Travis Hafner is the Indians' designated hitter. When he starts, it is never in the field, but always in the DH spot. This is because he is not a good fielder and it hurts a team to have such a liability anywhere in the field. Why can the Twins not do this with Matt LeCroy? If Fatty has any real value (which is becoming more and more doubtful as the season progresses), it is certainly not in the field. In fact, he is an absolutely terrible fielder. We've seen it in the past with his inability to make the slightly tougher plays, like stabbing a ball on the short hop or ranging one step to his right or left, but tonight he made two very ugly errors. When you have a pitcher on the hill in Carlos Silva who puts the ball in play and depends on his fielders to make outs, this can't happen. I'll honestly be surprised if LeCroy starts another game at first base this season.
Speaking of Silva, he had a typical Silva game. 7 innings pitched, 9 hits allowed, no strikeouts. The performance extended an impressive streak of 8 starts in which he has gone 7+ innings, but this one was not nearly as impressive as his last few. The stat that killed him was the two gopherballs he gave up, which accounted for 3 of Cleveland's 4 runs.
I really don't like what Ron Gardenhire has done with the lineup. Nick Punto is an absolutely PERFECT number 2 hitter. He's a switch-hitter with a near-.300 average, he's fast, he's a phenomenal bunter, and he sees a decent number of pitches. I was curious to see what Gardy would do tonight with Joe Mauer returning to the lineup after a five-game hiatus, thinking there was no way he could move Punto out of the number 2 slot considering how well he's been hitting lately. To my disgust, he did. He stuck Mauer back into the order between Shannon Stewart and Lew Ford and slid Punto all the way down to the 8th spot. In my opinion, the move that needs to be made here is clear: Punto second, Mauer fifth. While I do like the idea of splitting up Mauer and Justin Morneau, Joe needs to be hitting in the middle of the lineup where he can drive in runs.
Speaking of Morneau, if he can't learn to hit the ball on the outside corner, he shouldn't be in the Major Leagues. Period. It is utterly embarrassing how every team has completely figured him out and all they need to do is take a quick look at the scouting report to learn how to pitch to him and make him essentially an automatic out.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Monday, May 30, 2005
Twins Surprises and Disappointments
Now two months into the season, the Twins season has certainly been filled with ups and downs and a lot of surprises. So, with an off day at hand, I wish to go over the top three surprises and the top three disappointments.
Surprises:
1) Carlos Silva - Silva came into this year having had a solid 2004 season in which he won 14 games and had a respectable 4.21 ERA. Silva, however, also gave up 255 hits in 203 innings, a league high, and only struck out 76 batters. Those seemed to be signs that league batters were on to Silva and that this year, he could only take a step back. Instead, Silva has been the best and most reliable starter on the staff so far. He still has allowed more hits than innings (68 in 60 innings) and only has struck out 21, but thats Silva's established game now: he uses his sinker with nearly ever pitch, causes double play after double play. He is now 3-2 with a 2.85 and has had two straight great starts, including a complete-game. He has also provided, with Radke, a good example for Kyle Lohse on how to improve his pitching. Expect Silva to win at least 10-15 games this year with an ERA around 3.50.
2) Kyle Lohse - When Kyle Lohse was called up in 2001, there was a lot of hype. This was, after all, the winnings from the Rick Aguillera yard sale in 1998. Lohse, however, disappointed for a long time, never quite living up to his potential. With a strong pitch selection, Lohse has always had the tools. Now, he seems to be putting it all together. After a lousy start and a short banishment to the bullpen, Lohse has been great his past two starts as well. He's now 4-3 with a 4.22 ERA. Lohse finally made a key change that seems to have lead to this success, as he dropped his straight four-seamer and curveball in favor of a more Radke/Santanish selection of two-seamer, slider, and change-up. Now, having a little help from his peers, he is mastering the change-up. It seems that things can now only get better for Kyle and the Twins.
3) Jesse Crain - In a bullpen that is the best or at least one of the best in the majors, Jesse Crain was not expected to be the best reliever on the staff by a longshot. But, so far, he has been outstanding, going 5-0 so far with a .96 ERA. When Juan Rincon was suspended, it was Crain who stepped up into the set-up role and excelled in front of Joe Nathan. In all of the Twins' recent extra-inning victories, its been Crain who has stymied the opposing offense and picked up the win. With a great, moving fastball that has hit 100 and an outstanding slider, Crain is going right after hitters with lots of success. He should continue to be solid all-season and hopefully will be a key to the Twins going to the postseason. I just hope this time Gardenhire learns his lesson and uses Crain in key situations (Yankees anyone?) when he's needed most and when he's at his finest.
Disappointments:
1) Torii Hunter- I have said it before, but I have to repeat myself: Torii has been awful this year, at bat and in the field. Yes, he has six HRs and RBIs, but he got most of those RBIs early on in a few games and his only hits recently seem to be with the bases empty. Torii is hitting .237 with a abysmal .307 on-base percentage for a number five hitter. He only positive has been his 13 stolen bases in 16 attempts. However, once again, most of those came early, when pitchers weren't on to him. Now, he has been caught three of his last 6 tries, as he now often looks foolish on the base paths. He also continues to flail at the same terrible breaking pitches, especially with men on base. And his biggest fall has been in his defense, where he has looked mediocre at best. Bad diving attempts, pitiful errors, errant throws, and so on. These are not what we expect from Torii Hunter. Nor do we expect him to place the blame on other players, after he appear to be the next true team leader. Thats the biggest disappointment.
2) Jason Bartlett - Jason Bartlett started the year as best he could, having a great spring training and stealing the starting shortstop job from Nick Punto, Juan Castro, and Alex Prieto. He looked poised to be a potential rookie of the year, showing great hitting in the minors and the potential for good defense. However, he hit just .242 with 2 HRs and 12 RBIs, feeling that he had lost his stroke and was sent down to the minors, giving way to Juan Castro's recent ascension to the starting role. Though Bartlett should have hit better, and likely will once he is called back up, the blame for this disappointment falls mainly on the management staff and front office, who decided to play both dice. Where they had infinite patience with the early struggles of Michael Cuddyer, they did not show the same patience to Bartlett. That's not fair play. I understand the logic, as Cuddyer won the job and was promised it and needed time to adjust to his new everyday job. But the same logic applies to Bartlett and if they wanted to let Cuddyer play, they should have done the same for Bartlett. Maybe he would be a large hitting streak now, but instead he's bumming in the minors waiting to get called back up to where he belongs.
3) Scott Ulger - The two main coaches on team besides Ron Gardenhire seemed to have their work cut out for them, yet they apparently have left it out to dry. I say this because bad, bad problems continue to plague Twins players and they are not getting fixed. From Brad Radke's first inning troubles (lately it hasn't been SO bad) to JC Romero's control problems to Torii Hunter's bad pitch selection to Justin Morneau's inability to hit the outside pitch, nothing has been touced. How can we expect Morneau to hit 40 HRs if he can't adjust or be helped to make the right adjustments when pitchers start to hit the outside corner on him? That's Ulger's job, but where is he? How can we expect Romero to be a great reliever if Anderson doesn't constantly work on his control issues and his confidence? And lastly, how can we blame the players if all the other guys aren't doing their jobs either? Anderson isn't completely to blame and he's done a good job all-around with a so-far phenomenal overall pitching staff. At some point, J.C. must work out his issues. However, Ulger certainly needs to get it together, because he isnt doing enough or showing that he is even trying.
Surprises:
1) Carlos Silva - Silva came into this year having had a solid 2004 season in which he won 14 games and had a respectable 4.21 ERA. Silva, however, also gave up 255 hits in 203 innings, a league high, and only struck out 76 batters. Those seemed to be signs that league batters were on to Silva and that this year, he could only take a step back. Instead, Silva has been the best and most reliable starter on the staff so far. He still has allowed more hits than innings (68 in 60 innings) and only has struck out 21, but thats Silva's established game now: he uses his sinker with nearly ever pitch, causes double play after double play. He is now 3-2 with a 2.85 and has had two straight great starts, including a complete-game. He has also provided, with Radke, a good example for Kyle Lohse on how to improve his pitching. Expect Silva to win at least 10-15 games this year with an ERA around 3.50.
2) Kyle Lohse - When Kyle Lohse was called up in 2001, there was a lot of hype. This was, after all, the winnings from the Rick Aguillera yard sale in 1998. Lohse, however, disappointed for a long time, never quite living up to his potential. With a strong pitch selection, Lohse has always had the tools. Now, he seems to be putting it all together. After a lousy start and a short banishment to the bullpen, Lohse has been great his past two starts as well. He's now 4-3 with a 4.22 ERA. Lohse finally made a key change that seems to have lead to this success, as he dropped his straight four-seamer and curveball in favor of a more Radke/Santanish selection of two-seamer, slider, and change-up. Now, having a little help from his peers, he is mastering the change-up. It seems that things can now only get better for Kyle and the Twins.
3) Jesse Crain - In a bullpen that is the best or at least one of the best in the majors, Jesse Crain was not expected to be the best reliever on the staff by a longshot. But, so far, he has been outstanding, going 5-0 so far with a .96 ERA. When Juan Rincon was suspended, it was Crain who stepped up into the set-up role and excelled in front of Joe Nathan. In all of the Twins' recent extra-inning victories, its been Crain who has stymied the opposing offense and picked up the win. With a great, moving fastball that has hit 100 and an outstanding slider, Crain is going right after hitters with lots of success. He should continue to be solid all-season and hopefully will be a key to the Twins going to the postseason. I just hope this time Gardenhire learns his lesson and uses Crain in key situations (Yankees anyone?) when he's needed most and when he's at his finest.
Disappointments:
1) Torii Hunter- I have said it before, but I have to repeat myself: Torii has been awful this year, at bat and in the field. Yes, he has six HRs and RBIs, but he got most of those RBIs early on in a few games and his only hits recently seem to be with the bases empty. Torii is hitting .237 with a abysmal .307 on-base percentage for a number five hitter. He only positive has been his 13 stolen bases in 16 attempts. However, once again, most of those came early, when pitchers weren't on to him. Now, he has been caught three of his last 6 tries, as he now often looks foolish on the base paths. He also continues to flail at the same terrible breaking pitches, especially with men on base. And his biggest fall has been in his defense, where he has looked mediocre at best. Bad diving attempts, pitiful errors, errant throws, and so on. These are not what we expect from Torii Hunter. Nor do we expect him to place the blame on other players, after he appear to be the next true team leader. Thats the biggest disappointment.
2) Jason Bartlett - Jason Bartlett started the year as best he could, having a great spring training and stealing the starting shortstop job from Nick Punto, Juan Castro, and Alex Prieto. He looked poised to be a potential rookie of the year, showing great hitting in the minors and the potential for good defense. However, he hit just .242 with 2 HRs and 12 RBIs, feeling that he had lost his stroke and was sent down to the minors, giving way to Juan Castro's recent ascension to the starting role. Though Bartlett should have hit better, and likely will once he is called back up, the blame for this disappointment falls mainly on the management staff and front office, who decided to play both dice. Where they had infinite patience with the early struggles of Michael Cuddyer, they did not show the same patience to Bartlett. That's not fair play. I understand the logic, as Cuddyer won the job and was promised it and needed time to adjust to his new everyday job. But the same logic applies to Bartlett and if they wanted to let Cuddyer play, they should have done the same for Bartlett. Maybe he would be a large hitting streak now, but instead he's bumming in the minors waiting to get called back up to where he belongs.
3) Scott Ulger - The two main coaches on team besides Ron Gardenhire seemed to have their work cut out for them, yet they apparently have left it out to dry. I say this because bad, bad problems continue to plague Twins players and they are not getting fixed. From Brad Radke's first inning troubles (lately it hasn't been SO bad) to JC Romero's control problems to Torii Hunter's bad pitch selection to Justin Morneau's inability to hit the outside pitch, nothing has been touced. How can we expect Morneau to hit 40 HRs if he can't adjust or be helped to make the right adjustments when pitchers start to hit the outside corner on him? That's Ulger's job, but where is he? How can we expect Romero to be a great reliever if Anderson doesn't constantly work on his control issues and his confidence? And lastly, how can we blame the players if all the other guys aren't doing their jobs either? Anderson isn't completely to blame and he's done a good job all-around with a so-far phenomenal overall pitching staff. At some point, J.C. must work out his issues. However, Ulger certainly needs to get it together, because he isnt doing enough or showing that he is even trying.
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Halla-dazed
Really not too much to say about today's game. The Twins' offense was once again shut down, but on this occasion I really can't give them too much crap. Roy Halladay, who in my opinion is going to win the AL Cy Young this year, pitched an absolute gem, allowing only 2 hits and striking out 10 while working a complete game shutout as the Blue Jays cruised past the Twins 4-0. Halladay has tremendous stuff, he was hitting the catcher's glove all night long and using his terrific breaking pitch to strike out Twins batters consistently. Joe Mays pitched fairly well for the Twinkies and took a tough loss, allowing just 2 runs over 7 innings. JC Romero, on the other hand, allowed 2 runs over 1/3 of an inning. Despite his outstanding 1.83 ERA, I would venture to say that Romero is the team's least reliable relief pitcher. I would honestly rather see Matt Guerrier or *gulp* Terry Mulholland come in to pitch in a close game than JC.
Fortunately, the Twins didn't lose any ground in the standings as the White Sox were whipped by the Rangers 12-4. Jon Garland, whose extremely hot start was regarded by many as a fluke, was rocked for 7 runs over 6 innings. I'm not saying that this one start means the guy isn't legit -- after all, Santana had a start just as bad a couple weeks ago and this one did come against a very good offense -- but don't be surprised if you see Garland toss a few more like this one.
Fortunately, the Twins didn't lose any ground in the standings as the White Sox were whipped by the Rangers 12-4. Jon Garland, whose extremely hot start was regarded by many as a fluke, was rocked for 7 runs over 6 innings. I'm not saying that this one start means the guy isn't legit -- after all, Santana had a start just as bad a couple weeks ago and this one did come against a very good offense -- but don't be surprised if you see Garland toss a few more like this one.
Saturday, May 28, 2005
Pitching Wins the Day
Other then a few good situational hitting moments tonight, the Twins won on the power of Kyle Lohse's pitching performance. Although there were a few moments of tension and poor pitching, mainly in the 7th, it was overall a very impressive, seven-inning performance in which he allowed six hits and one earned run while walking none and striking out three. It dropped his ERA to a very respectable 4.22 and got him his 4th win of the season. After starting the season badly enough to get temporarly demoted to the bullpen. Now, in his past two starts, Kyle has been using his two-seamer very well to induce groundball outs and to keep hitters from sitting on his four-seamer, which is faster but has little to no movement. That, combined with a good slider, has made Lohse finally show the potential he has had all the years. I just hope this time he goes a run and keeps this up for a long time.
Besides Lohse great pitching, the Twins had very little else going on. Justin Morneau continued his terrible slump, going 0 for 4 and dropping his average to .299. As my associate pointed out, Morneau is getting pitched with fastballs on the outside corner and good breaking balls on the inside part of the plate and Morneau is not adjusting at all. He is, instead, entering the poor habit of trying to pull everything. That will make him the strikeout-machine Russell Branyan is instead of the potential Jim Thome-ish hitter he could be if he tries to take the outside pitch and go with it. Only then will he have consistent success. And that lies on the shoulders of the hitting coach, Scott Ulger, who seems to have done very little to help Justin. He is so bad, apparently, that for Torii Hunter to get a few hits, he had to talk to Jerry White instead. That may be a strech, but he needs to sit down with Justin immediately to help him out of this slump.
Other game notes:
* Shannon Stewart continued his great hitting, going 2 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs. He has hit .323 his past seven games, with 3 HRs giving him a team-leading 8 HRs. He has been the team's best hitter and the reason they have won several of their last games.
* Other than Stewart, there was very little production in the Twins lineup. Juan Castro had another good offensive night, going 2 for 3 witha home run for the second consecutive night. Besides Castro and Stewart, only Michael Cuddyer and Nick Punto had hits. They managed a meager 6 hits against the Blue Jays staff, having the luck of getting two unearned runs in the second on a Erik Hinske error. This kind of offensive output cannot continue, because the Twins can't expect their pitching to carry them all season.
* The Twins had two errors, including a terrible throw from Justin Morneau in an attempt to complete a double-play in the third, throwing it past Juan Castro into center field and allowing Toronto to get a runner in scoring position and eventually, to score. This trend of bad fielding is also a concern, as Cuddyer now has 10 errors and Morneau continues to show his inexperience in the field.
* Joe Nathan picked up his 15th save, but only after a 9th inning in which he allowed two earned runs, three hits, and nearly blew the Twins' lead. He's look hittable and out-of-control of late and once again, the Twins coaching staff looks worthless in trying to figure out Nathan's problems, just like JC's. What does Rick Anderson do anyways?
Besides Lohse great pitching, the Twins had very little else going on. Justin Morneau continued his terrible slump, going 0 for 4 and dropping his average to .299. As my associate pointed out, Morneau is getting pitched with fastballs on the outside corner and good breaking balls on the inside part of the plate and Morneau is not adjusting at all. He is, instead, entering the poor habit of trying to pull everything. That will make him the strikeout-machine Russell Branyan is instead of the potential Jim Thome-ish hitter he could be if he tries to take the outside pitch and go with it. Only then will he have consistent success. And that lies on the shoulders of the hitting coach, Scott Ulger, who seems to have done very little to help Justin. He is so bad, apparently, that for Torii Hunter to get a few hits, he had to talk to Jerry White instead. That may be a strech, but he needs to sit down with Justin immediately to help him out of this slump.
Other game notes:
* Shannon Stewart continued his great hitting, going 2 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs. He has hit .323 his past seven games, with 3 HRs giving him a team-leading 8 HRs. He has been the team's best hitter and the reason they have won several of their last games.
* Other than Stewart, there was very little production in the Twins lineup. Juan Castro had another good offensive night, going 2 for 3 witha home run for the second consecutive night. Besides Castro and Stewart, only Michael Cuddyer and Nick Punto had hits. They managed a meager 6 hits against the Blue Jays staff, having the luck of getting two unearned runs in the second on a Erik Hinske error. This kind of offensive output cannot continue, because the Twins can't expect their pitching to carry them all season.
* The Twins had two errors, including a terrible throw from Justin Morneau in an attempt to complete a double-play in the third, throwing it past Juan Castro into center field and allowing Toronto to get a runner in scoring position and eventually, to score. This trend of bad fielding is also a concern, as Cuddyer now has 10 errors and Morneau continues to show his inexperience in the field.
* Joe Nathan picked up his 15th save, but only after a 9th inning in which he allowed two earned runs, three hits, and nearly blew the Twins' lead. He's look hittable and out-of-control of late and once again, the Twins coaching staff looks worthless in trying to figure out Nathan's problems, just like JC's. What does Rick Anderson do anyways?
Friday, May 27, 2005
The Awakening
The Twins' offense finally awakened tonight, providing starter Johan Santana with some run support en route to a 7-2 victory over the Blue Jays. Santana pitched well, going seven innings and allowing 2 runs on 4 hits while striking out 8.
Shannon Stewart continues to be the team's best hitter by far, providing a dazzling 4/5 performance that included his seventh home run of the year, which he absolutely launched to left-center. Nick Punto has really fit well in the number 2 spot in the lineup, continuing his strong performance there with 3 hits. Heck, even Juan Castro got into the action with a 2-run bomb. Lew Ford had a couple more hits hitting third, and he has been great there... It will be interesting to see where Gardenhire places Joe Mauer when he returns to the lineup, because right now I don't see how you could supplant Punto or Ford the way they are playing.
Still, troubling trends persist. In the first inning, Torii Hunter again struck out with the bases loaded, on a pitch that was nearly a foot outside of the strike zone. Just before that, Justin Morneau hit a weak line drive to the second baseman. Morneau, who went 0/4 and was the only Twin without a hit in the game, is struggling mightily with pitchers that are working him outside constantly. He is trying to pull everything and it is resulting in weak line drives, pop-ups, and strikeouts. If he can't get it going, then this offense will never be able to be successful.
Shannon Stewart continues to be the team's best hitter by far, providing a dazzling 4/5 performance that included his seventh home run of the year, which he absolutely launched to left-center. Nick Punto has really fit well in the number 2 spot in the lineup, continuing his strong performance there with 3 hits. Heck, even Juan Castro got into the action with a 2-run bomb. Lew Ford had a couple more hits hitting third, and he has been great there... It will be interesting to see where Gardenhire places Joe Mauer when he returns to the lineup, because right now I don't see how you could supplant Punto or Ford the way they are playing.
Still, troubling trends persist. In the first inning, Torii Hunter again struck out with the bases loaded, on a pitch that was nearly a foot outside of the strike zone. Just before that, Justin Morneau hit a weak line drive to the second baseman. Morneau, who went 0/4 and was the only Twin without a hit in the game, is struggling mightily with pitchers that are working him outside constantly. He is trying to pull everything and it is resulting in weak line drives, pop-ups, and strikeouts. If he can't get it going, then this offense will never be able to be successful.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Hunter's True Lacking
Most of the complaints lodged at Torii Hunter this year have involved his bad offensive output so far and his inability to hit in clutch situations. This is true, but of course, Hunter has always been a slow starter and in his career, he's never been a great hitter so you can't expect him to hit .300 anytime soon unless he's moved. The real disappointment has been in his defense and in his leadership. Tonight is a great example of this. In the 7th inning, while the Twins were carrying a 4-1 against the Indians, Hunter made a nearly-fatal mistake. When a ball was hit in between Hunter and Shannon Stewart, Hunter failed to communicate with his fellow outfielder and did not take the initiative in fielding the ball, instead letting it drop between them and thus, giving away valuable runs. His excuse? "The ball was tailing away from me," Hunter said. "So I looked at him and was like, 'What are you doing?' I had no chance at it." That's not enough, since clearly Hunter wishes to shift the blame. It is an example amongst many others that shows just how sub-par Hunter's defense has been this year. He seriously needs to work on it since the only reason Hunter's a $8 million player is his stellar defensive play. Hunter later badly played a ball in right-center, letting a line drive fall out his glove on a diving play he normally would have made. (On another note, Hunter blamed Ford for his bad play last night that may have cost the Twins a game, noting that if Stewart was playing, it would have been made. That's some questionable leadership as well)
But, let's get back to focus and look at the Twins victory in 11 innings tonight. Making up for Hunter's bad defense was Stewart, who made a stellar defensive play with an amazing throw, and also won the game with a homer off of David Riske in the 11th inning. Joe Nathan's 14th save sealed the victory, although it was another rocky outing for Nathan. The Twins bullpen, which has also been somewhat suspect lately, came through with five scoreless innings of work and Jesse Crain had his third extra-innings win in less than a week.
* Lew Ford went 2 for 5 after a bad showing last night, doing much better and continuing the hot bat he has shown all month
* Joe Mauer rested his groin and sat out for the second day while his backup Mike Redmond had a good day at the plate, going 2 for 3 and bringing his average to .306. Very good numbers for a backup
* Torii Hunter redeemed himself in one way, hitting a two-run double in the first inning, but he went 0 for 4 the rest of the night and his average now hoovers at .242. Pathetic.
* Matthew LeCroy was inserted into the cleanup spot where he went 0 for 4, leaving two men on base and showing his inability to hit left-handers better than righties
* After his 13-game hitting streak ended last night, Michael Cuddyer went 0 for 4 again, leaving two men in scoring position
So, despite winning the game and leaving Cleveland five games behind Chicago after their lost to the Angels, there are still many issues to be worked out, mainly the continuing hitting woes. We cannot expect our pitching staff to continue to be this good and we cannot expect clutch hits night in and out in extra-innings for wins. Playoff teams win with balance, not with a one-sided plan.
But, let's get back to focus and look at the Twins victory in 11 innings tonight. Making up for Hunter's bad defense was Stewart, who made a stellar defensive play with an amazing throw, and also won the game with a homer off of David Riske in the 11th inning. Joe Nathan's 14th save sealed the victory, although it was another rocky outing for Nathan. The Twins bullpen, which has also been somewhat suspect lately, came through with five scoreless innings of work and Jesse Crain had his third extra-innings win in less than a week.
* Lew Ford went 2 for 5 after a bad showing last night, doing much better and continuing the hot bat he has shown all month
* Joe Mauer rested his groin and sat out for the second day while his backup Mike Redmond had a good day at the plate, going 2 for 3 and bringing his average to .306. Very good numbers for a backup
* Torii Hunter redeemed himself in one way, hitting a two-run double in the first inning, but he went 0 for 4 the rest of the night and his average now hoovers at .242. Pathetic.
* Matthew LeCroy was inserted into the cleanup spot where he went 0 for 4, leaving two men on base and showing his inability to hit left-handers better than righties
* After his 13-game hitting streak ended last night, Michael Cuddyer went 0 for 4 again, leaving two men in scoring position
So, despite winning the game and leaving Cleveland five games behind Chicago after their lost to the Angels, there are still many issues to be worked out, mainly the continuing hitting woes. We cannot expect our pitching staff to continue to be this good and we cannot expect clutch hits night in and out in extra-innings for wins. Playoff teams win with balance, not with a one-sided plan.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
A Constant Struggle
3-2. Another loss for the Twins. Another pathetic offensive showing. I feel absolutely terrible for the Twins starting pitchers, as this miserable offense has simply hung them out to dry lately. Carlos Silva pitched brilliantly for his second consecutive start tonight, following his recent 74-pitch gem against the Blue Jays last weekend with 8 strong innings tonight allowing no earned runs. Unfortunately, that somehow wasn't enough. Lew Ford, hitting in the 3-spot for the second day in a row, went 0/5 and left four runners on, and Justin Morneau went 0/3. Nick Punto struck out twice (a troubling trend for him lately). The game was lost when JC Romero allowed yet another inherited runner to score in the 10th inning. I think Romero might be the worst pitcher of all time to have an ERA under 1 after pitching a significant number of innings.
Torii Hunter had a couple more hits today, including a home run that represented half the team's offense. This is the second day Hunter has been solid, and yet all of his production has come with the bases empty. This further proves my point that Torii is not a good situational hitter and needs to be removed from the five-hole.
I was listening to the PA & Dubay Show on KFAN this morning, and they had Star Tribune Twins beat writer LaVelle E. Neal III on. I like LaVelle quite a bit, but he was debating Dubay on a particular topic and I found myself siding with Dubay. The issue was whether or not Hunter would be well-suited for the number three spot in the lineup, and Neal felt that Torii is simply not a prototype 3-hitter (like Ford is??) and is more suited for the five-spot. Mr. Dubay made the argument that Hunter's main problem is that he swings at bad pitches, and he would see better pitches if he were sandwiched between Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau in the lineup. I believe he is absolutely right.
Clearly, the Twins cannot produce enough runs to win ballgames with their current lineup. Their pitchers have been very hot lately, with Kyle Lohse and Joe Mays both putting in a couple solid starts and Silva's ERA now dropping to an outstanding 2.85, and this has allowed the Twins to play above-.500 ball. I'm afraid that pitching will not keep up forever, it puts way too much pressure on the starting pitchers when the offense is only providing 2 or 3 runs a game. For that reason, it is imperative that Gardy shake things up and make some major changes to the batting order. I feel that the following order would make the most sense:
1. Stewart
2. Mauer
3. Hunter
4. Morneau
5. Cuddyer
6. Ford
7. Jones
8. Punto
9. Castro
This batting order spreads the good hitters throughout the lineup, provides good lefty-righty variety, and puts the guys who are able to drive in runs behind the guys who are able to set the table. I also wouldn't mind seeing Mauer hitting fifth since I think he is the best player on the team at driving in runs but they seem intent on keeping him in the two and three spots so I guess it's not a realistic thought.
In any case, the Twins coaching staff needs to do something because this team cannot continue to hit like this or they will be passed by the Indians pretty soon.
Torii Hunter had a couple more hits today, including a home run that represented half the team's offense. This is the second day Hunter has been solid, and yet all of his production has come with the bases empty. This further proves my point that Torii is not a good situational hitter and needs to be removed from the five-hole.
I was listening to the PA & Dubay Show on KFAN this morning, and they had Star Tribune Twins beat writer LaVelle E. Neal III on. I like LaVelle quite a bit, but he was debating Dubay on a particular topic and I found myself siding with Dubay. The issue was whether or not Hunter would be well-suited for the number three spot in the lineup, and Neal felt that Torii is simply not a prototype 3-hitter (like Ford is??) and is more suited for the five-spot. Mr. Dubay made the argument that Hunter's main problem is that he swings at bad pitches, and he would see better pitches if he were sandwiched between Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau in the lineup. I believe he is absolutely right.
Clearly, the Twins cannot produce enough runs to win ballgames with their current lineup. Their pitchers have been very hot lately, with Kyle Lohse and Joe Mays both putting in a couple solid starts and Silva's ERA now dropping to an outstanding 2.85, and this has allowed the Twins to play above-.500 ball. I'm afraid that pitching will not keep up forever, it puts way too much pressure on the starting pitchers when the offense is only providing 2 or 3 runs a game. For that reason, it is imperative that Gardy shake things up and make some major changes to the batting order. I feel that the following order would make the most sense:
1. Stewart
2. Mauer
3. Hunter
4. Morneau
5. Cuddyer
6. Ford
7. Jones
8. Punto
9. Castro
This batting order spreads the good hitters throughout the lineup, provides good lefty-righty variety, and puts the guys who are able to drive in runs behind the guys who are able to set the table. I also wouldn't mind seeing Mauer hitting fifth since I think he is the best player on the team at driving in runs but they seem intent on keeping him in the two and three spots so I guess it's not a realistic thought.
In any case, the Twins coaching staff needs to do something because this team cannot continue to hit like this or they will be passed by the Indians pretty soon.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
Timely Hitting
For all the complaints we give about offense, I have to give the Twins credit for a few things. For one, they second in the bigs with a .277 team average with two outs and runners in scoring position. That's pretty good if you ignore their lack of success with the bases loaded. Tonight, however, made it more evident that they are getting better at it. All six of their runs came with two outs and happened to be opposite-field hits. Those are some very good signs. Lets break it down:
* Justin Morneau lead the pack, having two impressive at-bats against lefty-specialists Arthur Rhodes and Scott Sauerbeck. In both cases, he got down in the count but then took a breaking-ball to the opposite field for a hit. He brought one in the 8th and cleared the bases in the 11th to give the Twins the win. He certainly stepped up at the right time after a series of disappointing games, going 2 for 5 with 4 RBIs, bringing his team-leading total to 29 RBIs. Hopefully, these two key at-bats will get Justin's bat going again
* Lew Ford continued his pummeling of the ball, going 2 for 3 with two runs scored, two walks, and a 2-out RBI in the third. He has been on a tear lately, hitting .400 in his last seven games
* Michael Cuddyer was somewhat disappointing, but he did manage to continue his hitting streak, bringing it to thirteen games, going 1 for 5 tonight with an RBI single in the 6th.
* Jesse Crain won his second extra-innings game in three days, shutting the Indians out in the 9th and 10th innings, working quickly and continuing an impressive rookie season
* Joe Nathan came in and got his 13th save, though his control still seemed to be a little off, as it had been completely lost in Sunday's game. Hopefully Joe can get right back into focus as well
Other Comments:
* Jacque Jones was ejected in the 6th inning for arguing a strikeout call, after going 0 for 3 during the game. Jones has really fallen hard this month, with his average now sitting at .274 after he had been a league-leader in April.
* Joe Mauer had a great throw to catch Jose Hernandez in the 6th, as he threw it right on the money. Mauer has been great at throwing out runners this year, catching them at a nearly 50 percent clip
* On another positive note, the Twins had three stolen bases tonight, including Torii Hunter's 13th of the year
* Following that, instead of taking Torii out of the 5th spot, as we have suggested, he moved Mauer into the 2nd spot, Ford into the 3rd spot (which worked fine tonight, but...) and dropped Punto into the 8th spot. This is mind-boggling because he has not adjusted anything in his lineup regarding his two big struggling stars, Jones and Hunter. Hunter needs to be moved a lot more than Nick Punto does. If he really wants to shake up his lineup, he's going to have to try harder than that.
* Justin Morneau lead the pack, having two impressive at-bats against lefty-specialists Arthur Rhodes and Scott Sauerbeck. In both cases, he got down in the count but then took a breaking-ball to the opposite field for a hit. He brought one in the 8th and cleared the bases in the 11th to give the Twins the win. He certainly stepped up at the right time after a series of disappointing games, going 2 for 5 with 4 RBIs, bringing his team-leading total to 29 RBIs. Hopefully, these two key at-bats will get Justin's bat going again
* Lew Ford continued his pummeling of the ball, going 2 for 3 with two runs scored, two walks, and a 2-out RBI in the third. He has been on a tear lately, hitting .400 in his last seven games
* Michael Cuddyer was somewhat disappointing, but he did manage to continue his hitting streak, bringing it to thirteen games, going 1 for 5 tonight with an RBI single in the 6th.
* Jesse Crain won his second extra-innings game in three days, shutting the Indians out in the 9th and 10th innings, working quickly and continuing an impressive rookie season
* Joe Nathan came in and got his 13th save, though his control still seemed to be a little off, as it had been completely lost in Sunday's game. Hopefully Joe can get right back into focus as well
Other Comments:
* Jacque Jones was ejected in the 6th inning for arguing a strikeout call, after going 0 for 3 during the game. Jones has really fallen hard this month, with his average now sitting at .274 after he had been a league-leader in April.
* Joe Mauer had a great throw to catch Jose Hernandez in the 6th, as he threw it right on the money. Mauer has been great at throwing out runners this year, catching them at a nearly 50 percent clip
* On another positive note, the Twins had three stolen bases tonight, including Torii Hunter's 13th of the year
* Following that, instead of taking Torii out of the 5th spot, as we have suggested, he moved Mauer into the 2nd spot, Ford into the 3rd spot (which worked fine tonight, but...) and dropped Punto into the 8th spot. This is mind-boggling because he has not adjusted anything in his lineup regarding his two big struggling stars, Jones and Hunter. Hunter needs to be moved a lot more than Nick Punto does. If he really wants to shake up his lineup, he's going to have to try harder than that.
Monday, May 23, 2005
Tribal Trouble
The Twins put up another embarrassingly pathetic offensive performance tonight against the Indians in a 2-1 loss at Jacobs Field to start their latest road trip. Surprisingly, however, I am not going to spend my post tonight with another long rant about the Twins pathetic offense, despite the fact that Morneau (which we must now all get in the habit of saying with emphasis on the first syllable instead of the second) is in just a ridiculous slump and is pressing way too much, Terry Tiffee continues to be pinch-hit in key situations despite the fact that he couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, and Torii Hunter - despite a big near-homer in the ninth that put him in the position to score the winning run - killed another rally with a miserable ground ball out in the first inning.
Actually, what I'm going to discuss tonight is the fact that, while I complain constantly about the Twins' offensive ineptitude, perhaps I should count my blessings when I look at the team we faced tonight. I actually kind of feel sorry for Indians fans. Cleveland was expected by most people to have one of the top three or four offenses in the league, and they have been among the worst. I was totally furious that Gardenhire continued to regularly start Michael Cuddyer while he was flirting with the Mendoza line for a whole month, but here in mid-May Indians third-baseman Aaron Boone is still starting with an absolutely miserable .159 average and a .215 OBP. I have to believe that Victor Martinez is the biggest disappointment in all of baseball this year. After hitting 23 homers and knocking in 108 RBI last year, he was set to be the next great offensive catcher of the MLB. Instead, Martinez is batting .191 and tonight got just his 12th RBI despite the fact that he hits cleanup. It doesn't end there. Casey Blake has played 40 games this year despite a .211 BA. As a team, Cleveland is hitting .242, worst in the Majors... worse than the Royals and Athletics. The Indians have scored only 170 runs, 28 less than the anemic Twins.
I am totally stunned by this unbelievable lack of offensive performance by a Cleveland line up that seemed poise to be sandwiched between Boston and New York in all stats this year. The most unfortunate part is that the pitching has been there for them. They are one of five AL squads with a team ERA under 4. Their bullpen has been outstanding. And yet, even after their victory tonight, their record still sits three games under .500. I have to believe that this has just been a very tough run for the Indians and that they are still going to break out and start scoring massive amounts of runs, but here we are, more than 1/4 of the way through the season, and tonight they were able to score only 1 run against a bad pitcher in Kyle Lohse (the second was charged to Lohse, but was really JC Romero's fault).
Getting back to the Twins though, I just have to say that this year has really made me realize that I had heavily overrated the speed of Jacque Jones. I have seen him get thrown out stealing by large margins twice this year, and tonight was his worst offense yet. With one out and Hunter on second in the ninth, Jones hit a very slow grounder up the middle. It was so slow in fact, that Ronnie Belliard, who was shading the left-handed Jones to the right a little, went all the way to left side of second-base to pick it up and while moving the other direction lobbed it to first. Jones could not beat out the throw. You've gotta be kidding me.
Actually, what I'm going to discuss tonight is the fact that, while I complain constantly about the Twins' offensive ineptitude, perhaps I should count my blessings when I look at the team we faced tonight. I actually kind of feel sorry for Indians fans. Cleveland was expected by most people to have one of the top three or four offenses in the league, and they have been among the worst. I was totally furious that Gardenhire continued to regularly start Michael Cuddyer while he was flirting with the Mendoza line for a whole month, but here in mid-May Indians third-baseman Aaron Boone is still starting with an absolutely miserable .159 average and a .215 OBP. I have to believe that Victor Martinez is the biggest disappointment in all of baseball this year. After hitting 23 homers and knocking in 108 RBI last year, he was set to be the next great offensive catcher of the MLB. Instead, Martinez is batting .191 and tonight got just his 12th RBI despite the fact that he hits cleanup. It doesn't end there. Casey Blake has played 40 games this year despite a .211 BA. As a team, Cleveland is hitting .242, worst in the Majors... worse than the Royals and Athletics. The Indians have scored only 170 runs, 28 less than the anemic Twins.
I am totally stunned by this unbelievable lack of offensive performance by a Cleveland line up that seemed poise to be sandwiched between Boston and New York in all stats this year. The most unfortunate part is that the pitching has been there for them. They are one of five AL squads with a team ERA under 4. Their bullpen has been outstanding. And yet, even after their victory tonight, their record still sits three games under .500. I have to believe that this has just been a very tough run for the Indians and that they are still going to break out and start scoring massive amounts of runs, but here we are, more than 1/4 of the way through the season, and tonight they were able to score only 1 run against a bad pitcher in Kyle Lohse (the second was charged to Lohse, but was really JC Romero's fault).
Getting back to the Twins though, I just have to say that this year has really made me realize that I had heavily overrated the speed of Jacque Jones. I have seen him get thrown out stealing by large margins twice this year, and tonight was his worst offense yet. With one out and Hunter on second in the ninth, Jones hit a very slow grounder up the middle. It was so slow in fact, that Ronnie Belliard, who was shading the left-handed Jones to the right a little, went all the way to left side of second-base to pick it up and while moving the other direction lobbed it to first. Jones could not beat out the throw. You've gotta be kidding me.
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Amazing Comeback
I almost made a negative post today before leaving for work, thinking the Twins were doomed pathetic loss to the Brewers. I was proven wrong, as the Twins came back to win in the 11th off a Junior Spivey error. It was, however, due to the late-inning heroics of Shannon Stewart and Lew Ford that led to the Twins comeback victory.
Stewart had a ninth-inning, two-run homer off of Brewers new-sensation closer Derrik Turnbow following Lew Ford's double that scored Jacque Jones. Jesse Crain, who didn't look so great last night, came in and pitched a quick 11th, striking out two, for his third victory. Stewart and Ford, the Twins two hottest hitters at the moment, can be given thanks for the victory, as once again their clutch hitting pulled the Twins out of what should have been a lost. There was, after all, many reasons for disapointment.
Highlights and Lowlights:
Highlights:
* Johan Santana did have a fairly impressive start, going seven innings while striking out eleven, giving up five hits, and walking one. That brought his major-league leading total to 83 strikeouts while lowering his ERA to 3.82. Johan, however, looked pretty shaky in the sixth and the seventh, but managed to get through not-too-badly scared
* Michael Cuddyer continued his hitting streak, bringing it to eleven games, as he went 1 for 4 with a run-scoring single
* Lew Ford went 3 for 4 with 3 run scored and an RBI in an impressive outing.
Lowlights:
* The M and M boys went a combined 1 for 9 with no RBIs and seven men left on base and two in scoring position. Those are poor numbers from the three and four spot and the hitters that support this Twins team
* Torii Hunter had another terrible day, going 0 for 4 while commiting an error that caused a Brewer run in the 8th. Hunter went through his usual swing-at-the-first-pitch habit, weakly grounding out and only getting on-base in the 7th due to Julio Santana's embarrasing lack of control
* Both Juan Rincon and Joe Nathan gave up an earned run a piece, looking a little shaky, though Romero and Crain redeemed the bullpen in the 10th and 11th with fine outings.
Overall, it was a good game, as the Twins pulled out a victory. But bad habits still persist for the Twins.
Stewart had a ninth-inning, two-run homer off of Brewers new-sensation closer Derrik Turnbow following Lew Ford's double that scored Jacque Jones. Jesse Crain, who didn't look so great last night, came in and pitched a quick 11th, striking out two, for his third victory. Stewart and Ford, the Twins two hottest hitters at the moment, can be given thanks for the victory, as once again their clutch hitting pulled the Twins out of what should have been a lost. There was, after all, many reasons for disapointment.
Highlights and Lowlights:
Highlights:
* Johan Santana did have a fairly impressive start, going seven innings while striking out eleven, giving up five hits, and walking one. That brought his major-league leading total to 83 strikeouts while lowering his ERA to 3.82. Johan, however, looked pretty shaky in the sixth and the seventh, but managed to get through not-too-badly scared
* Michael Cuddyer continued his hitting streak, bringing it to eleven games, as he went 1 for 4 with a run-scoring single
* Lew Ford went 3 for 4 with 3 run scored and an RBI in an impressive outing.
Lowlights:
* The M and M boys went a combined 1 for 9 with no RBIs and seven men left on base and two in scoring position. Those are poor numbers from the three and four spot and the hitters that support this Twins team
* Torii Hunter had another terrible day, going 0 for 4 while commiting an error that caused a Brewer run in the 8th. Hunter went through his usual swing-at-the-first-pitch habit, weakly grounding out and only getting on-base in the 7th due to Julio Santana's embarrasing lack of control
* Both Juan Rincon and Joe Nathan gave up an earned run a piece, looking a little shaky, though Romero and Crain redeemed the bullpen in the 10th and 11th with fine outings.
Overall, it was a good game, as the Twins pulled out a victory. But bad habits still persist for the Twins.
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Waste of Time
I attended tonight's game at the Metrodome, a 6-0 loss to the Brewers, and my feelings can best be described in one word: betrayed. Betrayed by a team that I paid good money to see, and they gave a pathetic effort, got completely dominated, and didn't seem to care too much at all. There honestly was not one single thing worth cheering about in this game, unless you were one of the numerous Milwaukee fans in attendance. The Twins never mounted anything close to a scoring threat, the pitching sucked, and the defense was unspectacular for the most part.
The Twins have been getting dominated by a LOT of starting pitchers as of late. In the past, this has been excusable to some degree. Daniel Cabrera could be seen as an up-and-coming young star with a 100 MPH fastball who was simply on that night. Kenny Rogers has been impressive this season, and has pitched well against most of his opponents, and even though he dominated the Twins more than most, perhaps he too was simply on that night. But DOUG DAVIS?! No. There is absolutely no excuse for Doug f***ing Davis coming into our house and tossing a complete game, 7-hit shutout against us. It is absolutely EMBARRASSING.
And that gets to the thing that frustrates me the most about this team. They just don't seem to really care. I was listening to John Gordon interviewing pitching coach Rick Anderson on the radio on my way home from the game, and "Andy" was jovial as could be. Rather than voicing his disgust with the absolute lack of offense or the ugly pitching performance by Brad Radke which was much worse than it looks on paper (only 2 earned runs allowed in 6 IP, but a lot of hard hits), he cooed over how nice it was to see AAA-callup Luis Rodriguez get a meaningless pinch-hit at-bat late in the game. When asked about the Twins' in ability to hit, he predictably gave all the credit to Davis. "He pitched great, he was locating his cut fastball inside on right-handed hitters"... blah blah blah, etc. I'm sick of Twins coaches spouting this generic BS everytime the team fails to produce any offense (which is VERY often). How convenient that all these pitchers seem to throw their best stuff of the season when they're facing the Twins.
I understand that the Twins have this persona about them that they are a team that has fun, and smiles a lot, and are a bunch of generally good guys. But there is a time when you need to show some sort of competitive fire. I'm sick of seeing Torii Hunter walking back to the dugout with a big ol' grin on his face after striking out. There are barely any players on this team who truly seem frustrated when they or the team are not performing. It stretches to management too. Ron Gardenhire and his staff are WAYYY too easy on players. Look at the best managers in the game: Torre, Cox, Piniella. These are guys who will let a player know when they are screwing up. In most cases, they aren't pricks, but they realize that they are running a professional ball-club and they will do things at the expense of a players' feelings in order to ensure a winning product for the fans, who make everything possible in the first place. How much longer can the Twins keep Hunter hitting in the 5-hole when he continues to bat .238?
There's another trend that I have noticed from this team which is probably a result of poor coaching as well, or else just bad fundamentals by our pitching staff. I have noticed this season on several occasion that our starting pitchers, namely Radke and Johan Santana, do not seem to understand how to handle a batter when ahead in the count. All too often I see those guys get up on a hitter 0-2, and then throw a fastball right over the plate. It just doesn't make any sense. On an 0-2 or 1-2 count, the objective is to throw some junk and try to get the batter to swing and miss or make bad contant. I don't understand the strategy of hurling a fastball that they will destroy when they're looking to protect the plate as it is. This trend was all too evident tonight when Radke got up in the count 0-2 against Carlos Lee in the first inning, and proceeded to toss a high changeup right in the wheelhouse which Lee easily nailed for a 2-run homer. That is just stupid, stupid pitching.
Obviously, I am very frustrated. I apologize that tonight's post was such a complete rant, but I feel totally ripped off by the lackadaisical performance of this team that 32,000 payed to come out and see tonight.
The Twins have been getting dominated by a LOT of starting pitchers as of late. In the past, this has been excusable to some degree. Daniel Cabrera could be seen as an up-and-coming young star with a 100 MPH fastball who was simply on that night. Kenny Rogers has been impressive this season, and has pitched well against most of his opponents, and even though he dominated the Twins more than most, perhaps he too was simply on that night. But DOUG DAVIS?! No. There is absolutely no excuse for Doug f***ing Davis coming into our house and tossing a complete game, 7-hit shutout against us. It is absolutely EMBARRASSING.
And that gets to the thing that frustrates me the most about this team. They just don't seem to really care. I was listening to John Gordon interviewing pitching coach Rick Anderson on the radio on my way home from the game, and "Andy" was jovial as could be. Rather than voicing his disgust with the absolute lack of offense or the ugly pitching performance by Brad Radke which was much worse than it looks on paper (only 2 earned runs allowed in 6 IP, but a lot of hard hits), he cooed over how nice it was to see AAA-callup Luis Rodriguez get a meaningless pinch-hit at-bat late in the game. When asked about the Twins' in ability to hit, he predictably gave all the credit to Davis. "He pitched great, he was locating his cut fastball inside on right-handed hitters"... blah blah blah, etc. I'm sick of Twins coaches spouting this generic BS everytime the team fails to produce any offense (which is VERY often). How convenient that all these pitchers seem to throw their best stuff of the season when they're facing the Twins.
I understand that the Twins have this persona about them that they are a team that has fun, and smiles a lot, and are a bunch of generally good guys. But there is a time when you need to show some sort of competitive fire. I'm sick of seeing Torii Hunter walking back to the dugout with a big ol' grin on his face after striking out. There are barely any players on this team who truly seem frustrated when they or the team are not performing. It stretches to management too. Ron Gardenhire and his staff are WAYYY too easy on players. Look at the best managers in the game: Torre, Cox, Piniella. These are guys who will let a player know when they are screwing up. In most cases, they aren't pricks, but they realize that they are running a professional ball-club and they will do things at the expense of a players' feelings in order to ensure a winning product for the fans, who make everything possible in the first place. How much longer can the Twins keep Hunter hitting in the 5-hole when he continues to bat .238?
There's another trend that I have noticed from this team which is probably a result of poor coaching as well, or else just bad fundamentals by our pitching staff. I have noticed this season on several occasion that our starting pitchers, namely Radke and Johan Santana, do not seem to understand how to handle a batter when ahead in the count. All too often I see those guys get up on a hitter 0-2, and then throw a fastball right over the plate. It just doesn't make any sense. On an 0-2 or 1-2 count, the objective is to throw some junk and try to get the batter to swing and miss or make bad contant. I don't understand the strategy of hurling a fastball that they will destroy when they're looking to protect the plate as it is. This trend was all too evident tonight when Radke got up in the count 0-2 against Carlos Lee in the first inning, and proceeded to toss a high changeup right in the wheelhouse which Lee easily nailed for a 2-run homer. That is just stupid, stupid pitching.
Obviously, I am very frustrated. I apologize that tonight's post was such a complete rant, but I feel totally ripped off by the lackadaisical performance of this team that 32,000 payed to come out and see tonight.
Friday, May 20, 2005
Castro long gone!
Juan Castro hit a legitimate solo home-run in the sixth off of Brewer reliever Mike Adams, on the rout to a splendid 7-1 Twins victory. It was just one of many highlights from many unexpectated contributers. Here's a summary of the action from tonight:
- Carlos Silva threw a complete game last night, following Joe Mays' gem from Thursday. Silva needed only 74 pitches to do so, while giving up five hits and one run and striking out three but walking none. It was impressive start from Silva, showcases his ability to get grounders when he needs him and use his sinker as best he can.
- Lew Ford went 2 for 5 with a run scored. After a breakout season last year in which he hit .299, Lew had started out slow, but now appears to be picking up the pace.
- So does Michael Cuddyer, who was 2 for 4 with an RBI, streching his hitting streak to nine games and bringing his average up to .281. Cuddyer has hit .529 in the last seven games and has been on fire. Its a breakout for a player who had it coming. Lets just hope he keeps this up.
- Nick Punto went 4 for 4 with an RBI, bringing his average up to .291. After sitting out a few games and having to watch Rivas struggle, Punto finally returned tonight and he continues to do well offensively while providing the Twins with great defense.
Overall, it was a very well-played gamed by the Twins, minus Torii Hunter's terrible hitting. Hunter continued to look lost at the plate, grounding into TWO bases-loaded double-plays. Not good Torii. Maybe he needs to be benched.
- Carlos Silva threw a complete game last night, following Joe Mays' gem from Thursday. Silva needed only 74 pitches to do so, while giving up five hits and one run and striking out three but walking none. It was impressive start from Silva, showcases his ability to get grounders when he needs him and use his sinker as best he can.
- Lew Ford went 2 for 5 with a run scored. After a breakout season last year in which he hit .299, Lew had started out slow, but now appears to be picking up the pace.
- So does Michael Cuddyer, who was 2 for 4 with an RBI, streching his hitting streak to nine games and bringing his average up to .281. Cuddyer has hit .529 in the last seven games and has been on fire. Its a breakout for a player who had it coming. Lets just hope he keeps this up.
- Nick Punto went 4 for 4 with an RBI, bringing his average up to .291. After sitting out a few games and having to watch Rivas struggle, Punto finally returned tonight and he continues to do well offensively while providing the Twins with great defense.
Overall, it was a very well-played gamed by the Twins, minus Torii Hunter's terrible hitting. Hunter continued to look lost at the plate, grounding into TWO bases-loaded double-plays. Not good Torii. Maybe he needs to be benched.
Thursday, May 19, 2005
Loaded Sixth
The Twins took care of business today to defeat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-0 in the rubber game of a three-game mid-week series at the Metrodome. The offense really did nothing outside of the sixth inning, where Michael Cuddyer (who has been outrageously hot lately) came up with the bases loaded and no outs and did we he was unable to do through the entire month of April... came through. And big. Cuddyer battled Blue Jays pitcher Gustavo Chacin, fouling off eight pitches, and finally capped off a 13-pitch at-bat with a 2-run double. Cuddyer has been amazing lately, and today was no different. He has also improved greatly with the glove, going from terrible to about average. He still maintains the lowest fielding percentage among starting AL third basemen, and still seems a little unsure on his throws, but has shown marked improvement. I have to hand it to the Twins management for knowing that Cuddy would eventually come around, but I still maintain that he lost us several games in April due to his rally-killing strikeouts and double-plays, and that he shouldn't have started as many games as he did.
After Cuddyer's two-run double, Mike Redmond (who had 2 hits and has been much better than expected offensively) hit a 2-run single. On those two hits, the Twins would get all the offense they would need. Joe Mays pitched phenomenally, delivering a complete-game shutout allowing seven hits and no walks while striking out two. Mays had allowed only one runner above the minimum through six innings, but seemed to be running into his characteristic seventh inning woes. After getting the first out, he allowed two straight singles, and Twins-killer Vernon Wells stepped up with one out and two on and a chance to put the Jays right back in it. Mays settled down and got a double play to escape the inning. Then, despite allowing a few hits in the eighth and ninth, Mays completed the game for one of the best gems I've ever seen from him.
The victory was not all positives though... there were several distressing factors. In the third, the Twins loaded the bases with one out for cleanup hitter Justin Morneau and Mr. Five-HOLE Torii Hunter. Typically this is a situation where your big bats in the middle of the lineup produce some runs. Both players struck out swinging. Morneau had a disconcertingly bad game, going 1/4 with three strikeouts while leaving five men aboard. Hunter drew a walk in one at-bat, but otherwise went 0/3 with two strikeouts. If these two cannot start producing with some consistency, this offense will never take off.
After Cuddyer's two-run double, Mike Redmond (who had 2 hits and has been much better than expected offensively) hit a 2-run single. On those two hits, the Twins would get all the offense they would need. Joe Mays pitched phenomenally, delivering a complete-game shutout allowing seven hits and no walks while striking out two. Mays had allowed only one runner above the minimum through six innings, but seemed to be running into his characteristic seventh inning woes. After getting the first out, he allowed two straight singles, and Twins-killer Vernon Wells stepped up with one out and two on and a chance to put the Jays right back in it. Mays settled down and got a double play to escape the inning. Then, despite allowing a few hits in the eighth and ninth, Mays completed the game for one of the best gems I've ever seen from him.
The victory was not all positives though... there were several distressing factors. In the third, the Twins loaded the bases with one out for cleanup hitter Justin Morneau and Mr. Five-HOLE Torii Hunter. Typically this is a situation where your big bats in the middle of the lineup produce some runs. Both players struck out swinging. Morneau had a disconcertingly bad game, going 1/4 with three strikeouts while leaving five men aboard. Hunter drew a walk in one at-bat, but otherwise went 0/3 with two strikeouts. If these two cannot start producing with some consistency, this offense will never take off.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
Mixed Bag
Overall, we should be happy the Twins won. After all, they haven't been spectacular as of late. And of all heroes, Michael Cuddyer's late inning homer ended up winning the game for the Twins. He has during the month of May hit over .300 and now finally showed some resemblence of the power he posseses. Cuddyer is by no means near the peak of his talent, but he has made some significant steps recently. In fact, defensively, I think he is making some strides as well. On a play early in the game tonight, Cuddyer allowed a bunt for a hit by choosing not to throw the ball. I think that was smart, since after all, most of his troubles this year have been with throwing. Yes, he should have let Stewart's throw go through in order to have the best chance to prevent the first run, but he did make up for that with his homer.
Otherwise, Jacque Jones came up with a nice blast off Toronto starter Dave Bush that gave the Twins their first run. Kyle Lohse was a mixed bag, as he did pitch six innings, allowing two runs and seven hits. He didn't look too strong, but then again, he didn't get killed out there either. Jesse Crain, Juan Rincon, and Joe Nathan finished off the game the way they should, shutting down the Blue Jays for the last three innings to clinch a 3-2 victory.
But my major complaint was the idiot fan behind me during the game. She continued to yell in my ear, screaming absurd claims and even calling Cuddyer an a**hole for his defense and Justin Morneau a "pussy" for his lack of powerful hitting. Pointing a finger at the guy who made a good decision for once was not smart and Morneau has carried this team. Come on. I can't stand wanna-be-know-it-all fans. Morneau can go 0-5 any night as long as he hits 450 ft bombs when needed and he will continue to do as such.
Otherwise, Jacque Jones came up with a nice blast off Toronto starter Dave Bush that gave the Twins their first run. Kyle Lohse was a mixed bag, as he did pitch six innings, allowing two runs and seven hits. He didn't look too strong, but then again, he didn't get killed out there either. Jesse Crain, Juan Rincon, and Joe Nathan finished off the game the way they should, shutting down the Blue Jays for the last three innings to clinch a 3-2 victory.
But my major complaint was the idiot fan behind me during the game. She continued to yell in my ear, screaming absurd claims and even calling Cuddyer an a**hole for his defense and Justin Morneau a "pussy" for his lack of powerful hitting. Pointing a finger at the guy who made a good decision for once was not smart and Morneau has carried this team. Come on. I can't stand wanna-be-know-it-all fans. Morneau can go 0-5 any night as long as he hits 450 ft bombs when needed and he will continue to do as such.
Tuesday, May 17, 2005
Very Bad Things
I don't have too much to say about tonight's 10-3 loss to the Blue Jays. Obviously I am utterly disappointed. Johan Santana was absolutely rocked; the worst start I can remember seeing out of him, ever. He gave up seven runs over just 5.1 innings to a slumping Blue Jays offense. The Twins' offense was mostly terrible, although Toronto starter Josh Towers is admittedly having a pretty good year. Torii Hunter hit a 2-run homer and walked twice, which is somewhat promising I guess, and Justin Morneau hit his 7th home run, but they were all meaningless in a blowout that was never in doubt.
The White Sox regained a game in the standings as Jon Garland improved to 8-0. I'm starting to believe that Garland has pulled himself together and must be considered one of the best pitchers in the league, it's just too bad we'll never get to see him face other elite hurlers because he falls fifth in Chicago's rotation. And who's to say Garland will not just end up being another Esteban Loaiza?
The White Sox regained a game in the standings as Jon Garland improved to 8-0. I'm starting to believe that Garland has pulled himself together and must be considered one of the best pitchers in the league, it's just too bad we'll never get to see him face other elite hurlers because he falls fifth in Chicago's rotation. And who's to say Garland will not just end up being another Esteban Loaiza?
Monday, May 16, 2005
A Rising Opportunity
To go along with my associate's post yesterday, its clear that the White Sox are beginning to fall back to Earth. They are not quite on a large losing streak yet, but their true colors are certain in sight now as they have lost three straight games due to bad starting pitching and a faulty bullpen . Tonight, they lost 7-6 to the Rangers as their pitching staff got lit up by the torrid Rangers offense. Orlando Hernandez was knocked around for six runs in only 2 and a third innings of work. This comes after Sunday, where Jose Contreras was knocked around as well in their 6-2 loss to the Orioles and Freddy Garcia was hit up for seven runs on Saturday. Sure, Mark Buehrle pitched well in their last win on Friday, but the White Sox have not been spectacular at all lately.
Tonight, they lost after Kevin Mench homered off of Damaso Marte in the 9th to give Texas the win. Needless to say, now is a good time for the Twins to make some serious moves the get ahead of Chicago in the standings. I agree with the lineup shuffle, but we also need a bullpen mix-up too. Its time to get rid of Terry Mulholland, who has been completely useless this year. He serves no purpose. We have a fine long-reliever in Matt Guerrier or even Kyle Lohse if the Twins do the smart thing and make him a reliever. He's got to go. If they get rid of Mulholland, the Twins can call up one of their many great pitching prospects, such as Scott Baker, to fill the spot as a deserving candidate.
Terry Ryan should also considered moving Luis Rivas, if he can. Of course, he won't be worth much as trade value, but he also is doing little more than taking up a spot on the 25-man roster. Justin Morneau needs protection, so Ryan may also consider trading Jacque Jones, knowing he will not be back next year regardless. We need a bat and we need it now. Other than Rivas or Jones, Ryan can't forget all the trade bait he has in pitching. There are plenty of teams in need of young pitching, its just a matter of who can provide us with right hitter.
Overall, moves simply need to be made now if the Twins want to seriously contend. Its been a season filled with some embarrassments, but there is no need to continue such a trend.
Tonight, they lost after Kevin Mench homered off of Damaso Marte in the 9th to give Texas the win. Needless to say, now is a good time for the Twins to make some serious moves the get ahead of Chicago in the standings. I agree with the lineup shuffle, but we also need a bullpen mix-up too. Its time to get rid of Terry Mulholland, who has been completely useless this year. He serves no purpose. We have a fine long-reliever in Matt Guerrier or even Kyle Lohse if the Twins do the smart thing and make him a reliever. He's got to go. If they get rid of Mulholland, the Twins can call up one of their many great pitching prospects, such as Scott Baker, to fill the spot as a deserving candidate.
Terry Ryan should also considered moving Luis Rivas, if he can. Of course, he won't be worth much as trade value, but he also is doing little more than taking up a spot on the 25-man roster. Justin Morneau needs protection, so Ryan may also consider trading Jacque Jones, knowing he will not be back next year regardless. We need a bat and we need it now. Other than Rivas or Jones, Ryan can't forget all the trade bait he has in pitching. There are plenty of teams in need of young pitching, its just a matter of who can provide us with right hitter.
Overall, moves simply need to be made now if the Twins want to seriously contend. Its been a season filled with some embarrassments, but there is no need to continue such a trend.
Sunday, May 15, 2005
The Five Hole
Calling the fifth spot in the Twins' lineup the "five hole" is extremely fitting; it has been an abysmal hole in the team's batting order all season long. While Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau have both put up gaudy on-base percentages in the 3 and 4 spots, the player following them in the order (usually Torii Hunter) has simply failed to bring them in most of the time.
Take today's game. The Twins won and managed to salvage some dignity by avoiding a home sweep against the Rangers thanks to a timely three-run homer from Shannon Stewart. The shot by Stewart in the 6th which hit the foul net broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Twins a 5-2 lead which would stick. Still, the offense wasn't what I would call dazzling. Tonight's 5-hole culprit was Lew Ford, playing in place of the banged up Hunter. If Ford has many more games like today, he's going to have his signature "Lewww" chant replaced with "Boooo". In the first inning, with runners on first and third with one out, Ford killed the Twins' potential rally by grounding into an inning-ending double play. Thus, after loading the bases with no outs, the Twins only collected one measly run in the first inning. In his next two at-bats he fouled out. The one time Ford did reach base, he was thrown out by a mile trying to steal. He also made terrible play in center, losing a ball in the lights and letting it drop a foot or two behind him for a double. It doesn't exactly give us the home field advantage when our players have more trouble dealing with fly balls than our opponents.
Something must be done, because right now this team simply does not look like a contender. I'm not going to say that their offensive performance today was terrible, they had 11 hits (though 8 came from just three players), but over the past week they have not been hitting well enough to win. They are putting way too much pressure on the pitching staff, and in my opinion, the problems all start with that lack of production in the five-spot. I have brought this up in the past, and my suggestion is to move Mauer to fifth in the lineup so that Morneau will have some protection. There is no reason for a pitcher to throw anything hittable to Morneau when Ford is hitting behind him. With Mauer hitting fifth, the third spot in the lineup could be occupied by Hunter. Torii's main problem seems to be terrible pitch selection, he swings at too many balls. Hitting in front of the M&M boys, pitchers would be forced to throw him strikes because they couldn't afford to put him on with those two coming up. Of course, in this situation, Jacque Jones would probably have to slide down in the order because you wouldn't want three straight lefties in the lineup, but his hitting has been absolutely miserable lately, I think any change for him would be a good thing. The day before Juan Rincon was suspended, I wrote an article saying that were the All-Star balloting to be completed that day, Jones was a lock for the All-Star team with his .352 batting average and .467 OBP. Now, three days after Rincon's 10-day suspension has ended, Jones is hitting below .300. That is a despicable plummet. I don't know what happened to that selectiveness he was showing in April (he had three strikeouts today).
Anyway, now that I'm done with that rant, I'll move on to the positives.
-I noticed in this series that Shannon Stewart has made a subtle change to his batting stance, and I gotta say, it seems to be working. Shannon used to have a much more open stance, with his left foot out towards third base, but he now has tucked his front foot in for more of a straight stance. The results have been good, Stewart seems to be exploding on the ball more, as evidenced by his two hits today, a hard liner to the gap in right-center and a hard-hit home run to left. After a slow start, his average is now up to .281.
-After being a bit shaky in his return to the bullpen on Friday night, Juan Rincon was back in top form today. He pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning, striking out the side.
-Michael Cuddyer finally seems to be legitimately catching on. He had three hits in today's game, two of them hit very hard. The guy still needs to start hitting for more power though... third base is a position from which a team needs to get home runs, and it doesn't help that Corey Koskie has already hit seven for the Blue Jays.
Speaking of Koskie, the Blue Jays are coming to town for a three-game set starting Tuesday. Since Roy Halladay just pitched today, we won't have to see their most formidable starter in this series, so hopefully we can produce some offense and win the series.
Take today's game. The Twins won and managed to salvage some dignity by avoiding a home sweep against the Rangers thanks to a timely three-run homer from Shannon Stewart. The shot by Stewart in the 6th which hit the foul net broke a 2-2 tie and gave the Twins a 5-2 lead which would stick. Still, the offense wasn't what I would call dazzling. Tonight's 5-hole culprit was Lew Ford, playing in place of the banged up Hunter. If Ford has many more games like today, he's going to have his signature "Lewww" chant replaced with "Boooo". In the first inning, with runners on first and third with one out, Ford killed the Twins' potential rally by grounding into an inning-ending double play. Thus, after loading the bases with no outs, the Twins only collected one measly run in the first inning. In his next two at-bats he fouled out. The one time Ford did reach base, he was thrown out by a mile trying to steal. He also made terrible play in center, losing a ball in the lights and letting it drop a foot or two behind him for a double. It doesn't exactly give us the home field advantage when our players have more trouble dealing with fly balls than our opponents.
Something must be done, because right now this team simply does not look like a contender. I'm not going to say that their offensive performance today was terrible, they had 11 hits (though 8 came from just three players), but over the past week they have not been hitting well enough to win. They are putting way too much pressure on the pitching staff, and in my opinion, the problems all start with that lack of production in the five-spot. I have brought this up in the past, and my suggestion is to move Mauer to fifth in the lineup so that Morneau will have some protection. There is no reason for a pitcher to throw anything hittable to Morneau when Ford is hitting behind him. With Mauer hitting fifth, the third spot in the lineup could be occupied by Hunter. Torii's main problem seems to be terrible pitch selection, he swings at too many balls. Hitting in front of the M&M boys, pitchers would be forced to throw him strikes because they couldn't afford to put him on with those two coming up. Of course, in this situation, Jacque Jones would probably have to slide down in the order because you wouldn't want three straight lefties in the lineup, but his hitting has been absolutely miserable lately, I think any change for him would be a good thing. The day before Juan Rincon was suspended, I wrote an article saying that were the All-Star balloting to be completed that day, Jones was a lock for the All-Star team with his .352 batting average and .467 OBP. Now, three days after Rincon's 10-day suspension has ended, Jones is hitting below .300. That is a despicable plummet. I don't know what happened to that selectiveness he was showing in April (he had three strikeouts today).
Anyway, now that I'm done with that rant, I'll move on to the positives.
-I noticed in this series that Shannon Stewart has made a subtle change to his batting stance, and I gotta say, it seems to be working. Shannon used to have a much more open stance, with his left foot out towards third base, but he now has tucked his front foot in for more of a straight stance. The results have been good, Stewart seems to be exploding on the ball more, as evidenced by his two hits today, a hard liner to the gap in right-center and a hard-hit home run to left. After a slow start, his average is now up to .281.
-After being a bit shaky in his return to the bullpen on Friday night, Juan Rincon was back in top form today. He pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning, striking out the side.
-Michael Cuddyer finally seems to be legitimately catching on. He had three hits in today's game, two of them hit very hard. The guy still needs to start hitting for more power though... third base is a position from which a team needs to get home runs, and it doesn't help that Corey Koskie has already hit seven for the Blue Jays.
Speaking of Koskie, the Blue Jays are coming to town for a three-game set starting Tuesday. Since Roy Halladay just pitched today, we won't have to see their most formidable starter in this series, so hopefully we can produce some offense and win the series.
Saturday, May 14, 2005
What could have been
Those words basically summarize the events of tonight. Kenny Rogers, whom was a Minnesota Twin in 2003, comes into the Metrodome and shuts the Twins out, giving up only six hits while walking none and striking out two. Those numbers could be awful useful to the Twins right now, who could have kept Rogers for a bargain price but let him go because they had great starters like Brad Thomas all set to go.
It was a game that was so bad, its hard to really say much about it. Carlos Silva didn't pitch too great once again, but then again, its the Rangers offense we are talking about so he faired about as well as was expected. Kyle Lohse, skipped in the rotation due to the off-day, pitched two innings out of the bullpen, giving up a run. Otherwise, nothing notworthy occured because the Twins' offense was paralyzed by Rogers all night. They have looked helpless since getting six runs off of Ryan Drese. It has just been a pathetic effort by the Twins and it is not acceptable. How can we get to the playoffs playing this way? Hopefully, with Radke on the mound, the Twins will fair better tommorow. They are going to have to now.
It was a game that was so bad, its hard to really say much about it. Carlos Silva didn't pitch too great once again, but then again, its the Rangers offense we are talking about so he faired about as well as was expected. Kyle Lohse, skipped in the rotation due to the off-day, pitched two innings out of the bullpen, giving up a run. Otherwise, nothing notworthy occured because the Twins' offense was paralyzed by Rogers all night. They have looked helpless since getting six runs off of Ryan Drese. It has just been a pathetic effort by the Twins and it is not acceptable. How can we get to the playoffs playing this way? Hopefully, with Radke on the mound, the Twins will fair better tommorow. They are going to have to now.
Friday, May 13, 2005
Nothing Extra
Technically, Joe Nathan allowed his first earned run of the season in the 11th inning of tonight's game against Texas, giving the Rangers a 7-6 lead. However, I don't know why on earth they counted the run as earned. With runners on first and second with one out, former Twin Chad Allen drove a liner to right field straight at Jacque Jones. Jones misjudged the ball, crouched down, and had it bounce at his feet and skip past him to the wall, allowing a run to score. A couple batters later, with runners on second and third, Nick Punto would dive and stab a hard grounder up the middle and fire it to first, but the throw would pull Justin Morneau off the bag. Two more runs would score. Had Jones made the play which I considered to be fairly routine, the inning would have ended with perhaps no runs being scored.
I don't know what the deal is with the Twins offense. They couldn't hit the ball at all in the Baltimore series, and embarrassed themselves once again tonight. After putting up six runs in the first few innings off Rangers starter Ryan Drese, the Twins failed to put up another run in over seven innings against the Rangers' subpar bullpen. A few bullet-points on this disappointing loss...
*While Joe Mays had a reasonably low pitch count going into the seventh inning, I was unhappy to see him trotting out to the mound. I felt Gardenhire had made the wrong decision, and it turned out I was right. Mays simply has not been effective beyond the sixth inning all year - his arm tires out, it's just not strong enough yet after his long hiatus. Jess Crain in the seventh, Juan Rincon in the eighth, and Joe Nathan in the ninth. Utilize your bullpen Gardy, that's what it's there for.
*Juan Rincon pitched tonight in his first game back from a 10-game suspension for steroids. The fans were generally receptive, which was nice, and Rincon's performance was... okay. He gave up a few hits and allowed an earned run that tied the game and sent it to extra innings, and posted no walks and no strikeouts.
*I don't if it's just coincidence or the way the pitchers were throwing or what, but I have NEVER in my life seen as many balls hit back up the middle as I did in this game. I don't have the stat on hand, but I'm pretty sure there were at least seven or eight 1-3 putouts (ground ball to the pitcher, thrown out at first). There were also countless seeing-eye singles and line drive base hits to center.
*JC Romero, after pitching miserably on Wednesday night to effectively lose the game for the Twins, pitched very well tonight. When he throws his curveball and changeup a lot, he seems to have success. I think the less he relies on his erratic fastball, the better.
The White Sox just keep on winning. They came back on the Orioles to take their second straight game against them, and extended their lead in the AL Central to 6 games. The Twins really could use a strong performance from Carlos Silva tonight, but will have to face Kenny Rogers who has been filthy this year with a 1.79 ERA. Man... what idiots the Twins were to let him go when they could've resigned him for cheap.
I don't know what the deal is with the Twins offense. They couldn't hit the ball at all in the Baltimore series, and embarrassed themselves once again tonight. After putting up six runs in the first few innings off Rangers starter Ryan Drese, the Twins failed to put up another run in over seven innings against the Rangers' subpar bullpen. A few bullet-points on this disappointing loss...
*While Joe Mays had a reasonably low pitch count going into the seventh inning, I was unhappy to see him trotting out to the mound. I felt Gardenhire had made the wrong decision, and it turned out I was right. Mays simply has not been effective beyond the sixth inning all year - his arm tires out, it's just not strong enough yet after his long hiatus. Jess Crain in the seventh, Juan Rincon in the eighth, and Joe Nathan in the ninth. Utilize your bullpen Gardy, that's what it's there for.
*Juan Rincon pitched tonight in his first game back from a 10-game suspension for steroids. The fans were generally receptive, which was nice, and Rincon's performance was... okay. He gave up a few hits and allowed an earned run that tied the game and sent it to extra innings, and posted no walks and no strikeouts.
*I don't if it's just coincidence or the way the pitchers were throwing or what, but I have NEVER in my life seen as many balls hit back up the middle as I did in this game. I don't have the stat on hand, but I'm pretty sure there were at least seven or eight 1-3 putouts (ground ball to the pitcher, thrown out at first). There were also countless seeing-eye singles and line drive base hits to center.
*JC Romero, after pitching miserably on Wednesday night to effectively lose the game for the Twins, pitched very well tonight. When he throws his curveball and changeup a lot, he seems to have success. I think the less he relies on his erratic fastball, the better.
The White Sox just keep on winning. They came back on the Orioles to take their second straight game against them, and extended their lead in the AL Central to 6 games. The Twins really could use a strong performance from Carlos Silva tonight, but will have to face Kenny Rogers who has been filthy this year with a 1.79 ERA. Man... what idiots the Twins were to let him go when they could've resigned him for cheap.
Neyer's the Man
I thought I would just quickly post on something I came across when reading a chatroom article where fans ask questions to ESPN baseball guru Rob Neyer. In response to a Chicago native complaining about how little credit the national media is giving the White Sox despite their torrid start, Neyer says:
"Oh, those poor, poor White Sox from the third-largest city in North America; oh, how my heart does weep for them. Look, the White Sox wear ugly uniforms in an ugly ballpark with an ugly name, and the truth is that it's just not easy to like them. Are they for real? Twenty-five wins on May 12 don't lie, and at the moment I'd give them roughly a 40 percent chance of reaching the postseason, because they have to compete with not only the Twins, but also maybe the Red Sox and/or Yankees and/or Orioles. Two of those teams will not reach the postseason, and I think the White Sox are one of the two least-talented teams in the group."
Couldn't have put it better myself.
"Oh, those poor, poor White Sox from the third-largest city in North America; oh, how my heart does weep for them. Look, the White Sox wear ugly uniforms in an ugly ballpark with an ugly name, and the truth is that it's just not easy to like them. Are they for real? Twenty-five wins on May 12 don't lie, and at the moment I'd give them roughly a 40 percent chance of reaching the postseason, because they have to compete with not only the Twins, but also maybe the Red Sox and/or Yankees and/or Orioles. Two of those teams will not reach the postseason, and I think the White Sox are one of the two least-talented teams in the group."
Couldn't have put it better myself.
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