Tuesday, May 31, 2005
MINOR UPDATE
Good Tuesday morning to everyone! I hope that everyone had a really great long, Memorial Day weekend. I know I did, even if the weather was questionable much of the time. I have to admit that I did not so much as look at a computer from noon on Friday until I got home after 8:00 last night. I shouldn't, but will, also admit that it was kind of nice! I do need to thank all of you that e-mailed me and it took me awhile to get back to you, but now you know why! I do want to thank everyone who wrote me regarding Friday's posting about the Twins Draft. The draft will take place next week.
Because of the long weekend particularly because of my late return, I am just going to highlight the minor league games from Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Why? Because this is supposed to be a good source for Twins minor league information, right? So, I would hate to let anyone down. However, I am not going to do the same thing for the Twins weekend series win in Toronto. I would have, but I would just like to encourage everyone to drop by Aaron's Baseball Blog for many thoughts on that series. I will just post the pitching matchups for the home series that starts tonight against the Cleveland Indians. I would certainly encourage e-mailing me to discuss anything Twins!
Quickly, here is the Chris Coste update - Coster is playing every day. He is hitting fourth for Scranton/Wilkes Barre. He is primarily playing 3B, but has been catching a little bit of late. You can check out his stats on the left side of this screen. But he had a great weekend. He was 6-14 with four doubles and a couple of walks. His walk numbers are far bigger already that he has shown in the past. Maybe most impressive is the help that he is providing for Ryan Howard. OK, Howard is the power hitting prospect who hit over 40 combined homers last year between AA, AAA and the Phillies. He had a huge weekend that may impress other teams. See, Howard has asked for a trade, but it would be dumb for them to do that now because he is cheap and has options. Also, he is insurance for further injury to Jim Thome. Anyway, from Friday to Monday, Howard hit six home runs, at least one each game.
And then tomorrow I hope to have a quality entry for you. I have a few topics in mind that I am trying to put together. I would love to hear suggestions from you as well. So, feel free to e-mail me.
Have a great day!
UPDATES
I figured that I might update a couple of news stories as they come to my attention throughout the day. These may be things that I wouldn't write about for tomorrow, but are still baseball related and deserve a link in case you're interested.
Teams had until last night at midnight Eastern time to sign their draft picks from last year. If not signed, those players would be eligible for next week's amateur draft again. Obviously the big names were a couple of Scott Boras clients. And in both cases, the players signed with their teams right before the deadline, Jered Weaver with the Angels and Stephen Drew with the Diamondbacks. Jered Weaver is the brother of Dodgers pitcher Jeff Weaver, and Stephen Drew is the brother of Dodgers OF JD Drew.
The Kansas City Royals named Buddy Bell as their new manager yesterday. He fit the criteria they wanted, someone with big league experience who could work well with a young, developing team. For those interested in former Twins, the Royals also promoted Andre David to be their new hitting coach. The 47 year old David played in 33 games for the Twins in 1984 and hit .250 with a homer and 5 RBI. You remember that the homer came in his very first at bat. He didn't play in the big leagues in 1985 and got into just five more games for the Twins in 1986.
The Twins will be coming home and starting a three game set with the Cleveland Indians tonight. The Twins are 29-20, four games behind the White Sox. The Indians are 24-25, five games behind the Twins. Here are the pitching matchups:
Tuesday - 7:10 - Carlos Silva (3-2, 2.85, 1.17, .296) vs CC Sabathia (3-3, 3.59, 1.27, .255)
Wednesday - 7:10 - Brad Radke (4-4, 3.84, 1.16, .281) vs Cliff Lee (6-2, 3.32 1.16, .236)
Thursday - 12:10 - Johan Santana (6-2, 3.70, 0.97, .223) vs Scott Elarton (2-2, 5.77, 1.61, .314)
Just to point out a few things of note - Kevin West had a huge weekend at the plate in Rochester. JD Durbin take a small step backwards. Bowyer continues to role along in the closer's role, as does Jay Sawatski. Errol Simonitsch continues to make a nam for himself in the Twins eyes. And, not surprisingly, Anthony Swarzak has become the top pitching prospect in the Twins system.
ROCHESTER REDWINGS
Friday - REDWINGS 6, Buffalo 3 - David Gassner started and went seven innings. He gave up five runs on seven hits and struck out five. Two of the hits were homers. Willie Eyre got the win (5-2) because of a late-inning rally. Travis Bowyer picked up his 11th save with a two-strikeout inning. Kevin West led the offense by going 2-4 with his 7th double, his 4th homer and two RBI. Glenn Williams was 2-3 with a double, a walk and two RBI. Augie Ojeda went 2-4. Josh Rabe hit his 5th homer.
Saturday - REDWINGS 4, Buffalo 7 - Boof Bonser had a rough outing. In six innings, he allowed five runs on eight hits and three walks. He struck out six but allowed two homers. Henry Bonilla came in and gave up two runs in three innings. Augie Ojeda went 3-5 with two doubles. Kevin West was 3-4 with a double. Jason Bartlett was 2-3 with two walks and a hit-by-pitch. Michael Ryan hit his sixth homer.
Sunday - REDWINGS 3, Buffalo 4 - Jimmy Anderson lost, but he was able to go 6.1 innings. He gave up three runs on six hits. He walked four and struck out five. Beau Kemp went the final 2.2 innings and gave up an unearned run. Brent Abernathy went 2-4, and he had two stolen bases. Kevin West was 2-2 with two walks. Jason Bartlett had another error, his fourth.
Monday - REDWINGS 7, Richmond 5 - Just when we thought that JD Durbin had turned things around... Yesterday, he lasted just four innings. He gave up four runs on two hits. He also walked four and allowed two homers. He struck out six. Brent Schoening gave up a run in two innings. Willie Eyre gave up just a hit in his two innings to earn his sixth win. Travis Bowyer grabbed Save number 12 with another perfect inning.
NEW BRITAIN ROCKCATS
Friday - ROCKCATS, New Hamphire - Rained Out.
Saturday - ROCKCATS 2, New Hampshire 3 - Matt Yeatman took the loss, but he did pitch very well. He went all seven innings and gave up three runs on seven hits and two walks. The team had just four hits. Tommy Watkins was 2-3 with a double, hit 7th. Doug Deeds went 2-3 with the two RBI.
Sunday - ROCKCATS 3, New Hampshire 4 - Daylon Childress was sent down to New Britain so that he could pitch more. So he was put into the starting rotation. He made this start and gave up two runs over five innings. He gave up six hits and walked three. Jim Abbott gave up a run over the next two innings. Jason Miller gave up an unearned run in 1.1 innings. Pat Neshek got the final two outs, one coming on a strikeout. Ricky Bell went 3-4. Gil Velazquez went 2-5. Danny Matienzo went 2-4 with his 9th homer. Luis Jimenez was 2-4 with his 6th homer.
Monday - ROCKCATS 9, New Hampshire 2 - John Thomas improves to 4-1. He went 5 innings and gave up one run on eight hits and two walks. He struck out six. Kevin Cameron gave up one run over the next two innings. Jason Miller then allowed just one hit and struck out three in the next two innings. Danny Matienzo went 3-5 with his 14th double and 10th homer. Alex Romero went 3-4 with hit eighth double. Luis Maza was 2-3 with a walk. Doug Deeds was 2-5 with his seventh double. Luis Jimenez was 2-5 with his seventh homer.
FT MYERS MIRACLE
Friday - MIRACLE 2, Brevard County 1 - If not anyone else, I know that Errol Simonitsch is impressing me! On this day, he went eight innings and gave up just one run on four hits and no walks. He struck out seven. He improved to 5-1 with a 3.03 ERA. Jay Sawatski picked up his sixth save with a two-K inning. JR Taylor had two of the Miracle's five hits.
Saturday - MIRACLE 11, Brevard County 4 - An offensive explosion for the Miracle. Trent Oeltjen went 3-5 with his first two homers. He drove in five runs. Matt Tolbert went 3-4 with a triple. Matt Moses was 2-4 with a walk and a double. Kyle Geiger went 2-4 with a walk. Scott Whitrock went 2-4 with hit 8th double, his 7th homer and his 13th stolen base. Scott Tyler was the beneficiary of the run support. He lasted seven innings and gave up just one run on three hits and a walk. Julio DePaula pitched a scoreless inning. Tim Henkenjohann gave up three runs on three hits and two walks.
Sunday - MIRACLE 1, Brevard County 0 - Adam Harben put together another great start! He did not allow a hit until one out in the 8th inning. All told, he gave up the one hit and no runs in 7.2 innings. He walked and struck out two. Jay Sawatski picked up save number seven with a scoreless 1.1 innings. The Miracle bats were quiet too, recording jut three hits. Matt Tolbert hit his 7th double.
Monday - MIRACLE 0, Brevard County 5 - Then the Miracle got eight hits, but were shut out. Of course, of the eight hits, Denard Span and Kyle Phillips each went 3-4. The team tried to throw the bullpen throughout the game. Chris Schutt started and gave up two runs in three innings. Josh Gray gave up three runs (2 earned) in 2 innings. Tristan Crawford was certainly the bright spot by throwing three perfect relief innings.
BELOIT SNAPPERS
Friday - SNAPPERS 14, Southwest Michigan 7 - Looks like the bats worked on this day. Terrance Patterson went 3-5. Deacon Burns was 2-5 with his seventh triple. David Winfree went 2-6. Chris Brown went 2-5 with a walk. Javi Sanchez went 2-5 with his 7th double. Paul Rutgers went 2-4 with four RBI. Jay Rainville recorded his fourth win because of all the runs. He gave up four runs on ten his and three walks in five innings. Not exactly worthy of the Win. He struck out four. Evan Meek dropped his ERA to 11.17 by allowing just two earned runs in 1.2 innings. John Williams struck out three (and gave up three hits) in 2.1 innings.
Saturday - SNAPPERS 0, Southwest Michigan 7 - Well, as good as the bats were the day before.... The Snappers were no-hit by three pitchers. They did manage two walks. Alexander Smit fell to 1-7. He went 4.1 innings and gave up five runs on seven hits and two walks. David Shinskie gave up a run in 1.2 innings. Kevin Culpepper gave up nothing in his inning. Kyle Aselton gave up a run on two hits.
Sunday - SNAPPERS 4, Southwest Michigan 5 (12) - Josh Hill started this game. He went 5.2 innings and gave up four runs on eight hits and two walks. Jose Mijares was perfect in his two innings. Jonathon Martinez gave up two hits and a walk in his 3 innings. Korey Feiner went 3-3 with his second double. Luke Hughes went 3-5 with his fifth double. David Winfree hit his sixth homer.
Monday - SNAPPERS 5, Southwest Michigan 3 - Anthony Swarzak actually gave up a run this start, but he was still impressive. He went five innings and gave up three runs (1 earned) on eight hits and a walk. Kyle Aselton gets the save by pitching four great innings. Luke Hughes went 2-5 with his 6th and 7th doubles, and three RBI.
On that note, I am going to call it a day! This is short, but I hope everyone understands. As always, please feel free to e-mail me your thoughts on the Twins, the minor leagues, or anything you would like to discuss.