In The Great White North: Minnesota Twins Dynasty

[mkilcNYR]

New Day, New Team

Minnesota Twins at Tampa Bay Rays
Apr 22, 2014	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Minnesota (10-8)	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	3	11	1
Tampa Bay (11-9)	0	1	0	3	1	0	0	0	X	5	7	0
W: Price (3-1) L: Correia (2-2) S: Balfour (5)

The Twins rolled into Tropicana Field to begin a three game set against the just above .500 Tampa Bay Rays. David Price and Kevin Correia began a pitching duel that was thought to be a great matchup but soon turned sour for the Twins.

After getting a 1,2,3 first inning, Correia could not seemingly find his bearings and gave up a run in the 2nd and 3 in the 4th before Gardenhire yanked him for Anthony Swarzack. A Brian Dozier error would allow the inherited run to score making it 5-0 in favor of Tampa Bay in the 5th.

The Twins were not done though. Oswaldo Arcia doubled home Brian Dozier and Joe Mauer who had singled in the Top of the 6th to cut the deficit to 5-2. In the 8th inning the Twins would have Mauer on 3rd and Willingham on 2nd and again Arcia came through pounding out an RBI single to cut the deficit to 5-3. A Jason Kubel grounder (which honestly looked to be a single but Escobar flashed some serious leather) though became a double play and ended the last Twins threat.

Jason Plouffe managed to go 2-4 and single in the Top 9th but Danny Santana popped up to end the game and hand the Twins another loss. The Twins are now 2-2 on this 6 game road trip with only 2 more game remaining.

After the game though came the most serious news that the Twins have done all year.



Jason Marquis has been resigned to the Minnesota Twins. The Staten Island, NY native who played for the Twins in 2012 before being released has been brought back to be the #5 starter on the team and hopefully be more successful than Deduno.

Deduno has been moved to the bullpen where he seems to be a better fit for and also will provide much needed relief for the pen as a fresh arm for long relief (plus he's available right away which is great since Swarzak just threw 3.2 Innings in relief of Correia). The deal will be worth 1.2 Million for 1 year and will be another veteran, thus taking the pressure off Meyer to be called up from AAA Rochester.

However with the addition of Marquis a player had to be moved. It was an easy choice though to remove Pedro Florimon and release him. The team will only be on the hook for 374 K but that's worth paying in order to get another pitcher and avoid defensive and offensive heartache from our 3rd SS.


Up next for the Twins will be the Rays again, this time a matchup between newly signed starter Jason Marquis and Matt Moore.

[BlueJays09]

Following as well... Good luck

[mkilcNYR]

Atonement

The Twins were all about atonement as they went up against the Rays in the second game of the three game set. After dropping the first game five to three, the Twins looked to bounce back with veteran right hander Jason Marquis on the mound.

Marquis had just been signed the day before and made the trip out to Tampa Bay to fill in as the Twins 5th starter as Twins management wanted to move Samuel Deduno into the bullpen. As you can see it was an interesting and tight game:

Minnesota Twins at Tampa Bay Rays
Apr 23, 2014	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Minnesota (10-9)	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	2	6	3
Tampa Bay (12-9)	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	4	0
W: Yates (2-0) L: Guerrier (0-1)

Marquis gave up a two run homer to Wilson Betemit in the second but only was charged for one run as Evan Longoria had reached on an error. A routine ground ball had bounded in and out of 3B Trevor Plouffe's glove. The error was one of two that Plouffe committed initially putting him in the dog house.

However he would "atone" for the two errors by slamming an 0-1 pitch in the Top of the Fifth with two outs over the right field wall cutting the Rays lead to 2-1. He also made up on the field by making two fantastic defensive plays in the Bottom of Eighth to rob hits away from Ben Zobrist and Wil Myers.

Jason Marquis did his own "atonement" as his first stint with the Twins didn't go well in 2012. However he threw 5 innings, giving up only two hits and striking out 5. He pushed his pitch count up to 87.

Theilbar came on in relief in threw three innings of one hit ball against the Rays who seemed completely baffled by the lefty. Josh Willingham was not baffled on the Twins side as he launched a solo homer over the wall in left in the Top of the Seventh to knot the score at two, making sure that Marquis at the very least would not lose his first start.

Arcia was also great at the plate going 2-3 with two singles and raised his average to .377 on the young year. In the end it wasn't enough though as James Loney hit a solo walk off home run in the Bottom of the Ninth off Matt Guerrier to hand him his first loss of the year out of the 'pen and the Twins dropped the second game.

Both games have been very close so far. Arcia is hitting great and Dozier also extended his hitting streak going 1-4 with a single. Marquis was pretty good in his first start and solidifies the back of the rotation a bit more than Deduno had.

Right now the Rochester Red Wings are playing the Pawtucket Red Sox in a closely watched game on the 23rd to see the progress of starter Alex Meyer. Currently one inning went by with the PawSox up 1-0 on an error by of all people, Byron Buxton, who misplayed the ball in the setting sun and allowed a runner from first to score easily. The run would not be charged to Meyer. Meyer also struck out 2 in the first. Will update whenever I go back to playing that game

[mkilcNYR]

The Longest Game

Twins at Rays |
Apr 24, 2014	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Extras	R	H	E
Minnesota (10-10)	1	1	0	1	0	0	0	1	2	0 3 0 0	9	18	1
Tampa Bay (13-9)	0	0	0	0	1	0	4	0	1	0 3 0 1	10	18	0
W: Oviedo (1-0) L: Swarzack (0-1)

The Twins played a hard fought game that featured the utter collapse of their bullpen and the emergence of Minnesota's bats in the series as this third game between the Rays and the Twins had to go into 13 innings to get a winner at the Trop.

Danny Santana picked up his first major league home run in the first inning on a fastball up high from Tampa Bay starter Alex Cobb. Jason Kubel would later add two home runs of his own in the second and the fourth to push the lead to 3-0. Tampa Bay tacked on one run in the inning but that would be all they would get off Ricky Nolasco.

Nolasco bounced back wonderfully from the start of the season, throwing his best game yet. 6 innings giving up only one run, striking out 6 and giving up only 5 hits. The effort would be for naught though as Burton would melt down in the Bottom of the Seventh allowing two runs in and then a throwing error by rookie catcher Josmil Pinto, and a run allowed in by new pitcher Casey Fein, would make it a 5-3 ball game.

Joe Mauer though would not go quietly into the night as he smashed an 0-2 pitch from Heath Bell over the wall in left to give the Twins their fourth homer in the game. Heading into the ninth the score was now 5-4.

Arcia lead off the Top of the Ninth with a single but then 2 consecutive outs by Plouffe and Kubel brought the game down to it's final out. Josmil Pinto was told to sit down, Kurt Suzuki would bat for the Twins with the game on the line.

CRACK. A two run home run in the Top of the Ninth by pinch hitter Suzuki made it a 6-5 ball game in favor of the Twins. That lead would not hold though as Glenn Perkins allowed a run in the bottom of the Ninth to tie the game at 6-6 and bring on extra baseball.

The Twins managed to bring around 3 runs in the Top of the 11th but then blew up as Pressly blew the save in the bottom of the frame and allowed the Rays to tie it all at 9. That was the third blown save of the game (Perkins, Balfour, and Pressly).

A lead off triple in the Bottom of the 13th and then a sacrifice bunt/ stolen home gave the Rays a crazy walk off win and the sweep of the Twins. A very disappointing game and slightly demoralizing but now the Twins have to regroup and get ready to face the Tigers at home tomorrow.

Triple AAA Report

Alex Meyer would not need that many innings though to get the win against the Pawtucket Red Sox as the Rochester Red Wings beat the PawSox 2-1. Meyer flung 7+ innings while striking out four and scattering seven hits over the frames he worked. Meyer now improves to 2-2 on the year and continues to improve at the minor league level.

Miguel Sano is also having a great year with the New Britain Rock Cats at the Double AA level. He's currently the owner of a hot streak. He's batted safely in 6 straight games and is the owner of a .320 batting average.

Trevor May is set to work the night game for the Red Wings on the road on the 23rd. He's 0-2 but is also being kept an eye on to see his prospects for potentially taking over the rotation of Rochester as it's ace if Meyer is called up.

[mkilcNYR]

Twins News And Notes

With the sweep at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays the Twins are now sitting 2.5 games out of first in the AL Central as april comes to a close. They are still in third place.

Oswaldo Arcia is batting .373 and is the owner of a 12 game hitting streak

Brian Dozier has batted safely in 15 straight games.

The Twins now lead the league in most homers for a team with 36 on the year. (Had 5 in the last game)

The Twins-Tigers series will feature these match ups:

Hughes-Scherzer (April 25th)

Pelfrey-TBA (April 26th)

Correia-Smyly (April 27th)

[mkilcNYR]

Digging Deep

Detroit Tigers at Minnesota Twins
Jan 1,	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Detroit (7-14)	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	4	0
Minnesota (10-11)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0
W: Scherzer (2-2) L: Hughes (0-4) S: Nathan (6)

The Twins went home to Target Field hoping to wipe away the memory of their 3 game sweep at the hands of the Tampa Bay Rays. The game itself was a pitchers duel and baseball fan's dream game the whole way through.

Scherzer and Hughes matched each other pitch for pitch. Phil Hughes was desperate to try and pick up a win on the year and he showed it. He threw 8 innings, throwing 101 pitches over those frames. During his outing he scattered 4 hits and struck out 6, including the big man himself twice, Miguel Cabrera.

However an error in center field by none other than Aaron Hicks would spell doom for the Twins and Hughes. On an easy fly ball Hicks misplayed it badly and dropped the ball allowing Detroit to get a 3rd try in the inning with a runner on third (there had been 2 outs). A weak base hit later scored the games only run and gave the win to the Tigers 1-0.

The Twins now have a 4 game losing streak going into the second game of the series. One bright spot, besides Hughes great outing, was Brian Dozier who now has a 16 game hitting after going 1-4 in the game.

Detroit Tigers at Minnesota Twins
Apr 26, 2014	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Detroit (8-14)	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	6	0
Minnesota (10-12)	0	0	3	0	1	0	0	0	X	4	13	1
W: Pelfrey (4-0) L: Sanchez (0-2) S: Perkins (7)

With Mike Pelfrey on the mound though, the Twins rebounded in style. Josh Willingham slammed a two run homer in the third and the Twins picked up a 4-2 win over the Tigers. Willingham's homer was the 9th of the season.

Pelfrey went 8 innings and also "dug deep" against the Tigers throwing 108 pitches and giving the bullpen some much needed rest from the 13 inning game only 2 days prior in Tampa. With the win he now improves to 4-0 on the year. He also struck out 5 on the day.

Brian Dozier is also streaking and looking to make history! He now has a 17 game hitting streak after going 2-4. After the game he raised his average to ,341 going into Sunday the 27th. Anibal Sanchez dropped to 0-2 on the years for the Tigers but Miggy did pick up his fifth homer off Casey Fein (as he originally was going for the save to give Perkins some more rest)

With the win the standings in the AL Central looks like this heading into Sunday April 27th. There are only 3 more games left in the month of April. The first month is flying by!

MLB Standings - Updated: Apr 26, 2014
AL CENTRAL	W	L	GB
Kansas City Royals	15	9	-
Chicago White Sox	13	12	2.5
Minnesota Twins	11	12	3.5
Cleveland Indians	10	15	5.5
Detroit Tigers	8	15	6.5

Not a lot has changed as the Royals are keeping up their frenetic pace to start the year. Kinda proud to know that 4 of their 9 losses came at the hands of the Boys from the North.

Double AA Report

Miguel Sano continues his great start for the New Britain Rock Cats. (I player locked the game as him) The Rock Cats took on the Richmond Flying Squirrels at the American Ballpark in Richmond. Sano went 1-4 but that 1 hit was a huge 3 run home run in the Top of the 9th to stave off a shutout at the hands of those pesky Squirrels. Sano now has 7 homers and 20 RBI after that game on the 25th.

Twins ownership so far is very pleased with the development of all 3 of our top prospects. Alex Meyer and Byron Buxton can easily see a September call up (or sooner in the case of Buxton) and Sano looks to be developing nicely and maybe in line for a call p to Triple AAA by the end of the year.

Hope you guys enjoyed the update. Next one will feature the thrilling conclusion to the end of the month as the Twins face off against the Tigers in the rubber game and then start a 3 game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

[mkilcNYR]

Caging the Tiger

Detroit Tigers at Minnesota Twins
Apr 27, 2014	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Detroit (8-15)	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	8	0
Minnesota (11-12)	3	0	0	0	2	1	0	0	X	6	10	0
W: Correia (3-2) L: Smyly (0-2)

The Detroit Tigers may have won the division in 2013 and have 2 AL Cy Young's on their roster as well as Miguel Cabrera but the team is in a deep spiral to start off the month of April.

Kevin Correia would not deliver as good of a start as Hughes or Pelfrey (both going 8 innings and throwing over 100 pitches) but he was still solid in the No. 4 spot in the Twins rotation. For the most part he seemed to have shaky control throughout the game but managed to get the Tigers to pop out and ground out weakly. Over his 6 innings of work he only managed to strike out 3 and scattered 6 hits allowing 2 runs.

The Tigers meanwhile were horrid from inning 1 when it came to pitching. Smyly gave up an RBI double that could have been worse had Mauer busted a little bit more (was thrown out trying to score from 1st.). The next batter was Arcia and he showed why he was in the Top 5 in the AL batting race. A 1-1 pitch was sent into the upper deck in right at Target Field to make it a 3-0 game in favor of the Twins.

Aaron Hicks would get in on the home run game finally by launching a 2 run shot in the 5th. (WHAT!!! Seriously Shocked he did this). Plouffe later added his own homer in the 6th, his third of the year. Caleb Theilbar came out of the pen in the Top of the 7th and pitched 3 innings beautiful seeing 9 batters and sending all 9 batters back to the dugout.

The Twins are now back to their winning ways at home with 6 games left in this 9 game home stand. 3 against the Dodgers and 3 against the surging Baltimore Orioles.

The pitching match ups for the Dodgers series will be the following:

Marquis (0-0/1.80 ERA) v. Greinke (3-2/3.41 ERA)-April 29th

Nolasco (1-2/4.82 ERA) v. Ryu (1-1/2.67 ERA)- April 30th

Hughes (0-4/5.80 ERA) v. Beckett (1-3/4.06 ERA)-May 1st.

The standing for the AL Central going into the morning of April 29th are:

MLB Standings - Updated: Apr 29, 2014
AL CENTRAL	W	L	GB
Kansas City Royals	16	9	-
Minnesota Twins	12	12	3.5
Chicago White Sox	13	14	4.0
Cleveland Indians	11	16	6.0
Detroit Tigers	8	16	7.5

Being in second feels great but we're still 3 and a half back from the Royals who keep slugging balls around the yard like its no big deal and wrapping up 3 or 4 game winning streaks at a time. They will absolutely be hard to catch right now. I'd say we are about where I wanted us to be right now as April ends in 2 days.

While April may end soon, trades are just starting to get interesting. The Twins management has decided to update the Trade Block to represent some of what we'd like to give up and what we'd like to get back. Right now we are only looking for a SS or CF players that we can get relatively on the cheap. Prospects preferred as we already have a good SS with Danny Santana getting most of the starts and Jason Bartlett tutoring him. Aaron Hicks meanwhile is still a problem and I don't want to rush the Byron Buxton project at AAA.

The guys on our trading block are:

Kevin Correia SP- Interested (San Francisco Giants)
Samuel Deduno SP-Interested (San Francisco Giants)
Kyle Gibson SP (AAA)-Interested (San Francisco Giants)
Aaron Hicks CF-Interested (Arizona Diamondbacks, Seattle Mariners, Philadelphia Phillies)

[mkilcNYR]

Down on the Farm

This will be part 1 of a quick series I am doing to look at and focus on the prospects and minor league teams of the Minnesota Twins as the year progresses. Today as the pic up top gave away, I will be focusing on the Double AA affiliate New Britain Rock Cats.

The Rock Cats are in first place in their division as the month of April begins to wind to a close. Part of their success is owed to their young aces at AA, Kohl Stewart and Jose Berrios.

Kohl Stewart- a pitcher with not a lot of pitches in his repertoire but a nasty way of throwing the limited selection he has. His fastball can be a pedestrian 90 mph and then surge to a ridiculous 95 mph which baffles batters. His fastball and change up are best when working in tandem and the change up too can fluctuate wildly. It's already been clocked at 79 mph and as high as 86 mph (as fast as an R.A. Dickey fastball). His slider is a killer pitch which is usually his go to strikeout selection on a 1-2 or 0-2 pitch counts.

Currently he has a record of 2-0 in the 2014 campaign with an ERA below 2.

Jose Berrios- Good stuff all around. A B prospect like Stewart but I feel that he has more promise than Stewart. His pitches wreck opposing batters and he already has posted double digit strikeout numbers once against the Fisher Cats from New Hampshire.

Currently he has a record of 2-2 in the 2014 campaign with an ERA in the 2.30's.

On the offensive side of the ball the Rock Cats have Miguel Sano and oh boy is he amazing. So far on the year he is batting .279 with 7 homers and 21 RBI. Defensively he has not made a mistake this year and is a lock at third. The plan is to play him at Double AA until at least June and then make a determination on whether or not to let him see some Triple AAA action. The way he is hitting the ball though makes it look like Plouffe will be out of a job soon in Minnesota.

The Rock Cats next game will be on the 29th (same as the parent club) against the Harrisburg Senators. Both teams are leading their respective divisions. Kohl Stewart will get the start for the Rock Cats.