Metrodome Memories

The Twins rode a three run seventh and withstood a late rally to beat the Pirates 5 to 4. With the win, the Twins evened their Grapefruit record to 15 and 15. It was a game punctuated by errors on both sides that allowed runs to score.

It was an all-around good effort at the plate for the Twins. Michael Cuddyer drove in a run in the third and Delmon Young launched a solo home run in the fourth. The team rallied to tack three runs on the board in the seventh off of Pirates closer Matt Capps. All three were unearned, due to an error by Pittsburgh center fielder Edward Garcia.

In his final spring work, Kevin Slowey was decent, giving up 2 runs on 6 hits and no walks while making three Pirates whiff over three innings. However, the best pitching came from  the 6 relievers who combined to hold the Pirates  scoreless until  Danny Vais  gave up two unearned runs in the  ninth and still managed to get the save.

The Twins now turn their attention to Opening Day on Monday against the Angels, and will send Livan Hernandez to face Jered Weaver. The game is also anticipated because of the return of Torii Hunter to Minnesota, which is sure to make it an emotional game for the team, its fans and Hunter.

John Sickels recently unveiled his list of top 20 Twins prospects and topping the list is Tyler Robertson.  The top five is pitching heavy with four pitchers amongst the top spots and the only position player in the top five is outfielder Ben Revere.  Those five players grabbed a B rating or better with Tyler Robertson getting the only B+.

Also, the Twins picked up outfielder Craig Monroe from the Cubs for a player to be named later.  Monroe is one of those weird players who hacks away yet manages to drive in runs because he’s good for 20-25 homers a season.  His name should sound familiar because he played with in the division and while he put up some solid seasons in Detroit, they gave up on him last year during their playoff run.

Bryan Smith at the Hardball Times recently called Twins pitcher Oswaldo Sosa the most underrated prospect in baseball right now.  Sosa put together solid seasons at both High A and Low A and he looks to move up to Double A in 2007.  Smith goes as far to say that Sosa could be with the Twins by the end of 2007 and we all know how much we’ll need the arms this year.

Sosa combined a good but not great strikeout rate with an excellent homerun rate to put together an overall ERA of 2.60 in both stops in 2006.  He definitely keeps the ball down and he gave up only two homeruns in 152 1/3 innings.  The Baseball Historians network is going to put up some minor league sites soon and while I’m not sure there will be a Twins one just yet, I’ll be sure to keep an eye on Sosa to see how he’s progressing in 2007.

Alright, the Twins got the job done.  They rolled into Chicago and left with a half game lead over the White Sox for the Wild Card. 

Torii Hunter and Jason Bartlett were the heroes on Friday.  Hunter hit a huge three run homerun in the sixth to give the the Twins a 4-3 lead.  The White Sox tied the game up in the bottom half of that inning, but in the ninth, Bartlett singled home Lew Ford for the game winner.  Brad Radke lasted only two innings and it was Jesse Crain who picked up the win with two shutout innings.

The pen really tried to blow a fair start by Johan Santana yesterday, but Nick Punto’s RBI single in the eleventh gave the Twins the win.  Joe Nathan gave up a two run homerun in the ninth to Jermaine Dye and that sent it into extra frames.  Punto, Rondell White and Jason Tyner all had two RBIs in the 8-7 win.

The winning ended today wit Carlos Silva.  He gave up three more homeruns over six innings and he dropped to 8-12.  The only Twins’ run came in the first inning when Michael Cuddyer singled home Punto.

The Twins are off tomorrow and then they have three against the Royals.  It’s imperative that the Twins take care of business against Kansas City.  The Twins have only a half game lead so there’s very little margin for error here.