Player stumbles early, team stumbles late

 

It was a game of stumbles this evening, as the Twins fell to the Royals 2-1. Things were slow going, if you’re a fan of high-scoring games, or they were perfect, if you’re an old-fashioned baseball fan, for the first three and a half innings. Then the flashiness of Ben Revere came to the plate and knocked the team’s first hit, a single. After a few pitches to Alexi Casilla, Revere successfully stole second. Casilla grounded out but advanced Revere to third in the process. With Joe Mauer at the plate, the Royals’ pitcher bounced a pitch in the dirt that ricocheted off the catcher’s gear and allowed Revere an easy chance to score the first run of the game. Revere has been a fantastic call-up, providing a much-needed spark at the top of the lineup. Revere owned both of the Twins’ hits, in fact, until bottom of the 7th inning. Revere’s second hit was a line-drive into the right field corner and Ben rocketed around the bases, eventually ending up on third base for a triple. The best part, though, is that Revere did a full somersault halfway between second and third base, but he got up immediately and kept trucking to slide into third.

If anyone saw Gardy’s postgame press conference, you would have seen him talk about how the loss isn’t placed on Matt Capps, and the offense was more to blame. In Capps’ defense, the team mustered a whopping three hits before the 9th inning came around. The offense also had opportunities in the 9th, with a runner on third base and only one out, but they failed to get pinch-runner Matt Tolbert home. I guess technically Tolbert has himself to blame for not scoring, since he ran home on contact from a half-bunt by Luke Hughes and got thrown out by a distance most likely similar to his height. Regardless of all that, though, the fact of the matter remains: the team had a lead in the 9th inning and failed to come away with a win. The inning tipped to the negative side of the scale right from the start, when Capps walked the leadoff batter on four pitches. Capps then recorded two outs (the second one being a very hard-hit linedrive) but surrendered a go-ahead, two-run dinger to fresh big leaguer Eric Hosmer. It’s Capps’ 7th blown save of the season and frankly should not close for this ballclub any more. He can’t be trusted when it matters the most. Whether something may be physically wrong with him (refer to the 2 strikeouts in the last month stat from yesterday’s post) or mentally wrong with him (the fact that he cannot seem to close a game to save his job), he can’t be relied on anymore. Joe Nathan has shown a lot of improvement as of late, and although I know some fans may want to see him close again, I’d prefer to see Glen Perkins get the spot instead. He has been dominant in his newfound role as a reliever and he seems to have accepted that role with a confidence that would work in late-game situations. Listening to 1500 ESPN radio after the game, I got some great information regarding starting pitcher Nick Blackburn. He pitched very well, going 7 innings and only giving up 4 hits. However, in his final inning pitched, it was a 1-2-3 inning in which he threw a measly 6 pitches. It was an interesting move by the manager, because he certainly earned a chance at throwing in the 8th as well. Regardless of how he performed there, it was still almost a certainty that Capps would have pitched the 9th, but it’s an interesting scenario anyway. On to some positives, other than Revere’s good night at the plate:

Danny Valencia had a nice diving stop at third base in the first inning to record the final out of the frame. He is a very solid defender at the hot corner, even with his 7 throwing errors on the year.

Delmon Young continued his good hitting with a solid double to left center as one of his two hits on the night. When he hit the ball, his swing made such good contact that I thought the ball would travel to the outfielders very quickly and Delmon wouldn’t be able to advance, but he trotted into second base without needing to slide. He saw just 8 pitches throughout his 4 at-bats, but I’ve come to accept that Delmon simply will not be patient at the plate. And as fans, we have to deal with it because it does not seem like he will change his approach at this point. I can’t fault him, as long as the approach continues to be successful for him.

Carl Pavano looks to get his 7th win of the year tonight in the 3rd game of 4 against the Royals.

 

Twins lose on walk-off error

 

Francisco Liriano‘s seven innings of one-run ball wasn’t enough, even though he didn’t walk anybody for the first time this year and also had a season-high six strikeouts. No, that picture above sums up the game; a Joe Nathan throwing error with the runners on first and second taking off on a sacrifice bunt that Nathan fielded. It’s his 5th blown save of the season and second on this crucial road trip. Luckily, the White Sox lost so Minnesota is still a half game back in the AL Central standings.

It’s easily the most heartbreaking loss of the season.

 

Players that will be called up when rosters expand on Tuesday: Jose Mijares (RP), Bobby Korecky (RP), Philip Humber (SP), Matt Tolbert (IF), Matt Macri (3B), Jason Pridie (OF), and Ryan Jorgenson (C).

 

Twins, Perkins beat Chicago in game 2

Glen Perkins didn’t have a Quality Start, allowing four runs through six innings, but he settled into a nice groove after allowing three runs in the first two innings. He finished with seven hits allowed, the aforementioned four runs, two walks, four strikeouts and a solo homer. Most importantly, he stayed in the game long enough to pick up his 8th win of the year.

 

It’s ironic that the White Sox had five extra-base hits, compared to the Twins’ one. A total of four combined runs scored on Chicago’s three doubles and two homers; Justin Morneau, who had the lone extra-base hit for the Twins, drove in three runs alone on his bases-loaded double (which came with two outs, by the way. In my opinion, this only adds to his already strong contention for another MVP award.)

It was Justin’s only hit of the game, but man it came in a great spot. Heading into the 5th inning and down by four, the team needed to step up, and quickly. So Morneau put the team ahead 5-4 with his line drive over the head of right fielder Jermaine Dye.

 

Carlos Gomez, starting his first game since his back injury, went 3-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI single in that five-run 5th inning. His night included a bunt single to start off the 7th inning. Denard Span sacrificed him to second and Joe Mauer would later drive him in with a single.

 

The importance of Gomez scoring in the 7th wouldn’t be seen until two outs had been recorded in the 9th inning, with Joe Nathan on the mound. A 3-2 pitch he sent to Nick Swisher was promptly launched near the upper deck in right field, bringing the Sox within one. He retired the next batter on just one pitch though, recording his 29th save in 31 chances.

 

As great as it is that the Twins won, there was some bad news that came out after the game. Alexi Casilla had sat out because of a sore thumb. Somehow his injury had changed during the game, going from sore to a “torn ligament” in his thumb, requiring a stint on the DL. The injury is similar to the one that Matt Tolbert suffered in May, and Matt has yet to see the field with the team (I don’t think he’s even close to coming back.) The best-case scenario would have Casilla back on the 15th day, but I’m afraid that’s not very realistic. Adam Everett was placed on waivers yesterday but when Casilla’s injury surfaced, Everett was called and told he was needed with the team still. That shows an uncomfortableness with playing a combination of Nick Punto/Brendan Harris between shortstop and second base, with Brian Buscher and Mike Lamb rotating at third.

Losing Casilla hurts immensely. He was a spark in the 2-hole, taking a lot of pitches and getting on base at a good clip. He did have a few errors but even so, I feel that his defense was above-average and he made a few very nice plays that made people say “wow!”

This also pushes the issue of possibly making a trade before tomorrow’s 3 PM deadline. I don’t even want to get into possible options at 2B because I don’t think the Twins will make any deal, at all. They usually never do because they prefer promoting from within the organization. Not that there is anybody “waiting in the wings” in AAA, other than Francisco Liriano, but rumor has it his glove and range are too subpar to play second (I try and fail mightily at some humor.)

 

Anyway, Livan Hernandez (8-1 at the Metrodome) pitches tonight and will try to ensure the Twins don’t lose any ground against the rival Sox. The game starts at 7:10, just like every other game in the series.

 

Twins win for the first time in seven games

It’s funny, before that 6-game losing streak, the Twins were the only team in all of MLB to not have a losing streak of at least 3 games; that’s right, through the season’s first two months, the team hadn’t lost three in a row. Pretty remarkable for a sub-.500 team.

 

Nick Blackburn recovered nicely from his 7 ER performance 5 days ago. He allowed just 2 runs this time, on 7 hits (a homer, two doubles, four singles) over six innings. He walked only one and also struck out five, including the final two batters he faced. 67% of his 94 pitches were strikes, which is on par with his season total of 68.4% strikes.

Boof Bonser, making his third appearance in relief, didn’t really do that bad. He walked the lead off batter and gave up a single, but then induced a groundball and got a strikeout and was pulled in favor of Dennys Reyes, for the lefty-lefty matchup. Really, Boof could’ve finished the inning just fine. Denny had a bad outing though, giving up a 3-run homer to the only batter he faced, with two of those runs being charged to The Boofster. Jesse Crain pitched really well in a key spot, getting the final out in that Bonser/Reyes inning, and then striking out the side in the 8th with the team up by just one run at that point. His season ERA is now at a very respectable 3.25.

Joe Nathan came in to record his 17th save in 18 chances, allowing a single but also striking out a batter.

 

The whole offense did a pretty good job, between Carlos Gomez and Alexi Casilla each extending their hitting streaks, Gomez’s first hit being his 13th bunt hit of the season, and the three threes. What do I mean by that? Well, even though Joe Mauer was hitless, he walked three times and scored once. Justin Morneau drove in three runs, his two doubles helped him out a lot there, and Jason Kubel had three hits, including his 8th home run of the season. Casilla and Gomez each stole a base, and frankly it’s about time. That was Gomez’s first successful steal since May 25th, with 5 caught stealing in that timeframe. And for a speedy guy, that was just Casilla’s third stolen base all year. Granted he’s only tried three times too, so his success rate is, well, perfect, but it’d be nice to see him “cause havoc” on the basepaths more often.

Michael Cuddyer not only provided an RBI double, he also made a fantastic diving catch in the 6th inning.

 

The 7-8-9 hitters (Delmon Young, Mike Lamb, and Brendan Harris) didn’t do much of anything. Delmon had a single and an assist at home plate, while Lamb had a sacrifice fly. That’s it. It really wouldn’t surprise me to see Brian Buscher (rumored to be the call-up that will take place after tonight’s game) or Matt Macri take over for the rest of the season at third, providing the team ships Lamb out. If he stays, he’s going to be the starter because of his contract. But even I’ll admit that he’s ridiculously underperforming right now, same with Harris. I think when Nick Punto and Matt Tolbert both come back fully healthy, they’ll start eating into Harris’ playing time. If Punto puts up numbers similar to what he did two years ago, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Adam Everett ride the pine for the remainder of the year. He’s worse than what he should be offensively, and hasn’t been the “defensive wizard” he was signed to be.

 

Ironically enough, Juan Rincon wasn’t available last night due to a “sore neck”. It may require some time on the DL. Sounds like a way to avoid having to lose him or Brian Bass, as a trip to the disabled list would open up a roster spot.

 

Francisco Liriano has certainly been encouraging lately, although I think Ron Gardenhire‘s saying:

If he starts rolling down there, then you start making decisions up here as to how you fit him in

is a bit premature. “Rolling” isn’t the term I’d use for him, not yet anyway. In his last 3 starts, Liriano’s gone 18 and 1/3 innings while giving up 5 earned runs (for an ERA of 2.41) on 13 hits. He’s walked 6 (just one in two games, four in the other) but struck out 7 in each of those three games. The strikeouts are a good sign, but it’d be nice to see him go a start without walking anyone. That seems to be his biggest issue right now, is his control. According to long-time manager Tom Kelly, apparently said that Liriano “handled himself really well on the mound”. I think bringing him up at any point before the All-Star Break is too soon. I want to see him actually dominate AAA, and show coaches that he has nothing left to prove down there.

 

Tonight’s game starts again at 6:05 with Livan Hernandez trying to clinch a series win against the third-place Indians.

 

Twins crush Rangers 11-2

Even though the team scored 11 runs, there really isn’t an offensive MVP. Nobody had more than 2 RBI (Alexi Casilla, Delmon Young, and Mike Lamb) and Joe Mauer was the only player with more than 2 hits. Mauer, along with Delmon and Jason Kubel, scored 2 runs as well.

 

Carlos Gomez hit his third triple of the year while Delmon recorded his 4th triple of the year. Mauer, Michael Cuddyer, and Kubel all had doubles.

 

Maybe the MVP should be Glen Perkins, who had a shutout going into the 7th. He ran into some trouble that included loading the bases with no outs, and ended up recording just an out before being pulled. His final line was 6 and 1/3 innings pitched, 2 earned runs (3 total), 6 hits, no walks, and 3 strikeouts. It was good enough to get him his first ML win. So, congratulations to you, Glen Perkins. Brian Bass pitched the rest of the way, giving up 5 hits but just 1 run in 2 and 2/3 innings. And he was on the mound when one of Perkins’ runners scored, but they still charge that to Glen, not Bass.

 

Gomez looks a lot more patient at the plate. He’s taking more pitches, not swinging at sliders low and away (Torii Hunter?) and in general seems to be learning at a fairly quickly rate. In April he had 1 walk to just 24 strikeouts and so far in May he has 4 walks to 19 strikeouts. What’s kind of surprising is that he hasn’t stolen a base (or even attempted to) since the Boston series, which was May 9th-12th. I wonder if there’s concern for his wrist injury still.

 

In some injury news, Matt Tolbert needs surgery on his hand and could miss up to two months. I’m sure this means Howie Clark will be up here for some time still. Denard Span also broke a finger getting hit by a pitch and will miss about one month.

 

Twins nab first game in Denver

Nick Blackburn pitched his little arm off, allowing just 2 runs over 7 innings. He gave up 6 hits but didn’t walk anybody and struck out 5, and 67 of his 88 pitches thrown were strikes. I didn’t watch the game but I’m guessing he could’ve gone out for the 8th and probably would’ve fared well. Juan Rincon and Dennys Reyes combined for a hitless inning (although Rincon walked 2) and Joe Nathan picked up his 13th save in as many tries, although his defense helped him out. Carlos Gomez had a pretty nice running catch to end the game and crashed into the wall at nearly full speed. Gomez had one hit on the night and also scored a run.

 

Delmon Young may have finally turned the corner. After admitting that he’s a notoriously slow starter and that he usually picks up his game around May 15th, he nearly doubled his extra base hits last night (had 3 coming into the game [2 doubles, 1 triple] and picked up 2 doubles) and scored 2 of the team’s 4 runs. He also had a single and his batting average is at .276 for the year.

 

Justin Morneau was the only other Twin with more than 1 hit, and both of his were singles. He didn’t score and didn’t drive anybody in but he did walk once and his batting average is at .307.

 

Adam Everett was hitless (I know, I need to update that counter) but had two sacrifice flies that each scored a run, giving him 6 RBI on the year.

 

Blackburn also got his first ever ML hit, an infield single.

 

Joe Mauer and Mike Lamb were the other Twins to get RBIs, each of them had one apiece and each of them also now have 16 RBI for the season.

 

Jason Kubel was the only pinch-hitter used and he flied out to center in his only at-bat.

 

Matt Tolbert was placed on the DL after he tore a ligament in his thumb. The injury happened on the last play of Thursday’s game when he dove head-first into first base. Maybe Nick Punto can get a clue? 2B Howie Clark got called up in his place and Clark should be available to play tonight. Clark is batting .284 in 116 AB this year for AAA Rochester. He had 7 doubles, 3 triples, a homer, and 9 walks compared to 10 strikeouts. He has 294 career ML at-bats, most of them coming with the Blue Jays in multiple seasons. My guess is that Everett will start at short every game until Punto gets back and Brendan Harris should still be starting at second, but between Clark and Alexi Casilla, the team should be set with middle infielders. Casilla could play short if absolutely necessary and I wouldn’t be surprised if, at some point in the next couple series, Harris or Clark are tried out at third. And technically it wouldn’t be “trying out” Harris at third because he’s played there before, just not for any significant period of time.

 

Twins get swept by Blue Jays

The Twins got swept yesterday afternoon, falling in 11 innings to the under-.500 Canadian team. It wasn’t televised but I happened to catch a new program, and unfortunately the name currently escapes me, but it’s the 30-minute, condensed version of the game. I don’t know why they would’ve taken footage if the game wasn’t televised (maybe specifically for this show?) but it was pretty cool to see just one pitch per at-bat. If I didn’t watch it, I would not have known that Jason Kubel was thrown out at home because he ran right through Scotty Ullger’s stop sign at third base. Brendan Harris also got thrown out at home, but I missed that part of the quick recap so I’m not sure if it was his own doing or not.

 

Glen Perkins pitched pretty good actually, allowing just 2 runs on 5 hits in 6 innings. All the hits he gave up were singles. He did walk 2 but struck out a career-high of 6. Matt Guerrier, Dennys Reyes, and Joe Nathan combined for 4 innings of scoreless relief, striking out a combined 5 and walking none. As much as I want to like Jesse Crain, he hasn’t done enough for me this season. Although in his defense, he probably has an excuse. He gave up a double on the very first pitch he threw but then recorded two outs in a row. He intentionally walked their 1B who was 0-for-3 on the day. Ok, I guess the loss can be pinned to Crain because he walked (not intentionally) the next batter to load the bases. A pinch-hit, soft liner passed a diving Matt Tolbert is all it took.

 

Speaking of Tolbert, he was hitless in the leadoff spot, although he walked and ended up scoring. He also had a throwing error but it didn’t contribute to any runs being scored. The reason he led off is because shortly before the game started, Carlos Gomez became ill and threw up and apparently just didn’t feel good. Craig Monroe played CF instead and got his 7th double of the year in 4 trips to the plate. He also made a pretty snazzy diving catch and Gomez would get an AB as a pinch-hitter in the 10th inning.

 

Justin Morneau got his 6th double of the year and also had a single with an RBI and a walk. He’s now batting .302 on the year.

 

Kubel finished with two singles and a walk, batting in the third spot.

 

Interleague play starts today with the Twins traveling to Colorado and the bandbox that is Coors Field. I’m most excited to see Livan Hernandez hit. Seriously, it isn’t out of the question for him to hit a homer before Joe Mauer or Delmon Young do, which is really sad to say. Tonight’s game starts at 8:05 and Nick Blackburn pitches. Saturday’s game starts at 7:05 with Livan on the mound and Sunday is an afternoon game (2:05 start) when Kevin Slowey looks for his first win of the season.

I’m sure that Delmon and/or Michael Cuddyer will get a game off so that Kubel or Monroe can play. But with all the hitters pinch-hitting for pitchers, Cuddy and DYoung will get their shot at some point.

 

Twins drop second game

Boof Bonser gave up a grand slam in the very first inning and ended with 5 runs given up through 6 innings, bringing his season ERA to 5.37. He walked 3 and struck out 3, but surprisingly only gave up 5 hits. He’s now 2-5 on the year.

 

The Twins weren’t done as Justin Morneau hit a 2-run homer, his seventh of the year, in the bottom of the first. Jason Kubel added an RBI double to put us down 4-3. We tied it up in the third with an RBI groundout, but Boof gave up another run in the 4th.

 

Jesse Crain gave up an unearned run, I’m assuming due to his throwing error (I couldn’t watch the entire game), and it proved to be the dagger. Kubel added another RBI double in the bottom of that inning, but nothing else could be done and the final was 6-5.

 

Matt Tolbert and Delmon Young each had two hits, all singles, but Tolbert scored 2 runs and Delmon never touched home.

 

Morneau’s homer and one of Kubel’s doubles came with 2 outs.

 

Alexi Casilla actually started at short, and didn’t come in as a replacement like I predicted. He played and that’s what counts. He didn’t get a hit but didn’t make any defensive errors, either.

 

Today’s game starts at noon with Glen Perkins making his second start of the year. I’m excited to see what he can do.

 

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.

 

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.