. That's a .625 batting average and a .700 on base percentage.
Chad Billingsley showed signs last night of why he is a huge pitching prospect. No, he's not in the Francisco Liriano level of prospect, but he is on that next level, probably with Cole Hamels and maybe Justin Verlander. He also showed what he needs to do to take that next step. I scouted Billingsley's pitches the first five innings (he went 5.2). In that time, we saw a fastball that hit 96 a couple of times, but it also dipped to 89. I think that is a positive as there was more movement with the lower-speed fastballs. His slider came in at 83-85 mph and was sharp. That is about the same speed as his changeup. He also threw a slow curve in the upper 70s. He has a great arrangement of pitches, however, last night, he had control of none of them as evidenced by his seven walks. He fought his control the whole night. That obviously will need to be corrected if he hopes to take the next step. Obviously I think that he can do it. I have added him to two of my fantasy teams, so obviously I hope that he can do it. I think that he needs to do a couple of things. He was struggling with the release point of his curveball, and I also would like to see him drop another 3-5 mph from the pitches. He really looked like he rushed both his curveball and slider which is primarily something that can affect the control. I think he will be a good one.
It was fun to again see Carlos Silva throw some quick innings out there. He went eight innings and gave up just two runs. He threw only 97 pitches of which 66 were strikes. That is a positive, to me, because he was throwing a lot of pitches. Last year, all he threw was his sinker. He is trying at least two other pitches and maybe they are finally working. He had no walks. However, he got outs on six ground balls and 15 fly outs. That still is not the right ratio for a sinker ball pitcher.
In Silva's past three starts, he is 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA. His ERA is still at 6.43 but that is significantly better than when it was around nine!
Yahoo's Jeff Passan wrote a good article on Joe Mauer called Joe Mauer's Charmed Life. It is worth reading.
Hong-Chih Kuo. I know he gave up the run scoring single to Mauer, but his stuff is just nasty. A lefty who throws 95 with some crazy movement?! That's impressive. Oh yeah, that Twins have two of them, and the Dodgers get to see them both in the next two games. Tonight, it is Francisco Liriano versus Derek Lowe. On Wednesday afternoon, Johan Santana will face Brett Tomko.
Stick & Ball Guy wrote a great article (which is a daily occurence!) about the possibilities of resigning Torii Hunter to the long-term deal that he wants. I agree with SBG. Any thinking that involved keeping Torii Hunter at more than about $7 million for any period of time is crazy! He also has a great group of Commenters, so you will want to check it out.
I haven't been doing a good job of linking, but Nick & Nick's Twins Blog just continues to be one of the best places for Twins information. They really have done a great job with their site. So, if you don't already, please check it out!
Any other thoughts on the Dodgers or the Twins? E-mail me, or leave some Comments below.
Monday SethSpeaks Player of the Day - Tarrence Patterson, Beloit Snappers
Monday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day - Kyle Waldrop, Beloit Snappers
Here are the Monday updates. If you have any thoughts on the Twins system, please e-mail me.
ROCHESTER REPORT
Monday - Red Wings 0, Indianapolis 6 - Shawn Wooten went 2-3. Those were the only hits that the Red Wings could manage. Jason Miller started and gave up six runs (3 earned) on six hits and four walks in four innings. Kevin Cameron, Matt Ford and Bobby Korecky combined for four scoreless innings.
NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Monday - Rockcats – Rained Out. I think that Kevin Slowey should be making his AA debut tonight.
FT MYERS MEMOS
Monday - Miracle 2, Dunedin 7 - Trevor Plouffe has done much better in recent weeks. Last night, he was 2-4 with an RBI. Luke Hughes was also 2-4. Brian Duensing started to fall to 1-3. In six innings, he gave up five runs (3 earned) on nine hits and a walk. He struck out four. Chris Schutt went two innings and gave up two unearned runs.
BELOIT BITS
Monday - Snappers 3, Kane County 4 – I think that Kyle Waldrop is ready to move up to Ft. Myers. On this night, the righty went six innings and gave up two runs (1 earned) on three hits. He walked none and struck out four. David Shinskie came in and gave up a hit in his scoreless inning. JM Cline came in and gave up two hits and a walk for two runs (1 earned) in just 1/3 of an inning. Yohan Pino went 1.2 shutout innings. Eli Tintor went 2-3. Tarrence Patterson was 2-5 with his seventh double and 19th stolen base. Erik Lis was 1-3 with a walk and two strikeouts. He also committed three errors at 1B.
ELIZABETHTON UPDATE
Monday - E-Twins – Doubleheader Rained Out.
GCL TWINS REPORT
Monday - GCL Twins – Rained Out.
Thanks again for stopping by this site. If you have any questions, comments or ideas for future postings, please e-mail me.
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