Tagged: Twins
Your new batting leader….Joe Mauer
Joe Mauer doesn’t have enough plate appearances to officially qualify for the American League batting title just yet, although he’s getting close. Still if the season were to end today, Mauer would be crowned the AL batting champion.
Confused?
Well, thanks to Twins Geek I stumbled across an interesting tidbit today. Heading into Tuesday’s game, Mauer was 21 plate appearances short of qualifying for the batting title. But if Mauer were to be given an 0-for-21, something to make up for his missing plate appearances, his .364 batting average still would have beat out Ichiro Suzuki’s .360 — thus giving him the title.
All of this is even before Mauer went 4-for-4 in Tuesday’s 8-2 win, raising his batting average to an astounding .429. It’s June 16 and his batting average is closer to .450 than it is .400. That’s pretty amazing in itself.
Humble as ever, Mauer doesn’t seem to like to talk about his hitting much. He won’t let on if he’s as amazed by all of this and he certainly isn’t ready to talk about whether he could possibly hit .400 for a season, a feat that hasn’t been done since Ted Williams hit .406 in 1941.
With how great of a season that Mauer is currently putting together, I couldn’t help but laugh last weekend during a coversation I had with him. While the team was in Seattle, I took advantage of Friday’s night game to play a course near Tacoma that I’d been wanting to play — Chambers Bay, the site of the 2015 U.S. Open. I had told Mauer and Justin Morneau that I was going to play golf there so when I got a chance to talk to Mauer on Saturday, one of the first things he asked me was how golf went.
I told him I had a pretty decent round, shooting 83 while playing the course at about 6500 yards — a little bit longer than I usually play. Considering that I had rented clubs and it was a pretty challenging course, I felt pretty good overall about my round.
“You haven’t played since Spring Training, right?” Mauer asked me.
Nope, I told him.
“Geez, it must be nice to be that good,” Mauer said.
This coming from a guy that’s now hitting .429 on the season. Yeah Joe, it must be nice to be that good.
Crain optioned to Triple-A Rochester
To make room on the roster for Tuesday night’s starter Glen Perkins, the Twins have optioned right-hander Jesse Crain to Triple-A Rochester.
Crain was the losing pitcher in Sunday’s 3-2 loss to the Cubs in Chicago when he gave up the winning run in the ninth inning, allowing three hits and walking one to break up what had been a 2-2 tie. It was a continuation of troubles that Crain has had this season. He was 2-3 with an 8.15 ERA in 23 appearances (17 2/3 innings) for the Twins.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was frustrated after Sunday’s loss by Crain’s recent struggles.
“You try to find the right situation to put him in ballgames, but when
you get to this point, there’s no right situation,” Gardenhire said after the game.
“He’s got to go out and get outs. Our bullpen’s dying out there, and
he’s the guy that’s got to try to get somebody out, and it didn’t
happen today.”
The move to option Crain allowed Perkins to be activated from the disabled list in time for his start against the Pirates on Tuesday night. Perkins was put on the DL on May 19 with inflammation in his left elbow. He’ll be making his ninth start of the season for the Twins, going 1-3 with a 5.36 ERA in his previous eight outings.
And your center fielder is….Michael Cuddyer
The Twins outfield setup from the final two innings of Wednesday’s game is back for Thursday’s series finale against the A’s.
Michael Cuddyer is getting his first start of the year in center field. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said that Justin Morneau felt it would be a good day to DH, as he’s been getting beat up a little. And with left-handers hitting .306 vs. A’s starter Trevor Cahill while right-handers have hit just .227, Gardenhire wanted to stack as many lefties in the lineup as possible. So Jason Kubel will be in right field and Brian Buscher will play first base.
This outfield configuration could stick through this weekend for the three-game series at Wrigley Field. Gardenhire said there was no news on what has been causing Denard Span’s dizzy spells. Span saw team physician Dr. Tom Jetzer on Wednesday and was run through a battery of tests but so far nothing has been found. The outfielder is scheduled to see more doctors today. Gardenhire said it’s difficult to imagine that Span would be ready to rejoin the team on Friday as the skipper wants to find out why Span has been dizzy before returns to the lineup.
Gardenhire also said that a roster move should be coming after today’s game to activate Nick Punto (strained right groin) from the disabled list.
Here are today’s lineups as the Twins go for only their second road series win of the season:
Twins
Matt Tolbert, 2B
Brendan Harris, SS
Joe Mauer, C
Justin Morneau, DH
Jason Kubel, RF
Joe Crede, 3B
Michael Cuddyer, CF
Brian Buscher, 1B
Delmon Young, LF
Pitching: Nick Blackburn, RHP
A’s
Orlando Cabrera, SS
Adam Kennedy, 2B
Jack Cust, RF
Matt Holliday, LF
Jason Giambi, DH
Landon Powell, C
Daric Barton, 1B
Rajai Davis, CF
Jack Hannahan, 3B
Pitching: Trevor Cahill, RHP
Also a reminder that you can follow me on Twitter @kellythesier for more Twins updates
Span headed back to Minnesota
Denard Span is flying back to Minnesota on Wednesday to see a specialist in an attempt to figure out what has been causing his lingering dizziness.
The Twins outfielder left Tuesday night’s game in Oakland after the second inning when the dizziness became too much to try to play through. It’s the second time that Span has missed time due to the problem. He did not play in games on May 24 and 25 for the Twins due to feeling dizzy and lightheaded.
While he felt a little better after taking those two games off, Span said that the problem did not go away all together. And during his second at-bat on Tuesday night, he couldn’t see the ball and it scared him.
“I feel like I can’t focus and concentrate when I’m hitting,” Span said. ‘”I kind of get away with it when I’m playing defense because things aren’t happening as fast in the outfield. The last couple days I’ve been kind of feeling the same way, but as the game would go on, things would get a little better.”
During his first episode of dizziness, Span also felt lethargic. This time he said that his energy level has been up,.
Doctors told Span initially that the dizzy spells could have something to do with his thyroid. Span said he’s not sure if that still might be the case but he just hopes to find out what is causing the problem when he gets back to Minnesota and possibly rejoin the team in Chicago this weekend..
“I don’t know what it is,” Span said. “I’ll be honest I’ve thought about different things it could be. I don’t think it’s anxiety. I’m more comfortable this year than I was last year. So I don’t feel like it’s that. I don’t know. I”m not sure if it has to do with having Lasik eye surgery on one eye and not the other. There is a lot of things I”m thinking about now and I just don’t know.”
“Hopefully I’ll find out because I’ve never felt this way playing baseball. I know how it is to be tired and go through the grind of playing a 160-plus game season but I never felt dizzy on the field. It’s scary.”
Here comes the Lefty Parade
There is something about the A’s and their ability to find left-handed pitchers, particularly starters.The Twins are currently in a stretch of facing five straight southpaws. They sawJarrod Washburn and Erik Bedard over the final two games in Seattle and now comes another trio of young Oakland lefties. Last year during the Twins long stretch of facing left-handed starters, the club saw a slew of lefties in Oakland. But now this is an entirely different group of lefties that the A’s have in their rotation, so the Twins will test their luck against some new arms they haven’t seen before.
Joe Crede is out of the lineup today with a sore left calf after he fouled a ball off it during Sunday’s contest in Seattle. Matt Tolbert gets the start at third base in his place.
With lefties batting .128 and righties batting .237 against A’s starter Josh Outman (could there be a better last name for a pitcher?), manager Ron Gardenhire said he opted against starting Jason Kubel. Instead, Delmon Young will be the designated hitter and the club will see what he can do in the series opener.
Also, the A’s had a roster move before the game. Outfielder Ryan Sweeney was placed on the disabled list with a sprained MCL in his left knee. Infielder Daric Barton was called up from Triple-A Sacramento.
Today’s Lineups:
Twins
Denard Span, LF
Joe Mauer, C
Justin Morneau, 1B
Michael Cuddyer, RF
Brendan Harris, SS
Delmon Young, DH
Carlos Gomez, CF
Matt Tolbert, 3B
Alexi Casilla, 2B
Pitching: Anthony Swarzak, RHP
A’s
Orlando Cabrera, SS
Adam Kennedy, 2B
Jack Cust, DH
Matt Holliday, LF
Jason Giambi, 1B
Kurt Suzuki, C
Aaron Cunningham, RF
Jack Hannahan, 3B
Rajai Davis, CF
Pitching: Josh Outman, LHP
And now for the pitching change, Rick Anderson…Saturday lineups: Twins at Mariners
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was still hobbling around on Saturday morning after injuring his hamstring during Friday’s early batting practice at Safeco Field. He was shagging in the outfield when he took a step and spun, pulling his hamstring in the process.
The injury prevented Gardenhire from being able to go to the mound to make pitching changes in Friday night’s 2-1, 10-inning win. He said it’s likely that pitching coach Rick Anderson will hold that duty again for Saturday’s contest since it’s still difficult for the skipper to walk up stairs.
“I haven’t had that feeling in a long time,” said Gardenhire, who acknowledged that he pulled his share of hamstrings during his playing career. “I took one bad step and spun with my tennis shoes a little bit.”
While Gardenhire is on injured reserve, Michael Cuddyer was back in the lineup on Saturday to face left-hander Jarrod Washburn. The Twins don’t have great career numbers vs. Washburn. Only Alexi Casilla, 4-for-12 (.333), and Brendan Harris, 5-for-10 (.500), are hitting above .300 agianst the tough lefty.
Here are today’s lineups for one of FOX’s Games of the Week.
Twins
Denard Span, CF
Joe Mauer, DH
Justin Morneau, 1B
Joe Crede, 3B
Michael Cuddyer, RF
Brendan Harris, SS
Mike Redmond, C
Delmon Young, LF
Alexi Casilla, 2B
Pitching: Nick Blackburn, RHP
Mariners
Ichiro Suzuki, RF
Russell Branyan, 1B
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Ken Griffey Jr., DH
Jose Lopez, 2B
Ronny Cedeno, SS
Endy Chavez, LF
Guillermo Guiroz, C
Franklin Gutierrez, CF
Pitching: Jarrod Washburn, LHP
Welcome to Sunny Seattle
I don’t know what it is about the Twins’ trips to Seattle, but they always tend to come at ideal weather times in the city. I took advantage of the weather this morning and did something I rarely do — played a round of golf on the road. For any of you who might travel to the Seattle/Tacoma area, I would highly recommend playing Chambers Bay. It’s about 45 min. or so away from Seattle and ranked among Golf Magazine’s top courses in the country that anyone can play. It is also scheduled to host the 2015 U.S. Open. Just a beautiful course and a challenge as well.
OK, enough with golf and back to baseball.
Michael Cuddyer (strained right finger) took early BP and regular BP on Friday, but was not back in the lineup. Cuddyer said that his finger felt fine after hitting and throwing during the early session, but the club wants to watch his finger and see how much the swelling comes back. He could be ready to return to the lineup on Saturday.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire also reported that Glen Perkins’ left elbow felt fine after his first rehab start on Thursday for Class A Fort Myers. Perkins pitched four innings, allowing five runs (three earned) on six hits — including two home runs– and struck out five. Gardenhire siad the reports were that Perkins threw a lot of fastballs and didn’t start mixing in his breaking pitches until after giving up the home runs. The expectation is still that Perkins will make one more start for Fort Myers on Tuesday — throwing between 90-100 pitches — and the club will evaluate his status after that.
Today’s Lineups:
Twins
Denard Span, LF
Joe Mauer, C
Justin Morneau, 1B
Jason Kubel, RF
Joe Crede, 3B
Brendan Harris, SS
Brian Buscher, DH
Carlos Gomez, CF
Alexi Casilla, 2B
Pitching: Francisco Liriano, LHP
Mariners
Ichiro Suzuki, RF
Russell Branyan, 1B
Adrian Beltre, 3B
Mike Sweeney, DH
Jose Lopez, 2B
Wladimir Balentien, LF
Rob Johnson, C
Ronny Cedeno, SS
Franklin Gutierrez, CF
Pitching: Felix Hernandez, RHP
Back in Action…Thursday Lineups: Twins vs. Tribe
Sorry for the lack of blogging yesterday. It was one of those crazy days on the job where I had a lot of stories to get done and not enough time to add blogging into the mix. So my apologies and I’ll try not to let it happen again when I’m on game coverage.
OK, back to baseball. Jason Kubel gets the start in right field today as Joe Mauer is slotted in as the DH. Kubel’s numbers against Indians starter Fausto Carmona are likely a big reason that he’s in the lineup. Kubel is 8-for-18 (.444) vs. Carmona with two RBIs.
Alexi Casilla also gets a day off as manager Ron Gardenhire wanted to give Matt Tolbert a chance to try out some swing adjustments in a game. Tolbert has been working hard on his swing of late and this seemed the right time to give him a shot to see if those changes will help.
As for Michael Cuddyer, the soreness in his strained right index finger is moving from the knuckle to the palm of his hand. Gardenhire said he’s been told that it’s a good sign that the soreness is moving in that direction. Cuddyer was going to try to swing today and see how that goes.
And here are today’s lineups:
Indians
Ben Francisco, RF
Jamey Carroll, 3B
Victor Martinez, C
Shin-Soo Choo, LF
Jhonny Peralta, SS
Mark DeRosa, DH
Chris Gimenez, 1B
Trevor Crowe, CF
Luis Valbuena, 2B
Pitching: Fausto Carmona, RHP
Twins
Denard Span, LF
Joe Mauer, DH
Justin Morneau, 1B
Jason Kubel, RF
Joe Crede, 3B
Brendan Harris, SS
Mike Redmond, C
Carlos Gomez, CF
Matt Tolbert, 2B
Pitching: Scott Baker, RHP
Also a reminder that you can follow me on Twitter @kellythesier
Another edition of the Banged up and Bruised
After getting two straight days off thanks to Monday’s off day, Joe Mauer is back in the lineup for the Twins in the series opener against the Indians tonight. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said that Mauer is still a little sore after taking his share of hits behind the plate in Saturday’s game at Tampa Bay, but he feels good enough to play so he’s in there.
Joe Crede and Michael Cuddyer are both still out of the lineup. Crede’s left knee is still slightly swollen and he showed off some nasty-looking bruises to a group of us reporters today. He’s got one right above the knee and one below it that extends down the leg. But Crede took batting practice with the team and fielded at third, so Gardenhire thinks Crede might be back in the lineup for Wednesday’s contest.
Cuddyer got good news when the MRI on his finger came back negative, meaning there is no structural damage. The doctors have told him they just have to wait for the swelling to get out of the knuckle, and the hope is that it will only be a couple days. Gardenhire sounded a little more concerned due to the fact that he doesn’t want to be short a player for very long, since he only has a four-man bench right now. Cuddyer wasn’t doing anything on the field on Tuesday.
When I got to the ballpark this afternoon, the Twins were taking early batting practice but it wasn’t just the hitters this time. The pitchers were down there doing some bunting drills. Their upcoming 10-game roadtrip ends in Chicago with three contests agianst the Cubs so it’s time to get those pitchers’ bats warmed up for Interleague Play. I’ll admit, it’s always enjoyable to get a glimpse at some of the swings at this time of the year.
Here are today’s lineups:
Indians
Asdrubal Cabrera, SS
Ben Francisco, LF
Victor Martinez, 1B
Shin-Soo Choo, DH
Jhonny Peralta, 3B
Mark DeRosa, RF
Luis Valbuena, 2B
Trevor Crowe, CF
Kelly Shoppach, C
Pitching: David Huff, LHP (making just his 4th career start)
Twins
Denard Span, RF
Joe Mauer, C
Justin Morneau, 1B
Jason Kubel, DH
Brendan Harris, SS
Delmon Young, LF
Brian Buscher, 3B
Carlos Gomez, CF
Alexi Casilla, 2B
Pitching: Kevin Slowey, RHP
Cuddyer leaves game with finger injury
Michael Cuddyer left Sunday’s game against the Rays in the second inning with a right index finger injury and was taken for X-rays in the stadium.
Cuddyer struck out in the top of the second inning, but it’s unclear whether he injured his finger at that time or if he aggravated a previous injury.
With Cuddyer out, Denard Span shifted to right field and Delmon Young entered the game playing left.
UPDATE: X-rays on Cuddyer’s finger were negative. He has a right index finger strain and is listed as day-to-day.
Kelly's Corner 