The ninth inning.
When Jim Kaat broadcast games, he used to say something to the effect of "You don't always pitch the ninth inning in the ninth inning." What he meant was that the crucial inning in a ball game does not necessarily occur at the end. It can occur any time, and you need to be ready when it does.
It could be argued that last night the ninth inning came in the first inning. The Orioles put men on second and third with one out and had their fourth and fifth batters coming up. Even a productive out would score one run. A base hit would score two. A home run and we're looking at a big inning, with the Twins facing a substantial deficit before the even came to bat.
But it didn't work out that way. Kyle Gibson proved up to the challenge, recording the first two of his seven strikeouts. The Orioles didn't score. In the bottom of the inning, Trevor Plouffe had an RBI double, Miguel Sano hit a two-run homer, and it was the Twins who took the first inning lead. They added one in the third, four in the fourth, and cruised to an easy win. But had the first inning gone differently, the entire game might have been different.
What everyone was talking about after the game, though, was Sano's first homer. So far, he's 9-for-20 with two doubles, a home run, and four walks. And, of course, everybody loves him, including Twins management. At some point, though, he's going to hit a rough patch--everyone does. The question is how Twins management will react at that point. Will they stick with him when he struggles, or will they send him back to the minors "for more seasoning". Time will tell.
Another thing time will tell about is Joe Mauer's current hot streak. On June 16, Mauer was hitting .253 and had an OPS of .664. After last night, he's hitting .278 and has an OPS of .735. That's obviously the direction we want to see his numbers go. The question is, is Mauer truly getting back toward being who he once was? Or is this merely a hot streak, the sort of thing every batter this side of Drew Butera will have at some point if he plays long enough? We'll see.
Ryan O'Rourke made his major league debut last night and pitched a quick, efficient inning. Congratulations! Hope it's the first of many.
The Twins go for this series sweep this afternoon, with Tommy Milone going up against Ubaldo Jimenez. As we've said before, it's hard to feel really comfortable with Milone out there--he always seems to be living on the edge--but in his last six starts he's given up six runs in thirty-two innings, which is an ERA of 1.69. As somebody once said, everybody likes the results. Jimenez has, somewhat improbably, been very good for the Orioles this year, partly because he's walking the fewest batters of his career. It may not be an easy game, but we all know how it will turn out. We're on our season-ending eighty-game winning streak! We're still on track for 123-39!
Since June 16, Mauer is batting .362/.438/.536 with ten walks and 14 strikeouts in 80 PAs. Before that he had 23 walks and 42 strikeouts in 264 PAs. That's a 8.7% walk rate and a 15.9% strikeout rate before compared to a 12.5% walk rate and a 17.5% strikeout rate since. He's not going to have a .974 OPS the rest of the reason but the career normal walk rate is encouraging.
And that's why I think this isn't so much a hot streak as regressing up to his mean.
Note after the game, the Twins optioned Chris Herrmann and called up Eric Fryer. I don't think it really matters, but I don't understand it. If they'd brought Fryer up when he was hitting .340, I could kind of see it. But now he's dropped back to .299 and is showing what everyone assumed, that he just had a hot streak and is the same player he always is. I assume the Twins had some reason for doing this, but I'll be darned if I know what it is. Again, I don't really think it makes any difference, I just don't get it.
Sano's was a two-run HR.
I kinda liked the ii-less outfield last night. Especially when Buxton replaces Escobar
Maybe they want him to get more playing time. The cynical reason is they want to stop his service time so they can keep the backup catcher cheap for as long as possible.
I have a feeling service time isn't what's going to keep him cheap....
He's all but guaranteed to receive a million or so once he reaches arbitration. The minimum is about $515,000 so it's decent savings.
Our backup catchers aren't usually around long enough to reach arbitration.
I suppose they could like Fryer's defense better. Herrmann's value was supposed to be versatility, in that he could play first base or corner outfield, but the Twins haven't needed him to do that. I have no idea whether Fryer's a better defensive catcher than Herrmann, but the Twins may think so.
Molitor's comments after the game & move was that they liked Herrmann's offense but with such sporadic playing time, he wasn't able to do what they thought/expected him to do. Don't know if Fryer's any better, but perhaps the move was to jump-start Herrmann's batt?
I suppose it could be. I don't think Herrmann will ever hitt, but he did have an average of .304 in 204 at-bats in Rochester last year.
The Twins just went back to a four-player bench, so they don't need the flexibility that Herrmann provides, so I'm guessing that is why they decided Herrmann had struggled long enough.
I'm glad to see Sano took my advice about swinging up.
This is my first time seeing Sano. Is it my eyes or does he start his swing later than most people? Obviously, he has a ton of power, but to the naked eye it doesn't seem like he gets the bat through the zone that quickly. Maybe it's something in his stance that is deceiving me. I trust the results for sure.
They keep showing stats of Sano hitting balls harder on line drives than teammates are hitting home runs. He's been crushing the ball consistently and the only way to do that is with a ton of bat speed. It's a good thing to start a swing later because it means that the bat is that much quicker to get to the ball. That's what made Mauer a three-time batting champ.
Maury's swing is compact. I guess what I meant was Sano's swing seems long. Like Mickey Tettleton? It's not lightning quick like Sheffield. Of course I'm comparing him to one of the best hitters ever.