The rest of that inning was no better, as Kevin Millar was caught with nowhere to throw Jacques Jones's little roller and Bronson Arroyo's error brought in three runs. ... The Red Sox allowed more unearned runs than they got hits. ... The whitewash was Boston's worst shutout loss in more than 15 years (Milwaukee 13-0, July 23, 1990). ... Also, I was miffed to not see Roberto Petagine at first base against the righty Radke.
No NESN last night and the FSN guys (Bert Blyleven was one of them) were clearly unaccustomed to the Twins doing anything with their bats -- in the 22 games since the All-Star break, Minnesota had scored three or fewer runs 14 times and batted a collective .220. Every extra-base hit or run scored was announced with the level of excitement that is usually reserved for the final out of a no-hitter or a pennant-clinching home run. ... They also referred to Arroyo as "Branson." Somewhere, Tim McCarver was scratching his head.
Bellhorn Watch: He's now 0-for-16 with seven strikeouts in four games with the PawSox. ... The Yankees beat Toronto 6-2 -- with two outs in the bottom of the 9th, and runners at first and second, Torre pulled Sturtze and went to Rivera! -- and are 3.5 games behind.
Alan Schwarz on Roger Clemens and how surgery in 1985 saved his career:
I asked [Dr. James] Andrews to consider what might have happened had Clemens been born just 10 years earlier and hurt his shoulder before the scalpel gave way to the arthroscope. "We probably wouldn't have been able to fix it," Andrews says sadly. "He probably would have fallen by the wayside."Speaking of Clemens -- whose amazing season is not getting the ink it deserves -- Dayn Perry at BP writes that the TCM, Andy Pettitte and Roy Oswalt could end this season as the best pitching trio in baseball history, according to Runs Prevented (the runs a pitcher has kept from scoring relative to a league-average hurler throwing the same number of innings)(the 2005 number is projected):
Pitchers Team Total RP
1. Clemens-Pettitte-Oswalt 2005 Astros 166.9*
2. Donohue-Luque-Rixey 1925 Reds 161.8
3. Lewis-Young-Winter 1901 Red Sox 159.4
4. Mathewson-McGinnity-Taylor 1904 Giants 155.6
5. Gomez-Pearson-Ruffing 1937 Yankees 154.3
6. Earnshaw-Grove-Walberg 1931 A's 149.4
7. Brown-Overall-Reulbach 1909 Cubs 148.7
8. Dineen-Young-Winter 1902 Red Sox 145.7
9. Ames-Mathewson-McGinnity 1903 Giants 143.1
10. Benton-Rixey-Luque 1923 Reds 140.2
5 comments:
Wait...Bellhorn *still* hasn't gotten a single hit in AAA?
Is it safe to say the Tony Graffanino era has officially begun?
And seven strikeouts?
If he's batting lower than .200 after ten games in AAA, is it safe to count him gone? I mean, last year's postseason home runs were incredible, but .300 (Graffanino this season) vs. .216 is not exactly the hardest dilemma I've ever seen, and 'nino's slugging is better this year, too.
It's difficult to say whether or not Graffanino can keep up his current production. He's never been a full-time player in his career, and his stats indicate that he's not a career .300 hitter. But still...even if his production were to start dropping off, it's hard to fathom that he'd be worse than Bellhorn at this point.
And I LIKE Bellhorn too. But he hasn't seemed like the same guy at the dish that he was last year. And sadly, as it stands now, Graffanino is clearly a better choice for 2nd base. Hell, CORA is a better option than Bellhorn right now.
Is it safe to say the Tony Graffanino era has officially begun?
It might be more appropriate to ask if the Mark Bellhorn era has officially ended.
BBellhorn is BBad.
Agreed he (probably) won't be a .300 hitter forever, but there certainly have been unexpected statistical outbreak seasons in the past (like Maris and 61). Bellhorn just had his best year last year as an unstoppable and completely not-average .264 hitter. Ugh. ("Ugh" not so much for that average but because that seems to have been a PEAK for Bellhorn.) I don't imagine Graffanino would do too much worse than THAT anyway.
You know, some sick part of me just wanted to see if Bellhorn could approach the strikeout record. I guess I probably won't get the chance to find out.
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