Saturday Night, August 16, 2008

Saturday Game Notes

(The Word Press page for this article can be found here)

Hey everyone! The Twins got a tough comeback win against the Seattle Mariners this afternoon. Angel Morales is good. Has anyone else watched TV Land's Elvis by the Pressley's? What an absolutely incredible documentary/show! And then yes, I was one of the millions that actually watched Michael Phelps win his 8th gold medal of this Olympics. If I'm being honest, I also watched Friday night's 0.01 second win as well. In watching that, I had one thought in mind...

Hmmmm... how good of an athlete (and how great is his travel agent?) is Joe Mauer?

TWINS 7, MARINERS 6

• What a crazy game! The Twins jumped out to an early lead. They scored two in the first inning followed by three in the second inning. Scott Baker threw five shutout innings, but then came the sixth when the Mariners scored six runs. Fortunately the Twins came up with some big, late runs to tie and then win in the bottom of the 9th on a sacrifice line out to LF to score Joe Mauer with the winning run.

• Scott Baker did throw five shutout innings to start the game, but he was certainly not completely on his game. He worked out of some tough situations. He wasn't hitting spots. So when he was struggling in the sixth inning, it wasn't as surprising as you would think if you didn't watch the game. I was reading LaVelle's game blog throughout the game and  commented that I think Baker has the stuff to be an excellent #2. I actually think he has the stuff to be a #1, but I just don't know if he has the personality, that killer instinct to be a true staff ace. I do think that Glen Perkins and Kevin Slowey have it, and I think Baker could still develop it, but this type of game should not happen.

• The story of the game, in my opinion, was Craig Breslow. He came in to replace Jesse Crain with two outs and runners on 2nd and 3rd, still in the 6th. Ichiro was up, with Jeremy Reed on base. The Twins still had a one run lead. I immediately wondered why they would pitch to Ichiro in that case. We are talking about arguably the best singles hitter in the game. Of course, he slapped a single down the LF line to score both runners and give the M's the lead. Breslow got Reed out. He also went two more innings and kept the M's lead at one. I think Breslow deserves a lot of credit for this win. Dennys Reyes came into a tie game and had a 1-2-3 ninth.

• Offensively, the team really got its boost from the middle of the lineup. Nick Punto was still batting second, but he had two hits. Joe Mauer gave the Twins a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first frame with his 8th homer (again, off a lefty). He went 3-4 with a walk, three runs and two RBI. Justin Morneau went 2-4 with a walk and his 30th double. Delmon Young went 2-4.

• Some good substitution really helped out late. Brian Buscher pinch hit for Brendan Harris (who had gone 1-2 with a walk) and walked. A couple batters later, Jason Kubel pinch hit against a lefty and with two strikes, slapped an RBI single to left field to tie the game.

• I get to go to the game tomorrow when Glen Perkins will take the mound for the Twins against Ryan Freierbend who will be making his first big league appearance this year. He is a lefty, so it will be interesting to see what the Twins lineup is since it is a Sunday afternoon game after a Saturday afternoon game.

Any other thoughts on the Twins?

Twins Minor League Updates

Saturday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Angel Morales, Elizabethton Twins
Saturday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Spencer Steedley, Ft. Myers Miracle

LaVelle's weekly Minor League Update is posted on the Strib's site. He discusses Aaron Hicks and other minor league topics.

ROCHESTER REPORT
Saturday – Rochester 8, Syracuse 5 – Luke Hughes has been doing great since his promotion to AAA. In this game, he was 2-3 with his fifth double, third homer and three RBI. Matt Macri hit another homer, his ninth of the year. Sergio Santos went 2-3 with a walk. Trevor Plouffe went 2-4 with his 14th double. Tom Shearn started and gave up two runs (1 earned) on ten hits and a walk in six innings. Ricky Barrett gets the win although he gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in one inning. Carmen Cali gave up a run on two hits in 0.1 innings. Bobby Korecky got his 23rd save with two strikeouts in 1.2 innings.

NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Saturday – New Britain 3, Akron 2 – Jeff Manship needed a win. He pitched pretty well and improves to 2-6. He gave up two runs on seven hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out five. Armando Gabino went 1.1 scoreless innings. Jose Mijares got two outs. Ben Julianel came in and went two hitless innings, although he did walk three. The Rockcats managed just six hits, but two of them were pretty big. David Winfree hit his 17th homer, a two-run shot. Then Danny Valencia hit his fourth AA homer. 

FT MYERS MEMOS
Saturday – Miracle 5, Lakeland 1 – Spencer Steedley got another start and this one was excellent. He gave up just two hits in six shutout innings. He walked four and struck out six. Jose Lugo threw two scoreless innings. Anthony Slama pitched the ninth and gave up a run on three hits and a walk. He struck out three. Whit Robbins led the offense. He went 2-3 with a walk, his sixth homer and two RBI. Steve Singleton went 2-4 with his 14th double. Edward Ovalle went 2-4 with his tenth double.

BELOIT BITS
Saturday – Beloit 5, Cedar Rapids 6 – Shooter Hunt was back on the mound for the Snappers. He gave up four runs on three hits and three walks in six innings. He struck out seven, and threw two wild pitches. Charles Nolte gave up a run on four hits in two innings. He struck out three. Then Blake Martin came in and got two outs, but he gave up a run on three walks to take the loss. Estarlin de Los Santos went 1-3 with two walks and his second homer. Yangervis Solarte went 2-5. Jeanfred Brito went 1-2 with a walk and his sixth and seventh stolen bases.    

ELIZABETHTON EXTRAS

Saturday – E-Twins 5, Danville 1 – Yes, Angel Morales is pretty good. It is scary how good he could be. In this game, he hit his 14th and 15th homers. Alexander Soto hit his tenth homer. Dominic de la Osa went 2-4 with two doubles (11 on the year). Tom Wright had a second really strong start. In 6.2 innings, he gave up a run on five hits and three walks. He struck out three. Danny Rondon got the next four outs, two of them on strikeouts. Mark Hamburger struck out two in a scoreless ninth.

GCL TWINS TALK
Saturday – GCL Twins 4, GCL Red Sox 5 – Juan Sanchez led the offense in this game and went 3-3 with a walk, his seventh and his eighth doubles. Javier Brown went 2-3. Aaron Hicks, Daniel Ortiz and Jon Goncalves each hit a double. Edgar Ibarra started and gave up a run on six hits and a walk in three innings. He struck out six. Bruce Pugh gave up two runs on a hit. In three innings, he walked four and struck out five. Khol Nanney threw two shutout innings, but with one out in the ninth, he gave up two runs.

Have a great Sunday! I'll be out in the Home Run Porch!

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