Taylor's Twins Talk

Focusing on the Twins, with a few ramblings on other things that catch my attention

Friday, August 25, 2006

Phew

Now, that's a ballgame. This thing was filled with all sorts of twists and turns. Here were my high/lowlights:

1.) Radke going only 2. It was bound to happen. The man's arm is about to fall off. I expect this to happen again this season, but let's hope that he can keep it together MOST of the time when he's asked to go out there and pitch.

2.) Punto hits a homer. What? Punto? Are you kidding me?

3.) Hunter's re-emergence as an offensive player. Hunter is incredibly inconsistent, but his recent power surge has made me forget that he's lost a step on defense.

4.) Neshek gives UP a homer. This is almost as nuts as Punto hitting one. Guess the cosmos had to balance things out. Oh...wait...I don't believe in that kind of thing...

5.) Ozzie's moves. How rough is it when you take out your starter in the 6th inning when he's thrown only 71 pitches and given up just 1 run, only to see the lefty specialist give up a base hit, and then to see his rightie replacement give up a homerun. Sometimes, you can just get too cute. Ozzie should have left Vazquez in. After all, it's not often he gets solid starts from his starters (excepting the recent performances of Jon Garland).

6.) Finally, a huge shoutout to the bullpen for covering 7 innings and allowing just 1 run. Neshek was due for giving one up, because he had been unbelievable of late. When your starter leaves after 2, you just aren't supposed to win the game. Even better is the fact that no one, other than Guerrier, had to work too terrible much, so the 'pen isn't shot for the rest of the series. Great job, guys. Of course, that's what we fans have come to expect, for good reason.

3 Comments:

  • At Fri Aug 25, 10:30:00 PM , Blogger Marty said...

    Something you missed was what might have been the disastrous decision not to send Punto on the base hit. Scott Ullger should allow our fastest guys to run, especially considering the lack of good arms the Sox have.

     
  • At Fri Aug 25, 10:36:00 PM , Blogger JST said...

    There are actually a number of things I missed, including Tyner's super arm. In a game like this, how could you possibly cover everything? I really did miss that, though; I completely forgot about it when I was writing the post. Of course, the end result excuses any mistakes the Twins made tonight, in my mind. In general, however, I agree with you; Punto, Tyner, Bartlet, Ford...these guys should all be sent against weaker arms.

     
  • At Fri Aug 25, 10:52:00 PM , Blogger Marty said...

    I only mention it as an ongoing theme. Ullger stops a lot of our runners and is too conservative, especially in these close games. Considering how often the Twins (still) hit into DPs someone needs to give Scotty Ullg some marijuana or something.

     

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