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Tuesday, April 01, 2008 |
Angels Just Lose, And There's Nothing You Can Do About It Now: Twins 3, Angels 2
Aside: What I want to know is, why in the hell did the idiots demanding a new stadium for the Twins not also get a retractable roof stadium? The new park will be open air, which means that yesterday's 30°F-with-snow-flurries weather would have caused a postponement.
The Angels were either going to kill Livan Hernandez, who is these days generally a simulacrum of a real major league pitcher, or get killed by his 86-MPH fastball and his 73 MPH change. It was the latter; the worst criminal in the Angels' lineup was Maicer Izturis, who hit into a double play with the bases loaded. That's transformative in the negative sense. Weaver pitched a pretty good game, though he did let baserunners go wild on him (three stolen bases against), something both he and Napoli need to work on.
We shake our heads, roll up our sleeves, and make way for tomorrow.
Comments:
I counted 4 stolen bases, but I agree it's something that cries out for some work. However, as in the game last night, most stolen bases are stolen on the pitcher and not the catcher, and Weaver's incredibly slow delivery and the ease with which baserunners read him make it almost a certainty that the runners are going to test him repeatedly until something changes. Nap is a fine catcher, and it is doubtful anybody else could have made those throws with the runner getting such a HUGE head start.
It's possible all of those bases were stolen before Napoli caught the ball, but I have never seen him throw anyone out. Mathis has a much more powerful arm and has the ability to turn a steal into a caught stealing. Napoli and Mathis will almost certainly platoon all year.
Napoli has done a decent job throwing out runners in the past. In fact, I suspect that one of the reasons he got the opening day nod over Mathis was that towards the end of spring, Napoli gunned down a couple of runners while Mathis heaved a couple into the outfield (two in one game). Rory & Gubicza commented about that.
Also worth noting is that two of the Twins' runs came as a direct result of Angels' defenders not being able to see the ball. WTY didn't pitch great, but if you turn two of those runs into outs, he comes out a winner.
Finally, kudos to the Angels brain trust for finally anointing Rory Markus as the TV play-by-play man. What a delight. There were several times during the game when (in between pitches, for example) we heard him say...nothing! Just the sounds of the game. Finally, a television announcer who (like Vin Scully) understands that when you have viewers who can see what's going on, they don't need to be told what's happening at every single moment. It's sure nice to get a break from the incessant nattering of Phys-n-Hud.
Also worth noting is that two of the Twins' runs came as a direct result of Angels' defenders not being able to see the ball. WTY didn't pitch great, but if you turn two of those runs into outs, he comes out a winner.
Finally, kudos to the Angels brain trust for finally anointing Rory Markus as the TV play-by-play man. What a delight. There were several times during the game when (in between pitches, for example) we heard him say...nothing! Just the sounds of the game. Finally, a television announcer who (like Vin Scully) understands that when you have viewers who can see what's going on, they don't need to be told what's happening at every single moment. It's sure nice to get a break from the incessant nattering of Phys-n-Hud.
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