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.

Minnesota Twins

Over the next few days i am going to break down the month of the teams with different categories and letter grades and the pitcher and hitter of the month and im going to start with the Twins.

Starting Pitching: The Twins starting pitching has been a pleasant surprise this year compiling a 4.41 starters ERA led by rookie Nick Blackburn who had a 3.52 era followed by Boof Bonser at 3.75, then Scott Baker at 4.50 and then Livan Hernandez at 5.04. If you take away the bad 4 starts that Francisco Liriano and Kevin Slowey made it would be alot lower. Grade: B

Relief Pitching: The Twins relief pitching has had its up and downs most notably the 2 games in Detroit that we let get away. Dennys Reyes has been really good this year and Pat Neshek has come back after a couple bad outings to put up solid numbers. Jesse Crain has been solid and the important thing is he has got his velocity back. Joe Nathan has been awesome at the end just like you expected.

Grade: B-

Hitting: The good thing is they have hit good for average and the bad thing is they have only hit 14 Hr's on the year. Justin Mourneau has been what you expected hitting 6 hr and driving in 22 to be among the league leaders. Carlos Gomez has been the sparkplug we expected and Joe Mauer has been good as usual. Because of the lack of power we have not scored as many runs only scoring 3.8 runs a game which makes it harder on the pitching. Grade:D+

Fielding: The Twins have been really good defensively being in league leaders in fewest errors. Our outfield defense has been superb led by Carlos Gomez running down everything in sight and good arms all over the outfield. As long as Gardy is the manager the Twins will always emphasize defense so it will be always good. Grade:A-

Baserunning: This is the strength of the team as their is speed at pretty much every position on the team. Led by Carlos Gomez who had 11 stolen bases and Delmon Young's 6 the Twins have 27 stoled bases so far and its a real weapon for the team. Grade:A

Overall: The Twins had a decent month going 13-14 and doing alot of good things and the big thing is they didn't get blown away out of the gate. The Twins need to hit better if they want to contend all year round. The pitching will keep us in most games but the hitters are going to have to pick it up if the Twins want to be contending come August.

Grade: C

Pitcher of the Month: Nick Blackburn- Nick has been a big surprise for the Twins going 2-1 and a 3.52ERA in 6starts. I was not big on him going into the season but he has really impressed me this year pinpointed his fastball and placing his curveball and slider. The only thing that concerns me is he doesn't strike out alot of batters striking out only 19 batters in 38 innings. You would like him to miss some bats because it makes it so much harder on his defense everyone has to be perfect to get hitters out, but im knitpicking Nick has had a good month and if he can continue it he will be with the Twins for a long time.

Hitter of the Month: Justin Mourneau- Justin has done what we all expected him to do after signing his new 80million 6 year deal and he has delivered. Justin hit .268 with 6hr's and 22 rbi's with a .495 slugging percentage and a .840 OPS. The only thing that i can find wrong is his average is a little low and that is probably because he has been swinging at some bad pitches, but all in all it was a good month for Justin and i expect that can of production every month for the Twins.

Thursday, May 1st

Twins Talk



Minnesota 4 Chicago 3

Minnesota 13-14 1.5 games back

• POG:Carlos Gomez- Its pretty obvious when Carlos has a good game the Twins are hard to beat thats why they keep running him out there. You just wish he was a little more consistant but yesterday was a good day. Carlos went 3-4 with an rbi,2runs scored and a stolen base to raise his total to 11 on the year. Carlos' 3 hits brought his season average to .265 after the first month. I have been a big Gomez supporter all year and watching that Texas series you can tell the difference when he is not in the lineup. I counted 3 or 4 balls that Gomez would of caught that fell in and 3 runs in the 2 games that would not of scored had he been in. So I think people need to just be patient with him because he brings so much to the plate that he is worth the down things about him like the strikeouts and lack of walks.


• Nick Blackburn said after the game that he didn't have his good stuff and if thats the case thats a good sign because I thought he pitched pretty good. Nick pitched 7 innings and only gave up 8 hits and 3 runs against that offense to lower his ERA to 3.52 on the season.


• The Twins bullpen blew away Chicago in 2 innings they gave up 1 hit and struck 4 batters to get the win. I know they have had a couple bad games but i think our bullpen has come around and is a strength once again.


• The Twins have today off and begin a series with Detroit Friday night at the Metrodome.

Rochester Wrap

Pawtucket 4 Rochester 2

Rochester 13-14 5.0 games back

• POG:Jason Pridie- Jason continued his resurgence going 2-4 bringing his team high average to .311 on the season. Jason has been one of the most consistant hitters for the Red Wings this season and it probably won't be too long before Jason trades his Red Wings uniform for a Twins one if he keeps it up.


• Francisco Liriano continued his struggles with finding the plate walking 5 in only 4.1 innings of work. He keeps making baby steps so i am not worried about him YET, but eventually you would like to see some improvement. Its not that he got hit, which he did, giving up 4 runs on 5 hits. The problem is he keeps getting behind 2-0 and 3-1 counts which makes him throw a cookie and hope they dont hit it. I think he will be fine but you should keep an eye on him.


• The Red Wings bullpen continued to succeed going 4.2 innings and only giving up 4 hits and no runs to keep the Red Wings in the game.


• Tonight, the Red Wings begin a series in Toledo with the Mud Hens in Toledo. Gametime is at 5:30pm with Kevin Slowey making a rehab start for the Red Wings.

New Britain Business

New Britain 11 Binghamton 2

New Britain 12-12 5.0 games back

• POG:Steve Tolleson- Steve needed a game like this going 4-5 with 2rbi's and 2 runs scored to pace the Rock Cats. With the 4 hits it raised Steve's average to .257 on the young season. Steve has struggled through most of the first month and he's too good of a hitter to be hitting as low as he has been so hopefully its the beginning of something good.


• Yohan Pino got his first win of the year going 5 innings and only giving up 2 runs on 7 hits to get the win. Yohan has been the surprise for the Rock Cats staff in 25 innings so far this season and only given up 5 runs for a 1.80ERA.


• Luke Hughes continues his awesome month going 2-5 with 3 rbi's and 2 runs scored to bring his team high average to .354 and bringing his rbi's up to 18 on the season. Luke has been awesome and won't be in New Britain much longer if he keeps it up.


• Tonight, the Rock Cats finish their series with Binghamton and go for the sweep. Gametime is at 5:35 with Ryan Mullins getting the start for the Rock Cats.

Fort Myers Musings

Fort Myers 4 Clearwater 2

Fort Myers 15-11 First Place

• POG:Cole Devries- Cole had a strong outing going 5.2 innings and only giving up 2 runs on 7 hits for the Miracle. It was his 2nd win of the year and probably his best start of the year to lower his ERA to 5.08. Nobody will deny that Cole has underperfomed this season, but it was a start that gives everyone hope that Cole can turn it around and become the pitcher the Twins organization thinks he can become.
• Wilson Ramos had a good game with a 3 run triple in the bottom of the 1st inning to give the Miracle all the runs that they would need to get the win. With the 3rbi's it gave him 13 rbi's for the season. Wilson has had a slow start with only a .211 batting average, but if he can keep the run production up it gives you hope that he can turn it around.
• Anthony Slama was electric once again going the last 2 innings to pick up his 4th save of the season and striking out 4 batters to bring his season total to 19 on the season. He is the most dominant reliever in the Twins minor league system if you ask me and hopefully he can keep it coming.
• Tonight, the Miracle continue their series with Clearwater in Fort Myers. Gametime is at 6:05 with Jeff Manship getting the start for the Miracle.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 4 South Bend 2

Beloit 10-16 9.5 games back

• POG:Ben Revere- Ben went 2-4 and drove in 2 runs to spark the Snappers attack on the game. He also stole his first base of the year in the win. In 3 games Ben is hitting .364 and has shown good discipline at the plate and when his pitch comes up he hasn't missed it so far. Its a long season but the Twins have to be encouraged how he has adjusted so far and it will be interesting to see how he adjusts to his first slump, my guess is he will be just fine and is someone to watch.
• Another bright spot was the Pitching performance of rookie Santiago Arias who went 6 shutout innings and only giving up 2 hits while striking out 5 batters. It will be interesting how he does when scouting reports come out, but honestly it was a pretty impressive start for the Snappers.
• Chris Parmalee went 1-3 on the day as he struggles to come out of a 2-32 slump that has seen his average dip from .365 to .222.
• Tonight, the Snappers begin a series with the Dodgers in Great Lakes. Gametime is at 6:05 with David Bromberg getting the start for Beloit.

Wednesday, April 30th

Twins Talk

Minnesota 3 Chicago 1
Minnesota 12-14 2.5 games back

• POG:Boof Bonser- Boof was the best i have seen him in a very long time last night going 7 innings and only giving up a solo Hr to Joe Crede in the 7th and only giving up 6 hits on the night. Boof only walked 1 while striking out 8 White Sox batters. The thing that really impressed me was the curveball he had last night it had really good bite and he could throw it for a strike something he normally can't do. With the good start it lowered Boof's ERA to 3.75 on the season.
• Jason Kubel continues to impress me with a 2 run Hr in the 4th inning to give Boof Bonser all the room he would need. Jason has had a good April hitting his 4th Hr of the month and has 16rbi's this month. I really didn't see it happening I really thought Jason was a bust going into the year and now i have more confidence in him than alot of other players hopefully he can keep it up.
• The Twins offense is so much better with Michael Cuddyer in the lineup then without him. I think he watches to many pitches,but when he is in the lineup there is that threat that we were missing when he was out.
• Today, the Twins finish up their short 2 game series with the Sox at the Metrodome. Gametime is at 12:10 with Nick Blackburn getting the start for the Twins vs Nick Massat of the Sox

Rochester Wrap

Rochester 9 Pawtucket 3

Rochester 13-13 4.5 games back

• POG: Darnell Mcdonald- Darnell continues his strong start going 3-5 with 3rbi's and 2 runs scored to raise his average to a team high .328. Like i said yesterday he is not a prospect, but he is a very good minor league player and like I said every organization needs players like that because every team wants to win and Rochester is no different. With the 3 rbi's it brings his total up to 13 on the season which is 2nd on the team and thats even more amazing considering he started the season on the DL.
• Brian Duensing had a dreadful 1st inning giving up 3 runs on 3 hits. After that he showed why he is a good pitcher by shutting the door for the rest of his outing. Brian went 6 innings and gave up just those 3 runs on 7 hits to bring his ERA to 2.75 on the season. Alot of pitchers would of fell apart after the early runs but that shows you how much grit he has to come back and put zeros on the board.
• Philip Humber pitched a scoreless inning to get the win for the Red Wings. With Liriano and Slowey getting a few starts the logical thing is for Humber to spend some time in the bullpen.
• Today, the Red Wings finish up their homestand with Pawtucket. Gametime is at 11:05am as its getaway day with Francisco Liriano getting the start for the Red Wings. It will be interesting to see how Liriano responds to being back in the minors.

New Britain Business

New Britain 7 Binghamton 1

New Britain 11-12 5.5 games back

• POG:Matt Moses- Matt came out of a bit of a slump going 3-5 with a double and an rbi for the Rock Cats. With the 3 hits Matt raised his average to .282 on the season. Matt is a guy that Twins scouts are looking for to break out because there are alot of people in the organization that are very high on him and are hoping that he can get his swing going and make it. He is definatly someone you should keep your eye on to see how he adjusts to being in the outfield now. Moving to the outfield helped Michael Cuddyer because he didnt have to think so much so hopefully it works for Matt Moses.
• Oswaldo Sosa had probably his best start of the year going 5 innings and only giving up a run on 2 hits for the Rock Cats. With the good start it lowered his ERA to 5.75 and gave hime his first win of the year. Hopefully, Oswaldo can find his rythm now and keep it going.
• Brock Peterson continued his strong production month by getting 2 more rbi's to bring his monthly total up to 20. I will take that every month out of him and if he does that he won't be with New Britain very long.
• Tonight, the Rock Cats continue with game 2 of their 3 game series with Binghamton. Gametime is at 5:35 with Yohan Pino getting the start for New Britain.

Fort Myers Musings

• The Miracle had the day off yesterday and start a series with Clearwater tonight. Gametime is at 6pm with Alex Burnett getting the start for the first place Miracle.

Beloit Beat

Beloit 3 South Bend 2 Final 10 innings

Beloit 9-16 9.5 games back

• POG:Ben Revere- I could pick other players for this, but yesterday was a big day for Ben as he went 2-4 for his first hits for the Snappers in his first full professional year. Ben has alot expected out of him so it will be interesting to see how he fulfills expectations for the Snappers and the Twins organization.
• Danny Lehman has not gotten alot of playing time, but he made the most out of it last night going 3-4 with an rbi and a run scored. Makes you wonder if maybe that will be the sign of more playing time for Lehman.
• Steven Hirschfeld was solid in his first start in a while going 5 innings and only giving up 1 run while scattering 7 hits. If he can continue that he will get many more starts for the Snappers as they struggled to get consistant strong starting pitching.
• Today, the Snappers finish their series with South Bend before going on the road. Gametime is a early 11am start with new Snapper Santos Arias getting the start for the Snappers.

Tuesday, April 29th

Twins Talks
11-14 3.5 games back

• The Twins had a much needed day off and begin a short 2 game series with the Chicago White Sox in Minneapolis tonight. Gametime is at 7:11pm with Boof Bonser getting the start against Gavin Floyd.

Rochester Wrap

Pawtucket 8 Rochester 6

Rochester 12-13 4.5 games back

• POG:Jason Pridie- Jason continued his hot streak going 3-5 on the night with a run scored for the Red Wings. With the 3 hits it raised Jason's average to .295 on the season. He got off to a slow start but has gotten a hit in 13 of his last 14 games. In his last 10 games he is hitting .311 with a homer and 6rbi's. I have to admit i was not sold on him when we got him and was really not sold on him when he got off to a slow start but he has shown he belongs and might have a spot with the Twins before long.
• Kevin Mulvey had his first rough start of the year and man was it rough. He only lasted 4.2 innings and gave up 7 runs on 9 hits to raise his era to 3.21. I know it was a rough outing but im not worried he was bound to run into a bad game and lets see how he rebounds from it that is the key.
• Darnell Mcdonald continued his power surge with a grand slam and 4 rbi's to bring his totals up to 2hr and 10 rbi's. I know he doesnt have much of a major league future but he is a good minor leaguer that every minor league needs to have players like him.
• Tonight, the Red Wings continue their series with Pawtucket in Rochester. Gametime is at 5:35pm with Brian Duensing getting the start for the Red Wings

New Britain Business

10-12 6.5 games back

• The Rock Cats had a day off yesterday and tonight they begin a series with the Mets in Binghamton. Gametime is at 5:35pm with Oswaldo Sosa getting the start for the Rock Cats.

Fort Myers Musings

Fort Myers 4 Lakeland 3

Fort Myers 14-11 First Place

• POG:Danny Valencia- Danny helped the Miracle break out of a 4 game losing streak and avoid a sweep at the hands of Lakeland. Danny went 2-4 at the plate including the 3 run double that tied the game as the Miracle came back from a 3-0 8th inning deficit to pull it out. With the 2 hits it raised his average to .284 and brought his rbi's up to 18 on the year. Danny was in a little bit of a slump but he came out of it in a big way to help the Miracle get a big win.
• Tyler Robertson was solid on the mound going 6 innings and giving up 2 runs on 5 hits to lower his era to 2.84 on the season.
• Toby Gardenhire was promoted to New Britain before the game to help out with injuries up there and i believe im not 100% sure on this but i think Daniel Berg was activated off the disabled list to take his spot.
• Tonight the Miracle begin a series with Clearwater in Fort Myers. Gametime is at 6pm with Alex Burnett getting the start for the Miracle.

Beloit Beat

South Bend 7 Beloit 1

Beloit 8-16 9.5 games back

• POG:Steve Singelton- In a game without alot of good things happening for the Snappers Steve's rbi triple was one of the few things that you can look at as a positive sign. With the triple his average is now at a good .368 and his rbi total is at 12. Steve is the most consistant player on this Snappers ballclub you know every game out he is going to get a hit or 2 for you and play good defense.
• Brian Kirwan had his 1st rough outing of the year going 4.1 innings and giving up 5 earned runs on 8 hits to raise his era to 3.71. He has been the most consistant pitcher on the staff so hopefully he can rebound from this.
• The Snappers made some roster moves before the game and the biggest was promoting 2007 first round pick Ben Revere to the Snappers. Also being promoted was pitchers Santos Arias and Bradley Tippett. To make room for the players they put Deibinson Romero and Mike Mccardell on the disabled list and releasing relief pitcher Dominique Rodgers. It will be interesting to see how much Revere plays and how he does for the Snappers and see if he stays with the team or if it is a short term thing.
• Tonight the Snappers continue their series with South Bend in Beloit. Gametime is at 6:35 with Steven Hirschfeld joining the rotation to take the place of Mccardell who is on the disabled list.