Rondell White Topic Page

Rondell White has been recalled to the big club sooner than most expected after just a couple games rehab after suffering a setback a couple weeks ago. It's certainly a sign of the Twins' desperate need for a bat in the lineup with Michael Cuddyer on the 15-day DL.

Sidney Ponson had pretty much everything going against him in his Twins debut on Monday night. First, he hadn't pitched in a game in a week and a half and second he was pitching against the high powered Yankee offense. When the game started he also didn't get a lot of help from his defense. There are plenty of excuses to make for Ponson, but the truth his he didn't pitch that well either.

After a mini-slump surrounding the All-Star break in which the Twins lost 5 of 6, the Twins have gotten back into the form they exhibited in June. They've won 6 games in a row and even Rondell White is contributing. White tripled his season homerun total with 2 longballs on Wednesdays night. He also had a double in the game to round out a 3-4 night at the plate with 3 RBI. Rondell's offensive resurgence couldn't have come at a better time. With the injuries to Lew Ford, Shannon Stewart and Torii Hunter the Twins needed other guys to step up. Jason Tyner did it in his first few games, and now White has started to show signs of life.

The Twins got news that Torii Hunter would be the third Twin added to the DL in the past few days. An MRI found that Hunter had a fracture in his foot. Rondell White rejoined the roster today to replace Shannon Stewart and Nick Punto again found himself in the unfamiliar territory of center field on Sunday. Carlos Silva put together a fair start and the Twins managed to take the series 3 game to 1. The victory was most impressive considering the Twins did it with a team that resembled their AAA affiliate Rochester Redwings. On April 4th the following players were in AAA:

The Twins picked up 10 hits in the Tuesday's game, but 7 of them came from two batters—Mauer and Kubel. Let's start out with the postitives. In the 5th inning the Twins scored their first run. Jason Kubel singled and Joe Mauer doubled to drive him in. That was the only run until the 8th when Jason Kubel hit a solo homer.

Boof was hurt by the 3 homeruns he gave up in the game, but overall he pitched pretty well. He gave up just 2 other hits and didn't walk any batters. Zito, however, shut down the Twins offense, allowing just 4 hits and no walks.

Radke has his best start since his April start against Kansas City and the Twins went into the bottom of the 8th with a 3-2 lead which is almost always safe considering they have Rincon and Nathan to finish close out the game. Poor defense cost the Twins the game though. In the eighth inning Juan Rincon got 2 quick outs, but then walked Jose Molina. Adam Kennedy then grounded to Juan Castro who's throw couldn't be handled by Justin Morneau. No error was given, but it was a play that Morneau should've made. Following that play Luis Castillo had a ball hit off his glove which tied the game.

Tuesday night's game went a little more as scripted than the past week's games have gone for the Twins. Johan Santana had another excellent start. He went 7 innings and struck out 9. He gave up 1 run on 6 hits and no walks. Santana got off to a rough start giving up hits to the first three batters he faced. However, he kept the damage limited by striking out the next three batters. It was pretty much smooth sailing from that point on for Santana. His high pitch count in the early innings limited him from going more than 7 innings. Rincon pitched the eight and Nathan came in for the ninth.

First, I want to say that Rondell White is a quality hitter and his batting average won't stay at .085 for long. That being said, Rondell White should not be the cleanup hitter on this team. The first two weeks have been played and I can't count how many runners White has left out on base. Stewart, Castillo and Mauer have all been very good at the top of the lineup and numerous runs could've been scored if Rondell White had played only half as horrendous as he actually did. I don't think there's a team in baseball that has a guy intentionally walked to get to the cleanup hitter (especially twice in 1 game).

Live commentary was provided for this game.