A Much Needed Win
Twins 3, Blue Jays 2- 11 innings.
We had a good old fashioned pitchers duel last night. The second time Perkins has been involved in one this season. However, the offense didn’t let him down as badly this time. Both lineups were held in check throughout most of the game. It was very frsutrating to see the Twins load the bases with no outs in the sixth only to have Cuddyer strike out, and Crede ground into a double play. Perkins didn’t let this get him down, he continued to mow through the Jays lineup until the 8th when he gave up a double to Rios, who eventually scored on a single. His line was still spectacular. 8 innings, 2 ER, 4 Ks, 1 BB. Can’t ask for much more out of your pitcher, especially when facing the highest scoring team in the AL.
Crede more than made up for the inning ending DP, with a walk off double off of Jesse Carlson. Our very own Jesse pitched two scoreless to pick up the win.
This was a great game, however I would like to see the offense stop wasting opportunities like they have all season. I understand we don’t have Joe Mauer, but that doesn’t mean scoring no runs after loading the bases with no outs is OK.
Baker gets the start tonight, with the team moving Duensing to Rochester to make room. This means we are hanging on to RA Dickey for a while. I’m OK with this move, Duensing will be inserted into the rotation in AAA which is probably better for him.
Before the season did anyone think Glen Perkins would be our best starting pitcher after two times through the rotation? I certainly didn’t.
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Honestly I’m surprised we won that game. I really just have no confidence in our offense.
We already have 2 walkoff wins this season. We can’t sustain that; we need to score more runs, earlier.
But I was pleased with the work of Perkins and Crain, and I’m glad Gardy brought in Nathan in a tie game in the 9th at home: it’s just the correct move.
I was looking at the upcoming matchups, how about Halladay-Liriano on thursday? Lets hope Liriano brings his A-game. I’m guessing we won’t score much in that game.
Liriano needs to bring his A game in that one. We’ll be fortunate to get 2 runs against Halladay.
(Of course these days we’re fortunate to score 2 runs on anyone.)
On the plus side, Span has bounced back from his poor spring training- Perkins, too. I agree with you- I would never have guessed he would be the most successful so far.
Baker tonight should be interesting. Will he give up three home runs or pitch seven scoreless innings?
I was never really worried about Span. Even during ST when he couldn’t get a hit, he was still drawing walks … which indicated that he was still seeing the ball, just not connecting right, or his timing was off, or the ball wasn’t falling in. If you’re seeing the ball well, the rest will come.
Which is why Morneau, Cuddyer, Casilla, and Delmon are worrying me. They don’t seem to be seeing the ball at all. (And I’d say Morneau is the worst right now.)
Aren’t Crede, Young, and Morneau slow starters every year? That may be why they aren’t hitting well right now. (That’s why it sucks to have Mauer out, too.)
Here’s a question for wiser baseball minds than mine: Dick’s been talking about how the switch hitters on the team don’t have any hits against right-handed pitchers (or was it from the right side? I can’t remember). If that’s the case, why bother having them switch sides of the plate? Maybe Gardy should let them swing away from one side only for awhile rather than futilely struggling. Or is this a cardinal baseball sin?
I’ve often wondered the same thing about switch hitters. For example, in Casilla’s career, his OPS+ is 108 from the left side and just 85 from the right side. That’s simply a HUGE gap. It seems to me that if the gap is that big, he’s not a switch hitter. He’s just a left handed hitter.
Conversely, in Punto’s career his OPS+ is 102 from the left side and 95 from the right side; that’s not a big gap, and he may actually be a viable switch hitter.
Given that it’s just a week’s worth of games, it’s not enough time to say “Just hit from one side for now.” If they do that, they won’t get game action for their other side, and the skill will dissipate. But if it’s over the course of an entire career, at some point someone should probably just say “You are not a switch hitter any more.”
I wonder what the consensus would be on this one.
Thanks- you’re right, it is a small sample size. But if no hitting continues for a significant length of time, the obvious answer would seem to be, “Don’t hit from that side anymore.”
Then again, I just don’t know how important the right-left matchup is.
Yeah, I think Casilla has had enough of a career that the sample size is big enough to say “You’re left handed.” But it’s not the last week that should have done it. It was the last few years.