"Must NOT-see TV"

I played basketball last night, so I was feeling a little tired around 8:45 and thought I might go to sleep after a couple innings of the game. But nooooo, I had to call a friend and go to his place and watch the entire 3-2 Twins loss in HD. I really could have used that few extra hours, too. Instead, I witnessed an offensively sluggish team struggle to hit vs. lefty Dana Eveland. Seemed like J-Morneau was hitting the ball hard, but right at people every time. So annoying. And Brendan Harris looks lost at the dish right now. And that Jason Kubel at bat in the ninth inning... good lord. Horrid. Take a pitch, buddy. I wish there were some easy answers, but I can't think of anything aside from getting new players. This Athletics ARE who we THOUGHT THEY WERE, and we LET 'EM OFF THE HOOK!!

The good news, however, is that Nick Blackburn - 5 2/3 IP, 2 ER - managed a nice bounce-back outing after getting beaten up a bit this past weekend by Anaheim (10 hits, 2 BB in 4 2/3 IP). The bullpen even looked OK until the ninth when left a pitch up for Kurt Suzuki, who deposited it into the left field gap for the game-winning hit. Boof Bonser kept up the resurgent month with a scoreless 1 1/3 inning outing - he's got a 2.92 ERA in 12 August innings after racking up a 8.73 ERA in 22 2/3 combined June/July innings.

And if you get a chance, on SportCenter or otherwise, try to get a peek at the Casilla-to-Punto double play from last night. One of the most incredible plays I've seen in awhile. I'll try to find the link.

Here's hoping for better things tonight - it's Kevin Slowey vs. Dan L. Meyer. I always feel better about a matchup where the opposing pitcher regularly uses his middle initial in print. What a tool. Only authors and politicians can get away with that.

That's all for now!

Minor League Notes:

• New Britain got some SWEET pitching last night. Starter Jeff Manship went six scoreless innings, allowing just five baserunners while striking out seven. Ben Julianiel pitched 1 1/3 innings to record save number 25.
• Beloit (Low-A) Starter Mike McCardell baffled Kane County for seven innings, striking out four batters while allowing six men to reach base. Aside from his horrible outing late last week (5 ER in 6 2/3 IP), McCardell has looked ready for a promotion.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day!

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!

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!