Anthony Slama has given up exactly one earned run in 17.2 IP so far in Rochester. He's faced 72 batters and mowed down 28 of them, which is a 39% strikeout rate. His K/9 is 14.3. That's over 1.5 Ks an inning.

That's not an aberration either. Over 4 seasons and more than 135 IP at Rochester, he's logged a K/9 of 10.8, a WHIP of 1.14 and an ERA of 2.32. In 303.2 IP in the minor leagues he has an ERA of 1.99.

I know his major league stats aren't great but he's only pitched 7 innings in the big leagues. His raw stuff isn't very encouraging either, but he has a minor league track record including a phenomenal season so far in '12. I think his numbers show he deserves another shot. What does this team have to lose by giving him a shot?

I realize that the Twins bullpen is doing OK this year, but come on, it's not a championship caliber pen by any stretch of the imagination. It's very possible that Slama improves the bullpen and even if he doesn't, this team should be experimenting with upcoming talent as much as possible and trying to figure out if there's a place for Slama in its future. If the Twins were cruising on top of the AL Central I would say maybe hold off and don't mess with success, but I don't see any excuse at this point.

Slama is the most exciting player currently at AAA. He is beating down the door (in a positive, Pat Neshek way; not a negative, Kyle Lohse way) but the Twins aren't listening. Get this guy on the 40 man roster and get him up to the show!

Free Anthony Slama!!!

After the Twins' awesome come-from-behind win in the 9th inning against Chicago on Sunday 7/18, Dick Bremer said it was the first walk-off victory for the Twins at Target Field. This was repeated in all sorts of print media and on the TV news.

However, I don't think this is true. As my dad pointed out (because he was there), the Twins won in the bottom of the 9th inning against Detroit on May 4. It was a walk-off wild pitch by Ryan Perry. The only thing I can think of is that somehow a walk off wild pitch doesn't count because it's not an offensive play. However, it is an offensive play because JJ Hardy still took advantage of the situation and ran home. Also, googling "walk off wild pitch" returns 48,000 results. Finally, the walk-off victory against Chicago was also due to an error. Technically, it wasn't a walk-off hit by Young, but Cuddyer's capitalizing on a throwing error. 

Can anyone give me any good reason why 7/18 was a walk-off victory for the Twins and 5/4 was not?

Just wondering if anyone out there wants to weigh in on this. I was watching the game last night on TV and here's what I saw in the 8th inning with 2 men on base and Jesse Crain pitching to Adam Rosales: Crain gets Rosales to swing on a slider for strike one. Rosales then fouls off a fastball over the heart of the plate for strike two. Now usually, with two outs and the tying run on base, getting to an 0-2 count with the batter would cause me to breathe ever-so-slightly easier. Not so with Crainwreck on the mound. I thought I saw three more fastballs in that at bat, but Game Day says it went fastball, slider, fastball. No matter. The slider was a meatball too--belt high and breaking right over the plate. On the fifth pitch of the at bat--a 96 mph fastball right down broadway that was nearly identical to the second pitch of the AB--Rosales did not miss. Tie ballgame. Go ahead run on third base.

via i48.tinypic.com

Why didn't Crain try to get Rosales to chase a few pitches out of the zone? Where was Crain's curve? To me, this is nothing new. Crain just goes out and attacks major league batters with 96 mph strikes. The amazing thing to me is that he ever has good stretches. This guy is out there throwing batting practice. 

I know this wasn't a game destroying AB, but it sure could have been. Anyone want to defend Crain? Anyone want to blame Joe Mauer for calling such a ridiculous sequence? 

Edit by Jesse:  Thanks to natetheskate for posting this.  Please see below the jump for an explanation, and a quote from Neshek himself.  Gotta love you some Neshek!

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For those of you who, like me, had just turned six in time for the '87 postseason, here's a refresher on how the Twins won the pennant and got to the big dance for the second to last time:

The Twins finished the season with the worst record of any of the four division champions (85-77) but went on to crush the AL East champion Detroit Tigers four games to one for the American League pennant. Weirdly the Twins had home field advantage, but they wouldn't need it as they took two of three in Detroit as well as their first two at home. The Tigers had finished the season with the best record in baseball (98-64). 

Interestingly, the Tigers have been back to the postseason just one time since 1987--in 2006, when the Twins relegated them to the wild card on the last day of the season. I didn't really realize it, but the Twins sort of dashed a generation of Tiger hopes back in 1987 and almost foiled their children's hopes in 2006. 

Flash forward to 2009. The question on everyone's mind is, are we caught in a time warp whereby the magic of 1987 will rub off on an eerily similar Twins stretch run? Well, the Tigers or, slightly less likely, the Twins will face the AL East champion New York Yankees in the ALDS, who will finish the year with the best record in baseball... only this time almost certainly with over 100 wins. They'll have home field advantage too. So it's not really like 1987 in that way. BUT, the Twins might just finish with 85 wins once again. That's EXACTLY the same as 1987. They'd just have to go 7-4 over the rest of the season, something eminently doable for a team like ours. Well in that case, the Tigers could simply finish 6-6 to end the season with 86 wins and a division championship. Of course, there are a plethora of scenarios left at this point for how the AL Central will end up, but they are fast diminishing with each new day. 

One final observation, lets say the Twins can sweep Detroit. That means Detroit could go 5-3 in the rest of their games not against Minnesota and the Twins could play just 3-4 baseball to take another 85-win division championship. How many wins do you think it will take to win the AL Central this year?

Over at South Side Sox they're saying Jake Peavy is somehow a White Sock. I really like Jake Peavy so it's going to be tough for me as a Twins fan to see him pitch against us down the stretch. I can't really figure out how this happened since Peavy has a no-trade clause and turned down playing for Chicago earlier this season, but apparently it did.

If it's true, hats off the White Sox and Padres for making this move happen.

Just kidding. Happy April Fools Day! :) And here's hoping to a 15+ win season from the Cisco Kid...

By way of getting this post up to 75 words, I'm sure glad the Target Field Home Opener wasn't today. What a miserable first day of April. Also, I wonder how cold it would have to be for them to call a game with no rain/snow. I guess we'll find out soon enough...