What Just Happened?
Let’s review what we just saw.
1. Carlos Silva, a guy with great command who never walks or strikes anyone out and whose main weakness is left-handed batters, facing a line-up predominantly made up of left-handed batters, playing in a park that favors left-handed hitters, gives up just three hits in seven innings while struggling to throw strikes but getting out of any trouble with clutch strikeouts.
2. The guy with the least power in the line-up, Turbo, destroying a fastball and hitting it a country mile for the team’s first home run of the year.
3. Brad Wilkerson, one of the slowest guys on a team of slow guys, stealing second base off the guy who led the American League in CS% last year.
4. Miguel Batista, the team’s 5th starter and another guy who struggles against left-handed hitters, retires three consecutive lefties in a row to record a save and end the game.
What a weird, weird ballgame. Huzzah for the win, though.
There isn’t a game four, is there? I don’t want to hear about Josh Hamilton’s drug problem any more.
What a crazy game. When I glanced at the box score in the 7th inning of this game I swore there was an error but then I saw Sexson’s line and I immediately came back to reality.
Silva pitched better than most of you thought he would, great job.
I love Miquel.
I know that all serious sports guys have an ego, and I’m sure that he must. But watching him close this game made me think of some kid in South America whose ‘glove’ is a cut up milk carton and duct tape. “Sure Coach!”
Close the game? No problem.
Call me a romantic, it’s part of why I love this game.
skipj
This is completely off topic, but [this is deleted, for being completely off topic]
Good game. Although I think Wilkerson is still running for that HR ball and I just passed him. Huzzah.
Bizarro Silva and Pepe Vidro? I got nothin’ on Wilkerson or Beluga Tits. The only thing I can think of with Batista is even in large samples, you’re going to find that he’ll get three consecutive lefties out.
“There comes a time when all the cosmic tumblers
have clicked into place and the universe opens itself up for a few seconds to show you what’s possible.” – Terence Mann (fictional author from the movie Field of Dreams, based on J.D. Salinger)
Cosmic Tumblers. Clicked. Possible. Etc.
If they play every game like this one, no one should talk anymore crap! HA HA Who am I kidding you know this is just one game ;).
You can throw the book out the window, trying to figure out what is going to happen in single game, over a whole season, well that may be a different story.
Worried about the hitting, the defense, and now, the bullpen.
But as long as your starting pitching is solid you always have a chance. So far our starters are as good as advertised.
PLEASE listen the the last 3 seconds:
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?&brand=null&videoId=3326736&n8pe6c=2
I could sure deal with listening to that all year– if WE would have gone out and grabbed this high-reward low-cost (hence low risk) player to be one of our corner outfielders. Think how much better we would be with Josh Hamilton on the roster. I just shake my head knowing we don’t go get a guy like that, but we sign an Everett or a Vidro or some other veteran hanging on for one more year.
No doubt about it, Dave — I think we’ve officially slid sideways into a parallel universe! 😮
This is why we play the games
sincerely, Geoff Baker.
Uh.
We’re supposed to beat the Texas Rangers.
Pretty sure he’s refering to things like Silva walking 3 in one game, Batista somehow getting through that inning unscathed, and Turbo having both a home run AND a stolen base already.
I was very obviously *not* responding to DMZ
No you don’t. You love Miguel.
I saw the bottom line on ESPN at a bar, when I saw Lopez and Vidro with a HR and Batista with the save I thought I was way past a few beers and ordered water to sober up. Guess it wasn’t a drunken sight.
Going off his previous three seasons, what are the odds of Vidro hitting a HR AND stealing a base … in the same month?
So, even Bazaro World can’t help Big Sexy.
Whoo hoo outliers!
One thing I can say about Silva after watching this game is its great to have a pitcher who learned his craft in Minnesota. That guy knows how to use a changeup and was getting great mileage out of that pitch yesterday. Hope it’s contagious.
Are there any negatives to having Batista come in for the save? I mean he worked all spring to get his pitch count up…isn’t this a little counterproductive to developing him into more of a consistent starter?
#23 – This will not hurt Batista. He is already as developed as he is ever going to be. In many previous seasons he has been either a reliever or a swingman. His body is familiar to warming up in the pen and pitching in relief situations. He might not perform all that well on Sat. against AJ and the O’s, but it won’t be because he warmed up in the pen and through 12 pitches in the 9th inning last night.
#24 – I wasn’t talking about the physical aspects as much as the mental aspects. There is a mindset difference between starters and closers and if he knows he is going to be closing every few days doesn’t that have a chance of decreasing the effectiveness of his starts?
I would imagine that when you’re 37, you’ve kinda got a grasp on that whole thing by now. Especially someone who has spent equal parts of his career starting and in the bullpen, like Batista has.
Good point
Yesterday was his throw day anyway, so he was going to be throwing a bullpen session at full speed regardless of whether he pitched in the game last night or not. It doesn’t matter.
Why can’t we see Felix and Bedarad in relief on their throw days?
oooops “Bedard”
Full moon, but I’ll take it.
It’s been mentioned by Baker that Silva’s been working on a splitter to throw to the lefties. Maybe this was all a fluke last night, but could that be part of the explanation of why he was so effective?
It’s really good to see Lopez taking more pitches, working the count, and hammering the ball when he gets a good pitch. After flailing all last year, he looks like a big league hitter right now.
Nope – he didn’t throw any splitters last night.
#29 — Throwing a bullpen session and warming up and pitching in a game are little different. Pitchers who have been trained as starters their entire career generally take longer to get comfortably loose and might feel mentally rushed or unprepared to enter a game quickly with a runner on. For reasons mentioned above, Batista shouldn’t have those issues. This is one reason why the M’s hesitated about keeping Baek, a career starter, as a reliever.
Silva threw a career high 116 pitches. In 68 starts over the last 2 years, I count 10 games where he threw as many as 100 pitches. Carlos, you are not in Minneapolis anymore.
Oops, 64 starts, not 68. Regardless, the point remains.
116 pitches.
Is Silva a pich count horse a la Livan Hernandez or is McLaren going to blow him up?
wow. Not a single splitter in there? Guess sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good! Just one of those fluky things that happen from time to time then. Glad this one went our way.
In the old days, this happened. Casey Stengel used to use starters in relief a lot, particularly Allie Reynolds.
We’ve also seen it in the playoffs, most notably RJ, and several of the Braves.
As long as you use the SP’s for full innings, therefore giving them plenty of time to warm up, I think this isn’t a bad idea.
Teams also used to yank a starter early, if he didn’t have good stuff, and then would bring him back on short rest.
We won’t see this from someone like McLaren, though. Not in my opinion. Guys like him are just [too] set in their ways to think outside the box.
Silva is quoted after the game in the AP coverage as saying the ball moved more in cold heavy air here vs Arizona. “It’s amazing how much the weather can affect you” was the quote, I think (from memory). For whatever that’s worth (and if it’s true, watch out this summer — especially in away games, and especially against these same Rangers).
Torre brought Pettitte in to relieve twice last year when his pen was shot. If Joe can be creative anyone can 🙂