Nightly Notes: Game #18
Another day, another performance by the Twins that made a not-great starting pitcher look like a Cy Young candidate. Ho hum. Not a lot to say about today's game -- here are today's notes:
1.) Hard to blame today's loss on Ramon Ortiz. He was pretty sharp for most of the day, with 2 of the 3 runs he allowed coming thanks to one bad pitch. He may not have picked up his 4th win today, but my confidence when watching him pitch just continues to grow. I'm fully prepared now to say that this was a great signing by the Twins (hopefully he can avoid making me look foolish for saying that!).
2.) Jason Bartlett needs to figure out what's wrong. He made another error today on a pretty routine grounder. I still think that he's the Twins shortstop of the immediate future, but he's doing his best to make that an untenable position to take. There's only so much you can blame on a groin injury.
3.) It probably wouldn't have made much of a difference in the end, but if I had been managing today's game for the Twins I probably would have pinch hit Jason Kubel for Mike Redmond in the 9th. And was it just me, or did the strike zone in the 9th seem like it was just absolutely huge?
4.) The tone for today's game was set in the first inning, when the Twins loaded the bases with 1 out and then proceeded to not get anybody in. I can't blame Justin Morneau and Torii Hunter too much, because they've been delivering all season (and because Torii tagged the ball pretty good in his at bat), but really, you need to score in that situation. Just one run there very well could have changed the game substantially.
5.) Sounds like Gardy is talking about bringing up a 3rd Catcher again. This leads me to believe that if Luis Castillo needs to go on the DL, Chris Heintz will be called up. Things could get a little wacky, though, if Rondell White recovers to the point that the Twins decide to activate him. Gardy doesn't sound like he wants to send down Josh Rabe right now, so Glen Perkins could be going back down. Really, it's kind of a mess with all the injuries and position issues. My best guess? Castillo goes on the DL tonight or tomorrow morning, White is activated at the same time, Rabe is sent down, and Heintz is called up. I have absolutely no information indicating that this is what's going to happen -- just idle speculation on my part.
6.) The Twins have 2 games against Cleveland and 2 games against Kansas City this week before heading to Detroit for the weekend. We'll see if they can get the bats going again tomorrow against the Tribe. Oh, and before you get too bummed about the Royals series, consider that the Twins went 4-2 on the just-completed road trip, which is very good. It could've been better, of course, but it really wasn't that bad.
1.) Hard to blame today's loss on Ramon Ortiz. He was pretty sharp for most of the day, with 2 of the 3 runs he allowed coming thanks to one bad pitch. He may not have picked up his 4th win today, but my confidence when watching him pitch just continues to grow. I'm fully prepared now to say that this was a great signing by the Twins (hopefully he can avoid making me look foolish for saying that!).
2.) Jason Bartlett needs to figure out what's wrong. He made another error today on a pretty routine grounder. I still think that he's the Twins shortstop of the immediate future, but he's doing his best to make that an untenable position to take. There's only so much you can blame on a groin injury.
3.) It probably wouldn't have made much of a difference in the end, but if I had been managing today's game for the Twins I probably would have pinch hit Jason Kubel for Mike Redmond in the 9th. And was it just me, or did the strike zone in the 9th seem like it was just absolutely huge?
4.) The tone for today's game was set in the first inning, when the Twins loaded the bases with 1 out and then proceeded to not get anybody in. I can't blame Justin Morneau and Torii Hunter too much, because they've been delivering all season (and because Torii tagged the ball pretty good in his at bat), but really, you need to score in that situation. Just one run there very well could have changed the game substantially.
5.) Sounds like Gardy is talking about bringing up a 3rd Catcher again. This leads me to believe that if Luis Castillo needs to go on the DL, Chris Heintz will be called up. Things could get a little wacky, though, if Rondell White recovers to the point that the Twins decide to activate him. Gardy doesn't sound like he wants to send down Josh Rabe right now, so Glen Perkins could be going back down. Really, it's kind of a mess with all the injuries and position issues. My best guess? Castillo goes on the DL tonight or tomorrow morning, White is activated at the same time, Rabe is sent down, and Heintz is called up. I have absolutely no information indicating that this is what's going to happen -- just idle speculation on my part.
6.) The Twins have 2 games against Cleveland and 2 games against Kansas City this week before heading to Detroit for the weekend. We'll see if they can get the bats going again tomorrow against the Tribe. Oh, and before you get too bummed about the Royals series, consider that the Twins went 4-2 on the just-completed road trip, which is very good. It could've been better, of course, but it really wasn't that bad.
Labels: Nightly Notes
posted by JST @ Sunday, April 22, 2007
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