Pat Dean demoted, Tommy Milone recalled

Having been born and raised a Yankee fan in southern Connecticut, last night must have been pretty surreal for Pat Dean. Wow! Working your whole life to make it to the majors, and now here you are facing the team you grew up idolizing as a child. Exciting stuff.

Unfortunately, however, Dat Pean went totally soft. Pean was pulled out of the game after lasting just 2.1 innings on 68 pitches (one pitch away from this being the best sentence). In that time he gave up eight runs, including a two-run moonshot to Carlos Beltran, which was more than enough to earn the loss. The Twins wasted no time optioning him back to AAA immediately following the game.

Correspondingly, the Twins recalled left-hander Tommy Milone. In typical Tommy Milone fashion, he’s been totally dominating in AAA since being sent down earlier this season. This year he’s pitched 48.2 innings for the Red Wings with a 1.66 ERA, 41 strike outs, and only four walks. Last year he pitched 38.2 innings with an impressive 0.70 ERA, 47 strike outs (!), and only three walks.

Unfortunately for us, Milone appears to be some kind of super AAAA pitcher and has unable to bring his success to the majors. He pitched 23.1 innings for the Twins earlier this year with a 5.79 ERA and seven walks. That’s as many walks as he has given up over the past two years combined in AAA.

But I guess the Twins had to do something, so welcome back Mommy Tilone.