Seth Stohs

No question! And nice work in the 7th by Jared Burton!

Clete on offense... Clete on Defense... Liam's made one bad pitch. Great play at the plate. Michael Young can hit any pitch. What a game, and there's still 3 innings to go!!

Hendriks threw his first 'spinner' of the game and Mike Napoli took advantage. Other than that pitch, Hendriks has looked terrific through 5. Neftali Feliz is tough. Makes throwing 95 look effortless. Slider at 89. Very good changeup. I'm impressed. Morneau has crushed the ball twice off of him. Unfortunately one was foul, and the other was a perfectly place double play ball.

Great first inning for Hendriks. Even the single to Hamilton was a terrific 2-0 pitch at the knees and sinking.

Gardenhire's show is on Sunday morning's at 9:30. Not all fans/listeners understand the distinctions between manager and general manager... or they feel like the GM will take their comments and relay them to the manager who will immediately impliment their suggestions.

Brian Dozier named the player of the week for the first week. Carlos Gutierrez, shoulder issues, could be out a while. Injuries in Rochester - Tosoni has four stitches. Dinkelman has a wrist issue (just put on the DL today). Ray Chang is able to play now. Eddie Rosario - wants to play 2B, likes it, works hard... will make errors. His bat will be a plus for him. Hicks is off to a great start. 3 out of 4 clubs are over .500 (Beloit is 4-5).

When the show came back, Ryan was talking about the upcoming draft. He said they had a 2 1/2 day meeting with all scouts to make sure they had all names, weren't missing anyone. He said that this draft could very well shape the future of the organization, with 6 picks in the top 100. Mike Radcliff will be on it 100% at this point, and Terry Ryan himself will be focusing on it as well. Mauer and Morneau are healthy and that's all he's worried about. If they're healthy, they'll be fine. Chris Parmelee will be fine as long as he doesn't let the game get too fast for him.

Sunday afternoon lineup: Rangers Lineup: Ian Kinsler 2B Elvis Andrus SS Josh Hamilton CF Adrian Beltre 3B Michael Young DH Nelson Cruz RF David Murphy LF Mike Napoli 1B Yorvit Torrealba C SP: Neftali Feliz Twins Lineup: Denard Span CF Jamey Carroll SS Joe Mauer C Justin Morneau DH Josh Willingham LF Chris Parmelee 1B Danny Valencia 3B Clete Thomas RF Alexi Casilla 2B SP: Liam Hendriks

It's totally must-listen though. Very entertaining. Ryan is very honest. Fun to hear... and interpret for yourself.

Continued (feel free to discuss): Question: Will Blackburn have a 2nd MRI? Answer: No. Don't know why we'd do a 2nd one. Sometimes they miss things, but we're fairly confident. Trevor Plouffe - Still OF first, infield second. He missed about 10 days in spring training, which hurt. They just like the way he swings the bat. RF more than other places. Could put him at any of the 4 IF spots. If Carroll needs a day off, Gardy woudln't be afraid to go to Casilla, Plouffe or even Hughes for a day. Ryan Doumit - done fine behind plate. Can throw. Has power. Appreciate that he's a gamer, they've moved him all over, changing leagues isn't easy, but eventually he'll be a good player for us. Question: Update on Kyle Gibson. Answer: Get a daily report. Have him slated to pitch competitively in August. Everything points to being on schedule. (just lost the feed on 1500espn.com! UGGH!)

More: Blackburn had a spasm in the shoulder. Right thing to take him out. MRI showed no damage. He's more sore today. May back him up. Hope we don't have to DL him. Marquis will be activated and start on Wednesday. Hendriks is on the staff based on spring and what he did last year. He made the team due to spring. FB, CB, SL, CU, throws all for strikes. He adds and subtracts with each. Strike Pounder. Darvish - saw him in Japan, but he's got all kinds of stuff... he's inventing things out there. Great body, velocity, cutter is his best pitch. Wiggled out of some jams. Denard Span defensively can cover ground and can throw. He's got some sock in his bat. He can drive the ball. Can steal bases. Can do everything you look for in a leadoff hitter and centerfielder. Question - With Willingham's power, why not hit him cleanup? Answer - Always gone with Mauer and Morneau... Manager decides. Chose to go as current, but it's working well for Willingham now. Clete Thomas - drafted in HS, went to Auburn, then the Tigers. Seen him a lot. Can do everything (throw, run, pop in bat, play all 3 OF spots, steal a base), Ideal 4th OF Ben Revere - needs to play. CF, catalyst, wasn't playing enough. Options didn't factor in. He needs to play. Needs to learn how to bunt. OBP is another thing he needs to improve upon. Numbers last year OK, but not where they need to be. Revere probably play CF mostly, with Benson in the corner. Ideally, Revere hit 1, Dozier hit 2... Push Nishioka down to 8-9. (Nishioka playing better defense.) Question: Concerned about Baker and Blackburn. Depth of SP? Answer: don't have to go to rochester, get Marquis. We do have depth issues. Already have two young guys up with Hendriks/Swarzak. Could stretch out Maloney and Duensing if necessary. Swarzak - Not afraid of anything. Swarzak has enough stuff, enough fastball, can spin it, and can slow it down. Frame and mechanics to be a starter. Has the guts, strength and competitiveness to pitch in the 7th or 8th. First Commercial.

Inside Pitch is beginning and I will make some notes from the show. (listen on your Twins Radio Network station or at www.1500espn.com). Faced some pretty good competition, but not excuses. We had a chance to put up some runs and we didn't do it.Defense - We have had a chance to turn a lot of DPs and haven't got it done. Some have been routine. Extends innings.Played decent defense in the OF. Obviously Span needs to cover ground.Valencia makes good plays going forward, struggles side to side, but he's improved of late.Might take offensive struggles to the defensive side, needs concentration and to be ready. No quesiton that he's capable of being good defensively.

I wouldn't DFA Burton or Maloney yet... there are other options as well. Thompson doesn't do much for me, but Bowden, in my mind, is a must-acquire.

The other day, there was a forum thread where many believed that the Twins should make a claim on reliever Rich Thompson who was DFAd by the Angels last week. Yesterday, the Twins claimed Clete Thomas to be a backup outfielder. This morning, the Boston Red Sox DFAd reliever Michael Bowden. I have liked Bowden since the Red Sox used a supplemental 1st round pick in 2005. He's had a lot of minor league success as a starter, but in the big leagues, he has been pushed to the bullpen. He has been up with the Red Sox for parts of each season since 2008, so he must be out of options. With this, in all reality, being a rebuilding year for the Twins, I think it would be disappointing if the Twins didn't get a 25-year-old pitcher who still has potential but never got a chance with the Red Sox. Any thoughts?

corrected... thanks!

You can view the page at http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?434-Saturday-in-the-(Minor-League)-Park(s)-4-14-12

The Twins lost for the second straight game to the Texas Rangers on Saturday. The story of the game was all of the runners stranded on bases, but it was a day full of stories for the Twins. The Yu Darvish Show made its first appearance at Target Field, and the right-hander from Japan didn’t disappoint. He showed all seven of his pitches and did a nice job of working out of some tough situations. Just before the game started, it came out that the Twins had claimed Clete Thomas, an outfielder who was DFAd by the Tigers. They made the easy 40 man roster choice by putting Scott Baker on the 60 Day Disabled List. However, following the game, they made the not-quite-so easy decision to option Ben Revere to Rochester. It actually wasn’t a difficult decision. It will allow Revere to play five or six games each week instead of two or three. Thomas is a backup and it’s no problem having him sit on the bench. Nick Blackburn actually pitched quite well, but he left early after experiencing some discomfort in his right shoulder. An MRI was conducted on Saturday afternoon, and according to 1500espn.com, it showed no serious shoulder damage. Liam Hendriks will take the mound for the Twins on Sunday to try to keep the talented Rangers from sweeping the Twins on their own field. There was a lot going on in the minor leagues as well. A hitting streak continues. A slump was broken. Each of the four games was decided in the 8th inning or later. One affiliate lost in extra innings, and there was a two out, Miracle walk-off win. For much more on the Twins affiliates and players, keep reading… it gets good! Like, Hunger Games good!! ROCHESTER 2, LEHIGH VALLEY 5 This was a close game until late when Esmerling Vasquez served up a three-run, bases-clearing triple to Dominic Brown that gave the IronPigs a 5-2 lead. Sam Deduno started and gave up two runs on six hits. In six innings, he walked two and struck out five. Brian Dozier went 2-5 and extended his hitting streak to nine games. Joe Benson and Drew Butera were each 2-4. Aaron Bates went 1-3 with a walk and an RBI. The Red Wings are now 5-5 on the season, despite losing three consecutive games now. ROSTER NOTES – With Rene Tosoni on the DL, Darin Mastroianni was promoted from New Britain in time for Saturday’s game. However, with the Twins’ claim of OF Clete Thomas on Saturday, Ben Revere was optioned to Rochester following the Twins game. It is possible that Mastroianni could be sent back to New Britain right away, but it is also possible that Brian Dinkelman and/or Ray Chang could be put on the Disabled List. NEW BRITAIN 7, NEW HAMPSHIRE 6 The Rock Cats got some early offense, terrific pitching most of the game and then held on to hold off a later furious attempt by New Hampshire to tie the game. Chris Colabello went 3-5 with his second and third doubles. Aaron Hicks went 2-4 with a walk, his fourth double and second stolen base. Deibinson Romero was 2-5 with his fifth double and three RBI. Logan Darnell improved to 2-0 with five strong innings. He gave up no runs on just three hits and two walks. Bobby Lanigan gave up one run on three hits in two innings. He struckout two. Blake Martin struckout two in his scoreless inning. David Bromberg came in for the ninth and recorded one out. However, he gave up three hits, walked on and hit another batter. Daniel Turpen came in and gave up a hit, but was able to get the final two outs and preserve the one-run win for the Rock Cats. The win gives the Rock Cats a 7-3 record. FT. MYERS MIRACLE 8 BRADENTON 7 Danny Santana actually got a day off. Or, he was supposed to. Suddenly, with two outs in the bottom of the 9th inning, game tied and a runner on third base, Jake Mauer looked at Santana and called on him to pinch hit. Santana came through with a game-winning single to score Lance Ray, who had doubled to lead off the 9th inning. Four Miracle hitters carried the team to the first seven runs of the day. Angel Morales went 4-5 with his first double, first homer and three RBI. Dan Rohlfing was 2-3 with two walks and his first homer. Morales and Rohlfing each homered against last year’s #1 overall pick Gerrit Cole. Levi Michael was 2-4 with a walk. Josmil Pinto was 2-5 with his third double and first home run. Adrian Salcedo got the start and gave up three runs (2 earned) on seven hits. In five innings, he walked two and struckout three. Jose Gonzalez walked one in two otherwise perfect innings. Bruce Pugh pitched a scoreless eighth inning, but Pinto’s home run in the 8th gave the Miracle a 7-3 lead. Pugh came out and gave up four hits in the ninth. With two outs, Tony Davis entered the game clinging to a one-run lead. He got a ground ball, but Michael committed an error allowing the game to be tied. Davis got the final out. Santana came through in the 9th inning for the Miracle and pushed their record back over .500 at 5-4. BELOIT 3, CLINTON 4 (11 innings) Down 3-1 in the 8th inning, Eddie Rosario doubled in two Snappers runners to tie the game and send it to extra innings, but the team fell in 11 innings and fall to 4-5 on the season. Rosario was 2-5 in the game. His single earlier in the game ended a 0-15 stretch that saw his batting average fall from .429 to .200. Jhonathan Goncalves was 2-5 with his second double. Miguel Sano was also 2-5 and drove in the Snappers other run. Jason Wheeler started and gave up three runs (2 earned) on five hits and a walk in five innings. He struckout three. Nelvin Fuentes came in and struckout four in two perfect innings. Ryan O’Rourke struckout two over the next two scoreless innings. Clinton Dempster threw a scoreless 10th frame, but gave up the game-winning run in the 11th. --- Players of the Day for Saturday, April 14, 2012 Hitter of the Day – Angel Morales [ATTACH=CONFIG]631[/ATTACH] Pitcher of the Day – Logan Darnell [ATTACH=CONFIG]632[/ATTACH] --- A Look Ahead – Sunday, April 15, 2012 Schedule Rochester @ Lehigh Valley – RHP PJ Walters New Britain @ New Hampshire – LHP Luke French Ft. Myers vs. Bradenton – RHP Marty Popham Beloit @ Clinton – RHP Matt Summers --- If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, players, teams, etc., leave them in the Comments and I’ll try to answer them!

as most of us expected and speculated, Ben Revere has been sent to triple a. he needs to play every day, wheras Clete Thomas is fine playing once or twice a week.

If the Twins demote Revere (which may not be a given), he might as well get sent back to AA since Revere will play ahead of him and Dinkelman will only be out a couple of days.

Twins drafted him yaers ago... they sure like bringing back guys they've drafted previously!

DeVries put up numbers pretty similar to Terry Doyle in the AFL last fall. He would certainly be behind Diamond and Walters at this point, but probably third. SP Order: 1-4 (Pavano, Liriano, Blackburn, Marquis), 5-6 (Hendriks, Swarzak), 7 - Diamond, 8 - Walters, 9 - DeVries?

He's played exclusively in the OF since the season started. Not sure why they had him playing so much infield after he was sent down.

Probably short-term. Not certain how long Wilkin Ramirez is out. Tosoni could be back in a week. Dinkelman said this morning that his hand is still sore, but he hopes to be in the lineup in the next day or two.