Twins 3 Cardinals 1 Friday
Cardinals 5 Twins 3 Saturday
- The Twins split the first 2 games of the weekend series with the Cardinals winning the first game Friday night by a score of 3-1 and then falling yesterday by a score of 5-3. On Friday night Glen Perkins got the start for the Twins and had his best start of the season as he went 7 great innings to beat the Cardinals. Perkins went 7 innings and gave up 1 run on only 4 hits along with 3 strikeouts to lower his era to 4.70 on the year and raise his record to 3-4 on the year after spending some time on the disabled list. Perkins put in his finest performance of the season as it only took 82 pitchest to get through 7 innings. He could of gone longer, but on a steamy night in St. Louis it was the right decision to make a change after 7. Matt Guerrier then came on in the 8th and got an out along with 2 hits and a strikeout. Jose Mijares then came on and got out of the 8th on one pitch with a double play. Joe Nathan got into a little trouble in the 9th after a one out double brought Albert Pujols up with the tying run. Those are the kind of at bats that basebase fans love as one of the best closers in the game against one of the best hitters in the game with the game in the balance. Joe Nathan won this battle by striking out Pujols. Nathan struck out Rick Ankiel to end the game and pick up his 17th save and lower his era to 1.52 on the year. On Saturday Kevin Slowey took the mound trying to pick up his American League best 11th win of the season and to be blunt it didn't work out too good. Slowey only lasted 3 innings. In 3 innings Slowey gave up 5 runs on 6 hits along with 1 walk and 4 strikeouts to raise his era to 4.41 and dropped his record on the season to still a very good 10-3. The thing that I did not understand is after the first Albert Puljos homerun why would you pitch to him again it just doesn not make sense to me. Puljos is that good of a hitter that when he is on your pitches you have no chance against him. Myself, personally I would walk him everytime he comes up, but for sure after he hit the first homerun there is no way I would of pitched to him after that. The argument could be made that Slowey did not make good pitches and that is true, but a hitter of his class should not be allowed to beat you considering that whole offense is revolved around Puljos so there is not a lot of other hitters behind him. In a more positive note Bobby Keppel made his debut with the Twins and pitched very good in relief of Slowey. Keppel went 4 innings and did not give up a run on 2 hits along with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. It was nice to see an outing like that out of Keppel and hopefully he can conatinue the good work. Sean Henn came on for the 8th inning and continued to be bad facing 3 batters and only retiring 1 of them and walking the other 2. R.A. Dickey came on and finished the inning by getting the last 2 outs to lower his era to 2.34 on the year.
- Friday night the Twins did not get much going against Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright, but it was enough because of the well pitched game by Perkins. The Twins only got 3 runs on 7 hits in the game, but that proved to be enough. Jason Kubel led the offense by going 2-4 with his 16th double of the year and his 41st rbi of the season to raise his average up to .313 on the year. Michael Cuddyer also contributed 2 hits and his 39th rbi of the year to bring his average up to .281 on the year. Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer are pivotal for the Twins offense because you know what you are getting with Mauer and Morneau, but when you get good nights from Kubel and Cuddyer it just takes our offense to the next level and so far they have combined for 24 homeruns and 81 rbi's. That is the difference between the Twins offense of last year and the one of this year is that those 2 guys are consistantly putting good at bats together and driving in runs. Joe Mauer, Joe Crede, and Matt Tolbert all contributed a hit apiece to the big Twins victory. Saturday afternoon the Twins really could not do anything as they only mustered 3 runs on only 6 hits. Brendan Harris was the hitting star of the game going 2-4 with 3 rbi's to bring his season total up to 19 and brought his average up to .290. Michael Cuddyer went 1-4 with his 16th double of the year and brought his average up to .281. Joe Crede, Matt Tolbert, and Delmon Young all contributed a hit in the losing cause.
- Today, the Twins finish off interleague play as they try to take the series from the Cardinals as Francisco Liriano gets the start for the Twins.
Rochester Wrap
Rochester 6 Columbus 1 Friday Night
Rochester 6 Scranton/WB 5 Saturday Night
- The Red Wings continued their hot streak as of late as they won a couple of games over the weekend to extend their winning streak to 3 and get back in the Wild Card race in the IL. On Friday Night they defeated Columbus by a score of 6-1 and followed that up on Saturday with a 6-5 victory over first place Scranton/WB. On Friday Brian Duensing got the start for the Wings and was very very good. Duensing went 8 innings and only gave up 1 run on 6 hits along with 4 strikeouts to lower his era to 4.66 and move his record to 4-6 on the year for the Wings. Duensing has been so inconsistant this year that one start you think he should be released and then the next one you think he is ready for the major leagues. All that means is until he develops more consistancy he is going to continue to start at the AAA level and it also means that he has the talent he just needs to put it all together. Jesse Crain pitched a scoreless ninth to finish off the game and was much better than the day before as he went 1 inning and gave up no runs on 1 hit along with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts to bring his era down to 4.91. On Saturday night Kevin Mulvey got the ball and was fantastic for 6 innings, but everything fell apart in the 7th inning. In the first 6 innings Mulvey had only given up 1 run on 5 hits and was looking veyr good. However, in the 7th inning everything fell apart for Mulvey as he gave up 4 runs on 3 hits along with 2 walks to mess up a great outing and put the Red Wings behind. In all Mulvey went 6.2 innings and gave up 5 runs on 8 hits along with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts to raise his era to 3.91 on the year. For most of the game Kevin Mulvey was in control of it and just because he ran out of gas in the 7th should not make what he did earlier in the game seem less because in my mind it was a good outing. Rob Delaney came in and was shaky once again going 1.1 innings and gave up 1 hit along with 2 walks, a strikeout and a wildpitch to lower his era to 5.28 on the year. I don't know what the problem with Delaney is lately as his control has been off since he got to Rochester. After walking only 6 batters in 36 innings at New Britian he has already walked 6 batters in only 15.1 innings at Rochester. I don't know if it an anamoly that will take care of itself or if he is trying to hard, but Delaney's strength is his control so he needs to get that fixed fast. Tim Lahey pitched a scoreless inning of relief in the 9th and allowed the Wings to come back in the bottom of the ninth. Lahey allowed 1 hit along with 1 walk and 1 strikeout to lower his era to 8.18 and get his first victory of the season for the Wings.
- Offensively, the Red Wings have been very good as of late and continued it on Friday against Columbus as they put up 6 runs on 12 hits. Steve Tolleson led the offense for the Wings going 3-4 to bring his average up to a very good .327 on the season. Tolleson has played so well since his callup from New Britian that if Nick Punto has to go on the disabled list because of the rib injury I would have no problem promoting Tolleson to the Twins and playing him every day and see what he can do. Matt Macri had another big game for the Wings going 2-3 with his 14th double of the year along with 2 rbi's to bring his season total up to 25 and his average up to .217. Danny Valencia continued his hot start by going 2-4 with 2 runs scored and his 4th rbi of the year and brought his average up to .500. Alexi Casilla went 2-4 with his 1st double of the year to bring his average on the year to .349. David Winfree, Dustin Martin, and Tommy Watkins all contributed hits in the winning cause for Rochester. On Saturday night the Wings offense showed how resiliant they are by overcoming a 5-3 deficit going into the bottom of the 7th. Danny Valencia tied the game in the 8th with a homerun and Alexi Casilla drove in Tommy Watkins with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. Trevor Plouffe led the offense by going 2-4 with his 6th homerun of the year and his 11th double of the year along with his 39th rbi of the year which ranks him 2nd on the team. Drew Butera went 2-4 with his 6th and 7th doubles of the year along with his 14th rbi of the year to bring his average up to .222. Justin Huber went 1-4 with his team high 10th homerun and brought his rbi total up to a team high 40. Danny Valencia went 1-4 with his 2nd homerun since his callup which tied the game at 5 in the bottom of the 8th. Jason Pridie, Alexi Casilla, Steve Tolleson, Dustin Martin and Matt Macri each contributed hits in the winning cause for the Red Wings.
- Tonight, the Red Wings continue their series with Scranton/WB as Anthony Swarzak gets the start for Rochester.
New Britain Business
New Britain 0 Connecticut 0 Rained out Friday Night
Connecticut 3 New Britain 0 Saturday Night
- The Rockcats suffered a tough loss last night after having their game with Connecticut washed out by rain on Friday night. Last night they suffered a tough loss to swallow as Cole Devries had another good start, but they could not touch the Connecticut pitching in a 3-0 loss. Cole Devries got the start for the Rockcats and was solid once again. Devries went 7 innings and only gave up 2 runs on 6 hits along with 1 walk and 5 strikeouts to lower his era to a very good 2.96 and lowered his record on the year to 5-6. Cole Devries has been the biggest surprise on the entire New Britain team because we keep waiting for him to fall apart and he never does. I am done making predictions what he is going to do because they are always wrong. I think we should just sit back and relax and enjoy the show because Cole Devries is a very good pitcher. Jose Lugo came in relief of Devries and struggled only getting 2 outs and giving up a run on a hit along with a strikeout to raise his era to 4.58 on the year. Alex Burnett came in and put out the fire going 1.1 innings of shutout relief on 1 hit along with a strikeout to lower his era to 2.95 on the year.
- The Rockcats could get nothing going against Connecticut pitchers Jesse English and Ben Snyder as they were only able to muster 4 hits and no runs. In all they got 4 meaning less singles by Rene Tosoni, Toby Gardenhire, Whit Robbins, and Brian Dinkelman. Sometimes there are games where you just have to tip your hat to the pitchers because there was not alot you can do because sometimes the pitching is just better and that appeared to be the case last night for the Rockcats.
- Today, the Rockcats continue their series with Connecticut as Matt Fox gets the start for New Britain.
Fort Myers Minutes
Daytona 8 Fort Myers 6
Daytona 6 Fort Myers 4
- The Miracle have run into the usual 2nd half malaise when you win the first half title when you are in the playoffs anyway and it doesn't matter what you do in the second half because you are already in. The last couple of days the Miracle dropped a couple competitive games to Daytona by the scores of 8-6 and 6-4. On Friday night Mike Mccardell got the start for the Miracle and he was not real great in this one. Mccardell went 5 innings and gave up 7 runs although only 6 were earned on 11 hits along with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts to raise his era to 4.32 and lowered his record on the year to 7-5. Mccardell has been so good this year that we need to give him a break when he just doesn't have it and realize how good of a season Mccardell has had. Joe Testa then came in and gave up an unearned run on 3 hits in 2 innings of work along with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts. Santos Arias then came on and pitched 2 shutout innings on 2 hits to lower his era to 2.56 on the year. On Saturday night Steve Hirschfeld got the start for the Miracle and was just ok. Hirschfeld went 5 innings and gave up 4 runs on 11 hits along with 3 strikeouts to raise his era to 2.11. Steve Hirschfeld is a very good reliever that I am not sure if he has the stuff to be a starter, but he deserves the chance to find out after the great first half working out of the bullpen for the Miracle. It will be interesting to see how he does in the rotation and if this is a permanent thing or if starters like Brad Tippett or Dan Osterbrock could get a chance in the second half. Henry Arias then came on and pitched 3 innings and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits along with 3 strikeouts to raise his era to 5.35. Spencer Steedley pitched a shutout inning of relief along with 1 hit and 1 strikeout to lower his era to 1.02.
- The Miracle put up some good offensive numbers on Friday night as they had 6 runs on 10 hits, but it could of been even more as the Miracle left 8 guys on base in the game. Chris Parmalee led the attack going 3-5 with his 12th double and drove in 3 runs to bring his season total up 41. With the 3 hits Chris raised his average up to .264. Jair Fernandez went 2-4 with his 2nd homerun of the year to raise his average to .203 on the year. Chris Cates went 2-4 to raise his average up to .270 on the year. Rene Leveret went 1-4 with his 9th double of the year to bring his average up to .282. Ben Revere and Steve Singelton each contributed a hit in the loss for the Miracle. On Saturday night the Miracle continued 2 trends as of late in that they are hitting the heck out of the ball with 14 hits, but on the opposite side of things the Miracle have left quite a few guys on base lately and yesterday was no difference as they left 10 guys on base. Ben Revere led the offense going 3-5 at the plate with his 9th double and drove in his 30th run of the year. With the 3 hits Revere is now hitting .323 on the year. Chris Cates went 2-4 with his 6th double of the year and raised his average to .275. Nick Romero went 2-4 to raise his average to .271 and drove in his 10th run of the year. Mark Dolenc went 2-5 to raise his average to .273 on the season. Evan Bigley went 1-4 with his 6th double of the year to raise his average up to .272 on the year. Steve Singelton, Deibinson Romero, Rene Leveret, and Chris Parmalee each contributed a hit in the losing cause.
- Today, the Miracle try to even the series with Daytona as Deolis Guerra gets the start for Fort Myers.
Beloit Beat
Clinton 4 Beloit 3 Friday Night
Clinton 0 Beloit 0 Rained out Saturday Night
- The second half for the Snappers is going just about the same way as the 1st half ended for the Snappers. On Friday night Dan Osterbrock got the start for the Snappers and was solid like usual for the Snappers. Osterbrock went 6 innings and gave up 3 runs on 6 hits along with 7 strikeouts to lower his era to 4.87 on the year. Osterbrock has been very good in June as in 2-0 with a 2.28 era in 5 starts. Maybe it took him a little while to get going on the year but, Dan Osterbrock right now is the ace of the Snapper staff and if he continues this would be in line for a possible promotion to Fort Myers. It takes most players time to adjust to a full season team and it took Osterbrock a little bit longer than the Twins had hoped, but right now he is pitching as good as anyone in the organization. Bruce Pugh came on for Osterbrock and gave up the winning run in 2 innings on 3 hits along with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts to bring his era up to 4.15 on the year and dropped his record to 2-2.
- The Snappers saw their pretty much season long hitting slump continue as they were only able to get 3 runs on 7 hits. To make things worse the Snappers left 9 guys on base so Friday night was a game that they let get away. Nathan Hanson led the Snappers attack by going 2-4 with his 10th double of the year and drove in his 19th rbi of the year to bring his average up to .244. James Beresford had a big game going 2-4 with a walk to bring his average up to .286. Top prospect Aaron Hicks went 1-5 with his 3rd rbi along with 3 strikeouts and is hitting .235 in very limited duty. Ozzie Lewis and Jon Waltenbury each contributed a hit in the losing cause for the Snappers.
- Today, the Snappers have a doubleheader with Clinton to make up for the rainout last night. Bobby Lanigan gets the start in the first game and Brad
Tippett gets the start in the second game for Beloit.
E-town Entertainment
E-town 14 Pulaski 4
E-town 8 Pulaski 3
- The E-town Twins continued their dominance with 2 huge wins that brought their record to 5-0 with blowout wins over Pulaski by scores of 14-4 and 8-3 and makes you wonder how good is this team going to be. On Friday night Mike Munoz got the start and was very good. Munoz went 5 good innings and gave up 2 earned runs on 6 hits along with a walk and an impressive 9 strikeouts to put hsi era to 3.60 and gave him his first win of the year. Edgar Ibarra then came on and pitched 2 innings and gave up a run on 2 hits along with 1 walk and 3 strikeouts to bring his era to 6.00 on the year. Kane Holbrooks pitched a scoreless inning of relief along with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts. Tony Davis pitched a very good 9th inning of relief along with 2 strikeouts. On Saturday night Angelo Sanchez got the start for the Twins and he was very good again. Sanchez went 5 solid innings and gave up 3 runs on 5 hits along with a walk and 7 strikeouts to bring his era to 5.40 on the year. Brad Stillings pitched 2 solid innings of relief on 1 hit along with 2 strikeouts. Kyle Carr then came in and pitched a shutout 8th inning on 1 hit along with 1 strikeout. Billy Bulluck pitched a shutout 9th along with a strikeout to finish the game for the E-town Twins.
- The E-town Twins offense is on fire to start the season as they put up 14 runs and 8 runs respectively. On Friday night they were led by Jon Goncalves who went 3-4 with his 2nd rbi to bring his average up to .500. Tyler Ladendorf went 1-3 with his 2nd homerun and drove in 4 rbi's to bring his season total up to 6. Chris Hermann went 2-3 with a double and 2 rbi's. Mike Gonzalez, Danny Rams, and Paul Klingsberg each contributed 2 hits each. Anderson Hidalgo contributed his first homerun of the year. Derek Mccallum and Dan Rohlfing each contributed a hit in the winning cause. On Saturday night the E-town Twins continued their offensive onslaught as they put up 8 runs on 8 hits in which most of the damage was done in a 6 run bottom of the first inning to put the game away early. Reggie Williams led the attack going 2-4 to bring his average up to .188. Herbert Lara went 1-4 with his 1st homerun of the year and 2 rbi's. Mike Gonzalez went 1-4 with 2 rbi's for the Twins. Jasmil Pinto went 1-4 with his 2nd homerun of the year along with 4 rbi's. Chris Hermann, Tobias Streich, and Jon Goncalves each contributed a hit in the winning cause for the E-town Twins.
- Tonight, the Twins take on Pulaski in game 3 of the series as they try to get the sweep as Tom Stuifbergen gets the start for Elizabethton.
