Saturday game notes

• I do not subscribe to his philosophy, I think he is way overrated as a manager, but I feel for Gardy. Loosing a sibling sucks. No matter if the sibling is 5, 30, 50 or 99 years old. My thoughts are with him.


• Meanwhile down the farm, Ullger is managing the team and has the brilliant idea to bat Harris lead off and Lamb in the 2-hole. Harris is a much better bottom of the lineup hitter; and both him and Lamb are plugs in the bases. Morneau stole more bases than Lamb last year. Gomez is ready and willing and he better start tomorrow against the lefty-killer Rogers.


• Ullger looks more spastic moving to the mound than Pat Neshek getting into his wind up. That's a scary thought. And even scarier is that this guy was the Twins' hitting coach for (way too many) years. Speaking of hitting coaches, Vavra seemed to be elated that Mike Lamb got those 2 hits today, because he (according to Bert) worked with Lamb to 'make him stand more "upright" in the batter's box'; as if Lamb could stand more upright (and uptight) in the box, to begin with. Gratz Vavra!


• Baker's groin re-flamed up again allowing Bass the opportunity to be a hero today and he took it by the ears... Monroe showed why he should play more; and he should. If he does not start tomorrow, it will be a very stupid decision (but that would come from the man who was trying to make David Ortiz hit to the opposite field, so it should be taken with a 20lbs grain of salt or so.


• Twins win. They are first in the Central and above .500. All is good

Twins MVP: Bass

Twins win

Yeap. Convincingly 11-1 over Detroit. Great pitching, great hitting, what is there to say, other than Gomez getting hit on the head by Pudge during his second steal of the game and Gardy's brother dying. Hope all is good for Gardy. Yes, I do think that he is not the sharpest knife on the block as far as managers go, but this is a game and no matter how the game goes and how things turn out losing one's brother sucks. Wishing the best for Gardy and hope that he takes all the time needed to heal.

Twins MVP: Gomez

Early Wed game notes

• Early game today @ mlb.tv with White Sox announcers. The Twins' lineup is the same with last night, which is a good thing. 4 pitch walk to start the game by Blackburn. Young robs the second sox batter from a double. A run scores on a double but Gomez get an assist as he is thrown out at third. Pop up inning over. Sox 1-0.
  Gomez has a single to the left to start the 1st inning for the Twins. Moves to second on a balk. Harris sacrifices him to third with a bunt. Mauer walks in 4 pitches. Morneau strikes out. Cuddyer ties the game with a single. Kubel strikesout. End of 1, 1-1.


• Blackburn strikes out Quentin, pops up Crede, a single and a ground out. 25 pitches for 2 innings of work. Young flies out to deep right center, Lamb grounds out to the 1st base, Punto walks, Gomez strikes out. Gardy gave the hit and run sign with 2 strikes on Gomez. Duh. Bloop single, double play, 2 Sox out in 3 pitches.
  Fly out. 6 pitch inning for Blackburn, 31 total through 3. Morneau has a 2 out hit, Cuddyer gets hit by a pitch on the back. 2 on, 2 out. Kubel strikes out. 1-1 after 3.


• Ground out to Harris, strikeout, Quentin hits a solo HR, fly out. 2-1 Sox. Young walks. Lamb flies out. Punto gets an infield single off the pitcher's foot. Gomez doubles in Young, men on 2nd and 3rd, 1 out. Harris brings in Punto with a sacrifice. Gomez on second, 2 out. Mauer up. Gomez steals third and then thrown out at home when tried to score on a bad throw. Gardy up and argues the play. Replay shows Gomez safe. The Sox return the run on top of 5th. 3-3. 1-2-3 5th for the Twins. End of 5th, 3-3.


• No runs for the Sox on the 6th, 4k and 74 pitches for Blackburn. Kubel and Young both strike out. Lamb strikes out on a wild pitch and reaches 1st. Punto is the 4th man who strikes out in this inning for the Twins. It would have been a perfect situation to pinch hit Monroe for him and use Tolbert on the field... End of 6. 3-3. Blackburn i for the 7th to face the bottom of the Sox order. No score for the Sox.
  Gomez bunts for his third hit for the day. Harris sac bunts him to second. Mauer grounds out to second, Gomez to 3rd. Morneau brings him home with a ground rule double. Cuddyer is intentionally walked. Kubel strikes out for the 3rd time in the game. End of 7. Twins 4-3


• Reyes in to face Thome. Strike out. Neshek in. Strikes out Dye in 3 pitches, strikes out Quentin in 4. Twins' pitchers strike out the side. Yound strikes out. Lamb strikes out on a questionable called third stike. Punto grounds out. Nathan in. Fly ball. Single (Lamb saves a double by knocking the ball down). Walk. Fly out. Strike out. Twins win. Second win for Blackburn. 9th save for Nathan.

Twins MVP: Gomez

Tuesday night game notes

• White Sox vs the Twins in the dome. Punto starts again at SS and batting 9th. Good to see Gomez back again and on the top of the lineup. I really do not understand the complaints about Gomez. At worse he projects like a Vince Coleman with more power and at best he projects like a Rickie Henderson; I'd take any place in between. He is the fastest player in the majors and he can make plays in the CF no other outfielder can make, included the (not so) dearly departed Torii Hunter.


• This team needs to score some runs for Boof soon. They scored a total of 7 runs in his 5 starts, a stat bad enough to make Boof run for the border for fourthmeal after each game. He looks like he gained back at least half of the 25 lbs he lost during the offseason. Regardless, he has 2 strikeouts, a semi-intentional walk and an inconsequential single in the 1st inning. His fastball touches 93 mph with decent movement and his cutter has a bite.


• Mauer has a 2 out triple in the first. The Morneau flies out. Boof cruises through the second. A couple of encouraging signs: Mauers triple in the first and Young's single on the second were hit in the gaps instead of the opposite hit. Young steals second. Lamb strikes out. Boof faces only 3 men in the 3rd, thanks to a great DP started by Morneau. I think that Morneau should be a serious candidate for a gold glove this season. Punto almost makes an error in the 4th but Boof gets out. 4 IP 4 H 4 Ks, 54 pitchers. So far so good


• Cuddyer leads off the bottom of the 4th with a double. Kubel hits a 2 run homer. Young has his second hit and second stolen base then goes to third on a throw error by AJP. Lamb brings him in with a sacrifice fly to deep center. Gomez has a couple of quality at bats fouling balls close to the zone and letting go breaking balls on the dirt. He had a 3-2 count, working it up from 0-2, in the fourth, resulting in a fly out to the center. Bonser has an 1-2-3 5th with a couple of strike outs (6 for the day). Unfortunately an 1-2-3 inning for the other side too. Floyd has thrown 88 pitches to Boof's 72. Another scoreless inning for Boof, another strike out. 7 total. 88 total pitches through 6.


• Homer to Crede and another strikeout for Boof. Top of 7th 3-1 Twins. Neshek has a hit and a strike out on top of the 8th; Reyes in to face Thomas. Reyes gets Thomas to fly out to left and Young doubles up the runner on the first base. Double play. Reyes retires 2 batters with 3 pitches. Great defensive plays by Harris and Gomez in the 9th, 1-2-3 inning for Nathan's 8th save. Twins win 3-1.


• Rochester came back from 3-0 to beat Pawtucket 9-3 at home, in a game where Humber was used as a reliever and was credited with the win.

Twins MVP: Bonser

Thoughts...

• Did not want to mention Sunday's 10-0 loss to Texas, hoping it would go away. It didn't. Bad performance from the batters and starting pitching. Twins MVP for the game was Harris. It was hopefully an one-off and the Twins will regroup hosting the White Sox tonight. Bonser vs Floyd. Livan Hernandez is 3 for 3 against Floyd with 2 doubles and a home run.


• In addition to cheating on baseball, Roger Clemens reportedly cheated on his wife with a 15 year old when he was 28, a relationship that lasted more than 10 years... Methinks that statutory rape is more serious than steroid use...



• Randy Ruiz watch:
  
  

  
  G   AB  H   R  2B  3B  HR   RBI  BB  K    BA   OBP   SLG  OPS
  23  82  23  8  7   2   1    14   5   24  .280 .318  .431 .769