Twinkie Town

Tolbert on DL

33MorneauMVP — Sat, 17 May 2008 02:48:26 -0000

It is official...Matt Tolbert has been placed on the DL. Howie Clark is being called up to take his place.

Howie Clark was batting .284 with 1 HR and 21 RBI in 37 G...his OPS is .753

I was hoping that Brian Buscher would be recalled but lets hope that Clark will be able to do something productive for the Twins.

Tolbert will be placed on the 15-day DL for a sprained thumb. I guess Tolbert tried to ice the thumb himself and when he arrived at the ballpark today it was really swollen.

Gomez and Casilla

snolls — Thu, 15 May 2008 03:54:01 -0000

I didn't watch the game tonight, so I don't know how the at-bats looked, but I did see the box score. Combined 1 for 8 with 4 strikeouts. I have high hopes for both players (less so for Casilla), but I think they should be forced to watch each other's at-bats closely, and go through tape together. I'm real worried that our future 1-2 are a pair of strikeouts in a row every other time.

What do we think of Casilla? I think a lot of people were pretty high on him a year ago, but I'm somewhat concerned now. He hasn't shown much ability to hit MLB or AAA pitching, and he is still erratic in the field. Obviously we all want to have a high level, high ceiling middle infield prospect, but I'm just not sure he's it. I think he's just the best we've got.

Thoughts?

Section 119, Row 7

cmathewson — Tue, 13 May 2008 03:54:08 -0000

Well, the undertakers couldn't use their tickets again, so I took my son John (10) to the game. We brought our gloves, cause the seats are only four rows back from the visitor's dugout and the other tteam throws balls up there often. We bought a Gameday on the way so I could show my son the article towards the back of this month's issue.

I'll save the actual game observations for the game thread. Just wanted to paint a picture here. The great thing about being that close is you can heckle the other batters and actually get a reaction sometimes. The section was particularly harsh on Crisp and Pedroia. I hadn't realized how many cereal jokes you can come up with. My son's was perhaps the best ("Hey Crisp, your bat is gonna go Snap Crackle and Pop"). And Pedroia (aka little fella) was an equally rich vein of jokes about the fact that he'd lost his way on the way to a little league game.

The whole section gave Cuddy a standing ovation for his juggling act out in right field, and we laughed for the rest of the half inning. The other thing that we noticed was how surly the Sox got as the game went along. They were leering at us and slouching on their way to the dugout. At one point a foul ball went in there and the player didn't just flip it up our way, he threw it hard. It was all the more fun to heckle them as they realized they were going to lose another series to the Twins.

All in all a most enjoyable game. John says, "The best game I've ever seen."

Liriano update

halfchest — Mon, 12 May 2008 06:07:35 -0000

Since Seth didn't post this weekend I had to go do my own digging to see what happened in Rochester. Liriano finally put together a good start down there. While it's only one start its good to see little upside for once. He pitched 6 innings gave up 2 earned runs, 5K's 2 BB's, and 4 hits. It's nice to see the guy have a little success. He also threw 91 pitches, 58 of them for strikes. So he showed a lot better control getting 64% of his pitches across for strikes in comparison with the roughly 55% he did the last two starts down at Rochester.

I found a short article that just said it was good to see him
with a smile after getting off the mound but nothing much about velocity what kind of pitches he threw or how much movement was on his offspeed pitches. So finally we get a tidbit of good news involving Mr. Liriano.

I was wondering if anyone knows what's up with Trevor Plouffe. I looked at the weekend boxscores for the Rockcats and didn't see him? is he injured or possibly getting called up to Rochester to replace Casilla?

I have a cold...

dwintheiser — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:28:14 -0000

...and the only prescription is...less Kubel!

When it seemed in the early season that Ron Gardenhire wanted to play veteran free-agent signee Craig Monroe over Twin-developed Jason Kubel, the blogosphere responded with a "Free Jason Kubel" campaign. Kubel got his chance, doubling in his first at-bat of the season as a pinch-hitter against the Angels, then sharing time in right field with Denard Span after an early-season injury to Michael Cuddyer. At one point, Kubel and Justin Morneau were the only Twins to have hit homeruns in 2008 as the Twins went nearly three weeks into the season before getting their first right-handed homer of the year.

At the time of Kubel's third homer, a comparison of the numbers between Kubel and Monroe seemed to justify the blogosphere's demand for Kubel to be given the primary DH role

          AB     H     HR     RBI     AVG/OPS

Kubel   36      9      3       9       .265/837

Monroe 18      2      0       2       .133/545

Since then, each player has had at-bats in close to the same proportion: Kubel 81, Monroe 49, but the difference between them has almost completely reversed:

          AB      H     HR     RBI     AVG/OPS

Kubel   117     26      4      18       .222/597

Monroe 67      19      4       13      .284/852

Monroe has fewer RBI than Kubel, but in nearly half the plate appearances -- normally that would suggest that Monroe has been hitting in more RBI opportunities, but the numbers on baseball-reference.com show that's not actually true: BBR says that the typical major leaguer in 2008 with 118 PAs has hit with 74 runners on base, resulting in 13 RBI; Kubel has hit with 81 runners on base resulting in 18 RBI, which is an above-average rate.

Monroe, not counting the 9-8 win in which he hit 2 homers, had 9 RBI while batting with 39 runners on base, while the typical major-leaguer with 65 RBI has 7 RBI
with 41 runners on base. Monroe was ahead of both the league average and Kubel's rate even before counting the 4 RBI on two homers he hit on Sunday.

Jason Kubel may end up being a better hitter than Craig Monroe over the course of his career, but right now Craig Monroe is hitting far better than Jason Kubel.

What's the opposite of "Free Jason Kubel!" "Put Jason Kubel Back In The Box?"

Weekly Whatnot, 5/7

Andersklasen — Sat, 10 May 2008 20:23:54 -0000

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/21793-MLB-Minnesota-Twins-Whatnot-5-7-070508

The Twins showed that they actually have something in the tank this past week. The question is, will it ever come out again? I ask this question and more in the second Twins Whatnot.

Minnesota is known for offensive ineptitude. Scoring eleven and four runs respectively, how much do the consecutive wins against Detroit mean to the Twins?

Dan Wade:Anytime you beat a divisional opponent, its important. A sweep is awesome, but the fact that it came against the Tigers (with Granderson) makes it all the more sweet. Beating the team that had the consensus best offseason, while the Twins were largely panned for their deals, just shows that you never know how good a team will be until they get on the field.

The best part of the sweep over the Tigers was that we beat them at their own game. The bats came out early and often, and in game three, they weren’t scared away by the Tigers’ outburst. The Tigers can be beaten by good pitching, but the Twins proved they can be out hit as well.

Jon Grilz: It shows that the Twins actually have it in them to provide some consistency. Not only that, but it does volumes for the confidence of pitchers that now know that don't have to hold opponents to 1 or 2 runs.

Jon Bartsch: Huge wins, and while both of those were impressive, the comeback to sweep the Tigers was the biggest win. Anytime you down six runs to the Tigers in the first inning, you figure it is just one of those days where you can't stop them and they might set a record. However, the fact that Boof was able to settle down and give the Twins a chance to stay in that game was huge. The offense came through in the clutch and delivered a win. I'll get down on Joe Mauer periodically for his lack of offensive production, but he was arguably the MVP of that series sweep for the Twins.

Kelsey Hakes: This was a huge win for the Twins. It proves that they don't need the big names like Johan Santana and Torii Hunter to succeed. The series sweep gave the the over .500 mark and first place in the AL Central. Everyone is starting to find their groove at the plate and are coming out of their shell. We're looking sharp and hopefully we can remain in this spot for at least a while. This will give the Twins incentive to keep doing better. If they keep their bats hot and keep scoring runs, the team should be quite consistent.

Marty Andrade: Never make too much of the ups and downs early in the season season. The White Sox and the Indians are both scoring more runs than they allow and this means they are much more likely to win over the long haul than the Twins who are scoring fewer runs than they allow. By the end of the season, Minnesota will still have a reputation of offensive ineptitude.

Andrew Kneeland:While it shouldn't prove to mean very much in the long haul, this sweep is good for many other reasons. The Twins' mentality must have changed now that they showed that they can actually score runs. The pitchers must be more at ease now that they know they don't have to pitch a three-hitter to earn a win.

In addition to those, this is great for the Minnesota fanbase. Most Twins fans were resigned to a losing, rebuilding season. While that still may be the case, this sweep can be viewed as a message to fans that Minnesota isn't out of this yet.

Gomez has also shown improvement recently. Does this affect his future with the Twins in any way?

Dan Wade:Gomez is the future of the franchise, so I don’t see him moving around too much between the majors and the minors. As I’ve said in the past, his problem is with very good offspeed pitches, which most AAA pitchers don’t have. He needs to see the pitchers first hand and then watch tape to fix his approach.

His recent improvement has come as a result of his new goal of not striking out as much. Gomez knows what he needs to fix, and he is slowly starting to fix it. He is a work in progress, no doubt, but I think he will be the type of player who takes two steps forward and one step back. It’s a long road, but he is off to a pretty solid start.

Jon Grilz: It is still a waiting game to see what he is capable of. He still has to learn that he doesn't need to try and win games by himself. His recent attempt at a circus-style catch in the outfield and his misjudging a past ball at 3rd and being gunned down at the plate show that he still has a long way to go.

Jon Bartsch:I don't think so. He's been our choice at center field and leadoff since opening day. I didn't expect that to change unless he absolutely could never get on base. No one else on the roster can provide that kind of spark at the top of the lineup. Yeah, he will attempt to hit the ball through the Metrodome's roof from time to time, but he is doing more than most people expected. His defense continues to be solid, and he knows how to bunt. If he was swinging away in every at-bat I would be concerned, but he is showing that he knows how to use his speed to get on base and score runs.

Kelsey Hakes:Well if he keeps using his 'head', he can be around a long time. He is starting to swing the bat level and he proves time and time again how speed excels at this game. Anyone who has ever had any doubts have become a believer. He is proving himself a major-leaguer and is filling out his full potential. I expect to start seeing great things this year, possibly a new record for stolen bases?

Marty Andrade:A .678 OPS isn't exactly Mays or Mantle material. More worrisome for me is his .299 OBP and .029 Isolated OBP (ISoP, which is just OBP minus BA). He's a superb athlete and he could be a very good ballplayer for a very long time in a Twins uniform, but he should spend at least half of this season in AAA, I would prefer the entire season. This also preserves some service time and delays arbitration eligibility and free agency. With Jason Pridie hitting .292/.349/.416 and Darnell McDonald hitting .342/.400/.603 the Twins have two fair options ready to go. Even Denard Span has a higher OBP than Gomez and he would be good enough for the time being in CF. Gomez is clearly the CF of the future for the Minnesota Twins. Gomez needs to learn the strike zone and how to be as disciplined as possible at the plate. That's not going to happen at the MLB level. But the Twins aren't likely to send him down now at all, barring injury.

Andrew Kneeland: I have been of the opinion that Gomez should be sent down to AAA for quite some time now. Now, though, I think I am changing my mind. There is nothing that Gomez can't gain in the minors that he can't gain in the majors except confidence. That confidence will come with time, once he learns how to not strike out.

That ability will come with time, and it will come faster in the big league.

Mike Lamb has been struggling as of late. How soon could he lose his starting job to Nick Punto if he doesn't get into gear?

Dan Wade:Punto’s glove has earned him a spot on this team come hell or high water, that much is a given. He has not looked nearly as overmatched at the plate as he did last year, so that is a very good sign, whether he is starting at third, short, or coming off the bench.

Gardy LOVES Punto, serious man-crush territory. And Punto is clearly a better defender than Lamb, even with Everett making up for Lamb’s terrible glove. So, if Lamb continues to struggle, we may start seeing Punto making spot starts more frequently, especially if Tolbert continues to play well enough to take over as the Super Sub the Twins love having on their bench.

Lamb was a key addition this offseason, so I don’t see the Twins giving up on him completely anytime soon. That said, if we get into the summer months and Punto is around .260 to .280 and Lamb stays in the .220 area, we may see a switch. If they are close, I think they will start to share the job in some bizarre platoon based on the GB rate of the starting pitcher.

All this is contingent on Lamb continuing to look terrible at the plate. I’ve got a feeling that he will break out soon, but I’d say he’s got a month at the most to prove that he is a substantially better hitter than Punto.

Jon Grilz:Punto is a liability when it comes to his bat, but his ability in the field should overlook that at this point. We brought in Lamb primarily for his defense and to have a better bat than Punto, but if he can't step it up we need to have someone in the field that is as lights out as Punto is (wherever we put him). If Punto could even get his batting average around .260-.275 I would see him as a consistent All-Star with his ability to make headline making plays.

Jon Bartsch:I think it will take a lot more than a slow start for us to demote Lamb. After all, we let Punto keep the job for most of last year and his slow start became a season-long slump. Punto is great where he is right now, in the utility role. Lamb has the power potential (he has yet to show it) to hit 20-30 home runs. If he can start producing some power, this won't even be a question. His defense isn't great, which is the main concern in him keeping the job, but if his bat gets hot, he's here to stay. The Twins have needed a power-hitting third basemen for years. Lamb may not be the answer, but I don't think he is in danger of losing the starting gig anytime soon.

Kelsey Hakes:Recently getting moved up in the batting order to change things around, Lamb went 2-4. Perhaps he is finding his groove. As of right now, he is safe. Nick Punto has all of the material for a starter, but he can't handle the pressure. He proved that last year when he was full-time 3rd base. He went from batting #2 to batting #9. Lamb had a good year last year with the Astros batting .289. We know he can do it, its the matter of getting it done.

Marty Andrade:They should both be fired along with Adam Everett. Brian Buscher or Matt Macri could play third for the Twins and be just as inept as Lamb or Punto. I'd prefer Buscher at the moment but I'm flexible on the matter. Tolbert could play SS (though I worry about his .781 Zone Rating, which is lower than Punto's or Everett's) and we'd need another utility guy. It doesn't matter, I would take whatever replacement player I could find at SS over Punto or Everett and I'd take just about any of the guys with decent arms at AAA over Punto or Lamb at 3B. It's harsh but I'm tired of incurable offensive inferiority. Lamb might lose the job to Punto soon, like next week even, but the Twins will probably hold on to him far too long after he's been benched. I don't see him leaving the Twins until after the All Star break.

Andrew Kneeland:If the losing continues, I say bring up some minor league kid who looks promising. Matt Marci, Brian Buscher, or even Trevor Plouffe would be great additions to the team, and I would love to watch them play.

Gardenhire needs to get over his love for Punto, and he needs to let him go. Punto just doesn't have what it takes offensively to compete in the big leagues.

Now a fun one: if you had the choice, what would you rename the Minnesota Twins (team movement is allowed)?

Dan Wade:The Twins have got to stay in MSP, but they aren’t a team that belongs to just the city. So, the Minnesota part stays. Sadly, a lot of the good MN related names have been taken: The Wild, Wolves, and Moose are all great names. As far as the Fan Base is concerned, the Twins have very strong regional following, unlike the local followings common to more densely populated areas in the East and West. So I propose a name that acknowledges Minnesota’s preeminence among the Midwest states: The Minnesota Regional Hegemony!

Jon Grilz:I would have to be the Minnesota Casseroles or Minnesota Dontcha-Knows

Jon Bartsch: I'd steal the Lakers name back from that Los Angeles basketball team that's always in the headlines. They moved to the ocean and kept the best name a Minnesota franchise ever had.

Kelsey Hakes: First off they would move to Jackson, MN where I currently reside so I can go to all of the games and get season tickets and maybe a date ;) As to what they'd be called, to stick with a small town atmosphere: the Minnesota Corn-Growers or the Minnesota Hicks. Both are pretty catchy and would have awesome logos.

Marty Andrade:I'd like to see a return of the Minneapolis Millers or maybe something like the Minnesota Minneapolitans. I have a certain disdain for St. Paul and I never liked the term "Twin Cities" (where we get the present nickname "Twins") anyway as it's misleading, the two cities are nothing alike.

Andrew Kneeland:I would love to see the return of the Minneapolis Lakers, but I don't see that happening anytime soon. I would be in favor of some kind of animal. Enough time has passed since more than the Timberwolves and Gophers had an actual animal as their mascot.

Bobcats? Grizzlies? Eagles? Rabbits? Anything would do just fine for me.

Minor League Report...May 10, 2008

roger13 — Sat, 10 May 2008 15:12:08 -0000

The organization was 2 games over .500 this week, 14-12. Three of the four teams were very good, however, Rochester has a 7 game losing streak.

There were several transactions this week, many involving the Twins. I also missed Rochester's Tommy Watkins return from DL last week. The Twins placed Scott Baker on the DL opening a spot for Kevin Slowey, who had been at Rochester on a rehab assignment. They will callup Glen Perkins for today's start, replacing Pat Neshek who is likely out for the season with a serious elbow injury. Former National League All-Star, Danny Graves, was promoted to Rochester from New Britain. Errol Simonitsch was activated by the Miracle from EST where he had been on a rehab assignment. Dianna is reporting that New Britain centerfielder Brandon Roberts and pitcher David Shinskie were reassigned from the New Britain DL to EST. Finally, the organization's hottest hitter, Luke Hughes, took a foul ball off his leg/foot on Wednesday. He was replaced and has not played since, although he had not been placed on the disabled list as of yesterday.

With the minor league season about a quarter over, several players in the organization are on pace for driving in 100 runs. When looking at the top five rbi men in the system, there may be a few names which will surprise some fans. Who are the five most productive hitters in the organization in terms of driving in runs?

Rochester Red Wings (AAA) (0-7, 14-22)

The Red Wings had an awful week, dropping to fifth place and losing 6.0 games to Division leading Scranton/WB who they now trail by 12.0 games. With a lineup that many thought would battle for a league title, many fans and reporters in Rochester are questioning the chemistry of this team. Was the addition of several minor league veterans this past winter the correct decision? Would Rochester be a better team had prospects such as Trevor Plouffe and Brandon Roberts been promoted to the Red Wings?

Kevin Mulvey (2-4) lost twice this week. On Saturday he pitched 5.0 innings with 8 hits, 4 runs and 5K/1BB in a 4-0 loss. On Thursday he pitched 5.0 innings with 5 hits, 3 runs and 1K/2BB in a 5-1 loss. Brian Duensing had a rough start in last Sunday's 8-4 loss, pitching 5.2 innings with 5 hits, 6 runs and 3K/4BB. He had the Wings best start this week in last night's 4-3 ten inning loss, pitching 6.0 innings with 7 hits, 2 runs (1 earned) and 3K/0BB. Brian continues to lead the team with 47.2 innings pitched with the best ERA (3.40) for all starters. Francisco Liriano had his best start of the year in Monday's 7-6 loss, pitching 5.0 innings with 2 hits, 1 run and 4K/4BB. Philip Humber had a short but good start in Tuesday's 3-1 loss, pitching 4.0 innings with 5 hits, 1 run and 6K/2BB. Heath Totten made a spot start in Thursday's second game, pitching 3.0 innings with 4 hits, 4 runs and 0K/2BB. Glen Perkins will return to Minnesota as today's starter following his two best starts of the year. He pitched a complete game shutout with only 2 hits and 7K/1BB on April 26th. On May 2nd he pitched 5.1 innings, again allowing only 2 hits with 3 runs (2 earned) and 4K/4BB. Perkins returns to the Twins after appearing in 7 games for the Wings (6 starts) with a 2-1 record and 2.97ERA in 33.1 innings with 27K/19BB.

Julio DePaula had the best performance of any reliever this week, appearing in 3 games (3.1 innings) with 0 hits, 1 run and 4K/3BB. His best performance was Tuesday, when he pitched 2.0 no-hit innings with 3K/0BB. DePaula has appeared in 15 games (20.1 innings) with a 0-0 record, 3.10ERA and 19K/15BB. Casey Daigle also had a good week, appearing in 2 games (2.0 innings) with 2 hits, 0 runs and 2K/0BB. He has an excellent 2.20ERA in 12 games (16.1 innings) with 10K/6BB and a 0-2 record. Danny Graves has moved up from New Britain, where he appeared in 7 games (10.0 innings) with a 2-0 record, 3.60ERA and 7K/4BB. Someone like Graves, who has a lot of major league experience, could play an important role for the Twins now that Neshek may be out for the season.

Darnell McDonald was 8 for 24 (.333Ave) this week with a home run and 6 rbi. He now has enough at bats to qualify for the International League batting title and is currently second at .340/.398/.617. McDonald leads the team with 25 rbi which is third best in the organization. Denard Span has returned to Rochester with a mission to play well and continue working to become a solid major league player. This week, Span was 10 for 28 including 2 doubles, 4 runs scored and 3 stolen bases in 3 attempts. Span is now hitting .317/.419/.349 with 2 doubles, 12 runs scored, 4 rbi, 11 stolen bases (13 attempts) and 15strikeouts/11walks in 63 at bats.

New Britain Rock Cats (AA) (5-2, 19-14)

The Rock Cats had another excellent week with a nine game winning streak that ended with a 9-7 loss on Thursday. The Cats are in third place, 3.5 games behind Trenton.

Jay Rainville had a solid start in last Saturday's 6-4 win, pitching 5.0 innings with 5 hits, 2 runs and 5K/1BB. He followed that start with a tough one Thursday, pitching 3.2 innings with 8 hits, 7 runs and 3K/2BB. Jay has made 7 starts this season (29.2 innings) with a 2-4 record, 10.01ERA and 15K/11BB as he continues to come back from missing all of 2006. Oswaldo Sosa also had two starts that were less than excellent. On Sunday, he pitched 5.0 innings with 8 hits, 5 runs and 3K/1BB in a 6-5 win. Last night he pitched 4.0 innings with 7 hits, 5 runs and 2K/4BB in a 12-11 loss. Yohan Pino allowed 8 hits and 3 runs in 6.0 innings with 3K/1BB in Monday's 5-4 win. Pino's 2.32ERA continues to be the best of all Rock Cat starters. Ryan Mullins pitched 6.0 innings with 5 hits and 3 runs (2 earned) and 6K/3BB in Tuesday's 5-3 win. Mullins leads the team with 38.1 innings with a 3.05ERA, 2-2 record and 23K/17BB. Anthony Swarzak also made only one start this week, pitching 4.2 innings with 8 hits, 5 runs and 3K/3BB in Wednesday's 7-6 win.

This winter the Twins signed minor league free agent Ben Julianel, a 28 year old lefty who has been the Rock Cat closer much of this season. Ben has 6 saves in 14 games (17.1 innings) with 20K/11BB and a 2.60ERA after appearing in 3 games (2.2 innings) this week with 2 saves and 6K/1BB. Armando Gabino had three scoreless appearances before getting the loss last night when he allowed 4 runs. For the week, he appeared in 4 games (5.2 innings) with 4 hits, 4 runs and 0K/5BB and now has a 2.61ERA. Zach Ward had another solid week, appearing in 3 games (4.0 innings) with 2 hits, 0 runs and 3K/1BB. Ward has a team best 0.44ERA.

Luke Hughes leads the Eastern League in hitting with a .388 Average. He was 10 for 20 (.500) this week prior to taking a foul ball off his leg and leaving the game Wednesday night and missing the games on Thursday and Friday. Dustin Martin is the third best hitter in the League with a .343/.410/.495. This week Martin was 8 for 23 with 8 rbi, giving him a total of 23 rbi which is tied for fifth best in the organization. Brock Peterson had another excellent week, 10 for 26 (.385Ave) with 2 doubles, 5 runs scored, 7 rbi. Peterson, who is hitting .298/.365/.450, currently leads the organization with 31 rbi. Trevor Plouffe had another solid week, 9 for 27 (.333Ave), with a double, home run and 5 rbi and is now hitting .290/.338/.427. David Winfree may only be hitting .226/.315/.461, however, he is hitting .295/.354/.545 with runners in scoring position which is why he has an organization second best 29 rbi. Many fans expected Erik Lis to be a huge addition to the Rock Cat lineup. It has taken awhile for him to adjust to AA pitching, however, he has been one of the Cats better hitters the last few weeks. This week Erik was 11 for 22 (.500Ave) with 4 doubles, a home run and 2 rbi...and is now hitting .264/.328/.425.

Fort Myers Miracle (Hi-A) (4-2, 21-13)

The Miracle had a good week, however, Tampa was better. The Miracle slipped into second place and are now 0.5 games behind Tampa.

In his last outing, Deolis Guerra struggled allowing 9 hits and 8 runs. He stepped up a notch this week pitching 6.0 innings with 5 hits, 2 runs and 1K/0BB in Thursday's 7-2 win. Alex Burnett was excellent last Saturday, pitching 6.0 shutout innings with 5 hits and 3K/1BB in a 5-2 win over the Daytona Cubs and former Twin Adam Harben, who pitched 4.2 innings with 6 hits and 5 runs and now has a 1-4 record and 6.30ERA. Burnett was also solid last night, pitching 5.2 innings with 6 hits, 3 runs and 3K/2BB in a 7-3 win. Burnett leads all starters with a 2.70ERA and a 2-1 record in 8 games (33.1 innings) with 18K/13BB. Tyler Robertson had his roughest outing of the year on Sunday, pitching 5.0 innings with 14 hits, 6 runs (5 earned) and 2K/1BB...raising his ERA to 3.86. Cole DeVries had one of his best starts in Monday's 9-1 loss, pitching 7.0 innings with 7 hits, only 2 runs and 0K/1BB. Jeff Manship was again solid in Tuesday's 4-2 win, pitching 6.0 innings with 7 hits, 2 runs and 8K/2BB. Manship has an excellent 3.23ERA with a 4-0 record in a team high 39.0 innings with 37K/13BB.

Matt Fox has had a few rough outings recently, however, he was nearly perfect in a 2.1 inning relief appearance on Thursday, when he allowed only 1 hit and 0 runs with 5K/1BB. Danny Vais now has a 4-0 record with his ERA down to 0.86 after a week in which he made 2 appearances (4.1 innings) with 2 hits, 0 runs and 3K/1BB. Robert Delaney made 1 appearance this week and now has a 0-2 record with a 0.54ERA/0.78WHIP in 11 appearances (16.2 innings) with 8 saves and 17K/2BB. Anthony Slama made 3 appearances this week, allowing his first earned run of the season. Slama has a 2-0 record with a 0.47ERA/0.79WHIP in 12 appearances (19.0 innings) with 5 saves and 27K/6BB. Will either Delaney or Slama be moving up to New Britain this week?

Brian Dinkelman was 8 for 22 (.364Ave) with 4 runs scored, 2 doubles, 2 rbi and 3 walks/0 strikeouts and is hitting .328/.420/.462. He has a team high 23 runs scored which is second best in the organization behind only Luke Hughes and tied for fourth best in the FSL while his .328 Average is sixth best in the league. Dinkelman also has taken 15 walks compared with only 10 strikeouts in 119 at bats. Rene Tosoni saw his average dip a bit this week to .324/.422/.426, which is ninth best in the league. Juan Portes was 7 for 22 (.318Ave) this week, and is now hitting .311/.375/.396. Portes continues to split time between left field and second base, however, he appears to be developing into the hitter we have been looking for since hitting .327/.380/.530 as an 18 year old in the GCL in 2004. Danny Valencia is hitting .292/.381/.458 with 15 runs scored, 11 doubles, 3 home runs and 27 rbi which is tied for second best in the league and is third best in the Twins organization.

Beloit Snappers (A) (5-1, 16-18)

The Snappers are slowly climbing out of the basement and are now in fifth place, 9.0 games behind Clinton.

Danny Berlind was excellent this week. Last Saturday, he pitched 6.0 innings with 4 hits, 2 runs and 5K/1BB in a 8-2 win. Last night he pitched 7.0 shutout innings with 2 hits and 5K/2BB. Berlind now has a 3.54ERA with a 3-2 record in 6 games (28.0 innings) with 22K/14BB. Brian Kirwin followed Berlind with an excellent start on Sunday, pitching 6.0 innings with 4 hits, 1 run and 2K/0BB in a 4-1 loss. Santos Arias was solid on Monday with a 5.0 inning start with 4 hits, 2 runs and 5K/0BB in a 4-2 win. Arias now has a 1.64ERA and 1-0 record in 2 starts (11.0 innings) with 10K/0BB. David Bromberg was excellent in Tuesday's 6-2 win with 6.0 innings, 3 hits, 1 run and 9K/3BB...and now had 43K/20BB in 36.0 innings with a 5.00ERA. Michael Tarsi had the one rough start this week in Thursday's 8-6 win, pitching 4.0 innings with 8 hits, 6 runs (5 earned) and 3K/1BB.

Loek VanMil had an excellent week out of the Snapper bullpen...making 2 appearances (5.0 innings) with 3 hits, 0 runs and 5K/3BB. VanMil has appeared in 9 games (14.2 innings) with a 1-0 record, 2.45ERA and 19K/6BB. Spencer Steedley appeared in 3 games (3.2 innings) this week with 1 save, 2 hits, 0 runs and 8K/1BB. Steedley now has a 1.66ERA with 31K/8BB in 21.2 innings. Steven Hirschfield continues to have the best ERA (0.95) on the team while Charles Nolte made 1 appearance this week (2.0 innings, 1 hit, 0 runs and 3K/0BB).

The Twins acquired catcher Jair Fernandez from Seattle in the R. A. Dickey Rule V transaction. Fernandez was 5 for 15 (.333Ave) this week and is now hitting .327/.357/.423 in 52 at bats. Steven Singleton continues to hit well at .325/.361/.412 with 16 runs scored after a week in which he was 7 for 23. Joe Benson is hitting only .225/.314/.350, however, leads the Snappers with 20 runs scored and 7 doubles. Ozzie Lewis hasn't done well for the Snappers, .091/.206/.200, however, he has battled injuries all season and hasn't played in over a week. Chris Parmalee is hitting .232/.376/.495, with a team high 6 home runs (tied for fourth best in the league) and 23 rbi which is tied with Dustin Martin for the fifth best in the organization and sixth best in the league.

The answer to the top rbi producers in the organization, are: 1) Brock Peterson (31); 2) David Winfree (29); 3) Danny Valencia (27); 4) Darnell McDonald (25); and 5) Dustin Martin and Chris Parmalee (23 each).

Player of the Week

When the Twins drafted Ben Revere in the first round last year, many fans and draft experts claimed they were being cheap for drafting a player with second or third round talent to save money. It will be several years before we really know what kind of player Ben will become, however, initial indications are that the Twins scouts (and accountants) knew a lot more about this young man than all the media and scouting experts. Ben went on to hit .325/.388/.461 in 191 at bats for the GCL Twins where he led the GCL with 46 runs and 10 triples while stealing a second best 21 stolen bases in 30 attempts.

Many also questioned why Revere began this season in EST rather than at Beloit which would be the normal progression for a 19 year old first round pick. With several players struggling at Beloit, Ben was promoted to the Snappers a couple weeks ago and has proceded to ignite the Snappers who immediately began playing better, winning ten of their last fourteen. This week, Ben had multiple hit games (two 3 hit games) every day except last night when he was 1 for 5. For the week, he was 13 for 27 (.481Ave) with 6 runs scored, 2 doubles, 1 triple, 1 rbi and 5 stolen bases in 8 attempts.

In his first 46 at bats in A ball, Ben is hitting .413/.460/.522 with 7 runs scored, 3 doubles, 1 triple, 4 rbi and 6 stolen bases in 11 attempts. Ben has alternated with Joe Benson in center field, playing left field when not in center. It remains to be seen how Ben's season will play out, however, no one in baseball has been playing better than he the past few weeks. As the 2008 draft approaches and the Twins make their first few selections, we should all remember the comments made last year when the Twins made a surprise pick!

Reusse's Karma

Stop-n-Pop — Sat, 10 May 2008 12:41:57 -0000

A day or two after offering up yet another bloggers-suck-newspapers-4-evah column, Patrick tosses off a Twinkies column with zero player/coach quotes that couldn't be found in other sources (or in-game commentary on TV) and zero signs of access. In other words, it is a column that could have been written in his momma's basement with a bag of Cheetos and an MLB Pass...just like us dirty bloggers.

Best of all, since my laptop didn't land on my doorstep, I read Patrick for free on the internets.

Who'da thunk?

Johnny Safron — Sat, 10 May 2008 04:57:29 -0000

We're almost two weeks into May and Delmon Young's OB% is higher than his slugging average.

And both are well under Jason Tyner's '07 numbers.

Tyner was .331 obp and .355 sa last year, and for his career he's .314 and .324. Delmon's at .314 obp and .310 SA, according the MLB stats as of roughly midnight CDT. At this point in the season, I didn't think Delmon and I would have the same number of home runs.

Notes on a Cycle

dwintheiser — Thu, 08 May 2008 22:07:09 -0000

I've been tinkering with an essay asking the question why people are going so ga-ga over Carlos Gomez. Then Gomez hit for the cycle in Wednesday night's game against the White Sox. This is therefore not that essay.

I still think that essay needs to be written, though. Howard Sinker is one of my favorite Twins writers, but he wrote something that's almost entirely indefensible based on what sabermetrics has taught us about how players usually develop:

As Gogomez continues to harness his extraordinary gifts, I suspect we’re going to be spectators to something special.

There are all kinds of problems I have with this statement, not the least of which is that it smacks of going shopping on an empty stomach, or thinking about a relationship while you're floating in that first post-coital glow -- they're situations where your rational thought process is far too easily short-circuited, and you end up making decisions that you very quickly regret.

At the same time, though, it's not necessarily an improvement to be that guy who, the morning after that post-coital glow, calmly describes how fat his partner looks in her underwear. So this isn't that essay -- not yet, anyway.

Instead, I thought I'd take a gander at cycles, particularly cycles by young players, and see if it told us anything about what they might become -- a much more specific and limited response to Howard's comment. Interesting things I found:

- Gomez is the fourth-youngest major-league player since 1956 (where baseball-reference's data begins) to hit for the cycle. Each of the three younger players is interesting in his own way.

Alex Rodriguez (age 21 years, 313 days) - Since nobody expects Gomez to develop into another Rodriguez, there's not much point in belaboring this point (but see below).

Jim Fregosi (age 22 years, 115 days) - Forty days younger than Gomez.

I suspect most people will remember Fregosi as a manager, not as a player. Twins Geek will likely remember Fregosi as the manager of the 1993 NL Champion Phillies. Others may remember Fregosi's uneventful three-year run with the White Sox, or his first managing gig for the Angels before being replaced with Gene Mauch during the strike-shortened 1981 season.

Those who do remember Fregosi as a player are probably most likely to remember him as the centerpiece of a trade that makes the A.J. Pierzynski trade look like small change: Fregosi, by himself, was traded to the New York Mets in exchange for Nolan Ryan plus three other players. Two points:

1. Ryan had just turned 25 and wasn't even a full-time starter yet, and

2. Fregosi was actually really good before the trade.

In 1964, when Fregosi hit his cycle, he hit .277, had a .369 on-base percentage, had a .463 slugging percentage (for an OPS of .832), and batted third in the order in 115 games for the Angels. As a shortstop. (If you don't think a .277/832 is all that impressive a batting line, remember it was 1964 -- Fregosi's OPS+ for that season was 141. As a shortstop!)

Fregosi made his first All-Star team that year and finished 13th in the MVP vote. He would make five more All-Star appearences before being traded, and his 13th place finish in the MVP vote in 1964 was not his best finish -- he'd finish 12th in 1970 and 7th in 1967. He'd never have an OPS+ of 141 again, but during his All-Star/MVP-vote run he'd have an OPS+ of between 108 and 125 pretty much every year, usually finishing around 114. As a shortstop. During the 1960s.

He wasn't perceived as a great fielder, winning only one Gold Glove during that span, but his range factor at short was consistently above average, his fielding percentage was almost always league average or better, and he was a far better hitter, and a consistently better hitter, than the Gold Glove shortstops of his era -- Luis Aparicio, Zoilo Versailles, and Mark Belanger.

Like Gomez, Fregosi was beloved in Southern California for his attitude as well as his baseball skills; one account refers to Fregosi as a 'cheerleader'. Unlike Gomez, Fregosi was expected to become a manager eventually, and in fact was hired away from the Pittburgh Pirates in 1978, for whom he'd played 20 games, mostly as a pinch-hitter, to take over for fired Angel manager Dave Garcia.

There's no real Hall of Fame argument for Fregosi -- two of his best comps are Shawon Dunston and Roy Smalley, and none of his comps is a Hall of Famer or likely to become one -- but for a number of years he was a heck of a player and is likely still fondly remembered by Angel fans.

Cesar Cedeno (age 21 years, 159 days)

The youngest player to hit for the cycle since 1956, Cedeno actually makes a more interesting comparison to Gomez than the other two players on this list.

Cedeno came up to the big leagues in 1970 as a 19-year old outfielder and hit .310 in a half-season, good enough to finish fourth in the Rookie of the Year vote. A regular in his next season at age 20 (Fregosi also was a regular at a young age, starting consistently at age 21), Cedeno exploded onto the scene in 1971 and 1972 with two surprisingly similar seasons -- he played 139 games in each, hit .320 in each, slugged .537 in each, stole 55 bases one year, 56 the next. Cedeno was an All-Star both years, finished 6th in the MVP vote in 1971 and 11th in 1972, and was doing all of this in one of the most extreme pitcher's parks in baseball history, the Astrodome (though the single-season park factor for 1972 suggests that something happened that year to actually make the Astrodome a friendly place for hitters, at least for that one season).

He played in four All-Star games, starting once, and won five consecutive Gold Gloves in center field during the same span of time. As with most players of his era (and before), his best seasons were behind him by the time he turned 30, but he still had a little play left in him -- released by the Reds in 1985 at the age of 35, he was signed as a free agent by the Cardinals at the start of September as a replacement for injured slugger Jack Clark and proceeded to have one of the best stretch runs in major league history, hitting .434/1213 with six home runs and 19 RBI to help the Cardinals to the division title.

Like Fregosi, Cedeno isn't many people's idea of a Hall of Fame candidate -- his comps include Amos Otis, Devon White, and Marquis Grissom -- but he was an excellent all-around player and if Gomez ends up anything like him, I think most Twins fans will accept that gladly.

How likely is it that Gomez will turn out like Cedeno, based solely on his 22-year old cycle? About as likely as the odds that Eric Milton's 24-year old no-hitter suggested he'd have a career like Vida Blue, which is to say, not at all.

There have been 131 cycles hit in MLB since 1958 (at least by baseball-reference.com's count), by 122 different players. By Bert Blyleven's California public-school math, that means that 113 of those players hit for the cycle once in their careers, period. Of the nine players who hit for the cycle more than once, none hit more than two cycles in their careers -- though interestingly, both Fregosi and Cedeno are on that list, which also includes George Brett, Frank White, Bob Watson, Brad Wilkerson, Chris Speier (!), John Olerud, and Ken Boyer. Great hitters like Mickey Mantle, Carl Yastrzemski, Willie Stargell, and Andre Dawson have hit for the cycle, but so have not-so-great hitters like Oddibe McDowell, Freddie Patek, Greg Colbrunn, and Neifi Perez (!!). Some great hitters -- even Hall of Famers -- never hit for the cycle, such as Wade Boggs and Tony Gwynn. Barry Bonds, even in his pre-steroid days, never hit for the cycle.

Like the no-hitter for pitchers, hitting for the cycle is an impressive achievement that doesn't require you to be an impressive player to accomplish.

Your Favorite Game

BeefMaster — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:42:52 -0000

Tell the story of your favorite game you've ever attended.

Chad Moeller - Baseball Hero

The best game I ever attended wasn't even planned in advance - I was living with my aunt in St. Paul during an internship, and we decided spur-of-the-moment to head to the Twins game that evening because Roger Clemens was pitching against Eric Milton (as a bonus, when we got there we found it was Dairy Queen Hat Day). This was in 2000, when the Twins weren't exactly good, but they were fun to watch, and you could see that the Koskie-Hunter-Guzman-Jones core was starting to come together.

The game started off as a pitcher's duel - Milton struck out 7 of the first 9 Yankees he faced, and the pitchers had dueling no-hitters until the fifth inning. The Yankees scratched together a couple of runs in the sixth off Milton, and it was looking hopeless - the Twins couldn't get anything going against Clemens.

But this was 2000 Roger Clemens, on a pitch count, and the eighth inning brought with it a new pitcher, and new life in the Twins' offense. The Twins strung together a series of hits to tie the game, and up to the plate, with runners at the corners and two out, came Chad Moeller. Moeller was the latest in the Twins' Rotten-Hitting Catcher Patrol, following Matt LeCroy (who hit .174 that year) and Marcus Jensen (.209) and preceding Danny Ardoin (.125). Moeller was hitting just under the Mendoza line at the time, and he had just one career extra base hit, a double.

Moeller proceeded to hit a low liner to left field, where Ryan Thompson was playing instead of David Justice. Thompson charged the ball and tried to make a diving catch... but he missed (I suppose we now would refer to that as "pulling a Torii"). The ball rolled to the wall, and by the time Bernie Williams got it into the infield, Chad Moeller had crossed the plate standing up for a three-run inside-the-park homer - the first homerun of his career, and his only one of the season. The Twins added another insurance run that inning, and LaTroy Hawkins finished off the Yankees in the 9th for a 6-2 win.

On that day, Chad Moeller cemented his place as one of my all-time favorite players. to the point that I was actually excited when he was the Brewers' starting catcher at a Twins-Brewers game I attended a couple years ago. He struck out four times.

Administrative Note

Jesse — Wed, 07 May 2008 10:49:45 -0000

When sharks I mean spammers attack.

If you see blatant spam show up on the site, which we're getting a bit more of these days because we're awesome, flag it and contact one of our admins. Usually we're pretty quick to catch them, delete them and ban them, but if we're all watching it will make things a lot easier.

This morning we got one telling us where to go to date the same hot models that atheletes do. That sounds fun and all, but if it's the same place Roger Clemens goes, I might have to vomit. I think I just did a little bit, in the back of my mouth.

Thanks er'body.

Some quotes from the experts on Delmon

lookatthosetwins — Tue, 06 May 2008 01:32:02 -0000

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/baseball/mlb/wires/05/01/2010.ap.bba.twins.young.s.start.0747/

I just noticed a couple of quotes on Delmon Young. One was by Cuddy, and the other by Gardy. You decide which is funnier.

"He's getting on base. He's doing what we need him to do" - Cuddy

Well he has gotten on base a few times this year, but I don't really think he's "doing what we need him to do" with a .613 OPS.

"He doesn't throw stuff" - Gardy

hmmm... http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2423307

Mr. Jones

caluofmn — Mon, 05 May 2008 23:46:38 -0000

The Tigers today designated for assignment our old friend Jacque Jones. So Jones is another in a long line of ex-Twins who have had less than stellar careers once out of Minnesota. I wish him well and have to assume that someone will take a chance on him.

What is it about the ex-Twins out of Minnesota and their decline? Sure JC is doing well in Philly and Loshe might have a second life with the Cardinals but those seem to be the exception. I hope Bartlett does well in Tampa, that goes for Garza too but it seems like there is a good chance that won't happen. I haven't forgotten AJ either. I'm guessing out of the recent (2000-today) Twins he has had the best career outside of Minnesota by far. Funny that he would be the guy to pull that off.

Good luck Messir Jacque strap and happy trails.

Half-Full or Half-Empty?

dwintheiser — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:04:28 -0000

Many observers are choosing to look at the 2008 Twins as a glass half-full, especially since they're currently leading what looks to be a surprisingly weak division. But there's an argument to be made that the glass is actually half-empty and likely to get more empty.

No less of authorities than the Twins Geek and Joe Christiansen have observed what might be called the 'glass half full' argument for the Twins in 2008: the club is barely over .500 despite all these problems - Delmon Young not yet hitting the way we'd hoped, Mike Lamb hasn't yet gotten on any kind of offensive roll, Francisco Liriano F-bombed out of his big-league return. Yet the Twins are still competing for the division lead -- heck, they own the division lead, and with an off-day today will own it for at least another day or two at worst.

Yet there are points in favor of the thesis that this is about the best baseball the Twins are capable of playing, and that it's folly to expect that they'll continue to play this well the rest of the way. (I'm not saying it's impossible -- 2006 wasn't so long ago that I've forgotten the difference between unlikely and impossible.)

- Individually, Twins hitters aren't playing so far above their heads that maintaining their current pace would be impossible -- Mauer has already spent an entire season hitting better than .333, and Morneau actually is on pace to hit a bit less than he did in his MVP season, even if he does wind up with more homers. About the only Twin you could say is hitting significantly better than expected would be Matt Tolbert, and even his production isn't so unreasonable that he couldn't end the season close to a 700 OPS even if his average drops from over .300.

Even with these performances, though, the club is still 13th in runs scored (though 11th in runs per game because they've played fewer games -- more on that later) and 14th in on-base percentage in the AL. Granted, the club could move up to 12th pretty easily, since they're just .001 behind both KC and Seattle, but the last time a club made the AL post-season with an OBP in the bottom three? The 2006 Detroit Tigers, who made up for it by being among the top three in homers and had the best pitching in the league.

- The success of the pitching staff thus far has been tremendously helped by three guys that few expected to be as good as they've been: Livan Hernandez, Brian Bass, and Nick Blackburn. Of the three, Hernandez easily has the longest track record, yet it's not impossible he could stay this good most of the year (Kenny Rogers, anyone?). Blackburn is making Baseball America look good, and it wouldn't even be the first time a young pitcher had a great season for the Twins after being thrown into the rotation (Allan Anderson, Scott Erickson, Johan Santana, etc., anyone?).

Nevertheless, thanks to a very generous schedule, the Twins have had enough rest days so that they've basically operated on a four-man rotation for the first six weeks of the season -- Hernandez, Bonser, Baker, and Blackburn have made 26 of the Twins 30 starts thus far, with three starts going to Liriano and one to Slowey.

Unfortunately, this can't continue -- today is the Twins last rest day until May 26th, and they don't get another day off after that until June 16th. And while I've never seen a study that posited a connection between long stretches without rest and poor team performance, there's enough anecdotal evidence over the past few seasons, just in the Central, to give any thinking fan pause:

- In 2006, the Detroit Tigers were up 8.5 games in the Central with 48 to play, having just completed a series with the Twins. The Tigers had a day off on August 10, then played 17 straight days, after which they'd fallen to just 5 games up. Then, after a pair of rest days, the Tigers played 13 games in 12 days, during which they lost another three games off their lead. We all know what happened after that, but once the Tigers reached the post-season, with its copious number of rest days, the Tigers rebounded and advanced all the way to the World Series.

- In 2005, the Chicago White Sox were up 7 games in the AL Central with 40 games to play. The White Sox had a day off on August 22, after which they finished the entire season with just one final rest day, on September 12. During this time, the Sox went from being up 9 games (shortly after the beginning of the run) to being up only a game and a half (on Sept 22, ten days after their last rest day and in the midst of playing 40 games in 41 days) before finally putting the division away. Again, once the team reached the post-season and copious rest, the club rebounded and advanced all the way to the World Series, winning it.

- In 2001, the Twins were leading the AL Central by 5 games at the All-Star break. Then they started the second half with a stretch of 18 straight games, during which the club lost their lead, falling into a fight for the division. A couple of rest days in late July and early August helped the Twins stay in the fight for the division -- they were either in the lead, tied, or no more than a game and a half out for nearly three weeks -- before another long stretch of 20 straight games in mid-to-late August dropped the team another five games in the standings, after which they were never again in contention.

Tomorrow's game in Chicago begins a stretch of 20 straight games before the Twins next rest day, then after that single day off the club plays another 20 straight.

If the glass is ever going to get more than half-full, maybe we'd better pray for rain.

Craig Monroe

DedicatedFollowerOfFashion — Mon, 05 May 2008 06:28:34 -0000

I guess its still early, but what do you guys think...still worth keeping around or ditch him

Has your opinion changed since spring training? Has Gardy used him right?

yes many questions here...but I was just wondering. He seemed to have been batted around like a pinata during spring training, but now that the season has started, that has calmed down.

Myself, I guess I have no real opinion about him. He is on the roster, he seems to fit in. good enough for me.

The genius of Terry Ryan

Johnny Safron — Mon, 05 May 2008 00:54:26 -0000

That was a shrewd move for Terry Ryan to let Jacque Jones become a free agent after '05 - the last time the Twins swept the Tigers in a series - have him hide out with the Cubs for a couple years, and then let Detroit pick him up so he could contribute to the Tigers' three-game loss at the Domes this weekend.

One really bad throw. A couple of poor routes to balls. A terrible weekend at the plate: Friday's GIDP -- after the catcher-formerly-known-as-Pudge popped out on Pitch One with the bases loaded and Livan in a jam -- gets the biggest thank-you.

A lot of GMs don't think three seasons ahead, but Terry was special.

Tigers playing dirty?

cmathewson — Sun, 04 May 2008 16:51:44 -0000

In the game on Friday night, Carlos Gomez suffered a head injury when he was hit in the head by a throw from Ivan Rodriguez while trying to steal. It now appears that Gomez was more hurt by a knee to the head than the throw from the catcher. Looking at the replay, Placido Polanco, who was covering on the play, held his ground and actually leaned in to Gomez as he slid into his knee. It's a tough play given where the throw was, but it is not kosher to block a base without the ball, as Polanco did. In my opinion, the play was borderline dirty.

Couple that with Gomez getting plunked in the ribs--the place pitchers aim at when they're retaliating for something--and it is not too much of a stretch to consider their overall play dirty on Friday night. What do you think? Do you think it's just good hard play on the part of the TIgers? Or was it dirty?

Poll

Did the Tigers play dirty with Carlos Gomez on Friday?

Wow, The Twins in First Place in AL Central!

montanatwinsfan — Sun, 04 May 2008 03:54:33 -0000

Jaque Jones batting .173;

C.C Sabathia with an era of 7.5;

Gwen Stefanni has finally decided that she CAN quit me;

Justin Verlander has only one win;

Jim Hager of 'Hee Haw' fame died at the fairly tender age of 66;

Nick Punto has been used very appropriately as a utility infielder and late game substitute;

Brittany Spears hasn't had a single scandalous headline on my home page or internet browser;

Livan Hernandez has looked both steady and strong while posting a 4-1 record;

Not a single rumor of any major league baseball team courting the steroid twins, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens;

None of Leo Sayer, Gary Wright, or Al Stewart has made a comeback tour yet;

Madonna looks and sounds better now than she did back when she was like a virgin;

Tom Glavine (42) finally found his way onto the disabled list;

Just a few things I never expected to see after the first month of baseball in 2008.

Gomez & Stikeouts

snolls — Sun, 04 May 2008 03:29:22 -0000

"The first month, I struck out 24 times; I can get that to 10 [per month]," he said. "That's what I want to do. When I get on base, I change the game."

Said Twins hitting coach Joe Vavra: "That's good he's talking about it. That shows me he's getting it. ... We've been on him about cutting down his swing and trying to keep his feet underneath him."

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/18551434.html

I've been complaining for a while that Gomez looks terrible in the batter's box, and that it was ludicrous of the team to be supporting this aggressive approach (wild swings, terrible balance, nearly jumping mid-swing). It is now my responsibility to own up to the fact that I wasn't giving management enough credit. Clearly they have been working on strikeouts and mechanics (keeping his feet underneath him). I guess this serves as a good reminder that just because someone said it for an interview, it doesn't mean that's their true opinion. Gardy was obviously just trying to show support for Gomez publicly, while working quietly behind the scenes on the areas of improvement.

Maybe this means that he doesn't really like getting Punto in their whenever he can.