Friday August 6, 2004
SORRY 'BOUT THAT!
Hello everyone! I need to apologize for not writing an entry yesterday. I hate to do that, but with dumb yard work, other new house stuff and writing this site, I had not been to sleep before 2 a.m. in weeks. So, I came in from outside, dealt with a couple of issues, and fell asleep on the couch. When I woke up, I determined that sleep is a beautiful thing! So, there is my excuse and apology. I hope it can be accepted!
I am back today, but really it is just a quick rundown of the Twins last two games and a few of my comments/opinions. I have the pitching matchups for their upcoming series with the Oakland A's. I also updated the Twins minor league affiliates. There were some impressive performances by the likes of Trevor Plouffe, Glen Perkins and Francisco Liriano. New Britain's Kevin West had a very nice accomplishment as well.
So again, thank you for stopping by the site. Hopefully my life will be settle down and be a little less hectic soon! I am heading out for a weekend away from home. I will actually be in Fargo, ND, Saturday and Sunday before coming back home. Should be fun.
I am trying to work through all of the e-mails I have received the past couple of weeks as well. I want to respond to everyone, so please feel free to e-mail me anytime, about anything. I will get back to you, just please be patient.
_____________________________________________________________________________
This weekend, Greg Maddux will make his second attempt to win his 300th game. I don't know about you, but I really don't think that this accomplishment is being played up as much as it should. 300 wins is pretty incredible. 300 wins means an instant pass into the Hall of Fame. Ask Bert Blyleven how important 300 wins is. Of course, it won't be easy. He goes against the National League's best pitcher, Jason Schmidt, and the San Francisco Giants. I think that what Greg Maddux has done in his career is remarkable. he has won 15 or more games in 16 straight seasons. So, he's been consistently great. He won all those Cy Young Awards in the early '90s. He's had low ERAs and other incredible numbers (you can check them out here). Maddux never really threw much harder than 90 mph, but he was still dominant. Did you know that he ranks 17th on the all-time strikeout list? And, he's won 13 Gold Gloves. And, he can hit for a pitcher. It's hard to think that a 300 game winner could be underrated. But, it is very possible that Greg Maddux is underrated. Any way you slice it, he is one of the best "pitchers" of all-time.
______________________________________________________________________________
In May, I was fortunate enough to have a Conversation with CJ Nitkowski. At the time, he was pitching in the Atlanta Braves bullpen. He was released by the Braves, and recently signed a minor league deal with the New York Yankees. He has just had his contract purchased and is now a member of the Yankees bullpen. We here at SethSpeaks would certainly like to wish him the best of luck!
TWINS TAKE TWO OF THREE FROM ANAHEIM
Wednesday night - Twins 6, Angels 3
The Twins insured another series win with the victory on Wednesday. The Twins grabbed an early 3-0 lead. Kyle Lohse squandered that lead in the fourth inning, but worked out of a tough situation that really could have turned the game completely. He ended up just giving up the three runs in seven innings. He was very good, except in that inning. He gave up nine hits and a walk. He struck out four. With the game tied, our HERO Justin Morneau hit his 7th home run for the Twins on the season to give the Twins a 4-3 lead. Two batters later, with Torii Hunter on base, Jacque Jones lifted a fly ball just over the fence in left field to increase the lead to 6-3. Juan Rincon pitched a flawless ninth and Joe Nathan recorded his 31st Save.
Good win for the Twins and good win for Kyle Lohse. I really believe it was a big start for Lohse and he came through.
Thursday afternoon - Twins 3, Angels 8
Aaron Sele must just have some hex over the Twins. He has pitched incredibly well against his hometown team throughout his career. Yesterday, he improved to 7-0. He must be getting incredible run support when he pitches because he has an ERA of over 4.50! Against the Twins, he went seven innings and gave up three runs on five hits and a couple walks.
Terry Mulholland was spectacular in July, but his first August start did not go so well. He lasted just 3 2/3 innings and gave up seven runs (5 earned). He gave up nine hits and a walk and struck out just one.
Then came the debut of Jesse Crain. He gave up two hits and committed a throwing error himself, but I was quite impressed. He got four outs and struck out two. But it was about more than the numbers. Crain throws hard. He seems to have pretty good control of the fastball too. But that slider that he throws is absolutely nasty. It breaks sharp and almost straight down.
Joe Roa gave up an unearned run in two innings. Aaron Fultz and JC Romero each pitched a scoreless inning as well.
Torii Hunter continued to hit well. He was 2-4 with his 27th double and 14th home run.
___________________________________________________________________________
Jason Bartlett was 0-4 and had another error yesterday. I'm sure there are Twins fans who are thinking he isn't ready, or even worse, will never been a big league talent. Is that really fair? I mean, we frequently talk about small sample sizes. is 10 innings in the field and five plate appearances really enough to make that determination?
Now, that said, I fully believe that if he is not going to get consistent playing time, which clearly he isn't, he should be sent back to AAA Rochester, where he can play. Alex Prieto can come up to sit on the bench.
___________________________________________________________________________
The Twins coaching staff has been very patient with Kyle Lohse. I mentioned the other day that maybe JD Durbin or Scott Baker would be called up soon. Now that Terry Mulholland had one bad start, is it possible that Gardy would take him out of the rotation to call one of the youngsters up? If so, that doesn't seem fair to Mulholland who has helped the team out a lot!
___________________________________________________________________________
TWINS/ATHLETICS SERIES
Tonight the Twins begin a big, four-game series at the Metrodome against the Oakland A's. Here are the remaining pitching matchups:
Friday - 7:10 -vs Brad Radke (7-6, 3.77, 1.16, .274) vs Mark Redman (8-8, 4.55, 1.50, .295)
Saturday - 12:15 - Johan Santana (10-6, 3.30, 0.98, .199) vs Tim Hudson (7-3, 2.98, 1.24, .269)
Sunday - 1:10 - Carlos Silva (10-7, 4.23, 1.45, .315) vs Mark Mulder (15-3, 3.50, 1.22, .244)
Monday - 12:05 - Kyle Lohse (5-8, 5.14, 1.65, .314) vs Rich Harden (5-5, 4.01, 1.37, .238)
Any thoughts on the Twins or this weekend's series? E-mail me.
ROCHESTER REDWINGS
Wednesday - Redwings 3, Ottawa 0 - David Gassner improved to 13-7 with another strong performance. Six innings, four hits, no runs, no walks and seven strikeouts. Willie Eyre picked up the save by throwing the final three innings. He gave up two hits and a walk. Jason Kubel led the offense with a 3-4 day. Todd Dunwoody was 2-3 with a walk, his 5th homer and 3 RBI. Josh Rabe and Alex Prieto each had a double.
Thursday - Redwings 5, Pawtucket 7 - Seth Greisinger got shelled again. He did manage to go six innings, but he gave up six runs (5 earned), on seven hits and three walks. Jeromy Palki gave up another run in his inning. Brent Schoening gave up a hit and a walk, but struck out the side in his inning. Jason Kubel was 2-4. Todd Dunwoody was 2-4 with his 6th homer and 2 RBI.
NEW BRITAIN ROCKCATS
Wednesday - Rockcats 0, Norwich 1 - Francisco Liriano made his first AA start and really performed very well. He went 7 innings and gave up just one run. He allowed seven hits and walked two, but he also struck out 10 hitters. Victor Moreno pitched the last two innings, walking one and striking out two. Unfortunately, the offense was only able to sprinkle in four singles.
Thursday - Rockcats 1, Norwich 0 - Again, New Britain had just four hits, but this time, it was enough to get a win. That's because Colby Miller finally came through with a great start. Miller went eight shutout innings. He allowed just four hits and walked three. He struck out three. Bobby Korecky picked up his 19th save with a 1-2-3, two strikeout performance. The story on offense was Kevin West (as it has been much of the season!). West hit a solo home run, the lone run of the game. It was his 22nd homer of the season and gave him 81 RBI. The home run was his 36th for New Britain (obviously meaning he had 14 there last year). That number ties him with Michael Cuddyer for the most homers in New Britain history.
FT. MYERS MIRACLE
Wednesday - Miracle 4, Tampa 5 - Trent Oeltjen had a strong 4-5 game with a double and two RBI. Alex Romero went 3-5 with an RBI double. Danny Matienzo went 2-5. John Thomas made another start. He lasted 4 1/3 innings. He gave up three runs on three hits and four walks. He did strike out seven. Jannio Gutierrez went 3 2/3 innings. He gave up two unearned runs on a hit and two walks.
Thursday - Miracle , Clearwater - This game was postponed and will be made up as part of a double-header today.
SWING OF THE QUAD CITIES
Wednesday - Game 1 - Swing 6, Beloit 2 - Glen Perkins had another strong start for the Swing. He gave up no runs, one hit and one walk, and struck out two. Julio DePaula picked up his 10th win of the year with three good innings. He gave up a run on three hits and a walk. He struck out two. Jay Sawatski continues to impress. He picked up his third save with two innings. He gave up a run on two hits. On offense, JR Taylor was 2-2 with his 20th double and 3rd home run. Kyle Phillips, Dusty Gomon and Kyle Geiger each hit a double.
Wednesday - Game 2 - Swing 1, Beloit 3 - It's hard to win a game when you get just one hit. That's all the Swing could get in this game. JR Taylor had a single. Kyle Phillips had the lone RBI. Scott Tyler took the loss, but he really did not pitch poorly. He gave up three runs (2 earned) on five hits and a walk. He struck out 11 batters. Eric Brandon pitched a scoreless inning.
Thursday - Swing 1, South Bend 2 - Chris Schutt got nothing to show for another strong pitching performance. He gave up a run on six hits and no walks in seven innings. Eric Brandon came in to pitch the last two innings. He gave up a run on two hits. The Swing had just five hits. Omar Burgos had a triple; the rest were singles. One of those singles came off the bat of Denard Span. Span coming back from his hamate bone surgery is certainly a positive for the Twins organization.
ELIZABETHTON TWINS
Wednesday - E-Twins 12, Danville 15 - The E-Twins got a LOT offense, but it still was not enough because they got little pitching. Let's just look at the positives, the offense. We don't need to dwell on the pitching. CF Landon Burt was 4-6 with two doubles. SS Trevor Plouffe was 4-6. LF Deacon Burns went 3-6 with a double and a triple. RF Jeremy Pickrel went 3-5 with a double and his 3rd homer. 2B Luke Hughes was 3-5 with a double and his 3rd homer.
Wednesday - E-Twins 3, Danville 4 -
Thank you very much for stopping by this website and please continue to do so. Have yourself a great weekend! If you ever have any questions, comments or ideas for future postings, please e-mail me. Have a great day!