Monday, July 24, 2006
Weekend Recap
Good morning everybody! It was a good, productive weekend for me. Sadly, now we must return to the work week ,but that is alright, or at least it is really the only option! We've got a lot today, so let's just get started.
First, I want to give a Chris Coste update. I wrote the below on Saturday morning after his Friday night home run against John Smoltz:
CHRIS COSTE UPDATE - Friday night, Coste was the catcher and #8 hitter for the Phillies against John Smoltz and the Braves. The following is from mlb.com's Phillies beat writer Ken Mandel:
Rookie Chris Coste, who smacked his first career homer on Wednesday, stayed hot with a two-run blast off Smoltz in the fourth.
"It's very frustrating for me personally," Smoltz said. "One bad pitch to the No. 8 hitter."
"It wasn't a great John Smoltz slider," Coste said. "I was able to get to it and drive it."
I just watched the video of the home run over at mlb.com. What a shot! And yes, it was a hanger! Click here. On the right part of the page, you will find the heading More Coverage and then Related Links. There is a 350K video of it that you can click on.
Phillies backup catcher Sal Fasano is set to rejoin the team Saturday or Sunday. The question then becomes whether Chris Coste is sent back down to Scranton, or someone else. Coste has certainly proven he is major league caliber. Again, after starting out 0-13, he has now gone 18-41 since. That's a nice .439 clip. He has the three doubles and two homers as well giving him a slugging percentage since then of .659. Add in a .465 on-base percentage and since that 0-13 start, Coste has an OPS of 1.124. He should not be sent down!
On Saturday, the news was even better for Coste. It was determined that Coste would remain with the Phillies as their backup catcher, behind Mike Lieberthal. Sal Fasano was set to come off of the Disabled List, but the team decided to Designate him for Assignment instead. If you read this article on the Phillies mlb.com page, you find out what a strange situation this really was. A few weeks ago, Fasano was put on the DL. He did not think that he needed it. In reality, the Phillies were determining what Coste was capable of. When it become obvious that Coste could hit AND handle a pitching staff, the team decided to drop Fasano, a very popular player with his teammates and the Philly fans. Coste called Fasano his "favorite player on the team," and Fasano told Coste the he was proud of him. When Fasano realized this was going to happen, he decided to explain the situation. The mlb.com article is very interesting, and it quotes both Fasano an Coste in it. Both speak very highly of each other, and Coste fully understands his situation. Check out Balls, Sticks & Stuff as well for his thoughts on the situation. Todd Zolecki of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote an article on this situation as well. Here is the Beer Leaguer account. And here is what was written at phillyburbs.com.
Today, I have some thoughts on each of the Twins games. I tried to type out my thoughts shortly after the games, so I didn't forget anything that I wanted to mention. Hopefully you like that format. I do have a couple of links to Twins-related articles that I think you will enjoy. That is followed by Roger's Minor League Player and Pitcher of the week choices. Roger spent the weekend in Cleveland, so I was ready to post that he was on vacation and would return next week. But Roger is quite dedicated, and we obviously appreciate that! Finally, I have my game notes for each of the Twins affiliate's games from the weekend. Plenty more solid performances! I would love to hear your thoughts, so e-mail me, or leave Comments below:
With Sunday's 3-1 win over Cleveland, the Twins were able to take two of three. They have just been incredible, and with the post-All Star break slide of the White Sox, the Twins have put themselves back in playoff contention! The Twins are still 9.5 games behind the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central. However, they are now just three games behind the White Sox who have the Wild Card lead now. With a three game series starting in Chicago against the White Sox tonight, it is possible that by Wednesday late afternoon, the Twins could be tied for the Wild Card lead. Of course, the Yankees and Blue Jays have a say in that as well.
TWINS BLOGS AND THOUGHTS
Here are a couple of sites with articles related to the Twins that I think you will enjoy:
First, Rich Lederer of The Baseball Analysts has spent lots of time trying to spread the word of Bert Blyleven's Hall of Fame candidacy. In doing so, he has also now had the opportunity to interview him a few times. He just posted his most recent Q&A with Blyleven last night, and it is excellent!
You will definitely want to go to On the Road with Pat Neshek today because he updated his site a couple of times over the weekend. On Friday, he wrote two postings, one about travel and pitching. The other was about Wayne Hattaway, someone we just don't know enough about, but someone with such a great involvement with the Twins. And his article on Sunday was wonderful. More travel. Clarifying a 'misquote' by Sid (Pat, you know you've made it now!). And much more.
I guess another way to find out that Neshek has made it is that Batgirl used some Legovision to explain his delivery.
There is a fun, interactive way to help the Twins community come up with their own Twins Prospect Ranking over at Twinkie Town. It involves a poll in which you can vote for which Twins prospect ranks the highest. So far, it has been determined that Matt Garza is the #1 prospect and Kevin Slowey ranks #2. Right now, you can vote to determine who is the Twins #3 prospect.
Nick N. says Bring on the Sox!
My favorite topic right now is what the Twins need to do with the latter 40% of the Twins rotation. In the Top 3, the starters are fine. But both Scott Baker and Carlos Silva are quite questionable right now. I have heard and read that Terry Ryan may be interested in acquiring a 4th of 5th starter for the pennant race. Although I do think that the Twins do need to make a move here, I don't think that getting a 4th or 5th starter is wise, particularly depending on who the Twins would need to deal away to get said starter. First, to get a guy like Ramon Ortiz is just not better than Baker or Silva. A guy like Livan Hernandez would be a solid #4 starter, an improvement (likely) over the other options. However, the Nationals won't just give him away, so the Twins would have to deal probably a quality prospect and a lesser prospect or two. Is that worth it? If it works and the Twins win the World Series, sure. However, I think that the Twins can make a replacement in house. I think that Matt Garza is very nearly ready to contribute to the Twins. I know. He's young, just 22 years old, and he started in Ft. Myers this spring. But he has dominated at each level. He would not be the first 2005 draft pick to make The Show. The Mets brought up pitcher Mike Pelfrey a couple of weeks ago. Jered Weaver is 7-0 as a starter with the Angels. The Dodgers are counting on Chad Billingsley. These are playoff teams trusting their youth. I know, the Twins brought up Adam Johnson too early a few years ago and he ended up never being good. The concern is rushing Garza. But he is known for his make up, to go along with his 95+ mph fastball and other "stuff." Francisco Liriano is 22. I would rather see a guy get called up now and have a chance to adjust before August and September when it really does count. I think that any trades would affect this theory, but I really think that Matt Garza is the guy to go with.
And no, I don't think that it is worth trading guys like Garza and Kevin Slowey for a guy who will only be with the team for two months like Alfonso Soriano. As good as he is, the Twins would have to open up a position for him. My belief is that if a small-market team wans to compete over several years, not just one, building that minor league system and using those players is crucial.
One fun name to talk about would be Alex Rodriguez. The star Yankees 3B and 2005 AL MVP is really struggling defensively of late. He also is not having an ARod-equesque offensive season either. Some believe that he may never recover in New York. The Twins do have a need at 3B, don't they?! A-Rod's 'bad' numbers would still rank among the top three Twins hitters. The Rangers are still paying much of A-Rod's contract. He is still owed a lot of month over the next three years. Maybe the Twins could throw in a few top caliber prospects for A-Rod. The Twins would obviously need the Yankees to pick up at least half of A-Rod's remaining contract (making the deal well worth it. Of course, I don't believe that Alex Rodriguez would use his no-trade clause to accept a Twins trade. That said, the Twins have as much prospect depth as almost anyone. I don't even know what a package for A-Rod would even cost the Twins (in terms of production).
GAME NOTES
Friday night's 14-6 win over the Cleveland Indians was crazy. I mean, how many times has a team scored fourteen runs without the benefit of a home run! They did have five doubles and a triple. It was the second straight time that the team beat CC Sabathia too, so that's always fun!
The resurgence of Rondell White is truly one of the more fun stories of the Twins season. For as low as he got and as poorly as the most loyal Twins fans looked at him, his recent success is really remarkable and says a lot about his character. White went 4-5 with a hit by pitch. He drove in four runs and nearly hit his fourth homer.
Joe Mauer had a walk, a single, a double and a triple in the game raising his average to .381. A 3-5 won't move him up as quickly any more, but I have to say again, that an approach at the plate like Mauer's coupled with that swing will really keep him from prolonged slumps.
Michael Cuddyer went 3-5 with four RBI. He had a long double to center. He also had another sacrifice fly. The main concern that I have with Cuddyer is that he swings and misses a lot. But as I showed on Friday, he really has come through with runners in scoring position this year. If when there is a runner on 3B and less than two outs, he can just hit a fly ball, that is productive and very important! Based loaded doubles that score three runs, like the one he had in the top of the 4th are also very nice from time to time!
Justin Morneau was 2-4 with two walks. Both walks came in a long fourth inning for the Twins. The first came against CC Sabathia and the second against Jason Davis.
Similarly, Josh Rabe was 2-4 with a walk. Both of his hits came in that fourth inning. One was against Sabathia. The other came against Davis.
Not to be negative in a big win, but I do need to point out that Nick Punto was 1-5 with FOUR strikeouts. He really has done a far better job this season of putting the ball in play rather than striking out, so hopefully we can chalk this up to one bad game. However, if you would like, you could say that "When Nick Punto put the ball in play on Friday night, he batted 1.000!"
By the way, Punto's single gave him a 14 game hitting streak. Luis Castillo hit a double in the first inning. So despite being 1-6, the hit did increase his hit streak to 15 games.
In a 14-6 win, you assume that the starting pitcher will get the win, right? Well, not in this case. The very hittable Carlos Silva was even more hittable than normal in this game. He gave up six runs (5 earned) on 13 hits and two walks. He left the game with one out in the fourth inning, two outs from being eligible for the win. But with numbers like those, you just can't keep him in there.
I found it quite interesting that Kyle Lohse came in to replace Silva. He got the next batter out on a sacrifice fly, but then he was removed from the game with Dennys Reyes coming in. Reyes got Travis Hafner out. I understand Reyes being brought in to get Hafner. But in the 5th inning. The Twins were still up 9-6 despite the four run inning. I would think that Lohse would work longer than that, allowing Reyes to potentially pitch to Hafner and Victor Martinez in the 7th inning or so. At first, I thought maybe there was an injury, but nothing was mentioned. Then I wondered if he had just been traded and had to be brought out of the game, but that was just silly. I am sure that it was just matchups, just seemed really strange to me.
Jesse Crain went a nice 2.1 innings of shutout relief. But then Pat Neshek came in to get the final four outs. He got two on strikeouts. Neshek's follow through was a primary topic for Dick Bremer and Bert Blyleven in the 9th. Neshek throws his sidewinding pitch, and on his follow through, his arm actually comes back up. When I first saw it, I actually commented to a couple of friends about it. It does, or at least can, look like he is showing up the hitter as his right up is up in the air, sometimes with a finger or two. Apparently several of the Devil Rays were upset about it after his three-strikeout inning against them on Thursday afternoon. But Neshek has the same follow through on every pitch whether it is a ball or a strike. If you throw like that, you realize that that is how he has to follow through. It is probably good for his arm to do that. Hopefully it won't become an issue.
On Saturday evening, the story was a little different. OK, it was a lot different as the Twins had little pitching and almost no hitting. The Indians got a complete game shutout from rookie Jeremy Sowers. Here are some thoughts from the game:
Scott Baker just is not getting the ball down. That is essentially why he was sent down to AAA, and reports were that he was doing that down there. But, maybe in this game, he just was off, but his control was way off. Although he gave up just two runs in the first five innings, he flirted with disaster, and then in the sixth inning, the Indians scored more runs off of him. It was strange to me just how negative Bert Blyleven was in analyzing Baker. I'm not saying that he deserved praise, but normally Blyleven tries to be a little more positive. It really felt like he was against Baker. That is just my impression, maybe others disagree. I just thought it seemed strange.
I should have been able to predict the Jeremy Sowers shutout. I picked him up in two of my leagues about a week before his call up. However, he has struggled so far in his big league career, a career that consisted of just four starts coming into the game. He had gone 1-3 with an ERA over 7.00. My pitching staffs in those leagues were pretty stacked already and I needed an OF bat, so I dropped Sowers at the end of last week. So, of course the 2004 top draft pick out of Vanderbilt threw a complete game, four hit-one walk shutout against out hot-hitting Twins club. Oh well. I'll be ok.
Four hits. Four stinking hits. And one walk. I do have to point out that Jason Bartlett was 1-2 with a walk, so that is a good day.
Seriously, the time for Willie Eyre to be sent back to Rochester was a month or so ago. He came into the game in the bottom of the eighth and pitched his first game for the Twins in over two weeks. He gave up five runs on five hits and a walk in the inning. The team has been saying for quite some times that they would like to go from 12 pitchers back to 11. Rochester obviously needs all the roster and pitching help that they can get. Eyre needs (and deserves) to pitch some innings. He needs to get his confidence back. Confidence in himself and in his pitches. The last two years in Rochester he was terrific, and I believe he can be a solid reliever in the big leagues, but not right now!
It was actually nice to see Nick Punto get a day off. I know he is playing great, but we are still talking about a guy with some injury history with questionable knees. A day off is not a bad thing. Also, Terry Tiffee needs to get some at bats if he is expected to be a contributor off the bench. Can anyone remember the last time Michael Cuddyer got a day off since he became the starter? I'm not saying that players, especially key contributors should get a lot of time off, but maybe a game a month or something. Even Kirby Puckett got some games off.
On Sunday afternoon, it was Francisco Liriano who got the nod for the Twins, hoping to end a one game losing streak! And yeah, he and a dominant bullpen were able to give the Twins the win.
Francisco Liriano was completely dominant, but he just threw too many pitches. He threw 95 pitches in just five innings and just 58 were strikes. He struck out ten batters ,but he also walked three (even if they were close pitches). Liriano improved to 12-2 on the year and his ERA stayed at 1.93. Liriano got 15 outs. Ten were on strikeouts. He faced 22 batters and just nine put the ball in play.
Pat Neshek got the next five outs, including two strikeouts. Dennys Reyes came in and struck out the two batters he faced. Juan Rincon got two outs, one on a strikeout. Joe Nathan then came in and struck out two in a scoreless ninth for his 19th Save. The post game ERAs of the five pitchers the Twins used are 1.93, 0.00, 1.38, 2.03 and 1.54, respectively. Seventeen of the 27 outs came via the strikeouts. And despite a poor record, Cleveland does have a strong hitting team.
An interesting stat according to the Yahoo game notes: The Twins are 63-1 when leading after eight innings. That is truly amazing. That means that even if there is a blown save, they have been able to come back and win all but once. Even more remarkable, since the start of the 2003 season, they are 257-3 in that situation. Truly Amazing! Says a lot about the ability of the Twins bullpen, but also their consistency over the past four years. Amazing when you consider what the bullpen situation has been like in Atlanta since John Smoltz returned to the starting rotation.
Nick Punto stretched his hit streak to 15 games with two hits on the day.
Joe Mauer got on base all four times in the game. He was 2-2 with a single, a double, and two walks, one of which was intentional.
THE UPCOMING SERIES
Here is a quick look at the upcoming pitching matchups for the three game series in Chicago against the White Sox. It will be fun to watch how the series goes. Will the Twins young lineup be able to handle the pressure of a big series against one of their competitors on the road?
Mon - 7:10 - Brad Radke (8-7, 4.83, 1.49, .318) vs Javier Vazquez (9-5, 5.20, 1.35, .274)
Tues - 7:10 - Johan Santana (11-5, 3.00, 1.01, .222) vs Jose Contreras (9-2, 3.43, 1.18, .238)
Wed - 7:10 - Carlos Silva (5-9, 6.91, 1.65, .347) vs Mark Buehrle (9-8, 4.53, 1.36, .286)
Here is a quick look at how some of the White Sox hitters are faring:
Scott Podsednik hit a three run homer yesterday. It was his third homer of the season after not hitting even one last year until the playoffs. He also has just 29 stolen bases to this point in the season, far behind his usual rate. He is just three for his last twenty at bats.
Tadahito Iguchi hit his 11th homer yesterday. Even including that, he has just four hits in his last twenty at bats.
My Homey Jim Thome is having a great year. It is safe to say I was wrong about him. I know that Twins fans concern was his health, not only this season, but over the two years remaining on his contract. He has 32 homers and 81 RBI. However, he has gone just 2-17, or 4-25, of late.
Jermaine Dye - nothing bad you can say about him. I was wrong about him too. He is having an MVP-caliber season. Even after his 0-4 with four strikeouts yesterday, he is hitting .312 with 25 homers and 61 RBI.
AJ Pierznski is still hitting .300, barely (exactly). He is one for his last 19 and three for his last 27.
Joe Crede is a guy that I was actually right about. I predicted a bit of a breakout season for the 3B. He is hitting .297 with 20 homers and 64 RBI even after going 0-7 in the team's last two games.
Paul Konerko has missed parts of the last two games because of a stomach illness. In his past four games, he is 1-13, the lone hit being a home run. Actually, if you go back and look at his previous seven games, he is just 3-24, but all three hits have been homers.
Pablo Ozuna, a quality utility infielder and outfielder, has gone 0 for his last 16. And yet he is still hitting .365 on the year!
Juan Uribe has a six game hitting streak during which time he is 7-20 (.350). Although the quality fielding shortstop is hitting just .241, he has 12 homers and 50 RBI. Not bad for a 9 hitter!
Ozzie Guillen? Well, that guy is just a very interesting case study, I am sure, for some college theses! You just never know what is going to come out of his mouth.
Any thoughts on the series, please let me know! Send me an e-mail, or leave Comments below.
ROGER'S MINOR LEAGUE PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Throughout the year, our friend "Roger" is keeping tabs of the Twins minor leaguers. This year, he is coming up with a minor league hitter and pitcher each week. This week, he picked two guys who are very new to the organization! Feel free to comment! And don't forget to check out his weekly minor league update at Twinkie Town.
Player of the Week - Brandon Roberts, Ft. Myers Miracle
Brandon Roberts is the player the Twins received from the Reds organization for Juan Castro. This speedy centerfielder learned of the trade as he was about to leave for the Florida State League All-Star game when his Manager told him to bring everything with him because he wasn’t returning to Sarasota. Brandon has been on fire recently including this past week when he was 13 for 24 with 3 walks, 4 doubles, 8 runs, 4 rbi and his 34th stolen base of the season.
Pitcher of the Week - Dan Leatherman, Elizabethton Twins
The Twins recently signed Leatherman, as a non drafted free agent out of the University of West Virginia. This polished pitcher began his Twins career in the GCL where he was recently named the Twins Minor League Player of the Week. Last week he was rewarded with a promotion to Elizabethton where he began his stay with another spotless week, appearing in 3 games with 7.0 shutout innings, allowing 3 hits and 5K/1BB. With this start it should only be a matter of a few weeks and Dan will likely be moving again to Beloit.
Friday SethSpeaks Player of the Day - Trevor Plouffe, Ft. Myers Miracle
Saturday SethSpeaks Player of the Day - Brandon Roberts, Ft. Myers Miracle
Sunday SethSpeaks Player of the Day - Greg Yersich, Elizabethton Twins
Friday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day - Danny Hernandez, GCL Twins
Saturday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day - Kyle Waldrop, Ft. Myers Miracle
Sunday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day - Eduardo Morlan, Beloit Snappers
Here are the weekend updates. If you have any thoughts on the Twins system, please e-mail me.
ROCHESTER REPORT
Friday - Red Wings 1, Louisville 5 - As Janet Jackson would sing, the reason for this loss was all about Control. Jason Miller started for the Red Wings and went just 3.1 innings. He gave up five runs on seven hits. However, he also had five walks to go with no strikeouts. Ricky Barrett came in and in 2.1 innings he didn't allow a hit but issued three free passes. Kevin Cameron came in and allowed just one walk (and no runs) in his 3.1 innings. Garrett Jones was 2-3 with his 22nd double. Tommy Watkins and Alex Romero were both 2-4.
Saturday - Red Wings 4, Louisville 6 – Seven players each had one hit for the Red Wings, but none had more than one. Garrett Jones hit his 14th homer and drove in two runs. Henry Bonilla got the start for the team. He gave up one run on three hits in four innings. He walked three and struck out two. Beau Kemp gave up two runs over the next 2.2 innings on five hits. Bobby Korecky blew the save. In 1.2 innings, he gave up three runs on six hits and a walk. Peter Munro came out of the bullpen to get the final two outs.
Sunday - Red Wings 2, Louisville 1- Mike Smith backed up his complete game shutout with another strong start and his 9th win. He went six innings and gave up just one run on three hits and three walks. He struck out nine. Kevin Cameron and Bobby Korecky combined for three shutout innings. Chris Heintz went 3-4. Alex Romero was 2-3 with a hit by pitch. Kevin West hit his 8th home run.
NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Friday - Rockcats 2, Erie 7 – Adam Harben's consistency issues caught up to him again in this one. After a terrific start in his previous outing, this one didn't go so well. He gave up five runs on seven hits in three innings. He walked three and struck out three. Matt Guerrier, in his first rehab appearance, walked one and struck out two in a scoreless inning. Tristan Crawford went the next three innings and gave up two runs. Jay Sawatski struck out two in his scoreless inning. Doug Deeds and Matt Moses each went 2-4 with a double. It was Deeds' 25th and Moses's 11th. Denard Span and Felix Molina were both 2-4 as well.
Saturday - Rockcats/Erie – Rained Out.
Sunday - Rockcats 1, Erie 4 – Brian Duensing had a nice start, but he still took the loss. The lefty went six innings and gave up three runs (2 earned) on six hits and two walks. He struck out eight. Matt Guerrier made another rehab appearance and gave up a run on a hit and a walk in two innings of work. The Rockcats had only five hits. Matt Tolbert hit his 10th double. Alexi Casilla went 0-4, but he stole two bases.
FT MYERS MEMOS
Friday - Game 1 - Miracle 8, Jupiter 7 – Trevor Plouffe had a nice day, and in this game, he was 3-4 with his 14th and 15th doubles, and three RBI. Brock Peterson was 1-3 with a walk and his 11th double. Luke Hughes went 1-2 with two walks. Justin Jones started and gave up five runs (2 earned) on four hits. He walked four and struck out three. Danny Powers improved to 4-2 with 2.1 innings of work. he gave up two unearned runs.
Friday - Game 2 - Miracle 5, Jupiter 1 – Josh Hill improved to 6-2 with a win. Despite throwing 5.1 innings without an earned run (one unearned run scored), his ERA only dropped to 5.16. Tim Lahey recorded the save with 1.2 scoreless innings. Brock Peterson went 2-4 with his 12th double, fourth triple and two RBI. Trevor Plouffe added a triple.
Saturday - Miracle 11, Palm Beach 1 - Maybe it just took pitching in the Florida State League, but Kyle Waldrop is not only pitching well, but he is getting wins. But first, I need to mention that David Gassner made his second rehab start. He went the first three innings. He gave up two hits, but no runs (and no walks or strikeouts). Waldrop came in and went the next five innings. He did allow an unearned run, but he gave up just two hits. He walked three and struck out six to improve to 2-0. Ryan Callahan pitched a perfect ninth. Brandon Roberts went 2-4 with a walk and his second homer of the year. It was a grand slam. David Winfree went 2-4 with a walk and his sixth double. Trevor Plouffe and Korey Feiner were each 2-4. Deacon Burns went 1-2 but had two walks and his 15th stolen base.
Sunday - Miracle 1, Palm Beach 4 – The Miracle had just three hits. Brandon Roberts and Steven Tolleson each hit a double. Kyle Aselton started and went 5.1 innings. He gave up four runs on five hits and three walks. Chris Schutt, JP Martinez and Colby Miller combined for 3.1 shutout innings.
BELOIT BITS
Friday - Snappers 2, Clinton 3 – Ryan Mullins put together a very strong start in this no-decision. The lefty went seven innings. He gave up two runs (just one earned) on six hits and a walk. He struck out seven. Eduardo Morlan came back from his stint on the Disabled List with a scoreless, one-hit inning. Danny Vais took the loss. He came in and gave up a triple, then two were walked intentionally before the game winning single. Paul Kelly led the offense. He went 2-4 with his 22nd double. Whit Robbins hit his seventh double.
Saturday - Snappers 2, Clinton 3 – The Snappers were only able to manage six hits. Tarrence Patterson had a triple, and Whit Robbins was 1-3 with a walk and an RBI. Jose Cordero started and gave up just one run on five hits and a walk in five innings. JM Cline gave up a run on two hits and got just one out. Frank Mata got the team out of the 6th, getting the final two outs. Armando Gabino threw two shutout innings, but in the 9th, he allowed a couple of base runners. David Shinskie came in and gave up a single to the one guy he faced to end the game.
Sunday - Snappers 5, Clinton 2 – Yohan Pino improved to 9-2 with five innings of work. He gave up two runs on four hits. He walked none and struck out five. Eduardo Morlan made another bullpen appearance. He gave up two hits and a walk but no runs in three innings. David Shinskie recorded his 6th save with a scoreless ninth. Eli Tintor and Juan Portes were each 2-3 with a hit batter. Portes stole his third base. Dwayne White was just 1-3 but he hit his 10th double and drove in four runs.
ELIZABETHTON UPDATE
Friday - Game 1 - E-Twins 3, Pulaski 1 – Jose Lugo got another start and another win. He gave up just one run on five hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out five. Danny Hernandez pitched a perfect 7th for his 7th save. Danny Valencia went 2-3 with his third double. Danny Berg hit his 5th double.
Friday - Game 2 - E-Twins 4, Pulaski 3 – Matt Fox made his first start in this game. He went 4.1 innings and gave up two runs on three hits. He walked three and struck out three. Justin Staatz got the win although he gave up three more fifth inning hits and a run. He just got the two outs. Matt Williams pitched a scoreless sixth, and Danny Hernandez came in again and recorded his 8th save.
Saturday - Game 1 - E-Twins 1, Pulaski 7 – Greg Yersich led the offense, going 2-3 with his second homer. Danny Valencia hit his second homer. Brian Kirwan started and gave up four runs in five innings. He allowed eight hits, but he walked none and struck out three. Brandon McConnell gave up three runs in the final two innings.
Saturday - Game 2 - E-Twins 1, Pulaski 7 – Danny Santiesteban scored the game winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the 9th. He had led off that inning with his third hit of the game. He also had a double and his fourth stolen base. Garrett Olson went 2-4 with his first triple. Danny Valencia went 2-5 with his fourth double. Jeff Christy went 2-4. JW Wilson hit his 5th homer. Patrick Bryant got the start. He gave up five runs on seven hits and three walks in just 3.1 innings. He did strikeout four. Aaron Craig gave up a run in 1.2 innings. Dan Leatherman continues to impress. He struck out five and gave up just two hits in his four shutout innings to record the win.
Sunday - E-Twins 6, Pulaski 4 – Jose Cordero started and gave up four runs on nine hits and a walk in six innings. He struck out six. Justin Staatz went two perfect innings for the win, and Danny Hernandez got his ninth save with a scoreless inning with two strikeouts. Greg Yerich was 2-4... with two home runs (his third and fourth on the year). JW Wilson went 2-3 with his first double and an RBI. Yancarlos Ortiz hit his first homer as well.
GCL TWINS REPORT
Friday - GCL Twins 4, GCL Pirates 7 – Omar Alcala started and gave up two runs on six hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out five. Luis Carreras gave up three runs on two hits and two walks in his inning. Walter Patton, sent back down after posting an ERA of 135 at Elizabethton, gave up a run on two hits and a walk in his inning. Bruno Sanchez gave up a run in his inning. Eric Santiago went 3-4 with two RBI. Gilbert Buenrostro hit his second double.
Saturday - GCL Twins/GCL Red Sox – Rained Out.
Sunday - GCL Twins - No Game Scheduled.
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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