Twins at Indians News and Notes

The Twins invade Cleveland for a three-game set at... Jacobs Field? Progressive Field? What's that stadium called again?

By Jon Marthaler May 3, 2013, 10:31am EDT

I distinctly remember going to this game in the summer of 2006, specifically because Scott Kazmir was pitching against Francisco Liriano, because I thought someday I'd tell my kids about watching the great Kazmir and the great Liriano duel. Funny how things work out - or, in this case, don't work out.
The Indians are surging; they've won four in a row, and outscored their opponents (Kansas City and Philadelphia) 39-5 in that span. Ryan Raburn hit two homers in back-to-back games, then got four hits on Wednesday, and the Cleveland faithful have taken to chanting his name when he's at the plate.
Led by the ever-free-swinging Mark Reynolds, who has 8, the Indians are tied for second in the AL with 36 homers as a team. The Twins, as you probably expected, are tied for last, with 16. You can't even make the usual Rob Deer joke about Reynolds; he's only tied for 35th in the AL in strikeouts, with 23. Aaron Hicks (27) and Josh Willingham (26) both have more. And somehow Houston's Chris Carter has struck out FORTY NINE TIMES already in 105 at-bats, which is completely impossible. Now that's Rob Deer-esque.

As Phil Miller points out in the the Star Tribune this morning, the Twins bullpen has the second-best ERA in the majors, and the best in the American League. I for one am in favor of letting the bullpen just start the game when, say, Mike Pelfrey is scheduled to start; the 'pen will throw just about the same number of innings, and the Twins won't be behind 8-0 when they get to the mound.
Cole De Vries is scheduled to make a rehab start in Class A on Sunday. Not that he would ever cheer against a teammate, but let's be honest here, he's hoping that Pedro Hernandez gets bombed tonight.
Darin Mastroianni, who didn't actually go on the disabled list until April 17, is eligible to come back, but hasn't returned yet. The Twins medical staff says rest and rehab is going to work this time, they swear.
When last we checked in with Tim Wood, he had given up no runs in four appearances in Rochester. Since then, he's allowed five earned runs across two appearances totaling five outs. Take into account the aforementioned bullpen success, and it would seem that Wood will be in Triple-A for awhile.

Share this story