Wednesday, May 7th

Twins Talk

Chicago 7 Minnesota 1

Minnesota 16-15 First Place

• POG: Nick Blackburn- There was not alot of positivies to take from this game but the mental toughness Nick showed is one of them. Nick did not have good stuff at all, but he kept battling and battling and made it through 6 innings and only 3 earned runs. It was enough to keep the team in the game and if they could of hit he gave them a chance to win and thats all that matters. In his 6 innings he gave up 3 earned runs on 6 hits while walking 3 and striking out 1 to raise his ERA to a starter low 3.65 on the season. I just absoultely love his mental toughness and his will to keep the team in the game and if he can do that he will stay with the Twins when more talented pitchers fall at the wasteside.


• I would be remiss than to miss saying congrats to Gavin Floyd of the White Sox who threw one hell of a game throwing a no hitter into the 9th that was broken up by a 1 out double by Joe Mauer.


• Last night was not a good game by any means the Twins didn't hit, had 2 errors in the field and the bullpen was awful. Those are games easy to get over because the Twins dont have many games like that and hopefully tommorrow they can come to the park and get back on the winning side .


• Tonight, the Twins take on the White Sox in game 2 of their series in Chicago. Gametime is a 7:11 wiht the pitching matchup being Livan Hernandez for the Twins and Mark Buehrle going for the Sox.

Rochester Wrap

Columbus 3 Rochester 1

Rochester 14-19 9.0 games back 4 game losing streak

• POG: Philip Humber- It was an impressive outing for Philip after the stuff we saw out of him early in the season. Philip only went 4 innings because they need to build his arm strength up again after spending some time in the bullpen. In 4 innings Philip only gave up a run on 5 hits while walking 2 and striking out 6 to lower his era to 4.97 on the season. Philip got off to kind of a slow start and people are starting to give up on him after 4 or 5 starts and i think thats premature. Alot of pitchers struggle out of the gate and him especially recovering from Tommy John Surgery people need to be patient. I really expect big things this year for Philip and by the end of the year i think he will be the ace of the staff and possibly get a september callup for the Twins.


• Jose Morales had a bounceback game for the Wings going 3-4 to raise his average to .231 on the season. Jose has struggled with the bat so far but i look for him to rebound and have his usual good offensive season by the end.


• The Red Wings just could not get that big hit again. They got 10 hits but were only able to muster 1 run for their trouble. They are in an offensive funk and are really struggling to score runs and hopefully they can come out of it soon.


• Tonight, the Wings continue their series with Columbus in Columbus. Gametime is at 6:05 with probably Heath Totten getting the start as the Wings try to break their season high 4 game losing streak.

New Britain Business

New Britain 5 Bowie 3

New Britain 18-12 1.5 games back 8 game winning streak

• POG: Matt Moses- For the second consecutive game Matt gets player of the game honors as he helped the Rock Cats to their 8th straight win. Matt went 2-3 with 2rbi's and a run scored along with a walk to raise his average to .288 on the season and his rbi total up to 14 on the season. Like i said yesterday Matt is the key to the Rock Cats attack when he is swinging a good bat the Rock Cats are hard to beat. As you can see his recent hot streak coincides with the Rock Cats 8 game winning streak. Is that a coincidence i dont think so He is the one who stirs the drink for the Rock Cats and it will be very interesting to see if he can continue hitting the baseball at a good pace.


• Ryan Mullins was solid like usual going the first 6 innings and giving up 2 earned runs on 5 hits along with 3 walks and 6 strikeouts to lower his era to 3.05 on the season. Ryan had 1 bad start but other than that he has been solid as you can be and it will be interesting if he gets a callup to Rochester soon along with Swarzak.


• Seems like every game in this winning streak someone gets a big hit in the late innings to put the Rock Cats ahead and last night was no different as Matt Moses hitting an rbi double in teh 7th inning to put the rock cats ahead.


• Tonight, the Rock Cats continue their series with Bowie in New Britain. Gametime is at 5:35 with Anthony Swarzak getting the start for the Rock Cats as they try to extend their winning streak to 9 games.

Fort Myers Musings

Fort Myers 4 Daytona 2

Fort Myers 19-13 First Place

• POG:Jeff Manship- Jeff continued his solid start of the season by going 6 strong innings and gave up 2 runs on 7 hits while walking 2 and striking out 8 for the Miracle to lower his era to a respectable 3.23 on the season. Jeff has been a real leader for the Miracle and gets a little bit better every start and i look for that to continue. The big thing with Jeff is getting his changeup over for a strike and when he does with his good fastball he is hard to hit. I look for Jeff to make the jump to AA sometime this year and if he can keep pitching like he is he is a future Twin.
• The Miracle's awesome tagteam at the end of the bullpen was strong as usual with Anthony Slama and Robert Delaney going the last 2 innings without giving up a hit and striking out 3 in 3 innings of work. Robert has been awesome this far and i think he is ready to make the jump to new britain. Anthony Slama could then slot into the Closer role for the Miracle and i think both clubs would be better for it.
• Eddie Ovalle continues his recent string of good hitting going 2-3 with a 2 run single to put the Miracle on top in the 8th inning. Eddie has been one of the top hitters on the Miracle lately to raise his average to .307 on the season and hopefully he can keep it going.
• Tonight, the Miracle are off today before beginning at series in St. Lucie to take on the Mets.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 6 Lansing 2

Beloit 14-18 9.0 games back

• POG: David Bromberg- Its amazing how good the Snappers pitching has been lately and David continued the recent trend of great pitching by the Snappers. The Snappers starting pitchers have went 8 consecutive games where they gave up 2 or less runs. Thats unbelieveable starting pitching and it was such a shock because how bad they started. Last night David continued it by going 6 innings and only giving up a run on 3 hits to lower his era to 5.00. If David keeps pitching like that he will lead the Snappers back into contention for a playoff spot.
• Steven Hirschfeld continued his strong pitching by going the last 3 innings to pick up his 3rd win of the year without a loss. Steven went 3 innings and gave up a meaningless run in the 9th on 1 hit. He walked 1 and struck out 5 to lower his era to 0.95 on the season.
• Ben Revere continued his strong start by going 3-5 with a double and a run scored. Along with that he stole 2 bases in addition. For the season Ben is hitting a crazy .432 and if he continues this he will get more and more playing time and the manager will have a hard time getting him out of the lineup.
• The Snappers are off tonight before beginning a series with Burlington on Friday night in Burlington.