Spring Training Report: Game Eleven

Just when you thought it was safe to be optimistic about the rotation . . .

Here are my thoughts on Game Eleven of the Grapefruit League schedule.

1.) The obvious place to start is with the starters. Sidney Ponson and Carlos Silva were both scheduled to pitch today. Both were coming off of performances earlier in the week that were positive. Both were horrible today, giving up 4 runs each. Ponson, getting action in his first official spring game of the year, went just 2 innings and gave up 7 hits. Silva at least went 4 innings, but he gave up 8 hits. For the record, that means 1 good start and 2 horrid starts for Silva this spring, and 1 unofficial good start and 1 horrid start for Sidney Ponson. Yipes!

2.) Who is the biggest beneficiary of the Sidney Ponson debacle? Despite missing time this week with his neck injury, it has to be Matt Garza. He should get into a game by the end of the weekend, and if he puts another strong start together he'll have to be considered to be in a strong position to challenge for the fifth spot in the rotation. If Ponson rights the ship quickly, he'll still be favored to win it - but a second straight bad start early next week could quickly bring an end to the Sidney Ponson experiment.

3.) How do the Twins hit four homers in one game? By getting Luis "Mighty Mouse" Rodriguez to go crazy and belt two jacks. Nice to see Torii Hunter and Rondell White (especially Rondell White) go deep as well. Unless Rodriguez somehow figures out how to play shortstop, however, I don't think this power surge helped out his chances of making the team.

4.) Will Jason Tyner's slow start to the spring endanger his (deserved) roster spot? Let's hope not - but it is certainly possible. Tyner went 1-4 today, raising his batting average to .136 for the spring. If the Twins end up having to decide on Tyner or Ford at the end of the spring, and Tyner is still hitting poorly (let's say around .200), then Ford could find himself on the team. I think that's a shame, because Tyner is a proven Major League hitter, and a bad spring at the plate shouldn't cost him. We'll see what happens.

5.) Speaking of Ford, Joe Christensen is reporting that Ford had some kind of a setback in his rehab program today. Whether this means surgery or just a few more days rehabbing is unknown, but we should find out more later.

6.) No word yet on any cuts, but by the end of the weekend I would expect at least 3-4 guys to be sent over the minor league camp. I would say 3 pitchers and a catcher are the most likely to be sent out. I won't hazard a guess on names just yet, but if no one has been cut by Sunday morning, I'll make a few guesses in the weekly roster update post.

Today's Big Winner: Luis Rodriguez (Two homers in a game wins you this automatically)
Runner-Up: Rondell White (2-3 performance and homerun were badly needed)

Today's Big Loser: Sidney Ponson (Danger, Will Robinson!)
Runner-Up: Carlos Silva (one step forward, two steps back . . . )