Pavano’s Walkoff Shutout

Carl Pavano

September 29, 2011 – The Twins beat the Royals, 1-0, when Trevor Plouffe singled home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning. That earned a shutout victory for Carl Pavano, who allowed only five hits and did not walk a batter. Pavano is the first Minnesota pitcher to get a shutout in a walk-off win since August 26, 1992, when John Smiley beat the Tigers 1-0 courtesy of a walk-off home run in the ninth inning by Brian Harper. Over the last six seasons the only other major-league pitchers with “walk-off shutouts” were Jamie Shields (May 9, 2008) and Yovani Gallardo (May 28, 2010). Source – Elias

Tosoni delivers

Rene Tosoni

September 23, 2011 – Rookie outfielder Rene Tosoni doubled home the winning run from first base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning to earn the Twins a 3-2 victory over the Mariners which ended Minnesota’s 11-game losing streak. He was the first major-league player to end a losing streak of 11 games or more with a walk-off RBI since Aug. 22, 2006, when Adrian Beltre hit a walk-off homer to end an 11-game losing streak by the Mariners. Tosoni was the first rookie to end a losing streak of at least 11 games with a walk-off RBI since July 14, 1998, when Miguel Cairo hit a game-ending single to snap an 11-game losing streak by the Devil Rays in their inaugural season. Source: Elias

Final Twins minor league player of the week

September 6, 2011 – Ft. Myers (Florida St. League – Single-A) right handed pitcher Alex Wimmers is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for August 27 – September 3. Wimmers, 22, made two starts for the Miracle, including throwing a 7.0 inning no-hitter on September 3rd vs. Jupiter. Alex walked two and struck out five. Wimmers was drafted by the Twins in the first round (21st overall) of the of the 2010 First-Year Player draft out of The Ohio State and began his professional career in 2010 and posted a 2-0 record with a 0.57 ERA in four starts. Wimmers had major control issues earlier this season but seems to be working his way through them. Source: Twins Presspass

AL Division Series appearances

September 3, 2011 – Since the Division Series format started in 1995, only two AL teams have not participated, the Kansas City Royals and the Toronto Blue Jays. The number of appearances for the rest of the AL teams are listed below.

Team Division Series appearances
Yankees 15
Red Sox 9
Indians 7
Twins 6
Angels 6
A’s 5
Mariners 4
Rangers 4
White Sox 3
Orioles 2
Rays 2
Tigers 1

 

How Twins compare to rest of baseball

  Stat Ranking
Runs 516 26th
Average .247 21st
On base % .306 28th
Slugging % .360 27th
ERA 4.53 28th
Quality starts 68 21st
WHIP 1.42 27th
Batting average allowed .277 29th

And that ladies and gentlemen explains why the Twins have one of the worst records in baseball going into September in 2011.

Arizona Fall League 2011

August 31, 2011 – The league begins its 20th season on Tuesday, October 4. The six-team league plays six days per week (Monday-Saturday) in six Cactus League stadiums in the Phoenix area. Salt River Fields at Talking Stick has been added as the new home of the Rafters in 2011, joining Mesa Hohokam Stadium (Solar Sox), Peoria Sports Complex (Javelinas), Phoenix Municipal Stadium (Desert Dogs), Scottsdale Stadium (Scorpi­ons) and Surprise Stadium (Saguaros) as the league venues. Twins players joining the Mesa Solar Sox this year will be: pitchers Cole DeVries, Scott Diamond, Bruce Pugh and Brett Jacobson; Catcher: Chris Herrmann; Infielder: Brian Dozier; Outfielder: Aaron Hicks.

Buehrle tough on Twins

Mark Buehrle

August 30, 2011 – Mark Buehrle allowed four hits in seven and two-thirds innings in the White Sox 3-0 victory over the Twins. That lowered Buehrle’s ERA against Minnesota to 0.29 this season. No pitcher has ever finished a season with an ERA that low against the Twins or their predecessor, the Washington Senators (minimum: 3 starts). Buehrle could face Minnesota once more this season, during a four-game series at Target Field next week. Source Elias

Twins Minor League Player of the Week

August 28, 2011 – Elizabethton (Rookie Appalachian League) outfielder Niko Goodrum is the Twins Minor League Player of the Week for August 13-19. Goodrum, 20, hit .481 (13-for-27) with two doubles, one triple, one home run, nine RBI’s, four walks and eight runs scored in seven games with the E-Town Twins. Goodrum was drafted by the Twins in the second round of the of the 2010 First-Year Player draft and he began his professional career last season in the Gulf Coast League.

Jim Thome sent to Cleveland

Jim Thome

August 25, 2011 – According to numerous reports, DH Jim Thome has been claimed on waivers by Cleveland and traded to them for the proverbial “player to be named later”. These same reports state that the Indians and the Twins have until October 15 to agree on the PTBNL. Jim Thome came up with the Cleveland Indians and played there from 1991 through the 2002 season before moving on to the Phillies as a free agent in December of 2002. Thome played for the Phillies through 2005 before he was traded to the Chicago White Sox where he played in 2006 through August of 2009 when he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Thome then signed as a free agent with the Twins in January of 2010 and re-upped with Minnesota in 2011. During his stay in Minnesota, Thome was a very popular player both with the team as well as the Twins fan base. In his short stay in Minnesota, Thome played in 178 games, had 578 plate appearances while hitting .268 with 37 home runs and 99 RBI’s. Thome never played in the field for the Twins, always serving as the DH or coming in as a pinch-hitter. Thome leaves Minnesota with 601 career home runs, one of just 8 players in history to reach the 600 circle. Jim Thome is a sure Hall of Famer and his stay in Minnesota was in reality for a short period of time but fans and players alike will miss “Gentleman Jim”. But the trade to Cleveland is a good move on the Twins part and hopefully Jim Thome can help Cleveland catch the Detroit Tigers and move on to the playoffs and give Jim the shot at a World Series that he wants badly. I know the odds are stacked against Thome but he deserved that shot. Good luck Mr. Thome!

That is bad!

August 25, 2011 – The Twins were shut out by the Yankees in Target Field on Sunday and then lost three straight games to the Orioles at Target Field, by scores of 4-1, 8-1 and 6-1. According to Elias it’s the first time in more than a century that the Twins franchise lost four straight games, all at home, while scoring no more than one run in each game. That had last happened in September 1909, when the Washington Senators dropped five straight games of that type. The 1909 Senators finished 42-110, hopefully the 2011 Twins can beat that mark.