Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Tuesday Night Update

It's almost 11:00 p.m. here in Minnesota and the Twins and Padres are headed to the top of the 7th in one run game, a 1-0 lead for the Twins. Kevin Slowey has been remarkable to this point. Six shutout innings and just four hits. He hasn't walked a batter and struck out seven. Jake Peavy was almost as good, although he got a few really loud outs. He gave up one run on five hits and a walk. He struck out five. Michael Cuddyer is 2-3 with the game's lone RBI and really just about was 3-3.

UPDATE - 11:08 p.m. - Jesse Crain came in for the bottom of the 7th. Right away, he gave up an infield single to Adrian Gonzalez. He's a great hitter, but for about the fourth time in the last couple of weeks, Alexi Casilla dove and the glove hit hard off of his glove and bounced away. It's as if there are rocks in there. I love Casilla's range and arm, but I just find those plays to look strange. A wild pitch moved Gonzalez to 2B. Kevin Kouzmanoff singled him to 3B. Then Chase Headley grounded to 2B and the Twins got a force out at second, but the game-tying run scored. Crain made a terrific play to start an inning ending double play. Twins 1, Padres 1, heading into the 8th inning.

UPDATE - 11:20 p.m. - Heath Bell looks tough. He made some great pitches to get Alexi  Casilla and Joe Mauer to ground out. But Justin Morneau is crushing the ball and singled to right. However, on a pitch in the dirt, he went too far off of first base and after a short run down, he was tagged out.

UPDATE - 1:40 a.m. - So, that was a good game to watch. However, as soon as that top of the 8th inning was done, so was I. I fell asleep on the couch. I see that the Twins won. Oh, 3-1... and on back-to-back homers by Brendan Harris and Brian Buscher off of future Hall of Famer, Trevor Hoffman. That would have been neat to see. Oh well!

I don't know if I am going to make it through nine innings (or more!). I need some sleep. Both starters are now out of the game. So, I am going to post this right now and post updates as I stay awake or in the morning. Here are a few links or thoughts to consider/read:

• I seriously can not get over the fact that after tomorrow, the Twins will have faced former Cy Young Award winners in four out of five games. Randy Johnson on Friday. Brandon Webb on Sunday. Jake Peavy on Tuesday, and Greg Maddux, who has won four Cy Young Awards (and won 350 games) on Wednesday.
• Speaking of Maddux... here is where he ranks on several lists (all-time) in baseball history:
  • Wins - 350 - 9th
  • Innings - 4,911 - 16th
  • Strikeouts - 3,322 - 11th
  • Games Started - 732 - 4th
  • Strikeouts to Walks - 3.37 - 15th
• Maddux is also the sixth oldest player in baseball. Only Jamie Moyer, Randy Johnson, Tom Glavine, Kenny Rogers and Mike Timlin are older.
• By the way, here are some pictures of the SBG Convention from Saturday.
• I'm sure you saw yesterday that Juan Rincon signed a minor league deal with the Cleveland Indians.
• Did you see that Ike Davis, son of former Twins closer Ron Davis, was one of the Mets first round picks this summer out of Arizona State? He signed with the team yesterday.

Twins Minor League Updates

Tuesday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Alexander Soto, Elizabethton Twins
Tuesday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Jeff Manship, New Britain Rockcats

ROCHESTER REPORT
Tuesday – Rochester 0, Louisville 8 – The up and down season of Brian Duensing continued with this game. He gave up seven runs on seven hits and a walk in six innings. Ricky Barrett struck out two in a scoreless inning. Julio DePaula then gave up a run on two hits and a walk in his inning. It didn't really matter because the Red Wing bats managed just five hits. Randy Ruiz hit his 20th home run.

NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Tuesday – New Britain 0, New Hampshire 6 – Like the Red Wings, the Rockcats managed just five hits in this game. Felix Molina had two of them. Jeff Manship fell to 0-2, but he was excellent in this start. The righty worked the first six innings and gave up just one run on five hits. He walked none and struck out five. Jason Miller pitched a scoreless seventh inning, but he gave up five runs in the 8th. Ben Julianel struck out two in a scoreless ninth.

FT MYERS MEMOS
Tuesday - Game 1 – Miracle 1, Palm Beach 3 – The Miracle managed just three hits in the first game. Wilson Ramos had two of them, including a double and the lone RBI. Deolis Guerra gave up three runs on six hits in 5.1 innings. He walked four and struck out just two. Blair Erickson got the final two outs. Garrett Olson played 2B. He went 0-2 and is now hitting .050 (1-20) since his promotion.

Tuesday - Game 2 – Miracle 6, Palm Beach 3 – Alex Burnett started this one, but he lasted just 4.1 innings. He gave up three runs on six hits. Anthony Slama went the final 2.2 innings and allowed just one hit. He struck out five and gets the win to improve to 3-0. Yancarlos Ortiz went 2-3 with a walk. Yangervis Solarte went 2-4 with a double and an RBI. Juan Portes went 0-2, but he drove in two runs, both on sacrifice flies. 

BELOIT BITS
Tuesday – Beloit 8, Clinton 5 – For the second straight game, Beloit beat Clinton by an 8-5 score. Deibinson Romero went 2-5 with his first triple and two RBI. Good to see him get a triple. Likely means that his knee is truly 100% Mark Dolenc and Estarlin de Los Santos were each 2-4. Mike McCardell improved to 4-1 and he ate some innings for the Snappers. He gave up four of his five runs allowed in the fifth inning, but he was able to last eight innings all together. He walked none and struck out six. Spencer Steedley came in for the 9th inning and struck out two for his eighth save.         

ELIZABETHTON EXTRAS
Tuesday – E-Twins 14, Bluefield 8 (11 innings) – With six runs in the top of the 11th, the E-Twins continued their high-scoring, winning ways. Andrew Schmiesing went 3-6 with a walk. Alexander Soto  hit his second and third home runs and drove in four runs. Rene Leveret went 2-6 with his third double. Jon Waltenbury went 2-7. Michael Harrington hit his second homer. Lefty Dan Osterbrook started the game and went the first six innings. He gave up two runs on six hits. He walked none and struck out eight. It's too early to make any big statements, but in his two starts, he has no walks and 13 strikeouts in nine innings. Lee Martin came in for the seventh inning. He got two batters out, both on strikeouts. And he gave up six runs on five hits and a walk, but just one of the runs was earned. One error near the start of the inning meant unearned runs, but that's not really an excuse. Jarrad Eacott struck out a batter to end the seventh and also threw a scoreless eighth inning. Danny Rondon gave up just one hit and no runs in his three innings to pick up the win.    

GCL TWINS TALK
Tuesday – GCL Twins 6, GCL Pirates 7 – Five errors for the GCL Twins in this game. That is not unusual at this level. That is why it is important that organizations and fans not look so much at the numbers a pitcher produces because the work-in-progress defense means errors but also balls that are not played and called hits, or fielder's choices that should have been double plays. These things all work themselves out by the players that move up the system. Venezuelan LF Herbert Lara went 3-5 with a double and two RBI. Andres Diaz went 2-5 with his first homer, a two run shot. Tyler Ladendorf went 1-3 with a triple. Martire Garcia gave up five earned runs on seven hits in four innings. He walked four and gave up two home runs. Kelvin Mota gave up an unearned run on three hits and two walks in two innings. Michael Mopas threw a scoreless inning. Steve Blevins took the loss by giving up a run on a hit and a walk in one inning. 

Have a great day!!

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