Notes from the weekend

It's gotta be the shoes: Brian Dozier and his
pink cleats on Mother's Day. Dozier hit his
first major league homer.

I spent more time Sunday listening to the radio broadcast (yard work) than the TV one, but Dick-n-Bert apparently drew a Scott Diamond-Cliff Lee comparison.

This elicited some jeers in my Twitter feed, but I'm not about to ridicule that comparison. I made it here last September.

That particular post, as it turns out, is one of the more highly-viewed posts in this blog's tenure. For all I know, my observation may have trickled to the broadcasters and contaminated their analysis. Or not. Either way, they're responsible for what they say on the air, and I'm responsible for what I write here.

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Wilson Ramos, the young catcher the Twins gave up during the 2010 season to acquire Matt Capps, blew out his knee Saturday while pursuing a passed ball and will miss the remainder of the 2012 season.

This is another blow to the Nationals, who have lost outfielder Jayson Werth to a broken wrist, been without Ryan Zimmerman for much of the season and haven't had Mike Morse (31 homers last year) in the lineup yet. And it can't be much fun for Ramos either.

Wilson Ramos is helped off the field after
tearing a knee ligament.

The Ramos-Capps trade is widely regarded as a disaster for the Twins. I'm not that down on it. It did what it was intended to at the time — solidify the then-softening bullpen for the stretch run. Capps did have a worse 2011 season than Ramos did, but the odds are that Capps' 2012 will be better than Ramos'.

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Carl Pavano had an MRI on his shoulder, which is said to have found minor inflammation. This may or may not explain his decreased velocity; inflammation pretty much comes with the territory of being a major league pitcher.

The results are being forwarded to another, outside, specialist (the one who determined that Scott Baker was indeed injured and needed elbow surgery), and in the meantime Pavano is to make his scheduled start today.

It's a situation worth watching. The two best starters this season at Rochester, Diamond and P.J. Walters, are already up; their places have been taken by Liam Hendriks and Matt Maloney (the latter having cleared waivers), and I wouldn't expect an early call-up for either of them.

Francisco Liriano hasn't had a bullpen outing yet, so he's not a likely option if Pavano must miss time. Which would appear to leave Anthony Swarzak or Brian Duensing — and there are indications that Duensing is the likely choice. Duensing has been very good in the bullpen, but if the starters can't get to him, he's not helping the cause much.

The Twins say the goal with Liriano is to eventually return him to the starting rotation. It figures to be difficult to swap out any more struggling starters without bringing him back into the mix.