Saturday, April 26, 2008
Saturday Night Notes
Hello all, I don't know if anyone even reads these weekend updates based on Comments and e-mails, so I don't know if they will continue, but since I have some time, figured I would update again.
First, the NFL Draft is going on, and Day 1 has been pretty non-exciting for a Vikings fan. They traded away their first round pick last week to acquire last year's NFL Sacks Leader, Jared Allen, from the Kansas City Chiefs. Then four and a half hours into the draft, they traded up a couple of slots to draft a safety. Boring, but necessary. But now they don't pick again until the 5th round, unless they make some sort of other deal.
The Seahawks drafted Notre Dame Tight End John Carlson in the second round. I remember watching him play basketball when he was at high school in Hutchinson, MN. Very impressive. Strong, and could really dunk!
Did you see that LaVelle's Minor League Report is up on the Strib's website? There was news of Kyle Waldrop's surgery, but two other injuries mentioned that I didn't know anything about. Deibinson Romero had knee surgery and is likely to miss a few weeks. Probably more alarming is the pitcher Mike McCardell's elbow is mentioned. Although the article says it is just bone chips, you just have to hope that is all. Remember Johan Santana had surgery to remove bone chips in his elbow... the winter before he won his first Cy Young Award.
LaVelle also wrote his Sunday Insider article on the trend of locking up young players to long-term contracts.
With Scott Baker leaving tonight's game with an apparent groin injury, said to be minor, the Twins pitching again got a short start. The injuries pile up. But after Kevin Slowey's rehab outing (see below) tonight in Ft. Myers, maybe he is ready if needed.
I'll be back with more thoughts on the Twins/Rangers game tonight which so far has a lot of funs and neither starting pitcher still in the game.
UPDATED Sunday Morning - The Twins beat the Rangers 12-6 last night, and there were several highlights of note.
Matt Tolbert went 0-6 in the leadoff spot, and is now hitless in his last 13 at bats. That said, he did take a lot of pitches and kind of set the tone for what clearly was the team's mission in the game.
Even Delmon Young seemed to get the message as he took a lot of pitches. It worked out great when he got ahead of the count and laced a two run single that gave the Twins a lead they wouldn't relinquish. Young even walked earlier in the game. With a 3-2 count later, you knew he was thinking that he did not want to walk a second time in the same game and he grounded back to the pitcher on a really bad pitch. Thankfully the Twins had a comfortable lead at the time, so it didn't really matter.
Arguably the biggest highlight of the night was the major league debut of reliever Bobby Korecky. It wasn't pretty, something I'm sure Rochester fans are used to. He gave up a single and then two walks before getting an out. But a double play ball and another ground out and the game was over. The scouting report on Korecky likely looks pretty similar to that of Joe Borowski. He is very hittable. However, he typically has shown pretty good control, so you know nerves were likely working overtime. That said, fastball at 91-92 and a strong slider, that I really don't think we got to see last night. He'll be solid.
How about Michael Cuddyer's three run homer in the 8th inning that really put the game out of reach? That thing was an absolute blast! That is what we hope to see a lot more from Cuddyer in the middle of the Twins lineup.
Mike Lamb went 3-4 and is now over .200, at .214. His defense has been far better than I thought it would be. Brendan Harris went 3-5 with a double. Joe Mauer had two more hits. Jason Kubel had two hits too.
Before the groin injury caused Scott Baker to leave the game, he had seven strikeouts in 4.1 innings. He definitely is striking out more hitters. Of course, he gave up five runs on eight hits and a walk which was pretty unusual for how he's been pitching to this point.
How impressive was Jesse Crain last night. He went 2/3 of an inning, and he struck out both of the batters he faced. The radar gun was showing 95 mph on the fastball and his 77 mph curveball was looking pretty sharp. That was a key moment in the game.
This afternoon, the Twins and Rangers will play the third game of the series. Livan Hernandez goes against Vicente Padilla.
Twins Minor League Updates
Saturday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Steven Tolleson, New Britain Rockcats
Saturday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Glen Perkins, Rochester Red Wings
Be sure to check out Roger's Weekly Minor League Update at Twinkie Town.
ROCHESTER REPORT
Saturday - Red Wings 10, Lehigh Valley 0 – Glen Perkins faced off against JD Durbin... and
Perkins won hands down. Durbin got just one hitter out and gave up five runs
on six hits and two walks. On the other side of the coin, Glen Perkins
threw a complete game, two hit shutout. For a guy who has been struggling
with his control, Perkins was able to walk just one and strike out seven. 68
of the 101 pitches he threw were strikes. The bats definitely supported him
too. Randy Ruiz went 3-5 with two doubles. Jason Pridie went
3-6. Chris Basak and Jose Morales were each 3-5 with a double.
Howie Clark was 2-5 with a three-run first inning homer, and four
RBI. Darnell McDonald went 2-5 with a walk and a double. Denard
Span went 2-5 with a walk.
NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Saturday - Rockcats 4, Trenton 7 (12 innings) –
A 12th inning RBI single by Brandon Roberts and a two run single by
Steven Tolleson gave the Rockcats a three run win. Anthony Swarzak
gave up three first inning runs but he ended up going five more innings
without allowing another run. He gave up six hits, but he walked none and
struck out five. Jay Sawatski struck out four in two shutout innings.
Zach Ward came in and gave up a run in 1.2 innings on one hit but
four walks. Danny Graves came in and walked the tying run, but was
credited with no runs allowed in 1.1 innings. He also gets the Win. Ben
Julianel then got his fourth save with a scoreless bottom of the 12th.
Steven Tolleson went 3-6 with a walk and a home run. Brock
Peterson went 3-6 with a walk and his eight double. Matt Moses
was also 3-6. David Winfree went 2-7. Friday night was Brandon
Roberts first game back since April 11th.
FT MYERS MEMOS
Saturday
- Miracle 2, Lakeland 3 – Johnny Woodard singled off of Jonah
Nickerson to lead off the 8th inning. It was the first hit for the
Miracle in the game. Two batters later, Wilson Ramos singled.
Then against a relief pitcher, Whit Robbins tripled in both runs.
Unfortunately with one out, Danny Santiesteban grounded to 2B and
Robbins was thrown out at home. Those were the only three hits of the
game for the Miracle. Equally impressive was Kevin Slowey in his
second rehab start. The Twins starter went five innings without allowing
a hit. He walked just one hitter and struck out five. Very positive
outing. Matt Fox came in for the 6th inning. He gave up three
unearned runs (two Danny Valencia errors) in his two innings.
Danny Hernandez came in and gave up a hit and walked two, recording
just one out. Anthony Slama got the final two outs.
BELOIT BITS
Saturday
- Game 1 - Snappers 6, Wisconsin 5 –
Steve Singleton went 3-4 with two runs driven in. Jair Fernandez
was 3-3 with his third double and an RBI. Ben Petsch went 2-2 with
two walks. David Bromberg got the win despite giving up five runs in
five innings. He actually gave them all up in the first two innings, so he
definitely made some adjustment in the game. He gave up nine hits and walked
two, but he struck out five. Loek Van Mil came in and got his second
save. In his two perfect innings, he struck out five!
Saturday - Game 2 - Snappers 0, Wisconsin 3 – Michael Tarsi pitched well for the second straight outing, and picked up yet another loss. Tarsi falls to 0-5. He threw all six innings and gave up three runs (2 earned) on five hits. He walked two and struck out three. Joe Benson was dropped from the leadoff spot to #2, and he responded with a 2-3 game. Chris Parmelee walked twice.
Again, if you haven't already, keep scrolling down and check out the Q&A with Stephanee Neshek. I have already received a lot of great feedback on it, so hopefully you all enjoyed it! Have a great Saturday!
|