Sunday, August
16, 2009
Weekend Game
Notes
I’ve got a few postings in the
works, so I’m going to post the Game Notes from Saturday and Sunday here. I
also posted the Friday Game notes here. It was a fun weekend. I was at the
Twins game on Friday night and had a good time. On Saturday, I went to the Stick & Ball Guy Convention, which
is always a great time. It was good to see people again! And on Sunday, it was
back to the Twins game, sitting in the nosebleed section out in the left field.
SATURDAY - TWINS 3, CLEVELAND 7
SUNDAY - TWINS 4, CLEVELAND 7
So after Scott Baker two-hit this Cleveland team on Friday night, both Anthony Swarzak
and Nick Blackburn were unable to get
the Twins through even five innings. The Twins biggest problem all year lied
under the surface longer than it probably should have. It wasn’t the bullpen.
It wasn’t the bottom of the lineup. The Twins biggest problem this entire
season has been any consistency from the starting pitching staff. There was small
glimmer of hope on Saturday night. Scott
Baker has been very good of late. Francisco
Liriano’s last game was actually good. Those were
the two we expected so much from coming into this season. Kevin Slowey is out for the year. Nick Blackburn, who pitched so far over
his head in the first half, is getting destroyed in the second half. And the
weaknesses in Anthony Swarzak’s pitching repertoire have certainly been found
by advanced scouts… or anyone who realizes that he doesn’t have much beyond a
fastball, which he can’t always locate either.
Now some will complain about
the Twins inability to hit Cleveland’s barrage of soft-tossing lefties, and
they have every right to do so. David
Huff and Aaron Laffey
made most of the Twins hitters just look silly. How many of those same types of
pitches has Cleveland had in recent years?
Joe Mauer continues to amaze. After getting on base all five plate appearances
on Friday night, he was 3-5 on Saturday and extended a hitting streak to 12
games with a single on Sunday.
How demoralizing for the Twins
it had to be on Sunday when the Twins hitters gave the team a 3-0 lead after
two innings only to see Nick Blackburn
give up three home runs, and six runs in the top of the 3rd. Jesse Crain did fine when he came in.
Then Jeff Manship,
Jose Mijares,
Matt Guerrier
and Joe Nathan combined for five
shutout relief innings. I was at that game, and the boo
birds were definitely out in full force. (By the way, congratulations to Jeff Manship who made his major league debut with a scoreless
innings on Saturday night that included a strikeout of Shin Soo Choo,
his first batter faced.)
It’s official. It is time to start thinking about 2010. Too much was made of
the Twins needing to go 6-0 against Kansas City and Cleveland on this home
stand. That’s not realistic to expect, but I do believe 5-1 was needed. Going 2-4
on this home stand pretty much puts the nail in the coffin of the 2010 season.
Sure, it was actually over weeks earlier, but like most Twins fans, I wanted to
hold on to even just a glimmer of hope. At this stage, all hope is gone. I
seriously, seriously hope that I am wrong.
Now, in a blog article to be
written later, I will try to give an idea of what I would do with this team for
the remainder of the 2009 season in preparation for 2010, so please be sure to
check back for that.
.
MINOR LEAGUE REPORT
Saturday -
SethSpeaks.net Hitter of the Day – Brian Dozier, Elizabethton Twins
Saturday -
SethSpeaks.net Pitcher of the Day – Deolis Guerra,
New Britain Rockcats
ROCHESTER REPORT
Saturday – Rochester 3, Syracuse 9 – Steve Tolleson went 4-4 with his 17th double. Matt Tolbert was 2-5 with his seventh
double. Brian Buscher
was 2-4. That was about it for the offense. R.A. Dickey was again on
the mound, and again was not very good. He gave up seven runs on 11 hits and
two walks, but he at least was able to give seven innings. Tim Lahey then gave up two runs on two
hits in an inning.
Sunday – Rochester 8, Syracuse 1 – Justin Huber has been the main offensive source for the Red Wings
throughout this season. In this game, he was 3-4 with his 17th and
18th home runs. He drove in three runs. The other bat for the team
this year has been David Winfree. In this game, he was 3-3 with a walk, three
doubles and three RBI. He now has 30 doubles on the season. Brian Buscher
went 2-3 with a walk. Matt Tolbert
was 2-5 with his seventh stolen base.
ROCKCAT RECAP
Saturday – New Britain 4, Akron 1 – Matt Fox evened his record at 8-8 in this game. He threw seven
shutout innings, allowing just two hits and two walks. He struck out six. Frank Mata gave up a run on two hits
and got no outs. Spencer Steedley got an out but also allowed a hit. Alex Burnett came in and got all five
batters he faced out for his fourth save.
·
Quick note – I know
that LaVelle
reported last weekend that Burnett had broken his hand. It turned out not being
broken, and instead just a bad bruise, so he is still able to pitch, which is
good because he has been incredible this year.
Sunday – New Britain 1, Akron 8 – Cole DeVries has really had his struggles the second half of this
season after a great start. In this game, he gave up seven runs on eight hits
(three of them home runs). He walked one and struck out one. Kyle Waldrop gave up a run on a hit in
his inning. Loek Van Mil struck out two and walked on
hit two scoreless innings. Frank Mata
pitched a perfect ninth. Erik Lis went 2-4 with his 22nd double.
MIRACLE MEMOS
Saturday – Ft. Myers 3, Sarasota 1 – Evan Bigley
not only went 2-3 with two walks, but he had the chance to play hero. Bigley hit his fourth home run of
the season, a big two run homer that ended this game with a Miracle win! Chris Cates went 2-4. Santos Arias gave up just one run on
five hits over the first seven innings. He didn’t walk a batter and struck out
seven. Joe Testa
improved to 3-0 with two scoreless innings. He gave up one hit, one walk and
struck out five.
Sunday – Game 1 – Ft. Myers 6, Sarasota 3 – Bigley remained hot in the
second game. He went 2-3 with his 20th and 21st doubles. Joe Benson was 2-3, was hit by a pitch
and stole his 11th base. Ben
Revere was 2-4 with his 38th
and 39th stolen bases. Steve Hirschfeld was back on the mound. He went 6.1 innings
and gave up three runs on six hits. He walked two and struck out five. Blair Erickson got the final two outs
for the save.
Sunday – Game 2 – Ft. Myers 4, Sarasota 3 (8 innings) – Bobby Lanigan made his first FSL start. He gave up three runs
on eight hits in four innings. He walked none and struck out three. Henry Arias pitched the next four
innings and gave up just one hit and walked two. Chris Parmelee hit his 15th
homer of the year. Joe Benson got
the game-winning hit in the 8th, a single to give the Miracle a 4-3
win.
SNAPPERS SNIPPETS
Saturday – Beloit 4, Wisconsin 2 – Dan Osterbrock
won for the sixth time this year. He gave up two runs (1 earned) on four hits
and a walk in five innings. He struck out seven. Kyle Carr gave up two hits and a walk but did not allow a run while
recording five outs. Steve Blevins
got the next four outs, two on strikeout. Billy
Bullock recorded his sixth save with a scoreless ninth.
Sunday – Beloit 1, Wisconsin 3 –
Liam Hendriks
had another very good start for the Snappers. In 7.2 innings, he gave up three
runs on eight hits. He walked none and struck out eight. But he was tagged with
the loss. Thomas Wright came up and
issued a walk before getting the final out. Jeff Lanning went 3-4. James
Beresford went 2-4. Aaron Hicks
hit his tenth double.
E-TWINS EXTRAS
Saturday – Elizabethton 4, Bristol 5 – Brian Dozier has certainly
been on fire of late. That continued this weekend. On Saturday, he went 4-5
with his 11th and 12th double. Anderson Hidalgo hit his 10th double and fourth home
run. Jhon Garcia made the start for the E-Twins.
He gave up four runs on six hits and a walk in three innings. He struck out
two. Then Kelvin Mota
relieved him and gave up just one run on one hit over four innings in which he
struck out four. Kane Holbrooks struck out two in a scoreless inning.
Sunday – Elizabethton 4, Danville 5 – Tom Stuifbergen lots for just the second time this season. He gave up five runs on eight hits in six innings. He
walked no one and struck out seven. Peter
Kennelly gave up two hits and four walks in just two innings, but gave up
no runs. Dakota Watts gave up a walk
and a hit in a scoreless inning. The bats managed just four hits in the game. Brian Dozier went 2-4 with a walk and
his 13th double. Josmil Pinto went
0-1 but he walked three times.
GCL TWINS GOINGS ON
Saturday – GCL Twins 2, GCL Red Sox 1 – Adrian Salcedo was on the mound again. He gave up one run on
five hits. He walked one and struck out four. Oswaldo Sosa struck out three over two scoreless innings of rehab. Andrei Lobanov
recorded his sixth save of the year. Daniel
Santana went 2-4 with his seventh double. Trayvone Johnson hit his second double.
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