Monday, September 15, 2008
Monday Morning Notes
It’s going to be a quick update this morning. I was out of town for the weekend, and I have an early morning flight to catch on Monday, so what you get is a bunch of quick bullet points. I will fly back to the cities even earlier on Tuesday morning for what could shape up to be a very busy day! So, here are some thoughts: (feel free to e-mail me, or if you would like to comment, please do so here)
·
The Twins were rained out on Friday night, so they played twice
on Saturday. Scott Baker got the win
in the first game and after a horrible start by Glen Perkins,
Bobby Korecky
came in and pitched through the fifth inning to get a win in Game 2. Both
scores were lopsided. The White Sox had their double header postponed on
Saturday, so with the two Twins win, the teams were
tied atop the AL Central.
·
Then Sunday, Nick
Blackburn got destroyed by the home run ball. In four innings, he gave up
two two run homers and two solo homers. The Twins
were unable to do much of anything against Radhames Liz and took the loss. Even worse, the White Sox swept their
double header with the Tigers, so as we enter the season’s final two weeks,
they have a 1.5 game lead in the division.
·
In general though, I think that the Twins could be happy. Any time
you win two of three on the road, it is a positive thing. The Tigers still have
a game to make up against the White Sox.
·
Justin
Morneau continues to push toward the
AL MVP. He is now leading Josh Hamilton
in the RBI title, something many voters look at. He’s still hitting well over
.300, has shown power and driven in some very important runs. He’s also stepped
up, in my mind, by continuing to play in the field even though Gardy wants to let him sit and DH in one game. I think that
says a lot.
·
One of the many Twins topics we covered in Marty Andrade’s Weekly Twins
podcast last night was Joe Mauer. Can he win another batting title? The general
consensus is that it would be very difficult. The fact that he did so in 2006
was incredible and historic. In 2008, only the A’s Kurt Suzuki has caught more innings that Mauer.
He’s been tremendously durable. But let’s be real, catcher is the game’s most
challenging defensive position, and any catcher will struggle down the stretch.
I believe that Mauer is too valuable to take out of
the lineup, even for another game this year, but reality says that if he doesn’t,
his numbers will likely go down making it very difficult to win another batting
title. But unlike any other catchers in the modern big leagues, Joe Mauer is
one that can say he has.
·
By the way, if you get a chance to listen to Marty Andrade’s Weekly Twins podcast, I would encourage you to
do so. There were a lot of Twins topics discussed. A gentleman named Lenny called in and asked a few
questions but also shared a tremendously interesting bit of history with us.
That was fun!
·
The author of Sully
Baseball
attempts to make a case to save the Metrodome.
It’s actually a great read with seven very legitimate reasons to stay in the
Dome. I particularly like #6. It’s
definitely worth taking a couple of minutes to read this take! Of course, the
stadium has already been started and a lot of time and money has been spent.
·
I won’t normally push or even promote memorabilia sources, but I
did get an e-mail from someone at JL Authentics
who has a lot of Game-Used memorabilia
from several players from this
year’s Beloit Snappers team.
·
The Vikings… How obvious was it throughout the game, even when
the Vikings defense was absolutely dominating the Colts offense, even when it
was 15-0, that without a touchdown, the Vikings would not win the game? I mean,
that was so easy to see. And no, I’m not going to pile on Tarvaris Jackson. I’ll ask where the WRs have been. I’ll ask why they keep
designing plays to throw the ball to Visanthe Schaincoe (or however you spell that). That team should
be great just because of its defense and Adrian
Peterson/Chester Taylor, but
.500 is looking pretty likely at this point. Carolina won’t make things any
easier this coming weekend!
·
By the way, how happy was I on Saturday night when Jose Mijares
came in to pitch the Bottom of the 9th!? I was even more happy when he struck out the first batter he faced and
got the next two out as well. He came in on Sunday again and gave up a hit, but
got four more outs. He looks incredibly legit. Throws hard. Lots of movement.
Two of three quality pitches. I honestly think I’d rather see him than any
other Twins reliever not named Nathan right now!
·
Good also to see Philip
Humber get an inning on Saturday and then be able
to provide 2.2 more relief innings on Sunday afternoon!
·
Speaking of good to see, how about Michael Cuddyer getting back?! Even
though he grounded out weakly to the pitcher on Saturday in game one, having
him back has to be a boost for the Twins. On Sunday, he got a pinch hit and Jason Pridie
came in to run for him. I definitely think that, even in such a limited role, Cuddyer can certainly help out this Twins team down the
stretch.
·
Many likely complained when they saw the Game 2 lineup on
Saturday night. The “B-Team” infield played with Brendan Harris at 3B, Adam
Everett at SS, and Matt Tolbert
at 2B. Well, Harris had two hits, including a home run. Tolbert hit two
triples. Everett made a tremendous defensive play deep in the hole.
·
How about Denard Span? In
game one on Saturday, he went 2-4 with two home runs and four RBI. On the
second homer, a late inning three run shot, he almost literally swung out of
his shoes. When I saw it live on TV, I almost thought he was going to fall
over! He now has six home runs with the Twins. Again, I will be eating a lot of
crow sometime this offseason, served up by The Span Man! Here
is a diary at John Sickels’ Minor League Ball on Span.
·
The Twins will now be in Cleveland for games four, five and six
of this ten game road trip. Cleveland has been playing spoiler pretty well. All
three games will start at 6:05 central time.
·
The Twins will send Kevin
Slowey to the mound tonight to face Scott Lewis. Slowey,
as has been documented here frequently, has been terrific! This will be Lewis’s
second career start. In his first start, the 25 year old lefty from Ohio State
went eight shutout innings and allowed just three hits and no walks against the
Orioles.
·
On Tuesday, the Twins will send The Franchise (Francisco Liriano)
to the mound against 25 year old lefty Zach
Jackson. Jackson, you recall, came to Cleveland as part of the CC Sabathia
trade. In his six starts with the team, he has given up at least three runs
each game.
·
And on Wednesday, Scott
Baker will be starting on three days rest for the Twins after throwing just
94 pitches in Game 1 on Saturday. He will be opposed by another lefty, one Cliff Lee, who is 22-2 with a 2.36 ERA
this year. He is the obvious choice for AL Cy Young
Award. However, one of his losses did come against the Twins. He’s 2-1 with a
2.35 ERA in three starts against the Twins this year. He has walked three and
struck out 24 in 23 innings against the Twins this year.
·
Over at Twins Trivia, there is an interesting Q&A with Dr. Mike
Marshall.
·
Former Twins prospect could be in
a bit of trouble. Never like to see that.
With
that, I’m going to call it a day. Be sure to check back for any updates. Also
notice that we are fast approaching the 1,000,000th site hit! That’s
kind of exciting!!