Game 74: Arizona vs. Minnesota
Posted by ubelmann on Friday, June 20th, 2008 at 6:00 pm
Big Unit vs. Light Rail
Randy Johnson is absolutely amazing. He's got a 3.80 xFIP and by next January, he'll have seen 10 different presidents in his lifetime. As measured by ERA+, Randy Johnson has had 6 of the 100 best single seasons in the history of baseball, and 2 more in the next 200.
Baker's got slightly better peripherals than Johnson this year, but there's absolutely no way I'd bet against Randy Johnson.
Arizona has a 97 OPS+ this year, which is lower than I would have expected, for whatever reason. The Twins have a 96 OPS+. Looks like we could have a pretty even match-up on our hands today.
so, does Gardy load up with righties tonight?
Arizona
S. Drew ss
C. Jackson 1b
O. Hudson 2b
C. Tracy dh
M. Reynolds 3b
C. Young cf
M. Montero c
J. Upton rf
J. Salazar lf
Minnesota
C. Gomez cf
A. Casilla 2b
J. Mauer c
J. Morneau 1b
C. Monroe rf
M. Redmond dh
D. Young lf
B. Harris ss
M. Macri 3b
Arizona
R. Johnson
Minnesota
S. Baker
So what you're saying is... yes.
Interesting lineup today. Anyone out there also considered a swap in the order between Gomez and Casilla? I know it's not a big deal, but the extra OB% at the #1 spot might help, and if Gomez is going to bunt anyway, well...
Im surprised to see both Mauer and Redmond in.
But no Cuddy tonight due to his wife giving birth and all (its a boy! Casey is his name)
I'm sort of surprised that they haven't taught Redmond to play first base or something.
Have fun, kids. I'm off to accompany the Girl at the Monarchs/Sun game. I'm looking forward to watching Minnesota legend Lindsay Whalen the Monarchs.
have fun!
so, the Twins have inexpensive beer. What nice fellows
Damn, I'm going to Citizens Bank Park tonight for Phillies/Angels. Cheapest berr in the bigs whoo-hooo !!!
Welcome, seels58. I hope you didn't chuck any batteries at the Halos.
If we have to have both Mauer and Redmond in, why isn't Mauer DHing? That would at least give him half a game off.
evening folks
oooh, new avatar
Yeah, meat's gone to pieces
you have a new one too Rhu Ru
That's rather personal
lol
avatars that is
Rhu_ru, I laughed at that- I mean out loud. really.
Twins hitting .277/.337/.409 and averaging 5.3 runs per game since May Day.
I dont know how many of you are listening to the radio feed, but they were just discussion that tommorrows game, Micah Owings is probably going to bat
If he's worthy of batting in a game he is pitching, wouldn't it make sense to just use him as DH in the games he is not pitching??
In fact, they'd have greater flexibility if he is the DH in games he is not pitching, and another DH is used in the games he does pitch.
So that's why Monroe doesn't play in the field much.
Seemed like he didn't start moving until the camera panned to him.
Bert opined that bloop was a double all the way. I beg to differ. Monroe was slow getting to the ball, then mishandled it.
Anybody know were I can find the Twins and opponents run distribution by inning for the season?
--->
snarf
scroll to the middle of the page
??
Thank you.
Light Rail has an out pitch
Monroe in RF, Young in LF -- how does this make sense?
I agree. Monroe's numbers vs. lefties this year are horrible, and Kubel has been very hot over the past few weeks. I don't see Monroe's handedness as much of an advantage.
Well that too... my thing is just that if you're going to have Monroe in the game, he should absolutely be in LF with Young in RF. Monroe has played a total of 10 games in right field over the past three years and he doesn't have much of an arm. I realize the Twins want to get Young comfortable in left field, but I don't understand why they've been so diametrically opposed to letting him play his natural position (like when Span was up).
Oh, I misread the intent of your comment. But I agree with it, too.
I've heard, and agree with, that Gardy would prefer to keep Young in left field to get him/keep him comfortable in left, rather than switching him around.
Repeat after me 50 AB is not significant, 50 AB is not significant, 50 AB is not significant
It was significant when I was in Little League and went 50 AB without a hit.
I went an entire season without a hit (or a ROE) when I was in third grade. I did pretty well in HBP and BB, though.
Were you able to convince your coaches of your value as an OBP guy?
I can just picture little 9-year-old ubelmann busting out the complex stats on the little-league bench.
Oh man, I was awful for that league (3rd-6th graders all thrown together.) I was just happy that I got to hit last and play my two innings per game in RF. I did a lot better the next year when we had a pitching machine, it was just 3-4th graders, and they moved me to 2B.
And you'd be surprised, but I already had a full beard even then. No one complained, though, since I was so bad.
heh. I was on both ends of that deal. I sucked as a youngun, but when (almost) everyone in my school grade moved up to the "senior" league the summer after 7th grade, I stayed behind because of my summer birthday.
Have I mentioned that I was 5'10" in 8th grade? I wasn't quite that big that summer, but to the 3rd graders, I might as well have been Randy Johnson. The YOUNG Randy Johnson (albeit a righty).
We played on a softball diamond. So here I am, prolly 5'7" or 5'8", throwing HARD and juuuust a little wild from about 46 feet against kids who might have been as young as 9 or 10. My dad later told me that a lot of the kids looked a wee bit scared up in the box against me.
Someone tell Morneau that Vancouver just selected Cody Hodgson with their first pick in the draft tonight so that he's not distracted when he's batting against Unit.
Mrs. Twayn is convinced that Light Rail has a hickey on his neck.
My brother says that he saw that, was thinking the same thing, but didn't want to mention it.
I had a friend who claimed to have given Kyle Lohse a hickey in 2005 she still lives in St. Paul. Coincidence? I think not.
oooh, a threat for some runs
Gordo has a Dazzle bobblehead in the booth EVERY game.
Folks, we gots ourselves a no-out rally
I'm not sure I would call it a rally yet...
Okay, I stand corrected.
Bottom of the order comes through. Woot!
w00t * 2
Laddie with a dandy bunt hit.
speed kills...again
I love the wild throw!
Roy Smalley had a really interesting comment earlier this inning about how he thought Stephen Drew was out of position, playing too far in the hole, given how many fastballs RJ is throwing and how late the hitters (Redmond and Macri in particular) were on his fastball.
Yeah, I found that to be pretty good insight.
I heard that on the Gameday video. Also saw that Macri came up slightly lame coming out of the box, NOT rounding first, like Gordo/Dazzle guessed.
I like Roy when he has filled in for Bert
He sometimes talks too much, but otherwise good. If he could say what he's trying to say using fewer words, and then zip up, he'd be even better.
Sweet Baby Jesus!
Morneau creeps up a little more on that RBI list
Laddie!
Awesome slide by Casilla.
It was a textbook hook, and a thing of beauty.
Okay, this has to qualify as a rally now, right?
you bet'cha
Whew, the Twins are putting on a clinic here in the third.
w00t!
Randy Johnson gets hit with The Monroe Doctrine!!
Yeesh, I didn't realize Baker was already at 60 pitches...
Surgery? Did Bert just say Neshek had surgery on his elbow?
Yes, he did. When did that happen? Or is Bert full of sh!t again.
As far as I know, Neshek never had surgery and is resting his elbow for a few months. So I'm gonna go with the latter.
When in doubt, go with Bert not being very careful with his language.
"again"? You meant "still", right?
The Ks are nice, but Light Rail isn't going to go far into the game with his pitch count where it is
A shutout inning in hand is worth two in the bush.
I'm out for the night. Look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow.
Black Jack's full of cr@p. I doubt Macri has a twisted ankle; looked like he had a slight hammy pull coming out of the box to me.
Little greedy there OKGo
did Gomez have a shot at that, or was he greedy?
3rd out at third; that's greedy in my book
Yeah, it wasn't really that close, and the ball was hit to left center. Not a good bet.
I'm betting Cuddyer was giving him crap about having more triples than GoGo.
well, Baker can get the win