Looking at his fangraphs page, it would appear that Danks has starting throwing a cutter this year, using his fastball less (down from ~60% to ~50%) and mixing in a slider, too. Throw that all in a blender, and Danks has gone from a fairly extreme fly ball pitcher to a mildly groundball-heavy pitcher.
I find it a bit interesting that Danks is matched up with Perkins today. Perkins throws the same stuff that Danks was throwing last year, essentially. And for the same reasons that I'm down on Perkins now (too many fly balls, shaky control), I really didn't see what the big deal was with Danks. But a year later, Danks has a couple of extra pitches and looks like a much better pitcher. So I guess that's one reason that I should be a little more optimistic about Perkins' future, but I'm still fairly pessimistic overall, I guess.
Perkins has had six starts so far. If you split that in half, he had an ERA of 3.44 in the first three games and 5.74 in the last three games. But our staff "ace" has a 10.13 ERA over his last three starts, so maybe I should go easy on the kid. Or maybe our staff "ace" is just a replacement level pitcher after all.
Gardy quote from LENIII's blog:
“We’ve been complaining about having 13 pitchers…and we’ve had to use every single one of them.â€
Except that Nathan guy, unfortunately.
Poor Joe's feeling like the last guy picked at recess.
I got picked last at rugby practice the other day. After the fatties and the new guys. It was a sad, sad day.
also from that blog
good!
As the Spartan king of Laconia once said to Philip of Macedon, "If."
I was shocked when I woke up this morning to find that Rincon was still on the team. I was positive that I would wake up to some good news, but I guess it will have to wait for another day.
For what it's worth, Delmon isn't starting today.
You mean Delmon "Homerun" Young? But he hit a homerun! Didn't you hear Gardy? More homeruns are going to follow! Delmon? More like Deluge! Of homeruns!
Is that one of your predictions?
This is not a defense of Rincon. But in two recent outings, Rincon has done fine for one inning, and then failed in the second inning of relief. At what point do you just thank your lucky stars after one good inning and bring in someone else?
Gomez with a lead off walk. Now there's something I thought I would never see.
Danks has been KILLING my Hacking Mass Team.
Everett's time on the DL isn't helping you either.
Ah, let's face it. My team sucks.
Sucks like you want it to, or sucks at sucking?
Ouch. Mike Lamb is a Hacking Mass All-Star!
No Go
Gomez CS. I've had a lot of raw talent lately. I'd like some rare talent for a change.
He was out by plenty the last time he was CS, too. Disturbing.
Caught Stealing #8. Gomez leads the AL in that dubious category.
People are paying a lot of attention to him now. He had stopped attempting steals for quite a while and now he's just forcing it. Went on first movement and guessed wrong.
How many CS in a row has that been?
5 straight. Oy!
Perkins with a homerless inning!
Two rockets in the second inning for two outs. Kind of sums up this series for the Twins.
7 pitch inning for Danks in the second.
I get it Bert...pitch inside
KEEP pitching inside, if 3 doesn't get the job done, pitch a fourth! Loas up the bases, better than a homerun, right?
...now I'm not saying to hit anybody...
BTW, welcome aboard, nibbish!
Thank you! Been a lurker for a couple of weeks this season, couple of weeks last season. Figured it was time to say hi.
Looking at Gameday it seems like Perkins is working both sides of the plate so far.
been a whole lot of ground rule doubles lately
guess with that many hits allowed in a game, you'd expect to see more, come to think of it...
Wow that was close at home. He may have been out.
Hey, TV watchers, on Thome's double did Kubel have any chance of catching the ball?
not that I could tell. Looked like it was hit perfectly inbetween kubel and Gomez
Hard to tell. If it was Delmon, though, there would have been great weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Nah, nobody expects Delmon to get to any ball that isn't hit right at him anymore.
No, but they will still complain about it and blame him for it.
GEEZE! We cant buy a break on thoseballs that are smoked
Gordo: "HERE'S A LINE SHOT!!!.... and a catch by Crede at third."
grrrrrrr.....
Gawd, is there any other way that Crede can kill us? Offense, defense. Let the guy pitch to us and he'd probably throw a no-hitter.
big-time regression on the RISP
Eh, with our offense, we were kind of due.
Mauer and Morneau still trailing Red Sox in All-Star voting. At this point, my biggest hope is that Yankees fans realize that Posada and Giambi won't win and start voting for Mauer and Morneau. (I don't care all that much about Youkilis over Morneau, but Varitek over Mauer troubles me.)
IF only we could make a deal like in The Godfather.
"So it is agreed, for the starting catcher, the Twins will relinquish claims on first base."
I'd rather put a horse head in Ozzie's bed.
The Twins will have to make their own luck in this game, that's for sure.
Sounds like Casilla should get that error instead of Macri? TV viewers?
the throw was off...could of gone either way in my book
I'm not watching, but in general, it seems that scorekeepers will give the error to the guy throwing the ball unless it is a nearly perfect throw. I've noticed this over the years with first basemen, where fans from most teams consider their first baseman to be great at catching the ball, because heck, if they didn't catch that throw, who could have? Give the error to the guy throwing the ball.
If anyone is going to hit a double play, its Paul Konerko
All fastballs to Konerko.
Uh oh. Bases loaded, 3-1 on Thome.
YES!
Wow. Perkins with a nice little wiggle there.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who didn't see that coming...
"Anything to help Gardy win that next series?"
"Aisle four - bathroom caulk"
57 pitches for Perkins in the first three innings--only 33 for strikes.
That's normally a ticket for an early shower.
I'm thinking its time to implement the 14-pitcher staff.
I think just 10 pitchers would be fine, if they could actually get some outs.
Bring up that first round pick. He can pitch and play in the field.
That stupid Mauer walked.
No outs, runners on 2nd and 3rd. Normally I'd call this a scoring opportunity....
RBI bloopers are okay.
KUUUUBELLLL
The Dude abides to 2nd base!
c'mon let's make this big, Kubel.
KUUUUUUUUBBBBBBBBBBBBBELLLLLLLLLLLLLL
w00t!
KUBEL!
Dazzle, a six game hitting streak isn't all that spectacular. 56 games, yeah, 6 games, not so much.
Yesterday, it was mentioned that Kubel has 10 HRs in the 33 games he's played against the cHIsOX.
Let's see if Perkins can work some magic here (at least get to the 6th inning...)
Perk, what are you doing?!
Netherlands up 2-0 on Italy right now in EURO2008 competition.
Oranje > Azzuri
I'm watching the bitch sox broadcast today and man are dj and hawk huge whiners. They complained about the strike 3 call to Konerko for about half an inning. Then, on the breaking ball to Morneau that was called ball 1: "Maybe [the umpire] just couldn't hit the curve ball when he played".
Later in the inning after the Twins score 3 runs they're still complaining about how the umpires basically cost them 3 runs and when Macri comes up: "He's gonna have to get them swining cause they're not gonna get called out."
If I didn't know better, I'd swear these guys were drunk or in high school (or both).
Or employees of Jerry Reinsdorf.
Dick and Bert can be the same way sometimes. I remember a recent Perkins start where he had some pitches that just missed the inside corner (but did miss) and they wouldn't shut up about the inside corner.
They aren't as bad as Hawk. The guy's middle name is Homer. In fact, when the Twins hit a home run, we should post his face.
+3 busts
Dick and Bert aren't even in the same league as these guys when it comes to whining. I'm willing to forgive some degree of homerishness from the announcers, but these guys find something to whine about in nearly every game I watch. If it's not the umpires, it's bloop singles for the other team falling in or line drive outs by the sox.
They've had nothing but high praise for Gomez though--calling him "the next Ricky Henderson".
To be fair, I guess they didn't complain too much in the game I watched earlier this weekend. Although it's hard to find too much to complain about when you're ahead by 27 runs.
Hawk just said Gomez will get to a looooot more balls than Hunter could. First time I've heard a mainstream media person actually admit Torii doesn't have the league's best range in CF.
I guess when the umpire is named Dreckman, expectations are not high.
M&M boys making things happen today.
The whole of the middle of the lineup seems to be pulling its weight.
Cuddy!
Danks a lot, dude.
Cuh DIE ya!
Activity in the White Sox bullpen.
Monroe, 2008: .111 BA vs. lefties. .295 OPS vs. lefties.
That is freaking crazy.
I'd honestly rather have Young playing.
Not even 50 AB. That's just as unsustainable as his 1.003 OPS vs. RHP.
Another DJ classic:
"We need 5 runs right here, cause we trail by 3."
Line drive DP! Maybe the worm is turning today.
This game is so exciting... I don't want to jinx it by mentioning it, but Glen Perkins has a quality start going here. I bet that mound is the loneliest place in the world right now.
It's been AGES since a Twins starter has pulled their weight. And yes, that may have been a poke at Livan's girth.
Damnit, I was so ready to bring up Joey Amalfatano and Harvey Kuenn.
A swing and a miss... The quality start! [crowd roars for 90 seconds.]
Crain up in the pen. Dazzle first said it was Rincon up. I almost tossed the radio out the window.
Now twayn, taking your frustration out on the radio doesn't help anyone. Dazzle is not a little guy living inside that box, so throwing it won't make him any less stupid. Nor does Gardy live inside that little box.
Aw, but it feels sooo good.
90 mph slider to K Dye. Nice!
Well, shoot, Rincon could have done that!
Good, I was starting to wonder if this Twins staff couldn't get a batter a 2HR day anymore.
We're going to need more runs, cause we're only up by one. A lot more runs.
They're going to give away Perkins win, and I'm going to have to watch that insipid graphic about how Twins starters having won a game in like 4 years.
Boof got a win last Wednesday. He's often a starter.
Dazzle: Crede doesn't run all that well.
Me: He's mostly trotted in this series.
Swisher loves playing the Twins. I hate Swisher.
Perkins with 3 K, 3 BB, and 1 HR allowed. He did start throwing more strikes as the game went along, but still not very encouraging.
Compared to how the last few games have gone, it was practically a no-hitter.
An ugly woman compared to an uglier woman is still an ugly woman.
Well played, sir.
Yes, but if that's your only choices, you go with the less ugly and dress her up as best you can.
I don't know how Perkins looked there since I'm not watching, but Gardy was pretty fast with the hook on him today. Maybe it was the right call, but as overworked as the bullpen's been, and the way this series has gone, it smelled a little like desperation.
I kind of wonder how much the quick hook has to do with his injury last year and if they are being extra careful with him. Also, nothing will irritate Gardy more than walks, and the Thome walk probably didn't give him a whole lot of confidence in Perkins to throw strikes.
He pitched like 10 times better than the other starters did to the same team.
So the other starts were even less encouraging. Our pitchers have been crap so far. Shiny crap is still crap.
True enough, but unlike everyone else, he gave us an outside shot at winning, which we seem to be at least attempting to take advantage of. I wouldn't want a season full of starts like this (though I think that's what we'll get from Perkins), but today, I'll take it.
I mean, I didn't say it was the worst start in the world, just that it's not very encouraging. I don't think that's unreasonable in the least.
Not at all, all this not getting 10-run ruled has made me overly optimistic, I'm sure they'll do something to make sure it's ill placed.
See?
I fully expect Glen Perkins to get better when Jake Peavy gets off the DL. Perkins replaced Peavy on my fantasy baseball team, and starting pitchers generally suck. It's sad.
Guerrier warming up in the 6th. Does that mean we might actually so Nathan in the eighth? If you're ever going to do it, this is the time. Four-game losing streak, three to the team in first, and Joe hasn't pitched in like a month.
I'll absolutely believe that when I see it...
Guerrier will get 2 innings.
I'd have to agree, Gardy will bring in the second best reliever for 2, leaving the best reliever for the 9th.
Guerrier's good, but if there are any missteps, there is no ninth...
Cuddy's been hot today. Time to get hotter.
Please, Dude. Please.
Stretch time. Go shake hands with the governor, folks.
Apparently, beating the ball into the ground is good hitting.
Chopper, ground ball, ground ball, tie game. Mama said their would be weeks like this.
Buzz Kill.
AW FOR PETE SAKE
I think you need a new prescription for your rose colored glasses, dw.
Well, I'm outta here. I can't handle any more of this. Just too depressing.
FFS.
The Sox hitters are freakin' relentless
They are now first in the AL in HR, and 3rd in all of MLB. They also have the 5th best OBP in the AL (9th best in MLB.) 4th-best offense in the AL by OPS. So, yeah, they've got a pretty good group of hitters on hand.
I seem to recall a large number of white sox doubters in the off-season- (i'm not suggesting either of you were in that crew) but man they have been monsters this year-
I felt conflicted about the White Sox (though I'm not sure what I wrote about them.) On the one hand, I didn't think they gave up very much in the trade for Swisher, and Swisher is a good player even if he does make me want to punch him. And I always thought that Garland was way overrated, so giving him up for the overrated Cabrera seemed like a fine move. The Quentin move was definitely a good one, as Carlos was blocked with the D-Backs and had always hit in the minors and was still young. I didn't think they should have spent so much money on the bullpen, but their bullpen has been very good so far--certainly a team strength.
A lot of the Sox criticism seemed to stem around them giving up the future for a shot at winning now. But, I don't really think they gave up that much future value to set up this year's team, and when you have a big payroll you can afford luxuries like an aging, $14M DH with a 103 OPS+. And I really hate punting seasons. It's tough enough to win a WS if you try really hard to do it--when you essentially give up a season or two to rebuild, you make it extremely difficult to luck yourself into a good situation where maybe at midseason you've caught some breaks and are a piece or two away from being a legit WS contender.
Still, the Sox have seemingly had a lot of good health go their way this season, and as far as I can tell, their depth isn't good, especially in the rotation. So they might not look so good as the season wears on and they potentially need to dip down into their reserves more. I think they deserve credit for not ignoring the chance that they could compete this year.
So they might not look so good as the season wears on and they potentially need to dip down into their reserves more.
In the post-steroid era, that's a distinct possibility.
CHICAGO WHITE SOX I WILL EAT YOUR LIVERS!
11 home runs for the Sox in this series. 11.
It's like that milkshake is bottomless
A whole ocean of milkshake right under our feet...
the wind is blowing out, I think
And our pitchers are just blowing.
afternoon gents-
afterBOOOOOOn is more like it
I see that you're in the market for liver gm. I have a few onions laying around....
I seek the liver of Mr. Swisher.
Might I suggest pairing it with fava beans and a nice Chianti.
+ 10 Lambs.
Bring in Rincon to Plunk somebody, start a brawl, get him suspended.
Can a pitcher charge the plate?
If he's still holding the ball, I"m pretty sure it counts as a pitch, and the batter is allowed a swing.
What does the sign from the dugout look like on that play?
Something like this...
A twirling of the index finger at the temple, I think.
Now that is a good idea - maybe only if they get to 10 runs though.
Can we bring in Young to pitch while we're at it and use the same strategy?
Can the Twins get Swish his third HR?
Jesus, Rincon? Oh, its only Bass.
This is like a nature show where a pride of lions have the baby wildebeest surrounded. And we're the wildebeest.
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
Send in the clowns.
'but first, THE WHORES"
An underrated Sondheim offering.
The pitching has been Weill of late. Er, vile...
Dazzle : 'Hall has pretty much been an out all afternoon'
Me: time for his HR
Prior to today, Crede hitting .432/.447/1.135 against the Twins this year with 7 HRs in 38 plate appearance. Wow, what terrible IsoD.
Jeesus, Gordo! Don't do that to me!
How close was that? Gordo had me spit up my ice tea at my desk....
Game Day shows it at the fence. I was ready.
Yeah, really. The cats are getting tired of all the cursing around here.
It was close...Kubel made the catch right at the base of the fence.
Somebody buy Brian Bass a steak or something...
I think that's meat's department.
Buy everyone a steak. That's the best thing to put on a black eye.
holy cr@p! I do a quick chauffeur run, and what happens? 5-2 -> 7-5
And someone needs to give Swisher a smirkectomy, stat
CC to E-6: You know painters / artists in Bemidji?
I had a couple of friends who did all or part of their undergrad there in the late 80's. (Both are elsewhere now, though.) Why do you axe?
I'm getting my academic packet together for a job there- they're hiring both my areas this year- painting and printmaking- thought I should throw in to get nearer to the metrobubble / family
Good luck, mister.
Bottom of the lineup. Yay. Maybe we can throw the DH out the window again. Think Slowey's available to pinch run?
Bass is due- save slowey for tomorrow.
Teach Rincon to bunt, use him as a bunter/pinch runner. Bring up Danny Graves to take his place.
Psh, his batting average is .500... Small sample size be damned, just have Rincon as the full time DH.
If he's better than Monroe vs lefties, I see a PLATOON! in our future.
Hey, at least Bass didn't walk in a run.
Monroe battling his tail off here.
But, he strikes out. Pfft.
Craig Monroe, foul ball machine.
+1 Strikeouts. D'oh.
Harris swings at ball 4. Two out.
Gomez bunt + Casilla HR = tie game
A desperate formula for success
First pitch weak pop ups rule.
Geeze, a guy steps out to catch some EURO action and the team is down 2 instead of up 2 like when he left. I can't leave you guys alone with a lead, can I? This is why we can't have nice things.
But dad, the pitchers started it!
The mind goes into overdrive trying to figure out what EURO action Andrew is getting.
BTW, Netherlands 3 - Italy 0. I, for one, welcome our new Oranje overlords. They are probably my favorite team in the competition, if for no other reason than their sweet kits. And if liking a team for their jersey makes me a little gay, then so be it.
I think this is called a clinic, see hitting.
It's a two run game and they're leaving Bass out there???
RIncon too tired to carry the white flag out to the mound.
...and he's doing his damndest to put as many nails in Rincon's coffin as he can, don't ruin the moment.
Yeah, OK, it worked out in the end.
It'll do, I would've rather seen Nathan in there, but this isn't a save situation, so....
A Neshek! A Neshek! My kingdom for a Neshek!
Willy Shakes probably threw more strikes.
Can't hear Gordo/Dazzle over Runner daughter's vacuuming, and it doesn't really bother me...
In my experience, a daughter doing housework is as rare as a no-hitter. Well done, Rhu_Ru.
I remember a few seasons ago, Lou Piniella tried a stunt with the Rays where he had his closer pitch the first inning and then brought the starter in for the second inning. In retrospect, that would have been a fun way to get Nathan some work in today. Have him pitch the first--maybe a batter or two in the second if the platoon matchups worked out right, and then have Perkins come in later. Strategically, you could maybe leverage a couple of platoon matchups out of the deal, and maybe it would just be kind of fun.
Also, worst case scenario is that the Twins lose and the non-Nathan part of the bullpen gets an extra inning of rest.
We aren't in buisness of selling
jeansfunI don't believe that Lou atually ever did that, just threatened it.
Bright Side:
First Time this series where the Twins have been close enough to get Jenks into the game.
(He did warm up on Friday night).
GO GO GO
Car-go!
Wow... that happened quickly.
GO GO!
Thing One and Thing Two on the corners to lead off the inning, oh my.
That's pretty good, I like that one.
CASILLA I NEED YA!
Things getting interesting....
Casilla keeps the dream alive!
This would be a good time for Mauer's first HR against a RHP.
That just seemed inevitable.
Seems like the proper adjective...things like "embarassing" don't quite cut it.
DANG
D'oh
NOOOOOOOOO
D'oh!
Wow... How crushing can it get?
we'll get a win tommorrow! I feel it
That's the spirit.
Blow this sh!t up.
This is the way the series ends, not with a bang, but a whimper.
+1 Gyres
Well, that ended quickly.
first time since 77...I just barfed a little bit in my mouth...
That's for a 4-game series, right? So I'm going with the technicality. We were swept in a three game series yesterday, and lost game 3 of a previous 3-game series today.
Wow -- I hope the WGOM Nation's nightmare is over real soon...'cause this sucks. Can't get out of Chicago too quick for this bunch
That just made it hurt worse.