6-4-2 — an Angels/Dodgers double play blog

Nary a peep around here about the baseball postseason, but I will say I expected the Giants to be deposed in the first round. That they didn't seems to me more like luck than anything else; they got hot at the right time, and their starting pitching turned unaccountably invincible. The Tigers' feel-good story ended with the last out of the ALCS, vanquishing the Yankees in seven sweeping the Yanks, and proving that just because you have plenty of rest doesn't mean your pitching will be better for it.

An interesting followup on yesterday's last out: Sergio Romo's fastball really sucks, except when it doesn't.

Congratulations to the Giants, and bring on the hot stove.

Labels: giants, postseason, tigers, yankees

A Fourth Of July Worth Remembering: Angels 5, Tigers 1

The Angels bid adieu happily if perhaps a bit wistfully to interleague play. They took four of six from crosstown rivals the Dodgers, though despite my misgivings and the apparent at-large misgivings of Dodger fans overall, Chavez Ravine matches still outdrew those at Angels Stadium, 127,852 to 126,021. The difference is quite small, but still says something about the durability of that contract with the fans.

So, back to the American League for the balance of the season, and to the out-of-division opponent of the moment, the Detroit Tigers. The headline on this game was principally about bookended Torii Hunter and Vernon Wells solo homers (in the first and eighth innings respectively), which leads me to recalling a piece I can't now put a finger to in which Wells vowed that his post-injury numbers would be far better than his early struggles. And just so: he's hitting .264/.280/.549 since his return; while you like the slugging average, the on-base-percentage is disturbingly low, even for someone who can knock the ball over the fence. By contrast, Garret Anderson, whom I and others have slagged for his inability to take a walk, never posted an OBP under .308 as an Angel, averaging .324 for his Halo career. Still, it represents a sizable improvement for Wells to be contributing, and for now, he has postponed the day when Tony Reagins will have to walk the plank, and Arte will cut him loose as an expensive failed experiment.

(Incidentally, an alert reader noticed that the Blue Jays pulled the plug on one of the returns for Wells, designating Juan Rivera for assignment on Saturday. The move worked out pretty well for Toronto, as callup Travis Snider shattered John Lackey and the Red Sox, going 3-for-5 with two RBIs. My Sawx-loving Facebook friends are now well past disgust and into talk of DFAing Lackey, who has a grand total of four quality starts all year, out of 13 attempts. The talking heads on MLB Network's Quick Pitch program last night were saying his 7.47 ERA is in historic company in terms of pitchers being given the most rope and still coming up short. As upset as I was at the time that he was allowed to leave, the injury risk had to also be there, and I must say I'm glad someone else has to deal with that. Now, about Vernon Wells ... Rivera still has a higher OPS+. Embarrassing.)

Have I mentioned the Angels are tied for first place in the division? No?

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Frank Goes After Bud: Discoveryrama!

Not too surprising, given Frank's decreasing lack of options. And who knows but that other teams are run this badly (I have always imagined it at least a possibility) but that Frank's case, being more heavily leveraged, merely came a-cropper first. I plan on pouring a nice glass of pinot grigio and enjoying the show from a distance.

Roster Moves

• Casey Blake went down (neck strain) and Rafael Furcal was called up on Saturday from his latest rehab stint.
• This briefly kept Dee Gordon on the 25-man roster, but then he, too, was shipped to AAA Albuquerque to make room for Eugenio Velez.

Labels: angels, blue jays, dodgers, ex-angels, injuries, recaps, tigers, transactions

John Lackey lasted five innings in today's season opener at Fenway Park while giving up six runs, all earned. That fact prompted Jon Weisman to take a look in the rear view at the 2009/2010 offseason in which some Dodger fans were thinking the team should have made a run at him.

In retrospect, that would have been a terrible move. Lackey's 2010 splits show some amazing numbers; he blew up against Cleveland (10.13 ERA), Colorado (6.75 ERA), Detroit (6.43 ERA), and Toronto (8.61 ERA), among his other bad outings. The point being, his overall 4.40 ERA was not due exclusively to facing the Yankees three times.

Labels: blue jays, ex-angels, indians, red sox, rockies, tigers, yankees

At The Biz Of Baseball, Bud Selig praised the Tigers for their handling of the situation (which was as graceful as could be asked of any men), while "[applauding] the courage of umpire Jim Joyce to address this unfortunate situation honestly and directly." He also said, "I will examine our umpiring system, the expanded use of instant replay and all other related features."

My boss made an eminently sensible suggestion: have five-man umpiring crews, with the fifth man in the press box, watching the game on video. Most of the time he won't be needed, but when he is, the other umpires can call on him at any time by radio for a call on a close play. (Presumably, postseason umpiring crews would consist of seven men.) This would have two positive effects from the umpires' perspective:

1. It would provide more employment opportunities for umpires, a carrot for the use of video.
2. The video umpire would give immediate relief to the home plate umpire, or any other umpire, disabled by a foul or other hard-hit ball, play, etc. so that play could continue with a full traditional four-man crew.

Getting the call right is important. But finally, I would like to say something to those people who say that we should simply ask the commissioner's office to overturn the game result. We are far better off with a system whose rules, limitations, and failures are knowable in advance than one where outcomes can be decided after the fact. Ultimately, such a system would be a disaster for everyone, players, umpires, owners, and fans, because no win can then ever be final.

Labels: indians, rules, tigers

Radio silence since Sunday, ayup, in which span —

• The Angels completed a series win against Seattle, their second of the month, and pretty effectively buried them at seven games back, where they remain today. The Angels surprised the hell out of me by bouncing back from the horrific news about Kendry Morales' multi-month injury by pounding Seattle pitching, a fusillade that included a three-run, walkoff jack by Howie Kendrick, who needed one in the worst possible way. The broadcast team has been nattering on about how well he's done since being demoted to the bottom of the order, and it's true.
• The Dodgers beat the Rockies 4-3 to complete that series win to give Clayton Kershaw a win on a short start (5 innings). Outside of the pitiful Snakes, the NL West is fairly tightly bunched. And speaking of Arizona ...
• ... the Blue beat Arizona at home by scores of 5-4, 1-0 (in 10), and 1-0 (again, this time in 14), on, respectively, a walkoff balk (Casey Blake scored the winning run), a walkoff homer (by Matt Kemp), and a walkoff RBI single from Garret Anderson, who probably deserved the tenth-inning boos he got when he struck out with none out. As MSTI observed, it's probably saved him from a DFA, but his average is still only .157. (And yes, yay, for Travis Schlichting and his four scoreless innings. And, slightly ironic, the Dodgers couldn't beat ex-Dodger Edwin Jackson.)
• The Angels beat typically lowly Kansas City, with Ervin Santana and Scott Kazmir getting the wins (7-1 and 7-2 respectively, with Torii Hunter blowing one way out of their yard), and Joel Pineiro taking the abuse on Wednesday (6-3).
• You may have heard about first base umpire Jim Joyce robbing Tigers starter Armando Gallaraga of a perfect game with a blown call eight and two-thirds innings into the game. So 28 outs is what it takes for a perfecto these days. There are calls all over to expand the use of instant replay (and as Jay Jaffe tweeted, "BRING ON THE F*CKING ROBOT UMPS YESTERDAY".
• Ken Griffey, Jr. finally, finally, finally retired.
• In news around the division, it's time to end the Casey Kotchman experiment in Seattle.

Labels: angels, diamondbacks, dodgers, ex-dodgers, indians, recaps, rockies, royals, tigers

And So, Goodbye, Jered: Cardinals 6, Angels 5 (10 Innings)

Three runs, two earned (the unearned run coming due to Erick Aybar's throwing error in the fourth that allowed Brendan Ryan to take second) against an admittedly slightly-below-average offense (11th in the league with 196) — the league's worst bullpen (5.33 ERA!) guaranteed he would finish the day without a win. If anybody wonders why Jered Weaver will join John Lackey on the east coast when his current contract is up — either with the Yankees or Red Sox — you don't have to wonder anymore.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Dodgers Can't Finish The Sweep: Tigers 6, Dodgers 2

The MLB.com game recap blames Kuroda's three-run first, but really he did his job; why the bullpen imploded is another story, as is why the offense wasn't able to do much past the pair of runs they scratched out in the fifth.

ESPN Box • Dodgers recap

Labels: angels, cardinals, dodgers, recaps, tigers

Angels Suffer Motown Sweep: Tigers 5, Angels 1

Jered Weaver was masterful through four and then imploded in the fifth, giving up four runs, all earned; you expect him to have a bad game here and there, and this was one of them. Even after yesterday, he still has a 132 ERA+. It's not enough to put him on the ERA+ leaderboard, where you must be at least 180 tall to get on the ride, but it'll do for an Angels pitching staff that needs some help.

The Angels didn't get a man so far as second base until the ninth, when they finally got to a tiring Verlander, scratching out their lone run on a pair of singles from Maicer Izturis and Erick Aybar. This looks to be a mediocre team, the way they're playing, with the record they deserve. Next stop: Boston at home. Gah.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Ethier's Two-Homer Day Highlights Pirates Sweep: Dodgers 9, Pirates 3

Despite some odd tics by Joe Torre — Russell Martin went 0-for-5 in the two hole, his average shrinking to .250 — the Dodgers' offense teed off against Pirates pitching, the victims in this case being Jeff Karstens, the former Yankee, and Joel Hanrahan, the former Dodger prospect. But lest the church bells ringing deafen your sensibilities, George Sherrill had another bad outing, giving up two runs while making only two outs. It's running out of time for him to claim that the season's early.

ESPN box • Dodgers recap

Roster Notes

• The Seattle Mariners released Eric Bynes following a strange incident on Friday.

  On Friday night, he inexplicably pulled his bat back on a botched suicide squeeze in extra innings of a scoreless game. Ichiro Suzuki was tagged out on the play.

  Texas manager Ron Washington was ejected for arguing with plate umpire Jim Wolf that there should have been a strike called on Byrnes on the botched squeeze play. Washington just "could not fathom" that Byrnes pulled the bat back.

  Byrnes later rode his beach cruiser down the tunnel past the GM after the game, much to the consternation of onlookers.

  The Byrnes signing was a mistake to begin with, given how quickly he's fallen off the face of the earth, something Snakes fans know only too well.

• The M's also optioned Matt Tuiasosopo to AAA Tacoma, and called up OF Ryan Langerhans and INF Josh Wilson.
• Update: The Dodgers may be forced to call up Chin-Lung Hu if Rafael Furcal goes on the 15-day DL with lingering hamstring issues. "[F]inding another natural shortstop" is also a possibility.

Labels: angels, dodgers, mariners, pirates, recaps, tigers, transactions

Scot Shields justifiably took the loss here, giving up the game-losing solo homer to Johnny Damon. Yet you wonder why he would have been in the game if the Angels had a lead going into the ninth. That might have been possible; the offense erased itself on the basepaths twice in this game. The first time was in the first when leadoff man Erick Aybar reached on a bunt single and then was caught stealing. But the second time was far more critical: with Hideki Matsui at second and Kendry Morales at first and Juan Rivera at the plate, Rivera plunked a single to left center. For the second time in a month (the previous time on April 15 in the Bronx), Matsui got gunned down at the plate to end an inning trying to score from second on a single.

I suppose you can understand it. Aggressive baserunning is a Mike Scioscia trademark, but it also presupposes having the players to execute it, and Matsui isn't really one. Certainly, he's not Chone Figgins, and you can see the collision between Scioscia's philosophy and the players Tony Reagins got him in the offseason.

I don't mean to pick on Matsui exclusively, but his position in the lineup somewhat forces my hand; he's one of the team leaders in on base events (hits, walks, and hit-by-pitches), which necessitates him running. In fact, going into the game — and in this order — the top four players in on-base events were Torii Hunter, Bobby Abreu, Hideki Matsui, and Kendry Morales, all of whom save for Hunter are unaccomplished runners. I doubt Scioscia will learn anything from this, and it's not really clear there was a lesson to learn anyway. Discretion may be the better part of scoring from second, but Scioscia will always say it's better to have run and lost. That's especially true with the horrifically slumping Mike Napoli due up behind Rivera.

None of this, of course, is to excuse Shields' incompetence today; he hasn't looked right at all this year, and that included spring training. Contract or no, I wouldn't be surprised to see the organization cut him loose if he can't right himself before the end of May.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, recaps, tigers

Piñeiro = Piñata: Tigers 10, Angels 6

Rookie Brennan Boesch's grand slam eventually chased Joel Piniero, the mighty turd atop a stinking dung heap of a performance in which he coughed up eight runs in the fourth. Boesch's breakout season at AA Erie (he hit 28 homers last year) predicted great things for him, but I'm surprised to see him make the team this year; he got an emergency look because of injury to Carlos Guillen.

Otherwise, the offense held up its end of the bargain; was a time when the Angels scoring six runs would be a pretty solid indicator of a win. Mike Napoli tripled, Brandon Wood returned to another 0-fer night, and Torii Hunter had a three-run jack; seems like old times.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Dodgers End Losing Skid At Five: Dodgers 6, Pirates 2

Charlie Morton, described by Vinny last night as perhaps one of the worst starters in the majors, certainly proved a tonic to the Dodgers' flailing offense, giving up six runs; yet three were unearned, thanks to errors by easily-injured shortstop Bobby Crosby, and the converted catcher (and now first baseman) Jeff Clement. James Loney then squeaked a ball into the first row of seats over the low fence in right field, and thus did Morton get salted.

Chad Billingsley looked back in good form, though he walked nearly as many (3) as he struck out (4), making up for the rest with mostly routine outs.

And Matt Kemp was 0-for-4, which means Ned can go back to lambasting him.

ESPN box • Dodgers recap

Labels: angels, dodgers, pirates, recaps, tigers

It's not that I missed yesterday's games so much as I ran out of time to write about them; at least, that's my excuse today. Today was about missed opportunities, Jered Weaver missing a chance for a deserved win, and Brian Fuentes looking pretty horrible.

Weaver himself came close to blowing the thing entirely in both the fifth and sixth. In the sixth, he managed to load the bases with two out, but got Johnny Damon to strike out looking (which resulted in his ejection). In the sixth, the Tigers scored their first run on Miguel Cabrera's double (hit so high against the wall I had to watch the replay to actually believe that Bobby Abreu had no chance of fetching it) and an RBI single by Carlos Guillen. That led to a one-out, man on first situation that felt much tenser than it should have been; but Weaver lucked out with Don Kelly's line drive double play to Kendry Morales to end the frame.

Weaver survived through seven, pitching more than well enough to win the game; but the offense didn't scrape anything off the Tigers save for the typical first-inning roughness from Jeremy Bonderman. Fuentes entered the game in the ninth, his first game since returning from the DL (and sending Francisco Rodriguez back down to AAA Salt Lake) — and made a complete hash of things almost immediately, giving up a leadoff homer to Miguel Cabrera and then walking the next batter he faced, Carlos Guillen. Guillen got picked off trying to steal third, but that only set up a rundown allowing catcher Gerald Laird to take second; and he scored on a Ramon Santiago single, driving in the game's winning run for the Tigers.

Sure, it's just one outing, but I have almost no confidence in Brian Fuentes.

ESPN Box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, injuries, recaps, tigers, transactions

Joel Pineiro didn't strike out a lot of guys but he held the allegedly high-powered Detroit offense in check over 7.1. Brandon Wood, used to being picked apart daily, walked, and we take some solace in that out of the nine hole. Good things from two guys I had no hopes for prior to the season.

Both Angels runs came in the third, on a Jeff Mathis (!) RBI double* and Bobby Abreu's RBI groundout, making it a bit of a nail-biter in that regard; does it hold up? Kevin Jepsen (0.2 IP) and Fernando Rodney (the former Tiger handling the ninth) seemed to shake off the problems they had earlier and got 'er done. The win takes the Angels to .500 for the first time since the second game of the season, and a season-high fourth straight win.

---

*See comments.

ESPN box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, recaps, tigers

Tony LaRussa, Mike Scioscia, Jim Leyland, and Joe Torre have been selected to consider the possible additional uses of in-game video for adjudicating contested calls. Chaired by Commissioner Bud Selig, the committee will meet next month.

"This is not a reaction to some of the things that happened during the playoffs," Selig said. "I'm not saying that it didn't keep moving me along in this direction because it did, but frankly I had this in mind for a long time."

The group will examine scheduling, umpiring, the strike zone and pace of game, which again became an issue when Yankees catcher Jorge Posada made frequent trips to the mound during the postseason.

Via David Pinto.

Labels: angels, cardinals, dodgers, managers, rules, tigers

Dodger Front Office Maneuvers In The Dark (Of The McCourt Divorce)

• Dennis Mannion will become Ned Colletti's boss. This impresses me as an admission that Frank won't be able to handle day-to-day operations issues in the face of his impending divorce.

  Joshua Fisher:

  I should be very clear right away: this is not how I want my baseball team run. I do not want player payroll to be highly correlated with the previous winter's season ticket sales. Why? Two reasons.

  1. Investment in the organization should not be a year-to-year decision. ...

  2. That 2010 payroll decisions are based on this winter's revenue forecasts suggests that the Dodgers are indeed running on perilously slim margins. ...

• The Dodgers named Vance Lovelace to be head of professional scouting; Eric Stephen noted Lovelace was the return on a trade that sent Ron Cey in his twilight years to the Cubs.

McCourts Amicably Resolve Spousal Support Issue

I'll believe it when I stop reading about it in TMZ.com.

Despite a consistent refrain from Dodgers executives and Frank McCourt's lawyers that the club has been conducting "business as usual" despite the divorce proceedings, McCourt said in the filing that the "distraction is . . . creating a hardship for the Dodgers management."

...

Jamie McCourt, who claims she is a co-owner, has asked the court to set a later trial date. Frank McCourt's lawyers called that "gamesmanship" in Tuesday's filing, charging that she is stalling "in order to exact a more favorable settlement."

Joe Torre In 2011?

It could happen.

Snakes, Tigers, Yanks Near Big 3-Way Deal

A monster:

• The Diamondbacks get Edwin Jackson from Detroit and Ian Kennedy from New York.
• The Tigers get pitching prospects Max Scherzer and Daniel Schlereth from Arizona, and Phil Coke and OF prospect Austin Jackson from the Yankees.
• The Yankees get Tigers' center fielder Curtis Granderson.

It certainly gives the Yanks options up the middle, and solves one of their more vexing problems, as they haven't been very good in the last decade at producing young talent. Jay Jaffe has an analysis of this trade, and basically calls it throwing in the towel for the Tigers, who were only able to contend to the last game of the season.

Granderson's performance collapsed against lefties (.183/.245/.239 in 2009) and during the final week his routes to the ball looked awful, but he's basically a plus defensively according to the major systems, and a relatively affordable player ($5.5/$8.25/$10 million in 2010-2012 with a $13 million club option and $2 million buyout for 2013). The Yankees' big-picture desire to decrease payroll from their 2009 level wound up costing them a decent prospect whose upside may be Grandersoneque in Jackson (#7 on Baseball America's list of top International League prospects).

It's not a good move for Arizona, who loses their #2 pitching prospect along the way in Schlereth. Very puzzling indeed.

Update: AZ Snakepit has a good roundup of blogosphere and local opinion on this topic; Rob Neyer and his pals are very down on this deal ("All my friends seem to have this one the same: Great for Yanks, good for Tigers, terrible for Diamondbacks. My friends are usually right."); one interesting perspective for the other side is Arizona Republic sportswriter Nick Piecoro, who thinks the Snakes have given up on Scherzer, while liking what they saw in Arizona Fall League of Kennedy, who used the opportunity to fix some problems in his two-seamer (so he claims). Robothal observes that the Snakes turned a pair of relievers into a pair of starters. As the Dodgers' deal for Jae Wong Seo proved, those can blow up if the starter turns out to be pretty bad. Kennedy might have a resurgence in the NL, though.

Brad Penny A Cardinal, 1 Year/$7.5M

The ex-Dodger could make up to $1.5M more in performance incentives. I'm kind of surprised he went to St. Louis, but I suppose he wore out his welcome in San Francisco, too.

Peter Gammons Leaving ESPN After Winter Meetings

He'll join MLB Network. There's less and less reason to watch ESPN for baseball, and you have to wonder whether their Sunday Night Baseball series will be worth a damn in a year or two.

Labels: cardinals, diamondbacks, dodgers, ex-dodgers, front office, mccourts, tigers, trades, transactions, tv, yankees

Top 3rd: After a pair of scoreless innings, Scott Baker and his infield defense got sloppy. Orlando Cabrera missed a 4-6-3 double play with a double-clutch getting the ball out of his glove, and the next batter, Magglio Ordonez, singled to drive in the game's first run. Baker then fed Miguel Cabrera a cookie, elevated over the middle of the plate, in the first pitch of his at bat, but Cabrera fouled it off. Baker got him to an 0-2 count, but then provided that same cookie again, and Cabrera didn't miss it to make it 3-0 Tigers.

Bottom 3rd: With men on the corners and two out, Rick Porcello threw a pickoff toss away, but it hit first base coach Jerry White, bouncing back in the general direction of Detroit first baseman Miguel Cabrera. That scored an unearned run to move the score to 3-1 Tigers. Porcello then walked Joe Mauer, but struck out Jason Kubel to end the frame.

Top 4th: Baker's having a rough game, giving up a leadoff single to Ryan Raburn, and using up 61 pitches to this point; he only had a single 1-2-3 inning, the first. Ron Gardenhire had Ron Keppel warming up in the bullpen already. Baker finally got out of the inning without damage by inducing a 5-4-3 double play from catcher Gerald Laird. Keppel starts getting wild with Laird at the plate, and goes 3-1 to the Tigers catcher, who fouls the next pitch off — and strikes him out on ball four to end the frame.

Top 5th: Baker gave up a two-out single off the end of Placido Polanco, and found himself once again facing Magglio Ordonez, who hurt him in the third. This time, Ordonez bounced out to short to keep the game at 3-1 Tigers.

Top 6th: Baker finally has a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth, setting down the 4-5-6 batters in order. He's only used 84 pitches, and while he's down by two runs, it's not too late for the Twinks to come back. They'll send their 2-3-4 batters to the plate in the bottom of the frame.

Bottom 6th: After getting Orlando Cabrera to fly out and Joe Mauer to strike out swinging, Rick Porcello finally gives up a run on a solo upper-deck blast to Kubel, making it 3-2 Tigers. That brings up the dangerous Michael Cuddyer, who walked after an eight-pitch at-bat. That brings out Jim Leyland with the hook for Porcello. Zach Miner in relief then gave up a first-pitch bloop single to Delmon Young. Gardenhire sent Brendan Harris to pinch hit, and Miner immediately hit him in the elbow, loading the bases for .231-hitting Matt Tolbert. Tolbert flies out on a 2-1 pitch, leaving the bases loaded.

Top 7th: Scott Baker walks Brandon Inge after a seven-pitch at-bat, and that's all from him today. Jon Rauch comes out to face Gerald Laird, and got him to pop out to first. Though Jose Mijares gave up a two-out single, the Twins use two more relievers (Mijares and Matt Guerrier) to hold off the Tigers attack for another inning.

Bottom 7th: Orlando Cabrera sneaks a homer over the left field wall to drive in Nick Punto to make it 4-3 Twins, Minnesota's first lead of the game. Fu-Te Ne and Brandon Lyon finish the frame, but the damage is done, and the Tigers have six outs to reclaim the lead or at least force extras.

Top 8th: Ordonez wastes no time, crushing a 1-0 pitch off Matt Guerrier over the left field fence to tie the game 4-4. Guerrier gets Miguel Cabrera to ground out to third, but walks Carlos Guillen and Ryan Rayburn. That's it for Guerrier, and Gardenhire brings in closer Joe Nathan with men on first and second and only one out. Nathan then gets Inge (pop out on ball 3) and Laird (strikeout swinging) to end the frame without further damage.

Bottom 9th: After Nathan survives a scary top of the frame (ending in a 6-3 lineout double play on Magglio Ordonez), Nick Punto walks to lead off the frame, and Denard Span drops a sac bunt to move him over. Tigers closer Fernando Rodney comes in, and gets Orlando Cabrera on a 5-3 hot smash groundout. He intentionally walks Mauer to get to center fielder Carlos Gomez (who pinch-hit for Justin Kubel in the eighth), and then Gomez bounces out to short. We're headed for extras in Minnesota; the Metrodome refuses to die!

Top 10th: With one out, Jesse Crain plunks Aubrey Huff on the foot. Crain then retires Ryan Raburn on a swinging strikeout, but Inge doubles down the left field line, and Huff scores from first despite a 7-6-2 attempt at the plate; Huff breaks through Mauer's block of the plate to score, making it 5-4 Tigers. Gerald Laird then bounces out 4-3, but the damage is done.

Bottom 10th: Rodney is pitching from the stretch even with the bases empty, and then Raburn loses Cuddyer's ball in the Metrodome lights, and Cuddyer turns a fly out or a double into a leadoff triple. Delmon Young bounces out to short, and Cuddyer holds his ground. One out.

Rodney then walked Brendan Harris on five pitches, and .228-hitting Tolbert knocks in the tying run to make it 5-5 on a single up the middle. Alexi Casilla, running for Harris, goes first to third, and now the Twins have men on the corners with Nick Punto at the plate. Punto then flies out to left, and Raburn throws a bullet to the plate, cutting down Casilla and forcing yet another frame. Wow.

Bottom 11th: Orlando Cabrera barks at home plate umpire Randy Marsh on a called first strike from Rodney; he eventually strikes out anyway, but that's the extent of the fireworks in this inning, as Joe Mauer grounds out harmlessly to second to end the frame.

Top 12th: Bobby Keppel loads up the bases with one out after walking Cabrera, giving up a bloop double to Don Kelly (who entered the game as a pinch-runner in the 10th for Aubrey Huff), and an intentional pass to Raburn. Inge bounces into a 4-2 fielder's choice at the plate, and there's two out with a slow Miguel Cabrera getting gunned down on the force. Keppel goes 3-2 on Laird, and then gets him to strike out on ball four to end the frame.

Bottom 12th: Rodney gets in trouble immediately by giving up a leadoff single to Carlos Gomez, with Mauer bouncing out to second to move him over to second. After missing twice in the strike zone, Rodney hands Delmon Young an intentional pass, and Alexi Casilla, the ex-Angel, squirts a seeing-eye single through the right side to push across the winning run to make it 6-5 Twins, who finish with only their second lead of the night, but the last one. Congratulations to the Twins, who will barely have time to wipe the champagne out of their eyes before getting on the plane to New York.

ESPN Box • Twins recap

Labels: ex-angels, live blogging, recaps, tigers, twins

Aaron Gleeman reminds us of just how improbable this whole Tuesday game was. Not only are the Twinks the only team to have two game 163's necessary since the start of division play, they're the first to do so in consecutive seasons.

When the Twins lost in Detroit last Wednesday it looked (to me at least) like the season was over, save for "a miracle if things break perfectly for the Twins and horribly for the Tigers." They were three games back with four games left, which put their odds at around five percent with a deficit that no team in MLB history had come back from. So naturally they won the next four games while the Tigers went 1-3 and now the Twins are the only team in MLB history to be in a one-game playoff in back-to-back seasons.

Not only did the Twins erase the Tigers' three-game lead in four days to force Game 163 for the second straight year, they've won 16 of 20 games since Justin Morneau was shut down with a back injury and are 30-14 since falling a season-worst six games below .500 at 56-62 in mid-August. I'm not sure how to explain it and certainly didn't believe they could do it, but it sure has been fun to watch. And we're not done yet, because the Twins and Tigers will decide the AL Central title tomorrow at the Metrodome.

The Twins had Joe Crede go down with a season-ending back problem (but what else is new?), and his replacement, Matt Tolbert, looked simply awful. Orlando Cabrera was similarly execrable, and yet somehow, both managed to turn things around, with the Twins going on a late-season tear at the exact same time the Tigers skidded into a tie.

Labels: analysis, tigers, twins

Tigers Survive A Scare To Clinch A Tie: Tigers 5, White Sox 3

Riding Justin Verlander on regular rest, the Tigers managed to get almost eight innings out of their ace. The big nail-biting moment came in the eighth, when Verlander gave up an RBI double to .184-hitting Ramon Castro, and an RBI single to .158-hitting Brent Lillibridge. After throwing a wild pitch in Scott Podsednik's at-bat and walking Jayson Nix on four pitches, that brought out manager Jim Leyland with the hook, and Fernando Rodney came on to get slugger Carlos Quentin on a fly ball to center, thanks to a fine athletic catch by Curtis Granderson.

With the win, the Tigers have clinched at least a tie with the Twins for the AL Central. If the Twins win (and it looks like they will) there will be a tiebreaker game 163 on Tuesday at 4:00 PM Central in Minneapolis.

ESPN Box

After An Early Blowout, Royals Scaring Twins Late: Twins 13, Royals 4

Powered by a pair of Jason Kubel three-run homers, the Twins took an early 7-0 lead after four and looked ready to coast to a game 163. The Royals apparently had other ideas, and after six innings, it's now 8-4 Twins following a big three-run rally by the Royals. Carl Pavano lasted 5.2 innings and is in line for the win, with all but one of the Twinks' runs coming off Luke Hochevar, who only lasted three innings.

Bottom 6th: Denard Span worked a two-out walk, bringing up Old Friend Orlando Cabrera, who promptly knocked him in with an RBI double. It's 9-4 Twins to recover one of those runs, and with Joe Mauer at the plate and a man in scoring position, there's the possibility for more. Instead, Mauer bounced out to short on a slow-hit ball up the middle to end the frame.

Top 7th: The inning began with a close play at first. Mike Jacobs tapped a ball slowly up the third base line, and reliever Brian Duensing ran to field it. Throwing hard and a bit wildly, first baseman Michael Cuddyer managed to both grab the ball and tag Jacobs a millisecond before Jacobs' foot hit the base.

Bottom 7th: Jason Kubel led off with a flyball single to left, and with a big lead, Ron Gardenhire lifted him for pinch runner Carlos Gomez. After Michael Cuddyer and Delmon Young both flied out, Jose Morales walked and then Matt Tolbert knocked a pair in on a 2-2 pitch from reliever Yasuhiko Yabuta to make it 10-4 Twins.

Bottom 8th: In a replay of the sixth, O-Cab knocked another in on an RBI double to make it 11-4 Twins. Two batters later, and Michael Cuddyer blasted one to left for a crushing 13-4 Twins lead. That's five homers for the Twins, who won't be able to have a practice tomorrow because the Metrodome will be in its football configuration.

Top 9th: The Twinks take it with Francisco Liriano cleaning up the game, with only pinch-hitter Tug Hulett's single coming between the Twins and a clean ninth. The Twins become the first team in the majors since division play to force two game 163's.

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Labels: live blogging, recaps, royals, tigers, twins, white sox

The Angels beat the Rangers — and just about everyone else — at acquiring pitching with their first-round drafts in 2002-2005:

Unfortunately for the Rangers, the Los Angeles Angels, drafting with the 18th highest average pick, have gotten more pitching than anybody from that draft. Two mainstays of the current rotation, LHP Joe Saunders (12th in 2002) and RHP Jered Weaver (12th in 2004) have combined for 93 big-league wins. Detroit ranks second in wins from top picks. They have 62, all from RHP Justin Verlander.

The Rangers averaged the 12th overall pick in those drafts, and "are one of three teams to no longer control any of their top picks from those four drafts." Bad news for the Angels, though: the Rangers' system is considered the best in baseball.

Via BTF.

Labels: analysis, angels, minors, rangers, tigers

My prayers answered, sort of. Joe Saunders — whom I quite frankly expected to turn up with a far more serious shoulder injury that the team had a very strong interest in hiding — in fact pitched his best game in approximately forever, or June 24 against the Rockies, whichever is nearer. No, not quite a quality start, but much better than I expected against a tough offensive team.

Torii Hunter's first-inning two-run homer off Edwin Jackson gave the Angels an early lead, while a couple RBI singles provided by Kendry Morales (in the third) and Chone Figgins (in the fourth) ultimately made the difference in the game. Every Angel except Mike Napoli reached base safely at least once, and even Gary Matthews, Jr. was productive, going 1-for-3 with a run scored and a walk. That, friends, is a good day.

Yahoo box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, recaps, tigers

One. Damn. Quality. Start.

Please?

Nobody on this damn team can deliver a quality start. Part of that's on Scioscia, who left Lackey in with 113 pitches on his arm, but. Come. On.

Yahoo box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, recaps, suck, tigers

A seven run sixth?

Weaver couldn't get a quality start, as I feared.

I'm not sure which one is more irritating, watching the Angels lose because of their crappy pitching, listening to Steve Physioc describe it, or the extra-innings extravaganza currently going on in Colorado that's tied at 1-1. Meh.

Update: 10-7, final. Pitching and defense wins ballgames. Too bad the Angels don't have the pitching. Jose Arredondo gave up four runs, including a three-run jack to Carlos Guillen.

At least the Rockies won on a walkoff grand slam... now that was exciting.

Yahoo box • Angels recap

Labels: angels, live blogging, recaps, suck, tigers