TDA Bullpen - Our Writers' Blog

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

California Here I Come!

This will be my last blog entry from Minneapolis, as I'm heading to San Diego on Friday for my new job at UCSD. It should come as no surprise that a certain Twins lefty will figure prominently in my Minnesota swan song.

I was busy flipping back and forth between ESPN and Fox Sports Net Minneapolis on Monday night. I was kind of hoping that when Santana got through the first two innings without giving up a hit that he would make good on my prediction of getting through 6 innings with a no-hitter, but the homerun bugaboo that nips him from time to time bit him in the third, as he gave up a solo shot to Gary Matthews, Jr. But it was to be the only run he gave up in 8 innings, while his teammates ground away at Kenny Rogers, eventually chasing him in the 6th. Now that Santana is 14-6, he's really a factor in the Cy Young race, especially if Mulder falters at all down the stretch, as the only thing Mulder really has on Santana is wins and complete games.

Meanwhile, the wrong guy went no-no through six, at least as far as my psychic ego is concerned. Carlos Zambrano had the Brewers in his hip pocket through six, though he did fight through some apparent squeezing of the strike zone by the home plate ump. When the Brewers finally did break through in the 7th, they managed to put up three runs, but that only cut their deficit in half. They assayed the same gambit the next game, allowing Matt Clement to no-hit them just long enough for it to be a distraction when they finally broke through, but it wasn't nearly enough to counter the Cubs' score early and score often strategy. Crafty veteran Greg Maddux cleverly foiled this ploy in the series finale by giving up a hit in the Brewers' first, and was in line for career win #302, but the Brewers managed to tie the game in the 9th off of LaTroy Hawkins. Corey Patterson picked up Hawkins, Paul Bako, and Todd Walker, the last two having left the winning run on third on popups, by homering for the 7th time in August and the 18th time overall. I think I'm on to something with this Bobby Bonds comparison, though it would be nice to see Corey pick up the walk rate a little.

Now that Johan Santana has hit the big time and I'm moving to San Diego, I'm going to have to find someone new to spread the word for. I hear that Jake Peavy guy is pretty good...

posted by Tom Renbarger 6:38 PM