Puckett's Pond » Jeff Gray

This Week in Twins: August 6-12

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 11:08:30 +0000

That was quite a week! The trade deadline came and went with no further activity by the Twins, but that didn’t stop them from trading third baseman Danny Valencia. On the field, Minnesota lost a well-fought series against the White Sox, but they beat the other-colored Sox quite handily in three of four games. For a team that has had a boatload of trouble against AL East teams, the Red Sox series was a welcome turn of events.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka returns for this week’s games, during which the Twins will face the slumping Cleveland Indians on the road and the Wild Card hopeful Rays at Target Field. It is to be hoped that Trevor Plouffe will return as well, but he will not be present for the Cleveland series. In between the two series, the Twins have a Thursday off day that might allow Plouffe extra time to heal.

Two things to look forward to in the coming week are Scott Diamond and Samuel Deduno’s starts against Cleveland. Both pitchers shut the Indians down a week ago; Diamond hurled a three hit shutout, and Deduno surrendered just two hits in seven innings. They’ll start back-to-back on Monday and Tuesday, so be sure to tune in for those games. On the other hand, you might want to miss Saturday’s game, in which Nick Blackburn is the likely starter against Tampa. In six career starts, Blackburn is 2-4 with a 7.20 ERA and 1.97 WHIP against the Rays. Those ERA and WHIP totals are his worst against any American League team.

Twins Goals for the Week Ahead:

1. Catch the Indians! Not long ago, the Twins were stuck in last place in the American League. But thanks to some key wins and a long Indians’ losing streak, Minnesota starts this week a mere three games behind the third place Indians. With a series sweep, the Twins could find themselves tied for third in the Central Division. Respectability is not far off.

2. Win another series against the East. Was that series win at Fenway a fluke? Or is it a sign that the Twins are no longer helpless against the AL East’s premier clubs? We’ll find out a little more when the Rays come to town. Tampa is fighting for a playoff slot, but the Twins are playing for pride.

3. More strong starts. It remains to be seen whether Diamond, Deduno, and Cole DeVries are for real, but they’ve been pitching quite well lately. Since the All Star break, this trio has a 5-3 record and a 3.56 ERA in 81 innings. It’s just the kind of competent starting pitching the Twins craved all season long.

Casey Fien: the next Jared Burton? Photo by David Butler II-US PRESSWIRE

Weekly Winners:

Casey Fien. The latest in a long line of minor league free agents to contribute to the 2012 Twins, Fien has been providing excellent late-inning relief. Last week he made it into three games, tossed three innings of scoreless relief, and notched three strikeouts. Fien is fast becoming a reliable complement to Jared Burton and Glen Perkins at the back end of the ‘pen.

Justin Morneau. At one point in late June, Morneau’s batting average was a pitiful .229. Now it’s a respectable .270. Morneau was one of the heroes of the Boston series, rapping eight hits in the first three games, the majority of them against left-handers.

Ben Revere. The hits keep on coming, and now Revere owns a 19 game hitting streak. He went 11 for 27 last week (.407 average), and he’s becoming a threat for the American League batting title. L.A.’s Mike Trout is still 23 batting points ahead of Revere, but Revere’s average is climbing fast, and he should accumulate enough plate appearances to finally qualify for the leaderboard late this week.

Weekly Worst:

Danny Valencia. Valencia did not have a terrible week at the plate – he went 5 for 18 with a home run – but he makes this list because he left Minnesota on a down note. After a promising rookie year, Valencia slumped along with the rest of the team in 2011. Unlike many of his teammates, he did not snap out of it this year, instead posting his worst numbers as a pro. He leaves Minnesota with a .198 batting average.

Jeff Gray. It was actually a good week for the Twins, so it was pretty tough to find contenders for the Weekly Worst list. Gray lands on the list because he gave up a game-losing home run to A.J. Pierzynski on Tuesday. Giving up a homer to Pierzynski always stings for the Twins, and when that homer costs a game against the division-rival Sox, it’s even worse. Fortunately, Gray redeemed himself later in the week by pitching well and earning a win at Boston.

Alexi Casilla. Playing time continues to be scarce for Casilla, and he is not making the most of it, at least not at the plate. He had just one hit in nine at bats last week.

This Week in Twins: July 30 – August 5

Mon, 30 Jul 2012 17:29:47 +0000

Last week was a week of big contrasts and mixed emotions for the Twins. They suffered an ugly sweep at the hands of one heated division rival (Chicago White Sox), then they gloriously swept another (Cleveland Indians) in the same blowout fashion. The starting pitching shined in four of the six games, but the relievers melted down in another. Francisco Liriano said goodbye about the same time that Danny Valencia returned. Anthony Swarzak and Trevor Plouffe hit the Disabled List, but Justin Morneau finally started hitting like the MVP he used to be. And after a bad start to the week, the Twins finally crawled out of last place in the AL Central! They now hold a two game advantage over the Royals.

We begin another week of uncertainty, as any one of several Twins veterans could have a new team by tomorrow afternoon. Fortunately, we’ll be able to leave the rumor mill behind and focus on the rest of the baseball season after that.

The week starts with three games at home against the Chicago White Sox. This series offers a chance for the Twins to get some revenge for last week’s debacle and play the spoiler role. More importantly, they’ll get a chance to face Liriano on Tuesday night. After Chicago leaves town, the Twins trade one color Sox for another as they fly to Beantown and meet the Red Sox in a four game stint. The White Sox look like a team on the rise, but the Red Sox seem almost ready to throw in the towel in the AL East.

Twins Goals for the Week Ahead:

1. Beat Liriano. The return on the trade was disappointing because Liriano had far less value than most biased Twins fans expected. Hopefully the Twins can prove they didn’t get ripped off by knocking the ball around in Liriano’s first start with the Sox.

2. Stop the White Sox momentum. Chicago came into last week’s series with a five game losing streak, then they swept the Twins and won a weekend series against the formidable Rangers. It would be nice for the Twins to win the White Sox series and take a little bite out of Chicago’s growing confidence.

3. Win some games at Fenway. The AL East has been a big, ugly menace for the Twins recently. It’s far too late to salvage the 2012 season, but Minnesota could at least salvage some pride by proving they can beat a team in the Eastern Time Zone.

Morneau and Willingham: Weekly Winners. Photo by Jesse Johnson-US PRESSWIRE

Weekly Winners:

Justin Morneau. Morneau was a winner in baseball and in life this week. He missed the week’s first game because he was spending time with his wife, who gave birth to the couple’s second child. When he came back to the field, he raked. Morneau hit .458/.535/.625 with a pair of homers. His batting average for the season is up to a respectable .260, and he’s just two homers away from 200 for his career.

Josh Willingham. He only had five hits this week, but four of them left the ballpark. That puts him at 27 on the season, on pace for 44 when all is said and done. This Puckett’s Pond writer is starting to hope that Willingham really can become the first Twin to break the 35 barrier since 1970… and he’s really starting to regret his argument that the Twins should trade Willingham earlier this season.

Scott Diamond. Diamond wasn’t the only Twins starter to excel this week – Sam Deduno, Cole DeVries, and Brian Duensing all had solid outings as well – but he makes the winner’s list for throwing a three hit shutout. Not only was it by far the most dominant performance by a Twins pitcher this season, a six strikeout, sub-100 pitch effort that only a no-hitter could beat, but it came right on the heels of Diamond’s two worst starts of the year. Great bounceback.

Weekly Worst:

Nick Blackburn. Ugh, that was a bad start by Blackburn. 10 hits and a pair of homers in less than five innings against the White Sox gave the Twins no chance to win. Despite a contract that pays him through 2013, it’s very difficult to see how Blackburn could figure into any of the Twins’ future plans.

Tyler Robertson. The Twins could have won one of the games in Chicago. On Tuesday they held a 4-2 lead when Robertson took over for starter Cole DeVries. ThE. Robertson surrendered a walk and a tw0-run homer, thus blowing the save chance. He allowed another two-run bomb in Saturday’s game against the Indians, but fortunately the Twins were well ahead by that time.

Jeff Gray. Hard to land someone on the Weekly Worst list if he only pitches 0.2 innings in a week, but when that pitcher has a 40.50 ERA in those 0.2 innings, it’s hard to keep him off. Gray relievE. Robertson on Tuesday night, and he stood on the mound as the Sox turned a close game into a laugher.

Twins toss another near no-hitter

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 00:27:50 +0000

If five pitchers combine to throw a no-hitter in the forest, but nobody sees or hears it, did it really happen? Unfortunately, we still do not know the answer to that question.

For the second time this spring, the Twins came within a few outs of achieving that rarest of meaningless feats: a spring training no-hitter. Previously it was the Pirates who couldn’t keep up with Twins’ awesome pitching; today it was the Orioles. The Twins blanked Baltimore 5-0 in a game that was neither televised nor radiovised (full disclosure: I made that word up). For all of us who were following along on the Gameday feature of the MLB At Bat app, though, it was a true nail-biter.

Incidentally, the game was held at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, Florida. It was not technically in the forest, as the first sentence of this article may have led you to believe. I think I’ve just heard too many of those Twins radio broadcast PSAs, and the forest is on my mind.

Anthony Swarzak threw more than a third of a no-hitter today. Photo by Joy R. Absalon-US PRESSWIRE

Playing in a forest might have been less strange than what actually happened, though. Most of the five pitchers who combined for the one-hitter – Anthony Swarzak, Jeff Gray, Jared Burton, Glen Perkins, and Matt Capps – were not exactly known for their ability to mow down opposing hitters. But mow they did. Aside from three Swarzak walks, the Twins did not allow a base runner until the eighth inning.

Ironically, it was Perkins, the Twins’ most unhittable pitcher last year, who allowed the only hit. With one out in the eighth, Robert “Buzzkill” Andino swatted a double to right field to ruin everyone’s good time. Recall that in the Pirates game, the Twins spent the afternoon quietly retiring Bucs batters until evil mastermind Brandon Boggs singled. Boggs was justly thrown out by Brian Dinkelman while trying to stretch the single into a double. Today, history repeated itself. Andino got greedy and tried for a triple, and he was thrown out at third for his crimes.

This game had some larger significance as well. It was Swarzak’s first start of the spring. With Scott Baker a longshot to be ready for the start of the season, Swarzak is auditioning for a temporary rotation slot. Throwing three and two thirds no-hit innings is probably the best audition you can expect, so Swarzak has definitely raised the bar for Liam Hendriks or anyone else who is still in the running for the job. On the downside, as mentioned above, Swarzak did walk three batters, which is a troubling sign. Swarzak is not the type of pitcher who can be successful if he walks batters on a regular basis.

Also of note: Gray has participated in both of the one-hit efforts this spring. He has flown under the radar, not receiving a lot of coverage in the media, but he now owns a 2.16 ERA in 8.1 innings, albeit with only two strikeouts. Gray stretched out a little this afternoon, throwing 2.1 innings, so it’s possible the Twins are considering him for a long-relief role. The fact that Minnesota has pitched a one-hit shutout in one third of Gray’s appearances can’t hurt: maybe he’s a good luck charm.