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After missing a couple games due to the birth of his child, Josh Willingham returned to the Twins lineup on Sunday and immediately made his presence felt, delivering a two-run triple in his first at-bat to set the tone in a 7-4 Twins victory.

Willingham finished the day 3-for-5 with a double and a single in addition to the three-bagger, raising his OPS to an eye-popping 1.163.

The left fielder has hit safely in 17 of 19 games as a Twin while ...

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Hitter of the Day:
Josh Willingham: 3-5 2B (7), 3B (1), 2 RBI, 2 R

Pitcher of the Day:
Tim Shibuya: 6.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 11 SO, 0 BB (Documented better here: http://twinsdaily.com/showthread.php?1021-Tim-Shibuya)

Today's Recap:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...VE&output=html

After today, Matt Capps has now given up runs in 4 of his 8 outings. Comparing this to other pitchers

High Leverage:
Jared Burton - 2 of 10
Glen Perkins - 3 of 9

Low Leverage:
Jeff Gray - 2 of 10
Alex Burnett - 2 of 9
Brian Duensing - 2 of 10

Looks like that $4.5 million was well spent.

And I don't want to hear about sample size...

After spring training I was relieved to know that I made a roster and was heading to Beloit, WI to play for the Snappers. Spring training is always a grind and it was tough to see some guys get cut. That is the part of the game that is the "business" and it is always in the back of your head that today could be your last day. Some friends of mine were released and I wish all of them the best of luck in whatever they choose to do in or out of baseball. I spent the 2011 season in Beloit ...

Aaron and John talk about the Twins' terrible starting pitching, Delmon Young not going to Hebrew school, booing Joe Mauer, putting past division titles in proper perspective, Ben Revere's brief return, skipping Francisco Liriano, Ron Gardenhire's odd bullpen usage, and jinxing anything and everything. Here are:

• the podcasts
• the rss feed if you want to subscribe and
• the podcast on iTunes (where you can listen, rate and subscribe).

Random thought based on two games...

HITTERS
*Miguel Sano has a long way to do. His bat's not ready. His glove's not ready. His head's not ready. Physically, he's a beast. He got one hit (a sharp grounder that slid under the third baseman's glove) in seven at bats. He struck out twice and looked susceptible to any ball that doesn't spin straight. He has time - and should be allowed it - to get that part of his game figured out. He did hit two flyballs that looked pretty routine, ...

Tags: rosario, sano, snappers

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The Twins actually won a game today. It's tough to complain about too much from today's Twins performance. Jason Marquis earned the win, and picked up the 4th Twins quality start along the way. The Twins scored 4 runs in the first, 2 runs in the third and 1 in the seventh, on their way to a 7-4 victory. Josh Willingham (a home run short of the cycle, go figure) and Danny Valencia (3 hits including a triple) led the way on offense, and the only Twins starters without a hit were Trevor Plouffe and ...

Updated 04-29-2012 at 04:54 PM by Twins Fan From Afar

Tags: beloit snappers, ft. myers miracle, new britain rock cats, rochester red wings

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With all of the blogs, threads, and comments about blowing up the Twins and promoting all prospects to the big club, I would like to remind you of a few things:

1) Calling players up starts the clock on these individuals toward arbitration and higher salaries. Even the Harpers and Trouts of the world where kept in the minors for periods of time to slow down their service time.

2) Calling players up before they are ready can have a negative effect on their development. ...

If I’d told you before the season started that, 20 games in, Denard Span would have a .386 OBP, Joe Mauer would be hitting .329 and Justin Morneau would have an IsoP of .236, plus newcomer Josh Willingham would have a 1.114 OPS, what would you have expected the Twins’ record to be? Better than 5-15, I hope. There are a lot of reasons why it is that poor, and some of them are not easily solved, but I don’t believe the offense is one of them.

Ultimately, it’s about scoring runs, and the ...

Hitter of the Day:
Joe Benson: 2-4 HR (2), 2B (3), 2 RBI, 1 R

Pitcher of the Day:
Deolis Guerra: 3 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 2 SO - First game in AAA in 2012

Today's Recap:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...VE&output=html

"You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes it rains."- Ebby Calvin LaLoosh, Bull Durham

The rain came a tumbling down at Target Field on Saturday afternoon and the contest between the Twins and Royals was postponed because of the weather. By mid-afternoon, the skies had cleared up but the game had already been rescheduled as part of a day-night doubleheader on June 30.

Even with the rainout at Target ...

Updated 04-28-2012 at 10:51 PM by Seth Stohs

Tags: aj achter, angel morales, eddie rosario, joe benson, oswaldo arcia

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This Twins team is not a playoff team. That shouldn't be a surprise. The over under 73 wins looks generous now. They are not 15 million dollars or a serviceable reliever away from 90 wins.

At some point this season it will be time to invest playing time in the future in spite of the growing pains. As I chose a date to put in the headline, I tried to account for the "Super Two" arbitration deadline. There will be some players with 2+ years of service time that will be eligible ...

Joe Mauer must have read my post yesterday. There can be no other explanation. He hit a triple in the first inning, driving in Span and then scoring on Morneau's single. If you reconstruct the inning with Mauer hitting a single or drawing a walk instead, and overlook that every change could result in a different approach by the opponents thereafter, this was worth an extra run.

He followed up with a none-out double in the third. This resulted in no scoring ...

After a close game decided by a questionable call, the conversation often turns to the topic of Instant Replay. This time, I’ll start it.

I’m not interested in rehashing the pros and cons of instant replay, which have been debated for years. The expansion of replay seems inevitable at this point. But as with most issues, the devil is in the details, and there does not seem to be a consensus on how expanded replay will work.

Who can initiate replay review? If managers can, ...