Aerodeliria

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game. This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game. This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game. This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game. This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game. This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game. This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game. This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game. This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game. This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Of course, I love Maeken, but pitchers are always a risk because of arm problems. FYI, he was a horse for the Hiroshima Carp (I'm sure he regularly threw around 120 pitches in games he was pitching well if he needed to). This has been par for the course in Japan. I once saw Yamaguchi-san (Toronto Blue Jays) throw over 140 pitches in a game. This is why I was frustrated to see Maeken pulled against the Astros.

Not all errors or misplays have equal weight--just like hitting. This is the trouble with defensive metrics. Polanco's error in Game 1 of the playoffs lost the game for the Twins. The weight of the error is the equivalent of a closer giving up a two-run homer with two outs to lose the game. If this had been the first inning, sure it would have hurt, but the intensity of the error would seem somehow much lighter in retrospect.

Baldelli: Note to myself. Regular season and post-season are different. You can't play the long game in the post-season.

This is my favorite quote of the year.

Like so many other big games, failures on defense cost the Twins the game. There is something about Polanco in tight games and errors. That was an easy throw to make. Maybe he should come out in tight games in the late innings. The other interesting thing is patience at the plate. Obviously, Baldelli emphasized that the Twins be patient at the plate...it lasted one inning. Only Kepler and Arraez were swinging at strikes after the first inning. (I'd really like to know the number of balls hitters chased in this game--on second thought, forget it--I don't want to know.)

One thing that Tom Kelly understood intuitively is that every game in the playoffs is Game 7 and that conventional patterns from the season should be ignored. (He also had some tricks up his sleeve that were only saved for the playoffs.) The mistake many managers make in playoff games is that they think about the morrow or they revert back to their mid-season mentality. This usually involves pitching changes within a game. When a pitcher is pitching well, Kelly understood that you should leave him in until he's out of gas. It is shortsighted IMHO to consider who is going to pitch in Game 4. Pulling a pitcher after five innings so he can be ready for Game 4 is a mid-season strategy. Game 4 may never even happen! Last year, Berrios was pitching well and he was yanked too early. Dobnak wasn't pitching poorly IMHO and he was also yanked (albeit the poor decision from the previous game may have contributed to Baldelli pulling the trigger more quickly than he wanted to). In Game 7 of last year's WS, AJ Hinch pulled Greinke after he gave up a home run on a very good pitch. Sometimes an opposing player just hits a very good pitch well--that was the only ball hit well off of Greinke to that point in the game. The bullpen imploded and Hinch was fired--maybe not only for that loss, but it was still a poor decision. If Maeda is rolling tomorrow, why pull him after five or six? He has thrown well over 100 pitches (like 130) on more than one occasion when he pitched here in Japan. Anyway, that's my two-yen's worth.

Maeken also feels more comfortable with the Twins IMHO. He was always the odd man out for the Dodgers, which added unnecessary pressures.

Well-said.

Oh, this is the opposite conclusion of what I had imagined! In any case, let's call up some recruits.

Thanks!

I'm thinking of forward actually. When pitchers are dinged up, they don't pitch like they are able to. I've seen him pitch in Japan and when he's comfortable, he can completely dominate (very similar to Darvish, who is now finally healthy and mowing everyone down, but Kikuchi doesn't have his own museum yet, so maybe we should hold off). I also like Yamaguchi, but I doubt the Blue Jays are ready to jettison him. He's starting to pitch the way I imagined he would. (Yamaguchi is designated as long-relief, which is weird because in Japan, he had been converted into a starter and now he's back to relief, but he is a horse. I watched one game where he threw over 140 pitches and another where he threw over 130. He throws everything but the kitchen sink to hitters and spots his fastball now and then. Eventually, he'll probably end up as a starter, I would guess.) I guess I'm always in the tank for Japanese players.

I'll bet we could get Kikuchi from the Mariners. Sure his ERA is not very good but he's started showing flashes of his days in Japan. I think he's finally healthy too. (He can bring it at 98 for those of you who are wondering.)

I don't get two things: 1) sacrificing a game today to win one tomorrow (I will take Little Orphan Annie to task if I have to) & 2) considering who will pitch the 6th when Hill had thrown what, 73/74 pitches? Why not let Hill come out for the 6th? He struck out the side in the 5th, so it wasn't like he was losing it. Let him go toe-to-toe with Bieber.

Whenever someone says Cave and below average defense in the same sentence, I see him making a great catch in the top 50 plays in the MLB. (This is like the 3rd time.) We see new version of the top 50 every week here in Japan. Cave's play was actually in the top 10 I believe. He robbed someone of a HR. (We are always on a bit of a delay over here so that probably happened a couple of weeks back?) I think it is ironic that's all.

Superb analysis as always. I think it messes up a lot of things. It was great having the side-by-side video (TYVM). I noticed that last year he was able to plant his front foot a nanosecond longer before it turns over. I would think that the longer his front foot remains planted the more power he can generate...but that is just my guess.

It's a win and it goes in the "W" column, but these are the Royals so... Concerning Rogers. Shaky again. This has not been a one-off that pops up, which happens to most closers. This is like the fourth or fifth straight time that he hasn't had shutdown stuff. It's not like he has been facing Murderers Row either, and, fortunately for him, this fact may have contributed to his escape as the Royals are a few years away from being a good team. Once we start facing some tougher lineups, things will get that much more difficult. Time for a change. I'd go with Romo as I prefer Duffey in those high leverage situations that arise prior to the ninth.