Article: Twins Bats Defeat Twins Gloves 6-5

[John Bonnes]

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?427-Twins-Bats-Defeat-Twins-Gloves-6-5

[BigVin]

Go Twins! It's only a matter of time till our starter's start to catch up to the MLB Pitching. I think beating Weaver is a good sign! Gardy also needs to pick a lineup and STICK with it for more then 1 or 2 games. Keep it going boys!

[wagwan]

Too funny. But too true as well. I don't think you can win with that kind of defense over the whole season. It's just too hard on everybody when you keep giving the other team extra outs. Maybe Willingham has to DH? @ runs with his bat and -3 with his glove is not gonna work

[John Bonnes]

I really think we'll see a lot more games like that win this season. Hopefully they'll have the same result.

[Kneelb4zerg]

I can understand sacrificing defense for offense, but if Revere isn't going to be used as a defensive replacement to protect a 1 run lead in the 9th, why is he on the roster? Gardy needs to get over his fear of losing his backup catcher.

[twinsnorth49]

I really think we'll see a lot more games like that win this season. Hopefully they'll have the same result.

Agreed, 5-6 run games are going to be the recipe if we hope to win more than 75 games seeing as our rotation is unlikely to have a combined ERA under 5.00.

[Steve Lein]

Torii's faceplant was one of the most epic I've ever seen. Super slow-mo on the Target Field scoreboards was pretty hilarious.

[JB_Iowa]

Glen Perkins and Matt Capps. I'd like to see them do what they did last night many times this year. (Even if I do turn blue from holding my breath in the 9th).

[twinsnorth49]

Torii's faceplant was one of the most epic I've ever seen. Super slow-mo on the Target Field scoreboards was pretty hilarious.

 

 

Awesome, that will be run on Sportscentre all week!

[mattsaari]

No. Borjous' ball was not catchable. Willingham's mistake was in trying to catch it at all. If he just recognized it was over his head and played it off the wall, Borjous would have been held to a double, and the game only tied. If we want to point at bad outfield play last night, we need to look at DSpan playing two Torii singles into doubles. And when he had a chance to rid the bases of Torii both times, he made poor, rushed throws.

 

It's clear that Willingham was never taught how to fundamentally play the outfield, and has bad habits, like drifting on the ball, and taking slow runups on charging grounders, for fear of letting them by him. I'm certain that Jerry can work with him to clean those up. He has a strong, accurate arm. He get's pretty decent jumps on flyballs, now he just needs to refine his technique.

[Parker Hageman]

He didn't look very comfortable there in the fifth inning. With two outs, a hard-hit but catchable ball was hit to the wall in left field. Willingham missed it painfully, crashing into the wall. That resulted in a three-run inside-the-park home run that blew the Twins first and only lead of the season and gave the Angels a 4-3 edge.

I don't know I would describe that particular hit as "catchable" -- it was certainly within reach and would have required some skill to catch that ball while crashing into the wall (it's not like it was dying at the wall like the Doumit play in the first game). Overall, tough play (seen here: http://losangeles.angels.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?tcid=mm_ana_vid&c_id=ana). Would someone like Revere have caught that with his speed and athleticism? Possibly, but I won't hang that on Willingham. If anything, he should have tried to play the bounce instead of attempting to make that play.

 

More over, his play in the fourth inning in which Albert Pujols singled to left and Howie Kendrick scored is what chapped me. If you watch the replay (http://losangeles.angels.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?tcid=mm_ana_vid&c_id=ana), the ball is getting to Willingham right before Kendrick gets to third base. However, Willingham is not aggressively pursuing the ball but rather coming up to it flat-footed. As such, when he realizes he has to throw home, he isn't it the best position to make a strong throw. His throw comes up just short of catching Kendrick and had he charged the ball and been in a ready position, he likely would have thrown him out.

[Teflon]

Imagine now the luxury of being able to have Willingham at DH.

[Blake]

All this commentary and everyone is missing the pitching highlight of the game: The nasty slider Perkins struck Pujols out with. That pitch was a thing of beauty.

[Yoshii]

Torii's faceplant was one of the most epic I've ever seen. Super slow-mo on the Target Field scoreboards was pretty hilarious.

Wish I could have been at the game to see it, bet that **** was hilarious.

[deanlambrecht]

Imagine now the luxury of being able to have Willingham at DH.

Agreed. Hopefully Morneau, can get his feet under him at 1B so we have more DH options altogether. Mauer should take some reps in LF, to facilitate this. If Mauer can no longer be full time C, he needs to give us more than just 1B and DH as salary-justifying alternatives.

[CDog]

Torii's faceplant was one of the most epic I've ever seen. Super slow-mo on the Target Field scoreboards was pretty hilarious.

The reaction(s) to the scoreboard replay were what amused me. The first time, it was more of a gasp of concern and general "Oh no!" There was a pitching change, so there was a chance for them to show it several more times, and each time the reaction moved a little more from that concern to giggling and laughter. By the final time, there was a bit of a buzz as he approached the ball as it seemed almost everyone was watching and getting ready for the wipeout. Good stuff....as long as nothing comes up where he actually injured himself. That's never fun.

[CDog]

I'll also throw in my two cents to agree that the inside-the-park home run while technically "catchable" would have been a great play, not standard. He certainly gave it a full-on effort. Whether the route he took or the jump he got were ideal I don't know, but I don't think they were awful, were they? I don't think it adds anything to the opinion, but I will add that he hit the wall a couple feet from me, and that made for a pretty exciting moment! Probably should have played it off the wall, but in the split second moment that's a pretty tough call to make. Because of that, I agree that the bigger mis-play was on the Pujols RBI. He sure didn't get to it in much of a hurry.

[by jiminy]

Imagine now the luxury of being able to have Willingham at DH.

Good point about Willingham's slow fielding on the Pujols rbi. He didn't seem in any hurry to throw.

 

I don't see why that Bourjos fly wasn't catchable though. Willingham wasn't running hard, he just misjudged it. I think Revere would have caught it.

[Montecore]

10-9, bend but not break, I'll take it. Good to see M & M Hrs. And, Burnett good again.