posted on Saturday, April 21, 2007 12:37 AM
by
Jim
Many hands make light work
If Gary Sheffield had found a way to drive in Placido Polanco instead of stranding him on third in the ninth inning of
tonight's game, here's what the pitching situations would have looked like going into extra innings:
| Detroit | Chicago |
Wilfredo Ledezma
Joel Zumaya
Fernando Rodney
Todd Jones | Boone Logan
Andy Sisco |
The Tigers still had their three best relievers in the bullpen (and their closer!), while the Sox were left with their two worst and a possible second inning out of Bobby Jenks, who would've already been scored upon.
On one hand, Ozzie Guillen shouldn't manage his relievers like he's expecting them to fail; on the other hand, that's kind of what he's doing when he goes all La Russa with matching up by handedness.
With one out in the eighth, Matt Thornton entered in relief of David Aardsma to face lefty Sean Casey, whom Thornton promptly retired for the second out. I would've taken Aardsma against Casey, but since he had already retired four hitters, it wasn't an egregious substitution. But after Thornton got out No. 2, Ozzie came out again and called for Mike MacDougal to face Omar Infante.
Infante is a useful bench player, but he's not
Vladimir Guerrero against southpaws. In fact, over his career, he's
worse against lefties than he is against righties, and there's never been a stretch where he's proven that phenomenon demonstrably false. So I'm not sure why Ozzie pulled his best lefty after four pitches to face a nobody, and while the Tony Tendency didn't bite him in this game, it could very well do so down the road.
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Here's a good illustration of how inconsistent the Sox offense is right now -- the Sox drew four bases on balls against Chad Durbin, yet Durbin used 11 pitches or less in four of the first five innings. It's somewhat surprising that
the Sox lead the league in walks, considering undisciplined they look at the plate sometimes.
Jim Thome and his 21(!) free passes are a big reason why, but there are also a few unlikely contributions. Tadahito Iguchi already has drawn eight walks, and A.J. Pierzynski has five himself. A.J. earned his walk the hard way tonight, fouling off four straight pitches in a full-count situation before watching ball four to load the bases.
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Minor league round-up:
- Charlotte 3, Ottawa 1
- Gavin Floyd, pitching in weather 35 degrees warmer than his previous start, fared much better -- 6 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 6 K on 97 pitches. He lowered his ERA to an even 2.50 in the process.
- Ryan Sweeney put the Knights on the board with a solo homer in the second, his second of the year. He also added a go-ahead RBI with a fielder's choice two innings later.
- After a terrible start, Wiki Gonzalez has a four-game hit streak (5-for-12), and has raised his average from .071 to .231. With no further improvement, he's still a better option than Gustavo Molina.
- Corwin Malone and Ryan Bukvich threw three scoreless innings in relief, with Bukvich working hard for a two-inning save.
- Birmingham 3, Montgomery 2
- Kris Honel was all over the place in his 4 2/3-inning outing, walking four and throwing two wild pitches. Somehow, he only allowed two runs.
- Ryan Wing, Edwardo Sierra and Dewon Day threw 4-1/3 hitless innings of relief. Wing has only allowed one hit in 9 1/3 innings this season, with four walks and nine strikeouts. Day "only" struck out one.
- Chris Getz tied up the game with an RBI double in the eighth, and Jason Bourgeois drove in the game-winner in the ninth. Bourgeois also scored on a balk.
- Winston-Salem 6, Wilmington 5
- The Warthogs won despite committing six errors by six different guys, leading to three unearned runs.
- Micah Schnurstein hit his second homer of the year, and leads the team with 13 RBI.
- All starters had a hit except for Victor Mercedes (who committed an error on top of an 0-for-5 night); Javier Castillo had three hits including a triple and two RBI.
- Charleston 3, Kannapolis 1 (Game 1, 7 innings)
- The Intimidators had only four hits, and Archie Gilbert, Anderson Gomes and Brandon Allen went 0-for-11 at the top of the order.
- Matt Long only struck out one in five innings of work, giving up five hits and three runs in the process.
- Michael Rocco pitched two scoreless innings in relief.
- Charleston 5, Kannapolis 1 (Game 2, 7 innings)
- Kanny only racked up five hits in the nightcap; the top of the order went 0-for-9 with five strikeouts.
- Richard Brooks gave up four runs in five innings, but only one of them was earned thanks to a two-out error and a passed ball.