Thursday, July, 9th

Twins Talk

For those expecting me to talk about the Yankees series you are going to have to go to another blog because you aren't getting anything from me as I just want to forget this series happened and move on to play the White Sox this weekend.

Yankees 10 Twins 2 Tuesday WP: Sabathia LP: Baker

Baker 3 inn 5 runs 9 hits 2bb 4k Mauer 0-3 BA: .384

Yankees 4 Twins 3 Wednesday WP: Burnett LP: Swarzak Save: Rivera

Swarzak 4.1 inn 4 runs 8 hits 1bb Mauer 3-5 BA: .388

Yankees 6 Twins 4 Thursday WP: Albaladejo LP: Liriano Save: Rivera

Liriano 5.1 inn 3 ER 7 hits 2bb 5k Mauer 2-5 BA: .389



Pitching Matchups vs White Sox
Friday Nick Blackburn vs John Danks

Saturday Glen Perkins vs Gavin Floyd

Sunday Scott Baker vs Mark Buerhle

Rochester Wrap
Rochester 9 Syracuse 4

• The Red Wings extended their winning streak to 3 games with a big 9-4 victory over second place Syracuse last night as the Red Wings try to get back in the IL divison race and trail Scranton/WB by only 7 games as we speak and are playing very well right now. Jeff Manship got the start for the Red Wings and was ok getting out of some jams to keep the Red Wings in the game until their bats exploded. Manship went 5.1 innings and gave up 4 runs on 10 hits along with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 3.93 on the year and improved his record on the year to 2-0. Jeff Manship is a slow starter after a promotion and this is no different as 2 of his 3 starts have been suspect, but it will only be a matter of time before he is dominating hitters like he has at every other stop. Jesse Crain then came on and continued his recent string of quality innings. Crain went 1.2 innings to lower his era to 3.18 on the year and has thrown 4.1 innings without giving up a run. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a streak that will lead Jesse back to the Twins where they could surely use him. Juan Morillo then came on and pitched a rocky, but effective inning. Morillo went 1 inning and gave up 2 hits along with a strikeout to lower his era to 2.83 on the year and most importantly no walks. Rob Delaney pitched a clean 9th inning for the Red Wings with a walk and 2 strikeouts to lower his era on the season to 4.74.

• The Red Wings continued their recent hitting prowess as they put up 9 runs on 13 hits and in their 3 game winning streak they have scored 23 runs on 41 hits which averages out to 7.7 runs and 13.7 hits per game which is very impressive considering the Wings have really struggled offensively pretty much all season and get hot is a good sign. In this one the Wings were led by Jason Pridie who went 3-5 with his 5th homerun and 16th double of the year along with 2 rbi's to bring his total up to 28 and brought his average up to .260. Drew Butera had a big game going 2-4 with his 2nd homerun of the year and 2 rbi's to bring his total up to 18. Alexi Casilla went 2-5 with his 15th rbi of the year and improved his average to a team leading .336. David Winfree went 1-4 with his 20th double of the year and drove in his 41st run of the year. Matt Macri went 1-4 with his 16th double of the year. Steve Tolleson, Danny Valencia, Trevor Plouffe, and Brock Peterson all added hits in the winning cause for the Red Wings.
• Tonight, the Wings continue their series with Syracuse as Kevin Mulvey gets the start for Rochester.

New Britain Business

Connecticut 3 New Britain 1

New Britain 7 Connecticut 3

• The Rockcats split a doubleheader with first place Connecticut where they got a couple of good pitching performances and some good and some batting hitting leading to the split. In game 1 Cole Devries got the start and he was victimized by some bad defense by the Rockcats as he was very good. Devries went all 7 innings and gave up 3 runs although none of them were earned thanks to an Erik Lis error in the 1st inning which led to 3 unearned runs on only 5 hits along with 1 walk and 3 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 2.89, but also lower his record on the year to 5-8. Cole Devries has been the most consistant pitcher on the staff for the Rockcats all year and along with Matt Fox those 2 have kept the Rockcats in the lead for the wildcard pretty much all year and I expect that to continue. In game 2 we saw the AA debut of prized prospect Deolis Guerra and he pitched a pretty decent game. Guerra went 5 innings and gave up 2 earned runs on 5 hits along with 1 walk and 4 strikeouts. There is so much talent in this kid as he is only 20 years old that the Twins want to see if he can do an Anthony Swarzak and take off in a different level even though I think there were more deserving players. I am really excited to see this kid grow into a possible ace as he is only 20 years old and still has some development to go. Anthony Slama then came on and pitched the last 2 innings and only gave up 1 hit to pick up his 18th save of the year. He also recorded 3 strikeouts in those two innings as he nailed the game down for the Rockcats.

• Offensively the Rockcats had a game where they got nothing going and then a game where they were running on all cylinders. In game 1 the Rockcats could not get anything going as they could only manage 1 run on only 6 hits. The Cats were led by Juan Portes who went 2-3 with his 4th homerun of the year along with his 32nd rbi to bring his average on the year to .316. Rene Tosoni went 1-3 with his 18th double of the year to bring his average up to .275 on the year. Brian Dinkelman also went 1-3 with his 22nd double of the year to bring his average up to .298. Toby Gardenhire and Yancarlos Ortiz each added a hit in the losing cause for the Rockcats. In game 2 the bats really came alive as they had 7 runs on 8 hits. The Rockcats were led by Luke Hughes who had a career game for the Rockcats. Hughes went 4-4 with 3 doubles and 3 rbi's as he works his way back from the oblique injury and hopefully back to Rochester where he belongs. Rene Tosoni had a big game going 2-4 with his 19th double of the year and his 49th rbi of the year to bring his average up to .279. Yancarlos Ortiz had a big game going 1-2 with 3 runs scored from the leadoff spot. Whit Robbins also contributed a hit in the winning cause for the Rockcats.
• Tonight, the Rockcats continue their series with first place Connecticut as Matt Fox gets the start for New Britain.

Fort Myers Minutes

Sarasota 5 Fort Myers 0

• The Miracle hitters were baffled by 3 Sarasota pitchers as they could not muster a run on only 6 hits. With the promotion of Deolis Guerra to AA this turned into a bullpen game for the Miracle because this was supposed to be Guerra's turn in the rotation. So the Miracle turned to Henry Arias in a pinch and he was decent kind of what you expect out of Arias. Henry Arias went 4 innings and gave up 2 runs on 5 hits along with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 5.13 and lower his record to 1-3. Blair Erickson then came in and was awful in his 1 inning of work. Erickson gave up 2 runs on 3 hits along with 2 strikeouts in his inning to raise his era to 2.83. Joe Testa then came in and was fantastic again as he went 2 shutout innings along with a strikeout and has not allowed a run in 7.1 innings since his promotion from Beloit. Loek Van Mil then came on and got hit a little as he gave up a run on 2 hits along with a strikeout to raise his era to 1.29 on the year.

• With no runs on only 6 hits there was not alot to get excited about last night, but there were a few notable contributions. Ben Revere is coming out of a terrible slump as he went 2-5 to raise his average back up to .306 on the year. Steve Singelton went 1-4 with his 14th double of the year. Evan Bigley, Juan Richardson, and Chris Cates all contributed hits in the losing cause.
• Tonight, the Miracle continue their series with Sarasota as Steve Hirschfeld gets the start for Fort Myers.

Beloit Beat

South Bend 6 Beloit 3

• The Snappers saw their losing streak expand to 3 games after a tough 6-3 loss to South Bend last night. Bobby Lanigan got the start for the Snappers and really was not as good as he had been in starts past. Lanigan went 6 innings and gave up 6 runs although only 3 of them were earned on 8 hits along with a walk and 3 strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 4.48 and dropped his record to a rough 7-5 on the year. I really thought Lanigan had turned the corner in June and was going to be the pitcher we were expecting all season and then he has a start like this and your like what is going on. I really hope this was just a rough start and he will bounce back next time because the Snappers to compete at all need good starts out of Bobby every time out. Bruce Pugh then came in and was very good in his 2 innings of work on only 1 hit along with 3 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 4.15. Steve Blevins then came on for the ninth and did a good job as he pitched a perfect inning along with a strikeout to lower his era to 4.17 on the year.

• The Snappers really could not get hardly anything going offensively in this one as they could only muster 3 runs on only 7 hits in the game. Aaron Hicks was the hitting star in this one going 1-4 with his 3rd double of the year and drove in his 9th run. James Beresford went 1-2 with 2 walks to bring his average up to .283. Ramon Santana went 1-4 with 2 rbi's to bring hsi season total up to 40. Michael Harrington, Alex Soto, Dominic De La Osa, and Angel Morales all contributed hits in the losing cause.
• Tonight, the Snappers continue their series with South Bend as newcomer Liam Hendricks gets the start for Beloit.

E-town Entertainment

Kingsport 10 E-town 7

• The E-town Twins let a 7-3 lead going into the bottom of the 6th inning get away in a tough to handle 10-7 loss to Kingsport last night. Tom Stuifbergen got the start for the Twins and was decent as he kept the team in the game and left with the lead. Stuifbergen went 6 innings and gave up 3 earned runs and scattered 10 hits along with a walk and 3 strikeouts to raise his era to 4.30 on the year. Kane Holbrooks then came in and went 2/3 of an inning and gave up a run on no hits along with 4 walks to raise his era on the year to 7.20. The Twins got out of that mess with the lead so you think they got it wrapped up right well you would be wrong if you said yes. Tony Davis came in and had a forgettable performance that he forgot about by the time he got to the parking lot after the game. Davis went 1.1 innings and gave up 5 runs on 6 hits along with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 11.37 and took the loss to drop his record ont the year to 0-2.

• The rough pitching outing ruined another great offensive performance by the Twins who put up 7 runs on 11 hits. Once again Danny Rams and Tyler Ladendorf led the offense for the Twins. Rams went 3-5 with his 6th and 7th doubles of the year and his 22nd rbi to bring his average up to .368. Ladendorf went 2-3 with his 7th double and his 17th rbi of the year to bring his average on the season up to .400. Chris Hermann went 2-4 with his 7th double and his 8th rbi to bring his impressive average up to .386. Jon Goncalves went 2-4 with his 2nd double to bring his average up to .273 on the year. Anderson Hidalgo went 1-4 with his 3rd double of the year. Josmil Pinto also added a hit in the losing cause for the Twins.
• Tonight, the Twins continue their series with Kingsport as the Twins will send out Brad Stillings to make a spot start as they lost Liam Hendricks to Beloit and Matt Bashore is not ready to make a start yet for Elizabethton.