May 20, 2008 12:47 am
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OK, that may be an overstatement. But certainly it was the biggest night of his career to date — his first major league win, his first major league hit — and I suspect that Monday's game moved him a few notches up the totem pole.
This was the third straight time that Korecky entered the game with the bases loaded. it was also the third straight time he stranded all three runners. The previous two times, the Twins were well behind; this was a game situation.
The Twins set-up corps is a mess right now. Juan Rincon had another wild outing Monday, and the look on Ron Gardenhire's face as he pulled Rincon from the game spoke volumes about how he regards Rincon's work. Jesse Crain, nominally the successor to Pat Neshek as the top RH set-up guy, hasn't really established that he's the guy to take that job an run with it. Nor has Matt Guerrier.
Korecky's not overwhelming, and he has never shown up on any lists of top prospects that I've seen. But he's shown a good slider, good command and good composure. He's now stranded all eight baserunners he's inherited. The Greg McMichael rule — if you get people out, they'll find a job for you — applies. And right now, this bullpen needs somebody to grab that eighth-inning job. Or at least the get-out-of-a-jam job.
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