April 16, 2009

Twins Rundown: April 16, 2009

Yesterday's game against the Toronto Blue Jays was great in the first inning before everything came apart in the second inning. The Twins celebrated "Jackie Robinson Day" by giving up 12 runs to the Blue Jays. As John Mayer of TwinsMVP.com puts it, "Scott Baker was throwing batting practice."

The Twins Single-A affiliate the Beloit Snappers, fell victim to a no-hitter yesterday. The Quad Cities River Bandits (Class A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals) used two pitchers to combine for seven no-hit innings. The game only went seven innings as it was the first game of a double-header. They lost the second game as well, but at least they collected four hits.

For more Minor League information, make sure to head over to Seth Speaks where Seth Stohs gives us a Minor League Report where he took a look at how each organizational team did yesterday and gave his thoughts on several minor league players and topics.

And speaking of Seth Stohs, whom I doubt ever sleeps, make sure to check out his newest post at the Star-Tribune's Your Voice page. He appropriately wonders why this region is more-so considered "Vikings Territory" instead of "Twins Territory." Obviously football has surpassed baseball in popularity, but the success of the Twins in recent years (and in history) and lack of success by the Vikings (and in their history) makes me wonder why more people aren't supporting the Twins compared to the Vikings as well.

Seth Stohs also hosted last night's podcast at MNGameNight.com. He had Over The Baggy's (and Baseball Digest's) Parker Hageman and The Twins Geek John Bonnes on as guests.

Twins catcher Joe Mauer who has been on the D.L. all season while not playing in a single Spring Training game will begin a rehab assignment next week. He has ran this week without any complications from an inflamed sacroiliac joint in his back. The Twins are expecting Mauer back sometime before the end of the month.

Aaron Gleeman hopes that Manager Ron Gardenhire will start using less of Luis Ayala and more of Craig Breslow and Joe Nathan. I agree completely. Ayala has been atrocious this season, and I've wondered how he's already racked up six innings of work (leading all of our relievers not counting R.A. Dickey who has started a game) when he has pitched this badly.

Parker Hageman from Over The Baggy took an in depth look at Carlos Gomez's batting tendencies and concludes that he should be more aggressive at the plate, instead of taking pitches which is what many want him to do.

If you haven't checked out Dugout Splinters, make sure to do so today! The site gives you a deeper look at the upcoming pitching match-ups in a series.

Twins infield prospect Trevor Plouffe wrote on his blog Plouffe! about getting acclimated to a new city and shared with us his love for finding good food. Definitely check it out!

Twins reliever Pat Neshek shows us a note he received from Harry Kalas from 2006. Kalas, 73, has been an announcer for the Philadelphia Phillies for 38 years and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2002. He collapsed in the broadcast booth on Monday prior to the Phillies-Nationals game and passed away upon arrival at a local hospital.

Judd Spicer of CityPages.com takes a look at the Twins starting rotation and their performances this year while drawing comparisons to characters from the movie "Young Guns."

Thrylos from The tenth inning stretch looks at The Curious Case of Kevin Slowey. His prediction that Slowey should rebound soon could be become a reality if the "mechanical flaw" Slowey found in his delivery during a film session on Wednesday is fixed.

Ben Lindbergh from Baseball Prospectus looks at the "Replacement-Level Killers" and concludes that the Twins season could hinder on Michael Cuddyer's shoulders.

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