Doing many little things wrong at one time
Posted on June 25th, 2009 – 9:42 AMBy Howard
Short post because there’s a day game coming up — and I’ll be doing an in-game Twins Chat starting at 2 p.m.. Details will be posted on the home page.
In case you get into a conversation with folks who want you to dissect the game-losing play at the end of the eighth inning last night, here’s what I saw (again and again because it really was a confluence of ineptitude).
*On a throw from the wall, Brendan Harris has time to move his feet to get in position to take Kubel’s relay, even if the throw was a bit off. Moving his feet may be the weakest part of Harris’ game and that’s exactly a play he’s gotten a lot of chance to work on — all the more because he had to bull his way into the stareting shortstop position.
*Harris needed to make a better throw. J.J. Hardy isn’t exactly Nick Punto on the bases.
*Joe Mauer tried to make a lost-cause catch-and-sweep tag. You can debate the merits of his choice. Even if the play was a long shot, Jason Kendall is going to stay at second base if Mauer catches the ball. Some would argue, though, That Mauer fiorst and foremost had to make sure that he had control of the ball, even if it meant conceding the run. You decide. (Oops, too late. It’s a split-second decision.)
*Nick Blackburn needed to hold on to the ball instead of throwing toward third. The difference between Kendall at second and Kendall at third with two outs is negligible. It would have been all about retiring the next batter and keeping the game tied at 3. Blackburn said he thought Kendall was only midway between second and third when he thrw; it looked to me like he was a lot closer than that.
Whatever the case (and Gardy’s hypersensitivity to the postgame question not withstanding) Blackburn’s pitch count and command of the game after the first couple of innings warranted that he stay in the game to pitch the eighth — and pitch to Kendall in that situation.
Stuff just went kablooey.
27 Responses to "Doing many little things wrong at one time"
“”"Stuff just went kablooey.”"”
kablooey stuff happens in the strange game of baseball.
Thanks for putting that fateful play into perspective. It was a very unfortunate turn of events, but I totally agree that Blackburn belonged there in the 8th inning. I still like the Twins chances every game he pitches.
I disagree that blacky should have been in there, and it has nothing to do with pitch count, command, or performance. 3-2 lead, bottom of the seventh, 1 out, and you put blacky on deck, with .400 morales twiddling his thumbs. Come on Gardy! Put your team in a position to succeed! What’s the point of having a set up guy if your afraid to roll the dice? Sure, Nick was spinning a gem…again, but that’s not the point.
Top of the eight, not bottom of seventh.
That sounds about right to me. I was at the game - somehow I’ve found myself living in M’waukee - and had seats just up from the Brewers’ on-deck circle so I had a pretty good view of all of this. My recollection is that Kendall was probably 2/3 of the way to third. A good throw might have got him, but Blackburn wasn’t in a position to make a good throw (he had to scramble to get the ball).
Easy choice, keep Blackburn in the game. No question.
If you use Morales, there’s basically a 1 in 3 chance that he gets a hit (if you think he’s actually a .333 hitter). He’s totally a singles hitter, so you’ve still got to get another hit to score a run. Go with Blackburn. If there is one pitcher that he earned and deserved the coaches and fans’ respect, it’s Blackburn.
Yes. Keeping Blackburn in the game was the right choice. I would even have left him in there for the 9th if that inning had been necessary. He ended the game with a respectable 96 pitches.
That play was just a fluke. Nothing more, nothing less. Harris, Mauer and Blackburn are all good players who just happened to make minor mistakes (that added up to a major mistake) at the same time. The Twins just have to move on and win the series today. That is not the sort of thing that they should dwell on.
A no-brainer to keep Blackburn in the game. Stuff happens.
*Harris needed to make a better throw. J.J. Hardy isn’t exactly Nick Punto on the bases.
That’s the bottom line. If he makes a decent throw, Mauer catches and tags Hardy and the rest of the play is moot.
Poor throws happen. I was glad to see Harris own up. It seems to have been easier for him to acknowledge his bad throw than for some of his defenders I’ve read last night and this morning to do so.
I’m still trying to figure out how Kendall is still an MLB player. I’ll bet Blackburn thought he would be the last guy to burn him.
Icon,
People have to get past the idea of taking Blackburn out in that situation - he deserved to stay in! The series of misplays will probably never happen again to the Twins but it did and let’s get over it and go out there today and just pound the Brewers good and make them pay for that embarassing play.
Pull Blackburn (and all other starters) early and burn out the bullpen just like last year.
“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it”…….George Santayana
Howard,
Gotta say I agree right down the line with what you saw. That’s what I saw.
Agree Blackburn has to be out there–we dont have the dominating 8th inning guy. As to the play–$@#+ happens…
DAM
Chat at 2 p.m. will be a lot of fun!
A win today will make it all better…I saw the play the same way Howard did…hard to blame anyone on what happened, it was just baseball, that’s all. If we had to second-guess, you would point out that the one thing you CANNOT allow on a play like that is for both runners to score, so if you’re going to make an extra throw to try to get someone out, you better be darn sure of it.
Wonder how the lineup will go today…will Go-Go have to sit on the bench (I hope not)?
M&M struggled last night…I was hoping for more from Morneau in his final AB. I hope Gardy starts him today. Mauer may be suffering from the SI curse…he’ll likely sit today so he’ll have a full 48 hours to cure that curse…he might even get to catch Dick Bremer on TV rave about him today…last night Dick B. came up with another Thom Brenneman / Tim Tebow-like gem in praising Joe Mauer, which went something like this:
“Mauer was 0-for-5 last night…but considering the workout Liriano gave him behind the plate throughout the evening, the fact that he was able to make contact in all five at-bats is a testiment to his abilities as a hitter…”
Can’t make that up! Can’t wait for 2:00 p.m.!
Champioship teams win games like that, they do not lose them.
Jason, I heard that quote from Bremer too… Just shook my head and hit the mute again! 
I don’t mind Gardy leaving Blackburn in, however it seemed whenever Blackburn had an at-bat the next inning always seemed to be a chore for him to get through compared to the other innings he pitched.
“Champioship teams win games like that, they do not lose them”
All teams (championship or otherwise) win and lose games like that.
Some teams win more, other teams lose more.
All teams (championship or otherwise) win and lose games like that.
Exactly.
The Twins won a game like that—when the Brewers failed to execute defensively multiple times (just not on one play)—the night before last.
Gardy was right to leave Blackburn in. A couple errors in the 8th cost them the game not Blackburn’s pitching. That happens in baseball over a long season. Probably won’t be the last time this year that the Twins beat themselves either. Just hope they can keep that to a minimum. Last year this type of thing happened a bunch, but they are playing much better D this year so far.
Call Me Stupid says: “A couple errors in the 8th cost them the game not Blackburn’s pitching”
I think we have to say Blackburn’s pitching had something to do with it, or else how did those guys who got free passes home get on base in the first place? That’s not to say Blackburn wasn’t excellent, but he did have a bit of a meltdown in that inning.
On the other hand, it’s sort of silly to say any one thing or even small subset of things is the cause of a loss. A lot of good and bad events add up to the final score.
Wasn’t Blackburn just on deck? I think the idea is that if he had gotten up he would have been pinch hit for. Blame the loss on the guy ahead of him not getting on.
“Chat at 2 p.m. will be a lot of fun!”
A good and average chat was had.
that whole sequence reminded me of what I see on little league fields all the time - trying to do too much & throwing the ball all over the field.
“Kablooey” is a good description of it …
with the kids, it’s the desire to ‘rescue’ the situation by getting an out somewhere … and it usually ends with the ball being thrown into the outfield & base runners circling the bases like they were on a merry-go-round.
Definition: “little league home run”
“Play which occurs when (a) batter nubs ball out in front of the plate; (b) catcher fields ball and ‘yoikes and aways’ it into right field - batter runner heads to second; (c) right fielder fields ball and ‘yoikes and aways’ it over the shortstop into foul territory down the left field line - batter runner heads to third; (d) left fielder picks up ball in foul territory and throws it 15 feet over the catcher’s head - batter runner scores.”
BD57,
What makes it a “little league home run” is when the batter’s father is the scorekeeper.
Right, romer, chat’s are just “OK”. We wouldn’t get to hear BD’s play-by-play of a Texas Leaguer, I mean, LITTLE Leaguer. It was funny how the boys were throwing it all over he!! and the runner scored. I’m not talking about our Brewers game, I mean BD’s game. It wasn’t a bit funny when our guys did it.
