Cody Christie

Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Last night's Twins game got ugly in later portions of the game with Jeff Manship giving up some bombs. One of the home runs even took one bounce and was out of the stadium. Overall, it wasn't the best series but the Twins did manage to pull out one victory. Francisco Liriano and Liam Hendriks put together one of their best starts of the year in the series and Josh Willingham had a late inning home run to lead the team to victory. Now the team turns their sights to a very good Cincinnati Reds club, their last interleague opponent of the year. The Twins are going to be forced to deal with arguably the best overall hitter in the game, Joey Votto. There could also be opportunities to face one of the hardest throwers in baseball, Arolidis Chapman. For Twins fans, it is fun to see some of the best talent in the National League. Before the Twins begin their series with the Reds, make sure to check out some of the best baseball writing from across Twins Territory and the baseball world. Prep players can take some time to develop in the minor leagues but it is important to be patient with high schoolers taken in the draft. For the first time in quite awhile, Francisco Liriano looked good on Wednesday night. It could be from the fact that he seems to have rediscovered his slider. The short-season rookie leagues have started for the Twins so make sure to check out this preview of the Elizabethton Twins and this preview of the GCL Twins. Nick Blackburn could be the veteran presence in the starting rotation next year and that's what makes his struggles so frustrating. There have to be some reasons for hope with the Twins, right? Ben Revere seems to have played himself into the long term plans for the Twins and he might not be a placeholder anymore. According to Kyle Gibson's Twitter account, he is back on track to appear in a minor league game on July 10th. There are reports out that the Twins are looking for pitching and according to Terry Ryan, "We need pitching, and we need it bad." Out of all Twins minor league players, Oswaldo Arcia might be having the best season and he was promoted to Double-A earlier in the week. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-85HV9Hhf7Mw/T-Rr8nE87fI/AAAAAAAACTo/YadU7Y1DEY4/s320/arcia_display_image.jpg One the best parts of All-Star weekend is the Future's Game and the rosters were announced on Thursday. The Twins will be represented by Oswaldo Arcia. Two former MLB Greats will be managing the teams for the Future's Game so that should be fun. It has been a little over a year since Twins Territory lost Harmon Killebrew and a new book has been released to chronicle his life. With the Rockies struggling to win games, they are trying a radical concept by having a four-man pitching staff and only allowing starters to throw 75 pitches. Jason Marquis is doing very well after leaving the Twins and it might help that he is back in the National League Has Joe Nathan become the best closer in the game? Players for the Arizona Diamondbacks had some fun opening packs of Justin Bieber cards last week and now an autographed card pulled by the players is up for auction. Bill Murray is the co-owner of a minor league baseball team and this video gives an in-depth look at his interactions with the team. My Weekly Rundown: Monday: Twins are behind in the "Era of Pitching" Tuesday: Tuesday Morning Tidbits Wednesday: Bullpen overuse could hurt by season's end Wednesday's Wild Night in the Minors Video of the Week: Joel Peralta was ejected earlier this week for having a foreign substance on his glove. It was quite the sight to watch how the entire incident played out and it might have conjured up memories of a different moment for Twins fans. In 1987, Joe Niekro was on the mound for the Twins .

The rosters were just released for the 2012 MLB Futures Game that will take place as part of All-Star Weekend in Kansas City. The Twins lone representative will be Oswaldo Arcia, the recently promoted outfielder on the New Britain Rock Cats. Arcia is off to a great start this year and it is awesome to see him get this honor. The Futures Game is one of my favorite parts of the All-Star Weekend and I will love to see what Arica can do against some of the other great prospects in the game.

Target Field is up against Camden Yards in a tough Elite Eight battle. Camden Yards is up big at this point. It would have to be a miracle comeback for Target Field.

Bard officially signed today but I haven't seen the amount disclosed yet. That means that the first 10 picks by the Twins had signed. Good to see

He did help start a rally in the ninth inning tonight for Rochester with a double. But his numbers at Triple-A are still not very good...

You can view the page at http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?687-Wednesday-s-Wild-Night-in-the-Minors

It is going to be tough for Target Field to beat Camden Yards. More people view Camden Yards as the model for many of the new stadiums. (Plus we can claim East Coast Bias)

The Twins High-A minor league team, the Fort Myers Miracle, have their own app. You can listen to the games directly on your phone so that's pretty cool.

Liriano's slider looked nasty against some hitters tonight. It gave me flashbacks to when he first came into the league. Even with a decent start, the 7th inning was frustrating. It is hard to imagine him ever being able to put it all back together for a full season. That's probably why he will be on a different team by the start of next year.

It is officially the first day of summer and that means action will be heating up across the baseball world. The Twins found themselves in a pitchers duel in Pittsburgh with Francisco Liriano throwing one of his best games of the year. A rough seventh inning meant that Liriano wasn't able to pick up the win but a late inning home run from Josh Willingham pushed the Twins to a 2-1 victory. Some injuries to the Rochester bullpen forced the Twins to make some transactions in the farm system. Carlos Gutierrez (shoulder) and Lester Oliveros (elbow) are both going to miss time for the Red Wings and this means Bobby Lanigan and Caleb Thielbar will be joining Rochester from New Britain. Edgar Ibarra is moving from Fort Myers to New Britain and taking his place on the Miracle roster is Michael Tonkin. Cole Johnson was the other transaction on Wednesday as he moves from the E-Twins to the Snappers. The Twins officially signed RHP Luke Bard, taken 42nd overall in the 2012 draft. With his signing, the Twins have inked their first 10 picks in the draft. This is a good sign and it seems to show that players are more willing to sign early with the new rules in the CBA. Don't forget to check out the Twins Minor League Weekly Podcast tomorrow night at 9:00 pm. Seth Stohs should have plenty of topics to discuss with the transactions mentioned above and the start of the short-season leagues. ROCHESTER 7, DURHAM 6 It was quite the back and forth contest against the Durham Bulls in Rochester with the Red Wings managing to come out victorious. With Rochester leading by one in the top of the ninth, the Bulls managed to score two runs and take the lead back. In the bottom of the ninth, Tsuyoshi Nishioka started the inning by cracking a double. After a sacrifice bunt from Pedro Florimon, Wilkin Ramirez stepped into the box and fell into a 0-2 count. The next pitch was hit over the fence for a two-run walk-off home run and the fans got to go home happy. Cole DeVries had started the game and he lasted 6.1 innings by giving up four runs on 11 hits. Tyler Robertson picked up his second victory of the year after he got the last two outs of the ninth inning. Brian Dinkelman had three hits with an RBI to help the offense. In the second inning, Matt Carson hit his fifth home run on the year and he has three home runs in the last four games. NEW BRITAIN 4, ALTOONA 9 Gerrit Cole, the number one pick in the 2011 MLB Draft, made his debut at Double-A on Wednesday night. Unfortunately for the Rock Cats, he didn't have any issues with the transition to a higher league and threw five innings while giving up two runs and striking out six. He was also backed up by plenty of run support so this made his first victory at this level a little easier. Brett Jacobson was charged with seven earned runs in three innings on the mound. He walked five batters and gave up multiple home runs. Aaron Hicks had his first multiple hit game in his last ten contests and this included his ninth double and second triple of the year. Chris Colabello got half of the team's RBI with his two singles in the game. In his second game since being promoted, Oswaldo Arcia had his first hit, a double in the eighth inning. FORT MYERS 7, JUPITER 3 A solid offensive night was put together by the Miracle on Wednesday evening in Jupiter. They put up seven runs on 12 hits to back a good start from Madison Boer. In five innings of work, Boer surrendered two runs on five hits and struck out four. Ricky Bowen did a good job in relief by almost pitching 2 innings and only giving up a hit. For Boer, it was his third win of the year with all three of those wins coming in June. Five batters for the Miracle had multiple hit nights with Kyle Knudson leading the way with a 3-for-5 night. Andy Leer knocked in a couple runs with his two hits and he hit his six double of the year. The only other extra-base hit came off of the bat of Danny Rams, who also scored two runs in the game. BELOIT (All-Star Break) The Snappers are enjoying their All-Star Break and will resume play on Friday night with a series in Cedar Rapids. After qualifying for the playoffs in the first half of the season, it will be interesting to see how the Snappers come out in the second half. ELIZABETHTON 10, DANVILLE 0 The story on this night should be the pitcher that started the game for the E-Twins. Ricardo Arevalo, a 21-year old pitcher from Venezuela, has pitched in the Twins organization for the last three years for the DSL Twins and the GCL Twins. In those three years, he had never been able to pick up a victory on the mound but that all changed on Wednesday. He threw five shutout innings and the bullpen was able to cover the rest of the game for his first professional win. In this contest, the E-Twins found plenty of offense with multiple extra base hits on the way to double digits being scored by the club. There were four triples in the game for the E-Twins and Niko Goodrum hit two of those three baggers with three runs batted in. Rory Rhodes had three hits and Michael Quesada managed his first two doubles in the young season. GCL TWINS 6, GCL RAYS 2 A strong start from Josue Montanez helped the GCL Twins to get out to an early lead on the GCL Rays. Montanez tossed four scoreless innings while striking out six and allowing a single hit. Both runs for the Rays were scored off of Markus Solbach in his one inning of work. The Rays sloppy defense helped the Twins to a big bottom of the third inning. Three consecutive errors by the Rays fielders allowed the Twins to score four runs in the frame. Aderlin Mejia was 3-for-4 in the game with his second double of the year. Bryan Haar added a double of his own while going 2-for-3 with two RBI. --- Players of the Day for Wednesday, June 20, 2012 Hitter of the Day- Niko Goodrum http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xR7sglofICU/T-KFFf6JTkI/AAAAAAAACRw/Q6SnlZrGv3U/s1600/Goodrum-Niko.jpg Pitcher of the Day- Ricardo Arevalo (1st Professional Win) http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1yonnoNr2ZI/T-KFZ1cx_KI/AAAAAAAACR4/i2Tl1oaML90/s320/elizabethtontwins.jpg --- A Look Ahead- Thursday, June 21st Schedule Rochester vs Durham- LHP Matt Maloney New Britain at Altoona- LHP Aaron Thompson Fort Myers vs St. Lucie-LHP Pat Dean Beloit (All-Star Break) Elizabethon at Danville- LHP Corey Kimes GCL Twins at GCL Rays- TBA --- If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, leave them in the comments section and Seth or I will try to answer them.

It is officially the first day of summer and that means action will be heating up across the baseball world. The Twins found themselves in a pitchers duel in Pittsburgh with Francisco Liriano throwing one of his best games of the year. A rough seventh inning meant that Liriano wasn't able to pick up the win but a late inning home run from Josh Willingham pushed the Twins to a 2-1 victory. Some injuries to the Rochester bullpen forced the Twins to make some transactions in the farm system. Carlos Gutierrez (shoulder) and Lester Oliveros (elbow) are both going to miss time for the Red Wings and this means Bobby Lanigan and Caleb Thielbar will be joining Rochester from New Britain. Edgar Ibarra is moving from Fort Myers to New Britain and taking his place on the Miracle roster is Michael Tonkin. Cole Johnson was the other transaction on Wednesday as he moves from the E-Twins to the Snappers. The Twins officially signed RHP Luke Bard, taken 42nd overall in the 2012 draft. With his signing, the Twins have inked their first 10 picks in the draft. This is a good sign and it seems to show that players are more willing to sign early with the new rules in the CBA. Don't forget to check out the Twins Minor League Weekly Podcast tomorrow night at 9:00 pm. Seth Stohs should have plenty of topics to discuss with the transactions mentioned above and the start of the short-season leagues. ROCHESTER 7, DURHAM 6 It was quite the back and forth contest against the Durham Bulls in Rochester with the Red Wings managing to come out victorious. With Rochester leading by one in the top of the ninth, the Bulls managed to score two runs and take the lead back. In the bottom of the ninth, Tsuyoshi Nishioka started the inning by cracking a double. After a sacrifice bunt from Pedro Florimon, Wilkin Ramirez stepped into the box and fell into a 0-2 count. The next pitch was hit over the fence for a two-run walk-off home run and the fans got to go home happy. Cole DeVries had started the game and he lasted 6.1 innings by giving up four runs on 11 hits. Tyler Robertson picked up his second victory of the year after he got the last two outs of the ninth inning. Brian Dinkelman had three hits with an RBI to help the offense. In the second inning, Matt Carson hit his fifth home run on the year and he has three home runs in the last four games. NEW BRITAIN 4, ALTOONA 9 Gerrit Cole, the number one pick in the 2011 MLB Draft, made his debut at Double-A on Wednesday night. Unfortunately for the Rock Cats, he didn't have any issues with the transition to a higher league and threw five innings while giving up two runs and striking out six. He was also backed up by plenty of run support so this made his first victory at this level a little easier. Brett Jacobson was charged with seven earned runs in three innings on the mound. He walked five batters and gave up multiple home runs. Aaron Hicks had his first multiple hit game in his last ten contests and this included his ninth double and second triple of the year. Chris Colabello got half of the team's RBI with his two singles in the game. In his second game since being promoted, Oswaldo Arcia had his first hit, a double in the eighth inning. FORT MYERS 7, JUPITER 3 A solid offensive night was put together by the Miracle on Wednesday evening in Jupiter. They put up seven runs on 12 hits to back a good start from Madison Boer. In five innings of work, Boer surrendered two runs on five hits and struck out four. Ricky Bowen did a good job in relief by almost pitching 2 innings and only giving up a hit. For Boer, it was his third win of the year with all three of those wins coming in June. Five batters for the Miracle had multiple hit nights with Kyle Knudson leading the way with a 3-for-5 night. Andy Leer knocked in a couple runs with his two hits and he hit his six double of the year. The only other extra-base hit came off of the bat of Danny Rams, who also scored two runs in the game. BELOIT (All-Star Break) The Snappers are enjoying their All-Star Break and will resume play on Friday night with a series in Cedar Rapids. After qualifying for the playoffs in the first half of the season, it will be interesting to see how the Snappers come out in the second half. ELIZABETHTON 10, DANVILLE 0 The story on this night should be the pitcher that started the game for the E-Twins. Ricardo Arevalo, a 21-year old pitcher from Venezuela, has pitched in the Twins organization for the last three years for the DSL Twins and the GCL Twins. In those three years, he had never been able to pick up a victory on the mound but that all changed on Wednesday. He threw five shutout innings and the bullpen was able to cover the rest of the game for his first professional win. In this contest, the E-Twins found plenty of offense with multiple extra base hits on the way to double digits being scored by the club. There were four triples in the game for the E-Twins and Niko Goodrum hit two of those three baggers with three runs batted in. Rory Rhodes had three hits and Michael Quesada managed his first two doubles in the young season. GCL TWINS 6, GCL RAYS 2 A strong start from Josue Montanez helped the GCL Twins to get out to an early lead on the GCL Rays. Montanez tossed four scoreless innings while striking out six and allowing a single hit. Both runs for the Rays were scored off of Markus Solbach in his one inning of work. The Rays sloppy defense helped the Twins to a big bottom of the third inning. Three consecutive errors by the Rays fielders allowed the Twins to score four runs in the frame. Aderlin Mejia was 3-for-4 in the game with his second double of the year. Bryan Haar added a double of his own while going 2-for-3 with two RBI. --- Players of the Day for Wednesday, June 20, 2012 Hitter of the Day- Niko Goodrum http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xR7sglofICU/T-KFFf6JTkI/AAAAAAAACRw/Q6SnlZrGv3U/s1600/Goodrum-Niko.jpg Pitcher of the Day- Ricardo Arevalo (1st Professional Win) http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1yonnoNr2ZI/T-KFZ1cx_KI/AAAAAAAACR4/i2Tl1oaML90/s320/elizabethtontwins.jpg --- A Look Ahead- Thursday, June 21st Schedule Rochester vs Durham- LHP Matt Maloney New Britain at Altoona- LHP Aaron Thompson Fort Myers vs St. Lucie-LHP Pat Dean Beloit (All-Star Break) Elizabethon at Danville- LHP Corey Kimes GCL Twins at GCL Rays- TBA --- If you have any questions or comments on the Twins minor league system, leave them in the comments section and Seth or I will try to answer them.

Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~[ATTACH=CONFIG]1300[/ATTACH] After Tuesday night's contest in Pittsburgh, the Twins have played roughly 40% of their regular season schedule and the team is currently under .500 by 14 games. Being at the bottom of the American League is a rough spot for any team and there can be plenty of fingers pointed as to why the Twins have gotten to this point. The offense has failed to score runs and the pitching staff has left plenty to be desired so far in 2012. But in all of this mess, there has to be some positives to dig out of the pit of despair. While the pitching staff has combined to have the worst ERA in the entire American League, the bullpen has shown some brief glimmers of hope at different points this year. The relief pitchers for the Twins have combined for the 15th best ERA in baseball while holding batters to the 14th best batting average. Only ten relief cores across baseball have allowed few walks than the Twins so the bullpen is doing their best in some tough situations. While these numbers don't jump off the screen, they are much better when compared to what the starting staff has been able to do. Even with the bullpen producing at about the league average, it is tough to look at their workload and not worry about what this will mean for the pitchers at the end of the year. The Twins relief pitchers have thrown the second most innings of any bullpen in the major leagues. Kansas City is the only team to throw more innings with their bullpen and they have recently had to switch to a 14-man pitching staff, a situation that no team wants to happen. Anthony Swarzak has thrown 50.0 innings as a reliever and a starter, Brian Duensing has been on the mound for almost 35 innings, and Alex Burnett has reached over 33 innings. All of these numbers are starting to add up and it is not even the mid-point of the season. Glen Perkins made the transition to the bullpen last year and he was untouchable in the first half of the season. He threw 33.2 innings with an outstanding 1.87 ERA and a WHIP of 1.19 with 36 strikeouts. It looked like the Twins had found a gem of a player to possibly be the closer of the future for the franchise. After the All-Star break last year, Perkins saw his ERA rise to 3.21 and his velocity decreased slightly as the season wore on. It seemed like his workload from the first half of the year was impacting his ability to perform in the second half. This is just one example of what the Twins could be looking at in the second half of this year. If the Twins are going to take some of the pressure off of their relief pitchers, the starting rotation is going to need to pitch deeper into games. Through the 66 games played so far, Twins starters have pitched 345.2 innings and that averages to 5.24 innings per start. PJ Walters is the only Twins pitcher with a complete game under his belt this year and he isn't exactly a player the team can rely on to repeat this feat. The closest thing to an ace pitcher for the Twins has been Scott Diamond and he has averaged 6.1 innings pitched in his nine starts. For the rest of the pitching staff, it has been a struggle to average over five innings an outing. As the season rolls on, the Twins might have to dig deep into Rochester to find some other arms to help eat some innings out of the bullpen. Anthony Slama looked like he was primed to take a position with the Twins before a broken leg forced him to the sidelines. Kyle Waldrop looked like he had a chance to make the roster coming out of spring training but an injury put him on the DL. Now Waldrop is in the bullpen for the Red Wings and he has looked very good since returning from injury. Lester Oliveros has already made one trip to Minnesota and the Twins would certainly give him another shot in the big leagues. The Twins are far from contending for a playoff spot but taking care of the bullpen is something the front office should watch carefully. By the end of the season, the Twins don't want to be struggling to find outs from their relief options. It would be best if the starters could throw deeper into the game and allow the bullpen the opportunity to close out some victories. But in a season that already seems lost, this might be a foolish hope.

Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After pulling out a victory in a 15-inning affair on Sunday afternoon and into Sunday evening, the Twins got a much needed day of rest yesterday before traveling to Pittsburgh. The Twins will play the Pirates and the Reds to complete their interleague schedule before returning home and getting back into American League action. Both of these teams have been playing well in the last couple weeks so it will be interesting to see how the Twins fare on their current road trip. Even with the off day for the Twins, there were plenty of interesting notes from across the organization. So let's get caught up with this week's edition of "Tuesday Morning Tidbits." Arcia moving up to New Britain With many prospects for the the Twins running into some kind of speed bump in the middle part of the season, it is good to see one of their top prospects succeeding enough to be moved to the next level. Oswaldo Arcia entered the season as one of the top prospects in the Twins organization but his play so far this year is separating him from the pack. After the Florida State League All-Star Game this weekend, Arcia was informed to report to New Britain. The left-handed slugging outfielder was batting .309/.376/.517 with 16 doubles and seven home runs in 55 games for Fort Myers. It was his second taste of the FSL after he missed a chunk of last season following left elbow surgery. One of the biggest changes has been his plate recognition that is being shown in his ability to draw more walks. Last year in about the same amount of at-bats he had nine total walks and that number has increased to 23 so far this season. He is only 21-years old and this is a fairly young age for someone to be entering Eastern League play. The Twins need to see how Arcia can handle the fire since he had to be added to the 40-man roster this past offseason. So far in his career, Arica has faced every challenge that has come his way and the Twins hope that trend continues in New Britain. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AqDj6TXrPbU/T9_67_7sq2I/AAAAAAAACQA/c_MSFjsKHkU/s320/mauerweeks.jpgMauer getting beat up behind the plate The Twins have completed 65 games on their schedule and Joe Mauer has played in 60 of those contests. A couple of those appearances have been late inning pinch hitting situations but Mauer has been there for the most part. He has appeared in 92% of the team's games which is great to see after a 2011 season where Mauer only played in 50.6% of the team's schedule. Not all of Mauer's playing time has come with him at catcher but being able to place his name in the line-up on a daily basis is a big step over last year. After sitting out Saturday's game with a sore hamstring, Mauer was back behind the plate on Sunday in what might have seemed like a surprise move. If a player has a sore hamstring, the last thing a team would want to do is have him squat behind the plate for nine innings (or 15 innings). Mauer's hamstring seemed to be holding up fine until a collision at home plate with Rickie Weeks caused him to bruise his right quad. From the sounds of the postgame report, Mauer was not please with the way that Weeks slid into home. I don't think there were too many people who would think this was a dirty play by Weeks so there doesn't seem to be much basis for Mauer's argument. It also sounds like Mauer should be back in the line-up soon and the team is only listing him as day-to-day with his newest injury. This is a good sign if he wants to continue to play in over 90% of the Twins games this year. Slama out at least a month One of the best pitchers in the minor leagues so far this season had been relief pitcher Anthony Slama. He had almost been untouchable in his 22.2 innings of work for the Red Wings as he posted a 0.40 ERA with 37 strikeouts. It is the fourth season that he has spent at least part of the year at Triple-A so it was put up or shut up time for Slama. He had completed nine saves on the year and it seemed like he would be given a shot at the big league level at some point this season. In an unfortunate turn of events for Slama, he will miss four to six weeks after being hit by a comebacker on the mound. He has a broken bone in his right leg and it will take time to heal and recover. One of the brightest spots for the Twins in 2012 has been the bullpen so it remains to be seen if Slama would have even been called up. He isn't currently on the 40-man roster so the Twins would be forced to make another change if they wanted him on the big league roster. The Twins seem reluctant to give Slama an extended look at the major league level as a 28-year old relief pitcher. He has put up decent numbers at Triple-A for the last three years but this has only translated to a couple of games with the Twins. He has 7.0 total innings at the MLB level so it is hard to know what kind of player he could be. His numbers this year seem to indicate that he has mastered AAA and now it looks like a call-up will have to wait until the end of the year because of his injury.

Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After pulling out a victory in a 15-inning affair on Sunday afternoon and into Sunday evening, the Twins got a much needed day of rest yesterday before traveling to Pittsburgh. The Twins will play the Pirates and the Reds to complete their interleague schedule before returning home and getting back into American League action. Both of these teams have been playing well in the last couple weeks so it will be interesting to see how the Twins fare on their current road trip. Even with the off day for the Twins, there were plenty of interesting notes from across the organization. So let's get caught up with this week's edition of "Tuesday Morning Tidbits." Arcia moving up to New Britain With many prospects for the the Twins running into some kind of speed bump in the middle part of the season, it is good to see one of their top prospects succeeding enough to be moved to the next level. Oswaldo Arcia entered the season as one of the top prospects in the Twins organization but his play so far this year is separating him from the pack. After the Florida State League All-Star Game this weekend, Arcia was informed to report to New Britain. The left-handed slugging outfielder was batting .309/.376/.517 with 16 doubles and seven home runs in 55 games for Fort Myers. It was his second taste of the FSL after he missed a chunk of last season following left elbow surgery. One of the biggest changes has been his plate recognition that is being shown in his ability to draw more walks. Last year in about the same amount of at-bats he had nine total walks and that number has increased to 23 so far this season. He is only 21-years old and this is a fairly young age for someone to be entering Eastern League play. The Twins need to see how Arcia can handle the fire since he had to be added to the 40-man roster this past offseason. So far in his career, Arica has faced every challenge that has come his way and the Twins hope that trend continues in New Britain. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AqDj6TXrPbU/T9_67_7sq2I/AAAAAAAACQA/c_MSFjsKHkU/s320/mauerweeks.jpgMauer getting beat up behind the plate The Twins have completed 65 games on their schedule and Joe Mauer has played in 60 of those contests. A couple of those appearances have been late inning pinch hitting situations but Mauer has been there for the most part. He has appeared in 92% of the team's games which is great to see after a 2011 season where Mauer only played in 50.6% of the team's schedule. Not all of Mauer's playing time has come with him at catcher but being able to place his name in the line-up on a daily basis is a big step over last year. After sitting out Saturday's game with a sore hamstring, Mauer was back behind the plate on Sunday in what might have seemed like a surprise move. If a player has a sore hamstring, the last thing a team would want to do is have him squat behind the plate for nine innings (or 15 innings). Mauer's hamstring seemed to be holding up fine until a collision at home plate with Rickie Weeks caused him to bruise his right quad. From the sounds of the postgame report, Mauer was not please with the way that Weeks slid into home. I don't think there were too many people who would think this was a dirty play by Weeks so there doesn't seem to be much basis for Mauer's argument. It also sounds like Mauer should be back in the line-up soon and the team is only listing him as day-to-day with his newest injury. This is a good sign if he wants to continue to play in over 90% of the Twins games this year. Slama out at least a month One of the best pitchers in the minor leagues so far this season had been relief pitcher Anthony Slama. He had almost been untouchable in his 22.2 innings of work for the Red Wings as he posted a 0.40 ERA with 37 strikeouts. It is the fourth season that he has spent at least part of the year at Triple-A so it was put up or shut up time for Slama. He had completed nine saves on the year and it seemed like he would be given a shot at the big league level at some point this season. In an unfortunate turn of events for Slama, he will miss four to six weeks after being hit by a comebacker on the mound. He has a broken bone in his right leg and it will take time to heal and recover. One of the brightest spots for the Twins in 2012 has been the bullpen so it remains to be seen if Slama would have even been called up. He isn't currently on the 40-man roster so the Twins would be forced to make another change if they wanted him on the big league roster. The Twins seem reluctant to give Slama an extended look at the major league level as a 28-year old relief pitcher. He has put up decent numbers at Triple-A for the last three years but this has only translated to a couple of games with the Twins. He has 7.0 total innings at the MLB level so it is hard to know what kind of player he could be. His numbers this year seem to indicate that he has mastered AAA and now it looks like a call-up will have to wait until the end of the year because of his injury.

From the postgame report, it seems like Mauer was not pleased with the way that Rickie Weeks slid into home on Sunday afternoon. I didn't think it was a dirty play at the time but I was wondering what others thought about the play.

I was looking forward to seeing what Slama could do if he got called up to the Twins. Now it might not be until the end of the season when he gets a chance with the big league squad.

You can view the page at http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?671-Twins-are-behind-in-Era-of-Pitching

Since I was little I have followed the Buffalo Bills more than the Vikings. So if they left, I would continue to follow the Bills.

You can even order a t-shirt with the quote on it. Pretty funny.

RA Dickey and his knuckleball have been very good this year but it seems weird to consider the knuckleball as a nasty pitch.

I was a little concerned about him signing so I am glad to hear that he was at Target Field. Hopefully the deal gets done and he can get put on a rookie league roster for the rest of the year.

Until Buxton proves himself a little in the lower levels, I will still have Sano higher on my prospect list. I would place him at #2 for the time being but things can change.