Originally posted at The Tenth Inning Stretch

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Not a game report by any means; just some random, stream of conscious type notes I took while I was watching the Twins' game on TV this afternoon:

• Jamey Carroll's strike zone is smaller than Ben Revere's. He really gets down in the box
  
• Doumit looks like Kubel. A lot
  
• Great double steal by Revere and Carroll in a botched pick-off move. Carroll seams a very astute base runner
  
• Baker's fastball at 86 mph to start the game, then up at 87-88 by the end of the 1st inning. Nice and easy first for Baker.
  
• Niemann really fooled Brian Dinkelman with a called strike 3 on a 57 mph curve to start the second inning. Did not realize he had that pitch to go with his 93 mph fastball
  
• Baker's fastball at 83-84 to start the second inning then up to 86-87. His change up sat at 78-79 and was very effective. Up to 88 with the FB
  
• Casilla was avoiding Nunez' heat (93-94) but waited on a change and pushed it nicely through the middle; then appropriately stole second on the next pitch. Then Revere sacrifice bunts to get him to 3rd with one out. Smart ball
  
• Interesting situation to see Carroll hit with one out and man on third. He was slapping every pitch. This guy can make contact. Takes ball four at shoelaces to walk. Then steals second on a ball in the dirt.
  
• Maloney started the bottom of the third. Hitting 86-89 with fastball and lots of movement with the slider. Strikes out the first pitcher he saw (that is 4 in a row for him), second one grounds out and the third one bleeds a single through the SS (Carroll's range was exposed). Another hit to left, Revere bobbles the ball and runners in the corners with Pena up. Twins are shifting the infield with 2 outs for Pena. Interesting Leftie-Leftie match up for Maloney. Got him to fly out. Pretty good performance by Maloney overall. He is a dark horse to make the team
  
• Steve Pearce seems to have problems making contact with breaking balls. Not sure if it is just early, or it is an issue
  
• Benson looks really over-matched at the plate
  
• Maloney in for a second inning. Gets the first batter to ground out to short on a cutter. Nice deceptive delivery and long arms and legs. Second and third batter flies out to center. Nice spotting of the fastball. He looks in a very good shape. Very impressed overall. Reminds me a bit of Matt Guerrier, in a lefty kind of way.
  
• Both Doumit and Carroll are taking many more pitches and working the count deeper than the men who they replaced (Kubel and Nishioka). This will be good for the Twins.
  
• Capps in for the bottom of 5th. FB starts at 91 with decent movement and get the first batter to fly out. The second batter gets a broken bat bloop. Capps' FB looks heavy. Up at 94 later in the inning. Overall a good performance
  
• Glen Perkins' fastball at 91-94 with good downward motion. Picked two K on a hard slider and a ground out to him on a 94 mph FB. Close to season form. He looks so there and ready to pick up from last season. Very impressive.
  
• Casilla is locked in
  
• Duensing's FB 90-92. Looks nice and loose but some command issues (it is early). Great defensive play by Benson to cut a double into single.
  
• Towles shows pretty good patience on the plate. Going 3-0 (and took ball 4 but was called a strike.) Then shows some speed by beating the throw on a tailor made double play ball. Then he was asked to steal second and was barely caught. So he's got an eye and wheels. Two things that Drew Butera lacks.
  
• Jeff Gray makes his first appearance this spring. Problems locating his fastball outside, then goes inside with a FB that goes into a double. That is not a good prescription for success... Major command issues. This reminds me of Marquis' second inning the other day minus the wild pitches
  
• Very windy out there, but if Mastroianni wants to make the team he better not drop those fly balls. That one hit the heel of his glove
  
• Oswaldo Arcia is build like a bull, but does not like the breaking ball
  
• Doumatrait in to close the 9th. Can locate his FB somewhat consistently, unless he is nitpicking at the corners, but breaking ball is either all over the place or the middle of the plate. I think that right now he is behing Maloney at the depth chart
  
• Perkins, Maloney, Capps, Revere, Carroll, Doumit and Towles impressed me today in various degrees. Good to see Perkins close to mid-season form and Maloney and Towles were happy surprises
  

The 3-0 strike call on Towles was something that would've had me irrate if it was a regular season game. The pitch was 8 inches (not exaggerating) inside, then Towles grounded out the next pitch.

Glen Perkins looked great.

Benson does look overmatched. He hit poorly in winter ball and that is carrying over to spring. I hope he figures things out by the time the season starts.

I agree about Benson, he looked the same last September. It surprises me a bit since he generally hit better than Parmelee as they moved up the minors together. Parmelee looks more together at the plate than Benson. I suppose Benson is working on things in batting practice and maybe taking too many thoughts up to his AB's.