I was actually excited at the end of last season. Even though the Twins had a miserable season, three Twins starters we're having some well pitched games. Scott Diamond, Sam Deduno, and Cole DeVries ALL looked like they had the makings of a very good Twins starting rotation.
But then problems came up. Diamond ended up with a brief arm injury at seasons' end so the Twins started looking for other help outside of their organization. Deduno got hurt at the WBC as his country won the entire event. And DeVries took a line drive to the ribs just before the season ended last year and then he developed a tight forearm in spring training that was diagnosed as "day-to-day" by an incompetent training staff. We haven't seen or heard from him since.
At least I like to think that's the reason that the rotation of Diamond, Deduno, and DeVries (the 3Ds as I liked to call them) weren't starting for the Twins when this season started. The REAL reason is that even though Diamond WAS hurt, the other guys weren't even being CONSIDERED as serious entries into our rotation this year. The Twins simply did not see the talent in these guys that I did.
That's the primary reason that the Twins loaded up on losers like Vance Worley, Mike Pelfrey and Kevin Correia. They went with castoffs and guys with a history of arm trouble hoping they would be good enough to be what the Twins needed. And that's MY primary reason for hating the Twins early this season. Correia looked good in April, but he's really struggled since. Worley was basically worthless from day ONE, but we traded a very good center fielder for him, and the Twins, as an organization, were bound and determined to show that was a good trade for the Twins despite all evidence to the contrary. They literally forced two months of his losses down the Twins fans throats waiting for the "real" Worley to finally show up. He never did. But he, Pelfrey, and Correia managed to put the Twins into a huge hole to start the season.
At least Corriea got some wins in the month of April. At least Pelfrey was good for five innings in most of his starts. But Pelfrey was used poorly by Gardy and His ERA and the Twins win/loss record suffered as a result.
I'm finally coming back to my original point. We had three guys WITH PROMISE in our own organization, ready to start for us when the season started. We have three other guys in the minors close to breaking into the bigs this season, and yet we decided to go with questionable trades and castoffs during what was already considered to be a REBUILDING year.
I'm so happy that Scott Diamond's arm is healthy. He pitched a fantastic game on Sunday and the Twins managed a shutout as a result. Guess what? Deduno looked great LAST NIGHT and the Twins produced ANOTHER shutout.
Thankfully the Twins are in a forgiving division. And equally thankfully, the Twins are finally facing teams that are actually WORSE than they are. A few more solid wins on this road trip and the Twins may actually get back into this race within a couple of weeks.
I'm still waiting for DeVries to return healthy. He's only pitched about 20 innings in the minors this season and his AAA stats have not been good. In the meantime, I'm enjoying what P.J. Walters has accomplished since being brought up. He gets the start tonight.
And we all are just waiting for Kyle Gibson to be consistent enough to join the rotation permanently...
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Stat of the Day
The Twins bullpen has now allowed just FOUR runs in their last 37.1 innings. That's an ERA of about 1.00, while hitters are batting less than .160 against them. There are several good reasons that the Twins are on a roll right now, but this is certainly one of the big ones.
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Essig Vs. Stark
With no Twins game scheduled, the Casual Sports Fan and his Casually Observing Wife headed to Essig last night to watch a baseball game live. A couple of young friends were playing for the Stark team and this was our chance to see them in action.
This was one of the junior leagues. None of these kids are major stars in high school yet, but from what we saw, a couple of them will be in the near future. Stark ended up winning 6-2, and one of our friends scored twice.
It was a good night for baseball, even if it did feel like October by the time the night was over.
With $2 hotdogs and $1 popcorn, most of the fans had a great time even if the local team did end up losing. Seeing the train go by twice during the game gave it that authentic rural Minnesota feel. Minnesota and baseball. It's two great things that go great together. We really should do this more often.
This was one of the junior leagues. None of these kids are major stars in high school yet, but from what we saw, a couple of them will be in the near future. Stark ended up winning 6-2, and one of our friends scored twice.
It was a good night for baseball, even if it did feel like October by the time the night was over.
With $2 hotdogs and $1 popcorn, most of the fans had a great time even if the local team did end up losing. Seeing the train go by twice during the game gave it that authentic rural Minnesota feel. Minnesota and baseball. It's two great things that go great together. We really should do this more often.
Monday, June 3, 2013
How Is He Doing?
Francisco Liriano is back from his Christmas day broken hand incident. In 5 games with the Pirates this season he's pitched 29 innings and has 39 strikeouts, including seven in a row Saturday night. His ERA is 2.17. His record is 3-2, but the Pirates aren't scoring him many runs. Saturday night was a good example. He gave up just one run in 6 innings but the Pirates were shutout.
It's still too early to tell if the "old" Francisco is back, but at least he's doing well for the moment.
It's still too early to tell if the "old" Francisco is back, but at least he's doing well for the moment.
Great Sott! Diamond Shines
An awful lot went right for the Twins yesterday. They hit FOUR more home runs at Target Field. Scott Diamond ended up with six shutout innings and the bullpen was good enough to keep that shutout.
The 10-0 final was fantastic. The Twins are now a perfect 16-0 in games in which they out-hit their opponents this year. Better? Believe it or not, the Tigers are slumping again and the Twins find themselves just 4.5 games out of first place.
I love playing in the A.L. Central. Next up for the Twins? KC and Washington. On the road. They get a night off tonight after playing something like 29 games in the last 30 days.
A good time for a break.
The 10-0 final was fantastic. The Twins are now a perfect 16-0 in games in which they out-hit their opponents this year. Better? Believe it or not, the Tigers are slumping again and the Twins find themselves just 4.5 games out of first place.
I love playing in the A.L. Central. Next up for the Twins? KC and Washington. On the road. They get a night off tonight after playing something like 29 games in the last 30 days.
A good time for a break.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Kevin Correia and Caleb Thielbar
Correia was not awful but that bad first inning almost did him in early. Minnesota native and recent call-up Caleb Thielbar still hasn't given up a run in relief. Those two pitchers along with a red hot Ryan Doumit's walk-off triple in the ninth gave the Twins a fantastic come from behind victory yesterday afternoon. The key the Twins recent success? Find teams as bad or worse than they are.
Milwaukee and Seattle are fitting the bill nicely. Here's hoping Scott Diamond can throw off the Mike Pelfrey curse and go longer than 5 innings today himself today.
And let's see some more Minnesota home runs again. It's been two games since their last one and the last week has really spoiled me.
In other sports news: The Pacers forced a game seven last night against the Heat. Go Pacers!
Milwaukee and Seattle are fitting the bill nicely. Here's hoping Scott Diamond can throw off the Mike Pelfrey curse and go longer than 5 innings today himself today.
And let's see some more Minnesota home runs again. It's been two games since their last one and the last week has really spoiled me.
In other sports news: The Pacers forced a game seven last night against the Heat. Go Pacers!
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Pelfrey Good For Five
And he collapsed in the sixth. Gardy says he wants Pelfrey to get stronger so he always leaves him in until he collapses. And the Twins lose every one of Pelfrey's starts in the sixth because of that philosophy. Six of his last seven starts have the same exact pattern and Gardy does the same thing every single game.
I'm NOT opposed to Pelfrey in the starting rotation, I'm just sick of seeing Gardy treat him this way. He's made a remarkable recovery from Tommy John surgery but he's having no success at all being abused this way.
At the same time, the Twins were not going to win last night going against that kind of pitching. Seattle deserved to win even though the Twins did squander a couple of decent chances.
I really want ONE rule change in baseball. I've talked about a lot of them over the years but this one REALLY makes sense. With TWO OUTS and the runner on first base going on contact anyway, he should be allowed to score on ground-ruled doubles.The Twins lost a run again last night because of the current rule.
The rule states that you can't assume the runner would score on the play. I say, sure you can as long as he's already close to second base any way.
I know this rule change would hurt the Twins as much as help them, but fair is fair. That runner has been caught trapped on third base all too often by a rule that needs some obvious tweaking. The pitcher and defense have gotten the benefit of this call since the rule was made.
I can't think of any play in the history of baseball, where a runner going on contact with two outs, didn't score when the hit was a double by the player batting. It's always an easy score.
It's time to do the right thing and tweak the rule when there are two outs. I can't think of any reason why the rule change would not be accepted by just about everyone. It's such an obvious move.
I'm NOT opposed to Pelfrey in the starting rotation, I'm just sick of seeing Gardy treat him this way. He's made a remarkable recovery from Tommy John surgery but he's having no success at all being abused this way.
At the same time, the Twins were not going to win last night going against that kind of pitching. Seattle deserved to win even though the Twins did squander a couple of decent chances.
I really want ONE rule change in baseball. I've talked about a lot of them over the years but this one REALLY makes sense. With TWO OUTS and the runner on first base going on contact anyway, he should be allowed to score on ground-ruled doubles.The Twins lost a run again last night because of the current rule.
The rule states that you can't assume the runner would score on the play. I say, sure you can as long as he's already close to second base any way.
I know this rule change would hurt the Twins as much as help them, but fair is fair. That runner has been caught trapped on third base all too often by a rule that needs some obvious tweaking. The pitcher and defense have gotten the benefit of this call since the rule was made.
I can't think of any play in the history of baseball, where a runner going on contact with two outs, didn't score when the hit was a double by the player batting. It's always an easy score.
It's time to do the right thing and tweak the rule when there are two outs. I can't think of any reason why the rule change would not be accepted by just about everyone. It's such an obvious move.
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