Red Sox 9, Twins 4
Sox win Mayor's Cup 3-1
For the 3rd straight year, the Twins have fallen short in their quest for the Mayor's Cup. While players may show a brave face to the media, saying that their main goal in spring training is to "get in shape" or "work on their stuff," we all know that losing out on this hardware has to hurt. These little setbacks build character. At least, that's what I've been telling myself since game #163 last fall.
It's funny how similar today's game was to the Twins' last appearance at City of Palms park, when the score was 9-5 and it was Scott Baker who was touched for a couple of home runs. The real culprit today, even more than the long ball, was poor control by the pitchers. Any time you see more runs than hits in the box score, you know something was off when the defense was on the field. Twins pitchers combined for 8 BB and 2 HBP today, and 5 of those guys scored. Blech.
(My fantasy league this year is scoring IP, ERA, K, BB and HR allowed. Needless to say, Liriano had an atrocious day by those standards, only scoring well with 5 K in his 3 IP.)
Not much happened on the offensive side either (no walks for the Twins today), but that's been the exception for most of this week. Matt Tolbert is starting to look like quite a bruiser (surely the wind has helped him this spring). Delmon Young's 0-4 day including a couple of loud fly ball outs. I wish I could say the same about Denard Span's 0-4.
The Twins worked out a trade with the Yankees this morning, sending Class A pitcher Charles Nolte to NY in order to keep the rights to Jason Jones, who now heads to the Red Wings' rotation. Nolte had a 2.05 ERA in 44 relief appearances for A- Beloit last year, posting a 75/35 K/BB ratio in 70.1 IP. Most impressively, he allowed only 1 HR all season thanks to a really good sinker. He was only a 27th round pick, starting his age 23 season at A+, so I suppose he wasn't too important to the Twins' long-term plans. Then again, a guy who gave up less than a hit per IP, struck out more than a batter per IP, and got grounders almost 5 times as often as he gave up flies could have had some utility as at least a situational righty out of the 'pen. (He would be very useful in my fantasy league, especially to compliment a low-BB, high-HR guy like Kevin Slowey).
With Jones secured a place in AAA, and RA Dickey signed to a minor league contract, and Philip Humber out of options, it seems pretty clear that Humber has a place on the 25-man roster. His outing today was encouraging. Like most of the Twins pitchers, he allowed a walk that came around to score, but he struck out 3 batters in 2 IP, including Kevin Youkilis and Mike Lowell. His pattern reminded of Glen Perkins when he's effective: back and forth between the fastball and the slow stuff. There's potential there, as with Perkins, if Humber can command the fastball and at least one of his off-speed pitches.
Draft day is tomorrow - I'm ready to dominate!
Showing posts with label Mayor's Cup. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mayor's Cup. Show all posts
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
First Cuts
Red Sox 9, Twins 5
Sox lead Mayor's Cup 2-1
Happy St. Patrick's Day! It was fun to watch all the Sox fans in their green garb this afternoon.
I'm going to have to add Scott Baker and Matt Guerrier to the list of players I'm starting to worry about. Baker has now been blown to bits in consecutive starts, allowing 8 ER on 6 HR and 2 2B in 6 IP between the two games. Sure, he's a fly-ball pitcher, and those were hitter's parks with the wind blowing out. But none of the homers were particularly cheap. The worst was the shot by our old friend David Ortiz. Baker had just made him look silly half-swinging at a high and tight fastball, then followed it up with a hanging changeup over the heart of the plate. On 0-2. Eek. Bad pitch selection, bad execution. Hitters are very comfortable against Baker right now, and he's not locating his pitches, and the results aren't pretty. I really want to see 5 solid innings from him the next time out.
I was hoping to see Guerrier shake off his late-season meltdown and get back to business as usual this year, but what we've seen of him so far this spring (8.22 ERA, 1.96 WHIP, 2.35 HR/9, 4.7 BB/9, 4.7 K/9) looks awfully similar to the Guerrier of last August (10.13 ERA, 2.06 WHIP, 2.53 HR/9, 5.1 BB/9, 6.7 K/9) and September (10.00 ERA, 2.56 WHIP, 3 HR/9, 8 BB/9, 6 K/9). Never mind my confidence in him - his self-confidence probably depends upon him throwing up a couple of comfortable 0s over his next few outings.
Another inning, another run allowed for Jose Mijares. He was set up to escape with just 1 H allowed, with 2 K under his belt and ahead 0-2 on Jacoby Ellsbury's sub, but he lost him for a walk, then gave up an RBI single. Carlos Gomez bailed him out by cutting down the trailing runner trying to go first-to-third. As you'll see below, Mijares survived this round of cuts, but he still doesn't look like big-league material right now.
The bright spot in today's game for me was Denard Span. He put up his second straight multi-hit game, capped by an aggressive HR leading off the 5th against Jonathan Papelbon. Though it wasn't quite enough to bring his BA north of the Mendoza line, these 2 games have quadrupled his TB, bringing his OPS to a much more palatable .592. The way Casilla and Gomez are swinging, the Twins could have the exciting 9, 1 and 2 hitters they're hoping for in the lineup.
There were some great examples today of how the box score doesn't really tell you how people performed. Brian Buscher, though 0-3 with a K, was pitched exceedingly toughly by Josh Beckett on the strikeout, then was robbed of a base hit on a diving snare of a sharp liner in his last AB. Beckett had a tough 2nd inning, but without ever really being squared up: Michael Cuddyer led off with a hardish grounder right over 3rd for a double, Buscher struck out, Gomez walked on a very close 3-2 pitch, Jose Morales chipped a ball just out of the reach of SS Jed Lowrie, Brendan Harris reached on a swinging bunt down the 3B line, Denard Span got a bloop RBI single just out of the reach of a diving Jason Bay in LF, and Alexi Casilla reached on a swinging bunt down the 1B line. Though he'd needed about 45 pitches to record just 4 outs to that point, Beckett was able to get the next 8 outs on just 15 pitches. (A reporter asked him how it felt to see the offense doing so much to support him on a day when he didn't have his best stuff; a deadpan Beckett replied, "I don't understand the question.")
The Twins cut 20% of the players in camp this morning. Armando Gabino, Anthony Swarzak, Trevor Plouffe and Steve Tolleson were optioned to AAA Rochester, Deibinson Romero was optioned to A+ Fort Myers, and Rob Delaney, Ben Julianel, Danny Lehmann, Danny Valencia, Toby Gardenhire and Dustin Martin were reassigned to minor league camp. No surprises there. Many of those players made the most of their limited opportunities this spring, and will be watched with interest over the course of the coming season.
Sox lead Mayor's Cup 2-1
Happy St. Patrick's Day! It was fun to watch all the Sox fans in their green garb this afternoon.
I'm going to have to add Scott Baker and Matt Guerrier to the list of players I'm starting to worry about. Baker has now been blown to bits in consecutive starts, allowing 8 ER on 6 HR and 2 2B in 6 IP between the two games. Sure, he's a fly-ball pitcher, and those were hitter's parks with the wind blowing out. But none of the homers were particularly cheap. The worst was the shot by our old friend David Ortiz. Baker had just made him look silly half-swinging at a high and tight fastball, then followed it up with a hanging changeup over the heart of the plate. On 0-2. Eek. Bad pitch selection, bad execution. Hitters are very comfortable against Baker right now, and he's not locating his pitches, and the results aren't pretty. I really want to see 5 solid innings from him the next time out.
I was hoping to see Guerrier shake off his late-season meltdown and get back to business as usual this year, but what we've seen of him so far this spring (8.22 ERA, 1.96 WHIP, 2.35 HR/9, 4.7 BB/9, 4.7 K/9) looks awfully similar to the Guerrier of last August (10.13 ERA, 2.06 WHIP, 2.53 HR/9, 5.1 BB/9, 6.7 K/9) and September (10.00 ERA, 2.56 WHIP, 3 HR/9, 8 BB/9, 6 K/9). Never mind my confidence in him - his self-confidence probably depends upon him throwing up a couple of comfortable 0s over his next few outings.
Another inning, another run allowed for Jose Mijares. He was set up to escape with just 1 H allowed, with 2 K under his belt and ahead 0-2 on Jacoby Ellsbury's sub, but he lost him for a walk, then gave up an RBI single. Carlos Gomez bailed him out by cutting down the trailing runner trying to go first-to-third. As you'll see below, Mijares survived this round of cuts, but he still doesn't look like big-league material right now.
The bright spot in today's game for me was Denard Span. He put up his second straight multi-hit game, capped by an aggressive HR leading off the 5th against Jonathan Papelbon. Though it wasn't quite enough to bring his BA north of the Mendoza line, these 2 games have quadrupled his TB, bringing his OPS to a much more palatable .592. The way Casilla and Gomez are swinging, the Twins could have the exciting 9, 1 and 2 hitters they're hoping for in the lineup.
There were some great examples today of how the box score doesn't really tell you how people performed. Brian Buscher, though 0-3 with a K, was pitched exceedingly toughly by Josh Beckett on the strikeout, then was robbed of a base hit on a diving snare of a sharp liner in his last AB. Beckett had a tough 2nd inning, but without ever really being squared up: Michael Cuddyer led off with a hardish grounder right over 3rd for a double, Buscher struck out, Gomez walked on a very close 3-2 pitch, Jose Morales chipped a ball just out of the reach of SS Jed Lowrie, Brendan Harris reached on a swinging bunt down the 3B line, Denard Span got a bloop RBI single just out of the reach of a diving Jason Bay in LF, and Alexi Casilla reached on a swinging bunt down the 1B line. Though he'd needed about 45 pitches to record just 4 outs to that point, Beckett was able to get the next 8 outs on just 15 pitches. (A reporter asked him how it felt to see the offense doing so much to support him on a day when he didn't have his best stuff; a deadpan Beckett replied, "I don't understand the question.")
The Twins cut 20% of the players in camp this morning. Armando Gabino, Anthony Swarzak, Trevor Plouffe and Steve Tolleson were optioned to AAA Rochester, Deibinson Romero was optioned to A+ Fort Myers, and Rob Delaney, Ben Julianel, Danny Lehmann, Danny Valencia, Toby Gardenhire and Dustin Martin were reassigned to minor league camp. No surprises there. Many of those players made the most of their limited opportunities this spring, and will be watched with interest over the course of the coming season.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Back to Baseball
Boof Bonser's exploratory surgery revealed a partially torn labrum and rotator cuff, and he now will likely miss the 2009 season. This is bad news for Boof, who was surely looking forward to improving upon what was, overall, a calamitous 2008 campaign. It was not a sure thing that he would be a solid contributor in the bullpen, but his stuff certainly fits the role, so this injury will cost the Twins some depth they might have used out of the 'pen this year. However, the overall impact on the roster won't be terrible. Philip Humber will now almost certainly make the team (he'll have to utterly stink to risk a trip through waivers after Brian Bass was protected last spring). If the Twins elect to go with 12 pitchers, there may be a slot for Jose Mijares. There may also be a spot for some as yet unsigned reliever - Dennys Reyes is still available! But it also gives them a rationale to leave camp with only 6 relievers (Joe Nathan, Jesse Crain, Matt Guerrier, Craig Breslow, Luis Ayala and Humber), providing an extra bench spot for this spring's Matt Tolbert. Or for last spring's Matt Tolbert.
Twins 5, Boston 2
Twins lead Mayor's Cup 1-0
It was great to turn on Gameday and listen to TRN again. I was even excited to hear this year's crop of bummer PSAs between innings. And I couldn't wait to find out how the 2008 wunderkinds were growing up on the field.
Glen Perkins was reminiscent of many of his starts last season - at least the first 2 innings of those starts. He was efficient despite allowing a hit in each inning, only struck out a batter every other inning and got 5 fly ball outs. Yep, that's his game.
It was good to see a lot of patience by the hitters vs. Tim Wakefield. It's gotta be tough to face a knuckleballer in your first game, but the Twins made him throw a ton of pitches and dinked their way to a crooked number in the 2nd. Morneau, Cuddyer and Kubel all drew walks.
How typical to see Delmon Young come out hacking at the first pitch in his first AB, get behind 0-2, then come up with an IF hit (ground ball, of course). In his 2nd AB, he wisely followed Kubel's walk by taking a couple of pitches and working ahead 2-1, but then grounded into a DP. No progress there so far.
Brian Buscher was the only player who hit Wakefield hard, and he ripped a double in his 2nd AB. Could he be locked in after being displaced by Joe Crede? Or will this spring be like last year, when he hit a HR in his first game vs. Boston, then scuffled the rest of the month?
Buscher's replacement at 3rd, Danny Valencia, also came up with a couple of hits.
I wasn't terribly surprised to see that of Crain, Nathan and Ayala, it was Nathan who struggled. He's the one whose role is secure, and so he has nothing to do this spring but tune himself up. Maybe a bit less of a mental edge than the other guys had.
Good to get the Mayor's Cup started on the right foot (I want that cup!). I can't wait to see what the rest of the guys have in store tomorrow. Baseball is back!
Twins 5, Boston 2
Twins lead Mayor's Cup 1-0
It was great to turn on Gameday and listen to TRN again. I was even excited to hear this year's crop of bummer PSAs between innings. And I couldn't wait to find out how the 2008 wunderkinds were growing up on the field.
Glen Perkins was reminiscent of many of his starts last season - at least the first 2 innings of those starts. He was efficient despite allowing a hit in each inning, only struck out a batter every other inning and got 5 fly ball outs. Yep, that's his game.
It was good to see a lot of patience by the hitters vs. Tim Wakefield. It's gotta be tough to face a knuckleballer in your first game, but the Twins made him throw a ton of pitches and dinked their way to a crooked number in the 2nd. Morneau, Cuddyer and Kubel all drew walks.
How typical to see Delmon Young come out hacking at the first pitch in his first AB, get behind 0-2, then come up with an IF hit (ground ball, of course). In his 2nd AB, he wisely followed Kubel's walk by taking a couple of pitches and working ahead 2-1, but then grounded into a DP. No progress there so far.
Brian Buscher was the only player who hit Wakefield hard, and he ripped a double in his 2nd AB. Could he be locked in after being displaced by Joe Crede? Or will this spring be like last year, when he hit a HR in his first game vs. Boston, then scuffled the rest of the month?
Buscher's replacement at 3rd, Danny Valencia, also came up with a couple of hits.
I wasn't terribly surprised to see that of Crain, Nathan and Ayala, it was Nathan who struggled. He's the one whose role is secure, and so he has nothing to do this spring but tune himself up. Maybe a bit less of a mental edge than the other guys had.
Good to get the Mayor's Cup started on the right foot (I want that cup!). I can't wait to see what the rest of the guys have in store tomorrow. Baseball is back!
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Mayor's Cup Round 5
Didn't get to follow the game today, so these thoughts are based on the box score/write-up.
Liriano threw 53 pitches. Not very many of them were good pitches, but at least it keeps him on pace to go 5-6 innings the first week of the season.
Good to see Brendan Harris' bat wake up a bit. He might need to hit like that every day to make up for his "D" at 2nd.
Another 0-fer for Gomez. I don't know how patient he was in any of his 3 ABs, but he's still not showing much as a leadoff hitter.
Mulvey has probably earned himself a spot in the AAA rotation.
Mauer is awesome - did I mention he's on my fantasy team?
It's suddenly been a while since Buscher had a hit fall in.
Ruiz really wants to make the team - and his chances look better all the time.
Sox win the cup. Again.
Liriano threw 53 pitches. Not very many of them were good pitches, but at least it keeps him on pace to go 5-6 innings the first week of the season.
Good to see Brendan Harris' bat wake up a bit. He might need to hit like that every day to make up for his "D" at 2nd.
Another 0-fer for Gomez. I don't know how patient he was in any of his 3 ABs, but he's still not showing much as a leadoff hitter.
Mulvey has probably earned himself a spot in the AAA rotation.
Mauer is awesome - did I mention he's on my fantasy team?
It's suddenly been a while since Buscher had a hit fall in.
Ruiz really wants to make the team - and his chances look better all the time.
Sox win the cup. Again.
Friday, March 7, 2008
Mayor's Cup Round 4
Impressions of the Red Sox/Twins matchup as I listen to TRN:
Top 1: Span set the table with a HBP and SB. At last, Morneau connects! And Craig Monroe - off a righty!
Bottom 1: Liriano pitches! No shame walking David Ortiz, and then came back to fan Manny Ramirez.
Bottom 2: Liriano couldn't quite finish the inning, giving up a couple of 2-out singles before Blackburn came in to clean up. Liriano threw 40 pitches, and showed pretty good command of his fastball, changeup, and slider.
Top 4: Mike Lamb looks terrific - he's hitting well, and he's made a bunch of nice plays at 3rd, including 2 in this game already. Sox gave the Twins an extra out on a missed DP opportunity, and the Twins took advantage with 2 SBs and a 2-out RBI single from Basak.
Bottom 4: Another nice play from Lamb. Nice running catch for Cuddyer. Blackburn is pitching very well.
Bottom 5: Rough inning for Guerrier - he gave up a couple of line-drive singles, including one off his left foot. He stayed in and surrendered a wind-blown pop-up single to load the bases with one out. He got the next 2 batters on a strikeout and flyout to escape unscathed.
Top 6: Good game for Monroe at the plate: 1-2 with a walk and a solo HR. Nice small-ball with pinch runner Machado stealing second and Lamb grounding him over to 3rd. Redmond couldn't pick him up with the infield in, but Kubel got a 2-out RBI hit. Span had a 6-pitch AB against a tough side-arming lefty before grounding out.
Bottom 6: Reyes gave up a run on 3 hits, but only one of them was hit hard. He seemed to get stronger as the inning progressed, striking out the last 2 batters.
Top 7: Twins take advantage of a Boston throwing error thanks to a 2-out RBI single from Machado.
Bottom 7: Good job by Jesse Crain, overcoming an error to get through a scoreless inning.
Top 8: Span robbed of a hit on a diving catch by the CF.
Bottom 8: Harris is having a lot of trouble at 2B. Neshek was able to work around the error.
Top 9: At last, a hit for Harris! But then he got himself thrown out at 3rd on a grounder to short.
Bottom 9: Good thing Doug Mirabelli can catch knuckle balls, 'cause he sure can't hit (0-3, 3Ks). Nice inning for Mariano Gomez, allowing only a wind-aided home run.
Final: Twins 7, Red Sox 2
And, on the B side:
Terrific performance by some of the Twins' top prospects against a Blue Jays lineup loaded with Major Leaguers. Glen Perkins (3IP, 2H, BB, 3K), Philip Humber (2IP, H, 3K), Kevin Mulvey (2IP, 0H, 2K), Julio DePaula (IP, H) and Ricky Barrett (IP, H, BB) combined on a 5-hit shutout. Young, Buscher, and Ruiz continued to swing the bat well. Gomez had a good day on offense, with 2 hits, 2 runs, and a SB. His second hit was an RBI triple, and, if I'm reading the box score correctly, Punto followed with a squeeze. Morales got a hit, and, from what I can tell, managed to avoid being thrown out on the bases!
Final: Twins 4, Jays 0
Top 1: Span set the table with a HBP and SB. At last, Morneau connects! And Craig Monroe - off a righty!
Bottom 1: Liriano pitches! No shame walking David Ortiz, and then came back to fan Manny Ramirez.
Bottom 2: Liriano couldn't quite finish the inning, giving up a couple of 2-out singles before Blackburn came in to clean up. Liriano threw 40 pitches, and showed pretty good command of his fastball, changeup, and slider.
Top 4: Mike Lamb looks terrific - he's hitting well, and he's made a bunch of nice plays at 3rd, including 2 in this game already. Sox gave the Twins an extra out on a missed DP opportunity, and the Twins took advantage with 2 SBs and a 2-out RBI single from Basak.
Bottom 4: Another nice play from Lamb. Nice running catch for Cuddyer. Blackburn is pitching very well.
Bottom 5: Rough inning for Guerrier - he gave up a couple of line-drive singles, including one off his left foot. He stayed in and surrendered a wind-blown pop-up single to load the bases with one out. He got the next 2 batters on a strikeout and flyout to escape unscathed.
Top 6: Good game for Monroe at the plate: 1-2 with a walk and a solo HR. Nice small-ball with pinch runner Machado stealing second and Lamb grounding him over to 3rd. Redmond couldn't pick him up with the infield in, but Kubel got a 2-out RBI hit. Span had a 6-pitch AB against a tough side-arming lefty before grounding out.
Bottom 6: Reyes gave up a run on 3 hits, but only one of them was hit hard. He seemed to get stronger as the inning progressed, striking out the last 2 batters.
Top 7: Twins take advantage of a Boston throwing error thanks to a 2-out RBI single from Machado.
Bottom 7: Good job by Jesse Crain, overcoming an error to get through a scoreless inning.
Top 8: Span robbed of a hit on a diving catch by the CF.
Bottom 8: Harris is having a lot of trouble at 2B. Neshek was able to work around the error.
Top 9: At last, a hit for Harris! But then he got himself thrown out at 3rd on a grounder to short.
Bottom 9: Good thing Doug Mirabelli can catch knuckle balls, 'cause he sure can't hit (0-3, 3Ks). Nice inning for Mariano Gomez, allowing only a wind-aided home run.
Final: Twins 7, Red Sox 2
And, on the B side:
Terrific performance by some of the Twins' top prospects against a Blue Jays lineup loaded with Major Leaguers. Glen Perkins (3IP, 2H, BB, 3K), Philip Humber (2IP, H, 3K), Kevin Mulvey (2IP, 0H, 2K), Julio DePaula (IP, H) and Ricky Barrett (IP, H, BB) combined on a 5-hit shutout. Young, Buscher, and Ruiz continued to swing the bat well. Gomez had a good day on offense, with 2 hits, 2 runs, and a SB. His second hit was an RBI triple, and, if I'm reading the box score correctly, Punto followed with a squeeze. Morales got a hit, and, from what I can tell, managed to avoid being thrown out on the bases!
Final: Twins 4, Jays 0
Sunday, March 2, 2008
Mayor's Cup Round 3
This game is available on MLB.TV, so I'll get to see what's going on.
Top 2: Most of the guys didn't get good swings off Wakefield's knuckler, but Kubel & Buscher both hit rockets (Buscher was robbed by Pedroia).
Bottom 1-2: Hernandez lives on the corners, changing speeds and trying to get hitters to expand the zone. Ortiz and Lowell were able to force him into fastball counts and cranked them pretty good. He threw rather a lot of pitches, but left with the team in the game.
Top 3: The Twins did a nice job of putting some tough 2-strike pitches in play, and were fortunate to have a bunch of them drop in or find holes. Good base-running all around, especially Cuddyer's heads-up steal of 3rd. Buscher got rung up on 3 nasty pitches.
Bottom 3: Guerrier did well, other than walking Mirabelli on 5 pitches. Mulligan!
Bottom 4: Nice outing from Neshek.
Bottom 5: A Ruiz error extended the inning so that Pedroia could get an RBI single. Good to see Reyes throwing strikes. Nice execution on the rundown to end the inning and keep Ortiz from hitting with men on base.
Top 6: Buscher looks terrific so far - another long AB ending with a single. Nice to see Morales isn't shy about sliding - but it'd be nice to see him actually make it home safely one of these days.
Bottom 6-7: DePaula walked Ortiz and Ramirez to begin his stint, but got Lowell to hit into a 5-4-3 DP, and turned it into a pretty good outing.
Gotta stop there, it's getting late. Obviously, the Twins had a much better game today, and I think the biggest difference was that the pitchers threw strikes (only 3BB). Keep that up!
Is Craig Monroe's leg cramp giving anyone else Rondell White flashbacks?
Sounds like Liriano had an encouraging BP session today - can't wait to see him in action later this week!
Top 2: Most of the guys didn't get good swings off Wakefield's knuckler, but Kubel & Buscher both hit rockets (Buscher was robbed by Pedroia).
Bottom 1-2: Hernandez lives on the corners, changing speeds and trying to get hitters to expand the zone. Ortiz and Lowell were able to force him into fastball counts and cranked them pretty good. He threw rather a lot of pitches, but left with the team in the game.
Top 3: The Twins did a nice job of putting some tough 2-strike pitches in play, and were fortunate to have a bunch of them drop in or find holes. Good base-running all around, especially Cuddyer's heads-up steal of 3rd. Buscher got rung up on 3 nasty pitches.
Bottom 3: Guerrier did well, other than walking Mirabelli on 5 pitches. Mulligan!
Bottom 4: Nice outing from Neshek.
Bottom 5: A Ruiz error extended the inning so that Pedroia could get an RBI single. Good to see Reyes throwing strikes. Nice execution on the rundown to end the inning and keep Ortiz from hitting with men on base.
Top 6: Buscher looks terrific so far - another long AB ending with a single. Nice to see Morales isn't shy about sliding - but it'd be nice to see him actually make it home safely one of these days.
Bottom 6-7: DePaula walked Ortiz and Ramirez to begin his stint, but got Lowell to hit into a 5-4-3 DP, and turned it into a pretty good outing.
Gotta stop there, it's getting late. Obviously, the Twins had a much better game today, and I think the biggest difference was that the pitchers threw strikes (only 3BB). Keep that up!
Is Craig Monroe's leg cramp giving anyone else Rondell White flashbacks?
Sounds like Liriano had an encouraging BP session today - can't wait to see him in action later this week!
Mayor's Cup Round 2
Listening to a belated feed of TRN - may not have time to go through all of it, but I'll balance out my thoughts with the official write-up if needed.
Bottom 1: Gomez seems to be really good at base running, stealing second off a lefty, then moving up to third on a ball in the dirt that didn't go too far from the catcher. Mauer worked a nice walk after falling behind 0-2. Young walks! Perhaps he's trying to take a strike: the walk was on four pitches. I didn't like Morneau's AB: bases loaded, no out, the pitcher has thrown 8 straight balls, yet he swings through a pitch under his hands, then grounds into a DP. Though a run scored, he really let Lester off the hook. If a pitcher is struggling that much with control, the batter has to take a strike, especially in the early innings.
Top 2: Keisler got off to nice start through the first 5 batters, then lost Lowrie in a 12-pitch AB after being ahead 1-2. Gave up an RBI double to Carter on an 0-2 pitch - must have missed his location. Walked Cash and Thurston on 10 pitches. Very similar outing to Slowey on Friday - lots of strikes early, then got burned after a long AB, and seemed to be physically and mentally fatigued afterwards. Blackburn came on and got Ellsbury on a FC to 2nd, then gave up a 2-run ground ball single to Alex Cora (outfield assist to Young getting Cora at 2nd). I wish I could have seen the defensive positioning of Lamb at third - I'm guessing he wasn't particularly close to the line. Unlucky.
Bottom 2: Nice AB by Lamb against a lefty, doubling into the LF corner on the 6th pitch. Macri drew a 7-pitch walk. Jones lucky to reach after he hit a DP ball to 1st that Casey threw away. Terrific AB by Casilla, coming back from 1-2 to draw a 9-pitch walk and chase Lester. Other than Morneau and Jones, the Twins did a great job of grinding Lester down. SF for Gomez after 2 huge hacks. Another walk for Mauer on 4 pitches. Young took 2 balls, then drilled an RBI single. Better approach by Morneau with the bases loaded this time, drawing a 4-pitch, RBI BB. Harris hits into a 5-4-3 DP on the first pitch. Sounded like he hit it hard, but, again, the pitcher had just thrown 10 out of 11 pitches out of the zone - what is he doing swinging at the first pitch?
Top 3-4: Nice outings from Blackburn & Rincon.
Bottom 3: More good ABs from Lamb (6-pitch BB) and Macri (lined to LF on the 6th pitch).
Bottom 4: Good day for Mauer (2BB and a single). Young finally came out hacking against Papelbon - and struck out. Morneau battled back from 0-2 to a full count before grounding sharply into a 4-6-3 DP. Bad ending to a good AB.
Bottom 5: Harris showed some patience this time and drew a walk. Lamb struck out swinging on a 2-2 count - still a pretty good day for him. Macri struck out swinging on a full count - still a pretty good day. Tolbert (running for Harris) stole second on the K, then scored on a 2-out knock from Jones.
Top 6: Duensing didn't have great control in the 5th, and he fell behind everybody in the 6th as well. He gave up a solid lead-off single, a long out to center, a 4-pitch walk, and then a sharp single off his leg. Carmen Cali came on with the bases loaded and 1 out, and walked in 2 runs on 10 pitches. Blecch.
Enough of this interminable, crappy game.
I see from the box score that Pridie and Tolbert picked up hits late. Pridie made a couple of nice catches in CF. Mulvey and Guerra gave up a ton of hits, but at least they didn't walk anybody.
According to Dan Gladden, Rick Anderson views every pitcher's first appearance of the spring as a "mulligan."
A lot of these guys had better hope that's true.
Bottom 1: Gomez seems to be really good at base running, stealing second off a lefty, then moving up to third on a ball in the dirt that didn't go too far from the catcher. Mauer worked a nice walk after falling behind 0-2. Young walks! Perhaps he's trying to take a strike: the walk was on four pitches. I didn't like Morneau's AB: bases loaded, no out, the pitcher has thrown 8 straight balls, yet he swings through a pitch under his hands, then grounds into a DP. Though a run scored, he really let Lester off the hook. If a pitcher is struggling that much with control, the batter has to take a strike, especially in the early innings.
Top 2: Keisler got off to nice start through the first 5 batters, then lost Lowrie in a 12-pitch AB after being ahead 1-2. Gave up an RBI double to Carter on an 0-2 pitch - must have missed his location. Walked Cash and Thurston on 10 pitches. Very similar outing to Slowey on Friday - lots of strikes early, then got burned after a long AB, and seemed to be physically and mentally fatigued afterwards. Blackburn came on and got Ellsbury on a FC to 2nd, then gave up a 2-run ground ball single to Alex Cora (outfield assist to Young getting Cora at 2nd). I wish I could have seen the defensive positioning of Lamb at third - I'm guessing he wasn't particularly close to the line. Unlucky.
Bottom 2: Nice AB by Lamb against a lefty, doubling into the LF corner on the 6th pitch. Macri drew a 7-pitch walk. Jones lucky to reach after he hit a DP ball to 1st that Casey threw away. Terrific AB by Casilla, coming back from 1-2 to draw a 9-pitch walk and chase Lester. Other than Morneau and Jones, the Twins did a great job of grinding Lester down. SF for Gomez after 2 huge hacks. Another walk for Mauer on 4 pitches. Young took 2 balls, then drilled an RBI single. Better approach by Morneau with the bases loaded this time, drawing a 4-pitch, RBI BB. Harris hits into a 5-4-3 DP on the first pitch. Sounded like he hit it hard, but, again, the pitcher had just thrown 10 out of 11 pitches out of the zone - what is he doing swinging at the first pitch?
Top 3-4: Nice outings from Blackburn & Rincon.
Bottom 3: More good ABs from Lamb (6-pitch BB) and Macri (lined to LF on the 6th pitch).
Bottom 4: Good day for Mauer (2BB and a single). Young finally came out hacking against Papelbon - and struck out. Morneau battled back from 0-2 to a full count before grounding sharply into a 4-6-3 DP. Bad ending to a good AB.
Bottom 5: Harris showed some patience this time and drew a walk. Lamb struck out swinging on a 2-2 count - still a pretty good day for him. Macri struck out swinging on a full count - still a pretty good day. Tolbert (running for Harris) stole second on the K, then scored on a 2-out knock from Jones.
Top 6: Duensing didn't have great control in the 5th, and he fell behind everybody in the 6th as well. He gave up a solid lead-off single, a long out to center, a 4-pitch walk, and then a sharp single off his leg. Carmen Cali came on with the bases loaded and 1 out, and walked in 2 runs on 10 pitches. Blecch.
Enough of this interminable, crappy game.
I see from the box score that Pridie and Tolbert picked up hits late. Pridie made a couple of nice catches in CF. Mulvey and Guerra gave up a ton of hits, but at least they didn't walk anybody.
According to Dan Gladden, Rick Anderson views every pitcher's first appearance of the spring as a "mulligan."
A lot of these guys had better hope that's true.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Mayor's Cup Round 1
I'm watching the Twins/Red Sox game on MLB.TV tonight. Awesome that MLB.com let's you stream games - the NFL needs to do this! It's not quite working properly on my iBook (a little bit balky video), but at least I can see most of what's going on. I was particularly interested to see how some of the new Twins competing for spots look, and how some of the guys whose spots are secure would approach the game.
Span - made all the plays in CF, and had 2 good ABs: a solid, opposite-field single and a 6-pitch groundout. Laid off every ball.
Kubel - saw three pitches and made 2 outs. Not so good.
Cuddyer - saw 5 pitches and made 3 outs. Even less good.
Morneau - 1 for 2 with a nice, 2-strike, opposite-field single.
Young - 1 for 2 with a GIDP. Actually took the first pitch in both ABs!
Redmond - hard-hit GIDP, plus another groundout.
Buscher - nice 6-pitch AB that ended with a K on a high fastball. Really turned on an inside fastball in the 6th for a long HR. Made the plays at 3B.
Punto - saw 13 pitches in his 2 ABs. Flew deep into the LF corner, then beat out a grounder for an error - and didn't dive head-first into 1B! Also made a nice play up the middle for an out in the 1st.
Everett - didn't make much of an impression.
Gomez - nice job gunning out Pedroia at the plate, though Thurston was able to take 2nd on the throw. Had no chance to get the runner at the plate in the 6th, and again missed the cut and allowed Crisp to take 2nd. Saw 7 pitches and made 2 outs (would have been 3, but he is fast).
Pridie - flied to LF, then looked bad while striking out on 3 pitches in the 9th.
Jones - looked pretty bad in striking out with a runner on, then jammed himself and destroyed his bat on a foul pop in the 9th.
As for the pitchers:
Bonser - nice job. Very efficient.
Slowey - I thought he was on his way to a great night when he blew away Ortiz and Ramirez. He was one strike away, then missed his location to Lowell for a single. After a long battle with Youkilis, he opted to throw an off-speed pitch (where the fastballs had gotten the other guys), and Youk tagged it for a 2-run HR. After that, Slowey lost his aggressiveness in the zone, and fell behind the next 3 guys, giving up a 3-1 HR to Varitek, and walking the next 2 batters before being pulled in the middle of the inning. Pretty good stuff, but didn't handle adversity very well.
Bass - fell behind 5 of the 6 batters he faced, and the one he was ahead of lined a 2-strike single. Blecch.
Nathan - not very good command (1R on 2H and 1BB), but still struck out the side.
Humber - gave up an infield hit, but then got the DP grounder and struck out the last guy. Nice job.
Day - fell behind 4 of the 5 batters he faced (2BBs), but worked out of it (including 2Ks).
Gomez - quickly got the first 2 batters, then fell behind the next 3, yielding a walk, a single, and a 3-0, 3-run HR. Particularly disappointing considering that most of the damage was done to the lefty by lefties. Blecch.
Final score: Red Sox 8, Twins 3.
Not a very good game, all in all. I'd say the Twins looked like a team that's only been playing together for a week.
Span - made all the plays in CF, and had 2 good ABs: a solid, opposite-field single and a 6-pitch groundout. Laid off every ball.
Kubel - saw three pitches and made 2 outs. Not so good.
Cuddyer - saw 5 pitches and made 3 outs. Even less good.
Morneau - 1 for 2 with a nice, 2-strike, opposite-field single.
Young - 1 for 2 with a GIDP. Actually took the first pitch in both ABs!
Redmond - hard-hit GIDP, plus another groundout.
Buscher - nice 6-pitch AB that ended with a K on a high fastball. Really turned on an inside fastball in the 6th for a long HR. Made the plays at 3B.
Punto - saw 13 pitches in his 2 ABs. Flew deep into the LF corner, then beat out a grounder for an error - and didn't dive head-first into 1B! Also made a nice play up the middle for an out in the 1st.
Everett - didn't make much of an impression.
Gomez - nice job gunning out Pedroia at the plate, though Thurston was able to take 2nd on the throw. Had no chance to get the runner at the plate in the 6th, and again missed the cut and allowed Crisp to take 2nd. Saw 7 pitches and made 2 outs (would have been 3, but he is fast).
Pridie - flied to LF, then looked bad while striking out on 3 pitches in the 9th.
Jones - looked pretty bad in striking out with a runner on, then jammed himself and destroyed his bat on a foul pop in the 9th.
As for the pitchers:
Bonser - nice job. Very efficient.
Slowey - I thought he was on his way to a great night when he blew away Ortiz and Ramirez. He was one strike away, then missed his location to Lowell for a single. After a long battle with Youkilis, he opted to throw an off-speed pitch (where the fastballs had gotten the other guys), and Youk tagged it for a 2-run HR. After that, Slowey lost his aggressiveness in the zone, and fell behind the next 3 guys, giving up a 3-1 HR to Varitek, and walking the next 2 batters before being pulled in the middle of the inning. Pretty good stuff, but didn't handle adversity very well.
Bass - fell behind 5 of the 6 batters he faced, and the one he was ahead of lined a 2-strike single. Blecch.
Nathan - not very good command (1R on 2H and 1BB), but still struck out the side.
Humber - gave up an infield hit, but then got the DP grounder and struck out the last guy. Nice job.
Day - fell behind 4 of the 5 batters he faced (2BBs), but worked out of it (including 2Ks).
Gomez - quickly got the first 2 batters, then fell behind the next 3, yielding a walk, a single, and a 3-0, 3-run HR. Particularly disappointing considering that most of the damage was done to the lefty by lefties. Blecch.
Final score: Red Sox 8, Twins 3.
Not a very good game, all in all. I'd say the Twins looked like a team that's only been playing together for a week.
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