From Verse to Worse

August 23, 2013

Friday’s game against the Twins was one I really hoped we’d win
I figured it  might be a fight. The Twins aren’t great, but they don’t bite.

Of course the question from word go was which Ubaldo J. would show.
The guy with the electric slider or the one who makes you drink hard cider?

Top of one, bases loaded and no outs; it looked like it would be  a rout.
Struck out the side, never fear–the Good Ubaldo J. was here!

Ten big strikeouts, holy crap!  Too bad the offense took a nap.
The box score reads four walks, six hits, and one stinking run to show for it.

Final score was five to one. This is not what you’d call fun.
At losing we are quite adroit, unlike those guys up in Detroit.

Tigers won, so did the Rays, I hope the Orioles beat the A’s.
If it isn’t too pretentious, check the odds at Baseball Prospectus.

We may yet play into October, (yes, THIS October and yes, I’m sober).
Thus I’ll wait to drown my sorrows. Let’s see if they win tomorrow.
 Other Thoughts on This Game (in Question Form):

  • Does Samuel Deduno’s last name also make you think of your duodenum?
  • Is thinking Cody Allen looks about 14 a sign that I’m getting old?
  • Why did Michael Bourn try to steal third on a 3-0 count?
  • How many times in one season can Carlos Santana take a hard hit to the face mask before it does real damage?

 

6 Comments

  • Chris Burnham says:

    Most people will look at the meatball that Allen hung as being the backbreaker, but Bourn’s being thrown out was the true turning point. They had Deduno on the ropes. If he makes it, great, but it’s still a gamble that he probably shouldn’t have taken.

  • Gvl Steve says:

    Bourn has not been the base stealer we thought we were getting.

  • Jay says:

    Santana and Cabrera are the biggest disappointments on this entire team: Cabrera has the range of Stephen Hawking, swings at EVERYTHING, can’t get on base to save his life, has no power now (whats up with that??), and looks like jhonny peralta jr.
    Santana’s swing gets longer and looonger, and looooonger, and looooooooonger as the season goes on..and he’s a liability behind the plate…if you can’t catch and you can’t hit, what CAN you do?????? I would seriously consider trading both these guys.

  • Gvl Steve says:

    Jay might be half right. Santana’s slash line is .265/.369/.449 with an .819 OPS. That’s pretty good for any position, and really good for a catcher. Only Poser, Mauer and Molina are higher among MLB backstops. He’s only 7th in RBIs but is hitting .299 with RISP. Cabrera on the other hand is at .237/.293/.388 with a .680 OPS and has the 2nd worst range and defensive WAR value of all MLB shortstops. This is easily his worst season ever and has bottomed out his trade value to such a degree that it probably isn’t even an option at this point.

    • Andy says:

      Santana’s OPS ranks him 5th in the AL 1B (and like Stebe said 3rd in MLB among catchers). You simply cannot replace that kind of offensive production. I have been arguing that we need to move Carlos to 1B full time, as I think his numbers would improve if he wasn’t getting beat up behind the plate.

  • Sorry for the delay, Susan, but now we’re sharing this over at BARDBALL.COM. Great job!