Tuesday Night,
April 14, 2009
Belief in Crede Pays Off!
Twins 3, Blue
Jays 2 (11 innings)
Hey Twins Fans, the Twins showed
tonight that it may take a little extra time and extra work, but the team could
in fact beat the Toronto Blue Jays. In the bottom of the 11th
inning, Joe Crede
doubled off of the centerfield wall which scored Justin Morneau from first base with the
game-winning run. A night after a brutal-to-watch Twins loss, the Twins and
Jays gave baseball fans a great game to watch. Here are some thoughts:
·
Justin Morneau again led the offense. The first baseman went 3-5
with a double. He probably would have had a second double if not for the
strange play by Alex Rios against
the baggy in right field. His hustle in scoring the winning run from 1B on Crede’s double was impressive. His defense continues to be
underappreciated. He saved Nick Punto an error with a
tremendous scoop play on a throw in the dirt.
·
Joe Crede had the game winning double in the 11th
inning, but he had another double earlier. He also again made some very solid
plays with his glove.
·
Alexi Casilla laid down a nice bunt between the pitcher’s mound and
1B in the middle innings after Denard Span had
stolen second. It was a good bunt in between the pitcher and 1B and Casilla ended up with a hit. Morneau
followed with the ball off the baggy which advanced Span to 3B and Casilla to 2B. I was shocked that Span did not score. Why?
Because I didn’t realize that Span had inexplicably not advanced to 3B on Casilla’s bunt single. Clearly it was a sacrifice bunt
attempt called by the dugout so Span knew it was coming. I have no clue why he
did not advance. An argument could be made that the bunt should have been down
the 3B line. That’s valid, but with a right-handed throwing 1B (Kevin Millar), a bunt to 1B was also
fine. Span has been one of the top two or three hitters for the Twins this
season, so to point out one flaw isn’t exactly fair, and I don’t want to make
too big a deal out of that, but that play would have meant another run for the
Twins, a possible Win for Glen Perkins,
and two less innings pitched by the bullpen.
·
The top story of
this game, other than the game winning hit, had to be the performance of Glen Perkins. He pitched eight innings
for the second time in two starts. He gave up two runs on seven hits and a
walk. He again struck out four. Perkins deserved the Win, again, but he has to
be thrilled with the start to his 2009 season. The coaching staff and Twins
fans should be as well.
·
Could Ron Gardenhire
have removed Perkins from the game when Vernon
Wells came up with Alex Rios on
2B in the 8th inning to try to maintain their 2-1 lead.
They could have gone to Jesse Crain
or even Joe Nathan. Perkins had just
hit the 100 pitch count, so that move could have been made. In retrospect,
maybe that move should have been made, but I have to admit that I really liked
the idea of Gardy sticking with the guy that got them
there. I had zero problem with sticking by Perkins
there. Wells didn’t hit the ball terribly hard, but it went into the right spot
for the game-tying single. The decision could be second guessed, but then again
if Gardy makes that move and the reliever gives up
the tying run, we would still be second guessing that decision. So, you likely
won’t see me complaining about that kind of situation too often
·
It was
interesting to see the starting lineups shown before the game. Coming into the
game, eight of the nine Blue Jays starters had (small sample size!) batting
averages of .333 or better. The Twins starting lineup had one player, Nick Punto,
hitting .333. The Twins also had four players with batting averages below .200!
·
The Twins
continued a pattern of not being able to hit pitchers that they haven’t seen
previously. Ricky Romero, a lefty
making just his second big league start, was able to go eight innings for the
Jays. He gave up two runs on eight hits. He walked none and struck out just
two.
·
The performance
of Jesse Crain has to be mentioned.
He threw two perfect innings. I was finally able to listen to John Bonnes, The
Twins Geek, on last night’s MNGameNight.com
podcast. One of the topics he mentioned was that Crain has now given up
just one hit in 4.2 innings this season.
·
Another comment
that John has made throughout the offseason and even in the last couple of days
is that Carlos Gomez should spend a
couple of months in Rochester figuring out how to hit. We heard so much about
him working on pitch recognition and taking pitches and walking. So far this
season, he’s got one walk and nine strikeouts. After an
0-4 last night, Gomez is now hitting .115 (3-26) on the season. The elephant in
the room is that if Gomez were to spend even a month or six weeks in Rochester,
he would likely not be Super-2 arbitration-eligible after the season. Now, I
would be against that being the reason to send him down, but he clearly has
earned the demotion. I know it’s early in the season. They probably should give
him another couple of weeks to see if he can figure things out, but it just isn’t
pretty at all.
I will be back in a bit to post
the minor league game reports and a few other minor league notes. Be sure to
check back for that. But what did you think about the game tonight? What stood
out in your mind? Send me
an e-mail, or leave
your questions or comments here.