Twins, not Twinkies

First, a little off topic stuff-

The Minnesota Department of Revenue announced today that tax data on 2400 people and 48,000 businesses is missing, in the mail. Ummmm, helloooo? How do you lose that much information? USPS didn’t even know it was missing until nearly 1 month after it had been sent out. (more…)

Wow do I love the Twins. (Side note: I’m trying what I’ve seen many others do, and have bolded the names of players..please comment on whether or not you like it. Thanks.) (more…)

I wouldn’t call it a gem, but Silva pitched pretty good. 8 IP 6 H 2 ER 0 BB 3 Ks is the stat line. Opposing pitcher’s stat line: 5.2 IP 7 H 6 ER 7 BB (1 hit batter) 2 Ks. (more…)

Radke pitched extremely well today. Maybe he's turning around and can pitch like this for the rest of the season. He gave up two hits in each of the first three innings (luckily none of them were homeruns), but then proceeded to only give up one hit in the remainder 4 innings he pitched.

I didn't watch the game, so there's not much to say. Torii did hit a homerun, so for you Torii-lovers that's probably a good thing. I don't really care because it didn't win the game.

Bartlett went 0-for-4, ending his 10-game hitting streak and bringing his average down to Joe Mauer's.

Tonight's game is Carlos Silva (3-8, 6.87 ERA) against the Dodgers and Chad Billingsley (related to Don Billingsley?) (0-0, 3.48 ERA). A win would put us 5 games over .500, something the Twins have never experienced yet this season.

"Marmol gave up a homerun in his last start, so look for either Morneau, Kubel, or Cuddyer to get one tonight."

A couple people (you won't be named) said that that was too bland of a statement. Well, it's 1/3 of the lineup; and only 1/3 of the 1/3 of the lineup got one. Make of that what you will, that wasn't supposed to make sense.

Santana pitched 8 strong innings, giving up 5 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), and struck out 6. He really isn't a huge strike out pitcher this year. Take out his June 13th start against the BoSox (where he got 13 Ks) and he's gotten 32 Ks in the past 6 games (including tonight's). It's much more exciting to see him strike out 11 or 12, but as long as he keeps pitching well, I'll be happy.

Morneau went 3-for-4 last night, raising his average to .282. The month of June should be renamed the month of Justin. In 20 games this month, he's raised his average 42 points. He's gotten a hit in 16 of those games, and had multi-hit games 8 times. 9 HRs, 25 RBIs, and he's only struck out 13 times. Hopefully he can keep this tear going for the remainder of the month and into July.

Joe Mauer has cooled down, having his average drop 16 points over the last 10 games (not including Saturday night's game). He'll still have a decent season, and hopefully we can get him voted to the All-Star Game (vote Joe!).

I didn't watch Saturday night's game at all, I was at a grad party. I know the Twins won 3-0. Just looking at the box score, Twins didn't get any homeruns but Bonser pitched 6.1 innings w/out giving up a run. Nathan also got his 100th career save tonight, which is pretty cool for him, I guess. He just needs 225 more to get onto the all-time saves list.

Twins win 4-2 with Liriano going 8 innings while striking out 7 and walking 2. Clemens really didn't pitch too bad, 5 innings with 4 Ks and 2 BBs. In the 3rd, Clemens threw 38 pitches. Liriano only had 32 through the whole game up to that point. That explains the 3-inning difference when Liriano threw 3 less pitches.

I didn't mind the fact that Gardy let 'Sisco pitch the start of the 8th, but I do disagree with keeping him in after the homerun. Yes, it did turn out ok, and I realize it was to give him some confidence; but taking him out of the inning on a bad note (the homer) is different than taking Silva out after a bad note (walking the first batter) in what way? It isn't. Does Gardy love Liriano that much, or does he hate Silva that much? Who knows.

Tonight the Twins host the Chicago Cubs, but they'll have to use Henry Blanco (former Twin) instead of Michael Barrett. Johan "JoJo" Santana (7-4, 2.87 ERA) takes the mound against Carlos Marmol (1-1, 2.81 ERA) in the Cubs' first game at the 'Dome since 2000. Marmol gave up a homerun in his last start, so look for either Morneau, Kubel, or Cuddyer to get one tonight.

 The Diamondbacks put pitcher Russ Ortiz on waivers yesterday (along with former Twin Terry Mulholland). I think the Twins should take a chance on this guy. The D'Backs manager said it himself: "Sometimes a change of scenery is all somebody needs," talking about Ortiz's 0-5 record this year. When he starts more than 30 games a year, he averages giving up less than one hit per inning, and in those same years of starting more than 30 games, he averages giving up just 20 homeruns a season (Santana averages 23 HRs a year in the years he's started more than 30 games, and Radke averages 28 dingers). He does walk a lot of batters, but he's more of a groundball-type pitcher so double plays wouldn't be hard to find. If you looked at the waiver article, you'd see that he has a $33 million/4 year contract. If he the Twins pick up him up, that number would go down significantly. I'd think they could probably get that down to Lohse's current salary of $3.95 million a year.

Lohse. That space was there so you can think about what he did last night. So you can think again, in case you didn't the first time. In case you didn't think at all,: He didn't record an out, gave up 3 hits while pitching to just 4 batters, with 2 of those 3 hits scoring runs, while walking a guy and throwing just one more strike than he did balls. He's more of a headcase than Brad Radke. When he's on, he can actually do some decent things. Unfortunately, the last time he was on was in 2002 when he pitched a complete game shutout, had the best Ks-per-9/BBs-per-9 ratio in his career with over 46 innings pitched, and had a winning record of 13-8. I just don't see very many positive things about Lohse right now, and apparently the stint in triple-A didn't help him get his mind in the right place.

On a positive note, Silva pitched good enough to keep the Twins in the game, pitching a quality start with 5 Ks and 1 BB. He did give up a first-inning homer, but it seems like all Twins pitchers do that in the season. He also went 1-3 at the plate, although he did leave 4 men on base.

Castillo went 0-5 last night, leaving 5 men on. Not a good night at all, and hopefully he can get on a hot streak and maybe get a 36-game hit streak rolling.

Tonight is a well-publicized game with the starters being Roger "The Rocket" Clemens and Francisco "The Phenom" Liriano. Wait, did I say well-publicized? Nah, there won't be any more attention paid to this game than any other in the series, even though this is the lone game being televised on ESPN.

I saw a bad stat today: Torii Hunter is 0-20 lifetime against Rocket, including 12 strikeouts. Hopefully it will be an amazing pitcher's duel.

Twins won 6-5 last night, Joe Nathan was the winning pitcher and Trever Miller got the loss for Houston. Morneau and Cuddyer, the team's leading homerun men, homered and Tiffee got a pinch-hit RBI single. Bartlett went 3-for-4, raising his average to .455. Tonight is Silva against Wandy Rodriguez, and Thursday night is the much talked-about Liriano v. Clemens match up.

(Can't believe I'm about to say this) Radke actually pitched good last night. He did give up a first inning run, which seems to happen every one of his starts, but take away the two home runs and it wasn't even a save opportunity for Nathan. Brad only threw 22 balls, not enough to walk a batter. I am continuously baffled by his first innings. He's a 10+ year veteran, and he's still nervous starting a ball game? I don't think Liriano is nervous any more about starting the game, but Radke has enough jitters to not actually throw good until the 3rd or 4th inning. At the beginning of the year, I said start Liriano and have him pitch the first 2 innings, then put Radke in. I don't think that would've worked, though, as Radke would have probably been nervous. Maybe we need to get an exorcist out there for him?

By the All-Star break, Cuddyer should have amassed more homeruns and RBIs in the first half of the season than he has in the past two years (12 HRs each, 45 and 42 RBIs). He's on pace for 31 HRs and 105 RBIs; if he can do that, and Morneau keeps up his pace, that would be TWO players to have 30/100 seasons. That might be more than the Twins fans can handle; all this talk about getting one 30 HR guy? Pfft, we can get two. I've always liked Cuddyer and I think he's proven himself as a clutch and every day player. 

Four pitchers, one infielder:

Glenn Williams: Had a stint with the Twins in 2005, you should remember because he had a 13 game hitting streak going before getting injured and going on the DL. Anyone know if that is some sort of record? He's a third baseman, and I'd think that as soon as he's back in the swing of things in the minors he should be brought up.

J.D. Durbin: When he pitched for the Twins he didn't do so hot, posting a 7.36 ERA in just 4 appearances, but he averages 8.1 strikeouts per 9 innings in his minor league career. Joe Mays thought he was too boisterous, but when Durbin piped down he started sucking. Joe Mays is no longer with the team, so hopefully J.D. acts like himself and lights up the league.

Pat Neshek: Some feel he should be called up at some point this season, maybe if the Twins are too far out of the playoff race. He averages more than 1 strikeout per inning, and is lifetime ERA is 2.22, but I don't think he has enough minor league experience to be called up yet. He does have his own website, though (www.patneshek.com)! Also, received more votes than any other Triple-A player for the 2006 minor league All-Star Game.

Dave Gassner: Pitched in 2 games for the Twins at the beginning of the '05 season, where he started both games and went 1-0 with a 5.87 ERA while giving up 7 total runs (5 earned) in 7.2 innings. I don't think he's playing in the minors right now, not sure why, but hopefully he can come back and pitch good so he can be called upon if needed.

Scott Baker: I think he's better than Boof, he just needs to not be so nervous. He's pitched amazing in the minors since he was called down, but with Lohse and Silva back up, along with Boof, it doesn't appear there's room for him. Kind of a shame, getting him more experience can only help him.

Well, Torii did a good deed last night that helped the team, however I still don't like him much. It was a 2-out homerun, and the Twins hit really well last night with two outs. In fact, they couldn't have hit better with two outs as all 8 of their runs came that way.
Santana pitched a good game, definitely not his best but he got the job done. He had a balk, and if any other pitcher besides him and Liriano had one, I'd be pretty mad, but if Santana gets a balk, wild pitch, hits a batter, etc. etc. and the Twins still win I just laugh at him. He's so good that you just have to laugh, there's no other choice.

Willie Eyre gave up that late inning homer, which didn't matter, but he's still getting a feel for the majors. I think he'll be a fine reliever next season.

Morneau continues to hit the ball well, and if he continues to improve, especially at hitting things other than homeruns, I think there's a shot he hits 40 HRs within the next few years.

Cuddyer was hit by a pitch last night. Does anyone else sometimes feel Cuddyer is sort of like A.J. Pierzynski? A.J. was always getting beaned, and for some reason it sticks out to me that Cuddyer does too.
There is no game tonight, so tomorrow's post will probably be about the youngsters of the team, including guys in the minors.