Thrylos

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- Not necessarily in any order. Just notes I was making while watching the game: Luke Hughes was the emergency backup Catcher? Say what? I thought that it would had been Josh Willingham who actually caught before. And (I did double check) Luke has played in every position of the field in pro ball(including P) but C. Mauer and GIDP are not a good combination. So are Pavano and his 86 mph "fast"ball, esp when it ends up at the seats. The early innings reminded me a bit of last season when the Twins were making heroes out of no-name opposing pitchers. Arrieta's curveball is pretty nasty though. Helps opposing pitchers having perfect games through the first time in the order. Nice play by Carroll in the middle of the 3rd. Nice and steady. I don't think that Nishioka makes that play. And then he makes another one Memo to Denard Span: Please please do not get picked off first again. Paying attention helps Good to see Morneau get a hit at the 4th after Mauer hit a rocket to the Centerfielder I think that Pavano's pitching to contact with those soft-tosses will get too old too soon Great diving play by Parmelee on the bottom of the 5th. He is learning Pavano's breaking junk is working better than his (not so) fastball. Got to throw more of that. And nice D play by Valencia. I just hope they come back with a few runs. That sounds like a broken record from last season, I know... Surprise: Pavano does not irritate me any less than he did last season. And that Doumit and Span play was vintage Mike Cuddyer; Carroll is ok with the glove Nice catch and throw out at the plate by Willingham. Revere does not do that (the throwing out part) The Twins look like they are picking up from where they left last season. Not. Too. Good. Burroughs in to PH for Casilla. Lazy fly on the first pitch he saw. Not. Too. Good. Especially with a guy who cannot find the zone. Big mistake to not let Casilla draw a walk there. Even more interesting to see Plouffe instead of Luke Hughes as the Defensive replacement at second. That "close" play at 1st was not even close. Davis was off the bag. Way off the bag. When he caught the ball Jeff Gray reminds me of Dusty Hughes. A lot. Only he is right handed. And Gardy burns yet another pitcher in a meaningless game. And a good one (Duensing.) Good to see that Josh Willingham HR on top of the 9th! Made things interesting. Questionable called strike 3 against Doumit, Parmelee comes through and Plouffe up. Also interesting to see Revere PR for Parmelee. Unfortunately Plouffe hits a double play ball. At little better than it could be. Still disappointing to lose, but let's get the next ones. Tomorrow is another day.

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch ---- Not necessarily in any order. Just notes I was making while watching the game: Luke Hughes was the emergency backup Catcher? Say what? I thought that it would had been Josh Willingham who actually caught before. And (I did double check) Luke has played in every position of the field in pro ball(including P) but C. Mauer and GIDP are not a good combination. So are Pavano and his 86 mph "fast"ball, esp when it ends up at the seats. The early innings reminded me a bit of last season when the Twins were making heroes out of no-name opposing pitchers. Arrieta's curveball is pretty nasty though. Helps opposing pitchers having perfect games through the first time in the order. Nice play by Carroll in the middle of the 3rd. Nice and steady. I don't think that Nishioka makes that play. And then he makes another one Memo to Denard Span: Please please do not get picked off first again. Paying attention helps Good to see Morneau get a hit at the 4th after Mauer hit a rocket to the Centerfielder I think that Pavano's pitching to contact with those soft-tosses will get too old too soon Great diving play by Parmelee on the bottom of the 5th. He is learning Pavano's breaking junk is working better than his (not so) fastball. Got to throw more of that. And nice D play by Valencia. I just hope they come back with a few runs. That sounds like a broken record from last season, I know... Surprise: Pavano does not irritate me any less than he did last season. And that Doumit and Span play was vintage Mike Cuddyer; Carroll is ok with the glove Nice catch and throw out at the plate by Willingham. Revere does not do that (the throwing out part) The Twins look like they are picking up from where they left last season. Not. Too. Good. Burroughs in to PH for Casilla. Lazy fly on the first pitch he saw. Not. Too. Good. Especially with a guy who cannot find the zone. Big mistake to not let Casilla draw a walk there. Even more interesting to see Plouffe instead of Luke Hughes as the Defensive replacement at second. That "close" play at 1st was not even close. Davis was off the bag. Way off the bag. When he caught the ball Jeff Gray reminds me of Dusty Hughes. A lot. Only he is right handed. And Gardy burns yet another pitcher in a meaningless game. And a good one (Duensing.) Good to see that Josh Willingham HR on top of the 9th! Made things interesting. Questionable called strike 3 against Doumit, Parmelee comes through and Plouffe up. Also interesting to see Revere PR for Parmelee. Unfortunately Plouffe hits a double play ball. At little better than it could be. Still disappointing to lose, but let's get the next ones. Tomorrow is another day.

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Happy Opening Day to the Minnesota Twins who are starting the 2012 season by playing at the Baltimore Orioles at 3:05 PM local time. Here are some facts about the Twins' opening days of yore: The Twins lost their last 3 opening days The Twins' overall record, since they moved to Minnesota, on opening day is 25-26, so with a win today, they will be back to .500 The following pitchers made the most opening day starts for the Minnesota Twins: Brad Radke (9), Bert Blyleven (6), and Frank Viola (4) The Franchise original opening day opponent was also the Baltimore Orioles on 4-29-1901 at the American Park in Washington DC The Twins' Franchise overall record on opening day is 62-49 The Twins' Franchise opening day record against the Orioles is 6-1, with the only loss in a 6-7 game in 1957 at Griffith Stadium The only teams the Twins' Franchise has a losing record against on Opening day games are the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox , Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (the only time they played them were of the Devil kind still) Only 5 of the 13 position players (Alexi Casilla, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Denard Span and Danny Valencia) of the Twins' 2011 opening day 25-man roster are on the 2012 roster Only 6 of the 12 pitchers (Nick Blackburn, Matt Capps, Brian Duensing, Fransisco Liriano, Carl Pavano and Glen Perkins) of the Twins' 2011 opening day 25-man roster are on the 2012 roster

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Happy Opening Day to the Minnesota Twins who are starting the 2012 season by playing at the Baltimore Orioles at 3:05 PM local time. Here are some facts about the Twins' opening days of yore: The Twins lost their last 3 opening days The Twins' overall record, since they moved to Minnesota, on opening day is 25-26, so with a win today, they will be back to .500 The following pitchers made the most opening day starts for the Minnesota Twins: Brad Radke (9), Bert Blyleven (6), and Frank Viola (4) The Franchise original opening day opponent was also the Baltimore Orioles on 4-29-1901 at the American Park in Washington DC The Twins' Franchise overall record on opening day is 62-49 The Twins' Franchise opening day record against the Orioles is 6-1, with the only loss in a 6-7 game in 1957 at Griffith Stadium The only teams the Twins' Franchise has a losing record against on Opening day games are the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox , Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (the only time they played them were of the Devil kind still) Only 5 of the 13 position players (Alexi Casilla, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Denard Span and Danny Valencia) of the Twins' 2011 opening day 25-man roster are on the 2012 roster Only 6 of the 12 pitchers (Nick Blackburn, Matt Capps, Brian Duensing, Fransisco Liriano, Carl Pavano and Glen Perkins) of the Twins' 2011 opening day 25-man roster are on the 2012 roster

Same could be told for Pavano or Livan

22-5, 2.13 ERA, 215 IP, 245 K there

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Here is this week's installment: I cannot believe that Spring Training is over tomorrow and that the season begins this Friday. Orioles' Jake Arrieta (of the 5 some ERA and 1.5some WHIP in 2011) was named opening day starter agaist the Twins. Hope that the Twins' bats beat him up pretty nicely. Last November we heard that Plouffe was finally just an outfielder/DH. Unfortunately, Mr Gardenhire decided that "Plouffey" is the backup shortstop as well and he will have a "super utility" role. I think that this is a fairly unfortunate thing to do with one of your worse defenders, but Gardenhire has been doing it for years with Cuddyer... Despite this (which, thankfully, was valid only for the day that was posted), I am happy to see what is probably the strongest openning day bench for the Twins in recent memory. Ron Gardenhire did not crack the top ten in this top MLB managers list. A former Twins' player who has retired a while ago, is still active in his community. Looks like Jason Marquis' seven year old daughter who had a serious bike accident thankfully is doing better and Marquis will return to the Twins shortly. And it looks like Hammond Stadium will be upgraded after all (last paragraph of the linked article.) I hope the Twins give it the Target Field dimensions, because now it is 330-405-330 symmetrical. The answer to the Twins Trivia Contest about who is different that the rest in the Twins' Hall of Fame and Why, was Jim Rantz because he is still in the same position he was Elected in the HOF for. Even though nobody got the why exactly correctly, LeCroy24fan was the first one to get Rantz so he wins a game used bat of former No 1 Twins' draft pick BJ Garbe. Please e-mail me your snail mail address at thetenthinningstretch.at.gmail.com to mail it to you. The new Twins' commercial is a hit The Twins' product of the week, in honor of the new season is a book: 162 - 0: The Greatest Wins in Twins Historyhttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=biowriters&l=as2&o=1&a=1600783260 Would we all love an 162-0 season? The parting shot today is of the most unlikely man to make the Twins' 25-man roster: Sean Burroughs http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7267/6894005960_3e7cc7ed59_o.jpg

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- Here is this week's installment: I cannot believe that Spring Training is over tomorrow and that the season begins this Friday. Orioles' Jake Arrieta (of the 5 some ERA and 1.5some WHIP in 2011) was named opening day starter agaist the Twins. Hope that the Twins' bats beat him up pretty nicely. Last November we heard that Plouffe was finally just an outfielder/DH. Unfortunately, Mr Gardenhire decided that "Plouffey" is the backup shortstop as well and he will have a "super utility" role. I think that this is a fairly unfortunate thing to do with one of your worse defenders, but Gardenhire has been doing it for years with Cuddyer... Despite this (which, thankfully, was valid only for the day that was posted), I am happy to see what is probably the strongest openning day bench for the Twins in recent memory. Ron Gardenhire did not crack the top ten in this top MLB managers list. A former Twins' player who has retired a while ago, is still active in his community. Looks like Jason Marquis' seven year old daughter who had a serious bike accident thankfully is doing better and Marquis will return to the Twins shortly. And it looks like Hammond Stadium will be upgraded after all (last paragraph of the linked article.) I hope the Twins give it the Target Field dimensions, because now it is 330-405-330 symmetrical. The answer to the Twins Trivia Contest about who is different that the rest in the Twins' Hall of Fame and Why, was Jim Rantz because he is still in the same position he was Elected in the HOF for. Even though nobody got the why exactly correctly, LeCroy24fan was the first one to get Rantz so he wins a game used bat of former No 1 Twins' draft pick BJ Garbe. Please e-mail me your snail mail address at thetenthinningstretch.at.gmail.com to mail it to you. The new Twins' commercial is a hit The Twins' product of the week, in honor of the new season is a book: 162 - 0: The Greatest Wins in Twins Historyhttp://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=biowriters&l=as2&o=1&a=1600783260 Would we all love an 162-0 season? The parting shot today is of the most unlikely man to make the Twins' 25-man roster: Sean Burroughs http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7267/6894005960_3e7cc7ed59_o.jpg

If I thought that the Twins did not have a chance to win the division (and a good one) I wouldn't have picked them... I just don't like the Tigers this season. And if they win the Division, everything can happen.

Did not realize that the index finger was not there. That is a funky breaking ball grip... Change has at least 3 fingers on the ball

No satire; just optimist

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- 'Tis the time of the year for the season predictions. I took a (unpublished) cut on these right at the beginning of Spring Training and then I finalized them today. I actually had to make a few changes based on events that happened in Spring Training and even teams' performances in Spring Training. Here are my predictions for the 2012 Major League Baseball season, including standing for each division, who will win the wild card and who will win the League Pennants and the World Series. Optimism abounds, since everyone (other than the Athletics and the Mariners) are starting with a clean slate: AL Central: Twins Tigers Royals Indians White Sox AL East: Red Sox Yankees Blue Jays Rays Orioles AL West: Rangers Angels Mariners Athletics AL Wild Cards: Yankees, Angels NL East: Nationals Phillies Marlins Braves Mets NL Central: Reds Pirates Brewers Cardinals Cubs Astros NL West: Giants Dodgers Diamondbacks Padres Rockies NL Wild Cards: Phillies, Pirates ALCS: Twins over Red Sox NLCS: Nationals over Philies WS: Twins over Nationals in 6. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/2004_WorldSeries_Trophy.jpg

Originally published at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- 'Tis the time of the year for the season predictions. I took a (unpublished) cut on these right at the beginning of Spring Training and then I finalized them today. I actually had to make a few changes based on events that happened in Spring Training and even teams' performances in Spring Training. Here are my predictions for the 2012 Major League Baseball season, including standing for each division, who will win the wild card and who will win the League Pennants and the World Series. Optimism abounds, since everyone (other than the Athletics and the Mariners) are starting with a clean slate: AL Central: Twins Tigers Royals Indians White Sox AL East: Red Sox Yankees Blue Jays Rays Orioles AL West: Rangers Angels Mariners Athletics AL Wild Cards: Yankees, Angels NL East: Nationals Phillies Marlins Braves Mets NL Central: Reds Pirates Brewers Cardinals Cubs Astros NL West: Giants Dodgers Diamondbacks Padres Rockies NL Wild Cards: Phillies, Pirates ALCS: Twins over Red Sox NLCS: Nationals over Philies WS: Twins over Nationals in 6. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/2004_WorldSeries_Trophy.jpg

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- FORT MYERS FL. A bit before the seventh inning stretch of today's game with the Boston Red Sox, Twins' manager Rod Gardenhire went to the visitor's clubhouse at the Jet Blue Park and decided to have an impromptu press conference. He announced that, since last Saturday when Drew Butera was optioned to Rochester, Gardenhire has been having severe symptoms of separation anxiety including indigestion, night terrors, flu-like symptoms and other unmentionable things. To that effect, he said, he had to "do right by Drewy". He indicated that he has to "get that cannon arm of his on the field" and he thinks that this Spring Training Drew has shown signs of major improvement at the plate. "He will hit better than Nicky ever did for us this season, write it down", Gardenhire said. He also said, that Drew Butera will now be his starting Right Fielder and will slide in occasionally at Left Field and Center Field. "He is fearless out there, I always liked him and he has deceiving speed". Gardenhire admitted that sending Butera down (or rather pretending to do so) was a ploy to expose the haters and the closed-minded and "them bloggers and commies". Here is an exclusive spy shot of Drew Butera at the Hammond Stadium outfield on a AAA game this afternoon: http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6042/7036101445_c635065d25_o.jpg

Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch --- FORT MYERS FL. A bit before the seventh inning stretch of today's game with the Boston Red Sox, Twins' manager Rod Gardenhire went to the visitor's clubhouse at the Jet Blue Park and decided to have an impromptu press conference. He announced that, since last Saturday when Drew Butera was optioned to Rochester, Gardenhire has been having severe symptoms of separation anxiety including indigestion, night terrors, flu-like symptoms and other unmentionable things. To that effect, he said, he had to "do right by Drewy". He indicated that he has to "get that cannon arm of his on the field" and he thinks that this Spring Training Drew has shown signs of major improvement at the plate. "He will hit better than Nicky ever did for us this season, write it down", Gardenhire said. He also said, that Drew Butera will now be his starting Right Fielder and will slide in occasionally at Left Field and Center Field. "He is fearless out there, I always liked him and he has deceiving speed". Gardenhire admitted that sending Butera down (or rather pretending to do so) was a ploy to expose the haters and the closed-minded and "them bloggers and commies". Here is an exclusive spy shot of Drew Butera at the Hammond Stadium outfield on a AAA game this afternoon: http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6042/7036101445_c635065d25_o.jpg

Dan Gladden

This post was originally posted in its entirety at The Tenth Inning Stretch. Because of the image limitations I can only post some of it. To see the whole post with 21 action photos of Twins' players from today's game against the Red Sox, please go here ----- Tonight is my last night at Fort Myers. It has been a super blast to be able to spend 8-10 hrs a day at the Twins' Spring Training Complex on a daily basis. This will be the last of my Daily Reports from Fort Myers and it is a bit super-sized: 21 photos in all. Like every morning, I started the day at the minor league Fields. Today was one of the rare days that all 4 fields were occupied and Twins' minor leaguers were either doing drills (Fields 1 and 4) or taking Batting Practice (Fields 2 and 3). Happy to finally snap an action photo of this previously elusive Twins' prospect: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7086/7030763905_344937f012_b.jpg Pretty tight two-seamer grip. And the Celebrity of the Day (he was watching AAA BP at Field 2 and chatting -maybe commiserating- with Joe Benson about haircuts and the Twins' policy) : http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7279/7030763917_d0a747618e_b.jpg Back at Hammonds Stadium for the Twins' game. Here are the lineups (names correctly spelled) : http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7087/6884665344_00f5f258d4_b.jpg I took this one just for Parker. "Thome is my Homey" sighting at Hammond Stadium: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7052/7030763957_ea48124923_b.jpg Lots of familiar faces with the Red Sox: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7187/6884665386_0d72e4b4f1_b.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7095/6884665406_178d94bee1_b.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7224/6884665416_a22a275bf0_b.jpg ----- The remaining post, including 21 action photos of Twins' players from today's game against the Red Sox, because of image limitations here, continues at The Tenth Inning Stretch.

This post was originally posted in its entirety at The Tenth Inning Stretch. Because of the image limitations I can only post some of it. To see the whole post with 21 action photos of Twins' players from today's game against the Red Sox, please go here ----- Tonight is my last night at Fort Myers. It has been a super blast to be able to spend 8-10 hrs a day at the Twins' Spring Training Complex on a daily basis. This will be the last of my Daily Reports from Fort Myers and it is a bit super-sized: 21 photos in all. Like every morning, I started the day at the minor league Fields. Today was one of the rare days that all 4 fields were occupied and Twins' minor leaguers were either doing drills (Fields 1 and 4) or taking Batting Practice (Fields 2 and 3). Happy to finally snap an action photo of this previously elusive Twins' prospect: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7086/7030763905_344937f012_b.jpg Pretty tight two-seamer grip. And the Celebrity of the Day (he was watching AAA BP at Field 2 and chatting -maybe commiserating- with Joe Benson about haircuts and the Twins' policy) : http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7279/7030763917_d0a747618e_b.jpg Back at Hammonds Stadium for the Twins' game. Here are the lineups (names correctly spelled) : http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7087/6884665344_00f5f258d4_b.jpg I took this one just for Parker. "Thome is my Homey" sighting at Hammond Stadium: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7052/7030763957_ea48124923_b.jpg Lots of familiar faces with the Red Sox: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7187/6884665386_0d72e4b4f1_b.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7095/6884665406_178d94bee1_b.jpg http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7224/6884665416_a22a275bf0_b.jpg ----- The remaining post, including 21 action photos of Twins' players from today's game against the Red Sox, because of image limitations here, continues at The Tenth Inning Stretch.

Yeah that's Phil Dumatrait

Re: Gibson: I think they will (and should) take it really easy. Will probably stick around for EST and rehab work. If arm gets stronger might pitch a couple of games. GCL is probably most likely than FSL and if doing really really well maybe a couple of Miracle games. I do not see him moving North (or out of Fort Myers; and it makes no sense really) this season

This post was originally posted in its entirety at The Tenth Inning Stretch. Because of the image limitations I can only post some of it. To see the whole post with 16 action photos of Twins' players from today's minor league games including top Twins' prospects, please go here --- Double Bill today at Fort Myers: The Twins' AAA club played the Red Sox' equivalent at Field 2 and the Twins' AA club played the Red Sox' equivalent at Field 3. At the same time while the Twins were playing the Pirates at McKechnie Field. Fields 2 and 3 are back to back so it was easy staying in-between, peeking at the action on both fields and concentrating to the one that made the most sense depending on the action. Earlier around 10 AM there were Pitcher Fielding drills on Field 1, with pitchers of all levels of the organization from Extended Spring Training to New Britain, mostly Rookie and A, conducted by Tom Kelly, Paul Molitor and Jake Mauer. Pretty good company for one of the Twins' top prospects, don't you think? http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/7028032665_2743e1db90_o.jpg Seeing this guy participate in Pitching drills with the rest of the AAA pitchers (even though he was just tossing the ball softly) was a sight for sore eyes: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7118/7028032639_301b773fe7_b.jpg (this is Kyle Gibson, for the ones who do not know him) Back to the games. Here is the AAA lineup: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7214/6881930936_028c30eebe_o.jpg And here is AA: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7074/6881931246_94114b4ac7_b.jpg (and, YES, even the Twins' staff cannot spell Mastroianni's and Herrmann's names correctly) The pitching roster for Rochester was Luke French, Brad Thompson and Jeff Manship and for New Britain it was Alex Wimmers, Deolis Guerra and Lester Oliveros. The pitching roster and the fact that Aaron Hicks was playing (right field) for New Britain, made my choice of main game easy. A bonus was that a Tampa Bay scout was there scouting the two Twins' relievers, which makes me think that something might be going on... There were some interesting spectators, involving a big name Twins' writer (not sure if he is going to write anything about this, though) : http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7060/6881930842_2aaba33f03_o.jpg And a certain pitcher who pitched most of last season with the Twins: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7236/7028032549_c2037ba849_o.jpg BTW, since he was cut I have not seen him in a single workout since I have been at Fort Myers last Sunday, so either there is something with him or he will be packing his bags soon... Back to the AA game. Alex Wimmers pitched 4 strong innings. Good sinker with good movement sitting from 88-90 and touching 91 occasionally. His braking ball is decent and so is his change but they both need command work. The one thing that is amazing about Wimmers, if you have not seen him before, is how little he looks: ---- The remaining post, including 16 action photos of Twins' players from today's Twins' minor league action, because of image limitations here, continues at The Tenth Inning Stretch.

This post was originally posted in its entirety at The Tenth Inning Stretch. Because of the image limitations I can only post some of it. To see the whole post with 16 action photos of Twins' players from today's minor league games including top Twins' prospects, please go here --- Double Bill today at Fort Myers: The Twins' AAA club played the Red Sox' equivalent at Field 2 and the Twins' AA club played the Red Sox' equivalent at Field 3. At the same time while the Twins were playing the Pirates at McKechnie Field. Fields 2 and 3 are back to back so it was easy staying in-between, peeking at the action on both fields and concentrating to the one that made the most sense depending on the action. Earlier around 10 AM there were Pitcher Fielding drills on Field 1, with pitchers of all levels of the organization from Extended Spring Training to New Britain, mostly Rookie and A, conducted by Tom Kelly, Paul Molitor and Jake Mauer. Pretty good company for one of the Twins' top prospects, don't you think? http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7059/7028032665_2743e1db90_o.jpg Seeing this guy participate in Pitching drills with the rest of the AAA pitchers (even though he was just tossing the ball softly) was a sight for sore eyes: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7118/7028032639_301b773fe7_b.jpg (this is Kyle Gibson, for the ones who do not know him) Back to the games. Here is the AAA lineup: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7214/6881930936_028c30eebe_o.jpg And here is AA: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7074/6881931246_94114b4ac7_b.jpg (and, YES, even the Twins' staff cannot spell Mastroianni's and Herrmann's names correctly) The pitching roster for Rochester was Luke French, Brad Thompson and Jeff Manship and for New Britain it was Alex Wimmers, Deolis Guerra and Lester Oliveros. The pitching roster and the fact that Aaron Hicks was playing (right field) for New Britain, made my choice of main game easy. A bonus was that a Tampa Bay scout was there scouting the two Twins' relievers, which makes me think that something might be going on... There were some interesting spectators, involving a big name Twins' writer (not sure if he is going to write anything about this, though) : http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7060/6881930842_2aaba33f03_o.jpg And a certain pitcher who pitched most of last season with the Twins: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7236/7028032549_c2037ba849_o.jpg BTW, since he was cut I have not seen him in a single workout since I have been at Fort Myers last Sunday, so either there is something with him or he will be packing his bags soon... Back to the AA game. Alex Wimmers pitched 4 strong innings. Good sinker with good movement sitting from 88-90 and touching 91 occasionally. His braking ball is decent and so is his change but they both need command work. The one thing that is amazing about Wimmers, if you have not seen him before, is how little he looks: ---- The remaining post, including 16 action photos of Twins' players from today's Twins' minor league action, because of image limitations here, continues at The Tenth Inning Stretch.

Pedro, not Manuel Florimon and he hasn't played a single inning of 3B. Burroughs or Hollimon will be the starting 3B at Rochester (whomever does not make the big team). Also I think that Butera will be in Rochester. Towles has an outside shot to make the Twins, but not Butera, over Hollimon or Burroughs if Gardy wants to go with 3 Catchers. I think Butera is done

This post was originally posted in its entirety at The Tenth Inning Stretch. Because of the image limitations I can only post some of it. To see the whole post with a dozen Action Photos of Twins' players from today's game against the Phillies, please go here ------ This afternoon was the Twins' game with the Phillies at Fort Myers. The Minor League games also started early today, so the side fields were pretty quiet. As usually before Twins' games at Fort Myers, a select group of players were taking batting practice at Field #5, while the non-playing Pitchers were at the OF to catch the balls. The players there were the backup infielder types and back up catchers: Doumit, Towles, Hollimon, Dozier, Burroughs (who was fine to take BP with a soft splint on his left wrist.) Interesting point number one: Drew Butera was absent from that group. Interesting point number two: Batting practice was under the eyes of these two gentlemen who actually had an animated discussion about some of the participants, but it would be rude to listen to a private conversation now, wouldn't it? http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6040/6879271354_1fd26c839f_o.jpg Back to the game. Liriano was starting (which was a treat) but there were a couple of interesting position choices: Ben Revere was the starting Right Fielder and Luke Hughes was the starting first baseman. Hughes later moved to Left Field, when Willingham was lifted for Hollimon who stayed at the game playing 1B. Revere later move to Center Field, when Brian Dinkelman came in. You can read the box score and pretty much tell what happened in the game. Very encouraged by Liriano who was hitting 91-94 mph with his Fastball and was locating it properly. Also he induced a lot of ground outs, most with his slider and some with his FB, which is encouraging to see. As far as his mechanics go, he did stay tall (this delivery is on a slider) the whole outing http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7189/6879271410_c0b26e47da_o.jpg Mauer and Morneau made solid contact. Especially encouraging was to see a couple of hard and far hit balls by Morneau, including a Home Run. Here is his home run swing: http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6236/6879271444_9a71d997fb_o.jpg The people with "access" might have more information and they might have talked about it by now, but it appears that Willingham got something going on with his left forearm: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7191/6879271566_f6806eb544_b.jpg Alexi Casilla laid a perfect bunt and he is one of the best bunters in the majors, but his bunting form is somewhat unorthodox: http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6047/7025372697_d464df4276_b.jpg Speaking about Frankie staying tall, this was later in the game after he got into trouble. Truly, most of the Frankie's trouble was defensive issues. Valencia could have been easily given an error on that ball that passed through 3rd base and Span should have caught that soft pop in shallow center at the 3rd inning. So Frankie did not stay tall at least in that one pitch (and that was a Fastball) : The remaining post, including photos (12 total) of Twins' players from today's game against the Phillies because of image limitations here continues at The Tenth Inning Stretch.

This post was originally posted in its entirety at The Tenth Inning Stretch. Because of the image limitations I can only post some of it. To see the whole post with a dozen Action Photos of Twins' players from today's game against the Phillies, please go here ------ This afternoon was the Twins' game with the Phillies at Fort Myers. The Minor League games also started early today, so the side fields were pretty quiet. As usually before Twins' games at Fort Myers, a select group of players were taking batting practice at Field #5, while the non-playing Pitchers were at the OF to catch the balls. The players there were the backup infielder types and back up catchers: Doumit, Towles, Hollimon, Dozier, Burroughs (who was fine to take BP with a soft splint on his left wrist.) Interesting point number one: Drew Butera was absent from that group. Interesting point number two: Batting practice was under the eyes of these two gentlemen who actually had an animated discussion about some of the participants, but it would be rude to listen to a private conversation now, wouldn't it? http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6040/6879271354_1fd26c839f_o.jpg Back to the game. Liriano was starting (which was a treat) but there were a couple of interesting position choices: Ben Revere was the starting Right Fielder and Luke Hughes was the starting first baseman. Hughes later moved to Left Field, when Willingham was lifted for Hollimon who stayed at the game playing 1B. Revere later move to Center Field, when Brian Dinkelman came in. You can read the box score and pretty much tell what happened in the game. Very encouraged by Liriano who was hitting 91-94 mph with his Fastball and was locating it properly. Also he induced a lot of ground outs, most with his slider and some with his FB, which is encouraging to see. As far as his mechanics go, he did stay tall (this delivery is on a slider) the whole outing http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7189/6879271410_c0b26e47da_o.jpg Mauer and Morneau made solid contact. Especially encouraging was to see a couple of hard and far hit balls by Morneau, including a Home Run. Here is his home run swing: http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6236/6879271444_9a71d997fb_o.jpg The people with "access" might have more information and they might have talked about it by now, but it appears that Willingham got something going on with his left forearm: http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7191/6879271566_f6806eb544_b.jpg Alexi Casilla laid a perfect bunt and he is one of the best bunters in the majors, but his bunting form is somewhat unorthodox: http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6047/7025372697_d464df4276_b.jpg Speaking about Frankie staying tall, this was later in the game after he got into trouble. Truly, most of the Frankie's trouble was defensive issues. Valencia could have been easily given an error on that ball that passed through 3rd base and Span should have caught that soft pop in shallow center at the 3rd inning. So Frankie did not stay tall at least in that one pitch (and that was a Fastball) : The remaining post, including photos (12 total) of Twins' players from today's game against the Phillies because of image limitations here continues at The Tenth Inning Stretch.