Posts tagged CarlosGomez at FanHouse

For a while there, it was looking like we weren't going to have any exciting pennant races this September. About a week ago, all of the races were threatening to wrap themselves up neatly and leave us with a final weekend free of drama. Earlier tonight, we had a lot of NL drama. While all of the NL shenanigans were going on, the Twins were making sure at least one race in the AL is going down to the wire.

It didn't always look like that. The White Sox breezed into Minneapolis this week with a 2 1/2 game lead in the AL Central. Even after they lost the first two games of the series, they were sitting pretty with a 6-1 lead tonight after a six run explosion in the top of the fourth. Things fell apart from there as the Twins were spurred on by a triple by Carlos Gomez in the fourth that scored a run and allowed him to score, then a two-run game-tying triple by Denard Span in the seventh, and finally a walk-off single by Alexi Cassilla in the eleventh.

After dropping three straight to the Twins, the White Sox head home to close out the season with three games against the Indians and a makeup against the Tigers, if necessary. The newly minted division leaders will stay at home in Minnesota to play the Royals. Yeah, the White Sox are in trouble.

The 2008 season has been a great one for Cliff Lee, despite the fact that just about everything else has gone wrong when it comes to the Indians team he plays for. Lee has rebounded from a horrible 2007 campaign to go 11-2 with a 2.43 ERA this season, and was just named the AL starter in the All Star Game. So you would think that he'd probably be in a pretty good mood, but that doesn't seem to be the case.

Apparently the success and newfound fame has gone to Cliff's head, because he doesn't think he should have to move around or field the ball anymore. That can be the only reason why he got mad at the Twins' Carlos Gomez on Sunday after Gomez laid down a bunt in the first inning.

Gomez attempted to bunt on an 0-2 pitch in the first inning but pushed the ball too close to the mound. Lee fielded the ball, threw him out, then said something to Gomez after the play.

Lee and Gomez then jawed at each other after Gomez reached on an infield single in the third.

"I was just trying to do my job and he ... jumped on me,'' Gomez said after the Twins won 4-3. "He say, 'Stop bunting.' But not like that. With bad language.

It seems that no matter how many times we see it, baseball fans just never learn. Every spring baseball fans and experts alike say that this is the year that the Minnesota Twins are going to finish below .500 and at the bottom of the AL Central. Then summer comes along a few months later, and there they are. Sitting on top, or near the top of the division while the rest of us scratch their heads.

Though it happens every season, it still catches us all by surprise, but this season has been the most baffling of all. There is just no way that the Twins should be sitting at 40-36, only a game and a half behind the first place White Sox. The obvious reasons for this are that the team said goodbye to both Johan Santana and Torii Hunter during the offseason, and that Francisco Liriano has spent his time on the disabled list.

Still, it's not exactly a new phenomenon that teams carry on and continue playing well after saying goodbye to their stars. The Athletics have been doing it for years along with the Twins, so we know it can be done. The difference between these Twins, though, and the Twins and Athletics teams of the past is how they're doing it.

The guys who were supposed to replace what was lost have been horrible so far, yet they're still winning.

The Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee has long been rumored to be haunted. Adrian Beltre has talked about his alleged brushes with the supernatural while staying there, and several members of the Minnesota Twins are just as spooked. From Phil Miller of the Pioneer Press:

Livan Hernandez swears this actually happened. He was sitting in bed, watching TV, when the remote control suddenly hung in midair next to him, and turned off the set. "What you have to do," he explained matter-of-factly, "is get (the remote) back and put it back in the same place and turn on the TV. Then it will go away."

[...] "If you wake up in the middle of the night, sometimes you can feel something in bed with you," Hernandez said. "You can touch it. But if you open your eyes, there's nothing there."

It's not clear whether Hernandez is telling the truth or simply doing his best to scare coach Jerry White, who was so spooked he couldn't fall asleep all night, or the impressionable rookie Carlos Gomez, who claims to have experienced some of Pfister's spookiness first-hand on Friday. Gomez said his iPod repeatedly turned itself on and started vibrating on a table in his room, which scared him so much that he bolted from his room and arrived at Miller Park hours earlier than he needed to simply to avoid being alone. (Yeah, I know, it sounds like someone was simply calling his iPhone, but I'm guessing he ruled that out.)

Carlos Gomez is full of energy. He was fun to watch as a New York Met, and has impressed people with his tools in Minnesota (even though his splits are less than impressive at .268/.296/.399). But the man who's the one who's "under the gun" in Minnesota might miss some time on the disabled list with a bum wrist ... the same wrist that kept him out of action this weekend against Colorado.

"I'll find out today what he feels like throwing the ball," Gardenhire said. "He says he feels better today. But I'll get another center fielder if it's going to be two or three more days, probably." (...)

With Gomez still sidelined, Craig Monroe got the start in center once again. But Gardenhire hinted that the team likely will call up outfielder Denard Span from Triple-A Rochester should it look like Gomez's wrist injury might linger.

Span, 24, impressed the Twins' coaching staff during his first stint in the Majors in April, and he's been on a recent hot streak offensively for the Red Wings. Heading into Rochester's game on Sunday, Span was batting .457 over his last 10 games. He's hitting .378 with a .486 on-base percentage in 24 games with the Red Wings.

But in 31 AB's in the majors this season, Span's splits are such: .258/.324/.258, so despite Span's minor league numbers, I doubt highly that Carlos Gomez will become the next Wally Pipp.

If you thought what the White Sox violated blow-up dolls with baseball bats, you should see what they do to space heaters with them. Mark Buehrle didn't have a very strong performance to follow Gavin Floyd's near no-no on Tuesday night, as he allowed 7 runs in 5.2 innings and fell to 1-4 on the season.

Needless to say, Buehrle isn't too happy with the way the 2008 season has been going for him, and he let the frustration boil over after being removed from yesterday's game.

Moments after rookie Carlos Gomez hit a two-out RBI double to cap a five-run sixth-inning rally, Buehrle already was off the mound when he gave Guillen the ball.

Buehrle went to the dugout, grabbed one of Juan Uribe's bats and whacked it five times against a space heater and a dugout bench before tossing his cap and shaking his head.

"It was everything building up," Buehrle said after the Sox lost for the seventh time in eight games. "It was the way I pitched, the way we're playing. It was one of those games where you can't hold it back."

As of now, the League of People For Space Heater Rights haven't filed a complaint, so Buehrle or the White Sox haven't issued a fake apology for Mark's actions yet. When asked about it after the game, manager Ozzie Guillen had this to say.

"It's bull[bleep]. What Mark did to that space heater is [bleep]ing bull[bleep]. That space heater is the [bleep] of Mark Buehrle. Two weeks ago, it was the greatest [bleep]ing space heater in the [bleep]ing history of space [bleep]ing heaters. Now it's horse[bleep]. I'm tired of it. [Bleep]. [Bleep]. [Bleep]......[bleep]."

As I mentioned in a post here at FanHouse last week, Carlos Gomez is quickly becoming one of my favorite players in all of baseball to watch. Even when he's tearing my favorite team up, as he did last night against the White Sox, I still enjoy just watching him play baseball.

On Wednesday night, Carlos became the first Minnesota Twin to hit for the cycle since Kirby Puckett did it in 1986, which is fitting since Carlos may be the most exciting Twin since Kirby. Not to mention, he's also incredibly considerate.

After leading off the game with a home run off of Mark Buehrle, Gomez's home run trot around the bases was faster than half the players in the league can sprint full speed. Why'd he do it? Well, after a nearly two-hour rain delay before the game started he didn't want to waste any more time. "The game today started too late. I say, 'Let me run the bases quick so the game goes fast.' "

Gomez completed his cycle in reverse order, following that first inning homer by tripling in the fifth, doubling in the sixth, and finishing it all off with an infield-single in the ninth. He also managed to score two runs and drive in three others.

He's doing all of this, and his coaches will tell you that at 22-years old, he's still learning the game. Imagine what he's going to be capable of once he actually knows what he's doing.

Since I am officially responsible for covering two divisions and nine teams here at FanHouse, I have to spend a lot of my time watching baseball. It's a hard life, I assure you, but these are the sacrifices I'm willing to make for you, the reader.

One of the players I've been particularly interested in following this season is Twins centerfielder Carlos Gomez. I went over these reasons in the spring during our Under the Gun feature, where I profiled Gomez as the one member of the Twins who's under a lot of pressure this season. One, because he came over from the Mets in the Johan Santana trade, and two, because he's also faced with the task of replacing the team's most popular player since Kirby Puckett in Torii Hunter.

So far, I'm having a blast watching Gomez play. He's not exactly tearing it up at the plate in his first month, as he finished April hitting only .265/.275/.373, and he's struck out 25 times in only 102 at bats. Still, he's been a joy to watch while on the base paths and in the field. Well, that is unless you're his manager Ron Gardenhire. Then some of the things he does probably drive you crazy.

"It's kind of crazy, really. It's high school," Gardenhire said of Gomez's antics. "I don't even know if it's college (level). But he's so enthusiastic and such a talent ... "

We're five full days deep in baseball and there's been a lot of action. In order to make the proper roster moves and know what to look for when you begin trade negotiations, it helps to understand the perceived value shifts that happen each week. So that's when we bust out the complex algorithms and determine who's up and who's down.

Ben Sheets -- Sheets looked great against the Cubs, engaging in a pitcher's duel against Carlos Zambrano, and even pitching post-rain delay; actually looking sharper. Sheets has a legitimate shot at the Cy Young and is a number one fantasy ace if he can avoid the injuries that have plagued him in the past.

Or, alternately: blahblahblahblah If he can stay healthy blahblahblahblah. I actually love Sheets but objectively he has to be considered a sell high, especially if he pieces together a few more of these starts. And considering Ned Yost seems unconcerned about his injury history.
Rich Harden -- See above.
Brian Bannister -- He absolutely shut down the Tigers. He won't overpower anyone but he's smart as hell and will get wins with nice ratios this season.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups

New York Yankees (0-0) vs. Toronto Blue Jays (0-0) - 7:05PM Est.

The Yankees wanted to kick off the final season at Yankee Stadium yesterday, but ol' Mother Nature wouldn't play along, as she instead chose to try and flood the city of New York on Monday. So that means for Yankees and Blue Jays fans opening day is today, as the two teams try and do it all over again. Aside from the significance of this being the last opening day in Yankee Stadium history, it's also the first time the Yankees will be playing a game at the stadium without Joe Torre in the dugout in 13 years. For the Blue Jays, they've kinda become a darkhorse pick in the AL East this season, and a win tonight against a division powerhouse like the Yankees would be a nice way to start off the season. Both of yesterday's scheduled starters, Chien-Ming Wang and Roy Halladay, will be making the start tonight. Wang will try to put his playoff collapse behind him, but he's not going against a team he's enjoyed much success against. In three starts against Toronto last season, Wang went 0-2 with a 6.35 ERA. Roy Halladay on the other hand is 4-0 with an ERA of 1.77 in his last eight starts against the Bombers, suffering his last loss on September 21st, 2004.