JoeC’s story about yesterday’s game chronicles all that is maddening and fun about Gogomez: hits in the three innings when the Twins scored their runs, an ill-advised base running move that almost worked (I saw the replay and I think he came up just short of the plate) and the fundamentally flawed catch in center field that earned a shared-with-the-sportswriters “I’ll pull your butt if you do that again” threat from Gardy. All of that is part of the education of a gifted player whose talent needs to be turned from raw to baked just right, an ongoing process that won’t be done by the end of this month or next — or even this season or next.

From this distance, the thing I see in Gogomez is a player who is battling himself to do the right things while reverting to stuff he did in the minors without really hurting his team. Major-league pitchers will go dirt/outside on him until he shows he can resist that pitch more often than he’ll flail at it.

Like your teenager with the car, Gogomez needs to make good choices consistently. Joe C’s term, “Project Gogo, ” is an apt one for what the Twins are going through with the youngster. You can be encouraged by the fact that he’s 7 for 15 in his last four games — or discouraged because it’s been 22 days since he’s gotten a walk and his stats are .265/.279/.373. The havoc he plays on the bases juices those numbers a bit but the 12:1 strikeout-to-walk ratio sucks them a little bit dry.

More than anyone else I’ve seen in the majors, Gogomez simply needs to be ridden and reinforced by the coaching staff every day. Praise the good, talk through the bad, get him to slow down the game in his head so the bad choices happen less and less frequently.

It’s not the sort of thing that typically happens in the majors, but this is such a special case that Gardy better load up on carrots and sticks next time he goes to the hardware store.

The other puzzle is Nick Blackburn. Another good outing yesterday means that he’s had four solid ones in six starts. In the two other games, the offense has given him a five-run lead to work with. (You think Bonser wouldn’t kill for a lead like that? Just once?) After losing that lead in Texas last week, Blackburn acknowledged that he was offering up to many fat pitches, which led to the Rangers comeback. When he lost the lead in Detroit, the hits also came in sudden and rapid succession.

A lot of times, you’ll hear announcers talk about a pitcher with a comfortable lead being in position to simply throw strikes and let the other team take its hacks. It should only be that easy. Throwing strikes still means using the entire strike zone, working batters who will dig in if there see similar pitches coming over and over and over. During his 2007 call-up, Gardy said that Blackburn was fine until he got to throwing the same pitch — a cut fastball — repeatedly. That’s good enough for Rochester, but not for Minnesota.

The contrast in the close games Blackburn’s pitched has been stunning. In his 7 2/3 shutout innings against Cleveland, he worked the plate and changed speeds like a Radke without the home-run problem. Same thing in his first start against the Angels (the 1-0 loss) and I assume — I only saw the 30-minute replay of this start — that’s what he did against the White Sox. Blackburn needs to understand that, in the majors, you’ve got to pitch pretty much the same way with a five-run lead as you do when your team is up or down by a run. Don’t believe the TV guys and the box-seat pitching coaches.

I’d like to see the Twins get him another five-run lead and see what happens. I’m betting on Blackburn to get it right next time, and thereafter.

other people are here too

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 6:08 am and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.