Nightly Roundup
1.) Obviously, the Twins are no longer in the Wild Card lead. Nevertheless, the Magic Number does not disappear, it just stays at 50. I'm going to leave it up unless the Twins fall into 3rd in the WC race. Incidentally, the Red Sox are free-falling. Losing 5 in a row to the D-Rays and Royals? Ouch. And the theory that Papelbon is thinking too much due to the Varitek injury, put forth by either Buster Olney or Rob Neyer on ESPN (sorry, can't remember which), seems like a good one to me. The Red Sox look like they're done.
2.) Rondell White is about to go on the DL, again, and that provides the opening that Lew Ford needed to get back to the Major League level. I hope that Ford's presence doesn't take playing time away from Tyner or Rabe, who have both played very well. Meanwhile, Francisco Liriano is still out indefinitely, and the fact that there is even a suggestion that he could be out for the year is an ominous one. Even if the Twins were to make it into the playoffs without Liriano, they are a significantly less dangerous team with a Santana-Radke-???? rotation than with a Santana-Liriano-Radke rotation. Let's hope that Liriano's estimate of 2 weeks is closer to the truth.
3.) I watched the last 6 innings or so of the White Sox-Yankees game tonight, and was impressed beyond belief by Bobby Abreu. I've been reading from just about every ESPN commentator out there (especially Olney) that Abreu is a machine when it comes to forcing pitchers to throw high numbers of pitches to him. Tonight provided an excellent example of that, as in two of the three at-bats I saw he was fearless about getting 2 strikes. The reason? He sees the ball so well that he just fouls off pitches he doesn't like, and end up either drawing a walk or nailing a fastball that's in a juicy spot. He reminds me a lot of Wade Boggs and Tony Gwynn in that respect. He was a great addition for the Yankees, who I've been in the uncomfortable and unusual position of rooting for over the last three days due to the fact that they were playing the White Sox. Another problem for me? Abreu joins Derek Jeter as a Yankee that I can't bring myself to hate.
2.) Rondell White is about to go on the DL, again, and that provides the opening that Lew Ford needed to get back to the Major League level. I hope that Ford's presence doesn't take playing time away from Tyner or Rabe, who have both played very well. Meanwhile, Francisco Liriano is still out indefinitely, and the fact that there is even a suggestion that he could be out for the year is an ominous one. Even if the Twins were to make it into the playoffs without Liriano, they are a significantly less dangerous team with a Santana-Radke-???? rotation than with a Santana-Liriano-Radke rotation. Let's hope that Liriano's estimate of 2 weeks is closer to the truth.
3.) I watched the last 6 innings or so of the White Sox-Yankees game tonight, and was impressed beyond belief by Bobby Abreu. I've been reading from just about every ESPN commentator out there (especially Olney) that Abreu is a machine when it comes to forcing pitchers to throw high numbers of pitches to him. Tonight provided an excellent example of that, as in two of the three at-bats I saw he was fearless about getting 2 strikes. The reason? He sees the ball so well that he just fouls off pitches he doesn't like, and end up either drawing a walk or nailing a fastball that's in a juicy spot. He reminds me a lot of Wade Boggs and Tony Gwynn in that respect. He was a great addition for the Yankees, who I've been in the uncomfortable and unusual position of rooting for over the last three days due to the fact that they were playing the White Sox. Another problem for me? Abreu joins Derek Jeter as a Yankee that I can't bring myself to hate.
posted by JST @ Thursday, August 10, 2006
4 Comments:
At Fri Aug 11, 11:08:00 AM ,
Marty said...
Wade Bogg and Tony Gwynn? I don't think so, when Abreu finally gets a pitch to hit he normally hits it well. As in power, as in kick ass exciting baseball.
Tony Gwynn baseball is for little league.
At Fri Aug 11, 11:19:00 AM ,
JST said...
Well, ok, neither Boggs nor Gwynn hit for power (which you freaky power hitters can't stand), but I was referring to his uncanny ability to foul pitches off with complete confidence that he's going to hit the ball somewhere with 2 strikes on him. You're right, Abreu has more power, but your dismissal of Hall of Famers like Boggs and (soon) Gwynn is disturbing. Give TG and WB some props, man!
At Fri Aug 11, 04:53:00 PM ,
Marty said...
Tony Gwynn's (huge number) batting championships are nothing to laugh at, and Wade Boggs deserves his place in the HOF. However the point of being an offensive player is to produce runs, either by being on base to get hit in by a real slugger, or by being the slugger getting the Tony Gwynns and Wade Boggs of the world off the basepaths and back on the bench.
If I were to create an "All Time Team" I would create it for run production, which means guys like Mel Ott, Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Hack Wilson and other RBI kings who also have higher batting averages.
At Fri Aug 11, 05:38:00 PM ,
JST said...
I agree that the point of the game is to drive in runs or to get yourself on base so you can be driven in. I'm not sure why you brought this up here, exactly...I wasn't suggesting that they are the perfect players, or anything...I'm just saying that Abreu's approach at the plate and fearlessness of hitting with 2 strikes reminds me of Boggs and Gwynn, especially his propensity for fouling off pitches intentionally to get a better pitch.
And by the way, how the hell did Hack Wilson have a 191 RBI season and still end up with just over 1000 RBI's in his career? Did his career end prematurely due to injury? What's the story with this guy, anyway?
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