Tonight, the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks embark on a best-of-seven series to determine which team will represent the National League in the World Series. The Rockies and D-Backs, both of whom have a payroll below $55 million, are both easy teams for Twins fans to cheer for. Both are built on young talent that was developed primarily from within their own systems. There are few giant egos on either roster, and both teams seem to play with a lot of heart.
What is interesting is that both teams have a player on their roster who was with the Twins as late as August. I speak, of course, of Rockies reliever Ramon Ortiz and D-Backs bench player Jeff Cirillo. Arizona claimed Cirillo after the Twins waived the oft-unavailable third baseman in early August, and a couple weeks later the Twins dealt Ortiz and his 5.14 ERA to Colorado for minor leaguer Matt Macri.
Neither Cirillo nor Ortiz plays a prominent role on his respective team, and the change of scenery hasn't positively affected the play of either one -- Ortiz posted a 7.62 ERA over 13 innings with the Rockies down the stretch while Cirillo hit .200/.273/.300 in 40 regular-season at-bats with the Diamondbacks. Yet, both are fortunate enough to experience an exhilarating postseason run, and one of them will get to participate in the World Series. Meanwhile, their former teammates are at home watching the games on TV after completing a disappointing season.
Of course, not every Twin that left the team during the season got so lucky. Let's not forget about Luis Castillo, who was traded to the Mets in time to take part in perhaps the biggest regular-season collapse in major-league history. Sorry, Luis!
Showing posts with label ortiz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ortiz. Show all posts
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Winning Without Hitting
It's hard to be overly enthusiastic about a victory like yesterday's. Matt Garza was relatively effective, but needed 93 pitches to get through four innings, forcing Ron Gardenhire to go to his bullpen very early. There was a lot of pressure on the bullpen to be perfect too, because the Twins offense could muster only three runs against Aaron Laffey, a 22-year-old making his major-league debut. Fortunately, the bullpen was up to the task, delivering five innings of scoreless ball against one of the league's better offenses.
Perhaps the most impressive performance surprisingly came from Ramon Ortiz, who bridged the gap to the late innings by entering in the fifth inning with the game tied and tossing a pair of scoreless frames. As bad as he was as a starter, Ortiz has been fairly solid since joining the bullpen, posting a 3.86 ERA in 30 1/3 innings of relief. He has also struck out 17 while issuing just three walks in that role. It's good that he's been able to step up, because Gardenhire has been forced to use him in increasingly important situations lately with Juan Rincon's plummeting performance.
Of course, the reason I said it was tough to be too enthusiastic about the game is that the offense continued with its maddening slump. Yesterday's game marked the 11th time in 20 games since the All-Star break where the Twins have scored three runs or less. By scoring two runs in the fourth yesterday, the Twins broke a 27-inning streak of failing to score multiple runs in a single inning. This team seems incapable of putting together a rally right now, and I keep wondering when it's going to find its way out of this slump. It's not happening. When one guy is hitting, three other guys aren't. When one part of the lineup is having success, another part is struggling mightily. Yesterday the 1-4 spots in the batting order went 6-for-15 with three runs and three RBI; the 5-9 spots went 2-for-15 with zero runs and zero batted in.
Today the Twins have their work cut out for them, with Fausto Carmona taking the hill for the Indians. When the Twins first faced Carmona back on April 24, the young right-hander was 0-1 with a 6.97 ERA. Since that point (including his win against the Twins that day), Carmona has gone 13-4 with a 2.97 ERA.
I'll leave you with this food for thought: over the last two weeks, the Twins averaged 2.62 runs per game. The Yankees, one of the three teams the Twins are chasing in the Wild Card race, averaged 8.46 runs per game during that span.
Perhaps the most impressive performance surprisingly came from Ramon Ortiz, who bridged the gap to the late innings by entering in the fifth inning with the game tied and tossing a pair of scoreless frames. As bad as he was as a starter, Ortiz has been fairly solid since joining the bullpen, posting a 3.86 ERA in 30 1/3 innings of relief. He has also struck out 17 while issuing just three walks in that role. It's good that he's been able to step up, because Gardenhire has been forced to use him in increasingly important situations lately with Juan Rincon's plummeting performance.
Of course, the reason I said it was tough to be too enthusiastic about the game is that the offense continued with its maddening slump. Yesterday's game marked the 11th time in 20 games since the All-Star break where the Twins have scored three runs or less. By scoring two runs in the fourth yesterday, the Twins broke a 27-inning streak of failing to score multiple runs in a single inning. This team seems incapable of putting together a rally right now, and I keep wondering when it's going to find its way out of this slump. It's not happening. When one guy is hitting, three other guys aren't. When one part of the lineup is having success, another part is struggling mightily. Yesterday the 1-4 spots in the batting order went 6-for-15 with three runs and three RBI; the 5-9 spots went 2-for-15 with zero runs and zero batted in.
Today the Twins have their work cut out for them, with Fausto Carmona taking the hill for the Indians. When the Twins first faced Carmona back on April 24, the young right-hander was 0-1 with a 6.97 ERA. Since that point (including his win against the Twins that day), Carmona has gone 13-4 with a 2.97 ERA.
I'll leave you with this food for thought: over the last two weeks, the Twins averaged 2.62 runs per game. The Yankees, one of the three teams the Twins are chasing in the Wild Card race, averaged 8.46 runs per game during that span.
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Field Day
As you might have guessed from the titular pun, Prince Fielder had a good part in bashing the Twins around last night in the Metrodome, where the Brewers took the first of the weekend series 11-3. Fielder, along with Geoff Jenkins and rookie sensation Ryan Braun, took their aggression out on Scott Baker and Ramon Ortiz, pummeling each pitcher with a total of 15 hits.
You might recall that Baker's best start and really his only good one this year came against the Brew Crew in May, when he went 8 1/3 innings for his only win of the year. Since then, he has given up 30 hits and 20 runs in just 18 2/3 innings. In other words, he's been positively ugly and clearly the situation did not improve last night.
Baker did strike out six Brewers and showed some good stuff at times, but he made the same mistakes in a different game, as he continues to have trouble pitching inside at all and rather shows a stubborn adherence to the outside corner. The results included the Jenkins grand slam in the third that put the Twins behind for good. Currently, Baker holds a 7.33 ERA and it's anyone's guess how much longer he stays in the rotation before he is replaced by Matt Garza.
Of course, there is another potential replacement -- at least in the mind of Ron Gardenhire -- who also got knocked around last night, which should continue to keep him out of the running. Ortiz was obviously terrible as a starter after a hot April, but he hasn't faired much better in relief. As a reliever, Ortiz so far has allowed 18 hits and eight runs in 13 innings, while striking out only five batters. It would be worse if we hadn't come to expect this sort of thing from Ortiz.
The only real positives to come out of the game were the solo home runs of Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel. It's nice to see Morneau hit a low pitch out to the opposite field and increase his homer total to 19 (good for second in the league still), but it's even better to see Kubel display some power again, as his bat is slowly starting to show more signs of life. Otherwise, you can't say too many positive things about managing just five hits against Claudio Vargas and Brian Shouse.
Lucky for the Twins that they face Dave Bush tonight, who owns one of the league's worse ERAs at 5.70. Then again, there is a good chance Bush will go Jason Simontacchi on the Twins offense.
You might recall that Baker's best start and really his only good one this year came against the Brew Crew in May, when he went 8 1/3 innings for his only win of the year. Since then, he has given up 30 hits and 20 runs in just 18 2/3 innings. In other words, he's been positively ugly and clearly the situation did not improve last night.
Baker did strike out six Brewers and showed some good stuff at times, but he made the same mistakes in a different game, as he continues to have trouble pitching inside at all and rather shows a stubborn adherence to the outside corner. The results included the Jenkins grand slam in the third that put the Twins behind for good. Currently, Baker holds a 7.33 ERA and it's anyone's guess how much longer he stays in the rotation before he is replaced by Matt Garza.
Of course, there is another potential replacement -- at least in the mind of Ron Gardenhire -- who also got knocked around last night, which should continue to keep him out of the running. Ortiz was obviously terrible as a starter after a hot April, but he hasn't faired much better in relief. As a reliever, Ortiz so far has allowed 18 hits and eight runs in 13 innings, while striking out only five batters. It would be worse if we hadn't come to expect this sort of thing from Ortiz.
The only real positives to come out of the game were the solo home runs of Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel. It's nice to see Morneau hit a low pitch out to the opposite field and increase his homer total to 19 (good for second in the league still), but it's even better to see Kubel display some power again, as his bat is slowly starting to show more signs of life. Otherwise, you can't say too many positive things about managing just five hits against Claudio Vargas and Brian Shouse.
Lucky for the Twins that they face Dave Bush tonight, who owns one of the league's worse ERAs at 5.70. Then again, there is a good chance Bush will go Jason Simontacchi on the Twins offense.
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
No Miller Time
With a score like 16-3 and with a total of 23 hits by the opposing team, you aren't left with too much time to consider the offensive woes that continued last night. Yes, Jered Weaver stifled the Twins for seven innings, allowing a one run on Torii Hunter's solo home shot, but that clearly isn't the story. Considering such a terrible overall pitching performance, it's often hard to pinpoint who to blame for the loss.
Of the four Twins pitchers who pitched last night, only Pat Neshek didn't give up a run. Boof Bonser departed from his recent hot streak by giving up 12 hits and 6 earned runs over 5 1/3 innings while only striking out one hitter. Bonser didn't walk anyone, but he also gave up two home runs, after three straight starts without giving one up. Ramon Ortiz came in to replace Bonser, but Ortiz was just as horrible and hittable in relief as he was as a starter in May, as he gave up four hits, two runs, and a walk in 1 2/3 innings while throwing just 21 strikes on 38 pitches.
Though both Bonser and Ortiz were pretty bad, neither was even as unwatchable as Jason Miller. Miller had a few scoreless appearances after his recent call-up, but he showed the kind of batting practice stuff he has in full view last night. Miller managed to get only one out while walking two, serving up two home runs (including a grand slam), giving up of seven hits, and surrending a grand total of eight runs. Suddenly, his ERA sits at 18.00. Yikes.
FSN announcers Bert and Dick tried to make it seem as if things weren't going Miller's or the other Twins pitchers' way, suggesting that "everything was falling for the Angels," as if they were getting bloop hit after bloop hit. However, when you walk two batters, give up three doubles, and give up two home runs, you are clearly getting hit very hard. Consider this: in the 1/3 inning Miller pitched, he gave up more extra-base hits to the Angels then Bonser did in 5 1/3 innings.
While I believe that Bonser will bounce back, the performances of Ortiz and Miller clearly indicate the holes the Twins have currently in their bullpen. As long as Ortiz is pitching in blow-out games as a mop-up guy, I won't be concerned about him getting knocked around every few days. However, while it isn't clear what Miller's role is yet, this game should make it apparent that he can't be trusted to get out important outs. While Carmen Cali isn't close to a dominant lefty, he might offer a better lefty arm out of the 'pen then Miller seems to be able to.
It may seem that I'm being a bit harsh on Miller. Its true that he has a 3.34 ERA in 517 2/3 minor league innings with 507 strikeouts. Miller also had a 1.30 WHIP in that time, mainly due to the 199 walks he also administered. Miller may be useful in good time, but he has not shown particularly great stuff since being called up. More than suggesting that Miller isn't much of a pitcher, it's more notable to notice that the Twins bullpen has been left with only a few reliable options in Neshek, Joe Nathan, Matt Guerrier, and usually Juan Rincon. That, of course, is more than many bullpens have, but it still means that things might get dicey now and then when the team has to call on Ortiz, Miller, or Cali for that matter, who will most likely get knocked around sometime in the near future.
Unfortunately for the Twins, things won't get significantly easier in tonight's game. With youngster Scott Baker on the mound facing off against Kelvim Escobar, who has a 6-3 record and a 3.00 ERA this year, things seem to be in Angels' favor. Good news for the Twins and their fans that they probably won't be giving up 16 runs against tonight.
Of the four Twins pitchers who pitched last night, only Pat Neshek didn't give up a run. Boof Bonser departed from his recent hot streak by giving up 12 hits and 6 earned runs over 5 1/3 innings while only striking out one hitter. Bonser didn't walk anyone, but he also gave up two home runs, after three straight starts without giving one up. Ramon Ortiz came in to replace Bonser, but Ortiz was just as horrible and hittable in relief as he was as a starter in May, as he gave up four hits, two runs, and a walk in 1 2/3 innings while throwing just 21 strikes on 38 pitches.
Though both Bonser and Ortiz were pretty bad, neither was even as unwatchable as Jason Miller. Miller had a few scoreless appearances after his recent call-up, but he showed the kind of batting practice stuff he has in full view last night. Miller managed to get only one out while walking two, serving up two home runs (including a grand slam), giving up of seven hits, and surrending a grand total of eight runs. Suddenly, his ERA sits at 18.00. Yikes.
FSN announcers Bert and Dick tried to make it seem as if things weren't going Miller's or the other Twins pitchers' way, suggesting that "everything was falling for the Angels," as if they were getting bloop hit after bloop hit. However, when you walk two batters, give up three doubles, and give up two home runs, you are clearly getting hit very hard. Consider this: in the 1/3 inning Miller pitched, he gave up more extra-base hits to the Angels then Bonser did in 5 1/3 innings.
While I believe that Bonser will bounce back, the performances of Ortiz and Miller clearly indicate the holes the Twins have currently in their bullpen. As long as Ortiz is pitching in blow-out games as a mop-up guy, I won't be concerned about him getting knocked around every few days. However, while it isn't clear what Miller's role is yet, this game should make it apparent that he can't be trusted to get out important outs. While Carmen Cali isn't close to a dominant lefty, he might offer a better lefty arm out of the 'pen then Miller seems to be able to.
It may seem that I'm being a bit harsh on Miller. Its true that he has a 3.34 ERA in 517 2/3 minor league innings with 507 strikeouts. Miller also had a 1.30 WHIP in that time, mainly due to the 199 walks he also administered. Miller may be useful in good time, but he has not shown particularly great stuff since being called up. More than suggesting that Miller isn't much of a pitcher, it's more notable to notice that the Twins bullpen has been left with only a few reliable options in Neshek, Joe Nathan, Matt Guerrier, and usually Juan Rincon. That, of course, is more than many bullpens have, but it still means that things might get dicey now and then when the team has to call on Ortiz, Miller, or Cali for that matter, who will most likely get knocked around sometime in the near future.
Unfortunately for the Twins, things won't get significantly easier in tonight's game. With youngster Scott Baker on the mound facing off against Kelvim Escobar, who has a 6-3 record and a 3.00 ERA this year, things seem to be in Angels' favor. Good news for the Twins and their fans that they probably won't be giving up 16 runs against tonight.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Not Quite Enough
The Twins tried very hard last night to win their second game against the Blue Jays, rallying multiple times, but eventually, it wasn't enough. Many things occurred in the 9-8, 13-inning loss to the Blue Jays that are worth discussing, but most important was that Ramon Ortiz continued his May self-destruction with another terrible start.
Several things stick out in Ortiz's start. For one, he gave up ten hits in six innings. For reference, that adds up to 40 hits in 21 1/3 May innings. Those are incredibly bad numbers to begin with. However, Ortiz also gave up three home runs to the Jays, adding up to nine so far on the year. He gave up six earned runs in six innings. That adds up to the following May stats: 0-3, 21.1 IP, 40 hits, 28 runs, 27 earned runs, five walks, 10 Ks, six home runs, and an 11.39 ERA.
With that in mind, Ortiz's good April seems like more of a fluke that originally considered. Ortiz was always a streaky pitcher, so it would seem that this is a matter of things evening out. Ortiz struck out only 14 hitters in 35 April innings and that has only continued in May with the 10 strikeouts. The result has been by far Ortiz's lowest strikeout rate of his career. That would only continue a downward trend that started in 2004, as his strikeouts have gone down just as quickly as his ERA has risen every year.
Hopefully, the Twins realize this and quickly end the experiment with Ortiz. It's unlikely that they would just eat his contract or even try to trade him, so the best move to hope for is a move to long relief that will clear a spot for Matt Garza or Kevin Slowey.
As for the game outside of Ortiz's ugly performance, there were some positive performances in what was a disappointing loss. Michael Cuddyer stood out, as he not only had several clutch hits, but started off the scoring with an RBI single in the third. Overall, Cuddyer went 4-for-5 with a home run, 5 RBI, and a walk. With his standout performance, Cuddyer raised his batting line to a more than respectable .290/.354/.479. Other than Cuddyer's 5 RBI, Justin Morneau was the only other Twins run-producer, with an RBI double and a important RBI groundout in the 11th to tie the game for a second time and send the game to further extra innings.
In total, the Twins had 17 hits, but wasted numerous opportunities to win the game. Today's game will prove a greater challenge, as unlike Tomo Okha, A.J. Burnett has been on fire lately, striking out 44 in 35 May innings so far. He will likely strike out a good deal of Twins hitters today. The best chance the Twins have will be to show patience, as Burnett's 31 walks on the year ranks him first in the AL.
Several things stick out in Ortiz's start. For one, he gave up ten hits in six innings. For reference, that adds up to 40 hits in 21 1/3 May innings. Those are incredibly bad numbers to begin with. However, Ortiz also gave up three home runs to the Jays, adding up to nine so far on the year. He gave up six earned runs in six innings. That adds up to the following May stats: 0-3, 21.1 IP, 40 hits, 28 runs, 27 earned runs, five walks, 10 Ks, six home runs, and an 11.39 ERA.
With that in mind, Ortiz's good April seems like more of a fluke that originally considered. Ortiz was always a streaky pitcher, so it would seem that this is a matter of things evening out. Ortiz struck out only 14 hitters in 35 April innings and that has only continued in May with the 10 strikeouts. The result has been by far Ortiz's lowest strikeout rate of his career. That would only continue a downward trend that started in 2004, as his strikeouts have gone down just as quickly as his ERA has risen every year.
Hopefully, the Twins realize this and quickly end the experiment with Ortiz. It's unlikely that they would just eat his contract or even try to trade him, so the best move to hope for is a move to long relief that will clear a spot for Matt Garza or Kevin Slowey.
As for the game outside of Ortiz's ugly performance, there were some positive performances in what was a disappointing loss. Michael Cuddyer stood out, as he not only had several clutch hits, but started off the scoring with an RBI single in the third. Overall, Cuddyer went 4-for-5 with a home run, 5 RBI, and a walk. With his standout performance, Cuddyer raised his batting line to a more than respectable .290/.354/.479. Other than Cuddyer's 5 RBI, Justin Morneau was the only other Twins run-producer, with an RBI double and a important RBI groundout in the 11th to tie the game for a second time and send the game to further extra innings.
In total, the Twins had 17 hits, but wasted numerous opportunities to win the game. Today's game will prove a greater challenge, as unlike Tomo Okha, A.J. Burnett has been on fire lately, striking out 44 in 35 May innings so far. He will likely strike out a good deal of Twins hitters today. The best chance the Twins have will be to show patience, as Burnett's 31 walks on the year ranks him first in the AL.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Weekend Recap (w/ Pictures)
After winning the first two games against the Brewers this weekend and taking an early four-run lead in yesterday afternoon's game, it appeared that the Twins were on their way to a big sweep in Milwaukee before Ramon Ortiz imploded and surrendered the lead. You have to be happy with a series win on the road, but this series left me with an empty feeling because the Twins outplayed the Brewers thoroughly for the most part and seemed very close to picking up their third sweep of the season and moving back within a game of .500. As it stands, the Twins will need to sweep the Rangers in Texas over the next three days in order to come out of this road trip with a winning record.
My weekend in Milwaukee was a lot of fun. I only attended one of the three games (Saturday night's), but I think it was the best one. I've got a lot of thoughts on the weekend's series, so I'll get right to them in the classic bullet-point format.
* Mr. Mosvick and I were highly critical of the Twins' decision to sign Ortiz in the offseason, and some readers commented that they thought we were being overly harsh. While Ortiz got off to a fast start in April, a few people popped up in the comments section to give us some grief for our doomsday predictions about the enthusiastic 33-year-old right-hander. The whole time, I responded by saying that I was happy and pleasantly surprised by the way he was pitching, but that by no means was I expecting the facade to last. His slate of starts during the month of May have shown exactly why I elected to reserve my optimism.
Ortiz was awful yesterday. He managed to putter his way through the first four innings with only two runs allowed, but he was treading a very dangerous line by allowing seven baserunners during that span and recording just two strikeouts. In the fifth inning, the Brewers finally got to Ortiz, picking up a pair of singles before Geoff Jenkins smashed a three-run homer to center field to tie the game at 5.
After stringing together five straight quality starts in April, Ortiz has dropped off a cliff in the month of May. In four starts this month, he has seen his ERA jump from 2.57 to 5.36 while his opponent's batting average has rocketed from .217 to .282. Ortiz has allowed 20 earned runs on 30 hits over 15 1/3 May innings, numbers that are nothing short of atrocious.
The Ortiz we're seeing right now is probably the one we should get accustomed to. As nice as his production over the first month of the season was, the Twins really need to start looking at the possibility of cutting bait on him. I say this not because I'm overreacting to a poor stretch of four starts, but because the way Ortiz has pitched over the past four games is pretty much in line with the way he's pitched over the past two seasons. He isn't giving the team a legitimate chance to win when he takes the hill, and that's unacceptable with the number of guys lined up to replace him. I realize that the Twins are none too eager to bring up Kevin Slowey or Matt Garza right now; one temporary solution would be swapping Ortiz and Matt Guerrier's roles on the pitching staff.
* For much of the early part of the season, there was a sentiment from many Twins fans (including my colleague here at NNTB) that Jason Bartlett and Nick Punto should swap places in the Twins' lineup, with Bartlett moving up to the No. 2 spot with Punto sliding down to the bottom of the order. While I was never expressly opposed to this idea, my opinion was that having them switch places wouldn't make a whole lot of difference. Those people got their wish about a week ago when Ron Gardenhire finally made the switch. Bartlett didn't respond particularly well, and yesterday he found himself back at the bottom of the order with Punto again batting second.
The fact of the matter is that these two have been equally bad and they are pretty much interchangeable at this point. I tend to think that Punto is a slightly better candidate for the 2-hole simply because he works the count more and is a better bunter, but both players have been extremely unproductive offensively. Bartlett is batting .240/.329/.295, while Punto is sporting a very similar .241/.323/.305 line. Of course, Punto takes a lot more heat because he plays third base, which I think is a tad ridiculous, but there's no way around the fact that both of these guys need to pick up the pace.
* Friday and Saturday night's victories marked the first time the Twins have won consecutive ballgames since late April, a span of three weeks.
* Aside from Ortiz, the other goat in Sunday's game was Dennys Reyes, who took the loss. Reyes allowed the go-ahead run to come across in the seventh inning when he gave up a pair of hits (both by left-handers) and threw a wild pitch. He now holds a 6.57 ERA and .367 OBA. It wasn't fair to expect Reyes to be as good as he was last season, but he has been absolutely horrendous this year. At the very least, I'd expect him to suppress lefties and avoid walks, but he's done neither of those things this year. Southpaws are raking to the tune of .370 against him, and he's issued nine walks over 12 1/3 innings while striking out 10. During those 12 1/3 innings, Reyes has also thrown two wild pitches and committed a costly throwing error. It's starting to look more and more like Triple-A farmhand Ricky Barrett should get a shot as this team's bullpen lefty.
Incidentally, the Associated Press recap of yesterday's game included the following tidbit:
* I was fairly succinct yesterday in my comments about Saturday night's game, so I'd like to go a little bit more in-depth about what Scott Baker was able to do.
I've come across very few people in the blogosphere who have a better grasp of the game of baseball than Ubelmann, who has become a regular contributor at SBG's site and comments on this blog occasionally. Prior to Baker's start on Saturday, Ubelmann wrote an article predicting the type of contributions that can be expected from the young right-hander during his current turn in the Twins' rotation. Ubelmann concluded his analysis with the following paragraph:
* I was quite perturbed by the fact that Jason Kubel did not get a single start in this series, despite the fact that the Twins faced two right-handers. I realize that Kubel has struggled this year, but do the Twins really view Lew Ford as a superior option, even against righties? Ford went just 2-for-11 in his three starts.
* I have always spoken very highly of Miller Park, and once again I came away impressed after seeing a game there this weekend. It is just so much better than the Metrodome, and not even solely because the building and environment are nicer. There are a lot of things I really dislike about the 'Dome that don't even relate to its hideous appearance or the fact that it is extremely ill-suited for the sport of baseball.
For instance, I really like how the scoreboards in Miller Park display a pitcher's WHIP and a batter's OPS -- helpful statistics that are completely ignored in the Metrodome. Another vastly superior aspect of Miller Park is the food. The hot dog I bought at the game actually had grill marks on it! Imagine that. It's the little things that can make a sporting event enjoyable, and it seems like the Metrodome seems to mismanage even those, which certainly doesn't help to make up for the fact that it is a lousy stadium in the first place.
* Finally, here are a bunch of pictures from Saturday night's game that my girlfriend snapped on her digital camera.
A view from outside the stadium
A view from inside the stadium.
The outfield and scoreboard.
Hunter torques up...
... And follows through on his second-inning homer.
T.C. works his game.
Baker delivers amidst his masterful performance.
Blocked by the blond lady's head in this picture is Randall Simon, who was preparing to take a swing at the green-hatted sausage.
A view of the sell-out crowd.
The Twins celebrate the victory.
My weekend in Milwaukee was a lot of fun. I only attended one of the three games (Saturday night's), but I think it was the best one. I've got a lot of thoughts on the weekend's series, so I'll get right to them in the classic bullet-point format.
* Mr. Mosvick and I were highly critical of the Twins' decision to sign Ortiz in the offseason, and some readers commented that they thought we were being overly harsh. While Ortiz got off to a fast start in April, a few people popped up in the comments section to give us some grief for our doomsday predictions about the enthusiastic 33-year-old right-hander. The whole time, I responded by saying that I was happy and pleasantly surprised by the way he was pitching, but that by no means was I expecting the facade to last. His slate of starts during the month of May have shown exactly why I elected to reserve my optimism.
Ortiz was awful yesterday. He managed to putter his way through the first four innings with only two runs allowed, but he was treading a very dangerous line by allowing seven baserunners during that span and recording just two strikeouts. In the fifth inning, the Brewers finally got to Ortiz, picking up a pair of singles before Geoff Jenkins smashed a three-run homer to center field to tie the game at 5.
After stringing together five straight quality starts in April, Ortiz has dropped off a cliff in the month of May. In four starts this month, he has seen his ERA jump from 2.57 to 5.36 while his opponent's batting average has rocketed from .217 to .282. Ortiz has allowed 20 earned runs on 30 hits over 15 1/3 May innings, numbers that are nothing short of atrocious.
The Ortiz we're seeing right now is probably the one we should get accustomed to. As nice as his production over the first month of the season was, the Twins really need to start looking at the possibility of cutting bait on him. I say this not because I'm overreacting to a poor stretch of four starts, but because the way Ortiz has pitched over the past four games is pretty much in line with the way he's pitched over the past two seasons. He isn't giving the team a legitimate chance to win when he takes the hill, and that's unacceptable with the number of guys lined up to replace him. I realize that the Twins are none too eager to bring up Kevin Slowey or Matt Garza right now; one temporary solution would be swapping Ortiz and Matt Guerrier's roles on the pitching staff.
* For much of the early part of the season, there was a sentiment from many Twins fans (including my colleague here at NNTB) that Jason Bartlett and Nick Punto should swap places in the Twins' lineup, with Bartlett moving up to the No. 2 spot with Punto sliding down to the bottom of the order. While I was never expressly opposed to this idea, my opinion was that having them switch places wouldn't make a whole lot of difference. Those people got their wish about a week ago when Ron Gardenhire finally made the switch. Bartlett didn't respond particularly well, and yesterday he found himself back at the bottom of the order with Punto again batting second.
The fact of the matter is that these two have been equally bad and they are pretty much interchangeable at this point. I tend to think that Punto is a slightly better candidate for the 2-hole simply because he works the count more and is a better bunter, but both players have been extremely unproductive offensively. Bartlett is batting .240/.329/.295, while Punto is sporting a very similar .241/.323/.305 line. Of course, Punto takes a lot more heat because he plays third base, which I think is a tad ridiculous, but there's no way around the fact that both of these guys need to pick up the pace.
* Friday and Saturday night's victories marked the first time the Twins have won consecutive ballgames since late April, a span of three weeks.
* Aside from Ortiz, the other goat in Sunday's game was Dennys Reyes, who took the loss. Reyes allowed the go-ahead run to come across in the seventh inning when he gave up a pair of hits (both by left-handers) and threw a wild pitch. He now holds a 6.57 ERA and .367 OBA. It wasn't fair to expect Reyes to be as good as he was last season, but he has been absolutely horrendous this year. At the very least, I'd expect him to suppress lefties and avoid walks, but he's done neither of those things this year. Southpaws are raking to the tune of .370 against him, and he's issued nine walks over 12 1/3 innings while striking out 10. During those 12 1/3 innings, Reyes has also thrown two wild pitches and committed a costly throwing error. It's starting to look more and more like Triple-A farmhand Ricky Barrett should get a shot as this team's bullpen lefty.
Incidentally, the Associated Press recap of yesterday's game included the following tidbit:
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was agitated and fidgeting with his sunglasses after the game because he learned that Reyes' throwing shoulder had been bothering him since late April.
"Those are the kinds of things that a manager has to know before the ballgame. I found out after the ballgame," Gardenhire said. "I don't know if that's affecting his throwing, supposedly he's fine to pitch ... (but) all I know is a manager should know about things like that."
In light of the recent events that have transpired with Jesse Crain, this is not good news.
* I was fairly succinct yesterday in my comments about Saturday night's game, so I'd like to go a little bit more in-depth about what Scott Baker was able to do.
I've come across very few people in the blogosphere who have a better grasp of the game of baseball than Ubelmann, who has become a regular contributor at SBG's site and comments on this blog occasionally. Prior to Baker's start on Saturday, Ubelmann wrote an article predicting the type of contributions that can be expected from the young right-hander during his current turn in the Twins' rotation. Ubelmann concluded his analysis with the following paragraph:
So I think Baker’s going to be fine, if he gets a couple breaks in his first few starts, or the team just cuts him a bit of slack. He’s not Liriano, and he’s not going to single-handedly turn the team around. But he should be able to keep the score close and give the bullpen and the sharks a chance to win the game, and every now and then, he ought to turn in a performance that nearly wins the game by itself.I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly with this take, and sure enough, Baker delivered a performance on Saturday night that pretty much won the game by itself. Baker was able to keep the ball down in the zone for the most part, as he set a career high by getting 11 ground ball outs, although he did leave a few pitches up which resulted in a pair of homers. Limiting walks and home runs will be the key to Baker's sustained success, and I think he can accomplish both those things if he can consistently keep the ball down in the zone. Of course, that's no secret, and it's something the Twins' coaching staff has vocally advocated each time he's been with the big-league club. Here in his third stint in the majors, it's time for Baker to make the necessary adjustments and prove he belongs.
* I was quite perturbed by the fact that Jason Kubel did not get a single start in this series, despite the fact that the Twins faced two right-handers. I realize that Kubel has struggled this year, but do the Twins really view Lew Ford as a superior option, even against righties? Ford went just 2-for-11 in his three starts.
* I have always spoken very highly of Miller Park, and once again I came away impressed after seeing a game there this weekend. It is just so much better than the Metrodome, and not even solely because the building and environment are nicer. There are a lot of things I really dislike about the 'Dome that don't even relate to its hideous appearance or the fact that it is extremely ill-suited for the sport of baseball.
For instance, I really like how the scoreboards in Miller Park display a pitcher's WHIP and a batter's OPS -- helpful statistics that are completely ignored in the Metrodome. Another vastly superior aspect of Miller Park is the food. The hot dog I bought at the game actually had grill marks on it! Imagine that. It's the little things that can make a sporting event enjoyable, and it seems like the Metrodome seems to mismanage even those, which certainly doesn't help to make up for the fact that it is a lousy stadium in the first place.
* Finally, here are a bunch of pictures from Saturday night's game that my girlfriend snapped on her digital camera.
A view from outside the stadium
A view from inside the stadium.
The outfield and scoreboard.
Hunter torques up...
... And follows through on his second-inning homer.
T.C. works his game.
Baker delivers amidst his masterful performance.
Blocked by the blond lady's head in this picture is Randall Simon, who was preparing to take a swing at the green-hatted sausage.
A view of the sell-out crowd.
The Twins celebrate the victory.Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Offensive Output Doesn't Help Ortiz
The Twins finally put consecutive big offensive nights together. In their last two games, they've scored 23 runs, including seven in last night's contest. However, they lost to the Indians in that game because they gave up over twice as many runs: 15. Most of the Indians' run-scoring came off of Ramon Ortiz, who had by far his worst start as a Twin, and Jesse Crain, who gave up six unearned runs and now is headed to the DL with shoulder problems.
The ebb and flow of the season for the Twins has not been very kind. They started off the season well enough, with the help of a friendly schedule, but since then the offense has hit a wall, Joe Mauer has gotten hurt, and Sidney Ponson was bad enough to get released. Ortiz's May has been very symbolic of these struggles. In April, Ortiz had a sparkling 2.57 ERA. In May? 16 runs (15 earned) allowed over 11 innings.
The difference is night and day, at least for a normal pitcher. However, with Ortiz, it really isn't much of a surprise. He's spent his career having a few great starts or a great month before being absolutely terrible the next month. Take 2004. That June, he was 2-1 with a 1.16 ERA and a .152 OBA. Then in July he went 0-1 with a 2.92 ERA and a .195 OBA. Very good numbers, but in August, Ortiz had a 5.84 ERA and allowed 50 hits in 37 innings for a .331 OBA. (By the way, if your wondering why I went back to 2004, its because he really didn't have any standout months in 2005 or 2006, as he never had an ERA below 4 in any month during the 2005 and 2006 seasons in which he had more than one start.)
With that, Twins fans shouldn't expect Ortiz to have a drastic turnaround too soon. As LaVelle E. Neal III notes on his blog, "the Washington writers warned me that (Ortiz) will have four good starts and then four awful ones. And tonight’s was awful." That would mean Ortiz's next start, scheduled against the Brewers on Sunday, might not be so great. That seems like a good prediction, considering how good the Brewers offense has been this year. (For those not paying attention, Prince Fielder and J.J. Hardy are tied for the NL lead in home runs with 12 apiece.) Hopefully Ortiz makes some adjustments, but his pitches had awful location during his only inning yesterday and he has looked all-too hittable in his last few starts.
As for Crain, a DL stint bodes badly for the Twins. It leads to a call-up of right-hander Julio DePaula from Triple-A, who holds 3.15 ERA and 10/7 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 16 innings. DePaula has been a pretty good pitcher in his minor-league career, but his lack of dominance doesn't exactly predict immediate success at the major-league level. Crain going on the DL also hurts the Twins' chances of making a trade for offense by utilizing one of their right-hander relievers. Furthermore, the fact that Crain's ailment has been described as a "recurring shoulder injury" is always a bad sign. Once shoulder injuries start, for many, they don't end very quickly. Crain isn't an absolutely necessary piece of the bullpen like Joe Nathan, but when he's pitching at his best, Crain is very useful.
As for the offense, the main contributors leave only one surprise: Jason Kubel. Kubel, who for most of the year has struggled, hit his first home run of the year and went 2-for-4 to raise his batting line to .265/.311/.372. Kubel has eight hits in his last 21 at-bats, good for a .348 average. If Kubel keeps getting consistent at-bats, he may very soon start to show everyone what kind of hitter he can be.
Otherwise, Michael Cuddyer went 2-for-5 with a two-run home run in the first while Justin Morneau continued his recent hot streak, hitting two home runs to put him behind only Alex Rodriguez for the AL lead with 11 home runs. Morneau currently has a .281/.365/.568, showing both impressive power and patience, and making perhaps a more lethal offensive weapon than he was last year. Lastly, recent call-up Garrett Jones made his major-league debut, going 1-for-3 with a walk.
Today, Carlos Silva will take the mound against Twins-hater C.C. Sabathia. Sabathia was awful in his last start, but he also has 58 Ks in 53 2/3 innings this year and almost always does well against the Twins. With the offense starting to come around, the pressure will be on Silva to produce another quality start and give the bullpen some rest after last night's pitching breakdown.
The ebb and flow of the season for the Twins has not been very kind. They started off the season well enough, with the help of a friendly schedule, but since then the offense has hit a wall, Joe Mauer has gotten hurt, and Sidney Ponson was bad enough to get released. Ortiz's May has been very symbolic of these struggles. In April, Ortiz had a sparkling 2.57 ERA. In May? 16 runs (15 earned) allowed over 11 innings.
The difference is night and day, at least for a normal pitcher. However, with Ortiz, it really isn't much of a surprise. He's spent his career having a few great starts or a great month before being absolutely terrible the next month. Take 2004. That June, he was 2-1 with a 1.16 ERA and a .152 OBA. Then in July he went 0-1 with a 2.92 ERA and a .195 OBA. Very good numbers, but in August, Ortiz had a 5.84 ERA and allowed 50 hits in 37 innings for a .331 OBA. (By the way, if your wondering why I went back to 2004, its because he really didn't have any standout months in 2005 or 2006, as he never had an ERA below 4 in any month during the 2005 and 2006 seasons in which he had more than one start.)
With that, Twins fans shouldn't expect Ortiz to have a drastic turnaround too soon. As LaVelle E. Neal III notes on his blog, "the Washington writers warned me that (Ortiz) will have four good starts and then four awful ones. And tonight’s was awful." That would mean Ortiz's next start, scheduled against the Brewers on Sunday, might not be so great. That seems like a good prediction, considering how good the Brewers offense has been this year. (For those not paying attention, Prince Fielder and J.J. Hardy are tied for the NL lead in home runs with 12 apiece.) Hopefully Ortiz makes some adjustments, but his pitches had awful location during his only inning yesterday and he has looked all-too hittable in his last few starts.
As for Crain, a DL stint bodes badly for the Twins. It leads to a call-up of right-hander Julio DePaula from Triple-A, who holds 3.15 ERA and 10/7 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 16 innings. DePaula has been a pretty good pitcher in his minor-league career, but his lack of dominance doesn't exactly predict immediate success at the major-league level. Crain going on the DL also hurts the Twins' chances of making a trade for offense by utilizing one of their right-hander relievers. Furthermore, the fact that Crain's ailment has been described as a "recurring shoulder injury" is always a bad sign. Once shoulder injuries start, for many, they don't end very quickly. Crain isn't an absolutely necessary piece of the bullpen like Joe Nathan, but when he's pitching at his best, Crain is very useful.
As for the offense, the main contributors leave only one surprise: Jason Kubel. Kubel, who for most of the year has struggled, hit his first home run of the year and went 2-for-4 to raise his batting line to .265/.311/.372. Kubel has eight hits in his last 21 at-bats, good for a .348 average. If Kubel keeps getting consistent at-bats, he may very soon start to show everyone what kind of hitter he can be.
Otherwise, Michael Cuddyer went 2-for-5 with a two-run home run in the first while Justin Morneau continued his recent hot streak, hitting two home runs to put him behind only Alex Rodriguez for the AL lead with 11 home runs. Morneau currently has a .281/.365/.568, showing both impressive power and patience, and making perhaps a more lethal offensive weapon than he was last year. Lastly, recent call-up Garrett Jones made his major-league debut, going 1-for-3 with a walk.
Today, Carlos Silva will take the mound against Twins-hater C.C. Sabathia. Sabathia was awful in his last start, but he also has 58 Ks in 53 2/3 innings this year and almost always does well against the Twins. With the offense starting to come around, the pressure will be on Silva to produce another quality start and give the bullpen some rest after last night's pitching breakdown.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Some Things Never Change
Well, you can say this for the Twins; they've been pretty consistent in their terrible offensive performance for the last few weeks. This is a team that has allowed twice as many home runs as it has hit. Last night was no exception to what the Twins offense has done lately.
They scored three runs, sure, but they all came late in the game and two of them were scored thanks to a Juan Uribe throwing error. They managed six hits but they were also no-hit by White Sox starter John Danks for the first four innings of the game. This despite the fact they put on a total of 12 baserunners, by walking six times.
Specifically, Justin Morneau looked terrible against Boone Logan last night, swinging pathetically at three curveballs with two on in the bottom of the eigth and chance to tie. Even worse was Jason Kubel, who killed any momentum the Twins had in the ninth after two walks, as he struck out against closer Bobby Jenks on three pitches. Kubel continues to look absolutely lost at the plate and he hasn't shown much recently to make me believe he's coming out of a slump. How long of a string should the Twins give Kubel? Considering that Josh Rabe is a worse hitter than Kubel is, even right now, the options remain slim.
Considering how weak the White Sox are right now, there isn't much excuse. Yes, they are 15-16, but Jim Thome is on the DL, Jermaine Dye is hitting .208 and Paul Konerko is hitting .209. In fact, no hitter in the Sox lineup last night ended the night hitting above .270. You have to question a lineup's strength when the hitter with the best average is Darin Erstad. Even with the nine hits last night, this is a team that has batted .218 when you factor out Thome's .340 average.
To be fair, the White Sox did come into the game with a 3.97 ERA for their pitching staff, but the rookie Danks also came in as their worst starter with a 5.02 ERA and an 0-4 record on the season. Taking into account both of these factors, the Twins should have been able to give themselves a chance. But both their hitting and pitching did not come through. The fact that they were so pathetic with the bats wasn't much of a surprise, seeing as how Danks happens to throw with his left hand.
The only real surprise was Ramon Ortiz, but it's really only a shocker considering his numbers so far this year. At some point, the bubble had to burst. Ortiz just isn't good enough to be posting anything close to a 2.57 ERA throughout a whole year. Sure, occurrences like a two-run bases-loaded broken bat single aren't reason to think Ortiz is terrible, but he also has allowed 10 runs in his last 10 innings, 9 earned. None of that is encouraging. Neither is his career low 3.6 K/9 ratio.
Is Ortiz going to end up putting up a 5.57 ERA like he did last year? That would seem a little bit harsh of a reaction to what has happened in his last two starts, but the ERA is likely going to be steadily increasing. The only truly encouraging thing that happened last night was the defensive gem of a play by Torii Hunter that probably won him another Gold Glove.
Today, the other surprise starter Carlos Silva takes the mound against Jose Contreras, who is now the worst White Sox starter after the Twins couldn't hit Danks. Contreras has a fairly high ERA at 4.88, largely due by his terrible 17/16 K/BB ratio. That means the Twins will have to be patient, but if it goes anything like last night, they will get the runners on and fail to bring them in. With that, things don't sound encouraging, but let's just Morneau has another big home run in him. He certainly didn't last night
They scored three runs, sure, but they all came late in the game and two of them were scored thanks to a Juan Uribe throwing error. They managed six hits but they were also no-hit by White Sox starter John Danks for the first four innings of the game. This despite the fact they put on a total of 12 baserunners, by walking six times.
Specifically, Justin Morneau looked terrible against Boone Logan last night, swinging pathetically at three curveballs with two on in the bottom of the eigth and chance to tie. Even worse was Jason Kubel, who killed any momentum the Twins had in the ninth after two walks, as he struck out against closer Bobby Jenks on three pitches. Kubel continues to look absolutely lost at the plate and he hasn't shown much recently to make me believe he's coming out of a slump. How long of a string should the Twins give Kubel? Considering that Josh Rabe is a worse hitter than Kubel is, even right now, the options remain slim.
Considering how weak the White Sox are right now, there isn't much excuse. Yes, they are 15-16, but Jim Thome is on the DL, Jermaine Dye is hitting .208 and Paul Konerko is hitting .209. In fact, no hitter in the Sox lineup last night ended the night hitting above .270. You have to question a lineup's strength when the hitter with the best average is Darin Erstad. Even with the nine hits last night, this is a team that has batted .218 when you factor out Thome's .340 average.
To be fair, the White Sox did come into the game with a 3.97 ERA for their pitching staff, but the rookie Danks also came in as their worst starter with a 5.02 ERA and an 0-4 record on the season. Taking into account both of these factors, the Twins should have been able to give themselves a chance. But both their hitting and pitching did not come through. The fact that they were so pathetic with the bats wasn't much of a surprise, seeing as how Danks happens to throw with his left hand.
The only real surprise was Ramon Ortiz, but it's really only a shocker considering his numbers so far this year. At some point, the bubble had to burst. Ortiz just isn't good enough to be posting anything close to a 2.57 ERA throughout a whole year. Sure, occurrences like a two-run bases-loaded broken bat single aren't reason to think Ortiz is terrible, but he also has allowed 10 runs in his last 10 innings, 9 earned. None of that is encouraging. Neither is his career low 3.6 K/9 ratio.
Is Ortiz going to end up putting up a 5.57 ERA like he did last year? That would seem a little bit harsh of a reaction to what has happened in his last two starts, but the ERA is likely going to be steadily increasing. The only truly encouraging thing that happened last night was the defensive gem of a play by Torii Hunter that probably won him another Gold Glove.
Today, the other surprise starter Carlos Silva takes the mound against Jose Contreras, who is now the worst White Sox starter after the Twins couldn't hit Danks. Contreras has a fairly high ERA at 4.88, largely due by his terrible 17/16 K/BB ratio. That means the Twins will have to be patient, but if it goes anything like last night, they will get the runners on and fail to bring them in. With that, things don't sound encouraging, but let's just Morneau has another big home run in him. He certainly didn't last night
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Mauer Strikes Back
Maybe Joe Mauer wasn't happy with being held out of the lineup. Maybe he knew that the offense needed a swift kick in the butt. Whatever the case, Mauer delivered the game-winning two-run single last night off hard-throwing reliever Joel Zumaya. Michael Cuddyer said that when Mauer came up, second baseman Placido Polanco remarked, "Oh God, that guy's up."
The Twins surprised everyone by coming back from a 3-1 deficit against Zumaya. Looking at Zumaya's numbers so far, however, it isn't as surprising as last August's three-run home run by Justin Morneau off Zumaya in Detroit. Including last night, Zumaya has given up six runs in his last 14 innings. He's also shown some pretty bad control this year, walking nine in those 14 innings as well as four on Wednesday outing against the White Sox. He's also a guy who was very hard to hit last year (.187 OBA) and had an amazing ERA of 1.94.
Mauer's wasn't the only impressive hit though. Luis Rodriguez somehow managed to get a sacrifice bunt down on Zumaya's triple-digit fastball to move over Jason Bartlett and Nick Punto. Mike Redmond, misplaced in the third spot, managed a well-struck two-run single to tie the game. And Michael Cuddyer followed with a blast off the left-field wall for a double.
All this offensive output did take a while. The Twins made fans suffer through six innings of offensive ineptitude before Morneau homered off of starter Nate Robertson. (Problems with another soft-tossing lefty? Its getting a little annoying.) With that in mind, obviously fans have to hope that the eighth-inning Twins will show up this afternoon against the hard-throwing 2006 Rookie of the Year Justin Verlander.
However, with all the talk of offense, I have to mention that the Twins received another quality start from Ramon Ortiz. Ortiz only allowed two runs and five hits in six innings, though he did walk four batters. That gives him a 2.57 ERA so far. Ortiz was another part of a great effort by the Twins pitching staff, as the bullpen chipped in with three scoreless innings while Joe Nathan closed the door for his seventh save. With this year's other pitching surprise -- Carlos Silva -- on the mound today, let's hope for a similar effort. The Twins will undoubtedly need it.
The Twins surprised everyone by coming back from a 3-1 deficit against Zumaya. Looking at Zumaya's numbers so far, however, it isn't as surprising as last August's three-run home run by Justin Morneau off Zumaya in Detroit. Including last night, Zumaya has given up six runs in his last 14 innings. He's also shown some pretty bad control this year, walking nine in those 14 innings as well as four on Wednesday outing against the White Sox. He's also a guy who was very hard to hit last year (.187 OBA) and had an amazing ERA of 1.94.
Mauer's wasn't the only impressive hit though. Luis Rodriguez somehow managed to get a sacrifice bunt down on Zumaya's triple-digit fastball to move over Jason Bartlett and Nick Punto. Mike Redmond, misplaced in the third spot, managed a well-struck two-run single to tie the game. And Michael Cuddyer followed with a blast off the left-field wall for a double.
All this offensive output did take a while. The Twins made fans suffer through six innings of offensive ineptitude before Morneau homered off of starter Nate Robertson. (Problems with another soft-tossing lefty? Its getting a little annoying.) With that in mind, obviously fans have to hope that the eighth-inning Twins will show up this afternoon against the hard-throwing 2006 Rookie of the Year Justin Verlander.
However, with all the talk of offense, I have to mention that the Twins received another quality start from Ramon Ortiz. Ortiz only allowed two runs and five hits in six innings, though he did walk four batters. That gives him a 2.57 ERA so far. Ortiz was another part of a great effort by the Twins pitching staff, as the bullpen chipped in with three scoreless innings while Joe Nathan closed the door for his seventh save. With this year's other pitching surprise -- Carlos Silva -- on the mound today, let's hope for a similar effort. The Twins will undoubtedly need it.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
A Win! (And Some Rants)
The Twins are a weird team.
After displaying an astonishing level of ineptitude over the first 25 innings of their series with the Yankees, scoring just four runs on 16 hits during that span, the Twins' bats suddenly came alive in the eighth inning of last night's game. During that frame, the Twins scored four runs on two singles, two doubles, and a walk. And they did it against a fairly decent pitcher in Kyle Farnsworth, who is arguably the Yankees' best reliever outside of Mariano Rivera. It was like the Twins' hitters finally realized, "Wait a minute, if we want to beat this team, we're going to have to outscore them." Novel concept, I know, but it's one that nobody in the Twins clubhouse seemed to realize over the first two games of this series.
The Twins' eighth-inning offensive outburst was unexpected, but it was not the most surprising story of this game. No, that honor would belong to Ramon Ortiz, who is apparently the new stopper in the Twins' rotation. After Sidney Ponson and Boof Bonser had combined to allow 14 earned runs on 16 hits and five walks over 10 innings in their starts against the Yankees, Ortiz delivered nothing short of a gem on Wednesday night. The 33-year-old righthander tossed eight innings of one run, three-hit ball against an extremely tough lineup which had simply clobbered Twins pitching over the first two games of the series. Ortiz struck out four (including the red-hot Alex Rodriguez, twice) while walking only one, and he was highly efficient, needing just 93 pitches to get through his eight innings of work. For all the criticism we've handed the Twins for signing Ortiz in the offseason, I have to admit I've been impressed with him so far. He looked damn good last night. The Twins needed a good start, and he came through with an outing that was better than I could've expected. Ortiz is now 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA. While I have a hard time imagining he'll continue anywhere close to this pace, he's looked nothing but solid so far.
There were some other points of interest in last night's game, one of which was the fact that Alexi Casilla got the start at shortstop. Mr. Mosvick noted in his post yesterday that Ron Gardenhire appears to be losing patience with the struggling Jason Bartlett to some extent, and this move would provide further evidence of that. His play over the first week-plus of this season has looked eerily similar to his sloppy play in the ALDS series against Oakland last year. With that said, I'm sure Bartlett will be back in the lineup tonight against Tampa Bay and I do expect him to start showing marked improvement within the next week. He's too good a player to be performing this poorly.
Another point of intrigue regarding last night's game was the presence of Luis Rodriguez in the DH spot. It's not often that you'll see a light-hitting utility infielder get a start at designated hitter for any team, but I guess that just speaks to the Twins' current lack of depth. To his credit, Elrod went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles.
In sum, it was nice to see the Twins salvage a win in this series with a 5-1 victory; hopefully they will be able to carry some momentum into their upcoming four-game series against an improved Devil Rays team. With all that positivity out of the way, I do have a few gripes I'd like to get off my chest.
Let me preface the next couple paragraphs with a disclaimer. The rest of this post is basically going to be a bunch of aimless ranting. If you are pregnant or have a heart condition, I recommend you proceed with caution.
First of all, what is up with this "Premium Game" scam? I went out to the Metrodome on Tuesday night and my tickets cost three bucks more than they usually do. Why? Because the Twins are playing the great Yankees, and that means tickets are at a premium. My question is this: why should I have to pay extra to watch my team get the crap kicked out of them? If anything, tickets for these games should cost LESS. Charge extra when the Twins are playing the Devil Rays or something, at least in that situation I am almost guaranteed to leave the stadium in a good mood. Instead I walk out of those revolving doors full of frustration over the fact that my beloved Twins just got absolutely dominated by an unspeakably superior team, AND over the fact that I just threw away an extra three dollars which could have been used on an extra frickin' hot dog.
Another thing: if I overhear one more fan asking the question "Where is Lew Ford?" at a game, I am going to dump my nachos in their lap. It seems like every time I have been at the Metrodome, or around Twins fans in other settings, I have heard someone ask this question. Then the person they are with typically gives some smug, overconfident, completely false response, stating that Ford was cut in spring training or he was traded for Jeff Cirillo. First of all, Ford is on the disabled list. Second of all, WHO CARES? Yes, I'm sure the team's offensive impotence over the past several days has been due in large part to the lack of Lew Ford's powerful bat in the middle of the lineup.
Bah. Sorry about all that. I guess I'm still a little crabby from the 18-3 bashing over the first two games of the Yankees series. Fortunately, the Twins have a history of dominance against the Devil Rays that is fairly similar to the Yankees' history of dominance against the Twins, so I'm hopeful that this weekend's slate of games can lift my spirits.
After displaying an astonishing level of ineptitude over the first 25 innings of their series with the Yankees, scoring just four runs on 16 hits during that span, the Twins' bats suddenly came alive in the eighth inning of last night's game. During that frame, the Twins scored four runs on two singles, two doubles, and a walk. And they did it against a fairly decent pitcher in Kyle Farnsworth, who is arguably the Yankees' best reliever outside of Mariano Rivera. It was like the Twins' hitters finally realized, "Wait a minute, if we want to beat this team, we're going to have to outscore them." Novel concept, I know, but it's one that nobody in the Twins clubhouse seemed to realize over the first two games of this series.
The Twins' eighth-inning offensive outburst was unexpected, but it was not the most surprising story of this game. No, that honor would belong to Ramon Ortiz, who is apparently the new stopper in the Twins' rotation. After Sidney Ponson and Boof Bonser had combined to allow 14 earned runs on 16 hits and five walks over 10 innings in their starts against the Yankees, Ortiz delivered nothing short of a gem on Wednesday night. The 33-year-old righthander tossed eight innings of one run, three-hit ball against an extremely tough lineup which had simply clobbered Twins pitching over the first two games of the series. Ortiz struck out four (including the red-hot Alex Rodriguez, twice) while walking only one, and he was highly efficient, needing just 93 pitches to get through his eight innings of work. For all the criticism we've handed the Twins for signing Ortiz in the offseason, I have to admit I've been impressed with him so far. He looked damn good last night. The Twins needed a good start, and he came through with an outing that was better than I could've expected. Ortiz is now 2-0 with a 1.80 ERA. While I have a hard time imagining he'll continue anywhere close to this pace, he's looked nothing but solid so far.
There were some other points of interest in last night's game, one of which was the fact that Alexi Casilla got the start at shortstop. Mr. Mosvick noted in his post yesterday that Ron Gardenhire appears to be losing patience with the struggling Jason Bartlett to some extent, and this move would provide further evidence of that. His play over the first week-plus of this season has looked eerily similar to his sloppy play in the ALDS series against Oakland last year. With that said, I'm sure Bartlett will be back in the lineup tonight against Tampa Bay and I do expect him to start showing marked improvement within the next week. He's too good a player to be performing this poorly.
Another point of intrigue regarding last night's game was the presence of Luis Rodriguez in the DH spot. It's not often that you'll see a light-hitting utility infielder get a start at designated hitter for any team, but I guess that just speaks to the Twins' current lack of depth. To his credit, Elrod went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles.
In sum, it was nice to see the Twins salvage a win in this series with a 5-1 victory; hopefully they will be able to carry some momentum into their upcoming four-game series against an improved Devil Rays team. With all that positivity out of the way, I do have a few gripes I'd like to get off my chest.
Let me preface the next couple paragraphs with a disclaimer. The rest of this post is basically going to be a bunch of aimless ranting. If you are pregnant or have a heart condition, I recommend you proceed with caution.
First of all, what is up with this "Premium Game" scam? I went out to the Metrodome on Tuesday night and my tickets cost three bucks more than they usually do. Why? Because the Twins are playing the great Yankees, and that means tickets are at a premium. My question is this: why should I have to pay extra to watch my team get the crap kicked out of them? If anything, tickets for these games should cost LESS. Charge extra when the Twins are playing the Devil Rays or something, at least in that situation I am almost guaranteed to leave the stadium in a good mood. Instead I walk out of those revolving doors full of frustration over the fact that my beloved Twins just got absolutely dominated by an unspeakably superior team, AND over the fact that I just threw away an extra three dollars which could have been used on an extra frickin' hot dog.
Another thing: if I overhear one more fan asking the question "Where is Lew Ford?" at a game, I am going to dump my nachos in their lap. It seems like every time I have been at the Metrodome, or around Twins fans in other settings, I have heard someone ask this question. Then the person they are with typically gives some smug, overconfident, completely false response, stating that Ford was cut in spring training or he was traded for Jeff Cirillo. First of all, Ford is on the disabled list. Second of all, WHO CARES? Yes, I'm sure the team's offensive impotence over the past several days has been due in large part to the lack of Lew Ford's powerful bat in the middle of the lineup.
Bah. Sorry about all that. I guess I'm still a little crabby from the 18-3 bashing over the first two games of the Yankees series. Fortunately, the Twins have a history of dominance against the Devil Rays that is fairly similar to the Yankees' history of dominance against the Twins, so I'm hopeful that this weekend's slate of games can lift my spirits.
Thursday, April 05, 2007
Polar Opposites
Remember how the beginning of last season felt? The Twins went 1-5 in their first two series, the beginning of a poor April followed by a poor May. They lacked energy out of the gate and a lot of the decisions made in spring training looked bad pretty quickly. This year? The bats are on fire and the pitching has been quite good so far. Even a questionable decision looks good so far.
Ramon Ortiz, one of two new pitchers in the Twins rotation, hasn't been very good since 2002, as we've been adamant on this site, but he was pretty good last night. In seven innings of pitching, Ortiz gave up four hits and two runs while walking one and striking out four. It was an impressive debut, though it came against a fairly weak Baltimore lineup. He'll be tested by vastly superior lineups soon enough, but it was a nice start and Ortiz certainly looked better than he did last year and appeared excited to be a Twin. Not to mention, he's apparently learned a change-up from Johan Santana.
As for the hitting, the Twins looked a little more like they did Monday night, with a good deal of hard-hit balls off Orioles starter Jaret Wright and reliever Jeremy Guthrie. In addition to the hits, the Twins walked plenty, getting six total and five from Wright alone. The took advantage of Wright's bad control, hittable pitches, and the Orioles defense, which made three errors.
Most notably, Luis Castillo, Joe Mauer, and Michael Cuddyer had impressive games. Castillo continues to hit well, going 7-for-14 so far and showing that his hot bat in Spring Training wasn't a mirage. Mauer, meanwhile, is hitting .455 so far and has shown great patience and that same great swing from the on-set. Anyone care to take back their predictions that he wouldn't win another batting title? (Ok, it's a little early, but Mauer looks pretty great).
As for Cuddyer, we would bring back the K-ddyer meter after his first two starts if he didn't redeem himself last night by not only avoiding a strikeout, but by also going 3-for-3 with two RBI. In other words, let's not panic and let's just assume that Cuddyer will be fine. If in a month, he's struck out 30 or 40 times already, there will be no question about bringing the K-ddyer back.
Overall, the Twins have given the fans a reason to be optimistic about the season with a nice sweep of the O's. This weekend, however, will pose more of a challenge, as the Twins head to Chicago to take on the White Sox. Who is all looking forward to Sidney Ponson's great first start on Saturday? I know I am.
Ramon Ortiz, one of two new pitchers in the Twins rotation, hasn't been very good since 2002, as we've been adamant on this site, but he was pretty good last night. In seven innings of pitching, Ortiz gave up four hits and two runs while walking one and striking out four. It was an impressive debut, though it came against a fairly weak Baltimore lineup. He'll be tested by vastly superior lineups soon enough, but it was a nice start and Ortiz certainly looked better than he did last year and appeared excited to be a Twin. Not to mention, he's apparently learned a change-up from Johan Santana.
As for the hitting, the Twins looked a little more like they did Monday night, with a good deal of hard-hit balls off Orioles starter Jaret Wright and reliever Jeremy Guthrie. In addition to the hits, the Twins walked plenty, getting six total and five from Wright alone. The took advantage of Wright's bad control, hittable pitches, and the Orioles defense, which made three errors.
Most notably, Luis Castillo, Joe Mauer, and Michael Cuddyer had impressive games. Castillo continues to hit well, going 7-for-14 so far and showing that his hot bat in Spring Training wasn't a mirage. Mauer, meanwhile, is hitting .455 so far and has shown great patience and that same great swing from the on-set. Anyone care to take back their predictions that he wouldn't win another batting title? (Ok, it's a little early, but Mauer looks pretty great).
As for Cuddyer, we would bring back the K-ddyer meter after his first two starts if he didn't redeem himself last night by not only avoiding a strikeout, but by also going 3-for-3 with two RBI. In other words, let's not panic and let's just assume that Cuddyer will be fine. If in a month, he's struck out 30 or 40 times already, there will be no question about bringing the K-ddyer back.
Overall, the Twins have given the fans a reason to be optimistic about the season with a nice sweep of the O's. This weekend, however, will pose more of a challenge, as the Twins head to Chicago to take on the White Sox. Who is all looking forward to Sidney Ponson's great first start on Saturday? I know I am.
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Big-Inning Myth?
Lately, there have been a number of articles written by various Twins writers trying to put a good face on Ramon Ortiz. Many have looked at his 0.75 spring ERA over 12 innings as a positive. Others, like Tom Powers, have pointed to Ortiz's personality, noting that he is a good fit for the clubhouse. Some, like Joe Christensen, have suggested that Ortiz is something of a bargain in the midst of a crazy offseason market. And MLB.com beat writer Kelly Thesier has suggested that Ortiz is in good form; she says his sinking fastball, breaking-ball, and change-up are all working, and the coaches like Rick Anderson are trying to get him away from his "big-inning issue."
What Powers wrote is the usual fluff that goes on at the beginning of the year. If you recall, last year Twins writers did the same thing with Tony Batista, touting his fun personality and Bible-spouting antics, neither of which prevented him from performing poorly and being released a couple months into the season. This type of angle isn't all that interesting because there is no way to dispute personality. Ortiz may be a great, energetic guy, but that energy won't help if his pitching is terrible.
Christensen's take, on the other hand, was discussed yesterday by Mr. Nelson. I happen to agree with my co-writer that it's a bit of a reach to insinuate that Ortiz is a good deal in comparison to the contract handed out to guys like Adam Eaton, Jason Marquis, and Jeff Weaver. Those teams were dumb to give those guys deals, sure, but that doesn't make the Twins look any better. Their signing of Ortiz remains quite suspect.
And then we get to this "big inning" idea as presented by Thesier. It's the best thing our beat-writers could create to defend Ortiz. In essence, it suggests that, "Hey, Ortiz isn't so bad. In fact, he'd be amazing if he just wouldn't have that inning where everything doesn't go his way." Seems vaguely familiar. Kyle Lohse had the same issue. In fact, most bad pitchers have this issue. You don't simply get over it. However, my problem goes beyond that. The stats simply don't support this assertion.
For instance, take a look at Ortiz's splits from last year. With runners on, opposing batters hit .284/.352/.447. With no one on, however, hitters were even better against Ortiz, smashing hits at a .308/.364/.520 clip. While lead-off hitters hit .324/.369/.465 against Ortiz, but batters also hit .299/.365/.571 with no one out and one or two outs. That's a lot of power. Furthermore, in the most "clutch" situations, hitters actually had a harder time with Ortiz. With runners in scoring position and two outs, hitters hit .241/.383/.425.
The evidence, instead of pointing to a "big inning" issue, points to several problems Ortiz had last year. For one, the more pressure on him, the more chance he had of walking guys. The more he pitched, the less effective he was. Ortiz was at his worst in "Close and Late" situations, where opponents hit .333/.378/.667 (albeit, in only 30 at-bats, tell us how many times Ortiz lasted late in the came), and between pitches 46 and 60, when hitters hit .318/.392/.579. When Ortiz threw over one hundred pitches, he simply became a BP pitcher. Ortiz had only 15 quality starts last year, which was by his fellow pumpkin Carlos Silva.
The point is that there are a series of contradictions here. While Ortiz walked too many with pressure on, hitters did not do particularly well in most pressure situations. At the same time, Ortiz was more hittable with no one on base. None of this reasonably suggests that Ortiz's issue was consistently the "big inning." Instead, he was consistently bad. He tired quickly. He gave up far too many home runs, the majority of which (19 to 12) came with no one on base. All in a pitcher's park.
My objective here is not to further the argument that Ortiz isn't a very good pitcher. That should be clear from his statistics the last two years. The point is that there isn't a strong argument being put forth as to why he was so bad during those two years and why he'll be good for the Twins when Rick Anderson somehow "fixes" him. Sure, its possible, but it will take a lot more refining than the Twins are making it seem. He may have a "big inning" issue, but his problems extend beyond that. Just something to consider.
What Powers wrote is the usual fluff that goes on at the beginning of the year. If you recall, last year Twins writers did the same thing with Tony Batista, touting his fun personality and Bible-spouting antics, neither of which prevented him from performing poorly and being released a couple months into the season. This type of angle isn't all that interesting because there is no way to dispute personality. Ortiz may be a great, energetic guy, but that energy won't help if his pitching is terrible.
Christensen's take, on the other hand, was discussed yesterday by Mr. Nelson. I happen to agree with my co-writer that it's a bit of a reach to insinuate that Ortiz is a good deal in comparison to the contract handed out to guys like Adam Eaton, Jason Marquis, and Jeff Weaver. Those teams were dumb to give those guys deals, sure, but that doesn't make the Twins look any better. Their signing of Ortiz remains quite suspect.
And then we get to this "big inning" idea as presented by Thesier. It's the best thing our beat-writers could create to defend Ortiz. In essence, it suggests that, "Hey, Ortiz isn't so bad. In fact, he'd be amazing if he just wouldn't have that inning where everything doesn't go his way." Seems vaguely familiar. Kyle Lohse had the same issue. In fact, most bad pitchers have this issue. You don't simply get over it. However, my problem goes beyond that. The stats simply don't support this assertion.
For instance, take a look at Ortiz's splits from last year. With runners on, opposing batters hit .284/.352/.447. With no one on, however, hitters were even better against Ortiz, smashing hits at a .308/.364/.520 clip. While lead-off hitters hit .324/.369/.465 against Ortiz, but batters also hit .299/.365/.571 with no one out and one or two outs. That's a lot of power. Furthermore, in the most "clutch" situations, hitters actually had a harder time with Ortiz. With runners in scoring position and two outs, hitters hit .241/.383/.425.
The evidence, instead of pointing to a "big inning" issue, points to several problems Ortiz had last year. For one, the more pressure on him, the more chance he had of walking guys. The more he pitched, the less effective he was. Ortiz was at his worst in "Close and Late" situations, where opponents hit .333/.378/.667 (albeit, in only 30 at-bats, tell us how many times Ortiz lasted late in the came), and between pitches 46 and 60, when hitters hit .318/.392/.579. When Ortiz threw over one hundred pitches, he simply became a BP pitcher. Ortiz had only 15 quality starts last year, which was by his fellow pumpkin Carlos Silva.
The point is that there are a series of contradictions here. While Ortiz walked too many with pressure on, hitters did not do particularly well in most pressure situations. At the same time, Ortiz was more hittable with no one on base. None of this reasonably suggests that Ortiz's issue was consistently the "big inning." Instead, he was consistently bad. He tired quickly. He gave up far too many home runs, the majority of which (19 to 12) came with no one on base. All in a pitcher's park.
My objective here is not to further the argument that Ortiz isn't a very good pitcher. That should be clear from his statistics the last two years. The point is that there isn't a strong argument being put forth as to why he was so bad during those two years and why he'll be good for the Twins when Rick Anderson somehow "fixes" him. Sure, its possible, but it will take a lot more refining than the Twins are making it seem. He may have a "big inning" issue, but his problems extend beyond that. Just something to consider.
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