Monday, July 19, 2010

Quick Update

 

The weekend was busy, no question, and when I got home late last night, I fell asleep instantly. At about 10:00. That’s early! I actually got almost 9 hours of sleep. That’s like double and triple the normal amount of sleep I get. I just got an e-mail from someone who said they came to my site this morning and saw, “Good morning! Well, I went to the Twins/White Sox game last night.” The reader said he was perplexed, thinking maybe I had not watched the bottom of the 9th inning on Sunday. No, I just hadn’t been able to update this site since Friday morning and I was referring to Thursday night’s awful game. So, I figured a quick note was in order!

 

Since that update, the Twins have won the final three games of the series. When I was on KFAN with Paul Allen on Thursday morning, we discussed the series and thought the Twins would win three out of four, and would lose Thursday night’s game. Well Played, PA! I watched the Friday night game. Francisco Liriano was very good. And after Jon Rauch struggled mightily, Jesse Crain came in and got the final two outs with ease. On Saturday, I spent most of the day in the car and in Fargo. I anticipated listening to the end of the Twins game, but it was done before I even heard any of it. Carl Pavano is amazing! And I’m sure everyone has heard about the Sunday comeback in the bottom of the 9th. It was incredible and unlikely and a ton of fun to watch.

 

A couple of quick notes, to be added after work today (but before I go to Target Field tonight!):

 

·         Kevin Slowey has five quality starts this year. Nick Blackburn had an incredible May when he was almost pitcher of the month, but has been bad the rest of the year. He got another start on Sunday, and I’m honestly not sure what to make out of it. Through five innings, he gave up just two runs and kept the ball down in the strike zone. The in the sixth inning, he gave up a seeing-eye single, a line drive single (ball was up), and a two-run double. That was the end of the line. But I have no idea how Carlos Quentin hit a ball at his shins off the centerfield wall. So, what do we make of the start? The hits he gave up early in the season were ground balls, which are just dependent upon whether they are at somebody or in a hole. Or, do we judge the outing on the three batters he faced in the 6th against whom I would say just one was a bad pitch?

·         So, Brian Duensing got ‘stretched out’ to four innings. Was he good? He gave up seven hits and a walk in four innings. That’s not exactly good.

·         Good to see Danny Valencia start the last two games. He has been hitting well, and his defense remains terrific.

·         Did I mention to anyone that Joe Benson hit his 15th AA homer on Saturday night (19th overall)?

·         Kyle Gibson gave up four runs in six innings. Carlos Gutierrez came in out of the bullpen and threw two shutout innings.

·         Alexi Casilla is 5-12 in four games with AA New Britain on rehab.

·         I know I’ve become a fan of Drew Butera since the beginning of the season. I think that his defense is tremendous. So, it almost pains me to note that after another 2-4 yesterday, Jose Morales is now hitting .291 at AAA Rochester. He is on an 8 game hitting streak during which time he has had two hits seven times.

·         Kyle Waldrop took the loss yesterday. He gave up a run on two hits and two walks in an inning. He has given up runs in three of his last four outings. He told me last night that he’s working on some things and will turn it around quick. I’m of the opinion that he has just been used so much that he has to be tired. Same can be said of Anthony Slama (and Delaney, Lugo, etc.).

·         Mike Tarsi gave up just three hits in six shutout innings for Ft. Myers yesterday.

·         Danny Rams went 2-3 with a walk and his 10th home run of the season. He also stole his second base. Josmil Pinto hit his sixth homer.

·         Former Gopher Kyle Knudson went 4-5 last night with a double and four RBI for Elizabethton. Oswaldo Arcia hit his 10th double and four triple in the game as well.

·         Congratulations to Bobby Lanigan on his promotion to New Britain.

 

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