New Britain Rock Cats: Moments & Anecdotes from 2012

Emerging prospect Oswaldo Arcia batting
late in the 2012 season

For the second consecutive season, the Rock Cats made it to the final game with a chance to make the playoffs. For the second consecutive season, they fell just short. They ended the season with a respectable record of 75-67, winning each of their last 6 games in a push for the playoffs. Playoffs in the minor leagues are interesting. On the one hand, the guys are competitors and want to earn a ring -- and we, as fans, want them to win, even in the minor leagues, where the focus should be predominately on player development. On the other hand, there's no significant financial incentive to play more games, and we're talking about young men that have been away from home for half a year, living out of suitcases and traveling almost exclusively on buses. So it's an interesting dichotomy. On that topic, here's a minor league anecdote for you: Most of the Rockcats' players leases were set to expire on the last day of the regular season. I was talking to a few of them, and here's what their schedule was like for 1 particular 24 hour period --- day game after a night game; go back to apartment, pack and clean it out so that landlord can conduct walk-through; sleep somewhere; play final game of season (which, if they won, they would have had to immediately board a bus to Reading, PA). Moreso than the slash lines, gym time, and bullpen sessions, that is the life of a minor leaguer. For every Aaron Hicks who has received a sizable signing bonus, there are dozens of Nathan Hansons and Chris Colabellos -- guys fighting, paycheck to paycheck, to defy the odds and keep advancing through the minor leagues. That's minor league baseball.

It was a very solid season for New Britain. Two players in particular -- Oswaldo Arcia and Aaron Hicks -- surpassed expectations, and will each rank somewhere in the top 5 on my list of Twins prospects going into 2013. Chris Herrmann demonstrated to me that he can handle the job of back-up catcher at least as well as Drew Butera. Chris Colabello -- a 28 year old depth signing -- set the franchise record for RBIs. Even Deibinson Romero, too old to be a legitimate prospect, hit 19 home runs and was named a season-ending All-Star. You'll notice that I'm not focusing too much on pitching. As I've written before, most pitchers with even decent stats were sent very quickly to AAA. Additionally, aside from B.J. Hermsen (who had a very solid season, going 11-6 with a 3.22 ERA and a 1-to-3 walk-to-strikeout ratio), I didn't see too much from the starters that really registered with me. Bruce Pugh, out of the bullpen, throws pretty hard, so that is encouraging. If you follow the Twins, though, it won't be surprising for you to hear that there is a dearth of top shelf pitching talent at this level of the minors.

There were some very memorable moments this season, as well. My "season" covering the Rock Cats actually started in January, well before Spring Training, when I attended the team's Hot Stove Luncheon, where former GM Bill Smith was the keynote speaker. Probably most important happening, for me personally this season, was when the Twins and the Rock Cats announced that they had extended their player development contract through the 2014 season, so I will have Twins-related baseball to follow, just down the road, for at least another couple years. With respect to on-the-field action, there was plenty. Arcia hit a walk-off home run shortly after being promoted. Colabello did the same -- his was a majestic opposite-field shot that glanced off a light tower. On several occasions this team came back in the final innings -- one time plating multiple runs when they were down to their final out -- to win outright, or at the very least, to push the contest to extra innings. Herrmann had 4 hits in consecutive games. Arcia had multiple hits in each of his last 8 games this season, and looked darn close to a major league hitter in my opinion. He was twice named Eastern League player of the week, and was the Eastern League player of the month in July. Hicks had 5 hits in a game, and has excellent speed. In fact, Hicks' ascension up the Twins prospect rankings might make an off-season trade of either Denard Span or Ben Revere more probable.

On a personal level, this was a fun year to follow the team. I had a tough time keeping up with the blog part of this summer, as work and life got in the way just a little, so I apologize for that. That being said, it's incredibly easy to get involved with team events and to meet the players. I probably went to 15 or so games, and blogged about most of them. I got to know a lot of the season ticket holders, who are all fantastic people -- and Twins fans! I attended a preseason team dinner, where I sat with Alex Wimmers for a few hours. Unfortunately, Wimmers made only one start for New Britain before an arm injury, which eventually required Tommy John surgery, sidelined him for the season. I purchased a game-worn and signed Oswaldo Arcia "Irish Pride Night" jersey to support the Rock Cats charitable foundation (and met Arcia). Not regretting that purchase at all. I went to another charity event at a local bar/grill, where Chris Herrmann, whom I previously had interviewed, was my waiter, and where I talked to Aaron Hicks -- one of the nicest athletes I have ever met -- for a good half hour. I was a guest of infielder James Beresford's family, who had traveled from Australia to watch their son play for a few weeks. A couple weeks ago, Terry Ryan was in attendance, so I introduced myself and tried to talk up Herrmann to him. Finally, I threw out a first pitch a few weeks ago, and am happy to report that, although the velocity is significantly down, the accuracy is still there -- in other words, I fit the Twins mold.

I'm already looking forward to next year. Although I've almost certainly seen the last of Hicks and Herrmann, and probably Arcia, I'm excited for the next wave of talent coming up -- perhaps not at the beginning of the season, but by next summer.

Rock Cats: Day Game Away from a 4-Game Sweep

Evan Bigley says, "Do not take my
playing time, Oswaldo Arcia."

The Rock Cats finish up their four game series, as well as their week-long road trip, in a noon game today against the Richmond Flying Squirrels, but the series has already been a success. The Rock Cats won the first three games, and go for the sweep in today's finale.

Friday night was an offensive showing for both teams, but New Britain prevailed, 9-8. Evan Bigley had 4 hits, including his 9th home run, and Chris Colabello had 2 hits, including a double, and 2 RBIs. Catcher Chris Herrmann also notched 2 hits and a double. Starter B.J. Hermsen actually pitched pretty well, but wasn't aided by his defense. Though he only was charged with 2 earned runs in 6 and 1/3 innings, 6 runs scored thanks to errors.

Saturday New Britain won 6-1. Blake Martin, traditionally a reliever, started and went 4 innings. Luis Perdomo threw the other 5 innings and gave up only 1 run, striking out 6. Chris Colabello had a double and a home run, and Evan Bigley hit his 15th double of the season. Oswaldo Arcia also had a hit, and Minnesota's own Nathan Hanson hit his second home run of the season.

On Sunday, the Rock Cats won 7-3. Logan Darnell turned in a quality start for the Rock Cats, pitching 6 innings and giving up 3 runs. He struck out 3 and walked 2, but gave up 2 home runs. Daniel Turpen was excellent out of the bullpen, throwing 3 innings, allowing 2 hits and striking out 2. Chris Colabello, again, had a big game. He notched 3 hits, including his 12th home run, in 5 at-bats, and scored twice. Evan Bigley was 3-for-4 with his 16th double and drove in 2 runs, and Matt Rizzotti was 2-for-3 with 2 RBIs. Oswaldo Arcia was 1-for-5 and is batting .174 in a very, very small AA sample size.

These are just very short summaries, but I think it's important to note who is carrying this team lately when it wins. It's not necessarily Aaron Hicks, Oswaldo Arcia or Chris Herrmann (although Hicks and Herrmann certainly have been productive at various points this season). Right now, it's unquestionably Chris Colabello, the 28 year old journeyman, 25 year old Evan Bigley, who recently was told that with Arcia's promotion, he would lose playing time, and 25 year old Nathan Hanson, who has played various positions and has found more playing time as a result of his hot bat. I'm not sure if any of these guys are destined for major league careers, but it's nice to see veteran players getting the job done at AA -- a level at which they need to excel.

Let's look at the last 10 games: Evan Bigley is hitting at a .400/.415/.700 clip, and has 4 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR and 10 RBIs. The 25 year old is now hitting a respectable .265 on the season. Chris Colabello is hitting .293/.326/.488 2 2B, 2 HR and 8 RBIs. He's still leading the entire Eastern League in RBIs with 52, and his 12 home runs are good for 3rd in the Eastern League. Guess who's in second place in the Eastern League RBI race? Evan Bigley, with 48. Finally, there's Nathan Hanson. In his last 10 games, he's hitting .343/.378/.629 with 2 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR and 4 RBIs. After starting the season off slow, Hanson is batting an even .270 on the season.

The finale of the Rock Cats-Flying Squirrels series is noon (eastern time). The Rock Cats are still 3 games back in the standings, and are hoping to gain a little more ground today. All season long, this has been a streaky team, so hopefully they will continue to ride this current streak.

[Update: All my positive mentions of Bigley were not in vain. He took home Eastern League player of the week honors for this past week. http://eastern.league.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120625&content_id=33893738&vkey=news_l113&fext=.jsp&sid=l113]

AA and AAA: Where is the Offense??



The look of a displaced man who will
never again see Target Field



For purposes of this post, I need to start of with 2 limitations: First, I'm thinking about players in the upper levels of the minor leagues that have yet to "make it" with the Twins in any real sense of that phrase. I'll exclude from this discussion Brian Dozier, Chris Parmelee and Darin Mastroianni, because they are all playing for the Twins right now, and Sean Burroughs, because he is too old to be a legitimate prospect. Second, for simplicity, I'm just going to look at batting average. I have linked to each player's stats, so you can explore in greater depth their production this season. Although I recognize that things like on-base percentage and OPS are also great measurements -- perhaps even better indicators of batting prowess -- I'm just focusing today on these position players' ability to hit for average. With those caveats . . . where is the offense in the upper levels of the Twins minor league system?

Let's start in Rochester. Right now, the Red Wings' highest batting average comes from Matt Carson, who is going to turn 31 in less than a month and is batting .296. It's a pretty steep drop after that. Ray Chang (turning 29 in August) and Pedro Florimon (25 years old) are batting .248. Wilkin Ramirez, 26 and with major league experience, is hitting .242. And possibly the worst stats come from two players Twins fans wish they could be counting on in 2012: Danny Valencia is hitting .238, and Tsuyoshi Nishioka is batting .223. Finally, remember Brian Dinkelman? Hitting .186. Based on the player age and level of experience, it might be a safe bet to call Pedro Florimon our best hitting "prospect" at AAA right now.

The circumstances in New Britain are better, but not by leaps and bounds. James Beresford, 23 years old and teetering around .300 last week, is hitting a respectable and solid .286. Nathan Hanson, 25, is hitting .279. Both players have been very hot the past couple weeks, raising their averages by 20 points or so. Catcher Chris Herrmann, 24, has been streaky this year, and is currently at an even .260. Deibinson Romero, 25, has shown power, and is batting .250. Aaron Hicks, only 22, is hitting .244 and is currently sidelined with an ankle injury. Finally, Evan Bigley, 25, is hitting .234. In terms of legitimate prospects and batting production, I might order the top few AA players Herrmann, Hicks, Beresford and Romero -- based on what they have done this season.

I have omitted some players, but none that have impressive offensive stats or are young enough to be considered legitimate major league prospects. The bottom line is that, midway through the 2012 season, there isn't a AA or AAA player batting .300 (incidentally, the highest OPS at AA is Romero's .769; at AAA it is Carson's .825). This post isn't intended to be an indictment on the Twins' farm system as much as it is a quick evaluation of where our best hitters are. And the answer to that question appears to be the lower levels of the minors. Just today, Oswaldo Arcia was promoted to New Britain. Hopefully he can inject some life into the recently sputtering Rock Cats offense. I'm hoping his .309/.376/.517 line at Ft. Myers can carry over into central Connecticut.

Beyond the Box Score II: Anatomy of a Rock Cats Loss




The Battery: Brett Jacobson and
Chris Herrmann going over
details before the game

  I stayed for all 12 innings of last night's 3-2 loss to the Akron Aeros. It was a picture-perfect night for baseball, but by hour 4 of baseball, the crowd was probably only 100 in number. If there's one takeaway from this game -- one reason New Britain lost -- it's simply a result of an almost complete failure to drive in runners in scoring position. Despite the fact that the Rock Cats tallied 14 hits in the contest, they scored only 2 runs, and most glaringly, they were 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position. Yes, there were some hard line drives that were caught, and some smashed grounders that just failed to make it past the Akron infielders, but mostly this team just couldn't get a base hit when it mattered.

Brett Jacobson had a solid start. He allowed 2 runs in 5 and 1/3 innings. His control was very good up until he tired. Notably, Jacobson struck out 6, including the side in the second inning. He had walked only one going into the 6th inning, but then quickly unraveled after recording one out in the 6th. After he walked two consecutive batters, that was it for him. He must have been on a pretty short leash. In all honesty, though, after looking fine in the 5th, he looked gassed in the 6th. The stadium radar gun had his fastball around 92, and I saw it register at 93 a couple times. His curveball was effective tonight, as well. Bobby Lanigan was good out of the bullpen, allowing no hits in 2 and 2/3 innings. Bruce Pugh was wild, walking 2 in 2 innings, but he didn't allow a run. Although he didn't pitch badly, Luis Perdomo took a tough loss: a single, stolen base, and another single scored what would turn out to be the winning run for Akron in the top of inning 12.

Player of the Game: Minnesota's Own
Nathan Hanson, who dramatically
raised his batting average last night

The Rock Cats' offense was a mixed bag. Let's start out with the star performer last night, Minnesotan Nathan Hanson. He was 5-for-6, and was a home run away from the cycle. Hanson is now batting a respectable .274 on the year. In the bottom of the 10th, with one out, Hanson hit a long fly ball to left field. In many ballparks this might have been a home run. At New Britain Stadium, though, where the wall is approximately 15 feet high all the way around, this resulted in a triple after it hit about 10 feet high on the wall. Hanson was at third, and represented the winning run, with only one out. Unfortunately, Chris Colabello -- who actually is leading the entire Eastern League in RBIs -- grounded out to the pitcher, and after Chris Herrmann was intentionally walked, Mark Dolenc took a called third strike to end the threat.

The other "problem" -- if you can call it that, is that, aside from Hanson's double and triple, there were no extra base hits. The Rock Cats have several players capable of hitting home runs and doubles at any given time, but the team couldn't get big hits, especially hits that would have cleared the bases, when it counted. Deibinson Romero did have 2 hits, as did Rene Tosoni. Tosoni, however, is only batting .210 thus far on the season for New Britain. Australian prospect James Beresford had a single in 5 trips, and is batting .286 on the year.

James Beresford bats in the 2nd inning

The Rock Cats finish up a week-long homestand this weekend, playing a series against the Erie Seawolves, the Tigers' affiliate. After losing 2 of 3 to the Aeros, who own the best record in the Eastern League, the Rock Cats are in 3rd place, but are just 2 games back of the Trenton Thunder, who currently sit atop the division. This would be a good weekend for New Britain to pick up some ground at home, before the team hits the road again. The weather is supposed to be great this weekend, so I would expect big crowds at the ballpark.

Rock Cats Lose 4th Straight

Thanks, Google Image search!

Every Wednesday evening, I write a recap of all the Twins minor league action, which you can find at TwinsDaily. Take a look if you haven't already. Here's what I wrote about last night's Rock Cats game:

NEW BRITAIN 4, AKRON 6
Starter Brett Jacobson allowed too many hits tonight -- 10 in 4 and 1/3 innings. He gave up 5 runs, striking out 1 and walking 1. Out of the bullpen, Daniel Turpen pitched 1 and 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out 1. Bruce Pugh struck out 2 in an inning of relief. Luis Perdomo gave up 1 run in the 8th inning, striking out 2, walking 2, and giving up a single.
The Rock Cats scattered 9 hits tonight. James Beresford had 2 singles, Rene Tosoni had a solo home run (his first of the season at AA), Chris Herrmann had 2 hits, and Matt Rizzotti, Deibinson Romero, Shawn Roof and Evan Bigley each had singles, as well. Beresford, Tosoni, Bigley, and Minnesota's own Nathan Hanson had RBIs tonight. The Rock Cats did walk 6 times in this game, so at least that was encouraging.

Here's the link to the box score.

A couple additional things I didn't mention in that write-up. First, as I noted yesterday morning, infielder James Beresford is leading the team in batting average. After 2 hits last night -- line drives to center field and left field -- he's up to .282. It's nice to see at least one player on the team inching closer to .300.

Second, the Rock Cats had the bases loaded with only 1 out in the 5th inning, but were unable to plate a run (reminds me a little of recent Twins teams). Evan Bigley struck out and Matt Rizzotti popped out to end the threat. That ended up being their best chance all night.

Third, with last night's loss, the Rock Cats fell into a tie for second place, 1 game behind the Trenton Thunder (Yankees affiliate).

Finally, there have been some suggestions, mostly on TwinsDaily, that first round pick and top Twins prospect Aaron Hicks should be converted to a pitcher. Hicks is 22, is in his first season at AA (being one of the younger players is the Eastern League), and is doing all right. Defensively, he could play center field for the Twins tonight and not be out of his element. Offensively, he's not there yet. But I don't think we should start the crazy talk of converting a speedy outfielder with raw power into pitcher. Most professional baseball players -- especially outfielders -- can probably throw a baseball 90 miles per hour. And yes, Hicks did pitch in high school. If you're a high school baseball coach, and one of your players has the ability to throw 90, you have to have him pitch: high school athletes can't hit a good fastball. But to suggest to Hicks that he should become a pitcher, after not having pitched in 4 years, seems insane to me. Let me reiterate: he's 22 years old. That is still very young for where he is. Don't let Bryce Harper and Mike Trout fool you -- most players don't make the major leagues until their mid-20s, even first round draft picks (heck, something like 40 percent of first round picks never play in a single major league game). Hicks needs a chance to develop as an offensive threat, not a complete re-shifting of his professional career.

New Britain is back in action tonight, as they try to avoid a sweep at the hands of the Aeros.

Thursday Rock Cats Report: A Game That Got Away

After collecting 4 hits in consecutive games,
Rock Cats catcher Chris Herrmann couldn't tripilicate
the feat yesterday.

Every Wednesday night I write a recap of all the happenings in the Twins minor league system for TwinsDaily. You can find last night's recap here. Here's what I wrote about the Rock Cats' loss to the Binghamton Mets:

New Britain 1, Binghamton 8Today's game was quite a test for the Rock Cats, facing top Mets pitching prospect Zack Wheeler. He routinely hits 97 with the fastball, and probably won't be too long for AA. He looked good against New Britain this afternoon, throwing 8 innings and allowing 2 hits and 1 run. But David Bromberg, starting for the Rock Cats, also had a solid performance, going 6 strong innings, striking out 8, walking 3 and giving up just 1 run on 4 singles. Blake Martin relieved Bromberg, tossing a scoreless 7th and walking 1 batter. He gave up 1 hit to lead off the 8th before being removed in favor of Luis Perdomo. Then things got ugly. Perdomo walked one, but the Mets scored twice following a sacrifice bunt, a single, and a Danny Lehmann throwing error. Brett Jacobson threw 2/3 of the 9th, issued 5 walks and gave up 5 runs (2 earned) -- a 3-run home run and a bases-loaded walk. Bobby Lanigan came on to get the last out in the 9th, which he did after hitting a batter with the bases loaded to bring in the Mets' 8th run (charged to Jacobson). Martin ended up with the loss. To sum up: starting pitching was good; the bullpen wasn't.

There wasn't much offense to speak of for the Rock cats. Minnesota's own Nathan Hanson had an RBI single in the 5th to score Aaron Hicks, who had walked and stolen second (stolen base #13 for Hicks). Reversing a recent trend, Chris Herrmann did not get 4 hits today, but he did coax a walk out of Wheeler. Danny Lehmann had a double.

Here's the link to the box score.

There isn't much time to dwell on this ugly loss, though. The team plays bright and early today -- 10:35 a.m. to be precise. Two recent AA call-ups, B.J. Hermsen for the Rock Cats and Jenrry Mejia for the Mets, will face each other. A win today would give New Britain 3 of 4 in this series. Going into today's game, New Britain has a 1.5 game lead in their division.

Don't forget to check back for more updates later!

Rock Cats Split a Twin Billing

Target Field probably feels pretty far away
for the struggling Joe Benson

Last night, I wrote Wednesday's Minor League Recap for TwinDaily, wherein I gave a brief summary of every Twins minor league game that took place yesterday. Check it out here. The Rock Cats played an interesting doubleheader last night, comprised of two 7-inning games. Here's what I wrote about the Rock Cats in my recap of those games:

Game 1: New Britain 0, New Hampshire 3
The story of the first game of this day on which the Rock Cats and Fisher Cats played two 7-inning double headers is that hits came at a premium for Hardware City. Chris Herrmann, playing left field today, was 1-for-3 with a double, his 11th of the season, and new Rock Cat Matt Rizzotti, demoted from AAA, had a single in 3 at-bats. That was it. 2 hits all afternoon. Steve Hirschfeld took the loss, and is now 2-4 on the season. But he pitched pretty well -- 6 innings, 3 runs, 3 strikeouts and 2 walks. He did, however, allow 8 hits and 2 solo home runs, which is what did him on this day when the offense couldn't muster anything. Blake Martin pitched a scoreless final inning.

Game 2: New Britain 6, New Hampshire 3
The Rock Cats salvaged a split of the double header tonight. Logan Darnell was decent on the mound, going 6 innings, giving up 3 runs. Importantly, though, he walked 1 and struck out 8. He did allow 2 solo home runs. Daniel Turpen picked up the save, tossing a scoreless 7th, allowing no hits and walking 1. New Britain had only 5 hits in this night cap, and Estarlin De Los Santos did the most damage, with a 3 run home run and a double. Matt Rizzotti also had a double, and Nathan Hanson and James Berersford each had singles. Joe Benson was 0-for-3 with 2 strikeouts and a walk, and Aaron Hicks was 0-for-3 with three Ks.

You have to be worried about Benson at this point. He's 2-for-24 (.083) since joining the Rock Cats, with 7 strikeouts and only 2 walks. The move to AA was supposed to accomplish at least a couple things: to get Benson's swing back; and to restore his confidence. So far it's failed on both counts. Yes, it's only been 6 games, but Benson has been worse in New Britain than he was in Rochester. When I attended last Thursday's game, where Benson was 1-for-4 with a walk, I remarked that 2 of his 3 outs were hit very hard. I wanted to chalk up that performance to bad luck. But there's only so much bad luck you can have. It should be noted that Benson played right field in the second game, and sat the first game, so it's not as if he is taking away playing time from Hicks.

Benson, and the rest of the team, will get an opportunity for a series win this morning at 10:35 eastern time, when they face the Fisher Cats in the rubber match. The Rock Cats do a lot of "Baseball in Education" days, where school groups attend day games -- hence the early start. Righty David Bromberg starts for New Britain; hopefully he's having his morning coffee right about now.

The Rock Cats are 23-15 on the season, in a dead tie with the Reading Phillies for first place. The Trenton Thunder, at 19-17, are the only other team in the division that is above .500. Reading is off today, so a New Britain win would move them into sole possession of first place.

Monday's New Britain News



Newly promoted B.J. Hermsen will take the
mound tonight in his AA debut


The landscape for the New Britain Rock Cats is already starting to change only 23 games into the season. A couple days ago, reliever Deolis Guerra was promoted to AAA Rochester. Congratulations to him! He's now just one step away from joining the Twins. If he can do in Rochester what he did in late-inning situations for the Rock Cats, it won't be too long before we see Guerra making his Target Field debut. Also, Rock Cats starting pitcher Alex Wimmers is now rehabbing his elbow strain in Ft. Myers, so it sounds like it will be some time before he rejoins the team. Although Guerra was yanked from the Rock Cats, Ft. Myers Miracle pitchers BJ Hermsen (1-0 with a 0.78 ERA in 23 innings) and Caleb Thielbar (1-1 with 0 earned runs allowed in 12 and 1/3 innings, with 16 strikeouts and 2 walks) were promoted to New Britain. Good luck to them, especially Hermsen who will start tonight's game.

Over the weekend, the Rock Cats dropped 2 of 3 games against the Richmond Flying Squirrels, and are 14-9 on the season, 1.5 games back of the Reading Phillies. Yesterday, they won. As I wrote in TwinsDaily's Sundy Minor League Daily, Starter Logan Darnell picked up the win (3-0). He pitched 6 and 2/3 innings, gave up 7 hits and 2 runs, and struck out 8 while walking 1 along the way. His ERA stands at 4.56. He has been the recipient of some solid Rock Cats offense when he has pitched this season. Reliever Daniel Turpen pitched the rest of the game, 2 and 1/3 innings, and earned the save, his second of the season. He was very effective, giving up no hits and no walks, while striking out 2. This effort improved his ERA to 4.5.

On offense, the team had 9 hits. Every starter except for Estarlin De Los Santos and Evan Bigley tallied at least one hit. Chris Herrmann was 2-for-3 with a walk, and also reached base on an error in his other plate appearance. He scored 3 runs. Nathan Hanson also had a good game, going 2-for-4 with a double and accumulating 2 RBIs. Aaron Hicks was 1-for-4 with a single and a stolen base (his 3rd of the season), and is batting .265 on the season. Deibinson Romero hit a triple, and shortstop Pedro Florimon had a double.

On Saturday, New Britain lost 5-3 to the Squirrels. Start Steve Hirschfeld (6 innings, 10 hits, 3 earned runs, 5 strikeouts and 2 walks) picked up the loss, and the offense couldn't muster too much, only accumulating 7 hits all day. Brett Jacobson pitched 2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen. Notables on offense included Evan Bigley, with a double and 2 RBIs, Chris Herrmann with an RBI single, and Pedro Florimon, Aaron Hicks, Nathan Hanson, James Beresford and Danny Lehmann with singles. Bigley also stole 2 bases, giving him 3 on the season.

For a quick recap of Friday night's game, a 13-inning 5-4 loss (though Andrew Albers had a quality start), check out this earlier post from Saturday. So, after starting out hot, New Britain has cooled a little. Their record, 14-9, is still good, but they are 4-6 over their last 10. Tonight, they begin a 4-game series against the Harrisburg Senators, the AA affiliate of the Washington Nationals, who coincidentally are also 14-9.

Major Comeback in New Britain!



Chris Herrmann celebrates his
first inning home run.
Mauer's 2013 backup???



Unlike their parent club, the New Britain Rock Cats put up a fight after the odds were stacked against them Tuesday night and, thanks to a 5-run 7th inning, came back to defeat the Portland Sea Dogs 7-6.

The weather was not great last night, and neither were the Rock Cats for the first several innings. They were stymied by Portland starter Billy Buckner (no relation to Bill Buckner of Red Sox lore), who tossed an easy 6 innings, giving up only 3 hits while striking out 11 and walking 1. The one bright spot for the Rock Cats against Buckner was a Chris Herrmann solo home run in the 1st inning. Other than that, Buckner really challenged the New Britain hitters. In contrast, the Rock Cats did not get a good start from Logan Darnell, who lasted only 3 innings after giving up 6 earned runs on 8 hits and 4 walks. He had no strikeouts, and gave up 2 home runs. Notably, the wind seemed to be blowing out at a pretty good clip, so hard hit balls really sailed. Watching Darnell, the worst part of the night was that he simply didn't miss bats -- yes, there were some weak grounders and routine fly balls, but for the most part everything was hit hard. The Rock Cats were down 6-1 after the third inning, and things did not look optimistic.

You may recognize the gentleman
in the middle in the black jacket
as Hall of Fame member
Paul Molitor.

For the second consecutive night, however, the Rock Cats' bullpen kept them in the game. Actually, the bullpen -- called on for 6 innings tonight -- was pretty perfect. Lester Oliveros, Brett Jacobson and Deolis Guerra each tossed 2 scoreless innings. Oliveros walked and struck out 1; Jacobson walked 2 and struck out 3. And then there's Guerra, who walked 0 and struck out 5 in his 2 innings, picking up the win in relief. Guerra's ERA stands at 0.71. In 12 and 2/3 innings, he has only allowed 5 hits and 1 earned run, and has struck out 15 and walked 1 along the way.

Once Buckner left the game after the 6th inning, the tides changed. With two outs in the bottom of the 7th, New Britain completed a 5-run comeback to tie the game. 7 straight batters reached base, and here's how it played out: Pedro Florimon walk; Danny Lehmann single; James Beresford single; Aaron Hicks single to score Florimon; Chris Herrmann walk with bases loaded to score Lehmann; Evan Bigley infield single to score Beresford; Chris Colabello single to score Hicks and Herrmann. Nothing fancy -- some walks and some singles got the job done against the Sea Dogs' bullpen.

With the game tied in the bottom of the 9th, Herrmann opened things up with a single to left field. Thereafter, he was sacrificed to second by Bigley. Colabello was intentionally walked, and then Deibinson Romero popped out to catcher. But again with 2 outs, the Rock Cats came through. Nathan Hanson had the game-winning, walk-off hit to score Herrmann from second, and New Britain won!

It was quite a game. Here are just a few notes from what I observed (In full disclosure, I picked an awful time to leave -- right as the comeback, and a hard, cold and slanty rain, were both commencing):

Hicks batted leadoff tonight -- to my knowledge he had been batting 5th all season.

Chris Herrmann has some pop in his bat. His home run, though helped somewhat by the wind blowing out to right field, was smacked. He was playing left field in this game.

Paul Molitor is in town this week as a roving instructor. It was neat to see him interact with the young guys on the team. I'm sure they can learn a lot from a Hall of Famer with 3,319 big league hits.

All of New Britain's runs came with 2 outs tonight. Impressive, and great that they can score that way, but it would have been nice to see some earlier rallies.

Finally, the team is back in action at 10:35 this morning completing their homestand in a rubber match against Portland.

Joe Mauer and Runners in Scoring Position

Though he had 2 hits last night, Joe Mauer came up
short when it counted the most.

Regardless of what some people in Twins Territory might think, the fact of the matter is that Joe Mauer has been very solid in his career when there are runners in scoring position. You might even call him "clutch," if you are one who believes that such a thing as clutch hitting exists. For his career, Mauer is a .323 hitter. When there are runners in scoring position, he's a .339 hitter. When there are runners in scoring position and 2 outs, Mauer becomes a .348 hitter. There's data from 2004-2012 backing those stats up, so it's anything but a small sample size at this point.

Thus far in 2012, Mauer is batting .313, with 1 home run and 9 RBIs. He has played in every game this season, which is a great sign. It's an even better sign that he's playing, and being productive. Still, though, it's easy to remember a few occasions during the first month of 2012 where Mauer failed to get a runner home from third with less than two outs. One incident, of course, was last night, following Jamey Carroll's leadoff triple in the bottom of the 8th inning. The game was tied at 5, and I thought the Twins were going to win it. After working the count to 3-and-2, Mauer helplessly flailed at the next pitch and bounced out weakly to first base. I'm not sure how he didn't break his bat or throw his helmet in the dugout in disgust. But it had to be frustrating. The other game that comes to mind was the Twins' great come-from-behind victory over the Angels a couple weeks ago at Target Field, when both Mauer and Morneau failed to get a runner on third home. The Twins won that game, though, and Mauer and Morneau both homered, so presumably all was forgiven.

But still -- in this short sample size of April, 2012, doesn't it feel like Mauer has stranded a higher-than-normal percentage of runners in scoring position? After all, over the past 5 games, the team is batting .170 (8-for-47) with runners in scoring position. Well, it turns out that Mauer is consistent -- even this early in the season -- in that his average with runners in scoring position is higher than his batting average. He's batting .412 (7-for-17) with runners in scoring position this season, and an even .400 (2-for-5) with runners in scoring position and two outs. Small sample size, yes, but given the several years of career data, it seems that Mauer is doing what he always has done: perform better when it matters most. It's interesting, though, because I went to bed thinking about this question, and fully expected that his average with runners in scoring position would be very low this season. It's funny what your brain focuses on. Still, though, the Twins need Mauer to be consistently great when runners are on, and he wasn't last night. It cost them a run, and possibly the game. Despite having 2 hits and a walk before the failed 8th inning at-bat, hopefully Mauer will come back with a chip on his shoulder tonight.

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A quick New Britain Rock Cats update. In chilly conditions last night, the Rock Cats lost the series opener to the Portland Sea Dogs 5-3, despite outhitting Portland 10-8 and being the recipient of 2 Sea Dogs errors. Starter Steve Hirschfeld took his first loss of the season -- in fact, the first loss of the season for a New Britain starter. He went 5 and 2/3 innings, gave up 5 earned runs on 5 hits, walked 3 and struck out 3. He's 2-1 on the season now, and his ERA stands at 2.78. Blake Martin, David Bromberg and Luis Perdomo were almost perfect out of the bullpen, which is a good sign. The trio allowed no hits, walked 3 and struck out two. On offense, Evan Bigley and Estarlin De Los Santos each had 2 hits, and Chris Herrmann, Aaron Hicks, Deibinson Romero, Pedro Florimon, Nathan Hanson and Mark Dolenc all tallied 1 hit. Hanson, who had a double, drove in 2 runs, and Romero was responsible for the other RBI with a sacrifice fly. Much like their parent club, the Rock Cats scuffled with runners in scoring position, going 2-for-12. They will be back in action tonight. I plan to attend the game, so expect a better re-cap and some pictures tomorrow.

Finally, it was also announced that the Rock Cats placed starter Alex Wimmers on the disabled list with a right elbow strain. When I heard the announcement on AM radio, I believe the organization referred to the 7 day disabled list. The DL trip is no surprise, as Wimmers has not pitched since April 9. Here is the press release. Hopefully it's just a minor strain, and he has a speedy recovery.

New Britain's Winning Streak Continues

I think 4 games in a row constitutes a winning streak. If that's not the case, well too bad! The final score today was 3-0 New Britain, and the Rock Cats, in the midst of their first road trip, are now 8-3. The Sunday Rock Cats-Fisher Cats matinee at New Hampshire was essentially a pitcher's duel for much of the game. New Britain starter Lucas French tossed 7 scoreless innings (92 pitches) for the Rock Cats, allowing only 2 hits, and walking 3 and notching 3 strikeouts along the way. He improved to 2-0 on the young season, and his ERA stands at a tidy 0.96.

New Britain's offense came from an Evan Bigley RBI single (he had two hits on the day), a Chris Herrmann solo home run (his first of the season), and a Nathan Hanson sacrifice fly. Herrmann, especially, is in the middle of an important season -- I'm viewing him as Joe Mauer's potential back-up catcher for 2013. Also notching hits for the Rock Cats were Mark Dolenc, Chris Colabello, Deibinson Romero (who committed the only error for New Britain), and Pedro Florimon, who had 2 hits. Aaron Hicks was hitless, batting as a lefty, but his batting average is still a solid .297.

The other good story today was the Rock Cats bullpen. After almost giving the game back yesterday, it was much better today. Deolis Guerra pitched a scoreless 8th inning to get the hold, and Lester Oliveros struck out one in the 9th to get the save. New Britain's pitching staff only gave up 3 hits all day, striking out 4 and walking 3. The road trip continues tomorrow, as they travel to Portland, Maine to face the Red Sox AA affiliate, the Sea Dogs.