Young Guns

The most recent stop amongst my summer of travels led me to the Twin Cities for my first Twins game of the year. Since I wanted to leave the Cities that night, I had some doubt as to whether I would actually make the game, but when I noticed that Liriano was defending the literal home turf against King Felix Hernandez, it became an easy decision. My desire to attend a baseball game in person is directly related to the quality of the pitching match-up since I perceive a much larger difference between seeing a pitcher in person and on television. Other common occurrences in the game are adequately replicated through broadcast, but it is difficult to fully comprehend the movement on pitches and their exact location unless you can see them in person. Simple as that sounds, sitting 450 feet from home plate somewhat dampens the effect, but I was able to pick out a few interesting points in the game anyway.

-First, the pitchers. Lots of fans and analysts have speculated as to why King Felix has not replicated his success from his major league stint last season. One theory which I find plausible has to do with pitch ordering and selection. Writers at USSMariner.com have speculated that Kenji Jojima has stopped calling first-pitch changeups, either getting Hernandez behind in the count or serving up a fat fastball to mash right away. Nate Silver of Baseball Prospectus pointed out recently that batters hit .379/.471/.644 off of Hernandez after a first pitch ball, and none of analysis surprises me. I would take the speculative hypothesis one step farther, that Hernandez is not only getting behind in the count, but is afraid to throw anything but a fastball once he gets behind. He pitched well enough against the Twins last night to justify his status as an elite pitcher, but remember that he was pitching against the Twins and most lineups are not as easily struck out nine times or limited to two walks. Perhaps it was a step in the right direction, but he still spent too much time behind hitters and was hardly dynamic or dominating.

-Liriano remained on his short leash, throwing 83 pitches over five innings. Once again, kudos to Ron Gardenhire or whoever else made the decision to keep stress off of the electric 22 year-old with a checkered injury history. He is far more valuable as a 5-6 inning starter for the rest of this year and the next several years than he would be pitching 7-8 innings a start this year and blowing out his elbow due to the big increase in innings pitched. As good as Justin Verlander has been for Detroit, there have to be some alarm bells going off in Tiger fans’ heads when they notice that he will probably throw 30 or more innings beyond his previous career high. One important difference is that Verlander’s extra innings may mean the difference between making the postseason and staying home while Liriano is pitching for the future. In person, the most impressive aspect of Liriano’s repertoire for me had to be the sheer power on his fastball. I would like to make a distinction here between what I mean by “power” and “velocity” when I watch a pitcher, because I think they are two different things. I am convinced that a 93 MPH fastball with good placement and movement can be much more powerful than a 96 MPH fastball lacking those qualities. The most powerful pitcher I have ever seen in person is Roger Clemens, but Billy Wagner and Ben Sheets are on the short list. After seeing Liriano pitch, I have to put him on that list as well, especially considering how dominating he is with the high four-seamer.
-Richie Sexson has been one of the worst regulars in the major leagues this season and he does not seem like the same player he has always been. Like Jeromy Burnitz, Adam Dunn and others, he makes his money by swinging hard and letting the ball fall where it may. I do not believe he has consciously changed his approach at the plate, but he has looked extremely passive as a hitter, striding less than I remember from previous seasons and routinely missing balls late. He had this problem last night, striking out in his first and third at bats and suffered the same fate for the same reason with the bases loaded against Boof Bonser tonight. It is difficult to say which came first, the passiveness or the slump, because the loss of confidence could easily have come from some other, more mechanical flaw that was causing him to struggle in the first place. I guess this situation is precisely why they employ a hitting coach.

-The most memorable individual play of last night’s game was Torii’s shoestring catch and double play in the top of the fifth. Even though I have ragged on Hunter’s defense- or at least the perception that he is still one of the very best defenders in the majors- he made a really nice play in this game. If anyone did not see the play, Hunter ran in on Ichiro’s shallow fly to left-center somewhat lackadaisically, making it look as if he meant to play the ball on a hop. With the bases loaded, a base hit could have scored two runs, so Jojima started running full speed when it looked as if Hunter would not catch the ball. I would like to give Hunter credit for intentionally duping Jojima, but I think even he was surprised how much the ball carried, extending at the last second to make the catch and holding up the ball to show the umpire that he made the catch before noticing how far off the bag the runner had strayed. He easily relayed the throw to second to end the inning, saving a three run lead and possibly preserving the win. It was certainly a nice defensive play, but the nonchalant way he made it is more memorable to me than the fact he actually made the play.