The general state of business I've found myself in over the last few weeks has made it difficult to complete my ambitious Offseason Blueprint entry, wherein I spell out every move I'd make as Twins GM from here to Spring Training. Bill Smith is quickly making such a gesture obsolete. He outrighted Brian Buscher earlier this week, and yesterday sent CF Carlos Gomez to the Brewers for SS JJ Hardy, straight up.
Had I managed to post my Blueprint entry by now, you'd have seen that I wanted the Twins to trade for Hardy. He is a highly-rated defender at SS, first of all, and defense is something I think the Twins should be emphasizing as they build their team for 2010. He is also one of the better power threats from that position, averaging 30 2B and 25 HR between 2007-2008. He had a terrible season last year, batting just .229/.302/.357 with 11 HR in 115 games before being sent down to AAA in order to clear space for defensive whiz-kid Alcides Escobar. (Even that isn't terribly worse than the .263/.309/.374 with 10 HR that all Twins SS produced in 2009.) That move delayed Hardy's eligibility for free agency until after 2011, so the Twins will control him for the next 2 seasons, and he's just entering his peak. Even though his average and slugging plummeted, Hardy's walk rate improved for the 3rd straight year. If his hitting rebounds, and his defense remains consistent, the Twins will have one of the best SS in the AL.
In exchange, they part with Gomez. I always preferred Denard Span, but Gomez was without peer as a defender in CF and saved the Twins a ton of runs with his spectacular range. However, his skills at the plate are severely lacking, and he probably should have spent at least one of the last 2 years at Rochester. Maybe it would have made sense to send him there this season - his talent certainly is worth developing. In any case, his role with the Twins turned into nothing more than legs for Jason Kubel or a defensive upgrade over Delmon Young. Jason Pridie is perfectly capable of providing that for the Twins. Turning a bench OF into an everday SS is a pretty good trade for the Twins, just as turning a bench SS into an everyday CF is good for the Brewers.
One obvious implication of this move is that Delmon Young is going to be in the lineup everyday, at least to start the season. That means he has to get a lot better, in just about every facet of his game. He showed a nice uptick in power, particularly after the All-Star break, but his BB rate went backward, he suddenly wasn't an effective base stealer, and his defense in LF remained very poor. But he's just 24, so there's still time.
I was going to suggest that the Twins trade Brian Duensing and a role-player for Hardy. I like this deal - well done, Bill Smith. And, in case I don't get it posted in the next couple of days, let me go on record as saying the Twins should decline Michael Cuddyer's option. Details to come...
Showing posts with label Carlos Gomez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carlos Gomez. Show all posts
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Signs of Life
When they sank back to a season-low 6 games under .500 on Monday, I realized that the only thing that could save the 2009 Twins was a winning streak. The prospects of that seemed grim when they fell behind 5-0 after 3 innings on the road against the wild card contending Rangers. But then the Twins' offense, which has been so prolific in August, rose up in support of the flailing pitching staff, scoring 4 runs in the 6th to tie the game, then 3 more in the 7th to win it. This rally was magical not just because it included 4 RBI and 6 TB worth of heroics from Delmon Young, but because it happened without the help of Justin Morneau, who has missed most of the week with an inner ear infection, and Jason Kubel, who left the game after fouling a pitch off his knee in his first AB. For those reasons, I thought that rally could prove to be a turning point for the Twins.
We won't know for another 6 weeks whether that will be the case, but the Twins are sitting in about the best spot we could have hoped following a 7-game road trip. Their 5-2 record nullifies three of their recent series losses, and the sweep of the Royals brings their record vs. the worst team in the AL to a respectable 4-2 this month. Most importantly, they've been able to gain ground on the Tigers and White Sox, perhaps finding themselves as few as 4.5 games back in the standings by the end of the day.
The pitching hasn't particularly improved, so I can't attribute this 5-1 stretch to that. The Royals bumbling defense certainly helped. But mostly, I'm going to credit the improved play of the bottom of the lineup. With Morneau out, Cuddyer has had to play first base, meaning Carlos Gomez and Young have been in the lineup for the last 6 games. Gomez has hit .348 with 5 R, Young has slugged .545 with 10 RBI over the last 8 games, and Alexi Casilla, finally given some playing time at the expense of Nick Punto, went 5 for 11 with 4 R over the weekend in KC. Denard Span, Joe Mauer and Michael Cuddyer have kept on producing, so to have some power and speed reaching at the bottom of the order makes this a pretty complete lineup, one that can overcome some severe shortfalls from the pitchers.
Ultimately, the pitchers will have to step up to at least average in order for the Twins to make a serious run. To that end, it was comforting to see solid performances from Nick Blackburn, Brian Duensing and Carl Pavano this weekend. Yes, they were just facing the Royals' terrible lineup, but I'll take good starting pitching anywhere I can get it this month. After next week, I look forward to an onslaught of arms from Rochester coming up to bolster the big league bullpen.
The Twins have a big 9-game home stand coming up. They've got to go at least 6-3, including winning the series vs. the White Sox. This is the time for the Dome field advantage to materialize one last time.
We won't know for another 6 weeks whether that will be the case, but the Twins are sitting in about the best spot we could have hoped following a 7-game road trip. Their 5-2 record nullifies three of their recent series losses, and the sweep of the Royals brings their record vs. the worst team in the AL to a respectable 4-2 this month. Most importantly, they've been able to gain ground on the Tigers and White Sox, perhaps finding themselves as few as 4.5 games back in the standings by the end of the day.
The pitching hasn't particularly improved, so I can't attribute this 5-1 stretch to that. The Royals bumbling defense certainly helped. But mostly, I'm going to credit the improved play of the bottom of the lineup. With Morneau out, Cuddyer has had to play first base, meaning Carlos Gomez and Young have been in the lineup for the last 6 games. Gomez has hit .348 with 5 R, Young has slugged .545 with 10 RBI over the last 8 games, and Alexi Casilla, finally given some playing time at the expense of Nick Punto, went 5 for 11 with 4 R over the weekend in KC. Denard Span, Joe Mauer and Michael Cuddyer have kept on producing, so to have some power and speed reaching at the bottom of the order makes this a pretty complete lineup, one that can overcome some severe shortfalls from the pitchers.
Ultimately, the pitchers will have to step up to at least average in order for the Twins to make a serious run. To that end, it was comforting to see solid performances from Nick Blackburn, Brian Duensing and Carl Pavano this weekend. Yes, they were just facing the Royals' terrible lineup, but I'll take good starting pitching anywhere I can get it this month. After next week, I look forward to an onslaught of arms from Rochester coming up to bolster the big league bullpen.
The Twins have a big 9-game home stand coming up. They've got to go at least 6-3, including winning the series vs. the White Sox. This is the time for the Dome field advantage to materialize one last time.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Take a Look Ahead
Now that I've had a few days to recover from the 2008 season, I'm ready to take my first look forward to 2009. Many of the blogs I link to have already gotten a good start on arguments for off-season priorities, and I'm happy to join the discussion. My approach will be to establish a baseline for off-season upgrades by answering the question: What kind of team can the Twins produce from players already within their system?
The first step is to assess how many of the players who finished the season with the Twins are likely to be back next year. The answer is extremely good news. Everyone is either under contract or team control for 2009 with the exception of Nick Punto, Dennys Reyes, Eddie Guardado and Adam Everett. Furthermore, the team's payroll obligations fall so short of its capacity (something on the order of $30 million) that the Twins could easily re-sign all of those players if it so desired.
So the 2009 Twins could be exactly the same as the 2008 Twins. Would that make 2009 just as competitive? A lot of folks point to down years in Cleveland and Detroit, the strength of the White Sox, and the strong finish from the Royals as evidence that the division will be much tougher next year. On its face, I'm not sure I buy that. Age is swiftly catching up to the Tigers and Sox, the Indians diminished themselves by trading away CC Sabathia and Casey Blake, and the Royals' young talent is at least half a year behind that of the Twins. I don't expect any of these teams to stand pat this off-season, but free agent acquisitions and trades, no matter how splashy, are no guarantee of success (just ask the Tigers). There are enough weaknesses among the other members of the division that I believe the Twins could win 88 games again with the same players.
That's also because the Twins are young enough that many of their players can be reasonably expected to match or improve upon this year's performance. We've all seen Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer hit for more power than they did in 2008, for example. Delmon Young and Carlos Gomez, each just 22 for most of '08, have plenty of time to make hitting adjustments. And the rotation of Francisco Liriano, Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, Nick Blackburn and Glen Perkins, having all pitched deep into September, should be even more settled and stronger down the stretch in 2009.
Certainly we expect a few players to regress or have down years (hello, Matt Guerrier). But, in general, I think it's likely that the Twins will have a lower staff ERA, allow fewer unearned runs, and remain in the top half of the AL in scoring (the BA with RISP will undoubtedly be lower, but the HR numbers should increase, which will make up for a lot of the loss). In other words, I think the Twins could run out the same squad they did in September and come away with more or less the same run differential, which would translate, on average, into about the same number of wins. Will 88 wins be good enough to take the division? Probably not, but it should be enough to keep them in the running.
But the Twins won't be running out the same squad next year. With Pat Neshek and Cuddyer returning from injuries, there are more outfielders and pitchers than spots available. Boof Bonser and Philip Humber are out of options, and will be lost if they don't make the team. And there were a couple of players whose performance doesn't merit bringing them back.
Free Agents
Guardado and Everett should be allowed to move on without a thought. Punto and Reyes deserve a little more consideration.
Shortstop is a position in which the Twins could offer someone a multi-year deal, since their is no heir-apparent to the position in the minors. But the available free agents aren't too impressive for the money they'll be demanding. If the baseline is Punto, that's not a terrible place to start. His career OPS is essentially the same as Everett's - nothing to crow about, of course, but his .320 career OBP makes him likely to be on base more than Gomez, for example. He's got good speed on the bases, and can play above-average defense at 6 positions, including SS. I'd be inclined to offer Punto a 2-year deal for around $3 million a year - then if something better comes along at SS, you've still got one of the league's most versatile bench players.
As for Reyes, anybody who thinks the Twins need to upgrade the bullpen should think twice about letting him walk. Despite missing some time and effectiveness in 2007 when he had some arm troubles, Reyes compiled a 2.14 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in 126.1 IP in his 3 seasons with the club. His K/9 was 7.77, and his G/F ratio was about 3/1. Out of 531 total batters faced over his stint with the Twins, 62.7% put the ball on the ground or struck out - the sort of outcomes you're looking for when you bring in a reliever with men on base. Only 26 of 109 H were for extra bases (23.8%), and he allowed only 3 SF. Lefties hit just .202/.272/.266 against him with 3 HR and 63 K in 248 AB (25.4% struck out).
It's true that Craig Breslow and Jose Mijares pitched brilliantly for the Twins this year, but they're each relatively untested. They have just 75.2 MLB IP combined. Breslow was hurt earlier in his career by a high walk total - maybe Rick Anderson sorted that out, or maybe it was just something he was able to hide in 4+ months with the Twins that will resurface next year. Mijares was dynamite in September, but will he be as effective once the scouts catch up to him? Say he has a lousy spring training, and the team decides to give him a little more seasoning in AAA to start the season. Having Reyes on board would give the Twins that luxury. Plus, who says you only need 2 LHP in the bullpen? If 3 of your best pitchers happen to be lefties (as would appear to be the case here), why shouldn't they all make the team?
Lefty specialists can play a long time. Based on his recent track record, I wouldn't be shy about offering Reyes up to a 3-year deal at the going rate for matchup pitchers.
Arbitration Eligibles
More incredibly good news for the Twins - only Matt Guerrier and Jason Kubel are eligible for arbitration this year. This would be the time to sign Kubel to a multi-year deal. While his power numbers began to approach their potential, his BA could still probably improve. He's entering his physical prime, and appears to be over the knee injury that cost him all of 2005 and a big part of 2006. If the Twins wait one more year, and his performance improves again, the price will go up a lot. If they act now, his actual performances should make it possible to get him for something like 3 years, $20 million (+ an option year!).
As for Guerrier, I don't think his abominable finish is indicative of anything more than physical and mental burnout, and that if he were returned to the lower leverage roles he held in earlier seasons he would be effective. But with the emergence of Breslow and Mijares, and the return of Neshek, I'm not sure there's a spot for him. I'd try to trade him before arbitration looms.
Odd Men Out
Bonser and Humber must both make the team or be lost to waivers. That's not going to happen. Each finished the season pretty strongly, but neither has the overall numbers to displace other, more established members of the bullpen. I suppose Humber would have to be considered as a #5 starter should the Twins opt to trade either Perkins or Blackburn, and Bonser could get the nod if they decide not to sign Reyes and Guerrier. There is likely no room for Bobby Korecky in any case. If it were me, I'd make every effort to trade these guys before February.
The outfield is pretty crowded. His big multi-year contract assures us that Cuddyer will be starting in RF. Denard Span had way too good a season at all levels to be denied a spot. Kubel was the 2nd-best power threat on a pretty wimpy team - most of the time, he'll DH. Delmon Young, despite a mostly underwhelming season, made strides in his K/BB rate, and was much more productive in the last 2/3 of the season. And then there's Carlos Gomez, defensive wunderkind, terror on the bases, mess at the plate.
Unless the Twins opt to trade Young, the corner OF positions are set, and there's no way Gomez beats out Span next year. Span was such an effective leadoff hitter, the Twins would be nuts to trade him to make room for Gomez. So the question becomes: Do they put Gomez on the bench as a PR/defensive replacement, or send him to the minors to refine his game? I think the right thing to do is to give him 4-5 ABs every day in AAA. Just as they did with Liriano this year, the Twins need to show Gomez that he's got to produce the goods if he wants a slot on the big club, and that means learning a plate approach that puts the ball on the ground, goes the other way, takes walks, and cuts down on strikeouts. Unless he shows up in spring training with that sort of approach, I'd be inclined to option him down and let Jason Pridie fill the bench role.
As for the rotation, the Twins have 5 starters who are average or better under team control for the next 4 years. They certainly have the option of trading one for something else they'd like to upgrade, but they can't be blamed for wanting to horde them either. That means that starters at the upper levels of the minors, unless they're undeniably awesome, are all expendable. I'd put Humber, Kevin Mulvey, Brian Duensing and Anthony Swarzak on that list.
So, looking exclusively within the organization and not fantasizing about any other players who may or may not be available, the best squad the Twins can put together for next spring looks like this:
Starters:
1. Denard Span, CF
2. Alexi Casilla, 2B
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Michael Cuddyer, RF
6. Jason Kubel, DH
7. Delmon Young, LF
8. Brian Buscher, 3B
9. Nick Punto, SS
Bench:
1. Mike Redmond, C
2. Brendan Harris, IF
3. Matt Tolbert, IF
4. Jason Pridie, OF
5. Randy Ruiz, DH/PH
Rotation:
1. Scott Baker, RHP
2. Francisco Liriano, LHP
3. Kevin Slowey, RHP
4. Nick Blackburn, RHP
5. Glen Perkins, LHP
Bullpen
1. Joe Nathan, Closer
2. Pat Neshek, RHP
3. Jose Mijares, LHP
4. Jesse Crain, RHP
5. Dennys Reyes, LHP
6. Craig Breslow, LHP
Cuddyer breaks up the string of Mauer/Morneau/Kubel. The relatively disappointing contributions of Young, Buscher/Harris and Punto are all a bit more palatable when they slide down a slot in the lineup. Pridie and Tolbert provide speed and glove upgrades over the 3Bs and corner OFs. And, despite his high K rate, Ruiz has compiled a strong enough minor league resume to merit at least a platoon/PH role in the Majors. Everybody else performed well in 2008 and obviously deserves a shot at holding their spots in 2009.
With a surplus of about $30 million and Bonser, Humber, Guerrier, Korecky and Duensing all crying out to be traded, there's certainly plenty of capital available for upgrades, and the front office should make an effort to spend it. But they should remember that if they'd held their cards last season, they probably would have had a 90-win team instead of 88. This team can win 88 again in 2009 - that's the baseline. Take it from there.
The first step is to assess how many of the players who finished the season with the Twins are likely to be back next year. The answer is extremely good news. Everyone is either under contract or team control for 2009 with the exception of Nick Punto, Dennys Reyes, Eddie Guardado and Adam Everett. Furthermore, the team's payroll obligations fall so short of its capacity (something on the order of $30 million) that the Twins could easily re-sign all of those players if it so desired.
So the 2009 Twins could be exactly the same as the 2008 Twins. Would that make 2009 just as competitive? A lot of folks point to down years in Cleveland and Detroit, the strength of the White Sox, and the strong finish from the Royals as evidence that the division will be much tougher next year. On its face, I'm not sure I buy that. Age is swiftly catching up to the Tigers and Sox, the Indians diminished themselves by trading away CC Sabathia and Casey Blake, and the Royals' young talent is at least half a year behind that of the Twins. I don't expect any of these teams to stand pat this off-season, but free agent acquisitions and trades, no matter how splashy, are no guarantee of success (just ask the Tigers). There are enough weaknesses among the other members of the division that I believe the Twins could win 88 games again with the same players.
That's also because the Twins are young enough that many of their players can be reasonably expected to match or improve upon this year's performance. We've all seen Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer hit for more power than they did in 2008, for example. Delmon Young and Carlos Gomez, each just 22 for most of '08, have plenty of time to make hitting adjustments. And the rotation of Francisco Liriano, Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, Nick Blackburn and Glen Perkins, having all pitched deep into September, should be even more settled and stronger down the stretch in 2009.
Certainly we expect a few players to regress or have down years (hello, Matt Guerrier). But, in general, I think it's likely that the Twins will have a lower staff ERA, allow fewer unearned runs, and remain in the top half of the AL in scoring (the BA with RISP will undoubtedly be lower, but the HR numbers should increase, which will make up for a lot of the loss). In other words, I think the Twins could run out the same squad they did in September and come away with more or less the same run differential, which would translate, on average, into about the same number of wins. Will 88 wins be good enough to take the division? Probably not, but it should be enough to keep them in the running.
But the Twins won't be running out the same squad next year. With Pat Neshek and Cuddyer returning from injuries, there are more outfielders and pitchers than spots available. Boof Bonser and Philip Humber are out of options, and will be lost if they don't make the team. And there were a couple of players whose performance doesn't merit bringing them back.
Free Agents
Guardado and Everett should be allowed to move on without a thought. Punto and Reyes deserve a little more consideration.
Shortstop is a position in which the Twins could offer someone a multi-year deal, since their is no heir-apparent to the position in the minors. But the available free agents aren't too impressive for the money they'll be demanding. If the baseline is Punto, that's not a terrible place to start. His career OPS is essentially the same as Everett's - nothing to crow about, of course, but his .320 career OBP makes him likely to be on base more than Gomez, for example. He's got good speed on the bases, and can play above-average defense at 6 positions, including SS. I'd be inclined to offer Punto a 2-year deal for around $3 million a year - then if something better comes along at SS, you've still got one of the league's most versatile bench players.
As for Reyes, anybody who thinks the Twins need to upgrade the bullpen should think twice about letting him walk. Despite missing some time and effectiveness in 2007 when he had some arm troubles, Reyes compiled a 2.14 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in 126.1 IP in his 3 seasons with the club. His K/9 was 7.77, and his G/F ratio was about 3/1. Out of 531 total batters faced over his stint with the Twins, 62.7% put the ball on the ground or struck out - the sort of outcomes you're looking for when you bring in a reliever with men on base. Only 26 of 109 H were for extra bases (23.8%), and he allowed only 3 SF. Lefties hit just .202/.272/.266 against him with 3 HR and 63 K in 248 AB (25.4% struck out).
It's true that Craig Breslow and Jose Mijares pitched brilliantly for the Twins this year, but they're each relatively untested. They have just 75.2 MLB IP combined. Breslow was hurt earlier in his career by a high walk total - maybe Rick Anderson sorted that out, or maybe it was just something he was able to hide in 4+ months with the Twins that will resurface next year. Mijares was dynamite in September, but will he be as effective once the scouts catch up to him? Say he has a lousy spring training, and the team decides to give him a little more seasoning in AAA to start the season. Having Reyes on board would give the Twins that luxury. Plus, who says you only need 2 LHP in the bullpen? If 3 of your best pitchers happen to be lefties (as would appear to be the case here), why shouldn't they all make the team?
Lefty specialists can play a long time. Based on his recent track record, I wouldn't be shy about offering Reyes up to a 3-year deal at the going rate for matchup pitchers.
Arbitration Eligibles
More incredibly good news for the Twins - only Matt Guerrier and Jason Kubel are eligible for arbitration this year. This would be the time to sign Kubel to a multi-year deal. While his power numbers began to approach their potential, his BA could still probably improve. He's entering his physical prime, and appears to be over the knee injury that cost him all of 2005 and a big part of 2006. If the Twins wait one more year, and his performance improves again, the price will go up a lot. If they act now, his actual performances should make it possible to get him for something like 3 years, $20 million (+ an option year!).
As for Guerrier, I don't think his abominable finish is indicative of anything more than physical and mental burnout, and that if he were returned to the lower leverage roles he held in earlier seasons he would be effective. But with the emergence of Breslow and Mijares, and the return of Neshek, I'm not sure there's a spot for him. I'd try to trade him before arbitration looms.
Odd Men Out
Bonser and Humber must both make the team or be lost to waivers. That's not going to happen. Each finished the season pretty strongly, but neither has the overall numbers to displace other, more established members of the bullpen. I suppose Humber would have to be considered as a #5 starter should the Twins opt to trade either Perkins or Blackburn, and Bonser could get the nod if they decide not to sign Reyes and Guerrier. There is likely no room for Bobby Korecky in any case. If it were me, I'd make every effort to trade these guys before February.
The outfield is pretty crowded. His big multi-year contract assures us that Cuddyer will be starting in RF. Denard Span had way too good a season at all levels to be denied a spot. Kubel was the 2nd-best power threat on a pretty wimpy team - most of the time, he'll DH. Delmon Young, despite a mostly underwhelming season, made strides in his K/BB rate, and was much more productive in the last 2/3 of the season. And then there's Carlos Gomez, defensive wunderkind, terror on the bases, mess at the plate.
Unless the Twins opt to trade Young, the corner OF positions are set, and there's no way Gomez beats out Span next year. Span was such an effective leadoff hitter, the Twins would be nuts to trade him to make room for Gomez. So the question becomes: Do they put Gomez on the bench as a PR/defensive replacement, or send him to the minors to refine his game? I think the right thing to do is to give him 4-5 ABs every day in AAA. Just as they did with Liriano this year, the Twins need to show Gomez that he's got to produce the goods if he wants a slot on the big club, and that means learning a plate approach that puts the ball on the ground, goes the other way, takes walks, and cuts down on strikeouts. Unless he shows up in spring training with that sort of approach, I'd be inclined to option him down and let Jason Pridie fill the bench role.
As for the rotation, the Twins have 5 starters who are average or better under team control for the next 4 years. They certainly have the option of trading one for something else they'd like to upgrade, but they can't be blamed for wanting to horde them either. That means that starters at the upper levels of the minors, unless they're undeniably awesome, are all expendable. I'd put Humber, Kevin Mulvey, Brian Duensing and Anthony Swarzak on that list.
So, looking exclusively within the organization and not fantasizing about any other players who may or may not be available, the best squad the Twins can put together for next spring looks like this:
Starters:
1. Denard Span, CF
2. Alexi Casilla, 2B
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Michael Cuddyer, RF
6. Jason Kubel, DH
7. Delmon Young, LF
8. Brian Buscher, 3B
9. Nick Punto, SS
Bench:
1. Mike Redmond, C
2. Brendan Harris, IF
3. Matt Tolbert, IF
4. Jason Pridie, OF
5. Randy Ruiz, DH/PH
Rotation:
1. Scott Baker, RHP
2. Francisco Liriano, LHP
3. Kevin Slowey, RHP
4. Nick Blackburn, RHP
5. Glen Perkins, LHP
Bullpen
1. Joe Nathan, Closer
2. Pat Neshek, RHP
3. Jose Mijares, LHP
4. Jesse Crain, RHP
5. Dennys Reyes, LHP
6. Craig Breslow, LHP
Cuddyer breaks up the string of Mauer/Morneau/Kubel. The relatively disappointing contributions of Young, Buscher/Harris and Punto are all a bit more palatable when they slide down a slot in the lineup. Pridie and Tolbert provide speed and glove upgrades over the 3Bs and corner OFs. And, despite his high K rate, Ruiz has compiled a strong enough minor league resume to merit at least a platoon/PH role in the Majors. Everybody else performed well in 2008 and obviously deserves a shot at holding their spots in 2009.
With a surplus of about $30 million and Bonser, Humber, Guerrier, Korecky and Duensing all crying out to be traded, there's certainly plenty of capital available for upgrades, and the front office should make an effort to spend it. But they should remember that if they'd held their cards last season, they probably would have had a 90-win team instead of 88. This team can win 88 again in 2009 - that's the baseline. Take it from there.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Return of the Piranhas
Twins 7, White Sox 6
Magic Number: 4
This is shaping up to be quite a week of rediscovery for the Twins and their fans. Last Thursday, they won their first close game in 3 weeks. On Sunday, they won their first low-scoring game in a month. On Wednesday, they won their first 1-run game in 4 weeks. And last night, they got their first walk-off win in 5 and a half weeks. Also, for me, it was the first series that completely satisfied me since the beginning of August.
It looked for all the world like Kevin Slowey was up for the task of this huge game, as he easily retired the first 10 batters. Then Orlando Cabrera got the Sox on the board with a HR into the first row of seats in LF. Jermaine Dye followed with a single, and then the wheels came off the Twins' train. Carlos Gomez and Denard Span collided trying to catch Jim Thome's drive to right-center, allowing the ball to drop for a "double" that sent Dye to 3rd. Paul Konerko's subsequent groundout should have ended the inning - instead it drove in the 2nd run. After Ken Griffey Jr. walked, Brian Buscher misplayed a chopper that went for an RBI "infield single." AJ Pierzynski was hit by a pitch, and then Juan Uribe drilled Slowey in the wrist with a liner - Slowey threw the ball away down the RF line, and all of a sudden it was 6-1 Sox and Slowey was on his way to get x-rays.
There weren't actually a lot of well-hit balls by the Sox off Slowey. I still have confidence in him as the Twins' #3 starter in the playoffs. I hope his wrist heals quickly.
Enter (gulp) Matt Guerrier, who pitched one scoreless inning despite walking 2. Dennys Reyes, Boof Bonser, Jesse Crain, Craig Breslow and Joe Nathan followed, allowing just 2 H over the final 5.1 IP with 5 K. 6.1 scoreless innings from the 'pen! That's 10.1 in a row! Nathan's performance was particularly important - he was able to pitch 2 innings, the second against the heart of the Sox' order, and retired all 6 batters he faced.
The superb bullpen work enabled the Twins to nibble away at the 5-run deficit, one or two chunks of flesh at a time. Ozzie Guillen said before the series that he wanted to poison the piranhas. They were biting last night. Carlos Gomez overcame his OF misplay by having the best hitting night of his career. Yes, better than the cycle in May. 4-5, double, 2 triples, 2 RBI, 3 runs scored, and 2 of the hits were to RF! The big one off Bobby Jenks in the 8th came with 2 strikes! Gomez is now hitting .292/.342/.446 in September. We won't know 'til next year whether he's actually learning or is just getting hot at the right time, but he was absolutely critical to the Twins in this series.
Denard Span was no less so tonight. He led off the game with a single and scored the first run. He missed a chance to drive in 2 with 2 out in the 2nd, but afterwards followed each of Gomez' hits with a productive AB: an RBI double in the 4th to cut the deficit to 3 runs, a sac bunt in the 6th to cut it to 2, and a scintillating RBI triple in the 8th to tie the game. He swung the bat so well that the Sox opted to intentionally walk him with the winning run on 3rd in the 10th.
That set up Alexi Casilla, who had failed to bring home Span with the winning run in the 8th when he fouled off a suicide squeeze attempt, then struck out. In the 10th, he simply served the 0-1 pitch into short CF, and the party was on.
I had thought going into the series that it would be crucial for the Twins to get these 3 on base, and to have them run like crazy. The Sox are too old and slow to keep up with that kind of baseball. Tonight, the Twins didn't get one over the fence, but they relentlessly outslugged the Sox anyway, tallying 4 doubles and 3 triples to go along with 8 singles and 3 walks. It was a thrilling performance from the speedsters, who figure to be a part of the lineup for many years to come.
Joe Mauer went 3-5 in the game, and leads the batting race by 4 points heading into the final weekend. If he can get 4 H over the last 3 games, it should be enough to get him his 2nd batting title. Justin Morneau leads the RBI race by 3. He's done a lot of damage against KC this year, so a couple more RBIs could get that done for him as well.
The Twins don't quite control their own destiny, but the ESPN odds-makers give the Twins about a 2-1 chance of winning the division at this point. The Twins have won every series against the Royals this year, going 11-4 overall. The Sox face an Indians team that has played very well since mid-August. They come into the final weekend 79-80 - tantalizingly close to .500. I'm sure they'll play very hard to try to achieve that. Also, Cy Young front-runner Cliff Lee will pitch for the Tribe on Sunday, and he'll be giving everything he's got to try to finish 20 games over .500. The White Sox, meanwhile, will be pitching everybody on 3 days' rest. Though the Sox are almost as good at home as the Twins, a lot of that mojo came from Carlos Quentin and Joe Crede, neither of whom will be in the lineup. I like Cleveland's chances of winning 2 out of 3.
The Twins can't take the Royals for granted, however. They come in having won 11 of their last 13 ballgames, and you know they'd like to go out on a high note. We also shouldn't forget what they did to the Tigers in 2006, sweeping them in Detroit over the final weekend to enable the Twins to take the division. They will be sending their 2 best pitchers, Gil Meche and Zach Greinke, to the mound in this series.
So the Twins can't relax yet. But if they can keep up the intensity they showed in the Chicago series, they should be in great shape at the end of the weekend.
Magic Number: 4
This is shaping up to be quite a week of rediscovery for the Twins and their fans. Last Thursday, they won their first close game in 3 weeks. On Sunday, they won their first low-scoring game in a month. On Wednesday, they won their first 1-run game in 4 weeks. And last night, they got their first walk-off win in 5 and a half weeks. Also, for me, it was the first series that completely satisfied me since the beginning of August.
It looked for all the world like Kevin Slowey was up for the task of this huge game, as he easily retired the first 10 batters. Then Orlando Cabrera got the Sox on the board with a HR into the first row of seats in LF. Jermaine Dye followed with a single, and then the wheels came off the Twins' train. Carlos Gomez and Denard Span collided trying to catch Jim Thome's drive to right-center, allowing the ball to drop for a "double" that sent Dye to 3rd. Paul Konerko's subsequent groundout should have ended the inning - instead it drove in the 2nd run. After Ken Griffey Jr. walked, Brian Buscher misplayed a chopper that went for an RBI "infield single." AJ Pierzynski was hit by a pitch, and then Juan Uribe drilled Slowey in the wrist with a liner - Slowey threw the ball away down the RF line, and all of a sudden it was 6-1 Sox and Slowey was on his way to get x-rays.
There weren't actually a lot of well-hit balls by the Sox off Slowey. I still have confidence in him as the Twins' #3 starter in the playoffs. I hope his wrist heals quickly.
Enter (gulp) Matt Guerrier, who pitched one scoreless inning despite walking 2. Dennys Reyes, Boof Bonser, Jesse Crain, Craig Breslow and Joe Nathan followed, allowing just 2 H over the final 5.1 IP with 5 K. 6.1 scoreless innings from the 'pen! That's 10.1 in a row! Nathan's performance was particularly important - he was able to pitch 2 innings, the second against the heart of the Sox' order, and retired all 6 batters he faced.
The superb bullpen work enabled the Twins to nibble away at the 5-run deficit, one or two chunks of flesh at a time. Ozzie Guillen said before the series that he wanted to poison the piranhas. They were biting last night. Carlos Gomez overcame his OF misplay by having the best hitting night of his career. Yes, better than the cycle in May. 4-5, double, 2 triples, 2 RBI, 3 runs scored, and 2 of the hits were to RF! The big one off Bobby Jenks in the 8th came with 2 strikes! Gomez is now hitting .292/.342/.446 in September. We won't know 'til next year whether he's actually learning or is just getting hot at the right time, but he was absolutely critical to the Twins in this series.
Denard Span was no less so tonight. He led off the game with a single and scored the first run. He missed a chance to drive in 2 with 2 out in the 2nd, but afterwards followed each of Gomez' hits with a productive AB: an RBI double in the 4th to cut the deficit to 3 runs, a sac bunt in the 6th to cut it to 2, and a scintillating RBI triple in the 8th to tie the game. He swung the bat so well that the Sox opted to intentionally walk him with the winning run on 3rd in the 10th.
That set up Alexi Casilla, who had failed to bring home Span with the winning run in the 8th when he fouled off a suicide squeeze attempt, then struck out. In the 10th, he simply served the 0-1 pitch into short CF, and the party was on.
I had thought going into the series that it would be crucial for the Twins to get these 3 on base, and to have them run like crazy. The Sox are too old and slow to keep up with that kind of baseball. Tonight, the Twins didn't get one over the fence, but they relentlessly outslugged the Sox anyway, tallying 4 doubles and 3 triples to go along with 8 singles and 3 walks. It was a thrilling performance from the speedsters, who figure to be a part of the lineup for many years to come.
Joe Mauer went 3-5 in the game, and leads the batting race by 4 points heading into the final weekend. If he can get 4 H over the last 3 games, it should be enough to get him his 2nd batting title. Justin Morneau leads the RBI race by 3. He's done a lot of damage against KC this year, so a couple more RBIs could get that done for him as well.
The Twins don't quite control their own destiny, but the ESPN odds-makers give the Twins about a 2-1 chance of winning the division at this point. The Twins have won every series against the Royals this year, going 11-4 overall. The Sox face an Indians team that has played very well since mid-August. They come into the final weekend 79-80 - tantalizingly close to .500. I'm sure they'll play very hard to try to achieve that. Also, Cy Young front-runner Cliff Lee will pitch for the Tribe on Sunday, and he'll be giving everything he's got to try to finish 20 games over .500. The White Sox, meanwhile, will be pitching everybody on 3 days' rest. Though the Sox are almost as good at home as the Twins, a lot of that mojo came from Carlos Quentin and Joe Crede, neither of whom will be in the lineup. I like Cleveland's chances of winning 2 out of 3.
The Twins can't take the Royals for granted, however. They come in having won 11 of their last 13 ballgames, and you know they'd like to go out on a high note. We also shouldn't forget what they did to the Tigers in 2006, sweeping them in Detroit over the final weekend to enable the Twins to take the division. They will be sending their 2 best pitchers, Gil Meche and Zach Greinke, to the mound in this series.
So the Twins can't relax yet. But if they can keep up the intensity they showed in the Chicago series, they should be in great shape at the end of the weekend.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
One To Go
Twins 3, White Sox 2
The Twins are rising to the occasion of these big games. Tonight the bullpen pitched 4 scoreless innings, and the Twins won a one-run, low-scoring game. If you're thinking that it seems like a long time since that's happened, you're right. Not only was this the Twins' first 1-run victory since August 27th (precisely 4 weeks ago), it was the first time they won a game in which they scored fewer than 4 runs since August 21st, one day shy of 5 weeks ago.
Nick Blackburn was definitely shaky, and Gardy was probably wise to take him out of the game when he did. Though he was almost constantly in trouble, Blackburn managed to avoid disaster by allowing his only 2 XBH with the bases empty. Both of those hitters wound up scoring, but overall it was a decent performance.
Of course it was nerve-wracking to entrust the game to the bullpen, but Gardy went with the right guys tonight. Craig Breslow needed just 7 pitches to get through the 6th, Boof Bonser gave up a soft single but was otherwise good in 12-pitch 7th, Jose Mijares went through the 4-6 hitters 1-2-3 with just 12 pitches. Of the 4 innings, the 9th was the most exciting (agonizing?). Joe Nathan allowed a drive to the gap in left-center by AJ Pierzynski that Carlos Gomez was able to run down with his afterburner speed. Nathan then walked Nick Swisher on 4 pitches to put the tying run on with 2 out before getting the final out on a routine grounder.
The Twins' attack tonight consisted of 9 singles and 4 walks. Luckily, the speedsters got on base 5 times and scored 2 of the runs. Joe Mauer went 0-4, but 2 of his outs produced runs. Gomez laid down yet another bunt single, giving the Twins nearly double the number of bunt hits of the 2nd place team in the Majors. Definitely a stereotypical Twins offensive performance tonight - good enough for the win thanks to solid pitching and a strong defense.
The series is won, but no one can be satisfied with that. The White Sox' magic number is stuck at 5, but the Twins' is 6. A win tomorrow night puts the Twins ahead of the Sox and puts them as much in control of their own destiny as they can be at this point. There have been so many series this year in which the Twins won the first 2 games but failed to accomplish the sweep. This time it has to be different. The Twins are surging, the Sox are reeling - finish them!
The Twins are rising to the occasion of these big games. Tonight the bullpen pitched 4 scoreless innings, and the Twins won a one-run, low-scoring game. If you're thinking that it seems like a long time since that's happened, you're right. Not only was this the Twins' first 1-run victory since August 27th (precisely 4 weeks ago), it was the first time they won a game in which they scored fewer than 4 runs since August 21st, one day shy of 5 weeks ago.
Nick Blackburn was definitely shaky, and Gardy was probably wise to take him out of the game when he did. Though he was almost constantly in trouble, Blackburn managed to avoid disaster by allowing his only 2 XBH with the bases empty. Both of those hitters wound up scoring, but overall it was a decent performance.
Of course it was nerve-wracking to entrust the game to the bullpen, but Gardy went with the right guys tonight. Craig Breslow needed just 7 pitches to get through the 6th, Boof Bonser gave up a soft single but was otherwise good in 12-pitch 7th, Jose Mijares went through the 4-6 hitters 1-2-3 with just 12 pitches. Of the 4 innings, the 9th was the most exciting (agonizing?). Joe Nathan allowed a drive to the gap in left-center by AJ Pierzynski that Carlos Gomez was able to run down with his afterburner speed. Nathan then walked Nick Swisher on 4 pitches to put the tying run on with 2 out before getting the final out on a routine grounder.
The Twins' attack tonight consisted of 9 singles and 4 walks. Luckily, the speedsters got on base 5 times and scored 2 of the runs. Joe Mauer went 0-4, but 2 of his outs produced runs. Gomez laid down yet another bunt single, giving the Twins nearly double the number of bunt hits of the 2nd place team in the Majors. Definitely a stereotypical Twins offensive performance tonight - good enough for the win thanks to solid pitching and a strong defense.
The series is won, but no one can be satisfied with that. The White Sox' magic number is stuck at 5, but the Twins' is 6. A win tomorrow night puts the Twins ahead of the Sox and puts them as much in control of their own destiny as they can be at this point. There have been so many series this year in which the Twins won the first 2 games but failed to accomplish the sweep. This time it has to be different. The Twins are surging, the Sox are reeling - finish them!
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, July 7, 2008
An Amazing Weekend
Twins 12, Indians 3
Twins 9, Indians 6
Twins 4, Indians 3
It's hard to believe anyone could have a better weekend than the Twins just did, but I can say I did. My daughter, Cady, was born just after midnight on Saturday, and it's been amazing to get to know her over the last 48 hours. It's been exhausting as well, and I certainly didn't get a chance to watch all the games this weekend. It was a pleasure, though, to stagger home from the hospital and check the box scores.
I thought Friday night's game would be telling. The Indians were coming in on such on offensive slide. If they couldn't beat Livan Hernandez, who were they going to beat? If Livan couldn't shut down the Indians, what good was he? Well, he shut them down just fine, putting up a fine line of 6 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 4 K. He gave up all 3 R on 2 HR. Anybody want him? Meanwhile, the Twins absolutely demolished Paul Byrd for the second time in a row, disrupting his ludicrously good career numbers at the Metrodome. Delmon Young continues to pull the ball with authority, and Nick Punto is showing himself to be at least as valuable as Brendan Harris at the plate (while being far superior in the field).
I was disappointed to see Slowey have a bad inning (especially since he's one of the anchors of my fantasy team), but it was great that Gardy now has the confidence in him to let him work through it - he eventually earned the win despite allowing 5 ER. After giving up all 5 R over the first 10 batters, Slowey allowed only 1 baserunner the remaining 4.2 IP he was out there. In this one, the Twins used 8 BB to fuel their offense - the type of patience we saw all the time in late May. Gardy revealed his revised lineup vs. LHP, using Harris in a platoon at 3B and Craig Monroe at DH. Interesting that Denard Span was left in there against the lefty, but he did just fine.
On Sunday, facing one of the AL's best in Cliff Lee, I was just hoping Glen Perkins could keep the Twins in the game long enough to give the offense a chance, and that's exactly what he did. He made a mistake to Jhonny Peralta for a 2-run HR, but otherwise had another effective and efficient outing, lasting 7 IP with a 1.14 WHIP. Span keyed the Twins' comeback with 2 excellent ABs against a tough LHP: a leadoff 3B in the 6th, putting himself in position to score the 1st run on a ground out by Alexi Casilla, and a bases loaded BB in the 7th that forced in the tying run.
The Twins are playing incredibly well right now - you just get the feeling that they're never out of a game no matter how many runs they give up, or how much the lineup is being fooled by the opponent's starter. They've won with pitching, power, speed, defense and patience at the plate. With the Boston loss last night, the Twins are just 0.5 games back in the Wild Card standings, as well as just 1 game out in the Central Division.
Span vs. Gomez
Span showed everyone what he's been up to in Rochester over the past 2 months. In 6 starts this week, we went 7 for 17 with 3 2B, 3B, 5 BB and 4 K, raising his season line to .313/.411/.417. Carlos Gomez had a pretty good week too, thanks mostly to his series vs. the Tigers. He went 9 for 26 with 2 2B, 2 BB and 7 K. Both showed tremendous range in the outfield, turning hits into outs and doubles into singles.
Even with both of them having very good offensive weeks, Span's superior ability to draw walks resulted in a .545 OBP for the week vs. .393 for Gomez. Span's approach is going to get him on base more than Gomez. They should swap spots in the batting order, so that Span is getting the extra AB each game. This week alone, that switch might have resulted in 1-2 extra base-runners in front of Mauer and Morneau. I hope to see that change this week, before Michael Cuddyer's return from the DL muddies the waters.
Twins 9, Indians 6
Twins 4, Indians 3
It's hard to believe anyone could have a better weekend than the Twins just did, but I can say I did. My daughter, Cady, was born just after midnight on Saturday, and it's been amazing to get to know her over the last 48 hours. It's been exhausting as well, and I certainly didn't get a chance to watch all the games this weekend. It was a pleasure, though, to stagger home from the hospital and check the box scores.
I thought Friday night's game would be telling. The Indians were coming in on such on offensive slide. If they couldn't beat Livan Hernandez, who were they going to beat? If Livan couldn't shut down the Indians, what good was he? Well, he shut them down just fine, putting up a fine line of 6 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 4 K. He gave up all 3 R on 2 HR. Anybody want him? Meanwhile, the Twins absolutely demolished Paul Byrd for the second time in a row, disrupting his ludicrously good career numbers at the Metrodome. Delmon Young continues to pull the ball with authority, and Nick Punto is showing himself to be at least as valuable as Brendan Harris at the plate (while being far superior in the field).
I was disappointed to see Slowey have a bad inning (especially since he's one of the anchors of my fantasy team), but it was great that Gardy now has the confidence in him to let him work through it - he eventually earned the win despite allowing 5 ER. After giving up all 5 R over the first 10 batters, Slowey allowed only 1 baserunner the remaining 4.2 IP he was out there. In this one, the Twins used 8 BB to fuel their offense - the type of patience we saw all the time in late May. Gardy revealed his revised lineup vs. LHP, using Harris in a platoon at 3B and Craig Monroe at DH. Interesting that Denard Span was left in there against the lefty, but he did just fine.
On Sunday, facing one of the AL's best in Cliff Lee, I was just hoping Glen Perkins could keep the Twins in the game long enough to give the offense a chance, and that's exactly what he did. He made a mistake to Jhonny Peralta for a 2-run HR, but otherwise had another effective and efficient outing, lasting 7 IP with a 1.14 WHIP. Span keyed the Twins' comeback with 2 excellent ABs against a tough LHP: a leadoff 3B in the 6th, putting himself in position to score the 1st run on a ground out by Alexi Casilla, and a bases loaded BB in the 7th that forced in the tying run.
The Twins are playing incredibly well right now - you just get the feeling that they're never out of a game no matter how many runs they give up, or how much the lineup is being fooled by the opponent's starter. They've won with pitching, power, speed, defense and patience at the plate. With the Boston loss last night, the Twins are just 0.5 games back in the Wild Card standings, as well as just 1 game out in the Central Division.
Span vs. Gomez
Span showed everyone what he's been up to in Rochester over the past 2 months. In 6 starts this week, we went 7 for 17 with 3 2B, 3B, 5 BB and 4 K, raising his season line to .313/.411/.417. Carlos Gomez had a pretty good week too, thanks mostly to his series vs. the Tigers. He went 9 for 26 with 2 2B, 2 BB and 7 K. Both showed tremendous range in the outfield, turning hits into outs and doubles into singles.
Even with both of them having very good offensive weeks, Span's superior ability to draw walks resulted in a .545 OBP for the week vs. .393 for Gomez. Span's approach is going to get him on base more than Gomez. They should swap spots in the batting order, so that Span is getting the extra AB each game. This week alone, that switch might have resulted in 1-2 extra base-runners in front of Mauer and Morneau. I hope to see that change this week, before Michael Cuddyer's return from the DL muddies the waters.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Range Factor
Twins 7, Tigers 0
Nick Blackburn bounced back strongly from his worst start of the season, throwing 7 shutout innings in the rubber game of the Twins' series with Detroit. He allowed just 3 H and 1 BB while striking out 4. He never looked intimidated at all by the hot-hitting lineup he was facing. If he can double up on his first half numbers over the rest of the season, he's got a good chance of finishing the year with an ERA under 4.00, a winning record, and close to 200 IP. That would garner him quite a bit of ROY consideration, something few of us would have anticipated going into the season.
I want to point out the results of this last trip through the Twins' rotation:
Livan Hernandez: 7 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 4 BB, 5 K
Kevin Slowey: 9 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 8 K
Glen Perkins: 6.1 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 7 K
Scott Baker: 6 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 5 K
Blackburn: 7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 4 K
Livan is clearly the weak link. On Friday, he faces a Cleveland Indians lineup that has produced just 25 runs in the last 7 games (about 3.6 runs/game). If Livan can't hold them down, he can't be expected to contain any AL team. The other thing you should notice about the last trip through the rotation is that everybody pitched at least 6 innings. Definitely no longer a need for 7 men in the bullpen.
Blackburn was aided by a lineup which featured vastly greater range than that of the one that took the field behind him last Friday. Denard Span covers a lot more ground in RF than Michael Cuddyer, and during the game he was able to cut off 2 balls headed for the gap, saving at least one run for Blackburn and one for Jesse Crain, who allowed one honest hit and one cheap one (Placido Polanco's high chopper off the plate) in his 1 IP. Span had another pretty good game, doubling for the 3rd straight day and scoring 2 R while hitting 2 balls very sharply off LHP Casey Fossum. But he earns one demerit for failing to get his attempted sacrifice bunt far enough away from the catcher in the 3rd, and a second demerit for going from 2nd to 3rd on a grounder to his right with no one out in the 6th. He got away with it in each case (this time), but the base-running play is something I hope we never see from him again.
Carlos Gomez is having one of his high-functioning periods. He's like a slot machine that pays out just enough to keep you dropping quarters in. He reached base 3 more times in the game, finishing the series 7 for 13 with 2 2B, 2 BB and 2 K and scoring a run in each game. Both of his doubles were grounders right over the bag at 3rd, and he had a couple of bunt hits and IF hits as well, so I don't know that he's made much of an adjustment in his game - things just worked out very well for him in the series. It would be great to see him keep it up. Leading off the game, he also demonstrated the only time it is acceptable to dive into first base: when someone is trying to tag you rather than beat you to the bag. Otherwise, it is always better to run through the bag, something Nick Punto reminded us that he will never learn on his IF hit Tuesday night.
Punto saved Blackburn a run when he made a spectacular diving stop and glove-hand shovel to a sprawling Alexi Casilla for a force out at second base to end the 3rd inning. One has to wonder if such a sensational play had some influence on the 5-run inning that followed in the bottom half. It's certainly not a ball that Brendan Harris would have been able to reach. As long as Punto produces even marginally at the plate, I think he should be starting every game at SS - his range superiority over Harris is that important.
Delmon Young also had an encouraging series, going 4-11 with a BB and 2 2B. All three of his hits on Wednesday were balls he got out in front of the plate and pulled with authority. If he can stay balanced enough to still recognize and reach off-speed pitches, this approach will serve him and the Twins very well in the 2nd half.
I have an All-Star post coming later today. After that - we'll see. My wife is in labor, so things are about to change drastically around here later today (I'm only writing this because I'm too excited to sleep!). I hope I don't go the way of Batgirl. I don't think I will - she's so much more creative than me, I think my entries must take a fraction of the time to compose. I'll try to at least comment on each series as we go forward.
Nick Blackburn bounced back strongly from his worst start of the season, throwing 7 shutout innings in the rubber game of the Twins' series with Detroit. He allowed just 3 H and 1 BB while striking out 4. He never looked intimidated at all by the hot-hitting lineup he was facing. If he can double up on his first half numbers over the rest of the season, he's got a good chance of finishing the year with an ERA under 4.00, a winning record, and close to 200 IP. That would garner him quite a bit of ROY consideration, something few of us would have anticipated going into the season.
I want to point out the results of this last trip through the Twins' rotation:
Livan Hernandez: 7 IP, 4 ER, 7 H, 4 BB, 5 K
Kevin Slowey: 9 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 0 BB, 8 K
Glen Perkins: 6.1 IP, 2 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 7 K
Scott Baker: 6 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 5 K
Blackburn: 7 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 1 BB, 4 K
Livan is clearly the weak link. On Friday, he faces a Cleveland Indians lineup that has produced just 25 runs in the last 7 games (about 3.6 runs/game). If Livan can't hold them down, he can't be expected to contain any AL team. The other thing you should notice about the last trip through the rotation is that everybody pitched at least 6 innings. Definitely no longer a need for 7 men in the bullpen.
Blackburn was aided by a lineup which featured vastly greater range than that of the one that took the field behind him last Friday. Denard Span covers a lot more ground in RF than Michael Cuddyer, and during the game he was able to cut off 2 balls headed for the gap, saving at least one run for Blackburn and one for Jesse Crain, who allowed one honest hit and one cheap one (Placido Polanco's high chopper off the plate) in his 1 IP. Span had another pretty good game, doubling for the 3rd straight day and scoring 2 R while hitting 2 balls very sharply off LHP Casey Fossum. But he earns one demerit for failing to get his attempted sacrifice bunt far enough away from the catcher in the 3rd, and a second demerit for going from 2nd to 3rd on a grounder to his right with no one out in the 6th. He got away with it in each case (this time), but the base-running play is something I hope we never see from him again.
Carlos Gomez is having one of his high-functioning periods. He's like a slot machine that pays out just enough to keep you dropping quarters in. He reached base 3 more times in the game, finishing the series 7 for 13 with 2 2B, 2 BB and 2 K and scoring a run in each game. Both of his doubles were grounders right over the bag at 3rd, and he had a couple of bunt hits and IF hits as well, so I don't know that he's made much of an adjustment in his game - things just worked out very well for him in the series. It would be great to see him keep it up. Leading off the game, he also demonstrated the only time it is acceptable to dive into first base: when someone is trying to tag you rather than beat you to the bag. Otherwise, it is always better to run through the bag, something Nick Punto reminded us that he will never learn on his IF hit Tuesday night.
Punto saved Blackburn a run when he made a spectacular diving stop and glove-hand shovel to a sprawling Alexi Casilla for a force out at second base to end the 3rd inning. One has to wonder if such a sensational play had some influence on the 5-run inning that followed in the bottom half. It's certainly not a ball that Brendan Harris would have been able to reach. As long as Punto produces even marginally at the plate, I think he should be starting every game at SS - his range superiority over Harris is that important.
Delmon Young also had an encouraging series, going 4-11 with a BB and 2 2B. All three of his hits on Wednesday were balls he got out in front of the plate and pulled with authority. If he can stay balanced enough to still recognize and reach off-speed pitches, this approach will serve him and the Twins very well in the 2nd half.
I have an All-Star post coming later today. After that - we'll see. My wife is in labor, so things are about to change drastically around here later today (I'm only writing this because I'm too excited to sleep!). I hope I don't go the way of Batgirl. I don't think I will - she's so much more creative than me, I think my entries must take a fraction of the time to compose. I'll try to at least comment on each series as we go forward.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Something Went Right
Twins 6, Tigers 4
This was an important game for the Twins to win, stopping the Tigers' winning streak at 6 games and keeping pace with the White Sox. For as dreadful as Nate Robertson was, and as effective as Scott Baker was for most of the night, I had an uneasy feeling most of the night, thanks to the Tigers' late comeback on Monday. This time, the bullpen held.
The key to this game was the severe damage done by Craig Monroe, who finally lit up a LHP. He got his old buddy Robertson for a sharp single leading off the second, then drilled a 3-run HR to CF in the 4th. Monroe also drew a walk later in the game. His success vs. LHP is going to be crucial for the Twins in the 2nd half of the season.
Mike Redmond was catching tonight, in the 3rd spot in the lineup. Once again, he made that decision look good by going 2-4 with 2 RBI. I think we're to the point now where Redmond batting 3rd no longer requires any special attention.
This game would have been much easier on my blood pressure had the Twins done 2 little things better.
First - After Carlos Gomez and Alexi Casilla reached to start the game and quickly moved to 3rd and 2nd on a wild pitch, the Twins were set up for a big first inning. Redmond did his job with the infield back, hitting a grounder to 1st. While Casilla correctly scooted straight over to 3rd, Gomez held up for a few seconds, long enough to get himself thrown out at the plate. That gaffe cost the Twins 2 runs - Justin Morneau's grounder to 2nd would have easily scored Casilla had there been just one out. Think how much easier it would have been to watch the late innings had the score been 8-3 instead of 6-3!
I'm sure a lot of folks will say that this was a good night for Gomez, pointing to his 2-3 line w/2 BB(!), but I would ask them to calculate whether the positive contributions he made were sufficient to make up for the 2 runs he pissed away in the first.
By the way, Gomez and Delmon Young combined for 7 walks in the entire month of June. Tonight, they had 3 walks between them. That may be a sign that the Tigers' pitchers didn't have good command tonight...
Second - Baker pitched a terrific game - except to Marcus Thames. The Twins made him look pretty silly last night, striking him out 4 straight times after his 1st-pitch HR in the 2nd. Baker had two strikes on him in the 4th and the 6th, but each time delivered way too good a pitch, out where Thames could get his arms extended. The first hit moved Carlos Guillen over to the 3rd, where he could score on Baker's wild pitch. The second hit bounced off the top of the wall and into the seats for a 2-run HR. Brian Bass showed us how it's done in the 8th, striking him out with a sinker down-and-in. I hope the Twins will be thinking inside to Thames tomorrow.
A very impressive 2nd game back for Denard Span. He went 1-2 with his second 2B and a BB, SB and a sacrifice. Just adding 2 games to his April stats raises his line to .297/.366/.351. He should have gotten more ABs back then.
Big game tomorrow afternoon - the Twins already could have had this series sewn up, but they need a win to make sure they stop the Tigers' momentum. It's up to Nick Blackburn to show that he can bounce back from a tough outing last Friday.
This was an important game for the Twins to win, stopping the Tigers' winning streak at 6 games and keeping pace with the White Sox. For as dreadful as Nate Robertson was, and as effective as Scott Baker was for most of the night, I had an uneasy feeling most of the night, thanks to the Tigers' late comeback on Monday. This time, the bullpen held.
The key to this game was the severe damage done by Craig Monroe, who finally lit up a LHP. He got his old buddy Robertson for a sharp single leading off the second, then drilled a 3-run HR to CF in the 4th. Monroe also drew a walk later in the game. His success vs. LHP is going to be crucial for the Twins in the 2nd half of the season.
Mike Redmond was catching tonight, in the 3rd spot in the lineup. Once again, he made that decision look good by going 2-4 with 2 RBI. I think we're to the point now where Redmond batting 3rd no longer requires any special attention.
This game would have been much easier on my blood pressure had the Twins done 2 little things better.
First - After Carlos Gomez and Alexi Casilla reached to start the game and quickly moved to 3rd and 2nd on a wild pitch, the Twins were set up for a big first inning. Redmond did his job with the infield back, hitting a grounder to 1st. While Casilla correctly scooted straight over to 3rd, Gomez held up for a few seconds, long enough to get himself thrown out at the plate. That gaffe cost the Twins 2 runs - Justin Morneau's grounder to 2nd would have easily scored Casilla had there been just one out. Think how much easier it would have been to watch the late innings had the score been 8-3 instead of 6-3!
I'm sure a lot of folks will say that this was a good night for Gomez, pointing to his 2-3 line w/2 BB(!), but I would ask them to calculate whether the positive contributions he made were sufficient to make up for the 2 runs he pissed away in the first.
By the way, Gomez and Delmon Young combined for 7 walks in the entire month of June. Tonight, they had 3 walks between them. That may be a sign that the Tigers' pitchers didn't have good command tonight...
Second - Baker pitched a terrific game - except to Marcus Thames. The Twins made him look pretty silly last night, striking him out 4 straight times after his 1st-pitch HR in the 2nd. Baker had two strikes on him in the 4th and the 6th, but each time delivered way too good a pitch, out where Thames could get his arms extended. The first hit moved Carlos Guillen over to the 3rd, where he could score on Baker's wild pitch. The second hit bounced off the top of the wall and into the seats for a 2-run HR. Brian Bass showed us how it's done in the 8th, striking him out with a sinker down-and-in. I hope the Twins will be thinking inside to Thames tomorrow.
A very impressive 2nd game back for Denard Span. He went 1-2 with his second 2B and a BB, SB and a sacrifice. Just adding 2 games to his April stats raises his line to .297/.366/.351. He should have gotten more ABs back then.
Big game tomorrow afternoon - the Twins already could have had this series sewn up, but they need a win to make sure they stop the Tigers' momentum. It's up to Nick Blackburn to show that he can bounce back from a tough outing last Friday.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Yankess Go Home
Yankees 6, Twins 5
Yankees 7, Twins 6 (12 Innings)
Twins 5, Yankees 1
Twins 6, Yankees 5
I guess we shouldn't be surprised that two approximately .500 teams split a 4-game series. But as each Yankee came to the plate for the first time on Friday night, and the broadcasters reported that they all had .320 career BAs vs. the Twins, it accentuated what an accomplishment it is for the Twins to not lose a series to the Yanks, even if it was at home. The Twins performed quite well, overall, and had Nick Punto fielded that grounder in the 3rd inning on Saturday, it might have been a 3-1 series win for the Twins.
Glen Perkins simply didn't have it on Friday night. He couldn't locate his pitches, and not in the safe, "Oh well, I walked him" way, but in the "I fell behind and then threw a strike that was up and over the plate, so I gave up 5 ER in 4 IP with a 3.00 WHIP" way. This does not concern me. He was so good in his first 4 starts, anybody can have one bad one, especially a young starter like Perkins. If he keeps throwing good games 80% of the time, I can't complain.
Boof Bonser wasn't awful in his last start. Had his defense been perfect, he might have had an opportunity to finish the 6th inning and get a quality start. However, with 3 BB and only 2 K in 5+ IP, it certainly wasn't enough to stave off his demotion. Hopefully he'll be able to let it go a little more from the 'pen, and his K/9 totals can work their way up.
The biggest surprise of Blackburn's start was the 3 BB - goes to show what a patient team the Yanks can be. Still, he looked well on his way to another quality start before he was hit in the nose by a line drive. Looks like he'll be OK for Friday in Chicago.
On Monday, the Twins won once again in spite of Livan Hernandez. He gave up double-digit hits again in 6+ IP, and his season ERA is fast-approaching 5.00. If Francisco Liriano continues to perform well in AAA, it should become apparent very soon that the Twins will be better off with him in the rotation than Livan.
The bullpen performed brilliantly under considerable duress. In 19.2 IP (almost 5 IP/game!), they allowed just 3 ER on 19 H and 4 BB for a 1.17 WHIP. Craig Breslow had an impressive Twins debut, striking out 3 in 1.2 perfect innings. Joe Nathan pitched 3 consecutive days and did not collapse. Word is the bullpen may expand to 13 members on Thursday when Scott Baker returns from the DL. I don't think that's necessary, especially if the starters resume their recent habit of pitching deep into games.
The defense made just one error in the series. Too bad it proved to be so costly.
The Twins offense continued to carry the team, scoring 5 or more runs in each game. Michael Cuddyer led the way, going 9-18 with a 2B, 3B, HR and 6 RBI. Delmon Young was right behind him, going 8-18 with 4 2B and 4 RBI. Alexi Casilla continued to produce from the #2 spot, going 5-15 with 4 R, 3 RBI and 3 BB. Joe Mauer finally broke his HR drought. The only part of the lineup that disappointed was Carlos Gomez, who went 3-20 with 6 K, and only 1 R and 1 RBI. Hopefully he can shake it off and get back to kicking ass against the Orioles.
Yankees 7, Twins 6 (12 Innings)
Twins 5, Yankees 1
Twins 6, Yankees 5
I guess we shouldn't be surprised that two approximately .500 teams split a 4-game series. But as each Yankee came to the plate for the first time on Friday night, and the broadcasters reported that they all had .320 career BAs vs. the Twins, it accentuated what an accomplishment it is for the Twins to not lose a series to the Yanks, even if it was at home. The Twins performed quite well, overall, and had Nick Punto fielded that grounder in the 3rd inning on Saturday, it might have been a 3-1 series win for the Twins.
Glen Perkins simply didn't have it on Friday night. He couldn't locate his pitches, and not in the safe, "Oh well, I walked him" way, but in the "I fell behind and then threw a strike that was up and over the plate, so I gave up 5 ER in 4 IP with a 3.00 WHIP" way. This does not concern me. He was so good in his first 4 starts, anybody can have one bad one, especially a young starter like Perkins. If he keeps throwing good games 80% of the time, I can't complain.
Boof Bonser wasn't awful in his last start. Had his defense been perfect, he might have had an opportunity to finish the 6th inning and get a quality start. However, with 3 BB and only 2 K in 5+ IP, it certainly wasn't enough to stave off his demotion. Hopefully he'll be able to let it go a little more from the 'pen, and his K/9 totals can work their way up.
The biggest surprise of Blackburn's start was the 3 BB - goes to show what a patient team the Yanks can be. Still, he looked well on his way to another quality start before he was hit in the nose by a line drive. Looks like he'll be OK for Friday in Chicago.
On Monday, the Twins won once again in spite of Livan Hernandez. He gave up double-digit hits again in 6+ IP, and his season ERA is fast-approaching 5.00. If Francisco Liriano continues to perform well in AAA, it should become apparent very soon that the Twins will be better off with him in the rotation than Livan.
The bullpen performed brilliantly under considerable duress. In 19.2 IP (almost 5 IP/game!), they allowed just 3 ER on 19 H and 4 BB for a 1.17 WHIP. Craig Breslow had an impressive Twins debut, striking out 3 in 1.2 perfect innings. Joe Nathan pitched 3 consecutive days and did not collapse. Word is the bullpen may expand to 13 members on Thursday when Scott Baker returns from the DL. I don't think that's necessary, especially if the starters resume their recent habit of pitching deep into games.
The defense made just one error in the series. Too bad it proved to be so costly.
The Twins offense continued to carry the team, scoring 5 or more runs in each game. Michael Cuddyer led the way, going 9-18 with a 2B, 3B, HR and 6 RBI. Delmon Young was right behind him, going 8-18 with 4 2B and 4 RBI. Alexi Casilla continued to produce from the #2 spot, going 5-15 with 4 R, 3 RBI and 3 BB. Joe Mauer finally broke his HR drought. The only part of the lineup that disappointed was Carlos Gomez, who went 3-20 with 6 K, and only 1 R and 1 RBI. Hopefully he can shake it off and get back to kicking ass against the Orioles.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Bad Breaks
Twins 11, Rangers 4
Rangers 10, Twins 1
Rangers 8, Twins 7 (10 innings)
Ugh. Another potential winning homestand thrown away by poor defense. Just as giving away base runners proved fatal against a good pitching team like the Blue Jays, giving extra outs is fatal against a good hitting team like the Rangers. The Twins gave Texas 10 unearned runs over the 4 games. Had they played solid defense, they would have won 3 of 4 (without having to go to extra innings), and might have kept Wednesday's game close.
Twins pitchers repeatedly failed to pick up their defenders. Bonser, Perkins and Blackburn were all cruising for 5-6 IP, but once their fielders let a play slip, they were all quickly chased from the game. They need to learn to bear down and keep the ball out of the middle of the plate when they get into tough situations.
Alexi Casilla had a terrific series at the plate (.333/.412/.600, HR, 6 RBI, 5 R)while Brendan Harris sat in the dog house, but his 2 errors led to 7 of the unearned runs.
Delmon Young kept the XBH parade going for the first couple games of the series, but he had a brutal afternoon on Thursday, going 0-5 and stranding 7 base-runners. He hit into 2 DPs, including one with the bases loaded in the 1st.
I'm not sure why Craig Monroe (0-4, 2 K) got the start today. The Twins will be facing 2 lefties over the weekend in Detroit, so he'll most likely get 2 starts there. I'm also not sure why Justin Morneau got the day off from the field, with a scheduled off day coming on Monday. Michael Cuddyer made a costly error at 1st in his place, and also gave up an infield hit in the 6th (which led to a run) which an actual first baseman might have had an easier time fielding.
The Rangers are a stupendous hitting team, so I don't blame any of the pitchers for giving up hits (the back-door slider Hamilton hit out for the game-winner today was a little up, but it's ridiculous how far he hit it to the opposit field), but the Twins generally had a good approach against their atrocious pitching staff, drawing 20 walks during the 4 games. It's weird to say it, but the piece of the Twins' game that has been the most lacking this month has been defense.
Span vs. Gomez
Gomez had, in my view, his best all-around game of the season today, going 4-5 with a HR, 3 RBI, 2 R, and a sweet diving catch in CF for the 2nd straight game. For the series, he went .467/.529/.867, reaching base in each game, raising his season line to .286/.318/.440.
I've realized that my problem with Gomez isn't so much his approach at the plate (which still needs a lot of work), but the fact that that approach is so glaringly wrong for the leadoff spot. He's drawn 4 more walks (+ 2 HBP) in May than April, but he'll need to show that kind of improvement every month before his isolated discipline is anywhere near where it needs to be to justify getting the most PA of anyone on the team. However, if he took his exact numbers to the bottom of the lineup (anywhere 7-9), I couldn't complain, particularly when he continues to outhit Young.
Span is unquestionably the better leadoff hitter right now. Despite falling off his absurd pace of the past week with an 0-14 over his last 3 games (including 6 K), his AAA line is still a terrific .327/.431/.471. Unfortunately, he's out of the picture for 3-4 weeks, thanks to a broken finger he suffered while attempting a bunt on Tuesday night. That leaves all my eggs precariously in Go-Go's basket.
How exciting (gulp)!
Rangers 10, Twins 1
Rangers 8, Twins 7 (10 innings)
Ugh. Another potential winning homestand thrown away by poor defense. Just as giving away base runners proved fatal against a good pitching team like the Blue Jays, giving extra outs is fatal against a good hitting team like the Rangers. The Twins gave Texas 10 unearned runs over the 4 games. Had they played solid defense, they would have won 3 of 4 (without having to go to extra innings), and might have kept Wednesday's game close.
Twins pitchers repeatedly failed to pick up their defenders. Bonser, Perkins and Blackburn were all cruising for 5-6 IP, but once their fielders let a play slip, they were all quickly chased from the game. They need to learn to bear down and keep the ball out of the middle of the plate when they get into tough situations.
Alexi Casilla had a terrific series at the plate (.333/.412/.600, HR, 6 RBI, 5 R)while Brendan Harris sat in the dog house, but his 2 errors led to 7 of the unearned runs.
Delmon Young kept the XBH parade going for the first couple games of the series, but he had a brutal afternoon on Thursday, going 0-5 and stranding 7 base-runners. He hit into 2 DPs, including one with the bases loaded in the 1st.
I'm not sure why Craig Monroe (0-4, 2 K) got the start today. The Twins will be facing 2 lefties over the weekend in Detroit, so he'll most likely get 2 starts there. I'm also not sure why Justin Morneau got the day off from the field, with a scheduled off day coming on Monday. Michael Cuddyer made a costly error at 1st in his place, and also gave up an infield hit in the 6th (which led to a run) which an actual first baseman might have had an easier time fielding.
The Rangers are a stupendous hitting team, so I don't blame any of the pitchers for giving up hits (the back-door slider Hamilton hit out for the game-winner today was a little up, but it's ridiculous how far he hit it to the opposit field), but the Twins generally had a good approach against their atrocious pitching staff, drawing 20 walks during the 4 games. It's weird to say it, but the piece of the Twins' game that has been the most lacking this month has been defense.
Span vs. Gomez
Gomez had, in my view, his best all-around game of the season today, going 4-5 with a HR, 3 RBI, 2 R, and a sweet diving catch in CF for the 2nd straight game. For the series, he went .467/.529/.867, reaching base in each game, raising his season line to .286/.318/.440.
I've realized that my problem with Gomez isn't so much his approach at the plate (which still needs a lot of work), but the fact that that approach is so glaringly wrong for the leadoff spot. He's drawn 4 more walks (+ 2 HBP) in May than April, but he'll need to show that kind of improvement every month before his isolated discipline is anywhere near where it needs to be to justify getting the most PA of anyone on the team. However, if he took his exact numbers to the bottom of the lineup (anywhere 7-9), I couldn't complain, particularly when he continues to outhit Young.
Span is unquestionably the better leadoff hitter right now. Despite falling off his absurd pace of the past week with an 0-14 over his last 3 games (including 6 K), his AAA line is still a terrific .327/.431/.471. Unfortunately, he's out of the picture for 3-4 weeks, thanks to a broken finger he suffered while attempting a bunt on Tuesday night. That leaves all my eggs precariously in Go-Go's basket.
How exciting (gulp)!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Misplaced
Blue Jays 6, Twins 5
Blue Jays 3, Twins 2 (11 innings)
Wellllll, that wasn't so good, was it?
After impressively taking 3 of 4 from the defending World Series champs, the Twins managed to turn this into a losing home stand. And though the Blue Jays pitched pretty well and had many long ABs, the Twins really have their own misplays to blame for the losses. Bad throws, missed fly balls, imprudent baserunning and pitching that was too tentative at times were rampant in the series. Had the Twins been able to clean up even one or two misplays, they likely would have come away with at least one win.
The hitting was actually rather timely. The Twins came back from early deficits in each game and did a good job of forcing the Jays' starters to throw pitches (6.1 IP, for Halladay, is knocking him out early). Sure, a lot of people were stranded, but it usually came on a ball hit well, but right to where a defender could track it down. Another foot here or there and the run column might have looked pretty close to what it was against Boston. Most encouragingly, this series saw the resurgence of Jason Kubel, who, despite his head-down running that got him thrown out at the plate, has re-established himself as someone the Twins can look to to get on base and drive in runs.
Span vs. Gomez vs. Young
I'm not going to quibble too much with Gomez today. Obviously, it was a shame that he got himself caught on the basepaths last night immediately after his speed had forced a hit and error. But I found myself wishing that he was involved in the tight game this afternoon. When he came in late, I was hoping his speed could make a difference somewhere. He gave the ball quite a ride on a 2-strike pitch to end the 10th, and it took a pretty good over-the-shoulder catch by Kevin Mench to keep the game tied.
Every day this week, I check the Rochester box score and throw up my hands in amazement that Denard Span has managed to improve upon his already stratospheric OBP. Tonight he was 2-3 with a BB, raising his season line to a preposterous .369/.470/.536, a 1.006 OPS! He also had an OF assist, though he was caught stealing for the 3rd time. While I suppose Gomez isn't really playing badly enough for Span to take his job over, let me make another proposal:
Delmon Young is hitting .263/.309/.296 for a pathetic .605 OPS. He has played every game this season, and is showing no potential to drive the ball. While Span isn't going to remind anyone of Manny Ramirez, he can surely perform better than Young. Now, with Young being a Rookie-of-the-Year runner-up, he won't be sent to the minors, but he doesn't merit an everyday job, either. So how about a Span/Gomez/Young platoon, with each of them getting about 2/3 of the ABs between LF and CF? The bullpen would probably have to drop to 11 pitchers, which is a dicey proposition at this time, but it's something to think about. Span is just playing too well to stay in AAA much longer.
Speaking of playing well in AAA, Francisco Liriano needed just 93 pitches to complete 8 IP in tonight's game, allowing 7 H and only 1 BB with 4 K. Not enough Ks, but a 1.00 WHIP! Deep into the game! Let's give him a couple more starts to be sure, but it seems like he may finally be starting to put it together.
On to Colorado - how far can Justin Morneau hit the ball at altitude?
Blue Jays 3, Twins 2 (11 innings)
Wellllll, that wasn't so good, was it?
After impressively taking 3 of 4 from the defending World Series champs, the Twins managed to turn this into a losing home stand. And though the Blue Jays pitched pretty well and had many long ABs, the Twins really have their own misplays to blame for the losses. Bad throws, missed fly balls, imprudent baserunning and pitching that was too tentative at times were rampant in the series. Had the Twins been able to clean up even one or two misplays, they likely would have come away with at least one win.
The hitting was actually rather timely. The Twins came back from early deficits in each game and did a good job of forcing the Jays' starters to throw pitches (6.1 IP, for Halladay, is knocking him out early). Sure, a lot of people were stranded, but it usually came on a ball hit well, but right to where a defender could track it down. Another foot here or there and the run column might have looked pretty close to what it was against Boston. Most encouragingly, this series saw the resurgence of Jason Kubel, who, despite his head-down running that got him thrown out at the plate, has re-established himself as someone the Twins can look to to get on base and drive in runs.
Span vs. Gomez vs. Young
I'm not going to quibble too much with Gomez today. Obviously, it was a shame that he got himself caught on the basepaths last night immediately after his speed had forced a hit and error. But I found myself wishing that he was involved in the tight game this afternoon. When he came in late, I was hoping his speed could make a difference somewhere. He gave the ball quite a ride on a 2-strike pitch to end the 10th, and it took a pretty good over-the-shoulder catch by Kevin Mench to keep the game tied.
Every day this week, I check the Rochester box score and throw up my hands in amazement that Denard Span has managed to improve upon his already stratospheric OBP. Tonight he was 2-3 with a BB, raising his season line to a preposterous .369/.470/.536, a 1.006 OPS! He also had an OF assist, though he was caught stealing for the 3rd time. While I suppose Gomez isn't really playing badly enough for Span to take his job over, let me make another proposal:
Delmon Young is hitting .263/.309/.296 for a pathetic .605 OPS. He has played every game this season, and is showing no potential to drive the ball. While Span isn't going to remind anyone of Manny Ramirez, he can surely perform better than Young. Now, with Young being a Rookie-of-the-Year runner-up, he won't be sent to the minors, but he doesn't merit an everyday job, either. So how about a Span/Gomez/Young platoon, with each of them getting about 2/3 of the ABs between LF and CF? The bullpen would probably have to drop to 11 pitchers, which is a dicey proposition at this time, but it's something to think about. Span is just playing too well to stay in AAA much longer.
Speaking of playing well in AAA, Francisco Liriano needed just 93 pitches to complete 8 IP in tonight's game, allowing 7 H and only 1 BB with 4 K. Not enough Ks, but a 1.00 WHIP! Deep into the game! Let's give him a couple more starts to be sure, but it seems like he may finally be starting to put it together.
On to Colorado - how far can Justin Morneau hit the ball at altitude?
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Worn Out
Blue Jays 5, Twins 3
This game was great example of how working counts leads to victory. Both starting pitchers went 5.2 IP. Kevin Slowey needed 107 pitches to get there. Jays starter Litsch needed just 70! The Blue Jays relentlessly battled Slowey until he made mistakes. Both of the walks he allowed came on full counts. Several ABs lasted more than 5 pitches, capped by Scott Rolen's 15-pitch marathon that took Slowey over 100 pitches and set up the 2-out HR by Matt Stairs. Overall, Slowey did a nice job, throwing 2/3 of his pitches for strikes, and coming just 1 out short of a Quality Start.
The grinding continued when the bullpen took over, as the Jays forced 37 pitches from Matt Guerrier in 1.1 IP. The only efficient pitcher was Dennys Reyes, who threw just 3 pitches to 2 batters. Unfortunately, both batters got hits, and he finally allowed his first ER of the season. Brian Bass did a pretty good job in his 2 IP, allowing only 2 BB.
The offense couldn't sustain any rallies tonight. It didn't help that Monroe and Young didn't hit. Monroe's 3 K night may finally bring everyone back to reality regarding his likely effectiveness vs. RHP. What a thrill to see Jason Kubel get a pinch-hit HR! Is he ready to break out? The Twins need him hitting the way he did in the 2nd half last year if they're to have any hope of staying in the Central Race.
Span vs. Gomez
2-4 with a HR seems like a pretty good night for Gomez, but his 2 outs were both Ks, bringing his season total to 39. He also uncorked his 5th error when he needlessly sent a throw on a one-out single into the dugout. Still, his line for the season is now .277/.306/.418 for a .724 OPS. As Nick pointed out earlier, since his benching in Oakland, he's hit .345/.390/.582, with a 13/3 K/BB ratio, and 7 SB in 9 attempts, but he's made 4 errors. Still, clearly an improvement.
Yet I'm amazed again to check the Rochester box score and see that Denard Span is performing even better. Tonight he went 2-3 with a HR, BB, Sac bunt, and SB. His AAA line is now .338/.440/.468 for a .906 OPS(!) Since Gomez' benching in Oakland, Span's combined numbers are .348/.451/.493, with a 16/13 K/BB ratio, 10 SB in 12 attempts, and just 1 error. How much longer can he be denied a spot somewhere in the Major Leagues? If you want to argue that Gomez is still playing better, you certainly can't deny that Span is outplaying Delmon Young.
This game was great example of how working counts leads to victory. Both starting pitchers went 5.2 IP. Kevin Slowey needed 107 pitches to get there. Jays starter Litsch needed just 70! The Blue Jays relentlessly battled Slowey until he made mistakes. Both of the walks he allowed came on full counts. Several ABs lasted more than 5 pitches, capped by Scott Rolen's 15-pitch marathon that took Slowey over 100 pitches and set up the 2-out HR by Matt Stairs. Overall, Slowey did a nice job, throwing 2/3 of his pitches for strikes, and coming just 1 out short of a Quality Start.
The grinding continued when the bullpen took over, as the Jays forced 37 pitches from Matt Guerrier in 1.1 IP. The only efficient pitcher was Dennys Reyes, who threw just 3 pitches to 2 batters. Unfortunately, both batters got hits, and he finally allowed his first ER of the season. Brian Bass did a pretty good job in his 2 IP, allowing only 2 BB.
The offense couldn't sustain any rallies tonight. It didn't help that Monroe and Young didn't hit. Monroe's 3 K night may finally bring everyone back to reality regarding his likely effectiveness vs. RHP. What a thrill to see Jason Kubel get a pinch-hit HR! Is he ready to break out? The Twins need him hitting the way he did in the 2nd half last year if they're to have any hope of staying in the Central Race.
Span vs. Gomez
2-4 with a HR seems like a pretty good night for Gomez, but his 2 outs were both Ks, bringing his season total to 39. He also uncorked his 5th error when he needlessly sent a throw on a one-out single into the dugout. Still, his line for the season is now .277/.306/.418 for a .724 OPS. As Nick pointed out earlier, since his benching in Oakland, he's hit .345/.390/.582, with a 13/3 K/BB ratio, and 7 SB in 9 attempts, but he's made 4 errors. Still, clearly an improvement.
Yet I'm amazed again to check the Rochester box score and see that Denard Span is performing even better. Tonight he went 2-3 with a HR, BB, Sac bunt, and SB. His AAA line is now .338/.440/.468 for a .906 OPS(!) Since Gomez' benching in Oakland, Span's combined numbers are .348/.451/.493, with a 16/13 K/BB ratio, 10 SB in 12 attempts, and just 1 error. How much longer can he be denied a spot somewhere in the Major Leagues? If you want to argue that Gomez is still playing better, you certainly can't deny that Span is outplaying Delmon Young.
Like Magic
Twins 7, Red Sox 3
Looking at the scoreboard, one might think that the Twins really beat up the Red Sox tonight, that Livan Hernandez recovered from a shaky first inning to baffle them the rest of the way.
Not exactly.
True, he gave up all 3 runs on 4 hits in the 1st, then scattered 6 hits and a walk over the remaining 5 IP, earning yet another quality start. But in the 2nd and 3rd innings, sandwiched around the 2 hits and a walk he actually gave up, were 4 balls absolutely scorched right at people: Morneau made a diving stop on Sean Casey, Dustin Pedroia's liner landed right in Livan's glove, Manny Ramirez hit a liner to deep CF that got to Gomez in about 2 seconds, and Varitek ended the 3rd with a liner to deep left. Boston swung the bats well enough to have 4 more hits off Livan, and heaven knows how many more runs would have resulted.
But, at the end of the day, he's tied for he AL lead in wins at 6-1, and his 3.90 ERA looks pretty nice.
Anybody want him?
Juan Rincon did a nice job in relief, allowing just a walk in 2 IP. He was aided by the very special catch Cuddyer made in right field - Pedroia's liner bounced off Micheal's glove, the top of his head, the bill of his cap, and back into his glove. (Pedroia had to be shaking his head after this game.)
I loved the offensive approach vs. Clay Buchholz. He's been struggling with his control, and the Twins decided not to be too aggressive with him. Sure enough, he rewarded their patience with 5 BB in 4.1 IP. Another fine game for Craig Monroe (2 RBI 2B and 2 BB) despite a K - we may never get to see Jason Kubel again. Delmon Young had 2 H and 2 RBI (despite a K). Mauer, Morneau and Cuddyer went 5/10 with 2 BB and 5 R.
Wins like this are exciting, and very encouraging, but I'm not sure winning is sustainable with the overall quality of play of the Twins right now. Livan is very hittable, the offense doesn't hit a lot of XBH, doesn't walk enough, strikes out too much (especially Monroe, Young, Harris and Gomez). I hope this is apparent to Bill Smith, and that he intends to use some of the organization's resources to upgrade various positions as the season moves along.
Span vs. Gomez
Gomez went 1 for 4, and his hit was just like the one from Friday - knee-high on the outside corner, driven into RF. Love it. 2 more K, though, giving him 37 on the season, 4th in the AL. The company he keeps in the top 10 are all swing for the fences guys like Jim Thome, Richie Sexson, and Jack Cust. Since his magical Cycle night in Chicago, he's reached base 6 times in 23 PA (.261 OBP) and struck out 8 times.
Meanwhile, every night I check the Red Wings box score, and every night, Denard Span has gotten on base at least once. Last night, he had his best night of the year, going 3-5 with a 2B and HR. That raised his line to .324/.425/.419, an .844 OPS. If the team really prefers Gomez for 2008, then they need to start shopping Span - with those numbers, he should be worth a decent IF prospect.
Looking at the scoreboard, one might think that the Twins really beat up the Red Sox tonight, that Livan Hernandez recovered from a shaky first inning to baffle them the rest of the way.
Not exactly.
True, he gave up all 3 runs on 4 hits in the 1st, then scattered 6 hits and a walk over the remaining 5 IP, earning yet another quality start. But in the 2nd and 3rd innings, sandwiched around the 2 hits and a walk he actually gave up, were 4 balls absolutely scorched right at people: Morneau made a diving stop on Sean Casey, Dustin Pedroia's liner landed right in Livan's glove, Manny Ramirez hit a liner to deep CF that got to Gomez in about 2 seconds, and Varitek ended the 3rd with a liner to deep left. Boston swung the bats well enough to have 4 more hits off Livan, and heaven knows how many more runs would have resulted.
But, at the end of the day, he's tied for he AL lead in wins at 6-1, and his 3.90 ERA looks pretty nice.
Anybody want him?
Juan Rincon did a nice job in relief, allowing just a walk in 2 IP. He was aided by the very special catch Cuddyer made in right field - Pedroia's liner bounced off Micheal's glove, the top of his head, the bill of his cap, and back into his glove. (Pedroia had to be shaking his head after this game.)
I loved the offensive approach vs. Clay Buchholz. He's been struggling with his control, and the Twins decided not to be too aggressive with him. Sure enough, he rewarded their patience with 5 BB in 4.1 IP. Another fine game for Craig Monroe (2 RBI 2B and 2 BB) despite a K - we may never get to see Jason Kubel again. Delmon Young had 2 H and 2 RBI (despite a K). Mauer, Morneau and Cuddyer went 5/10 with 2 BB and 5 R.
Wins like this are exciting, and very encouraging, but I'm not sure winning is sustainable with the overall quality of play of the Twins right now. Livan is very hittable, the offense doesn't hit a lot of XBH, doesn't walk enough, strikes out too much (especially Monroe, Young, Harris and Gomez). I hope this is apparent to Bill Smith, and that he intends to use some of the organization's resources to upgrade various positions as the season moves along.
Span vs. Gomez
Gomez went 1 for 4, and his hit was just like the one from Friday - knee-high on the outside corner, driven into RF. Love it. 2 more K, though, giving him 37 on the season, 4th in the AL. The company he keeps in the top 10 are all swing for the fences guys like Jim Thome, Richie Sexson, and Jack Cust. Since his magical Cycle night in Chicago, he's reached base 6 times in 23 PA (.261 OBP) and struck out 8 times.
Meanwhile, every night I check the Red Wings box score, and every night, Denard Span has gotten on base at least once. Last night, he had his best night of the year, going 3-5 with a 2B and HR. That raised his line to .324/.425/.419, an .844 OPS. If the team really prefers Gomez for 2008, then they need to start shopping Span - with those numbers, he should be worth a decent IF prospect.
Monday, May 12, 2008
The Power of Pink
Twins 7, Red Sox 6
Red Sox 5, Twins 2
Twins 9, Red Sox 8
It was a bit of a hectic weekend for me. My parents came to visit for Mother's Day, so I spent most of my time with them. Though they are Twins fans as well, we didn't get a chance to watch/listen to any of this weekend's games after about the 6th inning on Friday. Looking up what I've been able to about the games, I'm very pleased that the Twins will have a chance to win this series against arguably the best team in the AL. At worst, it'll be a split, and that would be fine, too.
It was too bad that Boof got lit up on Friday, especially because his defense let him down a bit. Because Mauer lost track of Kevin Youkilis' swinging third strike in the dirt, the Sox were able to score 2 runs they didn't deserve in the second (2nd straight game Boof has had an inning extended on a wild pitch K). In the 5th, the leadoff single deflected off Boof's leg was played with far too little urgency by Harris, I thought. Delmon Young took a terrible route to Mike Lowell's 2-run double - he might have had an opportunity to catch it.
Too bad that Perkins' debut was diminished by the back-to-back HR leading off the 7th, turning a sterling start (6 IP, 1 ER) into merely Quality. Blackburn had what has lately turned into a pretty typical game, allowing 4 R on 9 H in 6 IP. He hurt himself by hitting 2 straight batters to leadoff the 3rd inning. His defense hurt him with a throwing error on the 2nd half of a potentially inning-ending DP in the 4th. Lots of baserunners, but his line could have been better in spite of them.
The bullpen pitched well on Friday, but got touched for 2 R in 3 IP on Saturday and 4 R in 3 IP on Sunday. Only Dennys Reyes escaped unscathed - even Joe Nathan got dinged for 2 R. Still, as their 5+ runs/game in the series proves, the Sox are going to get their hits and runs - they lead the league in BA, OBP and SLG by a healthy margin, and they're 3rd in SB to top it off.
The key to this weekend's wins was that the Twins scored plenty of runs themselves. Mike Lamb, Adam Everett and Craig Monroe all (finally) contributed key hits. I'm not sure what Jason Kubel was doing in the lineup on Friday vs. LHP Lester. He came into the game 4-24 vs. lefties. Between Lester and reliever Okajima, that line is now 4-28. If he's not careful, Kubel is going to play himself right out of the lineup.
Perhaps most satisfying was the performance from Carlos Gomez. He reached base in every game, delivered what I consider to be his most impressive hit of the season (a line-drive RBI single to right on a pitch knee-high on the outside corner - that's right, go with it!), and extended the Twins' improbable comeback against elite closer John Papelbon in the most improbable way - he laid off 3 straight pitches out of the zone after falling behind 1-2. He then stole second to get himself into position to score the winning run. He drew his 5th walk of the year the following night.
I'll be watching closely to see whether Gomez has made a real change in his approach. If he thinks about his ABs the way Denard Span does, his superior tools should easily lead him to better results. Through the weekend, by the way, Span was hitting .304/.415/.348, 13 BB/15 K, 11/13 SB, hopefully raising his trade value if nothing else.
New Additions
Pat Neshek will have to go to the DL, and Nick Punto will be joining him. Neshek is likely done for the year, a huge blow to the depth of the bullpen. Bobby Korecky will likely stick around in the bullpen, at least until Scott Baker is ready to come back. In place of Punto the Twins recalled Alexi Casilla. While his BA has not been impressive at Rochester (.219), his OBP has been excellent (.350), especially considering how few hits he has. He has 18 BB/18 K through 32 games. He's got pretty good speed and a strong arm, so his ability should be adequate to replace Punto.
Red Sox 5, Twins 2
Twins 9, Red Sox 8
It was a bit of a hectic weekend for me. My parents came to visit for Mother's Day, so I spent most of my time with them. Though they are Twins fans as well, we didn't get a chance to watch/listen to any of this weekend's games after about the 6th inning on Friday. Looking up what I've been able to about the games, I'm very pleased that the Twins will have a chance to win this series against arguably the best team in the AL. At worst, it'll be a split, and that would be fine, too.
It was too bad that Boof got lit up on Friday, especially because his defense let him down a bit. Because Mauer lost track of Kevin Youkilis' swinging third strike in the dirt, the Sox were able to score 2 runs they didn't deserve in the second (2nd straight game Boof has had an inning extended on a wild pitch K). In the 5th, the leadoff single deflected off Boof's leg was played with far too little urgency by Harris, I thought. Delmon Young took a terrible route to Mike Lowell's 2-run double - he might have had an opportunity to catch it.
Too bad that Perkins' debut was diminished by the back-to-back HR leading off the 7th, turning a sterling start (6 IP, 1 ER) into merely Quality. Blackburn had what has lately turned into a pretty typical game, allowing 4 R on 9 H in 6 IP. He hurt himself by hitting 2 straight batters to leadoff the 3rd inning. His defense hurt him with a throwing error on the 2nd half of a potentially inning-ending DP in the 4th. Lots of baserunners, but his line could have been better in spite of them.
The bullpen pitched well on Friday, but got touched for 2 R in 3 IP on Saturday and 4 R in 3 IP on Sunday. Only Dennys Reyes escaped unscathed - even Joe Nathan got dinged for 2 R. Still, as their 5+ runs/game in the series proves, the Sox are going to get their hits and runs - they lead the league in BA, OBP and SLG by a healthy margin, and they're 3rd in SB to top it off.
The key to this weekend's wins was that the Twins scored plenty of runs themselves. Mike Lamb, Adam Everett and Craig Monroe all (finally) contributed key hits. I'm not sure what Jason Kubel was doing in the lineup on Friday vs. LHP Lester. He came into the game 4-24 vs. lefties. Between Lester and reliever Okajima, that line is now 4-28. If he's not careful, Kubel is going to play himself right out of the lineup.
Perhaps most satisfying was the performance from Carlos Gomez. He reached base in every game, delivered what I consider to be his most impressive hit of the season (a line-drive RBI single to right on a pitch knee-high on the outside corner - that's right, go with it!), and extended the Twins' improbable comeback against elite closer John Papelbon in the most improbable way - he laid off 3 straight pitches out of the zone after falling behind 1-2. He then stole second to get himself into position to score the winning run. He drew his 5th walk of the year the following night.
I'll be watching closely to see whether Gomez has made a real change in his approach. If he thinks about his ABs the way Denard Span does, his superior tools should easily lead him to better results. Through the weekend, by the way, Span was hitting .304/.415/.348, 13 BB/15 K, 11/13 SB, hopefully raising his trade value if nothing else.
New Additions
Pat Neshek will have to go to the DL, and Nick Punto will be joining him. Neshek is likely done for the year, a huge blow to the depth of the bullpen. Bobby Korecky will likely stick around in the bullpen, at least until Scott Baker is ready to come back. In place of Punto the Twins recalled Alexi Casilla. While his BA has not been impressive at Rochester (.219), his OBP has been excellent (.350), especially considering how few hits he has. He has 18 BB/18 K through 32 games. He's got pretty good speed and a strong arm, so his ability should be adequate to replace Punto.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Up and Down
Twins 13, White Sox 1
White 6, Twins 2
As the runs started pouring in during the 9th inning on Wednesday night, I thought to myself, shouldn't we be saving some of those for tomorrow? Sure enough, those 6 tacked-on runs could have helped the Twins a lot more on Thursday afternoon.
Livan Hernandez had a ridiculously good game, the likes of which I don't expect to see very often again. Anybody want him? I have a feeling the Red Sox are going to be a little harder on him next week.
Kevin Slowey made his first appearance since the first week of the season, and was very sharp for 4 innings. He gave up 3 XBH in the 5th, including 2 HR. I would have liked to see him come out for the 6th, see if he could make the adjustment and rally for the Quality Start; he was only at 83 pitches. However, the ball was definitely up on both homers, so maybe the 6th would have been a disaster.
Speaking of disasters, Pat Neshek's elbow "tweak" is of great concern. The Twins can ill-afford to be without their door-slamming setup man for very long.
The Cycle
Oh, for Heaven's sake.
It was fore-ordained that, hours after I ripped him again, Gomez would lead-off the game with a HR (just like last time). His statistically spectacular evening prompted some bloggers I respect very much to ask rhetorically: "Still want to send him down?"
Yep.
Some impartial observers at ESPN have the right perspective, especially this from Jayson Stark:
On the one hand, as he proved Wednesday, he's a cycle waiting to happen. On the other, it took that cycle to nudge his on-base percentage to a measly .306. In terms of defense, one scout said, "I don't see a whole lot of difference between him and Torii [Hunter], other than name and reputation." But in terms of offense, the same scout said that he's "like a toolbox without a key."
You can't say it much better than that. If the fact that he hit for the cycle demonstrated that he had found the key, I'd change my mind about him. But he's the same guy he's been all spring. The hits just happened to fall in for him.
Of the four hits he collected on Wednesday night, the HR was the most impressive: Gomez quickly turned on a knee-high, inside cutter (probably didn't cut enough for Buerhle's taste), and hit it really hard. The triple was an absolutely flat changeup up in the zone, and he crushed it. He was sawed off on the double, the LF took a bad route to the ball, and it would have been a single if he hadn't dove for it. The single was deflected by the pitcher, and the dugout waited with baited breath for the official scorer's decision. A better fielding pitcher makes that an easy come-backer.
Gomez smacked a couple of poorly located pitches, and he had a couple of bleeders fall in. And there's your cycle. No indication that he's made any adjustments, no reason to think another big slump isn't in his future. Meanwhile, there's a guy at AAA who gets on base 44% of the time and hits the cutoff man. Until I see a change in his approach, I don't think Gomez is the most effective guy in the system to be getting more ABs than any other player. No matter how good he looks when he's hot.
White 6, Twins 2
As the runs started pouring in during the 9th inning on Wednesday night, I thought to myself, shouldn't we be saving some of those for tomorrow? Sure enough, those 6 tacked-on runs could have helped the Twins a lot more on Thursday afternoon.
Livan Hernandez had a ridiculously good game, the likes of which I don't expect to see very often again. Anybody want him? I have a feeling the Red Sox are going to be a little harder on him next week.
Kevin Slowey made his first appearance since the first week of the season, and was very sharp for 4 innings. He gave up 3 XBH in the 5th, including 2 HR. I would have liked to see him come out for the 6th, see if he could make the adjustment and rally for the Quality Start; he was only at 83 pitches. However, the ball was definitely up on both homers, so maybe the 6th would have been a disaster.
Speaking of disasters, Pat Neshek's elbow "tweak" is of great concern. The Twins can ill-afford to be without their door-slamming setup man for very long.
The Cycle
Oh, for Heaven's sake.
It was fore-ordained that, hours after I ripped him again, Gomez would lead-off the game with a HR (just like last time). His statistically spectacular evening prompted some bloggers I respect very much to ask rhetorically: "Still want to send him down?"
Yep.
Some impartial observers at ESPN have the right perspective, especially this from Jayson Stark:
On the one hand, as he proved Wednesday, he's a cycle waiting to happen. On the other, it took that cycle to nudge his on-base percentage to a measly .306. In terms of defense, one scout said, "I don't see a whole lot of difference between him and Torii [Hunter], other than name and reputation." But in terms of offense, the same scout said that he's "like a toolbox without a key."
You can't say it much better than that. If the fact that he hit for the cycle demonstrated that he had found the key, I'd change my mind about him. But he's the same guy he's been all spring. The hits just happened to fall in for him.
Of the four hits he collected on Wednesday night, the HR was the most impressive: Gomez quickly turned on a knee-high, inside cutter (probably didn't cut enough for Buerhle's taste), and hit it really hard. The triple was an absolutely flat changeup up in the zone, and he crushed it. He was sawed off on the double, the LF took a bad route to the ball, and it would have been a single if he hadn't dove for it. The single was deflected by the pitcher, and the dugout waited with baited breath for the official scorer's decision. A better fielding pitcher makes that an easy come-backer.
Gomez smacked a couple of poorly located pitches, and he had a couple of bleeders fall in. And there's your cycle. No indication that he's made any adjustments, no reason to think another big slump isn't in his future. Meanwhile, there's a guy at AAA who gets on base 44% of the time and hits the cutoff man. Until I see a change in his approach, I don't think Gomez is the most effective guy in the system to be getting more ABs than any other player. No matter how good he looks when he's hot.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
As Bad As It Gets
White Sox 7, Twins 1
Yeah, that's about the worst game you're going to see. Pathetic effort from the offense, mediocre start, poor relief pitching, and the defense threw the ball around. Oh well, if you're only going to get one hit, you might as well get all your other sucking out of the way, too.
Blackburn didn't do too badly, giving the Twins another quality start. Too many walks, though.
Was anybody surprised to see Joe Mauer be the one who broke up the no-no? He's as hot as it gets right now.
Progress?
On a more positive note, Francisco Liriano had an effective, er, not terrible outing for AAA on Monday, allowing just 1 R on 2 H in 5 IP with 4 K. He's turned the corner, right? Well, there were the 4 BB, and he only threw 48 of his 87 pitches for strikes. So there's still some work to be done there. But it certainly seems to be a step forward.
Span vs. Gomez
Each CF made an error last night (Gomez' was, predictably, of the exuberantly overthrowing variety). Gomez, like the rest of the Twins' lineup, didn't hit squat, lowering his season line to .261/.287/.360, a .647 OPS, and holding at 13/14 SB. Span has been a busy boy the last couple of nights, collecting 5 H and 1 BB with 3 SB. That raised his AAA season line to .333/.443/.353, a .796 OPS and 11/13 SB.
Aaron Gleeman has been using some interesting metrics to measure the Twins' performance the last couple of days: Win Probability Added (WPA) and Outside Swings Percentage (OS%). Even after he adjusted the WPA ratings to reflect Gomez' importance as CF and Span's poor performance relative to actual RF, Span still wound up with a better rating than Gomez. And in the OS% post, Gleeman cuts off the PAs of rated players at 40, excluding Span, who has just 34 so far. Had he included Span, everyone could have seen that his OS% of 15.8% is even better than that of Joe Mauer (16.9%).
I can't help but conclude, as I have since spring training, that Span is more ready for the Big Leagues right now than Gomez. Sigh.
Yeah, that's about the worst game you're going to see. Pathetic effort from the offense, mediocre start, poor relief pitching, and the defense threw the ball around. Oh well, if you're only going to get one hit, you might as well get all your other sucking out of the way, too.
Blackburn didn't do too badly, giving the Twins another quality start. Too many walks, though.
Was anybody surprised to see Joe Mauer be the one who broke up the no-no? He's as hot as it gets right now.
Progress?
On a more positive note, Francisco Liriano had an effective, er, not terrible outing for AAA on Monday, allowing just 1 R on 2 H in 5 IP with 4 K. He's turned the corner, right? Well, there were the 4 BB, and he only threw 48 of his 87 pitches for strikes. So there's still some work to be done there. But it certainly seems to be a step forward.
Span vs. Gomez
Each CF made an error last night (Gomez' was, predictably, of the exuberantly overthrowing variety). Gomez, like the rest of the Twins' lineup, didn't hit squat, lowering his season line to .261/.287/.360, a .647 OPS, and holding at 13/14 SB. Span has been a busy boy the last couple of nights, collecting 5 H and 1 BB with 3 SB. That raised his AAA season line to .333/.443/.353, a .796 OPS and 11/13 SB.
Aaron Gleeman has been using some interesting metrics to measure the Twins' performance the last couple of days: Win Probability Added (WPA) and Outside Swings Percentage (OS%). Even after he adjusted the WPA ratings to reflect Gomez' importance as CF and Span's poor performance relative to actual RF, Span still wound up with a better rating than Gomez. And in the OS% post, Gleeman cuts off the PAs of rated players at 40, excluding Span, who has just 34 so far. Had he included Span, everyone could have seen that his OS% of 15.8% is even better than that of Joe Mauer (16.9%).
I can't help but conclude, as I have since spring training, that Span is more ready for the Big Leagues right now than Gomez. Sigh.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
Jim Leyland Knows Baseball
Twins 4, Tigers 1
Twins 7, Tigers 6
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
Ha! How satisfying to watch the Tigers bullpen get battered around a couple of times this weekend, after they'd been so good for 2 weeks. And how satisfying to see the Twins 'pen do their job, allowing just 1 R in 11 IP. The wheel keeps turning, and this weekend the Twins were on top.
The pitching staff faced considerable adversity this weekend. What a job by Brian Bass, earning his first Major League win with 4 terrific innings of relief after Scott Baker tweaked his groin. Again. He may have just won himself the opportunity to spot-start against Boston next weekend. Boof Bonser hung in there after a nightmare first inning in which the Tigers managed to find holes on good pitches, strike out on good pitches and reach anyway, run the bases. 45 pitches in the first, yet Boof still managed to complete 6 IP, allowing no further damage. (Amazingly, Brian Duensing of the Red Wings also gave up 6 runs in the first inning then pitched into the 6th, and he was facing the Tigers' AAA team. What are the chances?)
Joe Mauer carried the team all weekend, reaching at least twice in every game. His double off Kenny Rogers in the 4th on Sunday broke up the perfect game, and he came around to score a run. His single in the 7th was the difference in the game. I love it - but when are the homers coming?
As unlucky as the Twins were in the 1st inning, they got plenty of breaks themselves in the winning rally, starting with Carlos Guillen's fielding error on what should have been the 3rd out. Gomez chopped an IF hit, and after Harris' ground-rule double (the only bad break of the inning), Mauer's single bounced just out of reach of 3 fielders. 4 runs they had no business scoring - I love it!
The Wisdom of Jim Leyland
Jim Leyland wisely criticized his offense for allowing Bonser to stay in the game so long, calling attention to how the 5-pitch 2nd inning Bonser had let him off the hook. Sounds like something I would say.
Where he's gone wrong this season is in his use of Justin Verlander, who is so far showing splits reminiscent of Boof's 2007: he's dynamite for 5-6 IP, then goes out to start one more inning even though he's over 90 pitches and gets walloped.
Opening Day: 2 ER in 6 IP, faces 2 batters in the 7th, both score. 3.00 ERA becomes 6.00.
April 12th: 1 ER in 7.1 IP, then BB, HBP, single load the bases. At this point, he's at 102 pitches. He stays in for 3 more batters (including lefty AJ Pierzynski) and ends up giving up 6 ER in 7.2 IP. 1.23 ERA becomes 7.05.
April 27th: 2 ER in 5 IP, tagged for 4 ER in the 6th. 3.60 ERA becomes 9.54.
Saturday: 2 ER in 6 IP, he comes out for the 7th even though he's at 99 pitches. His old buddy Craig Monroe follows a 4-pitch walk to Delmon Young (that should have told Leyland something right there) with a 2-run HR. 3.00 ERA becomes 5.14.
His WHIP is excellent, then all of a sudden there are walks, hit batters, extra-base hits. And there's Leyland leaving him in there for 2 or 3 more hitters. If Verlander were playing for Gardy, I bet his ERA would be in the 4.00s instead of the 6.00s.
Leyland has been quoted as saying there will be a drastic shakeup to the Tigers lineup. Carlos Guillen has made 3 errors in 6 games at 3B, not a huge step up from Cabrera's 5 E in 14 games there. Meanwhile, Brandon Inge, an excellent defensive 3B, sits on the bench. The Jacque Jones/Marcus Thames platoon is the one consistently weak spot in their lineup.
If I were Leyland, I'd consider this: put Gary Sheffield in LF, make Cabrera the DH, bring Guillen back to 1B, and reinstate Inge as the regular 3B. I doubt Sheffield could be as much of a liability in left as Cabrera/Guillen have been at third. And I doubt Inge could be any more disappointing a hitter than Thames/Jones have been. He at least can get on base (14 BB in 101 PA vs. 12 BB in 135 PA for Thames/Jones). If the Tigers had solid defense with a legit on-base threat in the #9 spot, they might start to reach their potential.
Span vs. Gomez
Gomez had 2 ABs on Sunday with men in scoring position: with Punto on 3rd and one out in the 5th, he hit the ball straight up, and Punto was stranded. With runners at the corners and 2 out in the 7th, he hit the ball straight down, and legged it out for an RBI infield hit, extending the rally. I hope he learns something from that. His recent hot streak has improved his line to .271/.297/.374, a .671 OPS through 26 games. He's 13/14 stealing bases and has scored 17 R.
Span picked up his first XBH since spring training today. He has reached in every game he's started for Rochester this season. He's hitting .279/.404/.302, a .706 OPS through 11 games. He's 8/10 stealing bases and has scored 9 R.
Twins 7, Tigers 6
Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeep!
Ha! How satisfying to watch the Tigers bullpen get battered around a couple of times this weekend, after they'd been so good for 2 weeks. And how satisfying to see the Twins 'pen do their job, allowing just 1 R in 11 IP. The wheel keeps turning, and this weekend the Twins were on top.
The pitching staff faced considerable adversity this weekend. What a job by Brian Bass, earning his first Major League win with 4 terrific innings of relief after Scott Baker tweaked his groin. Again. He may have just won himself the opportunity to spot-start against Boston next weekend. Boof Bonser hung in there after a nightmare first inning in which the Tigers managed to find holes on good pitches, strike out on good pitches and reach anyway, run the bases. 45 pitches in the first, yet Boof still managed to complete 6 IP, allowing no further damage. (Amazingly, Brian Duensing of the Red Wings also gave up 6 runs in the first inning then pitched into the 6th, and he was facing the Tigers' AAA team. What are the chances?)
Joe Mauer carried the team all weekend, reaching at least twice in every game. His double off Kenny Rogers in the 4th on Sunday broke up the perfect game, and he came around to score a run. His single in the 7th was the difference in the game. I love it - but when are the homers coming?
As unlucky as the Twins were in the 1st inning, they got plenty of breaks themselves in the winning rally, starting with Carlos Guillen's fielding error on what should have been the 3rd out. Gomez chopped an IF hit, and after Harris' ground-rule double (the only bad break of the inning), Mauer's single bounced just out of reach of 3 fielders. 4 runs they had no business scoring - I love it!
The Wisdom of Jim Leyland
Jim Leyland wisely criticized his offense for allowing Bonser to stay in the game so long, calling attention to how the 5-pitch 2nd inning Bonser had let him off the hook. Sounds like something I would say.
Where he's gone wrong this season is in his use of Justin Verlander, who is so far showing splits reminiscent of Boof's 2007: he's dynamite for 5-6 IP, then goes out to start one more inning even though he's over 90 pitches and gets walloped.
Opening Day: 2 ER in 6 IP, faces 2 batters in the 7th, both score. 3.00 ERA becomes 6.00.
April 12th: 1 ER in 7.1 IP, then BB, HBP, single load the bases. At this point, he's at 102 pitches. He stays in for 3 more batters (including lefty AJ Pierzynski) and ends up giving up 6 ER in 7.2 IP. 1.23 ERA becomes 7.05.
April 27th: 2 ER in 5 IP, tagged for 4 ER in the 6th. 3.60 ERA becomes 9.54.
Saturday: 2 ER in 6 IP, he comes out for the 7th even though he's at 99 pitches. His old buddy Craig Monroe follows a 4-pitch walk to Delmon Young (that should have told Leyland something right there) with a 2-run HR. 3.00 ERA becomes 5.14.
His WHIP is excellent, then all of a sudden there are walks, hit batters, extra-base hits. And there's Leyland leaving him in there for 2 or 3 more hitters. If Verlander were playing for Gardy, I bet his ERA would be in the 4.00s instead of the 6.00s.
Leyland has been quoted as saying there will be a drastic shakeup to the Tigers lineup. Carlos Guillen has made 3 errors in 6 games at 3B, not a huge step up from Cabrera's 5 E in 14 games there. Meanwhile, Brandon Inge, an excellent defensive 3B, sits on the bench. The Jacque Jones/Marcus Thames platoon is the one consistently weak spot in their lineup.
If I were Leyland, I'd consider this: put Gary Sheffield in LF, make Cabrera the DH, bring Guillen back to 1B, and reinstate Inge as the regular 3B. I doubt Sheffield could be as much of a liability in left as Cabrera/Guillen have been at third. And I doubt Inge could be any more disappointing a hitter than Thames/Jones have been. He at least can get on base (14 BB in 101 PA vs. 12 BB in 135 PA for Thames/Jones). If the Tigers had solid defense with a legit on-base threat in the #9 spot, they might start to reach their potential.
Span vs. Gomez
Gomez had 2 ABs on Sunday with men in scoring position: with Punto on 3rd and one out in the 5th, he hit the ball straight up, and Punto was stranded. With runners at the corners and 2 out in the 7th, he hit the ball straight down, and legged it out for an RBI infield hit, extending the rally. I hope he learns something from that. His recent hot streak has improved his line to .271/.297/.374, a .671 OPS through 26 games. He's 13/14 stealing bases and has scored 17 R.
Span picked up his first XBH since spring training today. He has reached in every game he's started for Rochester this season. He's hitting .279/.404/.302, a .706 OPS through 11 games. He's 8/10 stealing bases and has scored 9 R.
Friday, May 2, 2008
Good Luck
Twins 11, Tigers 1
"Everything worked the way I wanted," Hernandez said. "So I'm lucky."
You can say that again. Despite allowing 10 baserunners, Livan managed to wriggle his way out of some jams to complete 7 innings, allowing only Magglio Ordonez' solo HR. Amazing.
I realized after his last start against Texas that the best game plan against Hernandez is to take 4 pitches every time you come to the plate. At that point, the count will either be 2-2 or 3-1 (or you're already on first base). Then try to hit the ball to the opposite field. It started out looking the Tigers would have the patience to do that, seeing 16 pitches despite going in order in the first. Then, beginning with Magglio's homer, 4 straight hitters reached to load the bases with 1 run in and nobody out in the 2nd. Luckily, the next two batters were Pudge Rodriguez and Jacque Jones, who combined to make 3 outs on the next 3 pitches. Those two are the only weak links in that lineup - thank goodness they were the ones coming up in that situation.
One thing I noticed watching the game tonight - Livan looks a lot better when the ump has a wide strike zone. He also did a nice job of changing speeds and keeping his pitches out of the middle of the plate.
So, he looks pretty good, right? Wily. Crafty. Eating innings. Taming the ferocious Tigers lineup. Anybody else want him? Happy to trade you...
"Our offense kind of exploded," said third-base coach Scott Ullger.
You can say that again. The underwhelming-in-April trio of Carlos Gomez, Jason Kubel and Delmon Young combined to go .545/.615/.727 with 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 SB; Gomez surely would have had another run had he not been conked out by a throw from Pudge in the 5th. The steady-in-April quartet of Harris, Mauer, Morneau and Cuddyer went .444/.500/.778 with 7 R and 7 RBI. Even the slow starting former Astros each notched a hit.
11 runs is often a series' worth for the Twins, so I'm a little concerned that they blew their wad in a game they were already winning, and tomorrow they'll probably lose 6-4. Then again, maybe this is a continuation of the offensive awakening that began to stir late in the last road trip. We'll see how they do against Verlander and Rogers this weekend.
The Go-Go Show
Gomez had quite a game before he was knocked out in the 5th. He walked(!) leading off the game, stole second, and scored. He was hit by a pitch for the first time this season in the 3rd, and later scored. He stroked a 2-strike single leading off the 5th, setting up his collision with Pudge's throw while stealing his 13th base of the year. He had to make 2 throws into the infield, each missing the cutoff man by a mile.
When Gomez had his best full-season OBP in 2006, he was hit by a pitch 19 times in 430 ABs. In his minor league career, he averaged a HBP every 33 ABs; he was hit 3 times in 125 ABs with the Mets last year. It took him 102 ABs to get HBP this season. This is a part of his game he needs to bring back!
But why would any pitcher risk hitting him, when they can get him to expand the outside part of the zone? Tigers starter Galarraga did a terrible job pitching to Gomez tonight. A 5-pitch walk, HBP, and 2-strike hanging slider made life pretty easy for Go-Go. And he did a good job of making those mistakes costly.
(By the way, Span's line tonight: 2-4, BB, 3 SB and probably 0 overthrows of cutoff men)
"Everything worked the way I wanted," Hernandez said. "So I'm lucky."
You can say that again. Despite allowing 10 baserunners, Livan managed to wriggle his way out of some jams to complete 7 innings, allowing only Magglio Ordonez' solo HR. Amazing.
I realized after his last start against Texas that the best game plan against Hernandez is to take 4 pitches every time you come to the plate. At that point, the count will either be 2-2 or 3-1 (or you're already on first base). Then try to hit the ball to the opposite field. It started out looking the Tigers would have the patience to do that, seeing 16 pitches despite going in order in the first. Then, beginning with Magglio's homer, 4 straight hitters reached to load the bases with 1 run in and nobody out in the 2nd. Luckily, the next two batters were Pudge Rodriguez and Jacque Jones, who combined to make 3 outs on the next 3 pitches. Those two are the only weak links in that lineup - thank goodness they were the ones coming up in that situation.
One thing I noticed watching the game tonight - Livan looks a lot better when the ump has a wide strike zone. He also did a nice job of changing speeds and keeping his pitches out of the middle of the plate.
So, he looks pretty good, right? Wily. Crafty. Eating innings. Taming the ferocious Tigers lineup. Anybody else want him? Happy to trade you...
"Our offense kind of exploded," said third-base coach Scott Ullger.
You can say that again. The underwhelming-in-April trio of Carlos Gomez, Jason Kubel and Delmon Young combined to go .545/.615/.727 with 2 R, 2 RBI, 2 SB; Gomez surely would have had another run had he not been conked out by a throw from Pudge in the 5th. The steady-in-April quartet of Harris, Mauer, Morneau and Cuddyer went .444/.500/.778 with 7 R and 7 RBI. Even the slow starting former Astros each notched a hit.
11 runs is often a series' worth for the Twins, so I'm a little concerned that they blew their wad in a game they were already winning, and tomorrow they'll probably lose 6-4. Then again, maybe this is a continuation of the offensive awakening that began to stir late in the last road trip. We'll see how they do against Verlander and Rogers this weekend.
The Go-Go Show
Gomez had quite a game before he was knocked out in the 5th. He walked(!) leading off the game, stole second, and scored. He was hit by a pitch for the first time this season in the 3rd, and later scored. He stroked a 2-strike single leading off the 5th, setting up his collision with Pudge's throw while stealing his 13th base of the year. He had to make 2 throws into the infield, each missing the cutoff man by a mile.
When Gomez had his best full-season OBP in 2006, he was hit by a pitch 19 times in 430 ABs. In his minor league career, he averaged a HBP every 33 ABs; he was hit 3 times in 125 ABs with the Mets last year. It took him 102 ABs to get HBP this season. This is a part of his game he needs to bring back!
But why would any pitcher risk hitting him, when they can get him to expand the outside part of the zone? Tigers starter Galarraga did a terrible job pitching to Gomez tonight. A 5-pitch walk, HBP, and 2-strike hanging slider made life pretty easy for Go-Go. And he did a good job of making those mistakes costly.
(By the way, Span's line tonight: 2-4, BB, 3 SB and probably 0 overthrows of cutoff men)
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Timely
Twins 3, White Sox 1
Twins 4, White Sox 3
I had a feeling the White Sox would be a little easier to handle this time around. These were last year's White Sox, occasionally hitting solo homers, but otherwise anemic at the plate. After sweeping the 2-game series, the Twins finish April just 1.5 games out of first place.
Kudos to Boof Bonser, who had by far his best stuff of the season, allowing 1 R on 6 H and 1 BB in 7 IP with 8 K. The strikeouts were the best sign - double the amount he'd had in any single game so far this year. He managed 4 quality starts in 5 tries without missing many bats; I can't wait to see what he can do if he gets in the groove.
Nick Blackburn was hit around a bit, but as he did against Cleveland, he got big outs when he needed them. He was also able to complete 7 IP, allowing 3 ER on 8 H and 2 BB with 4 K. He'll certainly be sticking around the rotation for awhile.
Offensively, the lineup didn't do very much: only 7 R on 14 H and 7 BB (a week's worth for this team). But the hitting was very timely. The guys who hit last night (Mauer, Kubel, Young) didn't do much today, and vice versa with Gomez and Morneau.
Managerial note:
Gardy, Gomez led off the 7th inning with a bunt single, then Brendan Harris sacrificed him to second on the first pitch. Harris has been one of the Twins' best hitters this month. Gomez is one of the best base-stealers in the league. Pierzynski is one of the worst catchers at throwing out base-stealers in the league. I bet the Sox could pitch-out and Gomez would still steal on AJ. Why pay Harris' AB to get a runner to second when you can get him there for free? Give him a couple pitches to run on. Harris can sacrifice him to 3rd if you want to play it that way.
Span vs. Gomez
Speaking of Gomez, I'm going to keep harping on this as long as their respective play merits it.
In the bottom of the 4th, with the Twins leading 3-2, Gomez was on 2nd with Mauer batting and spot-starter Nick Masset still on the mound. Masset is a reliever, and at 65 pitches was likely tiring. Mauer, the Twins' best hitter, was ahead in the count 3-1 against the right-hander. Gomez, perhaps the fastest guy in the league, could effortlessly score on any base hit to the outfield with 2 outs. Yet he chose that moment to steal 3rd base. He succeeded, the ball got away, and he was thrown out at the plate trying to score. How exciting!
Replays may have shown that he should have been called safe, but Gardy was so shocked that Gomez would attempt such a foolish play, even he couldn't find the strength to put up much of an argument. Gomez claimed that he saw a steal sign from the dugout. I would be astounded if any such sign was given by anyone with authority to give signs. Mauer started the 5th facing LHP Matt Thornton - he grounded out.
Meanwhile, in 7 games at AAA Rochester, Denard Span has 8 singles and 7 walks, for an OBP of .429. Yaaaawwwwnnnn. He also has 5 SBs, though he's managed to get himself picked off twice. I know, not as exciting as Gomez, but it's something...
Twins 4, White Sox 3
I had a feeling the White Sox would be a little easier to handle this time around. These were last year's White Sox, occasionally hitting solo homers, but otherwise anemic at the plate. After sweeping the 2-game series, the Twins finish April just 1.5 games out of first place.
Kudos to Boof Bonser, who had by far his best stuff of the season, allowing 1 R on 6 H and 1 BB in 7 IP with 8 K. The strikeouts were the best sign - double the amount he'd had in any single game so far this year. He managed 4 quality starts in 5 tries without missing many bats; I can't wait to see what he can do if he gets in the groove.
Nick Blackburn was hit around a bit, but as he did against Cleveland, he got big outs when he needed them. He was also able to complete 7 IP, allowing 3 ER on 8 H and 2 BB with 4 K. He'll certainly be sticking around the rotation for awhile.
Offensively, the lineup didn't do very much: only 7 R on 14 H and 7 BB (a week's worth for this team). But the hitting was very timely. The guys who hit last night (Mauer, Kubel, Young) didn't do much today, and vice versa with Gomez and Morneau.
Managerial note:
Gardy, Gomez led off the 7th inning with a bunt single, then Brendan Harris sacrificed him to second on the first pitch. Harris has been one of the Twins' best hitters this month. Gomez is one of the best base-stealers in the league. Pierzynski is one of the worst catchers at throwing out base-stealers in the league. I bet the Sox could pitch-out and Gomez would still steal on AJ. Why pay Harris' AB to get a runner to second when you can get him there for free? Give him a couple pitches to run on. Harris can sacrifice him to 3rd if you want to play it that way.
Span vs. Gomez
Speaking of Gomez, I'm going to keep harping on this as long as their respective play merits it.
In the bottom of the 4th, with the Twins leading 3-2, Gomez was on 2nd with Mauer batting and spot-starter Nick Masset still on the mound. Masset is a reliever, and at 65 pitches was likely tiring. Mauer, the Twins' best hitter, was ahead in the count 3-1 against the right-hander. Gomez, perhaps the fastest guy in the league, could effortlessly score on any base hit to the outfield with 2 outs. Yet he chose that moment to steal 3rd base. He succeeded, the ball got away, and he was thrown out at the plate trying to score. How exciting!
Replays may have shown that he should have been called safe, but Gardy was so shocked that Gomez would attempt such a foolish play, even he couldn't find the strength to put up much of an argument. Gomez claimed that he saw a steal sign from the dugout. I would be astounded if any such sign was given by anyone with authority to give signs. Mauer started the 5th facing LHP Matt Thornton - he grounded out.
Meanwhile, in 7 games at AAA Rochester, Denard Span has 8 singles and 7 walks, for an OBP of .429. Yaaaawwwwnnnn. He also has 5 SBs, though he's managed to get himself picked off twice. I know, not as exciting as Gomez, but it's something...
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