Cody Christie

The Minnesota Twins have struggled to accumulate starting pitching lately. This stems from a variety of factors. Their drafting strategy, their inability to sign international players and their unwillingness to spend big money on the free agent market are all factors that have gone against this club's ability to acquire big name starters. Here is a look, division by division, at the ace for each pitching staff and the players Minnesota selected ahead of each ace in the draft. At the end of each division there is a summary. For some teams it was hard to select a best pitcher since most of the starters were mediocre.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] CAUTION: This exercise is meant to be a fun. There is obviously a lot that goes into finding a starting pitcher for the top of the rotation. In the past, the Twins have had the opportunity to draft some of the top pitchers in the game. AL East Boston Red Sox Ace: Jon Lester (2002 2nd Round, 57th overall) Twins Picks Ahead: Denard Span (20th overall) New York Yankees Ace: CC Sabathia (1998 1st Round, 20th overall) Twins Picks Ahead: Ryan Mills (6th overall) Baltimore Orioles Ace: Jason Hammel (2002 10th Round, 284th overall) Twins Picks Ahead: Denard Span (20th overall), Jesse Crain (61st overall), Mark Sauls (92nd), Alex Merricks (122nd), Clete Thomas (152nd), Pat Neshek (182nd), Rick Barrett (212th), Adam Lind (242nd), Doug Deeds (272nd) Toronto Blue Jays Ace: R.A. Dickey (1996 1st Round, 18th overall) Twins Picks Ahead: Travis Lee (2nd) Tampa Bay Rays Ace: David Price (2007 1st Round, 1st pick) Twins Picks Ahead: none Summary: The Twins even had one of these aces in their system, but Dickey hardly looked like the Cy Young winning player he was in 2012. Skipping over Sabathia for Mills was a tough decision, especially for a club that was trying to rebuild through the early 2000s. A rotation with Sabathia and Santana at the top would have been golden in Minnesota. AL Central Detroit Tigers Ace: Justin Verlander (2004 1st Round, 2nd overall) Twins Picks Ahead: None Kansas City Royals Ace: James Shields (2000 16th Round, 466th overall) Twins Picks Ahead: Adam Johnson (2nd), Aaron Heilman (31st), Tagg Bozied (42nd), J.D Durbin (54th), Colby Miller (72nd), Jason Miller (102nd), Edgardo Lebron (132nd), Ronnie Corona (162nd), James Tomlin (192nd), Henry Bonilla (222nd), Ken Holubec (252nd), Kelley Guledge (282nd), Josh Rabe (312th), Jason Kubel (342nd), Shane Boyd (372nd), Cory Agar (402nd), Jeff Lincoln (432nd), Dan DeCola (462nd) Cleveland Indians Ace: Justin Masterson (2006 2nd Round, 71st overall) Twins Picks Ahead: Chris Parmelee (20th), Joe Benson (64th) Chicago White Sox Ace: Chris Sale (2010 1st Round, 13th overall) Twins Picks Ahead: None Summary: To be fair, a lot of team's missed out on Shields when he wasn't taken until the 16th round. For the Twins, there are a lot of names on that list from 2000 that are pretty embarrassing. The team did score a late round find with Kubel, but there were no pitching prospects from that draft for the Twins. From the 2006 draft, it would be nice to have Masterson in the Twins rotation. The jury is still out on what Parmelee and Benson can offer for the future but it seems like the Twins missed one there. AL West Texas Rangers Ace: Yu Darvish (International Signing) Twins Picks Ahead: N/A Oakland Athletics Ace: Tommy Milone (2008 10th Round, 301st overall) Twins Picks Ahead: Aaron Hicks (14th), Carlos Gutierrez (27th), Shooter Hunt (31st), Tyler Ladendorf (60th), Bobby Lanigan (92nd), Daniel Ortiz (126th), Nicholas Romero (156th), Brett Hermsen (186th), Daniel Osterbrock (216th), Jeff Lanning (246th), Michael Gonzalez (276th) Seattle Mariners Ace: Felix Hernandez (International Signing) Twins Picks Ahead: N/A Los Angeles Angels Ace: Jered Weaver (2004 1st Round, 12th overall) Twins Picks Ahead: None Houston Astros Ace: Lucas Harrell (2004 4th Round, 119th overall) Twins Picks Ahead: Trevor Plouffe (20th), Glen Perkins (22nd), Kyle Waldrop (25th), Matt Fox (35th), Jay Rainville (39th), Anthony Swarzak (61st), Eddie Morlan (91st) Summary: The two best aces in this division were international signings so the Twins didn't have a wasted draft pick instead of selecting those two. Milone and Harrell aren't exactly front of the rotation guys so it might be fine that the Twins passed on them. There are obviously some misses on the Twins draft board from both of those years because neither Rainville nor Morlan have had an impact on their big league clubs. NL East Atlanta Braves Ace: Tim Hudson (1997 6th Round, 185th overall) Twins Picks Ahead: Michael Cuddyer (9th), Matt LeCroy (50th), Michael Restovich (61st), Greg Withelder (93rd), Bob Davies (123rd), Peter Blake (153rd), Nate Melson (183rd) Washington Nationals Ace: Stephen Strasburg (2009 1st Round, 1st overall) Twins Picks Ahead: None Philadelphia Phillies Ace: Cole Hamels (2002 1st Round, 17th overall) Twins Picks Ahead: None New York Mets Ace: Matt Harvey (2010 1st Round, 7th overall) Twins Picks Ahead: None Miami Marlins Ace: Jose Fernandez (2011 1st Round, 14th overall) Twins Picks Ahead: None Summary: Maybe the best division for the Twins as far as not missing out on starters. Many of the aces in this division are high-ranking draft picks from the years when the Twins were near the top of the AL Central. Hudson was a tough miss for the club. Cuddyer turned himself into a solid major league player but many of the other players from that draft have faded into oblivion. It would have been nice to have Hudson around for the club's rebuilding years. NL Central St. Louis Cardinals Ace: Adam Wainwright (2000 1st Round, 29th overall) Twins Picks Ahead: Adam Johnson (2nd overall) Cincinnati Reds Ace: Johnny Cueto (International Signing) Twins Picks Ahead: N/A Pittsburgh Pirates Ace: A.J. Burnett (1995 8th Round, 217th overall) Twins Picks Ahead: Mark Redman (13th), Jason Bell (43rd), A.J. Hinch (72nd), Jay Hood (100th), Doug Mientkiewicz (128th), Shane Gunderson (156th), Mike Moriarty (184th), Will Rushing (212th) Milwaukee Brewers Ace: Yovani Gallardo (2004 2nd Round, 46th overall) Twins Picks Ahead: Trevor Plouffe (20th), Glen Perkins (22nd), Kyle Waldrop (25th), Matt Fox (35th), Jay Rainville (39th) Chicago Cubs Ace: Jeff Samardzija (2006 5th Round, 149th overall) Twins Picks Ahead: Chris Parmelee (20th), Joe Benson (64th), Tyler Robertson (96th), Whitney Robbins (119th), Garret Olson (126th) Summary: The Johnson pick at number two is going to haunt the Twins for decades and it sure would be nice to have Wainwright as the ace of the staff. Gallardo has also turned into a decent pitcher for Milwaukee and it would be nice to throw him into the middle of the Twins rotation. The Twins had five of the first 40 picks in '04 and they didn't get a single starter out of that group. Burnett and Samardzija aren't really front of the rotation guys so it's a little easier to see why the team passed on them. NL West San Francisco Giants Ace: Matt Cain (2002 1st Round, 25th overall) Twins Picks Ahead: Denard Span (20th) Colorado Rockies Ace: Jhoulys Chacin (International Signing) Twins Picks Ahead: N/A Arizona Diamondbacks Ace: Ian Kennedy (2006 1st Round, 21st overall) Twins Picks Ahead: Chris Parmelee (20th) Los Angeles Dodgers Ace: Clayton Kershaw (2006 1st Round, 7th overall) Twins Picks Ahead: None San Diego Padres Ace: Edinson Volquez (International Signing) Twins Picks Ahead: N/A Summary: In 2002, the Twins passed on quite a few top starters to take Span. His name has been featured on this list multiple times. This past offseason the Twins turned Span into a potential front of the rotation pitcher in Alex Meyer so maybe his selection turned out to be the right decision. It's hard to look at Cain, though, and not want to see him in a Twins uniform; he has already helped the Giants to two World Series rings. So which ace did the Twins miss out on the most? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion.

The Minnesota Twins continue their longest road trip of the year so far with games in Cleveland over the weekend. A four game series with the Boston Red Sox is looming at the beginning of next week but for now Minnesota needs to concentrate on beating opponents from the AL Central.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] To the surprise of many experts and fans, the Twins are still sitting around the .500 mark. The team recorded their 12th win on the first day of May. Last year, the Twins didn't record win number 12 until May 17 so it is easy to see that the club is off to a better start. The first month of the minor league season ended and many of the Twins top prospects are doing very well. Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton have posted numbers that have them in the discussion for best hitter in the minors. Kyle Gibson, Alex Meyer, and Trevor May have all shown positive signs on the mound. There were plenty of other stories from the week in baseball. Let's take a look at this week's edition of "Friday Links-N-Thinks." It was a tough choice picking out the Minor League Player of the Month. Who won Byron Buxton or Miguel Sano? Both Buxton and Sano top this list of the best minor league players through April. Their actual ranking in the post is "Conflagrent." Baseball America named the Fort Myers Miracle as April's top team in the minors. The folks at Baseball America also named a couple of Twins players to their All-Prospect Team for April. Mike Pelfrey has been frustrating to watch so maybe it's time to put Pelf on the shelf. What is the matter with Joe Mauer? Or maybe it is nothing at all... Have the Twins already won the Francisco Liriano trade? Compared to the last two seasons, the Twins start this year has to bode well for the club. Is there a pitching resurgence in Minnesota? Glen Perkins sure came through for a Twins fan on Twitter. Maybe I should hit him up for tickets the next time I am in town. So Liam Henriks baseball cards can be worth $380!?! It's a rare card but still... Aaron Hicks hit his first career triple on a 101 mph pitch from Bruce Rondon. It was the fastest pitch hit for extra bases since 2010 and then he did his best Superman impression. It's tough to see a future Hall of Famer go out this way. Delmon Young made his first appearance with the Phillies and proceeded to smack a home run. The bat used (possibly) by Roger Maris to tie Babe Ruth's all-time HR mark is up for auction. Would MLB be better without the playoffs? Former big league pitcher and actor from the movie "Little Big League" passed away this week. Last month was the strikeout-i-est April in baseball history. Some members of the Twins helped to make this a reality. A.J. Pierzynski returned to Chicago for the first time as a member of the Rangers and he was hit by a pitch in his first at-bat. The seven most mammoth home runs of April include one former Twins player. Here are the candidates for longest name of the year in baseball. My Weekly Rundown: Monday: Talk to Contact: Episode 35 Tuesday: How valuable is Eduardo Escobar? Wednesday: The Future of Ron Gardenhire Minor League Report (5/1): Darnell Dominates Thursday: Miracle Blogapalooza: Game Balls Video of the Week: The first episode of the Miracle Insider Show came out at the end of last week. Since the club was named as the best team in the minors for the first month of the year, it seems only fitting for fans to take a behind the scenes look at the club. Miracle shortstop Stephen Wickens and pitcher Ryan O'Rourke are each featured in the episode. If you are a fan of the Twins minor league system, it is a must-watch series to follow.

Joe Mauer sat out his first Twins game of the season on Wednesday. But even with Mauer out of the line-up, the Twins were able to come away with a win and avoid being swept by the Detroit Tigers. Scott Diamond pitched six strong innings, giving up two earned runs and four hits for his second win of the year. Justin Morneau and Chris Parmelee each had a pair of hits and a couple of RBI. There were some other impressive performances down on the farm. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Unfortunately, there were no Trevor May sightings on May Day but let's take a look at Wednesday's results from the Twins farm system. On this week's episode of the Talk to Contact Podcast, we discussed a lot about the minor leagues so make sure to check it out. Rochester Red Wings (Scheduled Off Day) The Red Wings enjoyed a scheduled off day after finishing the month of April with a 10-16 record. The club sits eight games out of first place in the International League North Division. Rochester has turned it around a little in their last ten games by posting a 6-4 record. As part of their off day, the club announced that Rafael Perez was activated from the disabled list. Perez, a former member of the Cleveland Indians, was a minor league free agent this past offseason before deciding to sign with the Twins organization. He missed 26 games as he was recovering from the left shoulder surgery he underwent last September. To make room for Perez on the roster, the Red Wings sent Bobby Lanigan back to Double-A. Lanigan had only made one appearance since being called up last week. He earned the save of Friday while pitching 0.1 innings with a strikeout. Rochester used today as travel day to get to Columbus before opening a four-game series versus the Clippers on Thursday. New Britain Rock Cats 4, Harrisburg Senators 0 Box Score Logan Darnell and Daniel Ortiz stole the show for the Rock Cats on Wednesday evening. Both players were at the center of New Britain's 14th win of the season. Darnell threw seven shutout innings, scattering five singles. He struck out six and allowed only two walks. It was his third win of the season and lowered his ERA to 2.16. It was the most impressive start of the year for Darnell and it looks like his second time through the Eastern League will come with more positive results. Aaron Thompson continued his very good season out of the bullpen. He recorded the last six outs of the game and allowed only one base runner. His 0.97 ERA is the best on New Britain’s pitching staff. In his six appearances this season, he has only allowed one run and one walk. Ortiz was the big man on the offensive side of the ball. He went 3-for-4 with his fourth home run of the season, which ranks second on the team behind Josmil Pinto. In the last three games, Ortiz now has compiled a four hit game and a three hit game. Reynaldo Rodriguez and James Beresford each added two hits. Rodriguez had a triple and two RBI. New Britain will look to notch their third straight series win with a victory on Thursday. The club sits in the middle of the pack in the Eastern League Eastern Division. Only five games separate the first and last place club so there could be a lot of movement in the coming weeks. Fort Myers Miracle --, Clearwater Threshers -- (Cancelled) Inclement weather interfered with the Miracle's game in Clearwater on Wednesday afternoon. The teams don't meet again in the first half of the season so the game will not be made up. The Miracle are currently riding a seven-game winning streak after they won the first three games of the series against Clearwater. Fort Myers currently has a 21-4 record and the club sits five games ahead of their closest competitor in the Florida State League's South Division. The St. Lucie Mets are the team behind the Miracle in the standings and they happen to be the next team on their schedule. The two clubs will open a series in Fort Myers on Thursday night. It is the start of a seven-game homestand at Hammond Stadium. Cedar Rapids Kernels 2, West Michigan Whitecaps 7 Box Score The Kernels jumped out to a two run lead but the Whitecaps pitching staff shut down the offense for the rest of the game. A big bottom of the fifth inning broke open the game and West Michigan walked away with the victory. The loss snapped a nine game winning streak for the Kernels. In the first inning, Byron Buxton walked to start the game. Niko Goodrum followed with a single and an error on the play allowed both runners to advance a base. Back-to-back sacrifice flies by Jorge Polanco and Dalton Hicks put the Kernels up 2-0. Brett Lee started his third game of the year for Cedar Rapids and was saddled with his first loss. Through six innings he kept the game close but in the bottom of the seventh the first batter singled and this was followed by a home run that signaled Lee's exit. Tim Atherton didn't provide much relief as he would go on to allow three more runs in the seventh. He had a throwing error, gave up a home run, and allowed two stolen bases. Josh Burris pitched a hitless inning and gave up a walk. It was the second appearance for Burris since he joined the team earlier this week. The Kernels will look to get back to their winning ways as the team continues their series with West Michigan over the next two days. Today's game was the first in a 12-game road trip for Cedar Rapids. The team won't return home until May 14th so the team will have to find ways to win road games.

At the end of last season, things must have been a little tense around the Ron Gardenhire household. The Twins were coming off back-to-back 90-loss seasons and Gardenhire had only one season left on his current contract. Some change was inevitable. Almost all of the Minnesota Twins manager's coaching staff were reassigned or not hired back. The sporting world can be cruel when a team isn't performing well on the field. Since the Pohlads took over ownership of the club, fans have not seen this kind of shake-up. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] It was an unprecedented move to clear out the coaching staff and Gardenhire and only Rick Anderson were left standing at the end of the firing frenzy. There have only been two managers and three general managers of the club since the late 1980's. No other club can match that consistency at the top of the organization. This separates the Twins from most of the rest of the sporting world. There may have been some reasons to fire Gardenhire over the last two years but he survived and the Twins have surprised so far this year. Gardenhire still has his job but it is hard not to look at him as a lame duck. His contract is up at the end of the 2013 season and it's not as if the Twins were supposed to be making a playoff push. The roster of players assembled looked headed for another dismal season and that likely would have resulted in the termination of Gardenhire's tenure in Minnesota. Things haven't been as bad as expected in Twins Territory this season. So far, the team has hovered around the .500 mark. They find themselves in the middle of the pack in the AL Central. This is a bit of a surprise and fans of the team have to be a bit impressed with some of the performances put together by the club this year. A new era is starting in Minnesota and the Twins might want Gardenhire around for this new rebuild. The minor leagues are stocked with some great talent, reminiscent of when Gardenhire took over as manager back in 2002. Aaron Hicks and Oswaldo Arcia have already broken into the big leagues. Star pitching prospects Kyle Gibson, Alex Meyer, and Trevor May might not be too far behind. Last week, Twins General Manager Terry Ryan told Yahoo! Sports, "I expect Ron to be on this job for a long time. I don't consider it a lame duck at all." It wouldn't have looked right for the club to hand Gardenhire an extension after two of the worst seasons in Twins history. There needs to be some accountability, even with the consistency model the franchise has used over the last couple of decades. Ryan would go on to say, "We're trying to be stable and have continuity, and almost all the people we've had for years are still here. But there does come a point where change is necessary. I hope that's not now." The future can be uncertain and Gardenhire won't manage this team forever. Fans can see things starting to get back on track so maybe there won't be calls for Gardy's head on a platter. Tom Kelly made it through some rough years in the Metrodome and it looks like Gardenhire might follow that same path at Target Field. I mean what would the Twins baseball world be like without Ronald Clyde Gardenhire?

When the Minnesota Twins traded Francisco Liriano to the Chicago White Sox last July, it seemed like the club was getting a bag of balls and some chewing gum in return. There wasn't much to get excited about with names like Pedro Hernadez and Eduardo Escobar. Flash forward a couple of months later and it is starting to look more and more like the Twins got some servicable players.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Escobar has built himself a nice little niche in the Twins clubhouse. Manager Ron Gardenhire uses him as a late inning defensive replacement a couple of times a week and he also makes his way into the starting line-up on occasion. In small doses, he has been very good for the team this year. In fact, it seems like Escobar has been a thorn in the side of Minnesota's opponents. This season he is hitting .438/.455/.625 with a home run, a triple, and a double in 32 at-bats. His six runs scored rank higher than two current regular starters, Chris Parmelee and Pedro Florimon. The switch-hitting middle infielder is finding ways to hit for average and power from both sides of the plate. As a left-handed batter, he is slugging .636 and when he switches to the other side that number stays at .600. His career slugging plus on base percentage is only .639 so it has been a very good start to the year. The Twins seem to be getting the best out of Mr. Escobar. Which brings up the question, how valuable is Eduardo Escobar? According to FanGraphs, Escobar has been the second most valuable Twins player in 2013. Since he is still pre-arbitration eligible, the club is paying him $520,000 this year. His value according to FanGraphs has been $3.1 million and only Joe Mauer has been worth more at $3.8 million. There are also some other interesting numbers from FanGraphs. Escobar has been the second most valuable offensive player with Josh Willingham being ranked ahead of him. Escobar's solid defense makes him more valuable in the field so his WAR ranking is second to Mauer. When looking to the other reputable online baseball database, Baseball Reference, Escobar is also doing well there. Only Mauer and Willingham have higher WAR marks and his offense WAR ranks right behind both of these everyday players. His Win Probabilty Added ranks sixth in the American League. This puts him ahead of perennial MVP candidates like Robinson Cano and Miguel Cabrera. It seems strange to talk about Escobar in the same breath as Mauer, Willingham, Cabrera, and Cano. For the most part, it is comical to think of the scrappy infielder in the same light as these great hitters. Compared to his Twins counterparts, he has less than a third of the number of plate appearances as Mauer and fewer than half of Willingham's A small sample size can do wonders for Escobar and his value to the team. His numbers might look promising at this point in the season but things could come back down to earth in a hurry if he got more playing time. Minnesota seems to have found the best way to get the most value out of Escobar. The team can only hope that his value continues to increase as the season progresses. It turns out that he might have been worth more than a bag of balls and some chewing gum after all...

The Minnesota Twins actually got all their games in so far this week. Texas is in town for the weekend and it sounds like the weather is actually going to start acting like spring. Daily high temperatures will continue to rise and we all hope the Twins can continue to play .500 baseball. The weekend is almost here so make sure to check out some of the top stories from the last week. Enjoy! [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Maybe Ron Gardenhire isn't a lame duck after all. Forbes came out with their list of the most valuable players in baseball. Joe Mauer ranks fourth and the men ahead of him are all on the disabled list. Mauer is in his prime and it might be in the team's best interest to accelerate the rebuild timeline. Twins fans will agree that there is a lot wrong with Mike Pelfrey. With other pitchers' struggles, Kyle Gibson could be closer to making his debut. The history of switch hitters with the Twins is interesting to see. MLB's All-Star Game ballot came out this week. Brian Dozier was left off the ballot in favor of Jamey Carroll. Do you want to hear 20 minutes of a Twins versus White Sox game called by Harry Caray? I thought you might. Minnesota has entered the "Moneyball" era behind a mystery man. The early returns on Kevin Correia look good. Oswaldo Arcia might be good at break dancing. Here's another post about Jack Morris and pitching to the score. The campaign has started if you want to "Vote for Delmon" Ben Revere has a chance to climb this list by the end of the season. Target Field is going to have quite the day of baseball when they show "The Sandlot" on the big screen following a game with the Red Sox. Troy Tulowitzki had a mullet as a child and it was fantastic. This Bazooka Joe book looks pretty cool especially for baseball fans who remember gum in their trading cards. It's not very often that a fan is given an opportunity to approach a player that did something against his favorite team when he was a child. Hawk Harrelson was in a sabermetrics debate with Brian Kenny. As you can imagine, there were some good moments. One of the coolest things of the entire week, all of Yu Darvish's pitches at one time. My Weekly Rundown Monday: Talk to Contact: Episode 34 Tuesday: Two strike counts and Joe Mauer Tuesday's Minor League Tidbits Thursday: Is Kevin Correia's performance just smoke and mirrors? Video of the Week: Oswaldo Arcia had a whirlwind week last week by making his MLB debut, being sent down for one game, and then getting called back up. He has played a much bigger role in recent games by being a steady fixture in the line-up. There have been some struggles along the way but he hit his first home run earlier this week. It was, we hope, the first of many in a Twins uniform.

It wasn't that long ago that Oswaldo Arcia was a member of the Twins' minor leagues. Today, batting in the seventh spot, he made his biggest mark at the big league level by driving in three runs with his first major league home run. His long ball turned out to be the difference in the team winning, by a score of 4-3 over the Marlins, in the first game of their day-night doubleheader. He was moved up to the third spot in the batting order for the second game of the doubleheader so it was an exciting day for the budding star. There were some other exciting moments across the Twins farm system on Tuesday so let's check out what happened down on the farm.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Rochester Red Wings 7, Syracuse Chiefs 8 (13 innings) Box Score Rochester staked themselves to an early lead but the bullpen faltered in the late innings to send this contest to an exciting finish. The Red Wings got three home runs from Clete Thomas, Eric Farris, and Nate Hanson. It was the Triple-A debut for Hanson and he certainly made his mark. He finished 2-for-3 with a home run and two RBI. Farris and Thomas both racked up three hits in the game. Virgil Vasquez started the night on the mound for Rochester but he would be long gone before this one was decided. He tossed 5.1 innings and allowed two earned runs on six hits. It was his second consecutive start throwing five innings and allowing two runs or less. As the game went to extra innings, it looked like the Red Wings were close to winning. The team scored a run on a throwing error in the top of the 11th inning. This run would be answered by the Chiefs in the bottom half of the frame and the game continued on into the night. Rochester tried to mount another rally in the 13th inning. The team loaded the bases with one out. Farris grounded into an ill-timed double play and another scoring opportunity was lost. Michael O'Connor came out for his second inning of relief work in the bottom of the 13th. Syracuse started the inning with three straight bunt attempts. The first one was good for a single, the second caused an fielding error by Ray Olmedo, and the third put two runners in scoring position. The next batter would single to end the game. With the loss, Rochester still has but one victory on the road this year. The Red Wings have three more games in their series with Syracuse before heading home this weekend to face Buffalo. The club will need to figure some way to win on the road. New Britain Rock Cats --, New Hampshire Fisher Cats -- (Postponed) The Rock Cats were trying to end a three game skid on Tuesday evening. Mother Nature had other plans. Their game with the Fisher Cats was pushed to Wednesday night as part of a double-header. Thursday's game is scheduled for 10:35 AM so the teams will play three games in less than 24 hours. Trevor May was scheduled to make his first start in over a week. With cold weather and early season pitch counts, May hasn't made it through more than 5.1 innings in any of his starts. He also hasn't faced Syracuse yet this year so maybe he is in line for a good start. New Britain heads home for a seven-game home stand. The action starts this weekend with a three game set against Richmond. At the beginning of next week, the team has an important four-game series with Harrisburg. Fort Myers Miracle 5, Palm Beach Cardinals 1 Box Score The Palm Beach Cardinals are getting really sick of seeing Miguel Sano trot around the bases. He hit a grand slam against them last week in Fort Myers. Some fireworks flew on Sunday when a Palm Beach pitcher threw at Sano and he responded by cracking the ball over the fence. Tuesday brought another game and another Sano home run. It was a solo shot, Sano's 7th of the year. He was involved in another scoring play in his next at-bat. The Miracle had already scored twice in the inning on singles by Vargas and Morales, a walk to Pettersen, an Eddie Rosario single and a Lance Ray sacrifice fly. Sano would get his second RBI of the game with a single to center field. The club would score four runs in the inning to push their lead to 5-0. Taylor Rogers made his first start of the year after being called up from Cedar Rapids. He performed well by limiting the Cardinals to four hits and no runs. He struck out four batters and walked two. Zach Jones gave up the lone run to the Cards. Nelvin Fuentes and Corey Williams each had a perfect inning of relief. Fort Myers got back on the winning track after losses in their last three games. The club still has the best record in the Florida State League. The Miracle have a scheduled off-day tomorrow before playing three games against Charlotte Cedar Rapids Kernels --, Burlington Bees -- (Postponed) Rain washed out the final game of the series between the Kernels and the Bees. The game will be made up later in the first half as part of a doubleheader in Cedar Rapids. The Kernels are on a bit of a roll with wins in their last three games, including the first two games of the series against the Bees. Byron Buxton still has a batting average over .400 and his OPS of 1.128 is off the charts. He is making his first full professional season look easy. The team has a scheduled off day on Wednesday before returning home for a three-game series vs. Great Lakes. The six-game home stand will conclude with a three-game set against Lansing.

"Strike two, you're out," seems to be the current mantra for most of baseball. Unless you're Joe Mauer. One of the biggest challenges for batters in recent years has been their ability to come back in an at-bat after falling into a two-strike count. Since 2006, there has been a steady decrease in players' ability to hit with two strikes. Last year, two-strike hitting dropped to a new low, as batters were able to muster only a .178 batting average. How do pitchers have so much of an advantage when it comes to throwing to batters with two strikes?[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] For one thing, players don't care as much if they do strikeout. Blame the juiced up players in the steroids era. It didn't matter if a player was swinging and missing as long as the ball was flying over the fence. Home run and RBI totals made up for big strikeout numbers. For batters to get anywhere near 200 strikeouts in the past would have been horrific. Bobby Bonds was a trailblazer for the current generation of strike out prone players. He struck out 187 times in 1969. He passed that mark the next year with 189. The 200-strikeout mark hasn't been as much of an embarrassment in recent years as it had been in the past; that level has been exceeded five times in the last five seasons. Mark Reynolds has three of the top five strikeout seasons and he also sits at the top of the list with 223 strikeouts. Adam Dunn came within one strikeout of tying the MLB record last year but that dubious honor still belongs to Reynolds. Twins fans have become accustomed to seeing one player buck the trend when it comes to hitting with a two-strike count. Joe Mauer is one of the best hitters in the game and he doesn't seem to have any trouble when he finds himself deep in a two strike hole. It almost seems as if Mauer becomes a better hitter as an at-bat is extended. In 2012, Mauer ranked as one of the top five batters in all of baseball when it came to hitting with two strikes. His .266 batting average with two-strikes was the highest mark in the American League. It was high enough to finish just ahead of Prince Fielder. Best Two-Strike Hitters in 2012 1. Martin Prado .286 2. Jayson Werth .286 3. Matt Carpenter .268 4. Joe Mauer .266 5. Prince Fielder .265 Overall, Mauer has been on quite the roll to start the 2013 season. This has also helped his numbers with two strikes against him. So far this season, he is hitting .409/.435/.523 when he has two strikes. Those are unheard of numbers and it is hard to imagine that he will be able to keep up that pace for the entire season. For his career with two strikes, Mauer has a batting line of .258/.312/.359 which gets him close to the top of the all-time list. Besides being a Hall-of-Fame caliber hitter, Tony Gwynn was also the best hitter of all-time with two strikes against him. His .302 average would be good for any count much less when he has two strikes against him. Todd Helton, Ichiro Suzuki, Juan Pierre, and Wade Boggs round out the rest of the top five with their averages sitting from .260 to .262. Ichiro would be a name that most would expect to see on this list. Pierre certainly doesn't fit the mold of all-time great but baseball is a funny game. The game of baseball will always be changing and batters will likely need to find some way to improve their results when in a two strike count. If Mauer continues on his current track, his record will show him to have been one of the best two-strike hitters in history. He is going against the trend in baseball and Twins fans are happy with those results.