Tuesday, April
7, 2009
Game 1: Twins 1, Mariners 6 (Podcast Info!)
Before getting into my Game
Thoughts from the Twins opener, I wanted to mention a couple of things:
·
First, there will
be a new SethSpeaks.net Weekly Minnesota Twins podcast tonight. The hour-long show will begin
at 9:00 central time. If you’re able to listen live, great. If not, remember
you can click here to hear the episode after the fact or to download it to you
iPod. Confirmed guests at this point include Twins minor league pitcher Tom Stuifbergen.
You may recall that the righty was the starting pitcher for The Netherlands
when they beat The Dominican Republic in the elimination game of the first
round of the WBC. We will talk to him about that experience and what he is
looking forward to in 2009. Also, Parker
Hageman will be on the last part of the show. He is the blogger who writes
at Over the Baggy as well as
writing for the Twins page at
BaseballDigest.com. I am working on adding one more guest for the show.
·
Last night was
also the premier episode of the MN Game Night podcast. The podcast comes
from the makers of Gameday Magazine and mngameday.com.
For last night’s show, I was the host and worked the switchboard. The
Twins Geek (John Bonnes) called in after being at the Metrodome for the game. The MNGameNight
podcast will be a half-hour podcast available each night. Most shows,
we will discuss that day’s game, a couple of special features and what to look
for in the next day’s game. It should be a good show to listen to live, but it
should be beneficial to Twins fans who are able to
listen to it the next day at work, or download it on their iPod.
·
Nick Nelson
is known as one of the writers of Nick
& Nick’s Twins Blog. But now he is the sole author of Nick’s
Twins Blog!
·
One of my
responsibilities as the Content Editor of the
Twins page at BaseballDigest.com is to post Game Recaps following each
Twins game. Here was my
attempt after Game 1. I should note that I posted this before the news
that Mike Redmond injured his groin. It will be interesting to see if
the Twins have to put him on the Disabled List and bring up Drew Butera.
Opening Day
is a wonderful thing, and the Twins did it right. Twins fans packed in the Metrodome for the final Home Opener in the facility. There
was plenty of pomp and circumstance accompanying the new beginning. The teams
were introduced. The national anthem was sung. The Twins put together a great
tribute to their fallen owner, Carl Pohlad, who kept the Twins in Minnesota
when he bought the team from Calvin
Griffith in 1984. His three sons threw out first pitches to Tom Kelly, Ron Gardenhire
and Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew. Everything was perfect!
And then the
game started, and Felix
Hernandez stole the show. The young righty of the Mariners
threw 97 pitches in eight innings. He gave up just one run on five hits and
three walks, while striking out six. The Twins countered with lefty Francisco Liriano.
He gave up just four hits and walked none in his seven innings. Unfortunately
two of those hits were home runs and accounted for three of the four runs he
allowed in the loss. Ken Griffey
Jr. hit a solo home run. Later, Franklin
Gutierrez hit a two run homer that just eluded the glove of Carlos Gomez.
But again,
much of the
Here are
some other thoughts on the Twins Opening Day loss to the Mariners:
·
Denard Span had a rough spring. No question
about that. But if there was a postive for the Twins
offense, it was the Twins leadoff hitter. In his first at bat, he worked a
walk. In his second at bat, he laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt that he
nearly beat out. He coaxed another walk in his third at bat. That is a solid
day from a leadoff hitter. He also did a very nice
·
Delmon Young was the odd man out of the Twins
starting lineup on Opening Day. I don’t think that is a surprise to many. I
wouldn’t make too much of it as he will certainly be back in the starting
lineup on Tuesday. It will be interesting to see whether Denard Span or Jason Kubel
sits against lefty Erik Bedard.
·
Michael Cuddyer batted third in the game
and came up to bat with opportunities in his first two at bats. And he
looked horrible in striking out each at bat. But he came to the plate in the
5th with the bases loaded. He came through with a line drive single to
centerfield for the team’s lone run. For
those of you who care about such things, his batting average with runners
in scoring position is now .333. Think big picture! Just because the three (he
really looked bad when King Felix struck him out in his fourth at bat) at
bats were bad doesn’t mean he is bad or he shouldn’t be the team’s #3 hitter.
·
After Cuddyer came through with the RBI single, the bases were
still loaded with one out. Justin Morneau hit the first pitch right to 2B and
it was an easy double play to end the inning and end the team’s biggest
threat. I am actually encouraged that the Twins #3 and #4 hitters came up in
big situations. Over the course of the year, they will come through often.
·
One of Twins
fans’ biggest concerns in the offseason was the state of the bullpen. The
Twins lost Boof Bonser
to injury (and found out that Pat Neshek would miss the entire season too),
and they added only Luis Ayala
to the organization. Ayala faced three batters in completing the 8th
inning. The ninth inning began with a walk by Jesse
Crain. He got the next two hitters out. Lefty Craig Breslow
was brought in to face lefty Ken Griffey,
and he walked him on four pitches. Matt Guerrier was summoned, and Jose Lopez rolled a single
just out of the diving Joe Crede’s range, and just out of the diving Nick Punto’s
range. It wasn’t hard hit, but both hitters that got on via the walk scored.
That was a deflating inning of work.
·
Of course, I
can’t help but wonder what happens in that inning if Mike Redmond didn’t allow a
Passed Ball on Guerrier’s first pitch. That allowed
the runners to advance to second and third. If Lopez hits the same ground ball,
it might be an easy, inning-ending double play.
·
Jose Morales came in as a pinch hitter with two outs in the bottom of the
9th. On the first pitch, he grounded out to 1B to end the game.
The ground out ended his perfect career. Remember, coming into the game,
Morales was 3-3 in his big league career (1 game in 2007). He is now
a lowly .750 career hitter!
·
Joe Crede made his Twins debut. He did a
nice job with the glove. He also was credited with his first Twins hit,
a single. I have no clue how it was called
a single. I mean, it was a two-hopper right at Adrian Beltre
and he let it eat him up. But, take the hit, I guess!
Tuesday
night at 7:00, the Twins will send right Nick
Blackburn to the mound to face the Mariners’ lefty Erik Bedard.
That is it for today. Tonight there
is another Twins game and a couple more podcasts. We would love your input.
Send me an e-mail, or leave
your questions or comments here.