Saturday,
April 17, 2010
Friday Night
Notes
First, be sure
to listen to me and Fanatic Jack air
things out on Saturday
morning’s DW The Great podcast at 10:00.
Twins 10, Royals 3
People mocked
and ridiculed when I dared to predict that Scott Baker could finish third in AL
Cy Young voting. Last night, he took on the 2009 AL Cy Young winner, Zack
Greinke, and he was clearly the better pitcher.
Obviously that is the smallest of sample size (one game), and no one expects
Baker to be as dominant as Greinke. Dominant in terms of strikeouts, at least. But I will stand
by my thoughts that I think Scott Baker
will pitch himself into the upper echelon of pitchers in the American League.
The Twins scored
ten runs and yet had so many opportunities for so many more runs. They had 11
hits and nine walks in the game. Denard Span was
2-3 with a walk. Orlando Hudson was
2-3 with two walks and a double. Michael
Cuddyer was 2-5 with a double and three RBI. JJ Hardy was 2-5 with two RBI. Brendan Harris was 2-3 with a walk. Justin Morneau
and Jason Kubel
each had two walks.
This Royals team
has the look that it should be better. I mean, they have four starters that are
decent. Greinke is great. Gil Meche is solid when healthy. Brian Bannister is decent most of the
time. Luke Hochevar still has good upside. Joakim Soria is the
best closer in the division. Of course, the bridge from
starter to Soria. Do you remember last year
when Robinson Tejeda
had a good month?
The Royals
offense has a couple of weapons. Billy
Butler is a great hitter. Jose Guillen is off to a good start. Scott Podsednik is off to a good start
(and what a game he had with the glove!). David
DeJesus
has had potential for a long time. Rick Ankiel? Well, there is a reason he let go by the
Cardinals and signed cheap with the Royals. Alberto Callaspo can hit. Jason Kendall is horrible. Willie Bloomquist is bad. Hey, Alex Gordon was activated from the
Disabled List today! But they are all big league players which means they are capable of having good games from time to
time. The evidence of that is three hits from Yunieski Betancourt last night, one of the game’s
worst hitters.
But, that is why
they play the game. And, today, they will play that game at noon today. Nick Blackburn will start for the
Twins. Gil Meche
will take the mound of the Twins.
Please feel free
to leave
your comments here.
SethSpeaks Friday Minor League
Hitter of the Day – Steve Singleton
– New Britain Rockcats
SethSpeaks Friday Minor League
Pitcher of the Day – Brad Stillings – Beloit Snappers
·
Hot off the Presses - Be sure to read Roger’s
Weekly Minor League report.
·
Paul Kelly has missed the last three
or four games. That can make Twins fans nervous, but I am told that it is just
a sprained ankle.
Red Wings Report
Friday – Rochester 0, Lehigh Valley 0 – Before the start of the
bottom of the 2nd inning, the rains came and this game was
suspended. Not much to write about. Glen
Perkins struck out two in the one inning that he pitched. Brian Dinkelman
led off the game with a double. Danny
Valencia had a walk. The game will continue right where it left off, later
in the season. The Red Wings will be playing their home opener today against
Pawtucket.
New Britain Notes
Friday – New Britain 2, Harrisburg 1 – The story of this game
was supposed to be the Rockcats opportunity to face phenom Stephen
Strasburg. Unfortunately, rain became the story for most of the night, but
in the end, the most important story was that the Rockcats
picked up their first win of the season after seven unsuccessful attempts.
Against Strasburg, the Rockcats got two hits. In the
second frame, Joe Benson reached on
an infield single and a throwing error moved him to second. Juan Portes
followed with a double to tie the game at one. Tyler Robertson started for New Britain. He gave up a first inning
run and pitched a scoreless second inning as well. And then the rains came. Henry Arias was a surprise addition to
the Rockcats roster, and after struggling with the
Miracle, he provided three shutout innings, allowing just two hits. Spencer Steedley
came in and struck out four in 3.1 innings of relief for the win. Chris Province picked up his first save
of the year by getting the final two outs. How did the Rockcats
pick up the winning run? In the top of the 8th, Steve Singleton doubled, and Rene
Tosoni hit a triple to drive him in. Benson went
2-4 in the game. Singleton was 2-4 with the double and a triple.
Miracle Matters
Friday – Ft. Myers 2, Palm Beach 4 – Two Australian
pitchers impressed for the Miracle on this night, but all did not end well for
Ft. Myers on this night. Brad Tippett made his first start of the season. He gave up
one run on four hits in 4.1 innings. As you would expect, he walked none. Matt Williams came off of the Disabled
List and in his first outing, he threw 3.1 shutout innings. He gave up four
hits, one walk and struck out three. Billy
Bullock came in and got the final out of the 8th inning. With a
one run lead going into the ninth frame, Bullock gave up the game-tying run on
a single. Fortunately, Evan Bigley threw out a second base runner at home plate to
send the game to extra innings. Bullock stayed in for the 10th and
after getting the first two hitters out, he gave up a single and a two-run
homer and the game was done. Chris
Herrmann went 2-4 in the game. Michael
Harrington went 2-4 with two doubles.
Snappers Snippets
Friday – Beloit 6, Kane Country 0 – Although the score
makes it look like a blowout, it was actually a 1-0 lead until the Snappers
scored five in the top of the 9th inning. But pitching was the story
in this game. Brad Stillings
went the first 4.2 innings and struck out four. Kane Holbrooks gets the win with three
innings in relief. He notched four strikeouts as well. Steve Blevins gets the save because he got the final out of the 8th
inning, protecting a one-run lead. He pitched the bottom of the 9th
as well. The Snappers got on the board first in the 7th inning. An Angel Morales double was followed by a Wang-Wei Lin RBI single. In the ninth, Danny
Rams led off with a double and scored on Michael Gonzales’s third home run of the young season. Hits by
Morales and Lin set the table for a big three run homer from Josmil Pinto that gave the Snappers their 6-0
lead. Aside from Morales and Lin, Rams had two hits. Brian Dozier went 3-5. The early season struggles of two of the
Snappers top prospects continue. James
Beresford went 0-4 and is now 2-26 (.077) and Aaron Hicks went 0-5 to fall to .033 (1-30).
Any thoughts on the Twins or their minor league system? Leave
your comments here.