A quick recipe, for any managers or relief pitchers that happen to be reading (with helpful pictures!):

Continue reading this post »

Do not adjust your sets - or your box scores.  In the bottom of the third inning in Sunday's game, Scott Baker struck out Ryan Braun, Prince Fielder (who reached first as the ball got away from Mike Redmond), Russell Branyan, and Mike Cameron.

And so, did you know...

• Baker is the first Twin to ever strike out four batters in the same inning.
• Going back to the Senators days of the franchise, he's the first Senator/Twin to do it since Walter Johnson, on April 15, 1911.
• He's the first player to do it in the major leagues since Brad Penny did it for the Dodgers, in the 2nd inning on September 22, 2006.
• He's the first American League pitcher to accomplish the feat since Kaz Sasaki, who did it April 4, 2003 in the 9th inning for the Mariners.
• And he is the first pitcher to strike out all four consecutively since Houston's Octavio Dotel did it on June 11, 2003.

Knowledge is power!

(All data from The Baseball Almanac.)

Jesse had a nice essay on Juan Rincon yesterday morning, hailing the seemingly-certain end of the "Juanny" era in Minnesota.  Yesterday afternoon, Rincon gave up four more earned runs, his fourth consecutive appearance allowing at least one run.

While it's certainly a tough stretch for Rincon, it's not the worst run-allowing streak by a Twins reliever - not by another ten appearances.  That honor goes to former reliever Benj Sampson, who in 1999 went an astonishing fourteen consecutive relief appearances without shutting the other team out, tied for the longest such streak in the major leagues since at least 1956.

After the jump, a look at that streak - and how it ties in with Rincon's latest problems.

Continue reading this post »

With last night's loss to the Orioles, Mike Lamb has officially hit the 50-game mark - the point at which the Twins cut Tony Batista loose in 2006.  Batista had 195 plate appearances that season; Lamb has a very comparable 187 so far this year.  And here's the tale of the tape:

Apart from the salary - and the contract length - there's really no difference between the two.  Still, the fiscal reality of his contract probably precludes the Twins from cutting their losses and ditching Lamb; I suppose the best-case scenario is for the team to play him only against right-handed pitchers, or keep him around to pinch-hit against righties and back up at the corner positions.

In 2006, I remember the Twins' DFA-ing of Batista as a move that was viewed with celebration, not to mention relief, among Twins fans.  And so I remain somewhat confused why no similar movement is afoot regarding Lamb.

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune's Joe Christensen:

KANSAS CITY, MO. — The Twins have claimed lefthanded pitcher Craig Breslow off waivers from the Cleveland Indians, and he will join his new team in time for Friday’s game against the Yankees, the Twins announced today.

...To make room on the 40-man roster, the Twins transferred Pat Neshek (strained elbow) to the 60-day disabled list. They need to make another roster move to make room on the 25-man roster, which will likely involve sending a reliever back to Class AAA Rochester.

Breslow's stats (with Cleveland this year):

Other notes:

• Breslow will turn 28 in August.
• Breslow is almost certainly now the smartest member of the Twins, given that he has a degree in molecular biophysics and biochemistry from Yale.
  
• The scouting report says his fastball is in the high 80s, with an above-average curve and an average changeup.
• He's not exactly hard on lefties; they have a .746 OPS against him over his career (compared to .705 for righties).
• Before pitching in Cleveland, he appeared for San Diego in 2005 and Boston in 2006.
• He spent all of last season pitching for Pawtucket in Triple-A, where he was 2-3 with a 4.06 ERA and a 1.38 WHIP, and struck out 73 in 68.2 innings.

It remains to be seen who the demoted / released reliever will be.  Korecky? Rincon? Bass?

From Judd Zulgad at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, on the Access Vikings blog:

First, the good news for Vikings fans. The NFL Network has included a Vikings game in a weekly series that will debut Monday and feature 12 classic games from the years 1975-2004.

Now, the (potentially) bad news. The game that has been picked as a Vikings classic is the team’s Dec. 28, 1975 loss to Dallas in the Divisional playoffs at Met Stadium. Longtime Vikings fans simply know this as the “Hail Mary Game.” Many still haven’t gotten over it.

Way back when, Gonzo agreed with me that this was the second-worst loss in state history - and now, we have the horrible chance to relive it again.

To sum up: NOOOOOO!