Jeff Cirillo Topic Page

I sort of feel like I'm living in Bizarro World with the Twins offense managing 17 runs in a 2-game span and the recent news of Ramon Ortiz being traded to the Rockies (I'll post a link when I find one Denver Post, MLB.com: Rockies add veteran pitcher Ortiz).

The Twins' 1-0 victory on Sunday over Cleveland put them within 4 1/2 games of the Indians for the AL Central lead and within 4 games of Wild Card leading Detroit. It's the closest they've found themselves to the lead since May and Sports Club Stats gives them an 11.4 14.6% chance of making the playoffs.

Lew Ford was optioned to AAA Rochester after the game Saturday to make room for Carmen Cali in the bullpen. Lew emerged with the Twins in 2003 and was an every day player in 2004 and 2005, but has declined dramatically from the mediocre numbers he put up those two year. Lew has been a fan favorite, if for no other reason than his name, so the move is surprising in that one aspect--you don't expect a guy that's been around for 4 years to get sent down.

Last night in his post-game press conference Ron Gardenhire was clear about the need for starters to pitch deeper into games. Kevin Slowey had just turned in a five inning start and Matt Guerrier gave up the lead late in the game.

Johan Santana had his most successful start of 2007 and threw his first shutout since 2005 (and only 4th in his career) on Tuesday night against the Mets. The 9-0 victory was a nice turnaround from Monday night's 8-1 loss.

The Twins have lost their third straight series by a score of by a score of 2 games to 1. On Sunday they were in the lead for the entire game after scoring 3 runs right away in the first inning.

The Twins' home opener had just about everything you could hope for. Joer Mauer started off with a single and the Twins got on the board in the 2nd inning with back-to-back solo homers from Justin Morneau and Torii Hunter. Johan Santana wasn't perfect, but he did accomplish something that took him nearly the full month of April last season--he picked up his first win of the season.

The Twins roster is set for opening day, so it's time to give a player by player rundown of the team. 25 players is a lot, so I'll start with the hitters in this entry.

In just a couple short months pitchers and catchers will be reporting to Ft. Myers, FL to kick off the 2007 spring training. If the Twins don't find a #2 starter before by then, then this could be a pretty dissapointing offseason, with Jeff Cirillo being the only noteworthy signing--and he's not even a starter.

The Twins extended their season long win streak to 10 games with a Sunday victory over the Brewers. The win also completed the Twins third straight sweep. Francisco Liriano got off to a less than perfect start. He hit Rickie Weeks with a pitch and gave up a single to Jeff Cirillo. While pitching to Corey Hart, he caught a spike in the mound and tripped before delivering a pitch. The balk moved runners to second and third with no outs. Two strikeouts and a groundout got him out of the jam with no runs given up. Liriano was near perfect for the rest of the game—giving up just 3 hits and a walk through 8 shutout innings. Liriano also recorded a career high 12 strikeouts.