Post by The Vermont Bombers on Jan 25, 2015 17:20:44 GMT -5
Who's Next ?
Are Early Injuries Bad Luck, or a Sign of Worse to Come ?
David Lee
Minneapolis Times Sports
The season is barely a month old and the Twins find themselves in a familiar place, the gutter. The team got out of the gate slowly, starting the season at 0-8 before picking up two victories. Since then the team has been up and down. The team is 3-4 in their past seven games after destroying Baltimore in a three game massacre that saw them score 25 runs while only surrendering five, only to turn around and lose four straight. Three of those games were against the Yankees, who crushed them 23-9. The fourth loss was a 9-6 squeaker against Kansas City that saw veteran starter George Zuverink surrender one run in five innings before getting blown out for six runs in the sixth. (They had been leading the game 4-1 at that point). Inconsistency is a big problem for this team. It's been that way for a while now and it's something that the team has tried to address. Bats get off to slow starts. It's obvious that this team can score runs, and a lot of them at times. Consistency can be worked on and developed over time. It's also a function of experience and maturity as well. It's frustrating, but it's not unmanageable. In addition to this, the Twins have had a much bigger problem to deal with.
Injuries.
A lot of them.
Important ones.
The first injury came in the second game of the season. Young lefty Bill Kirk had been cruising against the Angels. He'd struck out seven in six innings, surrendering two runs on four hits with a walk. (The runs were courtesy of a two run home run). Kirk went out for the seventh inning and began throwing his warm up pitched to rookie Catcher Tom Haller. Everything was going along fine until about the tenth pitch. Kirk executed his normal wind up and release and then immediately grabbed his pitching arm, dropping into a crouch and clutching at his arm in agony. Haller promptly threw of his mask and ran out to the mound. After a quick conversation he gestured over to the dugout. Manager Cookie Lavagetto and Trainer Sam Mele dashed out to the mound and were joined by infielders Harmon Killebrew and Gus Triandos. After a very brief conversation, Lavagetto stood up and gestured to the bullpen. Lavagetto and Mele walked Kirk from the mound to the trainers room. He went to the hospital a short while later where it was revealed through an X Ray that he'd torn his triceps. The injury would put him on the DL for a minimum of seven weeks. While frustrated, the Twins breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't something worse.
"Worse" was yet to come.
The Twins responded to the Kirk injury by shifting righty Bill "Stinger" Stange from the bullpen to the rotation. Stange had been untouchable in the pen thus far, compiling a record of 0-0 with an ERA under 2.00. In that time he had struck out 10 and walked 1. There was no reason to move him as he was one of the only arms in their bullpen that could consistently retire opposing hitters and make it look easy. Stange made his first start in the rotation against the Senators on April 19th. He threw 8 innings of dominant baseball, surrendering six hits and one earned run while striking out six in eight innings. The Twins were hopeful that he would step in and fill the gap left by Kirk and based on the start against Washington they had every reason to be optimistic.
That optimism would quickly be replaced by frustration.
Stange made his second start against Detroit on the 25th and it did not go well. The start itself was brutal. Stange pitched into the fifth inning. In that time he surrendered seven runs, five of them earned on eight hits. It was clear that he was struggling mightily against Detroit's experienced lineup. The strikeouts were good, not great. Unfortunately for him he wasn't missing many bats. The transition from reliever to starter is not an easy one and everyone expected Stange to have a few bad days along the way. With the long term plan being for Stange to be stretched out into a Starter, this season would give him invaluable experience. Even defeats, or thumpings in this case, can be invaluable as a learning experience if the pitcher has the right mentality to learn from it. Stange looked frustrated but determined against Detroit. Even the at bats that he lost on were gritty. The kid was clearly willing to take a beating just to spare the bullpen.
After getting two outs in the fifth, it looked like Lavagetto would let him try to finish out the inning. He couldn't get the win, but the show of confidence could have been important for his young career. He and battery mate Tom Haller had a good rapport going. They were comfortable with each other from their time together in the Minor Leagues and Haller was keeping the clearly frustrated Stange calm. Haller called time before who would turn out to be Stange's final batter of the season. He walked out to the mount and assured his battery mate that he'd get him through this hitter and out of the inning. As he walked back Stange looked calm and ready to go. Haller got back to the mound, signaled to the home plate umpire that they were ready to go. The ump singaled to the batter, who stepped into the box, warmed up a little and then took his stance. Stange and Haller went through a short sequence of signals, which Stange punctuated with a brief nod. He went into his wind up, turned back, began his forward motion and released the ball.
At which point he promptly crumped to the ground in a heap and time seemed to stand still.
That the batter had made contact with the ball and laced it into left field was irrelevant at that moment. He knew something was wrong with Stange when he made the contact. His run to first looked almost like a cruel afterthought. Haller immediately leapt up and darted for the mound. This time he didn't have to call for Lavagetto or Mele, they were already three quarters of the way to the mound before Haller had even risen from his crouch. Third Baseman Harmon Killebrew reacted the fastest, darting from third base and right to his injured teammate. It took a few minutes for Stange to get up and he was in utter agony. All of the color had drained from his face and he wouldn't let go of his pitching elbow, which he supported with his left hand. While it seemed obvious to all that he'd suffered a severe elbow injury, at worst case a torn ligament, there was almost no doubt that his season was over. Lavagetto watched as his trainer led the young pitcher from the mound and then forelonely pointed to his bullpen again. It was, as Yankees great Yogi Berra had once said; "Deja vu, all over again".
That was not to be all for the Twins.
The team went on from there and moved from April into May. They opened May by taking two games from the Orioles and in pretty dominating fashion on the backs of stellar starts from Harley Grossman and Camilo Pascual. The team went into game three feeling confident. The game was an up and down affair through the fourth inning. The Twins went up 2-0 in the second, after a double by Triandos and a home run by newly signed Del Ennis. The O's came back in the bottom of the inning, tying the game 2-2 on a double by Jack Shepard. Minnesota got it back in the third to take a 3-2 lead which lasted until the bottom of the 4th when Harimoto doubled to drive in Weekly. Neither team scored in the 5th or 6th innings. The Twins scored two in the 7th and then two more in the 8th courtesy of of a tape measure home run from Curt Flood that measured 425 feet and some good small ball. Pascual finished the game for the complete game victory, his second of the season.
Haller went 0-4 in the game, striking out all four times. As if four strikeouts weren't enough of a bad game, he got to end it on the worst note possible after taking a Don Bessent fastball to the head. It clearly wasn't intentional, as Bessent dropped into a crouch and put his glove over his mouth the second the ball struck Haller and dropped him in a crumpled heap at the plate. Lavagetto sprang from the dugout like Superman leaping over a "tall building in a single bound", appearing to not touch anything but the bottom of the dugout with one foot and the infield grass with the other before sprinting out to the plate to attend to his fallen rookie. It's necessary to comment the Baltimore team, medical crew and fans for their class and sportsmanship during this moment. The medical grew was very quick in attending to Haller, getting space around him and getting all of the necessary information from him before making sure that he was properly secured before being driven from the field. As Haller left he received an encouraging ovation from the fans, an ovation that became thunderous once they saw him lift up his left hand and make a "thumbs up". Veteran Catcher Les "Gooch" Peden, who is likely in the last year of his career, was the first one to head to the hospital once the game was over. Haller was later diagoned with a concussion that would take him out for up to two weeks. He's expected to return soon.
One can't help but wonder if the entire season is going to be like this for the Twins. We don't expect them to be great this year, they're still a young team and there are still obvious holes that need to be filled. Some of them should be addressed in the next two to three seasons as the team's three young stud Pitchers Mel Stottlemyre, Luis Tiant and Dave Morehead come up to the big team. If any more pitchers go down to injury, something that we're all very much hoping against, the team might have to sing an arm or two off the free agent wire or make a trade as Milt Pappas and Ken Johnson would most likely move from the Pen to the Rotation to make up the gap. Hopefully this doesn't have to happen. It seems rediculous that the Twins have been on the field for less than a month and have seen so many injuries already. This team has a big enough hole to crawl out of after its 9-21 start. There's no need for the Baseball Gods to add any more major problems to the season. Let this team catch its breath.
It's only May and we're already tired of wondering "Who's next".
Are Early Injuries Bad Luck, or a Sign of Worse to Come ?
David Lee
Minneapolis Times Sports
The season is barely a month old and the Twins find themselves in a familiar place, the gutter. The team got out of the gate slowly, starting the season at 0-8 before picking up two victories. Since then the team has been up and down. The team is 3-4 in their past seven games after destroying Baltimore in a three game massacre that saw them score 25 runs while only surrendering five, only to turn around and lose four straight. Three of those games were against the Yankees, who crushed them 23-9. The fourth loss was a 9-6 squeaker against Kansas City that saw veteran starter George Zuverink surrender one run in five innings before getting blown out for six runs in the sixth. (They had been leading the game 4-1 at that point). Inconsistency is a big problem for this team. It's been that way for a while now and it's something that the team has tried to address. Bats get off to slow starts. It's obvious that this team can score runs, and a lot of them at times. Consistency can be worked on and developed over time. It's also a function of experience and maturity as well. It's frustrating, but it's not unmanageable. In addition to this, the Twins have had a much bigger problem to deal with.
Injuries.
A lot of them.
Important ones.
The first injury came in the second game of the season. Young lefty Bill Kirk had been cruising against the Angels. He'd struck out seven in six innings, surrendering two runs on four hits with a walk. (The runs were courtesy of a two run home run). Kirk went out for the seventh inning and began throwing his warm up pitched to rookie Catcher Tom Haller. Everything was going along fine until about the tenth pitch. Kirk executed his normal wind up and release and then immediately grabbed his pitching arm, dropping into a crouch and clutching at his arm in agony. Haller promptly threw of his mask and ran out to the mound. After a quick conversation he gestured over to the dugout. Manager Cookie Lavagetto and Trainer Sam Mele dashed out to the mound and were joined by infielders Harmon Killebrew and Gus Triandos. After a very brief conversation, Lavagetto stood up and gestured to the bullpen. Lavagetto and Mele walked Kirk from the mound to the trainers room. He went to the hospital a short while later where it was revealed through an X Ray that he'd torn his triceps. The injury would put him on the DL for a minimum of seven weeks. While frustrated, the Twins breathed a sigh of relief that it wasn't something worse.
"Worse" was yet to come.
The Twins responded to the Kirk injury by shifting righty Bill "Stinger" Stange from the bullpen to the rotation. Stange had been untouchable in the pen thus far, compiling a record of 0-0 with an ERA under 2.00. In that time he had struck out 10 and walked 1. There was no reason to move him as he was one of the only arms in their bullpen that could consistently retire opposing hitters and make it look easy. Stange made his first start in the rotation against the Senators on April 19th. He threw 8 innings of dominant baseball, surrendering six hits and one earned run while striking out six in eight innings. The Twins were hopeful that he would step in and fill the gap left by Kirk and based on the start against Washington they had every reason to be optimistic.
That optimism would quickly be replaced by frustration.
Stange made his second start against Detroit on the 25th and it did not go well. The start itself was brutal. Stange pitched into the fifth inning. In that time he surrendered seven runs, five of them earned on eight hits. It was clear that he was struggling mightily against Detroit's experienced lineup. The strikeouts were good, not great. Unfortunately for him he wasn't missing many bats. The transition from reliever to starter is not an easy one and everyone expected Stange to have a few bad days along the way. With the long term plan being for Stange to be stretched out into a Starter, this season would give him invaluable experience. Even defeats, or thumpings in this case, can be invaluable as a learning experience if the pitcher has the right mentality to learn from it. Stange looked frustrated but determined against Detroit. Even the at bats that he lost on were gritty. The kid was clearly willing to take a beating just to spare the bullpen.
After getting two outs in the fifth, it looked like Lavagetto would let him try to finish out the inning. He couldn't get the win, but the show of confidence could have been important for his young career. He and battery mate Tom Haller had a good rapport going. They were comfortable with each other from their time together in the Minor Leagues and Haller was keeping the clearly frustrated Stange calm. Haller called time before who would turn out to be Stange's final batter of the season. He walked out to the mount and assured his battery mate that he'd get him through this hitter and out of the inning. As he walked back Stange looked calm and ready to go. Haller got back to the mound, signaled to the home plate umpire that they were ready to go. The ump singaled to the batter, who stepped into the box, warmed up a little and then took his stance. Stange and Haller went through a short sequence of signals, which Stange punctuated with a brief nod. He went into his wind up, turned back, began his forward motion and released the ball.
At which point he promptly crumped to the ground in a heap and time seemed to stand still.
That the batter had made contact with the ball and laced it into left field was irrelevant at that moment. He knew something was wrong with Stange when he made the contact. His run to first looked almost like a cruel afterthought. Haller immediately leapt up and darted for the mound. This time he didn't have to call for Lavagetto or Mele, they were already three quarters of the way to the mound before Haller had even risen from his crouch. Third Baseman Harmon Killebrew reacted the fastest, darting from third base and right to his injured teammate. It took a few minutes for Stange to get up and he was in utter agony. All of the color had drained from his face and he wouldn't let go of his pitching elbow, which he supported with his left hand. While it seemed obvious to all that he'd suffered a severe elbow injury, at worst case a torn ligament, there was almost no doubt that his season was over. Lavagetto watched as his trainer led the young pitcher from the mound and then forelonely pointed to his bullpen again. It was, as Yankees great Yogi Berra had once said; "Deja vu, all over again".
That was not to be all for the Twins.
The team went on from there and moved from April into May. They opened May by taking two games from the Orioles and in pretty dominating fashion on the backs of stellar starts from Harley Grossman and Camilo Pascual. The team went into game three feeling confident. The game was an up and down affair through the fourth inning. The Twins went up 2-0 in the second, after a double by Triandos and a home run by newly signed Del Ennis. The O's came back in the bottom of the inning, tying the game 2-2 on a double by Jack Shepard. Minnesota got it back in the third to take a 3-2 lead which lasted until the bottom of the 4th when Harimoto doubled to drive in Weekly. Neither team scored in the 5th or 6th innings. The Twins scored two in the 7th and then two more in the 8th courtesy of of a tape measure home run from Curt Flood that measured 425 feet and some good small ball. Pascual finished the game for the complete game victory, his second of the season.
Haller went 0-4 in the game, striking out all four times. As if four strikeouts weren't enough of a bad game, he got to end it on the worst note possible after taking a Don Bessent fastball to the head. It clearly wasn't intentional, as Bessent dropped into a crouch and put his glove over his mouth the second the ball struck Haller and dropped him in a crumpled heap at the plate. Lavagetto sprang from the dugout like Superman leaping over a "tall building in a single bound", appearing to not touch anything but the bottom of the dugout with one foot and the infield grass with the other before sprinting out to the plate to attend to his fallen rookie. It's necessary to comment the Baltimore team, medical crew and fans for their class and sportsmanship during this moment. The medical grew was very quick in attending to Haller, getting space around him and getting all of the necessary information from him before making sure that he was properly secured before being driven from the field. As Haller left he received an encouraging ovation from the fans, an ovation that became thunderous once they saw him lift up his left hand and make a "thumbs up". Veteran Catcher Les "Gooch" Peden, who is likely in the last year of his career, was the first one to head to the hospital once the game was over. Haller was later diagoned with a concussion that would take him out for up to two weeks. He's expected to return soon.
One can't help but wonder if the entire season is going to be like this for the Twins. We don't expect them to be great this year, they're still a young team and there are still obvious holes that need to be filled. Some of them should be addressed in the next two to three seasons as the team's three young stud Pitchers Mel Stottlemyre, Luis Tiant and Dave Morehead come up to the big team. If any more pitchers go down to injury, something that we're all very much hoping against, the team might have to sing an arm or two off the free agent wire or make a trade as Milt Pappas and Ken Johnson would most likely move from the Pen to the Rotation to make up the gap. Hopefully this doesn't have to happen. It seems rediculous that the Twins have been on the field for less than a month and have seen so many injuries already. This team has a big enough hole to crawl out of after its 9-21 start. There's no need for the Baseball Gods to add any more major problems to the season. Let this team catch its breath.
It's only May and we're already tired of wondering "Who's next".
