Gomez Cycles, Punto Being Punto
I was at the game last night. I stood, huddled out of the rain for two hours while a torrential downpour punished US Cellular Field (presumably for those dorky pinwheels). Finally, they started the game at 9 o’clock, despite the fact that it was still drizzling. I was not bullish on the team’s chances in the game. For one thing, they’d looked awful the night before. Secondly, Buerhle was pitching, and he always kills the Twins. And Monroe was in the 3-hole and Redmond-Tolbert-Punto were in a row. And the field was soaked. I said to my brother: “What are the odds the Twins score a run tonight?”
Well Carlos Gomez greeted me by crushing the third pitch of the game, lining it hard over the fence in left. When he makes contact on those “Who cares if I’m swinging way too hard?” swings, the ball can really sail. The Twins had scored a run, and beaten the odds.
Thankfully, the offense exploded for 13 runs on 16 hits, while Livan Hernandez took a shutout into the 9th (and promptly lost it when Jermaine “Roid Rage” Dye put one over the fence). And Carlos Gomez hit for the cycle … entertainingly, in reverse order — homer, triple, double, single. This is one of those dizzying highs for Gomez’s season, and I’m certainly enjoying it.
In the 5th inning, the Twins were putting a good threat together. Men on first and second, nobody out. Punto steps up to the plate. At the time, it was a 1-0 game, and it seemed this would be our chance to break the game open against Buerhle. Punto bunted, and proceeded not to run to first. Redmond was thrown out at third (it kind of negates the point of a sacrifice bunt if the guy on base is too slow to advance to the next base). It was a tough slide, and almost knocked Crede down … but he still had time to notice that Punto was still standing at home plate and set himself to throw Punto out. Quickly, the promising inning was no more thanks to a certain Nick Punto. (Gomez promptly tripled home a run, and Punto finished his game by hitting a couple of doubles and driving in 5 runs, so I guess someone really lit into him in the dugout. My guess is it wasn’t Gardy.)
(Quick aside: Over the offseason, Punto apparently worked out with Manny Ramirez. I wondered, at the time, what that would result in. Would Punto gain some strength at be able to hit a home run? Would Manny start playing with reckless abandon while trying to justify his contract? Neither seemed that believable. But last night, we finally discovered what Punto learned while hanging out with Manny: “Manny being Manny.” He put down that bunt and just stood there in the batter’s box, admiring his splendid work, just like Manny does when he pounds a homer (or near-homer). The thing is, “Punto being Punto” doesn’t have the same ring to it.)
This game really was incredible. It’s what you’d expect the first place team to be able to do once in a while. And excellence (13 runs, Gomez’s cycle, Livan’s gem) managed to completely overshadow utter incompetence (Punto’s “bunt”).
Slowey starts against Danks this afternoon, and we’ll get to see if the Twins can build off this performance.
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You sure lucked out by going to Wed’s game instead of Tue’s!
Are there stats for teams facing each other again after a no-hitter? Does the team that won the no-hitter typically let down? Or is that just a Chisox trait?
Before the game, they showed stats over the last ten or so one-hitters and how the team fairs the next game. All of the teams who were one-hit out of the last ten recorded at least 10 hits, and many scored 8-plus runs. Punto really angered me, and his later production in the game does not make up for how bad his play was. There should never be a 2-5-3 double play, especially when the hitter is known only for his scrappiness. He was trying to argue the ball was foul, however it wasn’t. Even if it was foul, you should never not run out a close play. I have a really bad feeling now that Gardy will, “Like the way Nicky bounced back,” and always find a spot for him in the order.
I liked that Livan was able to fight through the ninth and get the complete game. I still think it is a matter of time until AL hitters adjust to his stuff and start pounding the ball, however I’ll ride this train as far as it goes.
I was listening to KFAN this morning and they were discussing how the cycle is kind of an overdone accomplishment. They said that even though it is rarer than a no-hitter, a no-hitter is a way bigger deal. While they acknowledged that getting 4 hits and 3 XB hits is a great day at the dish, getting exactly one of each type of hit is just kind of a random accomplishment. They brought up the point that if Gomez hits an XB hit instead of a single in the 9th, wouldn’t that be better, even though it isn’t the cycle? Either way, it was good to see him pound the ball a few times.
Twins will face two more southpaws in their next two starts, so expect the Kubel ABs to be low.
I’ll ride the Livan train as long as it takes us. Just like the ROrtiz train last year (although the Livan train has already gone longer).
The question of the cycle’s value versus getting more XBH is an interesting one. Yesterday, Joey Votto of the Reds went 3-4 with 3 HR, 3R 4 RBI, 1 BB. At first glance, that’s much better than 4-6 with 1 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 R, 2 K.
But Gomez’s double and single both participated in rallies (and his triple would have, too, if not for Punto’s “bunt”). As the old conventional wisdom says, “Nothing ends a rally faster than a three run homer.” Of course, Votto’s homers weren’t 3 runs apiece (two solos and a 2 run), but the point that they weren’t part of a “rally” still stands.
Here’s something I find a little interesting: yesterday, the Reds scored 9 of their 9 runs via home runs. Whereas the Twins scored 1 of their 13 runs via home runs.
It’s hard to sustain a rally (since everyone needs to be hitting), but if a player hits the cycle and the hits either spark a rally or keep one going, then I’d say it’s a more valuable day than Votto’s 3 HRs. (By the same token, however, I’d say 4 doubles would be even more valuable than a cycle.)
The most valuable? Apparently, last season in the minors, Gomez had a game where he went 6-6 with 2 HR, 2 3B, 1 2B, 1 1B. Now that’s a good day at the ballpark.
I see your point about keeping up rallies, however Gomez was left stranded on his triple and double. His single came in kind of a garbage inning at the end of the game that was all but over. In both his double and triple at bats, there were two outs (granted without Punto’s idiotic play, there should have been only one.) I would always take a two out homerun over a two out double or triple, because it is certain that the run scores. Regardless, it was still an awesome feat, and the reason I like the cycle is you have to have the speed to get a triple and the power to get a homerun. That 6-6 game would have been nice to see.
Good point about the speed + power. Votto’s not going to get many triples.
If you hit a homer, it almost expects that other guys on your team can hit home runs too (and if they don’t, you’re either not scoring more runs that inning or it didn’t matter that you hit a home run).
I mean, it’s pretty obvious that the best lineup/best inning would be one in which everyone just hits home runs all the time. But … that doesn’t really happen. Ever.
The way I see it, there are two basic philosophies for building an offense: walks + power, or consecutive hits + speed. (Obviously it’s more complicated than that, but if you were going to boil it down to just two, I think those are the two.)
And lacking consistent power hitters, the Twins need to sustain rallies by generating consecutive hits. Sometimes, they can. But the hitters just aren’t quite good enough to do it consistently, day in and day out.