Puckett's Pond » Dusty Hughes

About Those Injuries…

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 13:00:09 +0000

How much of the disaster that was 2011 can be blamed on injuries? Take a look at the list below and decide for yourself.

It’s a list of every time the Twins have used the Disabled List this season. Keep in mind that this does not include every injury the Twins have had. For example, in September Brian Duensing, Michael Cuddyer, and Jason Kubel all missed significant playing time, but they did not go on the DL because expanded rosters made it unnecessary.

4/5 – 5/7: Kevin Slowey, Bicep pain

4/8 – 6/15: Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Broken fibula

4/13 – 6/17: Joe Mauer, Bilateral leg weakness

4/19 – 5/13: Delmon Young, Strained oblique

5/1 – 5/23: Jim Thome, Strained oblique (more…)

The Friday Links

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 17:00:33 +0000

What week it has been for the Minnesota Twins! Since losing last Friday evening to the Texas Rangers the Twins are 4-0 after taking the weekend set from the Rangers to win a series against the AL West leading Rangers and then sweeping the Chicago White Sox in a rain shortened 2 game series. The Twins’ pitchers have continued to pitch deep into games and the bullpen has responded by preserving late game leads. Alexi Casilla has continued to stay hot, Michael Cuddyer continues to hit the ball deep (5 HRs in June), and Tsuyoshi Nishioka returned to the line up and made his Target Field debut.

Here are the links:

RandBall’s Stu started off the week with a list of all the Twins that were on the Disabled List. In addition to being a long list, he manged to mix in some jokes and some fairly insightful analysis. With Nishioka, Joe Mauer and Glen Perkins all coming off the DL earlier this week, hopefully the Twins can start to get healthy.

The WGOM has a couple of really neat features that run on a regular basis. One of them is posting a list of baseball related birthday’s each morning and highlighting any Twins related players including their history with the team. Another feature, the one I’ll point you towards, is a weekly feature in which they monitor all the roster transactions involving Ex-Twins. It is pretty neat to look through the list and remember some of the names the Twins’ once claimed as their own.

Aaron Hicks had a monster week at High-A Fort Myers. He is finally warming up to the pitching in Florida and he is hitting the cover off the ball while continuing to be spectacular in the outfield. Travis Aune, of TravisTalks, gives Twins fans a break down of his development since he has drafted 14th overall in 2008. (more…)

Twins Bullpen Blows Big Lead. Again.

Sat, 28 May 2011 04:28:15 +0000

The Target Field crowd cheered when Jim Hoey induced the final out of the 8th inning Friday night. Perhaps never before in the history of sports has a team done so little to earn applause, as the Twins horrific bullpen gifted the Angels five runs that inning, ruining a solid Twins offensive performance and a brilliant Scott Baker start.

By the top of the 9th inning, when Hoey walked off the field after surrendering the go-ahead run, the cheers had soured to a chorus of well-deserved boos. Friday’s six run meltdown was just the latest in a string of contemptible bullpen performances that have destroyed leads both large and small.

In the past seven games, the Twins bullpen has blown five saves – the only five save opportunities they have been given - and lost all five games. The team has now lost six of seven, but with even a minimum of competence in the ‘pen, they would have won nine of the last 10, with Wednesday’s shutout loss ending an eight game winning streak and a win tonight starting a new one. By all rights, Minnesota should have a record of at least 21-28, and enough momentum to remain in the division race. Instead, the bullpen has all but nailed the coffin on the 2011 season for the Twins, who hold MLB’s worst record at 16-33.

(more…)