Twins 5, Indians 4
by cmathewson on Sep 16, 2009 2:34 AM EDT
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PrintFrom Section 127, row 8 (four rows from the screen behind the right handed batters box).
The Minnesota Twins rallied to beat the Cleveland Indians with the unlikely help of middle infielders Nick Punto and Orlando Cabrera Tuesday night at the Metrodome.
The Twins have struggled offensively up the middle most of this season. So it came as some surprise that Cabrera and Punto were in the middle of much of the offense on this night. Punto was 3-4 with a double and two RBI. Cabrera was 2-4 with a homer. Joe Mauer added an RBI single to a two-hit night that saw his league leading average climb to .373--a commanding 19-point lead over Ichiro Suzuki with 17 games to play.
Mauer opened the scoring in the first with a single that knocked in Denard Span. But Fausto Carmona kept the Twins from scoring while allowing them to reach base 12 times in 5 and 1/3 messy innings of work. Perhaps a better way of putting it is that the Twins failed to eat the RBI steaks set in front of them on the grill. Denard Span, Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer each left four runners on base, while Brian Buscher left three.
Scott Baker started and pitched brilliantly until the fourth, when he had his typical one bad inning of the night: A three-run affair in which the hard-hit balls that were otherwise caught throughout the evening found holes. The lone exception was Travis Haffner's booming double over the head of Kubel in right, which could not have been caught by any right fielder shorter than 10 feet tall and slower than a 4.3 40. Still, Baker fell into the familiar trap of coming in with hittable strikes when ahead in the count, and, as Bert likes to say, "they did not miss them". Fortunately for the Twins, it was the only inning in which he struggled, finishing with 5 1/3 quality innings and giving the Twins a chance to come back.
Cabrera started the come back in the fifth with a no-doubt homer into the bleachers in left. Nick Punto drove in the eventual winning run in the sixth after a Delmon Young double and a, Brian Buscher single.
The Twins bullpen did just enough to preserve the victory. Ron Mahay relieved Baker with one on and one out in the sixth and promptly got ahead of Hafner 0-2 before Pronk leaned into a slider to get nicked on the elbow, earning first base the Ernie Pantusso way. Gardy brought in Jon Rauch, who induced a double-play grounder to end the threat.
Jose Mijares and Matt Guerrier we most impressive. But once again, Joe Nathan had the old timers in my section reaching for their nitro after surrendering a homer to Matt LaPorta homered and Trevor Crowe walked. But Nathan induced Michael Brantley on a deep fly to Young in left to preserve the victory.
It was a memorable end to my Twins baseball watching at the Dome. What struck me about our seats was how many guys got the fat part of the bat on the ball and how many of those liners turned into outs.
Studs
Orlando Cabrera: His homer really woke up the Twins. Plus he made a nice catch on a Texas leaguer in the ninth to ultimately preserve the victory.
Nick Punto: I've never seen Punto on so many balls. He seems hot right now. Good thing he didn't slide into first on a grounder to third late in the game. The throw forced Andy Marte to leap for the ball and he would have landed on some vital body part of Punto's had Nicky Poo decided to do his patented belly flop. He also made a nice defensive play in the eight to keep the double play in order.
Joe Mauer: 2-3 with another BB. His only non-hit was a smash that second baseman Jamie Carrol made a nice play on to rob him of his 18th 3-hit game of the season. I guess he'll have to get that tomorrow. Update: Mauer is good.
Jose Mijares: One batter. Three pitches. One K. Brantley had no chance.
Matt Guerrier: Not a spotless eighth, but he held serve. I was most impressed when he man handled Hafner for the third out with two runners on and Francisco Liriano warming up in the pen.
Duds
Jason Kubel: With Justin Morneau and Joe Crede out for the year, somebody needs to step up in the middle of the order.
Michael Cuddyer: See the last note. He did make some nice plays at first though.
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A side
A side not on Mauer’s current small BA surge. At .373, I could be wrong, but I believe it puts him at tied for the highest batting average ever achieved by a catcher.
"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
I'm wrong
Baseball almanac actually has the record at .362 (piazza in 97 in Bill Murray in 1936), so Mauer is on the precipice of this record…
"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
Sorry about the editing, or lack thereof
I was literally half asleep when I wrote this.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
Buscher's heating up
Not that he’s the answer, but with Morneau and Crede officially out, maybe some of these guys will step up their games, especially knowing their playing time will likely increase. Not to be too critical, but with a flyball pitcher on the mound wouldn’t this have been a game to 3B Busch and DH Kubel? Just asking.
I'd like that if only to get a Young/Gomez/Span outfield
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
From the AP recap's game notes - Gardy wants help; Smith says no
Along with Morneau, third-baseman Joe Crede is likely out for the season with back problems, and recent call-up Justin Huber is day to day with a strained oblique. But Gardenhire said his desire to call up reinforcements was "squelched" by the front office. Gardenhire would like to see one of the organization’s top infielders promoted, but Luke Hughes and Trevor Plouffe are playing in the World Cup in Europe, while Danny Valencia and Brock Peterson are not on the 40-man roster.
This is news to me – I was under the impression that young guys weren’t being brought up because Gardy was comfortable with what he had (as exemplified by his hesitance to let Morales off the bench). It sounds now like he’d like some help, but Smith won’t do it.
I wonder if the reasons are purely financial (my rough calculation, with a bit under 10% of the season left, is that callups would cost around $40k apiece) or also related to service time. The 40-man roster situation doesn’t really seem relevant, at least for Valencia – Morneau isn’t coming back, so he can safely be put on the 60-day DL, and they will likely put Valencia on the 40-man next year anyway, so it’s not like they’ll have to pass him through waivers to take him off. I don’t know whether Peterson would be likely to make the 40-man next year or not.
"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein
I wonder how the "Fire Gardy!" crowd will spin this
that’s he wants to call up players, but is not being allowed to do so. Hmm.
Smith's in a tough spot
To add guys like Valencia and Peterson to the 40-man, he has to put other guys through waivers and risk losing them. The only guy on the 40-man who could help is Hughes, and he’s at the Baseball World Cup.
But I’m not surprised Gardy wants players to replace Morneau and Crede. I wouldn’t want to be stuck with a choice between Tolbert and Buscher either.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
Waivers not required
Why can’t they put Morneau and/or Crede on the 60-day DL to make room for the new guys? Morneau, especially – there’s zero chance he plays again this season. Unless they’re still thinking that Boof comes back (which seems pretty unlikely this late in the season), the fact that those guys aren’t on the 40-man roster doesn’t appear to me to be a legitimate reason to avoid calling one of them up in place of Morneau.
"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein
They would have to take them off the 60-day at the end of the year
You can’t keep guys on the 60-day DL through the offseason. So whoever is on the 60-day DL at the end of the year must be added to the regular 40-man, again pushing guys off. That’s OK if you have a lot of free agents that you don’t plan on signing. But the Twins are trying to conserve roster spots because they will have a hard time fitting all the guys that have to go on. I could see putting Crede on the 60-day because you can just take him off at the end of the year when he becomes a free agent. But Morneau would require an additional move.
"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot
Don't they have to make that decision anyway?
I was under the impression that Valencia was basically a lock to make the 40-man roster next year – he’s already being penciled in as the opening-day third baseman in some quarters. They’re going to have to make that decision no matter what, although I guess this would let them postpone it.
Also, I don’t see how it matters whether Crede or Morneau go on the 60-day DL – either way, Crede is off the roster at the end of the year. My thought was that DL-ing Morneau makes more sense because he’s definitely done, where Crede is only “probably” out for the year.
There will certainly be a 40-man roster crunch, but assuming that free agents go off the roster before guys on the 60-day DL are added to it, they shouldn’t have an immediate problem – there are only three Twins on the 60-day DL right now (Bonser, Slowey, and Neshek), and a quick scan of the pending free agent list at Cot’s Contracts showed at least five Twins (Redmond, Crede, Cabrera, Mahay, Pavano). In theory, at least, they have a couple spots to play with.
"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein
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