No support for Perkins

I’m disappointed today. Disappointed that the Twins could squander a Glen Perkins gem. Disappointed that Delmon Young has only seven at bats in four games, and – even worse – zero hits. Disappointed that our supposed eighth-inning guy Luis Ayala has already given up two runs in three outings. And I’m disappointed that, after absolutely crushing the competition with runners on base in 2008, we left FOURTEEN (14, yup) guys on the basepaths to end an inning. Worst of all, we did it against Jarrod Washed-Up (Washburn). Makes me cry bitter tears.

I’ll tell you what – writing about this stuff really does help though. I get frustrated listening to/watching games, and this is how I blow off the steam. So thanks for making it a worthwhile venture by reading my opinions every once in awhile. ☺

Anyway, there’s more to be ticked-off about, namely that our no. 1 (Span), no. 2 (Casilla) and no. 3 hitters (Cuddyer) combined to hit 0-for-11, but thankfully Cuddyer drew a walk to save the crew from getting skunked. Against Washburn, a guy who sported a 4.70 ERA, 1.46 WHIP and went 5-14 in 2008. I don’t get it. Except for the fact that Washburn, that bum, has a career 2.76 ERA at the Dome. Maybe we should have tried to sign him.

The news wasn’t all bad yesterday, no matter how much I try to spin it that way. Glen Perkins really did a masterful job against everyone but Adrian Beltre, who ended up hitting 6-for-13 this series with two walks in the win. Perkins gave up just one early run and managed to keep the baserunners to a minimum after an excruciatingly eventful first frame. Gotta respect the guy’s will to battle back after a rough start. Maybe it’s Perkins, not Kevin Slowey, who finds a little extra mojo this season and becomes our reliable no. 3 arm in the rotation.

Now it’s off to Chicago, the site of Twins despair (2-8) last season. We’ll run R.A. Dickey out to the mound tonight against Jose Contreres, then watch Francisco Liriano do battle versus Bartolo Colón Saturday. On Sunday, Nick Blackburn matches up against Mark Buehrle in the third game of the series. I’m glad to miss Danks and Floyd, but we’ll get a couple doses of them later this year.

Notes:

• The Rochester Red Wings got underway Thursday and saw Luke Hughes, Dustin Martin, Trevor Plouffe and David Winfree smack homers in the opener. Nothin’ like a few fireworks!
• Left-fielder Matt Moses bashed a bomb for the Double-A Rock Cats Thursday in the team’s second game of the season, and it’s good to see him get rolling right away. In addition, Anthony Slama (one of my favorites) struck out three batters in a relief appearance yesterday, and remains one of the top bullpen arms in the minor leagues. Hopefully he’ll get more pub this season.
  

Twins play tonight at 7:11 p.m. vs. Chicago… beat those pale hose down!

Torii Claus

I give Nick Punto all the credit in the world for the bomb he smoked off Justin Speier in the top of the 12th inning last night, but Torii Hunter catches that ball 99.79 times out of 100, folks. Lemme give you a quick recap: Hunter is a seven-time Gold Glove center fielder. He had p-l-e-n-t-y of time to find the ball, get to the spot and make the grab. Yet he doesn't, and the epitome of our franchise - Nick Punto - ends up with a "triple" with nobody out. Hunter would like to wish you and yours an early, yet equally Merry Christmas. 

As you probably know, Denard Span went the other way for a single down the left field line that ended up being the game-winning hit. But that wasn't even the story of the night.

Did I mentions that Scott Baker is my freaking hero? I don't use the word "freaking" a lot in my writing (I save it for emphasis in speech), but he was dominant last night. It makes me wonder if he's once again locked in, and ready to bring his "A" game every night the rest of the season. Because in eight innings against the Anaheim Angels (best lineup in baseball), Baker was virtually untouchable. He gave up just one run - a solo shot to Mark Teixiera in the bottom of the first inning - and five hits while walking two and striking out six batters. He went toe-to-toe with a top-five AL pitcher in John Lackey, and while he didn't win the decision, he certainly didn't look out of his league. Impressive, yet somehow, not the story of the night. 

If you stayed up to watch the entire game, you know who I'm talking about. Matt Guerrier stepped onto the mound in the ninth inning, and what followed was something we hadn't seen for weeks... a full inning of scoreless work for our "setup" man. Two, actually, and it came at the perfect time. This, from a guy who had given up 14 runs over his past 6 1/3 innings (nine appearances, 19.90 ERA) and recently received four days off due to absolutely horrid pitching. I savored every pitch he threw last night, and maybe - just maybe - this road trip is what he needed to get back on track.

Of course, if you look at the appalling numbers our bats came up with, you'd probably have a big-time negative spin on last night's event. For me, good pitching was enough... there's no way we go an entire series stranding 18 base runners a game. It was disheartening to see Morneau and Casilla come up empty time and again, but I'm going to forgive and forget - we face Cy Young candidate Joe Saunders tonight, and there's no time for sulking.  

Twins Notes: With another two-hit night last night from Nick Punto, the utility infielder now has a nine-game hitting streak. What's more impressive is that he has eight multi-hit games over that span, and moved his batting average back up to .282 from .256 on August 11... Denard Span's on-base percentage finally creeped over .400 on the year last night - Carlos Gomez' remains quite a bit lower, at .287... Jesse Crain pitched a scoreless 11th inning as the bridge to Joe Nathan, who picked up his 34th save of the year... For all the talking up we did, Delmon Young's bat sure hasn't backed it up lately - he's batting .056 over his past four games (1-for-18)... Last, Matt Tolbert busted out the lumber last night with two hits in four ABs for New Britain. He's now batting .300 for the Rock Cats and will be up in 10 days or so. 

Minor League Notes: 

• Rochester's Luke Hughes lined two singles in five at bats, and Alejandro Machado boosted his batting average up over .350 with a three-hit night last night. Unfortunately, starting pitcher Tommy Shearn got destroyed for six earned runs in just five innings of work. 
• The double-A club had quite a night... four hitters (Ramos-4, Portes-3, Woodard-3, Ovalle-3) totaled 3+ hits and starter Alex Burnett threw six dominant innings, striking out 10 batters while giving up five hits and just one earned run. 

Thanks for reading, and have a great day... another late-night game tonight!

Casilla back... Angels await

Francisco Liriano is scaring me. You look at his 4-0 record, 1.14 ERA, .182 opponent batting average and very good 20 strikeouts in 23 2/3 innings, and it feels good. It feels like Liriano is back. But he's not, and we all know it. The same dominance just isn't there - he's not throwing as hard as he was before, and might not ever get all the way back (yes, we all knew this was a possibility). Even more disturbing though, are the 10 walks in those near-24 innings. Folks, our "golden boy" is having trouble finding the strike zone, and though he'll miss the Angels and continue "tuning up" vs. the whipping boys of the American League for a bit, there's going to come a time when a patient team eats him alive. A few more Liriano stats:

• He's thrown 401 pitches in 23 2/3 innings, which is about 17 pitches an inning - pretty inefficient. His fellow starters' numbers over the past four starts... Perkins (14.88 per inning), Slowey (16.01), Baker (16.8), Blackburn (15.4). Basically, he's giving himself the worst chance of ALL of our starters to go 6+ innings. Even Scott Baker, who's obviously struggling, has been a bit better.
• While Liriano has thrown about 61% of his pitches for strikes since "The Call-up", fellow Twins starters have faired much better - Baker (69.6%), Slowey (68.6%), Blackburn (64.3%), Perkins (69.1%).

Anyway, despite all this, I went to bed last night with a good feeling - the Twins had won their fourth consecutive series, and six out of their past seven games. The starting pitching is looking decent and the bats lively... even the bullpen looked good yesterday. What's more, Alexi "it's a miracle" Casilla (4-for-7, RBI in two rehab starts) is back from his hand injury and will look to help spark the top of the order where Nick Punto faltered. The Twins optioned Brian Bass to Triple-A Rochester to make room. Good riddance. Casilla's at bats are much better than anything we have in the middle infield, and we have to hope he can hit the ground running this evening.

Conversely, I woke up this morning and that feeling was all washed away... I mean, we're going to Anaheim...we're facing John Lackey tonight... we're a game back in the Central Division. Our starters have to deal with Vlad/Tex/Hunter for four games... our hitters - if there's to be a comeback win - will have to hit vs. the only guy better than our closer in Francisco Rodriguez. It's a brutal way to start a road trip, but I suppose it's best to get the worst over with first.

Game 1, tonight at 9:05 p.m. CST, will feature Scott Baker (7-3, 3.91 ERA) vs. John Lackey (10-2, 3.22 ERA), and tomorrow evening Glen Perkins (10-3, 4.17) will take on 14-game winner Joe Saunders (14-5, 3.14). Saturday's pitching probables are Nick Blackburn (9-7, 3.71) and Jon Garland (11-8, 4.33), and the series finale will feature Kevin Slowey (10-8, 3.78) and Ervin Santana (13-5, 3.39). Needless to say, we'll have our hands full with these guys, but it'll likely be the toughest test we face - outside of the White Sox series and the @Tampa Bay in September - the rest of the year.

Thought you should know that Matt Tolbert is now 1-for-6 in two rehab starts for New Britain, and is expected to rejoin the Twins when rosters expand on September 1... Last, I wanted to mention that Boof Bonser is looking much better lately. John Gordon talked about some increased velocity yesterday afternoon (hitting 95 mph), and that can only mean good things for our bullpen. He's boasting a 2.79 ERA, .250 BAA, 1.344 WHIP and 8.38 k/9 in eight August appearances.

That's enough for now...

Minor League Notes:

• 2B/3B Luke Hughes belted two hits, scored twice and stole his second base as a Rochester Red Wing last night. His batting totals (.284/.373/.540) have dropped a bit, but he's still looking good.
• Looking dominant, SP Anthony Swarzak moved to 4-0 with a 2.10 ERA/1.300 WHIP in five starts at the Triple-A level. Swarzak pitched one-run ball for six innings and struck out six batters while giving up just five hits. In addition, reliever Bobby Korecky now has nine straight scoreless innings, and racked up six saves and 9 Ks over that time period.
• Matthew Fox, a starter for Single-A Fort Myers, has been quite good over his past four starts (2-0, 1.14 ERA, 1.183 WHIP in 23 2/3 IP), including his most recent outing where he pitched seven shutout innings, striking out five.
• After getting blown up for eight earned runs in four innings on August 3, Beloit's Steven Hirschfield has been nearly untouchable. He's given up just three runs in the 21 subsequent innings, going 3-0 over that span.
• Elizabethton 1B Jonathan Waltenbury hadn't hit for much power lately, but rocketed two homers last night to bring his total to 10 on the season. He's currently on 10-game hitting streak that has his batting average back up to .329 on the year.

Thanks for reading, and have an awesome day!

Three in a Row!

Win the 7-6 late-inning comeback win over Seattle yesterday afternoon, the Twins set themselves up to sweep the Mariners today as Glen Perkins faces Ryan Feierabend. What's even more impressive is that the team is now a season-high 16 games over .500, a mark they never hit in 2007 with the likes of Torii Hunter and Johan Santana gracing the field. It's been an exciting ride, and to be in the division hunt is something that we, as fans, should be thankful for after such a disheartening offseason. And the fact that we did all of this in spite of Livan Hernandez is all the more awe-inspiring.

What hasn't been inspiring of late, however, is Scott Baker. He came off the DL in June and absolutely baffled hitters, but in his past five starts - including yesterday - Baker has seemed to lose his sense of the strike zone and is allowing hits at an alarmingly high rate with a 1.674 WHIP (34 hits, 14 BB) and 5.96 ERA in 28 2/3 innings. Baker has failed to get into the sixth inning in three of those starts, so not only is he hurting the team, he's also taxing the bullpen whenever he starts. Baker throws again on Friday in Los Angeles as the team starts a massive 14-game road trip, and there'll be no better time this season (barring playoffs) for him to start pitching well again.

We got some good news about Alexi Casilla and Matt Tolbert this weekend - both could play with the team in the coming weeks. Casilla took grounders, threw and hit off a tee Friday night and pounded some soft toss Saturdsay and is vying to return to the Twins at some point during this next road trip. Probably near the end of the month. Tolbert, on the other hand, will probably be a September addition to the team... no word on when, exactly, that will happen. Update: Alexi Casilla will begin a rehab assignment Monday, and should be back with the Twins on Wednesday.

Sunday Twins Notes: With four straight multi-hit games in a row, Delmon Young continued to slowly march his batting average upward - he's at .294 now and hasn't cracked .300 yet... Joe Mauer is 4-for-9 with a home run and 3 RBI ... found out that the new stadium is going to ROCK ... After batting just .136 so far in August, Justin Morneau came through with two hits yesterday to break a three-game hitless streak ... Just when you thought it was safe to put Jesse Crain on the mound, he gives up two earned runs on a hit and a walk - we need to rely on Crain, but he's making it awfully difficult ... Dennys Reyes, however, hasn't allowed an earned run in his past 10 appearances (since July 27), and has a 0.546 WHIP, 8.1 K/9 IP and incredible .111 BAA over those 7 1/3 innings.

Minor League Notes:

• Rochester OF Jason Pridie went hitless on Friday to end his 20-game hitting streak. Pridie got the night off Saturday as well. In his stead, 2B/3B Luke Hughes belted his third homer of the year for the Red Wings, and continues to look quite comfortable at the Triple-A level.
  
• With two home runs in his past three games, New Britain's Daniel Valencia has nearly matched his power output from high-A Fort Myers in the first half of the season. His .275/.320/.412 hitting line as a Rock Cat is decidedly worse, however. Teammate David Winfree now has 17 home runs on the season and has bashed three in his past seven games (11-for-30, .367 BA, 9 RBI).
  
• 24-year-old SP Yohan Pino has a 13-game scoreless streak for New Britain, and has two straight wins over that span, including an eight-inning shutout performance on Friday night.
  
• Elizabethton center fielder Angel Morales has caught fire of late, slamming eight hits - four for home runs - in his past 14 at bats (four games) for a team-leading 15 homers and .329 batting average in the process. This kid is only 19 years old, so keep an eye on a possible quick rise through the organization.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the noon game today... SWEEP!!!

George Michael

I watched the Minnesota Twins take two games out of three versus the New York Yankees today without sending either Scott Baker or Francisco Liriano to the mound even once. Let me tell you, it's a good feeling when your favorite team comes through. Kevin Slowey (9-8, 3.97 ERA) got his season ERA under 4.00 for the first time in a month-and-a-half and the Twins won 4-2 on the strength of Delmon Young's second straight game with a three-run homer.

I'll be the first to say that I thought Young was a life-draining leech the first two months of the season. He came in on a white horse as the Twins' hitting messiah, and we all thought he'd be an adequate replacement for Torii Hunter. Not the same, mind you, but maybe one or two steps below our beloved center fielder. When he decided to go 230 at bats without a home run, and hit a very pedestrian .264/.323/.337 through May, I was sounding the "2007 bust alert" siren. Then something happened - the weather warmed up, and so did he. And now, two months later, he's one of the most productive bats in a lineup that sorely needed a boost. "DY" went 5-for-12 in the series with two home runs and six RBI, and we're all hoping and praying that he's going to make up for 60 days of spring malfeasance with a scorching end to the summer. I guess George Michael and Limp Bizkit were right... you really do "gotta have faith".



Adam Everett didn't play yesterday, but if he would have, he surely would have gotten a hit off Rasner. On my "official" scorecard, I gave him a hit just for showing up to the ball park. I'm sure he hit something out of the infield in pre-game batting practice.

The M&M boys did precious little damage this series... Joe Mauer went a respectable 3-for-7 with an RBI, but Justin Morneau hit just 1-for-11 with only one runner driven in. As a matter of fact, Morneau has been terrible in August, hitting a frigid .154/.314/.205 in 39 at bats since the Cleveland series on August 1. He hasn't homered over that stretch either. Of course, all this means is that he's incredibly due for a hot streak, and if it's all the same to him, I'd like if he saved it for the 14-game road trip starting next weekend in Anaheim.

It's an off day tomorrow, but the action cranks up again Friday night at the Dome when Francisco Liriano takes on former Twin Carlos Silva. I'm predicting a 23-2 Twins win, but I'll probably re-think that by game time.

By the way, the White Sox won again tonight, which - for the first time since last Saturday - meant there would be no daily lead change in the division. The Sox play at 1:10 p.m. vs. Kansas City tomorrow.

Last, Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com wrote that Raul Ibanez (Mariners) was claimed off waivers tonight. No word on who got him, but with the news that Cuddyer is going to be out for the balance of the regular season, he'd be a nice addition. Plus, Ibanez is eligible for free agency after the 2008 season, so there's no commitment to him past September/October.

A few more random Twins notes to end the night: Joe Nathan, among closers who meet my not-so-strict criteria of 40 IP and 15 saves, has the best ERA in the majors this season. Only Jonathan Papelbon (BOS), Mariano Rivera (NYY) and Joakim Soria (KC) have better WHIP numbers than the Twins' stopper... Kevin Slowey allowed a first-inning run today for the first time this season... Carlos Gomez is now among the top 10 strikeout kings in the MLB this season with 112. Adam Dunn, in contrast, has 123. I still can't believe this guy was leading off into mid-July. Excuse me while I go throw up.

Oh, and please do remember that you can subscribe by simply clicking here and entering your email address. Thanks!

Minor League Notes (truncated):

• Rochester Red Wings CF Jason Pridie extended his hitting streak to 20 games with a single tonight vs. Syracuse. 2B/DH Alejandro Machado, however, was unable to extend his 21-gamer, going 0-for-4 on the night. 3B Luke Hughes (3-for-3) and 2B Matt Macri (3-for-3, 2 HRs)provided the fireworks though in the team's 5-3 win.
• Both 2B Brian Dinkelman and SS Steven Tolleson tore the cover off the ball tonight. Dinkelman went 3-for-5 with a double and three runs while Tolleson shellacked a homer and two doubles to go a perfect 4-for-4 with three RBI. On top of that, Tolleson stole his twelfth base of the season.
• After allowing 14 runs in his July 28 and August 2 starts (14.54 ERA), Beloit pitcher David Bromberg has bounced back with a vengeance. In his past two starts, Bromberg hasn't given up a run in 12 innings, and won both decisions. Last night, he went seven scoreless and struck out 10 while allowing just three hits (five baserunners - 2BB) for the Snappers.
  

Enjoy the Twins' off day! See ya tomorrow!

Sick to My Stomach

Aren't you just ill today? I know I am. Last Monday too. These Matt Guerrier-fueled losses are doing real damage to my psyche and ability to function as a normal human being. Last night, I couldn't even eat dinner, and that's a problem. Over his past seven outings, Matty-G has a 17.38 ERA. Folks, that's absolutely untenable. There's no way he should be in that eighth inning slot the way he's going, and really, we have the same problem we had before Liriano came up - a gap in the bridge to Nathan. 

Now, I'm not going to say Crain or Reyes or others might do much better - I have VERY little faith in Jesse Crain - but how could they do worse? Guerrier was pitching decent, then he lost it. Against Seattle and Kansas City, no less! Possible solutions could be to bring up Bobby Korecky from the Rochester, but they'll probably do that in September anyway. They could also juggle the bullpen or pitch Nathan more in the eighth inning (last night would have been a perfect opportunity to do so). Chances are that they were saving Nathan for the Yankee series unless it was a one-inning save situation, but you've gotta make hay against poor teams. The Twins couldn't do that this week, and find themselves inexplicably behind the White Sox in the standings. 

Saturday and Sunday went pretty well for our starters - Francisco Liriano and Scott Baker combined to throw 12 2/3 innings, and gave up a total of five runs (3.55 ERA) and 13 hits (16 baserunners - 1.263 WHIP) in their outings. Baker struck out seven batters and Liriano got five men out on strikes... two solid performances from guys we'll need high-quality production from the rest of the year. 

The bats got the job done for the most part as well, putting up 11 runs in the final two games of the series in support of their starters. Delmon Young blasted his fifth homer of the year, and is batting .309 with five home runs, 31 RBI and three steals since June. He had zero homers and 15 RBI in April/May. We expected more power, but his bat has given Jason Kubel and Justin Morneau a bit of relief.  

Today, the Twins get New York in a pivotal three-game series where they'll face Sidney Ponson (2.55 career ERA vs. Minnesota) tonight, 16-game winner Mike Mussina Tuesday and young gun Dan Giese in Wednesday's noon game. Minnesota will counter with Glen Perkins tonight, Nick Blackburn Tuesday and Kevin Slowey Wednesday. Should be an enjoyable series, and I'll be there on Wednesday... maybe I'll ya'll there. 

Minor League Notes:  

• The major offensive threats for Rochester have kept at it, as Luke Hughes (2-for-4) bombed his second home run in four games last night for the Red Wings. Alejandro Machado singled in four at bats and now has a 19-game hit steak, while Jason Pridie continues to streak in August - he's batting .462 this month.
• In two games over the weekend, New Britain 2B Brian Dinkelman scorched five hits in eight at bats to raise his average to .288 in 32 games as a Rock Cat. He batted .293 in 63 games at Fort Myers earlier this season, so it's an encouraging sign that he's handling the next level just as well. 
• Elizabethton CF Evan Bigley went 4-for-5 yesterday with two RBI, and raised his average to .316 on the year. Teammate SP Curtis Leavitt struck out 10 batters over six innings, but did not factor into the decision.  

Thanks for reading, and have a great day! Enjoy the Yankees vs. Twins tonight! 

Fooled by Raul

First of all, I was physically sick the past couple of days - Monday it was my stomach, and Tuesday it was my entire body going into shock after the late-night collapse the Twins dropped on us. Then again last night... and I can't stay quiet any longer.

Raul Ibanez is absolutely killing the Twins so far in this three-game series. He's gone 6-for-10 with two home runs and 11 RBI. That's right, ELEVEN RBI, my friends. And Matt Guerrier, who is simply not cut out for the set up role, has now given up eight runs in his past five outings. That's a sparkling 19.64 ERA over that stretch (3 2/3 IP). And it's not like the starting pitching has been any good either - Scott Baker(what happened?) and Glen Perkins combined to pitch 11 2/3 innings, giving up 11 runs on 21 hits and three walks. What the hell happened to our pitching on the trip out West? Add to it the fact that our bullpen has a four-run differential in its home/road ERA splits, and this seemingly powder-puff road trip to Seattle and KC could turn out disastrous. 

The good news/silver lining in all of this is that the Twins' bats have actually been pretty good, providing 13 combined runs of support in the two losses. On Monday, J-Mo and Mauer each collected two hits, and Mike Lamb (3-for-6 in the series) even drove in a run. Tuesday was Kubel day, as Jason bashed his 15th and 16th homers of the season. Too bad it wasn't enough... it's like Guerrier is trying to keep it close or something. Unbelievable.

Nick Blackburn (8-6, 3.56 ERA) will try to salvage the Seattle series at 3:40 CST today... it's nice to have a day game after two late finishes. Blackburn has been the best starter of late, with a 2.21 ERA and sub 1.000 WHIP over his past six starts (including the NYY debacle!). He's probably our best chance outside of Liriano to stop the bleeding, and he'll face Jerrod Washburn (5-10, 4.77 ERA), who's been excellent in his own right lately before getting absolutely bombed for six runs and 13 combined base runners on August 1. I'll be listening at work... hope you all enjoy the game!

Last, it looks like Michael Cuddyer is going to be back next week (August 10 is likely) after a quick rehab stint in Rochester! Good news all around.

Let's talk Minor Leagues... it's been too long!

• Daniel Valencia has kept hitting for AA New Britain, stroking three multi-hit games in his past four appearances - 7-for-18 (.388) over that period.
• Also in New Britain, David Winfree has turned up the heat of late, batting .389 over his past 10 games, bucking the trend of his .239 season average. He's got eight RBI, a homer and four multi-hit games during this productive streak.
• Looks like Jeff Manship is going to be chilling in Double-A for the rest of this season. He gave up another four runs on 10 hits with just two strikeouts last night for the Rock Cats. This, coming off a solid performance (6 IP, ER) in his last start.
• It's nice to see a catcher with power, and Wilson Ramos (A-Fort Myers) flashed the bat again Monday night, hammering his 12th home run of the season.
• Luke Hughes is batting .300 in 20 Triple-A at bats so far, and seems to be holding his own with two multi-hit games over his past four starts.
• Jason Pridie is officially on fire in Rochester as he now has an 11-game hit streak where he's batted .396 and driven in nine runs as the leadoff man. He stole his 20th and 21st bases over that stretch as well, and is looking like a sure-bet to be called up Sept. 1. 
• Another recent call up to Triple-A, Anthony Swarzak, had himself a GREAT time Monday night, pitching seven solid innings to earn his second win with Rochester. Swarzak gave up just two runs and scattered eight hits and a walk while striking out five. That's now a 2.25 ERA over his first two starts... and the Twins keep pumping out pitching prospects...
• With five homers over his past 10 games and a current .326/.387.582 hitting line for Elizabethton so far this season (44 games), it's pretty obvious that Jonathan Waltenbury is going to get a promotion at some point. He's been tearing up the league and pounded out two home runs last night, his seventh and eighth on the season.
• Last, Cole Devries bounced back in a big way for Fort Myers this past Saturday, going six innings and striking out nine batters for his eighth win of the year. Devries allowed eight base runners and gave up two runs, but it was a far cry from his previous outing where he let five men cross the plate.

Thanks for reading - have a great day!

Subscribe to Twins Hotspot by Email

Liriano up? Livan gone?

I covered the Twins in extensive detail last night, and here's the Live Blog to prove it!

Looks like I missed one thing though - Liriano isn't expected to make his start tonight, and could be up within the next few days for the Twins! Here's the latest from Lavelle E. Neal from the Star Tribune.

Luke Hughes called up...
After a season filled with sweet swinging and injury, Luke Hughes has finally reaped the benefits of a breakout offensive performance in 2008. Batting .319/.385/.551 with 15 homers and 40 RBI for New Britain on the year, Hughes proved he was capable of doing pretty much whatever he wanted at the dish. Hughes went 1-for-5 for Rochester last night and started at third base.

In addition, Anthony Swarzak moved up from Double-A on Tuesday, but there were no real notes to go off. Sorry for the delay on that information. He went five innings and struck out two batters, but let in just one run for his first AAA win vs. a tough Pawtucket team. 

Other Minor Leauge Notes: 

• Riding a sweet 11-game hitting streak, Fort Myers catcher Wilson Ramos picked up his third multi-hit game in a row last night, bashing out four hits in five at bats with five RBI. Ramos has 11 homers and 64 RBI on the year for the Miracle, and as a 20-year-old catching prospect (his birthday is August 10), it would seem his best days are ahead of him. Watch out, Joe Mauer! 
• In his second start as a Beloit Snapper, Shooter Hunt was pretty wild (five walks), but got the job done. Hunt didn't allow a earned run and struck out nine batters for the second straight outing, picking up his second Low-A ball win in a row.

New Series, New Life

The great thing about baseball is that you start over every day. I mean, you have a running record and accumulating stats, but you get a clean slate... every batter starts out 0-0, every pitcher starts out with 0 balls and 0 strikes thrown. 

And a clean slate is exactly what the Twins need after getting pounded in New York and losing a 1-0 heartbreaker this past Sunday to the Rangers. 

Tonight, Minnesota faces Cliff Lee (13-2, 2.29 ERA), then Fausto Carmona (4-2, 3.10 ERA) Saturday - his first start coming off the DL - and Jeremy Sowers (1-5, 7.33 ERA) on Sunday. After that, we start a pretty important four-game set vs. the White Sox, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves here. The Twins toss out Hernandez (10-6, 5.29 ERA) tonight, Baker (6-3, 3.26 ERA) tomorrow and Blackburn (7-6, 3.83 ERA) Sunday, assuming no minor-league call-ups occur. The team flipped Baker and Hernandez in the rotation, giving Livan and Scotty B. an extra day of rest. 

No real news from the "big club" yesterday, aside from the fact that a Francisco Liriano sighting is imminent. 

It's also been stated by ESPN's Jayson Stark that the Twins are, in fact, still looking for a third baseman. 

Minor League Notes: 

• Kevin Mulvey pitched five solid innings for the Rochester Red Wings (AAA) last night and earned his fourth win of the season. Mulvey, however, has had a bit of an up-and-down season, but has maintained a stable 3.87 ERA on the year. 
• Prize acquisition (from the Santana Trade) Deolis Guerra (10-5, 4.56 ERA) continues to teeter between mediocrity and disaster in A+ ball at Fort Myers this season as he gave up four runs in five innings last night. In his past four starts, Guerra has struggled to a 5.48 ERA and 1.406 WHIP. He's not been terrible, but certainly could use more time at this level. 
• In all the commotion to pick up a higher-level third baseman, 3B prospects Luke Hughes (AA) and Daniel Valencia (AA) continue to play well. Valencia smoked his first home run as a Rock Cat last night (2-for-2), while Hughes went 2-for-4 to raise his average to .318 on the year.  

That's all for now... Thanks for reading!