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!!!

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!