Thursday, March 29, 2007
Twins Recap; Twins 10, Reds 2
This is the type of Twins recap I absolutely love doing. The kind where I get to brag about how our boys whipped the stuffing out of yours, heck even Silva pitched like he did when he knew how to pitch. Having said that, lets get down to breakin' it down.
The Reds played host to the Twins Thursday night at their facility in Sarasota. Carlos Silva, fresh off securing his spot in the starting rotation after the widely controversial decision was made to keep Matt Garza in the minors, delivered big-time in what will be his last start until the Twins play host to the Yankee's Wednesday the 11th. Silva dropped five innings of two hit ball while walking no one and striking out two. Even more encouraging, he did so with a 9-4 ground ball out to fly ball out ratio, the most indicative barometer of whether or not a pitcher is throwing a good sinker. Twins middle reliever Jesse Crain allowed the two Reds runs on a two run homer by second baseman Brandon Phillips. Pat Neshek tossed a scoreless eighth walking one and striking out one while Close Joe Nathan pitched his second scoreless frame in as many nights in the ninth.
As for the really fun part, the Twins who had been held relatively quiet on offense the past couple nights by the Yankees and Red Sox busted out the bats in a big way. Four Twins had two hits while seven others tallied base knocks. Of the 15 total hits five were doubles, one each by Rondell White, Jeff Cirillo, Luis Castillo, Jason Tyner, and Luis Rodriguez. Heck MVP (as I may call him on occasion because its fun) was the only guy who didn't have a good night going 0-3 with a walk while stranding 3.
Usually I reserve the end of the recap for the other teams notables, but theres nothing notable about getting shelled.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Corey,
Here's your "Pollyanna" Silva report.
First, I am going to presume that the coments by Anderson & Gardy about Silva throwing very well in side sessions as accurate.
Silva pitched well, and I will break down his previous disasterous start into 2 parts. Innings 1-3 where he pitched fairly well, and inning 4 where he pitched batting practice. There was much talk of new arm slot or angle, and maybe innings 1-3 last start + the excellent last start might suggest that the "mechanics" are in fact getting worked out. What remains to be seen, is if the head /confidence part will follow.
I will place a small wager that as the "mechanics" straighten themselves out, the tough situations where confidence/head issues seem to take precidence will diminish.
Remember, I did title this a "Pollyanna" analysis.
Also, the ballyhooed, 11+ ERA, which everyone trumpets, is the result of 1 horrible inning in @15. It reminds/reinforces memories of past circumstances, and fairly so. Yet, that 1 inning included @40% of the Earned Runs Silva allowed this spring. If that inning is discounted, his spring ERA is 5ish +/-.
Regards,
Post a Comment