Here are the game reports of the Twins and their minor league affiliates from Sunday's games.

Sunday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Garrett Jones, Rochester Red Wings
Sunday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Liam Hendriks, GCL Twins

TWINS TALK
Sunday - Twins 2, Angels 6 

• This offense is just really bad right now. In some ways, it should not be surprising, yet it still is. The fact is that this team has a solid core of hitters in Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer and Torii Hunter. Jason Bartlett and Alexi Casilla both of the ability to be very good. But they are even being streaky and inconsistent. The rest of the hitters on the roster leave more than a little to desire. Nick Punto may be one of the worst hitters ever, and no, not just for the Twins. Much of the rest of the players are at or well below replacement level. As you all know, I'm a big supporter of Luis Rodriguez, but when he is the team's best pinch hitting option in a close game in the 9th inning, that tells you a lot about why this team is so inconsistent.

• Like Scott Baker the night before, Boof Bonser was solid but unspectacular. And like Baker, it was a home run allowed, this one to Chone Figgins, that effectively ended his afternoon. Bonser lived on the edge much of the game. All told, in 5.2 innings, he gave up five runs on nine hits. He also walked four batters and struckout just three. It has been a tale of two seasons for Bonser. Take a look at these numbers. On June 10th, Bonser beat the Washington Nationals to improve to 5-2 with a 4.21 ERA. Here are his numbers up to and including that start, and then since that start.
   

  	IP	ER	Hits	BB	K	W-L	ERA	WHIP	K/9
  1st 13 starts	72.2	34	82	32	74	5-2	4.21	1.56	9.2
  Past 11 starts	67.0	40	76	18	41	0-7	5.37	1.40	5.5

  This is really interesting actually. His hit rate is about the same. However, he was actually walking more earlier in the season (of course, remember one of those starts was a a seven walk game against the Royals). At the same time, he was also striking out a lot more at the time (likely helping himself by getting out of innings without the ball being put in play.
  The big question in my mind is if or when the Twins would consider replacing Bonser with Kevin Slowey in the rotation for the rest of 2007?

• The Facts of Life theme song really seems appropriate right now in respect to the Alexi Casilla situation:
  "You take the Good" - Casilla has shown a solid leadoff hitter approach at the plate. He takes pitches. He swings at strikes and has a good eye. He has tremendous range and a strong, accurate arm. The play he made on a Chone Figgins ball up the middle on Saturday night was incredible. The play he made last week in the Dome where he dove to his left and made a strong throw to home to get an out. His base stealing ability is incredible. When he stole both second and third base back to back yesterday, he beat the throws by so much that there was no need for a tag in either situation.
  "You take the Bad" - Some have questioned the mental side of Casilla's game because he is a rookie. He made a few mental errors earlier in the season. Even yesterday afternoon when Casilla scored on a two-out double by Jason Bartlett, he scored easily despite the fact that he didn't really take off until after the ball dropped. With two outs, he should have been going hard on contact. The physical errors. These don't bother me as much as most. I've played enough to realize that errors just happen sometimes. No one wants them to. He had two errors this weekend that hurt. Luis Castillo rarely made errors.
  "There you have the facts of life" - In the end, the big question becomes this. Casilla is healthy and can run far faster than Castillo. Offensively, Castillo may be more veteran, but Casilla can be just as good over the next six weeks. Secondly, once they get on base, Casilla actually has the ability to steal bases as well as take extra bases. In the field, the question becomes, would you rather have the sure-handed Castillo who has very limited range, or the occasional error on a basic play from Casilla but Casilla gets to more balls. To say that another way, does Alexi Casilla get to more balls that Luis Castillo couldn't get to than errors he commits on balls he does get to. In the end, the number of base runners is what matters whether they get on via a Casilla error or they get on because Castillo couldn't get to the ball.
• I appreciate that Gardy is trying different lineups. I think that is smart. In fact, I wouldn't mind the idea of putting names in a hat and determining the lineup that way. But in what  other way does it make sense to move Casilla back to #9 and putting Jason Tyner back in the leadoff position.
• The Twins four-five-six hitters combined to go 0-12 on Sunday. In the three game series, Justin Morneau went 1-12. Torii Hunter went 2-11. Michael Cuddyer went 1-12.
• Tonight the Twins begin a three game series in Seattle. Of course, that means a couple of late night games! Here are the pitching matchups:
  • Monday - 9:05 p.m. - Johan Santana (12-9, 2.98, 1.05, .218) vs Felix Hernandez (8-6, 3.97, 1.40, .286)
  • Tuesday - 9:05 p.m. - Matt Garza (1-3, 1.70, 1.19, .239) vs Horacio Ramirez (7-3, 7.12, 1.85, .337)
  • Wednesday - 3:35 p.m. - Scott Baker (6-5, 4.76, 1.24, .267) vs Jarrod Washburn (8-9, 4.30, 1.39, .274)
• Seattle is right in the middle of the AL Wild Card and AL West playoff races. You see now the numbers of these three Mariners pitchers and then realize that Jeff Weaver is another one of their pitchers. How is this team competing? How does Horacio Ramirez have a 7-3 record considering his 7.12 ERA, his 1.85 WHIP or his .337 opponent batting average?        

ROCHESTER REPORT
Sunday - Red Wings 5, Scranton/Wilkes Barre 6 – Garrett Jones, maybe making a stake on his claim that he should be called up to the Twins again if Jason Kubel needs to go on the DL, led the offense by going 3-4 with his 32nd double, his 12th and 13th homers and three RBI. Lew Ford, another option, went 2-4 with two doubles. Brian Duensing started and gave up six unearned runs in five innings. He allowed five hits, walked three and struck out two. Jay Sawatski, Brad Baker and Jason Miller combined for four shutout innings in relief.

NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Sunday - Rockcats 8, Akron 3 – Oswaldo Sosa picked up  his first AA win. The righty went 5.2 innings and gave up a run on three hits and three walks. Tim Lahey gave up two unearned funs on four hits and a walk over 2.1 innings. Jose Mijares pitched a scoreless inning. The offense scored five runs in the 6th inning and held on before adding three more in the 9th. Garrett Guzman and Drew Butera were both 2-4. David Winfree and Trevor Plouffe were each 2-5.

FT MYERS MEMOS
Sunday - Miracle 4, Brevard County 2 – The Miracle scored four runs in this game on just four hits. Edward Ovalle had a double, his 11th of the year. Danny Valencia walked twice. Jay Rainville picked up his seventh win. In six innings, he gave up two runs (1 earned) on five hits. He walked none and struck out four. JP Martinez struck out two in two perfect innings. Robert Delaney pitched a scoreless ninth.

 

BELOIT BITS
Sunday - Snappers 0, Lansing 8 – Brian Kirwan had another really rough start. He gave up six runs on four hits and three walks in just 1.2 innings. He also hit two batters and struck out two. Matt Williams struck out three over the next 3.1 shutout innings. Aaron Craig gave up two runs in two innings. Dan Leatherman struckout four in two perfect frames. The offense managed just four hits. Two of them were from Eli Tintor, who also stole his 8th base.

 

E-TWINS REPORT
Sunday - E-Twins 0, Greeneville 5 – Good pitching beats good hitting. Well, on this day, Greeneville's Leandro Cespedes provided the good pitching. He was perfect through the order the first time including seven strikeouts. The E-Twins managed just two hits in this game. Rene Tosoni had a single and his 12th stolen base. Ozzie Lewis was 1-2 with a walk. Mike Tarsi started and went the first five innings. He gave up two runs on eight hits. He walked two and struck out seven. Caleb Moore came in and went the next two innings. He gave up a run on three hits. Omar Alcala then gave up two runs in his inning. 

 

GCL TWINS REPORT
Sunday - GCL Twins 6, GCL Orioles 3  – Liam Hendricks has been one of the better performing pitchers in the Twins system, and he had another decent start. In five shutout innings, he gave up five hits, walked one and struck out seven. Nelvin Fuentes gave up just a solo homer in two innings. Tom Stuifbergen gave up a walk and a hit but no runs in one innings. Jarrod Eaccot gave up two runs on three hits and two walks and recorded just one out. Danny Rondon came in and struck out both batters he faced to record the 10th save. Ramon Santana went 2-3 with his first triple, two RBI and his fourth stolen base. Ben Revere and Yangervis Solarte each went 1-3 with a walk.