Lew Ford Topic Page

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.

The Twins put together a 9-2 lead after five innings of baseball on Sunday, but Kevin Slowey and Juan Rincon allowed them to creep back into things which set up an interesting ninth inning. Slowey struggled with his control early and manged to work out of some jams in the first two innings. He settled in a little bit, but allowed 3 home runs and left after pitching 5 1/3 and giving up 4 runs.

Liriano had his worst start of the season on Thursday night which ultimately led to a 4-6 loss in the series opener to Cleveland. The Twins have now lost two straight games in which Santana or Liriano started. Some of made the excuse that he struggled do to all the travel in the past few days. That's possible, but it's also possible that he just didn't have a good start. All pitchers struggle from time to time, especially 22 year olds.

The eleven game winning streak came to an end Tuesday night in Kansas City. Boof Bonser struggled with his command and gave up 4 runs in the third inning before being replaced in the fourth by Kyle Lohse. Lew Ford's 2-run homer provided the only runs for the Twins as just about every rally the Twins got started was killed by a double play. The Twins hit into three double plays in the loss.

The Twins 8-game win streak came to an end with a 5-3 loss on Wednesday night in Houston. Carlos Silva put together another quality start, but the lack of run support and a shaky outing from Kyle Lohse combined for the loss. Silva gave up a solo homerun in the 1st inning but then put together 4 scoreless innings before allowing 1 run in the 6th and walking the only batter he faced in the 7th. Juan Rincon came in and threw a wild pitch and gave up a double which tied the game.

I started writing this entry at about quarter to midnight Wednesday night. It was the top of the 8th and the Twins were down 9-4. I assumed the game was lost (I know—bad Twins fan) and I was going to start writing about everything that went wrong in the game.

The Twins won in dramatic fashion on a Lew Ford walk-off homer in the 10th to complete the sweep of Seattle. Johan Santana pitched 7 innings and gave up 3 runs. He did not figure into the decision and Joe Nathan picked up the win after pitching the top of the 10th.

Francisco Liriano got his first start of the season for the Twins Friday night, and he met expectations with a nice five inning outing as he works to build up his endurance. Liriano wasn't given a whole lot of breathing room, but the Twins offense scored just enough runs just in time for Liriano's departure after 5 innings.

Scott Baker, the Twins fifth starter, gave the Twins their best start of the season, against arguably their best opponent. Baker went 7 innings giving up only 3 hits, 1 walk and 1 run to a potent Yankee lineup.

With a couple weeks to go until the season begins the right field position is still a little up in the air. Surely, a number of players will see some playing time out there all season, but Lew Ford or Michael Cuddyer will probably see most of the playing time there, at least early on in the season. It's uncertain if Jason Kubel will be on the opening day roster let alone, starting.