Wednesday, May 14th

Twins Talk
Toronto 5 Minnesota 3
Minnesota 20-18 First Place

• POG: Carlos Gomez- Carlos continues to improve each and ever day before our eyes and last night was another step in that direction. Carlos went 2-4 with his 3rd homerun of the season along with another hit to raise his average up to .275 on the season. With the RBI it brought Carlos' rbi total up to 14 on the season and thats pretty good for a leadoff man. Carlos seems to be getting more and more confidence every time he comes up to the plate. A sign you can tell he is getting more confident is the lack of bunts lately. Early in the season he was trying to bunt almost every at bat and now people are playing for the bunt and he is hitting it right by them. I look for him to keep doing what he is doing and to get better and better as the year goes on.
• Kevin Slowey had another solid start last night going 5.2 innings and only giving up 3 runs on 5 hits with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts to bring his era down to 5.79 on the young season. Kevin i thought nibbled a little too much but i am being picky it was better than his last start and is something to build on as the season goes forward for Kevin Slowey as he gets more and more confident.
• The Twins bullpen really struggled last night giving up 2 runs and 5 hits along with 3 walks in only 3.1 innings. The worst was Dennys Reyes who faced 2 batters and gave up 2 hits in his first poor outing of the year to bring his era up to 0.79 on the season. The question is will the bullpen minus Pat Neshek be a problem. I really dont think so i think they will be fine Juan Rincon pitched excellent the other night along with Jesse Crain. Before last night Dennys Reyes had been pitching great and i look for Glen Perkins to join that bullpen when Scott Baker gets back so i dont see it as a problem at all.
• Tonight, the Twins take on the Blue Jays in game 2 of their series at the Metrodome. Gametime is at 7:11 with Boof Bonser getting the start for the Twins against the Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay.

Rochester Wrap

Columbus 7 Rochester 5

Rochester 16-24 12.0 games back

• POG: Brian Buscher- Seems like Brian is coming out of a bit of a slump that started when he came back from the Twins. Last night he continued his recent good string by going 4-5 with his 5th homerun of the year along with 3 rbi's to bring his season total up to 16 on the season. With the 4 hits it brought Brian's average up to a good .324 on the season. Brian is a good prospect in my opinion and needs to be in the majors because he dominates AAA pitching and needs the new challenge of seeing if he can do that at the Major League level keeping him at AAA really is not helping anymore and i hope he makes it back with the Twins very soon.
• Kevin Mulvey struggled for his 5th straight start last night. In 3.2 innings he gave up 5 runs even though only 1 of them was earned along with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts to lower his era to 3.89 on the season. Kevin needs to make some adjustments because he has been hit very hard his last 4 or 5 starts and needs to find a way to get the hitters out. With that being said i still think Kevin is going to be a solid pitcher at the major league level and will contribute eventually to the Twins. Like i said before the year he needs a year at AAA to refine his pitching and being more consistant and i still think so. If he makes the adjustments that he needs to make he will be fine and will be with the Twins in sometime 2009.
• The Red Wings continue to struggle in the win column. I know some people don't pay attention to the wins and losses but im not one of those people. I think you develop a winning attitude at a young stage and shouldnt lose it now. I truly believe the teams with the better prospects are the teams that win division titles and win IL championships so the Red Wings have to find a way to turn it around becuase they are too good to be 12 games out on the 14th of May.
• Today, the Red Wings continue their series with Columbus in Rochester. Gametime is an early 10:05 game as Brian Duensing tries to improve on his 2-4 record.

New Britain Business

Binghamton 4 New Britain 2

New Britain 20-17 3.5 games back

• POG: Jay Rainville- I know he got tagged with his 5th loss of the year but Jay needed to come up with a good performance to stay in the starting rotation at best and he did a really good job in my opinion. Jay went 6.1 innings and only gave up 3 earned runs on just 7 hits along with a walk and 2 strikeouts to lower his awful era to 9.00. The way i look at it is that was a baby step in the right direction. Before he can run he needs to walk and his start last night was a step in the right direction. He got ahead of the hitters so he didnt have to throw that cookie that the other team had been drilling. Also a bad thing about getting behind in the count is Jay was not able to stay in ball games long and it was putting alot of pressure on the Rock Cats bullpen. I liked what i saw out of him last night and my hope is that he can continue to do that and get better and better in each of his next few starts.
• I just can't get over how well Zach Ward has pitched for the rockcats this season. Last night he went 1.2 innings and gave up no runs with no hits and a strikeout to lower his tiny era to 0.36 on the season. Look at the numbers he has put up this season so far in 25 innings of work he has only given up 1 earned run along with 22 strikeouts. I really think Zach is ready to be a starter or move to Rochester if they want to keep him in the bullpen because in the role he is in right now he is absoultely dominant and i don't see any reason he can't keep it up.
• The bad defense continues to hamper the Rock Cats as they committed 3 more errors to bring their season total up to a unbelieveable 27 errors in only 37 ballgames. I can only jockey that up to lack of concentration becuase those guys are too talented defensively to play that bad of defense. Like i have said before until they learn to play defense the Rock Cats will not get over the hump.
• Tonight, the Rock Cats continue their series with Binghamton in Binghamton. Gamtime is at 5:35 pm with Oswaldo Sosa tries to improve on his 1-2 record.

Fort Myers Musings

Fort Myers 10 Sarasota 6

Fort Myers 24-14 First Place

• POG: Danny Valencia- Danny continued his recent hot string of hitting by going 2-4 with his 4th homerun of the year and 3 rbi's. With the 3 rbi's it brings his total to a team high 32 on the season. He also had a triple and a walk adn scored 3 runs for the Miracle. With the 2 hits it raises Danny's average up to .326 on the season. In his last 5 games Danny is 12-20 a crazy .600 batting average with a homerun and 5 rbi's. After going through a little bit of a lul Danny has come up on fire the last week and is now in league leaders in just about every offensive catergory. I really believe Danny will be playing 3rd base for New Britain before this year is through and if he keeps hitting like this it will be sooner rather than later.
• Deolis Guerra continues to struggle with his control. He went 5 innings last night and gave up 5 runs on 5 hits along with 2 homeruns to raise his era to 4.93 on the young season. His problem last night is he cant hit the catchers glove and that is the one thing you need to do at every level of baseball and until he can do that on a consistant basis his results will suffer. I think its a good thing the Twins were patient with him and having him repeat high A again because he's only 19 years old so whats the problem with waiting for him until he is ready to be the dominant starting pitcher that we all hope and believe that he is going to be. His biggest issue is getting more consistant in hitting the glove and then all his other pitches will follow.
• The Miracle bullpen continues to show why they are the strength of this Miracle team by throwing 4 innings of relief of Deolis Guerra. First Danny Vais threw 2 shutout innings and then Anthony Slama pitched 2 innings and only gave up an unearned run. The Miracle bullpen is what is making the Miracle a first place team and i really think they can keep it up.
• Tonight, the Miracle continue their series with Sarasota in Sarasota. Gametime is at 6pm with Alex Burnett trying to improve his record from 2-1 that it is right now.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 7 Clinton 5

Beloit 18-19 8.5 games back

• POG: Ben Revere- Ben continued his hot start with the Snappers by going 2-4 with 3 rbi's and a stolen base to raise his stolen base total to 8 on the season. With the 2 hits it raises his average to .379 on the season. Ben has basically taken over that lead off spot from Joe Benson and has not looked back since. I really like his plate disipline and when the pitcher makes a mistake he makes you pay. He has a decent arm in the outfield with his 2 outfield assists. It wont be mistaken for Carlos Gomez' but its decent all the same. I think he will stay with beloit and continue to put up good numbers for the Snappers and next year it will be on to a new challege at Fort Myers.
• David Bromberg continued his resurgance as he went 6 innings and only gave up 3 runs on 7 hits. He also walked 2 batters and struck out 9 to bring his era down to 4.93 on the season. That is quite the jump based on how slowly he started the year off and how some people were ready to give up on him so early. With the 9 strikeouts it brings his total up to 52 on the year WOW!! If he keeps pitching like this he will be in Fort Myers sooner rather than later.
• Garrett Olson had another solid game as the Snappers try to piece together 3rd base until Deibinon Romero comes back in a few weeks. Garrett went 2-4 with a double to raise his average up to .273 on the season. I love Garrett's versaitlity and the fact that hes a good hitter is all the well better so keep an eye on him see how he does.
• Tonight, the Snappers conclude their series with first place Clinton in Beloit. Gametime is at 6:30pm with Michael Tarsi getting the start trying to improve on his 0-6 record for the Snappers.

Tuesday, May 13th

Twins Talk
Minnesota 7 Boston 3
Minnesota 20-17 First Place

• POG: Craig Monroe- Craig continued his recent hot streak by going 1-2 with 2 walks, a double and 2 rbi's to raise his average to .290 on the season. Craig has been just what the Twins were looking for when they traded him and being back in the Al Central seems to have rejuvanated him. For the year Craig has 4 homeruns and 15 rbi's in only 68 at bats this year. My feeling is its time to get him regular playing time while he is performing like this. You need to remember he had 28 homeruns for the Tigers in 06 and if he can come close to that you need to keep him in the lineup. Is it fair to Jason Kubel who hasn't done anything to get benched no its not. However, its looking more and more like the Twins have a chance to contend so you go with the hot hand as long as it lasts and if he slows down you can always go back to Kubel.
• Livan Hernandez continues to impress notching his 6th win of the season with only 1 loss against him. In the 10 starts he has made this season for the Twins the Twins are 9-1 which tells you how effective he has been to keep us in the games. Last night he went 6 innings and only gave up 3 first inning runs on 10 hits. He walked 1 and also struck out 1 to bring his ERA to a starter low 3.90 on the season. If anybody would of said he would be this good for the Twins i would of called them a liar but i love watching him pitch because he gets by on guile and guts and you have to respect that. Hopefully, he can keep it up and theres no reason why he cant because he has faced good lineups so far and should keep us in most games.
• The Twins bullpen slammed the door pitching 3 shutout innings in relief of Hernandez led by Juan Rincon's 2 perfect innings. Rincon is the key becuase we need him to pitch like he did 2 years ago if we want to stay in 1st place.
• Tonight, the Twins begin a 3 game series with Toronto at the Metrodome. Gametime is at 7;11pm with Kevin Slowey making his 2nd start since coming off the dl vs Blue Jays righty Jesse Litsch.

Rochester wrap

Rochester 5 Buffalo 1

Rochester 16-23 12.0 games back

• POG: Danny Graves- Danny got the spot start for the Wings and man did he impress for the Red Wings. He went 4 shutout innings and only gave up 2 hits and also struck out 2 batters. Danny is not the same pitcher he was 10 years ago but he is a very good pitcher with good movement on his pitches. He still has that very good slider that he uses as his out pitch. The Twins want to find out if they can use him with the injury to Pat Neshek and my gut says yes he has some left in the tank. I think a few more good outings for Danny and i think before the 1st of July you could see Danny Graves in a Twins uniform trying to get big outs.
• The Red Wings offense finally got on track a little bit by pounding out 16 hits led by Denard Span and Jose Morales who had 3 hits apiece and homeruns by Span and Chris Basak to pace the Wings attack.
• Tim Lahey was really dominant as he continues his recovery from that bad outing a few times ago. He picked up his 4th save of the year by going the last 2 innings of the game and not giving up a run and only allowing 1 hit. Along with that he struck out 5 out of the 7 batters he faced to show how dominant he can be. I look for Tim Lahey to be in a Twins uniform sometime this season.
• Tonight, the Red Wings begin a series with Columbus in Rochester. Gametime is at 6:05 with Kevin Mulvey getting the start as he tries to improve on his 2-4 record.

New Britain Business

New Hampshire 11 New Britain 4

New Britain 20-16 3.5 games back

• POG: Felix Molina- Felix had his best game so far of the season by going 3-4 with an rbi to bring his average to .259 on the season. Felix is a key contributer off the bench for the Rock Cats and what i really like about him is his flexibility. He can play 2nd, short , or 3rd base and not only play it but play it well. Thats one of the reason that he finds his way into the lineup just about every day. With the injury to Luke Hughes Felix has been playing alot of 3rd base and has done a very good job.
• Anthony Swarzak got the start and wasn't good, but really he was not terrible either. Anthony went 4 innings and only gave up 1 earned run on 5 hits. He walked 4 and struck out 3 in the outing. Anthony's problem lately has not been about getting drilled its about that he cant find the plate which gets his pitch count up which leads him having to leave the game earlier than he or the Rock Cats would like him too. With the earned run it brings Swarzak's ERA down to 3.96. He got off to such a fast start that the expectations for him went through the roof some even saying he is ready for the majors. However since then he has been in a little bit of a funk and is getting behind early in counts and having to throw a cookie and even at AA that will get hit hard. I think he needs to go back to the basics of getting ahead and staying ahead and he will show the signs that made him so high of a prospect by the Twins and probably get a promotion to AAA before years end.
• Jay Sawatski continues to struggle and makes you wonder if maybe he might get released becuase he gets hard every time he comes into the game and i don't see much of a future for him. In 1.1 innings he gave up 6 hits and 6 runs to raise his era to a crazy 8.41 on the season. Hopefully he can turn it around but im not counting on it.
• Tonight, the Rock Cats start a series with Binghamton in Binghamton. Gametime is at 5:35pm with Jay Rainville getting the start as he tries to improve on his 2-4 record.

Fort Myers Musings

Sarasota 7 Fort Myers 2

Fort Myers 23-14 First Place

• POG: Brian Dinkelman- Brian was the only bright spot for the Miracle in a game where they were only able to muster 5 hits. Brian went 1-4 with a double and one of the 2 rbi's the miracle had as a team. With the 1 hit Brian's average is at .326 on the season and his rbi total is at 15 for the season. Dinkelman and Valencia have led the Miracle at the plate even though their pitching staff has been inconsistant and actually Brian has been the most consistant hitter on the team and i look for him to get a promotion up to New Britain sometime this summer.
• Jeff Manship had his first bad outing of the year going only 4 innings and giving up 10 hits and 6 runs along with 2 walks. There are 2 bright spots in his start he struck out 8 to bring his season total to 46 on the season and the second thing is the start is over. Jeff has been the most consistant pitcher on the staff so i take this as a anamoly and will come out next start and keep the Miracle in the game and give them a chance to win a ball game like he usually does.
• Frank Mata got his first action of the year by pitching a scoreless inning along with his 1st strikeout of the season. It will be interesting how long he will be in Fort Myers before he is moved up to New Britain.
• Tonight, the Miracle continue their series with Sarasota in Sarasota. Gametime is at 6pm with Deolis Guerra getting the start as he tries to improve on his 3-1 record.

Beloit Beat

Clinton 6 Beloit 5

Beloit 17-19 9.5 games back

• POG: Joe Benson- Joe had his first good game in a while going 2-4 with a double to keep the Snappers in the game. With the 2 hits it brought Joe's average up to .234 on the season. Joe has been very up and down this year and the hope is by moving him down in the lineup it will let him relax a bit and swing at better pitches. The biggest problem with him this year has been he strikes out too much and y0u cant have that at the beginning of the lineup. In 128 at bats this year he has already struck out an unbelievable 43 times which is 34% of his plate appearances. With Ben Revere coming on fast Joe is on the verge of being passed up so he needs to work hard to prevent that from happening.
• Santos Arias put together another solid start by going 5 innings and giving up only 3 runs and 7 hits. He was the tough luck loser for the Snappers picking up his first loss of the season. With the 5 innings it brought his ERA up to 2.81 on the season. He has put together 3 good starts in a row. When Mccardell is ready to come back the Snappers are going to have an interesting decision with starting pitching becuase they are all pitching well.
• Ben Revere continues to get the job done even though he didnt have a hit for only the 2nd time since he arrived he still found a way to score a run and steal a base to bring his stolen bases up to 7 on the season. The more i see this kid the more excited i get about him and i really think he's special and should be the starting center fielder for the Snappers all season.
• Tonight, the Snappers continue their series with Clinton in Beloit. Gametime is at 6:35pm with David Bromberg getting the start for the Snappers as he tries to improve his record which right now sits at 1-2 on the season.

Just to let everyone know im working on a Q and A and hopefully have it up in the next few days so hopefully you will like it.

Monday, May 12th

First off sorry for no update this weekend i was traveling back to minnesota to see some family and friends and the first thing i see is snow. Im so glad i live in Texas now you dont even believe it. Back to your regularly scheduled programming now.

Twins Talk
Twins 9 Boston 8

Twins 19-17 First Place

• POG: Craig Monroe- Craig had his finest game as a Twin last night going 2-4 with 2 homeruns and 4 rbi's to help the Twins get the win. Craig is now hitting .284 on the season and has 4 homeruns and has driven in 13 in limited playing time. I really like Jason Kubel but i really believe Monroe gives us what we are lacking and that is Power he can hit alot of homeruns. You need to remember it was just 2 years ago that he hit 28 homeruns to lead the Tigers to the World Series so he is definatly capable. I wouldn't forget about Kubel but as long as Monroe is hitting like he is you need to keep going to the hot hand and see how long it can last.
• The Twins relievers really struggled last night in 3 innings of work they allowed 4 runs and 6 hits to barely hang on against the Red Sox. After losing Pat Neshek they need some guys to step up and to get the ball to Nathan with a lead if the Twins want to continue to contend in the AL Central.
• For the First time all year Joe Nathan struggled and almost blew the save. The good thing is he made a nice pitch to Manny Ramirez to get out of the inning. In his inning of work he gave up 2 runs on 3 hits and stranded the tying run at second to raise his era to 1.93 on the season. The thing about Nathan is its not too often that he has games like this and i look for him to bounce back and be dominant again and look at the bright side he got the save his 13th on the year.
• Tonight, the Twins finish off their 4 game series with the Red Sox in Minneapolis. Gametime is at 6:10 with Livan Hernandez getting the ball vs Clay Bucholz for Boston.

Rochester Wrap

Buffalo 4 Rochester 2

Rochester 15-23 11.5 games back

• POG:Howie Clark- Howie had a pretty good game in which not a whole lot went right for the Red Wings. He went 2-3 with an rbi to raise his average up to .240 on the young season. Howie is a solid journeyman infielder that has been in every organization that you can imagine and he is steady but not spectacular. The Twins are giving their prospect time to develop and he is a good stopgap type of player until they are ready to take the reigns and when that happens he will go to another organization and do the same thing he will always have a job and makes a nice living.
• After an encouraging start the time before Philip Humber really struggled only making it 5 innings and giving up 4 runs on 8 hits. Along with thta he walked 3 and only got 1 strikeout for the right hander. Philip is the model of inconsistancy becuase 1 start he can dominate and the next he gets dominated. If he could ever get the consistancy down he can be a real good pitcher but until he does he will be languishing in AAA.
• The Rochester bullpen did the job again only giving up 3 hits and no runs in 3 innings in relief of Humber. I have said it before and ill say it again the Red Wings bullpen is keeping the Wings in some games and if they could ever hit they would be a good team.
• Tonight, the Red Wings finish off their series with Buffalo in Buffalo. Gametime is at 6:05 with Danny Graves making a spot start for the Red Wings.

New Britain Beat

New Britain 7 New Hampshire 4

New Britain 20-15 3 games back

• POG:Steve Tolleson- Steve continued his recent hot streak since Luke Hughes went out with the injury going 2-5 with his 4th homerun and 4 rbi's to raise his average up to .302 on the season. Steve is just a really solid player who doesn't make alot of mistakes and when his name is in the lineup you know your going to get good professional at bats out of him and he will make the plays in the field no matter where you put him. I think his strength is his versatility. One day he can be at 2nd and the next at 3rd and the next in the outfield he can do it all. I look for his numbers to continue as the more playing time he gets the better he will be.
• Ryan Mullins the most consistant starter for the Cats continued his solid start to the season yesterday as he picked up his 3rd win of the year. Mullins went 6 innings and gave up 3 runs on 6 hits along with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. With the outing it lowered Ryan's era to 3.25 on the season. Not alot of people talk about him but he has been the most consistant starter for the cats and i look for him to get the call to Rochester before Swarzak because of his consistancy. Swarzak has better stuff but you know what your going to get out of Mullins and to a coach thats more important.
• It was a big win for the Rock Cats as they broke out of a 4 game losing streak and gained a half a game on first place Trenton as they try to catch them.
• Tonight, the Rock Cats finish their series with New Hampshire in New Hampshire. Gametime is at 5:35 with Anthony Swarzak getting the start as he tries to rebound from back to back bad starts for the young righty.

Fort Myers Musings

Fort Myers 7 St. Lucie 5

Fort Myers 23-13 First Place

• POG:Danny Valencia- Danny continued his hot streak by going 4-5 with 2 doubles and a rbi to help the Miracle come back from a 5-2 deficit late in the game. In his last 3 games Danny is 9-12 with 3 doubles and 2 rbi's to raise his average to .323 on the season. Danny is a really good hitter who seems to be finding his groove for the Miracle and my gut says he wont be a member of the Miracle for very much longer. I would give it 2-4 weeks and he will be manning 3rd base for New Britain. He is such a good hitter with good plate disipline and i really believe he is the future 3rd basemen for the Twins just as long as he works on his defense a bit and theres no reason to think he wont so the future is very bright for Danny Valencia.
• Cole Devries struggled again for the Miracle only making it 5 innings and giving up 5 runs on 10 hits to raise his era to 5.13. Like i said when i was talking about Philip Humber, Cole has alot of talent but he is so inconsistant that you dont really know what you got out of him because one start he can be awesome and the next one he is terrible. If he is going to keep moving up the Twins system he has to be more consistant with getting his offspeed over for a strike and actually be more consistant with everything in his game.
• The Miracle's bullpen did it again going 4 shutout innings to allow the Miracle offense to get back into it. The end of that bullpen with Delaney and Slama is the best 1-2 in the whole system. look at these numbers between the 2 of them. 31.2 innings and only 2 earned runs along with 14 saves. They have walked only 8 batters and struck out an amazing 46 batters. All i can say about those too is wow.
• Tonight, the Miracle put their 4 game winning streak on the line against Sarasota in Sarasota. Gametime is at 6pm with Jeff Manship getting the start.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 16-18 8.5 games back

• Yesterday the Snappers had their game with Burlington rained out and tonight they take on first place Clinton in Beloit. Gametime is at 6:35 with Santos Arias getting the start for the Snappers.

Thursday, May 8th

Twins Talk

Minnesota 13 Chicago 1



Minnesota 17-15 First Place

• POG: Carlos Gomez- Carlos had one of the best games in Twins history as he hit the first Cycle a Twin has hit since Kirby Puckett did it in 1986. Gomez went 4-6 with his 2nd homerun of the season along with a triple, a double and a single to raise his batting average up to .282 on the season. He is so exciting a player and there were some that wanted him to be sent down. Well i have to say is shame on you he is the most exciting player the Twins have had in years and he is better defensively than Torii Hunter was last year and offensively it will come. Mark my words in 2 or 3 years he will be the most complete center fielder in the game. I see him as a 30-30 guy and eventually he will be hitting 3rd for the Twins and winning games for the team.
• Livan Hernandez continues to impress as he threw the first complete game of the season for the Twins. Hernandez went 9 innings and gave up 1 run on 9 hits to lower his era to 3.83 on the season. For every young player you should watch him pitch and how he changes speeds and never throws 2 pitches the same speed to keep the hitters off balance. For all young kids that don't throw hard you can be successful because he shows that when your in a jam its better to throw softer not harder and to hit your spots you will be fine.
• Kevin Slowey gets his first start since April 3rd today as he comes off the Disabled List and they say he can throw up to 100 pitches today. If they need to use the bullpen they will be able to thanks to a great start by Hernandez. I look for Slowey to keep the good pitching going today and will be fine.
• Today, the Twins conclude not only their series with Chicago but also their short road trip. Gametime is at 1:05 with Kevin Slowey getting the start for the Twins vs John Danks of the Sox.

Rochester Wrap

• Rochester's game last night was rained out vs Columbus and will be made up today as part of a doubleheader. The first game will get underway at 10:35 with Heath Totten and Kevin Mulvey getting the starts today for the Red Wings

New Britain Business

New Britain 7 Bowie 6

New Britain 19-12 1.5 games back 9 game winning streak

• POG: Brock Peterson- Brock had a heck of game going 4-6 with a double and 3 rbi's along with a run scored. With the 3 rbi's it brought his team high total to 31 on the season. That is tied for the Eastern League lead. With the 4 hits it raises his batting average to a very good .295 on the season. With Randy Ruiz not doing much at Rochester you have to wonder if it may be getting closer to sending Brock up to Rochester and see how he is going to do. I think he is ready for a new challenge in his career and moving up to Rochester would be just the thing. Until then I think everyone should enjoy having him on the Rock Cats and being the run producer he is.
• Anthony Swarzak struggled again last night giving up 5 runs on 8 hits in only 4.2 innings of work. In his last 3 starts he has allowed 13 runs on 21 hits in 14.2 innings to raise his ERA to 4.15 on the season. You knew he was going to come down to earth a little bit after the unbelieveable start he had but he needs to get it straighted out and i think he will. The problem is he hasn't been getting his offspeed pitches over for strikes and is forced to throw his fastball down the middle and they are crushing it. I look for Anthony to rebound from this and go back to being the pitcher we have known all season and lighting up the scoreboard again.
• The Rock Cats rebounded from a 5-2 deficit to pull out the win with the 2 out rbi single by Brock Peterson in the bottom of the 10th inning to extend their season high winning streak to 9 games. I think we should all enjoy the streak the Rock Cats are on because you dont win 9 games in a row very often and should enjoy it while it lasts because i have a feeling it wont be long and some guys that are helping the Rock Cats will be getting the Promotion they have deserved and so the Rock Cats will have to win another way.
• Today, the Rock Cats finish off their series with Bowie as they go for the sweep. Gametime is at 9:35am with Jay Rainville trying to extend the winning streak to 10 games for the Rock Cats.

Fort Myers Musings

• The Miracle had yesterday off and begin a series with the Mets in St. Lucie. Gametime is at 6 pm with Deolis Guerra getting the start for the Miracle

Beloit Beat

• The Snappers had yesterday off and begin a series with Burlington in Burlington. Gametime is at 6:30pm with Michael Tarsi gets the start as he tries to extend the recent string of great Snappers Pitching. The Snappers starters have went 8 consecutive games with giving up 2 runs or less and Tarsi tries to continue that.

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.

Tuesday, May 6th

Twins Talk
Minnesota 16-14 First Place

• Twins had the day off yesterday and get ready to begin a 3 game series with the White Sox in Chicago game time is at 7:10 with Nick Blackburn getting the start vs Gavin Floyd of the White Sox.

Rochester Wrap

Columbus 7 Rochester 6

Rochester 14-18 8.0 games back

• POG: Francisco Liriano- I know this is going to surprise some people that i picked him, but let me explain. Francisco had been getting progressively worse start after start and his control was getting worse and worse. Last night was not a great performance but he stopped the decline and accomplished a few things. Liriano went 5 innings and gave up a run on 2 hits while walking 4 and striking out 4. The walks are still too high but 3 of his 4 walks happened in the first 2 innings so he really settled down the last 3. The first 2 innings got his pitch count way up and he was still able to finish 5 innings. With Liriano it is baby steps and he accomplished his first step back to being the pitcher we all remember him as. With the 1 run in 5 innings it lowered Liriano's era to 5.40 on the season and i look for it to continue to go down every start.
• First off i want to congratulate Darnell Mcdonald for winning IL player of the Week honors for last week. Last night he acted like he wants to win it again going 2-3 with his 4th homerun of the year along with 4 rbi's and 2 runs scored to raise his team high batting average to .362 on the season. If he keeps this up who knows maybe he will get a call to the Twins before the seasons over.
• The Red Wings for the first time in a long time had a rough outing led by Closer Tim Lahey who gave up a 6-1 8th inning lead. He was helped by fellow reliever Mariano Gomez as the Red Wings blew a game they should of won. Tim gave up 4 runs on 4 hits in only 2/3 of an inning to get the loss. With the 4 runs it raises Tim's era to 5.87 on the season. Im not too worried about Tim he had been phenomenal and will come back next time and shut the door like he usually does.
• Tonight, the Red Wings continue their series with Columbus in Columbus. Gametime is at 6:05 with Philip Humber returning to the starting rotation and getting the start for the Redwings.

New Britain Business

New Britain 5 Bowie 4

New Britain 17-12 1.5 games back

• POG:Matt Moses- Matt seems to be coming out of his early season funk as he went 1-3 with his first homerun of the season, along with 2 rbi's and 2 runs scored to raise his average to .278 on the season. Matt had been hitting good all season but he wasn't hitting with the power that we are all used to seeing out of him. I really think he popped the cork and will start hitting homeruns like crazy now and he will be going back to being the player that we forseen out of him. The thing about it is he was hitting well so if he can add the power aspect back to his game it will mean big things for the Rock Cats.
• Erik Lis had a big 2 out rbi double in the bottom of the 8th and Ben Julianal came in the 9th to close it out as the Rock Cats continued their season high winning streak to 7 games and come within a game and a half of first place.
• Yohan Pino was decent he went the first 6 innings and gave up 3 runs on 8 hits for a quality start. With the 3 runs it raises Yohan's era to 2.32 on the season. It was not a bad start at all we were just getting used to alot more out of him as he came into the game with a 1.80 era going in so we expect more. I think he will rebound next time and give us the start all Rock Cat fans have come to expect out of him.
• Tonight, the Rock Cats continue their series with Bowie in New Britain. Gametime is at 5:35pm with Ace Ryan Mullins getting the start for the Rock Cats as they try to extend their season high winning streak to 8 games.

Fort Myers Musings

Daytona 9 Fort Myers 1

Fort Myers 18-13 First Place

• POG: Cole Devries- Cole had his best start of the season last night by far by going 7 innings and giving up only 2 runs on 7 hits while walking 1 on the night. With the 2 runs allowed it lowered Cole's era to 4.58 on the season. I was really impressed with Cole last night and he got ahead of the hitters and threw strikes as the case with only 1 walk in 7 innings. I really think this is the beginning of some good things for Cole who i expect will contribute to the good pitching of the entire Miracle staff
• The Miracle's bullpen was horrible last night giving up 7 runs and 7 hits in only 2 innings of work. Zack Day was the worst giving up 4 runs and 6 hits in only 1 inning of work. Danny Hernandez was not much better giving up 3 runs on only 1 hit however he walked 3 batters in his inning of work. You can tell they are the weak links in that great Miracle bullpen and they need to step up or they will have trouble getting work in this season because Beloit has good people in the bullpen too so they may be looking for their job.
• Danny Valencia had another good game going 2-4 to raise his average to .297 on the season. Danny had a small slump but has come back with a vengence and has his average almost up 300 and has 27 rbi's in only 31 games and i expect him to continue and have a awesome year.
• Tonight, the Miracle continue their series with Daytona in Fort Myers. Gametime is at 6:05 with staff ace Jeff Manship getting the start for the Miracle.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 4 Lansing 2

Beloit 13-18 9.0 games back

• POG:Garrett Olson- Garrett had an outstanding game going 2-5 with 2rbi's. With the 2 hits it raises Garrett's average to .295 on the season. Garrett has done a nice job of filling in at 3rd base since Deibinson Romero went down with a knee injury. When Romero comes back Garrett will go back to the outfield and first base and do just as good out there. The thing i like about Olson is how flexible he is he can play any position and do it very well. I look for him to continue to improve defensively and offensively to help the Snappers get more wins.
• The Snappers good starting pitching continued as Santos Arias made his 2nd straight good start. Santos went 5 innings to pick up his first win and allowed 2 runs on 4 hits while striking out 5 to bring his era to a very good 1.64 on the season.
• Ben Revere continued his hot start with the Snappers going 2-4 with a triple and 2 runs scored to pace the Snappers offense. I thought he would be good for the Snappers but i was not expecting this type of start for Ben and only shows you that the Twins know how to draft and he may be the next in a long line of good outfielders drafted by the Twins organization.
• Today, the Snappers continue their series with Lansing in Lansing. Gametime is at 9:35 this morning and David Bromberg gets the start for the Snappers.

Beloit Snappers

In part 5 of my series on the Twins organization for the month of April i will be looking at the Beloit Snappers. Beloit went 10-16 for the month of April and did some good things and some things they need to work on

• Starting Pitching: The Starting Pitching has really struggled so far this season and the team looked at it as a strength and it has not happened so far. The Snappers starting ERA for the month was 3.60 but for the most part the majority of the starters really struggled. One of the only guys that was outstanding just went out with an injury and is on the disabled list and that is Mike Mccardell. Mike went 0-1 with a 2.53 era in 4 starts to lead the staff. David Bromberg who everybody thought was going to be the leader went 1-2 5.70era and Michael Tarsi another ace went 0-6 with a 6.75 era. That kind of tells how bad things have been pitching for the Snappers and they don't have enough hitting to pick up for the pitchers and if they dont pick it up it will be a long season. The last few starts have shown improvement and that is why the Snappers record has improved. GRADE: D+

• Relief Pitching- The Relief Pitching for the Snappers has been excellent with a relief pitcher ERA of 2.79 era on the season. They have been led by Spencer Steedley's 1.83era and Charles Nolte's 1.29era. Also helping out has been Loek Van Mil's 3.09era. There have been a few disappoinments in Blair Erickson with a 4.91era and Bradley Tippett 4.50. When you have Steedley, Nolte and Van Mil if you have a lead in the late innings your going to win. The bullpen is the most dynamic in the MSL and if the starters can get them the ball they are going to win. GRADE: A

• Hitting: This is an interesting thing to look at because the hitters have really struggled this year and don't seem to be getting any better. They were led by Steve Singelton who hit .330 with 2 homeruns and 13 rbi's. Chris Parmalee has been up and down as he went through a 2-32 slump and ends the month at .247 with 6homeruns and 23rbi's. Losing Deibinson Romero early in the month really hurt the hitting of the team hopefully he can come back soon and get back to what he did last year. The Wildcard has to be 2007 First Round pick Ben Revere who came up with the Snappers last month and has produced hitting .406 in 8 games. He is a dynamic hitter if he can continue it it will really help out the Snappers offense. The guy that i have been really disappointed in is Joe Benson who is only hitting .228 with 2 homeruns and only 7 rbi's along with 37 strikeouts in 26 games thats just not good enough. Another guy i have been disappointed in is Ozzie Lewis who was only hitting .091 before Revere arrived and has saw his playing time go away . Im not sure if its an injury or what but Ozzie has not played in a while and thats the only way he is going to come out of his slump is by playing so hopefully see him in there soon. Overall the hitting has been a real disappointment but since the arrival of Revere it seems to be getting better so hopefully they can keep it coming. GRADE: D-

• Defense: Defense has not been the Snapper's strong point this year with 44 errors in 26 games. They were led in errors by 8 from Ramon Santana and everybody that has played much has contributed to the terrible defense. If they dont get better defense it doesn't matter how good they pitch or hit t hey will lose games and they are too good of players to make dumb errors like that so i look for the team defense to improve alot but right now its not very good. GRADE: F

• Baserunning: The Snappers have been decent running the bases with 45 stolen bases in 26 April games. They have alot of speed and have taken advantage of it led by Marc Dolenc's 7 and Joe Benson, Garrett Olson, and Ramon Santana with 6. I think they should be running more with the speed they have. But they are in most games so they have the ability to steal bases so they should steal 2 to 3 bases a game. Grade B

• Overall: The Snappers have done some good things and some things that they need to work on to contend for a division title. They have pitched really good lately and need to continue that, but if they dont play better defense it won't matter how good they pitch. I think they have some talented players but i would like to see some of their talented players take the next step in their careers and make the Twins move they up. The Twins raised some guys up to Beloit and I want to see if they are ready to take that step and help the Snappers get back into playoff contention because they have really talented players. Grade D

• Player of the Month: Steve Singelton- Steve was the most consistant player for the Snappers in April. He hit .330 with 2 homeruns and 13 rbi's. He also had 2 doubles and a triple. He needs to work on his Defense but if he continues to produce offensively he will be with the Twins in a couple of years.

• Pitcher of the Month: Spencer Steedley- Spencer was the best pitcher on the staff for the Snappers always shutting down the oppostition when he came in with the lead. For the Month Spencer went 1-1 with a 1.83 era. He also walked 8 while striking out an awesome 27 batters in 19.2 innings of work. The bullpen for the Snappers has been the strongpoint and it has been led by Spencer who has put together a great month and i think he will keep it going all year long.

Monday, May 5th

Twins Talk
Minnesota 7 Detroit 6
Minnesota 16-14 First Place

• POG: Boof Bonser- I know alot of people are going to give me crap for this because it wasn't a quality start but hang in there i will explain. Boof went 6 innings and gave up 6runs on 8 hits with 5 strikeouts. The thing was he gave up all 6 runs in the first inning and they weren't all his fault. They hit a bleeder that scored a run and Nick Punto let a throw get by him when they were stealing. I know it wasn't a great throw by Joe Mauer but you have to give up your body to keep it in front of you. After 1 inning Boof had given up 6 runs on 45 pitches so you thought he was done heck no. Boof pitched 5 shutout innings after the first inning and saved the bullpen by pitching threw the 6th. It takes alot of determination to keep going after that 1st inning and it showed me alot of what Boof has inside him and hopefully he can show that in every start from now on.
• Joe Mauer continued to cream the ball going 2-4 with a 2 run single that put the Twins ahead in the 7th. In the series Joe is back to being the hitter we remember going 7-11 a .636 average. Joe may not hit for alot of power but he is the best hitter we have and when healthy he makes the team so much better.
• Joe Nathan is worth every penny we are paying him like Jim Souhan said today in the trib. theres nothing worse then fighting back from a 6-0 deficit and take the lead only to have the closer blow it. By the end of the year the money we are paying him will look like a discount.
• Today the Twins have their last off day in 3 weeks and get ready to face the White Sox Tommorrow in Chicago.

Rochester Wrap

Toledo 8 Rochester 4

Rochester 14-17 8.0 games back

• POG:Alexi Casilla- For probably the first time this season Alexi did what we expected him to do all season and that is get on base and scoring runs. Alexi went 3-4 with a run scored for the Red Wings to bring his average to .212 on the season. Alexi has struggled this year but i hope this is the beginning of good things because many people in the organization look at him as the starting shortstop for the Twins next year so if he could turn it around that would be huge.
• Brian Duensing had the same trouble Boof Bonser did for the Twins. He gave up 6 first inning runs and then was fine after that. For the game Brian went 5.2 innings and gave up 6 runs on 5 hits while walking 4 and striking out 3 to raise his era to 3.67 on the season. I look for Brian to move on from this cause really it was just a bad inning and things like that are not too hard to come back from. I look for him to come out next time and do his usual 2 or 3 runs in 6 or 7 innings and be fine.
• Backup Catcher Ryan Jorgensen got his first playing time of the year and hit his first homerun and drove in 2 runs as the Red Wings tried to make a comeback. With the way Morales is hitting maybe Ryan can get some more playing time.
• Tonight, the Red Wings begin a 3 game series with Columbus in Columbus. Gametime is at 6pm with Francisco Liriano getting the start as the Red Wings try to break their 2 game losing streak.

New Britain Business

New Britain 6 New Hampshire 5

New Britain 16-12 1.5 games back

• POG:Trevor Plouffe- Trevor continued his recent upward string going 3-4 with second homerun of the year along with 2 rbi's and 2 runs scored. Trevor seems like he is getting better and better every game and the Twins view him as the shortstop of the future and the future might be next season. Right now he is getting outshined by teammates Luke Hughes and Dustin Martin but i believe if he keeps it going he will be joining them in Rochester before the end of the season.
• Oswaldo Sosa struggled again only making it 5 innings while giving up 5 runs on 8 hits while walking 1 and striking out 3. With the bad outing it raised Oswaldo's era to a bad 6.39 on the season. He is really struggling and i dont get it because he has too much talent to struggle like this and with the players around him i dont think the Rock Cats will continue to be patient with him forever so he needs to step it up.
• Dustin Martin continued his recent hot streak by going 2-4 and driving in the winning run in the bottom of the 9th. With the 2 hits it raises Dustin's average back up to .352 which is 2nd on the team behind teammate Luke Hughes.
• Tonight, the Rock Cats begin a series with Bowie a farmteam of the Orioles in New Britain. Gametime is at 5:35pm with Yohan Pino getting the start as the Rock Cats try to extend their season high winning streak to 7 games.

Fort Myers Musings

Daytona 6 Fort Myers 4

Fort Myers 18-12 First Place

• POG: Danny Vais- Danny continued his dominate stuff out of the bullpen going 3 innings and only giving up 1 hit while walking 1 and striking out 2. People have been saying the dominate short men for the Miracle are Delaney and Slama well i think you can add Vais to that to make it a trio. When the Miracle have a lead after 6 innings its over those 3 have dominent stuff and will get the job done more times and not and the Miracle are very lucky to have them so keep an eye on them.
• Tyler Robertson really struggled yesterday i dont know if it was the extra day off or what but he sure didnt have it yesterday. He made it 5 innings somehow and gave up 6 runs on 14 hits while walking 1 and striking out 2. Im having trouble figuring out what happend yesterday because he had been so good all year so im just going to bank that off as a bad day and hope next time he goes out he shows the stuff that has made everyone in the Twins organization salivate.
• Dan Berg had his first big game since coming off the Dl going 2-4 with a double and a rbi to bring his average up to .333 on the season. Dan is a good backup who should get more and more playing time if he keeps hitting like he is now.
• Tonight, the Miracle play game 3 of their 4 game series with Daytona. Gametime is at 6:05 with Cole Devries getting the start for the Miracle.

Beloit Beat

Lansing 4 Beloit 1

Beloit 12-18 10.0 games back

• POG:Brian Kirwan- Brian continued the recent string of awesome starting pitching by the Snappers going 6 innings and only giving up a run on 4 hits to lower his era to 3.31 on the season. Brian has been one of the more consistant pitchers on the staff so far but its like everyone is trying to outdue the other to see who is going to pitch the best. Brian has alot of talent and the talent is starting to come through and it can mean only good things for the whole Snapper team becuase going into the season the Starting Pitching was supposed to be their strength.
• Bradley Tippett had his worst outing of the season going 1.2 innings and giving up 3 runs on 4 hits. I think that he has alot of talent and i think he will rebound next time with a good outing.
• Ben Revere continues his hot start for Beloit going 2-4 with the teams only run scored of the game. With the 2 hits it raises Ben's average to .393 and with the start he has had to puts alot of hope in his future with the Twins.
• Tonight, the Snappers continue their series with Lansing. Gametime is at 6:05 with Steven Hirschfeld getting the start for the Snappers as they try to keep the good starting pitching going.

Fort Myers Miracle

In part 3 of my series on the Twins organization for the month of April i will be looking at the Fort Myers Miracle. Fort Myers went 15-10 for the month of April and did some good things and some things they need to work on.

• Starting Pitching:The Starting pitching has been as good as advertised posting a 3.62 starting pitcher ERA. They were led by starters Jeff Manship, Tyler Robertson and newcomer Deolis Guerra. Manship went 4-0 with a 3.27 and was the leader of the staff. Robertson went 0-1 with a 2.84 era and was much better than his record striking out a team high 29 strikeouts in 30 innings. Deolis Guerra started out strong, but has slumped of late to come in with a 4.61 era if you count his last start. Deolis has the most electric stuff on the staff who throws a good changeup and throws in the low 90's. The biggest surprise has been Alex Burnett going 2-1 with a miniscule 2.28 era and throwing good solid innings. The only one who has struggled a bit has been Cole Devries who has a 5.08 era on the season but the good thing is he has been better of late. Overall the Miracle have done what they have too because they have the cream of the crop in their rotation and have done what they needed to do. GRADE: A-

• Relief Pitching: The Relief Pitching for the Miracle has been excellent with a relief pitcher ERA of 3.61era on the season. They have been led by Anthony Slama's 0.56 and Danny Vais' 0.92. Also helping out has been Robert Delaney's 0.57. There have been a few disappoinments in Matt Fox with a 6.91era and Jose Lugo's 7.62. When you have Slama, Vais and Delaney if you have a lead in the late innings your going to win. The end of that bullpen is the most dynamic in the FSL and if the starters can get them the ball they are going to win. GRADE: A

• Hitting: This is an interesting thing to look at it has been up and down with pretty much everybody struggling to start the year and now they are running on all cylinders. They have been led by Brian Dinkelman, Rene Tosoni and Danny Valencia. Dinkelman hit .330 with a homer and 12 rbis. Tosoni hit .337 with 9 rbi's and the guy that is the thumper in the middle of the order is Valencia who hit .290 with 3 homeruns and 27 rbi's. 1-9 there are many good hitters who on any given night can carry the Miracle offense. The only guy that i expected to hit better that hasn't is Wilson Ramos who hit only .213 with a homer and 15 rbi's and i look for him to rebound because he is too good of a hitter to keep that going. I look for the Miracle to continue their good hitting and get Ramos and a few other people going and scoring more runs. GRADE: B

• Defense: Defense has not been the Miracle's strong point this year with 28 errors in 25 games. They were led in errors by 5 from Danny Valencia and everybody that has played much has contributed to the terrible defense. If they dont get better defense it doesn't matter how good they pitch or hit t hey will lose games and they are too good of players to make dumb errors like that so i look for the team defense to improve alot but right now its not very good. GRADE: F

• Baserunning: The Miracle have been decent running the bases with 18 stolen bases in 25 April games. They have alot of speed and have taken advantage of it led by Brian Dinkelman's 5 and Rene Tonosi's 3. I think they should be running more with the speed they have. But they are in most games so they have the ability to steal bases so they should steal 2 to 3 bases a game. Grade C

• Overall: The Miracle have done some good things and some things that they need to work on to contend for a division title. They have pitched really good and need to continue that, but if they dont play better defense it won't matter how good they pitch. I think they have some talented players but i would like to see some of their talented players take the next step in their careers and make the Twins move they up. I think they will have personall losses, because there is so much more talent at Fort Myers than there is at New Britain so i think some of the guys will get moved up and it will be interesting to see how the new players do. Grade C

• Player of the Month: Danny Valencia- Danny was the most consistant player and run producer for the Miracle in April. He hit .290 with 3 homeruns and a team high 27 rbi's. He is the 3rd basemen of the future for the Twins and is the run producer for the Miracle. He needs to work on his Defense but if he continues to produce offensively he will be with the Twins in a couple of years.

• Pitcher of the Month: Jeff Manship- I know this must come as a surprise with the highly touted pitchers they have on their staff but Jeff has been the most consistent pitcher on the staff going 4-0 with a 3.23era. He leads that staff and has improved every start this year and is the person that when the Miracle need to break a losing streak thats the guy they will look to. I look for Jeff to move up to New Britain sometime this year and will be very good and a future Twin.

Sunday, May 4th

Twins Talk
Minnesota 4 Detroit 1
Minnesota First Place

• POG:Brian Bass- Brian put together a great effort in relief of a injured Scott Baker going 4 innings and only giving up 3 hits and 0 runs to pick up his first major league win. With the win it raised Brian's record to 1-0 and lowered his ERA to 3.80 on the season. I know i wasn't real high on Brian early in the season, but he has been very solid of late and has gotten the job done whenever the Twins have needed him too.
• Craig Monroe got some sweet revenge against his old team by going 2-3 with his 2nd homerun of the year and drove in 2 runs to lead the Twins with the win. Monroe seems like he is really seeing the ball lately and if he keeps it up they will have to find places for Monroe to play because lately all he has done is produce.
• Scott Baker reaggravated his strained groin and will be evaluated today to see if they should put him on the dl or if he will be ok for his next start. My feeling is it is time for him to go on the DL and get this healed. If he keeps trying to pitch like this it puts too much pressure on the bullpen and you dont want this to last all year so my decision if i was the Twins would be sit him down for 2 weeks and get it taken care of. If they do that my pick would be Glen Perkins because he has had 2 good starts in a row in Rochester and he has been in the majors before and knows what its like so he won't be like a deer in a headlights. The other choices could be Kevin Mulvey and Brian Duensing, I dont think Mulvey is because he is not on the 40 man roster and hasn't been real successful his last couple starts and Duensing is a good pitcher but i think Perkins is a little bit better.
• Today, the Twins finish off their 3 game series with Detroit at the Metrodome. Gametime is at 1:10pm with Boof Bonser getting the start vs Kenny Rogers as the Twins try to extend their winning streak to a season high 5 games.

Rochester Wrap

Toledo 4 Rochester 0

Rochester 14-16 7.0 games back

• POG:Darnell Mcdonald- There wasn't really alot to be excited about since the Red Wings were only able to muster 4 hits on the night, but Darnell got on base twice going 1-3 with a walk to pace the Red Wings. Darnell keeps finding a way to get on base and the way that Rochester is struggling to score runs obp is such a huge deal and if can keep this up he will help the Red Wings score runs and come out of their offensive slump.
• Kevin Mulvey was ok not great, but not terrible. Kevin went 5 innings and gave up 4 runs on 8 hits along with 3 homeruns. It is something that he has been very good with is limiting the long ball so hopefully it was just a 1 start struggle with that becuase when you give up alot of homeruns it makes it so much harder on the offense and right now the Red Wings offense can not pick up the slack.
• The Red Wings bullpen continue to be superb as they threw 4 shutout innings to lower their bullpen ERA to 2.10 on the season to lead the Internation League. When your bullpen is so strong as the Red Wings is it makes it a 6 inning game because when the bullpen comes in your going to win so if the starters can leave with a lead more times than not your starter is going to get the win.
• Today, the Red Wings finish off their series with Toledo in Toledo. Gametime is at 1pm with Brian Duensing getting the start for the Red Wings.

New Britain Business

New Britain 6 New Hampshire 4

New Britain 15-12 1.5 games back

• POG:Luke Hughes- Suprise Suprise Luke is putting up crazy numbers for the Rock Cats and the only question is can he keep it up. Last night Luke went 4-5 with a double and 2 runs scored. With the 4 hits it raises Luke's crazy start to a .386 on the season. I can not remember a bigger surprise than what Luke has done in the first month plus and if he can keep it up and improve his 3rd base defense a little bit he wont be at New Britain very long. I look for Luke to be up to AAA by June and will be challenging for a spot with the Twins sometime next season.
• Jay Rainville rebounded in a big way after 3 bad starts in a row he put together a great outing. Jay went 5 innings and gave up 2 runs on 5 hits along with a walk and 5 strikeouts to lower his ERA to 9.00. It just shows how bad he had been to have a good start and only lower his ERA to 9. But thats water under the bridge and if he can keep it up its a good sign for the Rock Cats pitching staff because they are counting on him to pitch good innings and give them a chance to win.
• Dustin Martin is coming out of a little slump he was in as last night he went 2-5 with a triple and 3 rbi's along with 2 runs scored to raise his average to .345 on the season. Between Hughes and Martin they are carrying the Rock Cats offense as they have woke up at the plate and are scoring 5.4 runs a game which is very good and a majority of those runs are coming from Martin and Hughes
• Today, the Rock Cats go for the Sweep against New Hampshire in New Britain. Gametime is at 12:35 with Oswaldo Sosa getting the start as the Rock Cats try to extend their winning streak to 6 games on the season.

Fort Myers Musings

Fort Myers 5 Daytona 2

Fort Myers First Place

• POG: Eddie Ovalle- Fort the second consecutive Eddie snags POG honors as he went 2-4 with his second homerun in as many days and drove in 3 runs to bring his total to 11 on the season. With so many good outfielders on the Miracle roster playing time is hard to come by and if Eddie can keep hitting like this he will find his way into the lineup just about every day. With the 2 hits it raises Eddie's average to .295 on the season and hit his 2nd homerun of the year.
• Alex Burnett returned to the rotation last night and picked up where he left off as he won his 2nd win of the season. Alex went 6 innings and gave up 0 runs on only 5 hits to lead the Miracle to a good win. He walked 1 while striking out 3 to lower his ERA to a starter low 2.28 on the season. If Alex can keep up his start to the season it will mean big things for the Miracle as they keep winning.
• The Miracle did something they hasn't happened very often this year their bullpen really struggled. In 3 innings of work they gave up 2 runs on 5 hits even Anthony Slama got hit for the first time this year giving up a run on 3 hits in his only inning of the year so hopefully he can rebound from it.
• Today, the Miracle continue their series with Daytona in Fort Myers. Gametime is at 12:05 with Tyler Robertson getting the start for the Miracle as they try to extend their season high winning streak to 6 games.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 8 Great Lakes 2

Beloit 12-17 9.0 games back

• POG: Chris Parmalee- For the second consecutive game Chris gets player of the game honors as he is rebounding from a bad slump. Chris went 2-5 with his 6th homerun of the year and drove in his 21st,22nd, and 23rd runs of the season. With the 2 hits it raises Chris' average to .262 as he continues to come out of his slump. In the last 4 games he has raised his average from .222 to .262 an improvement of 40 points. If Chris can continue this recent string of good hitting he will have his average into the 300's again very soon where it belongs.
• Dan Berlind continues the Snappers starting pitchers revival by going 6 innings and only giving up 2 runs on 4 hits. He walked 1 batter and struck out 5 to lower his ERA to 4.71 on the season. He has too much talent to pitch the way he had been and you know what they say good and bad pitching is contagious and hopefully he can keep it coming.
• Ben Revere was good again going 3-5 on the night to raise his average to .375 on the year. Along with the 3 hits he had an rbi and a stolen base. Ben seems like a keeper and im glad they are giving him a chance with Beloit because i feel hes ready and he's getting it done.
• Today, the Snappers begin a series with Lansing in Lansing. Gametime is at 1:05 with Brian Kirwan getting the start for the Snappers.

New Britain Rock Cats

In part 3 of my series on the Twins organization for the month of April i will be looking at the New Britain Rock Cats. New Britain went 12-12 for the month of April and did some good things and some things they need to work on.

• Starting Pitching: The Starting pitching has been as good as advertised posting a 4.34 starting pitcher ERA. They were led by starters Ryan Mullins and Anthony Swarzak. Ryan Mullins had a 2-2 record with a 3.03 ERA and Swarzak went 2-0 with a miniscule 2.03ERA to lead the team. Another contributer that not many counted on was Yohan Pino who went 1-1 witha 1.80 ERA in 4 april starts. That is the guy they weren't thinking would be good because they didn't even have him in the opening day rotation and he has been filthy this year. Oswaldo Sosa has been ok a little inconsistant going 1-2 with a 5.75 era but overall not bad. The one bad pitcher has been a surprise and thats Jay Rainville. Alot was expected out of Jay and so far he has not fufilled that promise going 1-3 with an outragous 10.29ERA. If you take his ERA out the Rock Cats would have a good starting pitcher ERA. GRADE:B-

• Relief Pitching: The Relief Pitching for the Rock Cats has been excellent with a relief pitcher ERA of 2.60 on the season. They have been led by Kyle Aselton's 1.13 and Armando Gambino's 1.20. Really, the only disappointment is Jay Sawatski's 5.28 ERA and he seems to be getting better he had a couple bad outings to get the ERA up and now he is slowly but surely getting it down. Really the bullpen for New Britain has been the strength and kept the Rock Cats in some games early on and if the starters hand them a lead more times than not you can put that in the books as a win. Grade:A

• Hitting: This is an interesting thing to look at it has been up and down with pretty much everybody struggling to start the year and now they are running on all cylinders. Dustin Martin started out the year on fire and led them when they weren't hitting he is currently hitting .341 with a homer and 15 rbi's. When Dustin cooled down Luke Hughes picked it up and hasn't stopped hitting a whopping .367 with 9 homeruns and 20 rbi's and a whopping 40 hits in a month. I would be shocked if he is with the Rock Cats long but while he is there he is fun to watch. Brock Peterson after a slow start has been really good with run production driving in 24 runs on 3 hr's. David Winfree has not hit well for average but he has 5 homeruns and 22 rbi's. Trevor Plouffe after a slow start has gotten his average to .278. Overall the Rock Cats hitters have done a decent job with the bats and right now they are creaming the ball all over the park. GRADE: B-

• Defense: Defense has not been the RockCats strong point this year with 21 errors in 24 games. They were led in errors by 4 from Luke Hughes but everybody that has played much has contributed to the terrible defense. If they dont get better defense it doesn't matter how good they pitch or hit t hey will lose games and they are too good of players to make dumb errors like that so i look for the team defense to improve alot but right now its not very good. GRADE: F

• Baserunning: The Rock Cats have been decent running the bases with 20 stolen bases in 24 April games. They have alot of speed and have taken advantage of it led by Dustin Martin's 7 sb and Luke Hughes' 4. I think they should be running more with the speed they have. It hasn't helped having probably their best base stealer Brandon Roberts out with a hamstring injury most of the year. But they are in most games so they have the ability to steal bases so they should steal 2 to 3 bases a game. Grade C

• Overall: The Rock Cats have done some good things and some things that they need to work on to contend for a division title. They have pitched really good and need to continue that, but if they dont play better defense it won't matter how good they pitch. I think they have some talented players but i would like to see some of their talented players take the next step in their careers and make the Twins move they up. I think they will have personall losses, because there is so much more talent at New Britain than there is at Rochester so i think some of the guys will get moved up and it will be interesting to see how the new players do. Grade C

• Pitcher of the Month: Anthony Swarzak- Anthony had a filthy month going 2-0 with a 2.03 ERA. In 26 April innings Anthony struck out 29 batters and only walked 4. Anthony Swarzak was the most consistant pitcher on the Rock Cats staff and the problems he had last year are a distant memory and it won't be long until he gets the promotion to AAA to lead to his eventual callup to the Twins.

• Player of the Month: Luke Hughes- I dont think it is too much of a surprise who i am picking for the Player of the Month. For the month Luke hit .367 with 9 homeruns and 20 rbi's. He hit 6 doubles and 2 triples while stealing 4 bases in addition. Luke has really jumped up on me i was not expecting this at all and because of that i think the Twins are going to want to see a little more before they promote him to Rochester. But i really believe by the end of the year Luke will be up in Rochester and with his versatility he may be up with the Twins by sometime in 2009.

Saturday, May 3rd

Twins Talk
Minnesota 11 Detroit 1

Minnesota 14-14 0.5 games back

• POG: Livan Hernandez- Livan has gotten a lot of bad press and press i don't think he should be getting. Yeah he had a bad start against Texas, but i dont think he is the only one who has struggled against the Texas lineup. Last night he was masterful mixing up fastballs with changeups and his 60mile an hour curveball. I know he is not a great pitcher but he finds a way to get hitters out and whether its with the Twins or someone else he will help someone get to the playoffs this year. Last night he went 7 innings and only gave up 1 run on 8 hits. He walked 2 batters while striking out 4 on the night to lower his ERA to 4.63 on the season. It will be interesting to see how he does his next time out to see if he can keep it up.
• The Twins bats came alive led by Justin Mourneau and Jason Kubel with 3 hits apiece that led a 16 hit attack. At one time they had 6 consecutive hits as they blew this one open and hopefully they can keep it up.
• Carlos Gomez was a pest like always getting on base 3 times. In the first he walked, stole second and scored on a wildpitch. In his second at bat he got hit with a pitch and ended up scoring. In his 3rd at bat he got a basehit and was stealing 2nd and got hit on the side of the head by the ball. He had to come out of the game and hopefully he wont have to miss any time because of it. Its pretty obvious how much better the Twins are when Gomez finds a way to get on base.
• Tonight the Twins battle the Tigers in game 2 of their series at the Metrodome. Gametime is at 6:10pm with Boof Bonser facing off with Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander.

Rochester Wrap

Rochester 6 Toledo 4

Rochester 14-15 6.0 games back

• Darnell Mcdonald- This is becoming a daily ritual for Darnell being the player of the game. Darnell went 3-5 with his 3rd home run of the season and 5 rbi's along with a stolen base and a run scored. With the 3 hits it raises Darnell's average to a team high .343 on the young season. I have said it over and over but Darnell is a very good minor league player who probably won't ever make an impact at the major league level but has a good career at the minor league level. I really believe Darnell can keep it up and lead the Red Wings attack.
• Glen Perkins was pretty good last night going 5.1innings and only giving up 2 runs on 2 hits for the game. The only bad thing is he walked 4 batters and needed 101 pitches to get through 5.1 innings. Glen probably has the best stuff on the Red Wings staff and if he could get his control down he would be a good pitcher, but right now he struggles throwing strikes. Just look at his last start he went a complete game shutout when he only walked 1 batter. He has walked 19 batters in only 33 innings on the season so throwing strikes is going to be the big deal going forward.
• Mariano Gomez pitched 1.2 innings in relief of Perkins to put out the fire and allow the Red Wings to get the win.
• Tonight, the Red Wings continue their series with the Mud Hens in Toledo. Gametime is at 6pm with Kevin Mulvey getting the start for the Red Wings

New Britain Business

New Britain 12 New Hampshire 6

New Britain 14-12 2.5 games back

• POG:David Winfree- David had another good run production game going 1-4 with his 5th homerun of the year, a grandslam, that brought his rbi total up to 22 on the season which is 2nd on the team. David has been hit and miss and his average is not very good at .220 but he has found ways to get people in when the Rock Cats has needed it which is the most important thing. I want to see David get that average up and keep the run production where it is .
• Anthony Swarzak really struggled pitching giving up 5 runs on 7 hits in only 4 innings of work to raise his ERA to 3.3o on the season. Im not too worried about this start the way he pitched early on u knew he would come to earth a little bit. I look for him to come back next time and pitch a good game for the Rock Cats.
• Luke Hughes went 1-5 with his 22nd rbi of the game and a run scored. With the 1 hit it is an even 40 on the young season. He just amazes me with the way he has swung the bat this season and look for him to keep it going.
• Tonight, the Rock Cats continue their series with New Hampshire in New Britain. Gametime is at 5:35 with Jay Rainville getting the start as New Britain trys to extend their winning streak to 5 games.

Fort Myers Musings

Fort Myers 11 Clearwater 10

Fort Myers 17-11 First Place

• POG:Eddie Ovalle- Eddie had a awesome game going 4-5 with his 1st homerun of the season and his 7th and 8th rbi's of the year. With the 4 hits it raises his average to .284 on the season. Eddie has been really solid so far and seems to be getting better and better with the more playing time. I look for Eddie to continue his offensive surge and be a force in the middle of the lineup for the Miracle.
• Danny Valencia continued his recent trend of good run production driving in 2 runs to bring his total up to a team high 25 on the season.
• Deolis Guerra had another rough start going only 3.1 innings and giving up 4 runs on 6 hits for the Miracle. I am not worried about Deolis he just needs to find his location a little bit more and he will be back to the dominating pitcher that they saw the first 3 weeks of the season.
• Tonight, The Miracle begin a series with Daytona in Fort Myers. Gametime is at 6:05 with Tyler Robertson getting the start for the first place Miracle as they try to extend their winning streak to 5 games.

Beloit Beat

Great Lakes 2 Beloit 1

Beloit 11-18 10.0 games back

• POG: Micheal Tarsi- Micheal had another outstanding start throwing a complete game his 3rd of the season. He went 8 innings and gave up only 2 runs on 5 hits to lower his Era to 6.75 on the season. In his last 3 starts he has came back to being the prospect the Twins thought they had in him. In those 3 starts he had a minischule 1.64 era and could of won every one of those games. Micheal is back to being the prospect they thought they had and being the best pitcher for the Snappers.
• Chris Parmalee continued his run production driving in another run to bring his total up to 20 on the season. He also had a hit to bring his average up to .253 on the season. Chris had a terrible slump but it appears slowly by slowly he is coming out of it and being the big bopper that the Snappers need.
• Danny Lehman had a team high 2 hits to bring his average up to .359 on the season in limited playing time. I would really like to see them give Danny more playing time becuase every time he is in the game he produces.
• Tonight, the Snappers continue their series with the Loons in Great Lakes. Gametime is at 6:05 with Daniel Berlind getting the start for the Snappers.

top 10 prospects

from now until the end of the season i am going to update who i think is my top 10 prospects every month because things can change in a hurry.


1. Deolis Guerra P Fort Myers (1)
2. Anthony Swarzak P New Britain (5)
3. Tyler Robertson P Fort Myers (3)
4.Kevin Mulvey P Rochester (4)
5.Luke Hughes 3b New Britain (-)
6.Trevor Plouffe SS New Britain (9)
7.Jeff Manship P Fort Myers (8)
8.Ben Revere Cf Beloit (6)
9. Danny Valencia 3b Fort Myers (-)
10.Anthony Slama P Fort Myers (-)

added:Luke Hughes, Danny Valencia, Anthony Slama
dropped: Carlos Gomez, Alexi Casilla, Philip Humber

thats my top ten i welcome your comments on how you would of done it differently and what you think of the top 10

Rochester Red Wings

In part 2 of my series on the Twins organization for the month of April i will be looking at the Rochester Red Wings. Rochester went 13-14 for the month of April and did some good things and some things they need to work on.

• Starting Pitching: The starting pitching has been as good as advertised leading the international league in team era with a 2.95 era. They were led by starters Brian Duensing who was 2-3 with a 2.75era and Kevin Mulvey who was 2-2 3.21era. The only negatives in the starting starting staff were Glen Perkins who walked 15 batters in only 28 innings of play and Philip Humber who has a 5.63 era and was recently sent to the bullpen. Overall the Starting pitching has been very good and should continue to be good the wildcard is Francisco Liriano as he trys to recover from Tommy John surgery and if he can get it going it will be a short stay for Rochester. Grade:B+

• Relief Pitching: The relief pitching has been very good also with a bullpen era of 2.78 as a team led by Bobby Korecky before he got recalled by the Twins and now Tim Lahey they have only given up 27 runs in 94 innings. The only disappointment has been Julio Depaula who has walked 12 batters in only 15 innings so far. They will be helped out by the imminent return of Korecky and the good left handed work of Gomez and Barrett. The bullpen of Rochester is something i have been really happy with and probably the strength of the team along with the starting staff. Grade:A-

• Hitting: This has been terrible this year there has been maybe 2 or 3 hitters that have actually done what you expected them to do and thats the problem with journeymen minor leaguers their in the minors for a reason. On the good side of things after a slow start Jason Pridie really did some good things hitting .311 for the month with 13rbi's and Darnell Mcdonald when he came off the DL was really good hitting .318 with 14rbi's. The disappointments are many but the biggest one was Jose Morales who many thought, myself include, was still a good prospect and he's only hitting .234 with only 5rbi's he needs to do better than that. Also Randy Ruiz had a good spring training and since then he has done nothing for Rochester hitting only .266 with 1hr. I guess i shouldnt be surprised in him because he is a journeyman but i was expecting more. Overall it was terrible hitting by the Red Wings only averaging 4.1 runs a game. I know the pitching has been good but they need to do better than that because it puts too much pressure on the pitching. Grade:D-

• Defense: Now this has been the ugly part of the team with 29 errors in only 27 games this far. Nobody has been spared from committing errors the worst have been Matt Macri with 8 and Alexi Casilla with 5. There is no excuse not to make the plays defensively because if any of them think they are going to make it to the majors they need to fix this or they won't make it guarantee. With the Twins you can by with not hitting much or not being too fast but you can't survive with making errors. Hopefully, its just an anomaly and will even out but right now its bad. Grade: F-

• Baserunning: The Red Wings have been decent running the bases with 22 stolen bases in 27 April games. They have alot of speed and have taken advantage of it led by Jason Pridie's 9 sb and Denard Span's 5. I think they should be running more with the speed they have. They are in most games so they have the ability to steal bases so they should steal 2 to 3 bases a game. Grade C

• Overall- The Red Wings have done some good things and some things that they need to work on to contend for a division title. They have pitched really good and need to continue that, but if they dont hit better it won't matter how good they pitch. I think they have some talented players but i would like to see them jettison the journeymen and give real prospects a chance to see what they can do at a higher level. Grade C

• Player of the Month: Jason Pridie- Jason got off to a really slow start but as the month went on he got better and better. For the Month Jason hit .311 with an obp of .443 which is really good. He hit 1 hr with 13 rbi's and stole 9 bases for the Red Wings. He was really solid for the month and the interesting thing is to see if he can keep it up for a whole season.

• Pitcher of the Month: Brian Duensing- Brian doesn't get the pub that the rest of the pitchers get but he is the most consistant. Brian went 2-3 with a 2.75era in 36 innings. He walked 6 and struck out 20. Brian is going to keep you in the game pretty much every start and give up 2 or 3 runs and you won't notice it until after the game. He has developed into the leader of the staff and i think will continue to give the Red Wings a chance to win.

Friday, May 2nd

Twins Talk
Minnesota 13-14 1.5 games back

• The Twins had yesterday off and begin a 3 game weekend series with Detroit at the Metrodome. Gametime is at 7:10pm with Livan Hernandez getting the start for the Twins.

Rochester Wrap

Toledo 5 Rochester 1

Rochester 13-15 5.5 games back

• POG:Darnell Mcdonald- Darnell continued his strong start to the season going 2-4 in a game the Red Wings only were able to get 4 hits on the game. With the 2 hits Darnell raised his average to .318 on the season. Darnell has become the most consistant hitter on the Red Wings team and will be the key if the Red Wings are able to turn it aroung offensively.
• Kevin Slowey made a rehab start and was very good going 5 innings and only giving up 2 runs on 3 hits. I think he is ready but i think he will make one more start on short rest so that he is ready to make the start on may 10th. He is scheduled to pitch on Tuesday for Rochester and i think he will make that start and only throw 40-50 pitches so that he can come back on Saturday for the Twins. I am amazed how much he dominates in the minor leagues. In 13 innings in the minor leagues he has only given up 3 runs in 3 minor league starts. I look for big things ahead for Kevin and look forward to seeing him up with the Twins.
• Philip Humber continued his struggles giving up 2 runs on 3 hits in just 2/3 of an inning last night. Philip's ERA rose to 5.63 on the season and you have to hope that he can break out of this because honestly he has not been very good this season.
• Tonight, the Rochester continues their series with the Mud Hens in Toledo. Gametime is at 6pm with Glen Perkins getting the start for the Red Wings.

New Britain Business

New Britain 7 Binghamton 4

New Britain 13-12 3.5 games back

• POG:Luke Hughes- If you thought Luke Hughes was just a 1 month wonder well you were dead wrong. Luke went 4-5 with a triple and his 9th homerun of the year along with an rbi and 4 runs scored. With the 4 hits it raised Luke's average to a crazy .375 on the season and has 39 hits already wow! I really did not see thing coming but sometimes the light just comes on for players. It would be easy if you could say with certainty that this player is going to be good and this one won't but it is an inexact science it depends on how hard the player is going to work to get better so hopefully Luke can continue this all year long.
• Ryan Mullins got his 2nd win of the year even though he wasn't exactly sharp, but a win is a win. Ryan went 5.1 innings and gave up 4 runs on 6 hits while walking 5 batters and striking out 3. It was not a terrible start just not the type of start we are used to seeing out of Ryan.
• With the win last night they were able to sweep a 3 game series with Binghamton to bring themselves within 3.5 games of first
• Tonight, New Britain begins a 3 game series with last place New Hampshire in New Hampshire. Gametime is at 5:35pm with Phenom Anthony Swarzak getting the start for the Rock Cats.

Fort Myers Musings

Fort Myers 11 Clearwater 6

Fort Myers 16-11 First Place

• POG:Danny Valencia- Danny continued his steady excellence last night going 2-4 with 2 doubles and walk and 4 rbi's to bring his rbi total up to 23 on the season. With the 2 hits Danny brought his average up to .295 on the season. Danny went through a rough spot midway through the month but has been the most consistant hitter on the team and continues to be a good run producer getting 23 rbi's in only 27 games.
• Jeff Manship was stellar again for the Miracle going 6.1 innings and only giving up 2 runs on 4 hits while walking 1 and striking out 6 to lower his era to 3.27. Jeff improved his record to 4-0 on the season. Jeff has been really good this year and probably been the best pitcher this year on a great staff.
• Danny Hernandez really struggled last night facing 3 batters and giving up 2 hits and a walk and 2 of them ended up scoring. With the bad outing his era is 13.50 on the year and momma said there would be days like this. Danny will come out next time and will get the job done he just had a bad night.
• Today, the Miracle finish their series with Clearwater as the Miracle go for the sweep. Gametime is 9:35am with phenom Deolis Guerra getting the start trying to rebound from his last start.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 5 Great Lakes 2 Final 10 innings

Beloit 11-16 9.0 games back

• POG:Chris Parmalee- Chris continues his rebound from his 2-32 slump with a 3-4 night with a walk and an rbi with a run scored. Chris raised his average to .250 with the 3 hits last night. Chris is the difference in the Snappers offense and when he hits good they normally win and when he doesn't its hard for the Snappers to win much. I think he has alot of talent and i have alot of hope for him, but he is going to have to get the job done if he wants to keep moving.
• David Bromberg was excellent going 6 innings and only gave up a run on 2 hits while walking 3 and striking out 9. With the good outing it dropped David's era to 5.70 on the season. David is the key to the Snappers pitching staff he is the most talented and alot is expected out to him and so far he hasn't lived up to it so it will be interesting to see how he does from here.
• Ben Revere had another solid game going 1-4 with a rbi to bring his average down to .333 on the season.
• Tonight the Snappers try to continue their 3 game winning streak with game 2 of their series with Great Lakes. Gametime is at 6:05 with Micheal Tarsi getting the start for the Snappers.