The Lewfie Matinee

The GCL Twins defeated the GCL Reds 3-2 in an extended spring training game at the Lee County Sportsplex this afternoon. A great pitching effort by Mike Allen, Ricky Barrett, Brian Kirwan and Danny Rondon carried the day.

Major leaguers Lew Ford and Ken Harvey made rehab starts in the game, with Ford going 2-for-4 at the plate and Harvey 0-for-4 with one strike out. Harvey played first base for part of the game, Ford was out in left field during the same part.

Esterlin De Los Santos opened up the scoring for the Twins when he got on base with a single and stole over to second. Ford ground out and Harvey struck out before Juan Richardson singled De Los Santos home. The Twins would nurse that one point lead into the sixth inning when Yangervia Solarte singled with two outs and then moved to second on a balk by the Reds pitcher. Jakub Hajtmar from the Czech Republic singled him in, giving the Twins two. Mark Dolenc struck out to end the inning.

Wang-Wei Lin doubled to open the bottom of the eighth, and was singled home by Solarte to make it 3-0 Twins. During this time period, the Reds never made it as far as second base...that's how good the pitching was. That came to an end though in the ninth inning when closer Aaron Craig suffered control problems and allowed 2 runs on three hits, with two additional runners reaching on a fielder's choice with the ground outs going to second, instead of first. Still, Craig managed to get the third out on an outfield fly, and get the save.

Of note, Wilson Ramos hit a home run in the first inning that fell fair, hit the retaining fence and bounced back onto the field, at which point the umpire ruled it foul. I believe coach Prada nearly ate the umpire from lunch on that one, but there were some seriously questionable rulings that went against the Twins and I was wondering if the PBL on their caps stood for Professional Bowling League, as they sure didn't seem to know how to call a baseball game.

Eric Santiago had the play of the game on a put out in shallow right field. Unfortunately, he was injured during the play, but was able to make it off the field under his own power. He appeared to have injured the ankle he hurt last season during GCL. Hopefully it's not serious and he was removed more as a matter of precaution. Santiago will likely go to Elizabethton when the camp breaks in June.

Wesley Conner nearly had a home run with the Twins doing extra batting at the bottom of the ninth. A stiff wind from left field kept the ball in the park, otherwise it would have been over the fence.

De Los Santos was 1-for 2 in the game, Richardson was 2-for-3 with a double, Ramos - the disallowed home run aside - was 0-for-3 with one strike out, J. W. Wilson was 1-for-2, Lin was 1-for-2 with a walk, Santiago was 0-for-2, Solarte - who hails from Valencia Carabobo, Venezula - was 3-for-3 with a double, Conner was 0-for-2, Hajtmor was 1-for-2, Mark Dolenc was 1-for-2 with a strike out, Rene Leveret from St. Maarten was 0-for-1 with a walk, and Rodolfo Palacios was 0-for-1.

The Twins take on Pittsburgh tomorrow in Bradenton and face Baltimore in Sarasota on Saturday before returning home to take on the Red Sox on Sunday. All games are at 12:30 pm.



Off the cuff: Listening to Kyle Edlich explain me to one of the new guys was kind of um...odd. Discussions on the bench today included a Lewfie special - how to iron your shirt while wearing it.

David Bromberg says he's been hitting 92-93 on the speed gun and hopes to see 95 by the time camp breaks in June. He is expected to go to Elizabethton. Do not expect Mike Allen in Betsy however, I hear he's been earmarked for Beloit. Bromberg will be pitching on Saturday, so we'll have a look at him then.

Matt Fox was not pitching today so he was back to his usually witty, charming and incredibly silly self. He said he roomed with Kyle Aselton for Instructs once and twice for spring training and was going to stay with him this year, but David Shinski needed a place to stay and moved into the apartment with Aselton, Tintor and Ward instead.

He also accused me of not seeing Kyle Aselton as Aselton is pitching out of the bullpen and I said that was not the case, which he would find out if he actually bothered to read my blog. Kyle has been semi-randomly assigning "boy"friends to me, I believe to get back at me for calling him "Pookie" in public.

Candian first baseman Jon Waltenbury does fit the right-handed hockey shot/left-handed batter profile that was theorized by Everblades president Craig Brush. Waltenbury was a center prior to starting his baseball career. Beyond that, he didn't add much and I understand now where is camp nickname comes from. He did like his photos however, as did Fox, Bromberg and Kevin Harrington.

My friend Ed made a comment at the Miracle game on Tuesday night that I really need to get a professional digital camera and put the old film based Nikon out to pasture. "It will totally change the way yout take pictures." He's right. It would totally change my lifestyle. I'd never get any sleep then, I'd be too busy uploading, editing and printing shots.

When asked what he thought of Wednesday's Education Day Miracle game, Loek Van Mil answered "It was loud!"

Video
Mike Allen told me his mom liked the last video, so I got her another one...
Lew Ford and Ken Harvey
Ricky Barrett
Brian Kirwan - 6th Inning
Brian Kirwan - 7th Inning
Danny Rondon

Still Photos