[No Graphic Here]
The Twins have faced some tough pitchers recently, so we can point to that for at least some of their recent offensive struggles. Kei Igawa is not a tough pitcher, though. He's been a fly ball pitcher with a walk problem. I'd really like to see some runs on the board today.
(I'm guessing that given Igawa's handedness, Ford will find his way into the lineup today, but hopefully Gardy at least finds a spot for Kubel at DH.)
The fear, of course, comes from the fact that too many times, it hasn't seemed to matter whether the Twins were facing a tough pitcher. Still, hope springs eternal. If the Twins could win today, and come out of New York with a split, that wouldn't be just too bad.
Looks like L-Rod will out-slug A-Rod in this series. A-Rod is not expected to be in the lineup today.
Wonder if they'd be willing to trade the Rods straight-up.
Garza, L-Rod, and Crain for A-Rod and lots of A-Rod's salary.
Twins get: a bat at 3b.
Yanks get: a future ace, a replacement 3b for this year, and a good reliever for next year.
sadly, he has a no-trade clause. A-Rod, not L-Rod.
Dazzle 0 for 1 trying to pronounce "Igawa".
Lineup:
Bart, Baby Jesus (C), Cuddy, Morny, Torii, Contemplating Retirement (DH), Edsel, Elrod (3b), Darling Nikki (2b).
How does Nick's RHBing compare to Luis's?
OPSs vs LHP:
Bart .742
Prospect .720
Cuddy .790
Morno .724
Torii 1.108
Cirillo .804
Ford .792
LRod .311 (18 AB)
Punto .543 (.020 below season total)
Castillo .516
Kubel .744
Redmond .836
Tyner .418 (21 AB)
Team's second-best batter against LHP is on the bench. Without thinking too hard, I'd prefer Redmond or Mauer as DH and Cirillo at 3b. I'm surprised that Kubel's OPS against LHP is better than against RHP.
Having Kubel out of the lineup today is inexcusable. If Gardy really needed Cirillo at DH, he should've put Kubel in LF. Ford's gotten more PT than he deserves so far anyway.
On LEN3's blog he said:
which I read as a really polite way of saying what ubelmann just pointed out.
Well, this is a pretty good start...
Based on the first inning, I predict the Twins will win today 18-0.
I can almost guarantee that the Twins WILL NOT be shut out today.
Anybody actually watching the game today? That out against Bartlett sounded like a patented Jeter showboat play.
Yet another umpire gets down on his knees in front of the great Jetes.
Well, this could be going better.
And then the game started...
This inning is worthy of Don Mossi!
Time to start tearing into Igawa. No more screwing around here.
Torii striking out on a slider down and in? Inconceivable!
The fans in New York knew he couldn't hit that pitch.
Back in my day, left-center in Yankee Stadium was 490 feet away... AND WE LIKED IT!!!
Twins hammering a bad left-handed pitcher? What's going on?
It's kind of funny that two extra base hits really is "hammering" a pitcher for this offense.
These come-from-behind day games are getting to be a bit of a regular thing it seems.
We need a zero this half-inning, Kevin.
I know it's the Yankees and all, but Cano and Cabrera aren't exactly Ruth and Gehrig. Slowey's HR troubles have been fairly disturbing. I'm by no means giving up on the kid, but he has fewer than 100 IP at AAA, and Garza would seem to be a reasonable replacement for him right now. It might not be such a bad idea to give Slowey some time to work on things in Rochester away from the limelight.
How many homers did Slowey give up in the minors?
3 in 64.3 at Rochester this year. 8 in 148.67 last year.
I would bet that if there wasn't a doubleheader tomorrow, we would have seen Garza in Slowey's place today (or tomorrow).
Was out this morning at an inspection of the new digs. Things went very well, it is a nice place. A tough inning, but hey, we're back in it.
how old? how old the roof, AC, water softner, major appliances?
13 years old. Roof and siding replaced after hail storm 5 years ago. Original appliances, but still in good working order.
re: roof and siding. that's good.
re: appliances. Ugh. dishwasher is gonna be loud and about ready to be replaced. 'fridge is gonna be inefficient and about ready to be replaced.
Dishwashers are cheap. A good fridge is a bit more, but will last a long time.
Yup and yup.
We replaced our Developer POC™ ("Piece of Crap") dishwasher a couple years ago when it broke down (at about age 12-13). Bought a reasonably priced, Energy Star-rated GE Profile model. Noise level went somewhere from "ear-bleeding rock concert" to "honey, did you turn the dishwasher on?"
Good time to buy.
another pitchers' duel.
apparently Dazz thinks Igawa isn't very good, nor the hitters in Japan.
Being that Matsui was Japan's best hitter, and he's only above-average here, I would guess that to be true.
Matsui's career OPS+ is 124, which seems a bit better than "only above-average."
among qualified ML LFers, his career OPS ranks:
2003: 15
2004: 5
2005: 8
2006: (not qualified; ranked 12th among all LFers with 200+ PA)
2007: 13
Japanese baseball is roughly equivalent to a AAA league. And just like in AAA, you will find some good players and some bad players.
spillover from the last two Baker performances: Slowey now on the organizational hot seat.
How good is Derek Jeter? He can hit a grounder to the shortstop, field the ball as he rounds second, and throw himself out going into third. He can literally do it all.
Derek Jeter is so good that he uses Chuck Norris for batting practice
Seems like an odd time to use Reyes. Not saying it's wrong, just that it seems unusual to use the LOOGY in the fourth inning.
he's got to come back for the 5th right?
Posada (S), Abreu (L), Cano (L) would seem to match up well but when was the last time Reyes sat through an inning and came back out?
You would have to think so, what with the 4 games this weekend and all.
Considering Ortiz was warming, I'll take another inning of the Sampler.
Ortiz has given up 1 run on 6 hits (1 BB, 5 K) in 10 innings vs the Yanquis. Ortiz pwns the Bombers.
They probably think he's David in disguise.
A nice, slimming disguise.
He still can't play first base.
One of the perks of a deep bullpen and good SP's is that you can make moves earlier. The next time this lefty-heavy portion of the lineup came up, the Yankees might have an 8-5 lead. If Johan didn't give most of the pen yesterday off, this move wouldn't have happened.
the last time Reyes came back out of the dugout was 10 days ago. So never mind the second half of that question.
Slowey's perfect record continues!
Grant Hill signs 2-year deal with the Phoenix Suns.
I'm thinking there is no way Kerr make a deal for KG. San Antonio is getting old a lot faster than Phoenix (even with this deal). They are in good shape for 2-3 more runs at a title before Nash falls off a cliff.
Say, is it just me or do close calls in the field all seem to go the Yankees' way? There have been a number of close plays in this series, and I don't think we've gotten the call in any of them. That sure seems like a statistical anomoly. I won't bother harping on the fluctuating strike zone in Clemen's start, since you pretty much expect that. And come to think of it, Jeter's been gifted with a couple of base hits and RBI by the official scorekeeper in this series, too. Tough stadium for the opposition, that's for sure.
"Captain of the infield"??? WTF? Would Bartlett get to do commercials in the Twin Cities and start dating Minnesota "stars" (i.e., Prince's castoffs)???
Good outing for Dennys.
I agree with Dazzle; this would be a good time for Punto to try to steal.
Dazzle: "Punto battling a bit of a slump. He's 0-for-22."
But with the base hit, he's off the schneid.
A HIT for Punto!!!!!!
Yanqui 'pen must suck.
+10, well played but this needs to be used a lot more often for Nick and Lew
or maybe this.
Both good, but Punto's offense really has been closer to this.
Bartlett gets to that ball. Jeter waves at it on its way by.
Great stratergerization there.
Well, the Twins have the real big-league hitters coming up for the seventh, if they can just hold the Yankees in the sixth.
I'm not real comfortable with Reyes still being in the game. He's doing okay, but he hasn't pitched this long in a while.
I've placed it here before, but I need to again. Anybody who hasn't read the Death of Derek Jeter thread over at BBTFis missing out. Just go down to post 25 and then it really picks up around post 50. Just phenomenal, phenomenal stuff.
And just to give you an idea of some of the stuff there, here was my last entry in the thread...
I can stand beside
Things I think are right
And I can stand beside
The idea of fistpump and fight
And I do believe
That he's the Captain of everyone
This is our shortstop
From the east coast
To the west coast
To throwing Giambi out
At home
This is our shortsop
Derek deftly scuttled to his left, cleanly picked off the ball with his glove, and fired a strike to first, beating the runner by half a step. As the crowd roared its approval, Derek fist-pumped three of his legs. It was going to be a good season.
Brilliant.
This may actually be my favorite:
There was only one clutch and that was Clutch-2, which specified that a man's performance in the heat of the postseason could be evaluated only by his predetermined clutchness. Jeter could still make an error. As soon as he did, an error would no longer be bad and Jeter would be hailed for his contribution. A-Rod could get a hit and Jeter make an out, but an out would then be clutch. If A-Rod made an out, an out was bad, but if he hit a homer, a homer was bad. A-Rod was moved deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Clutch-2 and let out a respectful whistle.
"That's some clutch, that Clutch-2," A-Rod observed.
"He's the best there is," Torre agreed.
If you're going chronologically through the posts, you're not even halfway home! There are so many that are so incredibly brilliant.
Cuddy, Cuddy, Cuddy!!! Ding, Dong. Put the dagger in!
I'm pretty much okay with long, slow games on weekday afternoons when I'm at work.
Dazz with his 94 OPS+ career mark telling the boys how to do their jobs.
Hey, Gordo! Was Al Hrabosky afraid to pitch?
Now we're in trouble. Other than Hunter, not much coming up to bat for the next couple of innings. We need good relief pitching and some luck.
Here's where having Kubel on benched today provides a little hope. Will be nice to have his pop available against the likes of Proctor, Bruney, and (gulp--hope not) Rivera.
Just tuned in. Sounds like Slowey didn't exactly wow 'em in Gotham.
Gordo: Cheese is getting squeezed.
The Twins really need Hunter to get something started.
Farnsworth + Cirillo + bunt?
Let's get to Farnsworthless here.
This has heartbreak written all over it..
Not happening.
worse. with Cirillo DHing today, you can't really use Kubel as PH for anyone other than Ford, 'cuz they are short-handed for infield replacements. (unless you want to use castillo for the bottom of an inning -- plus the threat of having to play more).
It's sure a good thing Ford's in the lineup instead of Kubel today.
Ford stuck in neutral.
Farnsworth ends his streak of allowing a baserunner in 12 straight appearances (assuming he's done today).
Vote for Whoop Ass
Pat "K-a-minute" Neshek
Neshek almost hits Jeter. That's worth another 100 AS votes from me.
I can't watch...
I hate two-out walks to bring up a home-run hitter.
you were saying??
Michael Kay: "That pitch almost got the blousey part of Jeter's shirt."
Ballgame.
Bert!
Neshak opens up a can of balls. Godzilla makes him pay. F*ck.
The Twins are making BabySBG cry.
It's a good thing that Kubel sat today, because it would've been awfully difficult for him to do better than Ford's 0-4, 3 strikeout performance.
I was going to point out that Kubel might have done just as poorly, but that misses the point... Kubel is the future, Ford is not... if someone is going to go 0-4, it might as well be Kubel who needs the experience against lefties (shoot, against everyone). Ford has no business taking ABs from Kubel at this point.
What makes me so irritated about this is the way that Gardy treated Jones when he was here. No matter how poorly Jacque hit against lefties, he was always given the benefit of the doubt. Now, Kubel needs to go on a crazy tear so that Gardy really looks silly leaving him out of the lineup. It can happen, but I don't know that it will happen.
Bertin' Dickenbert spouted some nonsense about the lefty having a strange delivery, and the Twins didn't want Kubel to get messed up facing an unorthodox lefty. What a load of crap. If that came from the team, it is absolute bullshit.
Gordo talking about who will lead off in the bottom. Dazz "uhhhh, yea."
*Dazz thinking: WTF are you TALKING about, Gordo? There ain't gonna be a bottom*
Rodriguez, Punto, Bartlett. Not exactly murderer's row.
Kubel should PH for Rodriguez or Punto. If the Twins score two or more, Cuddyer can move in to play 3B with Ford shifting to RF and Kubel going to LF. For now, though, you just worry about getting the best hitters to the plate.
can't they double-switch, putting Cirillo at 3b? They lose the DH, but so what?
That's true, they could just do that, too. How would that work? Pitcher goes in for Ford?
I think so.
Unfortunately, not happening, since they used both Kubel and Tyner already.
The Yankees weren't afraid to give up their DH. They put him in the field for the last inning.
Gordo sounds shocked that Rodriguez actually got a hit off Rivera. Of course, I'm kind of shocked, too.
hah! gameday: "In play. Out(s)"
somebody was anticipating, which seems pretty reasonable given who was at the plate (any Twin in the bottom half of the order).
Wow, couldn't have asked for more from our 8-9 spots than 2 singles.
Radio says E-6. Scorer rules hit. The Cap'n abides.
Shoulda been an error.
"back to back hits". HAH.
WTF.
Bartlett a whisker away from tying this game up with that one.
Base hit ties this baby. Go Joe!
that was close to being really, really, really stoopid.
Hit and run, and I don't mind the call with Bartlett 0-2. Stay out of the double play, both runners in scoring position, risky but considering who's behind the plate I'd call it a good risk.
Man oh man, I'd love to see a Morneau vs. Rivera matchup today.
all on Cuddy now. Can't even walk him.
Damnit. got him low and away.
Dazzle did not agree with that strike call on the checked swing. Thanks, Wally. You earned your pinstripes in this series.
Wally not respecting th' Cap, obviously.
But he sure is respecting th' Cap'n.
It was a good call
Twins Lose
Good AB by Cuddyer but what a lame way to end it. Neither of those last 2 pitches was close.
Well, that didn't go as expected. The bushers did their job in the ninth and the big-leaguers didn't.
Was anybody watching the game? What do we think about the last pitch?
Not a great pitch, but not an easy lay-off either. Cuddyer's bat barely broke the plane. He didn't argue with the ump, either.
Oh, I didn't realize that it was an appeal to the 1b umpire! Jeebus! How can you end a game on that? Ick.
Well, I guess we better all get used to third place. Looks like that's where we'll be the rest of this season if TR doesn't make a move to add some offense.
I agree. The Twins have been within a few games of .500 for some time now, and that's about what they are, a .500 team.
I suspect we all agree that the Twins, judging on talent anyway, aren't much more than a .500 team this year. We kind of expected as much, didn't we? Competing for a playoff spot this year was always something of a long shot.
Assuming the F-Bomb comes back full strength next year, the 2008 outlook looks bright. Boof/Baker/Slowey/Garza/Perkins should be able to provide 3 decent starters to back up Johan and Liriano. There's plenty more talent in the system to fill out a quality bullpen.
Casilla/Machado will, hopefully, replace Castillo/L-Rod. The savings from Castillo goes toward upgrading the 3b position or softening the blow of re-upping torii. Kubel hopefully finds his stride and takes over as a fulltime, above-average LFer. Maybe Pohlad loosens the purse strings a bit to take advantage of his last year of Johan.
Slowey to AAA, Cali recalled.