By Thom Henninger The bullpen looked like the Minnesota Twins’ weak link going into the 2009 season. The team had lost its eighth-inning guy, Pat Neshek, to Tommy John surgery last fall, and the free-agent answer was Luis Ayala, coming off a poor season with Washington.
From the monthly archives:
June 2009
By James Bailey Who would have figured last December that Mark DeRosa could have such an impact on the standings in the NL Central? On New Year’s Eve, the Cubs dealt the super utility man, in the final year of his contract, to Cleveland for three pitching prospects. That same day Chicago signed Aaron Miles [...]
By Bill Begley Sometimes, it’s not how you start that matters as much as how you finish. Well, actually, most of the time that’s the case. And that bodes well for Tommy Hanson.
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By Elizabeth Finn As American as apple pie and as predictable as the weather in San Diego, the Major League Baseball All-Star Game ushers in the dog days of summer and fosters the oddly symbiotic relationship between division rivals that only the sweet promise of league bragging rights can create. But with this charming celebration [...]
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By James Bailey It was a relatively quiet week on the transaction front, with no big names making headline major league debuts. Most of the intriguing promotions this week happened in the minor leagues. The Pirates bumped their 2006 and 2008 first-round picks each up a level. Minnesota has also shuffled a couple of their [...]
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By Thom Henninger There’s another side of the 3-0 count covered Wednesday — the pitcher’s side. It’s a ticket for trouble to start 3-0 to a hitter, as all 2009 plate appearances that have gone that route have generated a .755 on-base percentage. There are 39 major league hurlers who have opened with three straight [...]
By James Bailey We’ve reached the final weekend of interleague play, with a second round of “rivalry” matchups pairing nearby teams in New York, Chicago and the nation’s capitol. Statewide bragging rights are on the line in Florida and Ohio. More notably, it’s the last Manny-free weekend of the major league season—unless he’s dumb enough [...]
By Chuck Miller Other than possibly making a game go longer, do pickoff throws really affect the running game? I was covering the Dodgers/White Sox game June 24 and Mark Loretta took off from first base on five consecutive second-inning full-count pitches with James Loney at the plate. Each time, Loney fouled off the pitch. [...]
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By James Bailey Wasn’t Manny Ramirez being punished? As his 50-game suspension for violating baseball’s rules against performance-enhancing drugs winds down, Manny is being welcomed back as a conquering hero. Both ESPN and the MLB Network were touting live cut-ins to his rehab at-bats for Triple-A Albuquerque Wednesday night. Daily papers across the nation are [...]
By Thom Henninger There wouldn’t seem to be much intrigue to a 3-0 count. Most players don’t offer at the next pitch, and those who have a green light aren’t like to take a cut unless it’s in their preferred hitting zone. Throwing a strike, yet keeping it out of a hitter’s wheelhouse, is the [...]
