Kuzul

It’s always difficult to follow up a groundbreaking performance.

On Monday, Pedro Florimon had the game of his life. The 25-year-old former Baltimore Oriole went 2-for-4 with a double and a triple in the 23^rd game he’s played this season.

“He’s showing he can pull some balls through the hole when he has to,” said manager Ron Gardenhire. “That was a nice night.”

He also had two impressive defensive plays. One was a one-hop throw from the hole in the sixth, and the other was a barehanded play in the seventh.

“The bare-hand was surprising,” said Sam Deduno, the pitcher on Monday. “Pretty good.”

“[It was] a really, really tough play,” added Gardenhire, “one of those acrobatic things where your body has to do all kinds of things to get rid of the ball.”

The big day took a toll on Florimon’s body.

“I hope he’s able to play tomorrow,” said the skipper. “He took a beating out there: got hit in the head [by an errant pickoff attempt] and I know his back was a little sore. I know he jammed his foot last night walking in the dark trying to find his bathroom so we has a little beat up coming into the game.”

Come again?

“He probably didn’t want me to tell you,” he said, smiling, “but I don’t think he will pay much attention to your articles or TV.”

***

Florimon was back out there on Tuesday.

“He came in today and said he was a little sore here and there,” said Gardenhire on Tuesday, “but he’s ready to play.”

The first play he was involved in was a wild pitch in the second inning that took a favorable hop off the backstop, only to be thrown well wide of second by catcher Ryan Doumit.

Florimon was not able to reach the ball, which allowed Salvador Perez to reach third. The error was assessed to Doumit.

His first at-bat came in the third inning.

Patient at the plate, Florimon took a ball and two strikes before swinging the bat. His first swing of the night sent him back to the dugout.

Defensively, he remained untested until the fourth inning, but when Hosmer ground ball was hit hotly in his direction with Jeff Francoeur on base, he took it upon himself to turn a double play. He scooped the ball cleanly and in a fluid motion got to the bag, touched it, dodged Francoeur and threw a laser to first baseman Justin Morneau.

Alcides Escobar hit directly at him in the fifth, and he calmly fielded it and threw the ball to Morneau for the first out of the inning.

Mastroianni and Eduardo Escobar led off the bottom of the fifth with back-to-back walks, bringing Florimon to the plate with two men on and no outs.

Again, he struck out swinging.

Giavotella hit a wormburner directly at him in the sixth. Again, he hit Morneau squarely between the threes.

It wasn’t until the seventh that he was really tested on defense.

Salvador Perez hit a ball sharply between Florimon and Eduardo Escobar, the third baseman. Florimon scampered over, snagged the ball standing up and tossed it to second baseman Jamey Carroll for a force out at second.

The double play was not turned, but Butler had led off the inning with a single off of reliever Luis Perdomo. His play curbed a potential rally.

“He was all over the field,” said the manager, “made some great plays again. “The kid can flat-out pick it out there.”

The next batter, Mike Moustakas, hit a dribbler to Morneau, who flipped it to Florimon. Florimon elected not to toss the ball back to first for what would have been an impressive double play.

His cautious approach paid off.

Francoeur flew out to end the inning shortly after the play was made.

After striking out twice in his first two at-bats, he had a chance to make something happen offensively in the bottom of the seventh with Mastroianni on second.

He grounded out to Giavotella, however, who made a hard throw while falling backwards to record the third out.

He closed out the top of the ninth with a throw to second, and in the bottom, he lined out to the first baseman with an out and a man on.

It was a tough game that night. The team lost 9-1, Diamond gave up 10 hits in six innings, the baserunning was sub-par and Josh Willingham lost a ball in the night sky.

Florimon provided the silver lining.

“He’s a fun part of the game to watch,” said the manager.

It’s always hard play after a great outing, but like that double play he fielded, Florimon took it in stride.

All quotes were obtained first-hand.

Tom Schreier writes a weekly column for TheFanManifesto.com.

Follow @tschreier3

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

Enter the Minnesota Twins‘ clubhouse and the first thing you’ll see is a quote from former manager Tom Kelly written in silver lettering above the doors leading to the players-only section of the room.

“We’re all in this boat together. Everybody grab an oar.”

It is fitting that Tom Kelly’s number retirement ceremony took place on Saturday when the team entered their contest against the Cleveland Indians with a 56-82 record—the lowest in the American League.

After all, Kelly may be remembered for winning the World Series in 1987 and 1991, a year after becoming the manager in 1986. But two years following the latter title, his team endured seven straight losing seasons from 1993 to 2000 before setting the table for current manager Ron Gardenhire with a strong 2001 season.

That year, his team went 85-77 (ironically, the record the Twins had in 1987) and came in second in the AL Central—a division Minnesota would win from 2002 to 2004 despite coming close to being contracted.

Those teams couldn’t advance in the playoffs, however. The 2002 team beat the Moneyball Oakland Athletics and lost to the eventual champion Anaheim Angels.

The 2003 and 2004 teams lost to the Yankees in the ALDS (1-3).

And after a one-year hiatus from the playoffs, the 2006 team was swept by Oakland in the first round.

Then, as we all know, the team would advance to the playoffs in 2009, the last year in the Metrodome, and in 2010, the first year at Target Field, but would be swept in back-to-back series against New York.

Even though Gardenhire has arguably experienced more success in his 10 years at the helm of the franchise, his recent teams have been compared to the ones Kelly managed from 1993 to 2000.

“Fortunately and unfortunately, I was a part of that too,” said Gardenhire, who served on the staff from 1991 to 2001 before being named manager.

“The coaches, we went through tough times too in the mid-to-late 90s where it was an adventure every day coming to the ballpark.

“Not unlike what we’re going through right now, finding pitching, trying to get through nine innings and also making the players respect the game at the same time.”

Gardenhire realizes that there is no panacea for the team’s current woes, but he says that the lesson he learned while working under Kelly was that respecting the game comes first, and winning will come as a result.

“TK was all about respecting the game,” he says. “He preached that constantly.”

It was not Kelly’s “oar quote,” that Gardenhire recited, but rather a lesser-known adage that the current manager adheres by as he tries to get his franchise out of the cellar.

I don’t care if you give me bad, I don’t care if you give me good, but give me your all.

This one is not written in the locker room. It doesn’t have to be.

“It just resonates through this organization,” says Gardenhire. “All he wanted was good or bad, you just go out and give it.

“We talked about it all the time.”

Right now, the players are giving more bad than good.

“Our players are giving it their all right now,” he says. “It’s just during the tough times you have to live with it and you’re hoping you get on the right side of it.”

With that number in the loss column inching toward 100 for the first time since 1982, fans are becoming frustrated. In 2010, the team had three million fans show up for the first time since 1988. They hit that mark again in 2011.

But with attendance numbers dipping below 30,000 for a couple games down the stretch and little hope of sudden improvement next season, the primary incentive for season-ticket holders to renew is the upcoming All-Star game in 2014.

Even at the ceremony, which represented an important moment in Twins history, the upper decks were sparsely populated—especially sections 333 and 334.

The fear is that Target Field, a bustling baseball mecca for two years, may end up with rows of empty seats like recently built stadiums such as Pittsburgh’s PNC Park, Milwaukee’s Miller Park and Baltimore’s Camden Yards.

Years of poor baseball will do that, and once lightning has escaped the bottle, it’s hard to capture once again.

Camden Yards was erected in 1992 amid the team’s glory years with Cal Ripken Jr. Attendance boomed immediately when the O’s were a flagship franchise, but years of losing drove the fans away.

Even this year, the Orioles are having trouble drawing a crowd with a winning team.

Decreased payroll and a poor baseball venue were at the root of the problem for Kelly’s poor teams—two obstacles that should not affect Gardenhire’s future clubs.

The Pohlad family has shown a willingness to spend in order to keep prospects in the Twin Cities, and Target Field is a premier venue in Major League Baseball.

As long as Gardenhire gets the talent he needs, you know he will get the most he can out of them.

And that, sports fans, is a recipe for success.

All quotes were obtained first-hand.

Tom Schreier writes a weekly column for TheFanManifesto.com.

Follow @tschreier3

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

If only Minnesota Twins pitcher Liam Hendriks could get that one win.

“Your thoughts go towards that,” said manager Ron Gardenhire before the game. “He’s been thinking about it enough himself, ‘I’ve got to get a win here.’”

He came close, but didn’t smoke the cigar in the Friday’s 7-6 loss to the Cleveland Indians. This marks 16 straight starts that the Australian hurler has failed to earn a W.  

“Kinda one of those crazy nights again,” said the skipper, acknowledging that his team gave up a 4-0 lead. “We got a lead and gave it right back to ‘em.”

Things started off rough.

Shin-Soo Choo led off with a single to left, and Hendriks walked Asdrubal Cabrera with one out to put men on first and second. After a long at-bat, Carlos Santana lined out to left.

The next hitter, Michael Brantley, flew out to left to end the inning, but 27 pitches had already been thrown.

“We missed plays pretty much all around the infield,” he continued.

“We walked a lot of people.”

His pitch count had passed 50 by the third inning. He had walked Russ Canzler to start the second, and Minnesota native Jack Hannahan (Cretin, U of M) took him up the middle to lead off the third.

“That’s not going to help you go deep into games,” said Hendriks of the pitch count. “I need to go out there and attack a little more.”

Still a double play in the second and an astonishing catch by Chris Parmelee on the right-center warning track kept the Tribes’ bats at bay.

Hendriks got a little cushioning in the second with a Parmelee sac fly.

Pedro Florimon and Ben Revere led off the bottom of the third with a pair of singles. Joe Mauer was intentionally walked. With the bases loaded, Josh Willingham brought the former two home with a double (his 99th and 100th RBI of the season).

Justin Morneau brought Mauer home with a sac fly and put the Twins ahead, 4-0.

“You got a lead and you have to go attack,” said Gardenhire.

Hendriks didn’t attack.

The Cleveland hitters got to him in the fourth when Canzler hit his first career home run to left-center, bringing the score to 4-2.

The win appeared to be slipping from Hendriks’ hands in the fifth when Hannahan led the inning off with a double and Choo drove him in from first following a poor throw from center fielder Ben Revere, trimming the lead to 4-3.

With no outs and 89 pitches, Kyle Waldrop began warming in the Twins’ bullpen.

Jason Kipnis hit a double near the left-field line and pitching coach Rick Anderson came out to calm the Aussie down.

ESPN1500 radio host Phil Mackey chimed in:

This is difficult to watch…

— Phil Mackey (@PMac21) September 8, 2012

And his partner, longtime radio host and columnist Patrick Reusse, responded:

He’s terrified of victory. @pmac21 This is difficult to watch …

— Patrick Reusse (@1500ESPN_Reusse) September 8, 2012

Santana hit into a two-three fielder’s choice that prevented the runner from scoring but put men on second and third. With two outs, Brantley was intentionally walked to get to…

Canzler! The guy who had just hit his first home run an inning earlier!

Canzler hit a dribbler, approximately 300 feet shorter than his bomb, down the left-field line. Plouffe picked it up before it went foul and had no play on it.

“When Plouffe picked it up, I thought he had a chance,” said the pitcher, “and I came inside and looked at the video and was like, ‘There was no way he was making that play.”

And just like that, the 4-0 lead vaporized.

Tyler Robertson entered the game in the sixth inning.

Hendriks would leave the game with a no-decision.

Two straight games Hendriks won’t get victory after being posted 4-0 lead. #mntwins

— John Shipley (@johnDshipley) September 8, 2012

“If he wants to get a win in this league, he’s got to pitch better than that,” said Gardenhire.

“You have to go attack hitters. If they beat you they beat (you) swinging—not putting guys on, not 3-2 counts with every hitter and that’s what Liam has to understand here.”

The hunt for win No. 1 continues.

“I’m not trying to think about it too much,” said Hendriks. “It’s going to come.”

All quotes were obtained first-hand.

Tom Schreier writes a weekly column for TheFanManifesto.com.

Follow @tschreier3

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The Skinny

An eighth-round pick out of the University of Southern Mississippi, Brian Dozier was never considered a big-time prospect in the Twins organization; but the Fulton, Miss. native has shown promise in his first stint with the Minnesota Twins.

In-Depth

The Twins would not have had Dozier play 84 games this season if they didn’t see some promise in him.

Having said that, there are many pundits like Twins Daily’s Nick Nelson that have called his debut a disaster and provided the numbers to back up his claim. Nelson’s breakdown is definitely worth a read.

If you want the short version, this is what you need to know:

Dozier’s major league batting line is.234/.271/.332, his home run total is six and his error total is 15.

You should also know that he batted above .300 in two of the past three seasons while in the minors and that his home run total was 15 while rising through the system. He also only made 47 errors in the 281 minor league games he played at shortstop.

In short, he needs to hit for a better average and get on base more, and he needs to make less errors in the field. However, he has shown that he can hit for power in the majors and that he’s got range (which is hard to quantify statistically, but just watch highlights and you’ll know what I’m talking about).

“He’s got to work on his defense,” acknowledged assistant GM Rob Antony. “There have been certain things that he needs to work on—cutoffs positioning, that sort of thing.”

“Defense has always been a big part of my game,” said Dozier, “and I definitely lost a little confidence, to be honest with you, when I was making an error every inning.”

Antony acknowledged that a big part of the demotion was an attempt to get his shortstop’s confidence back. He also addressed his troubles at the plate.

“He needs to be a little more consistent offensively,” said Antony. “He’ll have some good games, but he gives away too many at-bats.”

“I don’t want to be some .230, .240 hitting shortstop,” said Dozier. “I feel I can be an offensive threat.

“I know I can.”

The Verdict

Yes, it was a rough debut for the Mississippi boy.

And yes, he was never considered a big-time prospect.

But no, don’t count him out just yet. He could become a value pick.

Antony said that he thinks Dozier can be an everyday shortstop—if he can learn to hit more consistently and cut down on the errors, then there’s no reason to believe he can’t.

All quotes were obtained first-hand.

Tom Schreier writes a weekly column for TheFanManifesto.com.

Follow @tschreier3

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

With the MLB regular season waning and the Minnesota Twins likely to be finished in September, Bleacher Report looks at certain players on the current roster and evaluates whether or not they will have an impact on the team next season.

The skinny

With a 7.89 ERA in 12 games, Jeff Manship is likely to begin the season in Triple-A next year. He’s an innings eater, however, and is capable of long relief should something happen to Anthony Swarzak.

In-depth

Long relief is a different animal. The pitcher must be ready to enter a difficult situation and pitch multiple innings under unfavorable conditions.

“Say a starter goes down,” he says, using a hypothetical situation, “like he falls down the stairs, something ridiculous like that…I have to be ready to go so I have to be checked in—30 minutes before the game even.”

Born and raised in San Antonio, Manship is one of the few baseball players to come out of the University of Notre Dame, where he was both a starter and closer.

“I never really considered Notre Dame,” he admitted, but said that a summer league teammate, Greg Lopez, talked him into going to the university.

“The only thing was weather was an adjustment,” he said, laughing, “but all-in-all it was an awesome place.”

Despite being a starter in college, Manship, 27, says he enjoys long relief.

“It’s a different role, compared to the other bullpen guys, but I kinda like it,” he says.

“It’s nice to go out there and throw a lot of innings.”

The verdict

Manship may be best known for a couple incidents where his last name was misspelled, but he’s probably the team’s best option for long relief should Swarzak either move into the rotation or become injured.

After all, you always need someone ready in case a pitcher does a Chevy Chase the morning of a start.

All quotes were obtained first-hand.

Tom Schreier writes a weekly column for TheFanManifesto.com.

Follow @tschreier3

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

 Twitter told not only a tale of carnage and misery for Nick Blackburn of the Minnesota Twins in the first inning of Game 2 against the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday, but also of how Dr. Andy saved the day.

Phil Mackey (ESPN 1500) commented on the first hit:

The first pitch was at 6:11. The first hit off Nick Blackburn was also at 6:11.

— Phil Mackey (@PMac21) August 11, 2012

Following that first hit, a Desmond Jennings single up the middle, B.J. Upton hit back-to-back home runs.

“I knew Jennings was going to swing on the first pitch, no doubt in my mind,” said Blackburn.

“To start off a game I was going to go with my strength obviously,” he continued, referring to his sinker. “Just didn’t get it there. Same thing with Upton and Joyce.”

John Shipley of the Pioneer Press commented:

BREAKING: Rays now cutting in line to move up in batting order.

— John Shipley (@shipleykid) August 11, 2012

Of all people, it was Evan Longoria who struck out that inning, but Ben Zobrist would single down the right field line and Blackburn would walk Carlos Pena.

FOX Sports’ Tyler Mason had this to say about Anderson going to visit the mound, 24 pitches in:

First mound visit of the game, and we’re only one out into this thing. Blackburn is at 24 pitches, 3 R, 4 H, 1 BB. #MNTwins down 3-0.

— Tyler Mason (@FSNtylermason) August 11, 2012

The bleeding was awful; it was Mortal Kombat, Kill Bill and Monty Python rolled into one.

But then something happened.

With men on first and second, Jeff Keppinger hit a ball to Jamey Carroll, who turned a double play!

Mason again:

The mound visit worked. Blackburn gets Keppinger to hit into an inning-ending double play to stop the bleeding. #Rays 3, #MNTwins 0.

— Tyler Mason (@FSNtylermason) August 11, 2012

Dr. Andy clotted the bleeding and all was well.

Well, kind of…

Bollinger on Upton’s second solo shot:

Blackburn settled down after the first but just gave up a solo shot to Upton. #MNTwins down 4-1 in the fifth

— Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) August 12, 2012

Just a flesh wound, just a flesh wound.

Blackburn would leave the game in the seventh after giving up back-to-back singles to Roberts and Molina.

The score was 4-2.

The StarTribune’s Michael Rand offered a fake Ron Gardenhire quote as Blackburn left the field:

“Blackie didn’t have his best stuff, but he battled.” — #futuregardy

— RandBall (@RandBall) August 12, 2012

“A night kinda like last night,” said manager Ron Gardenhire, “they jumped on us the first inning and after that Blackie settled in nice.

“That’s the story of the game: first inning, three runs and there you have it.” 

All quotes were obtained first-hand.

Tom Schreier writes a weekly column for TheFanManifesto.com.

Follow him on Twitter @tschreier3.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

The. Swag. Is. Back.

Danny Valencia returned on Saturday night.

The gregarious South Beach sensation has been recalled from Triple-A Rochester to fill in for the injured Trevor Plouffe at the hot corner for the Minnesota Twins.

There is some question of whether or not this will be a brief visit to the Twin Cities until Plouffe gets off the DL or if Danny V is here to stay. The third baseman had a .250 average with only seven home runs in 69 games in Western New York.

“Baseball is progressive,” said manger Ron Gardenhire before Saturday’s game when asked if Valencia will outperform the numbers he put up in the minors, “you’re supposed to get better the more at-bats you [have].”

Supposed to is the key phrase here.

After bursting onto the scene in 2010, he hit .311/.351/.448 in 299 at-bats (1.9 WAR), he leveled out at .246/.294/.383 in 564 at-bats last season (-0.6 WAR) before dropping below the Mendoza Line in his 100 at-bats this season (-1.0 WAR).

In layman’s terms: In 2010 he kicked ass. In 2011 he played like a subpar player that made too many fielding errors (18). And this year he struggled at the plate.

“He got sent down because he wasn’t swinging well,” Gardenhire stated simply.

“There’s going to be lows: there’s going to be times where you struggle and you have to make some adjustments,” continued the manager, addressing the question about Valencia outperforming his numbers in Rochester, which was originally posed by StarTribune writer Joe Christensen.

“Your writing, I’ve seen you write good stories and I’ve seen you write horses**t ones, so you’ve got to make adjustments in your writings so you get better.

“Same thing in baseball.”

One of Christensen’s particularly strong pieces was, in fact, a profile on Mr. Valencia before he was sent down to Triple-A this season.

In the profile, Christensen writes that although Valencia comes off as brash, he’s actually a good person that avoids drinking excessively and has a humbling story.

Valencia was not heavily scouted out of Spanish River High School in his hometown of Boca Raton, which is an hour north of Miami, and ended up going to the University of Carolina-Greensboro.

As a freshman he was named Southern Conference Player of the Year and garnered attention from bigger programs.

“I felt that wasn’t the place to get the most exposure,” he said in an interview I had with him last year, “so I spoke to some contacts down in South Florida, spoke to the head coach I played for in the summer ball league I played in after my senior year of high school and he said ‘Look, UM definitely wants you.’”

Valencia had trouble transferring from UNC-Greensboro. According to Omar Kelly of the Florida Sun-Sentinel, the school initially offered to release him from his scholarship but later refused to do so. He appealed to a university committee, which eventually granted him his release.

After gaining admittance to The U, Valencia still had to battle for scholarship money. The school only covered his books his first year.

Undrafted out of high school, he played first base while some guy named Ryan Braun manned the hot corner, but during his junior season Braun left for the minors and Valencia became the team’s third baseman. He hit .324/.382/.475 with nine homers and 61 RBI that year and was drafted in the 19th round by the Twins.

And if you hear him tell it, things didn’t get much better.

“When you’re a late-round draft pick and you don’t perform it’s easy for them to say ‘He can’t play here’ and they get rid of you,” he said in the interview last year. “It’s a shame to say it because I’ve seen a lot of good players get drafted late and you don’t get the opportunity some players get that are drafted higher.

“As a late-round pick you have to go battle, work hard and you’ve got to perform.

“Your performance trumps all.”

The grind doesn’t go away in the majors.

Valencia hits .311 and he’s named to the Rookie All-Star Team.

He hits .246 and makes 18 errors in the field and he’s a liability.

He hits below the Mendoza Line and he’s back in the Rochester.

“It’s tough down there,” said Gardenhire of the minors. “It’s tough to motivate yourself. When you’ve been up here playing in front of 40,000 fans and you go back to the minor leagues and you’re playing in front of five to seven thousand fans you have to dig deep to motivate yourself.”

Valencia has and an injury to Plouffe has given him an opportunity to play with the big boys. The question is whether he’ll be up for a week or he’ll stick around for good.

His presence certainly hasn’t been lost here at Target Field.

Around the park, No. 19 and 22 jerseys can be seen on the backs of loyal fans. The number switch was made this season, which left a few fans disgruntled. Valencia wore 22 in high school and college.

Valencia had to make a decision early in the game today. In the first inning he grounded a ball with men on second and third, took a look at home and threw across to first, allowing the runner to score.

Starter Sam Deduno and the Twins got out of the inning with the score 1-0, things could have been worse, but it’s possible that Minnesota could have gotten out of the inning with the score tied.

In Valencia’s first at-bat he struck out, swinging at the first three pitches…and the third was far outside the strike zone.

In his second at-bat he advanced on a throwing error by Minnesota-native Jack Hannahan.

A throwing error by a third baseman: how ironic.

At that point he’s still 0-for-27.

Casilla’s bases-clearing triple brought him and Dozier home.

In his third at-bat Valencia grounded into a fielder’s choice, but reached first safely. His walk up song for that at-bat, according to Shazam on my iPhone, was “F*ck Em’” by Rick Ross Feat. 2 Chainz & Wale.

In his fourth at-bat, Valencia singled to left-center, snapping his 0-for-28 skid.

Then, with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth…

Well…

Jose Lopez hits it right at him and…his throwing error extends the inning and allows a runner to score. The pitcher at the time, Luis Perdomo, walked the next guy, Jason Kipnis, in to make it 12-5. Casey Fien would come in and close out the game.

Safe to say, there were highs and lows.

It’s one game. It’s too early to judge him.

The Valencia jerseys, both the 19s and the 22s, remain in the stands, but the question still lingers:

Is the swag there and, if so, how long will it last?

All quotes were obtained first-hand.

Tom Schreier writes a weekly column for TheFanManifesto.com.

Follow him on Twitter @tschreier3.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com

It’s been a month for pitchers facing division rivals.

Gio Gonzalez got shelled by the Mets. The Mets!

Speaking of the Mets, RA Dickey has given up 15 earned runs in 20.1 innings pitched.

And on the AL side of things, Chris Sale and Matt Harrison couldn’t pick up wins against the Tigers and Angels, respectively.

The team with the worst luck, of course, is the Cubs.

Scheduled to start at home against the Cardinals on Friday, Matt Garza, an important trade chip for a hapless team, was injured in St. Louis on Saturday…

So the Nationals can complain about their starter falling apart,

The Mets and White Sox can complain about blowing a good first-half start,

And the Rangers can shake their heads when their best starter loses to the Angels

But, hey, that’s nothing compared to what’s happening to the Cubs right now.

And, as baseball fans, do we expect anything less from the Loveable Losers?

Begin Slideshow

In front of a sellout crowd, the Twins’ sixth this year, Camilo Pascual joined pitchers Jim Perry, Brad Radke and Rick Aguilera when he was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame at the beginning of game two against the Oakland A’s.

More pertinently, however, was that with Scott Diamond shut down for an extended period of time and Francisco Liriano allegedly on the trading block, Eden Prairie, MN native Cole De Vries had an opportunity to solidify a spot next to them in the rotation in his sixth start of the season.

Safe to say he didn’t do any favors for himself Saturday night.

De Vries went five innings, giving up six hits and seven runs in a 9-3 loss.

Things did not go his way early.

He produced two quick outs in the first, but gave up a double to Cuban outfielder Yoenis Cespedes that scored Josh Reddick, hit Brandon (not Randy) Moss with a pitch and gave up a homer to Chris (not Cris) Carter.

“I just didn’t’ feel very good out there tonight,” he said. “I felt real weak.

“For the first inning or two I just felt overly hot and I knew my ball was up the whole night.”

He steadied himself after an early beating, getting the next four batters out, but had trouble with the heart of the A’s lineup again, giving up a single to Reddick and a home run to Josh Reddick in the third.

Dozier gave him a little support in the bottom half of the inning with a solo shot, but the team was already down 6-1 at that point.

“We actually swung the bats pretty good,” said manager Ron Gardenhire, who’s team outhit their opponent 14-12, but left nine men on base.

Things didn’t get any better as the game went on either. Seth Smith took him deep on the first pitch he faced in the fifth inning.

“Cole was up,” said the skipper. “Everything he threw was up.

“You could see even the pitches they were swinging through were belt-high, across the plate and [De Vries] was never able to make any adjustments.”

The Twins baserunning hurt the team today as both Span, now a repeat offender, and Doumit were put out at second in consecutive innings trying to stretch a single into something more.

“Silly outs on basepaths a few times,” continued Gardenhire. “Span’s was aggressive—the guy made a hell of a throw on him.

“Doumit just got around the bag and didn’t pick up the ball.”

De Vries would leave the game after the fifth inning, turning the ball over to long reliever Anthony Swarzak, who gave up a homer to the first hitter he faced, Moss. He said he wasn’t worried about how one poor start would affect his status with the team.

“I really tried not putting anything into that because that’s going to put so much added pressure on myself,” he said.

“It’s just one of those things: I’ve had good outings in my last ones and this is just one of those outings that wasn’t very good.”

Tom Schreier writes a weekly column for TheFanManifesto.com.

Follow him on Twitter @tschreier3.

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A goal of many baseball fanatics is to visit all 30 Major League Baseball ballparks. Some claim this accomplishment separates the genuine baseball enthusiast from the fair-weather fan.

People who have traveled the United States in pursuit of this ambition speak of three types of stadiums.

1.      The classic ballparks:

These include Fenway Park, and “The Friendly Confines” of Wrigley Field. Home of the Green Monster, Fenway was built two years earlier that Wrigley, in 1912, and is the oldest venue used by a professional sport steam in America. The locals claim that it is “America’s Favorite Ballpark,” however, that assertion must be taken with grano salis, as they also believe America runs on Dunkin’ Donuts.

2.      The new era stadiums:

The new Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, which replaced the old Yankee Stadium (1923) and Shea Stadium (1964) in 2009, are most often mentioned. AT&T Park (2000) in San Francisco , Minute Maid Park (2000) in Houston , and Target Field (2010) in Minneapolis would also fall into this category. All of these parks are primarily used for baseball and have been designed in ways that make them unique.

3.      The multi-purpose stadiums:

Better known as the cookie cutter parks, these venues often serve both a football and a baseball team. Despised by baseball aficionados and casual fans alike, the cookie cutter stadiums usually are built for the local football franchise and adapted for baseball.

After the Twins moved out of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome this year, the Florida Marlins and the Oakland Athletics became the only two teams that play in a football stadium.

In 2012 the Marlins will move to Miami and play in a stadium with a retractable roof. When the Marlins leave Sun Life Stadium—formerly Joe Robbie Stadium, Pro Player Park, Pro Player Stadium, Dolphins Stadium, Dolphin Stadium, and Land Shark Stadium—it is only fitting that they will change their name to the Miami Marlins (surprisingly the name Marlins was not auctioned off to the highest bidder).

This leaves the Oakland Athletics as the only major league franchise to play in a multi-purpose stadium.

The Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, which was constructed in 1968 and was renovated in 1996, is home to both the Raiders and A’s.

Located in industrial Oakland, across a barb-wired bridge from the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station, the Coliseum features shallow pools of water in the corridors, an inaccessible upper deck that has been tarped (located on what the locals call Mount Davis), and box seats in the outfield that are blocked off by the same silver material people put in their automobile’s windshield to keep the California sun from making their vehicle’s interior miniature inferno.

However, this dilapidated venue is an important destination for baseball enthusiasts. It may not be as historically significant as Wrigley Field or as visually stunning as AT&T Park, but within it the genuine baseball fan can witness first-hand the untold story: the plight of the small-market baseball fan in today’s MLB .

The A’s are a storied franchise with nine World Series titles and avid niche fanbase in sunbathed California. In Oakland the team has won three World Series in a row, from 1972-74, and won again in 1989. Mark McGuire, Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, Barry Zito, and Tim Hudson have all donned the green and gold during their careers. In production is Moneyball, a film interpretation of a book of the same name that articulates strategies implemented by A’s General Manager Billy Beane that kept his small-market team competitive.

However, the glory days of the A’s have become something of the past. Beneath Mount Davis fans have hung a sign that says “Don’t Take Our A’s.” The Coliseum, which used to fill to its capacity of 35,000 at the turn of the century, now barely draws a crowd of 10,000 on a Friday night.

If this historic baseball franchise is going to be revived, baseball enthusiasts must become aware of the A’s situation and, regardless of where they come from and which team they support, understand that professional baseball needs reform.

Small-market teams like the A’s build their teams through the draft and then, when the team becomes competitive, they sign free agents to give their team an edge. Currently the MLB draft is flawed in that big-market teams are able to spend more money on top-notch prospects—who receive bigger paydays than proven MLB stars before they don the cap of a professional team—and small-market teams end up drafting less talented players with a higher selection because they cannot afford to invest a giant sum of money in a player who has yet to play in the MLB.

With a reform in the MLB draft small-market teams like the A’swill be able to compete with big-market teams like the Yankees and Red Sox that have enough money to rely on MLB-proven talent acquired through free agency to fill out their rosters.

In turn, Athletics fans in the East Bay must lobby for their team to build a new stadium. When the Twins, a storied small-market franchise like the A’s, moved into Target Field this year they were able to increase their payroll, re-sign homegrown players like Joe Mauer and Denard Span, and compete for top free agents like Cliff Lee.

There are some people who consider teams like the A’s, Kansas City Royals , and Pittsburgh Pirates minor league teams that feed big-market franchises like the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, and Los Angeles Angels . If Major League Baseball is truly major league baseball, all 30 teams must be able to compete for a title, regardless of where they are located.

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