Game 90: Twins vs. Crimson Hosers
Posted by ubelmann on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Blackburn v. Lester
Now that Lester has started throwing more strikes and has his xFIP down to 4.17, I'm less of a hater.
The Red Sox are currently in second place in the AL East. I see two clear reasons for this:
1) The Red Sox are not superheroes in a cartoon.
2) The Rays are THE DEFENDERS OF THE GAME.
Really, everyone in the AL should just be re-tooling for next year. Unless they can come out with cartoons of comparable quality, I just don't see anyone touching the Rays.
Glad to see yesterday that the venting over the loss was short-lived and pretty much everyone was able to see the setback for what it was: one game out of 162, a very well-played game despite the loss, and a bad decision by Gardenhire, one I'm pretty sure he's been beating himself up for worse than any of us could.
I think the consensus that Bass was the wrong guy is right on... the only other semi-controversial decision in the game (Kubel vs. Monroe) seemed perfectly justifiable to me and I'm assuming most would agree.
I won't even try to justify Delmon, he may be a first-pitch swinger but swinging first pitch four times especially at a ball way out of the zone in the first inning against a pitcher who wasn't throwing strikes is just inexcusable.
The one benefit of failure is that intelligent people use it as a means to improve themselves by taking a different approach the next time. If Gardy's and Delmon's failures last night serve to prevent them from going to inferior "hot hand" bullpen arms and stubbornly first-pitch swinging no matter what, then maybe those failures are in the long run more valuable than "success" would have been if they would have turned out well and the Twins won the game. Bad strategy rewarded leads to bad habits...
Of course, this is assuming that Gardenhire and Delmon are intelligent enough to respond to failure this way...
Jeebus, Gomez gets picked off on 3-2 count.
off to a blistering start!
And Casilla walks. Gah!
Holy cr@p! Billy Beane is at it again.
Cubs get Rich Harden (26) and Chad Gaudin (25) for right-handed pitcher Sean Gallagher (22), outfielder Matt Murton (26), infielder Eric Patterson (25) and catcher Josh Donaldson (22, at Single-A).
Harden is a wildly talented, but apparently fragile power pitcher. Gaudin had a hot run last year, but appears to be Kyle Lohse-level at best. I haven't really looked at any of the Cubbie prospects yet, but would have to guess that Gallagher is the prize. Donaldson looks like throw-in junk; Patterson like AAAA infield depth. Murton is potentially useful, but the A's/River Cats OF ranks still seem crowded to me.
I know Eric Patterson is the brother of former Cub great Corey Patterson
the Cubs just answered the Brewers move
Which makes the Brewers gamble less palatable.
yah. Gaudin can be very effective as a middle reliever and spot starter. Harden could be great.
I don't really see this from the A's perspective yet, but will look around tonight to see what I can see. I suppose it could just be a risk-averse salary dump with Harden.
The A's weren't out of that race. They probably are now, though.
Yeah seriously. It's gonna be smooth sailing for the Angels.
No kidding. That's a White Flag Trade.
Billy's got some replacement-level starters (with potential to be more) stashed at AAA (Lenny Dinardo, Dallas Braden, Gio Gonzalez, Kirk Saarloos) to go with the guys he has with the big club now (Duchshererererer, who is outstanding; Greg Smith and Dana Eveland, who have been enjoyed above-average outcomes with average peripherals; Blanton, who is a decent 5th starter).
but the offense is the problem. Billy seems to be going with a massive Youth Movement, having called up 3 position players from the Cats in the past 5 weeks (CF Carlos Gonzalez, who could be a stud; 1b Wes Bankston -- taking ABs from last year's phenom, Daric Barton, who has been horrrrrrrible; SS Gregori Pettit, filling in for the dinged-up and enigmatic Bobby Crosby).
Frank has been big hurt since coming over; Chavez is still hurt; Mike Sweeney is hurt. Jack Hannahan hasn't produced at 3b. There's lots of potential in the OF ranks (Ryan Sweeney, Travis Buck, Gonzalez) and Jack Cust has been Dave Kingman Lite. But I don't think that team is ready to compete. And that must be what Billy thinks too.
JD Drew tries to reach third on a ball hit in front of him. We haven't seen that kind of baserunning since Torii Hunter left.
I thought the reports of Youkilis' defense were exaggerated, but wow. He is making some plays this series.
I want to meet the person who first put bacon on a pile of mashed potatos
yum
----
lets go offense!
tacos with crock-potted pulled pork tonight, assuming Mrs S actually took care of it this morning. If not, I'm just gonna open a can of cold baked beans. It's too hot to cook.
Chili dogs, chips, and Diet Dr. Pepper. Now that's gotta be a dw approved dinner.
absolutley!
Hamburgers and some potato concoction on the grill.
why does everything cooked in a crock pot taste better?
Secret sauce.
I usually go with the bratwurst and sauerkraut on top of mashed potatos, though I'll give you bacon. Bacon makes everything better.
Sort of a Minnesotan bangers and mash, eh? Sounds pretty tasty.
I live in southern Wisconsin, so it's a Wisco bangers and mash. But yeah, it's tasty.
Jiminy! Team Bunty McBuntersons.
I know it's just been a few games, but the Harris 3B, Punto SS tandem seems to work well defensively. Punto has the range for SS and Harris has the arm for 3B. I'd think against lefties this would be the way to go.
Between the flaky server and an even flakier Comcast connection last night, I spent about 6 innings failing to connect to the game log. Tonight seems to be much better.
I have a caching thing going, which isn't perfect, but it does speed things up.
every once in awhile, I get a '500 Server Error' and then the site doesnt work for about 5 minutes
it did it again
That's just the server being flaky.
I've gotten this several times, too.
Tangential aside: did you know that Atlanta's area code is 404? There's an NBA joke there somewhere.
Morneau just keeps hitting... he, Punto, and Mauer all are back in 2006 form. I'd love it if Monroe would regain his 2006 form, especially the Oct 2006...
way to go Harris!
triiiiiiiple
Harris! Two out runs are our specialty!
Harris!
Two out RBI for the (T)win(s)
Yay for secondary power!
A Puntonian hit. Lester's looking pretty hittable tonight.
Apparently a good pickoff move, though?
Aye.
Better reinforce the shocks and springs on the Punto Bandwagon if he keeps this up...
Poor baserunning is incredibly annoying.
Twins re-take the lead in baserunning blunders, 2-1. It was said last night and tonight seems to be more of the same: this is playoff-type baseball so far... low scoring, good defense, runs at a premium. It would behoove both teams to not needlessly give away outs on the basepaths...
Bert on Fenway: "This is kind of like going to New York"
I'm sure Red Sox fans would love to hear that.
Some of these pitches being called balls by Blackburn are looking like good pitches to me.
ruh roh. Gordo raises the specter of BoSox pursuing Barry Bighead.
Have we already hashed this out here? If Barry's agent is to be believed, the Twins could have a guy who we'd assume to still be a devastating offensive weapon -- for a very modest salary? From a production standpoint, it's a no-brainer... from a cost standpoint, where's the problem? But obviously, is it worth the baggage, ridicule, bad vibes, and all-around 180 turn from the Twins' philosophy?
Apparently, the Great One would play for the prorated minimum and basically give that back to the club in the form of purchased tickets. So, reportedly, he'd play for nothing.
I heard that earlier this week. Wouldn't it be fun to see Curt Schilling and Barry holding hands and singing Kumbaya?
Separated at birth: George Clooney and Mike Lowell
Unless you were paying close attention, there was no way to know the Twins scored three runs last inning. Gladden's play-by-play calling is monotone and slightly louder monotone. Yeah yeah, I'm bludgeoning a deceased equine.
Dazzle b-day yesterday
his voice sounds like he was celebrating late
Rhu_Ru, where's the trimmed version?
Hmmm... I didn't get much from that interview except "When you live on the street, socks are like gold."
btw, the nephew of Friend of bS, RJ Swindle, got his debut in yesterday. 3 innings of relief for the Phils; he gave up a bomb to his first batter, David Wright, then a couple more hits and one more run before settling down.
Paraphrasing my buddy Stick's summary: if Charlie M wanted him as a LOOGY, why did he debut against three consecutive right-handed hitters (Wright, Beltran, Easley)?
but whatever. exciting trial by fire. He cashed in a couple K's with his 53-MPH eephus-like slow curve.
Gomez struck out on a low slider out of the zone... I don't recall that happening before... anyone else?
Hola folks.
Protein Shake Man!
I prefer my protein frozen- a meatcicle if you will.
"These Twins will drive you nuts with the bunts."
Literally, in the case of Cliff Lee and C.C. Sabathia.
Yes, I defied Sabathia's punctuation embargo.
holy cow! my audio is in front of gameday!
Just in time, since I gotta go pee.
Bert justifies Varitek's inclusion on the All-Star team. All righty, then.
Looks like I flipped on the TV at just the right time. For some reason, the game wasn't recording and when I tuned to 641 the top of the 4th was starting.
Nice to see those 2 out ribeyes again.
Twayn's wife: "Red Sox have a runner on with no outs."
Twayn (from kitchen): "Who's batting?"
Twayn's wife: "Um... um... the bouncy guy!"
that's more informative than lots of Dazz's PBP descriptions.
Nice sign by the Twins fan at Fenway saying "You're Welcome, Boston" for Ortiz, Moss, and KG. I'd never thought of it that way, but Boston has 3 HOFers courtesy of Minny letting them go...
Borderline possible HOFer in the case of Ortiz of course...
Are you kidding, brink? He's a lock.
if he'd been playing in KC or Minny his whole career, different story of course.
Unlike Moss or KG, he doesn't pass the bus test yet. A guy like him could break down quickly... he needs several more years to be a lock, I think. The HOF doesn't hand out a lot of passes to DHes so I think he has a ways to go.
Ortiz is a stone cold lock for the HoF?
Wow, thats a surprise. I didnt think he had the numbers. He has had huge moments in the Playoffs, And been a beast with the Red Sox, but he has 279 career HR and less than a 1,000 RBI
but ... but... he's Big Papi!
I were joaking. He's had a run of really impressive production, but even with the post-season heroics, not enough yet.
WOW what a play by Blackburn! I had flashbacks to Santana there!
Wow. I hope Cuddy's a slow healer.
can cuddy play left?
Probably better than Delmon. But lots of people forget (or never knew) that Cuddyer is pretty much completely deaf in his left ear. So if he played left that could cause some communication problems.
good point, I had forgotten that- I always thought it was the deafness that caused his ineptitude at 3B- right ear to the stands and all.
I always believed that was a contributor to his problems there. He had the necessary gun, but seemed to misplay a lot of balls at third. The ones he got to were pretty much automatic outs, though.
I love Span in right field in Boston. That's saying a lot, 'cause I love Cuddy.
But I'd rather Cuddy in right in the Dome, though.
Dazzle and Gordo were discussing earlier that Cuddys hand is still sore and will not come off the DL for a long time. He still cannot put on a glove and shag flyballs
Defense on display!
D-span has provided some excellent viewing (or listening).
Or reading, in some of our cases.
MLB radio is the best 14.95$ I have spent in a long time. Meatwife disagrees.
I've thought about taking the radio plunge, but from what I remember of Gordo and Dazzle when I'd get a chance to listen to them, and from the comments here of their current abilities, I figure I get a better idea of what's going on from Gameday. I just wish I could afford mlb.tv.
You can listen to the opponents' broadcasts, too. I found I really liked the Marlins broadcasters during Spring Training.
I sometimes choose the Spanish language stations, just for giggles. I used to be pretty fluent, pero no mas.
That's a good point. Also, there is the shear comedy factor of Gordo/Dazzle. I may need to give this a bit more thought.
Twins Territory membership gives you MLB radio, too, for the same price. Not sure if any of the other benefits of Twins Territory membership are worthwhile, but for the same price, I figured I might as well go for it.
I did not know that.
but I certainly agree with meat. Even if MLB declined to send me my SI subscription with my renewal this spring. (and not like I'm really missing that has-been rag anyway).
Holy crap Span has been awesome in RF...
Sending him back to AAA could result in riots in Mpls....