In The Great White North: Minnesota Twins Dynasty

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Spring Cleaning

May 11th:

Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers
May 11, 2014	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Minnesota ()	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	10	1
Detroit ()	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	X	3	10	1
W: Chamberlain (3-0) L: Burton (1-1) S: Nathan (8)

The Twins managed to lose the last game of the series to the slumping Detroit Tigers and could not complete the sweep. The Twins did have the lead at one point but setup man J. Burton completely coughed that one up and led to the Tigers rallying and ex-Yankee Joba Chamberlain picking up his third win of the year out of the bullpen. Joe Nathan would come on and pick up his 8th save in an otherwise boring game.

May 13th:

Boston Red Sox at Minnesota Twins
May 13, 2014	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston ()	0	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	0	4	7	0
Minnesota ()	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	8	2
W: Peavy (4-4) L: Swarzack (0-2) S: Uehara (10)

What a heartbreaking game. Jason Kubel managed to put the Twins up 3-0 in the second on a three run moon shot to right field off Jake Peavy. Mike Pelfrey would surrender two runs the next inning on a David Ortiz two run homer to cut the lead to 3-2. Which is where it would stand until the Top of the 7th. With Pelfrey out and Swarzack in, a 1-2 low pitch was crushed by Dustin Pedroia to left to give the Red Sox a 4-3 win over the Twins. Minnesota managed to load the bases in the Bottom of the 9th but Suzuki grounded into a double play. Two straight losses for the Twins.

Minor League Breaking News

The Minnesota Twins promoted SP Lewis Thorpe from Single A Fort Meyers Miracle to the Double AA New Britain Rock Cats. The 18 year old Australian phenom will be taking the place of SP Mason Melotakis who was demoted to Single A Fort Meyers to work with the pitching coach on his delivery. Thorpe's first start will be on May 14th against the division rival Portland Sea Dogs (Red Sox AA affiliate)

May 14th:

Boston Red Sox at Minnesota Twins
May 14, 2014	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston ()	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	10	0
Minnesota ()	6	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	X	10	16	1
W: Correia (6-2) L: Lackey (3-2)

This one was not even close. After losing two extremely frustrating and close games in which they were leading going into the last three innings, the Twins exploded. 6 runs in the first was a Twins record. Kubel slammed a grand slam in the first inning and Plouffe added in his own solo shot right after that. David Ortiz also added in a solo home run for his second of the series.

Roster Alert

After the win against the Red Sox, CF Aaron Hicks was informed that he was being optioned and sent down to the AAA Rochester Red Wings. CF Darin Mastroianni was being called up from the Red Wings to fill his spot on the roster.

Minor League Alert

In his first start at the AA level, Lewis Thorpe was a magician on the mound. Over 8 innings he struck out 13 batters tying a season high record of 13 K's set by Kohl Stewart previously in the year. New Britain Rock Cats beat the Portland Sea Dogs 8-1. Thorpe also picked up his first win of the year.

May 15th:

Boston Red Sox at Minnesota Twins
May 15, 2014	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Boston ()	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	1
Minnesota ()	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	2	7	1
W: Theilbar (1-0) L: Mujica (1-3)

This game will go down as a classic in Twins franchise history. Jason Marquis pitched 6.1 innings of 1 run baseball. Over those innings of work he struck out 6 and kept the game incredibly close for the Twins. Josh Willingham slammed home a solo home run in the Bottom of the Ninth to walk off against the Red Sox at home 2-1. With the win the Twins beat the Red Sox in the series 2/3.

Darin Mastroianni also had an impact in his first game of the year at the major league level going 1-3 with a single and run scored.

May 16th:

Mariners at Twins |
May 16, 2014	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Extras	R	H	E
Seattle ()	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0 0 0 0 0 0	4	15	2
Minnesota ()	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0 0 0 0 0 1	5	15	2
W: Pressly (4-0) L: Beimel (0-2)

Darin Mastroianni came through big time for the Twins in only his second game at the MLB level. He slammed a two run homer in the Bottom of the Seventh to tie the score at 2-2 and finished up the day 4-5. Arcia and Dozier had solo shots in the Bottom of the 8th to tie the game at 4-4 and Arcia brought around the winning run in the Bottom of the 15th to give the Twins a 5-4 win.

Nolasco threw 7+ innings in one of his best starts of the year but still gets a ND. The Twins Ryan Pressly improved to 4-0 out of the pen this year in relief.

May 17th:

Seattle Mariners at Minnesota Twins
May 17, 2014	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Seattle ()	1	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	3	7	0
Minnesota ()	0	2	0	2	1	0	0	0	X	5	11	1
W: Hughes (1-6) L: Wood (3-4) S: Perkins (12)

The Twins cruised to an easy victory against the Mariners in this game in which Hughes got his first win!! It was a hard fought win too but still a win nonetheless. The Twins received a boost from Danny Santana who hit his third triple of the year and Darin Mastroianni who went 2-4 with 2 doubles.

Going into May 18th the standings look like this:

MLB Standings - Updated: May 17, 2014
AL CENTRAL	W	L	GB
Kansas City Royals	26	17	-
Minnesota Twins	21	21	4.5
Chicago White Sox	21	23	5.5
Cleveland Indians	19	25	7.5
Detroit Tigers	15	26	10

News And Notes

The Minor League teams for the Twins are doing well so far. The New Britain Rock Cats are currently on a two game losing streak but are still 28-15 and lead the Eastern Division in the Eastern League. Kohl Stewart is 5-1 for them and the easy ace of the staff with Lewis Thorpe providing solid pitching out of the 5 spot. Miguel Sano has been insane hitting close to .300 with 12 HR's and 45 RBI to this point in the year. He leads in those categories by a long shot.

Niko Goodrum is also starting to have a good year at the plate and is heating up. He will most certainly see more playing time at SS and less at DH as we roll gradually into June.

The Rochester Red Wings are an even .500 right now and are having some major issues with hitting. Byron Buxton is still in a slight funk and is only batting around .240. Aaron Hicks will get almost every day playing time now in order to strengthen himself and hone his swing.

The Farm Director brought my attention to Trevor May who is now being prized as a potential prospect that can be worth more than he was originally envisioned. Right now he is at 5-2 record at AAA.

I offered a trade to the San Fransisco Giants. The trade consisted of:

SP Kyle Gibson

FOR

OF Hunter Pence

So far the Giants have not rejected it and are still mulling the deal over.

The Diamondbacks also offered the Twins a trade of:

SP Brandon McCarthy
RP J.J. Putz

FOR

CF Byron Buxton.

Not surprisingly the Twins vetoed the trade as we are stocked on starters and don't need bullpen help right now.

The Farm Director was disturbed by Mason Melotakis though and felt that he was moving in the wrong direction with his potential and needs to be evaluated heavily moving forward to see if he should stay within the system or be released in favor of new prospects being drafted this summer.

In some sadder news for the Twins, Daniel Ortiz fractured his hand while playing a game against the Harrisburg Senators at the AA level on the 17th. He was placed on the 60 day DL and is expected to rejoin the New Britain squad at some point in July, perhaps August depending on how the bones heal.

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The Cities Are Rocking

Seattle Mariners at Minnesota Twins
May 18, 2014	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Seattle ()	1	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	4	8	0
Minnesota ()	0	2	0	3	0	0	0	1	X	6	9	1
W: Pelfrey (5-2) L: Ramirez (2-2) S: Perkins (13)

Solid game all around for the Twins. Mike Pelfrey managed to pick up his fifth win of the year while throwing 5+ innings (Second shortest outing of the year for him). The only mistakes he made was allowing a solo homer to Robinson Cano in the first and then a two run shot by Cory Hart in the Top of the Fourth.

Darin Mastroianni continued to light up the scoreboard for the Twins as he went 2-4 with a two run home run and a single. In just 4 games for the Twins Mastroianni is now batting over .500 with two home runs and 4 RBI. He also has not committed an error yet in center and is making a strong case to remain at the major league level.

The Twins also managed to sweep the Mariners for their first sweep of a team this year. After the three game sweep, the Twins now have won their last five games and sit in second place in the AL Central with a record of 22-21. The Twins have an off day now and will travel to San Diego for a short two game series of Inter-league play with the Padres.

Minor League Report

Ryan Eades threw a complete game shutout of the Harrisburg Senators on Sunday afternoon. He compiled 8 K's and had a perfect game through 4.1 until Eury Perez managed to knock a bloop single into left. It was only 1 of 5 hits that Eades would surrender. His record is now 4-2 on the year for New Britain

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Living On A Prayer

Minnesota Twins at San Diego Padres
May 20, 2014	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Minnesota ()	4	0	1	1	0	0	0	2	0	8	13	0
San Diego ()	4	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	5	11	0
W: Swarzack (1-2) L: Kennedy (3-5) S: Burton (1)

The Twins rolled into San Diego for the first game of a quick five game, seven day trip to the Golden Coast for Inter-league play. The Twins got off to a hot start in the game thanks to a grand slam that was ripped off the bat of Oswaldo Arcia. Arcia's 12th homer of the season put the Twins out 4-0 over the Padres.

That would not be enough though as the Twins starter Kevin Correia was slammed by the Padres for 4 runs in the Bottom of the inning! A two run homer by Quentin followed by a solo shot by Gyorko cut the lead to 4-3. A few batters later and another run would be plated to tie it up.

Correia was left in the game to start the Bottom of the Second but was yanked by Gardenhire after he allowed a hit to Ian Kennedy..the pitcher! (I know, I know, NL pitchers see more plate appearances and are better hitters but c'mon!) In came Anthony Swarzack with strict instructions to hold down the fort because he was it (the bullpen was exhausted after a 15 inning game against the Mariners 4 days prior plus having needed to be called into action for Pelfrey in the finale of the Mariners series).

Swarzack went above and beyond, going 4+ innings of relief giving up only one run, a solo homer to Chase Headley. He was also helped out big time by recently called up Darin Mastroianni in CF. Mastroianni gunned down the tying run trying to score in the Bottom of the Third to end the inning and made a running/jumping/flying throw to home to hold Everth Cabrera at 3rd in the Bottom of the Fifth with only 1 out. Mastroianni also added in his own home run in the Top of the Fourth to give Minnesota a 6-4 lead.

Suzuki would single home Arcia and Plouffe in the Top of the 8th to give the Twins a 3 run cushion and Jared Burton threw 2 innings of scoreless relief, striking out 3 and picking up his first save. Perkins had the night off since he had already thrown 5 innings in the previous 3 games.

The Twins extend their winning streak to 6 games now going into the finale of the two game set on Wednesday night in San Diego.

Roster Moves

After the game though Gardenhire delivered some news from the top brass. Samuel Deduno was being placed on waivers and removed from the 40 man roster effective immediately. He was assigned to AAA Rochester to take the place of Kyle Gibson. Gibson was called up to take Deduno's spot in the bullpen as the second long relief man (even though he's a starter. The plan is to keep him for now and probably move him into the #4 or #3 hole in 2015 but for now to get some innings out of the pen and be an emergency spot starter).

To take Deduno's place on the roster, SP Sean Gilmartin of the AA New Britain Rock Cats was officially added to the 40 man roster in order to protect the 23 year old from the Rule 5 draft. He will most likely be promoted to AAA in the coming months to take Gibson's old spot. The decision was only reinforced when Gilmartin threw 8.1 in his start that night on the 20th against the Richmond Flying Squirrels picking up his 5th win of the year.

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Sunshine On The Golden Coast

The Twins felt very confident after having won their sixth straight game against the San Diego Padres on the 20th. The Twins sent Jason Marquis to the mound to face off against the Padres in the last game of the mini two game set. San Diego would counter with Andrew Cashner, their #2 starter in the rotation.

Minnesota Twins at San Diego Padres
May 21, 2014	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Minnesota ()	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	1
San Diego ()	0	2	0	0	1	0	2	0	X	5	11	0
W: Cashner (4-2) L: Marquis (1-2)

Cashner proved why the Padres had wanted him from the Cubs back in 2012. He threw 8 innings of shutout 5 hit ball. The Twins could not muster even one man beyond 2nd base in the whole game after having slaughtered the Padres pitching the night before. Marquis came down back to earth in this start after his heroic performance against the Red Sox. One bright spot for the Twins was Oswaldo Arcia who continues his great performance at the plate getting 2 of the hits in the game for the Twins.

After the Padres series the Twins had one off day and then headed to San Francisco to take on the Giants in a three game matchup.

Game 1:

Minnesota Twins at San Francisco Giants
May 23, 2014	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Minnesota ()	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	6	14	1
San Francisco ()	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	2	9	1
W: Nolasco (2-3) L: Lincecum (6-2)

The Twins could not be stopped in this game. Oswaldo Arcia got the offense pumping in the Top of the 2nd with a huge blast to right field to put the Twins up 2-0 over the Giants and send an early message to Lincecum that the Twins would not be put down quietly.

Nolasco pitched another great game for the Twins (finally justifying his contract cost) throwing 8 innings and striking out 7 while allowing only two runs. Trevor Plouffe came through for the Twins big time against the Giants by crushing a 2-2 pitch to deep left for a grand slam in the Top of the 8th to send the Twins fans to the dive bars in a good mood!

Game 2:

Minnesota Twins at San Francisco Giants
May 24, 2014	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Minnesota ()	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	11	0
San Francisco ()	0	1	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	8	1
W: Hughes (2-6) L: Vogelsong (1-6) S: Perkins (14)

Phil Hughes labored very hard throughout this game for 6+ innings in an attempt to get his second win of the year. Even with Oswaldo Arcia putting the offense on his back (again!) going 3-4 with a 3 run homer and an RBI triple, the game still almost got away from Hughes.

With a 4-1 lead Hughes managed to get runners on the corner with only 1 out. A single later (followed by an error) would bring both around to score and cut the Twins lead to just 1 run. Hughes would hold right there though and the Twins would hold on as Theilbar, Fein, and Perkins would come out of the 'pen to shut down the Giants through the last 3 innings for the win.

Vogelsong's horrible year continued as his record dropped to 1-6. He was pulled in the 5th inning after giving up a leadoff single to Brian Dozier as Bochy had 0 faith in him to get out the jam, especially with the heavy Twins hitters coming up.

The Twins went into the last game of the series with the hope that they could sweep the Giants at AT&T park in a Sunday afternoon FOX Sports matchup.

Game 3:

Minnesota Twins at San Francisco Giants
May 25, 2014	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Minnesota ()	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	11	3
San Francisco ()	1	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	4	10	0
W: Affeldt (1-0) L: Guerrier (0-2)

The Twins jumped out to a great start against the Giants on "Retro Sunday" at AT&T Park. Wearing their powder blue uniforms the Twins channeled some of their past great performances. The Twins got Danny Santana on first with a single. Santana then attempted to steal and was already moving but Dozier whacked the pitch out to deep left just missing a home run! Santana scored and Dozier picked up the RBI double.

The Giants struck back though on a Pablo Sandoval homer which tied the game. Pelfrey, who is usually a great pitcher, had problems with the Giants allowing a run in every inning that the Twins scored!

The run in the Bottom of the Fourth was pretty controversial though. With a runner on third and 2 out Madison Bumgarner, San Fran's starter, dropped a bunt to the third base side trying to score the run and get on. Plouffe was there, grabbed the ball and threw to home. Suzuki caught it and though that he had applied the tag with more than enough time and was walking off the field as the umpire motioned safe!!!

Suzuki never applied the tag as Brandon Belt must have managed to have just slid under it. The Twins were steamed and that run would become momentous because it tied the score and allowed the Gregor Blanco 9th inning homer to win the game.

Overall the west coast road trip was fairly successful. The Twins managed to get a 3-2 winning record out of it and offensively lit up against the Padres in game 1 and the Giants in game 1. Arcia has rediscovered his swing in the waning days of May and is driving the offense and the team.

News And Notes

Right before the Giants game on the 25th, the Twins front office received word that the Mets had decided to part ways with Jeurys Familia and placed him on irrevocable outright waivers. The former Binghamton Mets reliever had never materialized to what the Mets had wanted and the team decided to part ways. The Twins though saw an opportunity and placed a waiver claim on the 24 year old, C rated prospect.

The Twins won the waiver claim and assigned him to AA New Britain. To make room for the newly acquired pitcher on the team, the Twins released SP Mason Melotakis from the A Fort Meyers Miracle. In order to make room for Familia on the 40 man roster the Twins removed RP Kris Johnson from the roster although he will stay on the AAA team.

The Twins will head back home to Target Field to play a 4 game set against the Texas Rangers starting on the 26th