Games » Minnesota Twins
Sep29Lee Judge
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When a team is constructing an inning, hits are the bricks, walks and errors are the mortar. If you refuse to give your opponent the stuff they need to connect the hits, innings usually fall apart. In the 6th inning of this game, with one out and a two-run lead, Luke Hochevar gave up two singles.
Fair enough, the other team earned them.
Then with the tying run on first, Luke walked Jason Repko, hitting just north of .230. That pushed the tying run into scoring position. Next Drew Butera hit a flare into left, which scored a run and sent the tying run to third. (Without the walk, no run scores, the bases are loaded, tying run at second.)
Next came a fielder’s choice, tying run scores. (Without the walk the tying run would just be arriving at third.) The inning ended on a fly ball to centerfield. So instead of walking off the mound with a one run lead, Hochevar walked off the mound tied.
Now what I just did was a little unfair: I reconstructed the inning as if Jason Repko didn’t exist and I’m almost sure he does. (Hey, if we can fake the moon landing on TV, I’m sure we can fabricate a Minnesota Twins outfielder.) But if Hochevar had thrown strikes to Repko (he threw two, but the U.S. Constitution requires three) the odds are that Repko would’ve made an out. In fact the odds are just about 67% that Repko would’ve made an out. Walk him and the odds of getting him out are zero.
When your enemy is constructing a fort, don’t give him building materials.
Outstanding plays…
Alex Gordon stretched out for one down the right field line, Kila Ka’aihue saved Wilson Betemit an error and Luke Hochevar a run by handling a difficult hop on the throw from third and Lucas May blocked a tough pitch to keep a runner from advancing.
Lucas also blocked a pitch with a runner on third, but it’s kind of hard to call it an outstanding play. He was crossed up by Hochevar, raised his mitt to catch a pitch that was breaking down and took it right off that protective equipment that pays for itself with just one use.
May looked like Lee Harvey Oswald upon meeting Jack Ruby (too soon?). Basically, Lucas got hit in the crotch which prevented a run from scoring. I don’t know if that should be considered an outstanding play…but it was certainly an entertaining one.
Buddhists on baseball…
Robinson Tejeda went to pick up a bunt, got in a rush and missed it. The next batter liked what he saw and laid down another one. Lucas May came out from behind the plate, slowed down enough to do everything right, and just got the runner.
The Buddhists have a saying (at least I’ve heard it attributed to the Buddhists and it’s a good one so they ought to take credit): “When you’re in a hurry, take the long, sure way.”
And you thought this website was just about sports.
More speed…
Jarrod Dyson’s speed once again played into this game: he broke up a double play in the 1st inning that kept Mike Aviles from being thrown out. Twins third baseman Danny Valencia fed the ball to second baseman Orlando Hudson. Hudson looked like he’d been hit in the knee by a Chihuahua shot from a cannon.
I asked bench coach John Gibbons what Jarrod had to hit to stick and he said, “Hit .200, run .300.” In other (non-Texan) words: find an extra hit in every 10 at-bats with his wheels.
Another negative…
I’m a repository of useless information: I’m hazy on the date of my wedding anniversary, but positive that Roy Rogers’ sidekick, Pat Brady, drove a jeep called Nellie Belle. Well, add this to the trivia collection: losing baseball teams put more wear and tear on a field than those that win.
Trevor Vance pointed out that losing teams plays the bottom of the 9th more often than winners. 18 home losses equal scheduling one extra game on your field. And a bad pitching staff wears out the path between home plate and the mound. Trevor said Jason Kendall required extra grounds keeping because he had to visit the pitchers so often.
And Hopalong Cassidy’s horse was named Topper.
Hochevar
May
Gordon
I made it to this game and was aghast as all the Ks. What's up with that? These guys seemed to be swinging at pitches that almost hit me in row FF.
Another thing I wonder about was the play at 2B on the double play the Royals tried to turn in the 6th. Kila's throw sure looked like it pulled Yuni off the bag but the Ump called it out anyway. I know they sometimes get the benefit of the doubt when a runner's bearing down, but this looked way off the mark.
Last one, tonight anyway. That glove flip the pitchers do in warm ups seemed to show that Hochevar was throwing lots of curve balls in warm up. I can't tell what the throw during the game (because they don't flip the glove anymore - how inconsiderate for us fans). Was he tossing lots of curves or was he trying to get it to work during warm up?
Thanks for breaking your comments...
Into three posts...
Which gives me more page hits.
As for the strikeouts: couldn't tell you. Watching on TV the pitch selection didn't look terrible, the Royals are still in the top three teams in hitting and, if I've got this right, the hardest team to strike out in the American League. Maybe the Twins pitched good.
Whatever it was, lots of guys were having the same problem. 15 strikeouts means 5 innings in which no pressure was put on the Twins defense, add in the 7 fly ball outs and there's 2 1/3 more innings in which little pressure was put on the defense. (Fly ball, one guy does one thing, ground ball two guys do three things: more chance of a mistake.
The rule of thumb is: if you make over half your outs by fly ball or strikeout, you lose...and the Royals did.
Issue two: I don't know if Kila pulled Yuni off the bag. Once again, watching on TV, it didn't appear so, but I didn't slow it down and check. Maybe because the bigger issue seemed to be whether Kila should've gone home on the play, taken the sure out and prevented the run from scoring rather than attempting a difficult double play...so that's two things I've been no help with.
And I'm not quite finished being unhelpful: I asked Hochevar about his warmup pitches and he said he always does the same thing.
Two fastballs from the windup, one curve from the windup, one change from the windup, a fastball from the stretch, a curve from the stretch, finishing with a fastball from the stretch.
He said he never varies it. I don't know what to tell you, Mark. We won't get a chance to check that until 2011.