2011 Twins Game Recaps

Game 19 Recap: Twins 3, Orioles 1

28 Comments

MINNESOTA 3, BALTIMORE 1
Record - 7-12 (Last in the Central)
Highest WPA - Baker (7.0 IP, 0 R, 9 SO) and Thome (2 for 4, HR, 2 RBI)
Lowest WPA - Hoey (0.0 IP, 2 H) and Valencia (1 for 4, SB)
Notable - Jim Thome has hit .455 (5 for 11) in the three Thursday games this season and has a positive WPA in all three.
Fangraphs
MLB Recap

------------------

The story in this one was Scott Baker.  For the second consecutive outing, he looked really good.  Nine strikeouts (only one walk) in seven innings.  Only four hits allowed, and the O's went 0 for 5, with a walk, against him with runners in scoring position.  That was actually better than batters had done against Baker in that situation so far in 2011.  With this game added in, now opponents are hitting .000/.048/.000 (21 PAs) against him with runners in scoring position so far this season.  With that in mind it's probably unlikely that we'll continue to see Baker completely shut teams down as he has recently, but it's a good reminder that he's got the stuff to strike some people out when he's in a jam (24 K's in 25 IP in 2011) and if he keeps the ball in the park (6 of his 7 runs allowed courtesy of the longball - 14.3% HR/FB) he can be a real good pitcher.

Speaking of the longball, Jim Thome and Michael Cuddyer each poked one out, and Thome added an RBI single to supply the offense.  It seems like a fool's errand to attempt to draw any conclusions about this team offensively when so many parts are missing, so I'll just stick with the sentiment that I'm glad the offense scored enough runs to make the gem that Scottie pitched stand up.

First Thursday win of the season!

And the first Thursday that didn't end up with a regular on the DL!! (Mauer last week, Nishioka the week before)

Does it get any better?

 

28 thoughts on “Game 19 Recap: Twins 3, Orioles 1”

  1. I don't see any WGOM-approved puppies or puppy-like entities in this post. That's how it would get better.

    Great win. I credit spooky's illness. We are 1-0 on thursdays when spooky is sick. You know what that means, right, spooky? Do it for the team!

      1. i'm sure wicked hangovers would be acceptable. especially since there's lots of day games. we're going to need some surly serious benders for thursday night games though, i suppose.

  2. If I was Scott Baker, I would stop listening to advice from people and just pitch the way I pitch. He's a high-ball pitcher and when he's pitching well, as you saw last night, he gets a lot of outs on high pitches.

    No matter how many times people tell him to, he's never going to be a pitcher who's successful by "keeping the ball down," so he should stop trying and do it his own way. Either it'll work or it won't, but at least he'll have the satisfaction of knowing he did what he thought was right, not doing what everyone else told him to do.

      1. I'm not sure what they mean by "pitch to contact", and the Twins don't seem very consistent about it, either. Sometimes, they seem to mean he shouldn't strike so many people out, which I disagree with. Sometimes, though, they seem to just mean he needs to throw strikes. I do agree with that, although it could be said about pretty much every pitcher who ever lived.

    4. Padre, I agree with your statement, in the results it provides, wouldn't he end up being labeled like a Barlett or a Garza before him? By being willfully insubordinate he would be even further removed as from being on of "Gardy's Guys".

      Sub question, would you rather have Baker pitch well only to be traded or pitch to contact with the Twins?

        1. Or Gardy's daughter's door.

          In all seriousness, I agree. I just worry if being so flippant towards coaching could result in a lack of confidence from Gardy.

      2. While last night was a gem, I guess I'd choose "pitch well only to be traded." Except I don't want BS overseeing the trade.
        .
        .
        .
        hmmm. Actually (with that in mind) I take that back. I choose pitch to contact with the Twins.

      3. Look, if he doesn't succeed, he's not going to be pitching for anyone. I'd rather see him succeed as a Twin, but he's got to do what he does best if he's going to do that.

        I'm not saying that he'll be a star if he does it his own way; I have no idea if he'll succeed or not. But he is who he is, and I think he's got the best chance to succeed by being who he is, not by trying to fit a mold someone else is trying to push him into.

    5. I know announcers and other media call Baker out, but have there been reports of Gardy or Anderson trying to get Baker to change his approach?

      2. In the postgame press conference last night, Gardy said that Baker is good when he's up in the zone. It sounded like Baker had Gardy's blessing.

  4. Nice thread on Scotty B this morning guys. I went looking for the Pitch f/x graphing tool. Where is it again?? Was Baker in fact "keeping the ball down" last night, or pitching high in the zone, per our implications here?

    also, this may be of interest to a few, but there appears to still be a Gameday mini -- I found a link inside of the box score for last night's game (scroll all the way to the bottom).

    I don't know how to get to it during a game yet, but it seems to exist.

    2. My eyes told me he was getting a lot of outs by pitching up. I have no data to back it up, though.

      1. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say he was not spending much time low in the zone last night.

    4. Thanks for finding the mini. Once I'm back on my own PC, I'll see if I can figure out how to use that.

Comments are closed.