Random thoughts from the Twins' Opening Day game

Not necessarily in any order. Just notes I was making while watching the game:

• Luke Hughes was the emergency backup Catcher? Say what? I thought that it would had been Josh Willingham who actually caught before. And (I did double check) Luke has played in every position of the field in pro ball (including P) but C.


• Mauer and GIDP are not a good combination. So are Pavano and his 86 mph "fast"ball, esp when it ends up at the seats.


• The early innings reminded me a bit of last season when the Twins were making heroes out of no-name opposing pitchers. Arrieta's curveball is pretty nasty thought. Helps opposing pitchers having perfect games through the first time in the order.


• Nice play by Carroll in the middle of the 3rd. Nice and steady. I don't think that Nishioka makes that play. And then he makes another one


• Memo to Denard Span: Please please do not get picked off first again. Paying attention helps


• Good to see Morneau get a hit at the 4th after Mauer hit a rocket to the Centerfielder


• I think that Pavano's pitching to contact with those soft-tosses will get too old too soon


• Great diving play by Parmelee on the bottom of the 5th. He is learning


• Pavano's breaking junk is working better than his (not so) fastball. Got to throw more of that. And nice D play by Valencia. I just hope they come back with a few runs. That sounds like a broken record from last season, I know...


• Surprise: Pavano does not irritate me any less than he did last season.


• And that Doumit and Span play was vintage Mike Cuddyer; Carroll is ok with the glove


• Nice catch and throw out at the plate by Willingham. Revere does not do that (the throwing out part)


• The Twins look like they are picking up from where they left last season. Not. Too. Good.


• Burroughs in to PH for Casilla. Lazy fly on the first pitch he saw. Not. Too. Good. Especially with a guy who cannot find the zone. Big mistake to not let Casilla draw a walk there. Even more interesting to see Plouffe instead of Luke Hughes as the Defensive replacement at second.


• That "close" play at 1st was not even close. Davis was off the bag. Way off the bag. When he caught the ball


• Jeff Gray reminds me of Dusty Hughes. A lot. Only he is right handed. And Gardy burns yet another pitcher in a meaningless game. And a good one (Duensing.)


• Good to see that Josh Willingham HR on top of the 9th! Made things interesting. Questionable called strike 3 against Doumit, Parmelee comes through and Plouffe up. Also interesting to see Revere PR for Parmelee. Unfortunately Plouffe hits a double play ball.


• At little better than it could be. Still disappointing to lose, but let's get the next ones. Tomorrow is another day.

Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Last night's game was a big disappointment for the Twins' Fans: The bats were alive, but Slowey and Ayala were not on the top of their game, resulting to turning the game in the favor of the Blue Jays, pretty quickly at the late innings.

Here is a closer look to the win probability graph by fangraphs:



I marked 2 points with asterisks (*1, *2 and *3), because I think they were the turning points of the game and they were bad decisions by Ron Gardenhire:

*1: Kevin Slowey has been struggling throughout the game, but Gardenhire sends him in to start the 6th inning. At this point, the Twins are about 85% win probability. If Slowey left the game then, and the Twins won, he would have been credited with the win. Slowey allows a hit to Rolen. Instead of taking him out at that point, Gardenhire lets him face the next batter (in a manner similar to that allowing Liriano to face multiple hitters after he walked in a run with the bases loaded in the last game of the Chicago series). Overbay hits a home run and the Jays are within 2. A little too late, after facing 2 more batters and walking one, Gardenhire lifts Slowey for Guerrier. Guerrier finishes the inning and starts the next. Breslow replaces him in the 7th after he gives a hit and strikes out the only batter he faces. At this point, Gardenhire, uses Breslow again only to face a single lefty hitter and replaces him with Ayala who finishes the 7th giving a hit and driving a run with 2 outs to bring the Jays within 1 (6-5 Twins)

*2: Top of the 8th inning. You would think that Crain is the 8th inning man, esp. with Ayala having problems the previous inning, who can provide a bridge to Nathan. But this is not the case: Gardenhire keeps Ayala in. A double and a home run later, the Twins' win probability drops from 75% to 15% and the score is Jays 8, Twins 6. That was the biggest turning point of the game

*3: Bottom of the 8th, the Twins hitters are staging a comeback: Brendan Harris doubles to start the inning and goes to third with no outs on a wild pitch. Delmon Young is up. The Twins have a great batter and the best AL Centerfielder in Carlos Gomez on the bench, one would think that getting Gomez in to sacrifice Harris (or get a bunt base hit) would be the proper play (or at least have Young try for the sacrifice). The win probability with Harris at 3rd, nobody out and the Twins down by 2 runs, climbed up to 30%. Young strikes out. Gardenhire, still going for a 2-run homer instead of getting the man from third in with a sacrifice, substitutes Crede for Morales. Crede strikes out. Punto strikes out. Inning over.

Last season, Gardenhire's mismanagement of the pitching staff and the bullpen, cost the Twins the division championship. He was rewarded with a contract extension. Apparently he has not yet learned his lessons from last season. I hope he learns them pretty quickly before this season gets out of hand.

game notes

What an inept game management. The kid pitched his heart out in his first start in the majors. The idiot manager sends him in tired and now the best thing he could have hoped for is a no decision that never came (both Bass and Korecky were rested) Way to go Gardy. What a genius…

And not a drop of ink in the papers/internets about the "genius"

Twins lose, tied in 1st with the Sox.

Twins MVP: Morneau

Quick game notes and some stats

I am not going into lengths to describe the Twins' win, but that was a great 9th inning. Coming back this way against one of the best closers in the league, against the world champions, against the team with the best record in the AL, can do tons for the confidence of this young team. Supreme irony that the hero of this game was a guy who have been a goat (pun intended) for most of the season.

As a matter of fact all 3 players who were fundamental for the inning (Young, Gomez, Lamb) have been, at one time or another, the subject of much scrutiny.

I hope that the Twins will show patience in the plate with Dice-K, who has been Dontrelle Willis wild, starting and win again today…

Bad news about Neshek, I hope that rest alone solves the problem. There is a lot said about him being a vegan may have been a cause in the injury. This is like saying that the brand of the tires someone is using might be responsible for a speeding ticket he/she get while cruising at 100mph

A list of four observations from the game:

A couple more notes from this game (just in case you missed them because they were subtle and have been somewhat a point of contention):

1. Everett made at least 3 plays in the field that were exceptional and that no other infielder in a Twins uniform could make (if you don’t know what I’m talking about I could explain…)

2. Guerrier earned the RH set up job tonight. I hope that the Twins’ coaching staff realizes that… and if you are reading, Pat I hope the best and that you are back healthy soon.

3. Gomez is rapidly maturing as a hitter. I’d venture to say that at this point he might be the best right hand bat the Twins have (compare his ABs vs those of Cuddy) The kid wants to listen and he listens. That 9th inning walk was probably one of his most valuable plays this year.

4. The decision to start and keep Kubel in the game over Monroe was a very bad one. I realize that the Twins need to find out what Kubel is really all about but this is not the time or the place to do it. Monroe, even with the comparatively limited time he played, has outperformed Kubel. About time for Gardy to reward him for this…

Twins' MVP: Lamb


Here is an interesting stat for the last statement above:
Runs created per game this season:

Mauer: 6.3
Gomez: 4.8
Monroe: 4.6
Morneau: 4.2
Tolbert: 4.2
Harris: 3.8
Cuddyer: 3.6
Young: 3.5
Punto: 3.4
Kubel: 2.9
Everett: 2.3
Lamb: 2.1
Redmond: 1.7

Gardy, do what you gotta do...

Thursday game notes

• KC, Detroit and Cleveland lost, but so did the Twins. They are still in first place and readying up for a four game series in the Dome with Boston.


• Slowey pitched well for most of the game, giving up 3 runs in 5 innings. Neshek left the game with an apparent elbow injury that I hope is minor. Interesting play in the sixth inning: runners on 1st and 2nd for the Sox with no outs, Guerrier pitching, Konerko on the plate. 3-1 the count, Konerko swings on a pitch, the home plate umpire is frozen, everyone is frozen, the runners advance, Guerrier runs around as a madman tagging the runners, Mauer calls for a review from the 1B ump who says its a strike. A this point the home plate ump allows the runners to advance, Gardy gets ejected for arguing and the blow up doll clown in the Sox dugout is bursting out laughing mimicking Guerrier's tagging the runners. Lousy job for an ump who does not deserve the MLB paycheck and an even lousier job for a commissioner that can stand that fan-bashing garbage in the Sox dugout in a professional sport. If I remember correctly a few years ago Frank Robinson was appointed as a watchdog and was throwing out 15 game suspension for spiting out gum the wrong way. Where is that office when the integrity of the game and its maturity is questioned?


• The bats were silent today, like in most of the day games away from the dome


• Looking forward to the Boston series

Twins MVP: Mauer

Game notes

• Gomez starts the game with a homer and sprints around the bases, after a 2 hour rain delay. Harris strikes out looking at a questionable pitch. Monroe strikes out swinging. Morneau grounds out. 1-0 Twins. One out for Livan. Two. Three. End of 1; 1-0 Twins


• Cuddyer doubles to right center. Young grounds out to the short. Redmond pops up to the second. Tolberts lines to the 1st. Strikeout for Livan. Fly out to Gomez. Hit. Foul out to Tolbert. End of 2 1-0 Twins


• Punto is out on a bunt, Gomez strikes out. Harris walks. Monroe goes 0-2 looking at 2 "strikes" way inside then grounds out to the SS. Fly out to Gomez, ground out to Harris, ground out to Tolbert. 1-2-3 inning. End of 3 1-0 Twins. Only 28 pitches for Livan


• Morneau grounds out to the pitcher. Cuddyer misses a homer by a foot; foul. Strikes out. Young grounds out to second. Pop up to Punto, ground out to Morneau. Walk. Ground out to Tolbert. End of 4. 1-0 Twins. 41 pitches for Hernandez


• Redmond gets an infield hit to the 3rd. Tolbert bloops a hit to short left center. Punto gets a double play on a bunt because he never get off the batter's box. Time to sit down, Nicky. Double play with no outs and man on 1st and second on a bunt. Time for someone to cut Punto... Gomez triples in a run. Harris grounds out. Ground out to Morneau. Hit. Ground out to Tolbert. Ground out to Hernandez. End of 5. 2-0 Twins.


• Monroe singles to left. Morneau singles to left. Cuddyer grounds out to ss, runners on 3rd and 2nd, 1 out. Young is intentionally walked. Bases loaded. Redmond sacrifice fly, Monroe scores, Morneau to 3rd, Young to second. Tolbert walks. Why not pinch hit for Punto? Punto sends all the runs home with a double. Gomez hits a double bringing Punto in and goes to 3rd on an error. Just a single for the cycle. Dotel in to pitch for the Sox. Harris strikes out looking. Hernandez back in. Ground out to Harris, line out to Morneau. Single. Double over Delmon's head. Fly out to Young. End of 6. 7-0 Twins.


• Detroit, Cleveland and KC all won. Monroe strikes out. Morneau singles to left. Cuddyer pops up. Young flies out to deep center. Double. Strikeout. Ground out to Punto. Fly out to Gomez. End of 7. Twins 7-0. 84 pitches for Livan.


• Boone Logan in. Redmond grounds out. Tolbert strikes out. Punto pops out. Bottom of the 8th. Fly out to Gomez. Another. 2 out. Strikeout. 1-2-3 inning for Hernandez. 3 outs away from a complete game shutout. 90 total pitches


• Gomez hits for the cycle with an infield hit. Harris walks. Monroe singles to right bases loaded. Morneau strikes out. Cuddyer singles in Gomez. 8-0. Young singles to left, Harris in. 9-0. Bases still loaded, 1 out. Pitching change. Redmond scores 2 with a double to deep right. 11-0. Punto triples in 2 runs. 13-0. Gomez up again, strikeout. Bottom of 9th. Flyout to Gomez. HR by Dye. Single. Another single. Action at the bullpen; Guerrier up. Single; bases loaded no outs. 113 pitches for Livan. Fly out to Gomez. Runner frozen at 3rd. 2 out. Ground out to Tolbert. Game over. Twins win 13-1. Complete game Hernandez with 121 total pitches

Twins MVPs: Hernandez, Gomez

Game notes

• Night game at Chicago after an off-day with the Twins leading the Sox with 2 games for the division lead. Detroit is playing Boston, Cleveland in New York (both losing early) and KC is hosting the Angels. Blackburn vs Floyd are the starting pitchers.


• Gomez worked a full count in the first inning, then lines out. Harris works a walk and so does Mauer. Morneau beats a double play, then Cuddyer forces him out in second. The first 2 men aboard with a gift walk by the home plate umpire and a single. Great leaping catch by Gomez to retire Thome and a great running catch by Gomez to retire Conerko and freeze the runner at third. Hit, 2 runners in. Strikeout. Sox up 2-0, both runs gifted by the umpire... In the day that there is technology to determine whether a pitch is a ball or a strike, there is no need for home plate umpires who can affect the outcome of games by one bad ball. It is time that MLB takes the human factor out of the equation at home plate


• Kubel grounds out through the middle in a play that could have been an infield hit if he were faster. Young works a full count, then flies out to the right field. Lamb fouls out. Floyd has been pitching outside to the righties and inside to the lefties, which is a hard way to make a living against the Twins. Groundout, single just under the diving Morneau's glove, pitch out on a hit and run, they got him. Groundout. End of 2, 2-0 Sox; 26 pitches for Blackburn (38 for Floyd)


• Everett grounds out to the SS, Gomez strikes out on a foul bunt with 2 strikes. Harris grounds out. Meanwhile Ortiz and Ramirez hit back-to-back home runs off 2 different Detroit pitchers making the score 5-0 Boston in that game. Lamb makes a great play to get Cabrera out on a bunt. Fly out to Gomez. Thome walks (another gift by the home plate umpire). Pop up. End of 3. Sox 2-0


• Mauer walks, Morneau reaches on an error by the left fielder. Cuddyer flies out, Mauer to 3rd; 1 out. Kubel sacrifice fly to shallow center, Mauer scores. Young forces Morneau out at second. Walk. Hit. Men on 1st and 2nd with no outs for the Sox. Force out at second, runners at the corners 1 out. Swisher steps on Blackburn's foot at first base to break the douple play and takes a funky tumble. Both players are ok. Fly out to Young, great running catch. Runner at 3rd is frozen. 2 outs. Single, a run in. Fly out to Gomez. End of 4. 3-1 Sox


• Lamb grounds out to first. Everett flies out to left. Gomez grounds out to the shortstop. Great play by Young to retire Quentin. Another set of bad calls by the home plate umpire costs Blackburn several pitches. He should have been struck out earlier at the AB. Fly out to Gomez. Fly out to Gomez. 1-2-3 inning. Sox 3-1


• Harris pops out to second, Mauer flies out to center, so does Morneau. HR to the opposite field for Dye; the next 3 batters retired. End of 6, 4-1 Sox


• Cuddyer pops up to the second baseman, Kubel strikes out (he needs to sit for a game or 2...). Young Strikes out. Floyd has a no-hitter after 7 (92 pitches). Crain in for the Twins. Hit. Base hit and error by Lamb and a fan interference, base hit, 2 more runs in. Still nobody out. Pop up out at foul ground to Morneau. Caught stealing by Mauer, 2 out. Walk. Ground out. End of 7, Sox 6-1


• Lamb flies out to center. Everett flies out to center. Gomez grounds out to short. No hitter still on with 99 total pitches for Floyd. Korecky in to pitch. Double. Ground out to Harris, runner at 3rd, one out. Double, another run in. Another misserable job of ball and strike calling at that AB. Strikeout. Fly out to Gomez. End of 8, Sox 7-1


• Harris strikes out looking on a ball outside. Mauer doubles to left center to break up the no hitter. Pitching change. Jenks in. Way to take a complete game shutout off your pitcher, Ozzie. Morneau grounds out to second. Cuddyer strikes out swinging. Game over, Twins lose, but still in 1st place.


• Is this team going to be a clone of the '87 team as far as home and road records?

Twins MVP: Mauer

Game (and league) notes in an off day

• Did not watch the game yesterday, just followed it up with my mobile phone, due to other obligations. It sounds like Boof, after a shaky inning got his brain in gear. It seems that the location of his fastball was better after the first inning and he used his fastball more than other pitches after the first. Great show by the bullpen with Guerrier pitching 2 scoreless innings and Nathan a scoreless 9th for his 11th save


• Good to see the team being able to orchestrate comeback wins this year. This is a huge change from last year and in combination with its ability to hang in and win close games, propelled the Twins in first place, 1.5 games ahead of the White Sox. Furthermore, the last 2 sweeps gave the Twins a nice divisional record. If the team continues in this pace, it will be a shoo-in to win the Division, esp. with Detroit and Cleveland underperforming. Today all the Twins' rivals, except Cleveland, are playing and the Twins are in a position to increase their lead.


• The next series of games is in Chicago tomorrow (3 games) at a time where the White Sox manager publicly lashes against the Chicago fans and media. Not a good move biting the hand that feeds you. And apparently having blow up sex toy dolls in the Chicago clubhouse did not exorcise their demons. However, profanity and sex toys aside, that was probably not the most inane move by an AL Central manager today: Leyland cut Jacque Jones, replacing him in the field with Gary Sheffield and in the roster with Matt Joyce, with a whole 28 AAA games experience being the highest level of pro baseball experience, and incidentally starting at RF today against Boston. In several places and timepoints before the season, I expressed my opinion that Detroit was a flawed team, mainly because of pitching and fielding deficiencies. Now they have proven that they simply are a bad team...


• Not to be outdone, the Indians joined the AL central peanut gallery announcing later today that they will cut Michaels. In an unrelated note from Left field, but of potential interest to the Twins, for some reason it seems that Andy LaRoche has slipped way down the 3B depth chart for the Dodgers. He is a player who could potentially solve the 3B issue for the Twins. His value is probably at his lowest point right now, I wonder what would it take for the Twins to pluck him from the Dodgers...

Twins MVP: Nathan

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
  

  
  

Saturday game notes

• Sindey Ponson is starting for the Rangers tonight. Huge gaffe from Gardy last night, not to use Nathan in the 10th, instead of Rincon, cost the game for the Twins. Baker is pitching today for the Twins. Not many news about Gomez (the local beat reporters seem to get scooped by AP), but it seems that he will be out for a couple of days. Tolbert is leading off and playing SS instead of Punto and Monroe is at CF batting in the 9th hole. Also Mauer and Morneau are batting 3rd and 4th with Harris second... Not sure that this is a good move...


• Two early double plays turned by the Rangers. Mauer and Cuddyer are the culprits. Baker pitches 2 strong scoreless innings with 3 strike outs and only 1 hit. Young and Lamb get back to back hits in the 3rd. Monroe hits a double, one run in, runners on 2nd and 3rd no outs. Tolbert strikes out in 3 pitches. Where is the bunt sign? Lamb scores on a passed ball. 2-0 Twins. Monroe to 3rd. Harris strikes out. Mauer lines out to 3rd. Twins out. Baker gives up 3 consecutive hits in the 3rd. Nobody out bases loaded. That last hit was a blooper in the center that Gomez would have easily catch it. Baker strikes out the next hitter. 0 and 2 double to left. 2 runs in. Game tied. Strikeout. Single, 2 runs in. 4-2 Texas. Strikeout. Baker strikes out the side in the bottom of the 3rd, but the damage is done. 6 Ks for Baker.


• Futile fourth for the Twins. 1-2-3 inning for Baker. Pitching changes. Twins tied the game in the 6th. Mauer gets a bunt hit in the 7th. Twins score 3 on top of the 7th. Delmon knocks in 2. Twins 8-5. Reyes still in; a walk and a hit. Crain in. He strikes out 2. End of inning. Tolbert looks overmatched tonight. He walks, steels second and Mauer brings him in with a single. Morneau singles. Cuddy hits a 3-run homer 12-5 Twins. Kubel out, Delmon out. Bottom of the 8th. Neshek in for some reason in the 8th with a 7 run lead. Where is Korecky?


• Bottom of the 9th 12-5 Twins. Korecky in, for his first appearance in the majors. Hit. Walk. Walk. Double play. One run in. Ground out to Morneau. Game over. Twins win 12-6

Twins MVP: Lamb

Friday game notes

• Bobby Korecky has been called up from Rochester, Cuddyer has been activated and Span & Liriano have been optioned to Rochester. This is the first time Bobby, 28, is in the majors making him the 4th Twin to make his MLB debut this season (Bass, Tolbert, Span are the others). Good thing to see Liriano get some time in a less stressful situation to work the kinks out. This year the Twins have 5 other starters, so Fransisco's absence would be ok


• Gomez bunt hits at his first at bat, steals second (10 SB for the year). For some reason hit and run was on and Harris strikes out at the plate. Mauer walks. Morneau hits a single to the opposite field scoring Gomez. Cuddyer pops out in the infield. Kubel grounds out to second. Inning over. Twins up 1-0


• Great double play turned by Blackburn in the first. Quick 9 pitch 1st inning. Gomez makes a great catch in the second inning, then another. Where are the Chicago fan pundits who wanted him demoted now? He has another bunt single in the third. Almost stole second again, but the hit and run was on and Harris fouled it. Twice... What's up with the hit and run, Gardy? Fun to hear the TX announcers appreciate Gomez. They compared him to Rickey Henderson... Harris singles, Mauer walks and Morneau hits a grad slam. Nobody out. Cuddy singles. Millwood is really struggling against the Twins. The Rangers are coming back in the 3rd inning. Young has an error, Blackburn gets hit and its a tie game. Then a great double play, runner out at home (Cuddyer) and at third (Mauer). 9-6-2-5 double play. Game still tied. Blackburn strikes out the last hitter he faces. 47 total pitches for Blackburn vs 64 for Millwood.


• Punto up and strikes out in 3 pitches. Mercy. Gomez looks hurt after trying to bunt for a hit. Harris strikes out. No update about Gomez, but looks like a hamstring or calf cramp. Monroe subs in the field for him. Blackburn settles in for the next inning; still 5-5. Blackburn has an 1-2-3 5th. Harris strikes out for the 3rd time tonight and everyday Eddie is warming up in the Ranger's bullpen. Blackburn gets out of the 6th inning. Hard to play a team with a 7 game losing streak.


• Eddie Guardado in for the Rangers, Mauer singles, Morneau lines out to 3rd, Cuddyer flies out to center with the first pitch he sees, Kubel grounds our to second. Guerrier in for the bottom of the 7th, then Reyes. Monroe a great over the shoulder catch to end the inning. Still 5 up. Lamb reaches again. Punto hits into a double play... The Rangers' TV commentators are the best so far for the away teams. Lamb has a Billy Buckner moment in the bottom of the 8th, then makes a great play for an out. Double play Harris-Punto-Morneau next. Reyes is pitching way above expectations this year. Top of the ninth next with score tied.


• The Rangers bring in their closer C.J. Wilson in. Sidney Ponson will start for the Rangers tomorrow against Baker. Twins out at the ninth, tied game. Neshek in for the Twins. One out. Monroe looks great in the outfield. Rangers retired. Extra innings. Detroit loses, Cleveland wins, ChiSox are rained out, KC is winning big. Pithing change. Benoit in for the rangers, Morneau singles, Cuddyer pops up, Kubel flies out, Young flies out. Rincon in. One out, double, walk, strikeout, double. Game over. Twins lose.
  

Twins MVP: Morneau

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

Wednesday notes

• Late game at Oakland tonight. The Twins are riding a 3 game winning streak and Gardy decides to shake things up by changing his lineup and removing his spark plug Centerfielder, Gomez, for Span and the guy with the highest qualifying batting average in the team, Harris, for Tolbert; meanwhile Nick Punto is still starting at short, errors and 3 pitch strikeouts in vein; but, of course "he helps win games" and would you have any grey poupon? but of course. And yes the Twins are wearing their away grays tonight.


• Empty stadium again tonight. Interesting to see Span starting instead of Gomez in CF. Miss the excitement that Gomez can provide for this club. Doubtful that the sac fly run would have scored in the second with Gomez instead of Span there. Kubel misses a 2-run homer to the upper deck by a couple feet in the 6th. Harris pinch hits for Span in the 8th and the genius moved Punto to CF instead of Gomez.


• Bonser's fastball tops at 94 mph and has an 1-2-3 first inning. The weather is colder than expected (51 degrees), which does not bode well for the Twins' bullpen if recent history repeats itself. Boof has a really funky delivery. It's almost like he is pitching from the stretch every time. Not much leg power there. Maybe he is better suited to a reliever role. He goes 6 with 2 earned runs. Guerrier pitches a scoreless inning, then gives up a homer in the 8th


• Twins lose 3-0. Chicago loses and Detroit wins. KC vs Cleveland is rained out

Twins MVP: Kubel

Tuesday notes

• Another gem of sensitivity by Gardy: In an interview with Pat Borzi, he publically rips Liriano (who is the highest regarded pitcher in the organization), calls him "lazy" and suggests that if he does not improve he should be sent to the minors "as a wake up call". Are those the words someone who needs to regain his confidence on his fastball needs to hear? How wonderful to know that Gardy has Punto's back but when it comes to players from other cultures, he is being continuously insensitive. This reminds me of Gardy's behavior towards David Ortiz, in Gardy's first year as a manager. Someone from the front office needs to give Gardy a "wake up call", before it is too late.


• Punto starts ahead of Tolbert at SS again tonight. Makes an error. Detroit beat Texas 10-2. Delmon almost hit a home in the second. The stadium is more empty than the Metrodome. Monroe gets an early RBI, then another and Lamb brings him in. And then a homer. Span who? Lamb gets 3 hits for the night. Punto looks miserable in the plate until the 9th. Gomez has 4 strikeouts.


• Hernandez stuggled a bit, but still kept the team in the game with 4 runs in 6 innings. Good to see Rincon aggressive against lefties with 3 strikeouts. KC lost to the Indians and the White Sox lost to the Yankees. Oakland's outfield is a black hole, everything drops in for hits. Makes appreciating the Twins' outfield so much more. Neshek pitched an 1-2-3 8th with 6 pitches. Nathan strikes out the side, game over Twins win 5-4

Twins MVP: Monroe

Sunday Game Notes

• Gardenhire made the following condescending comment in an interview with La Velle E. Neal III:
  
  When it was mentioned how much Punto gets ripped by fans, Gardy replied: “That’s because he doesn’t help fantasy teams but he can help you win baseball games.”
  
  
  Here is the numbers (btw, Punto starts today instead of Tolbert):
  
  Career Runs Created per Game for the current Twins batters:
  Tolbert: 7.8
  Mauer: 6.6
  Morneau: 5.9
  Cuddyer: 5.3
  Lamb: 5.0
  Kubel: 4.5
  Harris: 4.5
  Monroe: 4.4
  Redmond: 4.4
  Young: 4.3
  Everett: 3.7
  Punto: 3.6
  
  As far as his defense goes, career numbers for all positions are
  
  FP: Punto: .976, league: .972
  RF: Punto: 3.13, league: 3.41
  
  Also his VORP, every year in his career other than 2006 has been negative, meaning that whomever played instead of him in that position was more productive…
  
  I am just tired of Gardenhire’s unsubstantiated and irresponsible comments, especially when they are condescending towards fans like this comment. Most fans do not care about "fantasy stats". All fans care about their team winning. If Punto is last in team in career runs created and his defense is below league average, how does he “help you win games”? Maybe Gardenhire cares less than the Twins' fans about winning every game


• For some reason, Mauer is out of the lineup (with the day off tomorrow) and Morneau is DHing. Also Lamb is playing 1B and Buscher is playing 3B


• Harris hits his 1st home run as a Twin to tie the game in the 3rd. He is the only Twin other than Morneau and Kubel to homer this season. His HR was on the opposite field over the baggie. Punto looked like Billy Butler in the stolen base attempt in the 5th inning. Great 10 inning game with Harris scoring both runs and Morneau driving him in in the bottom of 10th. Redmond and Buscher got their first hits of the season, which means that every hitter on the roster now has a hit. Gomez makes and incredible play in the bottom of the 9th to save the game (look at how the throw to the infield hits Punto on the butt :) ). I hope the fans will see Mr. Bentley for who he really is right now...


• Byrd's stuff is soft (fastball at 87-88 mph max) but has been working several pitches all over the plate. Baker has 8 Ks over the first 7 innings with 100 total pitches, having a streak of 9 batters retired from the 3rd to 6th inning. He currently leads the Twins in strikeouts. The bullpen (Reyes, Neshek and Guerrier) did not allow a run. The Twins lead the AL in team WHIP (1.27)


• Detroit lost in Toronto, KC lost in Oakland and the White Sox won in Tampa, which brings the Twins in a second place tie with KC, 2.5 games off first, and, even more importantly, 2 games ahead of the Indians and 3 ahead of the Tigers


• Frank Thomas was released by the Jays today, the Twins have little power from the right side and Kubel has a .270 OBP as the full-time DH. Thomas has a .326 OBP, 3 HR, 11 RBI and 11 walks (that would put him between Mauer and Kubel in OBP, tied for second in HRs, 3rd in RBI and first in BBs in the Twins' team); it does make sense for the Twins to sign him and installing him as their full time DH in the 3 hole between Mauer and Morneau, since he would be a perfect fit in that lineup and the Jays would be picking the bill. On the other hand, if he has more that 304 ABs this year a $10 mil option for next year matures, which if he produces might not be a bad thing for the Twins [edit: since he was released and not waived, the team that signs him is not responsible for the vesting option. This is a no brainer and the Twins' staff better jump on it]. In that scenario Kubel can come off the bench or play RF and Cuddyer should see some time at 3B.


• On unrelated news, the Pope prays in Yankee stadium. Not sure that even that would be enough to turn their season around with that pitching staff...

Twins MVP: Harris

game notes

• Any questions why Monroe should have been starting instead of Span? Morneau hits another dinger early in the game. Blackburn is putting together a great performance. His fastball was at 93 in the 8th inning. Stikes were the name of the game and the longest performance of any Twins’ starter this season. Nathan is 6/6 in saves and neither him nor Reyes have surrendered a run this season. 3 pitcher shutout, Twins win 3-0


• Really, cannot feel sorry about Torri's latest predicament; here is a quote from him on that: “I tried to treat myself a couple of weeks ago, and look what happened. The air bags didn’t even deploy. You know, I’m kind of disappointed that I got rear-ended in a Bentley, and they didn’t deploy. I won’t feel safe in that no more.” Life is rough.


• Every other team in AL Central lost yesterday, so the Twins gained a game on everyone. DLIE number = 5


• On other unrelated news, the Vikings seem ready to spend their first round pick very successfully this year

Twins MVP: Blackburn