The Long Ball Streak Ends, Along With All Hope
Last week we were talking about the Achilles heel of the Twins’ pitching staff (one of them, anyhow) — the home runs.
At the time, we’d given up 155 HR, ranking 12th in the AL. The worry was that our weakness perfectly complements the White Sox’ strength, and that that harms us significantly.
Evidently, someone in the Twins clubhouse was listening, because they’ve really gone out of their way to prove that our fears were warranted.
In the third inning of the second game on Saturday, Perkins gave up a three run home run to Salazar. On Sunday, we gave up 7 runs on 5 homers to the Orioles (Salazar, Markakis, and Montanez). On Monday, we gave up 3 runs on 2 homers to the Indians (Shoppach and Choo). Then on Tuesday, the first four runs we gave up against the Indians were on two home runs (Garko and Cabrera). The streak finally ended in the third inning on Tuesday when a Punto error moved a runner to third and a Liriano wild pitch let the run in.
So, over the course of under four games, we gave up 17 consecutive runs via the home run (on 10 homers). And the only thing that managed to finally end the long ball pain was the Twins’ other major weakness — defense. (Team defensive efficiency of .694, 20th in baseball.)
Mark this moment. 7:10 PM, Central Time. The Twins are down 8-1 in the 3rd to the Indians and the White Sox are up 4-1 in the 4th over the Yankees.
To quote Dick Bremer: “… one of the most unsightly innings of the year.” Indeed. It’s fitting. Almost poetic.
This precise moment may be the end of the Twins’ dreams of contention in 2008. The 17 consecutive runs via the home run aren’t the reason for the end — they just irrefutably demonstrate why the end came.
It was nice while it lasted. And now that the pressure’s off, maybe the Twins can start hitting and/or pitching and/or defending like major leaguers again. It’s gotten too much like watching the Vikings, and I for one can only tolerate that wretched experience once per week.
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Only 3 HRs so far. 9-9 now.
For a while there, it looked like the hitters did relax.
Then the game got close again, and we were able to load the bases before tightening up and not scoring. If you load the bases in three straight innings, how many runs do you think you score? If you guessed 1, you’re right.
And of course … The Original Reyes, NEveryday Eddie blew it in the 8th.
…yeah, we started a new streak of HRs, Sizemore followed by Victor M. Nice going Steady Eddie and Joe “what am I paid for” Nathan!!
Anyone still want Chad Bradford, LaTroy Hawkins, or Bobby Korecky (2 months ago) now?
Bradford and Hawkins would definitely be big upgrades for us, and would have strengthened our bullpen over the past few weeks when we’ve needed it the most. Korecky too, back then.
Eddie has proven to be a huge mistake.
Oh, and one thing Nathan’s NOT paid to do? Warm up intermittently over the course of 4 innings and then finally enter the game in a non-save situation after not seeing game action for 5 days. Talk about a tough situation — odds are Nathan would have had better command, movement, and velocity if he’d come in in the ninth after his normal warmup. Of course, that would require that we can actually GET THE LEAD TO HIM.