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.

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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!

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!

Salvage in Seattle

If anything, the Twins have to be given credit for not being fully embarrassed by the Mariners during the first half of their six-game road trip. A comforting 7-3 win yesterday can be added to Denard Span's resume, however... the guy absolutely saved the team yesterday afternoon with a three-hit game (career-high 4 RBI) along with a sweet (game-saving?) catch to rob Adrian Beltre of a seventh-inning homer. I believe the Twins would have lost the game if not for that snag. They let Seattle come back on them twice in a row - and as we know, bad things come in threes. Turns out the "threes" were Twins' runs in the eighth inning, Span's hit total and amount of runs Blackburn (9-6) allowed. 

Speaking of Nick Blackburn... another shaky start by one of our young guys vs. Seattle. He gave up nine hits and walked one man in six innings. Lucky for him, the defense put together a couple of nice double plays to get out of self-inflicted jams. We'll take this start over the first two from Perkins and Baker, but can we please get into the seventh inning without giving up six runs? It's tough to win a series when your starters allow a 7.13 ERA. We complain about the bullpen, but when we hand them this mess, there's a lot less room for error. Good lord. 

Don't look now, but Brendan Harris has a hot bat! He's 11-for-25 over his past seven games, and during that stretch has belted six doubles, one homer and driven in five RBI batting in the no. 8 spot. Best of all, he's playing a very good shortstop/third base for the Twins, and that's what he's in the lineup for. You really can't ask for anymore than Harris is giving at this point.

I have to say I was livid when I saw Joe Mauer sitting on the bench. There's no Thursday game, yet he's unable to even DH? I understand that Randy Ruiz (2-for-5) needs his at bats, but we're trying to win games here. I suppose the Twins could have been looking at Mauer's lifetime .182/.471/.273 line vs. Jerrod Washburn, but still. Get that man in the lineup.

Michael Cuddyer went 1-for-6 vs. Triple-A competition last night as he played right field and batted cleanup for the Red Wings. His rehab stint is supposed to get him around 25 at bats, so it looks as though he'll be back with the big club in the middle of next week.

Anyway, the Twins have Thursday off, which means the bullpen gets a rest after being overworked of late. Seems like the starters rarely go seven innings these days. That's never a good sign, but a series vs. Kansas City generally cures what ails. You can see them at 7:10 p.m. on FSN North... pregame starts at 7:00. Let's hope for some Blyleven expletives! 

Minor League Notes: 

• Tommy Shearn was absolutely unstoppable last night for Rochester as he threw seven scoreless innings vs. Lehigh Valley. Shearn - recently acquired from the Reds - struck out eight batters and allowed just two hits during the outing. The game only went seven innings.
• Rochester's CF Jason Pridie stole his team-leading 22nd base last night, and went 3-for-6 in the doubleheader. 
• Second baseman Brian Dinkleman led a New Britian hit parade last night, going 3-for-5 with his second homer of the season. He's swinging a hot stick of late too - batting .444 over his past seven games with two homers and five multi-hit outings.
• The Fort Myers Miracle had their game suspended due to a power outage, and they'll play it today at noon.
• CF Ben Revere has just two hits in his last 15 ABs for Beloit, dropping his average to a still-lofty .390 on the year. He did, however, steal his team-leading 35th base of the year. He ranks third in the Midwest league in base thefts in 2008. 
• The Elizabethton Twins got pounded 13-5 by Bristol last night, but OF Evan Bigley continues to make a name for himself on the team. He's hit safely in seven of the past eight games and is hitting .394 with five home runs and 13 RBI during that span. Even better is his awesome 4:4 ratio over those eight games, which flies in the face of his 28:8 ratio on the year. He's on a hot streak, and could certainly play his way to Beloit this year or next.
• Remember, if you have nothing better to do with the Twins' off day, you can always listen to a Minor League broadcast for free here! 

And just for fun, and Michael Cuddyer card trick, courtesy of YouTube.com: 

Thanks for reading, and have an awesome day! 

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!

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Series win... Sox looming

It was a nice end to a crappy road trip, but we'll gladly take our two wins at "the Jake". Nick Blackburn looked great for seven innings, then Dennys Reyes promptly gave up the lead before the bats roared back and Nathan nailed it down for his 28th save. A win's a win...

It's not so much that I don't care about yesterday's win - it's more that the next four games are extremely important in comparison. Consider: The Twins are 4-7 so far this season against Chicago, and thankfully they won't have to play them at U.S. Cellular field again. However, Minnesota only gets seven more opportunities to take full game chunks out of "pale" Sox' lead from this point forward. It starts tonight when Kevin Slowey (6-7, 4.41 ERA) faces off against Mark Buehrle (8-8, 3.56 ERA, and killed the Twins his last time out). 

It figures to be a tough series for a few reasons: 

1. The Sox are sending lefties to the hill just about every night; our best hitters are left-handers
2. Chicago is scoring an unbelievable 6.8 runs per game over their past 11 outings. They average 5.04 a game for the season, so we know the bats are hot.
3. Kevin Slowey, Glen Perkins and Livan each had pretty spotty outings last time they pitched.
4. Jim Thome. The guy has a lifetime .315 batting average against Minnesota and hits a homer every 11.8 at-bats against the Twins. He ALWAYS gets his.
   
5. The Twins' bullpen has been awful lately. Never good against an offensive powerhouse. 

Other than all this, I'm pretty confident going into this pivotal series. To be honest, I'd feel a lot better if Liriano were up. Speaking of...

Francisco Liriano pitched yesterday, and I finally caught a radio broadcast! He pitched wonderfully through 5 2/3 innings before giving up a three-run dong to Scranton/Wilkes-Burre in the sixth. He finished with nine Ks and gave up four runs on eight hits overall. If you look at the box score, it really doesn't do him justice. He was in complete control for most of the day, but missed on some pitches and Scranton made him pay. I still say the kid is ready, and it looks as though the Twins need him now more than ever. 

Other Minor League notes: 

• My guy Jason Pridie smoked another home run for Rochester last night, his 12th of the season. He continues to be one of the favorites for a call-up this September. If not for the sub-.270 average, he'd get more press.
• After coming up big in his previous outing with a seven-inning, 8K performance, Cole Devries was swatted back to earth by Dunedin, who tagged him for eight hits and five runs in just five innings of work. 
• Another Elizabethton pitcher is on the radar - Daniel Osterbrock. Despite some up-and-down outings (given up 6 and 4 runs before last night), he's managed to strike out 52 batters in 40 1/3 innings thus far. Last night, however, Osterbrock was downright filthy as he punched out 12 batters in a seven-inning stretch of shutout mastery. He'll likely be up in Beloit or Fort Myers next year. 

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

Off Day Blues

This is the first post on this web site, but I have a few others on CBS.Sportsline.com, where I started this blog up Monday. Check 'em out! I'll be posting on both sites for another week or so, then moving full-time to this site. On with Thursday's post...

It's a quartet of losses for your hometown Twins! The day off couldn't come fast enough after an Alexi Casilla blooper cost the Twins an inning-ending double play (and the game) in the fifth inning yesterday. If you listened to or watched the game, you know that Glen Perkins proceeded to fall apart after the error, surrendering five runs before the sixth inning expired.

The Minnesota bats failed to show up this past series as well... they went a combined 24-99 (.242 BA) while leaving an eye-popping 45 men on base. FORTY-FIVE. Makes my stomach turn just to think about it.

Meanwhile, the three likely candidates to be sent to the bullpen to make room for Liriano each failed to make a case for their respective rotation spot. Perkins, Slowey and Blackburn were pretty bad at Yankee Stadium, which further muddles the situation... which one is going to move? All I know is I'm sick of writing about it, and a decision needs to be made.

The Twins send embattled starter Livan Hernandez to the hill to face AL All-Star starter Cliff Lee on Friday night in what could prove to be a decisive series for the Domers. Hopefully they can snap this awful four-game slide.

It's a short entry today, but there were some fun minor league rumbles last night:

• The Rochester Red Wings, a day after Liriano went nuts on Toledo, got an offensive explosion from CF Jason Pridie and C Ryan Jorgenson. Both players smacked a pair of homers to lead the Twins' Triple-A affiliate to a 9-6 victory. Keep your eye on Pridie as well - he's got 11 home runs and 19 steals, and has been one of the better speed/power guys in the minors over the past two seasons. In fact, he finished with 14 homers and 26 steals in AA and AAA action last year. This 24-year-old has been on fire in June and July with 10 homers and 10 SB with 23 RBI while batting .293 in 46 games. Pridie could certainly be a September call-up.
  
• Staying in Triple-A, Philip Humber has started to get going after a largely terrible year to date. He had a brief three-week stint in the bullpen after stinking it up on July 1 (eight earned runs in 1 2/3 innings), and bounced back with five scoreless innings last night. Humber allowed just five hits while striking out five, and hopefully is ready for a nice run of good outings.

Thanks again for reading, and enjoy the off day!