Nightly Notes: Game #29
Ok -- so the DOTF plan obviously didn't come to fruition today. Maybe it will help to know that my work is actually coming along, albeit slowly. I'll try to get at least one of them (and maybe both) up tomorrow for those who are interested. As for the nightly notes -- here goes nothing:
1.) What is there to say about Carlos Silva's gutsy performance tonight other than he got let down by his offense? I mean, seriously -- the guy went 7 innings and allowed just 1 run on 5 hits and 2 walks against one of the most ferocious lineups in baseball, and gets no run support? Let's not be stingy boys -- you need to back up the solid pitching when you get it. Silva continues to be a pleasant (and very welcome) surprise. I notice that the griping about his presence in the lineup has pretty much stopped. That's as it should be, as he's shown quite clearly that he still has what it takes to be a big league pitcher. One of the reasons that I try to take a balanced approach to what I write is that I don't believe that I'm smarter than the guys who run the team -- and while they will occasionally make mistakes (see, e.g., Batista, Tony), they often have good reasons for trying things out. I'm glad to see Terry Ryan vindicated for the decision not only to pick up Silva's option last fall, but also for not giving up on him when he was horrible in Spring Training.
2.) Pat Neshek was brilliant tonight out of the bullpen, while Juan Rincon was pretty hittable. I honestly thought that Neshek would suffer a little bit of a sophomore slump this year, but to this point I certainly look like I'm wrong on that -- he's been unbelievably solid. Meanwhile, how disconcerting is the news that Dennys Reyes is day-to-day with what's being called "tendinitis?" Any time a pitcher has a sore arm and is unavailable, I get nervous. Of course, if he has to go on the DL, it would be the perfect opportunity to bring up Mike Venafro and see whether or not the Twins should have brought him North in the first place . . .
3.) It's not even worth discussing the hitting tonight, which (with the exception of Torii Hunter) was abysmal. It's a knuckleball, boys. It's hittable -- if it wasn't, there'd be a whole lot more knucklers out there. Anyway, I'm choosing to blame the offensive woes on the knuckler rather than viewing this in the more ominous light of an ongoing offensive collapse that has the Twins pretty much turning every opposing pitcher into Cy Young. I'll consider going into panic mode if things haven't improved by the end of the weekend.
4.) If you're worried about the Twins right now, just think how lucky you are that you aren't a Yankees fan. Imagine -- 10 starters in 30 days. Wow.
5.) Not much else to say about today's game. Hopefully things will get better tomorrow. My attention will be equally divided between a couple of papers I need to finish, the Twins game, Game 7 between the Rockets and Jazz (I'm predicting a Rockets choke job, by the way), and the NASCAR race in Richmond. In other words, a pretty full day. As for the Twins -- just to be clear, Julian Tavarez is NOT Cy Young. Please treat him accordingly.
1.) What is there to say about Carlos Silva's gutsy performance tonight other than he got let down by his offense? I mean, seriously -- the guy went 7 innings and allowed just 1 run on 5 hits and 2 walks against one of the most ferocious lineups in baseball, and gets no run support? Let's not be stingy boys -- you need to back up the solid pitching when you get it. Silva continues to be a pleasant (and very welcome) surprise. I notice that the griping about his presence in the lineup has pretty much stopped. That's as it should be, as he's shown quite clearly that he still has what it takes to be a big league pitcher. One of the reasons that I try to take a balanced approach to what I write is that I don't believe that I'm smarter than the guys who run the team -- and while they will occasionally make mistakes (see, e.g., Batista, Tony), they often have good reasons for trying things out. I'm glad to see Terry Ryan vindicated for the decision not only to pick up Silva's option last fall, but also for not giving up on him when he was horrible in Spring Training.
2.) Pat Neshek was brilliant tonight out of the bullpen, while Juan Rincon was pretty hittable. I honestly thought that Neshek would suffer a little bit of a sophomore slump this year, but to this point I certainly look like I'm wrong on that -- he's been unbelievably solid. Meanwhile, how disconcerting is the news that Dennys Reyes is day-to-day with what's being called "tendinitis?" Any time a pitcher has a sore arm and is unavailable, I get nervous. Of course, if he has to go on the DL, it would be the perfect opportunity to bring up Mike Venafro and see whether or not the Twins should have brought him North in the first place . . .
3.) It's not even worth discussing the hitting tonight, which (with the exception of Torii Hunter) was abysmal. It's a knuckleball, boys. It's hittable -- if it wasn't, there'd be a whole lot more knucklers out there. Anyway, I'm choosing to blame the offensive woes on the knuckler rather than viewing this in the more ominous light of an ongoing offensive collapse that has the Twins pretty much turning every opposing pitcher into Cy Young. I'll consider going into panic mode if things haven't improved by the end of the weekend.
4.) If you're worried about the Twins right now, just think how lucky you are that you aren't a Yankees fan. Imagine -- 10 starters in 30 days. Wow.
5.) Not much else to say about today's game. Hopefully things will get better tomorrow. My attention will be equally divided between a couple of papers I need to finish, the Twins game, Game 7 between the Rockets and Jazz (I'm predicting a Rockets choke job, by the way), and the NASCAR race in Richmond. In other words, a pretty full day. As for the Twins -- just to be clear, Julian Tavarez is NOT Cy Young. Please treat him accordingly.
Labels: Nightly Notes
posted by JST @ Friday, May 04, 2007
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