Sloppy Seconds

The Miracle's 6-0 start on the season proved they were good. The loss to Tampa proved they were human.

The three games series against the Dunedine Blue Jays is proving they've got some things to work on.

Thursday the Miracle managed only hit against the Blue Jays who took a 6-0 win.



Steve Tyler took the start on the mound. Tyler, who is on the Twins 40-man roster, had wanted to start the season with the New Britain Rock Cats.

According to an interview on Will Young's Blog, he did want to play in Fort Myers. He went five innings allowing two runs on six hits, walking one and striking out four. Not exectly the kind of performance that's going to land him on the Rock Cats Roster fast.

Julio DePaula faired little better against the Dunedin bats through allowing two runs on four hits in three innings worth of work.

It's hard to pinout the collapse. Was the Dunedin pitching that good? Or were we back to the home excuse of they've been doing a lot of off-field work that Marzan trotted out frequently for yearly early season home losses.

Omar Burgos was getting some one-on-one instruction before the game on how to be a good hitter, but the tips that he picked up certainly didn't serve him well in the game. On the whole, it was hard to find a stellar spot in Thursday's performance.

Friday's was a little better, but Adam Harben struggled through three innings of ball allowing three run, (two earned) on four hits while walking four and fanning five. He certainly didn't a lot of help from the fielding either.

Brock Peterson was solid on first and the outfield played well. The problems lay in the middle infield of Matt Tolbert and Felix Molina, both of whom seemed have problems hanging on the to the ball. Tolbert's problems were eased a little though by the fact that he got a hit -- and a run, batted in by Scott Whitrock.



Pitching coach Eric Rassmussen had a fairly busy night, with several trips to the mound to have a talk to his young pitching staff. Harben and Peter Tautor both got his attention, as Ras tried to get them into the "mental" part of the game. However, for as much as Harben and Tautor were struggling, there was some good Miracle pitching Friday night as well.

Chris Schutt turned in a very solid performance, fanning six in three innings and allowing only two hits. Whether he was "Schutt 'em out", "Schutt 'em down" or "Schutt the door", he got his job done.

Jay Sawatski kept the Jays at bay through one 1.1 inning as well, replacing the stuggling Tautor.

I'm hoping that tonight's outing will be a bit more positive for the team. I knew that Dunedin would be difficult for this young team, but I don't believe they should prove impossible. It would be nice to see the Miracle back on the winning track.

THIRD BASE: The Twins third baseman of the future is not Matt Moses. It's David Winfree who's been ripping the cover off the ball in Low-A Beloit. Winfree is hitting .379 through 29 plate appearances and has four runs and four RBIs. He's also turning in some nice defensive work for the Snappers.

Moses nearly had another home run Friday night, but the winds were blowing back into the park, and the ball didn't go as far as it could have. He also hit it to one of the deeper parts of the field -- he might of made the fence if it had gone further to the right. As it was though, it turned into a harmless little put out at the hands of Jay's center fielder Jason Tingler.



STELLAR: Kyle Waldrop made an outstanding start for Beloit Wednesday night, pitching a complete game (7 innings, the second game of a double header) allowing only three hits while walking one and striking out three in route to a 3-0 win.

ROSTER MOVES: Beloit right-handed pitcher David Shinskie was placed on the Snappers seven-day disabled list with right elbow soreness and Jay Rainville was added to the roster Monday, April 11th to replace him, being promoted from Extended Spring Training.

First baseman Johnny Woodall was also placed on the DL with a broken right foot. Chris Brown, a stand out with the Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles, was promoted to the Snappers to take his place. Brown was a free agent signing who received no bonus money. He struggled with the batting at the Gulf Coast level last season but spent extra hours in the batting cages trying to improve. He was rewarded when the Twin picked up his option for a second year. He'll now have the opportunity to prove himself at the single A level.

Beloit swept Kane County before falling last night to the Lansing Lugnuts, 6-4.

Twins starter Carlos Silva will make a rehab start with Beloit on Sunday night and his knee will be elvaluated to see if he can continue to pitch for the Twins.



ROCKY ROADS: The Rock Cats are back in the win column with an 1-0 victory in 11 innings over the Harrisburg Senators. The Cats dropped their last five including the home opener to the Senators, 4-0 on Thursday.

Colby Miller, coming off an injury which ended his season last year, when seven innings in the game, allowing only four hits, walking one and striking out three.

John Thomas picked up the win, throwing 2 1/3 innings without a hit for the Cats.

CLIPPED WINGS: The Red Wings got a much needed night off after splitting a series against the Norfolk Tides.

Scott Baker turned in a better outing than his first, allowing five hits, walking one and striking out three on Tuesday night. Travis Bowyer picked up the win on that game, fanning four in two innings worth of work.

The Wings have added reliever Brian Wolfe to their roster, as well as former Pirate Jimmy Anderson, who was picked up by the Twins after being released by the Pirates. The 27-year-old lefty replaced Dave Gassner in the Red Wings line up.



SPRING CONTINUES: The Extended Spring Training schedule is now available online HERE. I will not have regular reporting on it the scores are generally not released, however, I will be able to attend tomorrow's game against the Bosten Red Sox as the Miracle take a day off before facing the Threshers for three starting on Monday.

This means I will likely have the extended spring training roster available shortly as well.

FOUL BALLS CAN CAUSE INJURY: On my blog here Tuesday I wrote a rant about parenting and baseball.

Friday, the San Carlos Scrappers Little League team was present and not sitting in their seats. As a result, one kid got drilled in the ribs by a foul ball.

He managed to get out of the stands with a little help, but EMS was still working on him after the game.

These kids were sitting down in row 1 of section 114, just past the third base dugout and had been told AT LEAST a dozen times, if they were going to sit there, they had (1) sit and (2) pay attention to the game.

The child in question was (1) not sitting and (2) was not paying attention to the game.

Anyway..I just want to restate what I'd already stated. If you bringing a child to the game with you, PLEASE make them sit down and pay attention to the game. If you, as a parent can't do this, don't bring them to the game.

Remember, once you walk into the park, anything that happens to you or your child is your own responsiblity.

Must they go to the ballgame?

A Rant on parents and baseball...

I always get accused of not liking children. Honestly, I adore children. Especially Bar-B-Qued. Although roasted with a bit of basil in light wine sauce can prove very tastey as well. I've even got a bit of a receipe collection going for when I have children for dinner.

Aaron says "Oh, you were a child once yourself." No I wasn't. I never was.

But really, it's not the children themselves that bother me. It's the parents. You know, the ones who bring precious little Timmy or Tina to a game, and then let them run around unsupervised? In a stadium. With over 8,000 strangers in it. Man, it must really be a real drag for them to have to take little Timmy or Tina home again. I can only imagine that they were really hoping their kid would get abducted. Or perhaps hit in the head with a foul ball.

Maybe I should print up those receipes into a little booklet and have the unattended offspring take it back to their parents?

On Sunday game with maybe 70 or 700 people in the stands, I can see if the kids want to run around and chase foul balls. But there's no way in the world someone's gonna notice if little Tina gets spirited away in a crowd of 8,000. Or 3,000. Even if you drag the kid out of the park crying and screaming, most people would just assume they were overtired and having a temper tantrum. Time to go home. Right? No one knows what kid came in with what adult.

What bothers me the most - be it 8 or 8,000 is the children that, unsupervised by their loving and concerned parents, will go stand over the dugout or the bullpen and repeat over and over "Hey, can I have a ball?" or "Hey, number 2, can have your autograph?" in the middle of the game. And while no place in the park is really safe from a potential foul ball, standing over the dugout puts the child in serious danger if a ball should come flying foul off a bat at 90 MPH. And they do that. I know. I've seen it.

I was at a Marlins' game several years ago where I saw a ball came foul off a bat, line drive speed past first base and into the stands about section over from here I was, straight at a woman who was sitting there with her baby. She had no real time to react, so she instintively leaned over to protect her child. The ball took her square in the side of her face and shattered her jaw. She's very lucky it didn't hit her in her temple, where she would have been killed instantly.

It's become a Dave Barry joke, but it was not joke at the time it happened. She was taken out of the park by EMS. (This is one reason I honestly believe babies and baseball don't mix.)

But no, here's little Timmy or Tina, hanging out in the aisle right by third base, over the dugout not paying attention to the game in foul ball heaven.

We moved our seats this year in part because we got tired of having a bunch of non-baseball fans, standing up during play, chatting with each other and showing their babies off to each other. Watching someone's six month old get killed is just not my idea of a real good time.

But in moving, I discovered we're now sitting next to begging central. So I kept running the children off, and they kept coming back. On regular nights we have at least Don or Jerry or Paulie to take care of us. The kids come back, and they threaten to throw them out of the stadium. And yeah, Don may LOOK like Santa Claus, but I'd bet on him in a match against a pit bull. He's MEAN.

But this was the "Twins" spring training security staff on duty and no one told them what to do.

I was buggered, the people sitting next to me, which have a child, were buggered, and the people sitting on the other side of the aisle, which also have children were buggered. So see, it's not just me and my anti-child attitude that was ready to commit genecide. And of course the "mom" next to me is standing up and can't find a neon green shirt anywhere in the crowd of people when we needed one.

Once the aisle got too full we had kids trying to crawl in front of our seats. I stuck my arm out and fastened it to the dugout railing to prevent intrusions. Some kid tryed to pry my fingers off the railing. I gave him an evil look. Then he attempted to climb under and ran into my other hand and my leg. Were where those lethal fouls when I needed them? Hitting the upper deck. Shoot! Luck was just not with us that night.

Meanwhile the "Dad" on the other side of the aisle picked a child up who was trying to crawl over him and placed him back on the steps. Immediately some guy was there yelling at him. "You touched my kid!" Yeah, you know what? If it had been me I've told him to go get the police so I could charge the child with assault and the parent with child neglect.

I mean, I dunno. When I was a kid, my dad took me and my sister to baseball games. We had to sit in our seats. If we had to go to the bathroom we had to wait (quietly) until the end of the inning and then he'd take us up. And it didn't matter if only one had to go we both had to "try" to cut down on return trips. And you never, ever told him you had to go until there were at least two outs in the inning and you never, ever said you had to go NOW! This would get us taken home in a flash and as my folks were divorced, this meant we didn't get to see our dad for another week or two.

So you sat down and watched the game and learned it, just so knew the most opportune time to let that lemonaid you'd had earlier out of your bladder.

What a deprived childhood I had. I never got the opportunity to be abducted by a stranger. Or to be hit in the side of the head with a foul ball.

· "Give it to a kid": You know, it used to be that if I got a foul ball, I'd would give it to a kid. Then I found out the little extortionists were selling them to adults for $10 each.

But honestly, what really turned me off last year was when Travis Bowyer tossed me a ball from the bullpen. (We used to sit next to the bullpen and I'd leave the game for a bit to see who was warming up.) I looked around and saw the cutest little girl sitting in her seat with big round eyes watching the game. So I gave her ball. She was thrilled. She wanted to know if she could get it signed. I told her after the game, my friend #19 would sign it for her. Not a problem, Trav is really good with children.

The next thing I know her mother has her by the hand and is dragging her over to the bullpen. "Hey," she yells. "Can I have a ball too! #19! Can I have a ball too!" And nothing I could do would make this woman shut up and sit down.

So this year, I'm giving them to the whitecaps up in the disabled rows. They never act up and they never run around the stadium chasing balls and they never stand of the dugout or the bullpen begging for balls. Beside, Wes says I should be nice to the oldtimers. They're sitting in God's waiting room.

· "He Promised": This one is two fold. Saturday during opening night some kid came in the seventh inning, trying to muscle the other kids out of his way to the dugout. I was trying to clear the kids out (yet again) and said "You can't stand here! You have to go back to your seat!" The kids says "Number 5 said if he broke his bat I could have it and he broke his bat and I want it." Ron did shatter his bat, a few innings earlier. I said "AFTER THE GAME". He persisted and I kept telling him: AFTER THE GAME.

Finally, he left. The next thing I know, he's down on the other side of the section cutting through the first row to try and collect his bat. Guess what he was told when he got to the dugout? You've got it. After the game.

Last year, during a game as Sarasota, I was sitting next to the "Miracle" dugout, and a little league team had taken up residency next to me. They wanted autographs and I promised I'd get them autographs if they would agree in turn to cheer for the Miracle. They did. I had a bunch of players over and they signed everything and anything put in front of them, including shoes and body parts.

The kids held up their part of the deal as well and chanted "Let's go Miracle" through out the whole game. However, during the game, when Liriano had just vacated the mound and Travis was on from the bullpen and I had all the kids yelling "Go TRAVIS! Strike him out!" pretty much all together at the same time when this guy comes over from the next section. "That pitcher promised my daughter a ball when he was going into the dugout last inning and she's up there crying because she didn't get one."

I said "That pitcher just came out of the bullpen and has never been to the dugout yet and so he couldn't promise your daughter anything."

"Then it was the pitcher before him."

"That as Liriano and he speaks no english."

The guy gets fed up with me and starts hanging over the railing and trying to attract the attention of the people in the dugout. An usher finally told him he had to go sit down.

Red Snots fans. Gotta hate 'em. If the guy wanted his daughter to have a ball so badly, go to the gift stand and buy her one for $5.00. She wouldn't have known the difference.

(By the way, you can tell from this passage how much I REALLY hate kids, right?)

· Graphers: I've been accused by some fans of selling my autographs. Last year at the season ticket holder party I had Travis sitting there autographing a series of shots I'd taken (yes, I'm very partial to him) and someone came by and said "What's this? And E-Bay session?" Travis jumped up and said "She'd never!" followed almost instanteously by me with an "I'd never!" I like having the autographs because they are mementos of "my boys".

If you doubt me -- go ahead. Try and find something I've sold on e-Bay. I dare you to.

Now, there are some people that are professional graphers and will want the top prospects' graphs to sell. I remember a guy dropping a box of 12 balls in front of Colby Miller in 2003 and expecting him to sign them all. "I've got a shop in the Cape," he tells him. Well, at least he's honest. Try this one...

This kid, maybe about 8 or 9, is standing down at the landing at the bottom of 115, a popular autographing spot prior the Fort Myers games with a ball in his hand and cell phone in his pocket. The phone goes off, walkie-talkie style.

"Now remember, only get the players with the following numbers on that ball." The numbers of Baker, Liriano and several other players are rattled off. The kid promises. He picks nervously at the ball, which was a gift shop ball.

The phone goes off again. "And don't pull that little silver sticker off of the bottom of the ball." The kid says okay and then bends down to pick up the little sticker he's just crumbled into an irrecoverable wad and tries to put it back on the ball.

You kind of had to feel sorry for that kid. He was ruining his college fund. And he was obviously in fear of what might happen if he got the wrong players, or what was going to happen when his father found out he'd pulled the MLB sticker off the ball.

There's also a lot of kids, generally of the older level -- like 12 or 13, who will "run cards" meaning they'll go down and try to get cards signed by players and then give them back to dealer in exchange for cash or merchandise (usually Yu Gi Oh cards).

Yeah, I would like to believe my MLB/NBA/NHL/NFL card collection is my retirement fund, but I find it very hard to part with even the Barry Bonds cards (and I HATE Barry Bonds).

· Feeding Frenzy: But honestly, the Florida State League is not as bad as the major leagues in one regard. The ball boys are not allowed to throw balls out to the crowd. So this makes for only localized begging as you have to get one from a player or coach. This is also why we call the ball boys "Ball Trolls" because, you know, they can't give them out. So we know they are hoarding the balls. [[wink!]]

I go to a major league game and the ball boy runs by and people just leap to their feet going "Ball! Ball! Ball!" accompanied by a clapping of hands. It reminds me a lot of the seal feeding tank at SeaWorld Orlando. "Arr! Arr! Arr!" accompanied by a clapping of flippers. Except that's probably really insulting to the seals, who actually shut up after they've had enough to eat.

For baseball fans however, one ball is never enough.

The people next to me, who I believe are premium pack holders, weasled two balls out of the team on Saturday, using their little boy as a poster child for ball-less children. They kept them both! And I bet that kid never gets to play with them either!

· Why I REALLY like the GCL: Easy. No introduction ceremonies. Not promotions. The umpires show up, the managers exchange line ups, and then we play ball. No screaming kids, no oversized orange mascots, no stupid promotions. Just baseball. Wow! What a concept!

First Impressions

A look at what might be the most talented team in the minor league system and just where the heck is Glen Perkins anyway?

First impressions can be lasting, and if that's the case, the 2005 Miracle squad made a very good first impression on the home town crowd in a pair of games on Saturday and Sunday.

Glen Perkins was to start on Saturday, however he as a bruised wrist and was given the night off. He will be re-evaluated before his scheduled start on Thursday. So when I walked into the park and saw Josh Gray's name on the line up, I sort of groaned internally.

Gray was a starter for the first part of 2004, won his first pair of games, and then fell apart. I mean, I tried sticking up for him. "Oh, it's the fielding," or "Oh, he was getting a lot of bad bounces," or....finally I just threw my hands up in disgust and said "Okay. You're right. He can't pitch."

So he got moved to the bullpen. "It's not a demotion," he tells me. "It's a ...change." He was determined to make the best of it. Unfortunately he just seemed to get into more trouble. Finally I noted the lack of playing time.

"They're using me as a left-handed specialist," he tells me. "They want to be able to say that I got out every left-handed batter I faced." I looked skeptical. I am generally skeptical of specialists as a whole. "Hey," he says. "It's a living." Rather unfortunately, he failed even at that.

However, he's lefty and you know...the Twins love their lefties.

So he shows up this year for spring training and he looked like he's filled out some frame wise. He had a good spring training and while he wasn't scheduled to be a starter, they decided to give him a shot.

He did make the most of it, allowing two runs in two innings on four hits and fanning two. So okay...maybe he can pitch.

Actually most of the returnees played pretty well. Ron Perodin seemed more solid in the outfield with four or five put outs on the night. Very nice. Dog's got game. Felix Molina turned in a credible performance at second, with the exception of one stealing attempt that I will cover in a bit more detail in just a bit.

The new players were delightful as well. So, let's start with the batting order...

Denard Span: This kid is simply magnificent when he takes off. He laid down a bunt on Sunday that left the Red's catcher eating grass. While he's stuck in a system that's heavy in the outfield, his speed is going to set him apart. His only mistake on the evening was an attempt to make a sliding save on a fly. He didn't quite slide far enough. However he was close enough to limit the runner to only one base. He did make rather spectacular catch later, that sort of made up for that one little mistake.

Matt Tolbert: I didn't know too much about him coming into this game. I still really don't know too much about him, save that he was .308 with Elizabethton last season and was drafted in June in the 16th round by the Twins. Played NCAA for the University of Mississippi. I might of thought he was not experienced enough for this level of play, but he's been proving otherwise.

My only problem with him so far was a boneheaded play in Sunday's game. A Reds runner is headed to second and Brock Peterson fires from first toward Jesus Merchan who'd moved in from short to cover the base. Matt Tolbert comes running in to try and intercept, misses the ball, and the runner is safe on second. Teamwork guys, teamwork. Let Jesus have the play when he's on it. That should have been an easy out. I think maybe he's trying to hard to impress.

Matt Moses: He can swing a bat. Defensively, I was a little ambivalent towards him on Saturday. He moves around a lot. More than I thought was maybe necessary. But then I though, you know, Coach Milt (Cuyler) is always telling (Travis) Kalin to bounce around out there a bit in Gulf Coast League so maybe all the movement is a good thing. But I wasn't really comfortable with him. It wasn't anything I could put a finger on, it's not like he didn't make any plays he should of.

I think in part, the problem was with the first boneheaded play. Felix Molina is on second, and Moses is on first with one out. Molina runs at the pitch, but he's not fast enough as Miguel Perez fires to third. Mark Schramek shows Mo the ball and smiles. Mo turns around and heads back to second but Schramek fires to second. Now Luis Bolivar has the ball and shows it Mo, who is caught in between, Mo starts to back up and Boliver comes off the plate -- at which point Moses starts running.

Timing here guys -- timing. As the song goes "Timing is a thing, it's true." If they'd both gone at the same time, Perez would not have known where to throw to and that moment of confusion would have cost them. And Mo, knowing he is going to get tagged out one way or the other, doesn't start to run to third, which I think is what Moses was counting on. Instead he lets himself get tagged out right in front of second plate. And as Moses is sliding in, Boliver gleefully turns around and sweeps the ball across Moses' back for the third out to retire the side.

Now, I'm not sure who was not paying attention. I'm sure Mo was not looking at was Moses was doing, he was watching the ball, but I would have thought that Moses would have made sure that Mo was going to play pickle for a little longer before allowing himself to be tagged out. I'd have waited for the throw to third and then ran, because even if the guy threw back to second, he'd have to chose between a dodging Mo and a sliding Moses. But that's just me. Bleacher coach. What the heck do I know?

So okay. That was Saturday and I kept saying. It was both their faults. Right?

Sunday saw boneheaded play #2 early on. One of the Reds hits a little tapper to the infield, and Harben comes off the mound to play it while Moses comes rushing in from third. Maybe Harben didn't yell "I got it, I got it, I got it" like he's supposed to. Maybe he did, and Moses didn't hear him. In any case, Harben got the ball but ended up getting tangled up with Moses, got the throw off late and the runner was safe on first. Even if Harben didn't say "I got it, I got it, I got it", Moses should have seen that he was at top of that play and backed off. Should have been an easy out.

So you just sort of shake your head and keep believing... Harben did have some words for Moses after that play. I will not repeat them here.

And then finally, Moses fields a ball at third and tries to throw to first but he must have been focusing on a kid in the stands, as he way overthrew Peterson. To Peterson's credit, he tried to leap up and catch it, but he would have had to be superman to even come close. I think it went into the stands somewhere around the eight or ninth row. Take two boys, take two.

So this gives Molina one bonehead, Tolbert one bonehead and Moses three boneheads, making him the early runner for the Bonehead of the Year award.

Moses pays some very good attention when he's at the plate. He needs to stop bouncing around at third and pay more attention to what's going on around him.

Brock Peterson: I love you Mr. Peterson! Finally -- we've got a solid first baseman! One who actually seems to know what he's doing out there!

So 1-for-5 on Saturday and 1-for-4 on Sunday with a RBI on each day. All he needs to do is solidify his batting and he'd be perfect! Augh! Meanwhile, I'm instructed to go ask him about the skunk story from his Elizabethton days. This should be interesting.

Kyle Phillips: Okay, I'm gushing. I admit it. This kid is just so good with his pitching staff! And yes, I've been gushing about him since his brief stint during the 2003 playoffs but consider... Tristan Crawford is struggling on the plate and Phillips stops before he throws back to show him where he wants to try to put the pitch next time. Just a quick one or two fingers out and a wave at area, nothing overly obvious, but Crawford gets the idea.

When Joey Votto finally homers off Crawford, Phillips walks calmly up to the mound. He asks what kind of pitch at was. Crawford shows him the fingering. Phillips says good, don't throw that again. Then walks back to the plate. He manages to nurse Crawford through three innings with three runs on three hits (including the yarder) and get three strikes out of him on top of that.

Good kid. I'm very fond of Kyle Geiger too, but when Josh Hill was struggling on Sunday, he did nothing to help him get through it. It was up to us bleacher coaches to try to muddle him through until he found his stuff.

Additionally there was a high pop up behind the plate Saturday night. Phillips is on it and Matt Moses comes flying in from third and Phillips' mask and hat comes off and suddenly, he's down on his knees in the dirt and we're sure they're both gonna miss it and then suddenly, Phillips is on his belly and somehow, miraculously, he got it!

I don't think Phillips defense has ever been in question. His problem last season was in hitting the ball in a pitchers' league. If he can perform well at plate this year, and continue his strong play behind it, he should go pretty far in this organization.

Scott Whitrock: Ah...long have I waited for Whitrock on this team. He's been playing right field and while he was not been really tested out there on either day, he played as expected. So...no highlight reel yet. Put sometimes, you like the guys that quietly get their jobs done.

The most notable thing about "Red" was on Sunday when he tried to bowl Bolivar over on his way to second. He lost his helmet and Bolivar's spike caught him on the side of the head, right above his right eye. He was down in the dirt for several minutes but made if off the field under his own power. He came out of the dugout later with a bit of knot forming there. He'll be day-to-day and is being held out tonight at least, with utility-infielder Ben Pattee replacing him in right.

J.R. "Sam" Taylor: This is another kid I've been waiting for a long time to make his Miracle debute. He served as designated hitter on Saturday as it seems like Tolbert is hogging playing time at short or 2nd. But the that's what the organization wants so...I will wait patiently for Sam to finally take the field.

He hit 2-for-3 and was caught stealing, but he did make a fair attempt at getting from second to third. How was he to know the ball was going to be hit straight to Schramek?

I've already mentioned Tristan Crawford's performace. I wasn't thrilled, but I think he will improve. Chris Schutt was a little shakey to start as well, but some strong fielding, and bit of coaxing from Phillips got him through.

I have to note that, as far as I was concerned, Saturday's win was a gift from the Reds. The game was tied at the bottom of the ninth, so we went into overtime. Schutt kept the Reds off the board.

The Miracle were more aggressive. With two runners on and no outs against Tyler Pelland, there is a long discussion and then Matt Moses is intentionally walked to load the bases. I knew that was coming sometime that night, but...even with one out it would have been iffy to walk him. In a sudden death situation with no outs and the clean up hitter up to bat (and granted, Peterson was 0-for-4 at that point) it was insanity. Obviously, it didn't work as Peterson put it cleanly by Hector Tiburcio at short to bring in the winning run.

Ah....clutch hitting! What a wonderful invention! Someone should have thought of that sooner!

As for Sunday, Moses was pulled near the end of the game and Omar Burgos finished up for us, with no highlights or low-lights.

Jesus Merchan played at short and hit into the "Ribby" fest in the sixth, bring in four runs on a double. Way to go 'Zuse!

Kyle Geiger was the catcher for the day and Adam Harben was good, but not dominating. I expected better from him. He had three runs, 2 earned, in five innings while fanning three. Julio DePaula came on to get him out of the fifth inning, as he started struggling in the fourth. I'll be interested in seeing if throwing to Phillips makes a difference in his performance.

I REALLY liked DePaula. Very solid performance, only one hit - no runs - in 2.1 innings. I would like to think his solid play on the mound sparked the boys for their big sixth inning but um...

In all honesty, "Mighty" Joe Powers stuggled mightily. We really liked him though. The Reds could have left him in longer. Aaron kept telling me to stop singing "Ding dong, the pitch is dead..." because he wasn't a wicked pitch, we liked him. Yeah, well, six runs, 3 earned on 2 hits while walking five in 1.2 innings. Heck yeah, we liked him! But I think that sixth inning took an hour just by itself to play.

The last of the pitchers was Josh Hill, who threw well in Spring Training, but got off to a shakey start against the Reds. He did finally settle down and get his work done, but the early going was tough. I think Phillips would have nursed him through the early going with a "Put it here, Shaggy", but Geiger hasn't learned these little tricks yet.

Also Geiger failed to throw out two stealing attempts. Weak, buddy. Weak. (That makes him 3-and-0 on the season for stolden bases. Gotta work on that.)

In any case, this put the Miracle off to a very good start -- the only team in the organization that was yet undefeated as of Sunday night. This next week will be the real test though as the Miracle take on the Tampa Yankees, Dunedin Blue Jays and Clearwater Threshers!

· Extended Spring Training starts on Thurday, April 14th and runs through Saturday June 11th. I was thinking great! I can see the guys on Sunday but no...that conflicts with a Miracle game. But maybe I can get a roster. However, Sunday the 24th, the Miracle are in Clearwater so I'll get to watch the GCL boys.

Somedays though, I'm more tempted to go watch Spring Instructional. But I'll cover those reason in a rant tomorrow.

Wednesday I will have a review of the minors after their first week of play and who's hot (David Winfree!) and who's not.

Nothing could be Feiner...

The Twins Minor League Season opens on the road and is kicked off with win, a home grown yarder and a GREAT BIG THUNDERSTORM!

The Minor League season kicks off today and all of the teams in the Twins organization are opening on the road.

The Red Wings were in Syracuse for an early game today. Josh Rabe, who did not have an outstanding season in 2004, provided some pop for the Wings as he hit a grand slam to take a 9-7 victory over the SkyChiefs. Wings Ace Scott Baker took the start, but yeilded two yarders in the game. Reliever Brent Shoening took the win for the Wings, while closer Beau Kemp picked up the save.

"Pop" may be the Wings biggest problem this year, although the return of Terry Tiffee to the organization, if only for part of the year, will certainly be a god-send for the team. Garrett Jones is one of the players who will be looked at to provide power for the team as well as Kevin West and Michael Ryan. Players like Rabe and Rob Bowen are going to be expected to step up this year, especially if they hope to earn a chance to play full time in the bigs. Tiffee did it (although he's not quite there yet). Bartlett did it. Kubel did well, if he hadn't been injured.

While the Red Wings may not be looking at another batting title this season, their pitching staff may well make up for it. Baker is certainly a top prospect. J.D. Durbin has not performed as well as expected, but might rejoin the race.

Boof Bonser, slow throwing southpaw Dave Gassner, and Henry Bonilla are the other starters in the Wings ranks. Bonsor gets the start tomorrow, hoping to gun down the same SkyChiefs. Saturday, Gassner will take the start for the Wings home opener at Frontier field.

Stan Cliburn is looking for a big win tonight from his Rock Cats as they open against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in the Fisher Cat's new stadium. He's hoping to spoil the fun for the Manchester fans, but that might be a difficult task. Ismael Ramirez, who pitched FSL's Dunedin into a half-championship last season will be the Ace for the Fisher Cats.

The Rock Cats also have the toughest early schedule of the Twins minors, spending a week on the road before opening at home.

If that isn't tough enough, the new Cats are having a hard time getting settled into New Britain. Check out Pat Neshek's blog for run down of some of the problems they're facing.

While the Rock Cats may seem to have the most questionable of all the line ups right now, bat wise, I'm expecting the most out of them. Look for Danny Matienzo to be the next prosect that "came out of nowhere" in the Eastern League this year.

The 2005 version of the Miracle may be one of the most talent laden Twins teams to to have played in Fort Myers.

The Miracle were to open tonight on the road in Sarasota against the Reds, but local thunderstroms have postponed the game until tomorrow, when they will play a double header. In the past it has always been opening night against the Red Sox, but the Bosox were unhappy as they could not secure their home park in the City of Palms and have moved off to other pastures. Much like the Wings, Fort Myers will open at home on Saturday.

Dan Wolfert was named as the new GM for the Sarasota version of the Reds. Talk about promoting from within! Wolfert once worked as a spring training batboy for the Reds! This should give "Ball Troll" (a.k.a. Rapid Robert) hope furthering his career with the Twins when his days of Ball Trolling at Hammond Stadium are over.

Meanwhile, the Miracle are serving up three first round draft picks to their newest, closest rivals. Glen Perkins will be a big part of the Miracle starting rotation. On the fast track to the majors, you might want to come out to the ball park early in the season if you hope to catch him. Perkins main stay is his control. He can spot the ball there he wants it. He is not however a power pitcher, so Fort Myers fans are warned -- the heat will all be in the weather with this guy, not in the balls.

It should also be noted that Perkins as never had to deal with the hot summer sun of Southwest Florida, the heavy humid air, and the sheer exhaustion that can overtake someone from working under the sub-tropic sun. Perkins best bet will be to get out of Fort Myers by June 1st. If he stays longer, he may find himself falling victim to "GCL Syndrome" which is well known, but little understood.

Matt Moses, who earned local press some years ago in the Gulf Coast League, will be working third base. Moses is good with the bat, his defense is a bit supect however, so he will looking to prove three things this year. The first will be that he can remain healthy for a whole season. The second will be that he can play third base. And the third will be that he can continue to swing his bat in a park notorious for eating yarders.

The third big time bonus baby is Denard Span, who was drafted a year earlier then his cohorts, but took his time signing. Span is noted for his speed, but Span is another player who was injured with the Swing, and underwent surgery. He will have to prove that he's healthy and that he can stay that way.

Add into this mix Scott Tyler, a second rounder, and you can see why so many people are high on this year's Miracle team. Tyler was hoping to skip the Miracle -- he knows what summers down here on the Gulf Coast can be like -- but the 6'5" righty will be staring with Fort Myers.

Finally, there are a couple of guys that were not drafted high, but have proved they could play.

The first is righty Adam Harben, who was selected in the 15th round, more for his power than for his control. However, Harben overpowered much of his opposition in the Midwest League last season. He'll be working on his off speed pitchs in Fort Myers, but don't worry, the heat will be on when it's needed.

The other is Errol Simonitsch. Taken in the sixth round of the 2003 draft, speed is not the word for this lefty. He does have a below average fastball -- around 89 MPH -- that he finds useful in taking down batters, and good curveball and change up. Simonitsch did well in the Midwest league last year and may actually stick in Fort Myers for the season.

Probably the big question mark for the Miracle is field manager Ricardo Ingraham. A prior batting coach for the Miracle, Ingraham managed the Gulf Coast League Twins to a 31-26 record last year. While his experience is somewhat questionable, the Twins shored up his supporting staff by moving veteran Jeff Carter down from New Britain to lend his wisdom in the hitting coach roll. This will be Carter's second stint in the City of Palms, and the fans already extended a warm welcome to him during the Miracle season ticket holder party Wednesday night.

Beloit joins the Twins family this year, replacing Quad Cities as the Low A affiliate to the Twins. Kevin Boles, who lead Quad City into the playoff chase with a 68-68 record, will be taking up the reins for the Snappers, and he won't be without talent.

First round draft pick Trevor Plouffe is the big name here. Plouffe was drafted as shortstop but did spend some time pitching in prep sports. He's now focusing on his infielding. While not as flashy as the BoSox highly touted Hanley Ramirez, Plouffe's offense is not in question. He will need to solidify his defense if he hopes to be a mid-season call up to Fort Myers.

Also staring for the Snappers is pitching prospect Kyle Waldrop. I would love to say something totally wonderful about him, but I've yet to see him pitch. Still, he started off in the Gulf Coast League and earned a promotion mid season to Elizabethton, so his ongoing promotion is not unexpected.

Beloit also sports second round draft pick Anthony Swarzak and several players who are personal favorites of mine: 3B David Winfree, 1B Johnny Woodard and OF Tarrence Patterson. I'm expecting a lot of good things from these guys in 2005.

Perhaps the most vexing thing about the Snappers is catcher Korey Feiner's promotion. Don't get me wrong, I love Feiner. But...

He was signed as a free agent Divison III NCAA player into the Gulf Coast League last season. He played only 22 games for the GCL Twins, in part because of an injury but even more troubling, he hit a team low of .170.

Oh sure...he was good enough defensively behind the plate but was he "great"? Did he really warrant a jump to Single A?

Nothing personal Korey, but I have to go back to Jim Rantz quote on this VERY Blogsite: "We try to put a player in a league where he’s going to be able to compete with players that are basically in that same age group."

And Feiner, who struggled at the plate last year in the GCL is going to be able do this?

In order to get him ready for this assignment, he played "up" through most of spring training.

Feiner said the following in a Beloit interview yesterday about the Gulf Coast League: "Coming from a Division III college is a big step up. The velocity is a big change and you see a lot more breaking pitches. You have to be pretty close to perfect in your swing."

But I have to question what -- besides the fact that he is local to Beloit -- intrigued the Twins so much that they promoted him over other catchers who have been in the system longer.

"We would rather put a player in where he can compete, coming into the game, and have some success, since it’s going to be new to him."

Okay Jim, your call, but I've got my doubts about this one. As far as I'm concerned, it's a marketing issue.

· Miscellany: Jan has not been feeling well of late and has left the Minor League Forum at DTFC to my tender mercies. I can think of at least one person this will gaul. Not that I care.

I only hope that I have not bitten off too much, given my other projects.

· Sports Network appears to be limiting their minor league feeds this season to the AAA and AA. We are back to depending upon the somewhat undependable ESPN/USA Today for Single-A and Rookie scores.

· Remember what I said about Ismael Ramirez earlier? Well, local Fort Myers prosect Tommy Watkins hit a homer off of him tonight for the Rock Cats. Way to go Watkins! Meanwhile, Cats' ace Francisco Liriano is looking good on the mound!

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.