Hey, guys.

I miss being a part of Twinkie Town, as my wife and I are moving to New York City from Minneapolis.  I'm stationed in Baltimore for the moment, but I thought a lot of you might like to take a look at the blog I've posted about my trip:

fennellog.blogspot.com

I took the opportunity, while driving across the country, to see as many ballparks as I could.  Hope you all enjoy, it's my little gift back to the Twins Territory that I'll miss so much.

A great take on Livan's season by Rob Neyer at ESPN.com. 

For those of you that cannot access the link, here's the meat of the article:

Only six pitchers since the 19th century have given up more than 12.5 hits per nine innings, and all of them pitched from 1929 through 1937.

Until this year. (Yes, we have finally arrived at the point of this little history lesson.) On Wednesday, pitching against the Red Sox, Livan Hernandez was touched for 11 hits before getting yanked in the fifth inning. In 120 2/3 innings this season, Hernandez has given up 173 hits. That's 12.9 hits per nine innings, which -- if Hernandez maintains that rate -- would be the highest figure for an ERA qualifier since Ray Benge gave up 12.94 hits per nine innings in 1936. Since World War II, only two pitchers -- LaTroy Hawkins in 1999 and Carlos Silva in 2006 -- have given up more than 12 hits per nine innings. Notice a pattern here? Hawkins and Silva were both Minnesota Twins, like Hernandez. Silva was (and is) an extreme control pitcher, like Hernandez. The problem is that it's very difficult to win if you're giving up a dozen hits per nine innings. Hawkins went 10-14 with a 6.66 ERA; Silva went 11-15 with a 5.94 ERA. Which makes Hernandez's season all the more remarkable. He's giving up more hits than those guys did, yet even after Wednesday's pasting in Boston he's 9-6 with a 5.44 ERA. And I'm sorry to keep hammering on this point, but while Hernandez is working his way toward an unflattering distinction, Francisco Liriano is making monkeys of International League hitters. Hernandez is earning $5 million this season. The other four members of the Twins' rotation, all put together, are making less than one-fourth of that. So when it's time to bring Liriano up -- which is to say, yesterday at the very latest -- who loses his job? One of the young, ill-paid, but effective starters? Or will it be instead the Les Sweetland of the 21st century? We can only wait and see.

I'm usually interested in what they do for the All-Star Jerseys.  I like that they base the colors on the team whose ballpark the festivities inhabit.  It can lead to some duds, like last year's poop-brown & orange San Francisco jerseys, but I feel they did it right this year:

Mauer All Star Jersey

I think it's classy.  I dig the nod to the stadium.  Again, for those interested in that sort of thing.

I really like Pat Neshek, as I know a lot of you do...  It's nice to see a guy take the press to task for reporting false information.  From his website:

"I just wanted to correct a report on me that aired on tonight's broadcast of the game.  One of the viewers wrote in and asked how my arm was doing.  It was reported on TV that I had successful surgery and was still aching a little?  I don't know who reports this stuff but they might want to find out the facts...I NEVER HAD SURGERY, my arm has never ached at all and I'm suprised at how painless partially tearing an elbow ligament is.  I really needed to clear this up because it annoys me when people continue to hear this junk from people who don't care to find out the facts and in return make stuff up and report it as fact.  My brace is coming off Monday and I will start my rehab then shooting for me to start tossing again around late August."

Way to take the press down a peg, Pat.  Good night and good luck.

From CBS Sportsline:

ARLINGTON, Tex. -- Struggling left-hander Francisco Liriano was sent back to the minors by the Minnesota Twins on Friday, after posting an 11.32 ERA and losing all three starts since returning to the rotation.

Liriano was sent to Triple-A Rochester before Friday night's game at Texas, and it was not a surprise. He gave up six runs and got only two outs Thursday against Oakland, his latest failure to find the strike zone in a return from reconstructive elbow surgery.

Right-hander Bobby Korecky was recalled from Rochester to take Liriano's roster spot. Korecky was the closer for Rochester, going 2-1 with an 0.68 ERA and five saves in 13 1-3 innings.

After all these years of hearing about Cuddyer's magic obsession, it was nice to finally see some video.  ESPN the Magazine filmed some players' "Unlikely Hobbies" and Cuddyer was featured, doing some pretty good card tricks.  I was able to access them without being logged in, so here's location:

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/search?queryString=cuddyer&submit.x=0&submit.y=0&a mp;submit=Search

Something fun for a Monday.

I know that Gleeman has already pointed it out on his blog, but if you're interested in the Spring training goings-on and behind the scenes, Phil Miller's blog at Twincities.com is really a great read.  He's posted at least ten times in the past two days about this and that.  

http://blogs.twincities.com/twins/

Peter Gammons is reporting on ESPN.com that Miguel Cabrera is being shopped by the Marlins.  For those teams looking for a good offensive third baseman, he's what Jack Black would accurately describe as "A cream dream."

I don't know if it's even within the realm of possibility, but here are some of the positives associated with the Twins considering going after Cabrera:

1.) Cabrera has two years before he's free-agency eligible, making the Twins instant contenders next year and the year following.

2.) He instantly replaces (and upgrades) Hunter's power at a primary power position and ends the "who's on third" debate.

3.) The Marlins are shopping him because expenses are tight with their new stadium looming, and are looking for prototypical Marlins acquistions:  Young Talent, which the twins have in spades.

4.) The Venezuelan-born Cabrera would hopefully give Johan Santana incentive to stay around.

5.) Equating Cabrera's salary against Hunter's, Cabrera saves the Twins 4-5 Million per year for those two years, loosening up some room to acquire a decent center fielder.  Mike Cameron made 7 million last year, and chances are he'll go cheaper now.

Some things that might be a deterrent for a small-market team going after a guy like Miggy:

1.) His salary jumped past the "serf" status for the first time this past year, where he made 7.4 million.  This wouldn't be unprecedented for the Twins to take on a contract of that size, and it certainly beats what Hunter is asking for.  Besides, getting a bona fide superstar for that kind of money is akin to a bargain for almost any team.

2.) For a team proclaiming to take great pride in their defense, Cabrera has some folks in Miami worried about his weight and agility playing third.  Granted he's no Tony Batista at the hot corner, but his conditioning has been cause for concern.

3.) We'd have to give up some good young pitching.  I hate speculating on names, but chances are to acquire a talent like Cabrera, it would be steep.

Gammons does a interesting study comparing Cabrera's career stats against A-Rod, obviously the pinnacle of offensive third basemen, and it's astounding how Cabrera is showing some of that same promise at only 24 years old.  

I don't know if acquiring Cabrera is feasible for the twins to consider, but he's one of the best available at a position we need.  Aside from the players we'd have to give up for him, it would be akin to signing a better-hitting Torii Hunter to a two-year, 16 million dollar deal.  Plus, I'd just plain love to see the guy hit in our town.  Like Jack Black says, a cream dream.

This is a rather small issue in the scheme of things, but I'm wondering if anyone else can relate to me on this...

Is anyone else completely tired of the cliche champagne celebrations that happen after every single round of the playoffs?  In my book, it's completely lost any significance.  Every team does the exact same tired thing after every meaningful game.  It's long since lost its spontaneousness.

Just a thought I had after seeing last night's footage of this year's 12th champagne celebration on ESPN.