Sunday Night,
April 11, 2010
Sunday Game Notes
In an attempt not to get
overwhelmed on Sunday night, I have been doing daily scoreboard and highlight
updates of the Twins games and of their minor league affiliates. So, if you
missed my updates from Friday night and Saturday night, scroll down. Before
diving into discussion about the excitement of the official opening of Target
Field on Monday, I thought I would close out the weekend with thoughts on
Sunday’s Twins and Twins minor league games. I’ll also post a few other notes.
One more note on
the TwinsCentric Viewing Party. I
ran into Aaron who is launching a site called Baby Jesus Baseball.
Check out the t-shirt that they have available by clicking on the banner.
Twins 4, White Sox 5
·
First, be sure to listen
to Sunday night’s SethSpeaks.net Weekly Minnesota Twins Podcast. Twins
rookie Alex Burnett called in and we
discussed how he found out he was headed to the big leagues, debuting for the
Twins in his home town in front of friends and family, his goals and much more.
Then Fanatic Jack and I talked
Twins for much of the rest of the show. Be sure to check out Travis Talks Minnesota
Sports show Monday night at 9:00. Then be sure to check out Twins Minor
League Weekly, a podcast from Travis Aune and myself, on Tuesday night at 9:00.
·
I’ll just admit… I didn’t watch any of the game. I went
to the Minnesota Zoo. It was 70+ degrees, and it was a nice day to go check out
the baby farm animals… and the bears were fighting in the pool, right next to
the window!
·
Yes, JJ Hardy
is that slow… I think we knew that, didn’t we? But that doesn’t mean that
having Alexi Casilla pinch run for
him makes sense.
·
Should Hardy have been held at 3B? Probably.
·
Any concern about Nick
Blackburn? He struck out no one in 7.2 innings and no strikeouts. That is
pretty bad, but that isn’t completely surprising. He’s not a strikeout pitcher.
He’s a ground ball pitcher, at least that’s what people seem to think. And
nearly 2/3 of his outs on Sunday were ground balls. However, the three home
runs allowed are a bit alarming.
·
Going to Jose
Mijares, knowing it would mean that Andruw
Jones would come off of the bench, was a little strange, and yet, still
should be successful nearly two out of three times. Just not on Sunday.
·
The third base situation was one of the concerns of the
offseason and spring training. Nick
Punto is now 2-15 and Brendan Harris
is 1-9. Not good, but way too small of a sample size to worry yet, especially
when Danny Valencia’s small sample
size is now 1-11 on the season.
5-2 on a road
trip. A 3-1 series win in Anaheim against the Angels. A 2-1 series win in
Chicago against the White Sox. As a fan, it’s hard to ask for anything more
than that. The upcoming three game series against the Red Sox will be big. I
said before that if the Twins could start the season by winning five of their
first ten, it would be good. Now, it would be great to win seven!
SethSpeaks Sunday
Minor League Hitter of the Day – Brian
Dinkelman – Rochester Red Wings
SethSpeaks Sunday
Minor League Pitcher of the Day – Tim
Lahey – Rochester Red Wings
·
Be sure to check out who is the Twins
#3 prospect in Josh’s Thoughts ranking.
Red Wings Report
Sunday – Rochester 4,
Pawtucket 3 – Erik Lis came up in the 8th
inning with a runner on base and his team trailing by one. He connected and his
first home run gave the Red Wings the lead, and eventually the win. Trevor Plouffe had driven in two runs
earlier in the game with a single. Matt
Tolbert had his first three hits of the season, including a double. Brian Dinkelman went 2-3 with a walk. Yoslan Herrera made the start. He went
3.2 innings and gave up just one run on three hits despite five walks and no
strikeouts. Ryan Mullins came in and gave up two runs on
three hits in one inning. Tim Lahey
was down 30 pounds from last year, and he arguably had his best performance in
four seasons with the Red Wings. He threw 3.1 hitless innings, allowing just
one walk for the win. Kyle Waldrop
pitched a scoreless ninth for the save.
New Britain Notes
Sunday – New Britain 4, New Hampshire 7 – Tyler Robertson made his first AA start. The lefty gave up three
runs on seven hits and a walk in 4.2 innings. Cole Devries came in and got the next seven outs. He gave up only
an unearned run on two hits. Santos Arias
came into the game with a 4-4 tie. With one out, a walk, an error and a three
run homer and the game was essentially over. Rene Tosoni led the offense by going 2-5 with a double.
Miracle Matters
Sunday – Ft. Myers – Day Off.
Snappers Snippets
Sunday – Beloit 0, Peoria
2 – Brad Stillings gave up just one run
over the first five innings, but due to a lack of Snappers offense, he took the
loss. The righty gave up just three hits and a walk. Matt Tone pitched the sixth frame. He gave up a run on three hits
and a walk, but struck out three. Dakota
Watts threw two shutout innings, and then Ben Tootle pitched a perfect ninth inning. Derek McCallum went 1-2 with two walks and a stolen base. Danny Rams added a double. The Snapper bats are not yet running on full
steam. Aaron Hicks finally got his first hit and is now 1-15. James Beresford, the team’s co-MVP last
year (with Angel Morales) is now
0-15. Call me crazy, but I have a feeling that both will be just fine.
If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor
leagues, please feel free to ask. Leave
your questions or comments.