Is it over? Can I come out now? That Blue Jays series scared me a little bit, I have to be honest. The Twins dropped 3 of 4 to Toronto to fall to 4-7 on the season (and 3-5 at home). They continue the homestand with the LA Angels, who come in at 3-5 (pending last night's result) having lost their most recent series to Seattle. I should point out that Seattle was 5-0 since leaving Minnesota going into last night, and overall teams the Twins have played are 12-5 (.705) in games against other opponents. So the Twins are doing a little bit better than everyone else, right? I know it's a reach, but it's hard to find positives when they haven't won a series yet this season.
Of course, we can't talk about the Angels 2009 season without the tragedy that is Nick Adenhart's death. There are a ton of tributes on all the Angel's blogs, here's a couple: Halos Heaven, and John Weisman of Dodger Thoughts. I don't know that there's much I can write about this, so I'll just say it's a terrible loss for all the families affected, and my thoughts and prayers remain with them.
The bad start is never easy on fans, but Angels just have to remember WWFPD (What Would Ford Prefect Do?). Unfortunately for them (and fortunately for us) they will have to go through at least this weekend without Vlad Guerrero, as he is out due to a strained pectoral muscle. That other outfielder will be there though (Of course I mean Torii Hunter, you haven't forgot about Torii Hunter have you?)
--PROBABLE PITCHERS--
Blackburn v. D. Moseley
Slowey v. D. Oliver
Perkins v. S. Loux
In a starting rotation that is completely depleted, the Angels will turn to Darren Oliver for a spot start on Saturday, and even he sounds a little bit surprised. Sunday's starter for the Angels, Shane Loux, I saw referred to as the "#7 starter", so the Twins aren't really catching the back-end of the rotation, they're catching the guys that didn't make the back end.
However, if they still can't score any runs, here's an option, pull the old four-out play.
that's quite the love fest going on for torii over at halo's heaven...
My favorite line:
That's some optimism for the next few years there.
No, if he goes into the HOF, he'll go in as an Angel because he's gonna have to put up some mother effing Hee-YUGE seasons in an Angel uni to get there.
The discussion that follows the above quote is Hi-Larious. Torii's gunna make it, dude, and if he playes hard enough for another 9 season he'll go in as an A. heh, heh, heh.
Someone with enough sense lays it out: Torii needs to average above 200 hits a season for the next 8 years to make 3000 hits. Seeing that he's only had 170+ once in his career I'll take the under on Mr. ii making the 3000 mark.
Money well spent.
It would also be nearly as impossible for him to get to 500 HR. The only possible way anyone could build a case for him is around his defense, but he's no Ozzie. Of course, I wonder how the writers will view him in retrospect. If the GG voters continue their nonsensical tradition of giving Hunter GG's, he's only 5 away from Ozzie's 13 consecutive GG, and Hunter is a better hitter than Ozzie was. But I think everyone understands that SS is more difficult than CF and that 6 OF get GG each year as opposed to just 2 SS.
If Hunter gets in and sets the bar for entry, it won't be a Hall of Fame, it'll be an Auditorium of Fame. Should get Tony O in and Roger Maris, too. And Kent Hrbek. And Blyleven. There's a case for Chuck Knoblauch. Why not Frank Viola? Jack Morris. Rick Aguilera! Hey, Gaetti has 360 HRs and a handful of Gold Gloves.
I understand that it would be silly, but inducting Jim Rice was also silly. Just because it would be silly doesn't mean that Hunter wouldn't have a chance.
According to this, the only players with 13 GGs are Brooks Robinson (in the Hall), Ozzie Smith (in the Hall), and two pitchers (Jim Kaat and Greg Maddux.) If Hunter gets 13 GGs, he would have more GGs than any outfielder, ever. I personally think that he wouldn't have deserved many (if not most) of those GGs, but if the sportswriters are willing to use that as an indication of how good he is, he would have something that, say, Bert Blyleven lacks--he would have an accomplishment that no other player at his position could claim.
And if Hunter made it in on defense--a case which, given the makeup of the electorate, would almost have to be made on the merits of GG's since sportswriters don't really believe in defensive statistics--it would set a bar for defense, but I don't think that it would actually set the bar lower for someone who falls short in two categories (GGs and HR, for instance.) The BBWAA (for worse IMO) seems to care more about being exceptional at one thing than being very good at many things. And I don't think that it would sway people on Kaat, because I think everyone believes CF defense is more important than P defense. (Otherwise, I think Kaat would already be in the HOF.)
This is something that generally isn't brought up regarding, say, Jim Rice. Because the voters voted him in on his "most feared hitter" reputation and not his stats, I don't think that future voters will use his stats as a new bar for admission. (I still think that he doesn't really belong, but I don't think that the voters are actually going to bother using his stats as the new benchmark.) And they could actually use Rice against some hitters of this era, claiming that even though they have some counting stats, they weren't "feared" like Rice was.
How many times have you seen Ozzie make the equivalent of a diving miss of a sinking line drive? In a playoff game? Sure, Ozzie's booted a few, and from SS they're not likely to end up XBH, but I'll be dead before ii ends up FotHOF.
How many players have been the Face of Two Franchises?? Hall of Fame. No doubt.
The fourth out play is cool. And the bench coach knew the rule! Good work, Big Mak.
yeah, the bench coach knowing about the rule made it that much more awesome.
That was awesome and the BBTF thread was even better. A very similar situation occurred in 1980. There's even a scenario mentioned in the BBTF thread where you could require a 5th out and make 4 outs on the same play. The Jackie Robinson anecdote is really cool, too.
My main thought is that in the Diamondbacks' situation, the pitcher should look to double off the lead runner before he looks to double off the runner on second base. Even as a general rule, the lead runner is usually the most important guy for the defense to retire. The 4th out rule actually benefits the defense, giving them a chance to retire the runner who left early from third even if they go to second base first. (Also, the Diamondback's coaching staff did a poor job in allowing their team to just walk off the field. If anyone ought to know each and every rule, it ought to be the coaches.)
So with Vlad Injured, their outfield is Torii, Abreu, and Jr. Matthews?
The past three year's big offseason signings? If only they had that kind of depth in starting pitching.
No one really has the depth to cover for four starting pitchers being unavailable.
I've been using the Strib comments to help keep me positive after this first week and a half. I figure, if the lower extreme of the intelligence scale is freaking out and writing things off, then it must not be all that bad. (twisted logic, I know, but it helps.)
Also, the local news reports on the Brewers down here, which have shown me that it could be worse.
Early season struggles, early season struggles, early season stuggles....