Results tagged ‘ Francisco Liriano ’
Strange Things
Three days after the All-Star break, the Minnesota Twins were flying high. They had just taken two of three from the Rangers (and could have easily swept them if not for a walk-off home run in the final game) and were right back in the division race.
Four days later, that feeling has been squashed like an unlucky squirrel on an Interstate.
In Oakland, it turned out that we were lucky to win a single contest (and in extra innings at that). The other two games were an embarassment, and well, maybe even a bigger embarassment, respectively.
Then, there was last night in Anaheim. Scott Baker looked great through four innings, then tanked (as he so often does) in the fifth, allowing the Halos to claw back to within one run at 3-2 (the Twins had done some early scoring thanks to Mauer and Kubel).
From that point, both teams alternated runs until the ninth inning, when the Twins handed the ball to Joe Nathan with a 5-3 lead. Right away, though, it was apparent that Nathan (for whatever reason) just didn’t have his usual “stuff” out on the mound. He walked the first batter of the inning on a wild curveball, then hit another guy to put the game-tying runs on base.
Of course, that is when the next “strange thing” reared it’s head. With a run already in and runners at the corners with two outs, Nathan was able to coax Angels batter Howie Kendrick to hit a weak little tapper up the middle. Both Alexi Casilla and Nick Punto converged on the sphere to try and get the final out, but this was the end result…
On a freak play, the ball hit off the corner of the second base bag and bounded away from both fielders, allowing Mike Napoli to score the tying run. Had the ball not honed in on that base, it looked as if Punto would have been able to make the play and end the game.
So, it was off to extra innings once again. The Twins went down 1-2-3 in their half of the tenth, then brought in there “new” callup from Triple-A…Jesse Crain. As soon as I saw him coming into the game, I was more sure than I had ever been in my life that the Twins were going to lose this game. The soundtrack in my head…
A seeing-eye single from Chone Figgins to open the inning, after which he was quickly bunted to second, only sealed the deal. True to form, Crain actually gave fans a smidgen of hope when he struck out Kendrie Morales, but a gapper from Napoli quickly had the Twins trotting back to the visitors dugout.
Final thought: The Twins are sinking (although not out yet), the starting rotation (unless Blackburn throws a gem every outing) is a mess, and Crain is probably a basket case by now and should be put on the waiver wire.
Preview (48-48, 3rd, 2.5 GB DET & CWS): Francisco Liriano (4-9, 5.33) vs. John Lackey (5-4, 4.39).
No No Na-Nathan?
Alright Gardy, please explain something to me…your team (and mine, ours, etc.) is playing in a game that, if won, will vault us into second place in the AL Central and only a game behind the leader. The bats (well, Punto, Young, and Casilla) did enough in the early innings to grab a lead, but the pitching (Liriano) faltered late. Thus, the game goes to extra innings and both bullpens are mowing guys down. In the bottom of the twelfth, though, Duensing (who had been mowing guys down the previous inning) gives up a relatively harmless single, then a sacrifice bunt. With Joe Nathan warmed up (or was, an inning or two previous) in the ‘pen, you amble out to the mound to presumably bring the best closer not nicknamed Mo into the game to shut the door, right? I mean, this is a crucial game. When chasing a team down the stretch, every single inning of every single game is critical (was that not a hard enough lesson learned last year?). Yet, this is (metaphorically speaking) what Nathan was doing during that fateful twelfth…
Instead, Gardy calls knuckler R.A. Dickey from the pen. There are so many things wrong with this decision that I would probably overload the server if I were forced to list them all. About the only thing he DID do right was not throw a wild pitch. Of course, the only reason that happened was because his knuckler was so ineffective as to be laughable. Starting with the very first pitch he threw to Ian Kinsler, the Texas second baseman’s eyes looked like beach balls (as did the sphere, I would imagine) and he started taking some monstrous hacks, off which he would just miss or foul the ball straight back (i.e. he was on the ball). In all honesty, I don’t think I’ve ever been so sure of something in my life that Kinsler (or the next batter) was going to win the game. Unfortunately, that is EXACTLY what transpired…
Unless Nathan was considered “off limits” for last night’s game (and I doubt that, as he was warming up in the bullpen on at least one occasion), I can’t think of a single reason why he wasn’t brought in for that situation. I know Gardy likes to take the conservative approach, but that doesn’t fly in the heat of a pennant race. So what if we may need Nathan to close out a game tonight in Oakland…I would have MUCH rather taken my chances with him last night.
Notes: -The Twins signed Mark Grudzielanek to a minor league contract yesterday. They say he won’t be in baseball-ready shape for a month at least. I’m usually good for some trade-deadline satire involving the Twins (“locking up” guys like Punto when other teams pull off blockbusters), but this is just ridiculous.
Preview (47-45, 3rd, 0.5 GB CWS): Nick Blackburn (8-4, 3.06) vs. Gio Gonzalez (1-2, 6.29). The A’s stink, but they have a ton of lefty pitching…meaning more Delmon Young than fans should probably ever see.
Cookin’ With Gas
Now THAT’s the Scott Baker I like to see! Against the Texas Rangers earlier tonight, Baker turned in what might have been his best start of the season thus far, allowing just one run and six hits over eight innings and striking out eight. Like I said in the previous post, the Baker-Liriano tandem will be paramount to the Twins’ second half success, so it was good to see at least half of that combo start off on the right foot.
Offensively, Cuddyer led the way tonight with a dinger and an RBI double. The streaking Carlos Gomez and Justin Morneau also added run-scoring hits.
Basically, it was just a solid win for the Twins, especially on the road.
Notes:
That is all.
Preview (47-44, 3rd, 0.5 GB CWS): Francisco Liriano (4-9, 5.47) vs. Derek Holland (3-5, 5.97). Time for Cisco to follow in Bakers’ footsteps.
A.L. Steals Another One
(I was out of town for the A.S. Game, thus am just commenting on things now…)
For whatever reason (probably because of the rich history of the event), I am an MLB All-Star game junkie. I started watching the Midsummer Classic in 1997, the same year the American League began their current winning streak, and have been hooked ever since. I mean, how can a baseball fan NOT be excited about the biggest gather of current stars in the same place, as well as the fact that the actual game means more than any other professional sports’ All-Star games (almost put together). I am also in the minority (at least I think) of people who LOVE the fact that the game determines which league gets home field advantage in the World Series…I would never want to go back to those by-and-large boring contests of the 1990s, where the Home Run Derby and pregame ceremonies far eclipsed the game itself. Thus, this year was no less exciting for me.
First, there were the always-touching pregame ceremonies…
Old-time St. Louis Cardinals such as Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, Red Schoendist, Bob Gibson, and Stan Musial (picture above) were honored before the ceremonial first pitch. As a self-proclaimed “baseball historian”, I always find it exciting to see those stars of yesteryear and remember their past greatness on the diamond. It was also quite interesting to see how the metaphorical St. Louis baseball torch is being passed from Stan The Man to Albert Pujols. Stan owned St. Louis since his retirement, and only Pujols has been able to carry that mantra since.
The network then made a big deal about the ceremonial first pitch, as it was thrown out by some guy you probably have heard of…
Let’s just say that maybe he should stick to hoops (although at least he didn’t bounce it too badly!).
The game then began with the two horses (Roy Halladay and Tim Lincecum) taking their respective mounds for either league…
Right out of the gate, the National League looked like a circuit that has had its hind end handed to it for a while now, as some fielding jitters allowed the AL to take an early 2-0 lead.
In the second inning, though, the NL came storming back…
Yadier Molina singled to score David Wright and Shane Victorino, and was quickly driven home himself when Prince Fielder hit a ground-rule double, giving the Senior Circuit a 3-2 lead.
For the next few innings, the contest was dominated by pitching. Only a Joe Mauer double in the fifth, preceded by a Derek Jeter fielder’s choice, finally tied the contest at 3-3…
Arguably the biggest play of the night, though, came in the seventh inning, when pinch hitter Brad Hawpe sent a towering fly to left-center off the first pitch he saw from Jonathon Papelbon. Carl Crawford drew a bead on the missile, though, and timed a perfect leap to rob Hawpe of four bases…
Then, right away in the next half-inning, Curtis Granderson tripled off of NL reliever Heath Bell, and later scored on a sacrifice fly from Adam Jones, giving the AL a lead it would not relinquish (not with Joe Nathan and Mariano Rivera next out of the pen). Granderson took home MVP honors for his triple and run-scored…
So once again, the 2009 version of the MLB All-Star game was another exciting experience. The game was well-contested and full of tension, while (selfishly) the AL extended its winning streak and will now have home turf come late October. Plus, Joe Mauer (1-3, double), Joe Nathan (1 scoreless inning), and Justin Morneau (two hard-hit outs) had good showings in the game.
Twins Notes:
-Relief pitcher Kevin Mulvey is up, third-string catcher Jose Morales is down, as the Twins want a 12-man pitching staff going forward.
-Late breaking news: Alexi Casilla may still be a bonehead; letting a ball skip right past him on one occasion last night and then failing to cover the base on another. Let’s just chock it up to “I want to impress Gardy” nerves and keep our fingers tightly crossed.
Preview (46-44, 3rd, 0.5 GB CWS): Scott Baker (7-7, 5.42) vs. Scott Feldman (8-2, 3.83). One big key for the Twins in the second half is to have Baker and Liriano pitch better than they did in the first 81. That starts tonight.
Emperors And Idiots
Just recently, I finished reading Mike Vaccaro’s book entitled “Emperors and Idiots” and had fun re-living the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry of 2003 and 2004 (as well as down throughout the years). However, after watching the Twins get swept (once again) by the Yankees this past week, I think that title could very well ring true to the contests between these two teams as well. Basically, the Yankees are the emperors, and they make the Twins look like idiots.
Each of the three games of this most recent series was, in its own right, a little slice of why the Yankees thump the Twins so bad each and every game. First, was the big blowout where the Yankees just teed-off on Scott Baker. Second, was the Twins’ bats running into the buzzsaw that is A.J. Burnett (I almost titled this post “Why do guys named A.J. always haunt the Twins?”) while we throw Anthony Swarzak in against the most powerful lineup in the game. Finally, Thursday’s matinee was just that kind of game where the Twins kept battling for all nine innings, but the Yankees always had an answer with their bats.
To put it bluntly, the Yankees make us look like a minor league outfit for one primary reason: our pitching isn’t good enough to stop their tremendous hitting. Unless Nick Blackburn were to take the mound, there would be no starter-starter combination that would favor the Twins. Baker is too inconsistent, Liriano is Liriano, Swarzak’s just a kid, and Perkins is erratic.
All told, the series can be summed up in two pictures:
Preview (43-43, 3rd, 1.5 GB CWS): John Danks (7-6, 3.76) vs. Nick Blackburn (7-4, 2.94). Coming into the Yankees series, the Twins were in second place and nipping at Detroit’s heels. Now they are in third place and looking up at the Pale Hose as well. A “statement series” before the All-Star break would be nice, as would the bump in the standings.
Thoughts From The First Two Games
A few random thoughts from the first two games of the current Twins-Tigers series:
-Though going 16 innings and losing is bad enough for players and fans alike, I really can’t pin the blame on anyone in particular. The Tiger bullpen was just throwing gas, and the Twins’ batters were (by and large) having decent at-bats. They just couldn’t string enough hits together to get that elusive run across the plate.
-The Twins showed a little moxie today after Liriano gave up the big fly to Magglio Ordonez to give the pinstriped ones their short-lived lead. In a game that needed to be won, the Twins came up with some clutch at-bats and were able to get the job done. Now, we just need to take care of business tomorrow and things will be okay again.
-I never like to see a pitcher like Kevin Slowey go on the disabled list, but hopefully this will give him some time to either: A. get his wrist checked out, or B. get his mind right and back in that groove he had been in until a week or so ago. Swarzak can probably fill in decently for Slowey, but we need Kevin back to his Brad Radke-esque form, where he can pitched deep into games and always give us a chance to win.
-I really think that Denard Span and Carlos Gomez need to stop fighting over outfield assists. Eventually there is going to be a nasty train-wreck out there if they don’t get on the same page. I think the problem is that both players, being center fielders by natural position, are used to calling off all other fielders (usually the CF’s perogative) to catch the ball. However, Span is playing out in left alot recently, and in the back of his mind he probably knows that Gomez doesn’t take the best routes to balls but will scream for the catch anyway.
-Former Cubbie star Mark Grace was showing some serious love for the M&M boys today in the FOX TV broadcast. Well-deserved, too, as they contributed to most of the scoring. I look forward to watching them in the All-Star Game (which the roster for will be released tomorrow, by the way).
-Finally, today’s Fourth of July holiday also marks the 70th anniversary of Lou Gehrig giving what is now famously known as his ‘Luckiest Man” speech. I know that the Iron Horse was second-banana to The Babe for so many years, but in that moment he showed what was truly in his heart all that time…kindness, gentleness, yet a competitive spirit that made him choked up over being taken out of a lineup when he was actually dying. It still gives me goosebumps every time I see it. Greatest first baseman of all-time? Yes. Is there really any other serious competition?!
-Of course, for a little lighter holiday fare, you could check out the annual SciFi Channel Twilight Zone marathon. Still a creepy show all these years later!
Preview (42-40, 2nd, 0.5 GB CWS for 2nd): Rick Porcello (8-5, 3.90) vs. Nick Blackburn (6-4, 3.10). Need to win this series…that is all.
Keep On Rollin’ (And A R.I.P.)
The Twins finished up the Interleague Portion of their season today, beating the Cardinals 6-2 behind a strong start from Francisco Liriano and some big hits from Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel.
Looking back, the Twins (once again) really enjoyed this month of NL play, as (just recently) we were one Nick Blackburn gaffe and two Albert Pujols swings away from sweeping both the Brewers and Cardinals ON THE ROAD. The Twins haven’t played that well in an opposing ballpark since guys like Mientkiewicz, Rivas, and Guzman were still lurking around!
Now, though, the test will be whether or not the Twins can parlay this Interleague success back over to the AL. Luckily, the road doesn’t get much easier than in Kansas City, our opponent tomorrow night.
Preview (39-38, 2nd, 4.0 GB DET): Nick Blackburn (6-3, 3.11) vs. Luke Hochevar (2-3, 5.87). The Royals have nothing without Zack Grienke, and we don’t draw him…sweet.
By the way, this guy died today…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkuReA-AGa8
Unbelievable. Celebs (Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Mays) are dying at an incredible rate these days.
Unfortunately, this just means that this guy…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJEKqI1e714
…is now the “king” of infomercials. Sad.
A Decent (If Lucky) Start To The Road Trip
If you missed the first three innings of tonight’s Twins-Brewers contest at Miller Park, you were pretty much out of luck action wise. The Twins put seven runs up on the board in those three frames, with Carlos Gomez getting a hit in each!
The bad news is that Liriano stunk once again, allowing three runs over five innings but walking guys all over the park, giving up deep flys, and then getting a lucky strikeout to end an inning. He was essentially in trouble all night, yet ended up getting the win.
However, the bullpen (Dickey-Guerrier-Nathan) was able to take care of the latter four innings in perfect fashion, something that cannot be underestimated by the Twins pen on the road against a decent team. I always love it when Nathan completely blows away the side in the ninth, and that is EXACTLY what happened tonight.
About the only thing that made the game less enjoyable was that my FSN North station was crap for the entire game. It would skip, jerk, and blank out at intervals just enough to be maddening. Did anyone else have this problem? I hope it doesn’t continue into tomorrow.
Notes:
-You know, Joe Crede has got to be one of the most productive .230 hitters I have ever seen. I don’t know how a guy with a batting average that low that provides so much offense when in the lineup. He must never hit any singles, just extra-base knocks.
-I guess that before Luis Ayala was designated for assignment yesterday, he complained to Gardy about his role in the pen, as he thought he should (and was brought onto the team) to be the primary setup man. Basically, that tells me why he didn’t last very long here in Minny, what with our general preference for team-first kind of guys. Nobody gets a free ride around here. He made have had one decent season in the National League, but when transferring to a different organization you have to prove yourself all over again. The only thing he proved is that he could give up deep gopher balls with men on base.
-Also, as if this needs to be prefaced, Delmon Young made himself look silly out in left field tonight. He had one nice running catch, but later on he misplayed a carom so badly that he fell down on the completely opposite direction of the ball. Would have been quite funny if not for the fact that Young is getting a reputation for that sort of clumsiness.
Preview (36-36, 2nd, 4.0 GB DET): Nick Blackburn (6-2, 3.09) vs. Braden Looper (5-4, 5.21).
Didn’t See The Game Today…But Didn’t Miss Much
Yep, it was that kind of day today. Carlos Gomez just about knocked himself out with a bunt attempt (something I honestly think only Go-Go could accomplish), the Twins only collected two hits, and once again the overall record dropped below the .500 mark.
Plus, Glen Perkins gave up three runs in the first inning, and despite settling down after that, the Twins’ bats couldn’t touch Wandy Rodriguez.
I guess the Twins were just following the well-laden pattern of getting completely shut down on Sunday afternoons no matter what the venue or opposing starting pitcher (although the “lefty” and “on the road” combination might as well equal a loss every time). Perhaps this is just an errant thought from myself (imagine that!), but I would be willing to almost bet that, since Gardy took over in 2002 as manager, the Twins (day-of-the-week wise) have played their worst baseball on Sundays. There’s a challenge for all you stat nerds out there…figure out the Twins’ record per day since 2002. Heck, if “Plunking Gomez” can make Jesse Crain’s stats look good, anything can happen (!).
Oh well, at least something exciting happened today (and no, it’s not that I figured out how to do that cool word-linking thing).
Preview (35-36, 2nd, 4.0 GB DET): Francisco Liriano (2-8, 5.91) vs. Jeff Suppan (5-4, 4.48). Off on Monday, then jetting to Milwaukee for a Tuesday night game. Am excited to watch the Twins pitchers hit again!
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