Saturday, May 24th

Twins Talk
Minnesota 9 Detroit 4
Minnesota 24-24 2.5 games back

• POG: Mike Lamb- Mike came out of a season long slump by going 2-3 with his first homerun of the season along with a triple and a rbi and 4 runs scored. With the 2 hits it raises Mike's average to still a bad .232 on the season. With the Rbi it brought his total up to 20 on the season. Mike really needs to step it up and he is very capable based on what he did in Houston and with me living in Texas i saw alot of Astros games on Tv last year and he was way better than this so i still have confidence that he will get it going and be the hitter that we were expecting when we signed him. He is too good of a hitter to hit like this and it seemed like when he hit that homerun last night he just relaxed and you could tell when he got back to the dugout he exhaled and all the pressure came off and now he can just relax and hit. Honestly, I have been pleasantly surprised with his defense at 3rd it hasn't been gold glove quality but it has been definatly decent. I look for Mike to really take off now and put up the type of numbers we are expecting out of him.
• Kevin Slowey pitched a pretty good game last night going 6 shutout innings and only giving up 4 hits along with 3 walks and 2 strikeouts. With the 6 shutout innings he picked up his first win of the season and lowered his era to a decent 4.21 on the season. For what his ERA was after that first start before he got hurt he has pitched very good since to get it down in the 4's and hopefully he can keep it going. My only problem with Kevin is he nibbles to much so his pitch count is elevated and he tires in the 6th inning. For example last night he cruised through 5 and then they started hitting him in the 6th. He gave up 2 hits in the 6th and everything was hit hard. The reason is his pitch count was up because of his nibbling earlier in the game. If he can just show the same aggressiveness late in the count as he does early in the count he would lower his pitch count and be able to pitch in the 7th and 8th innings. Until he does that it will put alot of pressure on our bullpen a bullpen that has really struggled this season.
• Justin Mourneau continued his hot start to the season by going 2-4 with 2 doubles and 2 run batted in. With the 2 hits it brought his average up to a very good .306. With theh 2 rbis it brought his total up to 39 on the season which ranks him 3rd in the American League. I had someone say that Justin is not clutch and i totally disagree I think he is totally clutch. This is baseball you are not going to do it everytime but i have alot of confidence that when there are runners on base Justin is going to find a way to ge them into score.
• Tonight, the Twins take on the Tigers in game 2 of their 3 game series in Detroit. Gametime is at 6:05 with Boof Bonser having a huge start as he tries to stay in the rotation. Nate Robertson gets the start for the Tigers.

Rochester Wrap

Rochester 6 Pawtucket 4

Rochester 19-30 13.0 games back

• POG: Danny Graves- Danny continues to impress out of the Rotation showing a veteran guile to get hitters out that pitchers like Philip Humber need to take heed of. It doesn't matter how hard you throw the key is being able to get the hitters out. Danny went 6 innings, his longest outing of the season, and gave up 3 runs on 4 hits along with 2 bases on balls. I just love the way Danny pitches his fastball has good movement on it and has rediscovered his good slider. If Danny keeps pitching like he is and if the Twins bullpen continues to struggle it wont be long until Danny gets a well deserved callup to the big club and i really think he can help them.
• Sergio Santos had his finest day as a member of the Red Wings by going 3-4 with 2 doubles and 2 runs scored. With the 2 hits it raised Sergio's average to a still bad but getting better every day .202 on the season. He is hitting .258 wiht the Red Wings a big improvement from what he was doing with Toronto which led to his release from the Blue Jays organization. I see alot of talent in him and if he keeps working on his game he could be a decent shortstop. He was a first round pick so you know there is talent and maybe a bad Red Wings team is a perfect way for his game to come together lets hope so.
• I was going to write an article on this but decided to use the time here to write about it. The Twins organizationo have really screwed up Rochester. They take all their best players and dont replenish the players with other players of equal value. Rochester signed a 2 year extension with the Twins so they have no bargaining power with the Twins. They have lost Howie Clark, the team leader, Matt Macri, Alexi Casilla, Denard Span, Kevin Slowey. Who have they gave them Danny Graves, Sergio Santos and Felix Molina. Nothing against those players but they are not players up to that par. I would like to have seen Trevor Plouffe, Luke Hughes, Erik Lis and Anthony Swarzak getting the call instead to see how they would do. All i know is the Rochester coaching staff does not have much of a chance to win consistantly with those players. Pretty much all of them are journeymen who will never make it to the Bigs and all have something they dont do will. All i know is its going to be a long season in Rochester and i hope eventually the Twins wise up and give them something to work with.
• Tonight, the Redwings continue their series with Pawtucket in Pawtucket. Gametime is at 5:05 with Kevin Mulvey getting the start for the Red Wings trying to rebound after a few bad starts.

New Britain Business

Portland 7 New Britain 6

New Britain 23-24 7.5 gams back

• POG: Matt Moses- In a game that the Rock Cats only managed to get 6 hits in the game Matt was 1-3 with a walk along with his 3rd homerun of the season. He walked once drove in a run and scored 2 runs With the 1 hit it brought Matt's average up to .253 on the season. With his rbi it brought his total to 19 on the season. Matt is a key to the Rock Cats offense along with David Winfree and when they hit the Rock Cats have a chance to win and when they dont they almost always lose so it is key for Matt to swing the bat well something that he really has not done on a consistant basis this year. I do think he can get better and better and the Rock Cats are counting on him being the force in the middle of the lineup that will drive in runs and be a consistant tough out.
• Ryan Mullins should of stayed home last night. He went 4 innings and gave up 6 runs on 7 hits along with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. The thing that really hurt Ryan is Portland connected for 4 homeruns off of him which took out any chance for the Rock Cats to get the win. Ryan has been the most consistant pitcher for the Rock Cats all season and every pitcher has a day where nothing works and they are smashing everything you are throwing up there. Im sure he wishes he could go out today and get that bad taste out of his mouth and not have to wait 5 days. With the rough outing it brought Ryan's ERA to 3.81 on the season. I really believe next time out Ryan will put this start behind him and show exactly what kind of pitcher he is and throw good innings.
• I can't get over how well Zach Ward continues to pitch out of the Pen. In 30 innings this year he has only given up 1 earned run for a ERA of 0.30 on the season. I would like to see him get the promotion to AAA to see if he has a future in the bullpen and if he can a chance with the Twins next season or if he is just hot right now.
• Today, the Rock Cats continue their series with Portland in Portland. Gametime is at 12:00 with Anthony Swarzak getting the start for the Rockcats.

Fort Myers Musings

Fort Myers 5 Palm Beach 3

Fort Myers 31-17 First Place

• POG: Danny Valencia- Danny continues his hot string by going 3-3 with an rbi and a run scored. With the 3 hits it brings Danny's average up to a team high .346 on the season. With the rbi it brings his team high to 39 on the season. He has been especially hot in his last 10 games by going 21-38 a ridiculous .553 average with 2 homeruns and 12 rbi's along with 6 doubles and 2 triples. Danny is dominating the FSL so much that you almost have to promote him to AA to see what he can do. I think he definatly is the future 3rd basemen for the Twins and a new level of competiton is what Danny needs to see where he is at. I look for him to dominate that league too and look for him to be playing 3rd base for the Twins when the new ballpark opens in the 2010 season.
• I dont know how to describe the start for Deolis Guerra yesterday. On one hand he only gave up 2 runs on 2 hits in 5 innings, but he also walked 7 batters which is awful and thats why he only lasted 5 innings. With the 2 runs it lowered Deolis' ERA to 4.56 on the season. We just have to hope his wildness was just an abberation because his stuff is too good for him to be walking 7 in a game adn i really believe he will get that walk thing under control after this start. Other than the Walks he was very good holding a good Palm Beach lineup to only 2 hits in 5 innings so its hard for me to be too hard on him because they really didn't hit him very hard and if he can get the walk thing under control he will be fine.
• The Combo of Slama and Delaney continued to impress going the last 2 innings and only gave up 1 hit and 1 unearned run in relief. Between the 2 of them they have went 51 innings and only given up 5 earned runs. They have walked 12 batters and struck out 71 batters. I think they both have a future with the Twins and it maybe time to move 1 of them up to see how they can do against better competion.
• Tonight, the Miracle continue their series with Palm Beach in Fort Myers. Gametime is at 6:05 with Alex Burnett getting the start for the Miracle.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 7 Burlington 4

Beloit 25-22 8.5 games back

• POG: Ben Revere- Big surprise Ben had another ho hum game going 2-4 with his first homerun of the year along with 2 runs scored. With his 2 hits he raised his average up to .408 on the year. It is no fluke either because he has 98 at bats so pitchers have had a chance to make adjustments against him and he is still hitting like this. It amazes me how well he has come on this year coming in midseason to help the Snappers get into contention in the Midwest league. I think it would be an injustice to him to move him up to fast I would let him dominate at Beloit this year and next year move him up to Fort Myers to see how he does and that allows him to keep his confidence up. I seriously did not see this coming i thought he would be a good player but i didnt think he would dominate so early in his career and it will only be a few years until he is patrolling the outfield for the Twins. Can the imagine the outfield speed out of Revere and Carlos Gomez wow.
• David Bromberg had an ok outing not great and not bad. He went 5.2 innings and gave up 3 runs on 6 hits along with 5 strikeouts without a walk. David has really come on lately to lower his era to a respectable 4.70 on the season. That probably seems high but how he was pitching earlier in the season i will take it. David is a very talented pitcher and when he can get his slider over the plate he is downright dominent. I look for him to stay in the rotation and keep getting better as the year goes along.
• The surprise of the team has to be Ozzie Lewis who went 2-4 with his 3rd homerun of the season along with 2 rbi's and a run scored. Since he came off the DL he has hit 5-15 a .333 average much better than his average before. Slowly but surely Ozzie is getting his average up after the disaster begging of the season. His average now sits at .137 and goes up every day and i think he will be just fine.
• Tonight, the Snappers continue their series with Burlington in Beloit. Gametime is at 5:00 with Michael Tarsi getting the start for the Snappers as they try to continue their strong play of late.