Pino Promoted to Rochester

• In a bit of a surprise the Twins have promoted starting pitcher Yohan Pino to AAA Rochester and bypassing Matt Fox and Cole Devries who have been more consistant this year. Nothing against Pino who has been very good lately, but both Fox and Devries have had better overall seasons. However, I expect for Pino to do the good job for the Red Wings so the question is who is coming up for Fort Myers to take his spot will it be Mike Mccardell, Tyler Robertson, and David Bromberg. It will be an interesting decision and let me know what your preference is.

Saturday, July, 18th

Twins Talk

Twins 5 Rangers 3

• The Twins got off on the right foot in the 2nd half of the season with a very impressive 5-3 victory over the Rangers last night in Arlington. The Twins got good pitching, good defense, and a few timely hits to pull out the win and move within 3 games of first place in the Central. Glen Perkins got the start for the Twins and he did ok in the game as he gave the Twins a chance to win although it was not a quality start. Perkins went 5 innings and gave up 3 runs on 7 hits along with 1 walk and 4 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 4.75 on the year and improve his record to 5-5 on the season. I am probably in the minority on this, but I don't see alot in Glen Perkins. I see an average pitcher who is who he is and does not have much upside. He is going to win 9-10 games and have an era in the mid to upper 4's. He is solid, but I think we have better options in Anthony Swarzak and Kevin Mulvey who have more upside. I would use Perkins as a bargaining chip to either get a middle infielder or a relief pitcher. Then when Kevin Slowey returns from the Disabled List you can have whoever is pitching better between Swarzak and Mulvey take Perkins' spot in the rotation. The Twins bullpen did a phenemonal job last night by pitching 4 shutout innings on only 2 hits to secure the Twins victory. Bobby Keppel was the first one out of the bullpen and was awesome once again for the Twins. Keppel has done a great job out of the bullpen for the Twins since his callup and I will admit I did not see it coming hopefully he can keep it going. Keppel went 2 perfect innings along with 3 strikeouts to lower his era to a wonderful 0.63 era. Jose Mijares and Matt Guerrier split up the 8th inning and gave up 1 hit and 1 strikeout. Joe Nathan pitched the 9th to pick up his 24th save of the year and lowered his era to 1.27 on the year.

• The Twins offense did just enough to get through a tough game as Rangers pitcher Vicente Padilla was strong for the Rangers, but the Twins were able to get 5 runs on 11 hits. Jason Kubel led the offensive attack going 2-4 at the plate with a huge 3 run homerun, his 15th of the year, and 3 rbi's to bring his season total up to 48 and his average up to .314. Kubel has turned himself into a pretty dangerous hitter and it was nice to see the Twins lock him up for the next 2 seasons. Carlos Gomez went 2-3 with his 4th triple of the year and drove in his 19th and 20th runs of the year and improved his average up to .242. Justin Morneau went 2-3 at the plate with his team leading 24th double of the year and improved his average on the year to .315. Joe Crede went 2-4 to improve his average on the year to .238. Denard Span, Joe Mauer, and Brendan Harris contributed a hit apiece in the winning cause for the Twins.


• Tonight, the Twins continue their series with the Rangers as Scott Baker will take the mound for the Twins against Rangers starter Scott Feldman.

Rochester Wrap

• The Red Wings had their game with Lehigh Valley rained out last night and will be made up with a doubleheader today. Jason Jones is scheduled to start the first game while Philip Humber is scheduled to pitch in the second game.

New Britain Business

New Britain 6 Reading 4

• The Rockcats pulled out a tough hard fought game last night against Reading by a score of 6-4. After struggling a little bit going into the break the Rockcats won their 2nd consecutive game against Reading last night. Cole Devries got the start for the Rockcats and was so so in this game. Devries went 5 innings and gave up 3 runs on 6 hits along with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 3.63 and improved his record on the year to 6-9. It appears that Devries has hit a little bit of a wall as he has given up 13 runs in his last 2 starts so he needs to get back after it and get back to being the pitcher we have seen all year out of Cole because he is a much better pitcher than what he has shown the last 2 games. Frank Mata then came on and pitched a scoreless inning of relief on 2 hits along with a walk to lower his era down to 3.98 on the year. He was followed by Carlos Gutierrez who did ok pitching 1.1 scoreless innings of relief on 2 hits along with a walk and 2 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 6.35. This was the first outing since he went to the bullpen that Carlos did not give up a run so hopefully this is something to build on for Gutierrez. Jose Lugo then came on and wasn't as good as usual as he gave up a run on a hit along with a walk to raise his era on the year to 3.83. Alex Burnett pitched a scoreless inning of relief along with a strikeout to pick up his 2nd save with the Rockcats and lower his era to a very good 1.99.

• In a well pitched game by both teams runs were going to be at a premium so the Rockcats did not do alot, but just enough to get the win with 6 runs on 8 hits in the game for New Britain. Steve Singelton continued his hot start since joining New Britain by going 3-4 at the plate with a single, double, and a triple and all he needed was a homerun to complete the cycle. In 2 games with New Britain Singelton is 6-9 at the plate an unbelievable .667 average. Of course he will come down to earth, but what a couple of great games for Steve and I expect him to put up good numbers for the Rockcats this season. Matt Moses coming back from an injury got the start and went 2-4 at the plate with his 10th double and his 1st triple of the year and drove in his 39th and 40th rbi's of the year to bring his average up to .228. Erik Lis continued his power streak as he went 1-4 with his 11th homerun of the year and his 4th homerun in his last 5 games. Brandon Roberts went 1-5 at the plate with his 13th double of the year. Rene Tosoni also contributed a hit in the winning cause for the Rockcats.


• Tonight, the Rockcats continue their series with Reading as Deolis Guerra is scheduled to pitch for New Briatin.

Fort Myers Minutes

Sarasota 3 Fort Myers 2

• The Miracle suffered a tough hard fought 1 run loss to Sarasota last night by a score of 3-2 to drop 2 games out of first place. David Bromberg got the start for the Miracle and was once again solid on the mound for Fort Myers. Bromberg went 6 innings and gave up only 3 runs on 7 hits along with 1 walk and 6 strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 2.97 and Bromberg suffered his first loss of the year and dropped his record to still a very good 7-1. David Bromberg has been good all season long and has really taken of his walking problem he had last season at Beloit. With Rochester needing some help in the rotation and if one of New Britain's starters are sent to help I would have no problem if Bromberg got the call to AA. Santos Arias then came on and pitched a very good 7th inning to lower his era on the year to 2.39. Henry Arias then came on in the 8th and pitched a scoreless inning along with a walk to lower his era to 4.89 on the season. I was really down on Henry Arias midway through the first half, but he has really stepped it up the last month or so and become a very reliable pitcher out of the pen for the Miracle who can also make an occasional spot start.

• The Miracle really could not get anything going against some good Sarasota pitching as they were able to only get 2 runs on 7 hits in the game. Mark Dolenc led the offense going 2-3 with his 13th double of the year and his 3rd homerun along with his 27th and 28th rbi's to bring his average up to .297. Rene Leveret had a nice game going 2-4 with his 1st triple of the year and improved his average to .290. Ben Revere went 1-4 at the plate to bring his average down to .307. Chris Parmalee and Joe Benson each contributed a hit in the losing cause for the Miracle.


• Tonight, the Miracle begin a series with Dunedin as staff ace Tyler Robertson gets the start for Fort Myers.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 9 Burlington 3

• The Snappers won their 3rd consecutive game last night to pull themselves into the 2nd half Midwest League playoff race with a 9-3 victory over Burlington. The Snappers now trail Cedar Rapids by 6 games, but have pulled within 3 games of Wild Card leader Kane County and since they are already going to the playoffs there are 2 playoff spots to be had so if the Snappers can keep playing like this you never know. Dan Berlind got the start for the Snappers and was so so once again. He has been decent all season long not great, but good enough to give the Snappers a chance to win the game. In this one Berlind went 5 innings and gave up 3 runs on 4 hits along with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts to raise his era to 4.61 and improved his record on the year to 3-9. I am a little bit disappointed in Berlind this year because I thought he would be better than this after a good year last year, but honestly we shouldn't be that surprised because he was scheduled to pitch out of the bullpen until control problems forced the Snappers to shut down Shooter Hunt and put Berlind in the rotation. The best thing I can say for Berlind is just about every time out he gives the Snappers a chance to win the game, but by his 3-9 record the Snappers offense has let me down. Michael Allen then came on and pitched 2 shutout innings on 1 hit to lower his era on the year to 5.19. Steve Blevins then came on and pitched the last 2 innings and did not give up a run on 3 hits along with 2 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 3.54.

• The Snappers offense continues to impress as for the 3rd straight game the Snappers scored 9 runs. In the last 3 games they have scored 27 runs on 38 hits which is very impressive. New Snapper Tyler Ladendorf had his best day as a Snapper as he went 3-5 at the plate with his 3rd rbi and his 2nd stolen base to improve his average since his callup to .320. I really look for big things out of Ladendorf and it will be a couple years, but I look for Tyler to be the future at Shortstop for the Twins. He will finish the season off at Beloit, but I expect him to spend next season at Fort Myers and there is an outside chance that he sees AA New Britain before next season is done. At only 21 he is still young for his level and definately will be young if he starts next season at Fort Myers. Drew Thompson had a big game going 2-4 with his 11th double of the year to bring his average up to .221. Ramon Santana went 2-5 at the plate with his 2nd triple of the year and his 49th rbi to bring his average up to .295. Ozzie Lewis went 1-5 at the plate with his 12th rbi and had 2 rbi's to bring his total up to 36 and scored 2 runs to bring his average up to .269. Aaron Hicks went 1-4 with his 18th walk and scored 2 runs. James Beresford, Michael Harrington, and Jeff Lanning contributed hits in the winning cause for the Snappers.


• Tonight, the Snappers begin a series with Dayton as Dan Osterbrock gets the start for Beloit.

E-Town Tidbits

Danville 5 E-Town 4

• The E-Town Twins lost their 2nd consecutive game to the Danville Braves last night in a tough hard fought 5-4 loss. Michael Munoz got the start for the Twins and was ok in the game and compared to how he was pitching it was a disappointing game. Munoz went 5 innings and gave up 5 runs although only 4 of them were earned on 8 hits along with 5 strikeouts to raise his era from 3.04 to 3.86. Munoz dropped his first decision of the year to make his record 3-1. Edgar Ibarra then came in and pitched 3 shutout innings in relief to keep the Twins in the game. Ibarra went 3 innings and gave up 2 hits along with 1 walk and 1 strikeout to lower his era on the year to 6.23. After a rough couple of outings at the beginning of the season Ibarra has really rebounded to pitch some quality innings and that is exactly what the Twins needed after the poor start by Mike Munoz.

• The E-Town Twins offense really did not get much going in this game as they were only able to muster 4 runs on only 9 hits. The reason that they were only able to score 4 runs was they left 11 guys on base and that is way to many to win a game. Brian Dozier led the offense going 2-4 with his 3rd double and his 3rd rbi to improve his average up to .375. The Twins have got to be happy with the production they are getting out of Dozier after losing Tyler Ladendorf to Beloit. Really the Twins are getting the same production from Dozier that they were getting from Ladendorf ao your not really missing anything. Dan Rohlfing went 2-3 at the plate with a run scored to improve his average up to .255. Derek Mccallum, Josmil Pinto, Tobias Streich, Anderson Hidalgo, and Herbert Lara each contributed a hit in the losing cause for the Twins.
• Tonight, the Twins will begin a series with Burlington as Matire Garcia gets the start for Elizabethton.