Send Wilson Ramos and Joe Testa to Nationals

                  Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN – The Minnesota Twins announced today that they have acquired right-handed pitcher Matt Capps and cash from the Washington Nationals in exchange for catcher Wilson Ramos and left-handed pitcher Joe Testa.

                  In 47 appearances with the Nationals this season, Capps was 3-3, 2.74 (46.0 ip, 14 er), allowing 51 hits with nine walks and 38 strikeouts.  His 26 saves (30 opportunities) were the fourth most in the National League and seventh most in all of baseball.  Capps was also selected to the 2010 National League All-Star team.

                  The 26-year old made his Major League debut in 2005, and has a career record of 22-22, 3.48 (317.2 ip, 123 er), with 59 walks and 246 strikeouts.  He has converted 93 of 119 career save opportunities.

Ramos has spent most of the 2010 season at Triple-A Rochester.  In 71 games with the Red Wings, he batted .241 (67-for-278) with 14 doubles, five home runs and 30 rbi.  He also appeared in seven games for the Twins this season, batting .296 (8-for-27) with three doubles and one rbi.

Testa, signed by the Twins as a non-drafted free agent in 2008, began this season at Double-A New Britain.  In 21 games with the Rock Cats, he was 1-4, 8.25 (24.0 ip, 22 er), allowing 28 hits with 16 walks and 21 strikeouts.  Since his transfer to Single-A Ft. Myers, Testa appeared in 15 games for the Miracle, going 1-1, 3.30 (30.0 ip, 11 er), allowing 39 hits with 12 walks and 29 strikeouts.

The past two seasons have been a test for Jesse Crain. With his ERA at an astronomical 8.15 last June, the Twins reliever was sent to Triple A Rochester to either “work it out” or disappear forever. Luckily for him, Crain did the former, was recalled a month later and pitched well down the stretch, finishing 2009 with an almost respectable 4.70 mark.

After a slow start to this season, Crain has again hit his stride and become one of the team’s most reliable relievers, posting a 3.16 ERA and .224 batting average against with 37 strikeouts in 42 2/3 innings. With his mid 90s fastball and closing pedigree, Crain may get a shot as the team’s top relief man if Jon Rauch’s struggles continue (but with the addition of Matt Capps, that isn’t going to happen).

The down-to-earth Crain sat down with me during the last homestand:

DZ: There’s a little over half of the season in the books now, on a personal level how would you assess how it’s went?

CRAIN: Good. It’s a long season. The first month and a half or so I just wasn’t being consistent. I’d go out there and have a couple of good outings and then have a bad outing – a couple of outings where I gave up three runs. That just kind of kills things. About the middle, end part of May I started putting more consistent outings out there. I am just trying to carry that on throughout the rest of the season.

DZ: Is there anything in specific that really clicked for you?

CRAIN: One thing – I guess two things – one mechanically. (Jon) Rauch mentioned to me one day in the bullpen just to stay back – I was rushing towards home plate. So I just made sure I stayed back and stayed over the rubber before I went home. I just started mixing up my pitches a lot. I’ve been able to throw all of my pitches for strikes in any count; I think that’s helped a lot too.

DZ: Going back to last year, you kind of got off to a rough start and then went back down to the minors for a little bit. When you came back it seemed like you improved a lot, things started clicking again. What was that whole experience like?

CRAIN: It’s nothing you want to have to go through. I think at the time it was good for me. I lost a lot of confidence, I wasn’t getting in games – I just needed to pitch – you need to get out there. It’s hard in the bullpen when you don’t throw for awhile, you kind of lose confidence. I was able to go down there and work with Triple A pitching coach Bobby Cuellar and pitch a lot. I was able to turn things around. I came into last year a little differently. I came in with some different mechanics and it just didn’t end up well. I had a good spring training, but after that things didn’t work out as well with those mechanics so I had to get back to my old mechanics and I was able to find those.

As far as starting off, it’s kind of been a trend a little bit in my career. I’ve had a rough – for whatever reason – the beginning of the season has been a little rough. Not even rough, just maybe a little more inconsistent. I go out there and have some good outings and some bad outings. I just wasn’t able to put back-to-back-to-back quality outings (together). In ’06 I started off bad, ’08 was OK – I was coming off surgery, ’09 obviously wasn’t that great and this year I wasn’t real consistent so it’s one of those things where it’s a long season and you just gotta look at it that way and know that you are going to be out there a lot and if you’re unlucky in the beginning things will turn around.

DZ: You picked up a save on (July 16) – your first one in about 4 years – that had to be a pretty good feeling.

CRAIN: Yeah, the funny thing is though if you come in and do it in the 6th inning it’s not that big of deal. You come in the 9th and everybody talks about it. The way I look at it is that I play it like it’s another outing. Obviously, it’s great to get a save.

DZ: You seemed pretty excited after the last out.

CRAIN: Well, (Jim) Thome ran out there and was the first one out there and he gave me “five” so it’s pretty cool to see a guy like that come out there and show his support – how happy he was. That is what was fun about it. It’s fun to do it in front of this crowd as well, they get up, they get excited, so that was pretty fun. Like I said, if I do it in the 6th inning, it’s not as big of a deal as when I do it in the 9th inning. I don’t want to make it bigger than it is, I want to keep everything even keel.

DZ: You did some closing in early in your pro career in the minors…for any bullpen guy their ultimate dream or goal is to be a closer.

CRAIN: That’s what I’ve done my whole life really. I always played shortstop all the way through college and then I would always come in and close games. I was always an end of the game relief pitcher. That’s what I did coming up through the minor leagues. I haven’t done it much here – I’ve thrown in the 7th and 8th innings, but in the 9th we’ve had one of the best closers in the game on this team in Joe Nathan, so if I get put in that in situation, I will go out and do it. That’s my goal one day.

DZ: Everybody is talking about the new stadium, how is it in the bullpen – is it nice having an actual work space?

CRAIN: Oh yeah, it’s a lot better to have an actual bullpen where we are off the field of play, not just on the side and our necks aren’t getting kinked or anything. The one thing I don’t like about it as that we can’t see the nice scoreboard, we are right under it so we can’t see anything that is going on. It’s great just to be out there, we have some fans yelling at us from up top. It’s kind of cool being next to the other team too. You can see those guys warm up. You can talk to some guys if you know them, watch Hall of Famers like (Mariano) Rivera warm up. Pretty cool.

DZ: Do they have any TV screens out there?

CRAIN: Nothing, we went to Citi Field in New York and they had a place to sit outside and a place to sit inside that was air conditioned. They had a TV with the live game feed on, it had a 10 second delay, but it was nice because you can see where pitches were being thrown, pitches were being hit. Stuff like that. Maybe that’s something they could bring in in the future – a TV that we could check out once and awhile.

DZ: You’ve been on the team going back to ’04, have you ever been driving into the stadium and accidentally started heading to the Metodome?

CRAIN: Actually no, that’s one thing I haven’t done is tried to turn right instead of left. It’s been great, I don’t think anyone really misses that place. We had some great memories there, but to be able to have a place like this and play baseball outside the way it’s supposed to be played.

DZ: One last thing, what did you do during the All Star break?

CRAIN: During the All Star break I like to go home to our house in Texas…It’s nice to go back to your actual house. It’s kind of weird, you never get to spend time there in the summer time, and having three nights where you can hang out at the pool and relax like a normal summer is pretty special, so I like to get home and see my friends and family that are there.

DZ: Did you watch the game at all?

CRAIN: Actually I didn’t. I caught a couple of homeruns in the Homerun Derby, but I didn’t see the game at all. I had other stuff going on – I was out at the pool, had the kids with me, had family over, I had a little barbeque that night, so I wasn’t paying too much attention to it.

DZ: One night without any baseball, huh?

CRAIN: Exactly.

See more of David Zingler’s interviews with Twins players:

July 23: Ron Mahay
July 21: Danny Valencia
July 11: Michael Cuddyer
July 8: Jason Repko
July 5: Nick Punto
June 12: Jason Kubel
June 9: Drew Butera
May 11: Denard Span
April 25: Justin Morneau
April 22: Alex Burnett
April 21: Mike Redmond
April 16: J.J. Hardy

With the Lynx ugly 71-58 loss to Los Angeles on Tuesday night (they shot a horrendous 26% from the field), the team’s record fell to a hideous 7-15. Despite their underachieving ways, the talented squad still remains in a virtual tie for the 4th and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.

One of the reasons for hope that this disappointing season could still be salvaged is the play of Rebekkah Brunson. The 28-year-old power forward, who came to the Lynx in last November’s dispersal draft from defunct Sacramento, is posting careers highs in scoring and rebounding and is by far the team leader in intensity.

The personable veteran chatted with me following Monday’s practice.

DZ: You’ve been here for a few months now, what are your impressions of the area, outside of the whole basketball scene?

BRUNSON: I’m enjoying it. I like being outside – you wouldn’t call me an outdoors type of person – but, I like going outside, I like the lakes, I enjoy stuff like that. I like going to parks. It’s really green; I think it is a beautiful city.

DZ: You guys are in 3 game losing streak right now – by a total of 7 points (before Tuesday’s game) – how is the team holding up?

BRUNSON: We’re fine. I think we need to keep things in perspective. I think we know we need to win. We hoped that some of those games would have turned out differently – in our favor of course – but, I think that we feel like we’re still in a pretty good spot. We know that it is time; we know that we can’t wait, we can’t continue to let these types of games slip away from us. We are keeping our sights on that. We are just going to go into the next couple of games and get some wins.

DZ: You’re a veteran, you’ve won a championship…what does the team have to do when you are losing close games like that?

BRUNSON: Right now, it’s your hunger; it’s your desire, the small things, the loose balls, possessions like that, the free throws. I think it is more so now a mental focus. I think that we know physically we can compete with anybody. You see that when you lose to Seattle by 2 or San Antonio by 2 and Phoenix by 3. We know that we can compete, so now we need to get that mental edge, that ability to take that extra step and do the small things.

DZ: Does confidence have a lot to do with that?

BRUNSON: We are all confident at this point, so I don’t think its confidence. I think we know that we can play with teams. When you are losing by 20, then you get a little bit unsure, when you are losing by 2 you know you are only a possession away. It’s not a confidence thing, it’s just a desire – we just have to be hungrier than everybody else.

DZ: You’ve always been a good rebounder, but this year your numbers are way up, what’s been the difference?

BRUNSON: Just attacking it. I think that I’ve always rebounded the same, I’ve always been someone who going to go after it and try to get as many as I can to help our team get some victories. So, I don’t think anything’s changed. My mentality hasn’t changed. I am the same rebounder that I have been, but I am having a good season so I am just blessed and thankful.

DZ: Because of your overseas commitments, you came to the team late – after the season had started – how did you assimilate to the team so quickly?

BRUNSON: I think it took time for everybody to get used to the team. I think it took a while for us to build our chemistry and you could tell if you look at the way we played together at the beginning of the season and look at the way we are playing together right now. I think it took us a little bit of time to jell as a complete unit. I think that I came in – even before I got here I knew what was expected of me and I was already going through that mentally. So when I came in I just did what I could to try to get into the flow of things and I loved the coaches’ philosophy and I loved my teammates – everybody helped me as much as they could. It’s working out.

DZ: Obviously you’re happy to be here, but the circumstances that brought you here you probably wish would have played out differently. Could you just talk about what happened in Sacramento?

BRUNSON: Everything happens for a reason and everybody who was on that Sacramento team has been given a great opportunity to continue to play or to continue to do something else that they love to do…I feel worse for the city and worse for the people who worked behind the scenes because all of the players – we were a great group and we loved playing together – we all had another opportunity. The city doesn’t have another opportunity. They’re the ones who are missing out, they’re the ones who are home right now, so I really feel for them more than anything.

(Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Lynx)

See more of David Zingler’s interviews with Lynx players and coaches:

July 6: Lindsay Whalen
June 18: Seimone Augustus
May 23: Hamchétou Maïga-Ba
May 15: Cheryl Reeve
April 29: Monica Wright

Ron Mahay’s path to the big leagues required an unusual amount of patience, perseverance and dedication. The left-handed reliever was drafted in the 18th round by Boston in 1991 as an outfielder. He made his major league debut four years later at that position, hitting .200 in 20 at-bats.

Unable to find consistent success at the plate, Mahay began his transition to the mound in Australia in 1996 and returned to Boston in 1998 in his new role. After short stints with the A’s and Cubs, Mahay established himself as a reliable reliever in Texas, making 60 appearances in 2004 at age 33. He was dealt to Atlanta in the Mark Teixeira trade in 2007 and moved Kansas City as a free agent in 2008. After the Royals released Mahay last August he signed with the Twins for the stretch drive and re-upped this May.

The 39-year-old grizzled veteran took some time out to chat with me earlier this week.

DZ: The All Star break just ended, did you do anything special?

MAHAY: Nope, I went back home.

DZ: Where is that?

MAHAY: Arizona.

DZ: Family time, that kind of thing?

MAHAY: Absolutely.

DZ: I was looking into your background a little bit; you have a pretty interesting story. You came up as an outfielder. Could you talk about that a little bit?

MAHAY: It’s a long story…..I wasn’t a very good hitter, always pitched as a kid, through high school and college, drafted as a hitter, gave it a few years, wasn’t really doing all that well, so I decided to make the switch.

DZ: Didn’t you go to Australia for a while?

MAHAY: Went to Australia for about four months as an outfielder. Then the last month over there we decided to make the switch. I would the play the field for about eight innings and then come in – if we were winning- and pitch the 9th inning. Then in ’96 I went to camp as a pitcher.

DZ: What pitches did you have to learn (to make the transition)?

MAHAY: The slider and the change-up.

DZ: Which was the most difficult for you?

MAHAY: The slider. That took quite a few years actually.

DZ: I was looking into your stats and you were into your 30s before you really stuck at the big league level. Was there any time during that span where you thought about hanging it up and trying something else?

MAHAY: No, because I had a pretty good feeling that I could figure it out. I’d done it, it was just a matter of confidence for me, going out there and pitching and having that confidence. That is the key for me.

DZ: During a typical game what do you guys do in the bullpen to kill time?

MAHAY: Everybody comes down at certain times in the game. Mainly we just watch the game. We see how things develop and who is coming up. We have some small talk between us and if we know anybody from the other team – since our ‘pens are right there (next to each other in Target Field) – we speak to them. From about the 4th inning on is when we start locking everything down.

DZ: You were in the Metrodome a little bit last year and as a visitor too, how nice is it having that space now (in Target Field).

MAHAY: It doesn’t matter to me. A ‘pen to me is a ‘pen to me. I’ve been at the Chicago Cubs field where you are on the brick wall down the field, so it’s the same thing. We interact with the fans at times, so it’s good. This ‘pen is nice too, we can interact with the fans not as much, but overall it’s nice, pretty good.

DZ: Are there stadiums where you get heckled worse than others?

MAHAY: There are certain stadiums where you get heckled just because you are the other team. It doesn’t have to be anything bad or good against you. It’s just a matter of that your are the opposite team…

DZ: Wearing the wrong clothes….

MAHAY: ….wearing the wrong clothes, that’s right.

See more of David Zingler’s interviews with Twins players:

July 21: Danny Valencia
July 11: Michael Cuddyer
July 8: Jason Repko
July 5: Nick Punto
June 12: Jason Kubel
June 9: Drew Butera
May 11: Denard Span
April 25: Justin Morneau
April 22: Alex Burnett
April 21: Mike Redmond
April 16: J.J. Hardy

When Corey Koskie left the Twins as a free agent following the 2004 season, not even his biggest fan could have predicted he would be so difficult to replace. In the ensuing six years, Michael Cuddyer and Nick Punto have been given multiple - and ongoing - chances at the position, while Tony Batista, Mike Lamb, Brian Buscher, Joe Crede and Brendan Harris have received extended looks and Juan Castro, Glenn Williams, Luis Rodriguez, Jeff Cirillo, Matt Tolbert, Matt Macri, Howie Clark and Luke Hughes have all made starts at the hot corner.

The franchise’s best hope to end this carousel of futility is Danny Valencia. A 19th round pick out of the University of Miami in 2006, Valencia progressed up the minor league ladder, hitting .298 in 481 games before receiving a call-up on June 3. The 25-year-old hit the ground running in the big leagues and is currently hitting .314 with a .377 on-base-percentage.

I got a chance to meet the top prospect during the last homestand.

DZ: You’ve been up here a month and half – roughly – what are your impressions so far?

VALENCIA: It’s been great. The team is just a couple of games out of first place – that’s the most important thing. We are trying to win the division, can’t lose track of that. It’s been great for me; everyone has been very helpful, very open. You can pick people’s minds and stuff – it’s been a good learning experience. Winning is the main objective right now.

DZ: When you first got called up, where were you, how did you find out about it?

VALENCIA: I was in Triple A and they called me after a game and ever since then I’ve been up here. It’s been great so far.

DZ: Were you at the park still?

VALENCIA: I was at the park, they told me right after the game.

DZ: Who was the first person you called?

VALENCIA: My parents, obviously. First my mom, (I) told her, my dad and other friends and family.

DZ: When get called up how do you avoid putting too much pressure on yourself trying to impress everybody?

VALENCIA: You really just have to try to do what you do. You can’t be somebody else, I am who I am. I am not Albert Puljols, I am not going to go out there and try to hit homeruns every time. The main thing is to go out there and try to help the team win. Lately we’ve been doing a pretty good job of that. I think we are back on track and chasing the goal of winning the division.

DZ: The All Star break ended recently – your first in the big leagues – did you do anything special?

VALENCIA: I just went home, hung out relaxed with the family because it’s been a long season so far. It was nice to go home and relax for a couple of days, but at the same time, I couldn’t wait to come back to work and try and win the division.

DZ: You play a position that the Twins haven’t had a lot of stability in at the big league level. Is that your goal to establish yourself as the third baseman?

VALENCIA: Of course. Obviously you want to be an everyday play in the big leagues. You want to show them that you are person they can trust to do that. Hopefully I can do that and keep the job, we’ll see.

DZ: You played college ball with Ryan Braun; do you still talk to him quite a bit?

VALENCIA: Yeah, I saw him when we were in Milwaukee. I also played college ball with Chris Perez, who plays on this Cleveland Indians team. It’s nice to see old college teammates – it’s a fraternity over there so it’s been really great.

DZ: Do you guys do a lot of texting, that kind of thing?

VALENCIA: Yeah, texting, talk on the phone, whatever it is. We stay in contact.

See more of David Zingler’s interviews with Twins players:

July 11: Michael Cuddyer
July 8: Jason Repko
July 5: Nick Punto
June 12: Jason Kubel
June 9: Drew Butera
May 11: Denard Span
April 25: Justin Morneau
April 22: Alex Burnett
April 21: Mike Redmond
April 16: J.J. Hardy