For example, if games played out like action movies, the home team would always start out behind. The visitors would score – maybe even score big – in the first inning or two. Then the teams would trade a run or two back and forth here and there until the bottom of the ninth. With the game on the line, two outs and the bases loaded, a batter (maybe the team’s aging slugger, maybe a rookie fresh off the farm) hits one over the fence and the crowd rejoices.
And wouldn’t baseball be just as dull as action movies if games always ended that way? Royals fans in particular have learned to savor a more Chaplin-esque experience. Maybe the Little Fellow will get the girl in the end. More likely he won’t. But if you’ll forgive the cliché, the point is the journey rather than the destination.
On the other hand, games where everything happens in the first inning can be downright frustrating. Hollywood learned this the hard way with movies such as Three Days of the Condor and the “Windmills of Your Mind” sequence from The Thomas Crown Affair. You can’t pack all the action into the first 20 minutes.
As this game aptly demonstrated. It’s hard not to groan when Yuniesky Betancourt’s name shows up in the lineup, and it’s even harder when he’s playing short in place of defensively-competent Alcides Escobar. And it’s harder still when he starts screwing up in the top of the first inning.
Actually the game led off with a truly bizarre play. Ben Revere hit a screaming line drive directly into Felipe Paulino’s thigh. The ball rolled away, but Paulino stuck with it. He scrambled over, picked it up and threw toward first, bouncing it off Revere’s back and into right field foul ground. Revere is speedy, and he made it all the way around to third.
But hold on, stop the presses, home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez seems to have a different opinion. He ruled Revere out for defensive interference. And in truth he was well inside the baseline on his way to first, so it was a good call. Yet for a minute or two the field was confusion as Ron Gardenhire argued the call (or at least sought clarification) and the coaches and team doctor checked on Paulino.
Then the next batter (Jamey Carroll) reached on an error by Guess Who. A single by Josh Willingham moved the lead runner to third, but then Justin Morneau popped to center, too shallow to score the runner. But then out came the medical staff again. Though Paulino appeared to suffer no immediate ill effects from being hit by Revere’s line drive, he managed to injure his groin going over to third to cover on the pop-up. Out he went, and along with him a significant part of our hope for winning the game.
In came Luis Mendoza for some long relief. And like evil magic, Ryan Doumit hit a double down the middle, just beyond the reach of Guess Who. So basically if Escobar hadn’t needed a day off (and BGs know he’s earned it), we’re out of this inning twice over. Instead the score is one to nothing.
Alex Gordon led off the bottom of the first with a single. As if to demonstrate that he’s in the lineup for offense rather than defense, Betancourt hit a home run into the left field bullpen. On one hand, that partially made up for his incompetence in the top of the inning. On the other hand, the American League has a name for players who bat well but can’t field: designated hitters.
As noted, the rest of the game was fairly lackluster. Mike Moustakas turned a good double play in the fourth by stepping on third before firing to first. You don’t see that every day, particularly considering that he had to backtrack a bit to pull it off. But then in the fifth the Twins scored a couple of cheap runs (a single, a walk, a questionable hit batter and another single). That plus another in the seventh proved to be enough.
The box score:
TWINS (4) AT ROYALS (2)
TWINS AB R H BI ROYALS AB R H BI
Ben Revere 5 2 2 0 Alex Gordon 3 1 1 0
Jamey Carroll 4 2 1 1 Yuniesky Betancourt 4 1 1 2
Josh Willingham 3 0 1 0 Billy Butler 4 0 1 0
Justin Morneau 4 0 2 2 Mike Moustakas 4 0 1 0
Ryan Doumit 4 0 2 1 Jeff Francoeur 4 0 0 0
Trevor Plouffe 4 0 0 0 Eric Hosmer 3 0 1 0
Brian Dozier 4 0 0 0 Johnny Giavotella 4 0 1 0
Alexi Casilla 3 0 0 0 Jarrod Dyson 4 0 1 0
Darin Mastroianni 4 0 1 0 Humberto Quintero 3 0 0 0
Brayan Pena 1 0 0 0
TOTALS 35 4 9 4 TOTALS 34 2 7 2
TWINS 100 020 100 -- 4
ROYALS 200 000 000 -- 2
LOB--TWINS 7, ROYALS 7. ERR--Brian Dozier, Yuniesky
Betancourt. 2B--Ryan Doumit. 3B--Ben Revere. HR--Yuniesky
Betancourt. HBP--Josh Willingham. SB--Alexi Casilla.
TWINS IP H R ER BB SO HR
Nick Blackburn 5 5 2 2 2 1 1
Jeff Manship 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Jared Burton 1 1-3 0 0 0 0 3 0
Glen Perkins 0 2-3 1 0 0 0 1 0
Matt Capps 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
ROYALS
Felipe Paulino 0 2-3 1 1 0 0 0 0
Luis Mendoza 5 5 2 2 2 2 0
Kelvin Herrera 0 2-3 2 1 1 0 1 0
Jose Mijares 0 2-3 0 0 0 0 1 0
Aaron Crow 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
Greg Holland 1 1 0 0 0 1 0
SO--Jamey Carroll, Josh Willingham, Justin Morneau, Alexi
Casilla (2), Trevor Plouffe, Humberto Quintero, Yuniesky
Betancourt, Billy Butler, Brayan Pena, Eric Hosmer, Johnny
Giavotella. BB--Jamey Carroll, Alexi Casilla, Alex Gordon,
Eric Hosmer.
Buck Seat: B (Quisenberry father of the year)
Guard: JROTC
Anthem: Sing faster
Umpires:
H: Marquez
1: Blaser (spelled correctly this time)
2: Hallion
3: Fairchild
Time: 7:10
Temp: 81
No comments:
Post a Comment