Nightly Notes
1.) Obviously, the big news tonight is Santana's 17th victory coupled with the White Sox 1-0 loss against a pitcher nobody outside of Boston has ever heard of, giving the Twins a 1.5 game Wild Card lead. I'll let the Strib, ESPN, MNTwins.com, and Bat-Girl take care of the recap and associated issues. Let me just say that the White Sox are going through a very similar stretch to that the Twins went through over the 6 days before the start of the Tampa Bay series: losing 2-of-3 to the Royals before losing (at least) 2-of-3 to a better AL East opponent who is sending rookies to the mound. Anyone who was suggesting doom and gloom for the Twins in that stretch wasn't paying attention to the bizarre nature of baseball and a 162-game season.
2.) As reported yesterday by the Strib, Adam Harben was sent to the Cubs to complete the Phil Nevin deal. My assumption is that there is some sort of waiver for the 40-man roster when a player to be named is "unofficially" named; i.e. the Twins and Cubs knew Harben was the other guy in the deal, and informed Major League Baseball of such. Harben had to clear waivers, and the Twins got to carry him on the roster as an "extra" until the deal went through, or fell through. If someone had claimed Harben, the Twins would have had to find another way to get down to 40 guys on the roster, but everything worked out and Harben is gone. The Strib said it best yesterday when they discussed this deal; Harben was a solid prospect who struggled for New Britain this year, and who saw guys like Matt Garza and Kevin Slowey slide right past him in the organizational depth chart. Hopefully Nevin justifies sending a young pitcher away, but of all the guys we could have given up, Harben is a good choice.
3.) Is it possible that Carlos Silva can keep "the streak" going? The streak I'm referring to, of course, is the 14 straight wins against the D-Rays. That's just weird.
4.) The AAA International League post-season opens up tomorrow with Rochester starting things off against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Starting for the Red Wings . . . Mike Smith. That's what happens when the Major League rotation includes Scott Baker, Boof Bonser, and Matt Garza.
5.) The High A Florida State League post-season opened tonight, and the Ft. Myers Miracle took a 1-0 lead in their series against Dunedin. Kyle Waldrop got the start, but the win went to Danny Powers, who pitched the last 2.1 innings of the game. Trevor Plouffe and Steven Tolleson both had 3 hits apiece, and Plouffe picked up 2 RBI's.
6.) The Low A Midwest League playoffs start up tomorrow, with Beloit facing Peoria. Yohan Pino, who had an amazing year for the Snappers, gets the nod on the mound.
7.) This note is last mostly because I still can't believe it, but the Tigers lost again. That means the Twins are now just 4 games back in the AL Central. With another game against the D-Rays tomorrow. And a 4 game series against the Tigers coming up this weekend. Wow is all I can say. Right now, I think I'd be worried if I were a Tigers fan, because if they somehow manage not to win the division after the lead they built at the start of the season, it would be a monumentally embarrassing collapse. Best case scenario from my standpoint? The Twins win the division and the Tigers get the WC.
2.) As reported yesterday by the Strib, Adam Harben was sent to the Cubs to complete the Phil Nevin deal. My assumption is that there is some sort of waiver for the 40-man roster when a player to be named is "unofficially" named; i.e. the Twins and Cubs knew Harben was the other guy in the deal, and informed Major League Baseball of such. Harben had to clear waivers, and the Twins got to carry him on the roster as an "extra" until the deal went through, or fell through. If someone had claimed Harben, the Twins would have had to find another way to get down to 40 guys on the roster, but everything worked out and Harben is gone. The Strib said it best yesterday when they discussed this deal; Harben was a solid prospect who struggled for New Britain this year, and who saw guys like Matt Garza and Kevin Slowey slide right past him in the organizational depth chart. Hopefully Nevin justifies sending a young pitcher away, but of all the guys we could have given up, Harben is a good choice.
3.) Is it possible that Carlos Silva can keep "the streak" going? The streak I'm referring to, of course, is the 14 straight wins against the D-Rays. That's just weird.
4.) The AAA International League post-season opens up tomorrow with Rochester starting things off against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Starting for the Red Wings . . . Mike Smith. That's what happens when the Major League rotation includes Scott Baker, Boof Bonser, and Matt Garza.
5.) The High A Florida State League post-season opened tonight, and the Ft. Myers Miracle took a 1-0 lead in their series against Dunedin. Kyle Waldrop got the start, but the win went to Danny Powers, who pitched the last 2.1 innings of the game. Trevor Plouffe and Steven Tolleson both had 3 hits apiece, and Plouffe picked up 2 RBI's.
6.) The Low A Midwest League playoffs start up tomorrow, with Beloit facing Peoria. Yohan Pino, who had an amazing year for the Snappers, gets the nod on the mound.
7.) This note is last mostly because I still can't believe it, but the Tigers lost again. That means the Twins are now just 4 games back in the AL Central. With another game against the D-Rays tomorrow. And a 4 game series against the Tigers coming up this weekend. Wow is all I can say. Right now, I think I'd be worried if I were a Tigers fan, because if they somehow manage not to win the division after the lead they built at the start of the season, it would be a monumentally embarrassing collapse. Best case scenario from my standpoint? The Twins win the division and the Tigers get the WC.
posted by JST @ Tuesday, September 05, 2006
1 Comments:
At Tue Sep 05, 10:23:00 PM ,
The Scribe said...
My guess is somehow Silva will find a way to keep the Streak alive. We are experiencing a nice, deep collective sigh as the Twins should take 2 of 3, if not sweep the Rays. It's really sad to watch a team with nothing to play for and no one to play for.
Had to have been no more than five grand in the stands tonight.
Off topic question:Looking at injuries (Radke) and deficencies (Silva) who do you think are the starters the Twins would have to rely on in the event they make the playoffs?
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