Nightly Notes: Game #92
The Twins didn't gain any ground today, but they didn't lose any either -- and a 4-game sweep, even over a somewhat diminished A's team, is a great way to start the second half of the season. As an aside, I'm in the process of moving, so the blogging will be light over the next couple of weekends. Now, onto tonight's notes:
1.) Boof had a better outing tonight than he's had in awhile, and started to extend himself just a teensy bit, as he lasted 6.1 innings. I said after Scott Baker's start that at least 6 innings and 3 or fewer runs is a perfectly acceptable start, and Bonser did that and a tiny bit more tonight, so I'm content. And just to make a perfectly obvious comment, how awesome was the starting pitching in general this weekend for the Twins? Even with a sometimes anemic offense, the Twins will find themselves right in the middle of the Wild Card and AL Central races.
2.) A bit of a bounce-back evening for Dennys Reyes tonight, after he allowed a couple of inherited runners to score in his last outing. However, it wasn't all sweetness and light -- he walked a couple of batters in just 1 inning. Nice to see him continue to lower that ERA, though.
3.) Jason Tyner did a pretty admirable job filling in for Torii Hunter today, going 2-for-3 with a walk and scoring a run. Yesterday, he went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Every time he gets a start, I read people complaining about him, but he's hitting .284 and honestly isn't a bad option. I'm certainly much more comfortable with him out there than with Lew Ford, so I'm not going to complain in the least.
4.) I'm sure someone else has mentioned this, but how about the Twins targeting Shannon Stewart for the stretch run? It's going to be very, very difficult for the A's to admit that they're done, but they're now 44-48 in a tough division and have no chance of catching the Wild Card. If the A's accept the reality of their situation, then they may accept a trade. Stewart signed a 1-year, $1 million deal with the A's for this year, so trading him would give them a chance to get something for nothing (unless they plan on making a bid to bring him back next year, which is certainly possible). Stewart is hitting .306 with a .366 OBP on the season -- that's a substantial improvement over anyone the Twins have available. I really doubt that this is going to happen, for a lot of reasons -- but the Twins should see if there's a mid-level prospect who the A's would take in exchange for Stewart.
5.) Nice to see Joe Mauer get on a roll today out of the DH spot. A solid 3-for-4 day, including the game winner. Great game for Joe.
6.) The Twins have an off day tomorrow -- frankly, I'd prefer to put it off. This team is playing pretty decent baseball, so it would be nice to keep the momentum going. Still, this should give guys a chance to rest up before playing the Tigers, so I can't complain too much.
1.) Boof had a better outing tonight than he's had in awhile, and started to extend himself just a teensy bit, as he lasted 6.1 innings. I said after Scott Baker's start that at least 6 innings and 3 or fewer runs is a perfectly acceptable start, and Bonser did that and a tiny bit more tonight, so I'm content. And just to make a perfectly obvious comment, how awesome was the starting pitching in general this weekend for the Twins? Even with a sometimes anemic offense, the Twins will find themselves right in the middle of the Wild Card and AL Central races.
2.) A bit of a bounce-back evening for Dennys Reyes tonight, after he allowed a couple of inherited runners to score in his last outing. However, it wasn't all sweetness and light -- he walked a couple of batters in just 1 inning. Nice to see him continue to lower that ERA, though.
3.) Jason Tyner did a pretty admirable job filling in for Torii Hunter today, going 2-for-3 with a walk and scoring a run. Yesterday, he went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Every time he gets a start, I read people complaining about him, but he's hitting .284 and honestly isn't a bad option. I'm certainly much more comfortable with him out there than with Lew Ford, so I'm not going to complain in the least.
4.) I'm sure someone else has mentioned this, but how about the Twins targeting Shannon Stewart for the stretch run? It's going to be very, very difficult for the A's to admit that they're done, but they're now 44-48 in a tough division and have no chance of catching the Wild Card. If the A's accept the reality of their situation, then they may accept a trade. Stewart signed a 1-year, $1 million deal with the A's for this year, so trading him would give them a chance to get something for nothing (unless they plan on making a bid to bring him back next year, which is certainly possible). Stewart is hitting .306 with a .366 OBP on the season -- that's a substantial improvement over anyone the Twins have available. I really doubt that this is going to happen, for a lot of reasons -- but the Twins should see if there's a mid-level prospect who the A's would take in exchange for Stewart.
5.) Nice to see Joe Mauer get on a roll today out of the DH spot. A solid 3-for-4 day, including the game winner. Great game for Joe.
6.) The Twins have an off day tomorrow -- frankly, I'd prefer to put it off. This team is playing pretty decent baseball, so it would be nice to keep the momentum going. Still, this should give guys a chance to rest up before playing the Tigers, so I can't complain too much.
Labels: Nightly Notes
posted by JST @ Sunday, July 15, 2007
5 Comments:
At Sun Jul 15, 11:32:00 PM ,
Anonymous said...
Denys Reyes sucks. Every time he does well it is an aberration.
Also, I don't know if I ever want to see Stewart and his noodle arm patrolling the open spaces of Metrodome ever again... If we're going to get a former Twins OF, let's bring back Jacque and make the Cubs pay his salary.
At Mon Jul 16, 06:19:00 AM ,
Anonymous said...
i don't know if stewart would want to play a bunch more games on the metrodome turf.
just from watching the updates on game tracker last night, there were a couple things that were really frustrating me.
#1 walking the leadoff guy (especially when the game is tied or close). i think that happened three times last night.
#2 striking out with runners in scoring position. just put the ball in play! this happened 3 times yesterday, but twice in the 8th inning when we could have put the a's away. at least we got the win.
At Mon Jul 16, 08:13:00 AM ,
JST said...
RM -- can't agree with you at all on Reyes. He was very bad early while injured, but has been very good since coming back. As for Stewart (this to both rm and anon), I think picking Stewart up for half a season wouldn't be horrible on his feet, and would be a dramatic improvement over the Twins other options. And rm, look at Jones' numbers and then look at Stewarts', and then tell me why exactly you would prefer Jones? I'm not saying the Twins should pick Stewart up -- just that it's an option that I feel should be explored seriously.
At Mon Jul 16, 12:54:00 PM ,
Marty said...
Clearly Reyes is a different pitcher than he was before he went on the DL. He's only allowed 3 inherited runners to score, he hasn't allowed an earned run to score and his WHIP is much better since coming back than it was when he was playing hurt. Reyes clearly has a role to play for the Twins this year.
At Mon Jul 16, 11:15:00 PM ,
Struck21 said...
Well let's hope he is. Right now the Twins aren't what they were last year as far as pitching goes. We have Santa then a bunch of 3-4 pitchers behind him.
We have been subbing in starting pitchers constantly. Getting Reyes back and healthy, hoping he does decent, will help our RPs alot. Lets just hope that it all comes together, we have been a 2nd half team last few years.
As much as I liked Stewart, I would prefer to keep Castilo.But money talks and hence, we will lose Hunter to the unlimited salary markets. I am sure it's Marty's fault somehow, give me a day to think about it :P
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