Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan In preparation for next week's MLB First Year Player Draft, I have put together some short draft capsules to look at the prospects the Twins have taken with their early round picks in recent memory. In the coming days, I will release these list with some short profiles on what the players have done since joining the organization. Selecting the right players in the draft can separate a winning club from a losing club so it is important to know what the T
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan In preparation for next week's MLB First Year Player Draft, I have put together some short draft capsules to look at the prospects the Twins have taken with their early round picks in recent memory. In the coming days, I will release these list with some short profiles on what the players have done since joining the organization. Selecting the right players in the draft can separate a winning club from a losing club so it is important to know what the T
Tis the season... well it's not baseball season but fans can still be in the baseball mood. Back in 2010, I wrote a version of this poem that had become a little outdated after half a decade. The Twins had a different manager and GM at the time and the team's biggest offseason move was bringing in Tsuyoshi Nishioka. So here is an update version to help us survive this holiday season. May your holiday be filled with plenty of blessings (and maybe a free agent signing by the Twins). Twas the
After an offensive explosion on Monday night, the Twins made things a little bit more interesting on Tuesday when they didn't take their first lead in the game until the seventh inning. This comeback was spurred on by four two out hits with Ben Revere and Joe Mauer knocking in the runs to make the difference in the 6-4 final score. It seemed like a showcase game for Joe Mauer as he went 3-for-4 in the game including an RBI and one walk. He also made a tremendous diving catch on a bunt attempt wh
Don't look now but it looks like Francisco Liriano might have remembered how to pitch. His last two starts have looked much better than the horrendous pitcher that was on the mound at the beginning of the year. This might be jumping the gun a little since his last two outings came against two poor offenses, the Oakland A's and the Kansas City Royals. The Twins offense couldn't back the strong outing by Liriano because Bruce Chen shut them down at the plate. Jonathan Broxton made the ninth inn
The Twins seemed to be sitting pretty on Tuesday evening after a couple of long balls from Josh Willingham and a very solid start from Cole DeVries. The bullpen took over in the seventh inning and the White Sox decided to put on a slugfest for the rest of the game. During the explosion by the bullpen in the final two innings, the Twins offense failed to score any more runs and the game ended with a final score of 11-4, an ugly blowout loss at the hands of the White Sox. Tomorrow afternoon, the
The Twins found themselves in quite the battle at Target Field on Tuesday night with the Phillies in town for some interleague action. There was plenty of offense for both clubs as the Twins scored runs in four of the first five innings of the game. Early home runs were hit by Denard Span and Trevor Plouffe to help the Twins get the lead but it was hardly over from that point. By the time Matt Capps entered in the ninth inning, there were already a combined 31 hits on the board for the Phillie
The Twins put up a lackluster effort at home in getting swept during a short two-game series with the first place Cleveland Indians. Derek Lowe looked like Cy Young on the mound and the Twins continued to hit ground ball after ground ball to fall further behind the Tribe. Jason Marquis gave up three home runs in the fifth inning and five runs over five innings to put the Twins in a hole they would never be able to get out of in the game. Ron Gardenhire shifted up the line-up for this contest a
As I put this post together, the Twins are up big on the Chicago White Sox in the eighth inning. Gavin Floyd struggled for the White Sox and the Twins pounced on him for nine runs in the first four innings. Only Ben Revere and Brian Dozier have yet to get involved in the hit parade so it will be interesting to see if they can join the club in the final innings. PJ Walters is in the middle of his third start since being called up by the Twins. There were some bad starts to innings with Walters
With all of the talk before the game about Twins hitters destroying Gavin Floyd, it was bound to happen that he was going to put up a good performance. Over the course of seven shut out innings, he struck out nine Twins batters and only gave up five hits. Liam Hendriks had his best start of the season throwing over six innings to the tune of three runs with an Alex Rios home run being the big dagger. In the ninth inning, the Twins made things interesting by loading the bases with two outs in t
A rain delay in Detroit held up the start of the Twins game for an hour and a half. When the game got underway, it turned into a back and forth contest between the Tigers and the Twins. The Twins bash brothers of Josh Willingham and Trevor Plouffe each added another home run to their totals for the season as they continue to try and match each other for the team lead. Even Joe Mauer was able to hit his second home run in the past week with an opposite field home run in the later innings of the g
Brian Duensing put the Twins in an early hole by giving up two runs in each of the first two innings but the Twins were able to make a game of it versus the Tigers. A big bottom of the third inning helped to even the score with Josh Willingham providing most of the damage with a 3-run home run, his 30th of the season. It is a new career high for Willingham and it breaks the previous record that he set last season with Oakland. Unfortunately, the Twins woudn't score again and the Tigers would com
Less than a week ago, the thought of pitching at Target Field had to be far from the mind of Cole DeVries. But on Tuesday evening, DeVries found himself making his home debut in front of a crowd full of family and friends. It can be nerve racking to pitch in front of the home crowd for the first time and it had to be even harder for the Minnesota native to be throwing so close to where he grew up. Throughout the contest, DeVries worked himself into some jams by walking batters but he always s
It wasn't that long ago that Oswaldo Arcia was a member of the Twins minor leagues. Today he made his biggest mark at the big league level by cracking his first home run and knocking in three runs. His long ball turned out to be the difference in the team winning the first game of their double header 4-3. He would be moved up to the third spot in the batting order for the second game of the double header so it was an exciting day for the budding star. There were some other exciting moments
Scott Diamond and Liam Hendriks switched teams for their starts on Tuesday night and both players found success at their different levels. Liam Hendriks had struggled in his outings with the Twins so he was sent back down to Rochester. He didn't make it out of the sixth inning but he only gave up one earned run with eight strikeouts. Diamond found himself on the mound at Target Field with a team struggling to score runs. He put together an outstanding start as he lasted seven innings and didn
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Prince Fielder put on quite the show in the Home Run Derby last night after a slow start in the first round. His violent swing helped him to win his second career Derby title by beating out Jose Bautista in the final round. Over the years, the Derby has turned into quite the spectacle as it last for three hours or more. ESPN provides a ton of camera angles so fans can see some of the best power hitters in the game take their hacks at the
After having their starting pitchers struggle for most of the series against the Oakland A's, the Twins made sure their pitchers didn't have to worry about giving up runs on Monday night. The Twins offense exploded for 19 runs against the Baltimore Orioles including seven runs in the first inning. This was more than enough for a rested Scott Diamond who hadn't pitched in over a week and a half. In all of this offensive explosion, it is interesting to note that the Twins only had one home run in
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Another Tuesday morning means that later tonight I will be posting about all of the minor league action for the Twins farm system. There are plenty of exciting things happening at each level of the Twins organization so make sure you are checking out the nightly updates on the Twins Daily homepage. It's only two weeks until the short season leagues start in the minor leagues so there will be a ton of action to follow across the Twins system
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As with most Tuesday's for the rest of the season, I am in charge of writing the minor league update for the Twins Daily website. This means I won't have a very big post here this morning but here are some of the news and notes that have been discussed with the Twins. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5ivWOPrdLBw/T7JANCG-HiI/AAAAAAAABRU/E1gYVaQJzCM/s320/Ramosinjury.jpg Casilla gets new role as utility player Anyone who has watched the Twin
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After pulling out a victory in a 15-inning affair on Sunday afternoon and into Sunday evening, the Twins got a much needed day of rest yesterday before traveling to Pittsburgh. The Twins will play the Pirates and the Reds to complete their interleague schedule before returning home and getting back into American League action. Both of these teams have been playing well in the last couple weeks so it will be interesting to see how the Twin
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As with all Tuesday's for the rest of the minor league baseball season, I will be writing the minor league update for the TwinsDaily website later tonight. So make sure to check back for my post on all of the happenings across the Twins farm system. Until then, here are a few "Tuesday Morning Tidbits" to keep you satisfied until this evening. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Ia5oCK2g01I/T7t2fTZ8rFI/AAAAAAAABS0/kJvsZMC0ec4/s320/LewFord.jpg
The Twins got their homestand off to a good start against the AL Central leading White Sox. An outstanding performance from Francisco Liriano was more than enough to lead the Twins to the victory. It was a milestone win for the Twins franchise in their new home as it was the team's 100th victory at Target Field. In that time span, the team is only a couple games over .500 so it would be nice to get that winning percentage a little higher. It's another Tuesday so that means I will be covering all
Glen Perkins came into the ninth inning in Detroit with a two-run lead to work with and he sure made things interesting by allowing Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder to reach on singles. In the end, Perkins was able to get out of the jam and the Twins were victorious for the fourth straight game. It was interesting to see the Twins put together six runs without managing an extra-base hit. This was especially intriguing after a weekend where the team went homer happy against the Royals pitching s
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?
At this point in the pre-season, I’m just so happy to be seeing games again, I don’t care about the Twins record in 2023. I think they’ll win it all, unrealistically speaking 🙂