Sunday Night,
April 25, 2010
Sunday Game Notes
The Twins continue
a disturbing trend of losing on Sundays and losing the final games of series.
Twins fans can’t say that they played a perceived “B lineup.” Even after
catching 12 innings in rain and cold on Saturday night, Joe Mauer was again in the lineup,
something I don’t understand. The only change in the lineup was Jim Thome replacing
Jason Kubel.
Simply put, the team just didn’t show up. Maybe it would have been good to play
a couple of the extras, the guys that didn’t play on Saturday night, in order
to add some energy. The Twins trend of leaving a lot of runners on base remained
as they left 12 on base today. Typically, this high number of runners left on
base hasn’t been an issue because the team is still scoring six or more runs.
There will be a higher number of runners left on base when there are more
runners on base. It’s the days when the team scores just three runs and needs
just one more to keep the game going that it can be quite frustrating.
That said, it is also important to remember that there were a lot of
good things that happened in this game. Delmon Young had
two more hits, including a double, and continued to play well all-around. Orlando Hudson, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau each had two hits in the
game. Mauer had a double. Morneau
drilled a long home run, his third of the year.
Denard Span went 1-12 in the last two games and is 3-20 (.150). Brendan Harris is 7-35 over the last 11
games.
Kevin Slowey was not himself on this
day. Maybe it was because he was not getting the corners, but he was unable to
consistently hit the corners. He managed to get one out in the sixth inning,
but with a pitch count of 104, it was time for him to come out. He was hurt
particularly by the bottom of the order, by the guys that refuse to strikeout
and foul off a bunch of pitches. To their credit, the Royals hitters they
battled and didn’t try to do too much. Of course, the hanging curveball to Jose Guillen
was met by a thunderous swing that sent the ball well over the left field
fence. Ron Mahay
came in and was terrific, getting both batters he
faced out. Alex Burnett came in and
after a walk and a hit, he got a ground ball double
play and pitched a 1-2-3 eighth frame.
On this day, the
Royals bullpen came through for them. Dusty
Hughes and Josh Rupe
did not allow a run in relief of starter Brian
Bannister. Surprisingly, the one run that the Twins scored off of the Royals’
bullpen came against Joakim Soria. A
single by Joe Mauer
followed by a double by Justin Morneau cut the Twins deficit to just one.
Unfortunately, Soria returned to his normal self and
got Michael Cuddyer
on a nasty slider before blowing fastballs past Jim Thome for the final out.
Tonight at 9:00
p.m., there will be a new episode of the SethSpeaks.net Weekly Minnesota
Twins Podcast, complete with a few guests. We’ll talk Twins, AL
Central, minor leagues and much more.
And before that,
be sure to listen and watch
Twins MVB Live with John Meyer
starting at 7:30.
Please feel free
to leave
your comments here.
SethSpeaks Sunday Minor League
Hitter of the Day – Drew Thompson –
Beloit Snappers
SethSpeaks Sunday Minor League
Pitcher of the Day – Ryan Mullins – Rochester
Red Wings
Red Wings Report
Sunday – Rochester 2, Syracuse 4 (13 innings) – This game was getting long, so Red Wings manager Tom Nieto decided
to put Tim Lahey
into the game to start the bottom of the 13th inning. Three batters
later, the game ended on a two run homer. Until that point, this game had been
an excellent pitcher’s duel. Ryan
Mullins started and gave up one run on four hits and a walk in six innings.
Matt Fox got one out. Anthony Slama came in and threw 2.1 innings of hitless
baseball. He walked two. Rob Delaney
then pitched two innings of hitless relief. And then Lahey
came in and gave up a single, got Kevin Mench to fly out, and then Josh Whitesell hit the game-ending, walk-off
homer. Matt Tolbert, Danny Valencia and Jason Repko were each 2-5 with a walk.
Valencia and Repko had the two RBI. Valencia had a
double, the lone extra base hits for the Red Wings.
New Britain Notes
Sunday – New Britain, Harrisburg – Postponed by Rain.
Miracle Matters
Sunday – Ft. Myers 3, Palm Beach 10 – Drew Thompson was 3-5 with a double. Nick Romero and Nathan Hanson each went 2-4. That was about it for highlights in
this game. Michael Tarsi started and
thanks to a couple of errors, he gave up six runs (just two earned) in five
innings. He gave up eight hits, but he walked just one. In two innings, Blake Martin gave up two unearned runs.
Tony Davis gave up two runs on two
hits and two walks in one inning. Billy
Bullock pitched a scoreless ninth frame.
Snappers Snippets
Sunday – Beloit, Wisconsin – Postponed by Rain.
Any thoughts on the Twins or their minor league system? Leave
your comments here.