Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Another Slow Start for Santana
Johan always leaves the gate slowly, something that local columnists fail to acknowledge. His next two starts will be against the Indians and Yankees, so here's hoping he gets back on track right away. The Twins' schedule is brutal early on: six three-game series against some of the best American League teams: Toronto, Cleveland, Oakland, New York, Los Angeles/Anaheim, Chicago. Ouch!
I caught some of the game at local watering hole Adrian's (which is no longer just a 3.2 joint!), and I have a few observations.
Tony Batista appears to have no range, or he reacts very slowly to ground balls (or, probably, both). There were two grounders that he tried to "dive" for (more like a flop), that squirted through for hits. On the positive side, he did hit a dinger. Of course, the more early-season HRs he cranks, the less likely we'll see someone else earning playing time at third. Remember last year, when Jacque Jones had a couple hits off lefties, and Gardy was so impressed? Jones reverted back to his career long suckiness vs lefties after that, but it never got mentioned.
Castillo didn't flash much of that gold glove defense we've heard about, either. The Twins didn't give up top prospects for him, but I hope it doesn't turn out he's nothing but a gimpy singles hitter with an average glove.
Rincon looked great, but Crain was a little shaky. I can't imagine Gardy will keep bringing them out in that order very long.
Shannon Stewart's at bats looked great- maybe he's determined to make fans forget about his horrible 2006 season.
I'd like to see a statistic that indicate how many of the 8 singles Johan surrendered were ground balls. He didn't pitch great, but he wasn't awful, either.
I caught some of the game at local watering hole Adrian's (which is no longer just a 3.2 joint!), and I have a few observations.
Tony Batista appears to have no range, or he reacts very slowly to ground balls (or, probably, both). There were two grounders that he tried to "dive" for (more like a flop), that squirted through for hits. On the positive side, he did hit a dinger. Of course, the more early-season HRs he cranks, the less likely we'll see someone else earning playing time at third. Remember last year, when Jacque Jones had a couple hits off lefties, and Gardy was so impressed? Jones reverted back to his career long suckiness vs lefties after that, but it never got mentioned.
Castillo didn't flash much of that gold glove defense we've heard about, either. The Twins didn't give up top prospects for him, but I hope it doesn't turn out he's nothing but a gimpy singles hitter with an average glove.
Rincon looked great, but Crain was a little shaky. I can't imagine Gardy will keep bringing them out in that order very long.
Shannon Stewart's at bats looked great- maybe he's determined to make fans forget about his horrible 2006 season.
I'd like to see a statistic that indicate how many of the 8 singles Johan surrendered were ground balls. He didn't pitch great, but he wasn't awful, either.
