July 8th, 2008
I can’t complain too hard about a 1-0 loss to the Red Sox at Fenway park. Great performances from Scott Baker and Dice-K, neither of whom figured into the decision.
We saw the downside of Delmon Young’s lack of plate discipline - two first-pitch groundouts with the bases loaded against a pitcher who’s averaging almost six walks per game.
Other than a few quibbles here and there, I think Ron Gardenhire manages his bullpen pretty well. But there’s simply no excuse for bringing Brian Bass into the 8th inning of a scoreless game to face one of the best offenses (Big Papi or no) in baseball. You could make an argument for bringing in just about any reliever other than Matt Guerrier, who pitched in all three games over the weekend. The bad decision was compounded by leaving Bass in the game to pitch to Manny Ramirez with one out and Dustin Pedroia on third. The right move would have been to walk Manny, bring in one of the lefties (Breslow or Reyes) to pitch to Mike Lowell, and hope for a double play.
July 7th, 2008
Patience is the word tonight against Dice-K and his sky-high walk rate. The Twins might be lucking out catching the Red Sox on a slide again. The fretting has already begun in Boston.
Records:
Twins 50-38, Won 5, 1.0 GB Chicago in AL Central
Red Sox 52-39, Lost 2, 5.0 GB Tampa Bay in AL East
Pitchers:
Scott Baker (5-2. 3.65) vs. Dice-K Matzuzaka (9-1, 3.12).
July 7th, 2008
The 2008 All-Star Teams were made public yesterday. In case you hadn’t heard, Joe Mauer will start at catcher for the AL. Justin Morneau and Joe Nathan also made the roster.
I think there are two examples from the “Baseball Crimes” department on this year’s rosters. Kosuke Fukodome benefitted from (a) Cubs nation and (b) the nation of Japan voting from him, despite hitting a mediocre .285 with 7 HR and 35 RBI. Jason Varitek - currently batting .219 while playing sour defense - somehow beat a more-deserving A.J. Pierzynski in the player vote.
The players also gave Joe Crede a lifetime achievement award, voting him in as a reserve. Evan Longoria is one of the second-chance fan vote candidates and should make the team - he’s been arguably the best 3B not named Alex Rodriguez in the AL this year.
Red Sox Manager Terry Francona stacked his pitching staff with six closers. Beyond the fact that all of them are having great years and deserve the honor, this is a good strategic move (since “this time it counts” - thanks Bud). Francona can start going to closers after about the 4th or 5th inning and pretty much shut down the NL offense.
