Sunday, July 26,
2009
Saturday at the
Park
It was a rough day in the Twins
organization on Saturday. Not only did the Twins have one of their patented
implosion innings, but the minor league system’s teams lost five out of seven
games it played. Not a good day at all, and rumors
around the trade deadline are anything but exciting.
TWINS 5, ANGELS 11
Twins. West Coast Swing. Just not a good combination at all. The Twins lost for the
fourth straight time, and will need Anthony
Swarzak to break the streak tomorrow against the Angels.
Nick Blackburn did well through
three innings. Then in the fourth, he was able to only get two outs. He gave up
six runs on six hits and a walk in 3.2 innings. R.A. Dickey got the final out of the fourth inning, but not before
he gave up four hits and three of his own runs. Bobby Keppel came in and threw two shutout innings. Brian Duensing
pitched a scoreless inning. Jose Mijares gave up two runs on two walks and a hit in the
8th inning. Jason Kubel continued to mash. He went 3-4 with his 21st
double, 18th home run and three RBI. Joe Mauer and Brian Buscher were both 2-5.
I think we all bought into Nick Blackburn, didn’t we? He had a
tremendous first half to his season, but he has had two terrible outings since
the break. I think that he deserves great credit and to be acknowledged as the
Twins top starter. That said, we almost forget that
Blackburn is really more of a #4 type of pitcher, not an Ace or even a #1
pitcher. If we want to again be reminded of the Twins biggest area of need,
look no further than this example. When your clear #1
pitcher is really a #4 type of pitcher, I think we know why the Twins are so
bad.
·
And at this point,
I think it is only realistic to say that this team is bad. Maybe ‘bad’ is too
strong, but clearly this is not a playoff team. There are some great players,
and there are a few more good players, but there are too many non-good players.
I had been meaning to kind of give some time to a blog on the subject of
whether the Twins should be sellers. Today, I encourage you to check out
Travis Talks where his opinions are pretty fair.
·
Check out Roger’s
Weekly Twins Minor League Report.
·
These
Orlando Cabrera rumors are a
little scary UNLESS the A’s accept a non-prospect in return for him AND he is
somehow a Type B free agent after the season and the Twins would get draft pick
compensation for him. That said, it would be horrible
if a team actually offered him arbitration and he accepted it. That could
backfire. Over
the Baggy wrote about Cabrera a couple of days ago.
·
Based on rumors
of what the Blue Jays are turning down or asking for Roy Halladay,
the Twins have nowhere near enough to even be considered a legitimate
candidate.
MINOR LEAGUE REPORT
Saturday -
SethSpeaks.net Hitter of the Day – Michael Gonzalez, Elizabethton Twins
Saturday -
SethSpeaks.net Pitcher of the Day – Michael McCardell, New
Britain Rockcats
ROCHESTER REPORT
Saturday –Rochester 6, Charlotte 7 – Yohan Pino’s second
start for the Red Wings didn’t go as well as his first. He gave up five runs (4
earned) on nine hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out six. Armando Gabino
gave up one run on four hits in three innings. Juan Morillo got just one out in the 9th,
but he gave up two hits. Tim Lahey came in and gave up a walk to score one of Morillo’s runners. David
Winfree is hitting .280 after going 3-4 in this
game. Steve Tolleson
went 2-3 with a walk and his fourth homer. Danny
Valencia went 2-4.
ROCKCAT RECAP
Saturday – New Britain 0, Connecticut 1 (13 innings) – Mike McCardell did a
nice job of forgetting about his AA Debut. In this game, he threw seven shutout
innings. He gave up just four hits and two walks while striking out six. Anthony Slama
came in and threw three shutout innings. He gave up two hits and walked four,
however, three of the walks were intentional, so don’t worry! Kyle Waldrop threw two shutout innings
before giving up an unearned run with one out in the 13th inning.
The Rockcats had just six hits. Danny Lehmann went 2-3 with a walk and his seventh double. Erik Lis was
2-5.
MIRACLE MEMOS
Saturday – Ft. Myers 3, Tampa 6 – Another bad outing by the Miracle offense. They had just five hits. Chris Parmelee and Rene Leveret each hit a double. Steve Hirschfeld gave up three runs on
six hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out four. Dakota Watts then gave up two runs (1
earned) on three hits and two walks in two innings. Blair Erickson gave up one run on two hits in two innings.
SNAPPERS SNIPPETS
Saturday – Beloit 3, Lansing 7 –
Dan Osterbrock
gave up five runs on ten hits in six innings. He walked none and struck out
three. Michael Allen threw a
scoreless inning. Blake Martin gave
up two unearned runs on a hit and three walks in just one inning. Thomas Wright pitched a scoreless
ninth. Jonathan Waltenbury
hit his 11th and 12th doubles in four at bats. Jeff Lanning went 2-4 with his first
home run. Drew Thompson went 2-4
with a walk.
E-TWINS EXTRAS
Saturday – Elizabethton 6, Kingsport 5 – The Michael
Gonzalez show continued in this game. The burly 3B went 3-5 with his fifth
and sixth doubles, his first triple and five RBI. Derek McCallum went 2-3 with two walks. Dan Rohlfing
went 2-4. Tom Stuifbergen
started and went 4.2 innings. He gave up three runs on four hits and struck out
three. Edgar Ibarra gave up two runs
on two hits and a walk in 1.2 innings. Kane
Holbrook struck out three in 1.1 innings. Ben Tootle recorded the final four outs for his second save.
GCL TWINS THOUGHTS
Saturday – Game 1 - GCL Twins 5, GCL Reds 6 – Michael
Tonkin made the start in this one. In four innings, he gave up six runs on
ten hits. He walked none and struck out four. Eliecer Cardenas struck out all three batters he faced. Kelvin Mota pitched a perfect sixth
frame. Nick Freitas
went 2-4 with a double. Trayvone Johnson hit his first pro homer. Hyun-wook Choi went 1-2 with two walks.
Saturday – Game 2 - GCL Twins 5, GCL Reds 6 – Blayne Weller
made the second start of the day and improved to 3-1. In five innings, he gave
up one run on seven hits. He walked none and struck out five. Leonardo Parra gave up two hits but no
runs in one inning. Andrei Lobanov gave up two runs (1 earned) on four hits but
held on for his fourth save. Brian Bistagne went 2-3 with two RBI.
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