sweetluis

Scott has been handed a 6 game suspension by MLB and a undisclosed fine. Announced just prior to the game tonight. Wow this is excessive in my humble opinion. The news feed said Scott plans to appeal.

August 23, 2012 Twins vs. Rangers Another first!! Scott is ejected!! I am able to post this early as Scott is out of the game. In case you missed all the action Oswalt threw at Mauer, hitting his back just below the neck in the top of the third inning, on a 3 - 0 pitch. Why Oswalt did this is beyond understanding. Why hit the team all star? All the announcers for the game said it was on purpose as Oswalt is just too good of a pitcher to miss so badly. Home plate umpire issues no warnings and Mauer goes to 1st. Scott Diamond comes up in the botton of the 3rd, retires Elvis Andrus and here comes Josh Hamilton. Scott's first pitch comes at head level behind Hamilton's head and Scott was immediately ejected by home plate umpire, Wally Bell. Gardenhire comes out of the dugout and you knew his evening was going to be spent with Scott watching the game in the clubhouse. And sure enough Gardenhire is ejected. Interesting enough Wally Bell calls Ron Washington out of the dugout before the next pitch to Hamilton and issues a warning to the Rangers. The irritating thing it the man who caused it all, Oswalt, it still pitching the game. Scott's ejection was the first of his career, and I am glad he stood up for his team and Joe. This is all part of baseball, but somehow to eject Scott who did not hit anyone, and not Oswalt who hit Joe just seems wrong to me. Wally Bell knows the game too. He has been around a long time. This might turn out to a interesting series in Texas.

August 19, 2012 Twins vs. Mariners It was billed as a pitching duel matching Scott Diamond against the Mariners left hander Jeff Vargas. And through 6 innings the game was everything anticipated. I happen to think that Scott out pitched Vargas; but then this is a Scott Diamond blog, and I am very impressed with Scott Diamond and his ability to pitch. Anyway, Scott looked great through 6, despite the fact that the home plate ump seemed confused by the outside part of the plate, while Scott was pitching, and the first base ump seemed seemed, to me at least, to call a very close call against the Twins. The 7th inning was another thing altogether. First, the Twins load the bases with 1 out; chase Vargas; bring the heart of the batting order to the plate; ... and get 1 measly run on a near-double-play ground ball by Mauer. Then Scott leaves the 10th pitch to Justin Smoak a bit too high and the score is tied. Perhaps a result of fatigue, and perhaps a result of frustration (see previous comment concerning the outside part of the plate), this leads to a 30 pitch 7th inning and Scott's departure after 6 2/3. His line is quite nice for the game: Another qualitly start, 6 2/3 innings, 2 Earned Runs, 0 walks, 2 Strikeouts, 100 Pitches and 64 strikes. His ERA drops slightly to 2.95.

Twins 3 vs The Rays 7 - August 12, 2012 With each of the first batters in each of the first 2 inning hitting home runs; it looked to be a very long day for Scott Diamond. But a Justin Morneau homerun tied the game and Scott found his game. He went 7 innings leaving with the game tied. Another quality start. His line showed 3 earned runs, 8 hits, 6 strikeouts and an uncharacteristically high 2 walks. 67% of his 95 pitches were strikes; and with 1 or 2 Twins hits with runners in scoring position (5th, 6th and 7th innings) Scott might have left with a lead. Also notable was Scott showed a flashy glove, catching line drive off Ben Zobrist in the 4th; and a frightening disregard for his pitching hand in deflecting ground ball off that same Ben Zobrist in the first. Perhaps we can just plan to walk Zobrist in the future. A great piching battle between Diamond and Shields today but would have been nice to have seen a different ending in the 10th.

Not sure if it matters but Scott Diamond was born in 1986 not '85 as posted

Twins 14, Cleveland 3 August 6, 2012 Scott Diamond is a 10!! Almost overlooked in the jubilation over Justin Morneau's 200th homerun on Monday evening, was the very tidy 10th win of the season by Scott Diamond; an event that the Twins haven't celebrated in almost 2 years. It wasn't a PERFECT 10th win, but it WAS very nice. It started out a bit on the rocky side, as Scott worked through an ugly error and two base hits in the first inning, to limit the Indians to a single unearned run. The Twins offense delivered 10 runs in the top of the second and the rest of the game was quite relaxing for the Twins fans ... other than for celebrating Morneau's previously mentioned 200th homerun. Scott's line shows 7.0 innings with 2 Earned Runs, 7 hits and 1 walk. His line doesn't show 3 double plays behind him, which helped to keep the game quite relaxing for the Twins. His ERA (2.91) is 6th in the American League and his Quality Start %age (71) is also 6th in the AL. Congratulations Scott on a excellent season thus far.

Twins 2, White Sox 3 - Wednesday, August 1, 2012 Excellent outing!!! Rotten result!!! Scott was looking to carry his wonderful performance last Friday into today's start against the division leading White Sox and their ace, 2007 Cy Young winner Jake Peavy. Scott pitched another great game going 7.1 innings, allowing 3 earned runs on 8 hits; striking out 3 and walking none. It was another quality start and should have been good enough for his 10th win. But Peavy pitched just as well, and held the Twins to 2 runs; so the well deserved win, turned into a hard-fought loss. As usual, Scott pounded the strike zone and usually pitched ahead in the count. Uncharacteristically he provided a number of rather good looking 0-2 pitches, something he'll certainly learn from. He left the game following a come-backer that hit sharply off the inside of his right (landing) leg. There appears to be nothing to prevent his next start in Cleveland.

Minnesota 11 vs Cleveland 0 - July 27, 2012 Great to get back from holidays and watch the Minnesota/Cleveland game!! Apparently the Kansas City game was a good one to miss, but baseball sometimes works out that way. But tonight was a good game NOT to miss; especially if you're watching Scott Diamond! Complete game! Shutout! 3 hitter! 6 strikeouts! 0 walks! 98 pitches! 67 strikes! I know that's abuse of exclamation marks, but you get the point. And his ERA returns below 3 (2.88) where it belongs. If you combine Scott's outing with some excellent defense (especially the middle infield) and a generous supply of offense (11 runs); it's a recipe for a wonderful team win. Is it my imagination or are Bert and Dick becoming big Scott Diamond fans! Lol

July 16, 2012 Twins vs. the Orioles After Scott having a long time between starts which apparently was planned by the Twins staff, Scott did a good job of pitching tonight backed up with great offense and defense. Scott in his 8th win this season, went 6 innings, gave up 9 hits, 5 runs, 3 strikeouts and 1 base on balls. Scott's ERA is 2.96. The outing wasn't his finest as he had an uncharacteristically low strike ratio and was frequently pitching from behind. Fortunately the Twins brought their bats to the game, and Scott was pitchiing with a lead from the second inning. Scott's excellent control seemed to return in the third inning and except for Reynold's 3 run homerun, the pitcher was in control of the game. I found this link to a interview of Scott last evening on Twitter, for those of you who are interested. Video: Scott Diamond Joins Chris Long On Sports Wrap, Pt. 1 http://kstp.com/news/stories/S2691280.shtml via @KSTP

Scott Diamond's 2.62 ERA is the lowest out of all MLB Rookies and 6th best in the AL (Min. 60 IP). Scott is 7 - 3 in 12 starts, of which 10 are quality starts. Scott is a hard worker who is achieving his goals and you base your comment on what?

July 7, 2012 Twins vs. Tigers He deserved better!! Scott took the mound against the Detroit Tigers for an afternoon game today. He threw yet another quality start, allowing 2 runs over 7 innings, and was supported by some excellent Twins defence and lots (14) of hits. It should have been a recipe for his 8th win of the season. But the Tigers threw out 3 base runners at home and the Twins left 16 other runners on base and Scott watched a 3-2 lead evaporate into a no-decision in the 8th inning. The line drive to Scott's right shin in the 6th inning, and the 1 1/2 hour rain delay combined with a late finish to the game the night before (another rain delay) only served to make the game more troubling. Scott's line showed 7 innings, with 2 earned runs, 1 walk, and 4 strikeouts. His ERA nudged down to 2.62. A nice way to enter the All Star Break. Sure hope Ron Washington is noticing, just in case he needs a couple of substitutes!

July 1, 2012 Canada Day north of the border Including a link to one of Canada's National newspapers on a article about Scott Diamnd apparently written 2 weeks ago, that gives lots of insight into Scotty's route to the majors. http://sports.nationalpost.com/2012/06/16/guelphs-scott-diamond-coming-out-of-his-shell-with-twins/

Saturday, June 30, 2012 Twins vs. Royals Scott had a another quality start, during the first game of the double header, today against the Royals! It has to bring a big smile to a Twins fan's face to watch a game where the pitcher is so confident and can go about his business and get the job done! Scotty pitched 8 innings, allowing 6 hits, 2 earned runs, 2 base on balls, and struck out 4. Scott threw 101 pitches - 65 for strikes. Scott's ERA slightly dropped to 2.63 for his 11 starts since being called up on May 8th from Rochester. Along with great pitching the Twins showed great offense and defense and Scotts record is now 7 wins and 3 losses. This win ended a drought while playing doubleheaders for the Twins who were 0 - 8 in their past 4 double headers and had not won a game of a doubleheader since May 8, 2010 against Baltimore at Target Field.

For those intersted here is the link to Cody Christie's articile recapping the Season Ticket Fan Forum featuring Scott Diamond and Trevor Plouffe. http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?730-Diamond-and-Plouffe-talk-to-Season-Ticket-Holders

Sunday, June 24, 2012 Twins vs. Reds Now that was fun! Perhaps 'extra' ordinary is a better word. Scott pitched a very strong 8 inning, and the Twins brought great defence and just enough timely offence to assure him a 6th win. Thanks Josh W. Scott pitched consistently ahead with 79% of his 82 pitches finding the strike zone. He saw a number of major league firsts today including: first 8 inning outing first 7 strikeout game first time plunking 2 batters in a rowScott's line showed 8 innings, 3 earned runs, 7 strike out, 1 walk and 1 home run. And that home run by Joey Votto was (in my opinion) quite a good pitch. Perhaps Votto was highly motivated after being 'schooled' twice earlier in the game. Scott's ERA now stands at 2.67. Sadly his batting average has dipped to .143 and hopes of leading the Twins in hitting are fading.