Wednesday, May 14th

Twins Talk
Toronto 5 Minnesota 3
Minnesota 20-18 First Place

• POG: Carlos Gomez- Carlos continues to improve each and ever day before our eyes and last night was another step in that direction. Carlos went 2-4 with his 3rd homerun of the season along with another hit to raise his average up to .275 on the season. With the RBI it brought Carlos' rbi total up to 14 on the season and thats pretty good for a leadoff man. Carlos seems to be getting more and more confidence every time he comes up to the plate. A sign you can tell he is getting more confident is the lack of bunts lately. Early in the season he was trying to bunt almost every at bat and now people are playing for the bunt and he is hitting it right by them. I look for him to keep doing what he is doing and to get better and better as the year goes on.
• Kevin Slowey had another solid start last night going 5.2 innings and only giving up 3 runs on 5 hits with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts to bring his era down to 5.79 on the young season. Kevin i thought nibbled a little too much but i am being picky it was better than his last start and is something to build on as the season goes forward for Kevin Slowey as he gets more and more confident.
• The Twins bullpen really struggled last night giving up 2 runs and 5 hits along with 3 walks in only 3.1 innings. The worst was Dennys Reyes who faced 2 batters and gave up 2 hits in his first poor outing of the year to bring his era up to 0.79 on the season. The question is will the bullpen minus Pat Neshek be a problem. I really dont think so i think they will be fine Juan Rincon pitched excellent the other night along with Jesse Crain. Before last night Dennys Reyes had been pitching great and i look for Glen Perkins to join that bullpen when Scott Baker gets back so i dont see it as a problem at all.
• Tonight, the Twins take on the Blue Jays in game 2 of their series at the Metrodome. Gametime is at 7:11 with Boof Bonser getting the start for the Twins against the Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay.

Rochester Wrap

Columbus 7 Rochester 5

Rochester 16-24 12.0 games back

• POG: Brian Buscher- Seems like Brian is coming out of a bit of a slump that started when he came back from the Twins. Last night he continued his recent good string by going 4-5 with his 5th homerun of the year along with 3 rbi's to bring his season total up to 16 on the season. With the 4 hits it brought Brian's average up to a good .324 on the season. Brian is a good prospect in my opinion and needs to be in the majors because he dominates AAA pitching and needs the new challenge of seeing if he can do that at the Major League level keeping him at AAA really is not helping anymore and i hope he makes it back with the Twins very soon.
• Kevin Mulvey struggled for his 5th straight start last night. In 3.2 innings he gave up 5 runs even though only 1 of them was earned along with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts to lower his era to 3.89 on the season. Kevin needs to make some adjustments because he has been hit very hard his last 4 or 5 starts and needs to find a way to get the hitters out. With that being said i still think Kevin is going to be a solid pitcher at the major league level and will contribute eventually to the Twins. Like i said before the year he needs a year at AAA to refine his pitching and being more consistant and i still think so. If he makes the adjustments that he needs to make he will be fine and will be with the Twins in sometime 2009.
• The Red Wings continue to struggle in the win column. I know some people don't pay attention to the wins and losses but im not one of those people. I think you develop a winning attitude at a young stage and shouldnt lose it now. I truly believe the teams with the better prospects are the teams that win division titles and win IL championships so the Red Wings have to find a way to turn it around becuase they are too good to be 12 games out on the 14th of May.
• Today, the Red Wings continue their series with Columbus in Rochester. Gametime is an early 10:05 game as Brian Duensing tries to improve on his 2-4 record.

New Britain Business

Binghamton 4 New Britain 2

New Britain 20-17 3.5 games back

• POG: Jay Rainville- I know he got tagged with his 5th loss of the year but Jay needed to come up with a good performance to stay in the starting rotation at best and he did a really good job in my opinion. Jay went 6.1 innings and only gave up 3 earned runs on just 7 hits along with a walk and 2 strikeouts to lower his awful era to 9.00. The way i look at it is that was a baby step in the right direction. Before he can run he needs to walk and his start last night was a step in the right direction. He got ahead of the hitters so he didnt have to throw that cookie that the other team had been drilling. Also a bad thing about getting behind in the count is Jay was not able to stay in ball games long and it was putting alot of pressure on the Rock Cats bullpen. I liked what i saw out of him last night and my hope is that he can continue to do that and get better and better in each of his next few starts.
• I just can't get over how well Zach Ward has pitched for the rockcats this season. Last night he went 1.2 innings and gave up no runs with no hits and a strikeout to lower his tiny era to 0.36 on the season. Look at the numbers he has put up this season so far in 25 innings of work he has only given up 1 earned run along with 22 strikeouts. I really think Zach is ready to be a starter or move to Rochester if they want to keep him in the bullpen because in the role he is in right now he is absoultely dominant and i don't see any reason he can't keep it up.
• The bad defense continues to hamper the Rock Cats as they committed 3 more errors to bring their season total up to a unbelieveable 27 errors in only 37 ballgames. I can only jockey that up to lack of concentration becuase those guys are too talented defensively to play that bad of defense. Like i have said before until they learn to play defense the Rock Cats will not get over the hump.
• Tonight, the Rock Cats continue their series with Binghamton in Binghamton. Gamtime is at 5:35 pm with Oswaldo Sosa tries to improve on his 1-2 record.

Fort Myers Musings

Fort Myers 10 Sarasota 6

Fort Myers 24-14 First Place

• POG: Danny Valencia- Danny continued his recent hot string of hitting by going 2-4 with his 4th homerun of the year and 3 rbi's. With the 3 rbi's it brings his total to a team high 32 on the season. He also had a triple and a walk adn scored 3 runs for the Miracle. With the 2 hits it raises Danny's average up to .326 on the season. In his last 5 games Danny is 12-20 a crazy .600 batting average with a homerun and 5 rbi's. After going through a little bit of a lul Danny has come up on fire the last week and is now in league leaders in just about every offensive catergory. I really believe Danny will be playing 3rd base for New Britain before this year is through and if he keeps hitting like this it will be sooner rather than later.
• Deolis Guerra continues to struggle with his control. He went 5 innings last night and gave up 5 runs on 5 hits along with 2 homeruns to raise his era to 4.93 on the young season. His problem last night is he cant hit the catchers glove and that is the one thing you need to do at every level of baseball and until he can do that on a consistant basis his results will suffer. I think its a good thing the Twins were patient with him and having him repeat high A again because he's only 19 years old so whats the problem with waiting for him until he is ready to be the dominant starting pitcher that we all hope and believe that he is going to be. His biggest issue is getting more consistant in hitting the glove and then all his other pitches will follow.
• The Miracle bullpen continues to show why they are the strength of this Miracle team by throwing 4 innings of relief of Deolis Guerra. First Danny Vais threw 2 shutout innings and then Anthony Slama pitched 2 innings and only gave up an unearned run. The Miracle bullpen is what is making the Miracle a first place team and i really think they can keep it up.
• Tonight, the Miracle continue their series with Sarasota in Sarasota. Gametime is at 6pm with Alex Burnett trying to improve his record from 2-1 that it is right now.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 7 Clinton 5

Beloit 18-19 8.5 games back

• POG: Ben Revere- Ben continued his hot start with the Snappers by going 2-4 with 3 rbi's and a stolen base to raise his stolen base total to 8 on the season. With the 2 hits it raises his average to .379 on the season. Ben has basically taken over that lead off spot from Joe Benson and has not looked back since. I really like his plate disipline and when the pitcher makes a mistake he makes you pay. He has a decent arm in the outfield with his 2 outfield assists. It wont be mistaken for Carlos Gomez' but its decent all the same. I think he will stay with beloit and continue to put up good numbers for the Snappers and next year it will be on to a new challege at Fort Myers.
• David Bromberg continued his resurgance as he went 6 innings and only gave up 3 runs on 7 hits. He also walked 2 batters and struck out 9 to bring his era down to 4.93 on the season. That is quite the jump based on how slowly he started the year off and how some people were ready to give up on him so early. With the 9 strikeouts it brings his total up to 52 on the year WOW!! If he keeps pitching like this he will be in Fort Myers sooner rather than later.
• Garrett Olson had another solid game as the Snappers try to piece together 3rd base until Deibinon Romero comes back in a few weeks. Garrett went 2-4 with a double to raise his average up to .273 on the season. I love Garrett's versaitlity and the fact that hes a good hitter is all the well better so keep an eye on him see how he does.
• Tonight, the Snappers conclude their series with first place Clinton in Beloit. Gametime is at 6:30pm with Michael Tarsi getting the start trying to improve on his 0-6 record for the Snappers.