Category: General Blogging

This is a general blogging category.

GM Smith and Gardy need to make some moves

GM Bill Smith

April 30, 2011 – Damn! I am more upset at watching the Twins lose to Kansas City and Tampa the last few days than the Twins are, what is up with that? After watching the Twins lose again last night at Kansas City, I am convinced the time has come to make some moves. There is an old saying that says that the first thing you need to do when you find yourself in a hole is to STOP DIGGING! This team needs a major shake-up, a wake-up call, but I am not sure exactly what should be done first, there are so many things to do. The Twins need to find a shortstop; Casilla has had his chances time and time again and not delivered, time to move on. I don’t think Plouffe is the answer either but you might as well give him his shot. The bullpen is a mess, no one knows their roles and how long can the Twins baby Nathan? Put him in a 7th or 8th inning role and get on with it. Get some stability in the bullpen again. Liriano will never be the ace pitcher everyone has envisioned, he has the skills but he does not have the demeanor or the ability to use his skills. You have two choices here, turn him into a reliever or trade him at a diminished value. Liriano doesn’t want to be a reliever? Tough, he isn’t pitching like a big league starter right now; he might be just what they need in the bullpen. Put Slowey in the rotation to replace Liriano and give Blackburn a couple more starts to see what he can do. If he can’t get on the straight and narrow, then call up Gibson and plug him in as a starter. As much as I hate to do it, the Twins should play Cuddyer at 2B until Nishioka gets back from his broken leg. An outfield of Delmon, Span, and Kubel works for me or keep Tosoni in the outfield and bat Kubel at DH. If Repko doesn’t start hitting soon I send him down and keep Tosoni as the 4th outfielder. Forget about bringing up Ben Revere, what good is an outfield with both Span and Revere in it? Catching? You just have to make do with Butera and Holm until Mauer can get healthy again. I have to wonder what the real story is with Joe Mauer. Justin Morneau has been just plain abysmal, where is the clutch hitter we used to know? I sure hope that Morneau does not go through with what happened to Jimmie Hall after he was beaned. Valencia? Sure he leads the team in RBI’s but he could be doing so much better. What can’t I shake the feeling that Valencia is developing an attitude and thinks he is a star? Maybe it is all that time he spent hanging around A-rod? Cuddyer? Maybe the pressure of playing for a new contract is getting to him, he has not hit anywhere like he should be hitting, right now he looks like a 7 or 8 hitter at best.

You think I am too harsh here in my thoughts? Come on now, the team is 9-16 after 25 games and 15% of the games are behind them. Only three teams in baseball have won as few as 9 games, the Astros, the Padres and the Twins. I don’t think the Twins are this bad but so far they have done nothing to make you think they can get better in the near future and get back in the Central Division race where they are already 8 games back and the calendar still shows it is April. The team continues to score at a pace of 3 runs a game being our scored 128 to 80, that will not get you many wins with this pitching staff. Right or wrong, Twins management has to be thinking that Joe Vavre might be the easiest scapegoat and send him packing and bring in some fresh blood as a hitting coach. Oh, and let’s not forget our third base coach Steve Liddle in all of this. His approach to sending and stopping runners at 3B hasn’t been much to write home about either.

Ron Gardenhire

When I watch this team play I see no life, no one is having fun out there, it is just a job. At the end of the game they have their heads down as they slowly shuffle down to the clubhouse. Where is the fight in this team? The team plays like they think all they have to do is show up and they will win, the times have changed boys, the times have changed, look at the AL Central standings, it reads Royals, Indians, Tigers, White Sox and the Twins. When is someone going to kick, scream, yell and cuss that this crap has got to stop and get out on the field and lead by example by getting a clutch hit or putting an opposing batter on his butt? Do the Twins have a leader? I have not seen one, but then again Gardy and Bill Smith have not shown much leadership either.

Ben Zobrist: a day (and night) to Remember

Ben Zobrist

April 29, 2011 – Tampa second baseman Ben Zobrist entered play on Thursday having driven in eight runs over his last three games and he matched that total, going 4-for-6 with eight RBI in the Rays’ 15-3 victory in the first game of a day/night doubleheader at Minnesota. Zobrist’s eight RBI on Thursday afternoon matched the highest single-game total by a second baseman in the last 60 years. The other keystoners to do that since 1951 were the Angels’ Adam Kennedy on April 18, 2000 and the Rockies’ Ronnie Belliard on Sept. 23, 2003.

Zobrist then went 3-for-4 with two RBI in the night game, finishing with seven hits and ten RBIs in the Rays’ day/night two-game sweep of the Twins. Since baseball began officially recording RBI in 1920, only three other major-league players amassed at least seven hits and ten RBI in one day: the Cardinals’ Jim Bottomley (July 6, 1929: 7 hits, 11 RBI), the Tigers’ Pete Fox (June 30, 1935: 8 hits, 10 RBI) and the Padres’ Nate Colbert (Aug. 1, 1972: 7 hits, 13 RBI).

Zobrist now has recorded 18 runs batted in over his last five games. Over the last 40 years, the only other major-league players to drive in that many runs over a five-game span were Sammy Sosa in August 2002 (a high of 20 RBI, and two sets of 18 in three overlapping five-game stretches) and Steve Finley in May/June 1999 (18) . Source: ELIAS

Here and there

April 27, 2011 – Twins hitters are hitting at a .244 clip so far this season but opposing hitters are hitting .255 off of Twins pitchers.

Only the Royals (29), Orioles (28), Rangers (28), Red Sox (24), pitchers have given up more home runs than the Twins (23) have.

Twins batters have drawn just 52 bases on balls, and are tied for dead last in the AL with Tampa. The Red Sox on the other hand have drawn 94 free passes.

Twins pitchers are last in the AL in strikeouts (119) with the closest team to them (Tampa) having 130, while White Sox hurlers lead the league with 185 KO’s.

The Twins are perfect when they steal bases being a perfect 10 for 10. The White Sox on the other hand have stolen 16 bases but been caught 14 times to lead the league.

Twins batters have a sad slugging percentage of .336, only the Mariners .332 is worse.

Twins closers have 7 saves this year, better than everyone but the Rangers (7) and the Yankees (8).

Twins hitters have hit 9 home runs and Twins pitchers have given up 23 home runs this season.

Twins batters have hit into 17 double plays while the Mariners have hit into just 8 but the Rangers have pounded into 28 so far.

So far this season Twins designated hitters have hit for a collective average of .221 with 2 home runs and 7 RBI’s.

One tough catcher

Catcher Earl Battey with special batting helmet
Catcher Earl Battey with special batting helmet

April 22, 2011 – Twins catcher Earl Battey is seen here showing a batting helmet that was fashioned for him after he was beaned by Cleveland Indians pitcher Bobby Locke in the 7th inning of the July 23, 1961 games at Met Stadium and suffered a broken cheek. Earl Battey was tough and less than two weeks later, August 4th to be exact, Battey was behind the plate as the Twins faced the Yankees at Yankee Stadium.

Earl, a four time all-star was an original Minnesota Twin and played for Minnesota between 1961 and 1967. Battey won three Gold Gloves between 1960-1962. During his eight years as a Washington Senator (1960) and Minnesota Twin (1961-1967), he played in 990 games, had 3,228 at bats, scored 346 runs, hit 91 home runs, had 410 RBI’s, stole 12 bases while hitting for a .277 average. Between 1960-1965, Battey who was strictly a catcher, averaged 138 games per season. In 2010, Earl Battey was selected as one of the “50 Greatest Twins”. Earl Battey passed away on November 15, 2003 at the age of 68.

Reno Bertoia Passes Away

The Twins opening day 3B and hitting star of the game was 1 for 2 with a two-run home run and 2 runs scored.
The Twins opening day 3B and hitting star of the game was 1 for 2 with a two-run home run and 2 runs scored.

April 18, 2011 – The Twins opening day third-baseman in the Minnesota Twins first ever game back on April 11, 1961 against the New York Yankees in Yankee Stadium I, Reno Peter Bertoia, passed away on April 15th after a brief battle with lymphoma cancer. Reno Bertoia is the fifth member of that opening day line-up to pass on.

Bertoia was born in St. Vito Udine, Italy on January 8, 1935 but his family moved to Windsor, Canada when he was just an infant. He grew up next door to another famous Windsor athlete, Hank Biasatti who made it to the majors and Reno is reported to be the last Italian-born player to reach the major leagues.

Reno BertoiaBertoia graduated from Assumption College high school and in August of 1953, Reno was voted Most Outstanding Prospect in the City of Detroit, and sent to play in the Hearst All-Star game in New York City. He’d also been given a baseball scholarship to the University of Michigan. After New York, John McHale, general manager for the Tigers pursued him, and offered Reno his first major-league contract. Without playing a minor league game, Reno Bertoia was in the majors. Bertoia’s first major league at bat came at the tender age of 18 at the Tigers Briggs Stadium against the St. Louis Browns on September 22, 1953. His first at bat is a well known bit of local Windsor lore because it came against Hall of Famer Satchel Paige. “He told us he swung once, he swung twice, he swung three times and he sat down” recalled Beth Daly, his stepdaughter. That one appearance was Bertoia’s only big league plate appearance that first big league season because shortly after his first at bat, Bertoia was spiked while playing 2B and he was forced to leave the game. That was some welcome to the “big leagues”. Bertoia played for the Tigers through the 1958 season before being traded to the Washington Senators where he had his most productive season in 1960. When the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota in 1961, Bertoia became a Minnesota Twin and was the starting third-baseman, but on June 1, 1961 the Twins traded Bertoia and pitcher Paul Giel to the Kansas City Athletics for Bill Tuttle. In his brief 35 game career as a Minnesota Twin, Reno had 104 at bats, 1 home run, 8 RBI’s and finished with a .212 batting average. Bertoia’s stay in Kansas City was also short-lived and he was again traded back to the Detroit Tigers where he finished his big league career in 1962. Bertoia played in the minors in 1963 and then went to Japan in 1964 where he played for one season with the Hanshin Tigers.

Reno Bertoia
Reno Bertoia

Bertoia was a Canadian baseball pioneer and blazed the way for Canadian players of today like Justin Morneau and Joey Votto. Reno Bertoia was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988. Retired Windsor Star columnist Marty Gervais wrote a book about Bertoia’s baseball career, simply called “Reno”.

Reno then went on to his second career of teaching and he taught for 30 years for the Windsor Catholic school board. “He was in many ways prouder of his teaching career,” Daly said because he felt he impacted a lot of people’s lives. Bertoia also spent some time scouting for the Detroit Tigers and the Toronto Blue Jays after his retirement from baseball.

Bertoia is survived by his wife Joan Daly, three children and three step-children. The funeral mass will be held on Tuesday, April 19 in Windsor.

Check out a nice piece called “Reno Bertoia: Tiger by Day, Student by Night” written by Shelley Haggert Divinich, you will enjoy it.

Twins finally beat a right-hander

Brian Duensing

April 18, 2011 – Brian Duensing defeated Tampa Bay’s Jeremy Hellickson on Sunday to snap Minnesota’s four-game losing streak. The Twins entered the game win-less in eight games this season in which they had faced a right-handed starting pitcher. That was the longest such losing streak to begin a season for the franchise since the Washington Senators began the 1904 season by losing their first 10 decisions in games against right-handed starters. Source: Elias

Meet the Twins new back-up catcher – Steve Holm

Steve Holm

April 15, 2011 – The 31 year old Steve Holm was called up when Joe Mauer was put on the 15 DL after Thursday’s game against the Tampa Rays. Holm was originally drafted by the San Francisco Giants in the 17th round of the June 2001 free agent draft. Steve made his major league debut in 2008 when he played in 42 games with the Giants. In 2009 Holm was with the Giants for just four games and at the end of the 2010 season Holm became a free agent and signed with the Minnesota Twins in December of 2010. In his 46 big league games, Steve has .264 batting average in 91 at bats with 1 home run (off of JC Romero) and 6 RBI’s.

What do they really talk about on the mound?

A conference on the mound during a Twins – Red Sox game between Twins pitcher Dave Boswell in one of his early career starts, manager Sam Mele and catcher Earl Battey after Boswell’s first three pitches were hit for two doubles and a home run.

Manager Sam Mele: What’s he got?

Catcher Earl Battey: I don’t know, I haven’t caught a pitch yet.

According to Elias

Carl Pavano

April 9, 2011 – Carl Pavano allowed one run on four hits in 8 innings of work in the Twins’ 2-1 victory over the A’s in the team’s home opener at Target Field on Friday. Since the Twins moved to Minnesota in 1961, only two other pitchers have pitched at least 8 in­nings while allowing four-or-fewer hits and one-or-fewer runs in the team’s home opener: Tom Hall in 1969 (9 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs against the Angels) and Kevin Tapani in 1990 (8 IP, 4 hits, 0 runs against the Angels).

2011 Twins Media Guide MIA

March 31, 2011 – I received my 2011 season tickets the other day and as I was going through the package, I thought I noticed that something was missing. One of the benefits of being a Twins season ticket holder was that you always received a voucher for a free copy of the current years Twins Media Guide. I have a nice collection of these media guides now and I always look forward to getting a new one. Low and behold when I checked through the season ticket package, there was nothing about the Twins media guide mentioned, I found a voucher for the Twins Yearbook and the various Twins Magazines but no media guide so I e-mailed the Twins and was told that the Twins Media Guide is no longer a part of the season ticket holder package. What a disappointment! I can’t believe that the Twins have cut the media guide out of their season ticket holder package. Sure, I can go out and buy one but it just frustrates me that the Twins have dropped this from the package when their revenue is up and almost every home game is sold out. What? They have too many season ticket holders now to give everyone a free Twins Media Guide? As I said earlier, very disappointing.