Former Cats help do-in New Britain

Harrisburg 5 at New Britain 2

W: M. Estrada (5-2, 2.45); L: J. Sawatski (1-3, 8.03); SV: S. Schmoll (3)
HR: HAR: L. Montz (9).

I'm not sure if it was by coincidence or design, but the entire Eastern League played day games today. After the marathon 7-hour double header yesterday, including a rain delay, I can't imagine that either team was excited about hitting the field again for a 10:35 AM start.

The New Britain Rock Cats tried to look lively early on, pouncing on an early first inning lead. Steve Tolleson lead off with a walk, and Matt Moses doubled to move him to 3rd. Luke Hughes would hit into a ground out that scored Tolleson and moved Moses to 3rd. Erik Lis then sacrificed in Moses.

That would be it for the Cats though, who only managed four hits in the whole game.

Former Miracle and Sarasota native Jason Miller would be on the mound for the Cats. Evidently, I'd missed the move that put Yohan Pino on the 7-day DL with shoulder stiffness, so J-Mill would take his start.

Garrett Guzman - another Twins farm alumni - would double for the Senators to lead off in the 3rd inning. Two outs later, Luke Montz would go yard over the left field wall to tie up the game.

Jay Sawatski would replace J-Mill for the top of the 5th, and after getting Guzman to strike out, allowed a ground rule double to William Bergolla. He'd get Roger Bernadina out on strikes, but issued a walk to Montz. Luis Jimenez, a former Rock Cat, then singled out to center to score Bergolla for the game winning run.

Sawatski would hold the Sens off for the next two innings and gave way to Kyle Aselton in the top of the 8th. The lefty, who has posted some good numbers this year in the Rock Cats pen, walked Jimenez to start out the top of the 8th. Ofilio Castro singled, and the pair would advance a base each on a throwing error by Steve Tolleson. Andrew Lefave then drew a walk to load the bases. Aselton would take two Senators out on strikes before a Guzman single plated Jimenez and Castro for the insurance runs.

Jeff Christy would single off yet another former Twins farmhand, Levale Speigner, and then move to second on a wild pitch. Matt Moses would also draw a walk, but the pair went nowhere as Steve Tolleson ground out and Hughes hit into a double play to end the game.

Hughes and Erik Lis would have the other two hits in the contest.

The loss drops the Cats to .500 on the season; they are 3-7 over their last 10. Next up the Cats head over to Portland to face the Sea Dogs for a four-game series which kicks off at 6:00 PM on Friday. The games on Saturday, Sunday and Monday are all 1:00 PM EST contests.

Boxscore
Log
Rock Cats
Senators
NB Herald - Wednesday
NB Herald
Patriot-News


· Former Miracle lefty Glen Perkins notched his first career major league victory in Tuesday's 11-4 win over the Texas Rangers. The St. Paul, MN native limited the Rangers to two earned runs and six hits in a career-high 6.1 innings. The outing was his third start since being promoted from Triple-A Rochester and his 26th overall appearance with the Twins. In 18.1 innings with the Twins this season, Perkins has compiled a 1-1 record with a 3.44 ERA and 12 strikeouts.

· Last season Zach Ward threw well for the Miracle, but couldn't get a break, compiling a 5-17 record with a 4.08 era in the Florida State League.

Moved to the bullpen in New Britain, the 6'3", 225-lb. right hander has made life miserable for Eastern League batters. In 28 innings of work, he has posted a 2-0 record with a gaudy 0.32 ERA. He has limited the opposition to just 18 hits and a .178 batting average while racking up 24 strikeouts in 17 relief appearances.

Ward was obtained in the trade from the Reds which sent Kyle Lohse to Cincinnati. Prior to the current season, he'd always been a starter.

"I was a mental mess last year," Ward said in an interview with Heather Cavaliere for the Rock Cats website. "I had a lot of things going on in my head and I let that kind of effect me on the field. We didn't score a lot of runs as a team and I had kind of tough luck and had a lot of close games that I lost. There were also a lot of games where we scored plenty of runs and I didn't get the job done. It went both ways. It wasn't just a matter of me not catching the breaks.

"People throughout the organization told me to keep my head up and just keep doing what I was doing because the numbers were there for the most part. I just wasn’t getting the results in the win-loss column."

· Despite time off for an injury, Luke Hughes continues to lead the Rock Cats in runs (33) and hits (54), and is tied for the lead in home runs (10) with David Winfree. Winfree leads the team in runs scored with 36, one more then Brock Peterson, who has appeared in one less game. Steve Tolleson has taken the most walks for the Cats, while Brock Peterson heads up the strike out list with 42.

· Joe Christensen is reporting at Twins shortstop Adam Everett is headed back to the disabled list after experiencing more pain in his right shoulder. The team will announce a roster move following Thursday's game. Twins field manager Ron Gardenhire did not rule out the possibility of promoting Trevor Plouffe or Luke Hughes from AA New Britain to replace him. The Twins are thin through the middle with Matt Tolbert and Nick Punto on the DL. Alexi Casilla has already been promoted from AAA Rochester, so the pickings are slim for replacements.

With the rash of injuries, expect call ups to effect most of the minor league system shortly. On a more positive note, Scott Baker threw a pain free bullpen session on Wednesday and will now likely progress to throwing live batting practice. If that goes well, he could make a rehab start in Extended Spring Training on Monday.

Shield stats and injury report

Luke Hughes remained out the New Britain line up after reportedly "tweeking his hamstring" in a game last week. He has not been placed on the DL and is day-to-day.

The former Miracle infield gained recognition earlier in April after a career month in which he batted .352 (35-for-99) with six double, a triple and 8 home runs, 20 runs and 18 RBIs.

The hot start was attributed in part to Hughes playing winter ball, appearing with Team Australia in the World Cub series, and then going to to participate in Australia's Claxton Shield.

I admit to overlooking the Claxton Shield in my reporting this year, so I thought I'd give you a big of statistical uselessness from the tournament:

                   AVG  GP-GS  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI TB SLG%  Current
Berg, D.           .400  9- 9  40  8 16  1  2  3   7 30 .750  Twins High-A
Atherton T.        .357 10- 8  28  7 10  4  1  0   5 16 .571  Twins Extended/GCL
Rutgers, P.    .319 12-12  47 15 15  5  0  1   7 23 .489  Released-Low A
Hughes, L.         .304 12-12  46 11 14  6  0  0   2 20 .435  Twins AA
de San Miguel, A.  .289 11-11  38  5 11  3  0  1   5 17 .447  Twins High-A
Lysaught, M.       .256 12-12  39  7 10  4  0  0   0 14 .359  Released-Rookie
Oeltjen, T.    .200  6- 6  25  4  5  1  1  0   3  8 .320  Arizona AAA

Oeltjen, down at the bottom of the list, is hitting .301 with 21 runs, 7 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run and 8 RBIs in AA Tucson. Berg is hitting .321 in 9 games for the High A Miracle, with 8 runs, 2 doubles, 2 home runs, and 6 RBIs. He spent time on the DL this season, which accounts for his low playing time. de San Miguel, who is the Miracle's back up catcher, is hitting .108, 4 hits-37 at bats, 3 runs, 1 double, 3 RBIs.

Australian pitching is somewhat different than what these players face in the minor leagues here in the states, but it usually equates to the player's average going down, (Berg, de San Miguel), not up (Hughes, Oeltjen).

In other news, former Miracle Pat Neshak will likely miss the rest of the season with UCL tear in his elbow. Neshak, who is currently with the Major League Twins, had an MRI exam on Friday revealed an acute partial tear of the ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.

As a result of the injury, Neshek will not be allowed to do any throwing for a minimum of three months, meaning that it would be very close to the end of the season by the time he's even close to pitching again.

But while it seemed to be the worst kind of news, Neshek didn't look at it that way. The ulnar collateral ligament is the same one that is replaced in Tommy John elbow ligament replacement surgery. However, Neshek said the doctors believed that his injury could be treated with rest and rehabilitation and not surgery.

"Obviously it's really bad," Neshek said in a Twins press release. "But it's good I can come back and rehab this instead of having to go through surgery and sit out for a good year."

Neshek suffered the injury in the eighth inning of Thursday's game against the White Sox in Chicago. The pitcher said he felt something in the elbow "tweak and roll over" when he threw a slider to Joe Crede, the third batter he faced in the inning. Neshek exited the game immediately following that pitch and was originally diagnosed with a right elbow strain.

Neshek has been given the majority of the eighth-inning spots so far this season for the Twins. He earned the role as the team's primary setup man last season and went 7-2 with a 2.94 ERA, a .183 batting average against and 74 strikeouts over 70 1/3 innings. So far this season, Neshek had posted a 4.73 ERA over his 13 1/3 innings.

In a similar story, Nick Punto remained sidelined with some lingering soreness in his left hamstring. Punto is currently on the 15-Day DL, is expected that he will miss several more games before rejoining the Twins line up.



Twins prospect Andrew Thompson left extended spring training. His back continues to plague him and it is reported he will take another year off to try to heal. Thompson already missed the entire 2007 season, last appearing in a professional game in Beloit in 2006 here he hit .261 through 74 games. He has played on and off on rehab assignments in extended spring training, but has not been able to manage with his injury. Former Miracle pitcher Kyle Waldrop is also expected to miss the season after having surgery on his shoulder. Supposedly there was no damage tot he rotator cuff or labrum, but it's a big setback for Waldrop none the less.

1st base prospect Henry Sanchez also had surgery, on the knee he injured last year. He is likely done for the 2008 season as well.

Mike Allen, Estarlin De Los Santos, Jose Leger and Lee Martin have all participated in extending spring training games on rehab recently, and are on track to play at some point this season.

Miracle top Jays in controversial game

Dunedin 6 at Fort Myers 7

Record 3 - 5

W: D. Shinskie (1-0, 0.00); L: E. Estanga (0-1, 11.57)
HR: DUN: J. Butler (1), B. Jeroloman (1). FTM: E. Lis (1).

E: Lis (1, fielding), Portes (1, fielding).

Former Miracle catcher Kyle Phillips is now playing for the Blue Jays, he was their first baseman last night.

I wasn't all that impressed by Alex Smit. He got batted around a bit.

Alex Smit (Part 1)
Alex Smit (Part 2)

I need to convince Loek and Mushy to sit with me for his next outting and give me color commentary to go along with the video. It was way too crowded to try that last night.

I was even less impressed with Kyle Aselton in relief and was mildly ambivelant towards our fielding except for Erik Lis' error, which I screamed about. Toby Gardenhire didn't play and strangely enough, I didn't notice.

The fifth inning was pretty good.

4-Run 5th Inning (Part 2)
4-Run 5th Inning (Part 3)

(Part 1 is 103MB, so it needs to be edited and it not yet online.)

Whit Robbins looks funny from behind when he's batting. Part of the Hibbing branch of Eli Tintor fan club was at the game. He got a beauty hit for them and made several very nice catches in the field. I loved the T-Shirts!

Drew Thompson is having back problems. He said he's about a month away from playing, but I think he's being optimistic and is probably about 6 weeks out since he said he's not supposed to do anything for another 3 weeks.

Paul Kelly is having some knee issues and is not due back for a while. Jose Leger had surgery and is done for the season.

Boxscore
Log
Wrap
Miracle
News Press
Breeze

Simply Simonitsch

While not quite as impressive as Jacob Tata's complete game shut out for the Lakeland Tigers earlier in the Week, Errol Simonitsch spun a very good game Thursday against the Tampa Bay Yankees.

The 23-year-old from Glendale, California allowed eight hits, but only one run -- a solo shot homer -- through seven innings while striking out six. Nor did he issue a free pass, something he's been very stingy with through six games, allowing only five.

At 6'4" and 225, Simonitsch presents a big powerful figure on the mound, a bit of an illusion, as the southpaw is not a power pitcher.

Simonitsch's fast ball tops out at 89 miles per hour, but he has a good change up and an excellent curveball. He locates his pitches well, and he moves them around quite a bit, baffling hitters who are never quite sure what to expect next.

A sixth round draft pick for the Twins in 2003, Simonitsch played NCAA for the Gonzaga University Bulldogs and received honorable mention as a Louisville Slugger All-American in his freshman year. He played short-season Elizabethton the year of his draft and pitched a full season in Low A with the Quad City Swing last season.

Simonitch, who grew up a Dodger's fan and who is a bit of a car conoisoure (he drives a '69 Chevy El Camino) relaxes before the game with a good book. He says it helps him focus.

The Twins have Simonitch pegged as a fourth or fifth starter if he continues his steady improvement through the minors. While he's never going to be a power pitcher, he is a big strong prospect that throws a lot of strikes, has a great mound presence and puts in effective performances.

Certainly someone for farm watchers to keep an eye on through out this season.

Walk wise, Simonitsch is not the only stingy player on the team. Nick Blackburn, who sports a 3-1, 2.90 ERA record as only given up three in 31 innings. Blackburn has been hot, but struggled early on Tuesday, giving up four earned runs on 9 hits during the second inning. The Miracle bounced back though with a stellar 7 run rally in the ninth in a game that saw everyone except first baseman Omar Burgos get at least one hit.

Education Day

Once again, I've gotten through a homestand without a chance of seeing Glen Perkins pitch. Perkins made his first home start on Wednesday, but the game was at 10:30 in the morning, a field trip day for the children of Lee and Collier Counties.

It was also the first game that Perkins went five innings after recovering from a bruised wrist earlier this season. He allowed one run on three hits, walked two and struck out five.

(On a side note, he did seem to find our harassment of the outfield umpire Thursday evening rather amusing.)

The education day question however was how does a pitcher, facing two batters in the sixth, give up two runs, both earned on one walk and no hits?

The Miracle put Peter Tautor on the mound for the start of the sixth. The struggling Australian walked one and hit the second batter before he was pulled from the mound. Josh Gray, who was not fully warmed up, came into the game and allowed the hits that drove in the runs.

Tautor's continued presence in the line up was been a bit of a bafflement. Josh Hill was demoted down to Beloit after struggling a bit early on, but his 6.71 era at the time of his demotion is nothing compared to Tautor's, who was not really impressive during spring training either. However, Beloit wanted a potential starter and Hill fit that roll, actually getting a start last night for the Snappers who defeated the Fort Wayne Wizards, 13-3.

Hill allowed two runs on six hits, walking three and fanning five. Kevin Culpepper received credit for the win, however.

And yes, while I understand it's really hard to evaluate a prospect on 3.2 innings pitched through five games, the point remains that if Tautor wasn't struggling so badly, he'd have had more time on the mound. I did check, but there is no report of injury to the Melbourne resident, although his performance does remind me of prospect we had several years ago who was struggling badly while coming off a shoulder injury.

Talk of the Town


Tim Lehey - just another righty or the Twins' secret weapon?

When Tim Lahey reported to minor league spring training, it was as catcher. Drafted in the 20th round in 2004 out of Princeton (yes! Princeton) University, the Ivy Leaguer spent short season with Elizabethton where he had seven runs on seventeen hits in 26 games, including 3 yarders.

By the time Extended Spring Training started, the 6'4", 248 pound 23-year-old had hung up the mask. Two weeks later, he stepped out on the mound for his first professional game as a pitcher -- and promptly hit 93 MPH on the radar gun.

A native of Worcaster, Massachusetts, Lahey has only pitched relief innings for the GCL Twins, but look for him to be getting a lot more time in if he continues to dominate.

And dominate he did on Saturday during a 10-9 rally win over the GCL Red Sox. Lahey took to the hill for the ninth, and struck out two of the three batters he faced. The first two pitches to the first batter were fast balls, with the third pitch being a deceptive slider that slipped beautifully past the bat. And yes, those fast balls were hitting 93 on the radar gun.

It was the type of performance that made you sit back afterwards and say nice, VERY NICE. Lahey may well be back in short season Elizabethton for the 2004 season, but don't expect to him stay there long if he continues to live up to his early billing.

Injury Report


Tim Henkenjohann & Matt Fox

The ranks of the wounded are starting to thin out a bit. First round draft pick Matt Fox has started throwing extended spring training games again. German prospect Tim Henkenjohann made his debute for the Miracle, allowing two hits, issuing one walk and striking out 2 in two innings worth of work.

Denard Span who spent a week on the disabled list with a hamstring injury was actived again and played for the Miracle Saturday night against West Palm Beach. Billy Mauer was activated from the DL and sent to Beloit and Fergus Falls native Justin Arneson made a rehab start with the GCL Twins.

Continuing to nurse injuries however is Justin Jones, the lefty prospect the Twins received in the Doug Mientkiewicz trade, who has been suffering with tendinitis through extended spring training. He says he is still three weeks away from resuming pitching activities.

The Aussie Connection

The Twins recently signed a 17-year-old infielding prospect in Matt Lawman, who is considered to be promising short-stop, as well as one of the best hitters to come out of Australian baseball in a while.

The Victorian prospect however will not report to the GCL Twins this season but will instead go to the MBLAAP Baseball Academy. He will report for Minor League Spring Training in 2006.

Signed by Howie Norsetter, Lawman received a lucrative signing bonus as well as opting into the Twins college scholarship plan.

One 17-year-old who has reported to the Twins however is catching prospect Allan de San Miguel, and he has been opening eyes early on.

De San Miguel turned down another season at the MBLAAP Academy, and a rather lucrative job in his father's business to report to the Twins camp this season.

He did offer some insight into "The Wizard of Aus" though. "Howie will sign anyone," he laughed. "He'd sign every ballplayer in Australia if he could. He'll throw ten-thousand dollars at them in the hopes they'll sign cheap."

Rock Cats Report

Rock Cats' outfielder Selwyn Langaingne currently ranks 10th in Eastern League batting with a .310 average, and seven RBIs.

Hitting, especially clutch hitting has plagued the Cats, whose are currently ranked eighth overall in Eastern League batting.

Pitching wise, the Cats rank 5th over, and Rock Cat starter Colby Miller is third in the league with 0.82 ERA. He is 2-0 on the season and has struck out 24. Lefty ace Francisco Liriano is tied for league second, with 43 strike outs.

One stat that the Cats do not like to see belongs to Levale Speigner, who is tied for first in the league with Home Runs Allowed, giving up five so far on the season.

The Cats made several roster moves this week, adding Rick Bell to shore up the infield at 3rd base.

Bell is the son of ex-big leaguer Buddy Bell, The 26-year-old was released by the Chicago Cubs Tuesday after going 5-for-25 (.200) with two RBIs at Triple-A Iowa. He arrived in town during batting practice Thursday, but has yet to play for the Cats, who were rained out on Saturday.

Meanwhile, struggling outfielder Matt Scanlon was released. An 8th round draft pick of the Twins in 1999, Scanlon has worn a Rock Cats jersey through parts of the last four seasons.

Jake Mauer, the older brother of Twins Catcher Joe Mauer was placed on the DL with an elbow injury. New Britain catcher Jose Morales was placed on the DL as well, while veteran catcher Gabby Torres came off the DL to replace him behind the plate.

Finally the Cats shipped relief pitcher Ricky Barrett to Rochester and received lefty reliever Jan Granado from the Miracle. Granado was one of the players drafted in the minor league portion of the Rule V draft this last winter.

The Cats were 3-3 on the last week finishing their series at New Hampshire with a split as well as splitting with the Portland Sea Dogs.

Is Defense important?

Matt Moses: a rebuttle

I find myself endlessly perplexed by this question. First we had Michael Sandoval at third base. He could not play this position. He showed no apparent aptitude at ever learning to play the position. So Miracle fans got treated to a guy for a year and half who would stand around at third, wave his glove at a passing ball and hope that it would somehow magically jump in there.

So why did we keep him around that long? Well, he could hit, of course. .294 in 2003 with an OBP of .385. And yes, this is the Florida State League so those are big numbers. It's all relative.

They finally released Sandoval, not because he couldn't learn to play third base, but because well...he stopped hitting. But that was okay, we had other problems in 2004. This time at first.

His name was Danny Matienzo. Matienzo had been a catcher, and then got moved to first base. I'm not sure anyone really explained to him that you have to more around a bit more at first base than you do behind the plate. So Danny stood around at first base and waited for balls to be thrown to him -- not to the right, not to the left, not a little over his head -- but exactly to him. Hit him on the numbers and he could catch it.

Not a good first baseman. But he had one great talent. He could swing the bat. Finished up 2004 with a .305 average. So he gets promoted to New Britain...not because of his stellar defensive skills at first, but he because he could hit the ball.

The Twins took three of the top four batters from last season's underachieving Miracle squad and moved them up to New Britain.

Now remember, the AA Eastern League is a batter's league. Smaller ballparks mean that the ball should be launching itself, right?

Yet just over two weeks into the season, the Rock Cats are hitting sixth in the 12-team league with a .239 average. Matienzo is only hitting .230. And former FSL All-Star Jose Morales has only hit twice, as he's been injured.

Now the other guys they got from the Miracle, Doug Deeds and Alex Romero have been hitting; Deeds especially with a not really surprising .302 average. But some of the guys brought in to replace the slackers on the Fort Myers squad -- Luis Jimenez for example -- are not producing.

Jimenez is only hitting .067. But maybe that's not surprising for a guy that, in his statement on his substance suspension said "I've weighed 270 pounds for three years and I don't have muscles."

Gil Velazques who was brought into play short, is only hitting .195. Makes you wonder if Cliburn is regretting not taking Jesus Merchan up. After all, he was hitting .200 through Saturday's game.

So needless to say, its not surprising that suddenly everyone is pushing for Matt Moses to be moved up to Double A. My handy Miracle program tells me the guy has played a grand total of 48 games in his two professional years. That's not a whole lot of experience. And I can't help but think that eventually, that inexperience is going to show up in more than just his baserunning and defensive skills.

Moving him to AA isn't going to guarantee that he's going to feast on AA pitching either. After all, James Tomlin hit .303 in 2003 in the FSL. He ended up hitting .216 in New Britain last year, and is only hitting .179 in the early going this season. Maybe they should get rid of Tomlin, who does bring some brilliant fielding work to the team, and some excellent baserunning skills. After all, those skills seem to be meaningless in a game where you need to be successful at the plate only one-third of the time to excel.

But I have to question if a promotion for Moses is really warranted. Then again, I need only look at the examples over the past couple of years to know that the Twins could really give a rats ass about his fielding. As long as he hits the ball.

Baseball America writes in today's Daily Dish that "Moses, a first-round pick out of Mills Godwin High in Richmond, Va., in 2003, appears to have fully recovered from the bulged disc in his back that limited him to 29 games last year, and he is impressing the Miracle coaching staff."

I'm not sure that statement is true. Moses was scratched from the April 14th game because his "back was acting up". I'm not saying that's not the case. But I found it odd considering he was out on the field prior to the game playing catch. Ricardo Ingraham saw him and said "I don't want you throwing the ball if you're too hurt to throw the ball," and chased him off the field.

So was Moses really hurting? Or did he just want a day off?

I suppose if his back is going to act up, I'd rather it did it up in AA. But then I also have to wonder why, when the bats aren't working in Double A the first thing everyone wants is to pluck a big, juicy hitter out of the FSL.

Stan Cliburn made the following comment in the New Britain paper "Based on the guys who are new here, they didn't learn how to win last year. They had a terrible year down in the Florida State League. It was not a good situation down there. I heard a lot of negative things."

Hey Stan? What about the winning situation with the Rock Cats this year? Maybe you should try teaching them instead of raiding the cupboard ever time something isn't working for you?

New Britain is now 7 and 10 on the season. Even with Moses, the Miracle dropped two game to the Lakeland Tigers this week and struggled against the Dunedin Blue Jays. What Baseball America failed to report is that Moses' 3-for-4 plate performance Sunday came against the Clearwater Threshers, who are the bottom feeders in the FSL in terms of pitching right now.

Against Lakeland he was 1-for-4 and 2-for-4 with two RBIs. Still not bad, but not quite as stellar as his performance on Sunday. Against the Jays, who took a 16-2 win over Lakeland yesterday, he was 0-for-7 (and laid off with bad back).

Considering all of that, does he still look like a prime candidate for promotion? All of Moses' success has come against Sarasota, Tampa and Clearwater and guess which three teams are on the bottom of the FSL in terms of pitching? You got it! Sarasota, Tampa and Clearwater.

Maybe we should just stop jumping the gun when it comes to promotions and look at the overall picture. I'd like to think the Twins do. But then, I know better.

· Injury updates:

Jason Kubel was out on field four Sunday afternoon, playing catch. No, don't get your hopes up. He still had a knee brace on and it was part of a therapy work out.

Yes it bends, but he still has a very long way to go before he'll be ready to start patrolling the outfield again.

First round draft pick Glen Perkins made his debut with the Miracle Friday allowing two hits and striking out four in three innings worth of work. Josh Gray took the loss, allowing one run on four hits while striking out five in the last three innings. Julio DePaula also gave up a run in two innings, while the Miracle bats were relatively silent, managing only one run on seven hits.

Another first rounder, Matt Fox reports that he is about a week and half away from pitching extended spring training games. A college pitcher for the University of Central Florida, Fox pitched 8 game -- 26.2 innings -- with a 5.40 ERA so far in his professional career.

Also close to returning is Tim Henkenjohann who pitched in 2003 in Elizabethton and who is recovering from Tommy John surgery. The 6'5" 215 German import came up through the beer leagues in Germany and said the closest baseball field to his house was 80 miles away!

Trent Oeltjen has also come off the IR and returned to the Fort Myers squad. "Dingo" is hitting .385 through 13 at bats following his very scary eye injury during spring training.

· Movements:

The Twins have released lefty Jeff Randazzo. The 6'7" Pennsylvania native suffered a major accident in 2003 while playing in the Appalachian league. Once considered a top pitching prospect, he never regained his earlier form and was struggling in the New Britain bullpen. Brian Wolfe was demoted from Triple A Rochester to take his spot.

Both Terry Tiffee and Dave Gassner were reassigned to New Britain by the Twins. The Twins also signed southpaw Jimmy Anderson for Rochester following his release from the Pirates organization.

· Extended Spring Training:

The rookie Twins dropped their Sunday game 2-1 in front of some strong Reds pitching a the Lee County Sports Complex. Armando Gambino took the loss, allowing two runs on nine hits, while walking two and striking out three. Jeff Schoenbachler allowed only a single in two innings of relief, but managed to run his pitch count up to 95! Kyle Edlich was competent for three more, before Jose Mijares was brought in to close out the game. I've been seeing a good deal of Edlich so far and have not had a problem with him.

Of note was William Luque who hit a double and single in the game and made a couple highlight reel catches at short. Mijares also made a stellar play on the mound, snagging a hit ball midair and riffling it to first. Mark Robinson batted in Odannys Valdez for the lone Twins run.

Rick Knapp was in town, "teaching" he said. I caught him giving helpful suggestions to Kris Langford behind the plate, but from what I could get from the rest of the pitching staff who joined me for the game, he was not teaching, but terrorizing.

"Oh," I said. "Knappy's a really nice guy."

The boys scoffed at this suggestion, saying "Oh yeah, he's nice to YOU." Well, he is. However, I decided again having them "practice" signing my GCL ball since Knappy had already signed it and decided a get a new TC ball for them to practice on.

The Extended Spring Training roster is now available online for those that are interested.

· The Skunk Story:

This is Brock Peterson's to tell, but he was driving in Tennessee while playing for the Elizabethton Twins when the vehicle in front of him hit a skunk and the carcass was flipped up onto the windshield of his truck. He tried to get rid of it by turning on the windshield wipers, but the skunk got stuck in the blades.

Now...logic defies me a bit on this because I can't really figure out how a skunk, even flattened by a previous vehicle, could manage to get trapped under the windshield wipers. In any case, I'm sure it was not only smelly, but a bit gruesome as well.

Finally he had to get paper towels and pull the critter off his truck that way. (I also have this really strange mental picture of him standing out on a dark road, on his cell phone going "Mom? How do I get rid of skunk stink?" I wonder if he had to wash the truck in tomato juice?)

I understand that some of the Betsy fans, when treated to the odor of skunk these days say "I smell a Brockie!"

· And Finally...

The Miracle are on the road and will not play at home until Saturday when the first 750 fans through the gate will receive free Miracle tote bags. This will make some of the rookies happy who have been harassing me about having a Marlin's tote bag. "But you do like the Marlins," Fox says, noting that I'd lived in Fort Lauderdale.

I assured him I did and also added that we know a guy that pitches in the Marlins Farm System. Chris Resop is a Baron-Collier High School grad who is currently with their AA squad in the Southern League. A converted fielder, Resop has a six saves on seven games, with a great big .000 ERA, no walks and 8 strike outs in 7 innings pitched. (Yes, I promised his dad I'd work him into at least one Twins report his season.)

However, aside from the fact that they'd eat me out of house and home, memorabilia is another good reason not to bring the rookies home. I'm sure they'd take one look at my autographed Derek Jeter jersey and I'd never hear the end of it...