One More Time...

Spring Training tails off

There's no crying in baseball. Except on the days when the guys get cut. Or on the last days of spring training. Or on the last days of the season. Because then everyone is getting ready to ship off. Or nearly everyone. And so, I'm ready to cry. I'm a girl. I'm going to miss these guys. Yeah, I'll get over it.

The Rock Cats, Red Wings and Snappers are pretty much packed up and ready to go. A few more adjustments to the roster and then...before you know it, it will be opening day.

I had hoped to watch the Rock Cats yesterday and the Snappers today but the rain out yesterday ended that plan. To further complicate matters, the Red Sox cancelled out on today's games - except for the Rookie League - because they didn't have enough players. So I have to wonder, what ever happened to all the players they had?

So this led me to bouncing around from field to field to field watching Red Wings, Rock Cats, Snappers and Miracle. And getting waylaid by quite a few quys.

Mostly the Miller/Miller/Durbin contingent who where scoring the game between the Rock Cats and Red Wings.



"Hey, you said the Rock Cats are going to suck." I assured Jason Miller I'd never said that. I did point out that someone mentioned they looked like the weakest of the teams this season, and that I did agree with that remark. However, they have shored up the fielding a bit with the additions of Luis Jimeniz and Gil Velazquez, plus they have Bryan Kennedy and Gabby Torres which will help journeyman catcher Jose Morales work on his weak spots.

I mean, I just got done writing a very upbeat article for the Dugout. So see Jason, I never said they were sucking.

I named Matt Yeatman my favorite Rock Cat. He was my favorite Miracle.

"Who's going to be your favorite Miracle this year?" Probably Kyle. "Kyle?"

"Yeah, you know Kyle and Kyle and the two catchers."

"Oh yeah, Phillips. Who's the other one?

"Geiger."

"What I want to know," J.D. Durbin says, "Is who was your favorite player when we were here?"

"We" being him and Colby Miller.

"Tommy Watkins," Jason Miller volunteers. "He's a local boy."

I point out that Jason is a local boy too. "I am not."

"Okay, you're one hour away from being a local boy." Sarasotians think they are from the big city, as opposed to us small town Fort Myers folks.

One of them, Colby maybe, volunteers that he's 33 hours away from being a local boy. That's pushing it.

I finally offered that the 2003 squad was too hard to pick a favorite from and escape.

(Just for the record, in 2002 it was Josh Rabe and Terry Tiffee and in 2001 it was Gabby Torres.) But honestly, in 2003, is was super Joe Mauer.

I discover that Travis Bowyer will be pitching one inning of relief for the Red Wings. They need some relief as the score was 9-2 Rock Cats at that point. Dave Gassner did not have it going on.

Find Trey Hodges warming up in the bullpen for the Red wings. Head back to the Rock Cats side of the things and find Josh Gray has joined the group being home plate.

"Then again, Josh here could be my new favorite Miracle." Get looks flashed at me over shoulders. Skeddatle over to the Miracle side of the park.

Discover that there were more roster changes but that there is not a new roster so I don't know the extent. But Ben Pattee is now on the Miracle roster.

Chat with Ben for a bit who is in the on deck circle while Geiger is batting. "Great," he says dejectedly. "I'm not even going to get to bat." Turns out that Gieger was the last batter and they were rolling the inning. Poor baby.

Got pictures of Angel Garcia pitching, he actually looked pretty good on the mound. He was giving Geiger some difficulties.



There is a pictorial side to this narative, but I dropped the film off, went over the B.O.A. to use the ATM, and there my car sits. Dead. I'm not happy, especially as the windows are down and I can't get them up again without power. Jumping didn't work. Maybe a dead cell in the battery. Won't know until tomorrow when I can get it towed to the dealership. Frag it all.

That would be the cheap repair. We won't talk about the rest of the problems it's been having.

Much thanks to my neighbor, Angie, for taking me to the lab to pick up the pictures. (And she doesn't even like baseball!)

In any case back to the games. I have no idea what the score on the Snappers' game was, but I head around the corner to see what's going on the Snappers' side of the field.

"Hey, you're not leaving," Gray says.

"Um, no, I'm just going to check out the Snappers."

"You're supposed to be watching the Miracle." I explain that I'm going to have them all season and I have friends on the Snappers who I won't be seeing for a while again and that the Miracle can wait.

He's not happy with this. What kind of fan am I?

Evidently, the Ultimate Twins Fan as I now have another endorsement from Jim Abbott's Mother-in-Law on that one. I don't know if she reads this column or not. Some of the boys are, that's for sure.

Anyway, I tell him he'll have to introduce me to his new teammates on Wednesday. Wednesday? Season ticket holder party. I suggest he could start with the guy he's standing next to.

"I'm J.P. Martinez," the fellow tells me. "I"m with the Snappers." Yes he is. Too bad, he pitched really quite well when I watched the Miracle thump the Snappers last weekend. I tell him this.

Josh tells him that I really know baseball. I say well, yeah, ya'll will get used to me. Go bounding off to check on the Snappers. I FINALLY get to watch Trevor Plouffe play short stop! However, most of the plays were mundane and he handled them easily. I wanted to see... well...

Go bounding back to the Rock Cats side of the field and watch J.T. Thomas warming up in the bullpen. I must have made him nervous, as he suddenly throws clear out of the pen and onto the field where the Single A game is going on. This sends J.T. into a fit of giggles and I wonder if he'll be able to get it together again to throw.



Check back briefly with Tommy Watkins' mom and the Abbott-in-laws. Notice Travis warming up in the pen and manage to get past the Millers while the are otherwise occupied.

This was about the only time I set my butt down for more than oh...five seconds. Settled in to watch Trav pitch.



He struck out Luis Maza as the first batter. Allowed a double, and got the third Cat out on an outfield fly. Struck out the fouth batter to end the inning. Good work Trav.

Go bounding off again to harrass Colby and J.D....

· The most recent version of the training camp roster is available Here. Like I said, Pattee has been moved down to the Miracle.

· Abby's wife asked me if I was coming to New Britain this year, which makes me wonder if he was sent down to the Rock Cats. We might go. It depends. Now it really depends with the car dead.

· Cuts this week: Pitchers Manny Tajada, Eric Brandon, Hiroyuki Iida, Chris Marini, Alex Garcia; Catchers Andy Daigler, Heath Anderson, and Josh Johnson; 1st Baseman Dusty Goman; 3rd Baseman Brett Tamburrino and outfielder Ryan Sparto. Pitcher J.C. Contraras was released prior to the start of camp.

Goman was reportedly released because he was a slugger who never made contact enough for his power to emerge. Tamburrino I covered in another post. Hampered by injuries, his power has fallen off of late and so has his value to the Twins. Although he still has something most of us will never have: a silver medal.

· Injury report: Gray is on the DL, but says he's ready to go. I had a look at Trent Oeltgen's eye. He looks okay except for some blood in eye on the side of his face where he took the bat. He said he will probably play a week or so on extended-spring training before being added to the Miracle roster.

· Has the whole system gone catcher crazy?

While I still question the inclusion of Corky Miller on the Twins bench, to make matters worse, Gabby Torres has been retained as the "floater" for the AAA/AA teams. He's nominally on the Rock Cats roster.

Meanwhile the Snappers had FOUR guys on their catching roster. I only saw Korry Feiner and Javier Sanchez today, which may or may not be important.

It will be interesting to see how the opening night rosters work out.

Rock Cats ready to break camp

Heads up New Britain! A whole new squad of Rock Cats is coming your way!

While Saturday's pre-season game in Fort Myers may be cancelled by rain, the Rock Cats have put in a solid training camp and are ready to get back to patroling New Britain Stadium.

The Cats will bring some big bats north with them, starting with University of Miami stand out Danny Matienzo, who nearly earned the Florida State League batting title last season. Matienzo will serve as a first baseman when he is not DHing, splitting time in that position with Luis Jimenez. Jimenez, a free agent off-season signing, hit .310 for Lara in the Venezuelan Winter League.

Also high on the list of Cats with Bats will be outfield Alex Romero, who is noted for more that just his batting. Romero brings speed to the basepaths, and a canon of an arm to the outfield. Joining Romero in the outfield is former Ohio State University alumni Doug Deeds. Deeds had been slowed in the early part of his career by a hand injury, but is fully recovered now and was considered one of the best players with the High A Fort Myers Miracle last season. Deeds lead the Florida State League in triples last season with 12.

Behind the plate, look for switch hitting Jose Morales. While Morales, a Florida State League All-Star, needs some work with his catching skills -- especially in learning to work his pitching staff and in calling the games -- his althetic skills speak for themselves. He is both skilled with his bat and is defensively solid, taking steady aim at anyone who might try to steal second. Morales' inexperience will be offset by the mentoring of veteran cat Bryan Kennedy. Kennedy is a heart and soul player who does well with the mental portion of the game and who deals well with his teammates. These two should provide the Cats with one of the best catching tandums in the Eastern League.

Also returning for to New Britian is two utility players, Tommy Watkins and Jake Mauer. "These guys will at least get an opportunity to play at AAA, and who knows from there?" said Jim Rantz, director of the Twins farm system, who also noted that much like his younger brother, Jake Mauer can also catch.

Leading off the starting rotation will be Francisco Liriano, a late season call up in 2004. This southpaw was clocked at 97 mph this spring, and could reach Class AAA Rochester this season, as soon as he fine-tunes his control.

Next up should be sharp eyed Colby Miller, who was slowed last year by injuries. Justin Olson will be the third starter. Originally a reliever, the hard throwing Olson worked his way into the starting rotation in Florida last season, and will be looking to prove himself with the Cats.

6'4" righty Matt Yeatman will also start for the Cats. Yeatman, who was obtained in a trade with the Brewers in 2002 posted respectable numbers in Single A. He was slowed last year by tendantis, but should come on strong for the Cats.

Finally, righty Levale Speigner from Thomasville, Georgia, will round out the starting rotation. Speigner was a mid season call up to High A ball last season had a 4-3 record with a 1.79 ERA for the Miracle.

While last season's Cats were shy on lefties, that won't be the case this year with Jason Miller, Jeff Randazzo, J.T. Thomas and Ricky Barrett in the bullpen. Submarine throwing Pat Neshek will share the closing duties with Kevin Cameron, both returning to the Rock Cat pride.

The Cats start their season Thursay April 7th on the road against New Haven for a 6:35 pm game and will play a series in Portland against the Sea Dogs before their home opener on April 14th.

Expect an explosion of baseball excitment with the new 2005 version of the New Britian Rock Cats!

Easter Sunday Treat

Who ticked off the Baseball Gods?

The winds today were 16 to 20 mph steady (from the Southwest) with higher gusts up to 32 mph when the Paw Sox were at the plate.

This isn't a joke, it was for real. Everytime the Red Wings got up to bat the winds died down. At first it seemed kind of funny, but then after a while, we were kind of wondering what sort of cruel joke this was.

In any case, the final score was 9 to 1, Paw Sox.

The Twins even decided to help us out, loaning us Carlos Silva to start the game. Silva would surrender four runs on six hits, including one home run, while striking out three in four innings worth of work.

Honestly, you can't fault the pitcher. The first double he gave up went far into the outfield and while we had two fielders on it, neither could make the play as they couldn't judge where the ball was going. So it fell in between the two of them. Was not Silva's fault. He was doing his best in adverse conditions.

We also got Mike Redmond to catch for us. He was one for two at the plate with one walk.

And finally, they loaned us Luis Rivas. I was wondering by the second inning if it would be too soon to give him back. It was.

Evidently, the object of the game was not to try to get a win, but to give Rivas as many at bats as possible. He ended up being one-for-five, with one strike out and one hit by pitcher. They put in a pinch runner for him, but it didn't really help as Redmond hit into a double play.

Thank you Twins, you're a fine organization, but I really didn't want to find Luis Rivas in my easter basket. Please refrain from pleasantly surprising us in the future. (And then people wonder why I hate presents.)

Brent Abernathey provided the lone run for the Red Wings in the second, compliments of some fancy base running. The closest we came to a homer was Tommy Watkins long outfield fly in the seventh that fell just inches short of the center field fence. It he'd hit just little to the left, he would have had it. If there was just a bit of tail wind on it, he would have had it but, honestly, if the winds had anything to do with it, they shoved it over toward the outfield fence and so, he didn't have it.

The Baseball Gods were NOT happy with the Red Wings today.

Once Silva left the mound, Beau Kemp took over, striking out four with one walk. It was four strike outs he had to work for though as he really likes working to a full pitch count.

Travis Bowyer handled the pitching chores for the seventh and eighth, striking out five, but allowing two homers and a double. Again, any or all three of these would have been nice easy put outs, but the winds....darn those winds!

April Fools Day isn't for another week!

We did make the best of a bad situation. Gabby Torres and Bryan Kennedy provided us with plenty of entertainment in the dug out and the loss of the balls to the Wind Gods kept everyone busy trying to scrounge a few up.

"Heads Up! Bring it back! I see you over there Neshak, dang you! Bring that back!"

The other topic was the seperation of Watkins and James Tomlin, the inseperable pair. It started shortly after Tommy's mom joined me at the game. One of the pitchers for New Britain came bouncing over and said "James is lonely. He misses Tommy." I pointed out he has Sam to keep him company.

Anna went over to see how James was doing and came back a little while later. "He's talking trash. I told him Tommy misses him and he said 'He does not!'"

The commentary then went along the lines of "Well, it's only for a day or so..." but that may not be the case. Several of the players and staff felt that Tommy could be staying with the Wings. But we shall see how that goes, in part because Luis Maza may be going on the DL after he took a ball to the foot today. (There was no immediate update on that, they took him off in a little cart as he couldn't walk.)

Johan Pino, who is on the Beloit squad, pitched up to finish the game off, allowing a double and a homer, with one strike out and one walk. I was beginning to wonder if we were going to get out of the inning but he induced Selliers to hit into a double play to end the inning.

On the whole though, the Pawtucket pitching really shut down the Wings. I can blame the Sox runs on the winds as much as I want, but the Wings turned in a poor performance at the plate. Garrett Jones struck out twice in two at-bats, Kevin West, hit into two double plays and an outfield fly, and Jason Tyner struck out once on three plate apperances. Watkins, Rob Bowen and Todd Dunwoody also recorded strike outs.

· The boys had the morning off for Easter services. I did get to watch the 11:00 AM bullpen session with J.D. Durbin. On the whole, Durbie was pitching well, and I hope that he will have a productive season with Rochester and hopefully make another stab at the Twins roster later in the season. Red Wings pitching coach Bobby Cuellar was working with him through the session, trying to smooth out the trouble spots.

· The Minnesota Twins today optioned outfielder Michael Ryan to Rochester of the International League (AAA); assigned outfielder Armando Rios to minor league camp; released infielders Andy Fox and Eric Munson. Remember how I told you guys Munson wasn't going to make the Twins?

· After the game I wandered over to see what the Rock Cats were doing. I asked Jeff Randazzo the score. There's a momentary discusion and they come up with "Go ask Frankie (Liriano). He misses you."

"Frankie doesn't miss me," I informed them, although Liriano was doing the score keeping for the game. "Josh isn't going to miss me either," I said refering to Josh Gray. "I'm in Fort Myers again," he says.

"I know that. That's why you're not going to miss me." He's going to be here all year and we're going to have lots of fun together.

"Ace here is going to miss me, he just doesn't know it yet," I say, patting Randazzo on the shoulder.

"Oh, I will miss you!" Jeff says. "I miss you already."

Matt Yeatman and J.T. Thomas aren't going to miss me either, but they ARE going to miss fishing in the outfield pond prior to the games.

· Extended Spring Training starts Thursday, April 14th when we host the Reds. I had not actually rushed to put this schedule up on line because of the general overall lack of interest in it. However, Anna asked about it today, so I guess I should get to work on that.

Send Down Saturday

Is it still considered a Red Sox rally when the home team falls apart?

Coach Milt Cuyler calls me his good luck charm. Today, he had a friend down from St. cloud -- she was in town to watch her son play baseball at a tournament at Terry Park -- so he had two good luck charms.

How could we lose? We didn't. But we ended up settling for a 4-4 tie.

Actually, the GCL Rookies got off to a really good start. Jeff Hawes was one of the send downs yesterday so he took the start today for the Twins. He allowed 2 hits, one walk and two strike outs in three innings of work. In fact he struck out both of the first two batters he faced. One of the hits turned into a triple though. Should have been a put out but the winds were again making things difficult in the outfield. I do however need to state that our starting outfield of Richard Sojo, Mark Robinson, and Larry Jones did an excellent job out there, despite adverse conditions.

Meanwhile, on the batting side, short stop William Luque walked to start the game.

Stop right there. I have to rave about William Luque. Not as a short stop but on the basepaths. This kid was just TREMENDOUS once he got on base. He's got to be Paul Molitor's prized pupil. The kid get's walked to first. Then, with Odannys Valdez up to bat, he steals second. Just sweet and clean, it was so fast the opposing catcher never even got the throw off. Scott Lucas, a 1st baseman who is with the team on a try out agreement, singled and by this time, Luque was on third. I could just imagine him stealing home, but former Gulf Coast University stand out Chris Brown doubled both of them in for a 2-0 lead.

Greg Najac, who was also a victim of "send down Saturday", lined out and then outfielder Richard Sojo struck out to end the first. I think it was Sojo who failed to snag the put out in the first that resulted in Hawes getting charged with a triple, but...

Travis Kalin hit a single in the second, but went nowhere on it. Which brought us back to the top of the order for the third.

Evidently Ramos Linares was not paying attention to Cooper Eddy's first ining, as he walked Luque. Valdez was taken out at first, so I suppose we could say Luque reached second on a fielder's choice. Then Lucas got a nice solid line drive, a single for him, but Luque was over the plate on that one. Good kid, pleasure to watch. Hope we get to see a lot more of Luque.

Brown walked, but Lucas was caught off base at second and tagged out. Najac lined out to end the inning.

Kyle Eldich took over the mound for the fourth and fifth and turned in a really good performance. He only faced six batters and struck out one. He walked T. Bawden, but caught him off base while Dee Williams was at bat, ending the fifth inning. Nice defensive work on that one.

The fourth for the Twins over over quickly. Jones walked to start the fifth but Robinson struck out. While Luque singled to advance Jones, he would later be caught off base, trying to steal again, while Valdez was at bat. Valdez then did his best to keep the inning alive, but couldn't quite get to first before the ball did.

Alex Garcia came out to pitch for the Twins in the sixth and seventh. He would ultimate face 10 batters, allowing four hits, including a double which the outfield failed to catch, struck out one, and hit Torres (Sorry, I don't have first names on most of the Red Sox guys) in the sixth. I should note on the double that we had changed over the outfield by that point, putting in Simon Fletcher and Ricky Prady in for Robinson and Sojo.

Leonard found is way home on a sac-fly to Bawden in the seventh, putting the hated Red Sox on the board.

Lucas walked to start the sixth for the Twins, but was taken out at second as Najac reached first on a fielder's choice. Dean hit a long single, putting Najac on third. Prady struck out, but Najac was able to come home on Joe Arabella's bat to give us four. We'd need four.

In the seventh, catcher Kris Lankford walked to start and Jones singled, Fletch flew out, but Juan Delgado would reach on a fielder's choice, as they took Lankford out. Wesley Conner struck out to end the inning.

Jose Castillo came out on the mound for the Twins in the eighth. E. Linsres singled to start the inning, but Castillo induced Pritz to hit into a double play. Mareno would double though for the Sox as the outfielders failed to make the put out. Torres hit a high pop up at the plate and rookie catcher Kris Lankford made an absolutely great catch behind the plate to take him out on the foul. This catch was only second to Ricky Prady's put out in the sixth, when he ran straight into the fence, but still managed to hang on to the ball to foul Williams out.

Lucas, Dean, and Prady all hit in the eigth, but both Dean and Prady reached on fielder's choices as first one, than the other was taken out. Najac's strike out would provide the second out for the Twins, before the Sox caught Prady at second on Joe Abellera's at bat to end the inning.

Jeff Shoenbachler took over for the ninth but this is when the outfield fell apart. Two balls that should have been put outs turned into a double and a triple, and Arambarris and Bawden singled for the Sox. In the end, Shoey gave up three runs, all earned, to tie the game at four.

The Twins declined to bat in the ninth, settling for the tie, as the game was running longer than either of the Single A games.

While the Twins ran through most of their roster in batting, the Sox brought only a limited number of players. It will be a similar situation tomorrow at the Rex Sox facility as the as Twins teams will have a limited roster and Red Sox will have more of their players bat.

I told Najac I didn't want to see him back in Gulf Coast. Nothing personal. He laughed and said he was going to Elizabethton.

Pitcher Joe Gault was working as the second referee for the game, as we only got one. They do actually give us two during regular season. Luke Thwaites served as ball boy. Need I say, these were two of the pitchers I really wanted to see and the pitched yesterday while I was watching Beloit get slaughtered. Grumble.

Today turned out to be probably the hottest day we've seen so far this season, with even a touch of hummidity. Of course, this was NOTHING compared to what we go through in July and August. That's why it always amazes me that some of these kids repeat the Gulf Coast League level. If you've been through hell once, why would you EVER want to repeat it?

Okay, the big news as "Send Down Saturday". Nick Blackburn dropped from Rochester to Fort Myers. I like Blackie, I won't mind having him back. Both Millers, Jason and Colby, joined the AA team as did Justin Olsen and catcher Jose Morales. Of interest, Levale Speigner remains with the AAA group. Danny Matienzo, Jake Mauer, Matt Scanlon and James Tomlin all found themselves on the AA roster as well.

Catcher Kyle Geiger, third baseman Omar Burgos, and outfielder Scott Whitrock all joined the Fort Myers group as did pitchers Josh Gray, Adam Harben, Glen Perkins, Jay Sawatski, and Errol Simonitsch. Nick Webb was cut from camp.

Pitchers Robbie Hebert, J.P. Martinz, Even Meek, and Alex Smit were all send down to Beloit. Johnny Lynch was cut, Justin Jones and Billy Mauer were added to the DL as were Matt Fox and Frank Mata who had been with the Beloit work group.

Interestingly enough, only catcher Korey Feiner and outfielder Burt Landon were dropped from the High A fielding roster. Ramiro Chamizo, who is in camp as a try out was moved from outfielder to 3rd base at the High A level, however.

I covered a few of the low A send downs in the main body of the story, but I'll be updating the Spring Training Roster shortly for those that are interesed.

Evidently pitchers Armano Garino and Ryan Gehring were also cut from Minor League Camp.

I did give Geiger a hard time about being sent down but also noted we were happy to see him. I told him there were girls weeping in the stands last year after they'd found out he'd been send down. "Oh, they were not," he said. Honestly, they were. Especially after they found out they'd given his number to someone else. Of course, after I got to watch Elvis Corporan catch a game, I was ready to start weeping as well. I'm surprised the pitching staff didn't break down in tears over that one.

I did watch Geiger and the rest of the High A group take some practice at the hands of coach Jeff Carter. Brutal. Mommas, don't let your babies grow up to be catchers!

I'm moving to Rainville!

Turle soup on a Sunday afternoon

Anything and everything good you have ever heard about Jay Rainville is true. He has speed and accuracy. He looks very comfortable on the mound.

I figured this all out in one warm up session, standing just behind Eli Tintor at the fence and getting a catcher's eye view. In fact, Eli was having a bit of difficult catching the left inside strikes, but Gary Lucas told Rainville to keep throwing them as Eli could adjust in a few minutes.

Wow! The game only confirmed all this as he opened up with a strike and retired his side in short order, allowing one single and striking out two.

In the second he did allow a single, the following batter reached when Deacon Burns went to catch an outfield fly, tripped and lost the ball. However, most of what he allowed were easy outs. Nine batters, two innings, three strike outs and no walks. In fact he was never once behind in his counts. Great kid. Can't rave enough about him.

My only regret is they only let him pitch two innings.

I had honestly approached this game with open optimism because we had Trevor Plouffe and the Pirates didn't have Neal Walker. However, I forget to factor in the pitching. Or maybe I did factor in the pitching but who would have guessed?

In any case it was a VERY bad Snapper slaughter as Beloit went down 7-2 to Hickory.

While I am still VERY excited by my first glimpse of Jay Rainville (did I mention what a great pitcher he is?), I was disappointed in the that I did not get to see the highly touted Plouffe play outfield. He did play as designated hitter, however. He did a very good job DHing, but I wanted to see if their was anything...um well, Hanley Ramirez-ish about him. I guess that answer will have to wait for another day.

I did however see some VERY good first basework by Johnny woodard and some really good third basework by David Winfree and a wonderful outfield catch by my friend with the blinky phone, Tarrence Patterson.

But okay, now that I've told you all of this, you're wondering how we got slaughtered. WHAT could possibly have happened that Beloit gave up seven runs?

I guess we should start at the beginning. Luke Hughes singled to open, and then Trevor Plouffe was walked. Woodard reached on an infielder's choice as they took Hughes out at third. Winfree flew out and Pickerel ground out.

And Rainville threw very well. Very, very well. Juan Portes was our starting short stop. He flew out to start the bottom of the second inning. Burns tried to follow but it went close to the fence. Very close to the fence. The outfielder had it, and then he didn't have it and it went over the fence. The umpire ruled it a home run and Deacon took a trot around third to home (as he'd already raced to second). A little odd, but okay, we'll take it.

Patterson hit for a single and reached second on a wild pitch. But Tintor and Jilmer Arratia both flew out to end the inning. I seem to recall the lesson on keeping the ball on the ground from rookie league last year? And these were both rookie league guys.



In any case, David Shinskie took the mound. He pitched last year for Elizabethton with a 4.17 average. He allowed a single on his first pitch. The second batter reached on a catching error to Tintor who bobbled the ball. It was one of those groaner plays. However, it was nothing compared to what happened next.

I want to interrupt this narrative for a while. EVery morning I show up at the park and watch practice. I've been coming in a little late, like round 10 instead of 9, but you know...10 is pretty early for a 1:00 game. And I watch the guys practice and every day it's the same thing. 3-1 drills, and 4-1 drills, "I got it, I got it, I got it", "Take it, take it, take it", "Check home." Jeff Schoenbachler injected a little humor into the drill this morning when he overran the ball -- "I got it, I got it, I got it, I don't got it."

Every morning we do this. Even though training camp has only been open nine days now, Shinskie did pitch for Elizabethton last year and ran these drill, day in an day out in Elizabethton. After all, practice makes perfect.

The batter lays down a bunt and Eli yells "Bunt!" and Shinskie yells "I got it, I got it." Then he tried to get it and fell flat on his face. Tint got there as fast as he could, but by then, the bunt had turned into a double. I hope this is the only time in my life I ever see a double-bunt again unless it's for our team.

We need to work harder on these drills. Obviously, all the practice isn't make perfect.

Shinskie went back, shame-faced to the mound with Pirates up 2-1 and while he was physically okay, it took him a while to recover his composer. The bunter would evenutally score before he finally manage to retire the side with a final strike out. (Ah, no rolling of the innings today, because that was a very long one!)

And it was very cruel to Shinskie to put him after the wonderful pitching of Jay Rainville to start the game.

Plouffe got a single in the third. Besides being 3-0 with a run and a walk in the game, he's going to be heart-throb by the time he makes it to Fort Myers. The local teens will be estatic.



Now, if you've been counting batters on your hands, you might have noticed we were using a ten man rotation with Arratia being the other DH. This happens sometimes in minor league spring training games. After all, the games don't count except maybe for bragging rights, so they do all sorts of weird things. This applies to extended spring training games as well. Except the umps aren't usually as good. We had to Eastern League blues today, the same ones that worked yesterday, but we had to question a few of their calls today.

Also, Portes came out of the game this inning and rookie short-stop Yancarlos Ortiz replaced him. In any case, Plouffe had the only hit in the inning, so we were back to Shinskie on the mound.

He looked a little better this inning, giving up a shakey double to start off. He then struck out the next batter, allowed a ground out, and struck out the final batter to retire the side. Not bad. Good actually. One can almost forgive the previous inning. Almost. But not quite.

Nothing exciting happened in the bottom of the fourth. Three up, three down.

This brought in Hiroyuki Iida to start the fifth. Joe Vavra walked by a little bit later and said "Is that other guy warmed up? Then take this one out." Joe Vavra is my hero. Hiroyuki gave up three runs, all earned. But at least he did not fall flat on his face.

The "other guy" was Danny Vais and he allowed the first batter he faced to hit into a double play. One guy scored (left on base by Iida), but we got two outs. The next guy was a simple enough ground out. I thanked Vavra. He said "It wasn't his fault", whatever that means.

We went three up, three down in the bottom of the fifth. Eli struck out but he did run the pitch count to six before he did it.

Vais stayed in for the sixth and was three up, three down, including a foul out that was handled well by first baseman Javier Lopez who replaced Woodard in the line up. The other changes in the line up included Greg Najac in at catcher, and Dwyane White replacing Jeremy Pickrel at right.

Hughes flew out, followed by Plouffe, who singled. He moved to third on Lopez's single (fast kid!) and then scored when D-White also singled. Winfree stuck out in between those two plays. Ortiz lined out to end the inning.

Mike Rogers, a.k.a. "Rock" and a.k.a. Maroon Hummer, came in next. We all know that Rock's got it going on and he did in the seventh, although he did walk one. For the remaineder of the game, the only hitting we got was Plouffe and Lopez, both with singles in the bottom of the eighth. So I'm going to skip the hitting from now on as it lacked...something.

Okay, I must now admit that I had to take a restroom break. I could not hold out any longer. If I had held out, I could have gotten Aaron to take over the scoring for me the following inning (which he hates) but...how was I to know he was going to come and see me? He likes watching those major league games. (Thanks again for the water!)

So I missed a batter or two. I got back in time to see Rock walk a batter. The next guy hit into a double, and then the guy came home on a sac-fly. Maybe I should have staying in the bathroom longer?

He got the next two guys out on damage control to finish off the inning.

Adam Hawes finished the game and allowed a double, but the guy was stranded, so, not big deal there.

Tim Lahey and Jose Leger batting in the ninth and hit nothing worth even running for.

And did I mention that Jay Rainville pitched great?

Rookie Report: Kris Langford, who pitched last year for Elizabethton returned this year as a catcher. He says he likes it a lot. Travis Kalin was nailed during live batting practice today but was okay after several minutes and returned to the cage. It was scarey though as he went down pretty hard and didn't move for a several minutes. Pitcher Tim Henkenjohann, who is listed on the DL, was participating in drills today. Brandon McConnell, Armando Gabino and Luke Thwaites all pitched for live batting practice. I will get to watch the rookies live next Saturday against the BoSox. Yippee!

Send downs: On Saturday, the Twins optioned Boof Bonser and J.D. Durbin to Rochester. The Twins also reassigned pitcher Trey Hodges to minor league camp. Durbin did not go on the road with the Red Wings today but was at training camp.

Of Note: Both Matt Moses and Brock Peterson looked good in the batting cages today. There was one scarey moment when a ball hit Moses in the foot later on, but he seemed okay after a moment of discomfort.

GCL Notes: It appears that I will be seeing quite a bit of the Reds this year as they are the weekend opponent for this year's Gulf Coast League Season. This means I will have to keep track of the Reds' boys as well as Aaron will want to know about it (despite the fact that he claims the baby Reds aren't the real Reds).

Now Scheduled: An updated minor league spring training schedule is available at the Gulf Coast League Twins site. This replaces the one released by Rochester as there are some changes to the original schedule. Beloit will face Fort Myers in a scrimmage tomorrow. "How come there are guys are always so much bigger than out guys?" I dunno, growth spurt?