vs. TWINS, 8/31

[Mendoza Line]

As much as I love our offense today, this performance collectively by the pen absolutely terrifies me. Andrew Miller yesterday, too! If Darren O'Day and Zach Britton are the only pitchers in our bullpen who can pitch, we're going to have a really difficult stretch run. We can't score 12 runs every day.

Twins can hit. I'm not worried about Miller at all. Brach will bounce back. Tommy is who he is. Same with Matusz. Ubaldo won't be on the playoff roster god willing

[MrOrange82]

You were saying how mentally weak he was, I was trying to figure out how you knew?

I thought he just has poor control of his pitches.

Source.

Jimenez's problem wasn't so drastic that he threw pitches to the backstop. But he couldn't remember how to throw strikes. Each pitch felt foreign. His problem had grown so severe that he didn't enjoy going on the mound. Pitching became a chore. Each time he stepped on the field he thought about his mechanics, he thought about whether he could throw strikes, he thought about what everyone at home would be thinking if he failed.

His world had fallen apart. His inability to throw the ball created an identity crisis. If he couldn't do the things that he had always done, then who exactly was he?

Jimenez would spend hours watching video of his most successful years and comparing it to video of how he currently pitched. The differences were striking. Who was this guy? The new Ubaldo stopped using his left shoulder to balance himself, which in turn sapped him of all the torque that he used to create to throw the ball at high speeds. The new Ubaldo could hardly muster a ball over 90 mph. His delivery had become slow, deliberate and calculated. It was if he had been trying to deconstruct every movement.

Relevant because, IMO, he looks every bit as lost now as he did back then. And I wasn't aware of that story when his signing was being debated. There's a difference between being mechanically unsound and feeling "like I had the ball in my hand but I didn't know what to do with it . . . like I had never put a ball in my hand."

[Ori-Al]

One double-play ball, please.

[O's84]

I understand the frustration, but I agree with Buck giving Ubaldo a chance to get in some work. Personally, I would have preferred to see Hunter start the inning. Too bad we had to get Britton involved here.

I have no problem trying to get Ubaldo some work given the score. But after this showing I don't want to see him again this year unless were down big time in a game.

[pdiddy]

I hope your doubt is that he'll still be on the major league club in 3 years. The money is water under the bridge now. Duquette screwed up. The best thing we can do now is get him off the ML roster, for good, and do whatever we can to minimize our losses by preventing him from ruining our ML record. If we can trick another team into taking him as a PTBNL in a minor league deal, that would be sweet. We'll even eat his contract.

Koji didn't pitch well enough to make the Rangers WS roster. What a bum he turned out to be!

I'm pretty sure he's not going to be on our playoff roster, but I'm willing to give him a chance next year to see if he can get himself sorted out.

[Chavez Ravine]

Zach, a bit lower please.

[tntoriole]

There is nothing at all problematic about using a guy out of the pen who is struggling when the team has a seven run lead.

Except that he has never pitched out of the pen and it gives him one more thing to be thinking about. He is not someone who is going to get straightened out by this, imho.

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[scOtt]

I lost track of the outs again..I thought we had two already. It's on the pitchers this time...or my drinking.

I'm having the same "problem".

:beerchug1:

[21xxxv]

Obaldo single handedly soiled our starting staff the first three months of the year. Now he has made Buck use our closer Bitton in a one time blowout game. This guy is SchlepRock

[Can_of_corn]

Source.

Relevant because, IMO, he looks every bit as lost now as he did back then. And I wasn't aware of that story when his signing was being debated. There's a difference between being mechanically unsound and feeling "like I had the ball in my hand but I didn't know what to do with it . . . like I had never put a ball in my hand."

That's valid.

[isestrex]

The book on these Twins is to pitch up.

Zach threw the first pitch up and said, "screw this" and just pummeled with his usual sinker.

[O's84]

Hardy, GG. That is all!

[Guest]

Thank you Britton.

[Ori-Al]

One double-play ball, please.

Thank you very much, Zach.

[tntoriole]

There you go. At least one pitcher out of the pen can pitch today.

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