Friday, April
17, 2009
Minor League
Report
The Twins lost 9-2 to the Toronto
Blue Jays on Thursday night to fall to 4-7 on the young season. Here are some
thoughts on the game, the series and much more.
TWINS 2, BLUE JAYS 9
KEYNOTE STORY - We came into
the game hoping that we would see a great pitching matchup. Francisco Liriano
was starting for the Twins, and Roy Halladay was on the mound for the Blue Jays. If you
look at the 9-2 score, you have to assume that there was no pitcher’s dual.
That is not the case at all. Liriano went the first
six innings. He gave up two runs (just one earned) on seven hits and a walk. He
struck out five. He left the game with the Twins down 2-1. Halladay
was excellent. He went seven innings and gave up just one run. The Twins
managed eight hits off or him, but he came up with some big outs when he needed
them. To some degree, the Twins did a nice job of helping him out.
·
So we did get to
see a good pitching matchup and both starters pitched very well. But once Liriano left the game after six innings, the game turned
abruptly:
1. Matt Guerrier has been
very good to this point in the season. On this night, he got just two outs. He
gave up four runs on four hits.
2. Craig Breslow has been up
and down several times already this season. In this game, he had no clue where
the ball was going. He faced two batters and walked them both.
3. R.A. Dickey has been solid in whatever role he has been asked to
fill to this point, but even a knuckleballer has to get tired, right?
Especially one that is thrown harder. The first pitch he threw in this game was
deposited into the left field bleachers by Kevin
Millar for a grand slam.
4. Luis Ayala got the final out of the seventh frame before giving
up a walk and a hit in the 8th.
5. Jesse Crain worked a tidy ninth frame.
·
Justin Morneau is still getting the job done. He was 2-4 in this
game. So was Brian Buscher
who made another start at 3B.
Michael Cuddyer went 2-4 including a long 9th
inning home run.
·
Brendan Harris got
the start at SS, and he was 2-3 to raise his early batting average to a robust
.462.
·
That was a
horrible series for the Twins. They won just one out of four, and the Twins
were outscored 31-13. I haven’t been that annoyed watching Twins baseball in a
long time. But a few things are important to remember:
1. The starting pitchers should be just fine.
2. If the starters are better, the bullpen will be used
less, and Jesse Crain and Joe Nathan will pitch more.
3. Jose Mijares has given
up one hit and no walks in 5.1 innings so far in AAA this season. Sample size
is too small, but he may be close. A AA New Britain,
both Rob Delaney and Anthony Slama
have started pretty well.
4. Reports continue to tell us that Joe Mauer is getting closer. I was trying
to conservatively approximate when Mauer could be
back in a Twins uniform. I think May 1 seems pretty fair and logical at this
point. Having Mauer back will automatically make the
Twins better offensively, defensively and pitching.
·
The Twins will
now be hosting the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim for three games. They will
face Dustin Moseley, Darren Oliver and Shane Loux. Nick Blackburn, Kevin Slowey and Glen
Perkins will start for the Twins. As appealing as those matchups are, the
Angels still have a very strong offense, even if Vlad Guerrero will likely miss the series.
With that, here are the reports
on the Twins minor league games from Thursday night:
ROCHESTER REPORT
Thursday – Rochester 0, Pawtucket 1 – Anthony Swarzak gave up a run on two doubles in the top of the first
inning. That was it. In seven innings, he gave up just the one run on five
hits. He walked none and struck out five. Unfortunately, the Red Wings managed
to be shutout on four hits. David Winfree had two of them. So, Swarzak
falls to 0-2 with just a 0.82 ERA. Bobby
Keppel and Jose Mijares
each threw a scoreless inning.
ROCKCAT RECAP
Thursday – New Britain 0, New Hampshire 2 – Like the Red Wings, the Rockcats
were also unable to score a single run in this game. They had just three hits. Juan Portes
and Allan de San Miguel each had a
double. Ryan Mullins gave up two runs on seven hits in five innings. He walked
none and struck out seven. Frank Mata
struck out four in 2.2 scoreless innings. He gave up just one hit. Jose Lugo got the final four outs
without another run scoring.
MIRACLE MEMOS
Thursday –Ft. Myers 3, Jupiter 0
– The Miracle were also held scoreless for the first
seven innings in this one. But they scored one in the eighth inning to cut the
lead to 3-1. Before the 9th inning got going, manager Jeff Smith was ejected. Maybe that got
the team going. Danny Berg and Mark Dolenc
started things with singles. Jair Fernandez
bunted them to second and third. Steve Singleton came in to pinch hit and was
hit by a pitch to load the bases. Ben
Revere came up and doubled in all
three runs to give the Miracle the 4-3 victory. Revere was 2-3 with two walks
in the game. Rene Leveret went 2-3
and was also hit with a pitch. David
Bromberg started and gave up a run on four hits in five innings. He walked
three and struck out five. Steve Hirschfeld worked 2.2 scoreless innings. Henry Arias came in and gave up two
unearned runs on 0.2 innings. Spencer Steedley came in and got the final two outs of the top
of the 9th and was credited with the win.
SNAPPERS SNIPPETS
Thursday – Beloit 0, Quad Cities 3 – I think it is fair to say that, to this point, Dan Osterbrock is not experiencing the
same success as last year. He was lit up for the second straight start. The
lefty gave up six runs on ten hits and three walks in just 3.2 innings. He
struck out four. Danny Rondon came in and went the next 3.1 innings. He gave
up a run on four hits and a walk. Danny
Hernandez gave up two runs over the last two innings. The offense managed
eight hits, but only Evan Bigley (2-4) had more than one hit.
That is it for today. Any
feedback would be greatly appreciated. Send me an e-mail, or leave your questions or comments here.