posted on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 2:07 AM
by
Jim
Can you dig it?
I'll poke fun at Paul Konerko's lack of mobility around first base every now and then, but he can scoop bounced throws with the best of them. In fact, whenever a low throw gets by him, my first instinct is to wonder what Paulie did wrong.
I bring this up because Alex Gordon's piss-poor attempt at trying to dig out Joakim Soria's throw made the difference in
tonight's ballgame. Gordon isn't a first baseman, but he found his way there when Buddy Bell pinch-hit Esteban German for Ryan Shealy, with Ross Gload already out of the ballgame after an earlier substitution.
Soria's throw was probably ill-advised, but it wasn't all that bad considering the speed of Pablo Ozuna, the wet grass and the response time after getting plunked with a line drive. However, when the ball short-hopped Gordon, the Royals rookie flinched big-time. At the point the ball could've been entering his mitt, Gordon's head was pointed in the direction of right field, where he got a long look at Reggie Sanders. The ball skipped away from him, Konerko came around to score, and that was the ballgame.
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Speaking of questionable position changes, I'm not sure I got Ozzie's decision to slot Darin Erstad in the DH spot. What's nice is that I don't even have to go into a detailed explanation. Instead, all I have to say is that at the end of the game, Brian Anderson was flanked by Pablo Ozuna and Rob Mackowiak.
Anderson, by the way, drove me nuts with the way he bailed out on inside-half fastballs. Perhaps Wilfredo Ledezma spooked him by starting him off with two changeups
the last time Anderson had to swing a bat, because he seemed genuinely surprised by mediocre fastballs. He needs to see more pitches, and Charlotte may be the only way to achieve that end.
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Nice try, Royals assistant trainer Frank Kyte, but you have a long way to go before you topple Herm Schneider as the least athletic-looking athletic trainer.
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Minor league round-up:- Charlotte 4, Toledo 2 (11 innings)
- Could this be the day Josh Fields breaks out of his slump? He went 2-for-5 with three RBI, including a two-run walk-off homer.
- Kenny Perez had a Scott Podsednik-like day: he was caught stealing and picked off.
- Lance Broadway pitched six quality innings -- five hits, one run, two walks, four strikeouts.
- Ryan Bukvich and Bret Prinz struck out four over three combined innings; Paulino Reynoso loaded the bases in the 11th on singles but escaped unscathed for the win.
- Mississippi 4, Birmingham 1
- Robert Valido had half the Barons hits moving back to the No. 2 spot -- he went 2-for-4 with a double, scored the only run, and raised his average to .200. He also stole a base.
- Thomas Collaro scored a hat trick -- 0-for-4 with three strikeouts; Cory Aldridge drove in the only run with a double.
- Wes Whisler allowed two runs (one earned) over five innings. He struck out one batter, and now has only seven strikeouts over 22 innings.
- Dewon Day is back to striking out the side, but gave up a solo homer. He's struck out 21 in 8 2/3 innings, but has a higher ERA than Whisler (3.12 to 2.45).
- Potomac 12, Winston-Salem 6
- Aaron Cunningham is due for a promotion -- 3-for-5 with two doubles, his second straight three-hit game. His line is .393/.458/.590.
- Micah Schnurstein achieved the tough half of the cycle -- a triple and a homer. He's currently slugging .683.
- Carlos Torres, who I mentioned a couple days ago since he started the season with 11 scoreless innings, came crashing down. Two hits, three walks, four runs in 1 1/3 innings; Joe Gannon was roughed up even further, retiring only one of the six batters he faced.
- Augusta 9, Kannapolis 0
- Lee Cruz, who had missed about 10 days and was off to a slow start, had half of Kanny's hits with a 2-for-4 day.
- Jose Zazueta was the hard-luck loser, giving up only one hit and one run over five innings.
- Kanekoa Teixeira helped blow the game open when he failed to retire any of the five batters he faced. Making matters worse, they stole three bases on him.