Minnesota Twins

a) it’s too early for baseball.. b) it’s especially too early for baseball when the game last night was slow.. had a rain delay.. and THEN went more than 9 innings.. c) and even worse, it was long, slow, overtime baseball we LOST. I’d really like to avoid a second consecutive sweep here boys… Minnesota @ Atlanta Escobar, E, 3B Schafer, J, LF Florimon, SS Pena, R, SS Willingham, LF Heyward, RF Morneau, 1B Freeman, F, 1B Doumit, C Gattis, C Colabello, RF Johnson, C, 3B Hicks, CF Uggla, 2B Dozier, 2B Upton, B, CF Worley, P Maholm, P Live Chat Software

First Pitch: 11:10 am CSTTV: FSNRadio: K-TWIN, TIBNKnow Thine Enemy: Talking ChopThis Game is Too Freakin' Early: I know. Geez. In his last start, Vance Worley seemed to finally be turning a bit of a corner, as he actually lasted 6 innings and gave up just one unearned run on six hits and three walks. His previous starts had been rather touch-and-go, as he'd be unable to last more than 3 or 4 innings or gave up a ton of hits. The Twins look to him today to avoid the sweep, while the Braves are putting Paul Maholm on the mound to go for the sweep. Maholm's last start was much like Worley's: 8 hits over six innings, but he continued to get run support from his offense and managed to pick up the win. Your throwers and their statistical numbers: Minnesota Vance Worley #49 / Pitcher / Minnesota Twins Height: 6-2 Weight: 230 Bats: R Throws: R Born: Sep 25, 1987 W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP 2013 - Vance Worley 1-4 9 9 0 0 0 0 45.0 72 35 31 6 13 22 6.20 1.89 Can I just note how glorious that picture of Vance Worley is? Atlanta Paul Maholm #28 / Pitcher / Atlanta Braves Height: 6-2 Weight: 220 Bats: L Throws: L Born: Jun 25, 1982 W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP 2013 - Paul Maholm 5-4 9 9 0 0 0 0 54.0 48 25 23 4 19 44 3.83 1.24 Lineups Minnesota Posted when available Atlanta Posted when available Go Twins!

I conducted the  following interview on behalf of MetroSportsReport.com and it is reprinted here with permission. All photos are original and property of myself and Knuckleballs – SD Buhr ******************************* One of the top ranked high school power hitters at the time, Travis Harrison was drafted by the Twins with a supplemental first round pick (the 50th overall pick) in 2011. He signed a $1.05 million bonus to join the Twins organization and bypassed a scholarship offer to play baseball for USC. There’s never been much doubt about Harrison’s ability to hit a baseball. The question in many minds is what his ultimate defensive position will be. Right now, the Twins are working with Harrison to develop his skills at third base for the Cedar Rapids Kernels. Travis Harrison Harrison is one of the top third base prospects in the Twins minor league organization, along with super-prospect Miguel Sano, who is currently playing for high Class A Fort Myers. This past Friday night, Harrison gave his Kernels team a dramatic win with a 12th inning walk-off single to beat the Kane County Cougars. It was the second consecutive walk-off victory for the Kernels, coming just one night after Byron Buxton’s walk-off grand slam home run to beat the Burlington Bees. It was Harrison’s second walk-off single recently. The first came when he hit what appeared to be a grand slam home run to beat the Lansing Lugnuts. However, his team mates mobbed him as he rounded second base and two of the runners ahead of him were ruled by the umpires to have abandoned their attempts to advance, leaving Harrison with a very long game winning single, rather than a home run. On Saturday afternoon, the day after his most recent game winning hit, Harrison sat down for an interview with Metro Sports Report. Metro Sports Report: You’re still learning to play third base. You had kind of a rough start to the season with something like five errors in the first 10 games. You seem to be looking a lot more comfortable out there lately. Are you feeling better out there? Travis Harrison and Manager Jake Mauer Travis Harrison: Yeah, I’ve been feeling good. Jake (Manager Jake Mauer) has been helping a ton and he’s also made me learn that I might have a couple of errors, but they’re errors being aggressive. They (official scorers) are giving me errors on tough plays, but I want to be a big league third baseman, so that’s fine. But I’m not worried about the errors, I’m worried about making plays for the pitcher, making plays for the team. Just like any other infielder, if they give you an error and you’re doing the best you can do, you can’t control that. MSR: You’ve made a lot of pretty nice plays out there as well. You probably feel better about those than you necessarily feel bad about the errors? Harrison: Yeah, I mean you always want to make the routine plays first, that’s your number one goal, so you focus on that. You give 100 per cent effort and you’re going to make highlight plays every once in a while and those are good for the team. But first of all, you want to make the routine plays. Those are most important. MSR: The Twins have, for years, had a little trouble finding a third baseman to stick at the big league level. Is that something that gives you some motivation? The flip side of that is there are a couple of guys in the organization above you that look like they could have the potential to stick as well. Do you pay attention to what everyone else in the organization at your position is doing or do you just go out and worry about playing your game? Harrison: I just go out and play. I want to be the starting third baseman for the Twins for a long time. I mean that’s the goal. I know I can do it. I just have to keep putting in the hard work and I’ll get there. Following the other people? No. I know the other guys because

This week, we have some interesting notes about some of the Twins' very best minor league players, as well as some speculation on what may be happening with others. As usual, some players continue to shine while others struggle mightily. Keep reading to find out more... 1) Miguel Sano - Can we just take a moment to realize how well Sano's been doing so far this season? Over the past week, he hit .371, again just tearing it up in Fort Myers. He's now hitting .359 on the season, with 13 HRs, 36 RBI, and 6 SB. Not bad for a 20 year old kid. His OPS has now climbed to 1.165, and he's really just exciting to watch and definitely a player to look forward to in the coming years with the club. 2) Oswaldo Arcia - This past week, Arcia has seen his average drop a sad amount, as he's gone 0-fer in his past 5 games. He has drawn four walks (3 in Saturday's game against Boston), but he's also struck out 5 times in the same time frame. I'm not really sure what the best move for the Twins is at this point, so it'll be interesting to see what they do with Arcia now that his bat's cooled a bit. 3) Byron Buxton - Buxton continues to be one of my favorites reasons for being able to do the minor league posts. His bat wasn't as hot this week as in the past, but he definitely clinched the title for Most Exciting Moment of the Week with his walkoff grand slam on Thursday night. Want to see a video of the awesome moment? Of course you do! Much obliged, Twinkie Town readers: Your browser does not support iframes. 4) Alex Meyer - Meyer started one game this past week, going 5.1 innings and giving up 5 hits (including 1 homer), 2 earned runs, but he did strike out 4. Meyer's ERA is sitting at 3.56 on the season, and in 43 IP, he's struck out 51 batters total. Not bad, but it would be nice to see him going deeper into games, and obviously, giving up fewer runs. 5) Aaron Hicks - The Twins' CF has also had a rough week, only picking up two hits in his past 6 games. Hicks also picked up a walk and a stolen base (not many seen for the big club this season, so that's exciting), and he did limit his strike outs to just 2 over the last week. His season OPS is now .495. Yikes! 7) Kyle Gibson - This week proved to be another great start for the right-handed Gibson. His start on Sunday was more than impressive-9 innings, 3 hits, 8 Ks, and just 2 walks. Oh...and no earned runs. Daaaang. Anyway, Gibson's recent success has made many people question why he isn't being called up for Friday's start and why Samuel Deduno is getting the start instead. While I'll leave that debate up to the professionals, I will note that Gibson's recent history of 'good start-bad start' may have something to do with that decision. 9) Jose Berrios - Berrios had a pretty good start this week, going a solid 6.2 innings in the game on Saturday. He gave up 7 hits, but managed to limit the earned runs and gave up just 2 (only one earned). He struck out 5 batters and didn't walk anyone-always good to see. Berrios' season ERA is now down to 2.86 with 32 Ks in 28.1 IP. 14) Travis Harrison - The Cedar Rapids Kernels' third baseman had a really good week this past week, hitting .333 over the past 7 games (including 9 hits, 2 of those being a home run). Despite his great hitting, he did only pick up 3 RBI, but scored 7 runs, so there is that. Harrison's season OPS is now .848, and will hopefully continue to climb as the season wears on. 16) Mason Melotakis - I haven't covered Melotakis in a few weeks (a sign, perhaps, of his lack of success as of late), so I thought I'd give a quick update: this past week, Melotakis started one game, and went 6 innings, giving up 4 hits and 4 runs (only two of which were earned). He walked one and struck out three, so not a terrible outing, but definitely not his best. The lefty's season ERA has dropped to 3.09, with 33 Ks in 35.1 innings pitched. 19) Michael Tonkin - Tonkin had another good week. He pitched in 3 games, going an inning in each. He gav

Jorge Polanco, playing shortstop, reacts to a pitch.Byron Buxton may be the biggest reason for Minnesotans to make the trek to Cedar Rapids to see the Twin's low-A affiliate, but the Kernels have a number of other significant prospects on the roster.Niko Goodrum tried hishand at first base Monday.Not all of them were in the lineup Monday, and some of those who were, were in unusual positions.D.J. Hicks, the usual first baseman and cleanup hitter in Jake Mauer's lineup, sat out Monday's game. Niko Goodrum is usually the shortstop and No. 2 hitter; on Monday he played first base and hit third. Jorge Polanco, usually the second baseman and No. 3 hitter, played short and hit cleanup. Travis Harrison was at his accustomed third base and hit fifth.Goodrum, Polanco and Harrison are all significant prospects. Goodrum was a second round selection in the 2010 draft. Polanco, still a teenager (he turns 20 in July) was signed as a free agent out of the Domincan in the same summer as Miguel Sano; Sano's signing overshadowed Polanco's, but Polanco got a $700,000 bonus as a 16-year-old, evidence of his perceived talent. And Harrison was a supplemental first round pick in 2011.Some observations:Polanco has hit probably better than anticipated the past two seasons (he was hitting .326 on the season Monday, according to the scoreboard), but his arm has been described as probably too weak for shortstop. I'll buy that critique. He had one play Monday on which he ranged well to his left to scoop the grounder only to make a terrible throw to first base. He had another in which he backhanded the ball but then dropped it trying to hurry his transfer.The problem for Polanco as a second baseman is that Eddie Rosario, an even better-regarded prospect, is playing well there a level ahead of him. It makes sense for the Twins to try to push Polanco at shortstop.At the plate Monday, Polanco was 0-for-3 with a walk and a sac fly.Travis Harrison awaits the pitch heswatted out of the park in the seventhinning.Goodrum didn't look like a novice at first base, but he's not likely to have that position be a big part of his future. He's listed as 6-foot-4, 200 pounds, and he looks it — long and slender. He was 1-for-4, but what a one — a bases-loaded triple in the sixth that put the Kernels ahead to stay. He's not as fast as Byron Buxton (who is?) but he flew around the bases on that triple.The big question with Goodrum is whether he's destined to play short, and watching him play first does little to suggest an answer to that question. I'm not sure he has the bat to play a less demanding position.Harrison can hit, and showed it: 3-for-4 with a home run. But his ability to remain at third base has been questioned, and he didn't look good in the field. Some third basemen can get by with range that amounts to a step and a dive; Harrison didn't show even that Monday.Like Polanco, Harrison is a level behind a better prospect at his position (in Harrison's case, Sano). I rather suspect one of the two will wind up at first base if they both become regulars with the Twins.

On Kent Hrbek's birthday, against the Atlanta Braves, the Twins couldn't pull out the win. In a tie game in the bottom of the 10th inning, Braves Freddie Freeman hit a single to right field that allowed Jason Hayward to score and win the game 5 to 4. Twins starter Mike Pelfrey gave up 2 earned runs over 2 innings to start off the game--but then an hour or so rain delay cut him off. Anthony Swarzak pitched most of the game (once again), going 4 innings with only 3 hits and 1 earned run. Swarzak has certainly been proving his worth this season. Casey Fien and Jared Burton both pitched two scoreless, walk-less, innings to give Glen Perkins the chance for a save. Unfortunately, tonight was Glen's first blown save of the year. Perkins gave up a run to tie it, and Brian Duensing surrendered the final run to blow it. The Twins lost. ROLL CALL! SooFoo Fan (76) DavidRF (48) kenzertz (46) myjah (35) amiller92 (34) Luke in MN (30) d-mac (22) less cowbell, more 'neau (22) Mulholland Reborn (15) jere.johnson.37 (13)montanatwinsfan (13) Bullet Point Highlights Mike Pelfrey only gave up two earned runs!!!!.... Because there was an early rain delay and he got pulled after two innings. Anthony Swarzak is a beast. I don't know what we would do without him. He's already pitched an inning--if not 3 innings--7 times in May. His 4 innings tonight were the most for Swarzak in the month of May. STUDS Anthony Swarzack: 4 innings pitched (after a rain delay), 3 hits, 1 earned run. Joe Mauer: 2 runs, 2 hits, 4 at-bats. Justin Morneau: 1 run, 2 hits, 1 RBI, 4 at-bats. DUDS Jamey Carroll: 0 for 5, 1 strikeout. Aaron Hicks: 0 for 5, 3 strikeouts. Win Expectancy Graph via www.fangraphs.com

Twins pitcher Nick Blackburn was at home with his family during Monday's storm that spawned several twisters in Oklahoma

Game two of the series is going to go much better than game one did, right? OK, I’m not terribly confident about that, either, but we can hope. If you want something to at least look forward to… kind of… the Twins announced today that Sam Deduno would be called up to start on Friday in Detroit. It’s not that we should assume Deduno will be incredible, but he won’t be any of the same guys we’ve been watching fail miserably to start seemingly every other game recently. In the mean time, here’s tonight’s line up: TWINS @ BRAVES Carroll, 2B Simmons, SS Mauer, C Heyward, RF Willingham, LF Upton, J, LF Morneau, 1B Freeman, F, 1B Plouffe, 3B McCann, C Doumit, RF Uggla, 2B Hicks, CF Francisco, J, 3B Florimon, SS Upton, B, CF Pelfrey, P Hudson, T, P

Everything you need for Tuesday night's Twins versus Braves game is right here!

Braves Tim Hudson #15 / Pitcher / Atlanta Braves Height: 6-1 Weight: 175 Bats: R Throws: R Born: Jul 14, 1975 W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP 2013 - Tim Hudson 4-3 9 9 0 0 0 0 51.0 52 29 29 6 15 39 5.12 1.31 Tim Hudson didn't pitch in 2012 because, much like his opponent, he had Tommy John's surgery. Also much like his opponent, Hudson's been struggling a bit. In his last start against Arizona, Hudson gave up 5 earned runs on 8 hits and only pitched 5 innings. Hudson told reports after the game that the scouting report on Eric Chavez--who drove in 3 of the earned runs--hadn't been correct, but come on, Tim. Come on. The Twins players who have faced Tim Hudson in the past don't have a very good track record--although they obviously all faced him before his Tommy John's surgery. The Twin who's had the most success against Hudson is Ryan Doumit, who's still only 1 for 4 (.250 BA) against him. Josh Willingham is a dismal 1 for 20. You can see the full rundown here. Twins Mike Pelfrey #37 / Pitcher / Minnesota Twins Height: 6-7 Weight: 230 Bats: R Throws: R Born: Jan 14, 1984 W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP 2013 - Mike Pelfrey 3-4 8 8 0 0 0 0 38.1 57 30 28 4 11 18 6.57 1.77 Like Hudson, Mike "My Tongue Gives Me Powers" Pelfrey is also coming off of Tommy John's surgery, and also struggling. Pelfrey's last start against the White Sox was even worse than Hudson's in fact--Pelfrey surrendered 5 earned runs on 8 hits but only pitched 4 innings. Before that last start, Pelfrey had showed signs of improvement, however, so hopefully he can pick back up on that trend. Having previously pitched in the National League East for the Mets, Pelfrey has a lot of experience against several of the Braves veterans--and it doesn't look good. Brian McCann is 18 for 39 (.462 BA) with a .533 OBP and 2 home runs in his career against Pelfrey, and even Tim Hudson is 3 for 6 with a double. I'm not even going to go over the rest of the list because it's pretty depressing, but you can take a look for yourself.