Feierabend vs. Perkins
Feierabend's had a pretty decent 13-game run in the minors this year--75 IP, 48 K, 15 BB, 2.04 ERA--especially considering that the PCL is a hitters' league. IIRC, though, he is mostly a no-stuff lefty who relies on command to work his magic. (Best pitch is probably his change, from what I understand.) I have absolutely no data to back this up--and I could be dead wrong--but I suspect that the Twins, as a team that hits for a high average* but don't really take many walks, should generally fare well against this sort of pitcher.
*At .277, they are 3rd in the AL, and the two teams ahead of them (Boston, Texas) play in pretty extreme hitters parks.
Clearly, Perkins has a problem with facing the Mariners in the 7th inning of games where he has a 5-run lead. If the Twins happen to be in that situation again, I suggest moving Perkins into the outfield and letting Delmon pitch the 7th. I mean, he's got a live arm and not all that much control, so he'd probably scare the crap out of Mariners batters--and would he really give up more than 10 runs? Then Perkins could come back for the 8th. I forget the rules exactly, but the Twins would probably lose the DH by employing this strategy. I think that ultimately it would be a good trade-off just to avoid the 10-run inning and get the bullpen some rest.
Now, the first step is getting a 5-run lead in the 7th inning again...
Has a pitcher taken the field and then came back to pitch any time in the last thirty years? That would be sweet
I have vague memories of Davey Johnson doing this a few times as Mets manager in the 80s--I think he'd switch out relievers into the OF to get platoon matchups. I'll see if I can find a boxscore.
Well, I can't find the boxscore, but in 1986, Roger McDowell and Jesse Orosco both played innings in the OF--I'm pretty sure they were back and forth from the mound.
Bobby Cox pulled this move earlier in the year- put the pitcher in the OF, got the platoon matchup for 1 hitter, and then put the original pitcher back in.
Is this the one you're talking about?
Thanks guys for the research. That's one cool boxscore, and quite genius use of the bullpen. In a do or die situation, I'm guessing the pitching matchups are more important than the small chance your pitcher will have to try and catch a really difficult fly ball (I imagine most can catch routine flies no problem). I wonder if the pitcher gets to warm up again if he comes in for a second time.
I love the commercial about ash trees. It almost sounds like he's saying, "I've been swinging these ass bats for years." And then, "You do your part, and I'll make sure to put my ass to good work."
I hear it as "ass-bats" every time.
At least no one was on base for that Ibanez hit.
Ugh. I would say 80% of the time the runner from first would score on a ground-rule double. I'm not sure there's an easy way to fix the rule, though.
Alright LNP has found his bat this series.
Ibanez taking fielding notes from Delmon?
IBB to Morneau?
Mauer's splits
vs. LHP: 379/423/589
vs. RHP: 294/410/389
Wonder if he can keep this up for the rest of his career. That's amazing.
I'm loading the WGOM Radio #2 and I talked about that. He's not, but wow, he's really improving as a hitter.
The Twins have been really hot in the first inning as of late. I like getting out to these early leads.
The dude, the dude, the dude is on fire!
We're gonna need more Kahlua.
We should have no problem having enough of this stuff around, at least
*Edit: Sorry, that last picture was way bigger than I anticipated.
Randolph! Everybody hits
Good thing we aren't starting Kubel against a lefty.If I remember my German, feierabend roughly = "evening fire", and if that's the case, what's he doing pitching in a day game?
Of course, Gordo's pronouncing it FEAR-bend, instead of foy-air-AH-bent.
Meanwhile, there's a pretty good fire going now, thank you very much.
Dick's pronouncing it the same way
I figure it better that he pitches during the day. It would not be easy to pitch while there are flames on you, right?
"abend" is evening. But "feier" isn't fire, it's "celebration".
so he's an evening party. or in this case, afternoon party.
"ei" is pronounced "aye" -- long "i" auf deutsch, whereas "eu" would get the "oy" treatment.
W00T!!! No need to slide head first into first base on that play!
It is pretty funny that Dickey is throwing them past the bullpen catcher...
It's funny until somebody gets hurt.
*channeling gym teachers everywhere
Somehow Delmon was still swinging at those balls...
UNO!
Oh my word...Bert is trying to tell me that Everett "will make the routine plays." Harris has made more routine plays than him. Tell me about Everett's range or double play ability if you're going to talk up his defense
Random stat: The Twins are 8-0 when Mauer homers.
Uh oh, we have the dreaded five run lead again. And Joe Mauer is a hitting stud.
Well this game seems to have started in typical game-against-the-Mariners fashion. Why do they always turn out so weird?
Was Dick a virgin in a past life? He is OBSESSED with sacrifices.
He may well be a virgin in this life.
Pedroia is 0-2 today, so as of right now I believe Mauer leads the AL in batting average.
Ubelmann had some heartburn earlier in the season about our (percieved serious) references to "Jeremy" pitchers and Nathan Requisite Baserunner, but now he's starting a "7th Inning 5-Run Perkins" scenario; way to lighten up, dude
btw, nothing like facing the Marriners to help the offensive stats; wish the bullpen could also benefit.
The bullpen will benefit most by not getting used.
Aaaaaa-men.
Man, it's gotta suck being a Mariners fan this year.
Based on recent indications from their front office, it could suck being a Mariners fan next year as well.
Can we create a new verb for what the Twins do with runners in scoring position? Risping?
As in, Harris just risped that ball to score Kubel.
Nicky tries to be cute. In the words of Lou Grant, "I hate cute."
Well, I'm out for the day, gents. Driving the kids up to Brainerd for a week at grandma's house. I hope Gordo and Dazzle mention the game every once in a while.
ooooh, party at twayn's this week
Punto almost gets a knuckle(r) sandwich.
Now Dick telling me Young has great range in left field. Forget UZR...is he even watching the field?
When you are wearing roller skates, you can cover a lot of ground.
Hey everyone, how's my brother's classmate doing?
I went bowling for the first time this summer, then followed it up with a round of disc golf. I think my arm might fall off.
Pony Boy looks good.
I posted the second WGOM Radio. Now, I'm off to put together some bumper music.
Closed circuit to SBG: check your mail (in five minutes.)
Kubel is on fiyah!
If any of you are in Wisconsin and happen upon this label:
Buy it immediately, if you like German Hefeweizens.
The radio guys must be in heaven with all these wild pitches
This game underscores why I was so verklemt about losing 2 of 3 in Seattle. The Mariners suck hard.
this is getting kind of fun.
Okay, now I am just sort of feeling bad for Dickey.
What an embarrassing inning for both Dickey and Johjima. Enough to make Frank Robinson cry.
Can't blame Johjima for most of them. Those were wild pitches.
Jeebus, Perkins, no more gopher balls!
Ouch! Is it the 7th already?
Perkins gets a couple of tattoos in the 6th.
Okay, seriously, what is it about the Mariners?
It must be some sort of flannel equinox.
What's that you say?
Nomore gopher balls?Boy, when Perkins hits the wall, he hits it hard.
I only found a car hitting a wall. but you sir, have gone above and beyond.
Here it is .005 seconds later:
apparently, the Overthruster wasn't working.
"It's a bad design..."
Stick that one in the vault.
Dingers for all!
Justin go BOOM!
Been a while, Dudley
Kubel is on FIYAH!
We're gonna need more half-and-half.
We're gonna need more whiskey
In late & close situations, the Mariners have a .645 OPS. When the margin is greater than four runs, the Mariners have a .757 OPS. The Mariners seem to enjoy hitting when they know the pitcher is focused on just throwing strikes because he has a big lead.
Even a half-ass throw nails LNP there.
Productive outs. Productive outs.
UNO!
Did Delmon stop to tie his shoes? How do you not beat out a double play when they drop the ball at second?
That's just inexcusable. I think he needs a day off to rest up because he's obviously too tired to run hard.
That's as big a mystery as how one doesn't take a pitch against Miguel F'in Batista.
Every Twins batter has a walk today, except Delmon and Kubel. Kubes has 4 hits in 4 AB; what's Delmon's excuse (he asks, knowingly)?
Gardy, this is now a good time to live up to your promise of 8th inning use of Nathan. (if he's ready)
Cheese fondue, apparently.
How many times does Gardy need to roll Guerrier out there to check and see if his arm is still dead?
Man, our bullpen is thinner than Nicole Richie.
That's quite the contradiction with both Boof and Reyes pitching today.
A figure of speech, my good man. A stick figure.
Fat lot of good they did.
+three times (a lady)
Huh, apparently there are other beach volleyball teams.
I thought it was just Treanor-Walsh and two members of the Washington Generals wearing different colors each match.
The Mariners have hit one ball with any authority in this inning and yet they have the tying and go-ahead runs on base. C'mon, Joe!
Even if we make the playoffs, we don't have a shot with this bullpen. This is embarrassing
All we need is 7 innings from the starters and two innings from Joe in the playoffs, right? Sounds good in theory, anyways. It's not like the Twins went all that far with great bullpens before.
Touché
At least we still have one good pitcher in the pen. Whew.
Bobby Korecky call your travel agent.
Huh, how about that? Nathan is pretty good. Wonder if Gardy noticed.
I noticed
My Yiddish is a little rusty, but I'm pretty sure a Putz is a... Never mind.
thank you joe!!!
Worth every million.
mebbe a little insurance putz here??
What is it with Everett and four-pitch walks?
I <3 Span (never thought I'd say that)
It almost seems like everyone owes him some what of an apology. Unless he worked super hard because of the doubt, then we should probably all keep hating on him to keep that fire going.
Holy crap, how did Span get to 2nd on that?
Okay, MLB Gameday video archives are so stingy nowdays that Justin's HR doesn't qualify for a video highlight?! What's up with that?
I'm pretty sure that Gameday hates the Twins.
hi everybody!
I hope you brought potables, meat.
potent potables?
indeed I did.
potent potables?
Is there any other kind?
OMG. Nice selection. Deserving of a 1-2-3 inning, however.
yeah, I posted that b4 the start of nathan- I'll have to scale it back to Highlife the way this inning is going.
paging Mr. Johns.
or maybe he doesn't clean up till tomorrow.
When did we pick Eddie Guardado back up?
When did we pick Eddie Guardado back up?
I don't know. I guess I forgot how my heart felt after Everyday pitched, now I remember, worn out.
kid has alligator blood.
GoGO!
shit, with Ichiro up, I don't find this awesome at all bert.
And Perkins has his 10th win!
Dirty, ugly win.
Like watching fireworks with Ralph Nader.
w00t!
Another easy win for the Twins he says before passing out on the floor.
One thing to remember about this one is that much of the excitement in this one at the end came from three infield singles and a double off Span's glove. Both Reyes and Nathan pitched well, just didn't have much luck to make it a little easier. Guerrier and Boof were the only ones that pitched poorly. Perkins was great until he made a mistake to Beltre. I think he lost his concentration after that. He needs to learn to refocus after that and forget about what should have been a meaningless two-run homer with an 8-0 lead.
Hey Ubes, nice prescient write-up before the game.
Remember 5 months ago when we were hoping for 70 wins this year. Check that box.
Billy Smith: Please get this team a relief pitcher!!!
Cube-L 4-5, (Borat) Nyeh-sssss!.