Sunday, May 25th

Twins Talk
Detroit 19 Minnesota 3
Minnesota 24-25 2.5 games back

• POG: Matt Macri- In an awful performance by the Twins the only one that stood out for anything good was Matt Macri who was making his major league debut. Matt went 2-3 with a walk and a rbi along with a stolen base. Matt really stood out for the Twins in a game that got out of hand in a hurry. I look for him to stay with the Twins even after Nick Punto comes back on Tuesday and will platoon with Mike Lamb playing against left handed pitching as long as he continues to hit.
• If i had to pick a word to use to describe Boof Bonser last night it would be Dreadful and even that doesn't seem like a strong enough word to describe how bad he pitched last night. He went 3+ innings and gave up 9 runs on 7 hits along with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. With the 9 runs his era went up to a huge 6.16 on the season. In the Month of May he is 0-2 witha 9.56 era. The question has to asked what do you do with him becuase it is definatly not working for us with him in the starting rotatiion. I think there are a couple options first, try sending him to the minors, but he is out of options and some team would for sure claim him so I dont think that is very smart thing to do. Second, is send him to the bullpen to work on things . I think thats the best choice because when he is right he is a decent pitcher and the bullpen needs some help. The only problem with that is they don't have another pitcher to take his place. Scott Baker is currently in Florida rehabbing and they think he is a week to a week and a half away from being ready so we will be forced to watch another trainwreck on Friday night against the Yankees. My advice is make alternate plans for after the game gets out of hand.
• Alexi Casilla continued his recent power surge by tying the game at 2 in the 3rd inning with his second homerun of the year. With the 2 rbis it brings his total up to 9 on the season. He has been much better than i thought he would be and if he can play good defense we might of found our second basemen of the present and future.
• Today, the Twins finish off their 3 game series with the Tigers in Detroit. Gametime is at 12:05 with Glen Perkins getting the start for the Twins vs Justin Verlander of the Tigers.

Rochester Wrap

Pawtucket 9 Rochester 1

Rochester 19-31 13.0 games back

• POG: Kevin Mulvey- Kevin had his best start in quite a while last night for the Red Wings. The final score may be a little deceiving on how well he actually pitched and that was very well. Kevin went the first 5 innings and gave up only a run on 6 hits along with 2 walks and also 2 strikeouts. I don't knwo the reason he was taken out after 5 innings because he only threw 81 pitches. However, it was much better than how he was pitching and if he can keep this up he will have a successful year and possibly a September callup by the Twins organization. With the 5 good innings he lowered his era to a respectable 4.10 on the season.
• The real problem was that Rochester bullpen look at these numbers. They went 3 innings and gave up 8 runs on 6 hits along with 7 walks and 2 strikeouts. The main culprit was Julio Depaula who got 1 out and gave up 3 runs on 3 hits with 2 walks and a strikeout to bring his ERA up to 4.44 on the season. Games like that are the reason Depaula will never be with the Twins because he is so inconsistant and walks too many batters and those are things that are not cool with the Twins.
• The only real brightspot was Darnell Mcdonald who is coming back from a hamstring injury and slowly, but surely is getting back his hitting stroke. He went 2-4 to bring his average back up to .326 on the season. If the Red Wings are able to be respectable it will be because of Mcdonald one of only a few good players that are there and someone who can make a difference offensively.
• Today the Red Wings finish off their series with Pawtuckett in Pawtuckett. Gametime is at 5:05 with Brian Duensing getting the ball for the Red Wings.

New Britain Business

Portland 4 New Britain 1

New Britain 23-25 8.5 games back

• POG: Anthony Swarzak- In a game the offense was only able to muster 2 hits against the other pitcher Anthony kept the team in the game until he tired late in the game. Alot of people will look at the 4 runs allowed and say it was a bad start but i thought he really showed some improvement. He went 6 innings and only gave up 4 runs on 6 hits and 3 of those runs came in the 6th when he was running out of gas. With the 4 runs it raises his era to 4.29 for the season. Im sure you can look at the negatives but the way i look at it going into the 6th inning he only gave up 1 run on 2 hits against a good Portland team so I take it as a good start.
• There is not alot of good things offensively as they were only able to push across 2 hits against very good Portland pitching. The two guys with hits were Dustin Martin and Toby Gardenhire. Steve Tolleson scored the only run that the Rock Cats were able to push across.
• The Rock Cats have really struggled losing 3 in a row to drop a season high 2 games under 500. They are not playing well as a team right now it seems like when they pitch good they cant hit and when they hit the pitching does not go good. They need to figure some things out if they are going to make a run and there is too much talent on this team for them to play this bad.
• Today, the Rockcats finish their series with Portland in Portland. Gametime is at 12:00 with Jay Rainville getting the start for the Rockcats.

Fort Myers Musings

Palm Beach 6 Fort Myers 3

Fort Myers 31-18 First Place

• POG: Juan Portes- Juan had a very good at the plate in a losing cause for the Miracle. Juan went 2-4 with a run scored to pace the Miracle's attack. With the 2 hits it bring's Juans average up to .275 on the season. Juan has really been one of the pleasant surprises for the Miracle and a big reason that they find themselves in first place. He doesn't have much power but he is a very good singles hitter who finds a way to get on base and score runs.
• Alex Burnett was good again last night. He went the first 7 innings and only gave up 3 runs on 5 hits along with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. With the outing it brings his ERA up to 3.27 on the season. Alex is really underated if you ask me and does not get the credit he deserves because he has been the most consistant pitcher on the Miracle starting staff. He reminds me of a young Pedro Martinez in that he is short in stature but finds a way to get hitters out. Im sure Alex would take the kind of career Pedro was able to put together and he is definatly worth watching.
• Jose Lugo had a rough outing last night going 2 innings and giving up 3 runs on 4 hits along with 2 walks and a strikeout. With the outing it brings Jose's era up to 6.00 on the season. He was doing a good job of late and then he had an outing like that im sure it was a little disconcerting for the Miracle coaching staff.
• Today, the Miracle conclude their series with Palm Beach in Fort Myers as they go for the series split. Gametime is at 12:05 with Tyler Robertson getting the start for the Miracle as he tries to build off his awesome last start.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 8 Burlington 0 7 innings

Beloit 3 Burlington 1 7 innings

Beloit 27-22 8.0 games back

• POD: Ben Revere- Ben's amazing start to his career continued in a doubleheader by going an amazing 5-8 in the 2 games. He added a double and a triple along with 3 runs scored and 2 stolen Bases. With the 5 hits it brought his season average to a crazy .425. People say its easy to hit that way when you dont have very many at bats but Ben has over 100 at bats so its a good sample size. In his last 10 games Ben is hitting 20-43 a .465 average with a homerun 6 rbi's, 5 stolen bases and 8 runs scored. He fills the box score up like nobody i have ever seen I would love to watch him play live im sure he's alot of fun to watch. I was always a proponent of having him stay at Beloit all year becuase look at the difference he has made with the team. They were really struggling before he came and now they are hitting their stride and winning almost every night and are in 3rd bearing down Kane's neck and waiting for Clinton to slip up. However, if he hits like this for another month you almost have to move him up to Fort Myers because you want to protect these kids but at the same time you dont want to limit them and thats what you would be doing by keeping him in Beloit if he continues to dominate and when hes ready for a new challege.
• The Snappers got a couple good pitching performances by Michael Tarsi and Mike Mccardell. Tarsi's start stood out as he went 6 shutout innings and only gave up 2 hits while striking out 8 batters in his best start of the season. Mccardell hadn't made a start in a month so he was only able to go 3.2 innings but he only gave up 1 run on 1 hit along with a walk and 5 strikeouts. The biggest difference in the Snappers since they started winning has been their starting pitching. Tarsi if he can build off of this will make it so much better becuase he has the best stuff out of anybody on the Snappers staff and if he can keep it up the Snappers should continue to rise.
• The Snappers have been playing some really good ball as of late winning 4 games in a row to get within 8 games of first place. I remember early in the season they were really struggling and people were getting hurt people were predicting a last place finish. If Deibinson Romero can come back and hit like we know he can the Snappers will keep putting pressure on Clinton and might get a chance to defend their Midwest League title.
• Today, the Snappers continue their series with Burlington in Beloit. Gametime is at 1:00 with Daniel Berlind getting the start for the Snappers as they try to extend their winning streak to 5 games.