2012 Wish List, Part VI: Take the Bullpen Seriously

Remember a year ago when one of the biggest gripes certain Twins fans could come up with was calling Jesse Crain "Crainwreck"? Remember a year ago when certain Twins fans were so fed up with Matt Guerrier they couldn't be bothered with pronouncing his name correctly?

Yeah...I wonder what those certain fans think about those guys now?

I miss them too.

I have to admit that the old cliche of you don't know what you've got until it's gone applies to me regarding the Twins bullpen of yesteryear. And as much I would love to have either one or both of those guys back, it's too late to rue the decisions of the past.

Too bad the present isn't much fun.

The current bullpen owns the worst cumulative ERA in all of baseball (4.53). The front office can't expect to win very many games when they can't trust the men at the back end of the game to preserve leads or, at the very least, keep the team close. Unfortunately, however, the front office has shown over the last few years that it doesn't worry too much about the state of the bullpen. Fans have been fed lines that everything will be ok with the guys we have for a while now.

We can't have Crain or Guerrier back (well, I suppose we could, but I doubt it). But that doesn't mean we have to be stuck with what we have.

Here's the plan I wish for:

Bring Nathan back. The Twins have a $12 million option to keep him one more year. That's pretty spendy; I don't see Bill Smith willing to pony up that kind of money. And frankly, that's too much for a relief pitcher. However, I would like the Twins to let him test the free agent market and then actively pursue him for less money. He turns 37 this off-season; his next multi-year contract will likely be his last. I can see him taking the security of more years and still make it affordable for the Twins.

Tender Glen Perkins another contract. I used to kind of hate him as a starter. I really like him as a set up man.

Find a new home for Kevin Slowey. His, um, philosophical differences with the team are simply too chaotic to overcome. He'll probably succeed elsewhere; he just doesn't fit with the Twins.

Put Anthony Swarzak and Brian Duensing back to the bullpen and keep them as middle-inning and long relievers.

Say good-bye to Phil Dumatrait, Jose Mijares, and Matt Capps. They simply don't pitch well enough and have proven that they can't be trusted. Maybe send Alex Burnett on his way as well.

Then, find good, reliable replacements. I like the promise that Lester Oliveros has shown, though I'm not sure he's really ready for the big leagues yet. He's only 23; let him earn a spot in spring training. Otherwise, make some trades and sign some new guys.

And maybe just make a quick phone call to Jesse Crain and Matt Guerrier.

~~~

Since I mentioned Matt Capps, here's his paper doll:

If I remember correctly, he was unavailable for a few games mid-season because he had some forearm soreness. Or was it shoulder? Elbow? I guess I can't remember correctly.

Anyway, he's the last one of the guys who were on the Opening Day roster.

Sometimes It's Not Who You Play, But When You Play Them...

... and then sometimes it is who you play.

This nice little sweep of the Royals was the first more-than-two-game-series win of the season and the first four-game winning streak of the season. In the previous series against Detroit, our Twins looked overmatched, scared, and frustrated. It's not like the Tigers blew them away, but the Twins just didn't look good.

Since the Royals always play the Twins tough, I was hoping the Twins could at least earn a split. But they, ...

"for whatever perverse reason, began playing baseball with joy and verve and poetry"

...and it was good. In fact, it was beautiful.

Is it too soon to think that they've turned the corner into being a good team again?

~~~

One thing I have been enjoying, regardless of the outcomes of the games, is rooting for the kids. With all the injuries, we've seen a lot of them. And they're all playing like they don't want to be sent down again...not that anyone ever wants to be sent down again...and that's what makes this fun.

Ben Revere is just fun to watch. He's fast, small, and, well, adorable. I just love how he smiles all the time. He covers a lot of ground in the outfield, and he absolutely flies around the bases. About the only knock on him is his throwing arm, but the team can work with that. I see a pretty good future for him.

Anthony Swarzak has really stepped up in times of need. He did serviceable work from the bullpen, but as a starter, he's sparkled. And he has a great attitude -- he just wants the ball whenever Gardy needs to give it to him. It's great having him around to fill in for starters as needed and not feeling scared about it.

And, how about Brian Dinkelman? After only one major league game, he's earned himself quite a fan club. During Saturday's game, and reportedly at the bars after the game, loud chants of "DINK-EL-MAN" could be heard. How much fun is that? I hope he appreciated every moment of it. I don't think there are very many guys who received both a HBP and IBB in their major-league debuts.

I'm even rooting for Trevor Plouffe, although his defensive miscues drive me nuts. I know he's back in Rochester working those out right now, but it's better that he's there playing everyday rather that with the big club sitting on the bench. He'll be back soon enough, and he'll be just fine.

~~~

DL Updates:

This is the time of the season when if starts becoming a grind for the players. The freshness of the new season has worn off, and it's still to early for the excitement of a playoff push. Players are worn down and sore. Everyone's playing hurt. And everyone's hoping that "hurt" doesn't turn in to "injured."


Thankfully, there were no new additions to the DL during this series ... yet. We're watching Denard Span, who missed Saturday and Sunday with a sore neck, though he was available to pinch hit on Sunday if needed. Justin Morneau also missed Saturday and Sunday with a swollen wrist. Nick Blackburn's start on Saturday was cut short due to back spasms, although he said after the game that he was hopeful it wasn't serious.

Joe Mauer has been catching in real games for the Single-A Fort Myers Miracle (where, by the way, his brother Jake is the manager -- I wonder if they call each other "Butthead" like my boys do). He'll likely have to move up to AA or AAA for a few games in order to face better pitching before he heads back to Minnesota.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka will also start playing for Fort Myers soon. Gardy has indicated that when Nishi does return, he'll likely be at shortstop rather than at second base.

Here We Go Again...DL Report

The Twins have placed LHP Francisco Liriano on the DL retroactive to May 23rd with left shoulder inflammation. This doesn't come as too much of a surprise as he's been experiencing soreness since he pulled himself out of Saturday's start. Like I mentioned last time, an MRI showed inflammation and maybe a bit of tendinitis. According to the StarTribune's Joe Christensen, Gardy is hopeful he'll only miss one more start.

Anthony Swarzak took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning in a spot start replacing Liriano on Saturday. Swarzak will start in Liriano's place again on Thursday.

The Twins called up RHP Anthony Slama from AAA Rochester to replace him on the roster.

Other transactions:

The Twins activated LHP Jose Mijares off the DL who will be available Monday.

The sent down LHP Dusty Hughes to AAA to make room.

Updates:

Joe Mauer continues to play extended spring training games. Mauer has been DHing rather than catching due to some shoulder soreness. I think I remember reading somewhere that Gardy hinted that maybe they'll send Mauer to AAA at some point to face better pitching, but I don't remember where I saw that.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka has been playing both 2nd base and shortshop in extended spring training. He's eligible to return June 7.

Glen Perkins could begin throwing again in a couple days.

Also watching:

Jason Kubel hurt his left foot trying to bring back a home run by Victor Martinez in Monday's game. X-rays showed no breaks, but he is wearing a boot. He said it's the top of his foot, not the ankle or the toes.

The "Win" Stat

The series against the Angels pretty much sums up everything I hate about the "Win" stat for pitchers. I hate it so much, I usually won't acknowledge it when determining a pitcher's worth and I use stats that pitchers actually have some kind of control over such as WHIP or K/BB rate. (For the record, I do use ERA, even though it's flawed. It generally gives an accurate feel for how well a pitcher does, as long as he pitches enough innings to make it meaningful.) I believe that teams win games; pitchers just guide the team there.

This series paints the ridiculous picture of the Win stat is.

First, let's define the Win: if you're the guy who threw the last pitch before your team took the lead for good, you get a "W". If the other team ties or goes ahead after you come out of the game, you can't get a W. Oh, and if you're a starter, you have to pitch 5 innings or more in order to earn the W, but if you're a reliever, all you need is one pitch -- as long as your timing of that one pitch is good. Getting a Loss is easy -- you cough up the baserunner that turns out to be the go-ahead run, and that go-ahead sticks, you get the L. It's not so easy to get the W; it depends so much on the rest of the team.

Take Scott Baker for example. On Friday, he pitched brilliantly, going seven innings without giving up a run and leaving the game with a 5-run lead. He must have felt pretty good about himself as he sipped his Gatorade in the bottom of the 7th -- as well he should have. And then he probably choked on that Gatorade as he watched Alex Burnett, Dusty Hughes, and Jim Hoey parade through to piss away the lead. Scott Downs, who faced two batters, got the W because he happened to throw the last pitch before the half-inning when the Angels scored their sixth run. Scott went home with a homely "No Decision" for his efforts. That's all he deserved because he couldn't get his bullpen to pitch well.

On Saturday, both Anthony Swarzak and Jered Weaver sparkled as they pitched eight and nine scoreless innings, respectively. However, neither one would take home a W, as they simply couldn't make their teammates score runs. Alex Burnett got it, because he was able to will that winning run in the 10th. Fortunately for Swarzak, his No Decision wasn't as homelys as Baker's because at least his team won. Poor Hisanori Takahashi had to wear the L, and he wasn't even on the mound when the Twins went ahead.

Then Carl Pavano was going for his 100th career W on Sunday. This was his sixth try at that golden stat. Now, to be honest, in some of those tries, he didn't pitch well enough to actually earn that W. However, on Sunday, he probably did, except he just didn't have the ability to make his fielders behind him make routine outs. If he had, well, who knows.... But, instead, he takes home another ugly L.

~~~

DL Report:

The Twins have placed RHP Joe Nathan on the 15-day DL with elbow and forearm soreness. This is probably an expected condition as a result of his Tommy John surgery. The forearm flexor muscle has to be pulled apart during the ligament replacement, and can be easily irritated if the patient works very hard during rehabilitation, which Joe did. An MRI showed only inflammation, and no other damage, so he and the Twins are hopeful that two weeks' rest will do the trick.

(Don't worry, he's not as deformed as this paper doll suggests. I'm at the lake this weekend, and I'm borrowing my nephew's computer. It only has Paint for photo editing, and only one of those lame touch pad things for a mouse. This was way harder to do than it looks. Although the Popeye forearms and lack of wrists are kind of funny.)

The Twins purchased the contract of LHP Chuck James to replace Nathan. In order to make room on the 40-man roster for James, the Twins placed Tsuyoshi Nishioka on the 60-day DL. This transaction is paperwork-only as it does not change the expected return date for Nishioka.

Updates:

Matt Capps experienced some soreness in his forearm earlier in the week, but after resting a couple of days, he's fine.

Jose Mijares has been pitching in extended spring training games and could be activated Monday.

Joe Mauer is continuing to play in extended spring training games and increasing his activity. Gardy says he's doing and feeling well. As far as I know, the super-secret timetable for his return has still not been revealed.

Also watching:

Jim Thome needed a cortisone shot in his right shoulder that he tweaked while swinging hard on Saturday.

Francisco Liriano was pulled from Saturday's start due to shoulder soreness. According to ESPN1500's Phil Mackey, an MRI showed some inflammation and maybe a touch of tendinitis. They'll determine his status on Tuesday after his scheduled bullpen session.

Absent

Yes, I've been absent for a while. I am in the middle of a project that I must finish by tomorrow night, so I've been busy with that. In fact, I've got to keep this quick.

Not that I have much that I want to write about. It's damned hard to refrain from bitching and complaining while this Twins team plays like their desire to win is absent. I don't want to spend a lot of energy ranting and grousing -- there are plenty of other blogs that do that. Oh, fans certainly deserve to rant, grouse, complain, and bitch; I certainly don't blame them, I just don't have the desire. Even the neutral, facts only type blogs are tough to read; no one can scrape together two nice things to say about this mess.

We all know nothing is going right; and fans are mad. This series against the Blue Jays exposed a lot of faults: not locating pitches, not making adjustments, not fielding routine plays, on and on and on. This team is not having fun and it shows. The fans aren't having fun either.

Time to change subjects; I promised not to start complaining...

~~~

DL Report:

Yup. It's time to break out the DL paper doll machine.

Left-handed relief pitcher Jose Mijares has been placed on the DL with a strained elbow.

In his relief appearance on Saturday, his velocity was down and his command was virtually non-existent.

RHP Anthony Swarzak has been recalled from AAA to take his place.

Additionally, the Twins felt that the services of Jim Hoey were no longer required, so they reassigned him to AAA. The Twins purchased the contract of LHP Phil Dumatrait to take his place.

To make room on the 40-man roster for Dumatrait, the Twins designated C Steve Holm for assignment. This means that Holm must pass through waivers.

Other DL Updates:

OF Delmon Young has been activated (did anyone tell him that, because he played on Sunday like he was still resting) and OF Rene Tosoni has been reassigned to AAA Rochester to make room.

DL Report: Delmon Young

After not playing since April 18, and pulling himself out of Wednesday's lineup because he "couldn't get loose," Delmon Young has been placed on the DL with soreness in his left rib cage area. He was also a victim of that viral bug that's been plaguing the clubhouse, but he's reportedly over that.

It's unclear what the cause of the soreness is; it's possibly an oblique strain or a bone injury. He had an MRI a few days ago, and it came back ok. UPDATE: The Twins announced that it's an oblique strain.

The Twins are currently hurting for depth on the team, and since a double-header is scheduled for Thursday, it became necessary to fill in some gaps. The DL assignment is retroactive to April 19.

Rene Tosoni, a 24-year-old left-handed-hitting outfielder, will take Delmon's roster spot. He hit .286 avg/.329 obp/.500 slg with three HRs and six doubles in 19 games with AAA Rochester.

~~~

Also watching:

Carl Pavano has the flu. His scheduled Saturday start has been pushed back to Sunday.

Jim Thome was unavailable Wednesday due to oblique soreness.

Jason Repko felt tightness in his quad muscle, but was available if necessary on Wednesday.

~~~

Catching up with the others:

Joe Mauer is due to come off the DL on Thursday, but he won't be ready. There is no time table for his return. A rehab stint sometime in the future is likely.

Kevin Slowey has been pitching for the Fort Myers Miracle on a rehab assignment. On Saturday, he allowed one run on one hit and one walk in one inning. Rumor has it that he paid for the clubhouse spread for all the guys after the game. I last read that he was due to pitch again on Wednesday, but he didn't.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka is progressing on schedule.

~~~

Other transactions:

Due to the scheduled double-header on Thursday, and because he pitched in long relief on Wednesday (not very well I might add), Eric Hacker has been optioned to AAA Rochester. Anthony Swarzak has been recalled to replace him. Swarzak will start the evening affair on Thursday on only three days rest.

~~~

I suspect that after reviewing all this, Gardy will go home...and weep.

When They Are Good, They Are Very, Very Good...

...and when they are bad, they are horrid.

The Twins pitching that is.

Recap:
Friday: Twins 8 - Tigers 10
Saturday: Twins 11 - Tigers 0
Sunday: Twins 7 - Tigers 8
(3rd place; 5.5 games back; .486 winning %)

The Twins averaged 8.67 runs per game during this series, yet they only won one game. So the offense is doing its job. But when scoring 7 or 8 runs isn't enough to win, it's tough to gain ground in the division.

Pavano on Saturday was very, very good -- impressive even. I hope he keeps it up. Much has been said about his success against the Tigers and White Sox. So if he can pitch that well against them, I'll take it. But I'd really love it if he pitched that well all the time.

Swarzy on Friday was horrid. It happens; I'm not going to get too upset about it. I just hope he can shake it off and do well next time.

Scotty on Sunday was very, very good, and then horrid. Bobby Keppel was, well he was kind of good...I'll call it pitching for his big-league life. And then Matty, who's been very very good lately, was -- well, not exactly horrid, but kind of sucky.

So, here's my wish: I want the pitchers to give up fewer than three runs per game (and that means for the whole game -- not each pitcher who comes into the game) AND I want the offense to score more than four runs per game. For the whole season.

Got it Liriano? FEWER than three runs!

That Was Deflating

After a nice sweep of the Evil Uglies earlier in the week, the Twins and their momentum deflated pretty quickly, and they became the dustbunnies. Oh, and they're below .500 again.

Recap:
Friday: Twins 5 - Angels 11
Saturday: Twins 6 - Angels 11
Sunday: Twins 4 - Angels 13

(52 - 53, 3rd place, 3 games back)

Ga! It's awful having to type all those double-digit numbers for the opponent. You'd think that scoring four or more runs in a game would at least keep the Twins close. Nope.

So, not only was the entire series a big pthpthpthtphptht, but every little thing was a slow leak. Every time a positive thing happened for the Twins, the good feeling immediately floated away because of a much larger negative thing.

On Friday:

• Joey hits a 3-run homer, Nicky hits an RBI triple, and D-Span hits an RBI double; Blackie and Matty combine to let them tie it up.
• Matty and Nathanator do a nice job keeping it a tie game through the 9th and 10th; Keppel, Crain, and Dickey combine to allow six (!) runs in the top of the 11th, with help from Brendan's tangled feet at the worst possible time.
  

On Saturday:

• Red-Dog and Go-Go hit RBI extra base hits to tie the game; Swarzy allows four singles and three runs in the next half-inning.
• R.A. pitches two nice innings to keep the Twins within two; then starts his third inning of work with a single, a throwing error, a walk, and a homer -- and then Keppel relieves him and quickly gives up two homers.
  

On Sunday:

• D-Span makes an awesome grab for the first out in the 4th; Perkins allows a base-hit to the next batter who eventually scores.
• O-Cab hits his first homer as a Twin; Perkins coughs up 5 runs in the next half-inning.
  

The whole thing felt like trying to blow up a balloon with a hole in it. It gave me a headache.
~~~

Up next:
An off day, then a road trip through Cleveland.

I don't recommend taking the Indians too lightly. Their team has been devastated by a bunch of trades, so the young guys starting are hungry and fearless -- they have nothing to lose. And, they just took 2 of 3 from the Tigers (and the one they lost was in extra innings).

Welcome Back Baseball

After what seemed like a 10-day break for the All Star Game, it's good to have baseball to watch again. Especially since the Twins gained some ground on Detroit and Chicago.

Recap:
Friday: Twins 5 - Rangers 3
Saturday: Twins 4 - Rangers 1
Sunday: Twins 3 - Rangers 5 (12)

Twins take series 2 - 1

~~~

So just before (and during the break), the Twins shook a few things up. It's easy to get lost in the shuffle. It's time for another review (mainly because I'm always expected to answer the question "who's that?", "when did we call him up?", etc. so I have to look it up anyway):

Morales (C) down to the minors; Kevin Mulvey (RP) up to the majors. (7/15)
Tigger Tolbert (2B) down to the minors; Lexi (2B) up to the majors. (7/12)
K-Slow (SP) to DL; Anthony Swarzak (SP) up to the majors. (7/04)
Sean Henn (RP) down to the minors; Brian Duensing (RP) up to majors. (7/02)

How far back should I go? One more:

Luis Ayala (RP) outsville; Bobby Keppel (RP) up to the majors. (6/22)

~~~

Up next:

West coast games -- A's then the Angels.

Sleep fast guys, 'cuz it was a long night and it's a long trip.

Moments

*Sigh* Another split series. And that final game was a real bummer. Oh well, it's not so bad.

Recap:
Monday: Twins 3 - A's 4
Tuesday: Twins 10 - A's 5
Wednesday: Twins 6 - A's 3
Thursday: Twins 3 - A's 4

This series was odd. Every time the Twins took a lead in a game, and they had early leads in all of them, I just didn't feel comfortable (ok, I felt a little comfortable when we headed into the 9th on Tuesday leading 10-0...right up until Scotty walked that first batter).

There were fantastic moments, like Morneau's and Kubel's homers on Tuesday. There were some dreadful moments, like the 9th inning on Tuesday.

There were solid moments, like the bullpen innings on Wednesday. There were shaky moments, like Swarzak's innings on Monday.

There were gleeful moments, like Crede's homer on Thursday. There were heartbreaking moments, like the 8th and 9th innings on Thursday.

~~~~~~~~~~

Up next: the Cubbies! I hope the Twins have a good time there and pull out a couple wins. And pitchers hitting -- I love that.

Just Stuff

Overall, this was a decent series. Wednesday was a little demoralizing, but they made up for it on Thursday. And because Detroit and Chicago didn't have decent series, we're now firmly in second place only 2.5 games back.

Recap:
Tuesday: Twins 4 - Indians 3
Wednesday: Twins 1 - Indians 10
Thursday: Twins 11 - Indians 3
Twins take series

Now, they're on the road for a bunch. Ok, well I hope today's win pepped the boys up to carry over the trip. And I hope they packed their home-away-from-home goodies I suggested too late last time. Most of all, I hope they stay positive and really believe they can win on the road. Rah.

~~~~~~~

So I don't really have a theme to go with today. I do have a bunch of random thoughts rattling around in my brain, so I'm just gonna spill them out in whatever order I think of them. I know it's kind of lame. Ok, it's really lame. But it's all I got.

• I'm glad Scotty had a good outing today. Hopefully he can stay in this good groove.
• I'm not too worried about Swarzak ... yet. He's still learning; he just needs to make some adjustments. I'm looking forward to his next outing to see if he can do it. Wait...will he get a next outing, or will Perk be back by then. I don't know.
• I am, however, too worried about Liriano. He's been around long enough to know how to make adjustments. I predict that he has another horrible outing on Friday, he'll probably wind up in the bullpen. Or, they'll put him on the DL for some mystery "injury." Either way, Swarzy might just get that next outing. Of course, I really hope he has an awesome outing.
  
• I like the campaign the Twins put together for All-Star Game voting. It features Uncle Sam wearing a Twins hat and saying, "Speak softly and carry big sticks." Check it out on the Twins website. And while you're there, you may as well vote for Joey and Justin.

And totally off-topic (I know, there wasn't a topic to begin with...whatever), but on my mind anyway:

• I went to Einstein Bros for lunch today. As I walked in, I noticed two women sitting at one of the tables. I'd put them in their mid 50s. One of the women was wearing only, get this, a sports bra and shorts. She was very fit and pretty tan, so she wasn't nastily ugly. But, still, that was an awful lot of skin for 11:30 am. In fact, it was an awful lot of skin for any time of day. I don't care if she was just jogging -- I wear more clothes than that when I exercise (hell, I wear more clothes than that when I sleep, but that's probably more than you wanted to know) -- she needs to throw on a t-shirt, especially in a restaurant. I was glad I took my lunch to go.
  

Splits and Suitcases

So we split the series with the Sawks. I guess that's not bad, but I'm not entirely happy about it either. I hate splits; they just go against everything baseball is about. But whatever...

Recap:
Monday: Twins 5 - Red Sox 6
Tuesday: Twins 5 - Red Sox 2
Wednesday: Twins 4 - Red Sox 2
Thursday: Twins 1 - Red Sox 3

Mini-bro went to Thursday's game on a school field trip. He said he had fun, but they left before the home plate ump decided he needed to repeatedly work on his "yer outta heeeere" move. I don't even get it (the field trip leaving part, not the ump part -- well, I don't get the ump part either, but that's another story). If they knew they had to leave before the 7th, why even go at all. But whatever...

It was good to see Blackie pitch well on Tuesday and Swarzak on Thursday. It was good to see Dice-K play, oh what did Bat-Girl used to call it?, chuck and toss on Wednesday. It was good to see homers, and nice defense, blah, blah, blah. But I'm still left feeling kind of like I just had tomato soup made with water for dinner -- it just quite doesn't do it for me.

~~~~~~~~~~

So, the Twins are on the road now -- off to Tampa Bay for three games. And it turns out that they have the dubious distinction of having the worst road record in the league. Well, that's no good. It's a good thing that it's a short trip -- they need to work into improvement slowly.

I have created a chart of items that I think they should pack to help them feel more comfortable while traveling. They can't hurt, and they might help. Whatever it takes.



(Yes, I do know that as I'm writing this, they're already well on their way to Florida -- maybe even already there -- and their bags were packed long ago, but I didn't think of this until today at work, and while doing this would have been a lot more fun than the copying and pasting that I was doing at work, I didn't think it would have been a good idea. But whatever...)

Regarding Sweeps, HBPs, and New Guys

I love a good sweep when it's my team doing the cleaning up.

Recap
Friday: Twins 11 - Brewers 3
Saturday: Twins 6 - Brewers 2
Sunday: Twins 6 - Brewers 3

And a lot of Twins going Boom!

I'm especially impressed with Justin's grand-slam on Sunday because it came immediately after Milwaukee pitcher hit his second Twins Joe in the hands (both Joe Crede and Joe Mauer were HBP, and Crede had to take himself out of the game because of it). Gotta love how the big Canadian makes a statement. I hope both Joes' hands will be ok.

Oh, and Gardy actually won an argument with an umpire. When Joey Mauer got hit by the pitch, the umpire initially called it a foul ball. Joe showed the bruise, and Gardy marched out to make the case. Well, apparently, either the bruise or Gardy's power of persuasion won the umpire over, and Joe took his base.

~~~~~~~~

No one in my family is quite as, ahem, passionate about baseball as I am, but they generously put up with me. They all actually have lives that don't include the Twins (I don't get it), and they don't really watch the games with me all that often. They're fans, but they don't live and die with every victory and defeat. And they don't really spend time keeping up with the news of injuries, releases, and call-ups.

So, this weekend as I was watching the Twins games and members of my family were walking through the room, the phrase I heard most was, "now, who's this guy?" It would happen while a newly called-up pitcher was warming up or pitching. I heard it a lot.

So, in case your families are like mine and don't know what's going on with the pitching staff, here's a recap:

Glen Perkins is on disabled list, so...
Sean Henn (or Henny-Penny as the guys at Pulling a Blyleven and I have dubbed him) is in the bullpen and pitched on Tuesday against the White Sox and was seen warming up Saturday.

Craig Breslow was placed on waivers and picked up by Oakland, so...
Anthony Swarzak pitched a seven-inning gem on Saturday (I think he looks like a keeper).

Got it?