Seth Stohs Speaks on Sports, The Minnesota Twins, and more!

Just wanted to take a moment to discuss last night's Live Podcast. I want to thank all of you who took the time to listen in. I want to apologize to all of you that took the time to answer in. At the 17:55 mark of the show, right in the middle of what was shaping into a very good interview with LaVelle E Neal, something happened. I really don't know what. It was some sort of technical issue. It took me almost 10 minutes to get back on, and even once I did, I wasn't sure what had happened. So, if you haven't listened to the podcast yet, please click here. But again, at the 17:55 mark, it will go silent. However, you can scroll the player to the 27:50 mark where the interview with Ft. Myers Media Relations Director Gary Sharp begins. It actually goes quite well the rest of the way. The live show lasted until 9:00, but Roger Dehring and I stayed online about another half hour, so the podcast did go on. If I were to take out that 10 minute blank section, I think the show went really well and now I look forward to doing another show in the near future.

Wow! The Twins really needed to win yesterday afternoon. It wasn't easy, and there were plenty of tense moments, but in the end, they got the win, and coupled with the White Sox loss, the Twins are just one game back of Chicago again. Glen Perkins improved to 12-3 despite giving up four runs on eight hits and two walks in seven innings. Two of the hits were big home runs, a two run shot by Jose Lopez and solo homer by Raul Ibanez. The outing Denard Span played hero. He went 2-5 with a two run double, but just as important, he threw out pinch runner Tug Hulett at home in the bottom of the eighth to preserve a one run lead. That play helped keep Eddie Guardado from playing the goat. Guardado got two outs and gave up a run on three hits. Jason Kubel played hero, driving in a run with a double in the top of the 8th to tie the game. Brian Buscher came off of the bench and after a pitching change brought in a left-handed reliever, he hit a two run single that gave the Twins the lead. Justin Morneau had two hits. Randy Ruiz hit behind Morneau and went 2-3 with a walk. Nick Punto was also 2-3 with a walk. Joe Nathan recorded his 36th save with a perfect ninth inning.

The Twins now start a four game series against the Oakland A's. They will face left-handed starting pitchers in all four games. The Twins will send Nick Blackburn, Kevin Slowey, Francisco Liriano and Scott Baker against Dana Eveland, Dan Meyer, Dallas Braden and Greg Smith. The A's have been pretty bad since the All Star break, and you can see from the roster that they are building for the future. Carlos Gonzalez is going to be a star. I think Cliff Pennington makes Bobby Crosby very expendable. Like the Mariners, this A's team will be trying to play the role of spoiler the rest of this season. This is a series that should see the Twins win three out of four games. But again, that's why they play the games, right?

What are your thoughts on the upcoming series with the A's? What do the Twins need to do?

Twins Minor League Updates

Wednesday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Drew Butera, New Britain Rockcats
Wednesday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Kyle Aselton, New Britain Rockcats

ROCHESTER REPORT
Wednesday – Rochester 4, Syracuse 2 – Philip Humber continued to impress with another strong start in this game. He gave up two runs on eight hits in seven innings. He walked none and struck out four. Amazingly, he threw just 79 pitches in those seven innings. Ricky Barrett got his batter out. Bobby Korecky gave up a walk and a hit in 1.2 innings, but no runs, to record his 26th save. Howie Clark went 2-4 with his sixth triple. Alejandro Machado went 2-4 with his 12th stolen base. Trevor Plouffe was also 2-4.

NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Wednesday – New Britain 2, Portland 0 – Kyle Aselton was incredible on this night. The lefty went the first 7.1 innings and gave up no runs on three hits. He walked nobody and struck out eight. Rob Delaney came in for the next four outs. Jose Mijares got the final two outs to record his second Rockcat save. Drew Butera went 3-4 with his seventh home run of the year. Danny Berg went 2-3 with a walk.

FT MYERS MEMOS
Wednesday - Game 1 - Miracle 0, Lakeland 1 – The Miracle to got to see Tigers Top Prospect Rick Porcello in game one. The Miracle was going with their bullpen to pitch this one. Spencer Steedley started and went 2.2 innings. He gave up a run on three hits. According to Gary Sharp, he left the game with a blister and may be done for the year. David Shinskie then gave up a walk and a hit in 2.1 innings. Jose Lugo gave up three hits in two scoreless innings. The Miracle managed just four hits. Wilson Ramos went 1-2 with a walk. Edward Ovalle hit a double.

Wednesday - Game 2 - Miracle 8, Lakeland 2 – There was little offense in Game One, and then the Miracle started Game 2 with six of the first seven batters getting hits and the team scored five first inning runs. Steve Singleton went 2-4 with his 18th double. Edward Ovalle went 2-3 with his 11th double. Yancarlos Ortiz went 2-3 with his eighth double and third triple. Whit Robbins was 1-2 with a walk, his 13th double and three RBI. Matt Williams started this game. He gave up just one run on three hits and a walk in five innings. He struck out five. Blair Erickson gave up a run in his inning. Anthony Slama got the final three outs.

BELOIT BITS
Wednesday – Beloit 10, Kane County 2 – Henry Reyes had a great start and the bats picked him up too. The lefty went the first seven innings and gave up just one run on five hits and a walk. Danny Hernandez struck out two in two scoreless innings. Juan Richardson went 3-3 with a walk, his third double and four runs scored. Allen de San Miguel went 3-4 with two doubles. Yangervis Solarte went 2-3 with a walk. Chris Cates went 2-4 with a walk and his 12th double. Andrew Schmiesing went 2-5 with his sixth double and third stolen base. Estarlin de Los Santos went 2-5.

ELIZABETHTON EXTRAS

Wednesday – E-Twins/Pulaski – Game 1 of this postgame series was postponed by rain.

GCL TWINS TALK
Wednesday - GCL Twins – No Game on the Schedule.

Again, thanks for stopping by and always feel free to e-mail me or comment below.

Wednesday Night, August 27, 2008

Live SethSpeaks.Net Twins

Podcast at 8:00 Tonight!

The second SethSpeaks.net Twins podcast will air live tonight at 8:00 at (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/SethSpeaks). If you have a chance, please listen live. If not, it will be available at the same place approximately 1/2 hour after the show ends. If you are able to listen, there is a chat room where you will be able to ask questions that we will answer. Here is the schedule:

8:00-8:05 --> Introduction

8:05-8:20 --> LaVelle E. Neal III, Twins Insider, Minneapolis Star-Tribune

8:20-8:35 --> Gary Sharp, Media Relations for the playoff bound Ft. Myers Miracle

8:35-9:00 --> Roger Dehring, Twinkie Town - Weekly Minor League Report

There could be a couple other guests to call in as well. Also, the Live Streaming will be complete at 9:00, but if we have more questions in the chat room, we will be sure to answer them and they will be heard on the podcast later.

As always, feedback is welcome!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Coste Plays Hero!

Chris Coste came into the game and hit a double in the 10th inning. For a catcher coming into a game late, that's pretty exciting. Not as exciting as his 13th inning single. No, that single drove in Shane Victorino and gave the Philadelphia Phillies an 8-7 win (after they had been behind 7-0). The win put the Phillies just 1/2 game behind the Mets in the NL East.

After the Twins rough loss, I wanted to post a positive entry as soon as possible!!

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Maybe I Was Wrong?

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

Before getting into today's thoughts on last night's games, I do want to announce that there will be a Live SethSpeaks.net Podcast tonight at 8:00 (central time). You will be able to hear it at www.BlogTalkRadio.com/SethSpeaks, so be sure to check it out if you have a chance. It will be live online for one hour. The chat room allows you to participate by asking questions. I can tell you that there will be a couple of guests on the show. At this time I can not list them all out as I am trying to confirm a few more things. However, I will post a schedule or agenda for the show a couple of hours beforehand. If you are unable to listen to it live, shortly after the show, you will be able to hear it simply by going back to the above web page. Also note that although the live streaming only goes from 8-9, the show can continue and will if we have questions in the chat room. So, it should be a lot of fun, and I really hope you have a chance to listen to it, even if you don't participate.

Is it possible? Was I completely wrong? (Note - I know, some of you think that I'm wrong a lot, right?)

I seriously thought that this Twins team would show us that they were beyond this. I thought that the very solid series against the Angels in Anaheim showed that this Twins team might be peaking at the right time and playing the game in a way that we should feel confident that they would win the series in Seattle and Oakland. With last night's 3-2 loss to the Mariners, the Twins now have lost four in a row and the first two games to the lowly Mariners. Believe me, I get it. The Mariners have Ichiro. They have Adrian Beltre. They have Raul Ibanez. These three are legitimate big leaguers. But what else is there? The two starting pitchers that the Twins have seen to start this series have been Miguel Batista (4-12 with a 6.55 ERA coming into the game) and Ryan Rowland-Smith, and the Twins have combined for four runs in 20 innings against them. The Twins let Rowland-Smith look like a veteran. It was his sixth start of the season. He was walking nearly a batter every other inning. The Twins made him look like an accomplished big league hurler.

How did the White Sox do against these Mariners when they played each other last week? They won the three games by a combined score of 33-8. What has Chicago done this week on the road? They went into Baltimore, a bad team that they should beat, and have beaten them twice so far with one more game left in the series.

People can blame the young pitchers. In the first two games of this series, the starters have each provided quality starts. Francisco Liriano gave up a run in six innings. Scott Baker gave up ten hits and walked three, but gave up just three runs in 6.2 innings. The fault on Monday night goes to Joe Nathan and Jesse Crain primarily. And really, there is little to say negatively about the Twins pitching in these two games. These two losses go directly to the Twins bats. But it's hard to blame the young guys. In last night's game, Denard Span and Alexi Casilla were each on base twice. Joe Mauer looks tired. Is the long season getting to him? He is again grounding out weakly to the right side of the infield. He needs a day off, which he should get today. Justin Morneau is not taking consistent at bats. After facing a lefty Tuesday night, they will now see five more lefty starters in a row. Does that mean Jason Kubel on the bench with Randy Ruiz getting the bulk of the DH time? When does Denard Span take over CF? Kubel can play RF! Carlos Gomez remains clueless and just swings out of his shoes at all times. At least Delmon's swing is a good one. He had two hits, including a very big one in Monday night's game, but then last night he went 0-4 with three strikeouts. Brendan Harris comes in and makes a great defensive play, but it looks like he hasn't played in four or five days. Maybe it is because he hasn't played in four or five games! Congratulations to Randy Ruiz for his recognition as the International League Rookie of the Year award and more importantly his first big league home run for the Twins. He has played a lot of late, against lefties and righties. He clearly can hit lefties and soft-tossers. I can see that, but he is being used against everyone right now when there are better options. It's about using your players in situations in which they can succeed.

Now, I am 'the positive blogger', right? Usually I am, but this trend of losing to bad teams and completely disappearing against mediocre to poor pitching is frustrating. Remember, this is a team that found a way to beat Randy Johnson, Brandon Webb, Jake Peavy and Greg Maddux consecutively, and now they are losing to guys who either shouldn't be in the big leagues anymore, or may not be around for terribly long.

I'm one to frequently encourage blog commenters that "it's just one game, they'll be OK." I do subscribe to the "One Day at a Time" theory. I think that's the only way that a team can play. And that is what I would encourage all of us to try to do. The Twins are now two games behind the White Sox and still have nine more games on the road before heading home again. They have lost four in a row. And all they can do about it is go out this afternoon and try to win today.

Maybe shocking negativity from me will help. It always seem that as soon as we are ready to write off the Twins, they go on a streak of their own and put themselves, surprisingly, right back into contention. Hopefully the Twins have another surprise in for us and will turn this around. Three days ago, I thought this team had it in them to play tough and do the things that they need to do, and that includes beating teams that they should beat. Now, I'm not so sure. I still am not convinced that the White Sox are a great team either and that plays a big part in me still being optimistic.

Today is another day, and Glen Perkins is on the mound. He has been terrific, and it is on his shoulders to help his team out of this funk. His shoulders and the shoulders of the Twins batters.

Can they do it? Was I wrong? What do you think?

Twins Minor League Updates

Tuesday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Johnny Woodard, Ft. Myers Miracle
Tuesday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Michael Allen, Beloit Snappers

ROCHESTER REPORT
Tuesday – Rochester 1, Syracuse 9 – This has to be right up there with the worst starts of Tom Shearn's career. In just 0.1 innings, he gave up five runs on six hits. He didn't walk anyone, but he did strikeout one. So, his K-Rate was excellent! Julio DePaula came in and gave up two runs over the next 4.1 innings. Mariano Gomez then threw 2.1 shutout innings. Carmen Cali gave up two runs on three hits and a walk in two innings. Garrett Jones and Luke Hughes each went 2-4. Jones hit his 32nd home run.

NOTE - Randy Ruiz was named the International League Rookie of the Year yesterday.

NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Tuesday - Game 1 – New Britain 4, Portland 6 – The Rockcats offense really wasn't the problem in this game. They did have eight hits in the game, but no one had more than one. Drew Butera had the lone extra base hit, his 17th double. Yohan Pino started and gave up six runs on nine hits in 3.2 innings. He walked two and struck out five. Armando Gabino then struck out two in 2.1 scoreless innings.

Tuesday - Game 2 – New Britain 2, Portland 7 – Game two wasn't any better for the Rockcats. Jason Miller started and gave up six runs on eight hits and a walk in three innings. Frank Mata came in and gave up a run over two innings of work. Ben Julianel pitched a scoreless inning. The team was unable to muster much offense against former Twin Dave Gassner who gave up two runs on four hits in six innings to pick up the win. Danny Valencia went 2-3 in the game. Brandon Roberts hit his second home run.

FT MYERS MEMOS
Tuesday – Miracle 5, Lakeland 7 – Alex Burnett didn't get much help from his defense in this one. He took the loss after giving up five unearned runs on five hits and two walks in five innings. He struck out seven. Joe Testa came in and gave up two runs over the final four innings. He gave up four hits, walked three and struck out five. Johnny Woodard led the offense. He went 2-5 with his 12th double, sixth home run and three RBI. Wilson Ramos went 2-3 with a walk.

BELOIT BITS
Tuesday – Beloit 2, Kane County 3 (10 Innings) – The performance of Michael Allen was the story of this game. He gave up just a run on three hits in five innings. He walked none and struck out six. Santos Arias gave up a run in his inning. Blake Martin struck out four in his two innings of work. Charles Nolte gets the loss. He gave up a run on two hits and a walk in 1.1 innings. Michael Tarsi came in to get the final two outs. Mark Dolenc went 2-4 with his 31st stolen base. Estarlin de Los Santos had a walk and his fourth double. He also stole his 15th base.

NOTES - Ben Revere has again been out, this time with a knee injury. Yesterday, he was named to the Midwest League's post season All-Star team. He was also named the League's Most Valuable Player and the Prospect of the Year. Not bad for a guy who started the season in Extended Spring Training. These choices were made by the league's managers.

ELIZABETHTON EXTRAS

Tuesday – E-Twins/Princeton – The game was rained out due to rain. On Wednesday, the E-Twins will start their playoffs with a Best 2 out of 3 series against Pulaski.

NOTES - Mark Hamburger caught an early morning flight on Tuesday to join his new teammates, the Clinton Lumber Kings. Again, he not only switched teams, but he was promoted to the Midwest League. He entered the game on Tuesday night in the 9th inning with a 5-2 lead. He struggled a bit, allowing a hit and two walks, but was able to pitch a scoreless inning for his first save with the team.

GCL TWINS TALK
Tuesday - Game 1 – GCL Twins 3, GCL Red Sox 6 – Jean Mijares fell to 0-3 after this start. In four innings, he gave up six runs on eight hits and a walk. He did strikeout seven. Blayne Weller made his first pro appearance and gave up two hits, but no runs, in an inning. He struck out one. Jay Sawatski gave up two hits in his inning. Juan Sanchez and Andres Diaz were each 2-3. Sanchez hit his 12th double. Aaron Hicks hit his 10th double.

Tuesday - Game 2 – GCL Twins 2, GCL Red Sox 3 – Jon Goncalves and Michael Gonzalez were each 2-3 in this game. Goncalves also had a walk. Michael Mopas started and gave up no runs on one hits in three innings. He walked two and struck out two. Mauro Schiavoni came in and was perfect for two innings. Khol Nanney gave up three runs on five hits and a walk in just one inning. Kelvin Mota dropped his ERA to 1.07 with a scoreless inning.

Again, thanks for stopping by and always feel free to e-mail me or comment below.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

More on Eddie and

Monday Game Notes

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

Well, it was a very interesting day for the Twins and their fans. I heard of the Twins acquisition of Eddie Guardado approximately thirty minutes before I first saw it in print or heard it on the radio. I saw that I did post it here before any of the others, but only by about ten minutes. So that was kind of fun. But here are just some further thoughts on the trade, first from the perspective of each player:

Eddie Guardado has pitched 49.1 innings in 55 games so far this season with the Rangers. He went 3-3 with a 3.65 ERA. He also had four saves. Most of the season, he was a set up man for Rangers closer CJ Wilson, but when Wilson had surgery and was lost for the season recently, Guardado took over closer duties. As we have seen, the 37 year old southpaw doesn't throw very hard anymore. He may top out at 85 mph. Then again, he never was a flame thrower, hitting maybe 91 on the radar gun at times. He has always been able to get by on guts and determination more than stuff. He did have Tommy John surgery last year, but he clearly has come back from that. Guardado spent part of 1993 through 2003 with the Twins. He took over as the closer in the second half of the 2001 season. In 2001 and 2002, he combined for 86 saves. So what will his role with the Twins be? Well, obviously I don't know, but I have a feeling. Clearly he isn't taking over the closer's role! That's Joe Nathan's. But the fact that Guardado has been a late inning guy much of his relieving career, I think he can be the Twins 8th inning guy. He can get lefties out (they are hitting just .172/.236/.297 this year), but he can also get right-handed batters out (they are hitting .228/.282/.376 this year). But I really see him just adding another option for Ron Gardenhire to use. Think of it like this maybe... he can use Guardado and Guerrier in the 8th inning, Crain and Reyes in the 7th inning and Breslow and Bonser in the 6th inning. Having options is really most important. The thing I really like about Guardado is the mental side of his game. He's been around a long time. He's pitched in a lot of big games. He won't be scared or intimidated by any situation. And something I think is vital for any reliever, if he does have a bad game, you know he won't carry it into the next game.
To make room for Guardado, the Twins Designated Mike Lamb for Assignment. That means that they will likely eat the rest of his 2008 contract and likely all of his $3.0 million for 2009. It would be hypocritical of me to bash the Lamb signing now. Why? Because when the Twins announced the signing, I really liked it. Although he had never been an every day player, he had played 125, 126 and 124 games the previous three years. He had double-digit homers, plenty of doubles and had taken some walks. The Twins had a need at 3B (we didn't know that Buscher would be solid, as he has been). The deal was for two years and about $6.2 million. That would give the Twins time to determine who their 3B of the future would be, probably Danny Valencia. I still believe that the deal made sense. Unfortunately, Lamb just did not responded with production. An OPS of about .600 just doesn't cut it, especially when his defense was sub-par too. I can't imagine a team claiming him and taking on the contract, so the Twins will eat the contract. I definitely think that someone will sign Lamb as a pinch hitter down the stretch. He is a veteran, professional, left-handed hitter with playoff experience. He is also, from all accounts, a great clubhouse guy and good teammate. Once he becomes a free agent, I can see a team in the playoff hunt taking a flyer on Lamb. I can also see Lamb just sitting out the rest of this season and considering his future.
Finally, in order to acquire Guardado, the Twins did have to give something up. According to LaVelle, the Rangers were asking for the likes of Jeff Manship, Anthony Swarzak and Brian Duensing at the trade deadline. Bill Smith was wise to just say no. Two months of Eddie G is not worth that much. However, Guardado could be a very important cog for the Twins in 2008, so the Twins did have to give up something. That 'something' ended up being Mark Hamburger. As you can imagine, the ridiculous jokes of "Twins Acquire Guardado for a Hamburger" started right away. Sure, Hamburger was a reliever in the Appalachian League, and he is just 1-2 with a 4.17 ERA and a 1.33 WHIP. But remember that the lower levels of the minor leagues are more about development than statistics. Some important numbers to note are 13, 40, 36.2 and 96. In 36.2 innings this year, he has walked just 13 and struck out 40. Also important is the fact that when he pitched for the E-Twins on Sunday night, he was regularly touching 96 mph on the radar gun. Hamburger is a local kid, born in St. Paul and went to high school at Mounds View. He then went to Mesabi Range Community College for a year. Then last June, he went to a tryout camp and the Twins signed him that day. So again, he probably has thrown limited innings since he played high school ball in Minnesota and at a small community college in Northern Minnesota. That is why, in my mind, 96 mph might just be the starting point as he gets stronger and pitches more. His 13 saves leads the Appalachian League this year. Because of the lack of pitching prospects in the Rangers system, I think Hamburger has a chance to advance through the system fairly quickly. Hamburger, along with the trade, gets a promotion to the Midwest League. He will report today to the Clinton team.

For an absolutely tremendous look at Mark Hamburger, today's Newberg Report contains a lot of great information. You will definitely want to read it!

Secondly, let's take a look at the trade from the perspective of the two teams:

Minnesota Twins - For the Twins, Guardado was a guy that just makes sense. They need another veteran bullpen arm to help bridge the gap to Joe Nathan. They also, as a small market team, have to go into every deal thinking not only about today and this year, but of the future. They were able to acquire Guardado for a relief pitcher who was still five levels from the Major Leagues. The Twins have put themselves in a position to compete for a playoff spot in 2008. It would be a shame not to go for it.
Texas Rangers - The Rangers aren't going to make the playoffs this year. Guardado was only signed for this year. It would be silly of them to not get what they can for Guardado at this time of the season. Rangers President Nolan Ryan has said that the organization needs more pitching prospects. For a guy they would have controlled for only another six weeks, they got a 21 year old pitcher who hasn't thrown a whole lot or received a lot of professional coaching in his life and already throws 96 mph with decent control. LaVelle pointed out that someone with the Twins told him that he believes Hamburger has a good chance to pitch in the Major Leagues. Yes, there are no certainties with prospects, but I think Hamburger is worth giving a shot. The Rangers need as many arms as they can get.

SUMMARY

I actually think this is a good trade for both teams. It is a situation where everyone wins. Of course, we don't know how Eddie Guardado will perform for the Twins over the remainder of the season. We don't know if he will be the key piece to getting the Twins to the playoffs. But as of today, this is a trade that makes a lot of sense for the Twins. Their biggest need was another bullpen arm, and Eddie gives them that. For the Rangers, they should be trading off some veterans. Clearly they have a little ways to go before they can compete with the Angels. They should learn from the A's on how to build by trading. But getting Mark Hamburger is a good thing for that organization.

One other note that I have to make... the Twins were able to pick up a bullpen arm for a playoff push for a guy that they signed last June out of a tryout camp. Think about that for a moment. I think that speaks volumes for the Twins scouts. Obviously as someone who follows the Twins and their minor league system so closely, this is an interesting trade for me. This is about the level of prospect I would have given up for Guardado to say that it was a good deal for both teams.

And now... we shall see how it turns out. For the Twins it is about 2008. For the Rangers, it is about 2011, 2012, and however long Hamburger remains in their system. But for today, I think we can all be happy.

What are your thoughts on the deal?

TWINS 2, MARINERS 4 (11 Innings)

According to Yahoo! Sports Jeff Passan, the Twins pitchers are a bunch of Control Freaks! Agreed.
Francisco Liriano did his job. He pitched the first six innings and gave up just one run. He gave up five hits, walked one and struck out three. 68 of his 95 pitches were strikes.
Matt Guerrier was called upon to pitch the 7th inning. He did his job. He pitched a perfect inning.
Eddie Guardado came in for the 8th inning, and he did his job. He threw 11 pitches and nine of them were strikes. He got three lazy pop ups in the inning.
Joe Nathan came in with a 2-1 lead for the bottom of the 9th inning, and he did NOT do his job. He left a fat pitch over the middle of the plate for Adrian Beltre to lead off with a double. Jose Lopez had a long at bat that resulted in an error on Nick Punto meaning runners on first and third. Jeff Clement grounded into a double play, but the tying run scored. Let me say this... if everyone else does their job and gets Joe Nathan the ball with a lead, I'm not too worried, regardless of the results of this game.
Jesse Crain came in for the 10th frame. He did his job. He struck out the first two batters and got Ichiro to ground out to shortstop to end the inning. Well, at least he did his job for one inning. As has been the case most of this year, Crain has been good in one inning stints, but whenever Gardy asks him to go beyond one inning, he gets hit. After walking Raul Ibanez, Adrian Beltre hit a long home run to end the game in the 11th inning.
Delmon Young had a very good game. He went 2-3 with a walk and an eighth inning single that drove in Joe Mauer to give the Twins a 2-1 lead.
This one hurts. Obviously teams like Seattle will beat teams like the Twins. They're spoilers. That's what they do. But this one hurts because the goat of the game is Joe Nathan, which never happens. And in the end, I know that Nathan gets the job done most of the time, so given more chances the rest of the season, he will be fine. Just one game, right?
This is short... I must sleep so I can stay up again on Tuesday night.

Any other thoughts on the Twins?

Twins Minor League Updates

Monday SethSpeaks Player of the Day – Rene Tosoni, GCL Twins
Monday SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day – Anthony Swarzak, New Britain Rockcats

ROCHESTER REPORT
Monday – Rochester7, Syracuse 1 – If someone can explain what happened to Anthony Swarzak when he was promoted from New Britain (where he was 3-8 with a 5.67 ERA in 20 starts), please let me know. In this game, he went eight innings and gave up just one run. He allowed seven hits, walked two and struck out six to improve to 5-0 and drop his ERA to 1.89. Tim Lahey pitched a scoreless ninth. Pretty much everyone contributed to the offense. Jason Pridie was 3-5 with his 19th double. Alejandro Machado was 3-5. Bobby Kielty was 2-3 with two walks. Howie Clark went 2-