Things Ben Revere is Unlikely to Do

Photo credit: Jim Crikket

Yesterday, during the Twins’ Spring Training loss to the Red Sox at JetBlue Park, Ben Revere threw out a runner at the plate from left field.  Well, kind of.  Jacoby Ellsbury tripled and the ball bounced away from Valencia at third into shallow left field.  Ellsbury, thinking the ball had skipped into an area void of defenders, took off for home.  Revere, racing in from left, scooped up the ball and threw a rocket to home plate, catching Ellsbury by three or four steps.  If you’re scoring at home, that’s an outfield assist.

While Spring Training stats do not count, Revere throwing a runner out, from anywhere, is a note worthy occurrence, given his weak throwing arm and previous performance (3 assists in 2011, and none of those, as far as I can remember, involved throwing a runner out at home plate).

With that in mind, here is a list of things Ben Revere is unlikely to do in 2012:

1. Throw out a Runner at Home Plate. As mentioned above, Revere’s arm is weak (4/100 per Fangraphs), and if he is not playing every day, his chances of even being in the right situation are limited, at best.

2. Hit a home run.  While Revere has shown that he can occasionally hit a home run (or 2), he has never hit a home run in the Major Leagues, and has just 5 home runs in his entire Minor League Career (with a career high of 2 at Single-A Fort Myers).  While Revere might eventually hit a ball over the outfield fence, his speed could allow him to stretch a triple into an inside-the-park home run, thus ending his HR drought.  However, Revere only hit 5 triples in 2011, despite his speed, and might not have enough at bats to even match that total in 2012.

3. Have an on base percentage above .335.  While he will never hit for power, Revere’s Minor League numbers indicate that he has great on base skills, posting a career .385 OPB, though he has never played a full season at AAA.  Revere’s biggest asset is his speed, and as a 4th outfielder, he will have plenty of opportunities to showcase his defensive tools, but for the team to put that speed to use offensively Revere will need to get to first base.  If he is not playing regularly, Revere may struggle to find a rhythm, having never been used consistently as a reserve.  While Revere posted a .310 OBP in 2011, that number was helped significantly by a late season push that saw Revere hit .311/.342/.368 in September and October.  If Revere wants to be the Twins’ leadoff hitter and centerfielder of the future, he’ll need to come close to Denard Span‘s career OBP of .361.

4. Says something interesting on Twitter. While Ben Revere (@BenRevere9) has almost 3 times as many Twitter followers as  fellow Minnesota Twin, Glen Perkins (@Glen_Perkins), he rarely, if ever, says anything noteworthy.  The most exciting thing he’s tweeted in the past 30 days is this.  Really, Ben Revere?  Trading in the Statue of Liberty for Tim Tebow Tebowing?  Meanwhile, Glen Perkins has not only spent Spring Training on a quest to hold and photograph himself holding sharks, he also interacts with fans and other Twitter users on a regular basis.  Definitely worth a follow.

What else might Ben Revere not do in 2012?  Steal 40 bases?  Run a marathon? Eat 50 In and Out burgers?  Who knows!

ERolfPleiss

A Spring Training Tale of Two Sites

I really like having the Red Sox being just down the road a bit from where the Twins train. Sunday, I was able to spend the morning watching the Twins’ minor leaguers play intrasquad games (low A vs. high A on one field, AAA vs. AA on another field and “rookie” teams on yet a third field) and then drive 15 minutes east to watch the Twins take on the Red Sox at the Saux brand new JetBlue Park in the afternoon.

BJ Hermsen

It was great getting to watch fellow Iowan B.J Hermsen take the mound to start for the high A club against the lineup likely to be fielded by the Beloit Snappers, including uber-prospects Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario. Hermsen struck out both Rosario and Sano in the first inning, but Sano did get a measure of revenge with a double off of Hermsen later on, leading to a run.

Beloit manager Nelson Prada chats with Eddie Rosario, Miguel Sano and Daniel Ortiz
Max Kepler hitting, Drew Butera catching

 

I also spent some time watching the older minor leaguers, where prospect Max Kepler and his AA team mates were taking on a AAA team filled with a number of players, such as Drew Butera, Mike Holliman and Casey Fien who were still in the Major League clubhouse up until just a few days ago.

I really didn’t pay attention to the scores and I didn’t stick around to see the games to their completion, but it was a lot of fun not only watching both games, but watching far more important observers, like General Manager Terry Ryan, who was also turning his attention back and forth between the fields.

The game with the Red Sox wasn’t so interesting, but it was good to see Chris Parmelee celebrate the news that he’s made the Big League roster to start the season by giving the Twins a brief 1-0 lead over the Sox with a towering home run to right field. Carl Pavano cruised through five innings of work before he started getting knocked around a bit in the sixth. Alex Burnett didn’t fare nearly as well in relief.

I thought I’d share a few pictures of the game, as well as a few I took of the new ballpark itself. In case you weren’t aware, JetBlue Park was built with the same dimensions as Fenway Park, right down to a “green monster” in left field.

JetBlue Park from behind home plate
Infield prospects James Beresford and Estarlin De Los Santos got their opportunities to play in front of the big crowd and the Big League coaches
Newcomer Sean Burroughs manned 1B for the Twins
The "Green Monster" at JetBlue Park
The view from atop JetBlue's green monster
JetBlue Park from the outside

 

Another Saturday In The Park(s)

Busy day in Fort Myers on Saturday. This is supposed to be a vacation, for crying out loud!

This is a subject for another day, but there’s been a lot of tweeting lately between traditional media types that cover the Twins and various bloggers, myself included. Some of it has been interesting, some of it somewhat disappointing, but the crux of the discussion revolves around the value of “access” that the reporters have. Today was a perfect example of a situation where a blogger (that would be me) benefited from the access that a beat reporter (in this case, LaVelle E. Neal III of the Strib) has to sources within the Twins organization.

Neal tweeted late Friday that Scott Baker would be pitching in a minor league game on Saturday morning over at the Red Sox home, JetBlue Park. Thanks to that alert, I headed out for JetBlue instead of Hammond Stadium this morning. It seemed like a good opportunity to (a) get a glimpse at the Red Sox’ new digs on the east side of Fort Myers, and (b) see what kind of arm Baker has at this point.

I saw all that and then some.

It turned out that Baker wasn’t the only Big Leaguer scheduled to play in that game. Jon Lester took to the mound for the Red Sox AAA team, while David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis, Jarrod Saltalamacchia (yes, I had to look up the spelling) and former Twin Nick Punto all opted to stick around and face Baker rather than make the bus trip up to Port Charlotte to face the Rays in Boston’s scheduled Big League game.

Baker gave up one run on a solo HR to Sox prospect Will Middlebrooks, but otherwise got through four innings of work relatively unscathed.  Lester definitely was throwing harder than Baker was and the Twins announced later in the day that Baker would open the season on the 15-day Disabled List, retroactive to his last Big League game on March 27.

The regularly scheduled game in the afternoon against the Pirates saw another offensive blowout by the Twins who have been scoring runs in bunches lately. Anthony Swarzak gave the Twins six solid innings on the mound and Denard Span racked up four hits for the Twins as they bludgeoned the Pirates, 15-3. Span, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Danny Valencia and Trevor Plouffe (who played 2B… so much for him being strictly an outfielder, huh?) all doubled. Ryan Doumit and Brian Dozier homered for the Twins. (I have to confess, I missed the Doumit HR… I was standing in line for a beer with fellow Twins blogger Topper Anton of Curve for a Strike when Doumit connected in the 3rd inning.)

But you can read all the reports of the game provided by the reporters who get paid the big bucks to provide that information. What we offer here at Knuckleballs is photographic enhancement of the Spring Training experience. With that in mind, feast your eyes on the following:

Scott Baker looked sharp, but didn't seem to be throwing at full velocity
Jon Lester had Twins AAA hitters swinging late for four innings
Ron Gardenhire and Tom Brunansky chat during the AAA game
Papi did no damage to Baker. He even tried (unsuccessfully) to bunt on his final plate appearance.
Anthony Swarzak gave up 1 run on 6 hits with no walks and 6 Ks in six full innings of work for the Twins
Denard Span totalled four hits, including a double, in Saturday's win
Sean Burroughs appears close to making the Opening Day roster for the Twins

Finally, I leave you with this…

And they say Chuck Knoblauch has gone in to seclusion and won’t make appearances at Twins games…

Sunday, I’m hoping to hang out on the minor league fields in the morning before heading down Daniels Parkway to JetBlue Park for the Twins and Red Sox game in the afternoon. Things are starting to wind up here in Fort Myers… it’s time to start getting excited for Opening Day!

– JC

Spring Training: Photos of the Twins Busting the Bucs

There are plenty of accounts elsewhere about the Twins’ win over the Pirates in Bradenton Thursday, so I’m not about to give yet another one. Suffice to say the Twins looked really good for the first five innings and then coasted to an 11-6 win.

At least Chris Parmelee isn't chewing tobacco at 1B

I was in the first row down the right field line for this game, in a position where I was glad every throw from third base to first baseman Chris Parmelee was on target, because anything that would have gotten by him would have been dangerously close to my nose. But neither overthrow nor line drive foul ball threatened my health and well being today.

Few of the Twins regulars made the trip up to Bradenton. We probably might as well start thinking of Parmelee as a regular, of course. In addition, Danny Valencia DH’d, Luke Hughes manned 3B and Ben Revere patroled CF. Otherwise, this was largely a team bound for Rochester or New Britain and looking to leave an impression on manager Ron Gardenhire and the other coaches. Some of them, most notably a couple guys named Brian, did just that.

Brian Dozier looked good at SS, but he impressed more with his HR

Dinkelman and Dozier both homered for the Twins, backing up Matt Maloney, who looked plenty good again while getting stretched out to three innings after largely pitching an inning at a time so far this spring.

Ben Revere showed his speed, of course, and prospect Angel Morales, who was called up for a spot start in RF, not only showed off his speed but also the cannon attached to his right shoulder.

Former Twin Garrett Jones signed some autographs before the game

All in all, just a very enjoyable day at the ballpark watching some young players show their stuff.

Friday, I’m going to catch a few innings of the Orioles vs Tigers game in Sarasota before heading south to Ft. Myers.

– JC

 

If Twins prospect Angel Morales felt like he was being observed by more than just his manager, maybe he had good reason to feel that way

 

Getting closer to the season for MLB FanCave too!

For all of you who worked so hard to help our own Lindsay Guentzel get into the MLB FanCave, I thought you would like an update on her progress! She did make it all the way through and is now one of 9 remaining contestants who will proceed to watch EVERY baseball game this season…  I have to admit, I couldn’t do it. I need the occasional diversion. But she’s made of tough stuff – as you can tell in the video – and she makes sure she looks good in the process…

 

BTW, she’s the one with the baseball bat…

JC’s Spring Training Itinerary

It hasn’t been easy to sit back and read others’ reports from the Twins’ Spring Training home of Ft. Myers while I patiently (or not so patiently, at times) waited for my turn to head south. That time has come. I leave Wednesday morning for Florida.

Hammond Stadium, Home of the Twins

I’ve always felt the best time to go down to Spring Training is toward the middle of March, but that simply wasn’t doable for me this year. Going down for the final week of games is not ideal, but it’s still a week spent in Florida, instead of Iowa, and it’s still baseball… and it will mean I’ll be on hand as the final roster spots are being determined.

I fly to Ft. Myers Wednesday and head back home a week later on April 4. I should be able to see the Twins play up to five times and may try to catch a Tigers/Orioles game in Sarasota, as well. Here are the games I’d be hoping to see:

McKechnie Field, Bradenton

Thursday, March 29: I’m actually not going to stay in Ft. Myers the first two nights. Instead, I’m staying up near Sarasota. It will make for a short drive Thursday morning up to Bradenton. where the Twins are taking on the Pirates. I really do enjoy the environment at the ballpark in Bradenton. It’s an old-fashioned neighborhood ballpark that just makes me feel like I’ve gone back in time about 50 years.

Ed Smith Stadium, Sarasota

Friday March 30: The Twins have split squads playing on the 30th, one group hosting the Red Sox in Ft Myers and the other visiting the Blue Jays in Dunedin. But I’ll have other chances to see the Twins play the Red Sox later. Since I’m staying up near Sarasota anyway, I’m thinking I’ll stick around and watch at least a few innings of the Tigers and Orioles, then drive down to Ft. Myers after the game.

Saturday. March 31: I hope to check out the Twins minor league complex in the morning before watching the Twins and Pirates at Hammond Sadium in the afternoon.

Sunday April 1: The Twins are at the Red Sox and I’m really looking forward to seeing the new JetBlue Park, built for the Red Sox just about 15 minutes away from the Twins’ complex. It’s supposedly built to resemble a smaller version of Fenway Park, complete with their own Green Monster in left field.

Charlotte Sports Park

Monday April 2: Yet another “road trip”, and I’m not 100% sure I’ll make this one. The Rays have a nice place up in Port Charlotte, with a boardwalk all the way around the outfield. It’s a great place to just buy a cheap general admission ticket and then hang around out in the outfield. On the other hand, if I don’t feel like making that drive, I may hang out at the Twins minor league complex in the morning. I could even catch the Nationals @ Red Sox game that afternoon without leaving Ft. Myers.

Tuesday April 3: The final day in Ft. Myers may start with another morning on the minor league complex. The Twins host the Rays in the afternoon. I’ve got tickets on the “drink rail” by the beer concession stand down the right field line for this game. I’ve always thought that looked like an interesting area to watch a game, but I’ve never had a chance to find out. This year I will. It will be the Twins’ final Spring Training game against Major League competition (they play the Ft. Myers Miracle on Wednesday, April 4).

I’ll fly home from Ft Myers the next day, Wednesday April 4.

Those are the plans. If you’re planning on being in Ft. Myers the week I’ll be there, drop me an email or leave a comment and maybe we’ll find one another for a beer at some point.

If I pull all of this off, I think I may need a week of vacation to recover from my week of vacation. What I would really like to do is fly home by way of Baltimore and catch the Twins’ season opener at Camden Yards! But there’s no way I could pull that off… right?

However it works out, I’ll certainly be posting reports and pictures here at Knuckleballs from time to time, while I’m there. You may even find a report or two from me over at Howard Sinker’s A Fan’s View from Section 219 blog at the Strib’s website.

Or I may just blow off baseball altogether and spend the entire week on a beach drinking margaritas. Ya just never know.

– JC

Who’s On First?

Media reports coming out of Ft. Myers point out that Justin Morneau hasn’t played first base for the Twins in the past ten days. The conclusion being drawn is that, at best, Morneau is likely to open the season as the team’s Designated Hitter and, at worst, could open the year on the Disabled List.

Justin Morneau

The Twins entered Spring Training with a lot of question marks, not the least of which concerned Morneau’s health. With under two weeks before Opening Day, there’s been good news and bad news about #33. The good news is that we’ve heard nothing to indicate Justin has had any recurrence of the concussion symptoms that have largely kept him off the field for most of the past season and a half. The bad news is that he’s clearly not hitting the baseball like the old Justin and now, apparently, there’s reason to doubt he’s ready to man first base defensively.

While there’s been no official word about Morneau being unfit for defensive duty from Terry Ryan, who’s assumed responsibility for all communication regarding players’ health, clearly the team doesn’t feel Justin is ready to man his position. So, if that remains the case, who will be the Twins’ regular first baseman when games start to count?

Ryan Doumit would, on the surface, seem like the most likely option. He had been penciled in to the regular DH spot, but if Morneau is going to play that role, how better to get Doumit’s bat in the line up regularly than to simply allow him to swap positions with Morneau? This makes perfect sense… except for the pesky fact that he’s barely been asked to play the position this spring for the Twins. If they truly planned to simply swap Doumit and Morneau around, certainly Ron Gardenhire would be getting Doumit a lot more innings at first base.

So, if not Doumit, who?

If the past is predictive of the future, the best way to figure out who’s in the Twins plans if Morneau can’t take the field on Opening Day may be to look at who’s been playing there lately.

Morneau last played first base in a game on March 13 against the Blue Jays. The Twins have played ten games since then. Here’s the list of players that have taken throws at the first sack:

Doumit and Hughes: 1 game each (both yesterday vs. the Yankees)

Mauer: 2 games

Hollimon: 3 games (none of them as a starter)

Bates: 5 games (two as a starter)

Parmelee: 6 games (five as a starter)

As I write this, Joe Mauer is scheduled to start at 1B against the Rays today, with Morneau once again DH’ing.

Chris Parmelee and Paul Molitor

Looking at these numbers, it’s clear that neither Ryan Doumit nor Luke Hughes will be the Twins’ regular first baseman. Hollimon and Bates are also unlikely candidates. That appears to leave two possible scenarios that the Twins may be considering.

1. Keep Chris Parmelee to open the season and play 1B. Parmelee clearly won’t be kept unless he’s going to play every day, but he’s hit well enough this spring to warrant consideration if Morneau can’t go. This option becomes almost a certainty if Morneau should find himself on the DL to start the year. If Morneau is the regular DH, however, this option means Doumit becomes purely a bench player, backing up at catcher and the corner outfield positions. It also means one less bench position is available for the current group of middle infielders battling for those spots. [EDIT: Parmelee is getting a start in RF today, which certainly indicates he’s getting a long look for an Opening Day roster spot.]

2. Make Joe Mauer the regular first baseman and Ryan Doumit the starting catcher. If Morneau is the DH, then the entire expected line up remains intact, with only a shifting of defensive positions.

Of course, the bigger question yet to be answered is whether Justin can get his swing back to the point where he can turn on the ball and drive it the way he used to. It was good to see him drive a double over the center fielder against the Yankees on Friday and we’re all hoping that’s an indication of better days to come because the Twins can’t afford to start the season with a cleanup hitter struggling to reach Drew Butera’s offensive output levels.

– JC

St. Patty’s Day is Separation Day

St. Patrck’s Day means different things to different people. But if you’re a baseball player trying to make a Big League ballclub, you should have a pretty good idea of where you stand with your manager and General Manager by the time you lift your first green beer of the evening on March 17.

At this point, there are just over two weeks left of Spring Training, so if you have any hope of heading north with the Big Club, you had better have made some sort of positive impression by now. You simply can’t look like Leprechaun feces on the field for the first half of March and expect to be wearing a Major League uniform on Opening Day.

The Twins had 67 players in their Big League camp to begin with and will take only 25 with them to Baltimore to begin the regular season. In reality, there were only a handful of spots open on the Twins roster to begin with and not much has changed with regard to those players that were “locks.” Of course, Joel Zumaya’s injury immediately made one more bullpen spot available and now there’s some question whether Scott Baker’s tender elbow could cause him to start the season on the Disabled List, which would open up another pitching spot. Otherwise, the Twins were really only looking to determine who their bench position players would be and fill out the back end of their bullpen.

So let’s look at who the leaders are as the guys take that long bus ride across the state of Florida for a St. Patty’s Day contest with Ozzie’s new-look Miami Marlins this afternoon. (Our friend and fellow blogger, Thrylos, has been maintaining “scorecards” that track game-by-game performance of those contending for bench positions and bullpen spots over at The Tenth Inning Stretch. It’s a handy tool that you should glance at regularly.)

All statistics are through Friday, March 16.

Third Catcher:

It’s been almost a foregone conclusion that the Twins would carry a third catcher, in addition to Joe Mauer and Ryan Doumit, They’re still carrying six other catchers, but Danny Lehmann, Chris Herrmann and Daniel Rolfing will be heading back to minor league camp as the number of pitchers is thinned out.

The assumption has been that non-roster invite J.R. Towles would challenge Drew Butera, but Rene Rivera has perhaps been the most consistent performer of the group. Towles made a good first impression early in the month, but has been mediocre, at best, since then. Don’t rule out Butera, however. After a slow start, he’s had a couple of good games recently. I think Drew remains the odds-on favorite to keep his spot on the Twins bench. Here’s a fun small sample size Spring Training fact, however: Going in to today’s game, all three of these potential back-up back-up catchers are hitting at least .300 in official Spring Training games.

Other bench players:

The Twins really only have open spots for a utility infielder or two, if we assume that Ben Revere and Trevor Plouffe have secure spots as the third and fourth outfielders. There was no shortage of infield candidates, but to be brutally honest, there haven’t been three guys who have thus far demonstrated that they deserve to get a MLB paycheck.

The best of the bunch, so far, is Chris Parmelee (.368/.478/,684). His performance this spring would seem to indicate that his impressive September call-up was not a fluke. The problem is, it’s unlikely that the Twins really want him to spend 2012 sitting on the Twins bench. He needs to play baseball every day and, unless Justin Morneau is unable to answer the bell in April, Parmelee is going to be the Rochester first baseman.

Non-roster invite Mike Hollimon has looked good (.400/.455/.700), but he has to keep it up if he’s going to force the front office to give him someone else’s spot on the 40-man roster. On the other hand, unlike with Parmelee, the Twins wouldn’t think twice about letting him collect splinters on the Big League club’s bench if he can fill in around the infield and be effective in a pinch-hitting role.

Luke Hughes (.273/.333/.500) is definitely still in the hunt for a bench spot, as well. He’s out of options, which helps his cause. He also started out physically behind other contenders, as he nursed his shoulder back to health. Since returning to regular playing time at bat and in the field, his performance has picked up considerably and he finished this week strong.

Of the rest of the candidates for bench spots, nobody as been absolutely terrible, but nobody has been consistently good, either. Outfielder Joe Benson (.250/.304/.400) has been impressive at times, especially defensively, but he’s got the same issue Parmelee does… the Twins won’t keep him just to sit on the bench. Brian Dozier (.250/.294/.375) is probably in the same boat.

Handicapping the race with two weeks left, I’d say the early favorites remain the most likely players to open the year in Twins uniforms. Luke Hughes has a spot unless he kicks it away. Tsuyoshi Nishioka (.261/.292/..348) probably does, too, not so much because he’s looked good, but because almost nobody else has looked a heck of a lot better. Keep an eye on Hollimon, though, because if he finishes strong, he could force the Twins to make a very difficult decision regarding Nishioka.

The rest… Aaron Bates, Sean Burroughs, Ray Chang, Brian Dinkelman and Pedro Florimon… have had a moment or two they can be proud of, but I look for each of them to be sent down or released over the next 7-10 days.

Pitchers:

Things are much more interesting… and surprisingly optimistic… on the pitching front. For all the fretting about how the Twins would manage to cobble together a bullpen capable of backing up one of the most mediocre rotations in baseball last season, we’ve seen a number of candidates make strong cases that they deserve a shot.

Let’s start with Liam Hendriks (7 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.000 WHIP). He started out pitching just an inning in his outings, but threw three hitless innings at the Red Sox when he got a chance to start. He was never likely to fill a bullpen role for the Twins to start the season, but if Baker has to postpone his season debut a while, Hendriks has looked good enough to step in to his spot. Whether he’s a Twin on Opening Day or not, I look for Hendriks to play a significant role for the Twins over the course of the season.

Alex Burnett, Carlos Gutierrez, Jeff Manship and Kyle Waldrop needed to perform well this spring. Those are guys who have been brought up in the organization and who the Twins expected to be developed enough at this point to be contributing at the Major League level. A big reason there are so many pitchers in camp that have been signed from other organizations within the past year or two is that those four pitchers have not yet proved they can do the job.

Burnett (2.2 IP, 16.87 ERA) has struggled, but the other three guys have been pitching well. They are getting some competition from Matt Maloney, Jared Burton, Casey Fien and P.J. Walters, all of whom have been pretty impressive, as well.

Others have had a good day here and there, as well, but I think the field has been narrowed to Gutierrez (5 IP, 1.80 ERA, 1.200 WHIP ), Manship (4.1 IP, 2.08 ERA, 0.462 WHIP), Waldrop (4 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.750 WHIP), Maloney (5.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.750 WHIP), Burton (5 IP, 1.80 ERA, 1.000 WHIP), Fien (3.1 IP, 0.00 ERA, 0.300 WHIP) and Walters (5 IP, 0.00 ERA, 1.000 WHIP).

Keep in mind that Gutierrez, Manship and Waldrop are all already on the Twins’ 40-man roster, while the four “outsiders” are not which means the Twins would need to find room for any of them they decide to keep. [EDIT: Matt Maloney is also already on the 40-man roster… my bad.] This race is still too close to call, but I’m excited that there are so many guys who are meeting and even exceeding expectations as we head in to the final couple of weeks of Spring Training.

I’ll be heading down to Ft. Myers for the final week of Spring Training and I’m looking forward to seeing how this all shakes out.

– JC

GameChat: Yankees @ Twins, 12:05 FSN

The Twins are putting what’s pretty much their “A” line up out there today against the visiting Yankees. Considering the 2+ hour bus ride from Tampa and the fact that this is a “split squad” day for the Yankees (they have a “home” game today, too), they actually brought a fair number of regular position players to Ft. Myers.

Denard Span was originally listed as the starting CF, but was a late scratch with a stiff neck. I don’t like the sound of that, but I’ll try not to get too worried… yet.

Nick Blackburn takes the mound for the Twins and Phil Hughes does so for the Evil Empire and, best of all (at least for those of you in Minnesota), the game is being shown on FSN. So, once again, we’ll open up a GameChat window for anyone interested in stopping by.

Here’s today’s lineups:

YANKEES

@

TWINS
Gardner, LF Revere, LF
Granderson, CF Carroll, SS
Swisher, RF Mauer, C
Ibanez, DH Morneau, 1B
Cervelli, C Willingham, RF
Vazquez, 3B Doumit, LF
Nix, J, 2B Valencia, 3B
Laird, 1B Benson, CF
Pena, R, SS Casilla, A, 2B
  _Hughes, P, P   _Blackburn, P
  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
NY Yankees 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 9 0
Minnesota 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 x 5 8 0

Admit it, it’s always a good feeling to beat the Yankees, even if it’s just an early exhibition game.

Once again, the Twins pitching had a good day. Nick Blackburn got the job done in his three innings  and the six relief pitchers that followed did just fine, as well. The difference between yesterday and today was that Twins hitters also showed up. Danny Valencia hit his second HR in as many days and today he was joined by Joe Benson and Mike Hollimon who had blasts of their own. None of the damage was done against Yankees starter Phil Hughes, but at this point, I’m just happy to see bats making good contact on baseballs for the Twins against anyone.

This is the week we’re likely to see a few of the 66 players that started the spring in the Big League clubhouse take their gear across the parking lot to the minor league complex. There aren’t likely to be many surprises, but we’ll soon start to get a better idea of who’s in serious consideration for those last roster spots and who isn’t.

– JC

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