The Greatest Day of Baseball... Ever?

Yesterday was one of the most exciting days in baseball history.  As far as the regular season goes, I can't think of a better set of games, but I'm young and that may be why.  On the other hand, Tim Kurkjian is much older and a much  more respected baseball analyst, and he echoed my sentiments, saying: "This was the greatest day of regular season baseball in the game's glorious history."  Regardless of where exactly it ranks on your list, it was without a doubt an amazing day.  Here's what happened, in timeline form.

12:00 PM: I am informed by Twin #2 that Adam Dunn is not in the lineup for the White Sox.  Alas, that means that his quest for infamy has ceased.  More on that in another post, as there were exciting moments galore to come.

9:56 PM: Skipping way ahead.  In Atlanta, Craig Kimbrel is on the mound against Chase Utley in the top of the ninth inning.  With one out and the bases loaded, the Braves led by the score of 3-2.  At the same time, the Cardinals were up 7-0 on the Astros, meaning a loss would likely send Atlanta home for the season.  Utley came through with a deep sacrifice fly to left field that brought in the tying run from third.

10:02 PM: Kimbrel walked the next batter, his third free pass of the inning, to load the bases, forcing Fredi Gonzalez to go to his bullpen.  Out trots Kris Medlen, a pitcher who had thrown exactly one inning in the Major Leagues in 2011.  He does his job, though, getting Michael Martinez to pop out, keeping the game knotted at three.

10:23 PM: While Boston, up 3-2 on Baltimore in the seventh inning, continues to sit through a lengthy rain delay, the Rays start to rally against the Yankees.  Down 7-0 in the eighth, Tampa Bay has just scored 3 runs to trim the lead to 4.  But, though they have runners on first and second, they potentially have only four outs left in their season.  Evan Longoria rises to the occasion with a 3-run homer that brings the Rays within one run.

10:26 PM: As the Braves-Phillies matchup pushes into extra innings, the Cardinals seal up their victory, an 8-0 win over Houston.  Chris Carpenter dominated from starting to finish, pitching a complete game shutout in which he allowed just two hits and one walk, and struck out 11 batters.  It's official now: Atlanta has to keep their postseason hopes alive.

10:31 PM: Although it has no bearing on the postseason matchups, Trevor Plouffe hits a single to drive in Denard Span to break a scoreless tie, giving Minnesota a walk-off win to end its season and avoid 100 losses.  Carl Pavano was the true hero, however, as he went toe-to-toe with Bruce Chen (seriously?), putting up a complete game shutout with only 95 pitches.

10:47 PM: With two outs and nobody on in the ninth, and the Rays still down by a run, Joe Maddon sends Dan Johnson to the plate to pinch hit for Sam Fuld.  It's a strange decision, if only because Johnson has not had a Major League hit since April 27.  Sure, he was in Triple-A for a while, but he was also hitless in his last 20 at bats and had a .108 average on the season.  Of course, down to his last strike, Johnson ropes a line drive just inside the right field foul pole for a game-tying home run.

10:58 PM: Play finally resumes in Baltimore, with the Red Sox emerging from their clubhouse having just watched the epic comeback the Rays had completed.

11:40 PM: In the 14th inning, it all finally comes to a close for Atlanta.  Following a broken bat, blooping infield single by Hunter Pence that put Philadelphia in front by a run, the Braves' Freddie Freeman grounds into a double play to end the game and complete a collapse that saw an 8 1/2 game lead in early September go by the wayside.  St. Louis is officially headed to the playoffs.

11:51 PM: An hour after the Red Sox learned they might not have the luxury of a play-in game even if they lose, Ryan Lavarnway grounds into a double play with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the ninth inning.  Boston enters the bottom half of the frame still clinging to a 3-2 lead.

11:54 PM: Brandon Gomes and Jake McGee have combined to put Yankee runners on the corners with nobody out in the top of the twelfth inning.  McGee then induces a grounder from Jorge Posada.  After Evan Longoria scoops up the ball, he catches Greg Golson straying too far from third base and tags him out.

11:59 PM: Jonathan Papelbon gets the first two outs of the ninth inning before Chris Davis strokes a ball into right field for a double.  Immediately afterward, McGee gets the final out of twelfth inning to squelch the Yankees' scoring opportunity.

12:00 AM: Only 30 seconds later, Papelbon gives up a game-tying ground-rule double to Nolan Reimold.  Baltimore now has the winning run at second base.

12:02 AM: The next batter, Robert Andino, loops a soft liner into left field.  Carl Crawford attempts to make a sliding catch and gets his glove on it, but can't come up with it.  He still has a chance to throw out Reimold at home, but his throw is off-line, allowing Baltimore to end their season with a walk-off victory.  And, of course, to potentially end Boston's season.  It's the first time all year that Boston has lost a game they led after the eighth inning.  Previously they had been 77-0.

B.J. Upton takes a healthy cut and misses as the T.V. announcers for the Yankees-Rays game inform their audiences that Boston has lost.

12:04 AM: The remaining fans at Tropicana Field go crazy as the scoreboard operator puts up the result of the Red Sox game.  B.J. Upton has struck out and Evan Longoria is strolling to the plate.

12:05 AM: Longoria knocks a line drive down the left field line, almost a mirror image of Dan Johnson's homer earlier in the game.  Again it sneaks inside the foul pole for a home run, giving the Rays a walk-off victory and pushing them into the playoffs.  They overcame a 9-game deficit in early September and a 7-run deficit with just 6 outs to go in their final game.  It was the first time the Yankees had lost a game they led by 7 or more runs in the eighth inning or later since 1953.


2:08 AM: So you tell me: was this the most exciting day in baseball history?

Where's Joe Nathan?

In the eighth inning of Sunday's game, Jose Mijares gave up a single to put runners on the corners with two outs. Rays manager Joe Maddon then pinch hit for Gabe Gross with Gabe Kapler. This is significant because Gross is a left-handed hitter whose career OPS is almost 200 points higher against right-handed pitchers than against lefties; on the other hand, Kapler is a right-handed hitter whose career OPS is over 100 points lower against righties than against southpaws.

Yet Gardy chose to stick with Mijares rather than sending Joe Nathan in. It's baffling. This is no knock against Mijares, but it makes no sense not to bring in your best pitcher in that situation, especially when you're going to bring him in anyways for the ninth inning (assuming Mijares gets that last out and the Twins don't score a bunch of runs in the top of the inning). Why not send Nathan out there for that extra out, when it's so crucial to the Twins' chances of winning? Mijares did the job this time, but next time a similar move could cost the Twins a victory.

And, in case you were wondering, Mijares and Nathan do both have better career numbers against same-handed hitters.

And it's Monday!

Game Notes and Other Links

The loss to the Rays to open the road trip leaves the Twins with a 5-15 record on the road. This one was close the whole way, but they couldn't quite get enough to win. Michael Cuddyer tied the game in the sixth inning with a solo home run, but Evan Longoria homered off of Scott Baker in the bottom of the frame to put the Rays back up, 4-1.

In the eighth inning, Joe Mauer tripled to lead it off, Justin Morneau followed with a double, and Michael Cuddyer finished it up with a ball hit to third base. Longoria made a clean pick but threw it about 2/3 of the way to first base, where it bounced by Cuddyer and bounded into foul territory. Cuddyer advanced to second and Morneau scored easily.

Baker lasted only 5 2/3 innings and was victimized again by the home run ball--Longoria and Carl Crawford both went deep off of him. While he allowed seven hits and didn't walk anyone, he seemed to be laboring the entire night. He threw first-pitch strikes to just half of the 24 batters he faced, and went into 3-ball counts six times. Jesse Crain and Jose Mijares had even more trouble hitting the strike zone, as they threw 51.7% (15/29) and 33.3% (5/15), respectively, of their pitches for strikes. Three of Mijares' pitches were intentional balls, but that still puts him at only 41.7 %. Mijares also failed to cover first on a potential double play ball in the eighth inning that would have kept the deficit at 1 run.

That inability to throw strikes, two pitching changes, and a ton of pickoff throws combined to make the bottom half of the eighth inning excrutiating to watch in my first foray into MLB.TV. I was unable to watch the Twins-Red Sox games because I am apparently in the Red Sox local area, although I am 100% sure I do not get the local Red Sox channel at my house (and I have an extensive television package).

That aside, a few interesting things I found this week regarding the Twins:

==>Over at FanGraphs, R.J. Anderson looks at Francisco Liriano's start earlier this week. I thought it was odd to see him post 7 strikeouts against zero walks and give up 11 hits in just four innings, and Anderson backs that up with some facts.

These next two are courtesy of ESPN.com and the Elias Sports Bureau:

==>Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau have now homered in the same game 6 times this year, after having done so just 7 times previously in their careers. As of the beginning of this week, that number led the league for tandem home runs.

==>Mauer has 11 home runs this month, which is the most for a Twins player since Tom Brunansky did the same in 1984, and is the most in Minnesota Twins franchise history. [For full disclosure, I'm not sure about the second part, but I think I heard that on TV somewhere.]

Twins Take Series

The Twins beat the Rays 8-3 tonight behind a strong pitching performance by Nick Blackburn and 3 hits a piece from the top three spots in the order. The bullpen continued to struggle, though, as Luis Ayala gave up a run in the ninth and Craig Breslow once again had trouble finding the plate in his inning of work. However, the game overall was a positive as the Twins took the rubber match in the three game set with the Rays, especially as they did it against a tough lefty starter in Scott Kazmir. Also, they've now managed a .500 record through the Mauer-less part of the schedule.

And that brings us to a new topic: Joe Mauer's return to the lineup. Mauer will be back with the Twins on Friday for their weekend series with the Royals, and the Twins now have a roster decision to make regarding their catchers. Despite Gardenhire's comments earlier this week about potentially keeping three catchers, there is no way that I see the Twins actually doing that. Some people have suggested that the Twins may cut Mike Redmond in order to keep the hot-hitting Jose Morales in Minnesota. I never saw that happening, and unsurprisingly news came out today about Redmond having a sore shoulder. I have no doubt that Redmond may be sore; he is a catcher after all. However, if the Twins didn't have Mauer coming back and Morales playing well, it would be a non-issue, but instead it will most likely be used as an excuse to put Redmond on the DL. Then, the Twins can let Morales hang around for a little longer and put off their decision on what to do with Redmond.

An extra half-inning? No problem.

At last, Francisco Liriano had an effective start. You could argue that his first start was pretty good (he only gave up 4 hits in 7 innings, but did allow 4 runs), but this was definitely a good one. He lost it a little bit towards the end, as he allowed 7 of his 9 baserunners after the start of the fifth inning, but the overall line was very solid. I thought Ron Gardenhire made a good decision to take him out after allowing two consecutive singles in the seventh. Certainly, it was tempting to leave him out there to get those nice, even seven innings, and he only needed one more out, but it was the right decision. I wasn't sure about bringing Matt Guerrier in, but hey, it worked out. Jose Mijares followed that by striking out the side, which gave Joe Nathan a save opportunity (finally!). Unfortunately, he allowed a lead-off home run to Ben Zobrist, and then gave us a scare by allowing two more baserunners. Despite the game-tying homer, that would be the last frame the Twins would pitch.

Even though Liriano could no longer pick up the W, that didn't mean the Twins couldn't, as the offense wasted no time in getting that run back. Singles by Jose Morales and Denard Span and a pinch-walk by Brendan Harris loaded the bases with one out for Justin Morneau. Unsurprisingly, Morneau ended the game then and there, though not in the expected fashion. Facing a 5-man infield (how often do you see that?), Morneau beat out the relay throw to first on a potential double-play ball to allow the winning run to score. After starting the game with a two-run homer in the first, Morneau added a third RBI to his tally to avoid extra innings.

On a negative note, Jose Morales allowed another three stolen bases and yet again did not throw out any runners. This is an obvious con to him being on the roster instead of Mike Redmond (if, as I suggested, he goes on the DL at some point), in addition to his MLB-leading 4 passed balls (he's also second among catchers with 2 errors). At the Seth Speaks live game chat, there was a discussion about the possibility of keeping three catchers and sending down Carlos Gomez or Brian Buscher. Personally, at this point, I think that may be exactly what Gomez needs, but if the Twins were willing to do that, I would have thought they'd have done it last year. As Seth pointed out, if he stays there for five or six weeks, that would have the added benefit of pushing back the first year he'd be eligible for arbitration (and subsequently free agency).

With the victory, the Twins are now 4-0 in one-run games. They're the only team that has yet to lose such a game, while the Rockies are the only team that has yet to win one (they're 0-4). The Twins still sit in fourth place in the Central, but are just 1.5 games out of first here in the early-going.

Livan is still Livan

Yesterday, over at aarongleeman.com, I read an interesting entry about Livan Hernandez. A very informative piece, it detailed what Hernandez was doing in his first three starts and how it translated into his improved performance. Unfortunately, it also described why his success was unlikely to continue.

And he couldn't have been any more correct. Gleeman cited Hernandez's one walk in twenty-one innings and the fact that he hasn't given up any home runs, along with his 50 percent ground balls so far this year (as opposed to 38 percent last year). In yesterday's game, Hernandez walked three and allowed three home runs, producing a much worse line than in his previous three starts: 6 IP, 5 R, 8 H, 3 BB, 2 K. Now, none of this is to say that Hernandez will be horrible (and yesterday's performance wasn't that bad either); just that there are clear reasons why he has been doing well early on, and just as clear reasons why he may very well struggle to continue doing those things.

As for the rest of the game, a few guys faced their former team for the first time. Delmon Young went 1-4 with a stolen base and scored the game winning run on Mike Lamb's sacrifice fly in the ninth. Brendan Harris went 2-4 with a run scored, while Jason Bartlett was 1-4 with a stolen base. Both Harris and Bartlett made errors which eventually allowed two unearned runs to score.

Joe Mauer had a fantastic game. He went 3-4 with two runs and an RBI, bringing his average up to .300. That shows what early season averages mean; just two days ago, I was worried about him because he was hitting in the .230's! He also made a big difference on the defensive end, throwing out two potential base stealers in the early going (although Bartlett did have a successful steal in the ninth). Compare Mauer with Rays' catcher Shawn Riggins, who allowed the Twins to go 3-3 in base stealing attempts. Carlos Gomez swiped two of those and Delmon Young had the other. In a one-run game, those extra bases--or extra outs--have a huge impact.

And, yet again, Joe Nathan came in to shut the door, making him five for five in save chances this year. After watching Todd Jones struggle and keep Tigers' fans on the edge of their seats, and seeing struggles from the Twins' bullpen recently, it was refreshing to be reminded of who's at the back of the bullpen and how reliable he is.