Wednesday lineups: Twins/Padres
Posted on June 25th, 2008 – 5:49 PMBy Joe Christensen
SAN DIEGO — The Twins will put their seven-game winning streak on the line tonight against Padres righthander Greg Maddux, who has 350 career wins.
Check out all the lefthanded hitters in the Twins’ lineup.
Updates to come…
Update (8:20 p.m.): No injury, roster or lineup news to report. With the team on a roll, Gardy is hardly going to tinker with the lineup.
You may have seen this by now, but Francisco Liriano improved to 4-2 for Class AAA Rochester today, despite giving up six runs (five earned) on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.
He allowed two home runs, walked one and struck out three, leaving his ERA at 4.44.
The report said his fastball was again clocked from 88-93 miles per hour.
Update (9:25 p.m.): The Twins just announced that they have signed pitcher Shooter Hunt, their sandwich-round pick (No. 31 overall) in last month’s draft. Hunt pitched for Tulane University and has drawn comparisons to Scott Baker.
He will report to Elizabethton.
Twins (41-36)
1. Carlos Gomez, CF
2. (S) Alexi Casilla, 2B
3. (L) Joe Mauer, C
4. (L) Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Michael Cuddyer, RF
6. (L) Jason Kubel, LF
7. (L) Brian Buscher, 3B
8. Brendan Harris, SS
9. (L) Glen Perkins, P
Padres (32-45)
1. Scott Hairston, CF
2. Edgar Gonzalez, 2B
3. Brian Giles, RF
4. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
5. Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3B
6. Chase Headley, LF
7. Khalil Greene, SS
8. Michael Barrett, C
9. Greg Maddux, P
Petco Park. First pitch: 9:05 p.m.
252 Responses to "Wednesday lineups: Twins/Padres"
Looks like his homer last night kept Harris in the lineup after all. Before he went deep in the 9th, I was convinced Punto would get the start at short tonight.
“Check out all the lefthanded hitters in the Twins’ lineup”
Are you counting Perkins as a “hitter”?
“Check out all the lefthanded hitters in the Twins’ lineup”
Ya the same lineup as last night, amazing.
Say what you will about Gardy, but he’s old school enough to know, as Crash Davis tells us, “never ‘fool’ with a winning streak.” Not going to see much for line up changes as long as this line up is winning.
The same lineup as last night except Buscher and Harris have been flip-flopped.
it is a no brainer stick with the hot bats.
Nice lineup. Guarantees a quiet night on the blogosphere. I like it.
Wonder if there’s any particular reason for swapping Buscher and Harris. Perhaps stacking the lefties as much as possible?
Hopefully the boys are ready to swing, I don’t think the Umps going to be doing anybody any favors…
I’ve got a question for someone smart out there. Joe mentioned in yesterday’s blog that the Twins have had 10 straight quality starts. I’ve always wondered about that stat though. What EXACTLY is it. I know it’s 6 or more innings and three or less runs, but that doesn’t do it enough for me. Here’s some examples of my question.
Situation A. A pitcher has given up 3 runs through 6 inning. He then stays in the game and lasts all 9 innings, but gives up a 4th run in one of the last 3 innings. Is that a quality start? Sure seems like it to me, but it doesn’t fit the “3 or less runs” part of the stat.
Situation B. Same as situation A, but the pitcher has given up 4 runs through 6 innings. He still lasts all nine and doesn’t give up any additional runs. Is that a quality start?
In both A and B the picher has an era of 4, whereas with 6 IP and 3 ER, the ERA is 4.5, seems like they should both be quality starts.
One hypothesis of mine is that the stat is registered at the end of 6 innings. So, if at the end of 6 innings the pitcher has given up 3 or less runs, he gets credit for a quality start. So, situation A about would be a QS, but situation B would. Note that that would be quite strange for the same line to give you two different results.
Also, if my hypothesis is true, consider situation C
Situation C: A pitcher has given up 3ER through 6IP, then during the 7th inning they give up 3 runs. So, their line is 7IP, 6ER - definitely not a quality start in my book.
So, what’s the verdict? I know that Quality start is not an official statistic kept by MLB, perhaps questions similar to mine are part of the reason.
Although, here’s another thought that could make the stat handle my objections. The stat could be “6 or more IP, and a ‘game ERA’ less than or equal to 4.5.”
I apologize for my nerdiness
It’s 3 runs or less and at least 6 innings. So as soon as you give up the 4th, not a quality start.
The QS requires AT LEAST 6 IP “and” no more than 3 ER. Pitch 9 and give up 4 and you get a handshake, but not a quality start.
Gotta draw the line somewhere and while you could argue that 3 ER in 6 IP is really not such a big deal, when you look at it as being the “minimum necessary”, it’s not such a low standard, imo. Most pitchers who get that far in to the game, only giving up 3 ER, have at least given their team a chance to win and probably are going to get trotted out there for a bit longer, as well.
QS is a pretty badly defined stat and I am glad that it is outdated and not used much any more. Let me explain. 3ER in 6 is a 4.50 ERA. Currently the league average ERA for the AL is 3.96. A stat that makes a successful outing out of something that is less that the average outing, would be the equivalent of saying that if a batter had one hit in 4 PA would be a quality game for him…
I agree that 6 IP and 3 ER is not too low a standard. I’m all for keeping track of quality starts and measuring pitchers a bit based on them. However, it seems very silly that 8 or 9 IP and 4 runs is not a quality start when it’s a lower ERA than 6IP and 3 runs.
That is, my agreement is with JimCrikket (didn’t see thrylos’ posting yet)
How soon can we start complaining that we don’t go to games cause we don’t have a roof on the stadium?
Sssuperdave2000:
VERY NICE!!!
totally agree….
I think I’ve posted this link before, but I’ll do it again because it’s quite good.
http://www.diamond-mind.com/articles/qstart.htm
In that study (8 year sample) only ~6% of quality starts were of the “6 IP 3 ER” absolute minimum variety. The ERA in quality starts was a ridiculously low 1.91.
How many pitchers actually pitch 8 or 9 innings these days? And when they do, it’s typically because they’re either carrying a shutout, or haven’t given up more than a run or two at most. The idea that pitchers could potentially “lose out” on quality starts by giving up 4 runs over 8 or 9 probably doesn’t happen often enough to make a difference.
Nice posting snepp. I definitely think the QS is a good stat, and it is very true that the problems I pose are extremely unlikely. Nonetheless, the flaws in it are such that I can see why it is not an “official” stat.
At least now I truly understand what it means. I can handle it being a good-but-flawed stat.
Bit of a followup for the previous comment, for anyone interested.
There have been 1137 quality starts in the major so far this season in 2320 games started (49%).
There have been a total of 10 starts where a pitcher went 8 or more innings and gave up 4 ER, or roughly 0.4% of all games started. And two of them belong to Roy Halladay (always been a horse).
Basically if you’re not Roy, you have roughly a one-third of one percent chance to get hosed out of a quality start, or once every 9 years (assuming you make 33 starts per year).
I would kind of like to see the Twins trade for Khalil Greene.
Watching the Blyleven story right now. Seemed like all his starts were quality. He said he made $66,000 and got a pay cut to $52,000 because that was a rule then.
Unbelievable.
So with Macri sent down, does Gardy start Buscher against lefties as well, or will he unfortunately give those spot starts to Punto? I personally think Buscher deserves a shot to hit lefties (unless he has some terrible stats against them that I’m too lazy to look up at this point).
Glen Perkins is by far our worst hitting pitcher
BC, why would Khalil Greene and his .232 batting average would be an upgrade over Harris (or even Punto or Everett?)
I think Buscher would have little difficulty hitting lefties at least as well (poorly?) as Punto would.
Glen Perkins has 2 MLB at bats and he struck out in both… very small sample to use to make conclusions
Glen Perkins is by far our worst hitting pitcher
Livan La Vida Grande begs to differ.
I agree, snepp, but as good of stuff that Gardy does, I just don’t get his man-crush over Punto.
Scratch that, reading is fundamental.
I’ll be in the corner if anyone needs me.
Punto batting RH against LHP is not good. The Twins should first give Buscher a shot against LHP for evaluation purposes.
I think the Padres can keep Khalil Greene…
Hopefully this works sane, I’d like to fix your comment for you.
Punto batting RH against LHP is not good.
That’s a shame, I thought the strike-through would work.
Punto batting LH or RH against any pitching is not good. He should be used strictly for defensive sub and pinch-running.
SCOTT:
Did you hear? Your man just needs to keep driving in runs and he’ll be in there.
Makes sense to me.
snepp,
I thought I said that.
Buscher hasn’t hit LHP well at all at the major league level (something like .150 this year)… but since he’s rarely been given the opportunity to do so, it’s tough to really conclude that he “can’t”.
Punto has hit over .300 this season vs LHP (again a small sample size, though not nearly as small as Buscher’s). For his career, he’s a bit over .250 vs LHP.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Buscher get some opportunities to hit vs lefties, but I really couldn’t fault Gardy for playing Punto against LHP either.
Constant production will keep anyone in the line-up, the question is whether they get the opportunity to produce in certain situations,
sane,
You did, I was trying to use a strike-through to make it read “Punto batting is not good.”
JimCrikket,
I didn’t realize Punto hit right-handed that well. I was going on memory visualization (AKA crap).
snepp,
I get it now.
I am easy to confuse.
Could Lapanta’s face be any more orange?
Punto is hitting .304/.333/.478 against LHP this season and Buscher is hitting .176 /.211/.176 career against lefties. For comparison, Lamb is hitting .256/.323/.397 against lefties (career) and Macri .409/.409/.591 this year in 24 PAs
Thanks for the splits.
Looks like a Buscher-Punto platoon is the best plan.
“Could Lapanta’s face be any more orange?”
Thats called a chemical tan.
looks like Busher is batting 8th
Now that the euphoria has died, I’d rather have Punto at SS tonight. A LH bat with him too.
BTW, Randy Johnson was hitting 95 on the gun tonight, could barely get it to 90 vs. the Twins.
We’ve been kind of lucky lately.
Punto career against lefties:
.250/.315/.325
God point, romer. Twinkies are death for Former Cy Youngers. Greg Maddux may have met his match tonight.
That’s former Cy Youngers not named Roy Halladay who always seems to beat us.
oops, romer. looks like i elevated your status a little. i meant “good”.
Unless I’m mistaken and Halladay didn’t win a Cy Young
Khalil Greene has power, he would be 3rd on the team in homers, he would be 3rd in RBIs, and in Minnesota he could very easily be a 3rd baseman here. He has a KILLER arm, a great glove, and a weird personality that would add something to this clubhouse. He’s still reletively cheap (slightly more than 6 million a year), and he’s only 28 years old I believe (too lasy to look it up)… He is capable of hitting 30 homers, driving in 100 runs, he could play short or 3rd base for the Twins. The Padres have Headley and Kousmanoff to play 3rd and SS, so Khalil would be expendable…
His downside is that he’s probably at best a .280 hitter at his very best, and he doesn’t walk (which means he is perfect for the current Twins administration).
So maybe the Twins could pull a big deal off with the Padres for Maddux and Greene?
SCOTT:
I bet there is a bunch more. But “SOME” of us are too lazy to look stuff up. LOL
Wow I thought he was out there at 1st
Perkins looks like garbage
I heard PetCo has a lot of room in center. Good thing after that homer call at first.
So instead of getting out of the inning with no runs scored, they get two.
Should’ve been a DP. Maddux/Padres gets Call #1.
the problem with Buscher at 3rd is that he is a Butcher on the field…
Lamb is a better defensive 3B than Buscher. Am I right? On the first hit of the game, didn’t Harris give up cause he thought Buscher was going to get to it easy?
Homer call#2
Maddux/Pads get Call #2?
Buscher the Butcher.
(good one)
christ make him throw pitches!
I don’t think they really can Derek, it looks like the umps alrady giving him the corners…
derek you’re suppose to respect the elderly
Now Harris shows us his range at the popup to the outfield.
Yes, the euphoria is over.
BC,
Greene is a surfer dude. He is fine at San Diego but can he make it in shovel and swat land? (and there goes Kubes with a fabulous play…)
Surprised Maddux wasn’t called safe there.
.040 ave. and he bats like a girl.
So naturally he gets the bunt down. sheese.
It’s an interesting suggestion BC, but what would it take to pull both he and Maddux (that’s a tall order) away from the Pads?
This has the feeling of one of those games folks…hope i am wrong but the streak maybe over tonight
Geez, what a fabulous start.
It almost looks like Mauer wanted to go to 2nd and Perk got in the way.
Buscher was slow on the trigger on that DP attempt in the 1st. And now he didn’t get to that hit down the line.
So, has he cost us all 3 runs already?
2?
there goes Butcher again…
Maddux would be perfect in Minnesota. Twins used to pick up guys like him.
Steve Carlton
Jerry Koosman
Bert be home Blyleven
romer, I’m still not convinced the runner was safe at 1st.
Buscher makes a better play at 3rd it’s no problem.
He’s had some problems, but let’s not start looking to see if Lamb or Punto’s warmed up.
at least the Sox are down 2-0
And THAT is why the Twins can’t take anything on Maddux. Yikes.
Mudcat,
you forgot Niekro. But Maddux is actually better than all of them at their relative career points, but it’s a pipe dream. He is playing for his home team and wants to retire there…
So I take it praying to Gwynn for help tonight is out of the question?
Perk looks like a girl too.
Wait for a strike, Perk!
There. It’s a start. Good job Perk.
Did Dick really say they expect 25-30 from Gomez? You have got to be kidding me
perk quit yukking it up with the dugout and think about pitching.
Right on the elbow…ouch.
T, actually the DP attempt looked like a tie to me on the slow motion replay…..
how can you forget niekro.
he was just using it for his fingernails,that’s all ! !
Scouts say he should hit for average to above average power.
Alright Casilla!
way to go lexi!
I am listening to (and seeing) Gwynn at the Padres broadcast (via mlb.tv) and there is no hope. He ballooned to the size of William Perry but still has decent insight of the diamond happenings…
(Go Casilla, btw)
THERE WE GO MAUER!
yea joe!
Way to rally back.
Way to go Joe!
Mauer XBH FTW.
Okay. They broke through for 3. That’ll be a confidence builder for them, and Perk can go out there with a fresh take now.
New ballgame boys.
Hope Perk stops admiring his bunt long enough to throw some good innings.
Somewhere Jason crawls under a rock.
perk is hitting like maddux.
perk can start pitching like him.
wait….. I guess he has been pitching like him. 3 to 3 game.
soccer kick, hat trick, what next?
Get that man some oxygen!
Kubel a better LF than Buscher a 3B…..
Alright, the baseball gods are with the Twins tonight. Kubes got lucky at that catch and he couldn’t believe it himself
And the Padres announcers are going through the Metrodome air conditioning conspiracy theory. I miss FSN North (which I never thought I’d say).
Alright, the baseball gods are with the Twins tonight. Kubes got lucky at that catch and he couldn’t believe it himself
Because Magellan Young takes such straight line routes to balls when he’s in LF?
It probably would have gone und3er Delmon’s glove. I don’t have confidence in his bendoverability.
He’s too tall………or something.
Now we need to start pulling away and put this last place team where they belong.
Anothe god point romer.
He’s got Done-lap disease……or something.
Wow, some power from the B Man!
Punto, feel free to get to know the bench a little bit better.
Bartlett who?
Harris again! Dude!
Harrrrrrrris!!!!
Pretty Cooooooooool!
Watching the ball soar out under the scoreboard with Harris’s huge face on it.
Ha-ha!!!
Harris is sending messages to the twins….i know punto is back, but i am the ss on this team….end of message….
Put Punto in for Gomez!!!!
We need speed for speed!
Officially, this is not a quality start for Maddux 
Did he just call one that high to the PITCHER!
Perkins thinking “I better get that one.”
Yeah, pretty sure Harris isn’t fighting for his job at this point.
we dont hit alot of homeruns, but damn when they hit them, they make them count….great timing…..
I kid you not…that shot of Punto there.
He’s talking to Ulger, and Ulger says something…Punto gets this big smile and then as he looks away it turns to that “Oh god I’m screwed”.
Like he didn’t think anybody would see it.
perkins needs 1,2,3 very bad this inning….
Mudcat at 9:12: “Twinkies are death for Former Cy Youngers. Greg Maddux may have met his match tonight.”
Mister, you must be drinking the right water!
So Harris has taken Hoffman and now Maddux deep.
He must have a checklist going…you know, like people in those bird-watching clubs.
Perkins K’s Maddux.
Glen, buddy. THAT’S the ball you keep.
Still not feeling real comfortable with Perkins tonight. I think we don’t wait too long tonight to make moves. Pretty fresh bullpen. Feel free to use top 4-5 (Big Sweat, Matty, Breslow, Crain, and that closer guy) an inning or two. We need this game now that we have the lead. (Statement made with 2 outs nobody on in bottom of 4th, in case anyone needs to check my 2nd guessing).
BC,
Acquiring Khalil’s an interesting idea, but I think the Twins would be better off going for the other guy on the left side of the Padres’ infield.
They’ve said they’re open to shopping Kouzmanoff with Headley up now. He’s younger, and has more offensive upside I think. Kouzmanoff could be a .280, 25 HR, 100 RBI guy for the Twins in either the 3 or 5 spot.
The Pads need a CF/leadoff hitter for the long-term, and with Denard Span playing out of his mind, I think a package centered around those two could be worked out.
I’ve tossed the idea out on these blogs before… I think it would be a great move for both clubs. Buscher’s an alright bat, but his glove (as seen tonight) is terrible. Granted, Kouz made an error tonight as well, but I’d still rather see him and avoid yet another platoon situation for the Twins. A REAL third baseman would be great…
Perkins looks like he’s settled down now that his team answered back (in a hurry).
I think getting that bunt down and watching it break the inning open was a huge boost in confidence.
Speaking of boosts in confidence, I think Harris is getting better as he begins to realize he IS the Twins’ shortstop.
There’s no jockying for position. It’s his job now. And he’s playing like the monkey’s off his back.
Two things:
— It is really nice to see someone with some potential “come of age.” I think Harris is finding his way and, despite every stat you can fling against him, seems to be growing comfortable with his role. It’s nice to have a good story to talk about sometime on a blog.
— We are approaching a point where the miracle is becoming the norm. I am a critical, cynical, obstinate, crabby as most but there comes a time when you just have to acknowledge that your conceptions are wrong and enjoy what your eyes see. If the Twins aren’t there yet…they seem to be getting close.
I’m sure there are times ahead that we can bring back all the critiques and venom. Right now I like to see this young team start to walk.
You know what, that 3-run inning did WONDERS for this offense tonight. I think they were starstruck the first time through the lineup…and now they’re over it and ready to go.
Sorta like Johnson and Webb.
To be even more specific… runner gets on, I get bullpen going in the 5th; two runners on, Perk is out, IMO. That is, if difference isn’t greater than 3 at the time (currently 2).
casilla needs to take his new buddy gomez aside between games and teach him how to bunt….damn this kids game has come around, its hard to believe the change in casilla totally, such a nice change…..
So, Redmond is likely going to be a coach somewhere…eventually a manager I’d wager.
Cuddyer has a future in broadcasting once his career’s over. I could see him someday replacing Coomer.
Does anyone have any ideas why Liriano can’t find his old form? Is he still worried he is going to hurt something? Or are the coaches not letting him be himself?
Kouzmanoff splits for indoor games:
AVG OBP SLG OPS
359 .431 .734 1.165
Very small sample size of 64 ABs.
I like your idea Steve. At worst, we have a nice platoon at 3b with the other a pinch hitter or future DH possibility.
For the record, it’s time to fire Vavra. What a horrible job he’s done with this young team.
And this is happening with D. Young out of the lineup and Mauer and Morneau swinging relatively normal.
Damn Lexi
Wow! Awesome play by casilla
Funny, that pitch was a strike to Perkins.
casilla …twins mvp this year …..so far
I dunno…..was it really necessary to have Casilla sacrifice? He’s been hitting well lately, pulled the ball off Maddux at least once.
Get the bullpen going.
Inconsistent strikezones are frustrating…
Wow, what a horrible walk to Giles. His pitch count is way up too.
BUT, he gets out of it.
Whew….
K zone has been consistently small.
Defensive helping Perk a LOT. But I like it. He doesn’t have his best stuff, but he’s gone 5 so far.
Has anyone heard Casilla talk? I wonder what he credits the turnaround to? I think Gomez talks to him a lot and that may have relaxed him some. He looks 1,000% more comfortable offensively and defensively.
Well I’m calling it a night. (As in I’m shutting down the PC.)
I’ve got work in the morning *SHOCKHORROR* and will be likely falling asleep to this game.
G’night everybody. GO TWINS!
Perkins doesn’t possess great command and control anyways.
Bass is up… why?
For the record, Bass isn’t on my short list of pitchers tonight! Dang!
“Has anyone heard Casilla talk? I wonder what he credits the turnaround to?”
To answer (before I leave)
1) Casilla has credited his improved hitting on Gomez’s getting on base before him. He says pitchers are worried about Gomez stealing so they throw more fastballs.
2) Casilla I believe also commented on how Vavra has worked with him on his stance.
revdev,
Someone, who was at the Rochester game today, posted on one of these blogs that Liriano looked much better then his stats. Apparently, the defense was absolutely horrid and there were several errors which weren’t scored as such.
Wasn’t there don’t know, yet that was an eye whitness report.
Regards,
T,
Casilla is obviously a LIAR.
One only needs to read these blogs to KNOW that Vavra is THE reason that the Twins are last in the Majors in runs scored.
Regards,
Now it’s Buscher’s turn to make sure Puntastic remains seated for the foreseeable future.
The Twins have approximately 97 pitchers in the minors who would be better than Bass. Yet they keep Bass and keep using him.
*sugh*
Need a run here, Buscher.
Pick yourself up from that defense stuff you did earlier.
Not to mention approximately 572 pitchers in other teams minor leagues that could be had for a song if some crappy bullpen depth were needed.
Gotta be Delmon here. He’s had some hits off Maddux.
But no, the Lamber gets it.
Dragon, I know that was sarcasm, and you would think that the Twins ARE last in the majors in runs by reading this blog, but they are (I think) 5th in the AL in runs scored.
keVin,
“The Twins have approximately 97 pitchers in the minors who would be better than Bass.”
Could you please recheck your numbers?
Not to mention approximately 572 pitchers in other teams minor leagues that could be had for a song if some crappy bullpen depth were needed.
571, Rincon is in Buffalo for Cleveland. Hell Mike Lincoln is on an active roster this year.
Could you please recheck your numbers?
Brian Bass is not a good pitcher, thus most pitchers in the minors could do the same thing he does. 97 is on the conservative side.
Four run lead!
Gotta like that!
Ha-ha! Revenge for Gomez!!!
Gomez gets the Gregger guy.
Apparently Kevin forgot a couple, that should read 99 pitchers.
in all fairness, he did say approximately
sweet! G steal some bases!
571, Rincon is in Buffalo for Cleveland. Hell Mike Lincoln is on an active roster this year.
Ahh yes, my bad. When I ran my “sucktastic and readily available relievers” query I forgot to take Juan into account.
i thought che guevara was dead?
Man, Casilla bluffs the bunt on the first pitch. This guy is playing like a vet.
It’s a debate from a few days ago… The idea that some don’t want Carols up with runners on. Gomez with RISP. His numbers just went up again.
Coming into tonight:
RISP: .339
RISP 2 outs: .385
Kid wants to be great. Time will tell. But, so far I have a good feeling about this young man.
Boy Gardy would not make it in the NL. He should’ve left Perkins in and had him bunt the runners over - which is essentially what Lamb did. Gardy could’v easily got another inning out of Perkins and same with Slowey last night. He just doesn’t have a clue and fortunately he manages in the AL and his players bail him out.
White Sox are down 5-zip to the Dodgers
It’s a debate from a few days ago… The idea that some don’t want Carols up with runners on. Gomez with RISP. His numbers just went up again.
That’s clearly on the pitcher. He didn’t throw a slider in left handed batter’s box.
Mad Dog Maddux has been pitching for 22 years. 22 years, 22 years. Wasn’t that before “SOME” of our players were born?
Bass had to eat it that one game in Detroit — something like 7 ERs in 3 innings.
Otherwise, he’s been okay — a 3.5 ERA?
probably why ya picked Carlos G as a name
That’s clearly on the pitcher. He didn’t throw a slider in left handed batter’s box.
apparently it is on a LOT of pitchers as evident by the statistics.
Meanwhile, Boof’s ERA goes up every time he pitches.
Mom picked my name. Carlos Gomez probably named after me?
oh i see
loving the Gomez road jersey the fiance got me for my bday
apparently it is on a LOT of pitchers as evident by the statistics.
Throwing sliders in the dirt with guys on base isn’t a good idea. The opposing pitchers are handicapped with guys on against Gomez, they’re afraid of the wild pitch.
And Bass has almost as many BB’s as K’s, gives up a ton of hits and his constant gum chewing is going to ruin his jaw.
Bass Buster shuts ‘em down.
Probably Carlos Gutierrez also named after me?
Bass is a sinkerballer so he isn’t going to get a ton of Ks and he is going to give up hits and on top of that he just went 1-2-3.
Wow the Indians are in last place.
oops. sorry keVin. didn’t mean to steal your thunder.
Bass has given up 9 home runs in ~47 innings, that’s awful, even worse for a “sinkerballer.”
Why is that whenever a pitcher gets hit with a comebacker everyone runs out on the field to check on him - but when a catcher takes a foul tip or an infielder takes a bad hop, nobody cares????
what a joke…get on the mound you pu$$y
Ouch! Reminded me of former Twin Mickey Hatcher. Took a foul off the leg and did a hand stand in the batters box. When asked why he did that he said “It HURT!”
my god these players a soft these days
Bass is a mediocre pitcher, he has given up over a 300 opponent batting average almost has a 1/1 BB/K ratio, doesn’t have a lot of K’s in addition. He’s worse than mediocre, and the fact most teams have hoards of players in the minors better is just *another* bad roster decision.
But, but, but, he’s out of options!!!
[/snark]
Bill Braksy,
I’m sure you are correct.
Gardy in Interleague Play
2002 10-8
2003 10-8
2004 11-7
2005 8-10
2006 16-2
2007 11-7
2008 10-3
Totals 76-45 @.625
I realize a .625 wouldn’t do much in the National League, I mean the last team in the NL to have a.600 for a full season was St. Louis in 2005.
Regards,
Bill Brasky, how many pitches did Perk throw in his 5 innings? I thought he was out of gas myself.
Cla. Who would name a kid Cla?
They call him “Claw”.
No kidding, they do.
His ERA is 3.29 this month whats the problem?
Mr. Brasky, Have you ever heard of Dizzy Dean? Due to being hit by a comebacker, he stayed in, changed his delivery, hurt his arm and, prematurely, ended a HOF career. People in baseball have long memories.
Cla is his middle name, his real first name is Olise. NOT KIDDING!!
Gonna see some Breslow tonight?
God! I thought Buscher was going to get to that.
The range at 3B and SS has got to be something Gardy is uncomfortable with.
Another Twin that must have been paid off to give credit to Vavra…
“I’m getting back to locking in on the ball away from me,” Harris said.
“That’s what I hit best. And talking with [Vavra], when you get away from your strength and try to cover everything, that’s when you don’t end up covering anything. So it all ties together — shortening up and focusing on the zone that you should be looking at.”
M&M/Cuddy are 1-11 tonight, although has 2 RBI’s.
Bottom Feeders involved in 4 runs.
although Mauer has 2 RBI’s…….
Well it looks like another bonehead decision by Gardy…bringing Bass, and he gives up the lead…
Monroe shows he likes his HRs more than the average guy does. Lots of admiration from self.
Make that 5 runs for the bottom feeders.
Great and calm strength there, Monroe!!
Dragon,
Bass did well tonight. I didn’t like him with a 2 run lead when he was warming up. With a 4 run lead, it is ok.
let’s DFA Monroe now…
Just think if Lamb and Young were producing like anticipated. We thought we would get 30 HR’s total from those two.
Twins coaches should be proud of how this team is doing this year.
Carlos G.
My sarcasm runneth over this evening.
Bass has done fairly well lately.
Regards,
Mr. T retires to bed and the Twins keep scoring. Anyone noting the symmetry here? (Just kidding, T.) Bon Nuit!
romer,
Twin’s fans should be proud of this team as well, yet it seems most aren’t.
Regards,
Just nice that we have a guy on the bench that can come into the game, once a week, and be able to hit a dinger.
Enjoying you posts, Mr. Dragon, particularly the trip down a youth-filled memory lane a couple of nights ago. Looking forward to more good stuff.
that would be 9 unanswered!
Adrian is saving it for tomorrow.
the White Sox lost 5-0.
how did the indians release this guy? (breslow)
A while back, Howard asked for suggested rule changes. I contributed a balanced schedule against the whole league. I recall it was something like:
48 = 4 division teams * 12 games
63 = 9 AL teams * 7 games
48 = 16 NL teams * 3 games
3 = 3 bonus games against NL rival
The reason I bring it up again is the disparity between who plays who in the NL could very well determine division winners this year. What if Whities go 0-6 against the cubbies and we win division by a game? I know many on these blogs would be crying foul if the tables were turned.
Plus, we need to join forces and get the rule changed to play more NL games. These are fun. (Might have something to do with our record).
Thanks for the fun reminder, stinky.
“Twin’s fans should be proud of this team as well, yet it seems most aren’t.”
To wit, Mr. Dragon, the above-mentioned Lamb and Young….and the high number of errors accumulated the first 2 months of the season.
So, some started blaming Vavra for Lamb and Young……..and their point may still be valid.
And as well, some blamed the youth and inexperience for the errors. And then there was the youthful starting staff.
So now it’s time to band-wagon and congratulate the coaching staff….and the perserverance of the Harris and Buscher types.
I still want a helluva lot more from Young though. But that’s probably my personal problem.
Daniel1966,
I’ve just seen a lot of bad and some good stretches with the Senators/Twins.
I just like to enjoy the good. I think this 7/8 year good run is the longest stretch in my lifetime, and probably since the late 1920’s-early 1930’s. There have been 3/4 5 year runs, but this is the longest, and it seems like it can go for awhile.
When I was a kid, there was a ditty “Washington, First in War, First in Peace and LAST in the American League”.
Regards,
“(Might have something to do with our record).”
Confession is good for the soul, Carlos.
:)>
Well, they’re first in the American League Central Division, offensively, right now.
Enjoying the season with you Daniel and dragon. As for sticking with the lads, I retrieved this…
Carlos G says:
April 3rd, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Breathe people, breathe slowly…
This place is depressing. This is game 4 of 162. Memories are also short. In June 2006, we were well under .500. In early August, Twins were in 3rd place, 13 games behind. End of season: Twins win division title.
Twins started 2006 with these 5 SPs:
Johan Santana, Brad Radke, Carlos Silva, Kyle Lohse, and Scott Baker (2.5 legitimate pitchers). Boof and Liriano joined the team that year (Blackburn and Humber this year?).
The lineup turned over during the summer to include these 4 stud hitters: Castillo (1), Punto (2), Tyner (8), Bartlett (9) (combined they had like 6 HRs).
I believe we have more potential at pitching and at hitting, especially 8 through 2, than that year.
Hunter didn’t want to stay in Minnesota. Santana wouldn’t stay in Minnesota. We got quality young players for Santana. What are you going to do? Me… I am going to watch these young guys develop and see how many bases Gomez can steal.
It’s early folks. We’ll be fine.
June 26 [almost]
1/2 game out?
Have fun!!!! Go Twins!!!
Hear the cattle calls? Twins fans at the game are calling out “Boof”.
Make us feel good, Boofster!
Boof with the SUPERB curve ball……
Mr. Dragon, Funny you should mention that ditty. By chance, I was thinking of just that comment the other night but felt it just might date me among these youngsters, like yourself.
Hoo-weeeeeeee! A broken glove.
Poor MVP….
And Harris dives for the………
never mind
romer says:
Hoo-weeeeeeee! A broken glove.
Poor MVP….
Did Morneau’s glove seriously break there? If so, why would he be credited with an error?
how ’bout Boof’s 3Ks at the 9th… another one in the books, half a game off and the streak is up to 8. Goodnight y’all
Yeah, he had to get another glove. The webbing failed.
Dick said it was an error. I dunno…
First 8 game winning streak since 2006. I recall that was a pretty good year.
Christian, “yes”, the ball went right through the webbing and Morney got a new glove. MLB makes no exceptions for equipment failure to catch a ball. tough error
earlier you all were talking about quality starts, now this one qualifies as a quality finish! final seven, no runs!
romer,
I think too many live/judge performance pitch by pitch, game by game. This is a 162 game season. I guarantee you EVERY player will have hot streaks and cold streaks.
I suspect that every critic, looking for any something which is wrong and be criticized, will find something/many things. My guess is that if their personal job performance was put under a similar microscope would be found just as wanting.
This is a game played by human beings. Sometimes a win or loss can come down to an inch in a field of several/many thousands of square feet.
Regards,
Tigers win though. This could be another 3-way deal like 06.
Dragon, since moving to Minnesota, the Twins never had more than 3 winning seasons in a row until their streak of 6 was stopped last year.
Carlos G., While that’s not a balanced schedule I like it, however did you figure out how it works with a 4 team division, or 5 and 6 team divisions in a 16 team league?
Royster,
I don’t doubt that stat, but the 5 year periods I was referring to were like the early 70’s where they were competing for like 5 years, then drop off.
Regards,
and at 1:10am it’s a bit past my bedtime 
Sweet dreams of Pascual and Ramos, Dragon.
Dick and Bert said that the Twins have scored more runs now than any team in the AL Central.I guess we can’t fire Vavra just yet.BC and other negative posters have really been on a roll.Monroe is a loser,Cassila will never make it in the show,we got fleeced in the Harris/Barlett portion of that trade,Go-Go will be overmatched in the bigs.These posters are really on a roll.I suppose they will claim that their negative posts motivated these players to play better.
sad but true, geno, sad but true.
yep, three games short of the halfway point and twins are half a game out of first. who woulda thunk it?
great season so far.
Bill Brasky,
“Gardy would not make it in the NL”
Yeah, he’s really having a hard time beating NL teams this year.
Get a grip!
Bill Brasky,
“Gardy would not make it in the NL”
He is only 10-3 in interleague games this year.
Projected over an entire season, Gardy would be 125-37 against NL teams.
That would be the best 162 game MLB W-L record ever.
So, you’re close!
If I wouldn’t know better, I would think that Bill Brasky was joking, but sadly, he wasn’t.
I was half expecting BC Benke to rear his head tonight after the first/second innings, dang, but the Twins didn’t give him enough time to comment about their poor play. Too bad to, since I would have loved to see him crawl back into that hole like he did last time, not to be heard from for the rest of the game.
Kinda funny really, some of these guys have got to be getting mad by now. Been over a week since they really had ANYTHING to bitch about. Heck, it’s been alot longer than that for BC and Fire, since Vavra seems to be doing wonders with the people that he is working with.
Anyway, sooner or later, they will lose again, and we will have alot of happy naysayers back on here, but until then, I am one HAPPY dude.
BTW, the Twins are now 11-3 in interleague action. That would translate to 127-35. Not to shabby by a coach that BC/Fire want to get rid of since he is so outmatched. Heck, according to Bill, he is totally outclassed by his NL counterparts. Dang, what a hard crowd to please.
“Did Morneau’s glove seriously break there? If so, why would he be credited with an error?”
If a hitter’s bat snaps and the ball trickles back to the pitcher, the batter is still credited with a PA and an out made.
Thankfully gloves don’t fail nearly as often as bats bust apart. It’s a good thing it happened with 2-out in the ninth in a 6-run game vs. earlier when it was tied (and runners were on)
