posted on Wednesday, May 30, 2007 12:02 AM
by
Jim
Four balls means no balls
Forgive me for delving into minutia tonight, but there's not much else to talk about during
John Danks' first major-league shelling. Fastballs up to Justin Morneau: not a good idea.
Besides Danks' and Nick Masset's inability to record the third out in the decisive innings, I was most perturbed by an intentional walk.
First of all, I think the Sox have intentionally walked too many people already -- their total of 16
ranks third in the American League, one behind the Yankees, and a bunch behind the Royals. Two of those came tonight, both with Torii Hunter on the receiving end, and the second one completely baffled me.
Here's the situation: After a two-run Morneau double, the Sox are down eight runs. There are two outs and up comes Hunter, and Masset is ordered to intentionally walk Hunter to bring up Mike Redmond.
Forget that Redmond singled to load the bases, because the outcome is immaterial. I'd still be pissed even if Masset fanned Redmond on three pitches.
There are three things wrong with this. Strategically speaking, adding a force play with two outs barely increases the likelihood of getting out of the inning with no further damage. There's a similarly small drop-off between Hunter and Redmond with the way both are hitting right now -- Redmond
delivered the fatal blow with a three-run double yesterday, right after Hunter's lucky chopper.
But here's what pains me the most: Where are the balls? Masset doesn't have a lead or even a slim deficit to protect, and even though there's a runner on, Masset doesn't have to mind him. All Masset has to do is focus on getting Hunter, a bona fide major-league hitter, out however he can. That's the job of a pitcher, and that's what Masset's trying to learn. There is absolutely no good reason to avoid engaging Hunter there.
If I'm Ozzie Guillen or A.J. Pierzynski (I can't remember if they used a mound visit already), here's what I tell Masset: Throw inside. Throw hard, throw inside. Try to jam the hell out of him. Don't try to hit him, but if it happens, it happens. You'll just have to be more careful to Redmond if you do.
That's by no means suggesting Masset to throw at Hunter -- the last thing the Sox need to do is give the Twins more bulletin board material. All I'm suggesting is that the Sox actually try to, you know, compete. I'm not sure if Guillen was trying to avoid being embarrassed further by calling for the walk, but in my eyes, he did it by himself the moment Pierzynski stood and extended his right arm.
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Speaking of throwing inside, Roger Clemens is set to make his major-league return at U.S. Cellular Field giving the White Sox fans who missed
Steve Carlton in 1986 the opportunity to see one of history's greatest pitchers try to wring a few extra wins and some cash out of a completely unremarkable team.
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Remember the Erstad Cliché Counter? Carol Slezak
just might break it. Let's give it a shot:
Hustler, all-out, intensity, abandon, crashed, diving, playing baseball, sacrifice bodies, run out every ground ball, slide hard, prepare for each game like it's Game 7 of the World Series, mentality of a football/hockey player, edge, recklessness, all-out, intensity, hustling, doing everything you have to.
Nope. It held up, probably because it somehow avoided "gamer" and "grinder." Nevertheless, it still made my monitor sweat.
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Minor league round-up:- Charlotte 4, Louisville 3
- Andrew Sisco keeps on keepin' on, getting tagged with the loss in his first outing in Charlotte. One walk, two hits and two runs in 1 1/3 innings. He did strike out three.
- Craig Wilson went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts, making that six in eight at-bats. He was topped by Josh Fields, who earned the golden sombrero. Brian Anderson was also hitless, but only struck out once in three at-bats.
- Jerry Owens hit his second homer, one of his three hits on the day. He's now hitting .297.
- Jacksonville 5, Birmingham 3
- Adam Russell took the loss, and hard -- he had a 3-0 lead going into the ninth inning, but left after one out in the ninth with the bases loaded. Edwardo Sierra couldn't hold the lead, and thus, the Barons lost. Russell only allowed five hits in 8 1/3, striking out six to one walk.
- Mike Myers hit a solo homer, and Jason Bourgeois' double was the Barons' only other extra-base hit. Thomas Collaro went 2-for-4.
- Myrtle Beach 9, Winston-Salem 5
- Kyle McCulloch pitched decently (two earned runs in six innings), but received no help from his bullpen. Both Brian Omogrosso and Gary Bakker were shelled.
- Aaron Cunningham rebounded from his 0-fer with a 2-for-3 day. He also walked and scored two runs.
- Cole Armstrong continues to hit -- he went 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBI. Victor Mercedes also had two hits and two RBI.
- West Virginia 6, Kannapolis 4
- Ricky Brooks only lasted 2 2/3 innings, giving up five hits and three runs; Ryan Rote pitched well in relief -- 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 5 K.
- Five of Kannapolis' seven hits went for extra bases; Chris Carter and Maurice Gartrell both went deep.
By the way: Following up on yesterday's Tomas Perez item,
the Sox acquired him from the Dodgers in exchange for Dwayne Pollok.