Month: July 2012

According to Elias

Francisco Liriano

Francisco Liriano struck out 15 batters against the Athletics on Friday night and had 10 more strikeouts on Wednesday night against the Orioles, but he took the loss in each game. The only other major-league pitcher in the last 13 seasons (2000-2012) to lose back-to-back starts despite registering 25 or more strikeouts over those two games was Randy Johnson with the 2004 Diamondbacks. In August of that year Johnson had 14 strikeouts against the Reds and then 11 versus the Pirates and he was 0-2 in those games.

This Day in Twins History – July 18, 1962

Minnesota is the first AL club to hit 2 grand slams in one inning when Bob Allison (off Barry Latman) and Harmon Killebrew (off Jim Perry) connect in a club-record, 11-run first inning, against Cleveland. The Twins and Dick Stigman coasted home 14-3. I was fishing on the St. Croix River that day listening to the game on my transistor radio and remember it like it happened yesterday. Box score

Don’t forget to bookmark our Today in Twins History page so you can check back day after day to learn more about the Minnesota Twins and their glorious past.

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Rochester relief pitcher Luis Perdomo is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for July 8-14. Perdomo made two relief appearances for the Red Wings, tossing 2.1 scoreless innings, with no hits allowed, no walks, two strikeouts and two saves. The right-hander is in his first season in the Twins organization after signing as a free agent this past November. Perdomo started the season with Double-A New Britain going 4-4, 2.75 (39.1 innings pitched, 12 er) in 26 games. Luis is 2-1, 1.50 (12.0 ip, 2 er) with five saves in eight games for the Red Wings this season.

The 28-year old Perdomo was originally signed as an amateur free agent by the Cleveland Indians in 2003 but since then has been with the Cardinals, Giants, and Padres before signing as a FA with Minnesota. Luis has been in the minor for 7 season posting a 21-30 record with a 3.48 ERA, a 1.26 WHIP and strikes out about 8.6 batters per 9 innings. Perdomo has pitched in the big leagues with the Padres in 2009 appearing in 35 games and in 2010 but that season he pitched in just one game.

This Day in Twins History – July 15, 1964

Jim “Mudcat” Grant

Jim “Mudcat” Grant pitches a complete game and shuts out the Washington Senators 6-0 at Met stadium and strikes out 6 in the process. However; what makes this game unique is that Grant gives up 13 hits (all singles) and a walk and still manages to pitch a complete game shutout. Jimmie Hall, Jim Snyder, and Rich Rollins homer for the home town Twins. Boxscore

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the days Twins events on our Today in Twins History page.

According to Elias

Francisco Liriano

Twins lefty Francisco Liriano struck out 15 batters at Target Field but allowed a grand slam home run to Jonny Gomes in the fourth inning which led to a 6-3 loss to the A’s last night. Liriano is the first pitcher since 1900 to register at least 15 strikeouts and allow a grand slam in the same game. Liriano registered the ninth 15+ strikeout performance in the Twins/Senators franchise history, but he is the first to do that in a losing effort. Source:Elias

 

Did you know?

In the 1985 All-Star game, the American League started seven future Hall of Famers: Rickey Henderson (CF), George Brett (3B), Eddie Murray (1B), Cal Ripken (SS), Dave Winfield (RF), Jim Rice (LF), and Carlton Fisk (C). This is the most Hall of Famers ever in a starting lineup for an All-Star Game, not including Veterans Committee inductees. Three more, Wade Boggs, Paul Molitor, and Bert Blyleven appeared later in the game for the American League. The National League had five future Hall of Famers in Tony Gwynn, Ozzie Smith, Ryne Sandberg, Goose Gossage and Nolan Ryan appearing in the game. Gary Carter was an All-Star also but did not play. That makes 16 Hall of Famers gracing the Metrodome turf and 15 of them playing.

As I have mentioned in this blog previously, the first MLB game I ever attended was the 1965 All-Star game at Met Stadium and I got to see 15 future Hall of Famers play that day when the AL had Brooks Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, Al Kaline playing and Mickey Mantle and Carl Yastrzemski named to the team but not playing due to injury. The NL has 12 future Hall of Famers at the Met that day, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Willie Stargell, Ernie Banks, Juan Marichal, Ron Santo, Roberto Clemente, Frank Robinson, Billy Williams, Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson, and Sandy Koufax and they all played that day. Something I will never forget.

If the Minnesota Twins are awarded the 2014 All-Star game and if you get a chance to attend that game, don’t pass it up, who knows what future Hall of Famers you will get to see that day. Just saying………

This Day in Twins History – July 11, 1965

With the Twins AL lead at only 4 games and the All-Star game break coming up the next day, the Twins took on the New York Yankees at the Met and after 8 innings the score was tied at 4 apiece. The Yanks scored one in the top of the ninth and the Twins had their backs to the wall. In the bottom of the ninth, Zoilo Versalles grounded out to the pitcher but Rich Rollins coaxed a walk from Pete Mikkelsen and the Twins had the tieing run on base with Tony Oliva due up. Oliva flew out to center and the Twins were down to their last out but the last Twins hitter was Harmon Killebrew and he took Mikkelsen to a full count before hitting a walk-off 2 run homer and the Twins fans celebrated. The Twins players never looked back and ended up winning the league pennant by 7 games over the White Sox. Killebrew’s described his home run as “It’s one of the sweetest of the sweet” and it stands in Twins lore as one of their most famous home runs. The box score can be found here.

By the way, how the Yankees scored the run in the top of the ninth to take the lead in this game is a story in itself. If you want to read more about that and this game, you can read Chapter 8 of Jim Thielman’s book Cool of the Evening here. It is a wonderful book about the 1965 Twins championship season, if you have never read this book, I would recommend it highly.

Don’t forget to check out the rest of the things that happened to the Twins on this day by visiting our Today in Twins History page.

Twins Minor League Standings through July 7th

 

TEAM LEVEL RECORD YESTERDAY’S SCORES STREAK/LAST 10
Rochester AAA 42-47, 9.0 GB in 6th place Won 4-0 W3, 5-5
New Britain AA 48-38, 1.5 GB in 2nd place Won 6-5 W1, 7-3
Fort Myers High A 37-47, 18.5 GB in 5th place Lost 11-6 L2, 6-4
Beloit Low A 47-39, 4.5 GB in 2nd place Won 2-1 W2, 4-6
Elizabethton Rookie 14-5 and in 1st place Won 4-4 W6, 8-2
GCL Twins Rookie 9-8, tied for 1st place Won 3-0 W1, 6-4
DSL Twins DSL 15-16, 3 GB in 4th place Lost 6-5 L1, 6-4

Interactive Whiteboards by PolyVision

 

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

Aaron Hicks

New Britain switch-hitting outfielder Aaron Hicks is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for June 30-July 6. Hicks, 23, batted .381 (8-for-21) with one double, one triple, one home run, two RBI and six runs scored in six games for the Rock Cats. The athletic Hicks was drafted out of high school by the Twins in the first round (14th overall) in the 2008 First-Year Player draft. Prior to the Twins drafting Hicks, a number of teams saw Hicks more as a pitching prospect than as an outfielder.

In his fifth season of pro ball Hicks has a career average of .266 with 29 home runs and 78 stolen bases but he has also been caught stealing 35 times. In 75 games and 312 plate appearances in New Britain this season, Hicks has 8 home runs with 18 of 26 stolen bases and has a .264 batting average but he has struck out 72 times. Hicks remains one of the Twins top prospects.

Parmelee to Rochester and Samuel Deduno called up

The Twins announced after todays loss at Detroit that that they have optioned 1B Chris Parmelee to Rochester and called up RHP Samuel Deduno and plan to start him on Saturday against the leagues top team, the Texas Rangers. I like Parmelee a lot but he is being short changed with the Twins and he needs to play. On the other hand, I understand that Gardy has no position for him right now and with the All-Star break coming up, why not send him to Rochester and give him a chance to get some game action. Who knows, in a couple of weeks with the trading deadline coming up, there might be some opens spots on the Twins roster.

Samuel Deduno

The 29 year old Deduno is being called up and will see his first big league action of 2012 after seeing 4 games (2.2 innings) with the Rockies in 2010 and 2 games (3 innings) with the Padres last season. Deduno was originally signed by the Rockies in March of 2003 as an amateur free agent but was signed off waivers by the San Diego Padres in January of 2011. He became a free agent in November 2011 and almost immediaetly signed with Minnesota. In his 8 seasons in the minors Deduno has a 45-45 record with a 4.18 ERA and a 1.41 WHIP. In Rochester this season Deduno has started 9 games and has a 1-2 record with nice 2.14 ERA and a WHIP of only 1.17 . Having said that, Deduno has only pitched 42 innings which comes out to less than 5 innings a start and that is being caused primarily by his 4.7 bases on balls per 9 innings so control is an issue for Sam but on the plus side, he has only given up 27 hits in those 42 innings. So if the Texas Rangers are swinging, Deduno has a chance. Welcome to the Twins Sam! When Deduno appears in a Twins game, he will be the 40th different player the Twins have used this season and we haven’t gotten to the All-Star game yet.

I have no issue with the Twins organization giving these guys a shot, who knows when you might catch lightning in a bottle.