6-25-01

Here we are June 25th and the Twins are not in First! Not to worry they're only 1/2 game back behind Cleveland after the Twins defeated the Detroit Tigers earlier today to take a split in the series at beautiful Comerica Park 6-3 while the Cleveland Indians lose a thriller with the Yankees 8-7 on Tino Martinez's go ahead 2 run blast in the 8th inning.

The Twins coming off a dismal road trip are finally heading home to the dome where they'll meet the white hot Chicago White Sox. The White Sox winning 6 of their last 7 come to the dome at an even 36-36. The matchups for the 3 game set will feature Santana VS Biddle, Biddle has been playing with a sore shoulder pretty much the same deal Mark Redman has gone through except the Sox have not put Biddle on the DL yet. Wednesday's game which will be featured on ESPN2 (not televised in the Twin Cities) is set to have Kyle Lohse VS Kip Wells, Lohse (Low-she) is coming off a decent performance against the Detroit Tigers, he did not have a decision in the game. Although he did pitch 6 1/3 innings allowing 4 runs, 4 earned while striking out 5. Thursday we have the best matchup in the 3 game series, Brad Radke VS David Wells it should be an intriguing matchup in which we could be seeing this game as a rubber match.

TRADE WATCH

Rumor has it Terry Ryan is on the lookout for adding some punch to the lineup, Dmitri Young has been mentioned but no word on who Terry Ryan would give up. My guess would be probably Matt Kinney and John Barnes. I don't see Ryan trading anyone on our current 25 man roster it wouldn't make sense right now although our bullpen might be taken into consideration.

WHAT'S THE DEAL?

So what's the deal with David Ortiz? He's scheduled to come off the 60 day DL next week but no word on whether he'll have a 20 day rehab stint in AAA. If I was Terry Ryan that is what I would do, but I have no power over that situation.

So what's the deal of not picking up Tony Batista off waivers? Baltimore had a worse record than the Twins :-) therefore they got a chance to pick him up first, but why would you want to pick up a guy with a .213 average anyways?

So what's the deal with the bullpen? The Twins bullpen is in a spell, they're giving up too many home runs and they must feel some pressure considering they have to hold a lead for a team contending for a Division Title. Bob Wells has to step up he's the veteran on the team and he needs to stop giving up the solo home runs. Hector Carrasco same deal with him, he needs to work pitchers inside more, use that fastball, focus on control. LaTroy Hawkins, he's learning to become a solid closer, 17 saves as of today but his control is a problem, he's developing a great breaking ball which will help him in the long run as a closer.

E-Mail me at Sportsguy45@hotmail.com for your "What's the Deal" questions and I will glady answer them in my next article.

June 26, 2001: