Tag: Sean Burrounghs

Swept out of Baltimore

As I was preparing to write this post just before the Twins/Orioles game today, I had a sudden bloody nose. I seldom get a bloody nose but for some reason today was that day and I just could not get it to stop bleeding. We were supposed to go to out for Easter dinner prepared by our son and his wife but my wife had to go alone because the blood just kept coming. I spent three hours in front of the television watching the Twins lose to the Orioles and almost get no-hit in the process all the while applying pressure to my nose to stop the bleeding. I even called a doctor for advice but all he told me to do was to keep applying pressure or to go to an urgent care center. He did not specify if he was talking about the Twins game or my nose. The bleeding in my nose finally stopped but I don’t think the Twins are as lucky as they ended up getting swept in Baltimore and now they have lost seven straight to the Orioles over two years and scored two runs or less in each game. Before all you Twins fans jump off the nearest bridge, you should be aware that the Twins are not the only team to get swept this week-end, the Yankees and Red Sox join the Twins at 0-3 in the American League and in the National league the Braves and the Giants are also without a win in 2012 with 3 losses. What are the odds huh? But we need to keep in mind it is only three games and if this is the longest losing streak the Twins encounter in 2012, we will be ecstatic. On the negative side you can say we have played three games and are already 3 games down in the standings to the Tigers who stand at 3-0. Let’s hope the team can turn it around at Target Field but it will not be easy against the Angels and the likes of CJ Wilson, Jared Weaver, and Dan Haren on the mound. We will be out there cheering the home team on.

 

A few notes about the Twins

The Twins sold out 10 of their 16 Spring  home games and surpassed the 100,000 mark in attendance for the 11th consecutive year and 14th time since they started training in Ft. Myers.

The Twins opened the 2012 season with 14 players on their 25-man roster who were not on the 2011 Opening Day roster: Ryan Doumit, Sean Burroughs, Jamey Carroll, Luke Hughes, Chris Parmelee, Trevor Plouffe, Ben Revere, Josh Willingham, Anthony Swarzak, Jared Burton, Jeff Gray, Alex Burnett, Liam Hendriks, and Matt Maloney. Of the players on the 25 man opening day roster, 14 players started their career as Minnesota Twins.

Manager Ron Gardenhire starts the 2012 season with 866 wins and needs 34 wins to reach 900.

Jamey Carroll’s 50 errors as an infielder since 2003 ties him for fifth-fewest in all of baseball.

Josh Willingham’s was charged with two errors on Saturday after making only two errors in all of 2011.

The Twins have now lost seven consecutive games against Baltimore dating back to last season. Oddly enough, the Twins have scored two runs-or-less in each of the seven games, having been outscored by the Orioles 37-7 during the seven-game stretch. This to one of the worst pitchings staffs in baseball.

The Twins were swept for the first time this season. In 2011, they were swept a total of 14 times, 1 one-game, 3 two-game series, 9 three-game series and 1 four-game series. The 14  sweeps were the most of a Twins team since the 1978 team when they were swept 17 times.

Twins sign Sean Burroughs and Rene Rivera

Rene Rivera

The Twins announced that they have signed free agents 3B Sean Burroughs and catcher Rene Rivera to minor league deals and gave both spring training invites. Rene Rivera is someone we are all familiar with as he was with the Twins this past season as part of the catching group that tried to cover the games that Joe Mauer was not able to play. Rivera played in 35 games and had 15 hits in 104 at bats giving him a .144 batting average. Rivera is only in camp because there are lots of pitchers that need to be caught and he has zero chance of making the Twins team in 2012 unless of course Joe Mauer and Ryan Doumit coming up missing between now and February.

Sean Burroughs

The signing of 3B Sean Burroughs, 31,  is kind of interesting and his baseball career has had some twists and turns. Let’s us go back to the beginning, Sean is the son of former 1974 AL MVP Jeff Burroughs and he was the star of the Long Beach Little league team that won back-to-back world championships in 1992 and 1993 with his Dad as the coach. Sean was selected 9th overall in 1998 by the San Diego Padres out of high school. San Diego was able to convince Burroughs to forego a scholarship to USC and sign with the club. When the Padres completed spring training in 2002, Sean Burroughs was their starting 3B. Although Burroughs hit for average he did not display the kind of power hat everyone usually expects out of the 3B position. After 4 years in San Diego Burroughs had hit just 11 home runs. After the 2005 season Burroughs was traded to Tampa Bay but they released him in August of 2006. Burroughs then signed on with the Seattle Mariners but he never made the big league club and by June he was released and out of baseball. Substance abuse was taking its toll on Sean Burroughs and he found himself in Las Vegas staying in the cheapest hotels he could find and now and then having to eat out of garbage cans. Luckily, Burroughs was able to straighten out his life, regain sobriety and sign a contract with the Arizona D-Backs in November in 2010 and by May 19, 2011 a little over 5 years since his last big league at bat, Sean Burroughs was back playing major league baseball.

Burroughs is a left-handed hitter and stand 6’2″ and goes about 180 lbs. It would be nice to see Sean Burroughs continue to rise from the depths of desperation by becoming an All-Star player in Minnesota but we need to be realistic here. The man is 31 years old and was out of baseball for over 5 years before signing with Arizona last season. The Twins have signed Burroughs to push Danny Valencia a bit and if worse comes to worse, Burroughs might be the guy that the Twins can plug in at 3B for a time. Sure, nuggets are sometimes found but more often than not, there are reasons why players like Burroughs are not stars. But it is fun to wish and to hope, particularly during the holiday season but I think we have to look at Burroughs as insurance, we all hate to pay for insurance but we all need to have it because you never know when you will need. Didn’t Yogi Berra say that? You can’t help but root for someone who is working to get his life back and I wish him the best and if he can help the Twins, so much the better.