Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Monday, August 19, 2013 in the Clutch, Twins
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Minnesota Twins Daily Clips Monday, August 19, 2013 In the clutch, Twins can’t find gear. StarTribune.com (Neal) pg. 1 Twins pitchers’ health remains issue. StarTribune.com (Neal) pg. 2 Postgame: Deduno, RISP, minor details. StarTribune.com (Neal) pg. 3 The drama is back in AL Central race for 4th. StarTribune.com (Reusse) pg. 4 Preview: Twins vs. N.Y. Mets (makeup game). StarTribune.com (Neal) pg. 5 Deduno, who has lost his last two starts, on the mound for the Twins. StarTribune.com (Neal) pg. 5 Minnesota Twins’ Justin Morneau to Boston? Not likely, source says. PioneerPress.com (Berardino) pg. 6 White Sox 5, Twins 2: Samuel Deduno’s lost month continues. PioneerPress.com (Berardino) pg. 7 Lack of timely hitting continues to kill Minnesota Twins. PioneerPress.com (Berardino) pg. 7 Minnesota Twins pitcher Samuel Deduno having shoulder problems. PioneerPress.com (Berardino) pg. 9 Mets return to Target Field for makeup date vs. Twins. Twinsbaseball.com (Warnemuende) pg. 10 Ramirez starts in center to give Thomas a breather. Twinsbaseball.com (Bollinger) pg. 11 Offense unable to pick up struggling Deduno. Twinsbaseball.com (Bollinger) pg. 12 Twins go 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position, drop series finale. 1500ESPN.com (AP) pg. 13 These Twins position prospects could earn a September call-up. 1500ESPN.com (Wetmore) pg. 13 Twins have ‘one of those erratic days’ in Sunday’s loss. FSN (Ervin) pg. 15 In the clutch, Twins can’t find gear La Velle E. Neal III / StarTribune.com – 8/19/13 Oh yeah, it’s mental at this point. “Everyone knows it,” Twins hitting coach Tom Brunansky said. “Everyone senses it. They press and try to do too much.” It looks like the Twins are grinding sawdust out of their bat handles as they try, and fail, to drive in runs. It couldn’t have been more clear Sunday as the Twins fell to the White Sox 5-2 while going 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position. Chicago took three of four games in this series, and the Twins are 2-5 on their homestand with one game left to play. For a change, there’s something holding the Twins back other than sputtering starting pitching. They were 9-for-46 with RISP in the four-game series against the White Sox. They are .211 during their homestand, where they should feel more comfortable at the plate. “It’s one of those things where you look at our lineup,” said second baseman Brian Dozier, who doubled and scored the Twins’ second and final run in the third inning. “We’ve got a great lineup and I feel like a lot of people are doing their jobs, but at the same time, you have to come up with those big hits. You can’t let someone come in here and outhit us. Even if you get down by a few runs early, I don’t think anyone should outhit us.” If you add the four games in Chicago before this homestand — where the Twins were 3-for-37 with RISP — they are hitting .167 in those situations the past 11 games. In the Mike Redmond days, the Twins coined a phrase, “Smell those RBI,” when runners reached second and third. ~ 1 ~ No one should get close enough to this offense to get a whiff of it right now. “The thing that we are reminding each other of is just to go up there, maintain your approach,” Brunansky said. “Try to remember what the guy is trying to do to you, the count, the situation, and go up there and put a good swing on the ball. Get a good at-bat and let the results take care of themselves.” Fomer Twins manager Tom Kelly was once asked during the rough years how a team can improve hitting in run-scoring situations. Kelly looked the questioner right in the eye and said, “Get better players.” In 2010, the Twins led baseball with a .285 batting average in run-scoring situations. They talked about how seriously they take batting practice, when they invent scenarios on the field and try to move a runner over and drive him in. The Twins entered Sunday 27th in baseball at .234. They clicked in the second inning Sunday when Oswaldo Arcia grounded out to second, enabling Trevor Plouffe to score from third. Josh Willingham drove in Dozier from second with a double in the third. “We work on the skills every day,” said Dozier, who entered the game with a team-high .330 average with runners in scoring position. “Arcia came up in a situation, fought off a good breaking ball and got the job done. You’ve got to do more. A couple times we had first and second, nobody out. You have to bear down a little more and at least put the ball in play.” While the Twins were leaving men on base, the White Sox got a big game from shortstop Alexei Ramirez, who was 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBI. Chicago lefty Hector Santiago threw 117 pitches over six innings but gave up only one earned run, thanks in part to the Twins’ inability to finish off rallies. “Guys read about it and guys know about it,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said of the current state of the offense. “They are all working at it. The only way you can get better at it is come up in game situations, and you can’t practice game situations during batting practice. We just have to find a way to put the ball in play a little better and find us some holes. Right now, we’re not finding any.” Twins pitcher’ health remains issue La Velle E. Neal III / StarTribune.com – 8/19/13 These are the dog days of the season, where pitchers sometimes hit a wall. But two graduates of the Tommy John school of surgery in the rotation — righthanders Mike Pelfrey and Kyle Gibson — are being watched for clues that it might be time to take them out of the rotation. Gibson has thrown exactly 140 innings — 47⅓ with the Twins, 92⅔ at Class AAA Rochester — this season. Gibson, 2-3 with a 6.27 ERA, is expected to be eventually pulled from the rotation, but he continues to tell the coaching staff that he feels great during bullpen sessions. Still, pitching coach Rick Anderson, manager Ron Gardenhire and General Manager Terry Ryan are all watching closely. There have been indications that the Twins will eventually move Gibson out of the rotation and let him pitch occasionally out of the bullpen — which will be easier when rosters can expand in September. But they have kept their exact plans to themselves. “You look for when his stuff starts to dip or he comes out and says he’s tired, “ Anderson said. “He hasn’t let on to any of that, but we’re watching where he’s at. We’ll keep an eye on him.” Pelfrey has thrown 114 ⅔ innings while going 4-10, 5.26. He has a better chance of finishing the season in the rotation than Gibson, but Anderson doesn’t want to push it, either. Anderson and Pelfrey have decided to skip his between-starts bullpen session, opting for a session of long toss and other drills to maintain his mechanics. Anderson felt Pelfrey looked stronger in his last outing, so they will try this approach. “I said to him, ‘You have worked too hard for me to hurt you. If you feel you are tired and I feel you’re done, we’ll look at that,’ ” Anderson said. “I’m not going to do something stupid just because he has worked so hard to get to this point.” Mientkiewicz battles ~ 2 ~ Class A Fort Myers manager Doug Mientkiewicz is expected to be disciplined by the Florida State League for his confrontation with Bradenton manager Frank Kremblas during a game on Saturday. According to reports, the managers got into a scuffle after Miracle pitcher Jason Wheeler hit Dan Gamache with a pitch. The managers locked arms and rolled around on the ground as players joined in. Both managers were ejected. Twins General Manager Terry Ryan said the confrontation took place because of a misunderstanding and has been cleared up. The team already has spoken with Mientkiewicz about the situation. “It has been discussed, “ Ryan said. “Doug was apologetic. The important thing after this episode is that the two managers got together and talked it out. “Of course, both of them got ejected so they had plenty of time to talk.” Fort Myers entered Sunday with the best overall record in the FSL, at 71-49. Mientkiewicz has seen several players promoted to Class AA New Britain this season, including top prospects Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario. He currently has outfielder Byron Buxton, considered by some as the best prospect in the game. The club is pleased with Mientkiewicz, a former Twins first baseman, in his first season as manager. “He’s very emotional, I can tell you that, “ Ryan said. “He’s very protective. His philosophy is to do things right, even at the expense of a player having to sit for a while. Players need to learn how to play the game, especially down at A-ball. Doug can teach.” Postgame: Deduno, RISP, minor details La Velle E. Neal III / StarTribune.com – 8/18/13 Here are three quick thoughts following the Twins' 5-2 loss to the White Sox 1. DEDUNO TIRED? Samuel Deduno was knocked out of the game after five innings Sunday after plunking three batters and struggling with his control.