White Sox 3, Twins 0: New Players, Same Result

by Adam Peterson on Sep 7, 2011 8:05 AM EDT in Game Recaps

I think we're going to see Liam Hendriks in a Twins uniform for quite some time.

Way back on April 7th, the Rochester Red Wings opened their season with the following lineup:

1. Ben Revere - CF / 2. Brandon Roberts - LF / 3. Trevor Plouffe - SS / 4. Brian Dinkelman - DH / 5. Jeff Bailey - 1B / 6. Rene Tosoni - RF / 7. Matthew Brown - 2B / 8. Chase Lambin - 3B / Rene Rivera - C.

Five of these players (in bold) were in last night's Twins lineup. But it gets better, in addition to the five Red Wings, Chris Parmelee and Joe Benson were in the opening day lineup for the New Britain Rock Cats, and both made their Major League debut with the Twins last night.

So I suppose we shouldn't be surprised that the Twins were shut out for the second straight game by the Chicago White Sox and starter Jake Peavy. Which is a shame, because Twins starter Liam Hendriks was pretty good in his debut, giving up three runs on four hits and three walks over seven innings, striking out four. A hanging slider that Alex Rios hammered for a solo home run was the only big mistake of the night for Hendriks, otherwise you have to like what you saw from the rookie.

Offensively, what can I say? Six hits, including one double, 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position, 14 (!) strikeouts against two walks. Pretty sad state of the lineup at this point, although it may do the Twins more long term good to give the rookies some serious playing time down the stretch. I'm not going to bother with studs and duds this morning, consider Hendriks and Chris Parmelee (2-4 in his MLB debut) to be the only studs on the Twins side.

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You need to add Luke Hughes to that list Adam...

…he was in the opening day lineup and enroute to the ballpark when the Red Wings got the call to get him to the airport and to the Twins. So that is eight, with only Valencia and DH, Joe Mauer on the Twins opening day lineup.

Toss in Hendriks and it was really exciting for those of us who live for the minor leagues. Speaking of Hendriks, does he remind you a bit of Brad Radke?

by roger13 on Sep 7, 2011 8:15 AM EDT reply actions

Yes, Hendriks reminds me of Radke

Hopefully he’ll be able to keep the home runs down like he did in the minors. That, plus the control, makes me excited about his chance to be a quality major league starter.

by Adam Peterson on Sep 7, 2011 1:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Hendriks likely got consoled by Bert after last night's game.

In a serious matter, I would basically say that he did have a quality start, but there were batters that really weren’t into the game. I mean, why try when you are not going to be playing October baseball. It is unforgivable for the product that Gardy currently has on the field.

I'm a proud fan of the Minnesota Twins and Dallas Cowboys!
"Life is precious and time is a key element. Let’s make every moment count and help those who have a greater need than our own." – Harmon Killebrew

by Jessy S on Sep 7, 2011 2:10 PM EDT up reply actions

Dear Jessy S,

Have you considered applying as a sports writing columnist. You would instantly boost our credibility.

Sincerely,
Jim Souhan and the rest of your pals at the Strib

I don't know, but I've been told it's hard to run with the weight of gold,
'the other hand, I've heard it said, it's just as hard with the weight of lead.

by montanatwinsfan on Sep 7, 2011 2:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Benson drawing a walk in his 1st AB

was impressive—especially against a guy like Peavy. Parmalee looks like he may inherit Kubel’s meme of Professional Hitter. I would expect that Hendrik’s minor league career is over.

by Han Joelo on Sep 7, 2011 10:37 AM EDT reply actions

I'd love Parmelee to take over Kubel's role

but Kubel smashed all throughout the minors. Parmelee, not so much. Hopefully he can grow a la Denard Span and outperform his minor league equivalents.

by Adam Peterson on Sep 7, 2011 1:30 PM EDT up reply actions

I wonder if Hendriks will get the full month of starting opportunities. I hope he does.

I’d like to see Swarzak get starts as well. If he does well, maybe Manship can move into the long reliever role and we can give Swarzak a shot at starting next year.

by foertsch on Sep 7, 2011 11:08 AM EDT reply actions

Manship has been awful

Do you want to watch a 90 win team or a 70 win team next year?

by DJL44 on Sep 7, 2011 12:27 PM EDT up reply actions

Hyperbole aside, I think you put your "worst" reliever in the long relief role.

The guy you throw in to eat 4 innings when your starter bombed and you’re already down 8-1 is almost incapable of costing you many games, and having Swarzak sit while Alex Burnett Crain-wrecked time after time irritated me to no end this year.

by foertsch on Sep 7, 2011 2:40 PM EDT up reply actions

Swarzak shouldn't be starting on a playoff team

He should be in the bullpen

by DJL44 on Sep 7, 2011 3:02 PM EDT up reply actions

+1...

he’s a more talented Matt Guerrier, basically.

by DJSkillz on Sep 7, 2011 3:15 PM EDT up reply actions

It is hard to say

Hendriks is on the roster for the Arizona Fall League and the Twins might want him to pitch there. Just don’t go down under for the winter. That goes double for Luke Hughes.

by Jessy S on Sep 7, 2011 2:12 PM EDT up reply actions

No, he isn't.

Follow me, mmk?

Fudgesicle Fudgesicle Fudgesicle

by John_Locke on Sep 7, 2011 2:46 PM EDT up reply actions

you deserve kudos for your restraint.

I don't know, but I've been told it's hard to run with the weight of gold,
'the other hand, I've heard it said, it's just as hard with the weight of lead.

by montanatwinsfan on Sep 7, 2011 2:51 PM EDT up reply actions

It's a daily battle.

Follow me, mmk?

Fudgesicle Fudgesicle Fudgesicle

by John_Locke on Sep 7, 2011 2:54 PM EDT up reply actions

The kids looked good last night

Excited, even, and fun to watch.

The “veterans” (and beyond Mauer, Valencia, and Kubel I should probably include Revere and Plouffe at this point) mostly looked bored because they know the season’s over. At this point, I’d almost rather put them all to pasture and let the Red Wings play because watching them try will be more entertaining.

by ColossusOfRhode on Sep 7, 2011 12:25 PM EDT reply actions

Enthusiastically getting shut out is not that entertaining

I like scoring runs and winning baseball games. I like to know my team has a chance at winning

by DJL44 on Sep 7, 2011 12:39 PM EDT up reply actions

These guys will score runs

Parmalee’s got a beautiful, natural swing. Benson’s got lots of pop. Tosoni can hit. Plouffe and Hughes both have pop. They got shut out by a crafty veteran, but they will score runs in bunches on somebody.

by jimbo55403 on Sep 7, 2011 12:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Enthusiastically getting shut out is more entertaining than unenthusiastically getting shut out

by ColossusOfRhode on Sep 7, 2011 1:04 PM EDT up reply actions

And Besides

It were the kids that were creating the run scoring opporunties, and the vets were set up to succeed, but failed.

by Jessy S on Sep 7, 2011 2:14 PM EDT up reply actions

No black faces in the starting lineup...

It was a little disconcerting, but I realize this was a statistical anemone. Besides, Revere and Span are taking a rest. Also, there are several black players rising through the minors. Solarte, Hicks, Rosario… I suppose they could have brought Solarte up from AA, but Tosoni has earned a shot…

by jimbo55403 on Sep 7, 2011 12:40 PM EDT reply actions

Forgive me for drawing attention a typo

But this is one of my favorite ones ever:

statistical anemone

I’m picturing a plant-like sea creature wearing glasses and a pocket protector and continually telling the clownfish family he hosts about VORP.

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Sep 7, 2011 12:48 PM EDT up reply actions 3 recs

Nemo likes VORP!

by DavidRF on Sep 7, 2011 12:59 PM EDT up reply actions

I noticed this too

Gameday shows the line-up by displaying the faces on the field. I remember thinking it was an awfully white looking bunch.

by ColossusOfRhode on Sep 7, 2011 1:08 PM EDT up reply actions

So What?

Who cares!

by Jessy S on Sep 7, 2011 2:15 PM EDT up reply actions

I wouldn't phrase it like you did but I kind of agree

I hadn’t really thought about it that much, but I was not expecting Joe Benson to be white. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. :-)

by DavidRF on Sep 7, 2011 2:37 PM EDT up reply actions

I do not know why, but I thought the exact same thing...I was a little bit surprised that he was white.

Need to bone up on the minor leaguers. Oh wait, they are all on the roster now…

Let loose the hogs of war!
Dogs of war..
Whatever farm animal of war, Lana...

by darren004 on Sep 7, 2011 3:17 PM EDT up reply actions

Seriously?...

with the name “Joe BENSON” you thought he was black?

by DJSkillz on Sep 7, 2011 3:18 PM EDT up reply actions

Bill Simmons created a list of these a few years ago

He called them the “Reggie Cleveland All-Stars”. Lew Ford made the team along with Marcus Giles, Sidney Ponson, Ty Wigginton, Khalil Greene and several others.

by DavidRF on Sep 7, 2011 3:46 PM EDT up reply actions

Y'all are just biased because of this guy

by ColossusOfRhode on Sep 7, 2011 3:19 PM EDT up reply actions

haha

by DJSkillz on Sep 7, 2011 3:21 PM EDT up reply actions

Sadly, the pic did not come up for me at work.

I always laughed my ass off at the joke about Prince and Kirby being the only black people in MN.

I always thought the Twins were normally ahead of the league average though in terms of black players.

Let loose the hogs of war!
Dogs of war..
Whatever farm animal of war, Lana...

by darren004 on Sep 7, 2011 3:22 PM EDT up reply actions

ditto on all counts.

by DJSkillz on Sep 7, 2011 3:32 PM EDT up reply actions

Goes in waves

We had a decent amount in the 60s & 70s, especially if you count guys Latinos. We had the Soul Patrol a decade ago.

But the Kirby-Era Twins were pretty white except for Kirby. It was enough for Reggie Jackson to comment on it. There were others, though. Shane Mack, Les Straker, Al Newman… not sure I ever bothers to do a demographic count.

by DavidRF on Sep 7, 2011 3:33 PM EDT up reply actions

It's this guy:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benson_(TV_series)

Also, the league in general has seen a decline in black players since the 90s. I wish I could find more recent stats because I know the trend is starting to reverse (again), but the number of African Americans players peaked in 1995 and was under half of that peak in 2007. It’s not necessarily for racist reasons… the number of minority players in general hasn’t seen the decrease. One argument I keep hearing is that it’s harder to get the green space for a ballfield in urban areas whereas, by contrast, basketball courts can be stuck in empty lots. However, I never really liked this argument because football doesn’t have the same problem.

by ColossusOfRhode on Sep 7, 2011 3:37 PM EDT up reply actions

I care

An all-white line-up on a team based out of a pretty white state? It’s worth noting. If it happens only occasionally, sure, probably just a statistical anomaly. But we point out statistical anomalies all the time on a baseball site. When we start to observe them happening more than just occasionally, we throw them into a narrative of how and why.

But for now… I’m just noting it.

by ColossusOfRhode on Sep 7, 2011 3:04 PM EDT up reply actions