Adding to the mess that was Thursday’s game
Posted on May 29th, 2009 – 9:56 AMBy Howard
Actually, there’s not a lot for me to add — about the game or about where the Twins are at right now. There’s a lot of coverage and reaction here and elsewhere in the blogosphere. Watched the game from seats in the right field corner and TIVO’d the replay. Close play at the plate, Redmond made the tag in time, umpire looked wrong — both in the call and for the quick thumb on Redmond. You can see him asking, “What did I say?” after getting kicked out.
In the bottom of the inning, when the Varitek/Francona ejections took place, you can hear Josh Beckett toss an oath after not getting strike three on Brendan Harris. That was Varitek’s cue to keep his pitcher in the game by taking up the fight. If cursing loudly enough to be picked up by the field mike consists of arguing about balls and strikes, Beckett should have been tossed.
The teams ran into an ump who works vacation relief, Todd Tichenor, and was in his 17th game behind home plate. There’s been enough written about what happened that I’m not sure there’s much more for me to add. Here’s a quick summary from a Red Sox fan’s blog that works just fine for me. I also recommend checking out the postgame report from the Boston Globe’s Nick Cafardo.
Outside of the umpire’s room, I think there’s near universal agreement that Tichenor didn’t handle the situation well. As the Boston blogger Paul Francis Sullivan wrote: “Remember, the fans pay good money to see the umpires.”
A seasoned umpire, even a mildly seasoned one, understands that an excellent afternoon of baseball should not be remembered for how the umpire controlled a situation after it happened.
Now, the Twins go on the road and play Tampa Bay, which just got swept in four games at Cleveland and has lost both of their middle infielders in recent days. You have to think the Rays are looking at the Twins arrival as a get-well card. I have to think the Twins need to show their 5-14 record is related to an assortment of problems that have been — or are on the way to being — fixed. It’s a good series under any circumstances, made better by recent events and topped off by Sunday’s pitching matchup between Nick Blackburn and Matt Garza, who finally gets to face the Twins.
In the meantime, LaVelle’s scheduled for a Twins chat at noon and, if you’re not doing anything at 11 a.m. (Central Time), maybe drop in on a Red Sox chat at the Globe’s web site, boston.com, and see what they’re saying.
80 Responses to "Adding to the mess that was Thursday’s game"
Any umpire at any level, even Little League needs to have thicker skin than that. He was trying to make a name for himself, not control the game. With any luck, he will not attain full time employment in MLB after this stunt.
I predict the Twins take at least two from the Rays. The road record isn’t as bad as it looks because of the series sweeps in NY and Boston where the team always has problems.
Kick the Rays while they’re down, boys!
Here’s what I don’t understand. While his handling of gametime situations such as the ejections is relatively untested in a MLB game, how the heck hasn’t his inability to establish a strikezone been picked up until yesterday?
It’s one thing to have a ballplayer having to adjust to major league pitching (since he actually has to hit), but an umpire’s strikezone shouldn’t suddenly crumble to pieces once he steps into the big league.
What really bugs me is that his umping makes it really tough to establish an accurate assessment of yesterday’s game. It was clear that by the halfway point of the game the pitchers and batters both were completely lost as to what would be called and what wouldn’t.
Well a road loss is still a road loss even if it happens in the Bronx or at Fenway. This team really, really needs to get over this fear of beating those teams. It just strikes me as immaturity as a ballclub.
For what its worth, Gladden said he thought Tichenor called a decent game.
Something the crew chief said bothered me a lot: “And the umpire did his job and the manager did his job. There was no contact made. It was an ejection, something that happens in baseball.”
So an umpire should eject a manager or a player for doing their jobs? I don’t understand. If I’m doing my job while I’m at work, I don’t expect the boss to get angry and send me home early. It had been my understanding in almost every major sport in this country that an ump/ref only gives the thumb or the red card in cases where a player/manager strays outside the confines of what his job is, like a spikes up slide tackle from behind in the penalty box, or throwing a bat at an umpire, or significantly delaying a game while arguing a call.
People doing their jobs should never be grounds for removal from the game. And ejections should only be part of games in which players/managers are not doing their jobs.
I mean, just think if this ump had been handling the game when Mauer was hit by a pitch that was originally ruled a foul. Even Ken Macha would have been tossed for shrugging his shoulders too noticeably.
That’s a small compliment coming from Gladden who can’t call a game on the radio.
no doubt Twin’s under Tom Kelly in the late 1990’s stunk and still played good in Yankee Stadium against those WS teams..
Hey, what do you know - I’m not banned here like on Joe C’s blog where all my comments go to moderation.
I, for one, am extremely tired of the prima donnas who umpire in the Major Leagues. The “union’s” contract with MLB prohibits replays of close plays. They can’t take the heat for being wrong on close plays half the time. I really think it’s time that Selig and the owners take control of the situation. That joker yesterday ruined the game. All of a sudden the focus is on the umpire and not on the game.
Next time their contract is up for renewal, I hope MLB busts this ridiculous “union.” I wish fans in general would be more adamant about this issue. These guys are really not that good, and can easily be replaced. Unless, of course, they’re protected by a “union.”
Howard,
When we can we expect to hear you talking Twins on MPR? It’s been a while, right?
The umpiring situation from yesterday was bizarrre, but I don’t think it cost the Twins the game. They ran into Josh Beckett on getaway day and Beckett performed like a sober minister preaching to a congregation full of hangovers on a Sunday morning. Ordinarily, a split with Boston is acceptable, so we can’t get too bent out of shape. However, we are still 5 games out in the loss column and that June 4 date where the schedule flips to road-a-thon is fast approaching. Still, 5-2 homestand was a nice boost following a 1-6 roadie.
Undoubtedly, this series with the Rays will promulgate a lot of angst and emotion among Twins fans when they see league-leading Jason Bartlett and pitcher Matt Garza. Bartlett’s .373 average may seem off the charts, but I still contend that he was the hottest Twins hitter in the second half of 2007 just before we traded him away. As for our return, it’s nice to see Brendan Harris isn’t completely falling off the map. It would appear that beginning with his start on Tuesday night, Harris is now finally in the midst of that long run of starts many of us have been waiting for. Sure, he’s not batting .300 anymore, but he has been fairly consistent (certainly consistent enough), minus a handful of bat-on-shoulder strike threes.
The same cannot be said for Delmon Young, who’s in a 2-for-26 slump, including 2-for-19 since returning from his family leave. I am fortunate not to know what Delmon must be going through right now, but as far as the baseball team is concerned, I think a couple nights off might be in order.
Beyond that, is anyone else curious as to why a roster move wasn’t made before the team left for St. Petersburgh? I continue to be absolutely baffled as to why Brian Buscher is on the roster. With Buscher and Tolbert clinging along at the Mendoza line, and since we all know the other sub-Mendozer isn’t going anywhere, you would think a move would have been made to get Casilla back up here–but apparently his sins were so unique and grave that he gets held to an even higher standard. Sure makes it tough for the 8 and 9 spots in the lineup in the meanwhile.
Thoughts?
It’s not like the Twins got blown out on all those road losses. True, a loss is a loss in the W/L column, but there were a lot of very close games in there. And the current Rays lineup should not easily get confused with the Yankees that swept the Twins a couple of weeks ago.
This is an opportunity for the Twins to demonstrate that they CAN win on the road, at least against teams that are not currently “top tier”. That said, I’m concerned right now about any game that has Liriano scheduled to start.
I’m all in favor of bringing Casilla back up and seeing if he can continue hitting at the level he’s been showing down in Rochester. But then, I’m a Casilla fan, so I’m admittedly biased. It’s not like Tolbert/Harris/Buscher are exactly performing at levels that make it tough to give Casilla another shot.
I would think that after yesterday’s game that the Twins would see the merit in getting Morales back on the roster, whether it be as the 2nd catcher, emergency catcher, occasional DH or pinch-hitter.
For what its worth, Gladden said he thought Tichenor called a decent game.
As I mentioned in yesterday’s game thread, it seemed Gladden’s postgame comment was an effort at damage control. Announcers can be fined or suspended for being too critical of the umpires.
What Gladden said afterward did not seem to be in line with several of his comments during the game.
Benny W, Dan Gladden is the best Twins broadcaster we have, bar none. That is not hyperbole. Sure, he might not have a voice like Harry Kalas, Vin Scully, or Herb Carneal, but he also doesn’t fool you by getting overly-excited (like Gordo did a couple times yesterday) and most importantly he gives you real and relevant insight.
In short, he’s the only broadcaster who appears to be doing his own thing and serving the listeners by taking orders only from himself 100 percent of the time. Twins fans are smart and appreciate that. He doesn’t need silly gimmicks or trademarks to draw attention to the product. He gets the job done with his brain. I like that. Gladden actually makes me want to invest in a Harley.
“Thoughts?”
Alexi Casilla had an OPS+ of 19 when he was sent down. 19. He looked bad in other aspects - fielding, running, overall effort, etc. - so that I wouldn’t expect him up any time soon.
Undoubtedly, this series with the Rays will promulgate a lot of angst and emotion among Twins fans when they see league-leading Jason Bartlett and pitcher Matt Garza.
At least we’ll only see Bartlett from the dugout, as he is on the disabled list.
I’m a lot more concerned about Longoria and Pena. Hopefully, the starters will not let those two beat them.
I think that the crew chief saying that Tichenor did his job and the managers did their job is a bunch of crap. It makes me think that the umpires are just a good old boy club and they have each other’s back. Tichenor did a lousy job of calling balls and strikes and an even worse job in tossing Redmond, Gardenhire, Varitek and Francona. I thought the only one that should have been tossed was Beckett with the very audible cursing on the ball he thought should have been a strike. What do you think? Is there any umpire review board to check on these things?
Jason, I hear you on all that. My problems with Gladden are that a. he doesn’t mention the game score nearly enough, and b. he often backtracks on his calls.
“He looked bad in other aspects - fielding, running, overall effort, etc. - so that I wouldn’t expect him up any time soon.”
He’s batting .318 in Rochester. He was considered our starting 2B at the beginning of the year. Can we really afford to keep rolling with two middle infielders who can’t conquer Mendoza?
The umpiring situation from yesterday was bizarrre, but I don’t think it cost the Twins the game.
Probably the second-most unfortunate thing about yesterday’s game is we’ll never know whether the atrocious umpiring cost the Twins the game or not.
It certainly didn’t help them, that’s for sure.
Benny W….so what you’re really saying is he isn’t “polished”. I agree.
My point is I don’t care how “polished” you are as long as you’re calling the game from your heart and not holding back, deceiving, or playing games. He’s the Steve Stone of Twins broadcasters. Except he’s our Steve Stone. His hustle during his playing days transfers beautifully to the broadcast booth.
They can’t take the heat for being wrong on close plays half the time. I really think it’s time that Selig and the owners take control of the situation. That joker yesterday ruined the game.
I think the umpires do a good job, a lot more than half the time. Some of them are prima donnas, no doubt. But I would not want to be judged by the least common denominators of my profession.
When it comes to jokers, Bud will give any ump a run for his money.
You have to think the Rays are looking at the Twins arrival as a get-well card.
At this point, I think that the momentum is with the Twins, esp as far as pitching goes…
The last 7 days, comparison between the Twins and Rays:
Hitting:
Twins: .263/.353/.468
Rays: .256/.360/.399
Pitching:
Twins: 2.83 ERA, 1.167 WHIP
Rays: 6.06 ERA, 1.692 WHIP
I hope they keep it up.
Did you REALLY expect the crew chief to tell the reporter, “Boy that kid sure caved under the bright lights. Good thing he’s going back to the PCL tomorrow.” Of course he’s going to spin it the best he can. Expecting otherwise is pointless.
Apparently, this guy had issues in a Padres game last year where he also gave the quick hook to the manager AND bench coach (see http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=443253), but that hasn’t kept him from continuing to get MLB game assignments. It will be interesting to see if he continues to get brought up through the rest of the season to substitute for other MLB umpires. But I doubt any of us will still be paying close attention to his career a month from now.
The umpire and managers “doing their jobs” refers ONLY to AFTER the players (RedDog and Varitek) went after the umpire.
1) Players get in umpires face (no physical attack)
2) Managers scramble to protect players.
2) Players get tossed by umpire, prematurely for Red, but mandated for Varitek. (balls and strikes facial)
4) Managers get tossed for cause.
Except for Red’s premature ejection, everyone played their roles correctly. (”did their jobs”)
Agree with everything JC said at 11:03. Thanks for the link, too.
As for what Gladden said post game, there’s another point here too which Gladden was probably trying to hint at: it’s cheap to complain about umpiring at nauseaum after a loss. Sure, Tichenor may not have handled things perfectly, but the bottom line is the Twins lost. And it’s not like they lost Drew Pearson style. As we all know, barking about umpiring can be a convenient way to shift attention from things that were in the team’s control that didn’t go so well on the field.
Like, say, Varitek’s 2 homers.
While the umping sucked, I am not going to assume the Twins win that game with a good ump.
One particular AB stood out, and that was Tolbert’s 1-pitch fly ball after Cuddy’s 4-pitch walk.
You know the ump’s got a wild zone, you know the pitcher just walked a guy on four straight pitches…why take a hack at that first pitch?
There were a few people who commented on Span’s K late in the game after going to 3-0. However I had the Gameday box up and was watching the zone during that AB.
On a 3-0 count with an inconsistent ump, Span was right to take the next pitch. By Gameday’s tracking system the pitch appeared to be borderline…something that had been both balls and strikes throughout the game.
The 2nd strike was a terrible pitch, and a terrible call (it was further off the plate than a previous pitch which had been a ball).
And at that point, Span finds himself in a full count with NO idea what the next pitch will be. And thus has to swing and hope to defend the plate until he can get something to hit.
But the Red Sox had the exact same problem. There were some pitches that the Sox were getting rung up on that I couldn’t believe were getting called. Both teams were victims of an UGLY ump. I’m guessing Beckett’s experience likely helped him keep his composure and make fewer mistakes.
Like, say, Varitek’s 2 homers.
At the risk of starting an argument, when a pitcher can’t get a feel for where the ump’s zone is, it starts to force his pitches closer and closer to the middle of the plate.
And even if the pitcher doesn’t AIM for the heart of the plate, there’s still less room for error if the “edges” of the Zone appear to be closer to it.
That said, there were pitches right down the middle (one to Mauer and one to Harris for sure) that were completely baffling when called for a ball.
I agree, Jason. The Twins lost that game to Varitek.
He had a good day. 2 HRs and amongst all the ejections, his was the most “heads up”. He knew if he didn’t get in the ump’s face, Beckett was almost certainly going to get tossed (and probably should have anyway). Of course, I’m sure it also felt pretty good to have that excuse for letting the guy know just how much he’d sucked behind the plate all day.
“At the risk of starting an argument”
No argument necessary. We both agree the umpiring didn’t conclusively change the outcome of the game.
Did you REALLY expect the crew chief to tell the reporter, “Boy that kid sure caved under the bright lights. Good thing he’s going back to the PCL tomorrow.”
No, but I don’t think it’s constructive for the crew chief to circle the wagons and pretend the guy did a good job.
The ’spin’ was as embarrassing to the umpires as Tichenor’s performance.
Interesting how folks who hold the Twins to a high standard won’t demand the same from the umpires. This was not your typical ‘bad umping’ situation. This was not ‘well, that’s baseball.’ It wasn’t even a first offense for this particular individual. He should not see a MLB field again for quite some time, if ever.
I happened to stumble upon this site while looking for more info on Mr. Tichenor.
http://cascreamindude.livejournal.com/
A completely archive of all ejections. So far it looks like at LEAST all of 2009. Great archive…and if you look at the analysis of Harris’ AB…Varitek (and Beckett) were completely in their right to be aggravated.
An analysis of yesterday’s game:
Any guess as to how this pitching staff would compare to current Twins ps for 2009?:
SP Santana
SP Garza
SP Lohse
SP Hernandez
SP Milton
RP Hawkins
RP Balfour
RP Guardardo
RP Reyes
RP Breslow
RP Romero
RP Bass
“He should not see a MLB field again for quite some time, if ever.”
I have $5 that says he is working today.
But your key word was “should” and so that is a reasonable opinion.
Hopefully being the “fourth” Umpire means he doesn’t get rotated behind the plate for a while.
Or do umps not reset the rotation when moving to a new series?
T,
I am pretty certain that the rotation is not reset for a new series, as long as the same four umpires constitute the crew.
I have $5 that says he is working today.
I suspect you’re correct, so I won’t take that bet. But when I said the second-most unfortunate thing is we’ll never know whether the umpiring cost the Twins yesterday’s game, the ‘first-most’ unfortunate thing is that the umpires’ appalling performance apparently will not cost him a thing—instead of being reprimanded or disciplined or at least subjected to a refresher course in Umpiring 101, he will be rewarded with an assignment as though yesterday never happened.
THERE IS ONLY ONE TOPIC THAT SHOULD BE DISCUSSED ON THIS BLOG TODAY!!!! GARDY’S COMMENT ABOUT LNP AND HIS SORE GROIN THAT IT HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH HIS BAD THROWS. I have now heard it all…what a joke
Punto hobbled
Gardenhire gave Nick Punto a break, saying his shortstop is day-to-day because of a sore groin.
Punto had an error Tuesday and Wednesday, marking the first time he has had errors on back-to-back days since Aug. 1-2, 2006. He is also batting .187.
“Knowing Nicky, he’s been playing with it, and it probably has had something to do with all of his throws lately,” Gardenhire said.
Since the guy he is subbing for is still injured, I assume he’ll probably be assigned to the same crew tonight somewhere. It would be interesting to check the box scores tomorrow to see if that’s the case. If so, I would assume he will rotate to 3B. I don’t think they “reset” the rotation, they just keep rotating. If you worked the plate yesterday, you work 3B today, etc.
Fran, I’ll guarantee that any crew chief who doesn’t give the best spin he can to this kind of situation (and let the MLB office hand out any public or private criticism) won’t be a crew chief very long.
all the angst over the young ump has clouded our focus..
The Twin’s are on the road again will a cooling Mauer and Morneau
a improving bullpen
a starting rotation 3/5 good (Liriano..UGH! Baker somewhat better)
FTM,
Maybe we can take comfort in the fact that the umpire (and, unfortunately, his family) will be seeing him publicly ridiculed by Twins and Red Sox fans, blogs and media for a short time.
Things aren’t so bad for the Twins right now. They’re in striking distance of Detroit early in the season. They just wrapped up a good homestand. Scott Baker has been decent in recent starts, and Anthony Swarzak has well exceeded expectations in his first two. The bullpen has been a bit better - Mijares has settled into a setup role and even Matt Guerrier has done a reasonable job recently.
True, the middle infield is still a disaster, F-Bomb Liriano has lost his mound presence, and they still haven’t called up Jose Morales. But other than that, the Twins are looking pretty good lately. Throw in a string of weak or staggering opponents (Tampa, Cleveland, Seattle and Chicago), and I think the hometown team could put together a winning streak.
Go Twins!
Fran, I’ll guarantee that any crew chief who doesn’t give the best spin he can to this kind of situation (and let the MLB office hand out any public or private criticism) won’t be a crew chief very long.
Fair point. I really think MLB owes both teams a public apology.
The NBA did issue an apology to the Dallas Mavericks a week or two ago for a blown call by a referee. If we get anything of the sort from MLB, you will be able to knock me over with a feather.
Fran: “…the ‘first-most’ unfortunate thing is that the umpires’ appalling performance apparently will not cost him a thing—instead of being reprimanded or disciplined or at least subjected to a refresher course in Umpiring 101, he will be rewarded with an assignment as though yesterday never happened.”
I’m not sure what you base that conclusion on. Did you really expect an immediate and public disciplinary action to be taken by MLB? The league does take disciplinary action against umpires and I think it’s safe to say that “substitute” umpires get a little extra scrutiny. But if you were expecting immediate public criticism, you’re going to have to live with disappointment. It simply doesn’t work that way. Nor should it.
The Twins would have lost no matter who the home plate umpire was. I’m over it already.
I agree with JimCrikket. I don’t think the league needs to put the smack down on this umpire for this game. He made some mistakes because he is young and inexperienced. Everyone makes mistakes, especially if we are nervous and trying to make a good impression. If he continues to make bad calls or throw people out of the game for little reason, then they might want to get rid of him. But if it is just one bad game, the guy deserves another chance.
After all, it isn’t like he killed anyone.
By the way, the article Howard linked to included this paragraph:
“Vice president of umpiring Mike Port said he watched some of the game at his office in New York, but he did not feel comfortable commenting on Tichenor’s performance until he was able to watch the events, then read Tichenor’s report and review the ejections. In fairness to Tichenor, the crew chief is the only umpire allowed to comment.”
Sounds to me like Port knows his job and the right way to respond to this sort of thing.
Agreed FIRE…time to move on.
No one seems curious as I about the state of the current roster.
In that case, what’s the lineup tonight? Is Nicky’s groin healed? Will Go-Go get a start?
has the infamous (supposedly secret) list of juiced players been released anywhere?
But if you were expecting immediate public criticism, you’re going to have to live with disappointment. It simply doesn’t work that way.
As I just mentioned, it did work that way in the NBA (although I’m sure it was small consolation to the Mavericks and their fans).
It was fairly immediate, too. A day or two after the game. I respected the way the NBA handled it. They didn’t make excuses for the referee or apply ridiculous spin that just makes a bad situation worse. It was the correct approach. MLB could take a lesson.
Iconoclast…I agree with your 11:52 summation on the state of the Twins. Well put.
Yesterday notwithstanding, they’ve been putting up decent runs lately, getting solid starting pitching (except for Liriano) and effective (if not particularly pretty) relief pitching.
So Jason, while I’m curious about how long they will give the current crop of sub-.200 hitters to show some life before making a move of some kind, I guess I just don’t expect any moves in the near future.
I’m more curious to see how this team reacts to being on the road after a decent home stand.
Fran, while I agree that the NBA handles things differently (they actually acknowledged the mistake by officials just a couple of hours after that Mavericks game), there’s a very unfortunate reason WHY they’ve felt compelled to go that direction. His name is Tim Donaghy.
Whether MLB should adopt a similar approach to commenting about officials’ mistakes is a fair debate to have. I just want to point out that the reason the NBA adopted that policy has fortunately not been an issue with MLB.
noone should expect MLB to act like other sports they are set apart
MLB is the only sporting league with an anti-trust exemption and consequently it’s player,umpire unions is the strongest of any sports league union just a few more reasons why MLB is flawed
JC, true enough. Hopefully, it won’t take an scandal to convince MLB to own up when an official turns in a substandard outing.
It won’t change the outcome, regardless. But I would feel better with an acknowledgment from MLB. At least it would be a public indication they take the situation seriously. As it stands now, the impression given is the umpires and MLB had no real problem with Tichenor’s performance yesterday and that the well-earned criticisms he is receivinng from several corners are being swept under the rug.
where’s the link to La Velle’s noon chat???
Gladden doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who would say an umpire called a good game if he didn’t think he did just to avoid a $500 fine or whatever. But who knows…
Maybe this crew was sending a message back to the Twins after Gardy bullied the call that Mauer was hit with a pitch during the Brewers series…
It is funny for me to hear compliments about Gladden’s broadcasting. Long time fans who grew up with only radios to follow the Twins, or Tins, or whatever we’re calling them today, have trouble warming up to him. I suspect other listeners like me are fine with John Gordon, who is highly thought of. Myself, I greatly miss Herb Carneal and think of him often because of the link to a better time.
I’d hope note Shawn…the pitch DID hit Mauer.
I’m a huge Garza fan, but I think he’ll be too excited on Sunday to pitch well. Just a hunch.
shaun, I appreciate both the traditional broadcaster voices and personalities you speak of as well as a new crop of broadcasters who don’t feel they’re putting on a “show” as much as they are there to mix description of events with their own feelings on what’s going on.
Thus, while Gladden isn’t going to give you the soft, well-spoken voice of Herb Carneal or the traditional “Hey everybody, what a day for baseball” presentation that you get from Gordo, he will give you an honest take using his real voice. I like that, too.
To be clear, I think John Gordon is a great broadcaster as well. What I really like is how Gordo and Gladdens contrasting styles work together. Dick and I Bert I’ve taken a break from commenting on during most of this season because what’s been said for the past 7 years remains true today and they are for better or worse here to stay. I will say Dick has a fantastic broadcasting voice and when Bert lets his guard down and gives you some Gladden-like moments, he can be tremendously insightful as well as a lot of fun. The rated G act for the kiddies and wholesome old timers doesn’t work for me, though.
Talking about Garza, here is an interesting split from this season:
when he starts an opposing batter 1-0, at that PA opponents hit .234/.385/.404 (.790 OPS) and he has a 0.83 K/BB ratio. If he gets 2-0, opponents hit .314/.520/.543 (1.063 OPS) and he has a 0.60 K/BB ratio.
on the other hand, when he starts an opposing batter 0-1, at that PA opponents hit .107/.137/.188 (.324 OPS) and he has a 13.33 K/BB ratio. If he gets to 0-2, opponents hit .102/.120/.224 (.334 OPS) and he has a 26.00 K/BB ratio.
Patience will be critical against him.
On another note, he has a .227 BABIP, which means he is due for a regression
I’m not such a big fan of Gordo because he will get a call to the outfield wrong about 90% of the time. “It’s a high fly ball to DEEP left field, WAY BACK, it’s caught by the left fielder.” This drives me crazy and I think that Gladden does a better job of those type of calls. When the Twins were on Sunday night baseball and we got to listen to Orel Hersheiser - now that was enjoyable. I just like the way he announces a game.
“On another note, he has a .227 BABIP, which means he is due for a regression”
I admit I’m not down with all of thrylos’ super computer stats, but my guess is Blackburns BABIP (whatever that is) is also low. Does that mean he’s also due for a regression?
Just giving you a hard time, thry, you know I’m a huge fan!
thry,
I too think Garza is due for a regression and hope it starts with this series. I thought the Twins showed very good patience in this past series except for Tolbert swinging on the first pitch yesterday afternooon in the 9th inning after Cuddyer looked at 4 straight balls.
I admit I’m not down with all of thrylos’ super computer stats, but my guess is Blackburns BABIP (whatever that is) is also low. Does that mean he’s also due for a regression?
Just giving you a hard time, thry, you know I’m a huge fan!
no problem 
Blackburn’s BABIP is a .294, which is league average, so he is not due for a regression.
Babip? Wasn’t that the Rain Man’s name, Raymond Babip?
He kept repeating “Who’s on first? What’s on second?” Poor guy, you had to love him. He remembered more stuff than any stat geek ever thought of! Not that there’s any geeks here, I didn’t mean it that way.
shaun you had better be careful when you’re talking about stat geeks on this blog. We have some wonderful statisticians that come up with all sorts of interesting ways to view the problems in the Twins organization.
I encourage anyone to do the “Streak for Cash” on espn.com. It’s a very humble feeling that I’ve devoted much of my life on earth following sports and my wife is kicking my butt in that game.
I encourage anyone to do the “Streak for Cash” on espn.com
I hope that “streak” is a noun, because if it is a verb there will be some interesting entries…
Thrylos,
I thought you were only math guy, crunching numbers and using strictly acronyms to display points. Day by day you are growing on me…
“”"”"thrylos98 says:
May 29th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
I encourage anyone to do the “Streak for Cash” on espn.com
I hope that “streak” is a noun, because if it is a verb there will be some interesting entries…”"”"”
When I was young I got arrested for streaking. The Judge threw out the case because she ruled it was “decent exposure”.
No gordo fan at all. You can rarely tell what is happening, he gets the count wrong a lot, he talks over pitches (sometimes several in one at bat). I need a radio announcer to set the scene and tell me what is happening, not to chat about stories that have nothing to do with baseball, all the while failing to tell us what is happening on the field. And his fly ball calls, ugh.
You Twins fans better quit worrying so much about umpiring and worry MORE about Minn. won/lost record on the road.
Have you looked at the Twins schedule for June? Heavy on the Road games = many, many more loses than wins……..
9 home games, 18 road games.
What do you think their June record will be? I say 8 / 19…..
Does bow well for a teama that is not even at .500 yet….
So quit worrying about umpires.
I thought he did an OK job.
The Brew crew visiting again.
But Bradley Guy, girls do better at picks because they go for prettiest uniforms and better mascots and cutest players.
Sorry, but I won’t assume the Twins win this game but I won’t assume they lost either. It is alot easier to score 1 run to at least tie it then 2. You can’t conclude anything because the stategy changes based on how many runs need to be scored.
