SB Nation - Scott Baker

GM Meetings Day 2: Open Thread

Jesse — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:34:55 -0000

Check back periodically for updates...

4:00 pm: Afternoon updates from Joe C.

Congrats to Joe Mauer, who wins his second Gold Glove. Well deserved.
Apparently the GM's are expected to discuss intant replay? I had no idea. At any rate it hasn't been discussed yet.
Bonser, Neshek and Slowey have been reinstated from the 60-day DL.
Joe promises more tonight.

12:45 pm: Some news from around the league

It sounds like Jason Varitek will pick up his part of the option to stay with the Red Sox, which will be a favor to teams across the American League if he continues to hit like he has the last two seasons. Which he probably will. In related news, Tim Wakefield is never going to stop pitching. NEVER.
If the Twins want to put together a package for Roy Halladay to really make a run with an Ace in hand for 2010, it will have to be a package of "quality over quantity". Sorry, Cmath.
Lunch time trade question: would you trade Jesse Crain and Delmon Young to the Royals for David DeJesus? Is it a realistic scenario?

9:30 am: Catching up on the highlights from yesterday

• Carl Pavano wouldn’t mind sticking with the Twins as long as the money is right. Quotes from his agent, Tom O’Connell, imply that Pavano won’t settle for another contract asking for his client to re-establish himself. If he’d still be willing to take an incentive-laden contract at a reasonable price (say something like one year, $5 million with $500K for reaching 100, 125, 150, 175 and 200 innings) with an option for a second year, I’d do that. He’s a Type-B free agent, but I’m not sure he’d make more than that taking the arbitration route (which the Twins are sure to offer).
• Twins General Manager Bill Smith has mentioned there will be interest in free agent starting pitchers during the off-season. I have to believe that only three spots (Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn, Kevin Slowey) are locked down.
• It sounds like Ron Gardenhire wouldn’t mind bringin back Orlando Cabrera as the team’s second baseman next season, but it seems highly unlikely the front office would follow through on that.
• The Orioles claimed Armando Gabino off waivers.
• Justin Huber cleared waivers, paving the way for his possible return to Rochester (or the Twins) in 2010.
• Juan Morillo has been added to the 40-man roster, bringing the current tally to 33 (not including 60-day DL guys Boof Bonser, Pat Neshek and Kevin Slowey, or impending free agents Ron Mahay, Mike Redmond, Joe Crede, Pavano and Cabrera).
• Tim Dierkes at MLBTradeRumors has posted his yearly series where he guesses where the top 50 free agents will end up. He thinks Adrian Beltre (number nine on his list) will end up in Minnesota.
• Before the Twins snapped up J.J. Hardy, a number of other teams had been in contact with the Brewers, including the Red Sox, Reds and Blue Jays.

Twins Pick Up Michael Cuddyer's 2011 Option

Jesse — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:41:57 -0000

And here I was, writing about whether or not the Twins should actually do it....

Of course my conclusion was an adament "YES, YES THE TWINS SHOULD PICK UP CUDDY'S 2011 OPTION". Clearly I have a nose for these things.

Cuddyer's 2011 option is worth $10.5 million, but with the buyout an even million in its own right the Twins are essentially paying our right fielder $9.5 million for his services two years from now. Of course we all know that, as one of the team's leaders, Cuddyer hit .276/.342/.520 this past summer with career highs in home runs and slugging percentage.

There will be questions about whether or not Cuddles is worth that much money as a 32-year old right fielder whose range leaves a bit to be desired, but as far as I'm concerned this was a quality decision, and one that was more or less unavoidable.

This decision raises Minnesota's 2011 committments to roughly $42.6 million dollars: Justin Morneau ($15 MM), Joe Nathan ($11.25 MM), Cuddyer ($10.5 MM) and Scott Baker ($5.00 MM), as well as a $500K buyout for Nick Punto and a $350K buyout for Jason Kubel.

Michael Cuddyer

#5 / First Base / Minnesota Twins

Height: 6-2

Weight: 215

Bats: R

Throws: R

Born: Mar 27, 1979

	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	K	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG
2009 - Michael Cuddyer	153	588	93	162	34	7	32	94	54	118	6	1	.276	.342	.520

Poll

If you're Bill Smith, did you just pick up Cuddy's 2011 option?

Breaking News: Rick Porcello Just 20 Years Old

Jesse — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 21:48:52 -0000

More photos » by Morry Gash - AP

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Rookie throws "like a crafty veteran".

In a shocking development following Tuesday's one-game playoff in Minneapolis between the Twins and the Tigers, Major League Baseball has just announced that Detroit's starting pitcher, Rick Porcello, is just 20 years old. While players of both teams and the league were aware of this fact, it didn't stop Twins pitcher Scott Baker from voicing some envious feelings.

"He grows more facial hair than I do," said Baker sheepishly before telling the press how they could reserve their lower club season ticket seats at Target Field by logging onto Twins baseball dot com.

In spite of the information being freely available on the internet, the broadcasting crew of the televised event didn't bring up Porcello's age once. When asked why, both Chip Caray and Ron Darling shrugged their shoulders.

"Well," said Caray, "my first name is Chip. What do you expect from a guy whose first name is Chip?"

"Where's Dale?" giggled Darling, before asking us to repeat the question. This time he appeared genuinely shocked. "Porcello is just 20 years old? That's preposterous! He pitches with the veteran savvy of a man between the ages of 29 and 32!"

Indeed, the rookie pitcher delivered a strong performance which could jettison him into a favorite for the discussion of AL Rookie of the Year. A statistical website, superawesomemegarealstats.com had metrics Wednesday morning showing that Porcello threw the fastball of a 29-year old, the slider of a 30-year old, the curveball of a 33-year old and the changeup of either a 36-year old or a 22-year old...which is still older than Porcello by a minimum of 14 months depending on when that fictional 22-year old would have his birthday.

When asked why he couldn't just throw "like a 20-year old, already", Porcello said "Two days after Christmas I can drink beer! My dad is taking me to the bar!"

Sadly for TBS, now it's too late. The youngest player in the American League this year, pitching that well in a game of that magnitude with that kind of confidence and savvy, well, that's a trough that Carey and Darling weren't able to go to time and time again, over and over until it was beaten into the ground, into the minds of the millions of baseball fans across the globe until it was so automatic and so engrained that they would be able to predict when the announcers would bring it up again and therefore want to vomit or at the very least turn it into a running joke that was still funny two days later.

"I can't believe we missed that chance," cried Darling, sobbing into his hands.

"My name is Chip," said Caray.

Let's Pretend The Cubs Are In The Postseason! - Tigers vs. Twins Preview, Tuesday 10/6, 4:07 CT

Al — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:00:45 -0000

More photos » by Morry Gash - AP

Thomas Hook prepares the 3B line early Tuesday in Minneapolis as they switch the Metrodome from Monday's Vikings vs Packers game to the Twins vs Tigers tiebreaker.

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So what are we going to do around here for 181 days until the next Cubs regular season game? I figure many of you -- I know I am -- are interested in the postseason, and it begins today with the AL Central tiebreaker game between the Tigers and Twins in Minnesota. So I figured I'd post a game thread in the same format that I use for Cubs games. Below the fold you'll find the usual pitcher box, preview and links. Throughout the postseason I'll post game threads for those of you who want to discuss the playoffs -- though probably not with as much detail as this post.

The baseball punditocracy talks about today's game:

Rob Neyer @ ESPN: Twins all the way.

Tim Brown @ Yahoo: the Metrodome refuses to die.

Jon Paul Morosi @ FoxSports, who grew up in Michigan: history favors the Twins.

Chris DeLuca of the Chicago Sun-Times downplays the teams involved and instead whines that the White Sox should have been in it. Ugh.

From Detroit: Rick Porcello's brother talks about him.

From Minneapolis: Scott Baker is a big-game pitcher.

And finally, just to wrench this back somewhat on topic, here is Bruce Miles' analysis of the 2009 Cubs position players. Enjoy the game. My pick: the Twins; they're hot (16-4 in their last 20 games and 9-1 in their last 10 home games) and they always seem to know how to win the big ones -- notwithstanding their 1-0 loss in last year's tiebreaker with the White Sox.

Today's Starting Pitchers


Rick Porcello Tigers	vs.	Scott Baker Twins

14-9	W-L	15-9
4.04	ERA	4.36
81	SO	160
50	BB	46
22	HR	27
vs. Min	--	vs. Det

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Rick Porcello	14-9	30	30	0	0	0	0	165.0	172	79	74	22	50	81	4.04	1.35

	W-L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	BS	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	K	ERA	WHIP
2009 - Scott Baker	15-9	32	32	1	1	0	0	194.0	184	96	94	27	46	160	4.36	1.19

Scott Baker is probably the Twins' most consistent starter, but he is only 1-1, 6.75 in four starts vs. the Tigers this year. He faced the Tigers last Thursday in Detroit and gave them only five hits and an unearned run in five innings. As a pitcher in the AL Central for several years, he's faced most of the Tigers many times. Curtis Granderson and Marcus Thames have both homered off him four times. Magglio Ordonez is 18-for-39 (.462) off Baker with a a pair of homers.

If the Tigers win today, Rick Porcello won't even legally be able to enjoy the champagne after -- he won't turn 21 until December 27. He has had a fine rookie year in which he has posted a 3.09 ERA vs. the Twins (but just a 1-2 record). He faced the Twins last Tuesday in Detroit and got a no-decision in a game the Twins won in extra innings. He should fear Jason Kubel, who is 8-for-11 (.727) against him; Kubel is red-hot right now, too (11-for-26 in his last seven games with 3 HR and 12 RBI).

Today's game is on TBS. Chip Caray and Ron Darling will be the announcers. Here is today's MLB.com Mediacenter.

MLB.com Gameday

Baseball-reference.com game preview

SB Nation game preview

Please visit our SB Nation Tigers site Bless You Boys and Twins site Twinkie Town.

I'm not posting any overflow threads today; if this one gets too slow during the game, feel free to post an overflow in the FanShot section.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Total Buzzkill: Twins 8, Tigers 3

Ian Casselberry — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:15:10 -0000

More photos » by Paul Sancya - AP

Not even Miguel Cabrera can bear to face how the Detroit Tigers blew an ideal chance to clinch the AL Central Thursday afternoon.

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The storyline was laid out perfectly. All the Detroit Tigers had to do was follow it. But they don't do so well with that.

Sometimes, that's not a bad thing. If the Tigers simply followed the path that was drawn out for them before the season, they wouldn't be playing for an AL Central division title. But this afternoon, with a sellout Comerica Park ready to celebrate, it was most certainly a disappointment.

Detroit had a chance to score more runs on Scott Baker in the first inning, but stranded two runners on base. They took a 1-0 lead on a RBI single by Gerald Laird, but Baker didn't allow anything else from there. And one run wasn't nearly enough offense with the way the Tigers pitched this afternoon.

The Twins jumped on Nate Robertson in the third, as three singles, a hit batsmen, and a sacrifice fly resulted in three runs scored. That turned out to be a lead Minnesota never gave up. Denard Span drove in another run in the fourth, and a three-run margin was plenty against a Tigers offense that had no spark.

But the Tigers still arguably had a chance while down by three. At least they did until the eighth inning. Casey Fien got two outs, but also put two runners on. Bobby Seay came in to face Span, but walked him on six pitches. Seay probably should've been taken out from there. If the idea was to keep him in for Joe Mauer, well, Seay still had to get Orlando Cabrera out.

Seay didn't get Cabrera out, serving up a bases-clearing double that put the game out of reach. With the score 7-1, Jim Leyland apparently felt Seay might as well face Mauer. At the very least, he could end the inning, right? Not so much. Seay hung a slider out over the plate for Mauer to smack to the opposite field, driving in one more run.

The Tigers showed a faint pulse in their half of the inning, scoring two runs. But by then, it was far too little, much too late.

So the AL Central is still up for grabs. The Tigers had a chance to shut the door on the Twins, but instead let them get a foot in. And Minnesota very likely won't be taking it out. Detroit could still win the division by winning two of three this weekend from the White Sox. Or this could be resolved with a Tigers win and Twins loss. (Zack Greinke might be able to help Detroit out with that on Saturday.)

Detroit's gratification has been delayed, and who knows for how long? But hey, at least this weekend's last three games will be interesting.

Comment of the Day:

Not the best time...

For Nate Robertson to remember he’s Nate Robertson…

by moonshineboy

I've Got A Span-Crush: Twins Win Big As Denard Span Drives In Six

Jesse — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 02:46:38 -0000

More photos » by ED ZURGA - AP

Minnesota Twins' Denard Span pwnes the Kansas City Royals Saturday, Sept. 26, 2009, in Kansas City, Mo. Delmon Young, Matt Tolbert and Nick Punto scored on the triple. (AP Photo/Ed Zurga)

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Twins 11, Royals 6: Way to choke, Chicago.

Every time Denard Span comes to bat in the near future, all Kansas City Royals fans should avert their eyes for the greatness that his His Royal Span-ness. Tonight, his Royal Span-ness tripled to give the Twins their first and only lead of the game, scoring three to run the score to 5-2. It was all gravy from there.

Early on, Scott Baker gave up a couple of pop-fly homers to Alberto Callaspo and Brayan Pena; a pair of solo shots that both hitters looked to just get a piece of. Magically, they both left the field in almost exactly the same place in right field. The only conclusion I can draw is that the Royals had their fans blowing out. Fans, as in air circulation fans, because I think a lot of the fans fans at the game were Twins fans. Of which there weren't nearly enough blowing IN.

After that Baker settled in and cruised, hitless, until the seventh. Four-plus innings of hitless ball, but three batters into the seventh Baker had allowed one run, and had a man on third with one out. Ron Mahay came on to stem the....well, I use the term "tide" loosely, as this game wasn't exactly over although that man from third did score to get the Royals within three at 7-4.

Back to everyone's new Span-crush, Denard is showing absolutely no ill signs of being hit in the back of the head. Which is nice. Three singles and a triple on the night have him a 4-for-5 evening, and the six runs batted in have accounted for 9% of his season totals in that category. Other studs in tonight's 11-run explosion include...

Joe Mauer, whose two singles and a walk garnered him his 91st and 92nd RBI of the season and a .371 batting average. Ichiro Suzuki, it should be noted, was 0-for-3 before getting tossed after drawing a line in the dirt (get everything you need to know right here) and is now batting .353.
Nick Punto, who was 0-for-1 on the night but walked not once, not twice but thrice. Three walks tonight for Popeye's second cousin twice removed. He's not a sailor, both eyes are fully functional and he doesn't mumble incoherently, but he does has massive forearms. It's great to see Punto contribute again.
Brendan Harris picked up a pair of hits and an RBI, and Orlando Cabrera's solid single late in the game tacked on a run as well.

Baker's final line wasn't exactly glowing, but he did pitch better than his numbers. Something he's done on more than one occasion this season. On the Royals' side of the rubber, Lenny DiNardo had the exact kind of night he should have had against an offense like the Twins: a bad one. Yasuhiko Yabuta is also welcome to pitch against the Twins anytime he likes, surrendering four runs off four hits and a walk while tallying a single out. Good times.

The only downside to tonight's game is that the White Sox managed to ~~lose~~ ~~choke~~ vomit all over themselves and lose to the Tigers. After leading 5-0 through four, Chicago allowed at least one run per inning the rest of the game en route to a 12-5 ass kicking where they allowed a score of hits. That's right, I said it, a score.

Tonight's game was a grand one, no doubt about it. Sadly we head into the final game in Kauffman Stadium for 2009 tomorrow against one Zack Greinke still trailing the Tigers by two games. If there's ever a time to play your best baseball of the season, it's right now. Good for Detroit for doing the same.

Hopefully it will make next week all the sweeter. We'll find out. But...GREINKE FIRST. I'll see you in the morning.

Stars of the Game
#3: Joe Mauer (2-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI, .061 WPA)
#2: Nick Punto (0-for-1, 3 BB, 2 R, .081 WPA)
#1: Denard Span (4-for-5, 3B, 6 RBI, R, .346 WPA)

Minnesota Twins 2010 Roster & Payroll (Part II)

Jesse — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 22:48:55 -0000

Thanks for some fantastic coversation on Tuesday! Milt on Tilt, Eric In Madison, Seth Speaks, clutterheart, Fetch9, ajmargarine and everyone else who contributed made for a great discussion, helped clarify some things while running some good back-and-forth over dollars and stats.

We'll start where we left off, which was discussing how internal options would help flesh out the depth chart. All players who aren't either under contract or arbitration-eligible (serfs) will be in italics. Serfs, simply because of how much they're being paid, their options and their experience, are the easiest players to theoretically replace with free agents. Some players will be listed on the depth chart at more than one position, but we should see pretty quickly which positions have talent and depth, and which positions have flexibility but not necessarily reliability.

Catcher: Joe Mauer, Jose Morales
First Base: Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer
Second Base: Nick Punto, Brendan Harris, Alexi Casilla, Matt Tolbert, Steven Tolleson
Third Base: Brian Buscher, Brendan Harris, Matt Tolbert, Nick Punto, Daniel Valencia, Luke Hughes
Shortstop: Nick Punto, Brendan Harris, Matt Tolbert, Trevor Plouffe
Left Field: Denard Span, Delmon Young, Jason Kubel
Center Field: Carlos Gomez, Denard Span
Right Field: Michael Cuddyer, Denard Span, Jason Kubel
Designated Hitter: Jason Kubel

Starting Pitcher: Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, Nick Blackburn, Brian Duensing, Francisco Liriano, Glen Perkins, Anthony Swarzak, Boof Bonser
Relief Pitcher: Joe Nathan, Matt Guerrier, Jose Mijares, Jon Rauch, Jesse Crain, Pat Neshek, Brian Duensing, Glen Perkins, Boof Bonser, Francisco Liriano

You can make an argument for another player or two being on this list somewhere, but realistically if the Twins went into next season without picking up a single free agent, this would be the essential core of players. From this group you'd need to choose 25 players.

Before we get our estimated payroll figure for those 25, we have to update our estimates for what our nine arbitration-eligible players could be worth next year. 117 comments from Tuesday's post, and using a healthy cross-section of responses as guidelines we'll alter our estimates to the following.

Player	Original Estimate	Updated Estimate
Boof Bonser	$500,000	$900,000
Carlos Gomez	$600,000	$1,000,000
Brendan Harris	$600,000	$1,100,000
Francisco Liriano	$550,000	$1,500,000
Pat Neshek	$500,000	$700,000
Glen Perkins	$550,000	$900,000
Delmon Young	$1,750,000	$1,750,000
Jesse Crain	$2,300,000	$2,300,000
Matt Guerrier	$2,100,000	$2,600,000
Totals	$9,450,000	$12,750,000

We've added $3.3 million dollars in arbitration raises. Add this new total to the committed $62,267,000 and your contractual and arbitration players are making an estimated $75,017,000. Add another eight players at the major league minimum plus a little change, and right now I have to believe that without adding a single free agent the Twins will go to Opening Day with a minimum of $78.5 million dollars. We'll call it an even $80, just in case I've been too conservative in any estimates.

That would constitute a $15 million dollar bump from Opening Day 2009, and it's far and away a franchise record. But what will the front office's limit be for spending this off-season? Will they be allowed to add another $5 million? $10 million? Some on this site have speculated the organization could go so far as to raise payroll to $100,000, even before the team has played a game in its new stadium. I tend to this that's pretty high. I also think this team will be hesitant to reach to $90 million, if only because it's so far removed from any ceiling this club has ever seen.

For now, today, until we hear something different we'll just throw out the number of $87,000,000. Some will think that's too high and a lot will think it's too low, but it's a fair number.

One look at the above depth chart and it's pretty easy to point a finger, run it across a few names and say Okay, So This Is Where We Should Start. Those places, in no particular order, should be starting pitching, shortstop, third base and second base. Check here for a current list of potential free agents, but here's a list of players who could potentially cost $7 million or less per season.

Starting Pitchers: Erik Bedard, Daniel Cabrera, Doug Davis, Josh Fogg, Jason Marquis, Brett Myers, Vincente Padilla, Carl Pavano, Brad Penny, Mark Prior, Jarrod Washburn, Randy Wolf

I purposely left a few names off this list, but this is still fairly exhaustive. Which one of these guys, if any, would constitute enough value for the Twins to shell out millions of dollars with the hope that their additional wins would be worth the value over in-house, cheaper, more familiar options? If you only have $7 million to spend, are you willing to blow it all on one veteran starter? Or maybe the gambling type, and would bring in Prior on a one-year, incentive laden deal? Hell, he'll only be 28.

Third Base: Adrian Beltre, Joe Crede, Bobby Crosby, Mark DeRosa, Nomar Garciaparra, Troy Glaus, Miguel Tejada, Juan Uribe

See anyone you like here? Crede likes it in Minneapolis, would he take another incentive-laden deal based on plate appearances or games played? Or does your gamber's mentality take you to Glaus?

Second Base: Ronnie Belliard, Jamey Carroll, Mark DeRosa, Jerry Hairston Jr, Adam Kennedy, Placido Polanco

Carroll is having a good season for a bad ballclub. Belliard is awful. Do you like DeRosa's versatility enough to pay your entire $7 million stipend? Because he'll come at a cost. Polanco's got a big head, so that's fun.

Shortstop: Orlando Cabrera, Alex Cora, Bobby Crosby, Adam Everett, Khalil Greene, Marco Scutaro, Miguel Tejada, Omar Vizquel

The reality is that no matter where you look in these four positional categories, a vast majority of what you see are either retreads trying to make a comeback, older guys hanging on, younger(ish) players who really aren't very good or other warts-ridden profiles. Keep in mind that this is a list of guys who could make $7 million or less per season, but even those who could make more than that aren't all that great. The few diamonds in the rough will be snatched up, quickly, and will likely be overpaid due to simple economics. So long, Jamey Carroll.

It's not a good free agent class, but in some ways this organization doesn't have a choice going into next season. Not signing a free agent will seem, to the masses (ignorant or not), like just another "stingy" move by a "stingy" front office, although there's been nothing stingy about this organization for years. It's a new stadium being filled with a handful of star players, and the public will expect the Twins to make a splash. Right or wrong.

How would you handle it? It's a complicated decision, and for a team that has more than its share of needs there won't be endless millions to throw around. Unless, of course, you want to make trades or cuts...but that's another story for another day.

I'll leave you to ponder for the time being, on the final off-day for the Twins as we head into the season's final trio of series. Let's enjoy some fall baseball tonight, cheer on the Indians, and I'll see you tomorrow.

Twins Foiled By...Nate Robertson?

Jesse — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 22:13:33 -0000

More photos » by Paul Battaglia - AP

Has anyone told these guys they should let the girls catch the bouquet?

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Twins 2, Tigers 6

It looked good, briefly. A Jason Kubel ground out in the first plated Orlando Cabrera for a 1-0 lead, and after the Tigers tied it up in the top of the fourth Minnesota came back in the bottom half to answer. Delmon Young's double was the alpha, Nick Punto's clutch two-out hit was the omega, and the Twins re-took the lead at 2-1.

But that was as good as it would get.

It wasn't a good night for Scott Baker. He struggled early to find his rhythym, giving us a hint during his very first plate appearance when he had trouble putting Curtis Granderson away. Seven pitches later Granderson would strike out, but it would be a promise of things to come. By the time the fifth inning rolled around Baker had been staked to a 2-1 lead. I'm still cringing at what happened.

In reality, the inning wasn't as horrible as I remember it being. At the time it was total agony. A seven-pitch walk to Gerald Laird (yes, Gerald friggin Laird, and that I still maintain that changeup was a STRIKE), Ramo Santiago picking up a single, Granderson grounding out but still advancing both runners. Placido Polanco scoring them both on a single to give the Tigers their first and final lead of the game. Marcus Thames adding another single, Miguel Cabrera flying out (that's two if he could just get one more!!!) and Magglio Ordonez picking up yet another single (NO!) to complete the Tigers' three-run inning. Baker was lifted with two away in the fifth, having faced seven batters and given up four singles, a walk and three runs.

Ron Mahay finished the inning.

Francisco Liriano picked up the final out in the sixth, managed a perfect seventh (with a pair of strikeouts no less), and then paid for his successes in the eighth. He'd done well for four outs, but to be fair it wasn't like he knew where his pitches were going. Liriano consistently missed his spots, but as we've come to know, Liriano can also be at his best when he's effectively wild. Which is a great way of saying "thanks, hitters, for swinging at crap", although at the same time his slider is still pretty tough.

So when Liriano surprised everyone by throwing two consecutive pitches low in the strike zone to Ryan Rayburn, it came as some surprise. Rayburn's solo home run, not so much of a surprise. Cisco walked Brandon Inge, who would later score off a sacrifice fly with Jon Rauch on the hill. Liriano clearly still has some work to do mentally. All the talent in the world, and I'm not going to complain too much about a guy with his stuff being "effectively wild", but there has to be some sort of consistency because right now there's none.

The Twins don't pick up the sweep, and it's a shame, but they still come away with a series win which puts them one very meaningful game closer to first place than they were when this whole stress-filled weekend started. A week from tomorrow we get to be in Detroit for a four-game tilt which, hopefully, still means something. Which will depend on how things play out over the next week.

Minnesota gets a three-game stand in Chicago with the struggling White Sox before getting a day off, and then taking on the Royals for three next weekend. While the Twins are in Kansas City, the Sox will be hosting the Tigers. Detroit, meanwhile, gets Monday off before travelling to Cleveland for three. Both the Twins and Tigers are on the road, both play the Sox. This will be a very telling week.

It's been a great weekend, and I'll see you all tomorrow

Showdown In Dome Town: Twins Playing Host to Tigers

Jesse — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 22:32:32 -0000

Current Series

3 game series vs Tigers @ Metrodome

Detroit Tigers Bless You Boys
@ Minnesota Twins Twinkie Town

Friday, Sep 18, 2009, 8:10 PM EDT
Metrodome

Rick Porcello vs Brian Duensing

Complete Coverage >

Sat 09/19 4:10 PM EDT

Sun 09/20 2:10 PM EDT

Games back: 4.0

For weeks we've been back and forth on this. Every time the Twins hit a streak of luck and run off a couple of wins they manage to take a step back. And yet every time they're pushed to the brink, to the point where it seems they can do no right and nothing more than a whisper would push them into the abyss of elimination, they find a way to scratch and fight back above .500.

In most divisions that wouldn't be good enough. But in the AL Central it's a reality, and it's making for another heartburn-happy September.

Thanks to Zack Greinke and the Kansas City Royals, the Tigers will be prowling through Minneapolis this weekend with a four-game lead over our Minnesota Twins. Forget records, this is all about the gap to first place. We all understand what's at stake here.

Injury Report

Twins:
Both Justin Morneau and Joe Crede are out for the season, leaving the middle of the order down 40% on their power hitters. Michael Cuddyer is filling in at first base, giving Ron Gardenhire the chance to play Carlos Gomez and Delmon Young everyday. Brian Buscher and Brendan Harris will be picking up more of the time at third.

Tigers:
Dontrelle Willis has been out for some time, but both Nate Robertson and Jarrod Washburn are fighting injuries and won't pitch this series. Detroit has no scheduled starter for Sunday's contest.

Probable Pitchers

Friday, September 18: Rick Porcello vs Brian Duensing
Saturday, September 19: Justin Verlander vs Carl Pavano
Sunday, September 20: TBA vs Scott Baker

Opposition Focus

Rick Porcello: For a kid who won't be able to legally drink until two days after Christmas, Porcello doesn't seem to be too worked up over the pressure he's been facing with his team down the stretch. His fastball has good sink and it's been his best pitch, while his breaking ball(s) and off-speed pitch haven't been quite as effective. Porcello will beat you by inducing contact, and because his ground ball rates are so good (54.8%) you'll need to string together two or three hits on most occasions before you score a run. If he does let one get up, however, they're a little more likely to get a little boost. If the Twins are getting a lot of line drives or are hitting some hard flies on Friday night, it should be a sign that they're seeing him pretty well. Hopefully that would turn into runs. If Porcello gets into a groove, however, those innings could start flying by with nothing more to show than a string of 6-3 put outs.

Justin Verlander: Verlander is good. I'd probably vote for Zack Greinke for the Cy Young, but Verlander isn't too far off. Over 12.1 innings in two starts versus the Twins this year he's allowed seven runs over 12.1 innings, giving up 12 hits, five hits and striking out 19. Yes, 19.

Magglio Ordonez: He's really bounced back, and all that's missing from his game is power. Sort of like Bobby Abreu. Only with less power. He's back to hitting third for the Tigers, hitting .347/.418/.493 since the All-Star break.

Brandon Inge: Still looks like the biggest jerk to ever jerk a jerk. Doing a great Joe Crede impression this year. If Joe Crede were healthy.

Adam Everett: Anybody wish we'd given him another shot? He's hitting a paltry .244/.296/.335, but that's not much worse than some of our other infielders. His UZR/150 is only 4.2, but that's better than any of the five guys the Twins have tried at the spot this year. For reference, Orlando Cabrera's UZR/150 with the Twins is -17.9. He's also still making plenty of plays outside of his zone (36 and counting), although not as frequently as he once was.

Miguel Cabrera: Also awesome. The man is only 26 and has amassed ~~438~~ 205 home runs. In the history of the Minnesota Twins, only Harmon Killebrew [edit: and Kent Hrbek and Bob Allison and Tony Oliva and Kirby Pucket end edit] and has ever hit more home runs than a 26-year old. Incredible. And let's not even pretend he's a one-dimensional offensive force.

Fernando Rodney: Tigers fans, this is a closer. Rodney isn't a bad pitcher, but after dealing with Todd Jones for so long it has to be like watching the second coming of...wait...oh my god, really? Todd Jones is Detroit's career save leader? I feel so dirty.

You want meaningful autumn baseball? This might be as close as we get. Get out and support the Twins this weekend if you can, and if not, then we'll see you here.

Twins 5, Indians 4

cmathewson — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 06:34:22 -0000

More photos » by Paul Battaglia - AP

about 1 month ago: Minnesota Twins' Orlando Cabrera swings on a solo home run off Cleveland Indians starting pitcher Fausto Carmona during the fifth inning of a baseball game Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2009, in Minneapolis. AP Photo/Paul Battaglia)

Browse more photos »

From Section 127, row 8 (four rows from the screen behind the right handed batters box).

The Minnesota Twins rallied to beat the Cleveland Indians with the unlikely help of middle infielders Nick Punto and Orlando Cabrera Tuesday night at the Metrodome.

The Twins have struggled offensively up the middle most of this season. So it came as some surprise that Cabrera and Punto were in the middle of much of the offense on this night. Punto was 3-4 with a double and two RBI. Cabrera was 2-4 with a homer. Joe Mauer added an RBI single to a two-hit night that saw his league leading average climb to .373--a commanding 19-point lead over Ichiro Suzuki with 17 games to play.

Mauer opened the scoring in the first with a single that knocked in Denard Span. But Fausto Carmona kept the Twins from scoring while allowing them to reach base 12 times in 5 and 1/3 messy innings of work. Perhaps a better way of putting it is that the Twins failed to eat the RBI steaks set in front of them on the grill. Denard Span, Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer each left four runners on base, while Brian Buscher left three.

Scott Baker started and pitched brilliantly until the fourth, when he had his typical one bad inning of the night: A three-run affair in which the hard-hit balls that were otherwise caught throughout the evening found holes. The lone exception was Travis Haffner's booming double over the head of Kubel in right, which could not have been caught by any right fielder shorter than 10 feet tall and slower than a 4.3 40. Still, Baker fell into the familiar trap of coming in with hittable strikes when ahead in the count, and, as Bert likes to say, "they did not miss them". Fortunately for the Twins, it was the only inning in which he struggled, finishing with 5 1/3 quality innings and giving the Twins a chance to come back.

Cabrera started the come back in the fifth with a no-doubt homer into the bleachers in left. Nick Punto drove in the eventual winning run in the sixth after a Delmon Young double and a, Brian Buscher single.

The Twins bullpen did just enough to preserve the victory. Ron Mahay relieved Baker with one on and one out in the sixth and promptly got ahead of Hafner 0-2 before Pronk leaned into a slider to get nicked on the elbow, earning first base the Ernie Pantusso way. Gardy brought in Jon Rauch, who induced a double-play grounder to end the threat.

Jose Mijares and Matt Guerrier we most impressive. But once again, Joe Nathan had the old timers in my section reaching for their nitro after surrendering a homer to Matt LaPorta homered and Trevor Crowe walked. But Nathan induced Michael Brantley on a deep fly to Young in left to preserve the victory.

It was a memorable end to my Twins baseball watching at the Dome. What struck me about our seats was how many guys got the fat part of the bat on the ball and how many of those liners turned into outs.

Studs

Orlando Cabrera: His homer really woke up the Twins. Plus he made a nice catch on a Texas leaguer in the ninth to ultimately preserve the victory.

Nick Punto: I've never seen Punto on so many balls. He seems hot right now. Good thing he didn't slide into first on a grounder to third late in the game. The throw forced Andy Marte to leap for the ball and he would have landed on some vital body part of Punto's had Nicky Poo decided to do his patented belly flop. He also made a nice defensive play in the eight to keep the double play in order.

Joe Mauer: 2-3 with another BB. His only non-hit was a smash that second baseman Jamie Carrol made a nice play on to rob him of his 18th 3-hit game of the season. I guess he'll have to get that tomorrow. Update: Mauer is good.

Jose Mijares: One batter. Three pitches. One K. Brantley had no chance.

Matt Guerrier: Not a spotless eighth, but he held serve. I was most impressed when he man handled Hafner for the third out with two runners on and Francisco Liriano warming up in the pen.

Duds

Jason Kubel: With Justin Morneau and Joe Crede out for the year, somebody needs to step up in the middle of the order.

Michael Cuddyer: See the last note. He did make some nice plays at first though.

Detroit Tigers Bless You Boys @ Minnesota Twins Twinkie Town Friday, Sep 18, 2009, 8:10 PM EDT Metrodome Rick Porcello vs Brian Duensing Complete Coverage >
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Current Series 3 game series vs Tigers @ Metrodome Detroit Tigers Bless You Boys @ Minnesota Twins Twinkie Town Friday, Sep 18, 2009, 8:10 PM EDT Metrodome Rick Porcello vs Brian Duensing Complete Coverage > Sat 09/19 4:10 PM EDT Sun 09/20 2:10 PM EDT

Current Series

3 game series vs Tigers @ Metrodome

Games back: 4.0

Injury Report

Probable Pitchers

Opposition Focus

Twins 5, Indians 4

Duds

Current Series

3 game series vs Tigers @ Metrodome

Detroit Tigers Bless You Boys
@ Minnesota Twins Twinkie Town

Friday, Sep 18, 2009, 8:10 PM EDT
Metrodome

Rick Porcello vs Brian Duensing

Complete Coverage >

Sat 09/19 4:10 PM EDT

Sun 09/20 2:10 PM EDT