Saturday Night, June 6, 2008

Saturday Game Notes

Saturday afternoon was a good day to horse around for a little while. What? Well, we spent much of the afternoon at Canterbury Park, watching probably five or six horse races. That is so much fun. I can see where it could be addictive. Here's how smart I am. Pretty much, just pick the horse with the coolest name. And of course, we left early, but we had to get home in time to watch The Belmont, to see if Big Brown could finish off the Triple Crown. He was a 1-4 favorite. No other horse was better than a 7-1 underdog. Da' Tara, the horse that won, was a 38-1 underdog. Check this information out from the Canterbury daily program.

Some wagering considerations:

The show pool in this race will see a vast majority of its dollars wagered on BIG BROWN. Many people will place large wagers on the star to show, as the minimum payout in the pool is $2.10 on a $2.00 wager. While it's not a gaudy mutuel, how many institutions offer a 5% return on your investment in less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds? Try getting that in the stock market. The obvious downside to this strategy is the BIG BROWN could run off the board. This is extremely unlikely, but it's always a inherent risk.

So, when BIG BROWN became the first Triple Crown contender to finish dead last in The Belmont, I am guessing a lot of people lost a lot of money. Think about it. If someone invested $100,000 on BIG BROWN to Show, they were hoping to come away with $105,000 a few minutes later... it was a sure thing... so, when BIG BROWN finished last, there goes $100,000. Oops!

To the baseball...   

Saturday Night - Twins 2, White Sox 11

• It was wind on Friday night. It was rainy conditions on Saturday. In either case, the Twins gave up way too many runs to compete.
• Livan Hernandez gave up seven runs on eight hits and a walk in just four innings. He has been horrible for awhile (I mean even this year, not even counting the last two years). There has been talk of teams inquiring about the availability of Hernandez. People have asked me what I thought. Here is my thought. The Twins would probably be bashed a little bit for trading a pitcher who is now 6-3 while they are still somewhat in contention in the weak AL Central. However, it is the kind of bold move that would be much better for the Twins. If they wait until the July 31 deadline to trade him, he will likely have no value. If they trade him now, he will have minimal value, but could fetch maybe a AA and single A prospect with some potential. I don't think that the Twins would be any worse off with Boof Bonser back in the rotation, or calling up Brian Duensing. Francisco Liriano should stay in Rochester for awhile, but obviously he fits into that equation as well.
• Of course, Bonser didn't really help his cause when he came in to replace Livan. He gave up four earned runs on eight hits and a walk in just three innings.
• Probably the most important thing to happen for the Twins in Saturday's game was the first home run of the season for Delmon Young. I don't know about you, but I think he has played very nervous. Kind of like how Scott Baker looked while walking off the mound between innings during his first two seasons with the Twins. Maybe getting that first home run will help him loosen up a little bit and maybe swing more freely.
• Matt Macri went 2-4 again and is hitting .455. Yes, I realize it is just nine at bats, but it does make sense to platoon with Mike Lamb. Lamb is just 2-26 against lefties this year. He's hitting .077/.111/.192 (.303) so far this year. Again, small sample, but still.
• With lefty Mark Buehrle on the mound, Mike Redmond was catching again last night. And, of course, Gardy had him batting third again which, of course, is crazy. And then, he went 2-4 again. So, it all goes back to the fact that conventional wisdom is not 100% accurate either.

Any Twins thoughts?

Twins Minor League Updates

Saturday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Chris Parmelee, Beloit Snappers
Saturday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Cole DeVries, Ft. Myers Miracle

Be sure to check out LaVelle's excellent minor league update at the Star-Tribune. It talks a lot about just how good the prospects at Ft. Myers are and how well the team is playing. It also talks about when the Twins will be promoting some players. No surprise, and really, it just makes sense.

Also, be sure to check out Roger's Weekly Minor League Update.

ROCHESTER REPORT
Saturday – Rochester 2, Lehigh Valley 8 – Danny Graves is still starting for the Red Wings. In this game, he gave up just three runs on seven hits and four walks in just four innings. Julio DePaula gave up three runs on three hits and a walk in his two innings. Carmen Cali gave up two unearned runs on four hits and a walk in his two innings. Jose Morales led the offense by going 2-3 with a walk and his third homer. Ryan Jorgenson was 2-4. Jason Pridie went 2-5 with two stolen bases. Randy Ruiz was ejected from the game.

NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Saturday – New Britain 0, Binghampton 3 – The Rockcats got ten hits, more than the B-Mets, but could not score a run. Erik Lis, aka "Doubles Machine" had two more doubles in four at bats. He now has 23 on the season. Matt Moses went 3-3. Brock Peterson went 2-4. Kyle Aselton made a spot start and actually was better than I would have expected based on what he has done out of the bullpen. He gave up three runs on three hits in four innings. Most notably he didn't walk any. Armando Gabino then threw three shutout innings, striking out three. Ben Julianel struck out three in the 8th inning.

FT MYERS MEMOS
Saturday – Ft. Myers 2, Brevard County 0 – Cole DeVries has been remarkable for the last six weeks and nothing changed from that in this game. The starter improved to 5-5 with eight shutout innings. He gave up just four hits, walked none and struck out five. Anthony Slama recorded his 10th save with two strikeouts in a scoreless ninth. Brian Dinkelman went 2-4 with a walk, his 18th double and his second home run. Juan Portes went 2-5. Eli Tintor hit his first homer.

BELOIT BITS
Saturday – Beloit 4, Kane County 5 (10 innings) - Chris Parmelee remained on his home run tear. In this game, he went 3-4 with a walk and his 12th homer. Chris Cates was 3-4 with a walk also. Garrett Olson hit his fifth homer, and Steve Singleton hit his fourth. Santos Arias started and gave up three runs (1 earned) on nine hits in six innings. He walked none and struck out six. Brad Tippett struck out two in is inning. Loek Van Mil threw a shutout inning. Spencer Steedley then came in and gave up two runs (1 earned) on four hits and a walk in just 1.1 innings, to take the loss.   

We'll be back!

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