2008 Twins Game 111: Cleveland at Minnesota
Posted by SBG on Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Game 111: Cleveland at Minnesota
Game Time: 1:10 PM CDT
Scheduled Starters: Matt Ginter (4th start, 15 IP, 4.03 xFIP) v. Francisco Liriano (4th Start, 10.3 IP, 7.12 xFIP). What is xFIP?
Happy F-Bomb Day!
The USS Mariner, one of the most analytical and popular blogs out there devoted to one team often announces in its game logs that their star young pitcher is throwing by wishing their readers Happy Felix Day! The implication, of course, is that fans of the Mariners should enjoy those times when Hernandez is pitching. Given the way the Mariners are going, and considering the likely near-term future of that club, enjoying Felix is just about all they've got, so it is probably doubly advisable to enjoy Felix Day for all it's worth.
One hopes that F-Bomb Day will be similar to the F-Bomb days of 2006 again, although that seems unlikely. In the wake of Top Jimmy's ridiculous column written after the trading deadline advocating a trade of Liriano, it should be instructive to look at what was. The Twins promoted Liriano into the starting rotation on May 19th, 2006 and over the course of the next fourteen starts, he pitched 92 2/3 innings, allowing 51 hits (seven were homeruns) and 28 walks while striking out 105. That's a FIP of 2.82. His ERA was 1.65 over that period. It was phenomenal. There's probably no way we'll see that, but I do have hope that he'll round back into form as an effective pitcher.
During that run, I was thinking about Scott Erickson's run in 1991. Over a 13 game starting streak, he was 12-0 with a 1.24 ERA. After that run, he had elbow problems and was nothing like that, ever again. His peripherals were a little different: 102 1/3 IP, 28 BB, 64K, 73H, 4 HR. The big difference, of course, was the relatively low strikeout total. His FIP was 3.28, which is pretty darned good, but not great. We all tend to agree around here that strikeouts are one of the leading indicators of long term success -- and Erickson's pedestrian strikeout numbers, in retrospect, did not predict sustainable greatness. Erickson did have some decent years after 1991, but he was never that guy again.
Let's hope that Liriano's path is a little different. It could be, as he did have the huge strikeout numbers. Of course, he threw that slider so much that he ended up with TJ surgery, so maybe he can't be that guy without risking reinjury. The chances for a complete recovery from Tommy John surgery are about 85 to 90 percent, so there's a very good chance that physically, he'll be back. But, in terms of approach, Liriano may not be able to throw slider after slider ever again, but if he learns to pitch effectively without over-relying on that nasty pitch, perhaps he'll be an extremely good or even great pitcher. And that's the hope.
So, Happy F-Bomb Day, everyone. And many happy returns.
I read recently that after mediocre results earlier in the season, the Twins let F-Bomb alter his mechanics and go back to throwing from his old arm slot. That was roughly when he started seeing much better results in AAA. I just hope it isn't putting damaging stress on the elbow.
I couldn't be more excited for today. I am heading to the local bar with the extra innings package for this one.
I feel like anything short of a 2 hit 12K effort an I will be disappointed. So much for keeping my expectations low.
You might wanna ratchet those back just a bit.
Just an FYI FTLT, I mentioned it in CoC, but MLB TV is only 20 bucks for the rest of the season.
Scott Erickson was super great in 1991. Ahhh memories
==
No Delmon, no Mauer today. Kubel and Redmond takes thier place
Whatever we set the over / under on dead kittens after this game, I am taking the over.
The historic F-Bomb day brew session is achieving full boil just in time for the start of the game. Good omens.
may the beer gods bless both you and the franchise.
K!
K #1!
I'm damn excited. Nice K.
Nice 1st inning for the F-Bomb.
Good f'ing inning.
Only 12 pitches, and two Ks. Could it have started any better?
Um, 9 pitches, 3 Ks?
that was great!
I just bought the MLBtv package to watch this game, I feel a little dirty, but F-bob looks like he wants to pitch, some fire in his delivery. It's good to see that he has the drive back, mebbe.
oh man
great catch by Sizemore
Yeah, gotta tip your cap and shake your head on that one.
good catch there.
Span robbed by Sizemore! Crax.
Geez, we're getting robbed here.
Stop the head first slides into first Nick. You're killing the buzz.
Excellentnot excellent head head first slide.Punto MIGHT have beat that out had he not done the header
Somebody better be givng Punto a purple nurple...we can't afford to lose another infielder to something as stupid as sliding into first.
Cleveland flashing more leather than a Ramones LP cover.
+1 Joey
One more putout by Liriano and he'll have his ERA below 10.
Fantasy owners rejoice.
That reminds me of this bit from The Onion.
So is this Gardy's "F-Bomb better throw a shutout" lineup today?
BlackWhite flag line up.+ Six Pack.
Ginter is pumping in those strike ones
Too bad Delmon is on the bench today
D'oh, there goes the perfect game.
Francisco's no Jeremy.
I'm not sure why, but I like the nickname "F-Bomb" so much more than LEN3 incecssantly calling him "Franchise".
well, hey, who doesn't enjoy dropping a few F-bombs during a game??
ARGH! who's the Twins rotation anchor, Nick Blackburn has the most quality starts... Where's the love for Light Rail?
Royals roughing up the Bitch Sox again.
Fuck.
Ugh. WTF was that?
where's Everett today??
OMG.
Middle infield is a problem for us.
Harris is a liability at 2nd base even from the SS position.
come on frankie
a lot of pitches that inning
lets get those bats going!
F-Bomb!
Man, that was clutch, but he had to get 4 outs, and he threw more pitches than he should have
HAHAHA
this Comcast/Wii commercial is great
Harry with a little redemption there.
HARRIS!
Ok, that makes up for the error.
Harris making up for the bad throw
Harris making up for the error.
When Harry Met Ginter
good brew-pub.
One of these days I wouldn't mind making a beer trip to Portland. Wisconsin is great, and word is Oregon is its equal. (I won't say one is better than the other, since it depends on where you live.) I've never had Hair of the Dog, I just heard of them through the American Beer documentary.
Tasty, tasty beer. They made it into Minnesota a couple years back, but I'm not sure they're still here.
No, Portland is the Mecca of beer. Wisconsin is the Iraq of beer at best
Ha, I almost called it a "beer-mecca" like trip, but then realized I didn't want to give up any ground on the Portland-Wisconsin beer debate.
Then again, when I really think about it, Oregon and Wisconsin are nearly identical in number of breweries and breweries per capita. But since a huge percentage of those breweries are in Portland, it probably make it the best beer city in the country.
But we still kick their asses in German-style lagers. So up your nose with a rubber hose.
I yield on that point. Oregon can't compete with Special Export, Blatz, Schlitz, PBR, Milwaukee's Best, Wisco Premium, and Miller. Oregon only has Henry Weinhard's.
Where's your Point?
There goes the nono
error, not a hit. So ...
never mind, I was trusting Dick'nBert for information
I'd have scored it an error, myself. But I'm a bitch that way.
Come on, guys. Let's give F-Bomb a little fucking help.
Morneau would have had it
I hate free outs. Even if there is no error on the play, I hate hate hate the free out.
Especially from such a fundamentally sound team. /snark
He gawn.
Heh, isn't if funny to hear Bert go on and on about fundamentals after two botched plays already?
The company line always trumps reality.
that was a good piece of hitting by Garko