On Sunday, the Twins flew from Detroit to Kansas City for one of their last road trips of the season. Just another road trip, right? Wrong.

In baseball you can always count on three things in September… September call-ups, exciting surges or collapses and rookie hazing. The Twins rookies and some other younger players were part of the traditional hazing ritual on Sunday before the they flew to Kansas City to start a two game series with the Royals tonight.

Most teams dress their rookies up in traditional Halloween costumes the more embarrassing, the better. The Twins stuck to the standard formula this year with their costumes.

This year’s victims or rather rookies included the Twins’ new bat boy, catcher Rene Rivera, outfielder Ben Revere, infielder Trevor Plouffe, infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka, outfielder Joe Benson, pitcher Lester Oliveros, infielder Chris Parmelee, outfielder Rene Tosoni, pitcher Scott Diamond, pitcher Anthony Swarzak, infielder Luke Hughes and pitcher Kyle Waldrop.

Not only did the Twins end their seven game losing streak on Sunday, but over two games second baseman Luke Hughes had three home runs and eight RBIs.

In the Twins’ 11-4 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday, Hughes was responsible for five of those runs.

In the fourth inning Hughes launched a Brad Penny 87 miles-per-hour splitter into the Twins’ bullpen in left center field for a two-run home run. Then in the seventh inning, Hughes sent a David Pauley 90 miles-per-hour sinker into the left field seats for a three-run home run.

The five RBIs and two home runs in Sunday’s game are a career-high for Hughes.

During Saturday’s game Hughes took a 91 miles-per-hour Justin Verlander four-seam fastball to left field for a solo home run in the fifth inning. An inning later Hughes took another Justin Verlander pitch, this time a 99 miles-per-hour four seam fastball, to right field for a two-RBI double.

Hughes, who had never homered twice in a game, is batting .321 with three homers and nine RBIs in 10 games since being recalled from Triple-A Rochester earlier this month.

So when your “back-up” catcher starts more games than your “everyday” catcher, does that mean your “back-up” catcher becomes your “everyday” catcher? It was discussed during the Twins game Friday night that the Twins back-up catcher Drew Butera has started 72 games this season, starting catcher Joe Mauer has started 70 games this season with 50 of those coming behind the dish with the other 20 starts between 1st base, right field and designated hitter.

Many players have played hurt this season, example Michel Cuddyer gets drilled with a 98 mile per hour pitch one night and less than 12 hours later, he is back in the lineup because he knows the bench is thin. Justin Morneau played more than half the season with a herniated disk before missing around 7 weeks while recovering from surgery to get it fixed. And then you have Joe Mauer, who I swear refuses to play even if he has a hang nail.

» Continue reading “Starting To Play A Fair Game”

What do you do when you’re on vacation at a resort in Northern Minnesota and you’re tired of being eaten alive by mosquitos? You come up with new at bat and pitching songs for the Minnesota Twins, of course. And that’s exactly what Katie and I did tonight.

We were bored and with the Twins sitting 21 games below .500 after tonight’s game, we figure recommending some new songs for the guys couldn’t hurt.

Besides, figuring out what songs go with the player’s personality was a lot of fun.

Pitchers

• Scott Baker – Dirt Road Anthem – Jason Aldean
• Joe Nathan – It’s Not Over – Daughtry
• Brian Duensing – Paradise City – Guns N’ Roses
• Carl Pavano – Super Mario Bros Theme Song
• Glen Perkins – Johnny Cash – Jason Aldean
• Nick Blackburn – Back Where I Came From – Kenny Chesney
• Anthony Swarzak – Sweet Child O Mine – Guns N’ Roses
• Matt Capps – Welcome to My Life – Simple Plan
• Alex Burnett – Addicted to You – Simple Plan
• Kevin Slowey – Highway to Hell – AC/DC
• Francisco Liriano – Crazy Train – Ozzy Osbourne
• Phil Dumatrait – One of These Days – The Warren Brothers
• Jose Mijares – Gold Digger – Kanye West

A couple weeks ago, Erin posted a fantastic article about Twins infielder/outfielder Trevor Plouffe and how he should be in the bigs showing what he’s made of. Well, Twins fans may just get their chance to see Plouffe back in the bigs sooner rather than later.

With only a few days left until the All Star break and no roster moves expected to be made before then, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire had told reports earlier in the week that he had been keeping an eye on Plouffe in Rochester. Gardenhire also stated that he had talked to Red Wings manager Tom Nieto about having Plouffe start playing first base. » Continue reading “Plouffe’s Return May Come as Early as Next Week”

The number eight played a big part in the Twins’ 9-2 victory over the reigning World Series Champion, San Francisco Giants last night. The victory also stretched the Twins’ winning streak to eight games.

Twins hitters essentially took batting practice off of left handed starter Madison Bumgarner in the first inning. Line drives, bouncers in the gap, drives to the outfield added up to give the Twins eight runs on eight hits.

Bumgarner surrendered doubles to Alexi Casilla, Michael Cuddyer, Danny Valencia and Ben Revere. Tsuyoshi Nishioka blasted his hit over the center fielder’s head.

Twins players circled the bases like a merry-go-round. Twins’ fans in attendance cheered on the hit parade, while Giants’ fans booed.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, the Twins tied a major league mark with eight hits to start the game. The Cubs were the last team to do it, Sept. 8, 2009, against Pittsburgh.

After Carl Pavano struck out for the first out of the inning. Revere followed with a double to left which drove in Luke Hughes and Nishioka for the seventh and eighth runs of the inning.

It has been almost 21 years since a team opened a game with eight consecutive hits and all eight hitters scoring since the Yankees did it to the Orioles on Sept. 25, 1990.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Twins last had nine hits in an inning on July 21, 2004, against Tampa Bay. And it was their first eight-run inning since Aug. 23, 2009, at Kansas City.

The Twins have won eight consecutive games and 15 of their past 17. With Cleveland’s loss to Colorado, the Twins are 6 1/2 games behind the AL Central-leading Indians. On June 1, the Twins were 16 1/2 games out of first.

The hits keep coming for the Minnesota Twins. Unfortunately, they’re not at the plate.

This afternoon the Twins placed DH Jim Thome on the 15 day DL with a strained left quadricep. Outfielder/DH Jason Kubel was also placed on the 15 day DL with a sprained left ankle. The Twins have recalled OF Ben Revere and IF Luke Hughes from Class AAA Rochester to fill the vacant roster spots.

It was expected that the Twins would place either Thome or Kubel on the DL before today’s game in Kansas City.

The Twins are expected to transfer catcher Joe Mauer to the 60 day DL to make room on the active roster for another position player.

To date the Twins have had 11 players on the DL. Currently the Twins have eight players on the DL.

Target Field,  Minneapolis, MN

Game 2 First Pitch: 7:10  TV: FSN  Radio: Twins Baseball Network

The Twins will try to avoid a sweep in their series finale tonight agasint the Rays. Hopefully, they also avoid a game like the one they played this afternoon.

Anthony Swarzak will be makig his season debut for the Twins tonight. Swarzak was called up from Rochester last night to start tonight’s game.

Swarzak will need to give the Twins a solid outting. The bullpen has been tapped between the games last night and this afternoon. Only three relievers are available to the Twins tonight, Glen Perkins, Joe Nathan and Matt Capps. So things could get interesting out there.

RAYS (13-11)

1. Sam Fuld, LF
2. Johnny Damon, DH
3. B.J. Upton, CF
4. Matt Joyce, RF
5. Ben Zobrist, 2B
6. Casey Kotchman, 1B
7. Sean Rodriguez, 3B
8. John Jaso, C
9. Elliot Johnson, SS

Starting pitcher: RH Jeff Niemann (0-3, 7.08 ERA)

TWINS (9-14)

1. Denard Span, CF
2. Matt Tolbert, SS
3. Jason Kubel, DH
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Michael Cuddyer, RF
6. Rene Tosoni, LF
7. Danny Valencia, 3B
8. Drew Butera, C
9. Luke Hughes, 2B

Starting pitcher: Anthony Swarzak (2011 MLB debut)

Target Field,  Minneapolis, MN

Game 1 First Pitch: 12:10  TV: FSN  Radio: Twins Baseball Network

The Twins and Rays face off today in a day/night doubleheader. A rain/snowflake mix is expected to last all day, but not affect play.

Twins’ leftfielder Rene Tosoni is making his MLB debut batting seventh.

RAYS (12-11)

Starting pitcher: RH Jeremy Hellickson (1-2, 4.32 ERA)

TWINS (9-13)

1. Denard Span, CF
2. Alexi Casilla, SS
3. Jason Kubel, DH
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Michael Cuddyer, RF
6. Danny Valencia, 3B
7. Rene Tosoni, LF
8. Steve Holm, C
9. Luke Hughes, 2B

Starting pitcher: Nick Blackburn (1-3, 4.01 ERA)

Camden Yards, Baltimore, MD

First Pitch: 6:10 PM   TV: FSN  Radio: Twins Radio Network

Can the Twins win tonight and split the series with the Orioles? That’s a good question.

Justin Morneau is missing from the lineup again. Morneau was last in the lineup against Tampa on Saturday. For those counting at home, that’s five games that he’s missed due to the flu.

Delmon Young is out of tonight’s lineup as well. This is the third game Young has missed with a sore rib/stiff back and symptons of the flu.

Twins (6-10)

1. Denard Span – CF

2. Alexi Casilla– SS

3. Jason Kubel – RF

4. Michael Cuddyer – 1B

5. Jim Thome – DH

6. Danny Valencia – 3B

7. Luke Hughes - 2B

8. Drew Butera – C

9. Jason Repko – LF

SP: Scott Baker- RHP (0-2, 4.50 ERA)

Orioles (6-9)

1. Brian Roberts – 2B

2. Nick Markakis – RF

3. Derrek Lee – 1B

4. Vladimir Guerrero – DH

5. Luke Scott – LF

6. Adam Jones – CF

7. Mark Reynolds – 3B

8. Matt Wieters – C

9. Robert Andino – SS

SP: Jeremy Guthrie, RHP (1-2, 3.32 ERA)