Saturday, August 27, 2011

Twins Minors Playoff Push

· Be sure to listen to Thursday night’s episode of Twins Minor League Weekly.

· Check out Roger’s Weekly Minor League Report at Twinkie Town.

The Twins lost yet again. They are bad. The Rochester Red Wings will lose over 90 games this year. The Ft. Myers Miracle have had a bad second half after nearly winning their division title in the first half. The GCL Twins are in second place, but will not make the playoffs in the Gulf Coast League. The Beloit Snappers were competing for a Wild Card spot in the Midwest League until their recent losing streak. However, there are two Twins affiliates that do have a chance to make their league’s playoffs.

ELIZABETHTON TWINS

As they do pretty much every year, the E-Twins will most likely make the playoffs again this year. In fact, it is possibly that the team could clinch a spot today. They will finish in second place behind Johnson City, but the E-Twins are playing really well right now. They are being led by Appalachian League co-MVP Eddie Rosario, who has hit eight home runs in the team’s last ten games.

On Thursday, the E-Twins beat Bluefield (the team they could play in the first round of the playoffs) by a score of 17-8. Rosario went 3-5 with a walk and his 18^th and 19^th home runs. Matt Koch went 3-6 with his fourth and fifth doubles, his second home run and four RBI. AJ Pettersen went 3-4 with two walks. Niko Goodrum was 3-5. Miguel Sano went 2-6. Tyler Koelling went 2-4 with a walk. JD Williams was 2-6 with his third home run. Tyler Jones made his first start and gave up six runs on six hits and two walks in three innings. David Hurlbut came in and gave up just one run on five hits and a walk in five innings. Corey Williams finished the game.

On Friday, the E-Twins picked up an 11-4 win over Bluefield, who decided it wouldn’t let Rosario beat them. He went 0-1 before being walked the next four times he came to the plate, twice intentionally. Miguel Sano made them pay for it. He was 2-5 with his seventh triple, 17^th home run and five RBI. Nick Lockwood went 3-5 with a walk and his 11^th and 12^th doubles. Jairo Rodriguez was 3-5. Niko Goodrum went 2-4 with a walk, his 10^th double and eighth stolen base. Max Kepler was 2-4 with a walk. JD Williams was 2-5 with his 11^th double. Tim Shibuya, the Appalachian League’s Pitcher of the Year started and gave up just one run on three hits and a walk in six innings. He left with a 4-1 lead, in line for his 9^th win. However, Steven Gruver gave up three runs in the seventh inning to create a 4-4 tie. He got two outs in the 8^th inning before Steve Evans came in and got the final four outs.

Eddie Rosario is now hitting .317/.384/.635 (1.018 OPS) with nine doubles, seven triples, 19 home runs and 54 RBI. He also has 15 stolen bases, and he plays an incredible centerfield. In his last ten games, he is hitting. 417/.553/1.139 (1.692 OPS) with one triple, eight home runs and 16 RBI. He also has 11 walks with just six strikeouts. Over the same period, Miguel Sano is hitting .318/.388/.659 with four doubles, a triple, three home runs and 16 RBI. In his last ten games, Niko Goodrum is hitting .459/.545/.649 (1.194 OPS) with two doubles, a triple, a home run, and seven walks.

NEW BRITAIN ROCK CATS

Over the last two days the Rock Cats have made up two games in the standing and currently are tied with Reading for a wild card spot in the Eastern League playoffs.

On Thursday night, the Rock Casts grabbed an early 9-2 lead through seven innings when the game was delayed by rain. When they came back, Trenton scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth to cut the lead to 9-8. However, in the top of the 9^th, Chris Cates came through with a two-run single to score Yangervis Solarte and Joe Benson and give the Rock Cats some insurance and an 11-8 win. Spencer Steedley started and gave up two runs on five hits and a walk in five innings. Steve Hirschfeld gave up just one hit over two scoreless innings and struck out three. Michael Tarsi came in for the 8^th inning and faced five batters. He gave up three hits, and he and Cates each commented an error before Dakota Watts came in. Tarsi was charged with five runs (2 earned). Watts got two outs but gave up another run. Tyler Robertson came in and gave up another hit and walk in the 8^th but got out of that inning with the one run lead. He then got all three outs in the 9^th for his 16^th save. Chris Herrmann went 3-4 with his seventh home run and four RBI. Brian Dozier was 2-5 with his sixth double. Deibinson Romero went 2-4 with his 26^th double. Evan Bigley was 2-5.

On Friday night, Andrew Albers gave the Rock Cats a chance to win. The lefty started and went the first six innings. He gave up one run on seven hits. Deolis Guerra came in for the 7^th inning and gave up a run. So, the Rock Cats were down 2-1, a deficit they faced until the top of the 9^th. However, with two runners on, Joe Benson hit a triple that gave the Rock Cats a 3-2 lead. Chris Parmelee came up next and singled in Benson for the 4-2 lead. Deolis Guerra went three innings and gave up just that one run. He gave up just one hit, walked two and struck out six for the Win. Benson was 1-3 with two walks and that big triple. Yangervis Solarte had two hits. Brian Dozier went 3-4.

The Rock Cats were to play two more games in Trenton over the weekend. However, they decided to move Sunday’s game to Saturday and play a double header. Of course, Hurricane Irene may have something to say about that as they have called a state of emergency in New Jersey for today.

THE REST STILL MATTERS

Hey, just because your favorite team or teams may not be in the playoff hunt doesn’t mean that we stop watching them, right? I mean, who wants to be a fair-weather fan!? Even in bad seasons and bad games, good things can happen.

For instance, the Rochester Red Wings played a double header on Friday against Syracuse, and they threw two of the organization’s best pitching prospects. In the first game, Liam Hendriks (who I expect to make a start for the Twins within the next 8-10 days) started and threw six shutout innings. He allowed five hits, walked none and struck out five. Jim Hoey then pitched a perfect seventh for his 8^th save. Sure, the Red Wings managed just three hits, but one of them was a big, two-run home run off the bat of Aaron Bates (his fifth).

In the second game, Tom Stuifbergen made his AAA debut. Not wanting to mess with the New Britain playoff hopes, the Red Wings called down to Ft. Myers and Stuifbergen was summoned. He gave up two runs in the first inning, and that was it. The Dutch right-hander gave up two runs (1 earned) on four hits in five innings for his first AAA win. He walked none and struck out five. Chuck James came in and got the final six outs for his first save. He walked three and struck out four. Jair Fernandez went 2-3 with his fifth double and first stolen base. Jeff Bailey was 2-2. Dustin Martin drove in two runs.

The GCL Twins lost 6-1 to the GCL Red Sox. Hung-yi Chen started and gave up five runs (4 earned) on seven hits in 1.2 innings. Ricardo Arevalo came in and gave up only an unearned run on two hits in 3.1 innings. He walked two and struck out four. Nick Cicio threw three one-hit, no-run innings. The Twins managed just five hits. Dereck Rodriguez went 2-3 with a walk.

The Ft. Myers Miracle got a nice start from Pat Dean and the offense for a 6-3 win over Charlotte. Dean gave up two runs on seven hits in seven innings. He walked none and struck out five. Ricky Bowen then gave up one run on three hits and a walk in two innings. He struck out three. Oswaldo Arcia went 2-4. Dan Rohlfing went 1-2 with two walks. Reggie Williams was 1-2 with two walks and his first triple. Angel Morales hit his second home run, and Danny Rams hit his 15^th double and drove in three runs.

Beloit got a terrific start and some power in their 6-3 win over Burlington. Pedro Guerra started and gave up only an unearned run on four hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out 11. In his 20 innings with the Snappers, he has nine walks and 34 strikeouts! Bart Carter then struck out two in two scoreless innings. Jose Gonzalez struck out three in his one-hit inning. Madison Boer then gave up two runs (1 earned) on three hits in his inning. He struck out two. Lance Ray went 2-4 with his 33^rd and 34^th doubles. Nate Roberts was 1-3 with his fourth home run. Andy Leer was 1-2 with a walk and his third home run.

Care to share any thoughts? Comment here.

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