Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
May 30, 2007
Twins Comeback

I'm always amazed when a major league pitcher can't throw a strike when he absolutely needs one. The Twins work back from a 6-1 deficit to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth. In the ninth, with one out they load the bases on a walk, error and single to bring up Morneau. Guillen goes to the pen for the lefty Logan, and Justin pops out to the catcher in foul territory. Then he brings in the righty Aardsma to face Hunter, who earlier in the game doubled in two runs. Aardsma can't find the plate, runs the count to 3-0, and then misses again to force in the winning run. The Twins win 7-6, sweep the White Sox and take over third place in the AL Central.

The walk off walk never fails to amaze me. The only one I ever had sympathy for was back in the 1980s, Willie Randolph fell back from every pitch by Bob Stanley, even though at least two crossed the plate. The umpire went for the fake, and Willie walked in the winning run. But please, a major league pitcher should at least throw the last one down the middle of the plate. Batters aren't perfect; there's no location that gives batters a 1.000 BA.


Posted by David Pinto at 04:00 PM | Games | TrackBack (0)
Comments

It's exasperating but I'm never too surprised. After all, if they could always throw a strike when they needed to there'd never be any walks

Posted by: Basura at May 30, 2007 06:35 PM

There are plenty of times I'd rather see a walk (which basically amounts to a single) than a fat pitch up in the zone that will probably end up in a double or worse, but a tie game with the bases loaded is not one of those times. The Twins better hope for some more walks since their best hitter will be out a while longer according to this article: http://www.thenewsroom.com/details/351112?c_id=bh

Posted by: Akhilleus13 at May 30, 2007 08:12 PM

Then, there's always the walk-off HBP, never a dignified way to lose a game.

Posted by: Adam Villani at May 30, 2007 09:30 PM
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