Puckett's Pond » Jeremy Hellickson

The Future is Coming

Tue, 26 Apr 2011 22:00:30 +0000

The season is still very young, and for the Minnesota Twins and the Tampa Bay Rays, the newness of the 2011 season helps to dissipate high levels of panic as each team was off to a sluggish start. Since starting 0-6 the Rays have been playing pretty decent baseball and now find themselves at .500 (thanks to a series against the then struggling Minnesota Twins and the slumping Chicago White Sox). The Twins, meanwhile, found their groove after leaving Tampa Bay and are only 3 games under .500 after some solid performances in the past week against Baltimore and Cleveland. The two face off tonight for the first in a three game series.

The Tampa Bay Rays have had some minor tweaks to their roster, most notable losing Evan Longoria to the DL, but through the first 22 games they’ve only brought up two guys from their Minor League system. The Twins, on the other hand, have faced plenty of adversity through their first 21 games and have already played 30 guys on their Major League team, due to a variety of reasons from ineffectiveness in the bullpen to bi-lateral leg weakness behind the plate.

Unfortunately for the Rays and the Twins these injuries have plagued both clubs where they have relatively weak depth, compared with their options in the outfield. In conjunction with my brother’s Baseball Card Series I will be showcasing a few baseball cards of my own, and today marks the first effort on that front. I’ll be profiling two MLB Rookie Cards from this year’s Topps collection, Desmond Jennings of the Tampa Bay Rays and Ben Revere of the Minnesota Twins. (more…)

2011 Series Preview: Rays vs Twins (4/26-4/28)

Wally Fish — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 04:03:02 +0000

The Twins are starting to pick things up and have quietly won 5 of 7. With the scheduled off day today the team has some extra time to get healthy, purge the flu bug from their systems and prepare for a three game series against Tampa Bay. Like the Twins, the Rays have recovered from a terrible start to the season but have done so in more impressive fashion winning 10 of their last 13.

Earlier this month, Minnesota lost 3 of 4 to the Rays in Tampa, but with a combined 27 runs scored (TB 15 and MIN 12) neither team was very exceptional at the plate. Fortunately the Twins bats appear to be stirring from their slumber and do not have to travel to Tampa again this season. Six games remain between the two teams and all 6 will be played at Target Field. In addition to the upcoming 3 game series, the Twins will also host the Rays for a 3 game series later this summer (July 4th, 5th and 6th).

Helping me out by injecting the Tampa Bay perspective into this preview is Rays Colored Glasses Lead Writer Ben Ice.

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2011 Series Preview: Twins vs Rays (4/14-4/17)

Wally Fish — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 19:32:36 +0000

Never in the history of baseball has the phrase “pitch to contact” kicked off such a firestorm among a fanbase as it has in the last 24 hours for Twins fans. There is no way around it, the 2011 Minnesota Twins – through 11 games – have disappointed easy going of fans. Now the get ready to take on the Tampa Bay, who like the Twins, have underachieved and stumbled out of the gate. One of these two teams will be feeling much better about themselves on Sunday evening but regardless of how things shake out in the next 4 games, there remains little reason to panic. At least for the Twins who don’t have to share their division with the Red Sox, Yankees, Blue Jays and Orioles.

As is becoming a tradition on these previews I have reached across the aisle to get the Tampa perspective from someone more versed on all things Rays related. To that effect, Ben Ice, Lead Writer of Rays Colored Glasses, agreed to collaborate with me on the pitching and the Q&A portions of this preview. Also helping out on the series preview is Puckett’s Pond Staff Writer Adam Krueger who was kind enough to author the Twins half of the pitching matchups for me.

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