As the full squad workouts begin this weekend, the Twins have question marks at very few positions. The coverage I've read so far boils it down to these:
1. Who will be the 5th starter?
2. Who will get most of the playing time at 3B?
3. Who will take the final bench spot? Will that person be able to back up Denard Span in CF?
4. What will happen to Glen Perkins?
5. What will happen to Alexi Casilla?
I'm already prepared to answer #1: It'll be Francisco Liriano, and he'll be closer to a #1 than #5 starter this year. That leaves long-relief as the only spot open to Perkins, and Brian Duensing is probably equally capable of filling that role. If one of them gets the last spot, that could send Casilla to the waiver wire, and it still wouldn't provide an experienced backup to Span on the 25-man roster.
The 3B situation is expected to be split between Brendan Harris and Nick Punto until Danny Valencia shows he's ready to take the next step up from AAA. Harris is presently projected by the main systems (PECOTA, Bill James, CHONE) to hit something like .265/.330/.400 while playing below average defense at the hot corner (-19.6 UZR/150 for his career, -10 FRAA in just 93 career G). Hopefully, he's just a temporary solution, but what if Valencia struggles in Rochester? We don't want to have to rely on Punto as a regular starter at 3B, since he'll probably be needed to give occasional rest to JJ Hardy, Orlando Hudson and Span.
Why not trade Perkins to the Pirates for Andy LaRoche? He's being projected to hit something like .260/.340/.405 while playing above average defense at 3B (2.9 UZR/150, 11 FRAA in his first 235 G). He's standing in the way of Pedro Alvarez, the Priates' top prospect (recently rated the #8 prospect in all of baseball by BA). Alvarez could be ready for his MLB debut by early summer, meaning LaRoche's days as an everyday player for the Pirates are numbered. Pittsburgh is in need of pitching depth, though, so picking up Perkins makes some sense for them.
It's a fairly balanced trade: both Perkins and LaRoche are former top prospects who have been, on the whole, disappointing at the Major League level so far. LaRoche should be an upgrade over Harris, and still has enough upside at age 26 that he could become an impact player. This is a guy who absolutely torched AAA over parts of 2006-2008. Like Scott Baker, who yo-yoed between MLB struggles and AAA mastery for a couple of years, LaRoche is someone who just needs to make that last adjustment to the big-league game. At the very least, he's expected to have about .025 of IsoP on Harris and a much higher walk rate, all while playing markedly better defense.
With LaRoche in the lineup, Valencia can take his time. If he puts things together the way he has the previous couple of springs, the Twins can decide which player has the more promising long-term future, and trade the other. If LaRoche tanks, Valencia can step in. If they both tank, I guess Punto has to take over like he did in 2006.
Acquiring LaRoche would necessitate a trade of Harris - he plays the same positions as Punto/Tolbert, but without the strong glove work and PR possibilities. As spring training rolls along, it shouldn't be hard to find a team looking for a veteran utility IF to fill out their bench, especially if they prefer someone who has a fairly strong bat. Already this week, Khalil Greene's contract was voided with the Rangers - Harris could be a candidate to fill that hole on their roster. Perhaps they'd be willing to swap one of their bench OF candidates: David Murphy, Endy Chavez or Brandon Boggs.
I like this scenario because it answers questions #2-#4 in ways that add value to the team. As it stands, 3B is the only spot in the lineup not projected to have an average or better player (depending on Delmon Young's progress). LaRoche should be able to hit somewhere close to league average while providing plus defense. He's an upgrade over Harris, who can then be exchanged for someone who could back up Span in CF (in addition to the other OF positions). Perkins gets a fresh start in a new organization.
All that would still leave Casilla's future in doubt, but if he doesn't play well enough to win a bench spot with the Twins, I have a feeling he'll manage to find his way through waivers. The Twins can start the season with 11 pitchers and a bench of Punto, Thome, backup C, Casilla, backup OF while optioning Duensing and Pat Neshek to Rochester. Or they can go with 12 pitchers and stash their backup OF in Rochester, relying on Punto to spot in CF but having longer-term depth available at AAA should Span land on the DL.
The bullpen is so deep that the Twins may need to make a trade there, too, but that will depend on how everyone looks in games next month. Needless to say, Perkins is also going to have to show something before he'll have any trade value. Anyway, I'd be very surprised if the Twins break camp without making another move or two. When they do, I hope it has a positive impact on the Major League roster.
Showing posts with label Glen Perkins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glen Perkins. Show all posts
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Friday, June 5, 2009
Notes on the Cleveland Series
Twins 4, Indians 3
Indians 10, Twins 1
Twins 11, Indians 3
Joe Mauer went 7-11 in this series with 2 BB, HR, 3 RBI and 5 R. It's amazing how routinely he makes solid contact. I can't help feeling like we're watching something very special with him this season.
Joe Nathan got his first 4-out save of the year on Tuesday - the first of 13 straight game days for the Twins. It worked here, and Gardy shouldn't be afraid to do this more going forward.
Anthony Swarzak's rough 3rd inning on Wednesday doesn't trouble me in the least. It was reminiscent of Liriano's outing last Saturday, and any number of Scott Baker's earlier outings. He just failed to scatter the hits he allowed. Had they all been screaming line drives to the gaps, that might have been cause for concern. But most of them were chip shots just over the infield. Out of 21 batters faced, Swarzak gave up about 3 hard hit balls.
Glen Perkins, meanwhile, allowed 3 ER on 2 HR in 4 IP during his first rehab start at Fort Myers. Doesn't sound like the problem has been corrected quite yet.
I think it would be fair to say that Cliff Lee is a far better pitcher than Carlos Gomez is a hitter. Doesn't it show poor character when someone taunts their inferiors? Why should it bother Lee if Gomez wants to get himself out hitting a 2-strike bunt foul? Shrug your shoulders, shut up and pitch.
Just when it looked like the Twins might finally get to Lee after the 7th started with back-to-back singles from Jason Kubel and Brendan Harris, there was Delmon Young to promptly deflate the rally by grounding weakly into a DP on the first pitch. Over his last 10 games, he's 4 for 37 with 0 XBH, 1 BB and 20 K. As he hit into the DP, I yelled, "You're worthless!" at the screen. But that's actually giving him too much credit. Worthless implies he's not helping the team. Not only is he not helping, he's hurting. I hope they find a way not to play him.
Thursday afternoon's game encapsulated the season in a couple of interesting ways. First, the top 5 hitters of the order, Denard Span, Mauer, Justin Morneau, Kubel and Joe Crede, collected 11 of the Twins' 13 H, scored all 11 R, and drove in all 11 RBI. The bottom of the lineup went 2 for 17.
Second, check out Scott Baker's opponents' numbers over the course of the game: .000/.111/.000 the first time through the order, .222/.222/.444 the second time through, then .444/.444/.777 the third time through. He got away with only 2 ER in 7 IP and a season-high 10 K, so it was really a good start. But he's still got some work to do in the later innings.
The Twins play in Seattle tonight, the site of some of last season's greatest horrors in August. Currently, Adrian Beltre is hitting .244/.275/.355 with 4 HR, and Ken Griffey Jr. is hitting .223/.333/.403. Let's try not to let these mediocre hitters beat us again, OK?
Indians 10, Twins 1
Twins 11, Indians 3
Joe Mauer went 7-11 in this series with 2 BB, HR, 3 RBI and 5 R. It's amazing how routinely he makes solid contact. I can't help feeling like we're watching something very special with him this season.
Joe Nathan got his first 4-out save of the year on Tuesday - the first of 13 straight game days for the Twins. It worked here, and Gardy shouldn't be afraid to do this more going forward.
Anthony Swarzak's rough 3rd inning on Wednesday doesn't trouble me in the least. It was reminiscent of Liriano's outing last Saturday, and any number of Scott Baker's earlier outings. He just failed to scatter the hits he allowed. Had they all been screaming line drives to the gaps, that might have been cause for concern. But most of them were chip shots just over the infield. Out of 21 batters faced, Swarzak gave up about 3 hard hit balls.
Glen Perkins, meanwhile, allowed 3 ER on 2 HR in 4 IP during his first rehab start at Fort Myers. Doesn't sound like the problem has been corrected quite yet.
I think it would be fair to say that Cliff Lee is a far better pitcher than Carlos Gomez is a hitter. Doesn't it show poor character when someone taunts their inferiors? Why should it bother Lee if Gomez wants to get himself out hitting a 2-strike bunt foul? Shrug your shoulders, shut up and pitch.
Just when it looked like the Twins might finally get to Lee after the 7th started with back-to-back singles from Jason Kubel and Brendan Harris, there was Delmon Young to promptly deflate the rally by grounding weakly into a DP on the first pitch. Over his last 10 games, he's 4 for 37 with 0 XBH, 1 BB and 20 K. As he hit into the DP, I yelled, "You're worthless!" at the screen. But that's actually giving him too much credit. Worthless implies he's not helping the team. Not only is he not helping, he's hurting. I hope they find a way not to play him.
Thursday afternoon's game encapsulated the season in a couple of interesting ways. First, the top 5 hitters of the order, Denard Span, Mauer, Justin Morneau, Kubel and Joe Crede, collected 11 of the Twins' 13 H, scored all 11 R, and drove in all 11 RBI. The bottom of the lineup went 2 for 17.
Second, check out Scott Baker's opponents' numbers over the course of the game: .000/.111/.000 the first time through the order, .222/.222/.444 the second time through, then .444/.444/.777 the third time through. He got away with only 2 ER in 7 IP and a season-high 10 K, so it was really a good start. But he's still got some work to do in the later innings.
The Twins play in Seattle tonight, the site of some of last season's greatest horrors in August. Currently, Adrian Beltre is hitting .244/.275/.355 with 4 HR, and Ken Griffey Jr. is hitting .223/.333/.403. Let's try not to let these mediocre hitters beat us again, OK?
Sunday, April 26, 2009
That's More Like It
Twins 7, Indians 1
Kevin Slowey's best games last season all came in his final start of the month: CGs at the ends of May, June and July. Saturday night's game was his last start of April, and it was easily his best start of the year so far. He took advantage of a generous strike zone to strike out 8 and carry a 5-hit shutout into the 9th inning before being chased with three straight hits to open the final frame. Luis Ayala came on to get a strikeout, RBI single and DP to end the game. Slowey's ERA has now joined Nick Blackburn's in the reasonable mid-4.00 range.
Carl Pavano did a serviceable job for the Indians. He threw quite a tantrum when he was pulled with nobody out in the 6th, but he shouldn't feel too badly about how he pitched. Though his final line wasn't pretty: 5 ER on 11 H and 1 BB with 3 K, most of those hits were nothing to write home about. This game was the equalizer for Wednesday night's game, when several liners were caught by the Red Sox. Here in the first, the Twins scored on a grounder up the middle, stolen base, 4-hopper through the right side. In the 4th, it went single off the 3rd baseman's glove, grounder over 3rd for a double, 4-hopper through the left side for an RBI single, 6-hopper through the right side for an RBI single. After Jason Kubel's HR in the 5th, Pavano was chased with a ground-ball single to LF, BB, and bunt single. Plenty of hits, but I thought the Twins had better swings against Brad Penny.
What a relief to see the Twins lead pole-to-pole for 2 straight games. And great that they kept piling on, adding back-to-back HR in the 9th from Kubel and Joe Crede. A series win against a division rival on the road!
Indians 4, Twins 2
This was more like what I was expecting from Glen Perkins this year. He had a much tighter strike zone to work with than Slowey did, and his control wasn't what it had been in his first three starts, so he wound up allowing 4 ER on 7 H and 2 BB with 4 K in 5 IP. The bullpen did a pretty nice job behind him as Matt Guerrier, Craig Breslow and Ayala finished the game with three scoreless innings. Perhaps the biggest news on the defensive side of things came when Jose Morales managed to throw out Mark DeRosa attempting to steal second - the first time a Twins catcher has thrown out an attempted base stealer this season.
Morales also had his best career day at the plate, going 4-4 with a double. He raised his BA to .375 over the weekend, and for once made me feel like the Twins wouldn't have done a lot better had Joe Mauer been there instead. Unfortunately, he was the only RH batter who was able to do anything against Aaron Laffey. Still, the Twins got back into the game in the 7th, as Denard Span pinch hit for Carlos Gomez and drove in 2 with a single. After Brendan Harris walked, the Twins had a golden opportunity to tie the game, but Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel, the Twins' two best hitters this month, both struck out against rookie Tony Sipp with the bases loaded.
And still the Twins had a chance to tie things up in the 9th after Morales reached for the 4th time and PH Brian Buscher drew a 4-pitch BB off of Indians closer Kerry Wood. Gardy had pulled all the right strings up to that point, but missed an important call during Span's AB. He was right to take a strike following the 4-pitch walk, but he should have been bunting on the next pitch. In that situation, the bunt accomplishes 3 important objectives: it moves the tying run into scoring position, it eliminates the groundball DP, and it all but ensures that Morneau will bat with a chance to drive in the tying run. Instead, Span was allowed to take strike 2, nullifying the bunt and enabling Wood to induce Span to hit into a 4-6-3 DP. Harris struck out to end the game with Morneau in the on-deck circle.
Still, a good series win on the road, and an encouraging conclusion to a road trip which began with 2 embarrassing losses in Boston. Now the Twins will have another tough test vs. Tampa Bay at the Metrodome. Hopefully, Scott Baker is ready for a Slowey-style adjustment.
Minor League Notes
Mauer, feeling normal soreness after his 2 straight days of catching 7 IP, went 2-4. Not bad, but maybe not quite in Morales' league. And Shooter Hunt delivered a line for the A- Beloit Snappers that Nuke LaLoosh would've been proud of:
2+ IP, 1 H, 4 ER, 6 BB, 1 K, HBP, 2 WP
Yikes! Watch your back, mascot! Looks like someone needs to tie this kid to the bedposts and read him some Whitman. Breathe through you eyelids, Shooter!
Kevin Slowey's best games last season all came in his final start of the month: CGs at the ends of May, June and July. Saturday night's game was his last start of April, and it was easily his best start of the year so far. He took advantage of a generous strike zone to strike out 8 and carry a 5-hit shutout into the 9th inning before being chased with three straight hits to open the final frame. Luis Ayala came on to get a strikeout, RBI single and DP to end the game. Slowey's ERA has now joined Nick Blackburn's in the reasonable mid-4.00 range.
Carl Pavano did a serviceable job for the Indians. He threw quite a tantrum when he was pulled with nobody out in the 6th, but he shouldn't feel too badly about how he pitched. Though his final line wasn't pretty: 5 ER on 11 H and 1 BB with 3 K, most of those hits were nothing to write home about. This game was the equalizer for Wednesday night's game, when several liners were caught by the Red Sox. Here in the first, the Twins scored on a grounder up the middle, stolen base, 4-hopper through the right side. In the 4th, it went single off the 3rd baseman's glove, grounder over 3rd for a double, 4-hopper through the left side for an RBI single, 6-hopper through the right side for an RBI single. After Jason Kubel's HR in the 5th, Pavano was chased with a ground-ball single to LF, BB, and bunt single. Plenty of hits, but I thought the Twins had better swings against Brad Penny.
What a relief to see the Twins lead pole-to-pole for 2 straight games. And great that they kept piling on, adding back-to-back HR in the 9th from Kubel and Joe Crede. A series win against a division rival on the road!
Indians 4, Twins 2
This was more like what I was expecting from Glen Perkins this year. He had a much tighter strike zone to work with than Slowey did, and his control wasn't what it had been in his first three starts, so he wound up allowing 4 ER on 7 H and 2 BB with 4 K in 5 IP. The bullpen did a pretty nice job behind him as Matt Guerrier, Craig Breslow and Ayala finished the game with three scoreless innings. Perhaps the biggest news on the defensive side of things came when Jose Morales managed to throw out Mark DeRosa attempting to steal second - the first time a Twins catcher has thrown out an attempted base stealer this season.
Morales also had his best career day at the plate, going 4-4 with a double. He raised his BA to .375 over the weekend, and for once made me feel like the Twins wouldn't have done a lot better had Joe Mauer been there instead. Unfortunately, he was the only RH batter who was able to do anything against Aaron Laffey. Still, the Twins got back into the game in the 7th, as Denard Span pinch hit for Carlos Gomez and drove in 2 with a single. After Brendan Harris walked, the Twins had a golden opportunity to tie the game, but Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel, the Twins' two best hitters this month, both struck out against rookie Tony Sipp with the bases loaded.
And still the Twins had a chance to tie things up in the 9th after Morales reached for the 4th time and PH Brian Buscher drew a 4-pitch BB off of Indians closer Kerry Wood. Gardy had pulled all the right strings up to that point, but missed an important call during Span's AB. He was right to take a strike following the 4-pitch walk, but he should have been bunting on the next pitch. In that situation, the bunt accomplishes 3 important objectives: it moves the tying run into scoring position, it eliminates the groundball DP, and it all but ensures that Morneau will bat with a chance to drive in the tying run. Instead, Span was allowed to take strike 2, nullifying the bunt and enabling Wood to induce Span to hit into a 4-6-3 DP. Harris struck out to end the game with Morneau in the on-deck circle.
Still, a good series win on the road, and an encouraging conclusion to a road trip which began with 2 embarrassing losses in Boston. Now the Twins will have another tough test vs. Tampa Bay at the Metrodome. Hopefully, Scott Baker is ready for a Slowey-style adjustment.
Minor League Notes
Mauer, feeling normal soreness after his 2 straight days of catching 7 IP, went 2-4. Not bad, but maybe not quite in Morales' league. And Shooter Hunt delivered a line for the A- Beloit Snappers that Nuke LaLoosh would've been proud of:
2+ IP, 1 H, 4 ER, 6 BB, 1 K, HBP, 2 WP
Yikes! Watch your back, mascot! Looks like someone needs to tie this kid to the bedposts and read him some Whitman. Breathe through you eyelids, Shooter!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Kuuuuuuuuuuuubel!
Twins 11, Angels 9
I made carrot soup Friday night (from scratch, thank you very much). The recipe said, "bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 25 minutes." I got the boil going right around the start of the 7th inning, and turned off the burner and the game as Matt Guerrier came onto the field. In the time it took the carrots to soften, the bullpen had suffered another interminable inning, and a 3-3 game had turned into a lopsided affair. Again.
And how frustrating, after Nick Blackburn had pitched a pretty good game. The first 3 runs he allowed in the 5th came on a grounder up the middle, a sinking liner just in front of Denard Span in CF, a 4-hopper through the right side to load the bases, and a grounder just past a diving Nick Punto at SS to score 2 runs, plus an RBI groundout on what would have been a DP had Span thrown to the right base on the previous play. Once the first couple hitters reached, Blackburn needed to induce some grounders, which he did, and the runs came home anyway. Arrgh!
The 7th was even worse. Blackburn allowed a 1-2 single up the middle, SB (because the Twins can't throw anybody out right now) and a sac bunt, ending his night at 6.1 IP and 106 pitches. Jesse Crain, the only good reliever in the bullpen up to that point apart from Joe Nathan, got the next hitter on a pop-up, keeping the game tied. The Twins wisely elected to intentionally walk Bobby Abreu (who was constantly on base all weekend) and pitch to Torii Hunter. Crain quickly got ahead 0-2, but Hunter was able to spoil some tough pitches, particularly a 2-2 curveball that just barely found the tip of his bat. He would eventually walk, setting up a bases loaded grounder through the right side from Kendry Morales for a 2-run single. Crain's next pitch was the only mistake of the inning, a hanger that was lined into CF for an RBI single. Then he suffered another lengthy AB, only to walk Juan Rivera on a full count.
I could see where it was going - the same place it had gone all week long vs. Toronto. Another night, another bat-around inning for the opposition, another rough loss for the Twins.
An hour or so later, I got a call from my mom. When she calls after 10:00 during the season, I know something good just happened. I went back to the game, having last checked just after supper with the Angels leading 9-4 in the 8th, and got myself caught up.
The principle differences between this series and the Toronto series were that the Angels were far below full strenght (Maicer Izturis batting 3rd, really?), their bullpen was in an even worse slump than the Twins', and Jason Kubel was en fuego. I had seen him collect an opposite field RBI double, solid single, and stand-up triple (thanks to a fortuitous carom along the baggie) earlier in the game. The best was yet to come.
Every crappy swing that had been taken against the Twins this week had seemed to result in a hit. Where's our BS infield single? Ah, there it is, thanks Michael Cuddyer. And where's our pathetic jam-shot flair over the IF? Ah yes, thanks Mike Redmond. (Credit should also be given to Joe Crede, who hasn't done a lot with the bat yet, but has found a way to be in the middle of some key Twins rallies already. It was his 3-2 BB that forced Morales to hold him on at 1B, too close to the plate to catch Redmond's soft liner.) After a BB, double and K had brought the Twins within 2 runs with 2 outs, Mike Scioscia elected to put the winning run on base by walking Justin Morneau. Kubel waited for a breaking pitch up, crushing it into the upper deck in right center for a go-ahead, cycle-completing grand slam. I remember seeing Kent Hrbek hit a couple of balls up there when I was a kid. That's in the neighborhood of 440 feet. Awesome.
A determined Joe Nathan came in and dispatched the shell-shocked Angels on just 6 pitches for the save.
Twins 9, Angels 2
I got an unhappy sense of deja vu when Kevin Slowey served up a 2-run bomb to Hunter in the second, followed immediately by a drive high off the baggie in right-center. Will he never learn to keep the ball in the yard? Well, yes, I guess he did learn, because he allowed only 3 H and a BB the rest of the way, completing 7 IP for his first QS of the year.
As for the Angels, their pitching depth is so thin right now that they were forced to start Darrin Oliver, who couldn't be expected to throw more than 50-60 pitches. This one night after Shane Moseley had to leave the game after 3 IP with elbow stiffness. That gave the Twins a lot of AB vs. the Angels' 'pen, whose ERA was over 8.00 coming into the game. You know you're facing a bad bullpen when they manage to walk Carlos Gomez and Delmon Young in the same inning. Kubel kept on raking, collecting another 4 H in 5 AB, and the Twins cruised to their 2nd straight win.
Twins 3, Angels 1
I hope the rest of the Twins pitchers are studying Glen Perkins. They all have better stuff than him, but he uses what he has so well. He only allowed a run today because Hunter's exploding bat still managed to produce a single in the 2nd inning. Otherwise, Perkins was dominant, retiring 13 in a row through the middle innings and needing just 84 pitches to complete 8 IP. If Nathan had thrown more innings over the previous 2 weeks, or had there been a game tomorrow, or had the Twins scored 2 more runs, Perkins would have certainly been given an opportunity to complete the game.
I hope everyone has noticed how long Gardy's been leaving the starters in. If you're like me, and you don't believe it's fair to take a QS away from somebody who gives up the disqualifying run in the 7th inning or later, then you'll see that the Twins have had QS in 5 of the last 6 games. The upcoming road trip vs. Boston and Cleveland will be tough, but should give a pretty good indication of whether or not the Twins have managed to right the ship, or are still searching for consistency from the starters.
Juan Morillo claimed, Philip Humber DFA
Just days after dismissing Brian Duensing from the roster, the Twins have done the same with Humber, risking 1/4 of the return for Johan Santana to the waiver wire. Of course, the highest priority for the front office has to be to put a winning team on the field, and there was little indication that Humber was prepared to help with that. He made the least of his 4 appearances in the first week and half, allowing 6 ER on 11 H and 3 BB in 4.1 IP with 4 K. Will he be claimed? On the one hand, he hasn't shown a lot lately. On the other hand, some teams have Darrin Oliver and Shane Loux in their starting rotations, so we'll see.
To replace Humber, the Twins claimed Morillo off waivers from the Rockies. At his best, in 2007, Morillo allowed 54 H, 3 HR and 32 BB with 74 K in 70.2 IP between AA, AAA and the Majors for a 1.22 WHIP and 9.4 K/9. At his worst, last year, he allowed 54 H, 3 HR, 56 BB and 55 K in 60.2 IP between AAA and the Majors for a 1.81 WHIP and 8.2 K/9. The gamble seems to be that pitching coach Rick Anderson can get Morillo to throw strikes, which would make him into a passable middle reliever. If that doesn't work, I suppose the long innings will continue. He had an efficient inning in his Twins debut, so we'll hope for the best.
I made carrot soup Friday night (from scratch, thank you very much). The recipe said, "bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about 25 minutes." I got the boil going right around the start of the 7th inning, and turned off the burner and the game as Matt Guerrier came onto the field. In the time it took the carrots to soften, the bullpen had suffered another interminable inning, and a 3-3 game had turned into a lopsided affair. Again.
And how frustrating, after Nick Blackburn had pitched a pretty good game. The first 3 runs he allowed in the 5th came on a grounder up the middle, a sinking liner just in front of Denard Span in CF, a 4-hopper through the right side to load the bases, and a grounder just past a diving Nick Punto at SS to score 2 runs, plus an RBI groundout on what would have been a DP had Span thrown to the right base on the previous play. Once the first couple hitters reached, Blackburn needed to induce some grounders, which he did, and the runs came home anyway. Arrgh!
The 7th was even worse. Blackburn allowed a 1-2 single up the middle, SB (because the Twins can't throw anybody out right now) and a sac bunt, ending his night at 6.1 IP and 106 pitches. Jesse Crain, the only good reliever in the bullpen up to that point apart from Joe Nathan, got the next hitter on a pop-up, keeping the game tied. The Twins wisely elected to intentionally walk Bobby Abreu (who was constantly on base all weekend) and pitch to Torii Hunter. Crain quickly got ahead 0-2, but Hunter was able to spoil some tough pitches, particularly a 2-2 curveball that just barely found the tip of his bat. He would eventually walk, setting up a bases loaded grounder through the right side from Kendry Morales for a 2-run single. Crain's next pitch was the only mistake of the inning, a hanger that was lined into CF for an RBI single. Then he suffered another lengthy AB, only to walk Juan Rivera on a full count.
I could see where it was going - the same place it had gone all week long vs. Toronto. Another night, another bat-around inning for the opposition, another rough loss for the Twins.
An hour or so later, I got a call from my mom. When she calls after 10:00 during the season, I know something good just happened. I went back to the game, having last checked just after supper with the Angels leading 9-4 in the 8th, and got myself caught up.
The principle differences between this series and the Toronto series were that the Angels were far below full strenght (Maicer Izturis batting 3rd, really?), their bullpen was in an even worse slump than the Twins', and Jason Kubel was en fuego. I had seen him collect an opposite field RBI double, solid single, and stand-up triple (thanks to a fortuitous carom along the baggie) earlier in the game. The best was yet to come.
Every crappy swing that had been taken against the Twins this week had seemed to result in a hit. Where's our BS infield single? Ah, there it is, thanks Michael Cuddyer. And where's our pathetic jam-shot flair over the IF? Ah yes, thanks Mike Redmond. (Credit should also be given to Joe Crede, who hasn't done a lot with the bat yet, but has found a way to be in the middle of some key Twins rallies already. It was his 3-2 BB that forced Morales to hold him on at 1B, too close to the plate to catch Redmond's soft liner.) After a BB, double and K had brought the Twins within 2 runs with 2 outs, Mike Scioscia elected to put the winning run on base by walking Justin Morneau. Kubel waited for a breaking pitch up, crushing it into the upper deck in right center for a go-ahead, cycle-completing grand slam. I remember seeing Kent Hrbek hit a couple of balls up there when I was a kid. That's in the neighborhood of 440 feet. Awesome.
A determined Joe Nathan came in and dispatched the shell-shocked Angels on just 6 pitches for the save.
Twins 9, Angels 2
I got an unhappy sense of deja vu when Kevin Slowey served up a 2-run bomb to Hunter in the second, followed immediately by a drive high off the baggie in right-center. Will he never learn to keep the ball in the yard? Well, yes, I guess he did learn, because he allowed only 3 H and a BB the rest of the way, completing 7 IP for his first QS of the year.
As for the Angels, their pitching depth is so thin right now that they were forced to start Darrin Oliver, who couldn't be expected to throw more than 50-60 pitches. This one night after Shane Moseley had to leave the game after 3 IP with elbow stiffness. That gave the Twins a lot of AB vs. the Angels' 'pen, whose ERA was over 8.00 coming into the game. You know you're facing a bad bullpen when they manage to walk Carlos Gomez and Delmon Young in the same inning. Kubel kept on raking, collecting another 4 H in 5 AB, and the Twins cruised to their 2nd straight win.
Twins 3, Angels 1
I hope the rest of the Twins pitchers are studying Glen Perkins. They all have better stuff than him, but he uses what he has so well. He only allowed a run today because Hunter's exploding bat still managed to produce a single in the 2nd inning. Otherwise, Perkins was dominant, retiring 13 in a row through the middle innings and needing just 84 pitches to complete 8 IP. If Nathan had thrown more innings over the previous 2 weeks, or had there been a game tomorrow, or had the Twins scored 2 more runs, Perkins would have certainly been given an opportunity to complete the game.
I hope everyone has noticed how long Gardy's been leaving the starters in. If you're like me, and you don't believe it's fair to take a QS away from somebody who gives up the disqualifying run in the 7th inning or later, then you'll see that the Twins have had QS in 5 of the last 6 games. The upcoming road trip vs. Boston and Cleveland will be tough, but should give a pretty good indication of whether or not the Twins have managed to right the ship, or are still searching for consistency from the starters.
Juan Morillo claimed, Philip Humber DFA
Just days after dismissing Brian Duensing from the roster, the Twins have done the same with Humber, risking 1/4 of the return for Johan Santana to the waiver wire. Of course, the highest priority for the front office has to be to put a winning team on the field, and there was little indication that Humber was prepared to help with that. He made the least of his 4 appearances in the first week and half, allowing 6 ER on 11 H and 3 BB in 4.1 IP with 4 K. Will he be claimed? On the one hand, he hasn't shown a lot lately. On the other hand, some teams have Darrin Oliver and Shane Loux in their starting rotations, so we'll see.
To replace Humber, the Twins claimed Morillo off waivers from the Rockies. At his best, in 2007, Morillo allowed 54 H, 3 HR and 32 BB with 74 K in 70.2 IP between AA, AAA and the Majors for a 1.22 WHIP and 9.4 K/9. At his worst, last year, he allowed 54 H, 3 HR, 56 BB and 55 K in 60.2 IP between AAA and the Majors for a 1.81 WHIP and 8.2 K/9. The gamble seems to be that pitching coach Rick Anderson can get Morillo to throw strikes, which would make him into a passable middle reliever. If that doesn't work, I suppose the long innings will continue. He had an efficient inning in his Twins debut, so we'll hope for the best.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Twins Beat Jays!
Twins 3, Blue Jays 2 (11 innings)
Glad that's over with. After 10 straight losses, the Twins finally found a way to beat the Jays for the first time since 2007. It wasn't easy, even though Glen Perkins, Joe Nathan and Jesse Crain cooled off the hottest-hitting lineup in baseball, holding them to just 2 R on 7 H and 1 BB over 11 IP.
Perkins was a hard luck loser in his last start, and this was a hard luck no decision for him. He allowed 8 baserunners in 8 IP, but 5 of them came in the 2 innings in which the Jays scored. I was just getting ready to compliment Delmon Young on his range in LF after hauling in Kevin Millar's deep drive to the corner when he turned the wrong way on Rod Barajas' 2-out liner, letting it sail over his head to drive in the game's first run.
After that, the Jays were pretty quiet, their only threat coming on a 2-out double down the LF line in the 8th. The ball took a crazy hop in front of the diving Joe Crede - had it stayed down, I think Crede would have at least been able to knock it down and hold Alex Rios to a single. As it was, he reached second, and Perkins fell behind Vernon Wells 2-0. Rick Anderson came out to talk things over, and Wells promptly lined the next pitch into CF for the game-tying single. How many times have we seen those mid-AB visits from Anderson result in hits already this season? What are they talking about?
Should Perkins have been pitching to a RH batter with the tying run on 2nd and Jesse Crain warmed up in the bullpen? Maybe not, but he'd pitched a great game up to that point, and I'd rather see Gardy err on the side of trusting the starters - that's probably going to be the right move more times than not over the course of the season. I love that he's stuck with Perkins for 8 IP in each of his first 2 starts. Perkins may not have the best stuff of the Twins starters, but he probably has the best style of pitching. Usually he throws at least 2 pitches inside to every hitter, frequently missing too far in. That tends to produce some less than assertive swings at outside pitches. I wish Slowey would do that.
I said yesterday that this would be a good game to try to get to the bullpen early. Denard Span got the Twins off to a good start, making rookie Ricky Romero throw 10 pitches leading off the game. However, the next 2 batters swung early and were retired on 3 pitches. The aggressive approach from the Twins enabled Romero to match Perkins' 8 IP. I think they would have been more successful had they been more selective. As one example, Romero didn't throw a single pitch in the strike zone to Justin Morneau in the 8th, yet Morneau struck out.
Speaking of swinging at balls, if the Twins face Scott Downs again in this series, I suggest they just keep the bats on their shoulders. He's struck out 5 of the 7 men he's faced, 4 of those on curveballs in the dirt. I don't know that he's thrown 3 pitches in the zone to any batter in this series.
The Twins' big offensive break came when Alexi Casilla's would-be DP ball was bobbled by 2B Aaron Hill - he still got Casilla at 1st, but Span advanced to 2nd and scored on Morneau's subsequent ground rule double. Their bad break also came off the bat of Casilla when he attempted to sacrifice Span to 3rd base in the 6th inning. The bunt was too hard and too close to the pitcher - though it slipped past him and Casilla was able to reach with an IF hit, Span had to head back toward the bag and couldn't advance. Had he made it to 3rd, he would have easily scored on Morneau's towering fly just over the leaping Rios off the baggie in RF. Had the Twins managed a 3rd run there, it could have been a win for Perkins and a shorter night.
Other News
Finally, some information disseminated about Joe Mauer's status. He's had two successful days of running, and is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with the Fort Myers Miracle next week. Once he's comfortable at the plate, he can be recalled. I hope he'll be ready to go by next weekend's series with division rival Cleveland. It will be great to have somebody in the lineup besides Span taking some pitches.
Also, Scott Baker was activated from the DL, and the Twins elected to send Brian Duensing back to Rochester. I find this news mystifying, not because R.A. Dickey didn't earn the roster spot - he clearly did - but because nothing has transpired in the first 9 games of the season that made the choice between those 2 players any easier. Duensing performed adequately in March, and his 3 IP in long relief last weekend were also adequate. Dickey looked very good in March, and has done fine in 2 appearances this past week.
Here's my problem: if the Twins are OK with having Dickey stick on the roster, why were they so quick to put Baker on the DL? He was able to pitch 7 innings in Fort Myers last Friday, the same night Dickey started in his place. Why didn't they wait on the DL decision until Baker had thrown his side session, see that he was feeling OK, push him back a few days if necessary so he could pitch when he actually pitched? Why sacrifice a start from one of your better pitchers at the beginning of what promises to be another tight division race, if not to give Dickey a chance to prove that he didn't really belong? I don't get it.
Glad that's over with. After 10 straight losses, the Twins finally found a way to beat the Jays for the first time since 2007. It wasn't easy, even though Glen Perkins, Joe Nathan and Jesse Crain cooled off the hottest-hitting lineup in baseball, holding them to just 2 R on 7 H and 1 BB over 11 IP.
Perkins was a hard luck loser in his last start, and this was a hard luck no decision for him. He allowed 8 baserunners in 8 IP, but 5 of them came in the 2 innings in which the Jays scored. I was just getting ready to compliment Delmon Young on his range in LF after hauling in Kevin Millar's deep drive to the corner when he turned the wrong way on Rod Barajas' 2-out liner, letting it sail over his head to drive in the game's first run.
After that, the Jays were pretty quiet, their only threat coming on a 2-out double down the LF line in the 8th. The ball took a crazy hop in front of the diving Joe Crede - had it stayed down, I think Crede would have at least been able to knock it down and hold Alex Rios to a single. As it was, he reached second, and Perkins fell behind Vernon Wells 2-0. Rick Anderson came out to talk things over, and Wells promptly lined the next pitch into CF for the game-tying single. How many times have we seen those mid-AB visits from Anderson result in hits already this season? What are they talking about?
Should Perkins have been pitching to a RH batter with the tying run on 2nd and Jesse Crain warmed up in the bullpen? Maybe not, but he'd pitched a great game up to that point, and I'd rather see Gardy err on the side of trusting the starters - that's probably going to be the right move more times than not over the course of the season. I love that he's stuck with Perkins for 8 IP in each of his first 2 starts. Perkins may not have the best stuff of the Twins starters, but he probably has the best style of pitching. Usually he throws at least 2 pitches inside to every hitter, frequently missing too far in. That tends to produce some less than assertive swings at outside pitches. I wish Slowey would do that.
I said yesterday that this would be a good game to try to get to the bullpen early. Denard Span got the Twins off to a good start, making rookie Ricky Romero throw 10 pitches leading off the game. However, the next 2 batters swung early and were retired on 3 pitches. The aggressive approach from the Twins enabled Romero to match Perkins' 8 IP. I think they would have been more successful had they been more selective. As one example, Romero didn't throw a single pitch in the strike zone to Justin Morneau in the 8th, yet Morneau struck out.
Speaking of swinging at balls, if the Twins face Scott Downs again in this series, I suggest they just keep the bats on their shoulders. He's struck out 5 of the 7 men he's faced, 4 of those on curveballs in the dirt. I don't know that he's thrown 3 pitches in the zone to any batter in this series.
The Twins' big offensive break came when Alexi Casilla's would-be DP ball was bobbled by 2B Aaron Hill - he still got Casilla at 1st, but Span advanced to 2nd and scored on Morneau's subsequent ground rule double. Their bad break also came off the bat of Casilla when he attempted to sacrifice Span to 3rd base in the 6th inning. The bunt was too hard and too close to the pitcher - though it slipped past him and Casilla was able to reach with an IF hit, Span had to head back toward the bag and couldn't advance. Had he made it to 3rd, he would have easily scored on Morneau's towering fly just over the leaping Rios off the baggie in RF. Had the Twins managed a 3rd run there, it could have been a win for Perkins and a shorter night.
Other News
Finally, some information disseminated about Joe Mauer's status. He's had two successful days of running, and is scheduled to begin a rehab assignment with the Fort Myers Miracle next week. Once he's comfortable at the plate, he can be recalled. I hope he'll be ready to go by next weekend's series with division rival Cleveland. It will be great to have somebody in the lineup besides Span taking some pitches.
Also, Scott Baker was activated from the DL, and the Twins elected to send Brian Duensing back to Rochester. I find this news mystifying, not because R.A. Dickey didn't earn the roster spot - he clearly did - but because nothing has transpired in the first 9 games of the season that made the choice between those 2 players any easier. Duensing performed adequately in March, and his 3 IP in long relief last weekend were also adequate. Dickey looked very good in March, and has done fine in 2 appearances this past week.
Here's my problem: if the Twins are OK with having Dickey stick on the roster, why were they so quick to put Baker on the DL? He was able to pitch 7 innings in Fort Myers last Friday, the same night Dickey started in his place. Why didn't they wait on the DL decision until Baker had thrown his side session, see that he was feeling OK, push him back a few days if necessary so he could pitch when he actually pitched? Why sacrifice a start from one of your better pitchers at the beginning of what promises to be another tight division race, if not to give Dickey a chance to prove that he didn't really belong? I don't get it.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
A Split with the Mariners
Twins 6, Mariners 5
Last August, the Twins pitchers had a hell of a time with the Mariners' lineup, yielding an average of 5.7 runs/game. That lineup included Ichiro and Raul Ibanez, though. I really thought the Twins would have an easier time in this series. But there they were again, putting up 5 runs in the first 4 innings against Kevin Slowey.
I was disgusted with the Russell Branyan AB in the 2nd - after getting such a K-prone hitter 0-2, Slowey should have been able to put him away. Why not stay upstairs, where he missed for the second strike? Instead, Branyan was able to work the count to 3-2 while Slowey tried to get him to chase some pitches in the dirt. At that point, I was reminded of an AB Shin-Soo Choo had against Slowey last September, and I heard myself saying what I said back then: "Now, first base is open, so don't do anything stupid here."
Ding!
Aaargh! Slowey is such a better pitcher than Branyan is a hitter. I think I hold Slowey to a higher standard than the other Twins pitchers. His control is normally so great, I don't have any patience for him having a tough night with his location. 7 of the 9 H Slowey allowed came either when he was ahead in the count or had let someone recover from 0-2. And he let a run come in on a wild pitch. Slowey throws wild pitches? Bah!
Luckily, his mound opponent was not one of the better starters in the league, as had been the case the previous 2 nights. Rather, it was our old friend Carlos Silva, trying to regain his 2004-2005 form and justify his enormous contract. Not this night, as the Twins were able to alternate the expected ground ball hits with drives to the gaps - and over the fences. Justin Morneau got his first 2 H, a double and an upper-deck HR, collecting 3 RBI in the process. Denard Span had another good night at the plate, finally hitting the ball hard as he lifted a 2-run HR over the baggy down the RF line. Jason Kubel had a couple of knocks, including the RBI double that turned out to be the game-winner.
To Slowey's credit, he settled down after the 4th and managed to complete 6 IP, saving the bullpen somewhat. Craig Breslow, Jesse Crain and Joe Nathan each threw a scoreless inning to finish the game. That sequence of pitchers is pretty much what I was hoping to see on nights when the starter only goes 6 IP, so it was encouraging to see that Gardy is still willing to give Breslow a full inning rather than save him for lefties in another situation that may or may not arise.
Seattle 2, Twins 0
You know I don't like to see the Twins losing well-pitched games, but I can tolerate it when it's somebody awesome who shuts them down, like Sabathia or Matsuzaka. When it's Vicente Padilla, or Radhames Liz who's throwing up the zeroes, I find that pretty grating. Jarrod Washburn is in the latter category.
As tough a time as the Twins had squaring him up, a lot of credit has to be given to the M's defense, especially new CF Franklin Gutierrez. The catch he made on Alexi Casilla's drive to the left-centerfield gap in the first could not have come any closer to the turf without being a hit. In addition to the 5 H the Twins were able to accumulate off Washburn, there were probably just as many balls that might have fallen in against a lesser defense.
I started to get that sinking feeling that this was going to be one of those days when everything seems to break the wrong way in the top of the 3rd, when Endy Chavez led off with a grounder just out of the reach of the diving Casilla. The previous inning had seen a hit carry just over Casilla's leap. When their hits are just sneaking through, and yours aren't quite, it might not be your day.
The confirmation came in the bottom of the inning, when Mike Redmond's sharp grounder up the middle hit Washburn and caromed over to the third baseline. Ronny Cedeno hustled in and threw out Redmond by a step. It was bad enough luck that the ball didn't miss Washburn and go into CF, but consider this: the only player in the Major Leagues who wasn't capable of beating that play to first base was a nearly 38-year old right-handed hitting backup catcher with a pulled groin. I'm sure a healthy Redmond would have been safe there.
A shame to waste the first quality start of the season. That's probably about as good as Perkins is going to be this year. Of all the Twins starters, I feel like he's the most determined to throw inside, and I love that, but he's also the most likely to miss his spots and get hammered. Still, it was great to see Gardy leave him in there to pitch the 8th. He might have had a CG had he not run into consecutive 11-pitch ABs in the 7th.
On to Chicago, where the White Sox were able to muster just 5 runs in 3 games vs. the Royals.
Minor League Notes
In the season opener for Rochester, the 'Wings were able to slug their way to victory behind 2 pairs of back-to-back HR, 1 each from Luke Hughes, David Winfree, Trevor Plouffe and Dustin Martin. And in AA, stud relievers Rob Delaney and Anthony Slama made impressive season debuts: each allowed no runs on 1 H. Delaney got 2 K and Slama struck out the side. I'm hoping both of those guys will pitch well enough to get to Rochester by mid-season.
Last August, the Twins pitchers had a hell of a time with the Mariners' lineup, yielding an average of 5.7 runs/game. That lineup included Ichiro and Raul Ibanez, though. I really thought the Twins would have an easier time in this series. But there they were again, putting up 5 runs in the first 4 innings against Kevin Slowey.
I was disgusted with the Russell Branyan AB in the 2nd - after getting such a K-prone hitter 0-2, Slowey should have been able to put him away. Why not stay upstairs, where he missed for the second strike? Instead, Branyan was able to work the count to 3-2 while Slowey tried to get him to chase some pitches in the dirt. At that point, I was reminded of an AB Shin-Soo Choo had against Slowey last September, and I heard myself saying what I said back then: "Now, first base is open, so don't do anything stupid here."
Ding!
Aaargh! Slowey is such a better pitcher than Branyan is a hitter. I think I hold Slowey to a higher standard than the other Twins pitchers. His control is normally so great, I don't have any patience for him having a tough night with his location. 7 of the 9 H Slowey allowed came either when he was ahead in the count or had let someone recover from 0-2. And he let a run come in on a wild pitch. Slowey throws wild pitches? Bah!
Luckily, his mound opponent was not one of the better starters in the league, as had been the case the previous 2 nights. Rather, it was our old friend Carlos Silva, trying to regain his 2004-2005 form and justify his enormous contract. Not this night, as the Twins were able to alternate the expected ground ball hits with drives to the gaps - and over the fences. Justin Morneau got his first 2 H, a double and an upper-deck HR, collecting 3 RBI in the process. Denard Span had another good night at the plate, finally hitting the ball hard as he lifted a 2-run HR over the baggy down the RF line. Jason Kubel had a couple of knocks, including the RBI double that turned out to be the game-winner.
To Slowey's credit, he settled down after the 4th and managed to complete 6 IP, saving the bullpen somewhat. Craig Breslow, Jesse Crain and Joe Nathan each threw a scoreless inning to finish the game. That sequence of pitchers is pretty much what I was hoping to see on nights when the starter only goes 6 IP, so it was encouraging to see that Gardy is still willing to give Breslow a full inning rather than save him for lefties in another situation that may or may not arise.
Seattle 2, Twins 0
You know I don't like to see the Twins losing well-pitched games, but I can tolerate it when it's somebody awesome who shuts them down, like Sabathia or Matsuzaka. When it's Vicente Padilla, or Radhames Liz who's throwing up the zeroes, I find that pretty grating. Jarrod Washburn is in the latter category.
As tough a time as the Twins had squaring him up, a lot of credit has to be given to the M's defense, especially new CF Franklin Gutierrez. The catch he made on Alexi Casilla's drive to the left-centerfield gap in the first could not have come any closer to the turf without being a hit. In addition to the 5 H the Twins were able to accumulate off Washburn, there were probably just as many balls that might have fallen in against a lesser defense.
I started to get that sinking feeling that this was going to be one of those days when everything seems to break the wrong way in the top of the 3rd, when Endy Chavez led off with a grounder just out of the reach of the diving Casilla. The previous inning had seen a hit carry just over Casilla's leap. When their hits are just sneaking through, and yours aren't quite, it might not be your day.
The confirmation came in the bottom of the inning, when Mike Redmond's sharp grounder up the middle hit Washburn and caromed over to the third baseline. Ronny Cedeno hustled in and threw out Redmond by a step. It was bad enough luck that the ball didn't miss Washburn and go into CF, but consider this: the only player in the Major Leagues who wasn't capable of beating that play to first base was a nearly 38-year old right-handed hitting backup catcher with a pulled groin. I'm sure a healthy Redmond would have been safe there.
A shame to waste the first quality start of the season. That's probably about as good as Perkins is going to be this year. Of all the Twins starters, I feel like he's the most determined to throw inside, and I love that, but he's also the most likely to miss his spots and get hammered. Still, it was great to see Gardy leave him in there to pitch the 8th. He might have had a CG had he not run into consecutive 11-pitch ABs in the 7th.
On to Chicago, where the White Sox were able to muster just 5 runs in 3 games vs. the Royals.
Minor League Notes
In the season opener for Rochester, the 'Wings were able to slug their way to victory behind 2 pairs of back-to-back HR, 1 each from Luke Hughes, David Winfree, Trevor Plouffe and Dustin Martin. And in AA, stud relievers Rob Delaney and Anthony Slama made impressive season debuts: each allowed no runs on 1 H. Delaney got 2 K and Slama struck out the side. I'm hoping both of those guys will pitch well enough to get to Rochester by mid-season.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Happy When It Rains
Twins 12, Orioles 2
Twins 12, Orioles 6
I was upset when Friday night's game was rained out. First of all, with 10 straight games scheduled, it means a disruption to the rotation: Scott Baker either has to pitch on 3 days' rest vs. likely Cy Young Cliff Lee in the finale of the Cleveland series (a game that might be very important for the Twins), or the bullpen will have to do it. Neither option is that appealing. Second, playing 2 games in one day usually precludes using certain players in each game (Joe Mauer, for example), and would require the Twins to use more of their bench than they might ordinarily like (Adam Everett makes an appearance, for example). Then there's also the way double-headers tend to go - as well as you might play in the first game, it's hard to continue it into the second game.
Game one was certainly everything I could have hoped for. Scott Baker was solid once again, allowing just 1 ER on 4 H and 3 BB in 6 IP (why all the walks, all of a sudden?). The offense provided abundant run support, led by Denard Span's 2 HR and 4 RBI, Justin Morneau's 4 H and 2 RBI and Carlos Gomez' 2 H and 4 RBI. As the Twins were piling on in the 9th, I thought to myself, "Shouldn't you guys be saving that for the first inning of the second game?"
Not to worry. The Twins batted around in that inning as well, and Gomez had one more 2 RBI double in him as the Twins jumped out to a 6-0 lead. Matt Tolbert, invisible on the recent home stand despite swinging the bat very well in Toronto, kept it up with 2 triples, a BB, and 3 R. Morneau knocked in 2 more to tie Josh Hamilton for the AL RBI lead. Even Mike Redmond, necessarily catching instead of Mauer, had 2 RBI singles. The offense matched the output from the first game, eventually tallying 12 runs.
This was especially important because Glen Perkins has suddenly become the shaky piece of the rotation. Spotted a 6-0 lead before he took the mound, he gave 2 R right back. After the offense extended the lead to 10-2, he served up another 4 R to the O's in the 3rd. What should have been an easy win #13 for Perk turned into another disappointing ND. Over his last 4 starts, Perkins has thrown just 20.2 IP, allowing 17 ER on 32 H (including 7 HR) and 7 BB for an ugly 7.40 ERA and 1.89 WHIP. Needless to say, that's got to change immediately, particularly since his next 2 starts are against playoff contenders Tampa and Chicago.
Incredibly, the bullpen swooped in and gave the Twins 9 solid IP between the 2 games, allowing only 1 ER on 9 H and 4 BB. I hope they've saved a little bit of that for today. Because, as you all know, now that the Twins have blown the O's out in the first 2 games of this series, they're only going to score 2 R in the finale. That's been the pattern, anyway. I hope I'm wrong!
Michael Cuddyer was activated from the DL and pinch-hit late in the first game. I'd like to see him get as many ABs as possible over the last 2 weeks of the season - get him up to speed. If the Twins do wind up in the playoffs, my preference would be to see Cuddy in the starting lineup instead of Gomez.
Also of note: the 24-8 combined score of the 2 games raised the Twins' run differential for the season to +100. For the first time, that number exceeds the White Sox' total.
As inconvenient as the rainy weather was for the Twins this weekend, it's been even worse for the White Sox. They weren't able to make up their rainout yesterday, meaning they must now try to play 2 games on what should have been a get-away day for them, getting their 10-game road trip off to a late and weary start. And they'll now have to make up the 3rd game some other time, perhaps on the Monday after the season ends, potentially using up a starter they might have wanted for a 1-game playoff with the Twins. We'll see what kind of impact this weekend's wetness has on the remainder of the AL Central race.
Twins 12, Orioles 6
I was upset when Friday night's game was rained out. First of all, with 10 straight games scheduled, it means a disruption to the rotation: Scott Baker either has to pitch on 3 days' rest vs. likely Cy Young Cliff Lee in the finale of the Cleveland series (a game that might be very important for the Twins), or the bullpen will have to do it. Neither option is that appealing. Second, playing 2 games in one day usually precludes using certain players in each game (Joe Mauer, for example), and would require the Twins to use more of their bench than they might ordinarily like (Adam Everett makes an appearance, for example). Then there's also the way double-headers tend to go - as well as you might play in the first game, it's hard to continue it into the second game.
Game one was certainly everything I could have hoped for. Scott Baker was solid once again, allowing just 1 ER on 4 H and 3 BB in 6 IP (why all the walks, all of a sudden?). The offense provided abundant run support, led by Denard Span's 2 HR and 4 RBI, Justin Morneau's 4 H and 2 RBI and Carlos Gomez' 2 H and 4 RBI. As the Twins were piling on in the 9th, I thought to myself, "Shouldn't you guys be saving that for the first inning of the second game?"
Not to worry. The Twins batted around in that inning as well, and Gomez had one more 2 RBI double in him as the Twins jumped out to a 6-0 lead. Matt Tolbert, invisible on the recent home stand despite swinging the bat very well in Toronto, kept it up with 2 triples, a BB, and 3 R. Morneau knocked in 2 more to tie Josh Hamilton for the AL RBI lead. Even Mike Redmond, necessarily catching instead of Mauer, had 2 RBI singles. The offense matched the output from the first game, eventually tallying 12 runs.
This was especially important because Glen Perkins has suddenly become the shaky piece of the rotation. Spotted a 6-0 lead before he took the mound, he gave 2 R right back. After the offense extended the lead to 10-2, he served up another 4 R to the O's in the 3rd. What should have been an easy win #13 for Perk turned into another disappointing ND. Over his last 4 starts, Perkins has thrown just 20.2 IP, allowing 17 ER on 32 H (including 7 HR) and 7 BB for an ugly 7.40 ERA and 1.89 WHIP. Needless to say, that's got to change immediately, particularly since his next 2 starts are against playoff contenders Tampa and Chicago.
Incredibly, the bullpen swooped in and gave the Twins 9 solid IP between the 2 games, allowing only 1 ER on 9 H and 4 BB. I hope they've saved a little bit of that for today. Because, as you all know, now that the Twins have blown the O's out in the first 2 games of this series, they're only going to score 2 R in the finale. That's been the pattern, anyway. I hope I'm wrong!
Michael Cuddyer was activated from the DL and pinch-hit late in the first game. I'd like to see him get as many ABs as possible over the last 2 weeks of the season - get him up to speed. If the Twins do wind up in the playoffs, my preference would be to see Cuddy in the starting lineup instead of Gomez.
Also of note: the 24-8 combined score of the 2 games raised the Twins' run differential for the season to +100. For the first time, that number exceeds the White Sox' total.
As inconvenient as the rainy weather was for the Twins this weekend, it's been even worse for the White Sox. They weren't able to make up their rainout yesterday, meaning they must now try to play 2 games on what should have been a get-away day for them, getting their 10-game road trip off to a late and weary start. And they'll now have to make up the 3rd game some other time, perhaps on the Monday after the season ends, potentially using up a starter they might have wanted for a 1-game playoff with the Twins. We'll see what kind of impact this weekend's wetness has on the remainder of the AL Central race.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Big Night at the Big A
Twins 9, Angels 0
I had a bad feeling about this one early. The Angels kept giving the Twins gifts, and the Twins kept rudely refusing them:
1st inning: Denard Span led off the game with an infield hit when Angels pitcher Joe Saunders failed to cover first base on a grounder to first. Span moved to second when catcher Jeff Mathis failed to catch a low pitch on which Alexi Casilla bluffed a bunt; it hit Mathis in the foot and rolled away for a wild pitch. RISP, 0 out. Casilla failed to advance Span to 3rd, where he easily would have scored on Joe Mauer's deep fly ball to left. Justin Morneau once again couldn't get the ball out of the infield.
2nd inning: Randy Ruiz reached on an error by shortstop Eric Aybar to lead off the inning. The next three batters flied out, and Ruiz never left first base.
3rd inning: Carlos Gomez led off with a single to right. While stealing second, Mathis airmailed his throw into CF, allowing Gomez to move to 3rd. Runner on 3rd, nobody out, top of the order coming up. Except Gomez overslid the bag and was tagged out, so there was no one to score on Span's subsequent grounder to second.
4th inning: Joe Mauer led off with a HBP. Morneau and Ruiz couldn't advance him. But then, Delmon Young worked himself ahead 2-0 and mashed a low fastball over the high wall in right-center field for a 2-run HR.
Things started to go the Twins' way pretty quickly after that, although they still had a gift to give back to the Angels: after Adam Everett and Gomez started the 5th with a single and double to put runners at second and third, Span lined an RBI single to left. Gomez stopped at third, the throw to the plate was cut off, and Span got himself caught rounding first base too far and was run down for the first out. That made Joe Mauer's sizzling liner to right the 3rd out of the inning instead of the second, which would have brought Gomez home with a SF.
A 3-0 lead is hardly comfortable, especially on the road or with the way Perkins has allowed runs in the 6th/7th inning in some recent starts. So it was great to see the Twins break it open in the 6th. With 1 out, Ruiz singled, Young boomed an RBI double over the head of Garrett Anderson in LF, and Nick Punto grounded an IF single to deep short, chasing Saunders (nice read on that grounder by Young, who advanced to 3rd on the play). Everett greeted reliever Shane Loux with an RBI fielder's choice (thanks to some big-time hustle from Punto, who beat the throw to 2nd). After Gomez had one of his better looking strikeouts of the year (7 pitches, and he fouled off some tough ones, almost checked in time on strike 3), Span put the game out of reach with a 3-run HR over the high wall in RF.
While all this was going on, Glen Perkins was his typical, effective self for 5-6 innings. He allowed only 2 H and 2 BB through the first 5 IP. It was the 8th time in his last 10 starts that Perkins allowed 1 or fewer runs in the first 5 IP. It's the 3rd time through the order that can do him in. But, tonight, Perkins never let up. He scattered 3 singles over his final 3 innings, finishing the night with 8 IP, 0 R, 5 H, 2 BB, 3 K. For the month of August, he's allowed 9 ER on 29 H and 6 BB in 28.1 IP for a 2.86 ERA and 1.24 WHIP. And 8 of those ER have come in 2 bad innings and 4 HR vs. the Mariners. He'll get another chance against them next week.
Since completing that shaky Seattle sweep last weekend, the Twins have gone 4-1. The pitching staff has allowed 5 ER in 48 IP over those 5 games. The starters have completed 7 IP in 4 of the 5. The bullpen hasn't allowed a run in 12 IP. This last trip through the rotation has lowered the Twins' team ERA for the month of August to 3.33, best in the league. No wonder they're 14-6 so far this month.
The defense has come together with 2 errorless games to begin the road trip. Casilla has been disappointing at the plate so far, but I love his glove out there at second base.
I've talked a lot about how important it is to catch teams at the right time. As well as the Twins are playing right now, especially pitching-wise, the Angels are definitely in a slump. Two weeks ago, I doubt the Twins could have gotten away with the sort of blunders they made in the early innings. But now, the Angels are making fielding mistakes, taking bad ABs, and making life as easy on the Twins as it can be (considering the Halos are still a first-place team playing at home). May their funk continue for 2 more games.
I had a bad feeling about this one early. The Angels kept giving the Twins gifts, and the Twins kept rudely refusing them:
1st inning: Denard Span led off the game with an infield hit when Angels pitcher Joe Saunders failed to cover first base on a grounder to first. Span moved to second when catcher Jeff Mathis failed to catch a low pitch on which Alexi Casilla bluffed a bunt; it hit Mathis in the foot and rolled away for a wild pitch. RISP, 0 out. Casilla failed to advance Span to 3rd, where he easily would have scored on Joe Mauer's deep fly ball to left. Justin Morneau once again couldn't get the ball out of the infield.
2nd inning: Randy Ruiz reached on an error by shortstop Eric Aybar to lead off the inning. The next three batters flied out, and Ruiz never left first base.
3rd inning: Carlos Gomez led off with a single to right. While stealing second, Mathis airmailed his throw into CF, allowing Gomez to move to 3rd. Runner on 3rd, nobody out, top of the order coming up. Except Gomez overslid the bag and was tagged out, so there was no one to score on Span's subsequent grounder to second.
4th inning: Joe Mauer led off with a HBP. Morneau and Ruiz couldn't advance him. But then, Delmon Young worked himself ahead 2-0 and mashed a low fastball over the high wall in right-center field for a 2-run HR.
Things started to go the Twins' way pretty quickly after that, although they still had a gift to give back to the Angels: after Adam Everett and Gomez started the 5th with a single and double to put runners at second and third, Span lined an RBI single to left. Gomez stopped at third, the throw to the plate was cut off, and Span got himself caught rounding first base too far and was run down for the first out. That made Joe Mauer's sizzling liner to right the 3rd out of the inning instead of the second, which would have brought Gomez home with a SF.
A 3-0 lead is hardly comfortable, especially on the road or with the way Perkins has allowed runs in the 6th/7th inning in some recent starts. So it was great to see the Twins break it open in the 6th. With 1 out, Ruiz singled, Young boomed an RBI double over the head of Garrett Anderson in LF, and Nick Punto grounded an IF single to deep short, chasing Saunders (nice read on that grounder by Young, who advanced to 3rd on the play). Everett greeted reliever Shane Loux with an RBI fielder's choice (thanks to some big-time hustle from Punto, who beat the throw to 2nd). After Gomez had one of his better looking strikeouts of the year (7 pitches, and he fouled off some tough ones, almost checked in time on strike 3), Span put the game out of reach with a 3-run HR over the high wall in RF.
While all this was going on, Glen Perkins was his typical, effective self for 5-6 innings. He allowed only 2 H and 2 BB through the first 5 IP. It was the 8th time in his last 10 starts that Perkins allowed 1 or fewer runs in the first 5 IP. It's the 3rd time through the order that can do him in. But, tonight, Perkins never let up. He scattered 3 singles over his final 3 innings, finishing the night with 8 IP, 0 R, 5 H, 2 BB, 3 K. For the month of August, he's allowed 9 ER on 29 H and 6 BB in 28.1 IP for a 2.86 ERA and 1.24 WHIP. And 8 of those ER have come in 2 bad innings and 4 HR vs. the Mariners. He'll get another chance against them next week.
Since completing that shaky Seattle sweep last weekend, the Twins have gone 4-1. The pitching staff has allowed 5 ER in 48 IP over those 5 games. The starters have completed 7 IP in 4 of the 5. The bullpen hasn't allowed a run in 12 IP. This last trip through the rotation has lowered the Twins' team ERA for the month of August to 3.33, best in the league. No wonder they're 14-6 so far this month.
The defense has come together with 2 errorless games to begin the road trip. Casilla has been disappointing at the plate so far, but I love his glove out there at second base.
I've talked a lot about how important it is to catch teams at the right time. As well as the Twins are playing right now, especially pitching-wise, the Angels are definitely in a slump. Two weeks ago, I doubt the Twins could have gotten away with the sort of blunders they made in the early innings. But now, the Angels are making fielding mistakes, taking bad ABs, and making life as easy on the Twins as it can be (considering the Halos are still a first-place team playing at home). May their funk continue for 2 more games.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
I Rest My Case
Twins 3, Tigers 2
On Thursday night, Francisco Liriano had his 3rd great start in a row: 7 IP, 0 R, 3 H, BB, 8 K. Over those three starts, he's gone 20 scoreless innings, allowing 10 H and 3 BB with 24 K. That got a lot of people talking about bringing him up after the break, and re-shuffling the rotation to accommodate him.
Some proposed moving Glen Perkins to the bullpen. I suppose he's been the least reliable of the young starters in a lot of respects: coming into Friday's game he had the highest ERA (4.31) and WHIP (1.48). He hasn't been able to put together as many zero or one-run outings as the rest of the group. But on the other hand, he just about always gives the team 6 IP and 3 or fewer ER. Not spectacular, but certainly quality.
To suggest that Perkins should lose his spot in the rotation while Livan Hernandez (5.44 ERA, 1.62 WHIP) retains his is absurd on its face. Livan also averages about 6 IP/start, but has allowed more than 3 ER oh so many more times than Perkins has. Livan was supposed to eat innings and help the young pitchers. Now that the young pitchers are all out-performing him, I think it's time to say "thanks" and move on.
Anyway, Perkins' outing tonight should dispel any thoughts of taking his rotation spot away. For the second time in 2 weeks, he shut down one of the most productive lineups in the AL, and one that has been particularly hard on LHP. 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 2 K, and just 84 pitches, so he could have continued into the 8th inning had the situation been a bit different. But with the go-ahead run on base and Carlos Guillen (5 for 10 lifetime vs. Perkins) at the plate, going to the 'pen there was the right thing to do. Guillen gave Jesse Crain's 1-2 pitch a ride, but Comerica Park is deep, and Carlos Gomez can go get it.
Perkins appears to be a slow starter, allowing a disproportionate number of base-runners in the early innings. But he seems to have already learned how to work with the stuff he has, and he's having consistent success. I think he's the 4th or 5th starter, but I'm totally satisfied with what he's bringing to the team right now. I mean, when he's pitching, I feel like the Twins are going to be in the game in the late innings, whether the offense is cooking or not.
The offense was not cooking last night, at least not in the way we're used to. For the second straight game, the Twins managed to find a way to win despite doing jack squat with RISP. Tonight, the runs came on a double from Nick Punto (special assist to RF Matt Joyce for his Jeter-esque jump throw back to the IF from the gap - might want to just set your feet next time, dude) and SF from Punto and Delmon Young. I'm glad Young has had a productive out in each game so far, because, otherwise, he looks like he's regressed to his April form (0-10, 2 K). Joe Mauer struck out twice in this game - once on a 3-2 pitch that he should have known was going to be called a strike - and overall looked tired despite sitting out most of the game yesterday.
Though the Twins mustered just 8 H, they managed to draw another 7 BB, giving themselves plenty of base-runners to move around and drive in with outs. By the way, through the first 10 games of this month, the Twins are leading the AL in OBP with a mark of around .400 - who would have guessed that would be possible back in April? Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel, despite combining to go 1-10 with 4 K, also drew 5 BB.
And then there are the guys at the bottom of the lineup, who have been reaching base at a preposterous clip over the last few games. Nick Punto wound up 1-2 with a BB, SF, 2 RBI, and personally saw 27 of the 177 pitches (15%) thrown by the Tigers' pitchers. And Denard Span was finally retired when he lined to CF in his 2nd AB, but still finished 1-3 with a BB.
I want to call special attention to that BB, because I think it summarizes the Span vs. Gomez debate I've been having all season quite elegantly. With a runner on 2nd and 2 out in the 6th, Span was intentionally walked in order to get to Gomez. Jim Leyland is a smart guy - he knows that Span has figured out how to hit and Gomez hasn't. How fortunate he was that Gomez came up 5 times to Span's 4, that Gomez hits behind Span and Punto and can bail his pitcher out of the jams that those two create.
Gomez finished 0-5 with 3 K, and is 0 for his last 19 with 7 K. But I don't even care about that - small sample size and all. I'm concerned about the large sample size, the one that encompasses 87 games and 370 ABs, the one that shows Gomez to be a .257/.291/.357 hitter, 2nd in the league in strikeouts. That .648 OPS matches Punto's career mark. Leading off? Why? Why throw away that extra AB every day? This isn't a slump, this isn't a fluke - this is how good (or not good) a hitter he is right now. Has he learned anything? Has he gotten better as the season has gone along?
The Twins need to do what they've done with so many of their promising young pitchers over the years: send him back to Rochester to fine-tune his game. If he'd just learn not to swing at balls, as Span has done, he'd be a fantastic player. But it took Span quite a long time to get to that point, and it will probably take Gomez a long time, too. This shouldn't concern anybody - Gomez brings a lot defensively to CF, but Span brings about as much. The Twins will simply be a better team with Gomez out of the lineup once Cuddyer comes back. And it will be the best thing for Gomez' development to go back to the minors and work this stuff out.
On Thursday night, Francisco Liriano had his 3rd great start in a row: 7 IP, 0 R, 3 H, BB, 8 K. Over those three starts, he's gone 20 scoreless innings, allowing 10 H and 3 BB with 24 K. That got a lot of people talking about bringing him up after the break, and re-shuffling the rotation to accommodate him.
Some proposed moving Glen Perkins to the bullpen. I suppose he's been the least reliable of the young starters in a lot of respects: coming into Friday's game he had the highest ERA (4.31) and WHIP (1.48). He hasn't been able to put together as many zero or one-run outings as the rest of the group. But on the other hand, he just about always gives the team 6 IP and 3 or fewer ER. Not spectacular, but certainly quality.
To suggest that Perkins should lose his spot in the rotation while Livan Hernandez (5.44 ERA, 1.62 WHIP) retains his is absurd on its face. Livan also averages about 6 IP/start, but has allowed more than 3 ER oh so many more times than Perkins has. Livan was supposed to eat innings and help the young pitchers. Now that the young pitchers are all out-performing him, I think it's time to say "thanks" and move on.
Anyway, Perkins' outing tonight should dispel any thoughts of taking his rotation spot away. For the second time in 2 weeks, he shut down one of the most productive lineups in the AL, and one that has been particularly hard on LHP. 6.2 IP, 6 H, 2 BB, 2 K, and just 84 pitches, so he could have continued into the 8th inning had the situation been a bit different. But with the go-ahead run on base and Carlos Guillen (5 for 10 lifetime vs. Perkins) at the plate, going to the 'pen there was the right thing to do. Guillen gave Jesse Crain's 1-2 pitch a ride, but Comerica Park is deep, and Carlos Gomez can go get it.
Perkins appears to be a slow starter, allowing a disproportionate number of base-runners in the early innings. But he seems to have already learned how to work with the stuff he has, and he's having consistent success. I think he's the 4th or 5th starter, but I'm totally satisfied with what he's bringing to the team right now. I mean, when he's pitching, I feel like the Twins are going to be in the game in the late innings, whether the offense is cooking or not.
The offense was not cooking last night, at least not in the way we're used to. For the second straight game, the Twins managed to find a way to win despite doing jack squat with RISP. Tonight, the runs came on a double from Nick Punto (special assist to RF Matt Joyce for his Jeter-esque jump throw back to the IF from the gap - might want to just set your feet next time, dude) and SF from Punto and Delmon Young. I'm glad Young has had a productive out in each game so far, because, otherwise, he looks like he's regressed to his April form (0-10, 2 K). Joe Mauer struck out twice in this game - once on a 3-2 pitch that he should have known was going to be called a strike - and overall looked tired despite sitting out most of the game yesterday.
Though the Twins mustered just 8 H, they managed to draw another 7 BB, giving themselves plenty of base-runners to move around and drive in with outs. By the way, through the first 10 games of this month, the Twins are leading the AL in OBP with a mark of around .400 - who would have guessed that would be possible back in April? Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel, despite combining to go 1-10 with 4 K, also drew 5 BB.
And then there are the guys at the bottom of the lineup, who have been reaching base at a preposterous clip over the last few games. Nick Punto wound up 1-2 with a BB, SF, 2 RBI, and personally saw 27 of the 177 pitches (15%) thrown by the Tigers' pitchers. And Denard Span was finally retired when he lined to CF in his 2nd AB, but still finished 1-3 with a BB.
I want to call special attention to that BB, because I think it summarizes the Span vs. Gomez debate I've been having all season quite elegantly. With a runner on 2nd and 2 out in the 6th, Span was intentionally walked in order to get to Gomez. Jim Leyland is a smart guy - he knows that Span has figured out how to hit and Gomez hasn't. How fortunate he was that Gomez came up 5 times to Span's 4, that Gomez hits behind Span and Punto and can bail his pitcher out of the jams that those two create.
Gomez finished 0-5 with 3 K, and is 0 for his last 19 with 7 K. But I don't even care about that - small sample size and all. I'm concerned about the large sample size, the one that encompasses 87 games and 370 ABs, the one that shows Gomez to be a .257/.291/.357 hitter, 2nd in the league in strikeouts. That .648 OPS matches Punto's career mark. Leading off? Why? Why throw away that extra AB every day? This isn't a slump, this isn't a fluke - this is how good (or not good) a hitter he is right now. Has he learned anything? Has he gotten better as the season has gone along?
The Twins need to do what they've done with so many of their promising young pitchers over the years: send him back to Rochester to fine-tune his game. If he'd just learn not to swing at balls, as Span has done, he'd be a fantastic player. But it took Span quite a long time to get to that point, and it will probably take Gomez a long time, too. This shouldn't concern anybody - Gomez brings a lot defensively to CF, but Span brings about as much. The Twins will simply be a better team with Gomez out of the lineup once Cuddyer comes back. And it will be the best thing for Gomez' development to go back to the minors and work this stuff out.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Contradictory Positions
Tigers 5, Twins 4
This was a tough loss to swallow. The Tigers had been playing shockingly poor defense, and Glen Perkins found himself in the 4th inning as the Twins built a 4-1 lead. I was almost ready to feel comfortable - then Jesse Crain came in with one out in the 7th and failed to induce a swing from Edgar Renteria, who had been hitless up to that point. Placido Polanco jumped on the first pitch and blooped it into an uninhabited area for an RBI single, and I was suddenly reminded of April. You remember, the first trip to Detroit, when the bullpen imploded on back-to-back nights after the Twins had been leading through 6+? Dennys Reyes came in to try to get a ground ball from Carlos Guillen - he did, but it rolled into LF for another RBI hit. Suddenly, our recently invincible bullpen was showing some cracks.
Matt Guerrier got the Twins out of the 7th, but couldn't avoid damage in the 8th when he allowed a 1-out RBI 3B to recent call-up Matt Joyce, who scored on a bloop single by Curtis Granderson. The Tigers have now won 6 in a row - the Twins must stop them tomorrow.
Gardy was ejected in the 3rd for his favorite reason: the plate umpire warned both benches after the other team's pitcher tried to hit one of our players. I agree with Gardy's reasoning completely. It's clear that they wanted to send a message for an inside pitch that Perkins threw in the 1st under Guillen's chin, but pitching inside was just part of Perkins' game plan. When Armando Galarraga sent 2 straight pitches behind Joe Mauer, obviously trying to hit him, the proper response should have been to throw Galarraga out of the game. By warning both benches, James Hoye sends the message that the Twins trying to pitch inside is equivalent to the Tigers trying to hit someone, and that's not fair.
With Gardy out of the game, 3rd-base coach Scott Ulger became acting manager. It's easy to second-guess his decision to remove Perkins after Granderson's 1-out single in the 7th. Perkins had only thrown 91 pitches, and prior to that hit, he'd been cruising, retiring 10 batters in a row. I'd like to see a young guy like him get the opportunity to work out of a spot like that - he's going to need to learn to do it sooner or later. But I can also understand making the move. After Livan Hernandez, Perkins has been the Twins' shakiest member of the rotation, and the bullpen had been rock solid, going 2 weeks without allowing an ER. Crain had been particularly good, so I can't fault Ulger for starting with him. The bullpen is going to give up runs every now and then - too bad it had to be tonight.
Offensively, there were enough hard-hit balls right at Tigers defenders (5, accounting for 6 outs, I believe) that I'm willing to shrug my shoulders and write this game off as just not our night. What's amazing to me is that, for as badly as the Tigers misplayed bunts/infield hits/fly balls, resulting in most of the Twins' runs, they positioned themselves perfectly on so many occasions. And they made some good plays when they needed to: Polanco cutting off Morneau's 1st-inning single before it could sneak into the outfield (saving a run), Ryan Raburn charging in on Carlos Gomez' bloop single in the 9th, keeping Denard Span from going first-to-third, from where he would have scored easily on Alexi Casilla's deep fly to center. I guess they must be a team of contradictions, but they're rolling now.
I was pleased with Span's re-entry into the lineup tonight. Dick Bremer had scarcely finished introducing him when he had to scurry over to the line and make a sliding catch of a slicing blooper on the game's first pitch - a fair ball. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Cuddyer wouldn't have gotten to that. Span grounded weakly into a DP in his first AB, then worked the count 2-1 before lining out to RF in his second AB. His sinking liner just fell in before the diving Raburn for an RBI 2B in the 6th, and he started the Twins' 9th inning rally with a single up the middle.
I also want to mention that Francisco Liriano had himself a fine outing for AAA Rochester tonight. He threw 7 scoreless innings vs. Lehigh Valley, allowing 4 H, 1 BB and 9 K. 7 of his last 10 outings have been Quality Starts, and his average during that stretch is 6.1 IP, 3.90 ERA, 1.14 WHIP. Looks to me like he's capable of eating as many or more innings as Livan, while allowing considerably fewer base-runners in the process. They can't call him up soon enough for me.
This was a tough loss to swallow. The Tigers had been playing shockingly poor defense, and Glen Perkins found himself in the 4th inning as the Twins built a 4-1 lead. I was almost ready to feel comfortable - then Jesse Crain came in with one out in the 7th and failed to induce a swing from Edgar Renteria, who had been hitless up to that point. Placido Polanco jumped on the first pitch and blooped it into an uninhabited area for an RBI single, and I was suddenly reminded of April. You remember, the first trip to Detroit, when the bullpen imploded on back-to-back nights after the Twins had been leading through 6+? Dennys Reyes came in to try to get a ground ball from Carlos Guillen - he did, but it rolled into LF for another RBI hit. Suddenly, our recently invincible bullpen was showing some cracks.
Matt Guerrier got the Twins out of the 7th, but couldn't avoid damage in the 8th when he allowed a 1-out RBI 3B to recent call-up Matt Joyce, who scored on a bloop single by Curtis Granderson. The Tigers have now won 6 in a row - the Twins must stop them tomorrow.
Gardy was ejected in the 3rd for his favorite reason: the plate umpire warned both benches after the other team's pitcher tried to hit one of our players. I agree with Gardy's reasoning completely. It's clear that they wanted to send a message for an inside pitch that Perkins threw in the 1st under Guillen's chin, but pitching inside was just part of Perkins' game plan. When Armando Galarraga sent 2 straight pitches behind Joe Mauer, obviously trying to hit him, the proper response should have been to throw Galarraga out of the game. By warning both benches, James Hoye sends the message that the Twins trying to pitch inside is equivalent to the Tigers trying to hit someone, and that's not fair.
With Gardy out of the game, 3rd-base coach Scott Ulger became acting manager. It's easy to second-guess his decision to remove Perkins after Granderson's 1-out single in the 7th. Perkins had only thrown 91 pitches, and prior to that hit, he'd been cruising, retiring 10 batters in a row. I'd like to see a young guy like him get the opportunity to work out of a spot like that - he's going to need to learn to do it sooner or later. But I can also understand making the move. After Livan Hernandez, Perkins has been the Twins' shakiest member of the rotation, and the bullpen had been rock solid, going 2 weeks without allowing an ER. Crain had been particularly good, so I can't fault Ulger for starting with him. The bullpen is going to give up runs every now and then - too bad it had to be tonight.
Offensively, there were enough hard-hit balls right at Tigers defenders (5, accounting for 6 outs, I believe) that I'm willing to shrug my shoulders and write this game off as just not our night. What's amazing to me is that, for as badly as the Tigers misplayed bunts/infield hits/fly balls, resulting in most of the Twins' runs, they positioned themselves perfectly on so many occasions. And they made some good plays when they needed to: Polanco cutting off Morneau's 1st-inning single before it could sneak into the outfield (saving a run), Ryan Raburn charging in on Carlos Gomez' bloop single in the 9th, keeping Denard Span from going first-to-third, from where he would have scored easily on Alexi Casilla's deep fly to center. I guess they must be a team of contradictions, but they're rolling now.
I was pleased with Span's re-entry into the lineup tonight. Dick Bremer had scarcely finished introducing him when he had to scurry over to the line and make a sliding catch of a slicing blooper on the game's first pitch - a fair ball. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Cuddyer wouldn't have gotten to that. Span grounded weakly into a DP in his first AB, then worked the count 2-1 before lining out to RF in his second AB. His sinking liner just fell in before the diving Raburn for an RBI 2B in the 6th, and he started the Twins' 9th inning rally with a single up the middle.
I also want to mention that Francisco Liriano had himself a fine outing for AAA Rochester tonight. He threw 7 scoreless innings vs. Lehigh Valley, allowing 4 H, 1 BB and 9 K. 7 of his last 10 outings have been Quality Starts, and his average during that stretch is 6.1 IP, 3.90 ERA, 1.14 WHIP. Looks to me like he's capable of eating as many or more innings as Livan, while allowing considerably fewer base-runners in the process. They can't call him up soon enough for me.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Sweep Relief
Twins 2, Nationals 1
Twins 11, Nationals 2
Twins 9, Nationals 3
I'm a little off my schedule this week - I was supposed to have reconstructive knee surgery on Wednesday afternoon, but it was postponed due to an electrical problem at the hospital. My mom flew in to help me in my recovery, and since she is also a big Twins fan, we sat down to enjoy the rest of the game when we got home after dinner, then watched the Thursday finale together before heading off to my rescheduled surgery. I was in the hospital most of the day yesterday, deciding whether my pain was manageable enough to send me home (it was). I suspect I may have the time to blog a little more often in the coming weeks.
Coming home from a tough road trip, isn't it great to be able to face the worst team in the NL? You know you've got a chance for a sweep when Livan Hernandez can hold your opponent to 1 ER on 5 H in 7 IP. He needed just 77 pitches to reach that point, but Gardy perhaps remembered how quickly Livan's last good start (vs. CO) got out of hand in the late innings, and wisely turned the game over to Guerrier and Nathan. John Lannan pitched a very strong game for the Nationals, allowing just 2 R on the huge homer to Morneau. I hope Mauer and Morneau find their way into the All-Star game starting lineup - they have certainly been wonderfully consistent about getting on base and driving in runs.
Kevin Slowey delivered another quality start, despite not having his best stuff. He allowed another HR, but it was a solo shot, and otherwise he was able to work out the jams he got himself into. After walking the leadoff man in the 7th, Jesse Crain came in and loaded the bases with a BB and HBP, but also picked up 2 K and escaped unscathed. Then the Twins offense went off on the Nats' bullpen, lighting up 3 relievers for 8 ER on 8 H and 4 BB. There were bunt hits, triples, SFs, 2-out hits and walks. With Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer playing much better in June, the offense is very good when either Gomez or Casilla get on. It should be noted that Boof Bonser pitched the 9th inning, and, of course, allowed a run.
In the finale, it was great to see Gardy just let Perkins go for 8 IP. He wasn't having the greatest game, but the team built him a huge lead, so it wasn't too risky leaving him in there so long. I think it benefits him to be out there on the mound learning how to work with OK stuff and tiredness. He got hit pretty hard - Cuddyer made a couple of nice catches on liners to keep things under control, and he still missed his spots a lot, but I've got to think he's only going to get better. The Twins' 3-6 hitters went 7-15 with 3 BB and 7 R. Buscher is making a strong contribution in his first few games - I don't know whether the Twins will go back to Lamb or try to trade him. I like that Casilla, even though he's not getting hits the last few games, is still having productive ABs - drawing a walk, laying down a sacrifice, hitting a SF.
Span vs. Gomez
Denard Span has come back from his broken finger and picked up right where he left off at Rochester. In his first 3 games back he's gone 8-13 with 3 2B and 3 BB. His OPS continues to be in the high .900s. Gomez, meanwhile, has been quietly below average. In the month of June, he's hitting just .259/.292/.329 with 1 SB in 4 attempts. He's made the catches in CF, but made 2 awful throws over the cutoff man in Thursday's game, and has been bobbling the ball a lot recently even though he hasn't always been charged with an error. This month he has 4 BB and 18 K.
I'm hoping that, over the next week, Span will continue to produce at AAA, and the Twins' young rotation will continue to carry the team through the 6th inning every night. It's just about time to go down to 11 pitchers, cutting ties with Bonser. Once the Twins are ready to have 5 bench players again, I think Span deserves his shot.
Twins 11, Nationals 2
Twins 9, Nationals 3
I'm a little off my schedule this week - I was supposed to have reconstructive knee surgery on Wednesday afternoon, but it was postponed due to an electrical problem at the hospital. My mom flew in to help me in my recovery, and since she is also a big Twins fan, we sat down to enjoy the rest of the game when we got home after dinner, then watched the Thursday finale together before heading off to my rescheduled surgery. I was in the hospital most of the day yesterday, deciding whether my pain was manageable enough to send me home (it was). I suspect I may have the time to blog a little more often in the coming weeks.
Coming home from a tough road trip, isn't it great to be able to face the worst team in the NL? You know you've got a chance for a sweep when Livan Hernandez can hold your opponent to 1 ER on 5 H in 7 IP. He needed just 77 pitches to reach that point, but Gardy perhaps remembered how quickly Livan's last good start (vs. CO) got out of hand in the late innings, and wisely turned the game over to Guerrier and Nathan. John Lannan pitched a very strong game for the Nationals, allowing just 2 R on the huge homer to Morneau. I hope Mauer and Morneau find their way into the All-Star game starting lineup - they have certainly been wonderfully consistent about getting on base and driving in runs.
Kevin Slowey delivered another quality start, despite not having his best stuff. He allowed another HR, but it was a solo shot, and otherwise he was able to work out the jams he got himself into. After walking the leadoff man in the 7th, Jesse Crain came in and loaded the bases with a BB and HBP, but also picked up 2 K and escaped unscathed. Then the Twins offense went off on the Nats' bullpen, lighting up 3 relievers for 8 ER on 8 H and 4 BB. There were bunt hits, triples, SFs, 2-out hits and walks. With Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer playing much better in June, the offense is very good when either Gomez or Casilla get on. It should be noted that Boof Bonser pitched the 9th inning, and, of course, allowed a run.
In the finale, it was great to see Gardy just let Perkins go for 8 IP. He wasn't having the greatest game, but the team built him a huge lead, so it wasn't too risky leaving him in there so long. I think it benefits him to be out there on the mound learning how to work with OK stuff and tiredness. He got hit pretty hard - Cuddyer made a couple of nice catches on liners to keep things under control, and he still missed his spots a lot, but I've got to think he's only going to get better. The Twins' 3-6 hitters went 7-15 with 3 BB and 7 R. Buscher is making a strong contribution in his first few games - I don't know whether the Twins will go back to Lamb or try to trade him. I like that Casilla, even though he's not getting hits the last few games, is still having productive ABs - drawing a walk, laying down a sacrifice, hitting a SF.
Span vs. Gomez
Denard Span has come back from his broken finger and picked up right where he left off at Rochester. In his first 3 games back he's gone 8-13 with 3 2B and 3 BB. His OPS continues to be in the high .900s. Gomez, meanwhile, has been quietly below average. In the month of June, he's hitting just .259/.292/.329 with 1 SB in 4 attempts. He's made the catches in CF, but made 2 awful throws over the cutoff man in Thursday's game, and has been bobbling the ball a lot recently even though he hasn't always been charged with an error. This month he has 4 BB and 18 K.
I'm hoping that, over the next week, Span will continue to produce at AAA, and the Twins' young rotation will continue to carry the team through the 6th inning every night. It's just about time to go down to 11 pitchers, cutting ties with Bonser. Once the Twins are ready to have 5 bench players again, I think Span deserves his shot.
Monday, June 16, 2008
Go Young
Twins 10, Brewers 2
Twins 9, Brewers 4 (12 innings)
Brewers 4, Twins 2
The road trip that began with a 4-game sweep in the unquenchable hell-fires of the South Side ended rather well this weekend with a series win vs. the Milwaukee Brewers. After being absolutely immolated by the Sox (12.12 ERA, 4.1 IP/start) to culminate a string of 11 games without a quality start, the starters have been quality in 5 of the last 6 games, including all three this weekend. It should come as no surprise to anyone that the pitcher who failed to deliver a quality start was none other than veteran "innings-eater" Livan Hernandez. Kevin Slowey (age 24), Glen Perkins (25) and Scott Baker (26) all did what Livan could not - they went at least 6 IP while keeping the team in the game.
Slowey was brilliant on Friday night, facing just one hitter over the minimum through 6 innings. 4 of the 5 hits he allowed were for extra bases, so eventually he gave up some runs, but he finished 8 IP with only 2 ER allowed. I hope this illustrates that Slowey is an actual Major League pitcher: in his last 7 starts, he's gone 5.2, 5.2, 6, 9, 6, 3 and 8 IP. Which game doesn't belong? Of the 8 starts in which he didn't get hurt, he's come within 1 IP or 1 ER of a quality start in 7 of them. His WHIP is at 1.14, tops among Twins starters with at least 8 starts. His K/BB ratio is 35/7. He's allowed 9 HR, most of them in his final inning of work, so he has an important adjustment to make in order to survive his 3rd trip through the order. But it's a relatively minor one for the International League's best pitcher of 2007. He'll be one of the steadiest members of this rotation for the remainder of 2008 and years to follow.
Perkins backed up his solid outing on Monday with another on Saturday. He got touched for 3 ER on 8 H (including a tremendous HR from Ryan Braun - but there's really no shame in that), but walked only one while striking out 6. I feel pretty comfortable for the most part when I see that he's going to start a game. He should get better as the year goes along.
Scott Baker looked solid in his two starts on the road trip. The 2-run HR by Mike Cameron spoiled his afternoon yesterday, but he tied his career high in Ks (4 in one inning!) and otherwise matched Perkins' line against a team that had been swinging the bats very well coming into the series. I'm even more confident when he's on the mound than Perkins.
Nick Blackburn, age 26, not seen in this series, is averaging 6.1 IP over the 13 starts in which he wasn't hit in the face with a line drive. I'm feeling pretty good about him, too, though he's the true rookie in the rotation. So it does not please me to see that he will skip his turn in order to rest some sore muscles. I was rather hoping they'd be skipping the old man, Livan, age 33 (or so). Though his former team, the Washington Nationals, are dead last in the Majors in runs and OPS, I don't know that Hernandez will be able to stop them. Please, Bill Smith, get him off the team soon!
The Nats aren't a great pitching team either, so hopefully the offense will be able to keep Livan in the game. I'm definitely looking forward to having the team back home, where they are above .500, and where Joe Mauer has an OPS about .200 points higher. Throw that in with the steady hitting of Justin Morneau and some occasional table-setting wonders from Carlos Gomez and Alexi Casilla and things could get interesting. It was great to see Delmon Young go 6 for 10 over the weekend, though he still needs to calm down a bit out there. Brain Buscher had a terrific re-introduction at 3B - I wonder if Lamb's job is in trouble?
The best part of the weekend for me, other than the pitching, was the performance of Jason Kubel. He went 5 for 13 with 1 walk, and 2 of his hits were HR, giving him 4 on the road trip. He looks fantastic at the plate, showing no inclination to chase bad pitches early in the count. Basically, he looks like the guy who was the Twins' best hitter during the second half of last season. Through the first half of June, he's hitting .325/.426/.700 with a 6/7 K/BB ratio. Yummy!
The Twins weren't playing particularly well when the road trip began, but the White Sox would have beaten just about anybody the way there were playing a week ago. Having weathered what will likely prove the most brutal stretch of games this year, the Twins are still in second place, just 4.5 games back. As the GM continues to trim the under- and non-performers from the roster, I feel good about where the Twins are right now. They have an excellent chance of being a better team in the second half.
Twins 9, Brewers 4 (12 innings)
Brewers 4, Twins 2
The road trip that began with a 4-game sweep in the unquenchable hell-fires of the South Side ended rather well this weekend with a series win vs. the Milwaukee Brewers. After being absolutely immolated by the Sox (12.12 ERA, 4.1 IP/start) to culminate a string of 11 games without a quality start, the starters have been quality in 5 of the last 6 games, including all three this weekend. It should come as no surprise to anyone that the pitcher who failed to deliver a quality start was none other than veteran "innings-eater" Livan Hernandez. Kevin Slowey (age 24), Glen Perkins (25) and Scott Baker (26) all did what Livan could not - they went at least 6 IP while keeping the team in the game.
Slowey was brilliant on Friday night, facing just one hitter over the minimum through 6 innings. 4 of the 5 hits he allowed were for extra bases, so eventually he gave up some runs, but he finished 8 IP with only 2 ER allowed. I hope this illustrates that Slowey is an actual Major League pitcher: in his last 7 starts, he's gone 5.2, 5.2, 6, 9, 6, 3 and 8 IP. Which game doesn't belong? Of the 8 starts in which he didn't get hurt, he's come within 1 IP or 1 ER of a quality start in 7 of them. His WHIP is at 1.14, tops among Twins starters with at least 8 starts. His K/BB ratio is 35/7. He's allowed 9 HR, most of them in his final inning of work, so he has an important adjustment to make in order to survive his 3rd trip through the order. But it's a relatively minor one for the International League's best pitcher of 2007. He'll be one of the steadiest members of this rotation for the remainder of 2008 and years to follow.
Perkins backed up his solid outing on Monday with another on Saturday. He got touched for 3 ER on 8 H (including a tremendous HR from Ryan Braun - but there's really no shame in that), but walked only one while striking out 6. I feel pretty comfortable for the most part when I see that he's going to start a game. He should get better as the year goes along.
Scott Baker looked solid in his two starts on the road trip. The 2-run HR by Mike Cameron spoiled his afternoon yesterday, but he tied his career high in Ks (4 in one inning!) and otherwise matched Perkins' line against a team that had been swinging the bats very well coming into the series. I'm even more confident when he's on the mound than Perkins.
Nick Blackburn, age 26, not seen in this series, is averaging 6.1 IP over the 13 starts in which he wasn't hit in the face with a line drive. I'm feeling pretty good about him, too, though he's the true rookie in the rotation. So it does not please me to see that he will skip his turn in order to rest some sore muscles. I was rather hoping they'd be skipping the old man, Livan, age 33 (or so). Though his former team, the Washington Nationals, are dead last in the Majors in runs and OPS, I don't know that Hernandez will be able to stop them. Please, Bill Smith, get him off the team soon!
The Nats aren't a great pitching team either, so hopefully the offense will be able to keep Livan in the game. I'm definitely looking forward to having the team back home, where they are above .500, and where Joe Mauer has an OPS about .200 points higher. Throw that in with the steady hitting of Justin Morneau and some occasional table-setting wonders from Carlos Gomez and Alexi Casilla and things could get interesting. It was great to see Delmon Young go 6 for 10 over the weekend, though he still needs to calm down a bit out there. Brain Buscher had a terrific re-introduction at 3B - I wonder if Lamb's job is in trouble?
The best part of the weekend for me, other than the pitching, was the performance of Jason Kubel. He went 5 for 13 with 1 walk, and 2 of his hits were HR, giving him 4 on the road trip. He looks fantastic at the plate, showing no inclination to chase bad pitches early in the count. Basically, he looks like the guy who was the Twins' best hitter during the second half of last season. Through the first half of June, he's hitting .325/.426/.700 with a 6/7 K/BB ratio. Yummy!
The Twins weren't playing particularly well when the road trip began, but the White Sox would have beaten just about anybody the way there were playing a week ago. Having weathered what will likely prove the most brutal stretch of games this year, the Twins are still in second place, just 4.5 games back. As the GM continues to trim the under- and non-performers from the roster, I feel good about where the Twins are right now. They have an excellent chance of being a better team in the second half.
Friday, June 6, 2008
Location, Location, Location
Orioles 5, Twins 3
Twins 7, Orioles 5
Orioles 3, Twins 2
Once again, a Thursday afternoon loss leads to an ultimately disappointing home stand. After hanging with the Yankees for four games, the Twins couldn't cash in against the slumping O's. I thought Baltimore played an all-around good series - they got solid starting pitching, dependable work from the bullpen, made a lot of plays in the field, and were pesky at the plate. They did a great job of hitting mistake pitches. And my goodness, there were a lot of mistakes from the Twins' pitchers.
The Orioles hit 6 HR in the series, accounting for 7 of their 13 runs, including the game-winner on Thursday. I was pretty amazed by the dinger Mora hit off Kevin Slowey in the 6th inning on Tuesday night - he turned very quickly on a low-and-in fastball down 0-2 in the count. All the other HR hit by the O's were off pitches belt-high over the plate. Even an unimpressive BA team like the O's can hit those.
Slowey and Scott Baker had similar starts: each easily got ahead of most hitters, but then struggled to put them away. Slowey in particular gave up several 2-strike hits, and Baker seemed to need 6+ pitches in each AB, reaching a pitch count of 99 through just 5 IP. I was frustrated by the HR Baker allowed - he'd thrown 8 pitches already to Markakis, 7 of them fastballs. With first base open and a right-handed batter coming up, I felt that was a time to be careful with the 3-2 pitch, maybe locate a breaking ball just off the plate and see if he'd chase, or try an off-speed pitch. Nope, belt-high fastball over the plate. Ding!
This brings up an interesting side-effect to the wonderful lack of walks from the young starters Slowey, Baker and Blackburn: they're so determined not to walk people that they offer too good a pitch when they're ahead in the count. Radadmes Lis was getting 4-6 inches off the plate from Tuesday night's umpire - Slowey could hit that spot, why not try to stretch the strike zone? This may also be a problem with still relatively young catcher Joe Mauer. If he sets up outside and they hit the glove, maybe they get the call. If he sets up on the corner and they hit the glove, maybe the hitter hits it hard!
This makes two straight starts in which Glen Perkins was utterly unable to command his stuff. Pitch after pitch right in the sweet spot. I hope it's only a slump. Good work from Boof Bonser out of the bullpen - keep that up!
The 13-man rotation resulted in some creative managing from Gardy late in Thursday's game: Kevin Slowey was used as a pinch-runner for C Mike Redmond, Kubel pinch-hit for DH Craig Monroe, and Mauer pinch-hit for LF Delmon Young. That meant Mauer had to catch, Kubel had to go to left, and Slowey became the DH. I thought Gardy would use Brendan Harris instead of Mike Lamb to start the 9th against LHP closer George Sherrill, but Harris was needed to pinch-hit for Slowey if it got to him (he was on deck when Casilla made the final out). With Punto back to the DL and Morneau dragging with a bum knee, I don't think the Twins can sustain a 3-man bench for very long. They have to decide to drop someone from the bullpen. Either Rincon or Bass would be the likely choices.
Carlos Gomez had a hit in each game, but overall was 3-14 with 3 K in the series. For the homestand, he was 6-34 (.176) with 9 Ks. If he doesn't start having better ABs soon, I'm going to start harping for Span again.
The Twins drafted a toolsy HS outfielder and 2 college pitchers in the first round on Thursday. One pitcher was a stretch, the other fell into their lap. Pretty typical draft, I'd say.
Twins 7, Orioles 5
Orioles 3, Twins 2
Once again, a Thursday afternoon loss leads to an ultimately disappointing home stand. After hanging with the Yankees for four games, the Twins couldn't cash in against the slumping O's. I thought Baltimore played an all-around good series - they got solid starting pitching, dependable work from the bullpen, made a lot of plays in the field, and were pesky at the plate. They did a great job of hitting mistake pitches. And my goodness, there were a lot of mistakes from the Twins' pitchers.
The Orioles hit 6 HR in the series, accounting for 7 of their 13 runs, including the game-winner on Thursday. I was pretty amazed by the dinger Mora hit off Kevin Slowey in the 6th inning on Tuesday night - he turned very quickly on a low-and-in fastball down 0-2 in the count. All the other HR hit by the O's were off pitches belt-high over the plate. Even an unimpressive BA team like the O's can hit those.
Slowey and Scott Baker had similar starts: each easily got ahead of most hitters, but then struggled to put them away. Slowey in particular gave up several 2-strike hits, and Baker seemed to need 6+ pitches in each AB, reaching a pitch count of 99 through just 5 IP. I was frustrated by the HR Baker allowed - he'd thrown 8 pitches already to Markakis, 7 of them fastballs. With first base open and a right-handed batter coming up, I felt that was a time to be careful with the 3-2 pitch, maybe locate a breaking ball just off the plate and see if he'd chase, or try an off-speed pitch. Nope, belt-high fastball over the plate. Ding!
This brings up an interesting side-effect to the wonderful lack of walks from the young starters Slowey, Baker and Blackburn: they're so determined not to walk people that they offer too good a pitch when they're ahead in the count. Radadmes Lis was getting 4-6 inches off the plate from Tuesday night's umpire - Slowey could hit that spot, why not try to stretch the strike zone? This may also be a problem with still relatively young catcher Joe Mauer. If he sets up outside and they hit the glove, maybe they get the call. If he sets up on the corner and they hit the glove, maybe the hitter hits it hard!
This makes two straight starts in which Glen Perkins was utterly unable to command his stuff. Pitch after pitch right in the sweet spot. I hope it's only a slump. Good work from Boof Bonser out of the bullpen - keep that up!
The 13-man rotation resulted in some creative managing from Gardy late in Thursday's game: Kevin Slowey was used as a pinch-runner for C Mike Redmond, Kubel pinch-hit for DH Craig Monroe, and Mauer pinch-hit for LF Delmon Young. That meant Mauer had to catch, Kubel had to go to left, and Slowey became the DH. I thought Gardy would use Brendan Harris instead of Mike Lamb to start the 9th against LHP closer George Sherrill, but Harris was needed to pinch-hit for Slowey if it got to him (he was on deck when Casilla made the final out). With Punto back to the DL and Morneau dragging with a bum knee, I don't think the Twins can sustain a 3-man bench for very long. They have to decide to drop someone from the bullpen. Either Rincon or Bass would be the likely choices.
Carlos Gomez had a hit in each game, but overall was 3-14 with 3 K in the series. For the homestand, he was 6-34 (.176) with 9 Ks. If he doesn't start having better ABs soon, I'm going to start harping for Span again.
The Twins drafted a toolsy HS outfielder and 2 college pitchers in the first round on Thursday. One pitcher was a stretch, the other fell into their lap. Pretty typical draft, I'd say.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Lamb Slaughters Tigers
Twins 9, Tigers 4
Tigers 19, Twins 3
Twins 6, Tigers 1
That's what I love about baseball. Your team can endure its most lop-sided defeat of the year, and yet you can still feel good when the weekend is over. Though the Twins were battered for 24 runs over the 3 games (8.31 ERA!), they did all their sucking in the middle game, and came away series winners. Though they've allowed 16 more runs than they've scored this season, they're 25-25, and only 3 games out of first place.
The Twins have pretty well settled who will be leaving the rotation when Scott Baker is ready to come off the DL in about 10 days. Kevin Slowey finally got the last out of the 6th inning, and has now averaged almost 5.2 IP with a 3.63 ERA and 1.16 WHIP in 4 starts since returning from the DL. Glen Perkins was great in his first 3 starts, but topped them all on Sunday. After allowing just 1 ER in 7.2 IP, he is now averaging over 6.1 IP with a 2.77 ERA and 1.19 WHIP. As for Boof Bonser, well, it hadn't been going very well, and Saturday was as bad as it can be. He allowed 8 ER in 3+ IP; over his last 4 starts, he's averaging just under 5 IP with a 10.37 ERA and 1.71 WHIP. This is not a difficult decision - Boof will almost certainly be sent to the bullpen.
To make room, someone else will have to go. That will be either Brian Bass or Juan Rincon, who joined Boof before the firing squad on Saturday. While Bass' line (1.1 IP, 7 ER, 7 H) may be more spectacularly horrid, he came into the game with a respectable 3.90 ERA, and had been doing a pretty solid job in the long-relief roll up to that point. Juan Rincon (2.2 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 2 BB) was brought in to bail Bass out, and failed to do it. In his last 9 appearances, he's had just one perfect inning, walking 11 and allowing 10 H in 11.2 IP. That's all since Neshek went down and the Twins needed him to step up. One of those two is going to be DFA by the end of next week.
Dennys Reyes had a rough weekend as well, although I'd like to put his outings in context. It was always doubtful that he would be successful outside of the situational lefty role. In this series, he was asked to face 7 righties and 1 lefty. He got the lefty out. The righties went 4 for 6 with a BB. On Friday, though he was unable to retire anyone, he didn't pitch badly. The hits he allowed were:
*a 2-hop grounder 1 inch fair and 1 inch over the glove of Mike Lamb,
*a soft liner off the end of the bat that barely had enough mustard to clear the infield,
*a booming triple on a 3-2 pitch after Pudge had fouled off 4 good 2-strike pitches.
15 pitches, only 1 was poorly located. 93% were good! Still, let's try to keep him facing just lefties as much as possible.
Offensively, the star of the show was Mike Lamb, who went 5-7 with 4R, 2B, 3B, 2 BB and his first HR as a Twin. He still has time to cement his place in the lineup if he can keep raising his average over the next 2 weeks. If not, Brian Buscher is playing too well in Rochester to be denied much longer. And Jason Kubel delivered a clutch grand slam to win Sunday's game, capping a weekend in which he went 3-8 with a BB and 2 R. With Craig Monroe just 1 for his last 24 and a bunch of RHP taking the hill in the next few days, I suspect Kubel will get plenty of chances to build on solid numbers over the past week.
Tigers 19, Twins 3
Twins 6, Tigers 1
That's what I love about baseball. Your team can endure its most lop-sided defeat of the year, and yet you can still feel good when the weekend is over. Though the Twins were battered for 24 runs over the 3 games (8.31 ERA!), they did all their sucking in the middle game, and came away series winners. Though they've allowed 16 more runs than they've scored this season, they're 25-25, and only 3 games out of first place.
The Twins have pretty well settled who will be leaving the rotation when Scott Baker is ready to come off the DL in about 10 days. Kevin Slowey finally got the last out of the 6th inning, and has now averaged almost 5.2 IP with a 3.63 ERA and 1.16 WHIP in 4 starts since returning from the DL. Glen Perkins was great in his first 3 starts, but topped them all on Sunday. After allowing just 1 ER in 7.2 IP, he is now averaging over 6.1 IP with a 2.77 ERA and 1.19 WHIP. As for Boof Bonser, well, it hadn't been going very well, and Saturday was as bad as it can be. He allowed 8 ER in 3+ IP; over his last 4 starts, he's averaging just under 5 IP with a 10.37 ERA and 1.71 WHIP. This is not a difficult decision - Boof will almost certainly be sent to the bullpen.
To make room, someone else will have to go. That will be either Brian Bass or Juan Rincon, who joined Boof before the firing squad on Saturday. While Bass' line (1.1 IP, 7 ER, 7 H) may be more spectacularly horrid, he came into the game with a respectable 3.90 ERA, and had been doing a pretty solid job in the long-relief roll up to that point. Juan Rincon (2.2 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, 2 BB) was brought in to bail Bass out, and failed to do it. In his last 9 appearances, he's had just one perfect inning, walking 11 and allowing 10 H in 11.2 IP. That's all since Neshek went down and the Twins needed him to step up. One of those two is going to be DFA by the end of next week.
Dennys Reyes had a rough weekend as well, although I'd like to put his outings in context. It was always doubtful that he would be successful outside of the situational lefty role. In this series, he was asked to face 7 righties and 1 lefty. He got the lefty out. The righties went 4 for 6 with a BB. On Friday, though he was unable to retire anyone, he didn't pitch badly. The hits he allowed were:
*a 2-hop grounder 1 inch fair and 1 inch over the glove of Mike Lamb,
*a soft liner off the end of the bat that barely had enough mustard to clear the infield,
*a booming triple on a 3-2 pitch after Pudge had fouled off 4 good 2-strike pitches.
15 pitches, only 1 was poorly located. 93% were good! Still, let's try to keep him facing just lefties as much as possible.
Offensively, the star of the show was Mike Lamb, who went 5-7 with 4R, 2B, 3B, 2 BB and his first HR as a Twin. He still has time to cement his place in the lineup if he can keep raising his average over the next 2 weeks. If not, Brian Buscher is playing too well in Rochester to be denied much longer. And Jason Kubel delivered a clutch grand slam to win Sunday's game, capping a weekend in which he went 3-8 with a BB and 2 R. With Craig Monroe just 1 for his last 24 and a bunch of RHP taking the hill in the next few days, I suspect Kubel will get plenty of chances to build on solid numbers over the past week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)