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!

Guerrier Gone Wild

Just a quick bit of housekeeping before I move it along: You can subscribe to this blog and get it in your email every day by clicking Here! Thanks...

I hope I never have to use Matt Guerrer in a headline again, but the way he's pitching right now is downright infuriating. I mentioned he had a disgusting 17.38 ERA in his past seven outings on yesterday's post... it's now up to 19.08 in his past 5 2/3 innings - eight outings - after allowing Alex Rodriguez and Xavier Nady to pop homers off him in the top of the 12th inning last night. It'd be one thing if Guerrier was allowing runs at an alarming rate in a mop-up role, but he's pitching important innings for the Twins and blowing games left and right. It wasn't just Guerrier last night though - Blackburn (6 hits, 3 BB, 4 ER) gave up a leadoff homer to Johnny Damon and struggled through 4 2/3 innnings, Bonser let in a run, and Jesse Crain coughed up one as well. An ugly, but still winnable game.

Joe Mauer was a late scratch last night with a stiff neck. No one seems to know how it happened, but he's questionable for the game today. The Twins missed his bat in key spots last night - the team left 10 men on base. Justin Morneau went 0-for-4 with a walk, and his similarly absent bat didn't help.

I'll try to focus on something more positive though. Delmon Young (3-for-5, 3 RBI) is waking up... when you hit a three-run shot off Marino Rivera, something is going right. That's two homers in his past four games and a .311/.351/.461 with six home runs and 30 battitng line since June 1 (51 games). Hopefully he can keep it going, because Michael Cuddyer ain't walkin' through the door anytime soon. And if he does, he'll be wearing an air cast on his right foot, so it won't help the team anyway. By the way, Adam Everett (1-for-4) got a hit again!

The Twins run it back vs. New York today in the rubber match. It's Kevin Slowey (8-8, 4.07 ERA) vs. Darrell Rasner (5-8, 5.28 ERA). Let's hope we catch the Yanks sleeping and win our second series in a row before welcoming Seattle back into town this weekend.

Minor League Notes:

• They're still going... CF Jason Pridie (3-for-6) and 2B Alejandro Machado (1-for-5) kept their respective 19 and 21-game hitting streaks intact.
• Phil Humber is finally in a groove for Triple-A Rochester, pitching like we thought he would at this level. Last night, Humber struck out 11 batters over 7 1/3 innings, giving up three runs on eight hits in the outing. Since coming back from a three-week bullpen stint, Humber has a 3.16 ERA, 1.245 WHIP and 36 strikeouts in 31 1/3 innings.
  
• Fort Myers reliever Anthony Slama continues to dominate High-A competition, as he boasts a sub-1.00 ERA and 13.92 K/9 IP. He's got a tidy little 0.953 WHIP as well.
• On a current six-game hitting streak, 1B Rene Leveret is now hitting 10-for-24 (.416) with two home runs and 14 RBI. Oh yeah, and he went 2-for-5 with a homer and five RBI last night.
  
• SP Mike McCardell of the Beloit Snappers kept the mojo going once again, striking out 10 batters over eight dominant innings to pick up his second win in a row and move to 9-3 on the year. He gave up just three hits and two runs - all in the first inning - before shutting down the Peoria bats. McCardell has a 1.86 ERA over his past four outings.

Thanks for reading, and enjoy the noon game today!

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! 

Tough Break

Just when it was time to celebrate, the Twins' spirits were dampened by news of Michael Cuddyer's non-displaced fracture sustained last night during his rehab assignment for Triple-A Rochester. This, in the wake of a nicely pitched 4-1 win over the Royals in Kansas City in the opener of a three-game set. Kevin Slowey (7 hits, 2K) tossed 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball, then five relievers including closer Joe Nathan sealed up the team's 64th victory of the year.

Denard Span banged out two more hits as the leadoff man, and Joe Mauer drove in a team-high two runs as the Twins kept pace with White Sox, who recorded a hard-fought 5-3 decision over Boston.

This was the "gimme" game in the series, and now Minnesota faces Zack Greinke and Gil Meche on consecutive days. Winning one of those two could be considered a nice accomplishment, but I'm sure the team is looking for a sweep after the debacle in Seattle just a few days ago.

A few brief Minor League Notes:

• No. 1 and no. 2 hitters Jason Pridie and Alejandro Machado (17-game hitting streak) went 2-for-4 in Rochester's 3-2 win over Indianapolis. Garrett Jones added three singles in four at bats as well for the Red Wings.

Much more coming Sunday, including another Alexi Casilla update! Thanks for reading!

KC Masterpiece?

I love barbeque as much as the next guy, but I'm hoping the Twins slow-roast the Royals this weekend. We've got Slowey (7-8, 4.21), Liriano (1-3, 7.16), Baker (7-3, 3.86) going three days in a row, and the Red Sox vs. White Sox (Sox lost last night!) series happening a little further north at U.S. Cellular. Could be an awesome weekend to be a Minnesota fan.

Kansas City is coming off a nasty pair of 8-2 losses at the hands of the Red Sox - this, after winning the series opener 4-3 on Monday. They'll toss Kyle Davies (5-2, 4.41) out there tonight, then counter Liriano with Zack Greinke (9-7, 3.93) and put Gil Meche (10-9, 4.17) on the mound Sunday. Davies hasn't generally gone deep into games, but isn't allowing much of late - the guy hasn't allowed more than three runs in over a month. Meche and Greinke are probably the most underrated one-two punch in baseball, and have combined for a 3.69 ERA and a 9 k/9 IP ratio over their past 12 (combined) starts. Greinke got beat up pretty badly by Detroit and Chicago a couple of weeks ago (12.00 ERA during those two), but Meche has extremely reliable since early June.

The Royals' bats have come alive too - they're hitting an incredible .310/.357/.457 as a team over the past six games. On the year, Kansas City's line is .263/.317/.392, so yeah, they're hot. DH Billy Butler and 3B Alex Gordon have led the charge, so watch out for them this weekend. 

KC has a pretty young team, but they're good enough at times to knock unsuspecting opposition from their high horse. Luckily, the Twins lost two of three in Seattle, which probably knocked the pride out of them.

Other Twins tidbits to note: Denard Span is batting .400 with a homer and five RBI in his past five games... since being dropped to the no. 9 spot in the batting order, Carlos Gomez has been quite productive, batting .371 to raise his AVG and OBP nine points apiece... conversely, the speedy Gomez hasn't stolen a base since June 30, a span of 28 games... Michael Cuddyer pounded two hits, both doubles, for Class AAA Rochester last night in the third game of his rehab stint... During the Cleveland series on July 25-27, Brian Buscher played just one game, going 3-for-5 with a homer. Since that game, he's gone 3-for-20 with three RBI in six games... Adam Everett may possibly be the worst offensive player in baseball.

Minor League Notes: 

• It was a HUGE night for Rochester's offense on Thursday, and Garrett Jones (2-for-5, homer, 4 RBI)/Luke Hughes (3-for-4, homer, 2 RBI) take top honors. It marked Hughes' first Triple-A dinger in eight games with the team.
• Well... maybe SS/2B Alejandro Machado had the best game of the night for Rochester - he went 4-for-4 to raise his batting average to .366 on the year (31 games). As a matter of fact, Machado has been scorching hot (.426) during his current 16-game hitting streak. What's even more impressive is that Machado has finally battled back from a torn rotator cuff injury that cost him all of 2007. He could definitely be a call up in September if he continues his stellar play at the dish and in the field. I think we all know how bad the bats are in our middle infield. There's no real power here, but the guy can get on base.
• SP Cole Devries pitched five scoreless innings to earn his second win in a row for Fort Myers. 
• 1B Rene Leveret bashed his second home run as a Beloit Snapper last night, and is hitting .424 in his past nine games. He's still striking out way too much though - he's got a 30:10 K/BB ratio. Ugly.
• There's no doubt in my mind that Mike McCardell is ready for the next level. He struck out seven batters in eight innings of work last night to bump his record to 8-3 on the year. McCardell gave up two runs on five hits and a walk. 
• SP Bobby Lanigan registered his second straight strong outing for Elizabethton last night, going eight innings and allowing just one run on four hits. He struck out five and won his third straight decision. 

Thanks for reading! Have an amazing Friday!

Blackburn Keeps It Goin'

The Twins got an excellent effort from SP Nick Blackburn last night - seven innings, six hits, one earned run and a couple of strikeouts got the job done as the Minnesota won 4-1 in the series opener vs. Cleveland. It wasn't an easy one, as the Indians starter Jeremy Sowers no-hit the Twins' bats for five innings before Brendan Harris doubled in the sixth and was driven in by Carlos Gomez. Joe Mauer added a two-run homer in the three-run eighth inning. Matt Guerrier and Joe Nathan (save no. 30) pitched scoreless eighth and ninth frames to close out the 61st win of the season. Unfortunately, the White Sox were able to make Ken Griffey Jr.'s debut a successful one as they stayed a 1/2-game ahead in the standings.


The best news of Friday, of course, was that Francisco Liriano and Randy Ruiz were called up to replace Craig Monroe and Livan Hernandez. Ruiz singled and scored a run in his first major-league game after 10 years in the minor leagues. You may wonder why a guy with a lifetime .302/.369/.524 batting line was doing in the minors for so long, but when you get suspended a couple of times for drug-related issues, the front office loses trust. So he finally got his shot last night, and will likely get some ABs until Michael Cuddyer gets back.

As of right now, it's looking like Liriano is going to start for Livan Hernandez on Monday, but there's been no official announcement as of yet. Today, Kevin Slowey (7-7, 4.00 ERA) is taking on Paul Byrd (5-10, 4.93 ERA) at 6:10 CST at the Dome. Byrd has been lights out for the past three starts to the tune of a 1.89 ERA. His 1.473 WHIP shows that he's more Livan Hernandez-like than his ERA shows, however, so the Twins should be able to get something going.

Minor League Notes:

• Luke Hughes and Jason Pridie banged out a couple of hits a piece in four at bats, and Hughes stole his first base at the Triple-A level.
  
• Alejandro Machado smoked his second home run during a current 10-game hitting streak for the Red Wings. He's batting .400 over that span.
• Fort Myers SP Matthew Fox (not the guy from LOST) pitched six shutout innings to get back on track for the Miracle after two sub-par starts. Fox gave up eight hits and struck out three in the no-decision.
• Striking out batters hasn't been much trouble for Beloit Snapper Mike McCardell - he's K'd 105 men in 101 innings this year, and got another 10 last night. McCardelll went six innnigs and gave up seven baserunners (6 hits, 1 BB) on the evening. Over his past two starts, he's got a tidy 1.38 ERA and 0.615 WHIP. It's crazy though - he recorded a no-decision and a loss in those starts.

Thanks for reading, and have an excellent day!