Notes on a scorecard: Punto, Pavano, Young, etc.
Posted on September 25th, 2009 – 11:38 PMBy Joe Christensen
KANSAS CITY, MO. — In many ways, the Royals handed the Twins a 9-4 victory on Friday night.
Robinson Tejeda issued a career-high seven walks, and two of those came with the bases loaded. Juan Cruz relieved Tejeda and issued another bases-loaded walk. Three in a row for goodness sakes.
The error that Royals shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt made earlier in that fifth inning on Matt Tolbert’s potential double play grounder “changed the whole outcome of the game,” Twins starting pitcher Carl Pavano said.
But sprinkled in that mess, the Twins did some good things, too, as they climbed within two games of first-place Detroit.
Nick Punto scored from second base on Tejeda’s third-inning wild pitch, giving the Twins a 1-0 lead. To that point, Tejeda hadn’t given up a hit.
“With two outs and two strikes [on Orlando Cabrera], I thought it was worth the risk,” Punto said. “And it paid off for us.”
It certainly electrified the Twins bench. Then, after Michael Cuddyer smashed his 30th home run in the fourth inning, Jose Morales drew a leadoff walk to open the fifth. Next came Betancourt’s error, and Punto advanced both runners with a sacrifice bunt.
Afterward, Manager Ron Gardenhire mentioned that bunt amid the flurry of positive things he saw from his team. Tejeda walked Denard Span to load the bases, Orlando Cabrera made it 3-1 with an RBI single, and then Tejeda came unglued.
PAVANO NOT PLEASED
Pavano held the Royals to four runs over six innings, but he was disappointed with himself. After a long half-inning, while the Twins batted around, Pavano gave up a leadoff double to No. 9 batter Josh Anderson before walking Mitch Maier, setting the table for Billy Butler’s three-run homer.
“I’m not really happy I go out there with a 6-1 lead in the fifth and give up [three runs],” Pavano said. “That’s not the way you want to pitch with a lead. You’ve gotta be aggressive and let these guys put the ball in play, and I was a little defensive there.”
Pavano is now 4-3 with a 3.84 ERA in 10 starts for the Twins.
PADDING THE LEAD
Give the Twins credit for adding to their lead, taking pressure off their bullpen and giving closer Joe Nathan another night of rest. They refused to be complacent.
Span had a two-out bunt single in the sixth and stole second base, moving to third on Cabrera’s infield single. That put runners at the corners for Joe Mauer, who finally got a pitch to hit after three walks and grounded to second base.
After Cuddyer singled in the seventh, Delmon Young made it 7-4 with an RBI triple, just his second triple of the season. With two outs that inning, Matt Tolbert made it 8-4 with a bloop single to left field, scoring Young, and Young added his ninth homer the next inning.
Pavano knew his outing might have meant a loss on a lot of nights. “Fortunately, I had some runs to work with,” he said.
Notes: The Twins have never had four players with 90 RBI, but they are getting very close. Justin Morneau has 100, Joe Mauer and Jason Kubel both reached 90 on Friday, and Michael Cuddyer reached 88. … On Saturday, the Twins will send Scott Baker (13-9, 4.43 ERA) to the mound, opposite Royals lefty Lenny DiNardo (0-1, 8.22). First pitch is at 6:10 p.m., so check back here for the starting lineups.
36 Responses to "Notes on a scorecard: Punto, Pavano, Young, etc."
HUGE win tonight. Did exactly what they needed to do (beat the Royals) and got the hel they needed at the same time.
The Tigers series now becomes a 3 of 4 situation to tie. Another game this weekend can make it a 3 of 4 to take the lead.
Now THAT’s how you’d draw it up. Coasting vs a lesser opponent while the team in front is blanked! Keep making it fun!
“Guardado likely headed to retirement”
And h2oface too.
Baseball is such a befuddling delight! Who would have / could have imagined that Carl Pavano would be the real boon of a mid-season pickup over folks like Washburn & Peavy?!
“The Twins…face a stiff test in RHP Robinson Tejeda…”
Oh contraire. Tejeda hadn’t seen a determined lineup like this, making him prove his point to not walk batters, and pitch efficiently.
This is a 7-month culmination happening before our very eyes.
Greinke will look like a twit on Sunday.
“…got the hel they needed at the same time.”
I tol-ja Ozzie’s Sox would be ready.
I’m stiff confused as to why people thought Tejada was going to be such a stiff wall. Sure he had a cool ERA. He was getting an extraordinarily high number of guys out with in play pitches and throwing a ton of called strikes. The twins had it right. Work the count and let him break himself.
A couple of hangers made the score close, but maybe we can give Billy the slip tomorrow. Get another while the Tigers fight with their manager over why Adam Everett was pinch hitting for Aubrey Huff against the guy who plunked Span.
“mickey mental says:
September 25th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
cuddyer and punto. crazy as hell.
Only you would know, mm!
Rauch throws 19 pitches, only 9 for strikes. But he fans 2. He’s watching too much Pavano.
Only one change. TOLBERT, we’ve seen enough of that guy.
Tolbert’s swing makes Nicky P look like Tony Gwynn. But, hey, they are winning. The key error, by the way, was on a ball hit by Cabrera, wasn’t it? Talk about baseball being a funny game, Cuddyer’s career has been marked by swinging at breaking pitches two feet out of the zone and hacking at fastballs inside that otherwise might hit him. Now he is so selective at the plate he makes Span look like a free swinger. And why is it carved in stone that Mijares is allowed to pitch to only one batter and Gardy has to bring in Guerrier?
One additional note: Congrats to Cuddyer for being the third Twin to reach 30 HRs since that trio of guys way back when.
Morneau w/ 30, Cuddyer w/ 30. Can Kubel and Mauer hit reach that mark as well?
I think Mauer will reach 30 to put an exclamation point on his MVP. Kubel needs 6 more (in 9 games).
potential for not only 3 or 4 30 HR guys, but 100 RBI guys as well..kubel and mauer with 90 and cuddy with 88. very good offensive season for those guys..just think if kubel played more earlier in the year against lefties, could be the team leader in RBI’s!
Blackburn starts the first game in Detroit? His last game in detroit he gave up 9 runs! Plus, Blackburn is 4-7 on the road and 3-7 on grass this season. This is more BAD management.
I tol-ja Ozzie’s Sox would be ready.
Beckham was ready, the rest of Ozzie’s Sox, not so much.
“Beckham was ready, the rest of Ozzie’s Sox, not so much.”
i’d hafta say no less than four white sox pitchers were “ready” …
Yes, Blackburn should start in Detroit. He’s up for it. Remember last season, game 163 in Chicago? Sure, he got the loss, but while a lot of people were saying we were f’d with him on the mound, he showed what he can do in that type of situation.
His E.R.A. over his last four road starts is 2.67. We can all admit he has pitched a lot better lately.
Using him in Detroit is not bad management. Complaining about bad management right now, in the midst of a nice hot streak, is ridiculous.
Let’s just enjoy this ride and cheer when the Twins take the division.
really amazing Kubel has 90 RBI with the number of ABs he has. I know he does not have at bats for the games he theoretically would not have been very productive anyway, but I have to wonder, if he was played almost full time, would the extra offensive production he had in those extra at bats exceed whoever else would have batted
I dont think Tejada did that bad last night. Until fairly late in the game, when the Twins were leading, they were still being outhit 8-3. Tejada is not responsible for all those defensive mistakes behind him. And when those happen, it cant help but to shake him a little bit later.
I mentioned on the other board, for sorry for repeating if you read this already, but I was listening to Ozzies post game press gig on WSCR in Chicago last night. He was asked if he would play the young guys here on out. He said he would against Cleveland, but out of respect for the Twins, he will play the A team against the Tigers this weekend and next, as long as it matter. He said that he has resp ect for the institution of baseball, and he will not shut down Buehrle as long as it matter in the race. We will see if he does this. Not that Buehrle has been lights out lately, far from it, but probably better than any alternative. Of course you could make the argument the young hungry guys looking for spots next year might perform bettr.
where are the best Twins boards to be patrolling during the day? As my moniker implies, I am really high on the Twins when they are on a roll, and need a bigger fix than appears to be available on the Strib. Not that LEN, Joe and Howard dont do a great job, but I know they cant be blogging all the time.
if he was played almost full time, would the extra offensive production he had in those extra at bats exceed whoever else would have batted
Kubel has been played “full time” since at LEAST midseason…if not longer.
Thanks for that report at 11:13 fairweather. If that’s true, really class move by Ozzie.
When pros have a chance to be spoilers, even if out of the race, the play like they are supposed to play. KC? They do too. Go Sux. Go Twins.
If the Twins win the next 7 games, they clinch a tie. Win the next 8, they win the division.
Hyptothtically, the Twins could clinch the division on Thursday–going for the 10-0 road trip.
Realistically, I hope they hold within 2 going to Detroit. I don’t like having to sweep in Detroit. Win a series in doable, sweep is hard.
I’m glad Liriano gets the start tomorrow.
Go Twins!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Curious as to why anyone would be “glad” that Liriano is getting a start at all. Besides the fact that he has sucked all season long, Gardy has already admitted he can only go 60-80 pitches. For Liriano, that’s 3 innings. I hope our bullpen is fired up and ready for tomorrow.
Good point, Macleod.
Macleod if i had to pick Liriano vs Manship i would pick Liriano, so I’m glad it’s him starting.
I will be happy enough to win the division, of course, though I think thats a real mountain to climb. The dream scenario of course would be to clinch it AT Detroit. Even a bigger mountain to climb, but mathematically, it could happen,, of course it would be fun to clinch it at the dome too, right now, I would take either
Fair Weather Fan,
Your posts are too boring!!!
Liriano has experience and dominated the Roay;s last time. What exactly has Manship done lately? I would look for 5, possibly 6 innings of 2 run ball from Lirinao.
I think the hope is that Liriano somehow sucks less than Manship. While I haven’t looked at their numbers side by side, Manship has obviously been unimpressive. I’m not sure we’ve seen a lot of evidence to believe Liriano will be much better. “Veteran presence?” That only helps if he can go 5-6 innings and get enough non-sucking outs to be better than Manship. Hope this works & he surprises.
What has happened to all the wise guys that wanted to thow Cuddear to the Wolves last spring. I read the paper from Ca often. D. l.
