Slowey Dominates, Loses Shutout In 9th

by Jesse on Apr 26, 2009 4:47 AM EDT in Game Recaps

"I can't remember seeing him a whole lot better than that," catcher Mike Redmond said of Slowey. "You could just see it in his face that he was locked in. It's fun to catch guys like that."

That's the way it was. Every time Kevin Slowey needed a strikeout, his fastball and breaking balls had movement and were always located at the knees or lower. He threw 84 of 114 pitches for strikes, and while the umpire was definitely giving the pitchers the strike at the knees, a strike is a strike. It was a beautiful night for Kevin Slowey and the Twins offense, who more than supported their starter with seven runs.

Going into the bottom of the ninth leading 7-0, Ron Gardenhire made a solid decision by allowing Slowey the opportunity to go out and nail down a complete game shutout. Victor Martinez, Trafis Hafner and Shin-Soo Choo led off the inning with three consecutive singles to load the bases though, and Luis Ayala came in to lock it up.

The middle of the lineup did their jobs tonight. Minnesota's three through seven hitters had 12 of the Twins 15 hits, combining to go 15-for-24 (.625) on the night.

We'll break down Slowey's gem a bit more on Sunday night. In the mean time get out the brooms, because it's time for a sweep this afternoon!

Stars of the Game
#3: Delmon Young (3-for-4, R, RBI)
#2: Jason Kubel (3-for-5, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI)
#1: Kevin Slowey (8+ IP, 1 R, 7 K, 0 BB)

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Let's keep it up

I am going to the game this afternoon so I want to see that sweep!

richman

by anderson800 on Apr 26, 2009 6:36 AM EDT reply actions

You know, it's hard to believe this team is .500

and I mean that in a good way; they can’t really get worse, and they are still only a .5 game out.

Seriously; they have been outscored by 21 runs. Look at the numbers for Casilla, Punto, Crede, Young, Gomez, Cuddyer, Redmond. Terrible. Teamwide 90 OPS+.

An even worse 83 ERA+ with terrible starts by Liriano and Baker, and only Nathan and Mijares (in 2 outings) with ERAs out of the pen that are above league average.

Even someone as pessimistic as I am has to assume that the underlying performances will improve. The fact that they aren’t 6-12 right now is a pretty big bonus.

by Eric in Madison on Apr 26, 2009 9:31 AM EDT reply actions

Slowey

For those who didn’t read it, Slowey had some interesting comments in the mlb.com game recap

He talked about trying to throw fewer strikes. The idea was to throw more near misses, so that hitters swing at more pitches that are harder to hit. I thought this was interesting, because I was thinking about Baker and Liriano. Liriano, last year and in 2006, was never a control pitcher. He was successful because he was deceptive. Hitters would swing because they didn’t know whether the ball would end up in the strike zone or at the ankles or neck. Baker on the other hand, stayed at the knees and the letters, around the edged of the plate. He isn’t deceptive, but his pitches were close to the edges, just inside or outside.

These seem to me to be the two approaches with the same necessary effect. Players have to swing at less hittable pitches. And doing it earlier in the count, combined with having confidence that you can continue to follow that strategy and get some strikes, means that you don’t have to throw meatballs.

Hopefully both of these guys can regain that ability. We shall see.

by snolls on Apr 26, 2009 11:17 AM EDT reply actions