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It was revealed a week ago that Carl Pavano’s shoulder was hurting and that the team had him undergo an MRI for precautionary measures.

Fortunately for the already thin pitching staff, the MRI showed nothing more than inflammation and, in preventative efforts, the Twins eased up on their workhorse, limiting his pitches and allowed him to miss the recent series in Detroit to have some soft-tissue therapy on his shoulder. The hopes are that by lightening his load, Pavano will heal and not require a cortisone shot following his next start.

Since the beginning of the season, Pavano’s velocity drop has had ...

Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan
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Wait for it...

Are you ready, yet?

Don't adjust your monitor but the Twins just swept a two game series in Detroit. That's not a typo either.

Over the course of the two games, the Tigers were a little error prone with six mistakes and the Twins were able to capitalize for five unearned runs. It has been great to see Trevor Plouffe find some semblance of power with two home runs in recent games. Maybe his new bald head is doing him some good. Justin Morneau and Ben Revere are back with the Twins and each of them has returned to their old ways with Morneau hitting a home run and Revere stealing a base. ...

There is no question that umpires have biases. The question is whether we want them or not.


A couple of years ago I reported on a book that I was reading titled Scorecasting by Tobias J Moskowitz and L. Jon Weerthem. This writeup is going to copy a lot of that story. The book is similar to the book Freakonomics, except that it focuses exclusively on sports. If you have an iPad or iPhone, you can download the first chapter for free – and just that much changed forever how I watch baseball.


The chapter is about a bias that umpires have because they are, with the possible exception of Joe West, human. And humans are far more willing to forgive an error of omission over an error of commission. ...

Once upon a time, in a land far away on the other side of downtown, covered by a beautiful white bubble – where the weather was always a pleasant 72 degrees – there was a starting pitching staff who understood the intrinsic value of working ahead of opponents.

In the last decade, from 2000 to 2010, one of the pillars of the Twins Way was to dominate the airspace above the plate. The starters made it their business to pepper the strike zone from the get-go, leading baseball with a 62.8% first-pitch strike rate. Brad Radke paced baseball with a 69% first-pitch strike rate as other members of the team – notably Carlos Silva, Kevin Slowey and Johan Santana - also finishing within the top ...

The Twins put up a lackluster effort at home in getting swept during a short two-game series with the first place Cleveland Indians. Derek Lowe looked like Cy Young on the mound and the Twins continued to hit ground ball after ground ball to fall further behind the Tribe. Jason Marquis gave up three home runs in the fifth inning and five runs over five innings to put the Twins in a hole they would never be able to get out of in the game.

Ron Gardenhire shifted up the line-up for this contest and moved Joe Mauer to the second spot in the order. This meant Brian Dozier had to move and he was placed in the fifth spot for the Twins. The move down in the line-up didn't seem to impact Dozier because he ended the contest with half of the team's six hits. Dozier showed some power again by hitting his second double of the year and his batting average continues to climb.

Besides Dozier, there has to be some good news in other parts of the Twins organization. So let's peruse the minor leagues as we take Tuesday's trip through the Twins farm system.
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The Twins lost again last night to fall to 10-25 on the season. A Ryan Doumit 8th inning home run got Twins fans quite interested, but Matt Capps gave back the run in the top of the ninth. Enough about that, huh?
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The Twins don’t appear to be playing real inspired (or inspiring) baseball, so let’s get right into the farm.

A few transactions to sort through:
The Red Wings released 1B Aaron Bates and recently-signed INF Joe Thurston.
It was announced that OF Wilkin Ramirez (who has been tearing up AA) and RP Lester Oliveros have been promoted from New Britain to Rochester.

2B Tsuyoshi Nishioka - you may have heard of him - is expected to be activated before tomorrow’s game. The addition of Nishi, as well as Matt Maloney, pushes 1B/DH Matt Rizzotti from Rochester to New Britain.

There is no word on any other corresponding moves to fill the other hole in New Britain (and it would be purely speculation to point out that neither Miracle OF Oswaldo Arcia nor INF Levi Michael were in the lineup tonight).

Let’s take a spin around the farm: ...