Crain’s outing looms large for Twins
Posted on June 12th, 2008 – 9:02 AMBy Joe Christensen
CLEVELAND — The Twins have had uncertainty about their eighth-inning specialists since Pat Neshek went down with an elbow injury on May 8.
They’ve been hoping Jesse Crain could take over the role, but for the past month, there have been few, if any, of those classic bullpen save situations, where a starter turns over a tight lead for the relievers to protect for three or two innings.
Wednesday turned into that when Cleveland’s Grady Sizemore hit his three-run homer with two outs in the seventh inning, trimming the Twins’ lead to 6-5. Crain got the next four outs and punctuated the performance by striking out the side in the eighth.
The Twins went on to an 8-5 win that snapped their six-game losing streak. Asked in general terms about the streak ending, Michael Cuddyer quickly mentioned Crain.
“To be able to get the victory tonight was big, and great job by Jesse to get nasty on those guys,” Cuddyer said. “We needed those strikeouts and he came in and was able to do that.”
Said Crain: “I’ve been feeling good the last 10 days or so. [Pitching coach Rick Anderson] and I talked about trying to calm down out there. So I just kind of relaxed. … Now that I’ve calmed myself down out there, and I’m not trying to do too much, it’s just come together.”
68 Responses to "Crain’s outing looms large for Twins"
The bullpen has to step up. They can’t keep blowing games and giving up leads, particularly with inexperienced starting pitching.
Man I hope he keeps gassing it out there. From his first season in the bigs, he was a guy with loads of potential. Now if he can just harness that and not give up huge innings. I’m starting to think he is coming around after the injury.
The stuff is clearly there. Last night was VERY impressive. He’s hitting 95 mph, with a slider at 89-90 and a slow curve in the mid-70s. It’s good to see an outing like that. Hopefully it’s a corner-turner for him!
Crain had a good outing last night, but he has shown us that before. Problem is when Gardy has him go 2 days in a row, he isn’t as sharp the second day.
I hope his arm problems are in the past now and he can take over as the set up man. I know boof struggled a little but he did get two outs without giving up a run i think it will just take him time to get used to pitching out of the bullpen.
My only beef with Jessie is his fastball is so straight. It comes real hard, but it doesn’t seem to move at all. Wonder if he would work on a 2 seamer just to give the batters a different look at a fastball…
As for Boof, I have liked him in the pen so far. I trust him much more than the rest of the pen except for Nathan and possibly Crain/Gurrier.
crains stuff is nasty, Boof mentally can’t be a major league pitcher
Crain will be fine in a limited role, but he isn’t a rubber armed guy like the great, Juan Rincon. I see Juan returning to the dominance he once displayed as perhaps the best set-up man in all of baseball. The stuff is still there, the Twins just need to show a little patience.
According to MLB.com the Twins continue to be frustrated by the play of Carlos Gomez. This is understandable. Despite being blessed with tremendous baseball tools, he seems to lack baseball instincts. I don’t know if that can ever really be taught. Along with lacking a knack for the game, the preposterous number of strike outs he’s racking up, is really hurting the team.
Experience may help a little with these glaring deficiencies, but I doubt if it will make a huge impact.
Boof needs to return to the starting rotation. It’s ridiculous for him to be in the bullpen. He is probably their best or second best starter. The fact that Bill Smith has burdened the team with big contracts on slouchy players like Livan Hernandez, has set back a quality pitcher like Bonser. Smith doesn’t want to dump Livan, because that’s not going to set well with the frugal owners, when they are forced to eat that ridiculous contract.
On the hitting side, it’s the same situation with Monroe and Lamb, two guys who should be released, but hang on due to the silly, bloated contracts, that Smith handed out to them. Those were two guys who deserved nothing more than an invite to spring training, and a minimum major league salary. Accept that offer, or take a hike, you worthless bums.
Boof is fine in the pen. I was mad when Gardy brought Reyes in and did not let Boof work out of that jam. At some point, if Gardy wants to bring in a lefty, I hope he trusts Breslow over Reyes. Reyes is done.
The New and Improved Craig says:
June 12th, 2008 at 10:14 am
“Crain will be fine in a limited role, but he isn’t a rubber armed guy like the great, Juan Rincon. I see Juan returning to the dominance he once displayed as perhaps the best set-up man in all of baseball. The stuff is still there, the Twins just need to show a little patience.”
“Boof needs to return to the starting rotation. It’s ridiculous for him to be in the bullpen. He is probably their best or second best starter. The fact that Bill Smith has burdened the team with big contracts on slouchy players like Livan Hernandez, has set back a quality pitcher like Bonser.”
Craig,
I seriously hope you are joking… I’m praying this is sarcasm… Please tell me I’m right… I mean, I like Boof, but he would be more like third or lower on the list of our best starters…
Craig Awesome post 10:14 post. It is great to see such confidence and individuality . Stick to your guns.
Price of a ticket at the new stadium $50
Price for parking at the new stadium $15
Price of a Pop at the new stadium $10
Seeing Anthony LaPanta getting hit by lightning. PRICELESS!!!!
Sorry about the repost CM
Make that the FORMERLY great Juan Rincon. Sadly, there is no greatness left in him.
Rincon’s stuff isn’t as good as it was in the past….. i think he has a chance to be useful with a change, but probably not with the Twins.
craig-I don’t totally agree with your assessment,but that’s ok.You ended it by calling Monroe and Lamb ”worthless bums”,so much for the new and improved bit!
Rincon I hear needs to reinvent himself by bringing in a new pitch. Like a 4 seam fastball or a splitter.
Boof has proven to be no better than the 6th best starter so far this year - that’s rather obvious isn’t it? We all hope he’ll get it going. Unfortunately, Juan is done. Crain with help from Guerrier will get the late inning set-up ops.
Don’t give up on Rincon yet. Everett, Boof, Kubel, Young and Lamb should all be flown to Alaska and sent off to sea on a broken off piece of glacier. I think with some work Rincon will be ok
JP
It’s not sarcasm. People often look at SLG OBP and AVG to determine, in large the talent of a hitter. If you look at Boofs stats in those areas, as far as how he did against opposition hitters, he ranked overall, about 2nd on the staff. Baker was better. Livan the worst, by far.
As far as Juannie goes, I see him as being in a slump, but ready to bounce back. Reports I’ve read, indicate he still has the good stuff. That guy at one time was almost untouchable, for stretches, as the set-up man. I like Juan and think he can help this team.
Craig -
Juan was great on juice. Be careful not to drink the kool aid.
Geno,
Lamb and Monroe are not “worthless bums” as people, just as baseball players. I’m sure they are nice guys and fine people. I’m a fine person too, but as a major league baseball player, I wouldn’t even qualify as a “worthless bum”. Of course, I’m 127 years old.
Craig How was it watching the great Honus Wagner. I hear he was quite the player.
great outing for crain and hopefully its a season changer for him, as for rincon, the handwriting is on the wall, and am just waiting for some news from the f.o…..nice game for the twins and the sox lost so lets get goin the other way now-this club is not out of it and it can be alot of fun the rest of the way….i wish them luck
Craig is right! Boof and Jaun will get it turned around and prove to be great again. When Punto gets back to playing every day we will make our run at 1st.
The OBP, SLG, OPS is all fine and good if you look at hitters vs. select pitcher, but there’s more to it.
For example, pitchers are looked at based on ERA, WHIP, and Opp BA. In those categories, I would assume Boof is at least #4 or 5. In a list of our current starters, not including former studs building it back up in AAA, I would say this:
Baker
Blackburn
Perkins
Slowey
Boof
Livan
By no means is Boof our 2nd best starter.
jimmy bee,
“a new pitch. Like a 4 seam fastball”
You have to be kidding or clueless.
A four seam fastball is what every child is taught and what every outfielder always throws.
A four seam fastball is what every player throws on long throws.
If you think that a four seam fastball is new, you need to switch to a hairpiece blog.
“Don’t give up on Rincon yet. Everett, Boof, Kubel, Young and Lamb should all be flown to Alaska and sent off to sea on a broken off piece of glacier. I think with some work Rincon will be ok”
jimmy,
I’m not willing to send the Boofer out to sea, but as far as the rest of those guys, yeah, we wouldn’t miss ‘em. No one would even know they were gone. The only thing that you would notice, is the Twins would probably start winning more ball games. So, figuratively speaking, pack those guys on the berg, and send them out to sea. Bon Voyage, losers!!
jon says:
June 12th, 2008 at 10:54 am
jimmy bee,
“a new pitch. Like a 4 seam fastball”
You have to be kidding or clueless.
A four seam fastball is what every child is taught and what every outfielder always throws.
A four seam fastball is what every player throws on long throws.
If you think that a four seam fastball is new, you need to switch to a hairpiece blog.
I guess Bert doesn’t know what he is talking about because I am just repeating what he said. Oh well off to Hair Club for men you Blog Nazi
jon we don’t need to call each other names and degrade people to prove a point. Please stick to Baseball and not 5 year old name calling games.
Sorry,
The name-calling won’t happen again.
right on jon just baseball please and I will act more adult like also. Friends
Did anyone think that Kubels HR was actually going out last night? It just kept going and going and going amazing huh
Jimmy,
he hit it real hard!
PS: don’t forget to send my camel hair hairpiece. Its courtin season.
jimmy,
Honus Wagner was great. Probably the second greatest player of all time. Like all the greats of the time, he played in the shadow of Ty Cobb. Wagner was so good, though, that even a couple extreme Cobb haters picked Honus as the best player of all time. I think Sam Crawford, sheepishly picked Honus, but then admitted Cobb was the best.
Babe Ruth, by the way, was way down the list. Ruth, without hesitation, picked Cobb as the greatest player of all time. Cobb was actually so much better than everyone else that, those who played with him considered the question as to who was the greatest player, to be a rather stupid one.
Casey Stengel who saw them all, Ruth, Williams, Aaron, Mantle, Dimaggio, Mays, said without hesitation, Cobb was the best.
The off field stories, by the way, about Cobb were largely fictitious. He had many people who hated him and were envious of him.
Getting back to Honus, yes, he was sensational. When Honus was asked who was the greatest player of all time, Honus replied, “Cobb, of course”.
The greatest outfield of all time has Cobb in RF and Tris Speaker in CF. Picking the 3rd guy is tough, but I’ll go with old time sensation, Billy Hamilton. I was pretty young, though, when I saw Billy Hamilton play.
That was indeed a clutch outing for Crain. Though he’s still got some work to do to prove he can do it on a consistent basis.
With Boof, Rincon, and even Reyes now shakey in the pen…Gurrier and Crain are left to show they can pick up the slack.
I’ve been surprised by the lack of Brewster during this road trip. Is something up?
The New and Improved Craig from what I have only seen on TV because it was 3 years before my time was that Cobb was insane was very racial drank allot ran over people and sometimes pulled guns out and shot at people. But like you said I bet allot of it was fictitious and mad up. He was supposed to be one heck of a player though. I used to hang out when I was a kid with Woody English at Santa Anita race track and he said the same thing you just did. Eery huh.
As for the Camel color piece it is a very popular color these days and I am back order with Fox Hunting season coming up. I will overnight it when complete
jimmy,
It was a publicly racist and segregated country, at the time. Now, most of the racism is hidden, but still there. Cobb was probably no different than most white ballplayers at the time, but because he was so famous, the racist tag probably was attached most strongly to him.
I don’t recall any white ballplayers of the day, voicing their opposition to segregation. Segregation, unfortunately, was institutionalized and a reality of the era. It’s not an excuse for Cobb, but he was, by in large, a product of his environment.
Rincon has a four-seam fastball. He used to throw it 95 MPH on the black. Now he throws it 91 down the middle. Rincon also has a slider. He used to throw it 89 on the corner. Now he throws it 85 down the middle. Rincon has a little used change-up. He used to throw it 82 in the dirt. Now he throws it 83 down the middle. The results are predictable. The only guys he’s getting out are getting themselves out.
cmathewson maybe Rincon should learn to change speeds. Moyer like or become more of a control type pitcher. This may work if practiced.
jj got the dfa from the marlins. looks like he will have to join lew in japan or it’s time to coach little league jj.
he had a decent career and made some good money,
I’m still waiting for Shane Mack to come back from Japan.
Rincon needs to develop control. He had it for about three seasons and he lost it. Changing speeds won’t help if he constantly throws to the middle of the plate.
As i stated before,i asked a friend who was a arm injury away from pitching at Fenway why he always talked repectfully about the professional ballplayers he played with.His obvious answer was that he knew the hard work and dedication they put forth to get to were they were.Worth bums is demeaning to that effortIMO.
Should be an interesting game tonight i just checked it and this is the first time Livan has faced the indians. They will be in awe of the euphus pitch Twins win 6-0.
BC the beloved Eephus pitch is a marvel to witness. Can’t wait till I view it for the first time this evening.
CMathewson, I really don’t think Reyes is done. That homer was an exception, not the rule. It was the first he’s allowed this year and the first he’s allowed to a lefty in about a calendar year. Even with that homer, lefties are batting .200/.250/.289 against him. He’s been awful against righties, but as long as he’s used as a LOOGY, he’ll be plenty useful. As for Rincon, I don’t think all of his pitches are right down the middle considering all the walks he’s allowed. 
mee I wish i could be there to join ya i would love to watch Livan pitch. I know no one wants to hear this but Johan is dominating again today man i miss that guy more so then any of the other guys who left he made games more exciting to watch.
my guess is rincon will be dfa tonight after the game. i read someplace (possible rumor) he had already cleared waivers so he’ll be free as a bird.
BC I hear you regarding Santana. Just remember that the Twins are a farm club for the Eastern teams
gobbledygookguy says:
June 12th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
my guess is rincon will be dfa tonight after the game. i read someplace (possible rumor) he had already cleared waivers so he’ll be free as a bird.
The Twins fans will have one last hooorah for the Eephus. That is terrible and sad
Let’s see how Bonser ranks within the Twins starters. Here are the rankings of the starters in the following categories:
K/9
Baker
Slowey
Bonser
Blackburn
Perkins
Hernandez
pitches/games started
Hernandez
Perkins
Slowey
Bonser
Blackburn
Baker
BB/9
Baker
Slowey
Hernandez
Blackburn
Perkins
Bonser
ERA
Baker
Blackburn
Perkins
Slowey
Hernandez
Bonser
WHIP
Baker
Slowey
Blackburn
Bonser
Perkins
Hernandez
Wins
Hernandez
Blackburn
Bonser
Baker/Slowey/Perkins
Loses
Baker
Perkins
Hernandez
Blackburn
Slowey/Bonser
If you give 6 points for the pitcher who leads in a category, 5 points for the second in a category etc down to 1 point for the last in the category, you have:
Total:
Baker 34
Slowey 27
Blackburn 25
Hernandez 24
Perkins 23
Bonser 18
I’d say that he is the odd man out…
Rincon will be placed on the DL. They are already reporting he has a sore neck. It’s a set-up move for the DL, so they don’t have to release him or designate him for assignment. They’ll want to keep in the back pocket in case someone else goes down.
santana a 2 hit so in the 7th close to 110 ptches. he won’t get babied by the mets like he was here. they’re paying about $6,000 a pitch at that rate better be good.
santana 7 inn, 0 r, 3 h, 10 so, 116 pitches.
did he ever throw 116 pitches for the twins?
Well, the Sox lost, so maybe, just maybe we can get another game back tonight.
BTW, I pretty much assumed that the Mets would treat Santana different as far as pitch count was concerned. He is a very good hitting pitcher, so unless they are behind, they would probably let him in there to hit in the 7th. inning, so his pitch count would probably go up because of that. He always was a strikeout pitcher, and with that comes a high pitchcount.
yep, in complete games.
Now, they pinch-hit for him. Shows how much I know
i have a stiff neck and may have to go on the blog dl.
“i read someplace (possible rumor) he had already cleared waivers so he’ll be free as a bird.”
If Rincon had cleared waivers already we’d have heard it through the Strib by now.
thrylos,
Good work on the starter stats. I never would have guessed Slowey as #2 in K’s/9
Let’s look at the pen with similar analysis as the 2:05 pm post. The categories are different, Bonser is added to the group and since they are 9 of them, the scoring is from 1-9:
K/9
Nathan 9
Breslow 8
Rincon 7
Crain 6
Guerrier/Bonser 5
Korecky 3
Reyes 2
Bass 1
BB/9
Nathan 9
Breslow 8
Reyes 7
Bonser 6
Bass 5
Korecky 4
Crain 3
Guerrier 2
Rincon 1
ERA
Breslow 9
Nathan 8
Reyes 7
Crain 6
Guerrier 5
Korecky 4
Bass 3
Rincon 2
Bonser 1
WHIP
Breslow 9
Nathan 8
Korecky 7
Reyes 6
Crain 5
Bonser 4
Guerrier 3
Bass 2
Rincon 1
Saves+Holds
Nathan 9
Guerrier 8
Crain/Reyes 7
Bass/Rinco 5
Korecky/Breslow/Bonser 3
Total
Nathan 43
Breslow 37
Reyes 29
Crain 27
Guerrier 23
Korecky 21
Bonser 19
Rincon/Bass 16
The results are pretty clear. One thing Guerrier leads the team with 5 IBB which has thrown him down a bit…
“If Rincon had cleared waivers already we’d have heard it through the Strib by now”
It’s in Joe C’s Twins Notes that there are “indications” that Rincon had cleared. Whatever that means.
“santana a 2 hit so in the 7th close to 110 ptches. he won’t get babied by the mets like he was here. they’re paying about $6,000 a pitch at that rate better be good.”
gobble would you like to guess at when’s the next time you’ll see a Twins pitcher with a line like that?
Livians pitching tonight, i hope the twins can score at least 7 runs.
BC not this year. Complete game 2 hitter ha ha ha like Boof could have ever done that.
BC of ND,
Scott Baker 2007 1 hit shutout vs KC. That would be my pick. They get KC in August. Maybe a repeat. (Ok, it is a real long shot)
would you like to guess at when’s the next time you’ll see a Twins pitcher with a line like that?
Santana’s line today: 7.0IP 3H 0R 3BB 10K 116pitches 70strikes
Given the cost, I’d take any or all of the following Twins’ pitcher’s lines this year:
Slowey’s lline 5/29: 9IP 6H 1R 0BB 6K 101pitches-74strikes
Blackburn’s line 4/19: 7.2 IP 8H 0R 0BB 1K 102piches 69strikes
Livan’s line 4/11: 7IP 7H 0R 1BB 3K 99pitches 63strikes
Livan’s line 5/7: 9IP 9H 1R 1BB 3K 121pitches-75strikes
Perkins’ line 5/25: 7.2IP 7H 1R 2BB 4K 104pitches-69strikes
rincon is gone….new blog…whew
