Tuesday, April 03, 2007

Out of the Gate and Running

Well, Opening Day finally arrived and there were plenty of reasons to feel excited about the season. The Twins got out of the gate the right way, beating the Orioles at the Metrodome 7-4 last night. Johan Santana started the game with a strike and struck out the first batter of the day, Brian Roberts. Justin Morneau's first swing of the bat smacked an opposite-field homer off of lefty Erik Bedard to give the Twins a 1-0 lead in the second. Torii followed, swinging at the first pitch, and hitting it over the right-field wall.

Overall, it wasn't the greatest pitching day, but the offense was impressive. The Twins lineup went 12-for-35 and produced seven runs, doing better than expected against the often-impressive Bedard. Most of the Twins' production came from Morneau and Hunter, as Morneau went 3-for-4 with two RBI and Hunter went 2-for-4 with two RBI.

Otherwise, Luis Castillo had a three-hit night, Joe Mauer was his usual self, picking up a hit and a walk, and Jeff Cirillo had a good debut, going 1-for-2 with a walk and an RBI single. Rondell White looked more like an alternate-universe version of himself, failing to get a hit but walking and making a great diving catch in the field. Strange.

As for Santana, he was just as he has been the last few opening starts: mediocre. He struck out six in six innings, but walked two, gave up four runs, and allowed seven hits. Those hoping he would immediately be in Cy Young form may be disappointed, but it is only one start and it's not as if there is reason to be worried.

Otherwise, the one noticeable problem in the game was Morneau's baserunning. Twice he got caught trying to take an extra base, as he was thrown out at the plate and at second base, both by right fielder Nick Markakis. Last year, Morneau had similar problems, which probably prevented him from scoring over 100 times. It isn't the biggest fault obviously, but Morneau might need a few lessons from Joe Mauer on baserunning fundamentals. And, as Gleeman mentions, some of it may not have been Morneau's fault.

There isn't much, however, to complain about when you've got Joe Nathan back on the screen, pumping 96-mph fastballs to get his first save of the year. Here's to another great season!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Morneau was sent home by Ulger as Gleeman points out. Justin was also safe at second base, but the umpire who was 2 feet away somehow blows the call. I would call his base running solid last night.

Nick N. said...

Cuddyer's strikeout streak: 1!

That was some vintage K-ddyer last night.

Anonymous said...

Except for his second time up, Cuddyer actually had some good, long at-bats, laying off borderline pitches just out of the zone and fouling off several that he couldn't drive for a hit. But he did get fooled on strike three in his first and third at-bats. Badly.

Nick M. said...

Yea, I almost feel like retracting my comments on Justin's baserunning, but the truth is that he does struggle with it. I don't have as much of a problem with the attempt for a double as I do with him running him like that. Regardless, as I mentioned, I also don't think its that big of a deal but just something to consider.

Corey Ettinger said...

Meh, if Mauer tries for home (which he should've) Morneau is in at second and if Scotty Ulger had any clue he would have held Morneau at third. That said, I can think of many questionable calls Morneau made on the bases last year. A 1st to third against the ChiSox comes to mind. Everyone was raving about what a great move it was to take an extra base the next day. What it really was is completely boneheaded and damned lucky. But isn't that just how sports works.