On Thursday afternoon, R.A. Dickey tossed 7 1/3 innings of shutout ball for the Mets in a win over the first-place Nationals. The victory moved the knuckleballer's record to 9-1 on the year and lowered his ERA to 2.44. Holding opponents to a .225 average and sporting a dazzling 78-to-14 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 81 innings, Dickey has to be considered a Cy Young front-runner in the National League, and he might start the All-Star Game. This is the best we've ...
Growing up in a small town in northern Minnesota we didn't have that many options watching baseball, except on MSC and WGN. I used to love watching the Cubs play the day games. Cubs baseball always looked like fun. I was able to watch Ryne Sandberg, Andre Dawson, Greg Maddux, Shawn Dunston. I got to listen to Steve Stone and Haray Caray. I had fun watching the games, watching the fans, and listening to a senile Cubs announcer who loved his job, and was fun to listen to. I have always been ...
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan When the Twins were forced to send Francisco Liriano to the bullpen at the beginning of last month, there was plenty of things for the left-handed pitcher to improve during his time away from starting. In his last four starts before being relegated to the bullpen, Liriano lost all four outings and posted an ERA of over 9.00 while ...
Thanks, Google Image search! [Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] Every Wednesday evening, I write a recap of all the Twins minor league action, which you can find at TwinsDaily. Take a look if you haven't already. Here's what I wrote about last ...
The Twins and the rest of MLB just completed their 2012 draft. The Twins made 43 picks, six of them in the top 100. I know many expect a lot of first round picks, but also of Top 10 picks. It’s understandable, but I thought it would be fun to take a look back at the Twins 2002 draft. Obviously the Twins didn’t sign all 50 draft choices. Some went to college and were drafted later. I still think it’s good to look at those players because it is a direct reflection on the Twins scouting. I think it’s ...
Hitter of the Day: Ben Revere: 2-5 3B (2), 2 R Rough Day for offense at all levels today, so going with the MLB guy who's making a case to play every day. Pitcher of the Day: Cole Nelson - LHP - FTM - A+: 5 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 9 SO He and Lester Oliveros were the two pitchers we received in the Delmon Young trade. Today they went a combined 7 IP, 2 H, 0ER, 4 BB, 11 SO. Oliveros has the best chance to have any impact with the MLB team as he's already had his cup of ...
Some semi-random thoughts on a few of the players selected today: Will Hurt, SS, Lexington (KY) Catholic HS – Committed to Coastal Carolina. Hurt is fast – and why wouldn’t he be, coming from the same high school as Ben Revere. As this point, I don’t think he’ll sign for 16th round money, but that tune may change as the deadline approaches. Zach Larson, CF, Lakewood (FL) Ranch HS – Though he was drafted in the 20th round, Larson appears to be a high school guy that will ...
It was a veritable clash of the titans tonight, as the Twins took on the Royals. Without Joe Mauer and Denard Span in the lineup, the Twins were still able to plate some runs. As I publish tonight's TwinsDaily minor league report, the good guys are on top 4-2, so let's hope it stays that way! All of the affiliates were in action tonight, so let's see how they fared. ROCHESTER 4, NORFOLK 1 Steve Hirschfeld did well in his first AAA start of the season, going 5 innings, ...
Updated 06-06-2012 at 09:59 PM by Seth Stohs
Last year in Twins Territory, Denard Span was the hot topic as the trade deadline approached, much to Span’s dismay. This year, we’ve read that the Nationals are still interested in Span. They certainly should be, given their stop gap centerfield solution, Rick Ankiel, is hitting just .221. But they likely aren’t going to be alone. Span plays a premier defensive position competently, but more importantly he gets on base as a leadoff hitter. One can bet a few of the below teams will ...
Quietly, and with many, many singles, Rock Cats infielder James Beresford is leading the team in batting average [Originally published at Twins Fan From Afar] Last night, the Rock Cats lost to the Akron Aeros 6-2. Starter B.J. Hermsen ...
On May 13, not long after sending down incumbent third baseman Danny Valencia to AAA, the Twins GM Terry Ryan called out the option-less Plouffe to step up his game: “I’d like to think we’re going to give Plouffe an opportunity here to step up and see what we’ve got. Eventually, we’re going to have to find out.” Heading into the May 16 contest in Detroit, he was staring down a .133/.288/.217 batting line in 73 plate appearances. The lack ...
Five-tool potential? Check. Comparisons to all-time greats like Bo Jackson and Willie Mays? Check. Classic baseball name? Check. Yep, Byron Buxton seems to have everything you'd hope for in a top pick. Now he just needs to turn his elite tools into production on the professional stage – something the last high-profile prep outfielder drafted by the Twins has failed to do thus far. The comparisons to Aaron Hicks were ...
Don't look now but it looks like Francisco Liriano might have remembered how to pitch. His last two starts have looked much better than the horrendous pitcher that was on the mound at the beginning of the year. This might be jumping the gun a little since his last two outings came against two poor offenses, the Oakland A's and the Kansas City Royals. The Twins offense couldn't back the strong outing by Liriano because Bruce Chen shut them down at the plate. Jonathan Broxton made the ...
Hitter of the Day: Rene Rivera - C - ROC - AAA: 3-3 HR (3), 2 RBI, 1 R, 1 BB Pitcher of the Day: Francisco Liriano: 6 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO. Back-to-back impressive outings. They were against Oakland and Kansas City. Give me 2-3 more starts like this and I'll start to believe. He's always shown the flash, it's the consistency that needs to be there. Good 2 games though! Recap: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...VE&output=html