Thursday,
August 12, 2010
Round 2: Twins Flop
As nice of a win as Tuesday night’s 12-6 victory was for the Twins and
their fans, Wednesday night’s 6-1 loss was equally brutal. I spent the entire
game hosting a Live Chat (read
transcript here, lots of good questions) and answering reader questions
on the Twins, the minor league affiliates and more. That was at least a nice
distraction from what proved to be a very disappointing game. Following the
game and the live chat, I helped Fanatic
Jack host his Twins podcast, so that was fun for an hour.
RADIO TODAY – On Thursday at 9:20, I will be a
guest with Paul Allen on the Nine to Noon Show on KFAN (am1130), its
affiliates and www.KFAN.com. Tune in and let
me know what you think!
Here are some notes from last night’s game and some discussion on various
questions that were brought up in the chat, and more:
·
The first thing everyone wanted to talk about was Glen
Perkins making the start. In AAA this year, the lefty from Stillwater had
gone 4-9 with a 6.08 ERA. Through June, he was 1-8 with an ERA over 8.00 in
73.2 innings. However, when the calendar changed to July, Perkins found a new
life. In his seven starts since the beginning of July, Perkins had gone 3-1 with
a 2.70 ERA in 43 innings. He deserved the opportunity. Why not Nick Blackburn?
They were looking for one guy to pitch on Wednesday night. Blackburn would have
been pitching on three days rest, Perkins was on
regular rest. Maybe it is an indictment on the Twins pitchers at the upper
levels right now, but in my mind, Perkins was the easy choice.
·
After a tidy, eight pitch
first inning, Perkins struggled with efficiency and control, both in and out of
the strike zone. His one start is likely a microcosm of his season. Definitely
showed some glimpses of still being a quality pitcher, but no consistency and
in the end, way too many mistakes. Of course, his defense didn’t exactly help
him out either with a couple of errors.
·
Late in the game, Jose Mijares
hobbled off the field with what appears to be a knee injury. Following the
game, Gardy seemed pretty certain that Mijares would need to go on the Disabled List pending an
MRI. So would Glen Perkins stay with the big league club, instead of
going back to Rochester, and take over as the second lefty in the bullpen for
now? He certainly could. However, in Rochester this year, left-handed batters
have hit .329 against Perkins while right-handed bats hit .302. Who are some
other names to consider:
·
Jose
Lugo is the only left-hander on the current Rochester roster. (starter Ryan
Mullins is out for the year with a back injury) He is a 26 year old who
throws hard and has a slider. He has already thrown 74 innings in 47 games this
year. He is 0-4 with a 6.20 ERA. He has 70 strikeouts, but left-handed bats
have hit .315 off of him this year.
·
Anthony
Slama could be promoted, but since he was
just promoted, it would be good for him to get a few innings under his belt.
·
Alex
Burnett has pitched in seven games since he was demoted to Rochester. He has
given up at least one run in his last five outings.
·
Kyle
Waldrop should still be considered. He is a ground ball machine. He has been
struggling in the second half. In his last ten games, his ERA is 4.20, but that
doesn’t account for all of the inherited runners that have scored against him.
·
Pat
Neshek has pitched ten innings since the
all-star break and has given up just one run. He has walked three and struck
out six.
·
Rob
Delaney is right handed. He is on the 40 man roster. His overall numbers this
season in Rochester do not inspire confidence. He is 7-6 with a 4.79 ERA in 51
games. However, his walk to strikeout rate is terrific. In 67.2 innings, he has
just 18 walks and 79 strikeouts. Right-handers have hit .307 against him, but
left-handers have hit just .198 against him. More important, he is pitching
really well. In 12 games since the All-Star game, he has given up just three
runs in 14 innings. He has walked one and struck out 20! It might be subtle,
but I definitely think that the easy choice is Rob Delaney.
·
JJ
Hardy also left the game early. His wrist is still hurting. He says he will be
back in the lineup on Thursday night. If it’s that minor, I would still give
him Thursday night off, just to be sure. Alexi Casilla
can cover him for a couple of days. Otherwise, Trevor Plouffe
could be back in the Twins lineup in no time.
·
Never make the first or third out at third base. It
is one of those baseball rules that just makes a lot
of sense. A runner on second base with nobody out is a great situation. Denard Span led off the game with a double to
the right centerfield gap. He attempted to make it to third for a triple, but a
perfect relay from Alex Rios to Alexi Ramirez to Omar Vizquel meant Span made the first out at third base. At
the time, I liked the hustle. I appreciated the effort. It really did take two
good throws to make the play. In retrospect, of course he should have stayed at
2B, and not just because he got out. It was an important night to get an early
lead and help Perkins out. It was yet another base running gaffe by Span.
·
Michael
Cuddyer went 2-3 in the game. It was this fifth
time in his last eight games that he had a multi-hit game. Ozzie Guillen has said, “Cuddyer, so
underrated player. I think Michael Cuddyer's the most underrated player in the game. Michael Cuddyer,
most underrated player in the game.”
·
Delmon Young is 2-22 in his last five games. It’s OK, folks, he
carried the team for the last two months. He can still prove himself human.
·
Likewise, since
August 2, Danny Valencia is 5-41. Again,
nothing to worry about.
Just because it has been a
long night of answering Twins questions, enjoying a ball game, podcasting and
now blogging, I’m going to cut it off here. Hopefully there is much more to
discuss in the chat room. More so, tonight’s Francisco Liriano versus Gavin Floyd matchup should be a ton of
fun to watch. Liriano is one of baseball’s best.
Floyd has been the White Sox top pitcher of late.
Here is a quick glance at what
happened on Wednesday in the Twins minor league system (plenty of extra
baseball:
Red Wings Report
Brandon Roberts singled in Brendan
Harris, who had doubled to lead off the inning, to give the Rochester Red
Wings a 5-4 win in 11 innings. Roberts was 2-6 on the day. Harris was 2-5. Erik Lis went
3-4 with his third home run for the Red Wings, but the first in months. Brian Dinkelman
was 2-4 with a walk and his sixth stolen base. Matt Fox started and gave up two runs on four hits and three walks
in 3.1 innings. Jose Lugo came in
and gave up a run on three hits and a walk in 1.1 innings. Kyle Waldrop had a very good outing. He went 2.1 innings and gave
up just one hit. Alex Burnett gave
up one run on three hits and a walk in 1.2 innings. Pat Neshek struck out three in two
shutout innings. Anthony Slama came in and got the final out of the 11th,
so he gets credited with the win.
New Britain Notes
The Rockcats
gave up three runs in the bottom of the 8th inning and fell 7-6 to
Erie. Steve Singleton went 3-4 with
a walk and his 36th and 37th doubles. Chris Parmelee
went 3-4 with a walk and his 20th and 21st doubles. Chris Cates was 2-3 with his third
steal. Evan Bigley
was 2-5. Mark Dolenc
hit his fourth homer. Joe Benson hit
his 19th AA home run (23rd overall). Tyler Robertson started and gave up four runs on seven hits and two
walks in six innings. Carlos Gutierrez
gave up three runs on five hits and a walk in 1.1 innings. Billy Bullock got the final two outs.
Miracle Matters
Nate Hanson had another nice game.
He went 1-3 with three walks and his 15th double. His final walk
came with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 11th, so he got
credit with the game-winning RBI. Nick
Romero went 2-5 with his 18th and 19th doubles. Yangervis Solarte went
2-6. Matt Williams started and gave
up one run on six hits in seven innings. He walked one and struck out three. Steve Blevins came in and gave up just
one run on three hits in four innings to earn the win.
Snappers Snippets
The Snappers scored three runs in the 13th
inning and held on for the 7-4 win. Clinton
Dempster started and gave up one run in five hits
in six innings. He walked one and struck out three. Zach See pitched a
scoreless seventh frame. Miguel Munoz
came in and got two outs, but he gave up one run on a hit and a walk. Matt Tone gave up a hit before striking
out the final batter of the 8th inning. Eliecer Cardenas went the final three innings. He gave up two runs on
three hits and a walk, but he improved to 5-0. Most of the offense came from the
top two hitters in the lineup. Reggie
Williams led off and went 3-5 with a walk. James Beresford batted second and went 4-4. In the 13th,
Wang-Wei Lin led off with a double.
He scored on a Josmil Pinto single. Pinto came around on a Lance Ray double. Ray later scored on a
double play ball.
E-Twins Talkers
The E-Twins lost 6-5 in 10 innings. Blayne Weller started and gave up four runs on seven hits and two walks
in 4.1 innings. He struck out five. David
Gutierrez gave up one run on three hits in 2.2 innings. Jose Gonzales then gave up a run on two
hits over the final 2.1 innings. He struck out three. Daniel Ortiz went 3-4 with his 10th double and sixth
home run. Kyle Knudson went 2-5 with
his seventh double. Andy Leer was
2-5.
GCL Twins Topics
The GCL Twins beat the Orioles 8-3. David Deminsky gave up three runs on
eight hits and a walk in six innings. Bart
Carter struck out two in two scoreless innings. Matt Trau threw a scoreless inning
despite giving up a hit and two walks. Rory
Rhodes went 2-2 with two walks. Matej Hejma was 2-4 with his fifth double. Kennys Vargas and Niko Goodrum each had two hits. Matt Tolbert went 0-2 with a walk
before being replaced by JaDamion Williams,
who went 2-2.
Any thoughts on the Twins or the
minor league system? Feel free to leave
your questions and comments here.