Monday, July 2, 2007
Baker's Best
And example number 7,946,129 why the Win statistic is the most meaningless stat for a pitcher. Last night against the Detroit Tigers, Scott Baker pitched the best game of his season. His first start, the one against the Brewers, was excellent. His Tuesday start against the Blue Jays was even better. Well, last night's performance was definitely Baker's best! Eight innings, three hits. One walk. Just 79 pitches, 57 of which were strikes. But numbers don't even express how much Baker dominated the Tigers' lineup. He broke bats, and really, no one hit anything hard against him. There were really only two negatives in the game. The first, as I'm sure you can guess, is that with two outs in the bottom of the 8th, Marcus Thames lined a homer over the left field fence to give the Tigers the 1-0 lead and win. But even there, the pitch probably only missed the target by about 1/2 inch. Thames just happened to be looking inside and turned on the pitch. I don't think he got the good part of the bat on the ball. The other negative about the game was that the Tigers' Jeremy Bonderman was almost as good as Baker. He too went eight innings, but he did not allow a run despite allowing more base runners. Bonderman struck out seven while Baker struck out just three.
| IP | ER | H | BB | K | |
| Pitcher A | 6.0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| Pitcher B | 6.0 | 4 | 9 | 1 | 2 |
| Pitcher C | 8.0 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 |
Take a look at the above pitching lines. Which is the best? I think the obvious answer is Pitcher C. And, you're all smart enough to know that is the pitching line of Scott Baker last night. Pitcher A finishes a close second, and yes, that is Johan Santana's line from Friday night. Kevin Slowey is Pitcher B, and that is his line from Saturday afternoon. Santana got the Win. Slowey got the Win. Both got more than eight runs of run support. Pretty clear that Baker had the best line, and for it, he gets the Loss. The funny thing is that some people will say that it was the worst start because it was a loss. I illustrate this not to say that Slowey and Santana were bad. They both threw just fine. But the fact that Baker got a Loss does not take away from what he did. He did great with what he could control.
Another thing that I was thinking while watching the game last night: Remember the starting rotation at Rochester to begin the season? They had a starting five of Matt Garza, Glen Perkins, Kevin Slowey, Scott Baker and Dave Gassner. The first four are now with the Twins (Perkins is on the Twins DL). Rochester is left with a starting rotation of Gassner, Jason Miller, Jeremy Cummings, Brian Duensing and Nick Blackburn. Duensing and Blackburn have both been excellent since their promotions from New Britain. He didn't give up an earned run in five June starts. Blackburn has not allowed an earned run in 44 innings. He is 5-1 with a 1.57 ERA. Duensing is 4-1 with a 2.19 ERA.
Did you see that the Phillies called up Chris Coste again late last week? He was with the team on Friday and when asked to pinch hit against El Duque, he homered to deep left.
Did you also see that the Phillies signed former Twins reliever JC Romero, and that he pitched Friday, Saturday and Sunday?
Did you see that Matt Garza, Bobby Korecky, Matt Tolbert and Jose Morales were all named to participate in the International League All-Star game? Of course, it is unlikely that Garza will play in that game or the Futures Game since he is with the team. Former Twins 2B Luis Rivas also will play in the game. He is hitting just .257 for Buffalo, the Indians' AAA affiliate.
Did you see that Wayne Krivsky fired Reds' manager Jerry Narron? He will be naming former Twins infielder Pete Mackanin as the interim manager. Mackanin had been the Reds advanced scout. He played in a total of 185 games for the Twins in 1980 and 1981.
Any other thoughts on the Twins, former Twins, last night's game, the Tigers' series, the upcoming three game set against the again-slumping Yankees, or anything, please e-mail me or leave Comments below. Here are the pitching matchups:
Monday - 6:05 - Boof Bonser (5-4, 4.65, 1.49, .276) vs Roger Clemens (1-3, 5.32, 1.48, .284) Another ESPN game... should the Twins recall Erik Lis?
Tuesday - 6:05 - Carlos Silva (6-8, 4.15, 1.34, .286) vs Chien-Ming Wang (7-4, 3.86, 1.21, .263)
Wednesday - 12:05 - Johan Santana (9-6, 2.76, 1.04, .218) vs Mike Mussina (4-5, 4.63, 1.32, .285)
TWINS MINOR LEAGUE NOTES
SethSpeaks Player of the Day - Brock Peterson, New Britain Rockcats
SethSpeaks Pitcher of the Day - Steven Hirschfeld, GCL Twins
If you have any thoughts on the Twins system, please e-mail me.
Check out Roger's most recent Minor League Update.
ROCHESTER REPORT
Sunday - Red Wings 7, Buffalo 8 (10) – Jose Morales led the offense in this game. He went 4-5 with an RBI. Gil Velazquez went 2-4 with his first homer. Garrett Jones was 1-4 with a triple and four RBI. Tommy Watkins went 2-3 with his 18th double. Ken Harvey played in his first game with the Red Wings since early this season when he injured himself in his lone at bat. He went 1-5. Jason Miller started and went five innings. He gave up two runs on six hits. He had a walk and a strikeout. Julio DePaula got two outs and gave up two runs. Brian Bass went 1.2 innings and gave up a run. Ricky Barrett gave up two hits and got one out. Bobby Korecky went the final 2.1 innings and gave up three runs (2 earned) on four hits.
NEW BRITAIN NEWS
Sunday - Rockcats 10, Reading 9 – Brock Peterson had a pretty impressive game. He went 3-5 with two doubles (17), his 11th homer and six RBI (38). Matt Allegra went 3-5. Trevor Plouffe went 2-5 with his 21st double. Matt Moses went 2-5. Brad Baker gave up five runs on seven hits and three walks in 5.1 innings. JP Martinez then gave up two more runs on three hits and he got just one out. Jose Mijares improved to 3-0. He gave up a run on one hit and three walks in his inning. Tim Lahey recorded the save by getting the final seven outs.
FT MYERS MEMOS
Sunday - Miracle 2, Lakeland 3 - Jay Rainville fell to 4-8 on the year. He gave up three runs on six hits in seven innings. He gave up four walks and six strikeouts. Angel Garcia struck out four in the final two innings. Luis Ugueto (why is this guy still on the roster, or in the organization?) went 2-4 with a double. Brian Dinkelman and Erik Lis each went 2-4. Rondell White played in his second game with the Miracle. He played LF and went 1-2 before Dwayne White came in to replace him.
BELOIT BITS
Sunday - Snappers 1, Clinton 0 – Wilson Ramos provide all of the offense in this game. His solo home run, his fifth, was the only run. Tyler Robertson improved to 3-2. He gave up four hits and walked two in six innings. He struck out nine. Aaron Craig and Jose Lugo combined for two shutout innings. Robert Delaney got his 26th save with a shutout ninth.
ELIZABETHTON UPDATE
Sunday - E-Twins 11, Bristol 1 – Another game, another double-digit scoring night for the E-Twins. Steven Hirschfeld started this game by throwing five no-hit innings. He struck out four. Michael Rogers gave up a run on two hits and a walk in two innings. He struck out three. The team gave up nine hits and walked eight. Starling De Los Santos went 2-4 with an RBI and his 3rd stolen base. Eric Santiago went 2-4. Ben Petsch went 1-1 with three walks, his second homer and three RBI.
GCL TWINS UPDATE
Sunday - GCL Twins 1, GCL Reds 0 – Can't find a box score. If someone has information, please let me know and post it in the comments.
Do you have any further thoughts on any Twins prospects, minor leaguers, or these summaries? I would love any input, or ideas to make it better. Thanks! E-mail me, or also feel free to leave comments below.
Let me know what you think. Send me an e-mail, or let's talk about it in the Comments here. That is it for today!
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