Colon Channels Past Glories

by Jesse on Apr 11, 2009 7:22 PM EDT in Game Recaps

That was painful.

For a while, a brief while, it looked like a classic pitcher's duel. Neither starter had outstanding stuff, but with a little help from the defense it was enough to keep the opposing offenses off the board. Bartolo Colon, of the past, and Francisco Liriano, perhaps of the present and future, battling it out on a chilly Chicago afternoon.

For a while, it was fun.

In the fourth inning, Liriano's control faultered before he was able to bail himself out of the inning. The bottom of the fifth was a different matter however, and while the Twins wouldn't manage a single run the entire game, Liriano was unable to keep them in the game past the midway mark. Borderline calls were balls, the inside of the strike zone was no-man's-land for a pitcher, and after walking in a pair of runs Cisco was lited. A promising start didn't finish the same way, and that's two let downs in a row by the heir apparent.

After Colon, Octavio Dotel, Matt Thornton and Mike MacDouglal combined to throw three shutout innings. Dotel actually walked himself into trouble before being lifted in the seventh, but that was as far as late threats went. The Twins were quiet, and it wasn't much fun to watch after the middle innings.

Tomorrow is another day, and another opportunity to right the ship and take the series from the Chi Sox.

Stars of the Game
#3: Michael Cuddyer (2-for-4)
#2: Denard Span (0-for-2, 3 BB)
#1: Nick Punto (2-for-2, 2 BB)

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Comments

Part of me hopes

That a few Sox fans come on here and give us the same boastful, uncharitable, sore winner type talk that dominated last night’s recap below.

by montanatwinsfan on Apr 11, 2009 8:42 PM EDT reply actions

Double Poop

What a shoddy performance from our offense. That’s 2 shutouts already and 1 run in 3 losses.

Liriano’s struggles were inevitable with as badly as he was locating his fastball all game. i mentioned to a buddy in the fourth I thought he’d struggle more with his fastball that way, and it happened. That’s still the key for him.

"You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the damn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all."
~ Earl Weaver
"In God we trust. All others must provide evidence."
~ Billy Beane

by AdamOnFirst on Apr 11, 2009 9:36 PM EDT reply actions

stike zone

didn’t help that the strike zone was about the size of a basket ball

by ianmader on Apr 11, 2009 10:01 PM EDT reply actions

Yes

The ump was calling strikes unti the fifth. Then he just stopped calling any close pitches for a whole inning. Sox hitters picked up on it and just kept the bat on their shoulders until he started calling strikes again. There wasn’t much difference between Liriano prior to the fifth and Liriano in the fifth, except pitches that were called strikes in the first four innings were suddenly balls. One of the worst umpiring jobs I’ve ever seen.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Apr 12, 2009 1:27 AM EDT up reply actions

unusual and unfortunate for sure,

but according to Gladden and Gordon, the ump had the same reduced strike zone for Colon in the fifth. If the Chicago team was smart enough to take advantage of that fact, good for them. Why weren’t we smart enough to do the same?

by montanatwinsfan on Apr 12, 2009 10:57 AM EDT up reply actions

Hawk

I’m a sox fan. I liked the heave the hawk website and all the Hawkisms you guys posted. He is annoying as hell but I find pretty much all announcers annoying. The Cub guys put me to sleep and the national guys like Morgan and Buck and McCarver are awful.
Also, what’s with all the hatred on yesterday’s game comments? You hate AJ? Wow how original of you. Yeah the guy’s an ass. So what? He’s a solid player. That’s why the Giants gave you guys three players for him. You should be thanking the gods that you had him rather than bitching about him.
So yesterday it was a “beatdown” and now that you put up a big ostrich egg today it’s the small strike zone. Classic.
Dont worry soon you’ll be back home in the ugliest stadium in the history of sport and your "hitters’ can beat the ball into the astroturf and run forest run to first base real fast before the ball comes down. What’s with those garbage bags in your outfield anyway? Always wanted the answer to that.

by Lawn Mauer on Apr 12, 2009 3:14 AM EDT reply actions

Case in Point

I was going to make some nice comments like how we have a new stadium coming, and the cell is pretty marginal, and several other things, but instead I’ll just sit happy in the fact that this fellow has, again, reaffirmed my distaste for sox fans and my low esteem for their overall level of substance.

by AdamOnFirst on Apr 12, 2009 5:32 AM EDT up reply actions

Why?

He has a good point. You and Cmath made sweepingly derogatory comments about the White Sox players, organization and fans. You tend to be thoroughly critical without any substance behind your criticisms, without thought and without any recognition of the good fans, or the smart fans that live in Chicago and follow the Sox or the Cubs.

What have Fields, Ramirez, Lillibridge, Getz, Quentin, or Dye ever said or done to the Twins or their fans that would cause you to just so regard them in the same way you regard Buerhle and Pierzynski?

I don’t know that I have ever heard an unkind word from anyone about Thome, Konerko, or Crede. By all accounts they are good humans as well as good players – and yet you so callously blast the whole team and organization, and fanbase.

Lawn Mauer talked some trash, had some good points, and clearly was being lighthearted – and yet his post “reaffirmed [your] distaste for sox fans and [your] low esteem for their overall level of substance.”

Your postings regarding the White Sox are a little embarrassing.

by montanatwinsfan on Apr 12, 2009 10:53 AM EDT up reply actions

Derogatory yes, sweeping, no

I pointed to Buerhle and AJ as hose heads. And the Hawk. But I did say that the new talent has thinned the ranks of the hosers like Cabrera and Uribe. So they’re getting more civil over there.

In Buehle’s case, he’s made a lot of comments in the press about how much he hates the Twins. My favorite was the time the Sox finished in second place to the Twins, but he basically said the Sox were the better team, the Twins didn’t deserve it, and the Sox would finish with a better winning percentage after the Twins went three and out in the playoffs.

As for AJ, I think his Ty Cobb impersonation, in which he punched Morneau in the face as he ran by the bag, and intentionally stepped on Morneau’s foot another time, qualifies him as a total ass. He should have been ejected from that game.

And I agree with Lawn Mauer’s comments about our stadium sucking. But the comments are kind of neutralized by our new field.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Apr 14, 2009 6:47 PM EDT up reply actions

Hey,

the Sox kicked our asses last night. End of story.

But the minutia always makes the game. That’s why baseball has fans.

But still, that’s some good trash-talkin’. At least the line about the garbage bags. *Ba-dim, ching"

by Jesse on Apr 12, 2009 6:18 AM EDT up reply actions

Have you been to the cell in the past two years?

It’s not the same place it was back in 1995.

They have done a good job of making it much more intimate for watching a game. I’d say it’s in about the same place as Camden yards is now, which is pretty good.

Anyways, WTF does the visiting clubhouse have in the water that Nicky Punto likes so damn much?

by madvillian on Apr 12, 2009 10:42 AM EDT reply actions