Minnesota Twins

When Miguel Cabrera launched a line drive, two-run homer in the bottom of the first, admit it. You thought the game was over. I did. For the fourth time in the last six games, the Twins starter allowed at least one run in the first inning. That's a tough position for a team like the Twins to be in. But the Twins fought back. Jhonny Peralta should have been charged with two errors tonight but gets away with one, allowing Minnesota to plate one in the second instead of turning an inning-ending double play. The error Peralta was charged with, a throw that went about 20 feet over Prince Fielder's head, didn't come back to haunt the Tigers. Minnesota scored four times in the top of the third, when Mauer singled with runners on second and third and Josh Willingham cracked a three-run homer to put the Twins up 5-2. Scott Diamond regained form after the fist, but escaped trouble in the fifth and the sixth with a little help from Casey Fien. Willingham homered again in the seventh to push the lead back to three, and then came the bottom of the frame. Torii Hunter and Miggy C. bristled emptily at a couple of Fien's pitches; Hunter struck out and Cabrera walked with one out. Brian Duensing entered to face Fielder, who chopped a weak grounder but right up the middle. Victor Martinez then flared into shallow right-center field. Aaron Hicks laid himself out but just missed the catch. Peralta doubled when Jared Burton came on to stem the tide. In the bottom of the eighth Fielder hit a comebacker that Burton deflected. It forced Brian Dozier to change direction and dive for the grounder but it dribbled away into right field, scoring what was ultimately the deciding run. Joe West is an awful umpire, too. I'm sure somebody on the internet has documented this four or five hundred times. His strike two call against Justin Morneau in the top of the ninth was at least six inches outside. Not that I want to blame anything on the umpires. The Twins blew this one with a little help from bad luck. The good news: misery loves company! And there were a lot of us chiming in on the game today. ROLL CALL! SooFoo Fan (121) kenzertz (71) less cowbell, more 'neau (64) ColossusOfRhode (58) twinsgirl197 (55) DavidRF (43) amiller92 (36) myjah (31) Jesse (21) montanatwinsfan (19) Bullet Point Highlights It was nice to see Hammer get into a groove tonight. He now has eight home runs on the season, and with four runs batted in has accumulated 23 RBI. Diamon, in spite of Cabrera's first inning bomb and a bit of trouble in the fifth and sixth, actually pitched pretty well. He made some great pitches, most notably in those pivotal middle innings. In 5.2 he struck out five, walked just one, but allowed nine hits. Pedro Florimon apparently jammed his fingers and was replaced fairly early by Eduardo Escobar. During the broadcast they said Florimon was day-to-day, so it's nothing serious. But with Trevor Plouffe already on the DL, the infield options are pretty thin for the next couple days. Joe Mauer picked up two more hits today, including a pulled liner off a breaking ball in the first inning. Isn't it nice to see Joe pull one sometimes? Jamey Carroll was brilliant from the leadoff spot again today, going 3-for-5 and raising his batting average to .303 on the season. He joins Mauer and Justin Morneau as the three players with a .300+ average. Torii and Cabrera really did snarl a bit when Casey Fien went inside. With Torii he was just going in, there wasn't any purpose in it. Especially considering that the Twins weren't really looking for base runners at the time. Cabrera seemed to think that a breaking ball on ball four was something to chat about. Both players needed to shut the hell up, really. I get being competitive. I get wanting to win. I get not wanting to have the bat taken out of your hands. But the attitude in this case was pretty empty. Win Expectancy Graph

When the Twins chose to send Pedro Hernadez to Triple-A, the debate was as to whether Kyle Gibson would be the pitcher to replace him and, to some, whether it was the right time to make that move. Once Samuel Deduno was awarded that rotation spot and Vance Worley was optioned to Triple-A, there was absolutely no way that Gibson was going to be the choice. If Minnesota was going to call him up, they would have done so right away. In Worley's place comes P.J. Walters, who made 12 starts for the Twins in 2012 and accumulated 61.2 innings of work. This season he's spent in Rochester, but he's done a pretty good job and is right near the top of the list for guys who deserve a crack with the big league team. Year Age Classification of LeagueClassifications have changed over time but have generally ranged fromAAA to AA to A and then Short-Season or Rookie and B, C, D, etc." style="background-color: #ddd; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 2px;">Lev W L 9 * ER / IPFor recent years, leaders need 1 IPper team game played.Bold indicates lowest ERA using current statsGold means awarded ERA title at end of year." style="background-color: #ddd; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 2px;">ERA G GS CG No runs allowed and a complete game." style="background-color: #ddd; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 2px;">SHO IP (BB + H)/IPFor recent years, leaders need 1 IPper team game played" style="background-color: #ddd; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 2px;">WHIP 9 x H / IPFor recent years, leaders need 1 IPper team game played" style="background-color: #ddd; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 2px;">H/9 9 x HR / IPFor recent years, leaders need 1 IPper team game played" style="background-color: #ddd; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 2px;">HR/9 9 x BB / IPFor recent years, leaders need 1 IPper team game played" style="background-color: #ddd; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 2px;">BB/9 9 x SO / IPFor recent years, leaders need 1 IPper team game played" style="background-color: #ddd; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 2px;">SO/9 2013 28 AAA 4 2 3.31 9 9 1 1 54.1 1.307 9.1 0.3 2.7 7.6 8 Seasons 55 40 4.01 172 137 6 1 814.2 1.347 9.1 0.8 3.0 8.4 Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original TableGenerated 5/23/2013. The biggest issue surrounding the impending promotion of Walters and Deduno is that neither player is on the 40-man roster. And while the active roster has just 24 players, it means the Twins will still need to clear one spot on their active roster as well. At some point in the next couple of days the Twins will need to make at least four roster moves, and possibly five. Two of the moves will involve adding both Walters and Deduno to the 40 and 25-man rosters. Minnesota could then do one of four things. DFA one active roster player and one 40-man (but non-active) roster player, thereby removing two men from the 40-man roster, or... DFA two 40-man (but non-active) roster players, AND option one active roster player to Triple-A, or... DFA two active roster players, which would allow the Twins to call up one other player in addition to Walters and Deduno, or... Any of the above with one 40-man roster move coinciding with Tim Wood's move to the 60-day disabled list. Personally I believe it will be option numbers two or four, but we won't have to wait too long to find out. Welcome back to The Show, P.J. Here's hoping you can succeed where your predecessors could not.

The Detroit Tigers will look to jump back into first place with a win tonight against the Minnesota Twins. Reports on Twitter state the game is likely going to be delayed. Brayan Pena will be getting his second straight start behind the dish with left-hander Scott Diamond pitching. With the way he has been hitting lately, its possible he would be getting the start even if the Twins were running a righty out there. Avisail Garcia will be starting in center-field for the Tigers tonight in the quest for his first MLB base-on-balls of 2013 Read more Avisail Garcia news

Daniel Shirey-USA TODAY Sports One time may be a fluke. Two times may be a coincidence. However, 10 times is a trend. On Wednesday, Atlanta Braves C/OF Evan Gattis crushed a grand slam against the Minnesota Twins and it was the 26-year-old’s 10th long ball of the season. He is currently leading all rookies in home runs, despite getting very limited at-bats this season, making the muti-positional slugger a hero for fantasy baseball owners. The slugger has pretty much been relegated to a pinch-hitter as of late, but that has not stopped him from making a fantasy impact. In his last four games, Gattis has had just six at-bats, but he has still bashed three home runs and driven in seven runs. Gattis has brought his RBI total up to 27 on the year and his average has quietly crept up to .256. His average will likely remain low without a steady dose of at-bats, but his power numbers will keep him active in deeper fantasy leagues all season, regardless of his role. However, Atlanta manager, Fredi Gonzalez, is trying to find ways to get El Oso Blanco’s bat into the lineup, because Gattis is hitting too well to be chewing sunflower seeds on the bench. His most recent hot-streak will almost guarantee him the extra at-bats, so fantasy owners should stay tuned. During his last home run at Turner Field, they played the theme music from The Natural as Gattis rounded the bases. It seems only fitting as he made the team this off-season after quitting ball in college and previously working as a janitor. Gattis is a true hitter and any fantasy owner can appreciate that. Adam McGill is the Senior Fantasy Sports Writer at Rant Sports. Follow him on Twitter @adammcgill83, like him on Facebook, or add him to you networks on Google here or here.

A 6:08 start time? Seriously? What’s up with that? Is there a prize for starting two minutes before every other game in the Eastern Time Zone? Weird starting time aside, it’s pretty hard to look at these line ups side by side and see a lot of reason to hope the Twins will win a game in this series. On the other hand, neither Diamond nor Porcello tend to walk many guys, so maybe the game will at least be relatively fast-paced. Speaking of the Twins’ line up, where the heck is Oswaldo Arcia? Has he started a game at all since last week? I guess I just don’t get the logic of having a kid on the roster if he’s just going to sit. Anyway, here are the line ups: TWINS @ TIGERS Carroll, 3B Infante, 2B Mauer, C Hunter, To, RF Willingham, LF Cabrera, M, 3B Morneau, DH Fielder, 1B Doumit, RF Martinez, V, DH Parmelee, 1B Peralta, Jh, SS Dozier, 2B Tuiasosopo, LF Hicks, CF Pena, B, C Florimon, SS Garcia, A, CF   _Diamond, P   _Porcello, P

RT @JoeCStrib: #Gophers turn to DJ Snelten; Indiana counters with the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year (Tonight on BTN):

Reach back to the Twins and Tigers, Game 163 of the 2009 season. Standing on the hill for the Twins was Scott Baker, while on the other side was rookie Rick Porcello. Broadcasting that game was TBS, and one of the announcers was the one and only Chip Carey. His father he was not, and Carey made a couple of mistakes throughout the game. Most notably, to Twins fans, was this call: "Line drive. Base hit. Caught out there. The runner tags. Throw to the plate. On target! And on time! Double play!" In addition to Carey's broadcasting gaffs, which I don't want to get too down on him for because they happen to everybody, was the inexhaustible number of ways in which he could bring up that Rick Porcello was "just 20 years old." Little things? Absolutely. But our Minnesota Twins had been written off for dead. They were seven games behind the first place Tigers at the start of September, and still three games back with four games remaining. So naturally, after watching the effort of our Twins day in and day out for more than a month and seeing them scratch and claw their way to forcing a tie at the top of the American League Central Division and forcing the Tigers into Game 163, naturally we all wanted some accuracy and a little bit of respect. And on that day, Caray was lacking in accuracy and, as Twins fans, maybe we felt we were being glossed over for the team that had been in first place all season and in favor of what the broadcasters perhaps thought was the better storyline: not the team that miraculously forced Game 163, but that a rookie was starting such a pivotal contest. So we took it over the top. You can look through the game thread that night - comments like "Rick Porcello is the best rookie ever" and "Stop talking about how the Tigers deserve this more. They don't." really hammer home what the experience was like when watching Caray's broadcast on TBS. There's also a lot of complaining about home plate umpire Randy Marsh, which was eventually backed up by the "biased" broadcasting crew who called the strike zone "inconsistent". This comment may have been the actual birth of the meme, in Overflow Thread #1. By Overflow Thread #3, it's all sunk in pretty well. Based on the importance of that game, and the (at least perceived) bias towards the Tigers, it's just become one of those things. Most likely because the Twins actually won the game. So the next time somebody asks you about the RICK-PORCELLO-IS-JUST-20-YEARS-OLD meme, you can answer with some confidence that it's just Twinkie Town fans holding onto a joke that's more than three and a half years old at the time of this writing. At least to me, this meme is really about finding a narrative and blowing it up to gargantuan status. Clearly, we've chosen to take it to a completely different level. Anyway - below are highlights from Game 163, which has been hailed as the 16th best baseball game of all time. It truly was incredible. Your browser does not support iframes.

Scott Diamond #58 / Pitcher / Minnesota Twins Height: 6-3 Weight: 220 Bats: L Throws: L Born: Jul 30, 1986 W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP 2013 - Scott Diamond 3-4 7 7 0 0 0 0 39.2 48 23 22 6 9 16 4.99 1.44 That first start was rough. And then Diamond turned into the guy we all wanted him to be: the solid number three who wasn't blowing anybody away but knew how to pitch. For four consecutive starts we were falling in love all over again. And then he went and reminded us why people hate the phrase "pitch to contact" so damned much. There are no secrets to Diamond's success. It's all about location. He knows it, the fans know it, and the batters definitely know it. In his last two starts you could almost see him forcing the issue - either trying to be too fine or maybe just not having the feel for what he had that night. The Tigers are stacked with good hitters. Hopefully he's on his game tonight and, for a start, could maybe hang a big fat "0" in the bottom of the first. Rick Porcello #21 / Pitcher / Detroit Tigers Height: 6-5 Weight: 200 Bats: R Throws: R Born: Dec 27, 1988 W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP 2013 - Rick Porcello 2-2 8 7 0 0 0 0 38.0 42 25 25 6 8 27 5.92 1.32 He's been on a hot streak recently, after holding an 11.08 ERA four appearances into the season. The way I see it, he hasn't been beat up in his home ballpark yet this year. Tonight seems like a good time, and the Twins are certainly due to end their skid. Right?

Your one-stop shop for all things Twins on this beautiful Thursday night!

The best part of this most recent off-season, for me as a Twins fan, was taking part in SB Nation's Mock Winter Meetings. It was three days of mayhem and endless emails, but it was brilliant. Here's what I had to say in my wrap up, which I recommend in order to see the scope of the process: "Ultimately this was a fun exercise. It was definitely a learning experience. I don't want anyone to think that this is, in any way, a blueprint for what I would prefer to do or what I think the Twins should do - it's more or less what happened in spite of the guidelines I'd set out for myself. I think I did fairly well with the trades, and I think I did okay in free agency although there's the potential for mistakes (particularly with Baker and Youkilis)." Yeah. I signed Scott Baker. To a really bad contract, too, considering his current state. All I'll say is that I paid market rate based on what everyone else was offering. Anyway, now that you have had a chance to see the moves I made, here is how my additions have performed with their own teams this season. Trades Jeurys Familia W-L G GS CG SHO SV BS IP H R ER HR BB K ERA WHIP 2013 - Jeurys Familia 0-0 8 0 0 0 1 0 10.1 10 4 4 2 7 7 3.48 1.65 The Mets #2 prospect in 2012 came to Minnesota as one of the two players in return for Denard Span. In spite of some command issues, Familia was showing some promise as a 23-year old relief option. He was a starter in the minor leagues, and when I acquired him I did so with an eye to giving him a shot at the rotation. Rafael Montero Year Age Classification of LeagueClassifications have changed over time but have generally ranged fromAAA to AA to A and then Short-Season or Rookie and B, C, D, etc." style="background-color: #ddd; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 2px;">Lev AffiliationMajor league franchise(s) that either owns this affiliate or has an agreement with this team." style="background-color: #ddd; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 2px;">Aff W L 9 * ER / IPFor recent years, leaders need 1 IPper team game played.Bold indicates lowest ERA using current statsGold means awarded ERA title at end of year." style="background-color: #ddd; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 2px;">ERA G GS IP (BB + H)/IPFor recent years, leaders need 1 IPper team game played" style="background-color: #ddd; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 2px;">WHIP 9 x H / IPFor recent years, leaders need 1 IPper team game played" style="background-color: #ddd; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 2px;">H/9 9 x HR / IPFor recent years, leaders need 1 IPper team game played" style="background-color: #ddd; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 2px;">HR/9 9 x BB / IPFor recent years, leaders need 1 IPper team game played" style="background-color: #ddd; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 2px;">BB/9 9 x SO / IPFor recent years, leaders need 1 IPper team game played" style="background-color: #ddd; border: 1px solid #aaa; padding: 2px;">SO/9 2013 22 AA NYM 4 3 3.47 8 8 46.2 0.986 7.7 0.4 1.2 10.4 2013 22 AAA NYM 0 1 2.70 1 1 6.2 0.750 5.4 1.4 1.4 6.8 3 Seasons 20 13 2.52 46 41 246.1 0.950 7.1 0.5 1.4 8.6 Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original TableGenerated 5/23/2013. Montero is a 22-year old right-hander signed by the Mets out of the Dominican Republic (and #9 prospect coming out of 2012), and is the second half of the return for Span. Now in his third year with the Mets organization, he finished 2012 in Advanced-A and started 2013 in Double-A. He made eight starts with Double-A Binghamton before a recent promotion, and made his first Triple-A start of his career on Tuesday. Montero struck out five, walked one, allowed four hits and two runs in 6.1 innings of work. There's a good chance he'll have a shot at New York's rotation later this year. Jonathan Pettibone W