Twin Cities!
They're double-teaming them!So it went for John Danks and Nick Masset, who crashed back to Earth after quality starts to their seasons in
a 12-5 loss to the Twins Wednesday night.
It's Danks' second straight short start against Minnesota -- he lasted
only 3 1/3 innings in his previous start, all the way back to
May 29, 2007.
It was a somewhat similar game, except Danks was killed by homers
instead of singles, and Masset actually kept two inherited runners from
scoring.
Tonight, Nick Magic let all three of Danks' inherited runners cross the
plate as the Twins continued their pattern of hammering Masset:
| Masset vs. Twins |
IP |
H |
R |
ER |
HR |
BB |
K |
ERA |
WHIP |
| 2007 |
5.2 |
15 |
11 |
10 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
15.88 |
3.35 |
| Wednesday |
3.2 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
12.27 |
2.45 |
| Total |
9.1 |
21 |
16 |
15 |
2 |
7 |
3 |
14.46 |
3.00 |
(And that line may be a run short, as Mike Lamb singled against Masset and scored in his first inning of work. There was a fielder's choice off the bat of Adam Everett, so maybe Lamb was treated as Danks' runner, because Everett didn't score.)
His undoing tonight -- if you don't count the three runs that scored on his watch in the third inning -- was a two-out walk to Delmon Young that's hard to excuse.
Masset started the at-bat with two strikes, which should've been a great situation to be in considering the following:
- Until that point, Young hadn't drawn a walk in 99 at-bats dating back to Sept. 13, 2007.
- A largely ineffective Danks had struck out Young in his last two at-bats.
- Young was 71st out of 82 hitters in pitches per plate appearance in 2007.
- Young walked only 23 times to 127 strikeouts in 2007.
But Masset couldn't finish him off. Instead, he issued Young his first walk of the season. Jason Kubel followed up with a grand slam, and the Sox went from being in the game (7-3) to being out of it (11-3).
Maybe Hawk Harrelson's a reader, because he seemed to get into the Magic action. After the Kubel slam, he said Masset "was up 0-2, messed around, walked him and 'poof.'"
Of course, somebody's going to risk taking a beating in this case, but when you watch Matt Thornton, a former starter, come in and blow away hitters for two innings (including striking out the side in the second frame), he still strikes me as an eminently passable long reliever. With Boone Logan as menacing on the mound as his facial hair suggests -- and 5-for-5 in retiring righties -- Thornton seems more useful in situations like tonight.
By the way, this isn't
against a continuation of a trend against only the Twins, but against teams that don't sport "CLEVELAND" OR "INDIANS" across their chests.
His ERA against those clubs -- 8.54, and rising.
*****************************
Other notes:*Joe Crede with a 2-for-4 night, but after
the softest four-hit night you'll see from somebody not named "Pablo Ozuna," he's been hitting like it embarrassed him. He's had a homer and a double in each of his first two games against the Twins.
*The Andy Sisco Era has unofficially come to an end,
as Sisco will undergo reconstructive elbow surgery that will sideline him for anywhere from 12 to 24 months.
*Scott Merkin follows up on
the facial hair phase:
According to Jenks, Juan Uribe and Pablo Ozuna are next in line for a
meeting with the blonde dye. They don't expect any of the coaches or
manager Ozzie Guillen to join in the colorful fun.
I demand mutton chops!
*Ozzie Guillen aired his grievances
against umpire Phil Cuzzi.
*Joe Cowley will be
taking your questions at noon CST today. I won't be able to check it out, so if anybody does give it a shot, let me know how it goes. I'm not expecting much if the people who post "BOYCOTT THE SOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" in every Sun-Times blog entry dominate it, but hopefully somebody will ask some interesting questions.
The last time I'm aware that
Cowley addressed an audience live, he basically
pissed off the entire city of New York. So it could be good stuff.
*****************************
Minor league round-up:- Toledo 10, Charlotte 3
- Michael Rouse hit a solo homer; Brad Eldred tripled and drove in two.
- Tomo Ohka was shelled for eight runs (seven earned) in 3 1/3 innings.
- Dewon Day had a classic outing -- 1.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 K, 1 HR
- Adam Russell pitched a perfect inning, Oneli Perez also was unscored upon in an inning of relief.
- Birmingham 4, Chattanooga 0
- Clayton Richard shook off a poor debut with six scoreless innings. He gave up four hits, no walks and K'd 6.
- Clevelan Santeliz (2 IP) and Matt Zaleski (1 IP) closed it out.
- Cole Armstrong went 2-for-4 with a double.
- Winston-Salem 1, Lynchburg 0 (10 innings)
- Third-round pick John Ely dazzled in his debut, holding Lynchburg to two hits over six scoreless innings. Four strikeouts, zero walks.
- Israel Chirino struck out four over three innings of relief; Matt Long picked up the win with one scoreless inning.
- Salvador Sanchez and C.J. Lang had two hits apiece; Paulo Orlando drove in the only run.
- Asheville 11, Kannapolis 3
- Jason Rice allowed two earned runs over 4 1/3 innings, but Santo Luis poured gasoline on the fire (1 IP, 5 ER).
- Jim Gallagher went 3-for-4; Jose Martinez went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. He's struck out 10 times in 23 ABs.