Category: General Blogging

This is a general blogging category.

Heads starting to roll

After last nights 6-2 loss to the Angels at Target Field the Twins record stands at 8-22 (.267) and the team is 9 games out of first place after having played just 30 games. After the game the Twins announced that 3B Danny Valencia was optioned to AAA Rochester, pitcher Francisco Liriano was sent to the bullpen and that reliever Matt Maloney was designated for assignment.

Darin Mastroianni

In turn the Twins called up 26-year-old Darin Mastroianni from Rochester. The Twins had picked up Mastroianni on waivers from the Blue Jays this past February. Mastroianni started the season in AA New Britain where he played outfield in just 9 games hitting .143 before being promoted to AAA Rochester where he has hit .346 in 20 games and has stolen 10 bases in 11 attempts. In his 20 games in Rochester, Mastroianni has played in the outfield 15 times and played second base on 5 occasions. I have to say that I don’t understand this call-up at all, why do the Twins need another outfielder when they already have Willingham, Span, Plouffe, Komatsu, Parmelee and Doumit?  And, what about Revere? This move just makes no sense to me at all. Where and when are they going tp play Mastroianni and who do they have as a back-up infielder besides Plouffe? This is crazy.

PJ Walters

To replace Liriano in the starting rotation the Twins called up PJ (Phillip Dewayne) Walters. Walters is a former 11th round pick of the Cardinals in 2006 and has seen brief big league action with the Cards in 2009-2011 and he also appeared in one game for the Blue Jays in 2011 after being traded in a big 8-player trade with St. Louis in July of 2011. The Twins signed Walters as a free agent this past December. The 6’4″ 200 pound  right-handed Walters has started 6 games for Rochester and is 3-1 with an ERA of 2.70, a 1.17 WHIP with 25 strikeouts in 33.1 innings.

It is about time that Liriano has been sent to the bullpen but why call up Walters when you could have just swapped Liriano out for Brian Duensing in the bullpen? Granted, Duensing has been solid in the bullpen but he has big league starting experience while Walters has started 4 games with St. Louis.

Sending Valencia down makes sense as he has not played like a big league third baseman for some time either in the field or with a bat. Some time in Rochester might be just what Valencia needs for a wake-up call.

I know the Twins need to make some moves because they don’t want to announce before Memorial Day that they are already out of the running and ready to go into full-blown rebuilding mode but I would sure like to know how they explain the Mastroianni call-up. This reeks of a panic move. Just announce that the team is in fire sale mode and let’s move on, you certainly will not shock anyone with that announcement. I am sure that some Twins bloggers will call this another negative Twins story but I will argue this is just being realistic, this is one bad Twins team and the sooner it is broken up and a rebuilding effort is put in motion the better off we will all be. To this point the Twins have not used the rebuilding word claiming that once all their injured players came back that they would be in the hunt again, that was a line of bull last winter and it remains so today. Come on Mr. Ryan, throw us a bone and at least give us some hope here.

Dozier and Liriano

Brian Dozier

Shortstop James Brian Dozier was called up from Rochester yesterday and made his major league debut against the Angels going 1 for 4 with a run scored. The soon to be 25 year-old (May 15) was drafted by the Twins in the 8th round of the June 2009 amateur draft and Dozier has a .305 batting average in 4 minor league seasons (345 games) and has not hit below .274 while playing 2B, SS, and 3B. It will be interesting to see if Dozier who only has 28 games of AAA experience can hold on to the shortstop role at Target Field. Dozier had a great spring and many fans thought that Dozier earned the Twins starting shortstop job in Fort Myers but GM Terry Ryan felt that Dozier needed some AAA seasoning. Although Jamey Carroll, 38 has played a decent shortstop so far this season, he is only hitting .212 and the team is off to a terrible start at 7-21 and some changes need to be made to see if anything can be done to salvage the season before the Twins go into a full sell mode and turn to a total rebuilding effort. Dozier is not going to turn the Twins around on his own but hopefully he can play a small role in getting the Twins moving.

Francisco Liriano

The Twins lost again last night and are now 7-21 for the season and 10 games behind the division leading Cleveland Indians. I sure didn’t think I would be saying “division leading Cleveland Indians” this season but the Detroit Tigers are struggling as they come out of the starting gate and they are playing just .500 ball but I think they will warm up soon and put the Indians and all the other AL Central teams in their rear view mirror. The Tigers have their share of pitching miseries but not like the cellar dwelling Twins do. The Twins sent Francisco Liriano out to the mound again last night and once again Liriano let the team and himself down. Liraino threw 90 pitches in 5 innings while giving up 5 hits, 3 walks and 4 earned runs and even with this line he actually lowered his seasonal ERA to 9.45. Liraino had one decent inning last night and other than that looked like the same old Liriano. I just don’t know how the Twins can continue to send Liriano out there every fifth day when he is pitching as bad as he is. Liriano brings down the entire team everytime he walks out to the mound. Gardenhire and pitching coach Rick Anderson have tried everything including skipping a start with Francisco but to no avail. After last nights game Gardy was quoted as saying, “what can we do, we just need to send him out there”. I for one have seen enough of Liraino this season in a starting role, it is time to move Liriano to the bullpen where he can have some chance of success albeit in a relief role. You have to do something, you can’t pay Liriano the kind of money he is getting and have him under perform as badly as he has todate. The team is 7-21 for pete’s sake, what have you got to lose? Send Liraiano to the bullpen now and move Brian Duensing back into the starting rotation. Duensing is no Warren Spahn but he has to be better than Liriano and you still have that lefty in the bullpen that you want. Maybe this is not the way to build Liriano’s confidence but you have 24 other players on the team that shouldn’t be punished every fifth day when you send Liriano out to the mound.

Hits and extra base hits few and far between for Twins

47 hitless at bats for the Twins came to an end when Jamey Carroll hit a single in the first inning against the Mariners yesterday. That was the longest hitless streak by a major-league team since the Padres went 47 at-bats without a hit in June 1995. Source: Elias

Chris Parmelee’s run in the seventh inning last night snapped the Twins scoreless streak at 25 innings. It was the Twins first run since scoring three in the eighth inning in Monday night’s 4-3 loss against the Angels in Anaheim. The scoreless streak was the longest by a Twins team since they went 26 consecutive innings without scoring a run from July 31-August 3, 1994. Parmelee’s double in the seventh inning last night was the Twins first extra-base hit since Alexi Casilla’s double in the eighth inning Monday night in Anaheim. The Twins went 92 plate appearances between extra base hits. The Twins 65 extra-base hits are the fewest among American league teams this season. Source: Twins Game Notes

The Twins won for the first time last night when being out-hit by their opponent (1-12), it also marked the first time (in game number 25) that the Twins held their opponent to two runs-or-less.

Tonight’s Seattle Mariners starting pitcher Felix Hernandez is a true Ace. King Felix has gone at least 6.0 innings in 172 of  his 211 games started (81%), including 92 of last 101 starts (91%), and 6 of 6 so far in 2012. 29 of 32 (91%) in 2011.

So why do Twins pick up Erik Komatsu

Erik Komatsu

Put me down under the confused column. Why would the Twins pick up Erik Komatsu? I have no problem sending Clete Thomas packing as he had 28 at bats in a Twins uniform and he hit .143 and he struck out 16 times, enough said. But why pick up Komatsu who is a Cardinals Rule 5 pick-up in December of 2011? Komatsu grew up in California and graduated from Adolfo Camarillo High School where he was a teammate of Delmon Young. Komatsu was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 8th round in 2008, missed most of 2009 with a concussion and hamstring issues and was traded to the Washington Nationals in July 2011. Komatsu has 348 minor league games under his belt and he hit .302 but he has never played above AA ball. I know he can play all three outfield positions and he has stolen 57 bases in the minors but he also got caught 24 times. It’s not like Komatsu is a corner outfielder with power potential. If the Twins don’t keep Komatsu on the roster they need to offer him back to the Nats. Why would the Twins want a player like this? If you want to replace Thomas why not pick up one of your own minor league players? What kind of message does this send to your own minor leaguers? Do the Twins think so little of their own minor league players that they feel they need to pick up players like Clete Thomas and Erik Komatsu? Put yourself in Ben Revere’s or Rene Tosoni’s shoes, what are they thinking? If the Cardinals thought that Komatsu had potential why didn’t they strike a deal with Washington and keep him? The only reason he made the Cardinals team this year anyway was due to all the injuries the Cardinals outfielders suffered. I would like to know why a player from another organization that hasn’t played AAA ball can play in Minnesota but when it comes to their own players they would prefer they get AAA experience first. Don’t tell me about Parmelee, I know he has no AAA experience but the Twins are hardly playing Parmelee this season anyway. I know this team is playing poorly and need some changes but a fourth/fifth outfielder is hardly the answer here unless………. the Twins know they are going to move some players soon and go into full rebuilding mode sooner than later. If that is the case, then the Twins can keep Komatsu on the roster all season and this move might make some sense. I just don’t know if Terry Ryan and the Twins brain trust knows where they are going, they seem to wander aimlessly so far this season grasping at straws.

Who said it is good to be home?

Why can’t American league teams win in their home parks in 2012? Through the end of April, AL home teams are 73-84 and winning at a .465 clip. When the junior league takes to the road they are playing .535 baseball and have posted a mark of 84-73.  The Senior circuit on the other hand has posted a 102-79 (.564) mark at home and when they are on the road these same teams are 79-102 (.436).

In 2011 in the American League home teams were 607-530 (.534) and 532-599 (.470) on the road. The Twins were 33-48 (.407) at home last season, the fewest home victories of any team in the league and on the road they were even worse, 30-51 a .370 clip.

This year the Twins are 3-8 at home and 3-8 on the road. Tampa is 9-1 at home and Kansas City is 0-10 at home. The best road warriors in the AL this season are the Texas Rangers who stand at 9-1 and the worst team on the road is the Angels at 3-9. No team in the AL Central has a winning home record so far this year.

Strange going on in the American League to be sure.

How do you fix this?

The Twins pitching this season has been dismal and as I took a look at the Twins pitching stats during last nights 11-2 drubbing at the hands of the Boston Red Sox I have to wonder what Terry Ryan, Ron Gardenhire and Rick Anderson can do to fix the problem. Before the Twins had even played one game that counted this season they had already lost reliever Joel Zumaya and starter Scott Baker to Tommy John surgery. Losing Baker who I thought was the Twins top starting pitcher was a serious blow to a team that already had pitching woes. The 29 year-old Baker had started 159 games with a 63-48 record over the last 7 seasons with a 4.15 ERA and could be counted on to keep the Twins in the game when he was on the mound. With Baker out for the season the Twins went in to the 2012 season with a starting five composed of Francisco Liriano, Carl Pavano, Jason Marquis, Nick Blackburn and either Anthony Swarzak or Liam Hendriks. Liriano who was dubbed “the Franchise” back in 2006 when he went 12-3 has been a colossal disappointment this season and now is out of the rotation to clear his head after four terrible starts when he has gone 0-4 with a 11.02 ERA and 2.36 WHIP in 16.1 innings and giving up a league leading 20 earned runs. A 2.36 WHIP, that is incredible, 2.36 runners every inning. The Twins seem to be perplexed with what to do with Liriano and plan to have him skip a start and work on the side. Personally, I think the best thing they can do with Liriano at this point is send him back to the minors and have him pitch until he proves he can get big league hitters out. Everyone keeps saying that Liriano has “great stuff” and maybe he does and maybe he doesn’t but the bottom line is that right now he is not a major league pitcher and he has no business being in the big leagues. I would rather see the Twins call up some one from the minors and have them learn how to pitch in the majors than send Liriano out start after start with little to no hope of improvement. It is not all about physical ability, you have to understand how to pitch in the big leagues and I’m afraid that Francisco Liriano may never attain that stature. Pavano and Marquis are both veterans and you get what you see with these two, journeymen at best that are filling out a starting rotation. The sinker-balling Nick Blackburn is no star but can fill the back-end of a starting rotation. I am not sure what Liam Hendriks can do in the majors but I am willing to send him out every fifth day and see what he has to offer. Swarzak is probably best suited for the role he is in right now, the long man in the pen. The 25 year-old lefty Scott Diamond who was a Rule 5 pick-up from the Atlanta Braves in December of 2010 is tearing it up in Rochester with a 4-0 mark and a 1.07 ERA in four starts is worth calling up for a big league shot. What have you got to lose?

The Twins have to do something, but what? They are 5-13 and 5.5 games out and we are still in April. How much improvement can Gardy and Ryan expect from a pitching staff that is putting up these kinds of numbers?

Twins Opponent
IP 146 151
H 161 148
R 91 63
ER 87 56
HR 26 13
BB 42 47
SO 86 117
ERA 5.36 3.34
WHIP 1.39 1.29
Oppenent batting avg. .283 .256

It is nice to have good young pitching

When he started Opening Day for Tampa, James Shields, who turned 30 on Dec 20, ended a major-league-record streak of 764 games in which the Rays had started a pitcher under the age of 30, however, the Rays have now used a starting pitcher 30 or younger in 909 consecutive games, the last Tampa Rays starter over age 30 was 32-year-old LH Mark Hendrickson, who lost 4-1 on June 25, 2006 versus the Atlanta Braves. The Rays have used a starting pitcher they drafted for the past 178 consecutive games, a major league record, the last game started by a pitcher drafted by another organization was Sep 30, 2010 at KC, when Minnesota Twins draftee Matt Garza started.

The Metrodome in April 1982

Metrodome

The Metrodome served as home to the NFL Minnesota Vikings and University of Minnesota football, Rolling Stones and Grateful Dead concerts, Rev. Billy Graham revivals, two Final Fours, a Super Bowl, an MLB All-Star game, various tractor pulls, Monster truck shows, state high school championships, a Promise Keepers rally, Home and Garden shows, snowmobile races and, oh yes, the Minnesota Twins. The Minnesota Twins have won two World Championships in the Metrodome and called it home from 1982 through the 2009 season. The Twins regular season record in the Metrodome was 2,196 wins and 2,272 losses but the dome always seemed to provide a home field advantage for the Twins.  The Metrodome was named after Hubert H. Humphrey who was a former Minneapolis mayor, U.S. Senator and U.S. Vice President. He was a big sports fan and rooted for the Vikings and Twins every chance he got. Because of his dedication to the state and to teamwork, the Metrodome was named in his honor. After the 2009 season the Twins moved to their new home at Target Field and the Metrodome which is still the home of the NFL Minnesota Vikings was renamed to Mall of American Field. The Metrodome was always more suited to host football games versus baseball games and Twins fans hated being indoors on those beautiful Minnesota summer days and evenings but when it was raining or cold as it can be in Minnesota in April and September, fans didn’t complain as they filed in to the dry and warm 69 degree climate controlled Metrodome.

“It was a weird place,” says Kent Hrbek, the Twins’ legendary first baseman who played a key role in both the ’87 and ’91 World Series wins and whose first full season in the majors coincided with the Metrodome’s big league debut. “When we first got in here, you look back at old pictures from ’82, it was just so plastic. “I remember there were signs, a black and white scoreboard, and beyond that, nothing. Just blue seats and concrete. It was something that was really different. Everybody was excited because it was state of the art and it was going to be warm every day. That’s what they sold.”

In spite of its bad reputation, the Metrodome does have a lot of Twins history attached to it which I am not going to rehash here now but the other day I ran across a nice piece written by Jayson Hron at Historically Inclined called Metrodome: Home sweet storm home. It is a nice history of what transpired in April of 1982 at the Metrodome when the 1982 baseball season opened to cold and snowy weather. I am sure most of you don’t remember what transpired back in 1982 in the Metrodome and some of you were not even around back then. If you have a few minutes, check it out.

Let’s look at the numbers so far

The Twins have crawled out of the starting gate at a 2-7 clip and now are headed for New York and Tampa. I know that they have played just nine games but let’s look at some of the numbers that the Twins have put up so far in 2012. I know there will be fans that say that it is too early to get a good feel for what this team can accomplish this year and that the sample size is real small and I agree, but no matter how you color it, this team is playing poorly and under performing in all three categories, hitting, pitching and fielding.

  • The Twins starting pitchers are 0-5 and are the only team in the American league without a win to their credit. By contrast, Texas Rangers starting pitchers are 6-0.
  • The Twins starting pitching ERA is 5.54 with the opposition hitting at .284 clip. The Yankees starting pitching ERA is 5.26 and opponents are hitting .308, it will be interesting to see if the Twins hitters can take advantage of this.
  • Twins starting pitchers have only walked 12 batters, only Cleveland has been better this year.
  • Twins starters as we know are not strikeout pitchers and their numbers back that up with the lowest number of strikeouts in the league at 24 in 52 innings.
  • Twins relievers are in the middle of the pack with a 2-2 mark and a 4.50 ERA and only four teams in the league have thrown fewer innings than the Twins bullpen has (that surprises me). Opponents are only hitting .250 against the Twins relief staff.
  • Twins relievers have only given up three home runs, it just seems like more.
  • Twins pinch-hitters are 0 for 5.
  • Twins DH’s are among the worst in the league hitting a combined .206 scoring 2 runs with 1 home run and 2 RBI’s.
  • The Twins are hitting .258 (fifth best in the league) but are tied with Seattle for fewest home runs with 7.
  • The Twins have stolen 4 bases in 5 attempts and have hit into a league leading 13 double plays.
  • Twins hitters have left 63 runners stranded as compared to the White Sox fewest at 49. The Yankees have left a league leading 76 “ducks on the pond”.
  • Scoring runs continues to plague Minnesota as they have scored just 28 times tieing them for league worst with Oakland.
  • The Twins fielding percentage is .980, the third worst in the league and the team has turned just 6 double plays. As a team they have committed nine errors in nine games.

What are the Twins going to do with Justin Morneau? The last few days you hear that Justin is unhappy as a DH and wants to play 1B. This is a no brainer, send the guy out to play first, what have you got to lose? The man is hitting .206 with one home run and two RBI’s as a DH and claims he is still feeling his way in the DH role. He has been DHing for a month now in Florida and here, how tough can it be to get a routine?. Oh, and slide Morneau down to the fifth spot in the order and move Willingham up one spot, seems like another no brainer. Put Parmelee in right and Doumit at DH and then you don’t have to worry about that catchers back-up role and you can use Clete Thomas as a defensive sub for Willingham or Parmelee when the Twins have a late inning lead.

Maybe the Twins can play a bit better on the road and take a couple from the New York Yankees who have probably already put 3 wins in their win column knowing the Twins are coming to town. I sure hope that the Twins can turn things around soon.

The Yankees and Twins will meet four times at Yankee Stadium this season, all in this series. The home town Yanks are 28-5 in home regular season games vs. Minnesota since the start of the 2002 season (33-7 including home postseason games). In 2011, went 3-1 versus the Twins at Yankee Stadium. In season series play, the Yankees have won the last 10 consecutive home season series when playing the Twins (2002-11).

The BPP All-Time Dream Project

If you are a long time baseball fan and enjoy baseball history you should take a few minutes and check out fellow Baseball Bloggers Alliance member Graham Womack’s of Baseball: Past and Present story called The BPP All-Time Dream Project. According to Graham, “Over the past two months, I conducted a project having people vote on nine-player all-time dream teams. The idea was for voters to pick a team to win a one-off, sandlot game, the ultimate cosmic playoff. This wasn’t about a 25-man roster or designated hitters or relievers, just finding nine players to win a game. I received more than 600 votes in all from a mix of baseball figures, fellow writers, and others. To help with the presentation and do justice to the subject matter, I recruited a number of my favorite baseball writers and hired an illustrator, Sarah Wiener to create trading cards for each player. Like the cards? A complimentary set can be had for the first 100 people who donate $25 to 826 Valencia, a non-profit that teaches journalism to kids. We’re looking to raise $3,000 and, as of press time, we’re about halfway there. If everyone who reads this post donates even a dollar, we’ll shatter the goal. To donate, go here.”

Can you imagine what it would be like to watch this team play? No Minnesota Twins made the team but Washington Senators Walter Johnson is the teams starting pitcher. Some Twins that did receive votes are Joe Mauer, Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Paul Molitor, Graig Nettles, and Dave Winfield. Check out the story, you won’t be sorry.