Ron Gardenhire has announced that Brian Dozier will be the team’s starting shortstop when he arrives in the clubhouse on Monday. Jamey Carroll will be shifted to a utility role for the time being, giving Gardenhire an opportunity to give occasional rest to Danny Valencia and Alexi Casilla (or replace them if they continue to struggle).
The Twins’ 9 hits in their last 4 games is the worst streak in the modern era (since 1900). Ouch. Let’s hope for something better this afternoon.
Erik Komatsu is in right field again, Mauer is back behind the plate for the first time in almost a week, and Carroll will get a swan-song at shortstop. Here is the rest:
Ryan Doumit was 3/3 with a walk and 2 HR. The rest of the Twins were 2/27 with 5 walks and 6 strikeouts. All in all, another pretty disappointing display of baseball from the Twins.
Twins are back home tomorrow to start a 9 game homestand. Francisco Liriano takes the mound against a no-name pitcher for the Angels, Jered Weaver.
One Day without Ron Gardenhire, one win. Do with that what you will.
Per La Velle E. Neal, Justin Morneau, who is still struggling with wrist, soreness has finally landed on the Disabled List. When Morneau left the game last Monday against the Angels it seemed like a trip to the DL was inevitable. Now, after playing almost an entire week with 13 pitchers and almost no bench players, the Twins finally make the call. The Twins probably still get no-hit last Wednesday even if someone was called up, but you never know.
Even Without Gardenhire, Scott Ullger continues the Twins tradition of putting a new player into the lineup, giving Erik Komatsu the start in right field. Hard to blame Ullger for taking a look at Komatsu as it pushes Ryan Doumit back behind the plate and relegates Drew Butera to the bench.
Jason Marquis pitched six innings giving up just 2 earned runs, scattering 6 walks and recording only one strike out. In the 7th Anthony Swarzak, Matt Maloney, and Jeff Gray combined to give up 5 earned runs and the game was suddenly out of hand.
Regardless of what the pitching staff did, the real story of the night was Felix Hernandez. He pitched 8 strong innings, struck out 9 Twins and gave up just a single Twins hit. The Twins were held scoreless again tonight and were just one Denard Span single away from being no-hit a 2nd time in a week.
Big changes to the Twins lineup are in the pipeline as Brian Dozier and Scott Diamond should be with the Twins on Monday. Morneau will officially be moved to the DL and Liam Hendriks will most likely be option to Rochester to make room.
Twins have a chance to win the series tomorrow afternoon at 3pm, but it will take more than just one hit.
After a rather ugly game Wednesday night and Thursday’s suspended game, the Snappers and Kernels put on a good show on Friday in Cedar Rapids.
In the completion of Thursday’s suspended game, the Snappers got a home run from newcomer Drew Leachman and Miguel Sano hit his 7th home run of the season immediately after an AJ Petterson double in the 8th inning, but it wasn’t enough for the win. The Kernels topped Beloit 9-6.
Miguel Sano's home run stroke in the first of two dingers on the night (Photo: Jim Crikket)
The nightcap was a different story, with the Snappers breaking a 3-3 tie in the top of the 9th inning when Sano followed a JD Williams walk with his 8th home run of the year.
The Kernels thought Sano spent a bit too long admiring the blast and getting around the bases and their catcher, Abel Baker, let Sano know about it as he crossed home plate. The two exchanged words and that led to both benches emptying.
The 5-3 lead held up and the Snappers left town having won two of three games from the Kernels.
There were plenty of good performances among the Snappers in the series finale as starting pitcher Steven Gruver retired the first six hitters he faced and threw five decent innings. Michael Tonkin gave up a run in his 1 1/3 innings of work, but struck out four Kernels, and Clint Dempster finished up with 2 2/3 strong shutout innings, without giving up a hit, to notch the Win.
On the offensive side, Sano, Eddie Rosario, Wang-Wei Lin and Matthew Koch all had two hits and JD Williams & Tyler Grimes added doubles.
But the story of this series was Sano. In the three games in Cedar Rapids, he was 7 for 13 plus one walk. He had two doubles to go with his two home runs. He scored five runs and drove in seven RBI. He did strike out once on Friday, stranding runners at 2nd and 3rd base, so I guess he’s human. Still, in a post-game interview with the Cedar Rapids Gazette, Kernels manager Jamie Burke called Sano, “unbelievable” and, “the best player I’ve seen here – by far.”
Personally, I still believe Mike Trout is the best player I’ve ever seen in the Midwest League, because he literally showed no weaknesses in his game during his time with the Kernels. But Sano’s performance this week was the most impressive offensive series I’ve witnessed.
I know the Twins organization is reluctant to push their position players up the ladder quickly. Selfishly, I hope he’s still with Beloit in mid June when the Snappers return to Cedar Rapids again. But as a Twins fan, I can’t imagine what more he needs to demonstrate in the Midwest League that he can’t just as easily work on in Fort Myers. There’s absolutely no doubt that Sano has work to do with the glove before he’s ready for prime time, but does it really make that much difference whether he works on his defense in Beloit or Fort Myers?
I’m convinced he’s more than ready to face better pitching. Kernels pitchers were feeding him almost nothing but breaking balls and other off-speed pitches. When they did throw a fastball, it wasn’t often anywhere near the strike zone.
I leave you with the following picture. As is the case at many ballparks, the Kernels give some lucky kids the opportunity to stand next to Kernels players on the field during the National Anthem and they give the kids t-shirts to wear. Very large t-shirts. I call this picture “Angels in the Infield.”
Two days ago the Minnesota Twins were no-hit by Jered Weaver and the Los Angeles Angels. Yesterday, presumably, the Twins licked their wounds and prepared for a three game set in Seattle.
Part of that preparation involved designating Major League Strike-Out King Clete Thomas for assignment to make room for Erik Komatsu, claimed off waivers from the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals. Komatsu is a typical lead-off type hitter, reaches base at a solid clip but has never really hit for power. The move is yet another piece of evidence that the Twins think Ben Revere needs more “seasoning” in the Minor Leagues and an opportunity to play everyday. Sean Burroughs, who was designated for assignment this past Tuesday to make room for Drew Butera, has cleared waivers and will join the AAA Rochester Red Wings.
Don’t forget: Ron Gardenhire is taking the weekend off and Scott Ullger is serving as the acting manager.
Carl Pavano pitched 6 effective innings giving up just two runs before turning the game over to the bullpen. In the top of the 7th the Twins took advantage of a Mariners error and a Joe Mauer infield single to score 3 runs. The bullpen pitched 3 scoreless innings, striking out 5 batters and the Twins hang on to win.
Photo Credit: CapitalBabs
Boyfriend of the Day:
Brian Duensing gets some baked goods for holding the lead in the bottom of the 7th but the real hero of the day is Jamey Carroll. Not only did he break the Twins’ hitless streak in the top of the first inning, he finished the day 2-4, with a walk, a stolen base, and an RBI.
If you follow me on Twitter (@JimCrikket), you know that the Twins’ low-A affiliate, the Beloit Snappers, are making their first trip to Cedar Rapids this week and that I’ve spent the past couple of evenings at the ballpark watching them take on the Kernels (the Angels’ Midwest League affiliate).
They’ve played 1+ games in the series so far (Thursday’s game was suspended by thunderstorms in the 3rd inning and will be resumed at 5:00 today, prior to the scheduled series finale), so I thought I’d put up a quick post with my initial impressions.
The guys who are getting all the attention for the Snappers are infielders Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario. Sano is the consensus #1 ranked prospect in the Twins organization and Rosario is most often listed as either #2 or #3, so they both have some game. They aren’t the only guys on the team with some talent, though.
Wednesday night, I had arranged use of the suite that my company has out at Memorial Stadium, so I hosted a number of my coworkers and their significant others as we watched what started out as a pretty ugly display of baseball, frankly. To give you an idea of how ugly, the Snappers won the game 6-5, but the teams each scored only two earned runs on the night. That’s not pretty.
After two innings, the teams were tied 2-2 in the runs column, but the Snappers “led” 3-2 in errors. Two of those Snapper errors were charged to Rosario and Sano and they both were the kind that made you cringe. The conventional wisdom is that both players have work to do on defense with Sano’s size perhaps making staying at 3B a challenge and Rosario trying to learn a new position at 2B, after being an outfielder throughout his career. The conventional wisdom may be pretty accurate in this case.
But let’s face it, if Sano and Rosario are fixtures in the Twins 2015 lineup, it won’t be because they’re gold glovers, it will be because they’re capable of hitting the crap out of the baseball. Rosario had a tough night at the plate, going 0-4 (no Ks though) before being lifted after hitting in the 7th inning. Sano fared much better, with three hits in 5 at-bats, including a rocket double down the left field line that Kernel 3B Caleb Cowart managed to get a little leather on.
As I mentioned, though, Sano and Rosario aren’t the only players with some baseball talent. Relief pitcher Corey Williams came in to finish off the final two innings and slammed the door on the Kernels, walking one and striking out two hitters, without giving up a hit, to earn his fourth save on the year. Shortstop Tyler Grimes has only played four innings so far this series, but he’s made a couple of pretty impressive plays in the field. Finally, 1B Rory Rhodes may be struggling to get his BA up over the Mendoza line, but he hit a HR Wednesday night that was a monster. It cleared the fence. It cleared the picnic area beyond the fence. From my vantage point, it appeared to clear the street beyond the picnic area. I’m not 100% sure it’s come down yet.
Eddie Rosario was lifted in the 7th inning Wednesday night, for what I assumed was defensive purposes, but when I arrived at the stadium Thursday night, I saw he wasn’t in the lineup for the Snappers. It made me wonder if he was hurt or, perhaps, had been bumped up to Ft. Myers. But he was in uniform warming up with the rest of the Snappers in LF before the game, so the latter clearly wasn’t the case. I’ll be interested to see if he plays tonight.
Here’s another thing I really liked seeing… Sano and Rosario seemed to be enjoying themselves before and during the games. They were loose and smiling during warm-ups and both were generous with their time signing autographs for fans along the wall by the Snappers dugout before the games. That’s not always the case, especially with visiting teams’ “top prospects.” Then again, there was no shortage of fans in Twins caps and shirts at the ballpark this week. It’s always a bit of a “split crowd” when the Twins’ affiliate comes to Cedar Rapids, so the Snappers get plenty of support.
With that, I’ll wrap up with a few pictures from last night’s abbreviated trip to the ballpark.
Miguel Sano signing a few autographs for fans
Eddie Rosario warming up before the game... he's changed positions once already, but could he really be thinking about pitching?
... or catching? Say it ain't so, Eddie!
The Snappers loosen up with that time-honored tradition of a game of "Pepper"
Thursday's starting pitcher, Matthew Tomshaw, is off to a nice start for the Snappers, but wouldn't get much of an opportunity to pitch before the rains came
OK, this was a swing and a miss by Rory Rhodes Thursday night... but on Wednesday, he launched a ball about as far as I've seen one hit at Memorial Stadium in recent years
Tyler Grimes at shortstop for the Snappers in the sunshine... obviously prior to the thunderstorm that was to soon arrive
The thunderstorm may have caused the game to be suspended in the 3rd inning, but the crowd didn't let a little thing like that keep them from enjoying "$1.50 beer night"
Here’s a transcript of a part of the postgame interview that didn’t make the public broadcast because it started a little early.. thought you would like to see this part of the conversation.
Reporter: Being part of a No-Hitter in baseball is a memorable thing right?
Gardy: Sure but I don’t think it’s a memory any of them want to keep. I’m pretty sure they all went to bed last night hoping they’d wake up this morning thinking it was all a dream… or maybe a nightmare. A year ago we watched a No-Hitter from the other side of the boxscore and I think everyone enjoyed that a lot more.
Reporter: It’s early to be scoreboard watching but it’s hard to see that last place position and not wonder how it’s affecting them.
Gardy: Of course we all know they’re struggling. Is this what any of them expected this season to start like? No. Have we seen this before? Sure. Yeah, it’s frustrating but I just have to ask them to stay with it.
Reporter: So do you think they can make a comeback?
Gardy: oh, of course. It’s early in the season. For all the struggles, we are only 7 games back. We’ve seen this before and it’s not insurmountable… just have to stay with it, keep battling, They’ve shown a lot of heart to stay with it so far and just have to keep at it.
Reporter: What is the overall health situation?
Gardy: At this point, we don’t have any new injury reports but of course, our main focus is to keep anyone from injuring themselves. We realize that’s always a possibility but we are a little more concerned right now simply because everyone’s tired. They’ve pushed themselves a bit more and no one is used to the time zone change yet. When you get tired to this level, of course you worry more in these circumstances that someone is going to hurt themselves. We hope that doesn’t happen and are recommending that they all enjoy this off-day, get some rest, think about something other than baseball for awhile and try to get their focus back…
Reporter: Ok, enough about the fans, let’s talk about the team….
I have to say that I’m probably not the only person who will be glad to be done playing the Angels.. I wish that meant we were done with late night games but no, we hit Seattle next. I just won’t be sorry to not have Torii kicking our butt each night.
I am really hoping for good outing from Liam tonight AND for a little bit better run support than we gave Liriano. I don’t care how good your pitching is or isn’t, you aren’t going to win very many games with 3 hits.. And I swear to God if Clete Thomas can’t get at least ONE hit tonight, I don’t want to see him out there anymore.. ditch his ass and go see if we can find Luke Hughes. I might be starting to get a little worked up about poor roster management…
It appears that it has finally happened… the Twins offense has become as impotent as their pitching.
The Twins managed to make history tonight by being no-hit by the Angels’ Jared Weaver. They managed only two baserunners… a Josh Willingham walk and a strike out with a passed ball allowing Chris Parmelee to reach first base. Nine Twins were strike out victims.
On the other side of the ledger, Liam Hendriks lasted just 2 1/3 innings, giving up 6 runs, all earned, and 9 hits. But hey, he didn’t walk anyone! Most of the Twins’ bullpen got some work tonight, but they all have tomorrow’s off day to prepare for the series with the Mariners.
GM Terry Ryan is reportedly in Rochester. Friday’s off day could be interesting if he’s as fed up with the performance of the Twins as the rest of us are. – JC
I finally figured out a benefit to west coast games! Besides the fact that our coastal friends get a prime time game, of course.
The benefit is that there was a nice little contingent of Knuckleballers sitting in the game chat when we got that special visitor!!! It is still just amazing to me that we are still here doing what we so haphazardly do for a third baseball season and that so many people have joined us in the process. We can’t thank you all enough for continuing to show up, to comment, to chat, to share your knowledge and insights, and in general join us in the love of baseball and, of course, the Minnesota Twins.
But speaking of amazing… we have a winner for that cool Kirby Memorial!! The winner’s guess was literally within 15 minutes of the actual visit time AND had the right state as well… To be frank, I’m a little weirded out by that. But that’s a win no matter how you slice it.
Lindsay, send me info to where you would like the picture shipped – whether home or NY or wherever and I’ll get it out to you!
Sadly, we don’t know who that actual special visitor was – I wish I was one of those hacker type people who could figure those things out but I’m satisfied with knowing that someone special from San Francisco was the one to put us over the top. Here’s their particulars, whoever they are!
I’m not a negative person by nature even if I have a critical streak… but today, I gotta admit I just don’t see how the Twins couldn’t have come up with a better way to manage their roster.. yet again. Today they DFA’d Burroughs in order to make room for Drew Butera to come up so that Mauer & Doumit had backup. Butera doesn’t bug me so much – in fact, knowing that Gardy’s had both his catchers in the lineup just about every day, with one “day to day” it is actually a good idea. However, since Morneau is off with inflammation and fluid build up in his surgically repaired wrist, it just seems like there were other options… the same options they have been refusing to use all season.. Whoever is in charge of the DL: you won’t reduce your chances of a repeat of 2011 by just refusing to admit that people are getting injured!
*shakes head* I just don’t really understand and I’m pretty sure I’m not the only fan who is confused and frustrated already.
*sigh* combining these struggles with west coast time zone issues is really making Twins fans grumpy.. at least me if no one else. Chat discussion pointed out that Liriano did better tonight than he ever had this season AND it was one of the better outings anyone in our pitching rotation has pulled off lately.. it’s a glass half full/half empty thing.. because while that is true, it’s a very, very sad truth.
And tonight, no one could hit – except Span… seriously guys, we have to put both out there – pitching AND hitting.. neither is going to give this team a losing record.. oh, wait…
