GameChat – Twins @ Indians #3, 11:05am

Wow, this is early for baseball.. not that I’m complaining mind you but I can’t imagine how some of our west coast fans feel catching the first pitch with their morning coffee.. *snort*

Last night’s late game heroics (or failures from the Indians point of view) gives us a two game advantage in this series and yet another loss in a row for Cleveland. I would feel a little more pity for Cleveland fans if I didn’t know exactly how they felt after this Twins season – I’ve come to accept that baseball has its ups & downs and I’ll take what I get. Every victory we get right now – against division opponents especially – moves us closer to a reasonable finish this season rather than an embarrassing death in the box scores. We’re actually only 10 games back from the top and only 1 game back from the Indians. Today’s game is rather pivotal in us moving up a bit. We’re still a long ways from .500 which is where I think the team would like to get and where fans would be satisfied. Every game counts to achieve that.

I think Duensing is starting to settle into the starter role as opposed to relief. I don’t think it’s easy just to go back & forth between the two positions but I’m starting to have a lot more confidence when I see his name in the lineup. But as always, our pitchers can’t do it alone – especially not Pitch to Contact guys. They need offense. Let’s hope the guys are able to put both together again today.

Minnesota

@

Cleveland
Span, CF Kipnis, 2B
Revere, RF Cabrera, A, SS
Mauer, 1B Choo, RF
Willingham, LF Santana, C, DH
Morneau, DH Brantley, CF
Doumit, C Duncan, LF
Nishioka, 2B Marson, C
Dozier, SS Kotchman, 1B
Casilla, A, 3B Lillibridge, 3B
  Duensing, P   Masterson, P

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E

Minnesota

0

0

0

0

2

0

0

0

0

2

4

1

Cleveland

2

2

0

0

0

2

0

0

x

6

11

0

Losing this game stings a little bit. There are still some items of note but all together, it is still a loss. Cleveland breaks their losing streak and make 2 games ahead of us in the standings.  BUT like I said, there are still things to hold on to from this outing:

GOOD:

  1. Alexi Casilla hit is first home run since June 21st of LAST year which accounted for ALL the runs the Twins managed to score today. Given what appears to be a bit of a MI competition between him & Nishioka, that clearly puts him in the plus category.
  2. Span hit his 30th 2B of the season – the first time in his career that he has done so if I was hearing correctly.
  3. We have an off-day tomorrow.
  4. We won two series in a row and go home after a 5-2 road trip.

BAD:

  1. Revere’s hitting streak is over. He went 0-fer today and can begin a new streak on Friday.
  2. Masterson clearly had it on our hitters today – they were just not able to make it happen.
  3. Poor fielding cost us more runs than actual hits from what I could see.
  4. Nishioka did NOT have a good day. I’m not going to add to the piling on that seems to be happening everywhere (with good reason & they aren’t wrong) but as a member of the team, this is his opportunity to show the rest of the team what he can do and it has to be hard on him that he’s not succeeding so far.

Hard to Call:

  1. Right now every game in the division counts so 2/3 is good but not going to help if we can’t make the most of every opportunity we get.
  2. Duensing went 7 innings and only 4 of the runs were earned runs. To be honest, he pitched better for most of the game than the score shows. He had a rough first two innings but managed to settle in and do the job after that. I think he is solid for maintaining his spot in the starting rotation but he’s got some work to do to continue improving. I’m sure he wants to give his team their best chance to win with every outing.
  3. Gardy refuses to comment on Nishioka’s standing given his lack of success with a bat AND a glove so far other than to say that he had a bad game. It’s a legitimate question but I’m glad our manager isn’t prepared to throw one of his guys under the bus – that is what he’s supposed to say until a final decision is made.

It’s a good time to go to a little break and come back home on Friday. The Twins have made a lot of progress in winning back a few fans by playing good baseball lately. I hope they are able to continue that when in Target Field.

Minor Leagues: Affiliation Questions and Answers

Over the past month or more, I’ve alluded a few times to the fact that the Twins’ Player Development Contracts (PDC) with a number of their minor league affiliates were set to expire after the current season. In fact, all four of their PDCs with their “full-season” affiliates (A, Advanced A, AA and AAA) were expiring.

Nobody really expects their Advanced A team, the Ft. Myers Miracle, to shop around for a new affiliation, given that the team calls the Twins’ Spring Training facility its home. While there was plenty of doubt in the air about the Twins’ relationship with their AA affiliate in New Britain CT, the two parties announced a two-year extension to their working agreement recently. That leaves their AAA team in Rochester NY and their Class A team in Beloit WI still up in the air.

I’ve wondered enough about this issue that it caused me to ask a few questions of people who are more familiar than I was with how the affiliation process works. (It didn’t take much searching to find people who knew more than I did.) Between asking some questions and a little bit of online investigation, I found a few answers that I thought I would share here.

Q:           Why don’t the Twins have a AAA affiliate closer to Minnesota?

A:            The two AAA leagues are primarily eastern (International League) and western (Pacific Coast League) groupings with relatively few locations in the Midwest. Those that are nearby either already have strong, long time relationships with other Midwest MLB teams (Des Moines with the Cubs and Omaha with the Royals) or their PDC is not expiring (Indianapolis with the Pirates) until 2014.

Q:           So why would the Twins want out of Rochester?

A:            They probably don’t. Most of what’s being written about this relationship indicates that it’s Rochester that may want to explore other options. The Twins have fielded pretty bad teams there the past couple of years and attendance has dropped off significantly. However, the Red Wings are on a roll at the moment and are on the fringes of a Wild Card spot, so the question is whether it’s too little, too late, to salvage the relationship.

Q:           Beloit is pretty close to the Twin Cities and they’ve had some decent teams there, so why change that affiliation?

A:            The primary reasons for even considering a switch involve the facilities in Beloit. Pohlman Field may be considered quaint or even a nostalgic throwback to the days of town team or low minor league baseball by some. But to those who deal with the business side of baseball, the facilities in Beloit, from the clubhouses to the training facilities to the seating areas to the field itself, are simply not up to modern standards for full-season minor league baseball. Ten other MWL communities still have not come to extension agreements with their existing MLB partners, so it should come as no surprise that the Twins are in no hurry to ink an extension with Beloit.

Q:           Why won’t teams like the Twins or their current affiliates just come out and say, “we’re interested in looking in to another affiliation”?

A:            Existing PDCs do not expire until September 30 and any public comments before then could be (and most likely would be) considered “tampering” with existing contractual relationships, subjecting teams to six figure fines. Teams in existing relationships can renew those deals for an additional two or four year period at any time, but no discussions with or about potential new partners can take place before certain dates specified in MLB Rule 56.

Q:           When will the Twins decide who their affiliates will be next season?

A:            Any time between the end of the season (both Rochester and Beloit regular seasons end September 3) and September 11, teams can notify either the MLB Commissioner or the MiLB President (and ONLY those people… they can’t publicly state that they’ve provided such notice) that they do not wish to renew their existing agreement. If the Commissioner approves the termination notices*, he notifies the parties involved by September 15. Only once a team gets a termination approval notice from the Commissioner can it begin negotiations with other potential affiliation partners. That means everyone needs to find a new partner between September 16th and the 30th. Those teams who don’t come to an agreement on their own in that period of time will have their affiliations assigned by the Commissioner by October 7.

*Yes, Bud Selig can employ his “best interests of baseball” powers to disallow termination requests. If Bud decides, for example, that the Twins remaining affiliated with Beloit is what is in the best interests of baseball, he can turn down the Twins’ request to terminate that PDC and require that it be extended two more years. Would he do so? It would be wrong, but he’s from Wisconsin, after all, and it certainly wouldn’t be the first thing he’s done wrong as Commissioner.

Q:           Why don’t the Twins just offer to help Beloit remodel their stadium or even help with the costs of building a new one?

A:            I think the only way the Twins could do that would be to actually purchase the Beloit Baseball Club from the current owner (which, I believe, is the community itself). A few MLB teams do own minor league affiliates (in fact, I think the Twins own their Elizabethton rookie league team), but this is still relatively rare.

In this situation, the MLB Rule applicable to PDCs prohibits MLB teams from promising benefits beyond that of a standard PDC contract. That being the case, it would seem that MLB teams would not be permitted to offer inducements, nor could MiLB clubs ask MLB teams to contribute funding beyond what’s allowed in a standard PDC (travel costs, salaries and benefits for players, coaches, instructional staff and trainers, for example).

Q:           Why don’t the Twins affiliate with the St. Paul Saints for their Class A team?

A:            During the off-season, I heard some chatter suggesting the Twins should partner with the St. Paul Saints in their effort to get a new stadium built in St. Paul and then make the Saints their Class A affiliate. Not that the Twins ever expressed interest in such an arrangement publicly, but the same rule mentioned above would apparently preclude the Twins from funding the Saints’ new stadium and making St. Paul an affiliate unless the Twins actually purchased ownership of the team.

There are also minimum boundary requirements in the rules that preclude a MiLB team from playing too close to a MLB team’s home territory (which would certainly apply to St. Paul). There appears to be some wiggle room there if the MLB team agrees, which they certainly could do if they’re the affiliate of that team. But there are other obstacles. For example, MiLB teams must provide an off day for players any time they travel more than 500 miles for a road series, unless they fly the team to that location (which you just don’t do at Class A). St. Paul is so far outside the current MWL footprint that this would make scheduling extremely difficult. MLB teams get off days regularly… MiLB players get very, very few.

Finally, even if those issues could be addressed, the Twins don’t get to decide which communities get affiliated MiLB teams (the Saints are currently an Independent team, meaning they are not part of the “affiliated” MiLB system). Unless a current MiLB franchise can no longer operate financially in a manner that it can meet the terms of their PDC and other rules, existing teams appear to be guaranteed a PDC. So, for example, unless Beloit can’t meet its obligations, in terms of providing the minimum facilities required, pay for travel or other expenses that they’re responsible for, or they decide to sell their franchise, they will likely have a PDC with someone next season. Even if they’re sold, it appears the new owners would have to give 18 months notice prior to relocating.

In other words, the Saints will probably be remaining independent for the foreseeable future and Beloit will continue to have a MWL team for at least one more season and likely longer.

Q:           When will we know who the Twins’ affiliates will be in 2013?

A:            If the Twins are going to switch affiliations, we may not hear anything official until October. However, if we haven’t heard about a renewal of an existing PDC by September 1, it’s probably safe to assume there’s going to be a change in affiliations at that Class. If either the Twins or their existing affiliates elect to “go in to the pool” and explore new options, they will get a list of potential locations available for new affiliations on September 15. That would not preclude teams from also negotiating with their existing affiliates during the late September negotiating period, but renewals at that point are rather rare.

Q:           If the Twins don’t renew their PDCs with Rochester and/or Beloit, who are they likely to affiliate with?

A:            I’m admittedly biased, but the truth is Cedar Rapids would be a very good fit as the Twins’ Class A affiliate and, trust me, I’m not the only person who feels that way. CR is the closest MWL city to the Twin Cities geographically and an affiliation would benefit both organizations. CR would get an affiliation with a nearby MLB team that has a significant existing local fan base and the Twins would get an opportunity to get a stronger foothold in Eastern Iowa, where neither their TV nor radio rights holders are currently carried. If that dynamic can be changed, it could have a positive effect on future Twins media rights fees.

Cedar Rapids’ stadium is 11 years old and provides relatively modern facilities for players and field management. In addition, I was told once that Kernels players may also have access to the Perfect Game facilities across the street from the ballpark. However, CR has been affiliated with the Angels for 20 years and the Angels would like to renew, so there’s still a chance they announce a renewal before September 1. If that happens, Clinton IA (currently a Mariners affiliate) might be another option for the Twins.

AAA is a cloudier situation. Earlier in the year, the prevailing theory seemed to be that the Blue Jays (who desperately want out of Las Vegas) would affiliate with Buffalo. The Mets, who currently are in Buffalo, would partner up with Rochester and leave the Twins to find a new AAA home. That still could happen or, if Buffalo and the Mets renew, the Jays could simply move to Rochester.

Because so few International League PDCs are up for renewal (none of the IL South or West division teams’ PDCs are expiring), a renewal with Rochester is likely the only chance the Twins have of staying in that league.

The three locations I hear most often discussed for a possible Twins move are Oklahoma City, Nashville and Las Vegas. OKC is currently an Astros affiliate and Nashville is tied to the Brewers. If those teams don’t announce a renewal before September, they might be landing spots for the Twins. Otherwise, the Twins could be “assigned” to Las Vegas.

The sad fact is, with the poor AAA teams the Twins have fielded lately, they won’t have affiliates in line begging to partner up.

I think I’ve finally run out of things to say on this subject, at least until there’s something more “official” coming out of one of the affected communities. If you have any related questions, just leave them in the comment section and I’ll try to find answers.

– JC

GameChat – Twins @ Indians #2, 6:05pm

Since I’m kind of in the mood to update you on people you haven’t seen in awhile, I thought I would start with an unjury update! Carl Pavano is starting for the Miracle at 7:05 tonight at Hammond Stadium. Interestingly enough, he got his start down there with the Red Sox! I’m sure there are those of you who follow the minor leagues much closer that knew that already but I know I’m not the only one for whom this is new information.

As for the game in Cleveland, I think this will be another interesting outing from Samuel Deduno. However, his odd style definitely depends on having a solid defense behind him. Let’s hope that the new middle infield arrangement is able to gel quickly. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

Minnesota

@

Cleveland
Span, CF Kipnis, 2B
Revere, RF Cabrera, A, SS
Mauer, C Choo, RF
Willingham, DH Santana, C, C
Morneau, 1B Brantley, CF
Doumit, LF Kotchman, 1B
Nishioka, 2B Duncan, DH
Dozier, SS Hannahan, 3B
Carroll, 3B Carrera, LF
  Deduno, P   Kluber, P

 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 3 7 11 1
Cleveland 1 3 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 9 3

I’d call that a genuine team win. Obviously, Sam Deduno didn’t have it going tonight, but at least he didn’t completely blow up after giving up four early runs. Jeff Manship and Tyler Robertson weren’t perfect out of the pen, but they kept the game close enough to allow the offense to take advantage when the Tribe pitchers inevitably started faltering.

Cleveland has not only lost 11 straight (five of them to the Twins), but have given up at least 5 runs in each game. Gotta say they remind me a bit of the 2011 Twins, having played just well enough to be pretenders through the All Star break, but collapsing in to a heap soon after.

Ben Revere ran his hitting streak to 21 games and the bottom of the order, Brian Dozier and Jamey Carroll each came through with two hits. There was plenty of timely hitting in the 7th and 9th innings, but Ryan Doumit’s three hits (including 2 doubles) and a pair of RBI earn him BOD honors. – JC

Ryan Doumit

Say, whatever happened to what’s his name?

We’ve been running into so many of our former players on opposing teams lately, like Nathan, Guerrier, Hunter, Hardy, Thome, Punto, Crain…. well, you know. With recent news on a couple more, it got me wondering about some of those guys we don’t hear so much about. Whatever happened to some of the players we used to spend practically every day talking about?

So I went and did a little looking around – not too much because I’m lazy so I’m sure there are lot more of our former guys out there doing things we wouldn’t expect or with teams we don’t see often. If you know of one I didn’t include here, feel free to share what you know! It’s always fun to to catch up..

One of guys we didn’t get to see even though we could have hoped for it was Lew Ford! He recently came up from the minor leagues with the Orioles and got his first hit in MLB since 2007. During that time he played in Japan, Mexico and with an independent league before coming back to the minor leagues in the Orioles system. I’m not sure what it is about the Red Sox and the Orioles but they seem to be a haven for former Twins. And he’s finally on Twitter so you can follow @CaptainLew20 there – anyone else have a little trouble believing that it took a geek like Lew so long to finally join the social media world of micro-blogging?!?! Of course, I found out information about another former Twin by following him! It turns out Terry Tiffee is playing 3B for the AAA Gwinnett Braves. The interesting part is that apparently he recently got called upon to pull a Butera! He pitched an inning in the 22-1 Gwinnett loss. His line: 1IP, 5ER, 4H, 2BB, 0K,45.00ERA.

Also rejoining the ranks after an albeit VERY brief stint in independent league baseball is Luke Hughes! The very same day he announced that he was joining an independent team, he followed up with an announcement that he was going to Las Vegas instead to play for the 51s in the Toronto Blue Jays system. I am hoping his return to the big leagues comes a lot quicker than Lew’s!

Also still in the minor leagues is former utility everything guy, Matt Tolbert. He’s doing well with the Iowa Cubs. He’s also hitting significantly better in the minor leagues than he was able to achieve in the bigs. I suppose that is to be expected for a guy who is used to facing major league pitching. But he’s getting more multiple base hits including a recent outing where he was only a homer short of a cycle. I wish him all the best!

Of course not all former Twins are playing in the minor leagues. Plenty of them are still playing well in their new homes. Interestingly enough, I happened to catch the end of the Cardinals game on the radio on my way home from work on Sunday. Sure enough, there was a former Twin. Kyle Lohse racked up win #12 and is probably their best starting pitcher. I think he could be a good example for Liriano to look to – a guy with a LOT of talent who really struggled with the mental readiness required to anchor a rotation. Clearly Kyle figured something out after he left us.

Speaking of pitching, perennial fan favorite, Pat Neshek is providing a show relieving for the Oakland A’s. Yes, his pitching is still as awkward looking as it always was. And we just faced Jose Mijares with the Royals but yeah, he just got claimed off waivers by the Giants so he’s off to a new home. A couple other former Twins pitchers are currently on the DL, again. I guess they didn’t just have that problem with us. Things are looking up for Johan Santana who is expect to make his return from rehab on Saturday. Things aren’t as rosy for Kevin Slowey. There’s a reason we won’t see him playing the Indians. He’s been out since May with what was reported to be a strained lat. On Friday, trainer Lonnie Soloff said Slowey’s actual injury is a fractured rib. “That takes a long time to heal,” said Soloff. I guess the Twins training staff isn’t the only one having trouble with diagnoses.

It’s not like pitching is the only thing we lose over time. Two of our biggest hitters from last year are with new teams this year. Michael Cuddyer was having a good season with the Rockies — hitting .260 with 15 home runs and 56 RBI — but has been bothered by a strained right oblique muscle and hadn’t played since Tuesday. Does that sound familiar to anyone else?

And my thanks to Thrylos who got me to go check out what is going on with Jason Kubel these days. He’s doing VERY well batting .281 with 23 homeruns. And as Thrylos pointed out, he’s lost a significant amount of weight so in some pictures, it’s hard to recognize him! That has to be a LOT easier on his knees. Yeah, that’s him all they way over on the left. I think he looks taller in addition to looking smaller.

Manager Nelson Prada and Hitting Coach Tommy Watkins

And there are the guys who aren’t playing anymore but are doing the best to pass on what they know to the next generation of players – they are coaching! I am amused by how many former Twins become Hitting Coaches.. really? But one we even get to interact with occasionally. JC just got see Tommy Watkins while visiting in Beloit because he’s still in the Twins system – coaching for us even! You can even follow him on Twitter: @TommyWatkins. He’s been fun to chat with.

Also filling the role as hitting coach are Doug Mientkiewicz and Jacque Jones. I’m very glad they are both still working in baseball but I have to admit that with Dougie especially, I wouldn’t have pegged him as a HITTING coach per se. But according to Utah’s Standard Examiner he’s making a big impact:

Baseball America, in their pre-draft player rankings comprised of both college and high school prospects, tabbed Rathjen as the 229th best draft-eligible player in the country. Had he been the 229th pick, he would have gone off the board early in the seventh round.

But instead of being taken where pundits predicted, he fell to the 11th round, and Rathjen seems pleased with how that’s worked out so far. He’s been given the opportunity to learn from Raptors hitting coach Doug Mientkiewicz, and the two have made a strong connection.

“(Mientkiewicz) was a player, and he was a good player, so he knows how to relate to us and explain things,” Rathjen said. “He can show us what we’re doing wrong and explain it in a way we can understand. For me, personally, that’s really helped.”

Already, Mientkiewicz has helped Rathjen speed up his timing and cut down his long, “metal-bat” swing to a short, direct-to-the-ball cut that’s more suited for wooden bats.

“He’s really done a solid job of (making adjustments),” Berryhill said of Rathjen. “He’s being able to recognize pitches a lot better, which means he’s getting better pitches to hit. He’s driving the baseball.”

I always wanted Dougie to get into coaching – hoped it would be for us like Tommy – because I really thought he had a gift for imparting his love of the game and ability to LEARN the needed skills on to others. I just never really thought it would be about hitting. It makes much more sense to me that Jacque Jones is doing the same thing for the Fort Wayne TinCaps in the Padres system. Since his last couple of playing years involved a LOT of bouncing up and down between the minors and the majors and from team to team, I am almost glad he decided to retire and go into coaching.

Last on my list today but most definitely not last in my baseball heart is Mike Redmond! He’s really making a name for himself Managing in the Blue Jays system. He has already been promoted to AA after a winning season with his A team, the Lansing Lugnuts, last year. His new team speaks pretty highly of him:

…the team will be operating under the guidance of a new skipper, former Major League catcher Mike Redmond.

Redmond made his managerial debut in 2011, when he took the Blue Jays A-ball affiliate, the Lansing Lugnuts, to the Midwest League Championship Series. Though the team fell in finals, the Lugnuts finished the regular season 17 games over .500 at 77-60, and won two post-season series under their rookie Manager.

A native of Seattle, Washington, Redmond spent 13 seasons as a catcher at the Major League level with three different Clubs (1998-2004 with FLA, 2005-2009 with MIN & 2010 with CLE), batting .287 with 13 home runs & 243 RBI in 764 career games.

I honestly couldn’t be happier for him and still really wish we could snag him away to help the Twins minor league system (and eventually the majors!) I think he has a long future in baseball ahead of him.

As I said at the beginning, if you know of someone else I didn’t mention here today, feel free to share! Obviously I love finding out what has happened to someone since the days I wrote their names in my scorebook.

**note: as I was putting the final touches on this post, in the space of about 10 minutes, I was lucky enough to see Brad Radke on TV and see a story about Corey Koskie tweeted out!! Bradke was discussing the American Indian Community Center in Minneapolis that he had recently helped remodel and the story about Koskie, you can read better for yourself: Koskie finds peace of mind.

GameChat – Twins @ Indians, 6:05pm

I think you can probably guess what all the buzz is about for tonight’s game. Yes, Nishioka is back with the team and yes, he’s in the lineup batting 7th. I don’t dislike him – in fact, if he is able to do the job, then I will be ecstatic! I just have a hard time believing that will be his fate tonight given his numbers in AAA. From what I’m seeing in the fan community, I’m not alone in my trepidation.

Also reported today is that Gardy has said “it’s not a 3 day thing for Nishi”… I don’t know what that means Gardy! Of course, the people who supposedly know claim that it means when Plouffe comes back, it will be someone else going back down to Rochester. I just don’t know how anyone can say that before Nishi has fielded a single ball or had a single AB. Shall we let things play out a little bit and see what we have here folks? yeesh.

Dick Bremer actually had an interesting tweet today related to a different person in the lineup! Apparently the Red Sox, who are no doubt feeling a little stung even though they avoided the sweep, commented that they were glad that they didn’t have to face Scott Diamond. I’m kind of glad that we have him for the Indians since they are actually in the division. I’d like to see him do his thing and help us make up a little ground.. It’s a matter of a little pride at this point. And the Twins don’t seem ready to just give up and let the season end now. Good for them. Play hard, let us enjoy some baseball!

Minnesota

@

Cleveland
Span, CF Kipnis, 2B
Revere, RF Cabrera, A, SS
Mauer, DH Choo, RF
Willingham, LF Santana, C, 1B
Morneau, 1B Brantley, CF
Doumit, C Duncan, DH
Nishioka, 2B Lopez, Jo, 3B
Dozier, SS Marson, C
Carroll, 3B Carrera, LF
  Diamond, P   McAllister, P

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E

Minnesota

0

10

0

2

0

1

0

1

0

14

14

3

Cleveland

1

0

0

0

0

2

0

0

0

3

8

1

Tonight’s game looked a little ugly in the first inning… started by McAllister mowing through our hitters in a 3 up, 3 down exercise that was over before you had time to blink.. and then Diamond got himself in a little bit of a pickle & Nishioka got his first error in the bottom half. BUT Scott pulled it together, we got out of the first only giving up one run and from there something else happened entirely!

The guys came out in the 2nd and found out how to get to McAllister in a BIG way. Long balls, singles, errors, bloops, it didn’t matter how they got the hit, they got someone across home plate – 10 times. In the process, Ben Revere increased his hitting streak to 20 games – a career high. And that set the stage for Scott Diamond to come back and nail down the Indians hitting for the next 6 innings. That earned him the honor of being the first Twins pitcher to hit 10 wins this season. More than that, it just continues to build the team & fan trust in his ability – especially against the Indians. Stellar efforts are obviously paying off for both of them. Since we’re in Cleveland, I thought it appropriate to award them both in true Major League fashion – Ben Revere gets a pair of shoes worn by Willie Mays Hayes and Scotty gets a ball singed by Ricky Vaughn!! Congrats boys!

However, when you have a win like this, it can be hard to get the chat population to settle on that one individual they thought MOST contributed to the win – our BOD. After much discussion, the winner was the one who hit 2 homeruns in tonight’s game – including his career #200. Yes, that person is Justin Morneau!

 
And because it really was a team victory with EVERYONE putting forth a good effort this game to bring home this win, we promise not to leave anyone behind in Cleveland… like we did with Danny in Boston.. or Delmon in Detroit.. No really, you all get a plane ticket home.

A Road Trip to Beloit

I drove up to Beloit over the weekend to catch a couple of baseball games between the Twins’ Class A affiliate, the Snappers, and the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers. The Rattlers and Snappers finished first and second, respectively, in the first-half standings of the Midwest League’s Western Division, so I anticipated that they would play some decent baseball. They did.

If you want to read a lot about the games themselves, I’m going to refer you to the daily reports being posted by Seth Stohs over at Twins Daily. Seth and Travis Aune were in Beloit the past few days, as well, and I got to spend some time with them. I also met Jeremy Nygaard and his brother Jed on Saturday. I really enjoyed the opportunity to talk a little baseball with the group and appreciated their willingness to let an old man like me tag along with them for a day and a half.

For my part, I’m going to simply post a whole bunch of pictures I took and let it go at that. Except for this one thing… I’ve mentioned from time to time rumors that the Twins and my own local MWL team, the Cedar Rapids Kernels, might consider entering in to a Player Development Contract starting next year. That’s all they are, at this point, just rumors. Neither party is allowed to discuss the possibility or make any comment on the topic until September. As I think I’ve also posted before, I think the odds are about 50-50. I’m aware that some others think the odds are a bit greater.

Of course, in Beloit there is some concern. They don’t want to lose the Twins. I don’t blame them. They were abandoned by the Brewers a few years ago and nobody likes being told, “we don’t want to be your MLB affiliate anymore.”

The Beloit staff don’t deserve to go through that. They are hard working people who put on a good show at Pohlman Field. The word you hear is that they don’t draw well in Beloit. I suppose that may be true, but I saw a good crowd on Saturday night and an even much better crowd on Sunday. Fireworks Saturday night and a Prince Fielder “BobbleArm” promotion Sunday probably helped, but all minor league teams rely on promotions to draw crowds. It was fun to see the hard work of the Snapper staff rewarded by appreciative crowds.

The problem is the stadium, not the Snappers operation or the fans themselves. Pohlman Field is beyond outdated. I’ve heard it said that it’s the “worst” facility among the 16 teams in the MWL. I’ve only been to three of them, so I can’t speak to how accurate that is. I know it’s tough to come up with funds to build new ballparks or even remodel old ones to bring them up to acceptable standards. I don’t know if Beloit will ever solve that problem. I hope they do.

But professional baseball is a business. A dozen years ago, Cedar Rapids faced losing its team if it didn’t replace their old stadium. The same choice has faced a number of other MWL communities over the past 20 years. Some, like CR, built new ballparks. Some, like Davenport, remodeled old ones. Others determined that they simply could not raise the funds to do so and gave up their franchises to other communities that were able to provide appropriate facilities. I felt bad for some of those cities and I don’t wish to see that kind of thing happen to Beloit. Whether the Twins stay there or elect to move their affiliation elsewhere, I hope Beloit can find a way to survive and eventually thrive as a member of the league.

So here are the pictures. Several of them, actually. I was going to just post a few but then I decided there’s no reason to hold back. We don’t pay for blog space by the inch around here.

– JC

This building serves as both the entrance to the ballpark as well as home to the team’s administrative offices
Don’t tell the people lined up long before gates opened Sunday that the Snappers can’t draw a crowd
Here’s what the crowd was hoping for. The first 500 fans got Prince Fielder “Bobblearm” figures
The Sunday crowd at Pohlman Field
The concourse area inside the gate, but outside the stadium itself. Yes, it did rain hard on Saturday, but the staff got the field ready well before scheduled game time.
The players walk through the concourse behind the stands to get from their locker rooms to the dugouts, giving fans lots of opportunities for autographs
Young fans exchange high fives with Snappers players as they walk from their outfield pregame stretching to their dugout
Saturday’s starting pitcher Jason Wheeler gave up 2 runs in the first inning, then went on to strike out 10 hitters in eight innings of work.
Manager Nelson Prada and Hitting Coach Tommy Watkins
David Hurlbut went six innings Sunday, giving up just one run on two hits, while striking out five Rattlers
Drew Leachman had supporters from Alabama on hand Saturday night. Made my little drive seem pretty insignificant
Catcher Jairo Rodriguez had warm duty on Sunday afternoon
1B Kennys Vargas’ solo HR accounted for the only Snapper run on Saturday night.
Eddie Rosario seems to be more comfortable at 2B than when I saw him in CR early in the season.
Sunday, it was Miguel Sano’s turn to “go yard”

 

GameChat – Twins @ Red Sox #4, 12:10pm

note: My apologies – the game actually begins at 12:30!

Holy Crap.. We are facing game #4 against the Red Sox and actually are able to use the word “sweep” as a hypothetical! (Won’t use it in any other way because well, I don’t want to be a jinx)

However, as far as I can tell, the Twins have already made me one of the happier fans on the planet just with the last three games. They’ve already won this series and in far more stellar a fashion than I could ever have asked for. The whole freaking team could stay home in the hotel for all I care and I would still be happy with this competition. That being said, I really hope they come to the park today so that we get to see baseball. And if we’re lucky, it will be GREAT baseball. Good luck Blackburn!

Minnesota

@

oston
Revere, CF Ellsbury, CF
Mastroianni, RF Crawford, LF
Mauer, C Pedroia, 2B
Willingham, LF Gonzalez, Ad, 1B
Morneau, 1B Ross, C, DH
Doumit, DH Saltalamacchia, C
Dozier, SS Middlebrooks, 3B
Casilla, A, 2B Kalish, RF
Carroll, 3B Aviles, SS
  Blackburn, P   Morales, F, P

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E

Minnesota

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

0

3

4

6

0

Boston

0

0

2

0

2

0

1

1

x

6

14

0

Well that game was definitely less dramatic especially since the final rally didn’t quite make the mark. Blackburn only went 5 innings and it would have been better if he had been able to go deep but he also only had 4 of the runs tagged to him so.. today, as has been a familiar problem, there was just too big a deficit between our pitching and our offense. We all know how that goes.

HOWEVER, that does not mean that nothing happened to talk about!!

It was announced during the game that the Twins traded Danny Valencia to the Red Sox for a minor league outfielder. Boston actually claimed Danny of waivers two days ago and it just took awhile for them to work out the deal. The player the Twins got back is a 21 yo GCL player named Jeremias Pineda. Thrylos from Tenth Inning Stretch conveniently provided a mini-scouting report for us in the GameChat. By the way,  if you aren’t joining us for gamechats, you really should. Turns out that we were discussing the outline of this trade before it actually happened – just as much a surprise to us that we were right! LOL

In related news, to fill the infield vacancy left by Danny’s departure, the Twins have finally recalled, much to everyone’s shock except Thrylos, Tsuyoshi Nishioka. Yes, that Nishi, the one with the one. Go figure.  He’ll join the team in Cleveland. This promises to be an interesting series.

GameChat – Twins @ Red Sox #3, 6:10pm

I can honestly say that I never thought we’d be halfway through the Red Sox series knowing that at the WORST we’d split and have the opportunity to WIN this series. Knowing how important each and every game is to the Red Sox right now, I really expect them to come out hard every game and even harder now that they are down two games.

Cole has been doing well enough that I think he should be able to face this lineup with confidence despite their tremendous abilities. I also enjoy the face that our offense seems to be able to bring the bats when necessary. However, facing Clay Buccholz is no small thing but that’s what baseball is supposed to be – a challenge for any given day.

Minnesota

@

Boston
Span, CF Kalish, CF
Revere, RF Crawford, LF
Mauer, 1B Pedroia, 2B
Morneau, DH Gonzalez, Ad, 1B
Doumit, C Ross, C, RF
Mastroianni, LF Saltalamacchia, DH
Dozier, SS Aviles, SS
Casilla, A, 2B Shoppach, C
Carroll, 3B Punto, 3B
  De Vries, P   Buchholz, C, P

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E

Minnesota

0

0

0

0

1

0

0

1

4

6

12

0

Boston

1

1

0

0

0

0

0

2

0

4

6

3

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME!?!!?!?

There are really no words to describe the roller coaster of emotions watching this game tonight. Just crazy… coming from behind twice and leaving the big runs for the final inning of the Twins half… I think these boys are TRYING to give me an ulcer.

I spent more than an inning complaining that Cole DeVries had really pitched well enough to get better support from his team and they were really letting him down.. Did he get the win tonight? No, but since the team did, I don’t think he will mind all that much. HOWEVER, we do believe he deserves SOMETHING in the way of a gratuity for a tremendous outing. Since he’s a Minnesota boy, we here at Knuckleballs thought he would appreciate some down home comfort food from the North woods. So, because you are just so special Cole, you are awarded a plate of beer battered walleye fingers.. they are making me drool just looking at them..

But when all was deemed lost and even Nick Punto was wondering why the Twins were still trying in the 9th inning despite being down by 2 runs.. things seemed to happen.. remarkable things.. guys at the top of the order got on base – the way they’re supposed to. And then Mauer strode to the plate… all confidence and swagger. Ok, no swagger because that’s not his style but let’s just say there was a glint in his eye! All of Twins Territory held their breath with each pitch and groaned when he took a 2/2 pitch and gets the ball call… There aren’t a lot of people I would choose to be at the plate in the 9th with runners on base and a full count over a healthy Joe Mauer. And he proved exactly why that incredible eye for the strike zone serves him so well by launching one over the Green Monster. What a dramatic storyline!! I really love that the Twins are making it fun to watch baseball again!! And yeah, pretty much an automatic BOD!

GameChat – Twins @ Red Sox #2, 6:10 pm

I’m not sure how the Twins can improve on last night’s 5-0 shutout of the Red Sox, but let’s find out, shall we?

Hoping Brian Duensing has another good start as he continues to demonstrate his versatility.

I probably won’t be around for the Chat tonight, but I’ll be watching the game at my local purveyor of adult beverages and unhealthy food choices.

Enjoy the game, all!

TWINS

@

RED SOX
Span, CF Ellsbury, CF
Revere, RF Pedroia, 2B
Mauer, C Ross, C, RF
Willingham, DH Gonzalez, Ad, 1B
Morneau, 1B Lavarnway, DH
Valencia, 3B Middlebrooks, 3B
Mastroianni, LF Crawford, LF
Dozier, SS Shoppach, C
Carroll, 2B Aviles, SS
  _Duensing, P   _Doubront, P

 

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E

Minnesota

0

1

0

0

4

0

0

0

0

1

6

13

Boston

0

1

4

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

5

14

Holy CRAP, what a game. Hard to believe that we won AGAIN in Boston. Two in a row.

Just to play the first 9 innings took 4 hours. And the fact that there was a 10th is one of those gifts from the baseball gods that we may not have earned but for the pitching staying steady despite working harder than they should have had to. Too many errors from my guys to call it a GREAT game but wow was it intense.

Justin is finally back to hitting Lefties!! But there’s many people who deserve a little recognition. Besides Justin leading the way with consistent AB’s getting hits in every AB & 2 RBI, Mastroianni had some incredible defensive plays, baserunning, AND hitting a crucial double in the 10th. Despite the rare error to Justin, they both really earned a little treat so they are promptly gifted rootbeer floats for their efforts!

And you can look a little sideways at AJ Burnett if you want but our usual weak spot is pitching and tonight, they really held on to their big boy pants and threw some REALLY tough innings and situations. Duensing had a really great start especially given the errors in the field behind him. Robertson had a ridiculously well-timed strikeout of Ellsbury despite only a dozen or so SO by Jacoby all SEASON. There were so many things I could say so we will just let the whole pitching staff keep their keys to the Knuckleballs Ice Cream Buffet they earned last night. Hope none of those boys are lactose intolerant!

But the real hero for me of tonight’s game was Jamey Carroll. 4 hits in 4 AB’s, a steady presence every time he comes out, some practically miraculous fielding and he’s the one who finally knocked in the winning run in the 10th to break the tie. His response during a postgame interview regarding his success this game kind of said it all for me:

just ask my son, he’ll tell you I don’t hit any homeruns so I don’t have to worry about the green wall”

For all around amazingness and actually bringing the win before I turned back into a pumpkin, Mr. Carroll is the Knuckleballs BOD! – CB

Jamey Carroll

GameChat – Twins @ Red Sox, 6:10pm

Now we begin a nice long stretch of early games due to East Coast baseball!

Let’s cover a little bit of pitching injury update/news:

  1. Pitching prospect, Alex Wimmers, unfortunately has to undergo Tommy John surgery. Is anyone ever surprised by one of these announcements anymore? Whatever it is in the current training of young pitchers, it seems as though severe damage to elbow ligaments is now de rigueur. Or the surgery itself is being over-prescribed. Or both. I’m not sure how many careers it’s actually doing a service to but it must keep enough players in the game to be worth the investment of money and time.
  2. Pavano was scratched from his scheduled start in GCL today but he did throw a bull pen session. If all goes well with the recovery from that, he’ll make a start for the Miracle next week. At least that sounds a little bit like progress.

After a difficult series against the White Sox, all of which were 1 run games, I would love to see the offense come out a little bit. Yes, our games always seem to rise and fall with the pitching but the last few would have benefited greatly from some additional run support. No, I am not talking about one of those monster hit games that are ridiculously exciting – I just mean get a few more guys across home plate if we get them on base. Ok??

Minnesota

@

Boston
Span, CF Ellsbury, CF
Revere, RF Crawford, LF
Willingham, DH Pedroia, 2B
Morneau, 1B Gonzalez, Ad, 1B
Doumit, LF Ross, C, DH
Valencia, 3B Lavarnway, C
Dozier, SS Middlebrooks, 3B
Butera, C Kalish, RF
Casilla, A, 2B Ciriaco, SS
  Deduno, P   Lester, P

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

R

H

E

Minnesota

0

0

2

0

0

1

0

0

2

5

9

0

Boston

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

0

2

0

*giggles uncontrollably*

so, shutting out the BoSox at home.. yeah that doesn’t happen every day – especially to the Twins. In fact, it hasn’t happened in almost exactly 16 years (tomorrow).  I had asked for some offense to give the pitching some run support and look what happened! Just a little bit in the way of early runs and the pitching just took over!

It’s interesting that the most commonly discussed facet of the pitching was the odd ability for Samuel Deduno to be “effective wild” – in other words, no one knows how the hell he does it but he gets outs. He pitched 6 full innings with the support of Drew Butera with only 2 hits. Yes, there were 4 walks which is distinctly un-Twins-like but it was all part & parcel to keeping the batters off their step. I liked it. Then the bullpen came in and finished it off in similar fashion! Fien and Perkins nailed it down. In response, we here at Knuckleballs would like to thank them from the deepest place within us – no not our hearts, our STOMACHS! For being stellar tonight, we give the entire pitching staff access to the Knuckleballs ice cream buffet! And Deduno gets all the cherries he wants..

As you can see, we are classy folk here at Knuckleballs so it’s a prize worth of such a great performance.

However, our loftiest of prizes went to Brian Dozier for all around great offense & defense and basically cementing the game for our pitchers to claim. For that, he was awarded our BOD! Congrats Brian!

Brian Dozier