Tuesday, May 08, 2012 |
Remember When We Thought Pujols' First Homer Would Break His Slump? Twins 5, Angels 0
Dan Haren had his ass handed to him on a night when the Angels 1-4 batters were 1-for-15, with the only hit among them coming from Mike Trout, unsurprisingly. Haren apparently had lower back stiffness, which got progressively worse through the night. Haren hasn't been Haren this year, which makes me wonder if there isn't something more than just "stiffness" at play here.
Update 5/9: Brilliant observation at Halos Heaven: "For the record, as of this writing Albert Pujols has fewer HITS OF ANY KIND for the entire month of May than Josh Hamilton hit as home runs in today's game alone." Ouch.
The Twins? The Twins. Angels 8, Twins 3
As it was, Weaver gutted his way through six innings of work, with the bullpen holding down the Twins the rest of the way. Hisanori Takahashi pitched surprisingly well in the seventh, but David Carpenter was obviously overmatched in the eighth, making only one out while facing four batters and giving up two runs. It was not the sort of thing you hope to see, especially with the relief pitching as bad as it has been this year.
Offensively, the Angels did a good job against Francisco Liriano, whose comeback appears to at least have stalled if not reversed. The top of the order, for a change, did well, with leadoff man Maicer Izturis and number two Alberto Callaspo both collecting a pair of hits. Albert Pujols, on the other hand, only went one-for-five, and wasn't all that convincing when he made his outs, either. If hitting a home run was supposed to cure us of talking about Pujols' offensive slump, it doesn't appear to have gotten him on track even afterwards.
Thursday, May 03, 2012 |
Weaver Spins A No-Hitter: Angels 9, Twins 0
For all that this was an awesome game, it also illustrated the same troubling issues with the offense that have hamstrung the team since the start of the year. The one-through-three hitters went a collective 3-for-15, with both Albert Pujols and Vernon Wells only collecting a single apiece. As seems to be the case generally, it was the rest of the lineup doing the honors, with Kendrys Morales owning a 3-for-5 night in cleanup, and Howie Kendrick going 4-for-4 with a home run in the six hole.
All this offense — regardless of origin — chased Twins starter Liam Hendriks in the third, and from there, it got scarcely better for Minnesota. Ron Gardenhire proceeded to launch a broadside into his team in a postgame interview:
Asked if Liam Hendriks’ performance (2.1 IP, 9 H, 6 ER) made it tougher on the offense, Gardenhire said, “He just didn’t pitch well. The kid didn’t get anything done. We didn’t hold runners. They ran all over the place on us. All the little things that a baseball team’s supposed to do, we didn’t do.(H/t BTF.) Whether that does anything for the Twins remains to be seen. David Pinto seems to think Gardenhire is trying to shame them into producing, but it may be that this is Gardy's last year running that franchise. In the meantime, Simi Valley, represent!“Letting guys steal second, letting guys steal third. You go to the mound, you bring a pitcher in, tell him, ‘You’ve got to slide step. He’s going to steal third if we don’t.’ And and what do we do? The first pitch, pick your leg up and they take off running. If the guy hadn’t swung, he was standing up.
“That’s not acceptable. That’s not good baseball by any team. So we have to do a lot better. Running all over us. Looked like Little Leaguers out there, and that’s a bunch of bull.
Wednesday, May 02, 2012 |
Two Games
Jerome Williams' CG SHO: Angels 4, Twins 0
Watching the Angels bullpen over the opening of the season, I reckon that Jerome Williams decided that the only way to get a win is if he went all the way. Sure enough: CG shutout, with a pretty economical 109 pitches. Granted, it is the Twins, one of the worst offensive clubs in the majors (though not yet so bad as the Angels), but still, you get your wins how you come by them. As it happened, it was Williams' first CG SHO since 2003, which is kind of amazing, really.Torii Hunter homered again for the third time in four games, and the fifth time in six. Mike Trout reached base twice, doing what he's supposed to do at the top of the order. Howie Kendrick likewise homered, and came within a double of hitting for the cycle. A good offensive night for the Halos.
Laugher Turns Nail-Biter, Dodgers Roll Anyway: Dodgers 7, Rockies 6
The Dodgers got to Jhoulys Chacin immediately, putting up four runs in the first on home runs by Dee Gordon (an unexpectedly monster blast to right that touched the second deck) and Andre Ethier; later, the Dodgers tacked on more on A.J. Ellis' third inning double and a fifth-inning two-run homer. Chacin didn't make it through five, and by the time he left the game, was charged with all seven Dodger runs and owned a 7.30 ERA. Jim Tracy is considering a possible demotion, either to the bullpen or AAA I reckon, but neither would surprise.Ted Lilly was masterful through five, but gave up a pair on a two-run homer to Carlos Gonzalez in the sixth. It wasn't until Josh Lindblom entered the game in the seventh that the Rockies started to make a game of it, so that by the ninth, the tying run was on base for CarGo to hit a walkoff home run — except he dinnent, swinging wildly over Javy Guerra's slider to end the game. Really a nice end to what was becoming a real contest late.
Labels: angels, dodgers, recaps, rockies, twins
Tuesday, May 01, 2012 |
(Almost) Eight Inning Man: Angels 4, Twins 3
Offensively, much more of what you might have hoped you would be seeing from the 2012 club, homers from Torii Hunter and Chris Iannetta, and a multi-hit game from Kendrys Morales, too. Even Albert Pujols managed to avoid another 0-fer night, so perhaps the little spat between him and Mickey Hatcher (h/t BTF) launched yesterday will be quieted. Apparently, Hatcher told reporters some insignificant details of a closed-door meeting to reporters, and Pujols took exception to it:
Hatcher told a couple of Angels beat reporters before the game that Pujols essentially stood up and told his teammates that he won't be flailing as he is all season, and that he's got first-hand experience with clubs that have conquered losing streaks and hitting slumps to win in the end.I get that Pujols is feeling vulnerable right now, so he's liable to get touchy. Expect a story in the press shortly about him snapping at a member of the media. His numbers in St. Louis and his general reputation gave him a pass from much scrutiny in that city, but his rough start in Anaheim may yet yield more contentious press relations.Not exactly overly sexy stuff. Nevertheless, Pujols was not happy after Monday's game when he learned that secrets were shared.
"Mickey should have never told you guys that," Pujols said. "That stuff needs to be private. He should have never told the media.
"What we talked about at the meeting, not disrespecting Mickey, but that stuff should stay behind closed doors."
Update: A minor coda on the Angels' worst April in franchise history, tied with 1976. Farewell, April, you were not loved.
Thursday, April 12, 2012 |
It's Early, So The Games Don't Mean Anything (Not): Twins 10, Angels 9
Kendrick, Pujols, and Hunter all went 0-fer, which is depressing enough; but when your team leader on RBIs is Peter Bourjos, usually skulking around at the bottom of the lineup or thereabouts, something is going terribly wrong with your offense, nine runs or no. One bad outing by the bullpen sank the Angels, with Rich Thompson and Kevin Jepsen blowing up, somewhat predictably. Too many things going wrong at once.
I heard the other day that the Angels are offering season ticket holders special deals on suites, which has been happening a lot lately. If they keep playing like this, marquee player or not, there'll be a lot more empty seats. The Twins are a beatable team. The Angels should be playing better.
Wednesday, June 01, 2011 |
Things That Happened While I Was Out
- The Angels took a series, albeit from the lowly Twins, who I confess looked like they were gonna run away with the division on paper before the season started. They're trailing the division and look like it, too.
In more recent news, the Angels split the first two games of the series with the Royals, winning the first 10-8 and losing yesterday's game 7-3, Joel Pineiro embarrassing himself with his own fielding. Once again, the Angels can't quite get above .500 (one game over now), and Rich Lederer asks why the Halos are paying $140 million in salary for mediocrity. In short, it's time Reagins were shown to the door, and if Mike Scioscia's contract extension has allowed him to act as a shadow GM, perhaps it's time he were ousted, too.
- The Dodgers unexpectedly beat the Marlins two out of three, the only sour note being a total collapse by the otherwise very steady Hiroki Kuroda. Or at least, so goes the advertisements; Kuroda actually has had four non-quality starts lately, and that included his prior one May 22 against the White Sox.
With back-to-back wins against the Rockies, the Dodgers have won five of their last seven and three consecutive, the latter a feat they have only accomplished twice this year. As seems normal this year, the Dodger Stadium stands are mighty empty these days, and the reasons aren't hard to discern. A bad team, nonexistent stadium security in the first week, and disgust with the profligate McCourts are all part of the reasons why, according to Chris Erskine of the Times, with the McCourts being the prime reason. Sadly, Frank made the May 31 payroll by hitting up vendors for up-front checks, so we can only hope that, win or lose, McCourt will really, truly run out of money in June.
Labels: angels, dodgers, mccourts, recaps, royals, twins
Saturday, May 14, 2011 |
Pickoff Moves
Weaver, Mediocre: Rangers 4, Angels 1
I missed much of this game, but the parts I missed I either didn't want to see anyway or wished I had. Jered Weaver has, despite my flawed memory, pitched fairly well in Arlington, with a career 3.73 ERA in 71 IP. He gave up four tonight in six innings of work, not great but hardly terrible.The major good news was Kevin Jepsen and Trevor Bell each providing a clean inning in the seventh and eighth innings respectively. Otherwise, the Angels' offense fell down on the job, save for a fluke solo homer by Erick Aybar, causing the Halos to drop their third straight game, and slicing another win off their division lead, now only a half game over Texas. Nice while it lasted, I guess.
Dodgers Barely Hold On To A Kershaw Win: Dodgers 4, Diamondbacks 3
Kershaw was masterful through seven, giving up only five baserunners while striking out eleven. Unfortunately, the bullpen nearly gave it all back, as anointed closer Vicente Padilla left the game in the ninth with the tying run in scoring position, and the winning run at first. That was that, and Don Mattingly pulled him for Kenley Jansen, who somehow managed to finish the game without further incident. Yow.Sad News: Harmon Killebrew Nears Death
From esophageal cancer; the great Twins slugger was their cleanup hitter in the 1965 World Series against the Dodgers. A great player and a nice guy by all accounts.Late: Is Howie Kendrick For Real?
Yes, but we'll see how real; his BABIP is awfully high in early going.Just For Fun: Harry Shearer Does Vin Scully Announcing The McCourt Fire Sale
Starts at about 32:00. Great fun.Labels: angels, diamondbacks, dodgers, funny, history, rangers, recaps, twins
Wednesday, February 09, 2011 |
The 1988 Dodgers: The Fourth-Worst World Series Winner In History
Labels: cardinals, dodgers, history, postseason, twins
Wednesday, November 17, 2010 |
Rookie, Manager Of The Year Awards
- Belated: Buster Posey (NL) and Neftali Feliz (AL) won their leagues' respective Rookie of the Year awards.
- Manager of the Year awards went to Ron Gardenhire (AL) and Bud Black (NL), the first time I can remember when both awards went to managers whose teams did not make it to the World Series.
Labels: awards, giants, managers, padres, rangers, twins
Monday, October 11, 2010 |
Two Exits
Twins
I am inclined to agree with David Pinto: Fire Ron Gardenhire. At some point, there must be accountability, and the Twins have lost all but one postseason series of the last decade, and the first of the new one, for the third straight time by a sweep, and the 12th straight postseason loss. Gardy's contract is up for negotiation this offseason, and I can only assume he's going to be renewed. But I could be wrong.My main point for his firing: a 3-0 lead going into the 6th on Wednesday, and he can't find it in his heart to pull his starter, Francisco Liriano? Not even after Liriano had a genuinely unimpressive 4.29 September ERA?
Braves
I have been exchanging talk with the Baseball Crank on Twitter, and it seems to me that the list of Hall of Famers Bobby Cox has managed might, by itself, make an interesting post (even including presumptive Cooperstown denizen Greg Maddux). But I say now, the whole series really fell on the poor sap Brooks Conrad, whose three errors made it possible for the Giants to slip past the hometown nine to ultimately advance to the NLCS. Brooks Conrad will never be confused with Brooks Robinson, but Bobby Cox will almost certainly make it to the tablet of Fame in New York.Labels: braves, giants, postseason, twins, yankees
Friday, October 08, 2010 |
Random Thoughts On The Postseason, And Another Dodger Firing
- Let's get the bad news out of the way, if indeed it is: Frank McCourt pulled the plug on president Dennis Mannion. Mannion was responsible for the Mannywood section (pulled down in early August). The Times article mentions a press release, but none appears on the team press release page. Typical Frank.
Update: Steve Dilbeck:
It was Mannion, of course, who absolutely trashed Jamie in a deposition in the McCourts' divorce proceedings, claiming she was frequently absent from executive meetings and not capable or interested in focusing on the team.
Frank thanked Mannion profusely for his support, and then showed him the door. What a workplace.
- Fun stuff: Mike Scioscia will return to "The Simpsons", guest-voicing himself on an upcoming episode.
- If it weren't for the Giants' 1-0 victory last night over Atlanta, no home team would have won a postseason game. Roy Halladay pitched only the second no-hitter in postseason history with a 4-0 complete game over the Reds on Wednesday. Tim Lincecum was nearly as good, getting a two-hit shutout yesterday while fanning 14 Braves. Year of the Pitcher, indeed — helped out with some bad umpiring (again), which is why there are calls for greater disciplinary transparency. The Twins had similar problems with their Game 2 at home (resulting in a 5-2 loss to the Yanks) on a blown strike three call to Lance Berkman; the next pitch ended up bouncing off the wall for an RBI double.
The Rangers return to Arlington Saturday after making the Rays look like Little Leaguers two games in a row, the second against a shockingly feeble Tampa Bay offense that failed to score in a 6-0 loss Thursday.
Labels: braves, dodgers, firings, front office, giants, postseason, rangers, rays, twins, yankees
Wednesday, September 01, 2010 |
Angels Get Loek Van Mil To Complete Fuentes Trade; Bulger, Stokes Activated
Related update: Jason Bulger and Brian Stokes were activated from the 15-day DL.
Labels: angels, minors, transactions, twins
Friday, August 27, 2010 |
Twins Claim Brian Fuentes Off Waivers
The Times story on the piece says he was traded for a PTBNL, presumably not named Joe Mauer.
Update: Bitter, party of one:
"It was funny. I felt like I was pitching on the road quite a bit. I came in to a lot of boos, but the fans here come out in droves. They’re here to be entertained. They’re entertained one way or another, through my frustrations or through my success. I felt like I’ve given them a lot more success than failure."Sorry, Brian, but, have a nice career.These comments seem ill-advised for a couple of reasons:
1. Do you really want to rip the people who paid for the tickets and stuff that allowed you to be paid $17.5 million over the past two seasons? On a fundamental level, should it be that hard to hold your tongue when you step back and look at the big picture?
I'm sure the guy was stung by the lack of support at home, but rise above it.
2. They were perfectly within their rights to boo him, especially when he was blowing three out of eight save chances from April 21 to May 26. And yeah, they still remember that awful pitch to Alex Rodriguez in the playoffs that might have cost the Angels the ALCS.
Labels: angels, trades, transactions, twins
Thursday, April 08, 2010 |
Um... Guys? Guys? Spring Training's Over: Twins 10, Angels 1
And it's no more fun.
Top 9th: Delmon Young goes yard, and it's 10-1 Twins. Anybody want to take over/unders on how long Rodney lasts on the team?
Not overly impressed with Victor Rojas so far, but I can't complain too much, either. "Better than Steve Physioc" is a low bar.
Bottom 9th: There's something utterly appropriate about Robb Quinlan striking out to end the game and lose the series. Bleh.
Labels: angels, live blogging, recaps, twins
Tuesday, April 06, 2010 |
Saunders Stank, Angels Tank: Twins 5, Angels 3
Starting Well: Angels 6, Twins 3
Between him, Justin Morneau, and Michael Cuddyer, the Twins have something that resembles a solid offense, last year posting an above-league-average 103 OPS+. While they won't blow anybody over (there are too many other iffy positions, in particular, shortstop and third aren't too hot), they also aren't pushovers.
Weaver held all that offensive prowess off pretty effectively, with arguably Justin Morneau's infield single being misjudged by the official scorer; Brandon Wood overran the ball, and it bounced under his glove and behind him. I scribbled it in as an E5 on my scorecard, anyway, only to have the scoreboard overrule me. Anyway, Weaver got his trademark strikeouts, including five against left-handed batters (two on leadoff man Denard Span alone), previously his nemesis. A righty, Delmon Young, gave him the most trouble, yanking a ball out of the yard to temporarily tie the game 2-2 in the second.
Wood complicated his bad defensive game with a terrible night at the plate, going 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in his 2010 opener. I can't say I was all that surprised.
After Young's two-run second-inning outburst, the Angels immediately untied the game in the third with an uncharacteristic Jeff Mathis solo blast in the left field power alley. Twins starter Scott Baker, who has has had a lot of trouble with the Angels over the years, left the game after only 4.2 innings, the knockout blow being Hideki Matsui's RBI single.
Matsui himself had a fine night, blowing away pretty much everyone's expectations with a pair of RBIs (he led off the eighth with a solo homer against reliever Jose Mijares) and the aforesaid single, the former being the winning run. The Japanese sporting press was out in force, and I encountered some of them in the concourse near the home plate Angels store. I did spy one guy wearing a hiragana (I believe) Matsui uniform who wasn't Japanese; but the evidence for a large-scale outpouring of instant Matsui love as measured by visible merch was largely missing.
Fernando Rodney managed a scoreless eighth, and somehow immediately validated my feeling of his signing being a mistake. Even though he only surendered a leadoff walk, it was four straight, and while he faced the minimum, it somehow felt like a lot more at the time. He reminded me instantly of Esteban Yan, both physically and in the sloppy way he pitched.
Finally, another word on the food: I checked out CHIX in section 103: even their salad has chicken "twists" which are breaded and fried. Thanks, no, I'll be trying elsewhere. I ended up getting a chicken sausage dog at one of the adjoining stands, discarding the bun as is my recent wont.
Thursday, February 04, 2010 |
Jim Thome Signs With The Twins
Labels: ex-dodgers, hot stove, transactions, twins
Sunday, October 11, 2009 |
Twins Deathwatch At The Metrodome: Yankees 4, Twins 1
Reliever Phil Hughes gets Orlando Cabrera to fly out to center, and Joe Girardi calls on Mariano Rivera to finish the game's final four outs, facing Joe Mauer with a man on first. Mauer shatters his bat and taps out meekly to first to end the inning.
Top 9th: Good lord. The Twins walk the bases loaded with one out, as neither Jon Rauch nor Jose Mijares can find the plate facing A-Rod or Hideki Matsui. Joe Nathan sends a 0-1 fastball to Posada, and he welts it into the outfield for an RBI single, making it 3-1 Yankees. This game is suddenly getting mighty sad for the Twins, who have three outs against Rivera to make some noise. The crowd certainly isn't into what is almost certainly going to be the final major league baseball game played at the Metrodome.
With the Twins' defense playing deep, Robinson Cano fists one to shallow right center. Jason Kubel makes a valiant but ultimately futile dive for the ball, but the ball just caroms off his glove, and the Yanks cash in yet another run. 4-1 Yanks, and I'm heading off to TNT for the start of the Phils/Rocks game, where I understand the Phillies have already drawn first blood.
Bottom 9th: The Twins' Michael Cuddyer singles to lead off the inning, but Rivera gets Jason Kubel to strike out looking, and Delmon Young to strike out swinging. Brendan Harris bounces out to Derek Jeter to end the game, the final play at the Metrodome.
The Angels start against the Yankees in New York on Friday.
Labels: live blogging, recaps, twins, yankees
Friday, October 09, 2009 |
Twins @ Yankees ALDS Game 2: Yankees 4, Twins 3 (11 Innings)
Top 5th: The Twins get their second baserunner on with two out in the form of Orlando Cabrera, who walked. Burnett then falls behind Joe Mauer 3-0 and walks him on a 3-1 pitch. For the second inning in a row, the Twins have men on first and second with two out, only this time they've got Jason Kubel at bat. It's Burnett's fourth walk of the night, but he's got a two-hitter going through 4.2; Nick Blackburn has yet to allow a hit. Kubel bounces out to second for an easy end of the fifth.
Top 6th: Minnesota finally breaks through with yet another two-out rally, only this time Brendan Harris punches an RBI triple to cash in Delmon Young. It's 1-0 Twins but Punto grounds out to end the inning. Blackburn will have to face the 9-1-2 batters in the bottom of the frame.
Day after: The Twinks got a pair in the top of the eighth off Phil Hughes; true to form with the Twins in this game, it came on a two-out rally following a Carlos Gomez walk and a Brendan Harris single; Nick Punto's RBI single pushed across Gomez. That brought out Mariano Rivera, but Denard Span hit him anyway, making it 3-1 Twins.
New York went scoreless in the bottom of the frame, but normally untouchable closer Joe Nathan missed the plate wildly and gave up a single to Mark Teixeira and a homer to A-Rod to tie the game 3-3; the teams traded zeroes in extras until Teixeira homered off Jose Mijares in the 11th for the Yankees win. As I expected, this wasn't really a fair fight, and the Twins will go away rather quickly, though the old Metrodome will get a final postseason game, at least, in its last year.
Labels: live blogging, postseason, recaps, twins, yankees
 |
