Anticipointment
Anticipoinment has to be the official word of the Twins-Royals weekend series. The series brought much anticipation for the return of Joe Mauer, and let me be clear, Mauer had nothing to with the latter half of the portmanteau. In his first at-bat on Friday night, he took 2 pitches for balls before hitting an opposite field solo home run. Mauer also had a double and a walk, and with the help of a 3 RBI night from Justin Morneau the Twins won the first game of the series, and all was right in the world again.
The second two games of the series brought some disappointment. An ugly game involving errors on both sides led to an eventual 11th inning loss for the Twins, largely because the bullpen, namely Craig Breslow, couldn't get the ball over the plate late in the game.
On Sunday Scott Baker took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, but then hit a brick wall (with spikes in it). Baker was unable to retire a single Royal in the seventh and was ultimately charged with all 5 runs that scored that inning. R.A. Dickey surrendered the final 2 runs in the eighth and ninth innings and the Twins lost by a score of 7-5.
After demoting Juan Morillo and cutting back to an 11-man pitching staff, the Twins needed a lot of innings from the bullpen. Jesse Crain has been activated from the DL to help solve those problems. Jose Morales was sent down, and the team says Mike Redmond's shoulder is feeling better.
If he remains healthy, Crain should provide a needed boost to the bullpen, however the Twins probably could use more. More consistent starting pitching always helps, but I also struggle to see how Dickey fits into the Twins' needs. He was brought into a bases-loaded situation on Saturday night in the 11th, simply because he was the only pitcher remaining. Due to the obvious concern of throwing a wild pitch with a man on 3rd, Dickey didn't once throw a knuckleball, his signature pitch, until the damage had already been done.
Weekend Notes
- Mauer batted .700 (7-for-10) with a walk in the opening series. We couldn't have asked for a better return from him.
- Kevin Slowey got hit around pretty good on Friday night after it seemed he was finally getting on track this season.
- Jose Mijares looks like a good fit so far in the setup role. He struck out 3 batters in the eighth on Friday night.
Topics: Joe Mauer, R.A. Dickey, Justin Morneau, Scott Baker, Craig Breslow, Minnesota Twins, Jesse Crain, Juan Morillo, Mike Redmond, Jose Morales
3 Comments
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KrisMay 4, 2009 03:11:01 PM
I don't think any manager in baseball would pull a pitcher that has a no-hitter going through six innings. If Gardy had done that, he surely would've been tarred and feathered by an angry mob, if not worse.
TomMay 4, 2009 05:25:23 PM
No offense Leon but you don't know much about baseball if you think Gardy should have pulled Baker after the 6th. He had a NO HITTER going. He should have been yanked right after the three run homer, I agree with that, but only with the benefit of hindsight would a bullpen move to start the seventh make sense. Even had baker given up 6 hits and two runs at that point you do not pull him... especially the way our bullpen has been throwing lately.
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May 4, 2009 02:44:48 PM
here is my comment on sundays game first of all since we had a 4 run lead going into the seventh inning and we have joe nathan to finish up the ninth inning why did we not use the bullpen wisely in the seventh and eight inning relieve baker who was doing fine thus he would have built his confidence and we would have won not very good management skills knowing when to bring in the relief corps.