Tuesday Night, June 17, 2008

Tuesday Game Notes

Hey ya’ll, I needed a day off yesterday. A little under the weather, but also, the Twins, New Britain Rockcats and Beloit Snappers all had off days, so I figured it was OK for me to as well. Today’s posting will be pretty quick too. Pretty busy right now, but I can’t go without writing for too long.

Before I get started though, I was to encourage everyone to send me a question for Jeff Manship. The Twins pitching prospect was just promoted from Ft. Myers to AA New Britain, so he’s just two more promotions from the big leagues. So get your question in to me by Thursday.

TWINS 2, NATIONALS 1

• Got to start with Livan Hernandez. In this game, he did exactly what the Twins need for him to do. Won? No, he pitched well (7 innings, 77 pitches, one run, five hits, no walks). If he pitches well a couple more times, the Twins may be able to trade him. That would be good!
• Dmitri and Delmon Young played against each other for the first time and they celebrated by combining to go 0-6.
• After a couple of really poor at bats, Justin Morneau unloaded on a hanging curveball, depositing the pitch into the upper deck well above the baggy. The two run homer was enough thanks to Livan, Matt Guerrier and Joe Nathan.
• Joe Mauer went 2-3 with a double and a walk. HE is now hitting .330.
• Jason Kubel was not in the lineup probably because of the fact that the Nationals starter, John Lannan is left-handed. Craig Monroe was in the lineup. Monroe has been horrible against lefties. (Check the splits) Kubel has not been good either, but better. Also, Kubel is one of the Twins best hitters this season and has just been getting better. He really should be in the lineup at all times at this point except for against really tough lefties (hard slider) and an occasional off day, maybe every couple of weeks.
• The game was done in one hour and 59 minutes. That is fast! I’m definitely not one to say that the game needs to be sped up. I think that the game is what it is, and it lasts as long as it needs to last.
• Tonight it will be Kevin Slowey going against Jason Bergmann.

Any other Twins thoughts?

Twins Minor League Updates

Tuesday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Chris Basak, Rochester Red Wings
Tuesday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Matt Fox, Ft. Myers Miracle

ROCHESTER REPORT
Monday – Rochester 9, Louisville 1 – Denard Span came back from his broken finger and gave Twins fans something to talk about. Span went 3-3 with two walks in the game. Darnell McDonald went 2-4 with a walk and his 15^th double. Garrett Jones went 2-4 with a walk, his seventh homer and three RBI. Julio DePaula started again. In three innings he gave up no runs on three hits. He walks one and struck out one. Mariano Gomez got the win by going the next 2.1 innings and gave up just one hit. Casey Daigle struck out three, and gave up a run, in 1.2 innings. Tim Lahey then threw two shutout innings.

Tuesday – Rochester 9, Louisville 10 – Chris Basak had a big offensive game, but it wasn’t enough thanks to a poor start by Danny Graves. Graves, who has been a reliever most of his career but the Twins wanted to extend and see what he had, started and gave up nine runs (7 earned) on eight hits and a walk in just two innings. Carmen Cali then gave up a run on four hits in three innings. Ricky Barrett then struck out five in three shutout innings. Bobby Korecky threw a scoreless frame. Basak went 4-5 with his 11^th double and sixth home run. Denard Span went 3-5 with a walk and his eighth double. Randy Ruiz went 2-4 with a walk and his 18^th double. Trevor Plouffe went 2-5. Sergio Santos hit his 18^th and 19^th doubles. Jason Pridie went 2-6 with his 15^th stolen base

Notes – Span is 6-8 with three walks in his two games back from a broken finger. Two games. Let’s not get overly excited on just two games. I have certainly seen the improvement to Span’s ability to take pitches and get on base, and he has shown some extra base pop. I am certain that the Twins have noticed this as well. In my mind, 2008 is a development year for the Twins. So, if in another couple of weeks, Span is still playing well, I would like to see the Twins do the following. I would like to see Delmon Young play three out of four games in LF. I would like to see Carlos Gomez play four out of five games in CF. I would like to see Denard Span get two starts most weeks in LF and one in CF and maybe even one game a week in RF for Cuddyer to either DH or play 1B (with Morneau DHing). I think this would be a good way to get plenty of playing time for Young, Gomez and Span and give them three and a half months to show what they can each do.

I have read some blog commenters say that the Danny Graves experiment has now failed. I disagree. I think that Graves has been a solid pick up for the organization. That said, I do believe that the Danny Graves starting experiment should now be over. He has shown the ability to throw 60-75 pitches. But his role should the Twins call, would be in the bullpen, so I think it is time for him to work out of the Red Wings bullpen. That said, with Philip Humber out with a sore elbow right now, and really none of the New Britain starters ready to move up (with the possible exception of Ryan Mullins), they really need to keep him in the rotation for now, especially since right now Julio DePaula is also in the rotation.

NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Tuesday – New Britain / Portland – postponed by rain. It is interesting to note the Brian Dinkelman was set to leadoff and play 2B. Danny Valencia was going to bat third and play 3B.

FT MYERS MEMOS
Monday – Miracle 5, Dunedin 2 – Matt Fox made the start in this one. He gave up one run on three hits and a walk in six innings. He struck out seven. Blair Erickson gave up a run on two walks in one inning. Jose Lugo gave up a hit and struck out two in his inning. Anthony Slama recorded his 13^th save with a perfect ninth. Juan Portes led the offense. He went 3-5 with his 13^th double. Yangervis Solarte went 2-4 with his first triple, first stolen base and scored three runs. Edward Ovalle went 2-5 with his fifth double. Wilson Ramos went 2-5 with his 13^th double. Whit Robbins went 2-5.

Tuesday – Miracle 1, Dunedin 3 – Juan Portes again led the offense in this game. He went 2-4 with his 14^th double and sixth homer. Danny Berg went 2-4 with his third double. Eli Tintor hit a double, but he also accumulated two assists from right field. Cole DeVries started and takes the loss despite another quality start. In six innings, he gave up two runs (1 earned) on seven hits and two walks. He struck out seven. Jay Rainville made his Miracle bullpen season debut and gave up an unearned run in two innings.

Notes – Matt Fox is one to keep an eye on a little bit. Yes, he’s 25 years old and just in the Florida State League, but remember, he was a Twins supplemental first round pick in 2004 out of Central Florida. He had good stuff and threw hard. But soon after signing, he developed arm problems and ended up having Tommy John surgery. He missed the 2005 season and got a few innings in 2006. Last year, he was in Beloit where he did this exact thing. He pitched out of the bullpen in the first half. Then a midseason promotion of Jeff Manship left a rotation spot open. Fox took it and was one of the Snappers four starters during their playoff run. I expect him to do well as a starter for the Miracle.

BELOIT BITS
Tuesday – Beloit – The Midwest League All-Star game was played. The Beloit players that played in the game were on the West team, which won 5-4 in ten innings. Ben Revere came into the game and went 0-2. Jair Fernandez caught some and went 1-2. Chris Cates pinch hit and played some 2B and went 0-2. David Bromberg started the third inning. He got just two outs and gave up three runs on three hits and two walks. Steve Hirschfeld gave up one run on one hit, and he struck out three, in the fifth inning. Loek Van Mil walked a hitter and gave up a hit in a scoreless sixth inning. Spencer Steedley started the ninth inning. He got one out and gave up two hits .

ELIZABETHTON EXTRAS
Tuesday – Elizabethton 12, Bluefield 6 – If Game 1 means anything, the E-Twins will again have a very strong offensive team. So let’s start with the pitching from the game. Dan Berlind started and in five innings, he gave up three runs on five hits and three walks. He struck out eight. Mark Hamburger came in and gave up two runs on three hits (and no walks) in 2.2 innings. Jarrad Eacott is credited with the win (after blowing the save). He gave up one run in 1.1 innings. Based on that, you can tell the game was close until the 8^th inning when the E-Twins scored seven runs. Danny Rams, who went 2-5, hit a big grand slam, four of his six RBI on the day. Jon Waltenbury added a solo homer in the 8^th inning as well. He went 3-4 with a walk and a double in addition to the homer. Michael Harrington went 3-5 with his first homer earlier in the game. 3B Juan Richardson went 3-3 with two walks. Rene Leveret walked and hit two doubles in the game. This should again be a fun group to watch again this year.

Have a great Wednesday!

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