Last night’s game was thrilling (and quite a re-write chore). One thing that came out during the post-game media grazing was that the club knows it’s doing a lousy job of scoring runs for ace Johan Santana.

“Anytime you go out there as a pitcher and we don’t score runs, I’m sure he was getting frustrated keeping teams to two runs,” Twins catcher Mike Redmond said. “We’re not giving him any support. It goes like that sometimes. If we could control it, we could score six or seven right out of the chute.”

Santana has pitched way better than his 6-6 record. He should be 9-3, but the Twins have scored three or fewer runs in 10 of his 14 starts. TEN!

I’m not totally buying the, `the Twins are facing other teams’ aces,’ argument. Here are the opposing pitchers during the games the Twins have lost with Santana on the mound:

Mike Maroth (twice)

Fausto Carmona (twice)

Scott Kazmir

Chad Gaudin

Levale Speigner
(Johan is 6-6, but the Twins are 7-7 in his starts)

There are good pitchers there, hot pitchers there, but not all are aces. This is turning into 2005 again, where Santana got terrible run support down the stretch, finished 16-7 and watched Bartolo Colon win one of the more undeserving Cy Youngs in recent years.

The best pitcher in baseball looks beatable because the Twins are taking bat naps the days he pitches. Sure, an ace should be able to pull off a 2-1, 3-2 or 2-0 win once in a while. But, again, the Twins have scored three or fewer runs in 71 percent of his games.

“I’d like to see us score some runs and give him a chance to breathe,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “I know he feels like he almost has to be perfect in every outing.” 

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The pitchers are taking batting practice. Kevin Slowey just threw in the bullpen. It’s business as usual at the park today.

Heard that Rondell White has played in a couple intrasquad scrimmages down in Florida and is about to play in an extended spring training game. I didn’t know there was a difference between a scrimmage game and extended game…

In case you missed it, Anthony Swarzak’s 50-game suspension is over and he pitched last night for Class A Fort Myers. He gave up one run over 5.2 innings on four hits, one walk and eight strikeouts. The bigger story was that Fort Myers won 3-1. Finally, a little offense. A little….Swarzak will pitch a couple games there before going back to New Britain.

I can’t believe the lineups are already out. Here ya go…

 

Braves: 1. Kelly Johnson, 2B. 2. Edgar Renteria. SS. 3. Chipper, DH. 4.  Andruw, CF. 5. Jeff Francoeur, RF. 6. Matt Diaz, LF. 7. Jarrod Salta-longish name, C. 8. Brian McCann, C. 9. Yunel Escober, 3B. Pitching: T-Hud.

Twins: 1. Castillo, 2B. 2. Mauer, C. 3. Cuddyer, RF. 4. Morneau, 1B. 5. Hunter, CF. 6. Redmond, DH. 7. Kubel, LF. 8. Punto, 3B. 9. Bartlett, SS. Pitching: Santana. 

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Looks like Dennys Reyes will be activated tomorrow, meaning Carmen Cali could be headed back down to Rochester. Cali has pitched well, earning a few compliments from Gardy after recent outings.

Kubel isn’t ready yet, which appears to have caught Gardy off guard. So Leeewwwww is back out there in left.

 

You will soon see that Atlanta has a slightly different lineup tonight.

Lineups

Braves: 1. Kelly Johnson, 2B. 2. Willie Harris, LF. 3. EDGAR RENTERIA, SS. 4. CHIPPER JONES, DH. 5. Andruw Jones, CF. 6. Brian McCann, C. 7. Jeff Francoeur, RF. 8. Scott Thorman, 1B. 9. Yunel Escobar, 3B. Pitching: Chuck James.

Twins: 1. Castillo, 2B. 2. Mauer, C. 3. Cuddyer, RF. 4. Morneau, 1B. 5. Hunter, CF. 6. Cirillo, DH. 7. Ford, LF. 8. Punto, 3B. 9. Bartlett, SS. Pitching: Carlos Silva.

The Twins have signed 11 picks from last week’s draft, including first-rounder Ben Revere. The bonus hasn’t been revealed yet, but it’s expected to be around the $1 million slotted for the No. 28 overall pick.

The Twins also signed 11th round pick Andrew Schmiesing, an outfielder from St. Olaf.

The signed players are expected to report to the Twins’ rookie league team in Fort Myers, Fla.

Jeff Manship is going tonight for Beloit, and I’m hearing that he could be move up to Fort Myers with a week, which could mean after tonight.

Lineups

Braves: 1. Kelly Johnson, 2B. 2. Willie Harris, LF. 3. Brian McCann, C. 4. Andruw Jones, CF. 5. Jeff Francoeur, RF. 6. Jarrod Saltala-longish name, DH. 7. Scott Thorman, 1B. 8. Yuniel Escobar, SS. 9. Pete Orr, 3B. Pitching: Kyle Davies.

Twins: 1. Castillo, 2B. 2. Mauer, C. 3. Cuddyer, RF. 4. Morneau, 1B. 5. Hunter, CF. 6. Redmond, DH. 7. Ford, LF. 8. Punto, 3B.  9. Bartlett, SS. Pitching: Kevin Slowey.

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Nationals

1. Guzie, SS. 2. Belliard, 2B. 3. Zimmerman, 3B. 4. Young, DH. 5. Kearns, RF. 6. Church, LF. 7. Schneider, C. 8. Fick, 1B. 9. Langerhans, CF. Pitching: Simontacchi.

Twins

1. Castillo, 2B. 2. Mauer, C. 3. Cuddyer, RF. 4. Morneau, 1B. 5. Hunter, CF. 6. Kubel, LF. 7. Redmond, DH. 8. Punto, 3B. 9. Bartlett, SS. Pitching: Silva.