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

Early Thursday game notes

• Gomez starts the game with his first homer of the season. Liriano walks the first batter he faces with 5 pitches. Bases loaded (2 walks, one hit) one out. Punto froze at the hit to the left side that scored 2 runs. Another walk to load the bases. Another single, another run, bases still loaded. A 2 RBI single. Gardy needs to put Liriano out of his misery and send him to the minors for a while. He just is not productive this year and maybe needs a few months to work the kinks without jeopardizing the big club. I bet the phones is Rochester are burning. Since the Twins do not need another starter for a while, it might make sense to bring a reliever like Korecky or Gomez. Unfortunately Gomez is not on the 40 men roster, which would make Korecky a higher probability.


• Redmond looks really pathetic at the plate and cannot throw out runners. It's probably the end of the line for him. Two hits from Bass and an error by Buscher make the second inning precarious but a great play by Morneau leaves the As scoreless. 2 consecutive bunt singles by Punto and Gomez to start the third, but Harris grounds into a double play. Kubel flies out. The 2 bunt singles wasted. Monroe has hit 2 rockets in this game, unfortunately they are both about 500 feet high and 150 feet long. Kubel practically runs into Gomez in a routine play. Wouldn't it be better with Monroe there? Bass gets hit hard and hits a batter, Buscher makes a rookie mistake going for a botched double play instead of tagging the lead run and Crain is warming up. 2 more runs score and Bass has 57 pitches in 3.1 innings. Buscher singles in Redmond who had doubled over the 3B line.


• Bass serves a homer to the first batter in the 5th inning and a triple (underneath Kubel's glove) to the second batter (batters number 8 and 9 in the As lineup), then a double to the third, before he hits the showers, sparing himself of the "cycle". Crain in. Two pitches, two outs. Then walks Thomas and the next batter is out in one pitch. Nice pattern for Crain, whose fastball reached 95. He retires the first 2 batters he faces in the next inning then serves a homer. Span, in for Kubel in right, lets a ball drop in front of him. Redmond gets the first walk for the Twins this series after a hit by Monroe


• Reyes is in for the 7th and good to see him for more than a batter and facing righties. Retires the first 2 batters he faces, then retires Frank Thomas on a pop up that Harris made it more difficult than it had to be. Rincon in for the 8th. One hit, 1 K, successful inning. Last chance for the Twins. Young gets his second hit of the game, Monroe strikes out, Redmond strikes out, Buscher grounds out to first. Game over. Twins lose 11-2

Twins MVP: Gomez

AL Central musings

• Several days ago I listed the team ages of all world series winners since 1980. So far the calculated team age for Detroit is 32.0 for batters and 30.7 for pitchers. If they go ahead and win it all this year, they will be the oldest team that accomplished that since 1980. I am not surprised to see Detroit struggle (I picked them 3rd in AL Central with a .500 record), but I was surprised to see them struggle against KC (which I picked 4th over the White Sox, and now see it challenging Detroit for 3rd.) Offensive slumps are a part of the game, but with Detroit relying on their offense to win cannot afford to have more than one bat slumping at the same time


• Speaking of offense, the addition of 2 ex-NL teammates to the Twins' lineup gave the Twins' fans a view of a rare but exciting play, the suicide squeeze. Everett's bat was a question mark coming into the season, but he has proven to be a very smart player that can help the team in several ways. Just early season numbers, but so far he has as many RBI (2) as the guy who leads the team in OPS (Kubel) in the same number of at-bats (10). Gomez has been a very positive surprise. I am sure that there is nobody west of the Mississippi who would like to see Span or Pridie over him up here. If he keeps it up (and indications are that he will only get better), by the all star break, a certain number 48 would be forgotten. His bunting the last 2 games has vastly improved and his last 2 bunts for hits can be repeated, with any infield defense in any formation... and this is just scary. I don't see Tolbert starting over Harris any time soon, but he could be a very useful piece of the bench, which makes Punto pretty much disposable. He can do everything Punto can, only better. I would not doubt that Bill Smith would (and should) be on the phone trying to unload Punto (but where and how?)


• Cuddyer's injury lands him on the DL and Span is recalled from Rochester. Most likely, Kubel would be the starting right fielder with Monroe the starting DH and Span on the bench


• Cleveland lost to the A's last night, so the Twins are 1.5 before the leaders of the division and the play them in the next two games. If they sweep, it is possible that they will lead the division by Sunday night. It is likely that the Twins will meet Mr Nomo tonight, and this is a good thing.

  



• Meanwhile, Bill James alledges that Puckett and Gaetti used steroids. Insane and inane. On another not, I received Hrbie's book. Look forward to reading it.

Notes & thoughts from today

• Detroit lost to Chicago 8-5 (at home) and is now 0-4; the White Sox's win automatically puts the Twins' in the 4th place, regardless the outcomes of the other games; will be rooting for the A's who are playing Cleveland at Oakland later tonight (10PM ET)


• Glad to discover that mlb.com has the AAA games on gameday play-by-play, so I can follow that while I watch the Twins on mlb.tv tonight


• About the Twins' game: John Bale who found his way to the Royals' bullpen last year through Japan is the starter. I just hope that the Twins pound him


• Looks like Baker wants to be part of the sideburns brother's club


• Tolbert made 2 mistakes in the first inning at second base, which cost an additional run in the first inning


• Bottom of 1st: Gomez starts with a bunt single. Steels second. Mauer singles up the middle, Gomez in 2-1. Cuddyer has an infield hit to the SS. Man on 1st and 2nd no outs. Morneau grounds into DP, two outs, Mauer on 3rd. Young breaks his bat and ground out to the 1st baseman. End of 1, 2-1


• Baker got himself in trouble in this game so far, but seems energetic and hitting low 90s. His slider is not that much working though. 40 pitches through 2 innings


• Monroe fouls out to the catcher, Lamb grounds out, Toblert singles through the middle.Everett flies out. End of 2, 3-1 Royals


• Much needed 1-2-3 inning from Baker top of the 3rd. Gomez grounds out to the pitcher. Mauer gets an infield hit, Cuddyer hits to the left. Mornaeu doubles Mauer in (his first hit of the season) , Cuddyer is hurt sliding to 3rd, Kubel in for him. Young drives Kubel home with a groundout at 1st. Monroe strikes out on a high fastball. End of 3, 3-3.


• 1-2-3 inning for Baker, just 5 pitches. Lamb doubles to right. Tolbert lays a sacrifice bunt, Lamb to 3rd, 1 out. Everett suicide squeezes Lamb in for the lead. Gomez gets an infield hit to the SS. Steals second. Mauer out to 2B. Twins up 4-3.


• Baker settles, another 1-2-3 inning. (Rochester down 4-3 to Richmond, btw) Kubel at bat. He so looks like Hrbie at bat... he walks. Morneau DPs at the pitcher on the first pitch 2 outs. 3 straight balls to Young then flies to right. End of 5, 4-3 Twins.


• Baker cruised over next inning in a Guillen DP to Tolbert after the home plate umpire had to do some equipment adjustment due to a foul bowl to his face mask. Monroe strikes out. Lamb pops up to the SS. Tolbert grounds out to the 2B. End of 6, 4-3 Twins.


• 7th. Baker back in. 1 pitch 1 out. 2 pitches 2 outs. Neshek up in the pen. (Reyes was up before now he is down) Gload hits at the left. Gardy in Baker out, Neshek in, standing ovation for Baker. (Rochester loses 4-3 to Richmond. Duensing pitched a decent game.) Neshek gets Buck out on a broken bat grounder to the pitcher for the 3rd out. Everett grounds out to 2B. Gomez long double to left center. Pitching change. Gobble in. Mauer strikes out. Kubel strikes out. End of 7, 4-3 Twins.


• Punto defensive replacement at 3B. Goundout, 1 out; Flyout, 2 down. K, 3. out. Middle of 8th. Morneau strikes out. Pitching change (Ramon Ramirez in), Young up, he flies to right. Nathan is up. Monroe strikes out. End of 8. 4-3 Twins.


• Top of 9th, Nathan in, 1 out. 2 out. A hit. 3 outs. Twins win

Twins MVP: Gomez

Notes & thoughts from today - early edition

4-5 loss, today; 1-3 for the season, 3rd place overall

Kubel hit the 1st HR of the season (upper decker over the baggie on a high fastball by Spier.) Gomez got the hang of laying down a band on turf. That could be a great weapon this year for him. Harris made another couple of great plays this game. I don't think that there is a loss on D when he is in. Good to see Harris, Everett and Gomez with back to back to back singles. First IBB of the season (Mauer, 9th)

"Strained right bisep" without being hit or overworked with weights, sounds like an elbow or shoulder issue (unfortunately). Gardenhire kept the first 2 pitchers in the game too long. They both showed signs of ineffectiveness at least 3 batters before they were done.

Next series against the AL Central leaders, Royals, at home. Would be interested to see how Baker is. With today's long effort by Bass and 2 days in a row pitching by Guerrier, Baker better go at least 6.

Cleveland lost to Chicago & Detroit lost to the Royals; Cabrera is day to day with a leg strain

Matt Garza's line from yesterday (@BAL): 5.1 IP, 6H, 5ER, 2HR, 2BB, 3K

MLB.tv is just wonderful

Twins MVP: Mauer

Notes & thoughts from today

• Twins lose 0-1


• Great close game. A pitcher's duo. Unfortunately, I thought that Saunders would be more hittable than that.


• Tolbert turned a cool DP in the 8th, with bases loaded and one out...


• Redmond's dp at the 8th after Monroe's walk was a backbreaker


• If people think that Gomez is green at the plate just look at Aybar (and he's 2 years older than Gomez)


• Morneau's backhand play on Figgins in the 5th was just amazing and the following play by Harris was great. Enough webgems, how about some O?


• Blackburn is a gamer. He was fighting with every pitch, kept his composure on the mount and kept going...


• I need a #22 jersey (and a #21 too...); don't know about a #27 though... He looks likes his buddy Torri in the box.


• What's up with the lack of crowd in the Dome?


• Blackburn, Lamb and Mauer are brothers in sideburns


• Detroit lost 0-4 to KC. No errors, but the lineup is not clicking and Inge is
  still the starting CF. Polanco is 0-10 for the season & Jacque Jones (0-7).


• Got an mlb.tv view of the Chicago - Indians game and Carmona started the gameb looking like "the wild thing" character from the movie Major League before he settled down. It seems very cold there also...[edit: eventually it seems like the Indians are winning comfortable this game]


• Here is all you need to know about the helmets worn by the Twins' base coaches this season. I think that the whole team should probably wear them. I really like the look it somewhat reminds me of those crazy Expos uniforms in the 80s.


• Brian McNamee is hitting ebay big times

Twins MVP: Blackburn

Quasi play-by-play notes from the Twins' season opener

(unedited streamed thoughts typed as I was watching:)

Great to see Gomez sprint to take the field. First pitch of the game a strike, first 3 batters retired, 9 total pitches for Hernandez. Gomez starts the game with a double and scores with a Mauer hit. Hunter catches Cuddyer's short to right center amid a chorus of crowd noise. Morneau walks and Weaver hasn't thrown a slider for a strike yet. Delmon flies to Guerrero on the first pitch and Monroe flies out on one
pitch to Hunter (amid another chorus of noise). The strike zone has been pretty
wide, which is a good thing for Hernandez, a finesse pitcher who likes to eat at the
corners. Nineteen pitches for Weaver.

Anderson out in 3 pitches. Hunter is getting an ovation coming to bat, flies to
Cuddyer in short right in the second pitch. Kotchman singles, Cuddyer almost picked him off at first with a smart throw. Livan has been a master of the outside corner
so far tonight with a well working slider and change up. Force at 2nd. 6 outs, 20
total pitches for Hernandez. Weaver is wild with his 2-seamer also, Lamb growns out to the second baseman. Harris long fouls a hanging curve to the opposite field and
then takes a fourseamer down the middle for a called 3rd strike. Everett grounds out
, 3rd inning over. 30 total pitches for Weaver and all the new Twins' starters have
taken a taste of the Dome.

Napoli looks like Tim Laudner on the plate with Livan's 12-6 curve, K in 3 pitches.
Delmon throws out Figgins at the second base but the umpire calls him safe (very
clear at the replay). Man on second 2 outs, Matthews up, Livan working the inside
corner with a 2 seamer then a slow curve. The crowd gets behind Livan. Livan gets
Matthews on a slow grownder to the pitcher on a sinker. 3 outs, 39 total pitches,
the top of the Twins' order is up. Gomez bunts for a hit; head first slide on first.
3 throws on a row on 1st base by Weaver then ball high and out. Gomez steals second
on a pitchout. Man on 2nd no outs. 3-1, bouncer to the right, Gomez to 3rd with 1
out. Cuddyer out on 3 strikes, Morneau up & out to the second baseman.
Guerrero singles to the left, Anderson flies to Gomez, Hunter DPs to Harris, great
bare hand catch by Morneau (definite Webgem). 44 total pitches for Livan. Delmon
singles on a Texas leaguer on short right, Monroe up. Young steals 2nd on a hit and
run. Monroe stikes out. Lamb singles to right center, Young is in, 2-0 Twins.
Harris singles to center, Lamb to 3rd, Everett up, mount conference. Do I see a
bunt? Nope. Weaver's sliders are hitting the dirt now. Pickoff try (must have been
the 15th throw to the 1st base by Weaver). Fastball low 2-2. Double play to
second.

5th inning, Angels' bottom of the order. Kotchman has a hit to right (2 for 2 in the game) Hernandez is getting a bit wild. Kendrick base hit to left. Man on 1st and
2nd no outs. Napoli singles to left. Bases loaded nobody out. Izturis up. Great
time for a strikeout. Double play, a run scores. Man on 3rd 2 outs. Figgins up.
strike one. 1-1 outside. 1-2. Crowd on their feet. 2-2. Mauer at the mound. 3-2
outside. Fastball inside low, base hit, right field. Score tied. Gary Matthews Jr
on the plate. 1-0 outside. 2-0 high. Gomez incredible running catch at right center
(another webgem, Torii who?). 65 pitches for Hernandez. 3-1 for Gomez, draws a walk.
Mauer takes a strike and another. Throw to first and another. Gomez off, steals
2nd. 1-2. 2-2. Mauer out to second basement, Gomez to 3rd 1 out, Cuddyer up. Single
at left on 1st pitch (slider), Gomez in, Twins 3-2. Morneau fouls a long one then
takes a strike down the middle. Another throw to 1st and another. Full count.
Cuddyer steals second on a missed hit and run. Morneau out. Young up. 1-2. 2-2 on
the dirt. Fies out to the right. Inning over. 85 total pitches for Weaver.
Guerrero grounds out to Everett. 2-1 to Anderson. 2-2. 2 foul balls. Curve. Flied
out to Delmon Young. Hunter up. Boos. Flies out to Gomez. Devine symmetry... 1-2-3
inning. 77 total pitches for Livan. Monroe grounds out to 2B. 2-2 to Lamb. Out at
the shortstop. Harris up. Nice slurve for a strike by Weaver. Harris get a double
with Izturis and Anderson both looking for the ball. (Noise please). Harris on 2nd 2
outs Everett on the plate. Oday warming up for the Angels. Everett flies to
Anderson. End of 6. Twins up 3-2. Weaver at 100 pitches.

Kotchman grounds out to Everett. Kendrick 2-0, 2-1 soft grounder to Hernandez, 2
down. Napoli flies out to Gomez. 1-2-3 inning. 84 total pitches for Hernandez. Gomez
up. 1-0. Foul ball 1-1. Sliden outside 2-1. Another one (and low) 3-1. Foul 3-2. K on
a curve on the dirt. Weaver is done, Oliver in, Mauer up. Mauer out at the
shortstop. Cuddyer up out at the shortstop. 7 done. Twins up 3-2.

Neshek in. One K (Izturis). Full count to Figgins. Foul ball, another foul and
another. Got him looking. 2Ks for Neshek. Matthews up, drops for a hit in shallow
left between Everett and Young for a double. Guererro up. Reyes is warming in the
bullpen. 1-0 outside. 2-0 outside. 2-1 foul straight back. 2-2 strike inside. Crowd
is in it. Way inside 3-2. Crowd yells. High fastball swing and miss. Stike 3.
Neshek strikes out the side. O'Day (a submariner) pitching for the Angels, Morneau up
grounds out to second. Nathan is warming up. Young hits throught the middle.
Kubbel PH for Monroe. 0-2. Texas league double on the left field. Kubel on second,
Young on third, Lamb is being intentionally walked. Bases loaded, Harris up, one
out. Punto PR for Lamb. 0-1. 0-2. Foul ball at right. K on a singing fastball. 2
out, Everett up. 0-1. Long foul, hr distance on the left field. Pop up to the left
fielder. Inning out.

Nathan in for the 9th. Anderson. 0-1, 1-1, 2-1, foul ball 2-2. Crowd is up. Fly
ball, Gomez has it. One out. Hunter up. Swing and a miss on a slider. 0-1. Another.
0-2. Another. Foul ball. Fastball inside 1-2. Broken bat foul. 1-2. High fastball
swing and a miss. K. 2 out. Kotchman up. Slider for a stike 0-1. BH swinging bat to
the pitcher. Willets running for Kotchman. Kendrick up. Foul 0-1, Foul 0-2. Crowd
is going. Up the middle Everett steps on the 2b bag for the last out. Twins win 3-2.


Tidbits & observations:

• Impressed by the quality of Livan's pitching. He works the strike zone and changes speeds with ease and can throw strikes with all his pitches. He could be a great mentor for the Twins' young starters


• Lamb's sideburns are rivaling Mauer's


• Artificial turf likes Gomez


• Gomex had a better game than Hunter


• I think that Monroe should be more selective with his swings and run harder to the first base


• Hernandez has the same ERA and record as Santana


• Gomez's uniform is the dirtiest Twins' uni I've seen for a while


• Neshek is on top of his game. (period)

Twins MVP: Gomez

Final score 3-2. WP: Hernandez 0-1; SV: Nathan (1)

Some flaws in the Twins' 25 men roster

The 25-men roaster is all but set with the only question marks being whether Liriano and/or Baker will make the trip up north or stay in FL for extensive spring training until they build their endurance. Regardless, I think that there are some flaws in the 25 men roster that can be proven painful for the Twins this year:

• There are too many pitchers on the roster, leaving some serious deficiencies in the lineup. Historically, teams had 10 pitchers and 15 batters on their rosters. During the nineties, especially after expansion. The standard became 11 and 14. Now several teams are starting the season with 12 pitchers. This tactic, even though would lead to a fresher pitching staff, does not allow the manager to make appropriate substitutions in situational pinch hitting and running as well as in a day-to-day injury, unless the 4-man bench is set up correctly.


• The Twins have issues with their 4-man bench because Redmond is not very versatile; whomever from Monroe or Kubel does not start at DH can only play corner outfield positions successfully; Punto and Tolbert have pretty much the same skill set (infielders) and they are practically a duplication. A versatile outfielder (such as Pridie) could have been a better choice than one of the Punto/Tolbert duo


• Tolbert could be a potential pinch runner in late innings as could be Punto, but when Monroe is starting, there are no power righty bats of the bench.


• Another issue: Gomez is injury prone. He showed that yesterday. It that game, Gomez had a leg cramp and had to leave the game after the forth inning. With Monroe starting at DH, Gardernhire substituted Punto as the CF replacement, a totally inadequate substitution. A better course of action (albeit not ideal) would have been to move Young to CF and insert Kubel as the LF. This problem would be an issue if Gomez is day-to-day and out for a couple of days. This is why Pridie would have been a better choice... The only other position without good backup plan is 1B (the best case scenario if Morneau gets a minor injury would be to put Cuddyer on 1B with either Kubel or Monroe taking the RF position and again have no OF on the bench...


• The pitching staff itself is too righthanded with potentially (if Liriano is not ready) only 1 lefthander (Reyes) on the staff. This is not an issue against primarily righthanded lineups, like Detroit, but it can hurt in the long run. Neshek has a good record against lefties but he is the set up man. Perkins or Keisler should have probably taken Bass' spot (even though the later is out of options.)


• LH relievers are a rare and expensive fruit but the Twins should probably package a few people for a trade. There is a surplus of righthanders and it maybe time to see what a package such as Punto+Bass+Rincon can bring. Would it be enough for a situational lefty? Possible. Additionally, it would solve the bench Punto/Tolbert duplication issue. In such a scenario, Pridie would take Punto's spot, Humber Bass' and the new lefty Rincon's. I think that the Atlanta Braves might be an ideal trade partner, resulting to someone like Royce Ring or even Will Ohman coming to the Twins (with or without the inclusion of Bass in that trade...)

just some food for thought...

Fearless prognostications

'Tis the time of year for that, so here is what my crystal ball says:

Playoff teams:

AL EAST: Red Sox 90-72
AL CENTRAL: Twins 89-73
AL WEST: Angels 91-71
AL WILD CARD: Seattle 88-72
DIVISION CHAMPRIONS: Seattle over Boston in 5, Twins over Angels in 4
AL CHAMPION: Twins over Seattle in 7
NL EAST: Mets 91-71
NL CENTRAL: Brewers 85-77
NL WEST: Padres 88-75
NL WILD CARD: Diamondbacks 86-77
DIVISION CHAMPRIONS: Mets over Diamondbacks in 4, Padres over Brewers in 5
NL CHAMPION: Mets over Padres in 7
WS CHAMPION: Twins over Mets in 6 with Liriano beating Santana in both his starts


Twins' team & player specific:

• There will be 4 players with more than 20 HR (Monreau - more than 30, Young, Kubel, Cuddyer). There will be an additional 4 players with more than 10 HR (Harris, Lamb, Monroe, Mauer) with Gomez maybe making the cut, potentially making Everett the only starter with less than 10 HR


• Gomez will break Knoblauch's Twins single season SB record (62, 1997) and challenge Clyde Milan's franchise record (88, Senators 1912)


• Nathan will break Guardado's single season saves record (45, 2002)


• One of the Twin's pitchers will have better record than Santana


• Another one of the Twin's pitchers will have better record and ERA than any of the names discussed in the Santana trade (Hughes, Lester, Kennedy)


• Gomez will score more runs than either Melky Carbera or Ellsbury


• The Outfield will have more than 50 assists (had 32 last year)


• Harris will have fewer errors than Bartlett this year


• D. Young will have more RBI than Torii Hunter

v2

Some numbers from various CFs this spring (avg/obp/slg/sb/r/ab):

Ellsbury: .206/.263/.382/2/3/34
Hunter: .542/.560/1.125/0/9/24
Melky Cabrera: .407/.469/.519/1/7/27

C Gomez: .250/.275/.500/5/9/36
Pridie: .333/.324/.333/2/6/30
Span: .259/.394/.370/3/5/27

Put me in, coach....

Some numbers from various CFs this spring (avg/obg/slg/sb/r/ab):

Ellsbury: .190/.250/.429/2/1/16
Hunter: .600/.625/1.533/0/7/15
Melky Cabrera: .333/450/.467/0/3/15

C Gomez: .190/.208/.333/3/4/21
Pridie: .238/.247/.238/2/4/21
Span: .214/.421/.286/2/3/14

A few impressions from the Twins-Yankees game (and spring training so far):

1. I know it is pretty early in the spring training, but Gomez is really trying too hard both on the field and on the plate. Maybe he just needs to quit pushing too hard; some veteran mentoring could really help… So far looks like Span might be winning the CF spot, with Pridie being a bench OF and Gomez starting in the minors

2. Slowey had a second bad outing, but his pitching was better than what the numbers indicate. He had absolutely no movement on his fastball and his off-speed stuff was all over the place. Did not help that the plate umpire had a tight strike zone in the beginning of the game.

3. Delmon Young has been a very positive surprise. I think that he might make us forget about Mr. Hunter.

4. Keisler had a very good outing. With the Twins being fairly thin from the left side and Reyes being inconsistent, if he continuous his performance, he could break in the bullpen.

5. Harris was very tentative on the field whereas Casilla made two great plays, he seemed comfortable with the bat and very confident and composed.

6. Unless Monroe comes back flying, I can see Garrett Jones getting his spot as a DH platoon/1b/of/rh pinch hitter player for a discount (he has no options left)

7. Neshek made the Yankees’ batters look like a little league baseball team