Musings

It appears that I lied about getting a rundown of the minor league playoff games from yesterday up this afternoon. My apologies. But here, for your edification, are a number of thoughts on things Major and Minor.

1.) The Twins may have gotten creamed tonight, but we weren't alone. Mark Buehrle threw 85 pitches in 4 innings, giving up 4 ER's. Ozzie didn't send him out for the 5th, instead sending knuckelballing rookie Charlie Haeger out for 2.2 innings, to be followed by Neal Cotts and David Riske. That means the Twins maintain their half-game lead, but the offense needs to do better tomorrow against Wilfredo Ledezma. Watching all the double-plays recently makes me forget at times that the Twins are in the Wild Card lead.

2.) The Dmitri Young story is bizarre, and Buster Olney discusses it on his blog on ESPN (Insider account required). The pertinent aspect of the story: Olney thinks something happened during yesterday's rain-delay between Young and Jim Leyland that resulted in Young's purging from the team. Young is no longer much of a player; he was hitting just .250 with 7 HR's when he was released, and he's an "old" 32 years of age. I suspect he'll catch on somewhere, but probably not until next spring. I don't expect that he'll ever be a regular at the Major League level again, however.

3.) I was all excited to praise Michael Cuddyer for yet another outfield assist tonight before he made a poor decision in throwing to 3rd, allowing the hitter to advance to 2nd on the throw. That mistake allowed 2 runners to score when the next hitter singled. It turned out not to matter, but those are the types of mistakes that the Twins just can't make when they're not hitting and have this current pitching staff. Still, isn't it a thing of beauty watching Cuddyer throw a runner out at 3rd? And if you're a 3rd base coach, why oh why do you test his arm when it's going to be close?

4.) A number of things to discuss with Carlos Silva. The Twins website mentions that Silva apologized to the team for taking himself out of the first good game he's pitched in awhile, which indirectly lead to the bullpen fizzling and the game slipping away. You have to wonder if Silva's stomach problem was psychosomatic; he'd pitched so well through 6 innings, and with his recent struggles, is it possible that he just wanted to get out of the game with a solid line? Let's hope not; that kind of mental softness could be horrible damaging for a team in the playoff hunt. This is just another reason that I'm not firmly convinced the Twins won't pick up Silva's option, as if his horrifying pitching this season wasn't reason enough.

5.) This is directly related to the above, and stems from a question by Just Hank from Right Handed Heat. Hank asks who Francisco Liriano will replace when/if he returns to the rotation (and it sure sounds as if that is going to happen on September 14). If I count correctly, that day is scheduled to be a start for Boof Bonser, but I wouldn't read anything into that; they'll just push everybody but Santana back a day to insert Liriano. I think there are three legitimate candidates to be replaced in the rotation. First is Carlos Silva. He may have just had a solid start, but it was against the D-Rays and he had the above mentioned "problem" late in the start. I give Silva about 50% odds of being the guy taken out of the rotation. Second is Scott Baker. Baker seems to pitch well against the Yankees (maybe an argument for finagling him onto the playoff roster through a loophole if the Twins match up against the Yanks in the first round), but doesn't seem to do all that well against anyone else. I give him a 35% chance of being replaced. Finally comes Matt Garza. He's gotten some tough luck, losing games he should have one. He's also been wildly inconsistent, and still throws way too many pitches to get through most innings. Still, he's the wave of the future, and the Twins will probably leave him alone. I give him a 15% shot of being replaced. As for Bonser? He is, simply put, the best of the non-Santana Twins starters in the rotation right now, and there seems to be no reason to replace him. The odd-man out, whoever it will be, will go to the bullpen and probably be on call to come into the game when Liriano reaches the 60 pitch mark on the 14th.

6.) International League (AAA) playoff update: The Red Wings have taken a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five series against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Mike Smith pitched 6 innings, allowing 4 ER's on 7 H's in picking up the Game 1 victory. Beau Kemp pitched the 7th & 8th, and Bobby Korecky pitched the ninth to pick up the save. Garrett Jones (1B) was the offensive hero of the game, with 3 RBI's on a 3-for-4 night. In game 2, the Red Wings survived a horrid start by Dave Gassner (1.1 innings, 5 ER's) and won 11-5. Henry Bonilla got the win in relief, and Kevin Cameron and Beau Kemp pitched 4.1 innings of scoreless relief. Quinton McCracken (OF) went 4-for-4 with 3 RBI's and a HR to become the offensive player of the game. The Wings can sweep the series if they win tomorrow, but Twins fans shouldn't be rooting for that, because Francisco Liriano is set to start on Saturday in a rehab stint. Him getting that start in is more important than anything else that could come from this series.

7.) Florida State League (High A) playoff update: The Miracle lost a tight 4-3 game on Wednesday, evening their series against Dunedin at 1 game apiece. Oswaldo Sosa took the loss, although he didn't pitch that badly, giving up 2 ER's on 4 H's through 5. Trevor Plouffe went 3-for-5 , but the offense never got much going. Ft. Myers and Dunedin are knotted at 2 in the 9th as I write this. The winning team will head to the FSL championship series, while the losing team will be done for the year. UPDATE: Ft. Myers season ended last night following a 3-2 loss, with Dunedin scoring the winning run in the 11th inning. The Miracle got a very solid 7 inning start from Anthony Swarzak, who surrendered just 1 ER on 5 H's. Danny Powers blew the save, and Tim Lahey took the loss. Offensively, Brock Peterson's 2-for-5 night was the highlight, with Korey Feiner (C) and J.R. Taylor (2B) picking up RBI's in the game.

8.) Midwest League (Low A) playoff update: Yohan Pino delivered in a big way for Beloit, pitching a complete game, 4-hit shutout against Peoria to lead the Snappers to a 2-0 win in the first game of their opening series. Eli Tintor went just 1-for-4, but the 1 hit was a 2-run homer that represented the only scoring of the game. Unfortunately, game 2 tonight didn't go as well, with the Snappers losing 6-1. Eduardo Morlan got the start and pitched well, allowing just 1 ER in 5 innings. Relievers Danny Vais and Frank Mata both allowed 2 ER's apiece, however, and the Beloit offense did nothing to assist matters. Game 3 tomorrow will decide who advances to the second round.