First Pitch: 7:10pm CDT
TV: FSN
Radio: Twins Radio Network
Know Thine Enemy: Bless You Boys
Soothing Balm: ”Eanie Meany,” Jim Noir

For this series to be about more than “treading water,” the Twins need to win tonight.  And tomorrow.  And Sunday.  

Tossers:

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Lineups and news after the jump:

Whackers:

Twins (courtesy MLB.com’s Rhett Bollinger):

Revere CF

Casilla 2B

Mauer C

Cuddles 1B

Kubel, Professional Hitter RF

Valencia 3B

Thome DH

Young LF

Nishioka SS

 

Tigers: TBA.

Notes:

 

• We’re getting dangerously close to having a lineup resembling that of Opening Day.  Jesse, we should talk about having an event of some sort to celebrate this if/when it happens.  I’m thinking cake and/or pie.
• Jason Kubel, who I think I’ve mentioned is someone that in my opinion can hit professionally, is back.  As welcome as that is, Ben Revere has a lot of ground to cover tonight, doesn’t he?

 

Enjoy the game, everybody.

  I should not go to Las Vegas.  The past week is proof of that.  Last week I took a look at the current roster, future call ups and the guys that were coming back from injury and I said that Joe Mauer at 1B was going to be a myth for the rest of the 2011 season.  How wrong I was.  Since that time Mauer has played at first base at least three times.  Such much for that.  Then yesterday I suggested that despite facing AL Cy Young candidate, Justin Verlander, that the Twins had a chance to beat [...]

Vote Twins' greats to Pepsi Max Dream Team

Where has the summer gone? It’s been 47 games since the Minnesota Twins had the services of hard-hitting Jason Kubel who is set to return to the Twins lineup this weekend. In that span the Twins have managed to be alright, going 29-17 and inching themselves toward the top of the…

A's Weeks, Twins' Revere win rookie honors

This year’s class of July 2 international free agents (IFAs) came into fair play over the weekend, and the Twins‘ first move was to sign 16-year-old Dominican right-hander Miguel Gonzalez for a bonus of $650,000. Gonzalez isn’t a Miguel Sano ceiling type of player; he’s unlikely to immediately vault to the top of the Twins’ prospect charts, but he’s a projectable young right-hander who already shows good velocity and plus command of his fastball, despite the fact that he’d barely be legal to drive in our country. More about Gonzalez and another potential Twins target after the jump.

According to Baseball America, Gonzalez is 5’11″ with a 185-pound frame at age 16. His size has led scouts from some organizations to pause, but those who were interested took to his already 88-91mph fastball at age 16, as well as his overall feel for pitching. Gonzalez has a repeatable delivery and already has a solid feel for both a change-up and a curveball, and BA cites the curve as the more advanced pitch of the two right now.

He’s projected to move quickly for someone his age, and one would have to think that as he continues to mature, the 90mph fastball will creep upwards, hopefully into a solid mid-90′s heater. That he already has a feel for pitching as opposed to merely throwing speaks highly of his baseball IQ, and someone who can already pound the strike zone certainly fits the Twins’ organizational philosophy and will hopefully fast track him throughout the system. He’s far from the top IFA on this year’s market (that honor goes to Elier Hernandez, a Dominican outfielder whose whopping $5M+ bonus from the Rangers broke the record for a July 2 IFA signing), but from the limited data available this seems to be a solid addition to the Twins’ farm system that we should see some benefits from in a couple of years. BA projected Gonzalez to receive the 22nd-largest bonus of any IFA this summer.

The Twins have been increasingly active in international scouting over the past few years, and it’s good to see them getting into the Dominican Republic. They’ve been big players in Venezuela, but recently we’ve seen them add guys like Sano, Gonzalez, Jorge Polanco, and more out of the DR, and you can never have scouts in too many areas when you’re combing the world for talent.

The other name linked to the Twins is projected to receive the summer’s fifth-largest bonus: Venezuelan shortstop Wilmer Becerra. Becerra stands at 6’3″, 175 pounds and is all but 100% certain to be almost immediately moved to an outfield position. The 16-year-old has a wider lower-half than upper body, which helps him generate power but will also likely limit his ability in the outfield to some extent, leading BA to ultimately project him as a left fielder. Many scouts consider him to be one of the best right-handed hitters in this year’s IFA class, and like his plate coverage and projectable power. His detractors will say that his presently-awkward frame will eventually sap him of his speed, though he currently runs a 60-yard dash in 6.6 seconds. The Twins are one team who have been linked to Becerra, with the Cardinals being another big suitor and the Blue Jays being the biggest competition of all. Most scouts consider them the favorites, but it wasn’t too long ago that the Pirates were all but a sure thing to sign Sano, so let’s not rule out the Twins just yet.

Steve Adams also writes for MLBTradeRumors.com and contributes at 612Sports.net and MLB.com. You can follow him on Twitter: @Adams_Steve

Top o’ the mornin’, Twins fans. Hopefully you all had an explosion-ful, safe July 4th. Here are the nominees for yesterday afternoon’s Player of the Game!

Brian Duensing: The Duenslinger went the distance, blanking the Rays with nine solid innings. He walked four but struck out seven, and picked up all 27 outs on 119 pitches. With the Minnesota bullpen unavailable (see: Glen Perkins was unavailable due to pitching in four of the last five games), keeping the relievers in the ‘pen was huge. Not allowing a single run to a talented Rays squad was huger. Yes, huger.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka: A bases-loaded double in the second inning scored two runs, and gave Duensing all the support he would need. Great to see Nishioka coming through in a big situation.

Danny Valencia: His three-run blast in the bottom of the eighth put the proverbial nail in the game’s proverbial coffin, pushing the Twins’ lead to 7-0. Danny now has 9 RBI in the last four games, and three homers in the last ten games.

Poll

Player of the Game for July 4th’s win over the Rays is…

• 
  Brian Duensing
• 
  Tsuyoshi Nishioka
• 
  Danny Valencia

  455 votes | Results

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire knew right-hander Matt Capps wasn’t pleased with him after Sunday’s game, in which Gardenhire pulled his closer in favor of left-hander Glen Perkins with one on, one out and the Twins leading by one run.

There’s a time for that talk, Gardenhire said, and it wasn’t Sunday.

“You don’t want to talk to somebody who’s really pissed off,” the manager said with a chuckle. “I don’t want to hear what he has to say, to tell you the truth.

“When guys are mad you leave them alone. There’ll be a calmer time and eventually I’ll have a chat with him and if he tells me that was horse (expletive), I’ll agree. It was horse (expletive), but we won the game and we’ll leave it at that.”

Gardenhire said before Monday’s game that, if a save was needed,…

The Tampa Bay Rays hit Brian Duensing hard through four innings, even on the two double plays that put the brakes on promising offensive situations. All those good swings seem to evaporate under the warm sun at Target Field once the fifth inning, and Duensing’s curveball, arrived. Duensing overcame a shaky start to throw a six-hitter and Danny Valencia homered and drove in three to help the…

Michael Cuddyer‘s player page on Baseball Reference.com will soon have a new look. Next week he will have a red, white, and blue All Star badge near the top of his page, just like the pages of teammates Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Joe Nathan and Francisco Liriano. Cuddyer was selected yesterday as the Twins’ sole representative to the Midsummer classic. We at Puckett’s Pond would like to salute Cuddyer, congratulate him on his first All Star selection, and recognize his long tenure with our favorite baseball team. Much like Fred Taylor, the workhorse NFL running back who was repeatedly snubbed [...]

Brian Duensing pitched two different games on Independence Day, skating through the first four innings against Tampa Bay before dominating the final five to earn his second career shutout. Tsuyoshi Nishioka smacked a two-run double the opposite way to get the Twins scoring started in the second, Michael Cuddyer homered to extend the lead in the third, and Danny Valencia put three insurance runs on the board with a deep fly to left to seal the victory.

Through the first four innings, Duensing had allowed five hits and three walks, yet somehow kept the Rays from crossing home plate. In the first, he got a bases-loaded double play to end the inning; in the second, Minnesota turned yet another Twin killing to erase an early rally. In the fourth, he allowed a leadoff single to BJ Upton, but the speedy center fielder was caught attempting to swipe second (though replays suggested he was safe and second-base umpire Gary Darling blew the call.) All told, the Rays left five men on base and made three outs on the bases, counting the double plays, and failed to turn all those early runners into runs.

Duensing also walked the leadoff batter in the fifth, but from there, he would dominate, retiring the next ten batters he faced. Ultimately, other than a Sean Rodriguez single in the eighth, Duensing would pitch flawlessly from that point on, even striking out three men in an inning for the first time in his career. The lefty finished with seven punch-outs, six in the final five innings, and threw 119 pitches on the way to his first complete game of 2011.

The Twins gave Duensing the early lead by getting to All-Star Rays lefty David Price in the second inning. Valencia singled to lead off the inning and Jason Repko slapped a base hit of his own with one out. Matt Tolbert drew a walk to load the bases, and Nishioka curved a double into the right-field corner to score a pair. Ben Revere followed with a groundout to score Tolbert, and the Twins had a 3-0 lead.

Michael Cuddyer followed with a solo home run in the third, a shot into the left-field upper deck that was his first-ever hit against Price. In the eighth, with the Twins leading 4-0, they put some more distance between themselves and the Rays thanks to Valencia. Joe Mauer was hit with a pitch and Cuddyer walked on four not-very-close pitches from Adam Russell, before Valencia lofted a fly ball just over the wall in left, his tenth homer of the year.

Fitting, I suppose, that the team wearing red, white, and blue should come through on July Fourth. Studs and duds after the jump:

Studs

3) Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who not only drove in two runs, he did NOT, repeat NOT, make an error today. Alert the press!
2) Danny Valencia, who had three hits, drove in three, and scored twice.
1) Brian Duensing, for obvious reasons.

Duds

3 (tie)) Alexi Casilla, Joe Mauer and Ben Revere, all of whom played good defense but who combined to go 0-11 at the top of the lineup.
1) Luke Hughes, who not only went 0-4 but struck out three times. Maybe being Australian hurt him today.

Rays vs Twins coverage

As Danny Valencia’s three-run homer barely reached the seats in left field to give the Minnesota Twins a 7-0 lead in the eighth inning, Brian Duensing was worried his chances for a second career shutout left the ballpark with it. He lobbied briefly to stay in the game, and that was enough for Ron Gardenhire.

The Tampa Bay Rays hit Brian Duensing hard through four innings, even on the two double plays that put the brakes on promising offensive situations. All those good swings seem to evaporate under the warm sun at Target Field once the fifth inning, and Duensing’s curveball, arrived. Duensing overcame a shaky start to throw a six-hitter and Danny Valencia homered and drove in three to help the…

Michael Cuddyer‘s player page on Baseball Reference.com will soon have a new look. Next week he will have a red, white, and blue All Star badge near the top of his page, just like the pages of teammates Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Joe Nathan and Francisco Liriano. Cuddyer was selected yesterday as the Twins’ sole representative to the Midsummer classic. We at Puckett’s Pond would like to salute Cuddyer, congratulate him on his first All Star selection, and recognize his long tenure with our favorite baseball team. Much like Fred Taylor, the workhorse NFL running back who was repeatedly snubbed [...]

Brian Duensing pitched two different games on Independence Day, skating through the first four innings against Tampa Bay before dominating the final five to earn his second career shutout. Tsuyoshi Nishioka smacked a two-run double the opposite way to get the Twins scoring started in the second, Michael Cuddyer homered to extend the lead in the third, and Danny Valencia put three insurance runs on the board with a deep fly to left to seal the victory.

Through the first four innings, Duensing had allowed five hits and three walks, yet somehow kept the Rays from crossing home plate. In the first, he got a bases-loaded double play to end the inning; in the second, Minnesota turned yet another Twin killing to erase an early rally. In the fourth, he allowed a leadoff single to BJ Upton, but the speedy center fielder was caught attempting to swipe second (though replays suggested he was safe and second-base umpire Gary Darling blew the call.) All told, the Rays left five men on base and made three outs on the bases, counting the double plays, and failed to turn all those early runners into runs.

Duensing also walked the leadoff batter in the fifth, but from there, he would dominate, retiring the next ten batters he faced. Ultimately, other than a Sean Rodriguez single in the eighth, Duensing would pitch flawlessly from that point on, even striking out three men in an inning for the first time in his career. The lefty finished with seven punch-outs, six in the final five innings, and threw 119 pitches on the way to his first complete game of 2011.

The Twins gave Duensing the early lead by getting to All-Star Rays lefty David Price in the second inning. Valencia singled to lead off the inning and Jason Repko slapped a base hit of his own with one out. Matt Tolbert drew a walk to load the bases, and Nishioka curved a double into the right-field corner to score a pair. Ben Revere followed with a groundout to score Tolbert, and the Twins had a 3-0 lead.

Michael Cuddyer followed with a solo home run in the third, a shot into the left-field upper deck that was his first-ever hit against Price. In the eighth, with the Twins leading 4-0, they put some more distance between themselves and the Rays thanks to Valencia. Joe Mauer was hit with a pitch and Cuddyer walked on four not-very-close pitches from Adam Russell, before Valencia lofted a fly ball just over the wall in left, his tenth homer of the year.

Fitting, I suppose, that the team wearing red, white, and blue should come through on July Fourth. Studs and duds after the jump:

Studs

3) Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who not only drove in two runs, he did NOT, repeat NOT, make an error today. Alert the press!
2) Danny Valencia, who had three hits, drove in three, and scored twice.
1) Brian Duensing, for obvious reasons.

Duds

3 (tie)) Alexi Casilla, Joe Mauer and Ben Revere, all of whom played good defense but who combined to go 0-11 at the top of the lineup.
1) Luke Hughes, who not only went 0-4 but struck out three times. Maybe being Australian hurt him today.

Rays vs Twins coverage

As Danny Valencia’s three-run homer barely reached the seats in left field to give the Minnesota Twins a 7-0 lead in the eighth inning, Brian Duensing was worried his chances for a second career shutout left the ballpark with it. He lobbied briefly to stay in the game, and that was enough for Ron Gardenhire.

It’s been a week since the Twins lost a game.  That’s pretty cool, right?

Heavers:

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Lineups and notes after your jump:

Hackers (courtesy Joe C.):

Twins:

1. Ben Revere, CF
2. Alexi Casilla, 2B
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Michael Cuddyer, 1B
5. Delmon Young, LF
6. Danny Valencia, 3B
7. Tsuyoshi Nishioka, SS
8. Luke Hughes, DH
9. Jason Repko, RF

Padres:

Chris Denorfia, RF
Jason Bartlett, SS
Chase Headley, 3B
Ryan Ludwick, DH
Cameron Maybin, CF
Jesus Guzman, LF
Anthony Rizzo, 1B
Nick Hundley, C
Alberto Gonzalez, 2B

 

Notes:

• Neither Drew Butera nor Rene Rivera are in the lineup this evening.
• Ex-Twin Alert: Jason Bartlett is in the lineup tonight, Pat Neshek is in the bullpen, and the O-Dog is on the DL.
• LaVelle noted in a blog post yesterday that, with the Twins carrying three catchers, there is no chance Jim Thome is on next week’s road trip to San Francisco and Milwaukee.
• Welcome back, Glen Perkins!  We’re sorry about your restaurant chain’s financial difficulties, but we’ve always liked you better than Embers.
• That’s almost a getaway day lineup for the Twins, which is a marked improvement.  Now, they just need the former MVP, the guy with 500+ homers, their leadoff hitter and their best hitter from April and May, and they’ll be farting through silk.

Enjoy the game, everybody.

Tonight, for the first time since the first half of April, Joe Mauer will participate in a Major League game for the Minnesota Twins. The first month and a half after his departure were abysmal, making his absence even more pronounced if only because of his $23 million dollar salary. And no matter how you look at it, it has been a long, frustrating, and curiously drawn-out absence.

But tonight, when he’s announced prior to the game in the starting lineup, I’ll cheer. When he climbs the dugout steps to squat behind home plate and take Brian Duensing‘s warmup throws, I’ll cheer. And when he finally steps into the batter’s box to take his first plate appearance in more than two months, I’ll cheer then, too.

I’ll be honest. I don’t know why any Twins fan wouldn’t cheer.

Mauer is, unequivocally, the best and most talented player on the roster. He’s also the prodigal son, whether that means anything to some of us or not. Both of those are reasons why he’s making as much money as he is, but as far as I’m concerned the money has nothing to do with this because it doesn’t matter if Mauer is making $23 million or the league minimum. I believe in the integrity of certain players, and one of those guys is definitely Joe. Ultimately we have absolutely no control over how much time he missed anyway, no matter what you think about it.

He’s the home town kid made good. He’s the best player on the roster, and potentially one of the best catchers to ever play the sport. I’m glad he’s back, and I’m welcoming him back with open arms.

Mauer playing for the Twins makes them a better team.

For me that’s all that matters. It’s that simple.

What week it has been for the Minnesota Twins!  Since losing last Friday evening to the Texas Rangers the Twins are 4-0 after taking the weekend set from the Rangers to win a series against the AL West leading Rangers and then sweeping the Chicago White Sox in a rain shortened 2 game series.  The Twins’ pitchers have continued to pitch deep into games and the bullpen has responded by preserving late game leads.  Alexi Casilla has continued to stay hot, Michael Cuddyer continues to hit the ball deep (5 HRs in June), and Tsuyoshi Nishioka returned to the line [...]

This is part eight in a series examining every Twins team that has made the playoffs. Whether the current version of the Twins is 20 games over .500 or stuck in last place, fans can always hold onto memories of successful teams past. Previous articles in the series: 1965, 1969, 1970, 1987, 1991, 2002, 2003 The 2004 Twins faced little competition within their own division. They spent 145 days in first place, clinched the division with 12 games remaining, and ultimately won by 9.0 games over the second place Chicago White Sox. While the 2002 and 2003 Twins won with a [...]

 

The Twins won last night thanks to Alexi Casilla, a multi-RBI home run from Michael Cuddyer and an effective bullpen.  Things are different.

Throwers:

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All the rest is after the jump:

Lineups:

Twins (via multiple Twitterseses):

Ben Revere 7

Alexi Casilla 6

Cuddles 9

Delmon DH

Luke Hughes 3

Danny Valencia 5

Jason Repko 8

Matt Tolbert 4

Sweet Drew 2

Rangers: TBA

 

Notes:

• No Morneau in the lineup (boooo), no Young in the outfield (yaaaaay).  As friend of Twinkie Town and the Earth Nick Nelson noted, this is probably the team’s best outfield defense of the year, but also their weakest lineup.  Will update on Morneau if it’s anything more serious than a day of rest for his various maladies.
• Bullpen: Matt Capps and Castle Rock Deputy Sheriff Phil Dumatrait (who has seen some craziness in his time, let me tell you) were both unavailable last night.  No word yet on this evening.

 

Enjoy the game, everybody.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire wants Joe Mauer back soon, but first he’d like to see the catcher play a few rehab games at Class AAA Rochester.

“I think he’s caught 22 innings up until this point, and I don’t believe 22 innings is enough to say you’re ready to catch three, four, five days in a row,” Gardenhire said Thursday before the Twins’ 5-4 victory over the Rangers. “I would like to see more innings, and I would like to see him totally ready.”

Mauer played in his fourth rehab game with Class A Fort Myers on Thursday, going 1-for-3 with an RBI. He had caught and batted in some extended spring training games before playing for Fort Myers. He’s eligible to come off the 60-day disabled list Monday, but the Twins vow there has been no decision made.

Mauer hasn’t played…

The date was July 29, 2010. It was the day Minnesota Twins screwed up their 2011 season. That day, the Twins traded catching prospect Wilson Ramos to the Washington Nationals for closer Matt Capps. At the time, the trade generated tepid optimism in Twins Territory.

Don't tease us Joe. Please don't do it. Word surfaced recently in the Minneapolis Star Tribune that Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer is on track to leave rehab in Florida and join the team in time for the June 14 game against the rival Chicago White Sox at Target Field.