Wednesday,
September 23, 2009
Wednesday Morning
Notes
Good morning! After another
fun podcast last night, some other projects, an oil change, a meeting, and some
other stuff, I passed out. So, I got up early this morning and put together a
few thoughts for you to discuss. But if there are other topics, please feel
free to bring them up in the
Comments. And please be sure to check out several of the other Twins
blogs that I have linked to on the left side of this page for more. Have a
great day!
SethSpeaks.net
NIGHTLY Minnesota Twins podcast
·
No guests on the
show last night, but had two people (including Fanatic Jack!)
call in and talked about last night’s Twins win. The conversation went all over
the place, but was all related to the Twins, so hopefully it makes for some
good listening!! Check it out and let me know what you think. Tonight at 10,
there will be another show. I already have one guest confirmed, and hoping for
a second.
Twins 8, White Sox 6
·
The Twins went
into US Cellular last night and outslugged the Chicago White Sox on their way
to an 8-6 win. The Twins hit four home runs. Orlando Cabrera hit a two run homer in the first inning to give the
Twins a 2-0 lead. With the game tied at five, Michael Cuddyer led off the sixth inning
with a long home run, his 29th of the season. A couple batters
later, Matt Tolbert hit his second
homer of the year. It hit the top of the wall in left field, just avoiding the
glove of Carlos Quentin. Then in the
8th inning, Jason Kubel hit his 24th home run to give the Twins
a 8-5 lead.
·
Jeff Manship walked the first batter he faced in the first inning.
Scott Podsednik
stole second. Manship then got the next three outs,
but Podsednik did score to cut the lead to 3-1. Manship had a 1-2-3 second inning and really looked good.
Then came the third inning. Alex Rios
hit a home run. Then a single. Then Gordon
Beckham hit an 0-2 hanging curve for his 13th
homer. It gave the White Sox a 4-3 lead. Two hard hit balls later, Manship was replaced by Francisco Liriano. The lefty went the
next 2.1 innings. He gave up a run on a hit and two walks. Jesse Crain came in to the game with runners on 1st and
3rd and got out of the inning. He then threw another perfect inning.
Jose Mijares
pitched a scoreless seventh. Matt Guerrier’s first pitch of the 8th inning was
deposited well into the left field bleachers by Paul Konerko. It cut the lead to 8-6. Guerrier had to work hard, but got out of the 8th
inning with that same lead. Joe Nathan
came in and threw a 1-2-3 ninth for his 43rd save of the year.
·
Jesse Crain
improved to 7-4 and is as good as we have ever seen him.
·
Michael Cuddyer, in addition to his 29th homer, had a
single and his 34th double. Jason
Kubel added his 33rd double. Delmon Young was 2-3 with a sacrifice fly. Joe Mauer had an RBI double in the
fifth that gave the Twins a 5-4 lead.
·
Tonight, Brian Duensing will
make the start for the Twins opposite
Mark Buehrle. Duensing
has made two starts and two relief appearances against the White Sox this year.
He is 0-0 with a 2.08 ERA in 17.1 innings. This will be Buehrle’s
41st career start against the Twins. He is 23-15 with a 4.00 Era. He
has already made five starts against the Twins this year. He has gone 2-2 with
a 5.28 ERA.
·
The Tigers beat
Cleveland 3-1 last night behind a strong pitching performance from Edwin Jackson. Aaron Laffey was nearly as good, but a 3rd
inning solo home run to Ryan Raburn meant he got the loss. Tonight, it will be Rick Porcello
for the Tigers and Justin Masterson
for Cleveland.
Who Starts Sunday?
The Twins talker for today
probably has to be who makes the start for the Twins on Sunday against the
Royals in Kansas City. Jeff Manship’s name was written in, in pencil, for that
start, but with his performance last night, we do need to ask if there is a
better option for the Twins. It would be easy to say Francisco Liriano, but I’m not certain
that’s necessary true. Are there even any other options? Armando Gabino,
maybe? Where have you gone, Yohan Pino? I think the right thing is probably to start Liriano, but to have both Manship
and Gabino, and Keppel and everyone ready to go. What
do you think? Who provides the Twins with the best chance to win?
World Cup Update
·
Cuba beat
Australia 2-1. Both James Beresford
and Luke Hughes were 0-4. Beresford
did have the lone RBI.
·
Canada beat
Puerto Rico 3-0. Rene Tosoni was 1-4 with a walk, his fourth double and two
RBI. Nelvin Fuentes went 1.2 scoreless innings for
Puerto Rico. He gave up one hit, walked one and struck out two.
·
The Netherlands
beat Chinese Taipei 11-2. Former Twins pitching prospect Alexander Smit gave up one run on four
hits and two walks in six innings for the win. He struck out six.
·
Team USA beat
Venezuela 6-3. Trevor Plouffe was 1-4 with an RBI. Terry Tiffee was 2-4 with two RBI.
If you have any opinions,
comments or updates, please leave them in the Comments
section.