Tuesday, July, 21st

Twins Talk

Athletics 14 Twins 13

• If you want to talk about a debacle last night was the epitomy of it as the Twins blew a 12-2 3rd inning lead to lose to the A's last night by the score of 14-13. You can go back to the play at the plate where Michael Cuddyer was obviously safe, but there was really really bad pitching, lack of hitting after the 3rd, and poor defense add those up and you should lose. Nick Blackburn got the start for the Twins and he was totally awful. He made it through 5 innings, but he shouldn't have. This was the worst I have seen Blackburn in a long time and because he has been so good this year I am going to give him a mulligan on this one. Blackburn went 5 innings and gave up 7 runs on 13 hits along with 2 homeruns to balloon his era to 3.46 on the year. He was getting pummeled all over the field and I kept saying get him out of there and now I know why and that is because the bullpen was no better because when Blackburn left the game he was ahead 13-7 and way in line for his 9th win of the year. Brian Duensing then came in and threw gas on the fire although not all the hits were hard hit, but they were still hits. Duensing went 1.1 innings and gave up 3 runs on 4 hits along with 2 walks to raise his era on the year to 6.91. With the score 13-7 Bobby Keppel came on with the bases loaded and no outs and gave up a bloop double to Orlando Cabrera to make it 13-9 and after walking Jerry Hairston, Matt Holliday then came on and hit a grand slam to tie the score at 13. In all Keppel faced 3 batters and did not retire a batter and was charged with 3 runs on 2 hits along with a walk to raise his era to 2.25. With the game tied and Jack Cust coming up the right decision was to bring in Jose Mijares in who had dominated left handed hitters this year. Going into that at bat left handed hitters had gone 5-51 against Mijares a .098 average so the inning is over right. Wrong, Jack Cust tatooed a pitch to center field to put the A's up 14-13. Mijares went 1.1 innings and gave up 1 run on 3 hits to drop his record on the year to 0-2 on the season and his era up to 2.03. Kevin Mulvey made his major leage debut and got the last out to end the pitching portion of the game.

• I could be all negative about how the Twins only scored 1 run after the 3rd inning after scoring 12 in the first 3, but I am not going to get negative about it I am sure my counterparts in the blogosphere will do that for me. The bottom line is the Twins had some outstanding hitting performances and that should be talked about because it should help them today. Justin Morneau led the offense going 3-5 at the plate with his 22nd and 23rd homeruns and his 25th double of the year along with a career high 7 rbi's one short of the team record of 8 to bring his total to a American League high 78 on the season and brought his average up to .317. Look at his numbers this year he is hitting .317 which ranks 6th in the AL with 23 homeruns which is 2nd in the AL and 78 rbi's which are 1st in the AL. Talk about Albert Pujols winning the triple crown well Justin has just as good a chance at it as Pujols does. Jason Kubel had an awesome game as well going 3-3 at the plate and reaching all 6 times he was up with his 16th homerun of the year along with 3 walks and 4 rbi's to bring his season total up to 52 and his average up to .319 which is 5th in the American League. Michael Cuddyer also had a big game going 4-5 with his 16th homerun and 21st double of the year along with 3 runs scored and his 50th rbi to bring his average up to .276. Brendan Harris went 2-5 at the plate with his 16th double to bring his average on the year to .274. Mike Redmond went 2-5 at the plate, but had a critical double play in the 8th inning that killed a rally, to raise his average on the year to .245. Joe Mauer came off the bench and got a pinch hit single to raise his average to .361 which is 2nd in the AL 2 points behind Ichiro Suzuki. Denard Span, and Delmon Young each contributed a hit in the losing cause for the Twins last night.


• Tonight, the Twins try to get back on the right track as rookie Anthony Swarzak gets his first start in 12 days for the Twins.

Rochester Wrap

Rochester 12 Pawtucket 5

• The Red Wings broke a 4 game losing streak in convincing fasion last night as they defeated Pawtucket by a score of 12-5. New Red Wing Yohan Pino got the start and he was decent considering not only it was his first start at AAA, but for most of the season he had been working out of the bullpen for New Britain so he is still working on getting more arm strength. Pino went 5 innings and gave up 3 runs on 3 hits along with 3 strikeouts to bring his era to 4.50 on the year and improved his record to 1-0. Not a bad start for Pino at AAA and I look for him to get better and better as he gets more experience at the AAA level. I don't look at him as a major prospect, but he will be a decent AAA starter who will have an era in the high 3's and low 4's and give the Red Wings a chance to win just about every time out. Jesse Crain then came on and pitched an effective 2 innings on only 1 hit along with 3 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 2.55. In my opinion Jesse Crain has turned the corner in AAA and is ready to make his return to the Twins. I would give it another week or so and if he is still doing what has been doing in July I would get him up because the Twins bullpen is springing leaks all over the place and a good Jesse Crain is the guy we need. In 12 games with the Red Wings Crain is 1-0 with a 2.55 era in 17.2 innings of work. He has only given up 5 runs and most importantly has only walked 8 batters while striking out 22. Better yet in July he has only walked 3 in 12 innings of work. I know most Twins have a general dislike for Crain, but with the Twins bullpen struggling as much as they are he is worth a second chance rather than giving up a bunch of prospect for one. Tim Lahey pitched the last 2 innings and gave up 2 runs on 5 hits along with 1 walk and 3 strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 6.68.

• The Red Wings offense finally got it going in this game as they put up 12 runs on 17 hits in one of the finest offensive outbursts of the year. By far the offensive hero in this game was Jason Pridie who put his best performance of the year on. Pridie went 4-5 at the plate with 5 rbi's to bring his season total up to 34 and brought his average on the year up to .260. David Winfree had a big game going 3-5 at the plate with his 13th homerun and 22nd double of the year along with his 47th and 48th rbi's of the year to bring his season average up to .274. Matt Macri had a big game going 3-4 at the plate with 18th double of the year and his 29th rbi to bring his average up to .233. Steve Tolleson got back on track by going 2-3 at the plate to bring his season average up to .289. Matt Tolbert went 2-5 at the plate with his 3rd triple of the year to bring his average up to .268. Jose Morales went 2-4 at the plate with his 12th rbi and brought his average up to .289. Justin Huber went 1-4 at the plate with his 13th homerun and his 50th and 51st rbi's of the year to bring his average up to .281.


• Tonight, the Red Wings continue their series with Pawtucket as staff ace Jeff Manship gets the start for Rochester.

New Britian Business

Portland 19 New Britain 1

• Last night was one of those days for the Rockcats where they could not get anyone out and just got blown out, but the good thing is it only counts for 1 loss and can come back tommorrow and go at it again as they fell to Portland by a score of 19-1. Mike Mccardell made his AA debut and it is a debut he would much rather just forget about as he got pummelled. Mccardell only lasted 4 innings and gave up 11 runs on 11 hits along with 2 homeruns and 3 walks and 7 strikeouts to bring his era to an unbelievable 24.75 on the year and dropped his record to 0-1. Granted the competition is going to be tougher at AA, but Mike is too good of a pitcher to pitch like that so I look for him to rebound his next few starts to get his era back into Mike Mccardell type numbers. I would not make too much of it because at the end of the year Mccardell will have his era back in the 3's right where his career numbers say it should be. Carlos Gutierrez then came on and was no better as he only lasted 1 inning and gave up 4 runs on 4 hits along with a homerun to bring his era to 7.93. It is pretty obvious that Carlos has nothing left in the tank and by keeping sending him out there you are risking injury so the best idea is for the Twins to shut him down for the year and let him rest over the winter and come back strong next spring. Jose Lugo came in and compared to the first 2 did a good job giving up 2 runs althought only 1 was earned on 1 hit along with a walk and 3 strikeouts in 2 innings to lower his era to 3.86. Alex Burnett then came in and pitched the only scoreless line of any pitcher pitching a perfect 8th inning along with a strikeout to lower his era to 1.93. Anthony Slama pitched the 9th and was not very good as he gave up 2 runs on 1 hit along with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts to raise his era to 2.98 on the year.

• After the pitching gave up 19 runs you were hoping the offense could match them, but unfortunately they left their hitting shoes at home as they were only able to score 1 run on only 7 hits. Steve Singelton led the offense going 2-4 at the plate with his 2nd rbi and raise his average up to .600 in 4 games with the Rockcats. Brandon Roberts went 2-4 at the plate with his 15th double and brought his average up to .300. Juan Portes, Yancarlos Ortiz, and Danny Lehman each contributed a hit in the losing cause for the Rockcats.


• Today, the Rockcats continue their series with Portland as they partake in a doubleheader today with Ryan Mullins getting the start in the first game while Frank Mata gets the start in the 2nd game.

Fort Myers Minutes

Fort Myers 6 Dunedin 3

• The Miracle got back on the winning side after a 2 game losing streak dropped them to 3 games behind first place Charlotte by defeating Dunedin last night by a score of 6-3 in the final game of the series. Steve Hirschfeld got the start for the Miracle and was good once again. Hirschfeld went 5 shutout innings on only 4 hits along with 1 walk and 4 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 2.02 and improve his record to 4-4. After getting off to a slow start when he joined the rotation Hirschfeld has really picked it up the last few starts and has put up a pretty good season and he is probably going to be the leader of the staff going into the FSL playoffs and give them a chance to win a championship. Blair Erickson then came on and gave up no runs on a hit along with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts in 1.2 innings to lower his era on the year to 3.27. Joe Testa then came into the game and had his first struggle since joining the Miracle. Testa worked 1.1 innings and gave up 3 runs although only 2 of them were earned on 3 hits along with 1 walk and 1 strikeout to raise his era on the year to a very good 1.29. Loek Van Mil finished the game with a scoreless inning along with 1 strikeout to pick up his 2nd save of the year and lower his era down to 1.71.

• The Miracle offense did not do alot, but enough to pick up the victory for the Miracle as they scored 6 runs on 9 hits. Ben Revere led the offense going 2-4 at the plate with his 4th triple of the year and 37th rbi to bring his average up to .310. Revere has probably been the hottest player on the team after going through a slump. In his last 6 games he is 12-28 which is a .429 average. Revere is back where he belongs and I expect his numbers to stay on this line for quite a while he is that good of a hitter. Esterlin De Los Santos went 2-3 at the plate with his 6th double of the year to bring his average up to .301. Jair Fernandez went 1-4 at the plate with his 10th double of the year and his 15th rbi. Evan Bigley went 1-4 at the plate with his 11th double and drove in his 17th and 18th runs of the year. Chris Parmalee, Joe Benson, and Mark Dolenc each contributed hits in the winning cause for the Miracle.


• Tonight, the Miracle continue their series with Dunedin as Michael Tarsi gets the start for Fort Myers.

Beloit Beat

Dayton 6 Beloit 3

• The Snappers suffered their 3rd straight loss last night in a tough hard fought game with Dayton by the score of 6-3. Liam Hendricks got the start for the Snappers and was very good once again. Hendricks went 6 innings and gave up 2 runs on 6 hits along with a walk and 8 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 1.96. Hendricks has been everything the Snappers could of expected and more when he was called up from E-Town and if he can keep up what he he is doing now which I think he can then I think Hendricks will be in Fort Myers next spring. Matt Williams then came on and was not very good taking the loss to drop his record on the year to 1-2. Williams went 1 inning and gave up 2 runs on 3 hits along with a strikeout to raise his era on the year to 2.76 on the year. Billy Bulluck then came on and gave up his first runs as a professional. Bulluck went 1 inning and gave up 2 runs on 3 hits along with 1 walk and 1 strikeout to raise his era on the season to 4.50. Bulluck is going to be a big time closing prospect for the Twins the big thing is how he rebounds from getting hit a little bit will tell the story, but I am very confident he will come back good.

• The Snappers really could not get much going against Dayton pitching last night as they were only able to muster 3 runs on 7 hits. The Snappers were led by Ozzie Lewis who went 3-3 at the plate with his 13th and 14th doubles of the year to improve his average up to .275. Michael Harrington went 1-4 at the plate with his 4th homerun of the year and his 31st and 32nd rbi's and brought his average up to .234. Nathan Hanson went 1-3 at the plate with his 14th double to bring his average up to .240. Aaron Hicks went 1-4 at the plate to bring his average up to .231. Drew Thompson also added a hit in the losing cause for the Snappers.


• The Snappers have today off before they begin a weekend series at home versus Cedar Rapids.

E-Town Tidbits

E-Town 6 Burlington 4 13 innings

• The E-Town Twins pulled out the last game of their series with Burlington needing 13 innings to get the job done by a score of 6-4. Tom Stuifbergen got the start for the Twins and was very good in this one. Stuifbergen went 5 shutout innings on only 3 hits along with 1 walk and 5 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 3.16. Tony Davis then came on and gave up no runs on 1 hit in 2 innings of work along with 4 strikeouts to lower his era to 9.00. Matthew Tone then came in and wasn't very good. He went 1 inning and gave up 3 runs on only 2 hits along with a walk to raise his era on the year to 3.18. Kyle Carr then came on and wasn't very good either as he went 1 inning and gave up 1 run on 2 hits along with 2 walks and a strikeout to raise his era on the year to 1.35. Kane Holbrooks did a phenomenal job holding down the fort going 3 shutout innings on only 1 hit along with 1 walk and 1 strikeout to lower his era on the year to 3.68. Ben Tootle then came on and picked up his 1st professional save as he went 1 inning and gave up 2 hits, but got out of it.

• The E-Town Twins offense did not do alot in this game, but found a way to get the job done and pick up the victory. The Twins had 6 runs on 10 hits and should of won the game in 9 innings, but left 9 guys on base. Anderson Hidalgo led the way going 2-5 at the plate with his 5th double and 11th rbi to bring his average up to .343. Michael Gonzalez went 2-3 at the plate to improve his average up to .301 on the year. Reggie Williams went 2-6 at the plate with his 5th double and the go ahead 2 run homerun in the 13th inning to bring his total up to 2 and his rbis up to 10 and his average up to .266. Jon Goncalves went 1-6 at the plate with his 3rd double of the year. Derek Mccallum, Paul Klingsberg, and Dan Rohlfing each contributed a hit in the winning cause for the Twins.


• Tonight, the Twins start a series with Princeton as prized first round pick Matt Bashore is scheduled to pitch for Elizabethton

Monday, July, 20th

Twins Talk

Rangers 5 Twins 3 12 innings

• The Twins lost the rubber game to the Rangers last night in a tough hard fought game that had to go extra innings as the Twins went down 5-3 in 12 innings thanks to an Ian Kinsler 2 run homerun in the bottom of the 12th off R.A. Dickey. Francisco Liriano got the start for the Twins are he was pretty decent. Liriano went 6+ innings and gave up 3 runs on 5 hits along with 3 walks and 6 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 5.33 and received a no decision. After giving up a homerun to Kinsler to start the game Liriano was awesome for the first 5 innings and then wobbled a little in the 6th and then gave up a hit and a walk to the first 2 batters in the 7th. To me its a step in the right direction because for the most part he was unhittable again. His only problem is he loses his mechanics sometime in the game and his arm slot is off. Here is an example last night in 10 pitches he threw 9 balls, but before that he was dominant. I would no way trade him because he has so much talent and if he can become more consistant with his arm slot and not letting his shoulder fly open he can be just as dominant as he was in 2006. Bobby Keppel then came on and did what he has done since he has been there and that is get people out. Keppel went 1.2 shutout innings along with a walk and a strikeout to lower his era to 0.56. Keppel has really done the job since he has been here and really turned out to be the 7th inning guy for the Twins. Jose Mijares then came in and did his job striking out his only batter to lower his era down to 1.82 on the season. Matt Guerrier then came on and did a good job pitching 2 scoreless innings on 2 hits to lower his era down to 2.28 on the year. Brian Duensing then came on and took the loss, but in my mind did a good job. Duensing pitched a scoreless inning and then gave up 1 hit before being pulled. Duensing went 1.1 innings and gave up 1 hit and 1 run along with 2 strikeouts to lower his era to 5.54 and lowered his record to 0-1. R.A. Dickey then came on and faced 1 batter and lost the game on a homerun to Ian Kinsler. With the run allowed Dickey's era rose to 3.42.

• The Twins offense really did not get anything done against a good pitching game by the Texas bullpen. The Twins were only able to muster 3 runs on 7 hits and left on a terrible 10 guys on base. Nick Punto had his finest game of the year as he went 3-4 with his 1st homerun in almost a year for the Twins along with 2 singles to improve his average up to .215 on the year. Delmon Young had a nice game going 2-4 to raise his average on the year to .270 on the year. Alexi Casilla and Brendan Harris each contributed a hit in the losing cause for the Twins. The main reason they lost was Denard Span, Alexi Casilla, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer went a combined 1-24 which is a .042 average. The guy who has really struggled recently is Joe Mauer who went through his first 0-6 game of his career and is in a stretch of 2-25 streak which is a .080 batting average which has saw his average drop 40 points and cost him the batting title lead. He is too good of a hitter and he is due for a 10-14 series it just depends who it is going to be against.


• Tonight, the Twins continue their roadtrip and move on to Oakland and begin a 3 game series with the A's as Twins ace Nick Blackburn gets his first start of the second half and will face Gio Gonzalez of the A's.

Rochester Wrap

Lehigh Valley 3 Rochester 2

• The Red Wings had their losing streak extended to 3 games with a tough hard fought 3-2 loss to Lehigh Valley last night. Reid Santos got the start for the Red Wings and really was pretty solid in this one. Santos went 5 innings and gave up 2 runs although only 1 of them was earned on 6 hits along with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 4.63. Reid Santos has been much better since he came off the DL and has been a very solid starter for the Wings and in my opinion should continue to make starts every 5th day for the Wings. Armando Gabino then came on for the Wings and did what he always does and that is get hitters out. Gabino went 2 shutout innings on 1 hit to lower his era to 2.97 on the season. Gabino has done all he can to prove to the Twins that he deserves a promotion up to the big club and I would have brought up Gabino up to the Twins instead of Mulvey, but that is just me. Rob Delaney came into a tie game in the 8th inning and gave up the go ahead run to take the loss and drop his record on the season to 4-1. Delaney went 1 inning and gave up 1 run on 1 hit along with a walk to raise his era on the year to 4.24. Delaney has shown that he is not ready for the Twins and he needs some more time in AAA

• The Red Wings offense did not get enough going with the bats as they were only able to muster 2 runs on 5 hits and that is not going to be enough to beat just about any team in the league. Trevor Plouffe led the offense going 2-4 at the plate with his 7th homerun of the year and his 44th rbi to bring his average up to .251. Justin Huber went 1-4 at the plate with his 14th double of the year. Danny Valencia went 1-4 at the plate with his 9th double of the year and his 18th rbi. Matt Tolbert went 1-4 at the plate with his 5th double.
• Tonight, the Red Wings begin a series with Pawtucket as Yohan Pino makes his AAA debut for Rochester.

New Britain Business

Reading 9 New Britain 1

• The Rockcats lost a blowout yesterday to Reading to snap a 3 game winning streak for the Rockcats. The Rockcats lost the game in blowout fashion by a score of 9-1 to Reading yesterday. Matt Fox got the start for the Rockcats and was not very good as he gave up 4 runs although only 1 of them was earned on 5 hits along with 3 walks and 4 strikeouts in only 4.2 innings of work to lower his era to 3.46 on the year and drop his record to 6-5. Fox had the misfortune of playing in front of a defense that committed an error that led to 3 unearned runs. Fox was decent overall though and may be going through a little bit of a deadarm period and just needs to work through it. Talk about a tired arm Carlos Gutierrez then came on and threw gas on the fire lasting 1.1 innings and giving up 4 runs on 3 hits along with 2 walks to raise his era on the year to a very bad 7.13. I would seriously consider shutting down Gutierrez because it is pretty obvious that he has nothing left in the tank and is hurting the team now more than he is helping them. Kyle Waldrop continued his recent good string of pitching performances by pitching a scoreless inning of relief on 1 hit to lower his era to 1.61. Frank Mata then came on and gave up a run on a hit to raise his era to 4.07 on the season for the Rockcats.

• The Rockcats really could not get anything going against Reading pitching as they only could muster 1 run on 7 hits. Rene Tosoni led the offense going 3-4 at the plate to raise his average on the year to .285. Tosoni has really opened some eyes in the Twins front office by hitting for a good average and then also with good production to the point that he is probably untouchable in trade talks right now. Luke Hughes went 2-4 with his 2nd homerun of the year and his 11th rbi with the Rockcats to raise his average up to .304. Brandon Roberts and Steve Singelton also contributed a hit each in the losing cause for the Rockcats.
• Tonight, the Rockcats begin a series with Portland as new Rockcat Mike Mccardell makes his AA debut for New Britain.

Fort Myers Minutes

Dunedin 6 Fort Myers 2

• The Miracle suffered their 3rd straight loss yesterday afternoon at the hands of Dunedin by the score of 6-2 to drop 3.5 games out of first place. Spot Starter Santos Arias got the start for the Miracle and did a pretty solid job under the circumstances. Arias went 4 innings and only gave up 1 run on 4 hits along with 2 walks and 4 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 2.38. Arias was very solid again for the Miracle and with Mike Mccardell moving to AA the Miracle need a starter and I would not be surprised if Arias got a shot for the Miracle. You need to remember that Arias made quite a few starts last year with Beloit and did a good job. Late Round draft pick Dakota Watts then came on and lets just say it was not a good first impression for the Miracle. Watts went 1.2 innings and gave up 4 runs on 3 hits along with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts to take the loss for the Miracle. Spencer Steedley then came on and pitched 2.1 innings and gave up 1 run on 3 hits along with a walk and a strikeout to raise his era to 1.88 on the season. Loek Van Mil finished the game with 1 scoreless inning on a hit along with a strikeout to lower his era on the year to 1.78.

• The Miracle really could not take advantage of their multiple chances they had in the game as they had 9 hits, but could only score 2 runs thanks to leaving 8 guys on base for the game. Ben Revere led the offense going 2-5 to raise his average on the year to a very good .310. Rene Leveret went 2-4 to raise his average on the year to a very good .294. Nick Romero went 2-4 at the plate to bring his average up to .272 on the season. Juan Richardson went 1-3 with his 1st double of the year and his 6th rbi to bring his average up to .228 on the year. Chris Parmalee and Alex Soto each contributed a hit in the losing cause for the Miracle.
• Tonight, the Miracle continue their series with Dunedin as Steve Hirschfeld gets the start for Fort Myers.

Beloit Beat

Dayton 6 Beloit 4

• The Snappers lost their 2nd straight game after a 3 game winning streak with a tough 6-4 loss to Dayton last night. Bobby Lanigan got the start for the Snappers and really he was not very good. Lanigan lasted 3 innings and gave up 6 runs on 8 hits along with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 4.91 and drop his record on the year to 7-6. As good as Lanigan was in June he has been equally as bad in July going 0-2 with a 7.36 era in 3 starts. I don't know if it is a dead arm or just getting some balls up, but Lanigan needs to pick it up down the stretch for the Snappers. Steve Blevins then came on for the Snappers and did an outstanding job keeping them in the game. Blevins went 3 shutout innings on only 1 hit along with 3 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 3.33. Matt Williams finished the game for the Snappers and pitched 2 perfect innings along with 2 strikeouts to lower his era on the season to 2.40 on the season for the Snappers.

• The Snappers had enough hits but could not bunch them together to score enough runs as they put up 11 hits, but were only able to score 4 runs thanks to leaving 11 guys on base in the game and you are not going to win too many games when you leave that many on base. Jon Waltenbury led the attack going 3-3 at the plate with his 10th double and 4th homerun of the year along with his 27th rbi. Aaron Hicks had probably his best day with the Snappers as he went 2-5 with his 6th double of the year and his 14th rbi to bring his average up to .230 on the year. James Beresford went 2-5 at the plate to bring his average up to .302 on the season. Ramon Santana, Ozzie Lewis, Danny Rams, and Drew Thompson each contributed hits in the losing cause for the Snappers during this game.
• Tonight, the Snappers continue their series with Dayton as Liam Hendricks gets the start for Beloit.

E-Town Tidbits

E-Town 9 Burlington 2

• The Twins got back on the winning track with a blowout win over Burlington last night by a score of 9-2. Angelo Sanchez got the start for the Twins and was very good in this one. Sanchez went 5 innings and only gave up 1 run on 1 hit along with 3 walks and 2 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 3.29 and improve his record on the year to a very good 3-0. Ramon Acosta then came in and worked 2 innings and gave up an unearned run on 2 hits along with a strikeout to lower his era on the year to 5.40. Peter Kennelly then came in and pitched 1 shutout inning on 1 hit along with a walk and 2 strikeouts to keep his era at 0.00. 3rd round pick Ben Tootle came on in the ninth and pitched a scoreless inning on 1 hit in his professional debut. Tootle is going to be a good pitcher for the Twins this summer and many other seasons in the future so it is good to get his feet wet.

• The E-Town Twins were all over Burlington pitching last night as they put up 9 runs on 11 hits last night. Anderson Hidalgo led the attack going 3-4 at the plate with his 2nd homerun of the year and his 9th and 10th rbi's of the year to bring his average up to .338. Derek Mccallum went 2-4 with his 3rd triple of the year and his 15th and 16th rbi's of the year to bring his average up to .284. Jon Goncalves went 2-3 at the plate to bring his average up to .267. Michael Gonzalez went 1-5 at the plate with his 2nd homerun of the year and 4 rbi's to bring his season total up to 11 and his average up to .286. Josmil Pinto, Tobias Streich, and Herbert Lara each contributed a hit in the winning cause for the Twins.
• Today, the E-Town Twins finish off their series with Burlington as Tom Stuifbergen gets the start for Elizabethton.

Sunday, July, 19th

Twins Talk
Twins 4 Rangers 1

• The Twins won their 3rd consecutive game of the year and their 2nd straight win against the Rangers since the break by planning good old Twins ball with good pitching, good defense and timely hits with 3 stolen bases put in. Scott Baker got the start for the Twins and put together probably his finest start of the year for the Twins. Baker went 8 strong innings and only gave up a solo homerun to Nelson Cruz on 6 hits along with 2 walks and an impressive 8 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 5.10 and improved his record on the year to 8-7. That was an impressive start to the second half for Baker who was in control the whole game. Like Bert Byleven said on the telecast last night it is going to come down to Baker and Liriano to decide if we make the playoffs this year or not. If those guys can be ace's like we know they can be the Twins will be right there at the end battling for a playoffs spot. However, with them both sitting with an era in the 5's that is not good enough and hopefully last night was the start of good things for Baker and tonight maybe Liriano can follow suit. Joe Nathan came on in the ninth and shut the Rangers down for his 25th save in 27 chances and lowered his era to a very good 1.24 which is amazing. Nathan has not given up a run since May 15th which is over 2 months. This will go down as one of the greatest seasons by a closer in Twins history.

• The Twins offense did not get a lot going in this game, but just enough to pick up the win as they put up 4 runs on 8 hits. Michael Cuddyer led the offense going 2-4 with his 20th double of the year and his 15th homerun along with his 48th and 49th rbi's to bring his average up to .272. Cuddyer has really rebounded this year after an injury plagued season last year to put up very solid numbers and if he keeps it up he will be back to typical Michael Cuddyer numbers of 20-25 homeruns and 90-100 rbi's which is very good along with his defense. Carlos Gomez continued his recent hot streak as he went 2-4 with his 21st rbi of the year and improved his average up to .247. In his last 5 games is where he has really improved by going 9-15 which is a .600 average with 9 rbi's and 3 runs scored. If Gomez is turning the corner that totally changes the Twins lineup and makes it way more potent. A good Carlos Gomez makes it less necessary to make a deal for a middle infielder that can hit because when he is good Carlos Gomez is such a difference maker. Justin Morneau had a big game going 2-4 with his 71st rbi of the year and improved his average up to .317. Nick Punto went 1-3 with his 5th double of the year. Alexi Casilla also contributed a hit in the winning cause for the Twins last night.
• Tonight, the Twins finish off their series with Texas as they try to finish off the sweep as Francisco Liriano gets the ball for the Twins.

Rochester Wrap

Lehigh Valley 7 Rochester 5

Lehigh Valley 6 Rochester 3

• The Red Wings had tough afternoon as they were swept in a doubleheader by Lehigh Valley by scores of 7-5 in the first game and 6-3 in the second game. In game 1 Philip Humber got the start and wasn't very good once again. Humber only lasted 3.2 innings and gave up 6 runs on 7 hits along with 2 walks and a strikeout to raise his era on the year to 6.28 and lower his record on the year to 4-7. I really don't know what to do with him because he has been horrible all year and the Red Wings really don't have anyone on the roster that can take his spot. To me the only thing that makes any sense is to give up on him and give him his release and bring someone up from AA to take his spot. Jesse Crain continued his improvment out of the pen for the Wings last night by going 1.1 scoreless innings on 1 hit along with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 2.87. It is not quite time yet but i would give it 2 to 3 more weeks before we see Jesse Crain back in a Twins uniform if he continues to improve like he is. Juan Morillo then came on and gave up a run on 2 hits along with 2 strikeouts to raise his era to 3.00 on the year. The most important part of his line though yesterday was no walks and that is something you can build on. In game 2 Jason Jones got the start for the Red Wings and he was no better than Humber. Jones went just 4 innings and gave up 6 runs although only 5 of them were earned on 6 hits along with 4 walks and 3 strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 6.60 and lower his record on the year to a pathetic 2-10. I would seriously consider sending Jones either to the bullpen or back down to AA to see if he can get the kinks worked out because it obviously is not working status Quo righ now. Tim Lahey then came on and pitched a shutout 5th inning on 1 hit along with 2 strikeouts to lower his era to 6.52. After a really rough start of the season Lahey has done a solid job in July as his era is 1.29 in 5 games and 7 innings pitched. I am glad the Twins did not give up on Lahey as now he is one of the best pitchers for the Red Wings out of the bullpen. Sean Henn then came on in the 6th and pitched a shutout inning along with a strikeout to lower his era on the year to 1.63.

• In game 1 the Red Wings put up some good offensive numbers, but thanks to bad pitching it would not be enough even though they put up 5 runs on 7 hits. Matt Macri led the offense going 2-3 with a run scored to raise his average on the year to .228. Danny Valencia went 1-3 with his 4th homerun of the year and his 15th rbi since coming over to Rochester and improved his average to .378. David Winfree went 1-3 with his 11th homerun of the year and his 44th and 45th rbi's of the year. Brock Peterson went 1-3 with his 10th double of the year and also scored a run. Trevor Plouffe and Matt Tolbert each contributed a hit in the losing cause for the Red Wings. In game 2 the Red Wings were only able to muster 3 runs on 6 hits and it is tough to win a game when you only get 6 hits. Danny Valencia continued his hot streak since coming to the Red Wings by going 2-3 with his 5th homerun and drove in his 16th and 17th runs of the year with the Red Wings to increase his average up to .388. Jose Morales made his return to the Red Wings and went 1-3 with his 5th double of the year and improved his average up to .274. Brock Peterson went 1-2 with his 11th double of the year and improved his average up to .267. David Winfree went 1-3 with his 12th homerun of the year and his 46th rbi which is 2nd to only Justin Huber. Matt Tolbert also added a single in the losing cause for the Red Wings.
• Today, the Red Wings continue their series with Lehigh Valley as Reid Santos is scheduled to pitch for Rochester.

New Britain Business

New Britain 11 Reading 3

• The Rockcats exploded offensively last night as they won their 3rd straight from Reading to pull within 5 games of first place Connecticut. Deolis Guerra got the start for the Rockcats and was solid in this game. Guerra went 6.1 innings and gave up 3 runs on 4 hits along with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts to lower his era to 5.06 and improved his record since his promotion to 2-0. Guerra has been good in 2 of his 3 starts so his era is misleading because you take that bad start out and he would have a very nice era. I really look for him to have a very good 2nd half with the Rockcats and show the promise that we have all been waiting for out of him. Kyle Waldrop then came on and did an outstanding job out of the bullpen. Waldrop went 2-2 innings and gave up no runs on 2 hits along with a walk to lower his era on the year to 1.69 on the year. Waldrop after missing all of last season because of arm problems has really had nice bouncback season with Fort Myers and now New Britain and has really reestablished himself as a possible bullpen arm for the Twins.

• The Rockcat offense really came alive in this one as they put up 11 runs on the board on 14 hits to pick up the win. Brandon Roberts was the hitting star in this game as he went 4-6 with his 14th double of the year to improve his average up to .297. Steve Singelton had another big game for the Rockcats going 3-5 with his 4th double and his 1st rbi as a Rockcat. In 3 games with New Britain Singelton is 9-14 at the plate with 4 doubles which is very very impressive. Toby Gardenhire went 2-4 with his 7th double and 2 rbi's to bring his season total up to 15 and his season average up to .263. Juan Portes went 1-4 with his 5th homerun of the year and drove in his 35th run to increase his average up to .306. Erik Lis went 1-2 with 2 walks and his 12th homerun of the year and 3 rbi's to bring his season total up to 50 and his average up to .321. His power surge is unbelievable as he has hit 6 homeruns in his last 7 games and drove in 12 runs in that span. Rene Tosoni went 1-4 with his 20th double and 53rd rbi of the year. Luke Hughes and Allan De San Miguel each contributed a hit in the winning cause for the Rockcats.
• Today, the Rockcats continue their series with Reading as Matt Fox gets the start for New Britain.

Fort Myers Minutes

Dunedin 4 Fort Myers 2

• The Miracle lost their 2nd consecutive game last night in a hard fought 4-2 loss to Dunedin as they fell 3 games out of first with the loss. Tyler Robertson got the start for the Miracle and he was ok in this one not great, but also not terrible. Robertson went 7 innings and gave up 4 runs on 4 hits along with a way to many 4 walks and 5 strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 3.95 and dropped his record on the season to 5-6. I don't know if it is because of getting passed over twice for promotions or if he is just in a rut but Tyler has not pitched very good his last couple starts. I truly expect Robertson to bounce back and show the Twins that they made a mistake in passing him up and being the pitcher we all know he can be and will be as he moves through the organization. We all need to keep in mind that he is only 21 years old and he is way young for the FSL and when he starts next season at New Britain he will be way young for that league as well. Joe Testa then came in and was dominant once again as he pitched 2 scoreless innings on 1 hit along with 3 strikeouts. Testa still has not given up an earned run in 12.2 innings of work thus far this year.

• The Miracle really could not get anything going against Dunedin pitching as they only got 2 runs on 10 hits. The problem was the Miracle left 9 guys on base or they probably could of won this game. Evan Bigley led the offense going 3-4 at the plate to bring his average up to .260 on the year. Chris Parmalee went 2-4 with his 13th homerun and his 51st and 52nd rbi's of the year to bring his average up to .258. Parmalee is having a pretty good season in Fort Myers where he will probably end up with 20+ homeruns and atleast 80 rbi's which is a very good year at the pitching heavy FSL. Ben Revere went 2-5 at the plate to improve his average up to .308 on the year. Esterlin De Los Santos, Jair Fernandez, and Chris Cates each contributed a hit apiece in the loss last night for the Miracle.
• Today, the Miracle continue their series with Dunedin as they will do a bullpen game with Santos Arias scheduled to start for Fort Myers.

Beloit Beat

Dayton 6 Beloit 4

• The Snappers had their 3 game winning streak come to an end last night with a tough loss to Dayton by a score of 6-4. Dan Osterbrock got the start for Beloit and did so so in the game. Osterbrock went 6.1 innings and gave up 5 runs although only 4 of them were earned on 7 hits along with 2 walks and 6 strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 5.79 and lowered his record on the year to 4-8. After putting together a good month of June, Osterbrock has really struggled in July. In June Osterbrock put an 2.28 era in 5 starts. However, in July in 3 starts Osterbrock has a 10.93 era so I don't know what the problem is, but he needs to get it going because he has been one of the biggest disappointments in the whole Twins organization after dominating at E-Town last year. Bruce Pugh then came in and gave up a run on 2 hits along with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts in 1.2 innings to raise his era to 4.03 on the season.

• The Snapper offense did not get the job done as they put up some solid offensive numbers as they put up 4 runs on 7 hits, but when the pitching struggles like they did the offense needs to pick up the slack and couldn't do that last night. Ramon Santana led the offense going 2-3 with his 19th double and 7th homerun of the year along with 2 rbi's to bring his team leading total up to 51 and improved his average up to .299. Drew Thompson went 2-4 with his 15th rbi of the year and improved his average up to .228. Thompson has really stepped it up as of late going 6-12 with a double and 3 rbi's in his last 3 games. Aaron Hicks went 1-5 at the plate with his 1st homerun as a member of the Snappers and his 13th rbi. Ozzie Lewis and Tyler Ladendorf each contributed hits in the losing cause for the Snappers.
• Tonight, the Snappers continue their series with Dayton as Bobby Lanigan gets the start for Beloit.

E-Town Tidbits

E-Town 4 Burlington 3

• The E-Town Twins got back on the winning side last night after enduring a tough 2 game losing streak by beating Burlington last night by the score of 4-3. Matire Garcia got the start for the Twins and was ok and the biggest thing was he only walked 1 batter after walking 20 in his first 4 starts. Garcia went 5 innings and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits along with 1 walk and 4 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 3.74 and improved his record on the season to 3-0. First Round pick Matt Bashore made his debut out of the Twins pen and pitched 2 shutout innings on 3 hits along with 2 strikeouts. With all the innings he pitched for Indiana it would not surprise me if he came out of the bullpen this summer for the Twins to protect his innings and next spring start out in the starting rotation for Beloit. Kyle Carr then came on and pitched 2 good innings to pick up his 4th save of the year and giving up an unearned run on 1 hit along with 2 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 0.95.

• The E-Town Twins offense did not get a lot going, but just enough to pick up the win last night as they scored 4 runs on only 7 hits. Derek Mccallum led the offense by going 2-3 with his 7th double of the year to improve his average up to .275. Brian Dozier went 1-4 with his 4th double and also drove in his 4th run of the year. Tobias Streich went 1-3 with his 5th homerun of the year and his 17th rbi. Jon Goncalves went 1-3 with his 2nd homerun of the year and his 6th rbi. Michael Gonzalez and Reggie Williams each contributed a hit in the winning cause for the Twins.
• Tonight, the Twins continue their series with Burlington as Angelo Sanchez is scheduled to pitch for Elizabethton.

Mccardell Promoted to New Britain

In a move that should not be as surpring considering how he has done this year and his age Mike Mccardell has replaced Yohan Pino in the New Britain starting rotation. Mccardell pitched very well at Fort Myers and at 24 years old needed to get up to New Britain and I think he will do very well at New Britain. I look for Tyler Robertson and David Bromberg to join Mccardell next spring with the Rockcats and I expect them to be key contributers for a possible Florida State Leauge Championship. Congratulations to Mike you really deserve the promotion and I am sure you will do with the Rockcats. The question is now who will replace Mccardell in the Fort Myers rotation. They have an in-house canidate in Henry Arias, but to me the most logical choice is Brad Tippett who has dominated Beloit and his 2.43 era begs for a promotion to Fort Myers. They could also consider Dan Osterbrock or Bobby Lanigan, but I think Tippett should be the choice. Everyone let me know your preference.

Pino Promoted to Rochester

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

Saturday, July, 18th

Twins Talk

Twins 5 Rangers 3

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

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


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

Rochester Wrap

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

New Britain Business

New Britain 6 Reading 4

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

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


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

Fort Myers Minutes

Sarasota 3 Fort Myers 2

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

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


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

Beloit Beat

Beloit 9 Burlington 3

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

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


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

E-Town Tidbits

Danville 5 E-Town 4

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

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

Friday, July, 17th

Twins Talk

• The Twins had yesterday off and will begin a 3 game series with the Rangers in Arlington as the Twins will send Glen Perkins to the mound tonight against Vicente Padilla going for the Rangers.

Rochester Wrap

Lehigh Valley 5 Rochester 4

• The Red Wings suffered a tough loss last night to Lehigh Valley by a score of 5-4 even though they almost pulled out the game coming back from a 5-0 deficit and pulled within 5-4 and had a chance to pull it out, but couldn't quite pull it out. Jeff Manship got the start for the Red Wings and he was ok not great, but also not bad. Manship went 5 innings and gave up 5 runs although only 3 of them were earned on 6 hits along with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 4.24 and drop his record to 2-1 on the year. Manship has really done a good job since being promoted from New Britain up to Rochester. With the Rochester rotation in flux losing their top 3 starters in Brian Duensing, Kevin Mulvey, and Anthony Swarzak Manship has really stepped it up to give them quality innings and a solid start every time out. Armando Gabino then came on and continued pitching good for the Red Wings as he went 3 shutout innings on only 1 hit along with a walk to lower his era on the year to 3.07. I am shocked that Gabino did not get the promotion to the Twins when they were looking for a relief pitcher because Armando has done a very good job for the Red Wings.

• The Red Wings really did not get a lot going on offense in this game as they were only able to score 4 runs on 7 hits. When your pitching struggles a little bit you would hope the offense would pick up the slack, but the Red Wings offense couldn't get it done in this one. Danny Valencia led the offense in this one going 3-4 with his 8th double of the year and drove in his 14th run to raise his average to .380. Dustin Martin went 1-3 with his 11th double and drove in his 31st run of the year to raise his average up to .252. Justin Huber fresh off his all-star game performance made a pinch hit appearance and hit his 13th double of the year to bring his average up to .287. Jason Pridie went 1-3 with his 4th triple of the year to bring his average up to .260. Trevor Plouffe also contributed a hit in the losing cause for the Red Wings.
• Tonight, the Red Wings continue their series with Lehigh Valley and will send Philip Humber to the mound for Rochester.

New Britain Business

New Britain 5 Reading 2

• The Rockcats pulled out a very tough game last night to Reading by a score of 5-2. Yohan Pino got the start for the Rockcats and was very good for the Cats and really has surprised me how good he has been since he has been put in the rotation for the New Britain Rockcats. Pino went 5 innings and gave up 2 runs on 4 hits along with 3 walks and 2 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to a very good 3.19 and improved his record on the year to 5-1. Pino does not have overpowering stuff, but he still finds a way to get hitters out and how to strikeout guys so even though I don't think he is a big prospect I do think he has a chance to be a long reliever in the major league level if he continues to improve. A key about him that impresses me is he has 64 strikeouts in only 62 innings of work and that projects as he moves forward to possibly making it to AAA and maybe the majors. Alex Burnett then came into the game and did a good job like he always does by going 1.1 innings and giving up no runs on 2 hits along with a strikeout to lower his era to 2.05 on the year. Jose Lugo continued his recent string of good outings as he pitched 1.2 shutout innings along with 3 strikeouts to lower his era to a very good 3.71 on the year. Lugo has done very good the last 2 months after a rough start of the season. In June he had a very good 2.45 era in 11 games and has been even better in July with a 0.73 era in 7 games so far this month. Anthony Slama came on in the 9th and picked up his 20th save of the year by pitching a perfect 9th with 2 strikeouts to lower his era to 2.70.

• The Rockcats did not get alot going offensively in this game, but they got just enough to pick up the win as they scored 5 runs on 14 hits and this game should not of been close, but the Rockcats left an unbelievable 15 guys on base. The Rockcats were led by new Rockcat Steve Singelton who made quite the impression going 3-5 with 2 doubles in his first game with the Rockcats. Toby Gardenhire had a big game going 2-3 with 3 rbi's to bring his total up to 13 and his average up to .257. Luke Hughes had a big game going 2-4 with his first homerun as a Rockcat this year and brought his average up to .333. Juan Portes went 2-5 at the plate to bring his average up to .305. Yancarlos Ortiz had a big game going 2-4 to raise his average up to .226. Brandon Roberts went 1-5 with his 12th double of the year. Brian Dinkelman went 1-4 with his team high 23rd double of the year. Erik Lis went 1-3 with his 16th double of the year and raised his average up to a very good .321.
• Tonight, the Rockcats continue their series with Reading as Matt Fox will get the start for New Britain.

Fort Myers Minutes

Fort Myers 13 Sarasota 4

• The Miracle continued their offensive barrage last night by scoring 13 runs for the second consecutive game in a blowout over Sarasota by a score of 13-4. Michael Tarsi got the start for the Miracle and he was ok not as good as he had been in previous starts, but good enough to get the win considering the offensive show the Miracle put up last night. Tarsi went 6 innings and gave up 4 runs on 7 hits along with 2 walks and a very good 7 strikeouts to raise his era on the year to 3.75 and improved his record on the year to 2-0 in 2 starts. Tarsi has done about as good of a job for the Miracle since his promotion than could be expected. Tarsi is not a huge prospect, but when he keeps the ball down he can be a very solid pitcher who will have an era in the low 3's and will continue to progress through the system not on stuff, but on control and just plain guts which he has alot of. Loek Van Mil then came on and pitched a very effective innning of relief on 2 hits along with a strikeout to lower his era to 1.85. Spencer Steedley then came on and pitched a good 8th inning to lower his era to 1.77. Blair Erickson finished the game with a solid 9th along with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 3.45.

• The Miracle offense continue to impress as of late as they have scored a crazy 26 runs in the last 2 games. In this one the Miracle were led by Mark Dolenc who went 3-5 at the plate to raise his average up to .292 on the year. Esterlin De Los Santos had a big game going 2-6 at the plate with his 1st homerun of the year and drove in 4 runs to bring his total up to 12 and brought his average up to .308. Ben Revere is continuing his recent hot streak going 2-5 at the plate with 2 rbi's to bring his total up to 36 and his average up to .308. Joe Benson went 2-6 with his 4th homerun of the year to bring his rbi total up to 16 and his average up to .301. Nick Romero went 2-4 with his 2nd triple of the year and his 21st rbi to bring his average up to .279. Chris Cates went 2-5 to bring his average up to .259. Chris Parmalee had a big game going 1-4 with his 12th homerun of the year and 3 rbi's to bring his total up to 50. Evan Bigley went 1-6 at the plate along with his 10th double of the year. Juan Richardson also contributed a hit in the winning cause for the Miracle.
• Tonight, the Miracle continue their series with Sarasota as David Bromberg gets the start for Fort Myers.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 9 Burlington 1

• The Snappers won their second consecutive game by blowing out Burlington for the 2nd consecutive night this time by a score of 9-1. Brad Tippett got the start for the Snappers and was once again marvelous. Tippett went 7 shutout innings on only 4 hits along with 1 walk and 3 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 2.43 and improve his record on the year to 8-3. I seriously can not believe that Tippett is still in Beloit because he has put up the kind of season that begs for a promotion to Fort Myers and I believe he is ready to be promoted so I hope the Twins don't wait much longer before promoting Tippett to Fort Myers because he is obviously ready. Thomas Wright then came on and was not very good once again. In 1 inning of work Wright gave up 1 run on 1 hit along with 2 walks and 1 strikeout to raise his era to 9.58. Makes you wonder how long the Twins are going to stick with Wright who has really struggled all year for the Snappers and if they will send him down to E-Town or if they will simply choose to release him. Billy Bulluck continued his good string since his callup to Beloit by pitching another scoreless inning on 1 hit.

• The Snappers continued their recent string of hitting by scoring 9 runs for the second consecutive game. James Beresford led the attack in this one going 4-5 at the plate with his 24th rbi to raise his average on the year to .304. Danny Rams went 2-4 with his 2nd homerun of the year and his 2nd in 2 days along with his 2nd rbi to bring his average up to .333. Tyler Ladendorf had a big game going 2-4 at the plate to bring his average up to .250 after getting off to a 1-8 start. Drew Thompson had a big game going 2-4 with his 13th and 14th rbi's to bring his average up to .214. Aaron Hicks had a nice game going 1-3 with 3 rbi's to bring his total up to 12 and raise his average up to .219 and brought his walk total up to 17 walks which has brought his OBP up to .359 although he is hitting only .219 and that won't last so the fact that he takes walks is a huge thing. Ramon Santana, Michael Harrington, and Jeff Lanning each contributed a hit in the winning cause for the Snappers.
• Tonight, the Snappers continue their series with Burlington as Dan Berlind gets the start for Beloit.

E-Town Tidbits

Danville 4 E-Town 3 13 innings

• The E-Town Twins did something that they have not done very much this year and that is lose. The Twins dropped their record to 18-5 with a tough 13 inning 4-3 loss to Danville. Brad Stillings got the start for the Twins and did an ok job going 5.2 innings and giving up only 3 runs although only 2 of them were earned on 8 hits along with 2 walks and an impressive 8 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to 4.86. Tony Davis then came on and bounced back after a couple tough outings to go 1.1 innings of shutout relief on 2 hits along with 3 strikeouts to lower his era to 10.64. 21st round pick Peter Kennelly made his professional debut last night by pitching 1 shutout innings along with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts. Matthew Tone then came on and was good once again as he lowered his era to 0.87 after pitching 2 perfect innings along with 3 strikeouts. Kane Holbrooks then came on and did some good things but in the end he gave up a run so he took the loss to drop his record to 1-1. Holbrooks went 2.2 innings and gave up 1 run on 3 hits along with 1 walk and 4 strikeouts to lower his era to 4.63 on the year.

• After being strong all season long the Twins offense really let the team down as they were only able to muster 3 runs on 10 hits. Brian Dozier led the way going 3-6 with his 2nd double of the year to bring his average up to .357. Josmil Pinto had another big game going 2-5 with his 6th and 7th doubles of the year and his 30th rbi to bring his average up to .317. With Ladendorf and Rams gone from the team the Twins are really counting on Pinto, Hermann, and Dozier to carry the load offensively. Dan Rohlfing went 2-5 with his 4th double of the year to bring his average up to .227. Paul Klingsberg went 1-3 at the plate with his 3rd double to raise his average to .297. Chris Hermann and Michael Gonzalez each contributed a hit in the losing cause for the Twins last night.
• Tonight, the E-Town Twins continue their series with Danville as they will send Edgar Ibarra to the mound for Elizabethton.

Thursday, July, 16th

Twins Talk

• The Twins had yesterday off before beginning a 9 game roadtrip to Texas, Oakland, and to Anaheim which begins Friday night in Texas. In a surprising move the Twins have recalled pitcher Kevin Mulvey to pitch out of the bullpen for the Twins and sent down Jose Morales. It was not a surprise that Morales went down because like it or not the Twins are committed to having Mike Redmond as the backup catcher this year. After the season Redmond is a free agent and it is doubtful he will be retained so it will probably be Morales' job next year and I am sure he will be up in September if not before because of injuries. Mulvey surprised me because he has been a starter all his career and Jesse Crain, Juan Morillo, or Rob Delaney seemed like better choices. They say he will be working out of long relief, but the way I see it they already have 3 long relievers in R.A. Dickey, Brian Duensing, and Bobby Keppel so the only reasoning I can think of is they are either showcasing him for other teams to see or he is being brought up to start as one of the Twins starters might be on the trading block. It should be interesting next couple of weeks to see what happens with Mulvey and the whole trading scenario's.

Rochester Wrap

• The Red Wings finished off their all star break as Red Wing Justin Huber competed in the All-Star game. Huber came up 3 times in the game and went 0-2 with a sacrafice fly in the game. Tonight, the Red Wings begin their second half as they try to chase down Scranton/WB for a playoff spot as they travel to Lehigh Valley with Jeff Manship taking the ball.

New Britain Business

• The Rockcats finished off their all star break as Rockcats Whit Robbins, Brian Dinkelman, Rene Tosoni, Matt Fox, and Anthony Slama competed in the All-Star Game. Whit Robbins came on as a pinch hitter and went 1-2 at the plate with a nice single. Brian Dinkelman went 1-2 as well with a single for the North team. Rene Tosoni played the whole game at went 0-4 at the plate playing center field. Matt Fox pitched a scoreless inning of relief along with a strikeout. Anthony Slama did not fare as well as the rest of the players. Slama only got 2 outs and gave up a run on a hit along with a walk and a strikeout before being pulled. Tonight, the Rockcats start their second half as they battle Reading and are scheduled to send Matt Fox to the mound tonight, but that may change because with Kevin Mulvey headed to the Twins you would think New Britain would send a starter to take his spot in Rochester and Matt Fox is one of the obvious possibilities so it will be interesting to see who pitches tonight.

Fort Myers Minutes

Fort Myers 13 Sarasota 0

• The day off the Miracle got on Tuesday seemed to do wonders for the whole team not only the hitting, but also the pitching as the Miracle pummelled Sarasota last night by a score of 13-0. Steve Hirschfeld got the start for the Miracle and he was awesome in this one. Hirschfeld went all 9 innings and did not give up a run on only 3 hits along with 1 walk and 2 strikeouts. Steve really struggled right when he was moved into the rotation but he really has found his groove as of late. With the no runs allowed he lowered his era to a starter low 2.17 and raised his record on the year to 3-4. Look at his numbers so far in the month of July as he is 1-2 with a very good 2.33 era in 3 starts. He probably does not have the stuff to be a starter as he moves forward, but I believe he can be a very solid relief pitcher who when you need a spot start here and there will do a good job for you.

• After a month long slump with the bats the Miracle offense really came out last night as they pounded Sarasota pitchers for 13 runs on 17 hits in the game and had outstanding performances by so many. Lets start at the top with Ben Revere who bounced out of a slump with a nice 3-5 night at the plate with his 3rd triple of the year and his 34th rbi to bring his average up to .306. Esterlin De Los Santos went 3-6 with his 4th and 5th doubles of the year and his 7th and 8th rbi's of the year to bring his average up to .306 as well. Chris Parmalee went 2-4 at the plate with his 47th rbi to bring his average up to .256. Nick Romero had a big game going 2-4 with his 8th double and scored 3 runs to bring his average up to .272. Mark Dolenc went 2-5 with 2 rbi's to bring his total up to 26 and his average up to .286. You can't forget the day Alex Soto had even though he only had 1 hit it was a big one. He pounded a 3 run homerun that put the Miracle ahead for good. Rene Leveret went 1-4 with his 12th double of the year for the Miracle. Deibinson Romero, Joe Benson, and Chris Cates all added hits in the winning cause for the Miracle.


• Tonight, the Miracle continue their series with Sarasota as new Miracle pitcher Michael Tarsi gets the start for Fort Myers.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 9 Burlington 3

• The Snappers broke out of a tough 2 game losing streak last night in a big way by beating Burlington by a score of 9-3. They had the type of game that Beloit fans have been waiting for all year in good pitching and some timely hits to score some runs to send the Beloit fans home happy. New Snapper Liam Hendricks was on the hill and pitched a very good game. Hendricks went 6.2 innings and gave up 1 run on 9 hits along with 1 walk and 4 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to a very good 1.46 and improved his record on the year to 1-1. Hendricks has done a good job in both his starts for the Snappers so far this year and appears to be a keeper for the Snappers. I really think he could be a fast mover through the organization and it would not surprise me in the least if Hendricks does not start next season up with the Fort Myers Miracle. Blake Martin then came in and struggled in this one giving up 2 runs on 3 hits in only 1 inning of work to increase his era to 4.87 on the year. Matt Williams then pitched the last 1.1 innings without giving up a run to lower his era on the year to 2.52. I really can't believe that Williams is still in Beloit as he has been the best reliever on the Snappers staff and belongs up with Fort Myers.

• The Snappers really got the bat going after really struggling at the plate lately as they put up 9 runs on the board on 12 hits. The Snappers were led by James Beresford who went 3-5 with his 4th and 5th doubles of the year and had 3 rbi's to bring his total up to 23 and his average up to .295. Danny Rams had a huge game to bust out of a tough slump since his callup by going 2-3 with his 1st homerun of the year and improved his average up to .300 on the year. Dominic De La Osa had a big game going 2-4 with his 7th double of the year and his 28th rbi to bring his average up to .215. Angel Morales went 2-3 with his 11th double and his 29th rbi of the year to bring his average up to .227. Morales really went through a rough stretch in the month of June, but has really rebounded in July to show the kind of things that Angel is capable of at the plate. Aaron Hicks went 1-5 at the plate to bring his average up to .214 on the year. Tyler Ladendorf, and Nathan Hanson each contributed hits in the winning cause for the Snappers last night.
• Tonight, the Snappers continue their series with Burlington as they will send Brad Tippett to the mound for Beloit tonight.

E-Town Tidbits

E-Town 4 Danville 2

• The E-Town Twins got a big hard fought win last night against fellow first place team in the Danville Braves by a score of 4-2. It seems no matter if it is a slugfest or a pitchers duel the Twins can get the job done in any kind of game and in this one it was a pitchers duel as the Twins improved their record to 18-4 on the young season. Tom Stuifbergen got the start for the Twins and was very impressive in this start. Stuifbergen went all 9 innings and only gave up 2 runs on 6 hits along with 1 walk and an impressive 7 strikeouts to lower his era on the year to a very good 3.66 and improve his record on the year to 3-0. If Stuifbergen keeps pitching like he has as of late it won't be very long before he is joining his teammates Liam Hendricks, Tyler Ladendorf, and Danny Rams up in Beloit with the Snappers. He has quite the impressive ratio of walks to strikeouts as he has only 4 walks in 32 innings and an impressive 30 strikeouts.

• The Twins offense has been so good this year that even in a game that they only were able to put together 7 hits they were still able to score enough to get the win by putting up 4 runs on the board. Josmil Pinto led the offense going 2-4 with his 5th double and his 28th and 29th rbi's of the year to bring his average up to .310 on the year. Derek Mccallum went 2-4 with his 13th rbi to bring his average up to .262. Mccallum the Twins 5th round pick out of the University of Minnesota has really bounced back after a rough start to the year to show what he is capable of doing at the plate. Chris Hermann, Tobias Streich, and Jon Goncalves each contributed a hit in the winning cause for the E-Town Twins.
• Tonight, the Twins continue their series with Danville as they will send 1st round pick Matt Bashore to the mound for Elizabethton

To Trade or not to Trade that is the question

This is not going to be a popular sentiment around Twins fans, but I do not think it is as much of a slam dunk that many Twins fans would like it to be. I have done some heavy research on Freddy Sanchez, Matt Capps, Latroy Hawkins, and Jose Valverde as a few of the possibilities that the Twins could trade for and the packages it would take to get them. I have also done my fair share of research on some of the guys it would take to acquire those players and I don't think it is a slam dunk to make the trades for the following reasons.

• Do we need more offense? I know Nick Punto should probably never be starting and Matt Tolbert neither. But the question is it worth it to give up atleast 2 or 3 of the top prospects in the organization for someone that would not solve our problems. Honestly, offense is not the Twins problem as they rank 10th in baseball in runs scored and 2nd in the division which is very good. We have scored more runs than the teams we are battling with in Detroit and Chicago. That just shows that offense is not what is keeping us down. The bottom line is the reason we are in 3rd place and not running away with the division is our starting pitching has not been what we would expect it to be. If our pitchers had done the job they did last year this would not be a race. The only pitcher who has done his job is Nick Blackburn who has a 3.06 era and has 9 quality starts in his last 10. To me the problem this year has not been the offense and to give away 2 or 3 good prospects to make our offense a little better does not make sense.

• Do we have the number 2 hitter we need already on the roster? My answer to that is Yes I think we do. The Twins called up Alexi Casilla the other day and before you just look at his numbers last year. After being called up in May of last year Casilla hit .340/.417 in May, .304/.340 in June, and .308/.333 in July before a wrist injury derailed the rest of his season. I am not making excuses for him performance this year, but you also can not deny his .343 average down in Rochester. Is he at his best as good as Freddy Sanchez well probably not but the difference is not that big. The reason I would stick Casilla at 2nd and go with that is first, the money difference as Sanchez makes 6.5 million and Casilla makes 427,500. Secondly, Sanchez will make 8 million next year and Casilla maybe 450,000. Thirdly, When Casilla is on he is a very good number 2 hitter and plays good defense. The bottom line I am not willing to give up some good prospects for a guy that doesn't make us immensely better.

• How bad do we need a bullpen arm? I think our bullpen is fine when the Starters go their 6 to 7 innings in a game. It is exposed when they have to pitch every day multiple innings without a break. The bottom line is we are looking for a rent a pitcher because we really don't need a relief pitcher next season. Look at the choices we will have next year: Nathan, a returning Pat Neshek, a returning Boof Bonser, Juan Morillo, Matt Guerrier, Jose Mijares, Jesse Crain, Kevin Mulvey, Anthony Swarzak, Bobby Keppel, Brian Duensing, and you can't forget about Rob Delaney and Anthony Slama ready to make their big league debut's. So really are you willing to give up mulitple prospects that can help you in the future for a relief pitcher that might not be any better than what we have right now. For me it just doesn't make sense to give up a Kevin Mulvey, a Mike Mccardell, a Juan Portes, a Ben Revere or even a Carlos Gutierrez to acquire a reliever for half a season. As much as I want to make the playoffs this year I still am not convinced if you added Freddy Sanchez and Latroy Hawkins if we would be good enough to go to the World Series as I see New York and Boston as still better than us and if you can't go to the world series this year than why mortgage the farm.

• Is there an option on the farm? This is going to ruffle some feathers, but I have not given up on Jesse Crain along with Matt Guerrier being the right handed setup men to Joe Nathan in the bullpen. Granted Crain was awful in the beginning of the year, but he seems to be getting better at AAA and has his era just over 3 and his walks are coming down. You need to remember this is a guy that throws a 95 mile per hour fastball along with a 89 mile per hour slider and a 75 mile per hour curveball. The whole key for Jesse is hitting his spots and keeping the ball down. I really believe if given a chance Jesse can come back up and be a big contributer in the second half of the season for the Twins.

Overall: I just don't see trading the farm to acquire some guys that would not be that much better than the guys we already have. The key in the second half is not going to be how we hit or how our bullpen does it is going to be about how our starting pitchers do and if Kevin Slowey can come back from this injury and if Anthony Swarzak and Kevin Mulvey can contribute some quality innings out of the bullpen for the Twins. I would really like to hear everyone else's opinioin on this and be honest I know there are going to be alot of people that disagree with me on this so just let me know. All opinions will be welcome