Gomez hits for cycle, first Twin since Puckett in ‘86 to do so

When the Twins first traded for Carlos Gomez and defended him by saying he could single-handedly change a ball game with just his speed, I don’t think even they could’ve expected his night last night. Because of a rain delay I didn’t watch much, but when I woke up to see that he had 4 hits in 6 at-bats, even I couldn’t have predicted the damage he did. A lead off homer in the first in which the successive run around the bases took all of 10 seconds, probably. He ran like he had a mission, maybe fearful he would get in trouble for showboating if he took his time jogging around them instead. He hustled to third on a triple in the 5th inning, got a double and advanced to third on an error after that, and hit an infield single to the shortstop in the 9th to finish things off. So basically his triple would’ve been a double and single would’ve been an out had it been anyone but Gomez. Here’s a link to a video, I can’t embed it right onto my blog so you have to check out ESPN to see it.

 

I woke up to see the final score of 13-1 and knowing Gomez had the lead off home run I figured “ok, I bet Justin Morneau or Michael Cuddyer jacked one out.” Morneau had 2 singles and no RBI while Cuddy had a single and a double and drove in Gomez in the 9th. In fact, nobody else had a home run; Nick Punto had a double and a triple and drove in 5 (wow!), Mike Redmond hit his second double of the year en route to driving in 3 runs, but the rest of the team’s 16 hits were singles.

 

Brendan Harris was the only hitless Twin, although he had 2 walks and he did score once.

 

The best part of the game, to me, is that Livan Hernandez was finally let loose. He pitched all 9 innings, giving up 9 hits but just 1 run (a solo homer in the 9th). He walked 1 and struck out 3, improving to 5-1 with a 3.83 ERA. It took him 121 pitches to finish the game, even though he threw just 49 through 5 innings. Even greater is that there are no complaints from him about being overworked. He says he feels really good this year, and frankly I think they should send him out there for 100-115 pitches every game. I was under the impression that he was acquired to give the bullpen a rest due to our young and inconsistent starting staff, so why not let him do his job?

 

Jason Kubel and Joe Mauer both didn’t play, Mauer because today’s game starts at 1:05 and they want him to play in it fully rested. Kubel was 0-for-2 with the team’s only RBI in the nearly no-hit game and gets benched the next day. I don’t understand why but I’m not going to get too upset because he’s played way more than I expected him to so far this year. And he’s playing below expectations, honestly. I know he’ll pick it up but when he does, hopefully Craig Monroe will be playing in left to give Delmon Young a break or anywhere else so that there’s a spot open for Kubes. By the way, I got my jersey. It was $165 but worth it in my opinion. I might take a picture of it and put it up here. It was funny because the first day I wore it to school, my friend wore his Pat Neshek jersey and Pat is #17 while Kubel is #16, so we went in order when we stood next to each other. Ok maybe it isn’t that funny but just kind of cool especially since I honestly didn’t even know Neshek’s number was 17.

 

And a fun fact: the Twins and Mets currently have the same record.

 

I knew Joe Mauer was good for something

Heh, just kidding. But seriously, if it weren’t for him, the Twins very well might’ve been no-hit last night. With 1 out in the 9th inning he hit a double and that was it. It’s funny because we had actually scored a run before the hit happened; the strike zone was smaller than the patches of snow in Minnesota (get it? ‘cuz there shouldn’t be any.) making walks abundant (3 by each starting pitcher.) But with the help of an error, Jason Kubel hit a sac fly to score Joe Mauer for the team’s only run. Mauer also threw out two batters although it appeared they were running for a hit-and-run play in which the batter failed to execute the hit part of that play. Hmm, Mauer had the team’s only run and only hit, plus created two outs with his arm…someone should assemble a team full of Joe Mauers and see what happens.

 

Nick Blackburn pitched a quality game, allowing 3 earned runs (4 total) in 6 innings. He gave up 6 hits and struck out just 1.

 

Jesse Crain and Bobby Korecky both pitched after Nick and they gave up 3 runs combined (2 earned) on 5 hits and a walk. Korecky struck out a batter and Crain did not.

 

Livan Hernandez pitches tonight at 7:11 against Mark Buehrle, someone who threw a no-hitter for the White Sox last year.

 

Liriano pitches again, upcoming series

Francisco Liriano pitched last night and while he wasn’t dominant, he certainly showed improvement from his most recent outings. He went 5 innings (it still seems to be his maximum right now, because of pitch counts though, not coaching) and walked 4 but only allowed 2 hits and also struck out 4. He gave up an earned run and he threw 48 strikes out of 87 total pitches. I’d say he’s on a start-by-start basis. Until he gets his control, well, under control, he should stay in Rochester. I was about to say “really, there isn’t any place for him up here” until I realized that Scott Baker might need DL time and Kevin Slowey is making just his second start this year in a couple days and who knows how he’ll pitch. Glen Perkins has done well at AAA and so has Kevin Mulvey, and by “done well” I don’t mean I’m dyslexic and ordering a steak. They’ve played like they’re too good for AAA.

 

For the first time in 60 years, the Tigers scored 6 or more runs in the first inning and still lost the game, thanks to the Twins. It certainly seems like a bigger accomplishment now.

 

Nick Blackburn pitches tonight in Chicago vs. the White Sox. I really just hope our 5-0 homestand still has some confidence in the players and they can carry it over to these next divisional games. Michael Cuddyer has been hitting really well since coming back, and I predict he will have the best series out of anyone. Will I be right?

 

Twins sweep Tigers

In the 4-1 win, Scott Baker injured his groin and could only pitch 3 innings. He was doing incredibly well up to that point, having allowed just 1 hit while throwing 43 pitches. Brian Bass came in and pitched 4 scoreless innings to get his first ML win. It’s ironic that I was at his first game ever (second game of the season) and also at his first win. I wonder if he’ll pay me to start showing up regularly. The game was kind of a close one until Craig Monroe jacked his second homer of the year in the 7th inning, a two-run shot against his former team to give the Twins a 4-0 lead. Pat Neshek gave up a solo homer and could only record two outs before Jesse Crain came in and ended the inning with a fly ball out. Joe Nathan got to pitch, which was the only positive of Neshek’s homer allowed, and recorded his 10th save in as many tries. He did walk one but struck out 2. Baker is getting an MRI today and we’ll know if he needs time on the DL or not. Regardless, it’s been announced that Kevin Slowey will be done rehabbing and will start for us on Thursday against the White Sox.

 

 

Game 3 was much more interesting. Boof Bonser gave up 6 hits in the first inning alone, and mix that with a throwing error by Joe Mauer and a strikeout that went between Mauer’s legs and to the backstop and all of a sudden Bonser’s pitch count was at 45 and 6 runs were in, and it was just the first inning. He ended up striking out the side in the first and Bert, the ever-positive announcer, made sure to mention it when all was said and done. What’s more crazy is that he ended up pitching 6 innings, allowing just 2 hits after the first inning. In fact, he needed just 54 pitches to get from the 2nd inning to the end of the 6th. He could’ve pitched 10 or 11 solid innings with that great ratio for pitches/inning. He didn’t walk anybody and struck out 5 and most importantly didn’t get hung with an L.

 

Kenny “The Gambler” Rogers had a no-hitter going into the fourth inning before Mauer was able to hit the ball sharply to right and, with some hustle, slid safely into second for his 8th double of the year. Mauer would come up big in the 7th with a 2-run single, giving the Twins a 7-6 lead that would hold for the rest of the game. The lineup basically chipped away at the Tigers lead with everyone except Michael Cuddyer collecting a hit. Nick Punto got his first double of the year, a linedrive into right field that scored Delmon Young and Monroe. Matt Tolbert, playing 3B for the first time this year, got his 4th double, and Brendan Harris got his 6th two-bagger of the year. The key thing is that 5 of the team’s 7 runs scored with 2 outs in the inning.

 

Scott Ullger is now 3-0 as a manager. Hmm, maybe he knows something Ron Gardenhire doesn’t. After a 5-0 homestand, the team has an off day today and then travels to Chicago for a 3-game series before coming home again.

 

Twins win 4-1

It was a pretty sweet game but the third and final game of the series is at 1:10 today so I’m going to wait until that game is done and then I’ll have a double-game post for everyone.

 

The Twins Totally Tranquilized The Tigers

I wanted to see how many T words I could think of while still keeping the title legitimate…I don’t think any more can go in there. Beyond middle school English, the Twins really beat up on the Tigers, winning an 11-1 thriller.

 

The team hit for the cycle with Adam Everett, Justin Morneau, and Michael Cuddyer (twice) getting doubles, Jason Kubel getting a triple (it bounced awkwardly in the OF) and Brendan Harris with his second homer of the year. The team had 16 hits total so many more players got singles. Morneau collected 3 hits to go with his 2 runs scored and 2 RBI; Kubel also got 3 hits but never scored. He did get a garbage time RBI in the 8th when his sharply-hit groundball caromed off the first baseman’s glove and Cuddyer hustled all the way from second to score. It’s really great to see Cuddyer perform well so close after his injury. We really need his bat to stay competitive. Joe Mauer got 2 hits as well and also walked twice, allowing him to score 2 runs and drive in 2.

 

Carlos Gomez reached base all 3 times he was up with a single, hit batter, and a rare walk. He stole two bases and scored 2 runs, although he should’ve scored a third time too. While he was sliding head-first into second on a steal attempt, the ball hit him in the helmet and flew into the Twins’ bullpen. He laid basically motionless for quite some time but after a few minutes was able to get up and walk over to the cart to be carried off the field. Nick Punto came in as a replacement and ended up scoring. Team doctors checked out Gomez out afterwards and deemed him OK, although initial reports said he might have a concussion. It’s possibly we’ll see Craig Monroe play center for a few days to make sure Gomez gets proper rest. Besides, we’re playing Monroe’s old team. Isn’t it an unwritten rule that whenever you play your old team, you always do good? Scotty Ullger might have to test out that theory. I say Ullger instead of Gardy because unfortunately, Ron’s brother passed away yesterday from a sudden heart attack. Gardenhire will miss the Detroit series but could be back as soon as Tuesday. Truthfully, he should take however much time he needs because family always comes first. RIP Mike Gardenhire.

 

Livan Hernandez pitched awesome, getting out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the second that ended with a familiar Jacque Jones double play. Hernandez gave up just 1 run in 7 innings, changed speeds enough to get 4 strikeouts and lower his season ERA to 4.43. Matt Guerrier and Juan Rincon each pitched hitless innings and both struck out 2.

 

Something you don’t see everyday: a 1-pitch strikeout. After an injury to a Tigers reliever, and a 10 minute delay to let the new pitcher warm up, he needed just one hanging curve ball to strike out Mike Lamb.

 

I’m in the 10th row right behind the Twins bullpen tonight, and I’ll (hopefully) be wearing a Kubel jersey. Watch for me!

 

Santana trade, Hunter, Silva

I wanted to change things up a bit so in this post I intend to show everyone how our ex-Twins are doing (Johan Santana, Torii Hunter, and Carlos Silva) but also show how the players we got in return are doing (you saw Carlos Gomez yesterday so it’s just Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey, and Deolis Guerra.)

 

The great Johan Santana. This picture still probably gives some fans nightmares. He had an un-Johan like April, posting a 3.24 ERA in 5 starts. Although his record stands at 3-2, he’s struck out 39 batters in 40 and 1/3 innings with just 8 walks. He’s also given up 7 homers in 6 starts, which became a habit of his last season.

 

Hunter has been pretty good, hitting above the “mean”, I’d say. See, I’m in a statistics class for math right now and we’re learning all about how the more you do something, the more what should happen, does. Hopefully that made sense. Basically, if Jason Tyner had 3 homers and 5 doubles in the month of April, he’d be playing above the mean, or what is normal for him. That’s why players who are slumping usually come around and players on a hot streak come down to earth. Torii’s batting 317 (his career high is .289 from 2002) with 4 homers and 16 RBI, but he also has 9 doubles and 16 runs scored. Using those numbers, he’s on pace for a career high in doubles and runs scored and pretty close to career high in homers and RBI. Yes, he could have a career year in 2008 in nearly every offensive category, but is it very likely? I don’t think so.

 

Silva is another player who is playing above what is expected. In fact, his 2.79 ERA is lower than Santana’s and Carlos has also pitched more innings in the same amount of starts. In fact, all 6 of Silva’s starts thus far have been quality ones (at least 6 innings pitched with no more than 3 earned runs allowed.) Of course his ground ball outs and strikeout numbers are normal (way more than his air outs and not that many, respectively) and he’s walked 9 in 42 innings. He’s definitely worth the money through the first month, but people were willing to hand the Cy Young award to Livan Hernandez after his first 3 starts too.

 

Let’s take a look at who we got in return for Santana:

 

Humber, coming off Tommy John surgery, hasn’t been doing that great at AAA Rochester. In 5 starts (7 games total) he’s allowed 15 earned runs in 24 innings pitched for an ERA of 5.63. He’s struck out 14 but walked 11 and opponents are hitting .323 off of him. In none of his starts has he gone more than 5 innings; that clearly wouldn’t work at the ML level. This is pretty much his make-or-break year because he’s 25 and if he doesn’t show at least some improvement, he may have no future with the Twins.

 

Mulvey is a totally different story, because he’s only 22 (he’ll turn 23 on May 26th) and at the same level as Humber. Not to mention his numbers are pretty impressive so far. He’s gone a total of 28 innings in 5 starts, allowing just 10 earned runs, giving him an ERA of 3.21. He’s struck out 29 and walked 11 with opponents hitting .259 off of him. His best start came on April 17th when he went 7 innings and allowed 6 hits, 1 run, but struck out 9 and picked up the win. If he continues his success he could see a September call-up (or sooner if injuries or poor performance hit the ML staff) or possibly even win a starting job out of Spring Training next year.

 

Deolis Guerra, the professional baseball player that can barely gamble. He turned 19 the same day Mulvey struck out 9 in 7 innings (April 17th for those of you who skipped my previous paragraph). So maybe barely gamble is a bad phrase since he’s been able to do it for more than a year but that’s beside the point. The point being that he still might have the most upside out of anyone we got in that trade, and that includes the speedy Gomez. He’s made 4 starts this year (5 total appearances) and has had a couple wild games. In one 5-inning stint, he allowed 4 hits and walked 5 but nobody scored on him. And his most recent outing saw 7 runs come in on 9 hits, also in 5 innings. He’s definitely a work in progress but I’m excited to see if he will get promoted this season and how well he can perform at a higher level.

 

In other news, Adam Everett was activated from the DL with Brian Buscher being sent down in his place.

 

That about wraps it up for my review, like I said previously the team hosts Detroit now and I will be personally watching the game from an uncomfortable blue chair underneath a white roof on Saturday (in case you didn’t catch it, it means I’ll be at the game.) I plan on buying a Jason Kubel jersey; we’ll see how the endeavor turns out.

 

April Recap

 

Note that these stats do not include yesterday’s afternoon game.

 

Player	ABs	2B	R	HR	RBI	BB	SO	OPS
Carlos Gomez	102	6	14	1	7	2	25	.651
Brendan Harris	87	5	13	1	5	6	22	.716
Jason Kubel	97	2	11	4	16	3	20	.639
Mike Lamb	79	6	4	0	11	3	9	.502
Joe Mauer	88	6	16	0	10	9	7	.744
Craig Monroe	47	5	4	1	7	3	15	.726
Justin Morneau	97	4	12	6	22	11	16	.840
Denard Span	31	0	4	0	2	3	6	.582
Matt Tolbert	50	3	5	0	2	3	7	.700
Delmon Young	102	3	13	0	8	6	19	.619

 

 

Surprises: Young with 0 homers, Joe Mauer leading the team in runs, batting average, and tied for the lead in doubles, Lamb with 6 doubles and third on the team with 11 RBI but still having a .502 OPS, Kubel’s low OPS.

I knew Gomez had a bad K/BB ratio so it didn’t surprise me to see that it was 25/2. His 11 stolen bases really help, though. I honestly don’t think it’d help him any to ship him to Rochester.

 

Not on that list is Michael Cuddyer who, despite playing in just 8 games, already has a double, a homer, and 5 RBI. It seems like his injury didn’t really affect his hitting that much, which obviously helps because frankly Kubel hasn’t produced like he should be. Kubel’s 4 homers are nice but his average should be higher than the .239 it is and he should be hitting more doubles. But, things will all even out as the season grows older.

 

Player	Games started	W	IP	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Nick Blackburn	5	1	31.3	12	4	15	3.45
Boof Bonser	6	2	36	15	9	22	3.75
Scott Baker	5	2	30	15	5	27	4.50
Livan Hernandez	6	3	35.6	20	7	13	5.05
Francisco Liriano	3	0	10.3	13	13	7	11.32
Kevin Slowey	1	0	3.3	3	0	2	8.10

 

 

Note for innings pitched, a .3 means 1/3 and .6 stands for 2/3 of an inning pitched.

Blackburn has been the team’s “ace” thus far, but I really like Baker’s numbers and if Boof could get run support he could be 5-0. Livan had a few bogus starts and has come back to earth with his 5.05 ERA. Liriano obviously was disappointing but I never expected him to come back and blow everyone away this year. It’s going to be a rough year for him, there’s no doubt about it. He gave up 4 runs and walked more than he struck out in his most recent start, this one at AAA Rochester. Basically expect him to struggle wherever he pitches. Slowey hasn’t pitched enough to really judge.

 

Player	ERA	IP	ER	BB	SO	WHIP
Pat Neshek	3.97	11.3	5	3	11	1.06
Matt Guerrier	4.40	14.3	7	6	8	1.60
Juan Rincon	4.82	9.3	5	3	9	1.29
Jesse Crain	5.40	8.3	5	3	7	1.20
Dennys Reyes	0	8.6	0	2	4	.69
Bobby Korecky	3.38	2.6	1	3	1	1.88
Brian Bass	4.67	17.3	9	6	8	1.56
Joe Nathan	.82	11	1	2	11	1.00

 

 

To no surprise, Neshek is our most solid reliever thus far, aside from Nathan (who is 9-9 in save opportunities.) Reyes has also been really good, but nobody else really stands out. Bass has pitched better than his numbers show, in my opinion, as a long reliever/mop up option. Crain and Rincon should get better; their strikeout numbers are normal. Guerrier has been worse than expected, and his nearly even K/BB ratio is cause for a little concern.

 

The Twins are off today before hosting the Tigers on Friday. Hopefully I’ll have a minor league update post for tomorrow, I haven’t really decided yet.

 

Liriano shelled in Oakland

Carlos Gomez was given the day off a couple games ago in hopes to get his mind back on track. He responded by hitting a lead-off homer, his first of the year and third of his career. The lead wouldn’t last long.

 

Francisco Liriano had quite possibly the worst first inning ever that didn’t include a home run being hit. Actually, I can’t even call it an inning; he recorded just two outs and was pulled for Brian Bass. The order of events is as follows: lead off walk, single, pop out, walk, 2-run single, walk, RBI single, 2-run single with a runner being thrown out at third for the second out, another single, and that’s when Bass came in. Bass gave up an RBI single to the #1 batter of the A’s lineup for another run charged to Francisco. Finally the third out was recorded and in just one inning, Oakland scored runs in one inning that the Twins could never dream of getting in a full game.

 

Bass gave up 3 earned runs in 3 and 1/3 innings and Jesse Crain, Dennys Reyes, and Juan Rincon finished the game out.

 

In all the offense was pretty lackluster. Delmon Young had a couple hits and Brian Buscher drove in Mike Redmond, who was on second because of his first double of the year.

 

To more important things: reliever Bobby Korecky has been called up but there’s no word on who will go down. I’m assuming it’s Liriano, because Gardy said Liriano needs more confidence to be effective at the ML level. We should find out who it is at some point today.

Also, Michael Cuddyer was activated from the DL. Denard Span had to be sent down to make room, but I think Denard took it well. He got his chance way earlier than anyone expected and now just has to play solid baseball at AAA to stay first in line if we need another OF.

 

Encouraging news for Jason Kubel fans (hey, that’s me!): Gardenhire has gone on record to say that he won’t hit anyone in place of Kubel if he’s facing a lefty. “I don’t worry about who he’s facing anymore.”

 

The Twins travel to Texas for a 3-game stint before an off day and then they come home to face the White Sox. Nick Blackburn looks for his second win tonight.

 

Boof has no support, Twins lose game 2

Boof Bonser allowed just 2 runs in 6 innings last night (that’s a Quality Start for those keeping track at home) but didn’t get the win. In fact, he got a loss, because the team scored 0 runs. In fact, 4 of his 5 starts have been ones where he went at least 6 innings and gave up 3 or less earned runs. The problem he had last night was walking 4 batters but he still only allowed 3 hits. He truthfully didn’t look that sharp to me, but he kept us in the game and there’s nothing more you can ask for.

 

As I said, the offense was non-existent. Jason Kubel had 2 singles, Joe Mauer had a double, there were 3 other singles scattered around and that’s it. Denard Span started in CF and lead off, giving Carlos Gomez a day (or two?) off to try and get him back on track. What that track is, I don’t really know. Other than a few 3- or 4-hit games, Gomez has been pretty overmatched at the plate. His defense is fine, is baserunning is superb, he just has to put in time - a ton of it - to help the team out.

 

Today’s game starts at 2:35 and it’s the last game in this west coast series (thankfully.) Francisco Liriano will try for his first win in an attempt to get the Twins back to .500.