Monday, June 23, 2008

Weekend Wrap Up

Good Monday Morning everyone! It was a busy, but really fun weekend. I did post an update on Friday night with those game notes plus my thoughts on the Loveable Cubs!? If you missed that, be sure to take a minute and check it out. And secondly, Congratulations to Josh Johnson and Josh's Thoughts on one year in this blogging game! It's a lot of work, but his site is one of the first I read each morning. Here's to another year!

Saturday afternoon, we checked out the SBG Convention over at Minnehaha Park. I hadn't been to Minnehaha Falls since I was probably eight years old (so yeah, that's a long time ago!). At that time, I remember that you could kind of see a little trickle of water coming down. However, with all of the recent rains, there was a lot of water flowing to the Falls and seeing it was really incredible, so if you haven't been there in awhile, be sure to do that. But anyway. Stick & Ball Guy went to the Park hours before I would have been awake to reserve a spot. Me? I would have gone to the park at about 1:30 and assumed I could have had a spot. Nope, the park was packed. But we had a really nice location near the river. There were over twenty people there. SBG, Lucy and Baby SBG were excellent hosts. Aaron Gleeman was there. So was Nick Nelson. Jon Marthaler from Twinkie Town showed up. The recently retired Will Young was there with his wife, whose birthday it was, so they brought cake. I like cake. It tasted good! There were also many of the stars of SBG Nation including Banjo, Moss, AMR, The New Guy, Andrew, Algonad, Green Machine and others. But the appearance of Ubelman was kind of the crowning moment.

I think everyone had a great time. People talked baseball, of course, but as is the case at The World's Greatest Online Magazine, topics varied and it was quite entertaining. With a 6:10 game time, at 5:00 things were packed up and we headed to the Dome. Fortunately, we arrived in time to see the entire Rick Aguilera Twins Hall of Fame ceremony. Aguilera was incredible and certainly well deserving of the honor. What was also cool was getting to see the likes of Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Rod Carew and Bert Blyleven all together to welcome Aggy in. Tom Kelly introduced him and really did a nice job. Aguilera did a nice job of thanking everyone and even got a little choked up. It was a nice ceremony.

It was also enjoyable at the game, talking to Will and Aaron and SBG and Andrew and Q at the game. Singing the Hormel Row of Fame song (You will be a wiener winner!) with bloggers is cool! Oh, and the Twins Geek stopped by where we were sitting and gave up some complimentary Gameday Magazines! This was my first SBG Convention, and it will hopefully be the first of many. Apparently at last year's inaugural convention, the Twins were shut out. So, when it was the 6th innings and the Twins were yet to score, SBG himself started to get a little nervous. But then came the seventh inning... and I'll share a few thoughts on the game itself below... but the point to be made is this... if you get a chance to attend a blogger get-together, you should do it. It's fun! 

TWINS 6, DIAMONDBACKS 1

• Micah Owings didn't bat, but he did pitch really well, at least through six innings. He gave up only two hits during that time. But then in the 7th, he got just one out and three runs were charged to him. Chad Qualls, one of the NL's top relievers, came in and allowed a couple of inherited runners to score and gave up three of his own runs while getting just one out. Juan Cruz had to come in and get the final out of that inning.
• I think Will Young and I may have been the only people in the Dome cheering for Alex Romero when he was introduced before the game on the video board and when he came to bat. I was quite high on him during his minor league tenure with the Twins. He was well into the SethSpeaks.net Top 10 Twins prospects. He has been solid with the Diamondbacks in very limited time. He played LF and batted ninth. Although he was called out at first base in his first at bat on a grounder, he was really safe. But after that, his swing left a lot to be desired. I don't know if he was just trying to do too much and was too anxious, but he was lunging big time. He was out on his front foot and just slapping at the ball. Since he beat out Trot Nixon to make the team out of training camp, I have to assume that for the most part, his swing is better than that.
• I have come a long way in my opinion on Nick Blackburn. I went from having him ranked as the team's #12 prospect after the 2005 season to not even in the Top 50 prospects at the midseason point of 2007. I moved him up into the 20s after the 2007 season, but I just wasn't buying it when people (Baseball America, John Manuel) ranked him as the Twins top prospect. I saw him as a #5 type of starter or long reliever. But, he has been everything a Twins fan could have hoped for and more. He's got a good enough fastball, a very good cutter and other solid pitches to go along with very good control. However, he had a start basically skipped before this start because of elbow discomfort. So, I was a little nervous about how he would do and if he would get through the start. Not only did he stay healthy in the game, he pitched very well. One run in seven innings was very good. He walked none and struck out three to improve to 6-4 and drop his ERA to 3.68.
• Michael Cuddyer's wife Claudia had the couple's first child on Friday night. He was at the Autograph Party on Saturday morning and got two hits on Saturday night. Good for him!
• Brendan Harris hit well again, going 2-3.
• Brian Buscher had just one hit, but he drove in two runs with it. Which former Twins player does the Twins Geek compare Buscher to?

TWINS 5, DIAMONDBACKS 3

• Back at the game on Sunday and it was again a good, fun game to watch. I was excited to see Brandon Webb starting.
• When Delmon Young took his eye off a line drive single, it went under his glove and to the wall in left field. Had he played it cleanly, I believe he would have had a shot to throw out Conor Jackson at home. Instead, he took his eye off of the ball and not only did Jackson score, but so did a second run. The third run scored on a wild pitch. Given a 3-0 lead, I wasn't really thinking that the Twins would have another comeback in them.
• With Jason Kubel on first base, Delmon Young hit a fly ball to left field that Conor Jackson completely lost. It turned into a double. Brian Buscher came up and singled up the middle to score two runs and cut the lead to just one. Brendan Harris singled Buscher to 2B. Carlos Gomez laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt down the 3B line. In fact, it was so good that despite the defense in bunt formation, he almost beat it out. That brought up Alexi Casilla and he singled right up the middle to score two more runs and give the Twins the lead. Justin Morneau hit a sacrifice fly to give the Twins their 5-3 lead.
• I know RBI don't mean a lot, but then again, someone has to drive in runs. I know RBI are more about situations than really telling us anything. I mean, without a home run, someone has to get on base to drive in. That said, Brian Buscher has 12 RBI in 34 at bats. 12 RBI in 10 games. He has come up big in situations that the Twins needed something done, either a two run single with runners on 2nd and 3rd, or a deep fly ball to score a game-tying run in Milwaukee. Also, Alexi Casilla has 27 RBI in 34 games and 129 at bats. That is really incredible, and both showed in this game just how team draw things up.
• Last year, Delmon Young had 26 walks in 645 at bats. So far this year, he has 20 walks in just 276 at bats. That is great, and it does show improvement, but I look at the process. He seems to go up there telling himself whether he is going to swing or not. He isn't looking for a good pitch to hit, he is hoping for a good pitch to hit so that when he swings he can do something with it. There is no plan.
• Now, Brian Buscher is yet to walk and because of that sacrifice fly, his On-Base Percentage is actually less than his Batting Average. However, the quality of hit at bats have been great. He is taking pitcher's pitches and hitting strikes. Quality at bats are not about walking, but instead it is about getting a good pitch to hit and the situation plays into it.
• Livan Hernandez was again solid. In seven innings, he gave up one run on nine hits and a walk. He even struck out five. This is great. One, it helps the Twins, but two, it makes him more tradable. One thing to consider though... how good would he have to be in 2008 to become a Type B free agent and give the Twins a supplemental first round pick? Since I don't know that they would get much in return for him, his free agent Classification has to come into play.
• The Twins got the sweep and increased their win streak to six. The starting pitching in the series was excellent as all three starters went seven innings. The bullpen gave up only an unearned run in six innings in the series. The bats came through when they most needed it. The defense was solid. Ten days after we all thought the sky was falling down (after that ugly White Sox series), they have won eight out of nine. They also get another off day on Monday before flying out to San Diego for a three game series.  

Any other Twins thoughts?

Twins Minor League Updates

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

Sunday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Randy Ruiz, Rochester Red Wingss
Sunday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Zach Ward, New Britain Rockcats

Be sure to check out Roger's Weekly Minor League Update for this week.

ROCHESTER REPORT
Saturday – Rochester 3, Indianapolis 5 – It was very good to see Philip Humber able to take the mound again after missing a couple of starts with some elbow soreness. It didn't go so well, but that's not the key point. In four innings, he gave up four runs on six hits. Ricky Barrett then gave up a run on two hits and a walk in two innings. Mariano Gomez and Julio DePaula each threw a scoreless frame. Trevor Plouffe went 2-4 with his second double and first stolen base. Jason Pridie went 2-5 with his 16th stolen base. Ryan Jorgenson went 2-4.

Sunday – Rochester 7, Indianapolis 6 – Trevor Plouffe went 0-5 in the game, but his 11th inning sacrifice fly scored Garrett Jones with what proved to be the winning run. Randy Ruiz led the offense, going 4-5 with a walk and his tenth home run. Darnell McDonald went 2-3 with two walks and his 16th and 17th doubles. Ryan Jorgenson went 2-4 with a walk and his fourth homer. Sergio Santos his a two run home run in the game-tying 8th inning. Danny Graves started and gave up three runs on seven hits in five innings. Carmen Cali gave up three runs on two hits and two walks in two innings. Tim Lahey threw two scoreless relief innings. Bobby Korecky got the win by throwing his two scoreless innings. 

NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Saturday – New Britain 2, Connecticut 5 – Anthony Swarzak lost again, falling to 3-4 on the season. He gave up four runs on five hits and three walks in six innings. Jay Sawatski gave up a run on three hits in two innings. He struck out four. Brock Peterson hit his 23rd homer and first triple in the game. Felix Molina went 2-3 with his 10th double.

Sunday – New Britain 2, Connecticut 1 – A couple of weeks ago, I asked about the future of Zach Ward and if starting was in the foreseeable future. I was basically told that there was probably little chance that Ward would return to starting, but you never know what will happen. Well, on this day, he was back on the mound to start the game. He threw four shutout innings. He gave up just two hits, walked three and struck out four. Yohan Pino got the win. He went three innings and gave up just one run on two hits and a walk. Ben Julianel got his 13th save with three strikeouts in two innings. The Rockcats managed just six hits in the game. Erik Lis had the biggest with a solo home run, his eighth of the season.  

FT MYERS MEMOS
Saturday – Miracle 2, Sarasota 5 – The Miracle were able to score two runs in the 9th to avoid being shutout. Juan Portes went 3-4. Whit Robbins was 2-4. Edward Ovalle was 2-4 with his ninth triple. Yangervis Solarte went 2-4 with his fifth double. Matt Fox started and went 6.1 innings. He gave up four runs on nine hits and two walks. He struck out five. Oswaldo Sosa gave up one run on one hit and one walk in 2.2 innings.

Sunday – Miracle 2, Palm Beach 4 – Jay Rainville's time in the bullpen sure was short. He had just one bullpen appearance before this start. He gave up four runs (3 earned) on nine hits in 6.2 innings. He walked none and struck out seven. Jose Lugo got the final four outs. Steve Singleton went 2-5. Wilson Ramos went 1-2 with two walks.

BELOIT BITS
Saturday – Beloit 11, Peoria 5 – Chris Parmelee led this big offensive attack for the Snappers. He went 4-5 with his 10th double, 13th triple and three RBI. Mark Dolenc went 3-4 with two doubles and his 14th stolen base. Ozzie Lewis was also 3-5. Deibinson Romero went 2-5. Allen De San Miguel went 0-1, but he walked four times. Santos Arias started and evened his record at three. He gave up five runs on eight hits and a walk in six innings. Henry Reyes threw two shutout innings. Danny Hernandez threw a perfect inning.

Sunday – Beloit 4, Peoria 1 (10 innings) – Joe Benson's two run homer was the big hit that the Snappers needed in the tenth inning to win this game. It was his fourth of the year. Steve Hirschfeld moved to the rotation and gave up just one run in five innings. He gave up seven hits and walked one. Chris Anderson, who recently signed, struck out two in one inning. Charles Nolte walked three in 1.2 shutout innings. Spencer Steedley got the win with three strikeouts in 2.1 innings. Allen De San Miguel went 2-3 with his first double.

ELIZABETHTON EXTRAS
Saturday – E-Twins 7, Pulaski 10 – It was unlikely that the E-Twins were going to go undefeated the whole season. It was bound to happen, and on Saturday, they lost for the first time. Curtis Leavitt started and gave up six runs (5 earned) on ten hits and two walks. Omar Alcala then gave up two runs on two hits and three walks in three innings. Danny Rondon gave up two runs on three hits in his inning of work. There was a lot of offense though. Jon Waltenbury went 3-4. He was a single short of the cycle with his third double, first triple, second homer and four RBI. Andy Schmiesing went 3-5 with three runs scored. Nick Papasan went 2-4. Nick Romero went 2-5 with his first homer.

Sunday – E-Twins 10, Pulaski 2 – Dan Berlind started this one and got his first E-Town win. He gave up two runs on five hits and a walk in six innings. He struck out seven. Jarrad Eacott threw two shutout innings. There was plenty of offense in this one. Evan Bigley hit his first two homers of the season. Jeanfred Brito went 2-5 with a double and a stolen base. Juan Richardson went 2-5 with a double and three RBI. Dominic de la Osa went 2-5 with a double. Angel Morales went 2-4 with his first homer. Rene Leveret hit his first homer. Nate Hanson went 0-1, with three walks. Michael Harrington went 2-5.  

GCL TWINS TALK
Saturday – GCL Twins, GCL Reds – The game was suspended due to rain. Aaron Hicks made his debut. Reggie Williams had another hit.

Sunday – GCL Twins – No Gulf Coast League games scheduled for Sunday.

Have a great week!

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