Twins Notes & Rumors: Haren, Crain, Twins talk to Blue Jays?
[picappgallerysingle id="9186788"]It has been rumored for some time that Dan Haren might come to the Twins. But, like the Cliff Lee rumors, the whispering has ended with a trade that sends Haren to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (what a name). Haren has a 4.61 ERA and a 12-13 record. It’s okay that we let Haren go.
Jeff Manship will not be in the Twins starting rotation – at least, not right now. The Twins sent Manship down to Triple-A as they brought up Jose Morales in Orlando Hudson’s stead (the second baseman is out with a strained right oblique and can’t swing left handed). I expect to see a combination of Casilla and Punto at this position, with either Punto or Valencia at third base.
I still wouldn’t be surprised to see Jesse Crain replace Jon Rauch as the Twins’ closer. Rauch is really struggling of late, and if he continues on his downward spiral, I think they’ll replace him with Crain. There’s some rumbling that the Twins are talking to the Blue Jays about help for their bullpen; we’ll see.
Twins flatten Orioles 10-4; pitcher Slowey has good outing
[picappgallerysingle id="9425473"]Well, next time I complain, just remind me that we could have the Orioles pitching staff.
Twins starting pitcher Kevin Slowey had a good outing yesterday afternoon in Camden Yards – in fact, a better outing than I’ve seen in ages from him – which allowed the Twins to flatten the Orioles 10-4 and finish the series 3-1. It was a morale-boosting win for the Twins, who sat out starters Denard Span, J.J. Hardy, and Joe Mauer.
Instead, they played guys like Danny Valencia, Jason Repko, Drew Butera, and Alexi Casilla – all of whom got multiple hits in yesterday’s game. Jason Kubel was a hitting monster at the plate, whacking his second grand slam of the season, and Delmon Young (naturally – he’s a stud) and Jim Thome (also studly) each smacked home runs.
When the Twins are hitting like that (like they’re supposed to), it makes flattening the Orioles 10-4 look easy. And fun.
But the revelation of the game was Slowey, who had his first good outing in ages (I know he was okay his last start, but he wasn’t great). Slowey gave up one run in the first inning, but otherwise he held the Orioles scoreless (with only five hits) until the rain break in the seventh inning. Yeah, you heard me right – Slowey went deep for the Twins into the seventh yesterday.
Things are looking up.
I have to note that Slowey was pitching to Butera, not Mauer. Seriously, what happens if Slowey and Pavano only want to pitch to Butera? You know how superstitious pitchers are. Even if they do like Mauer, even if Mauer is communicating fine, if they’re winning with Butera, they’re only going to want to pitch to Butera. Hmm.
Anyway, in other news, Orlando Hudson (as we suspected) was placed on the 15-day DL (along with Morneau and his lingering concussion) with that strained right oblique, and the Twins have called up catcher Jose Morales (instead of short stop Trevor Plouffe) from Rochester to play in Hudson’s place. Morales will start today against the Kansas City Royals.
According to the Pioneer Press, Morales is batting .280 with two home runs, 17 doubles, and 24 RBIs in 63 games this year in Triple-A at Rochester. We’ll take it.
By the way, Nick Blackburn made his first relief appearance in yesterday’s game. He started strong, but then gave up three runs on five hits before he finally put the Orioles down. Poor guy.
Tonight, Francisco Liriano (8-7) will face off against Kansas City Royals ace Zack Grienke (6-9) at Kauffman Stadium. Historically, the Twins have done very well against the Royals, and Grienke in particular (with the exception, ironically, of Mauer – though Mauer is .400 with 13 RBIs in his last 18 games against the Royals).
Grienke, the current American League Cy Young award winner, has struggled repeatedly against the Twins (according to ESPN, he’s 2-6 in 13 starts with an ERA of 4.31 against us), and I’m sure he’s not looking forward to tonight’s game – not with the Twins’ monster hitting at the plate, and especially given that Liriano’s been so hot recently.
If the Twins continue pitching and hitting as they are now (if you told me a few weeks ago that I’d be saying that now, I’d have laughed you off), taking down the Royals should be no problem.
It’s great when things work the way they’re supposed to, isn’t it?
Twins pound Orioles 7-2; stud Delmon Young awesome
[picappgallerysingle id="9338321"]Delmon Young is awesome. Delmon Young is a stud.
Young went 4 for 4 last night against the Orioles, with one home run and three RBIs, and the Twins pounded the Orioles 7-2. Delmon Young is awesome right now – we couldn’t ask for more from him, and we certainly shouldn’t trade him. It’s nice to have a stud like Young while Morneau is out with his concussion. And if Morneau comes back – well, just imagine how awesome that will be.
Plus, after all the time and effort the Twins have put in to building Young into the terrific player that he is, it would be madness to trade him. I say sign Carl Pavano to a three-year deal (which is what he wants) right now. Do it now. Keep Young and his awesomeness, and then go from there.
And keep Jim Thome, because I love him.
Why keep Young? According to ESPN, Young is batting .429 in July. He has four home runs and 22 RBIs. That’s practically Mauer’s whole season.
And Scott Baker, there you go. Turning it on like that. It’s what we needed.
Baker had a great night on the mound for the Twins, giving up only two runs, four hits, and one walk in seven full innings pitching. That’s terrific – that’s what we need. Plus, he had eight strike outs. Nice.
I expected Baker, elbow tendinitis or not, to come on the second half of the season. That’s usually the way he does things; he’s stinky in the first half of the season, and he kills it the second half.
The thing about Baker this season is that he has, for the most part, been throwing great stuff. But he often has the one-bad-inning syndrome, where he gives up a bunch of runs. If he can eliminate that tendency, then he’ll be exactly what the Twins need. I like Scott Baker.
And I’m making a prediction: I think Baker will be good from here on out this season.
Other than Young being awesome last night, Cuddyer, Span, Valencia, Hardy, Repko, and Casilla all had hits last night. The only problem with that: the Twins stranded twelve players. Ugh. We have to fix that. When we play against a good team again, that kind of thing will earn us a loss instead of a win.
You’ve got to remember that the Orioles have the worst record in all of baseball. The Twins should beat the Orioles. It’s hard to sweep a team, especially in a four-game series (yeah, yeah, I know the Tigers did it – big deal), but you should probably win three of the four if you are the Twins.
The deciding game in the series will play out this afternoon at Camden Yards. Twins starting pitcher Kevin Slowey, currently the weak tit on this mama cat, will throw against Orioles starting pitcher Arrieta. We won’t see that questionable communication between Slowey and Mauer because it’s an afternoon game after an evening game that Mauer played, so Drew Butera will catch. Bummer.
All I have to say is that Slowey better not blow this if he wants to remain in the starting rotation. Because problems with Mauer or not, he’s done if he doesn’t pull himself together.
Twins fall to Orioles 3-2; Hudson hurts right oblique
[picappgallerysingle id="9338332"]Do you know how mad I am at Orlando Hudson’s right oblique right now?
Hudson hit the deck after he hurt his right oblique whacking a fly ball at Camden Yards yesterday. The Twins followed suit and fell to the Orioles 3-2 after youngster Anthony Slama gave up two hits in the sixth inning, earning the loss.
But Hudson’s right oblique is causing more concern than the loss at Camden Yards.
Orlando Hudson spent some time on the disabled list earlier this season after a crash with Denard Span in which he reinjured his surgically reconstructed left wrist. The second baseman’s presence in the Twins lineup was sorely missed then and it certainly would be now; the lineup’s number two slugger just came off a ten-game hitting streak.
Hudson is currently listed as day-to-day, but with a just diagnosed right oblique strain, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him pop up on the 15-day DL. He’d better get well, because I cringe at the thought of Brendan Harris coming up to play for him at second base. It would be a tricky move to bring up Trevor Plouffe since he mostly plays shortstop, and Matt Tolbert, another one of my favorites (just kidding), is out with a busted middle finger, so he won’t be coming in. So, really, it’s Alexi Casilla (who just came off the DL himself and went in for Hudson last night) or Hudson.
I prefer Hudson.
In addition to Hudson getting hurt, the Twins struggled in their 3-2 loss at Camden Yards last night with Orioles’ starting pitcher Jeremy Guthrie, who held the Twins to two runs. Those runs came from Joe Mauer, who got the monkey off his back by hitting his fifth home run of the year with a two-run homer in the sixth inning (hurrah!). Target Field can’t be far behind, right?
And everyone’s been so down on Nick Punto lately – the guy is a defensive rock star, which he showed us yet again last night against the Orioles with that brilliant sixth-inning play. Let’s show him a little love.
But anyway, it was nice of the Twins to make Jeremy Guthrie look good. He’s not, just so you know – he’s been 0-6 in his last nine starts and hasn’t enjoyed a win since May 25th. We’re just nice like that.
Brian Duensing was a pleasure to watch in his debut in the Twins starting rotation this season; he went five innings with 66 pitches and only allowed four hits, one run, and zero walks. Love it. He also had three strike outs. We’ll take it. Keep Blackburn down in the bullpen. Duensing will start again on Wednesday against the Kansas City Royals.
Tonight, the Twins start dubious pitcher Scott Baker (7-9) against Orioles pitcher Brian Matusz (3-10), who stinks, too. It’s time for Baker to turn it on like he did last year. Because if he tanks and Slowey does, too, I’m not sure what we’re going to do with our starting rotation.
Pavano pitches full game to Butera, not Mauer – Twins shut out Orioles 5-0
[picappgallerysingle id="9405528"]I love Carl Pavano. Not as much as I love Jim Thome, but I do love him.
I like the shut-out beginnings of a hot streak for the Twins. One thing worries me, though.
Before I get to that, let’s look at why Pavano’s such a rock star: he has a 12-6 record, he’s pitched his fourth full game of the year (his previous record, according to ESPN, was two full games in a season), he has a ‘stache, he works fast on the mound, and he just won a career high seventh straight game.
As for the rest of last night’s game, Joe Mauer had a nice double to keep the first (and fruitful) inning alive – and to erase that Favre-esque bunt from our minds. Delmon Young continues to rock out at the plate, delivering a bases-clearing double in the first (which scored three runs, popping his RBIs up to a whopping 70 on the season), and an infield single in the eighth inning. Michael Cuddyer scored with a home run, and J.J. Hardy extended his hitting streak with a couple of hits – one a highly questionable infield single in the seventh inning that got Orioles first baseman Wigginton ejected (along with Orioles coach Kranitz shortly thereafter).
Here’s what worries me: Joe Mauer is the Twins’ number one guy. Good guy, hometown kid, great player, in it for the long haul. But there’s been some talk recently, from more than one source (KFAN and ESPN, to name just two), that he’s not communicating well with pitchers.
It was first mentioned in conjunction with Kevin Slowey, who is known for shaking Mauer off all the time on the mound (which is part of Slowey’s problem, I happen to think). There was some speculation that Slowey and Mauer don’t get along – Slowey was blamed for it at the time, and I agreed with that. Mauer seems like a pretty cool guy to me, and Slowey seems, well, less cool.
But now, I’m worried. I’m worried because it seems that Carl Pavano prefers pitching to Drew Butera, Mauer’s backup catcher. And it only fuels these rumors that Pavano has pitched his last two games – both full games with one shut out – with Butera catching. Butera also caught for Francisco Liriano in his seven-inning shut-out of the Indians the day before, but Mauer always sits out a day game after a night game that he played – which is what that shut-out game against the Indians was.
Now, supposedly Mauer didn’t catch last night against the Orioles because of his injured shoulder, and because he’s a little banged up from before the All Star break, and maybe that’s true. But is it a coincidence that Pavano was pitching and Mauer came in as a designated hitter instead of a catcher? Could it be that Pavano is requesting Butera? That’s what some folks seem to think, and I guess they have reason to wonder.
So now I’m wondering, too.
But I’m content at the moment to simply keep an eye on it all. It’s worth watching, because if Pavano’s our ace and we go to the playoffs, the Twins are not going to sit down Joe Mauer for Drew Butera. Even if Butera has scored twice in the last two games – even if Butera kept that up the rest of the season, the Twins are not going to sit down Mauer for Butera. And I don’t think they’d sit Thome for Mauer to DH – if Morneau doesn’t come back – to play Butera (they’d better not because I love Thome).
Anyway, the speculation aside, I’m excited to see how Brian Duensing (3-1, 1.67 ERA) does against Jeremy Guthrie (3-10, 4.58 ERA) in his first time through the starting rotation this season. He’ll be pitching to Mauer, I’m sure, so we’ll see how their communication looks – but I’ll really have my eyes peeled for all of that come Sunday, when Slowey pitches. It all just seems a little odd to me, but Mauer’s communication is definitely a talking point right now. I wonder if it’s just that Mauer’s been a little shaken up lately, and if his jitters are having a negative impact on the starting rotation. Maybe that’s what’s going on.
Can’t everybody just settle down?
