MVN - Most Valuable Network

Payback: Ex-Twin Sidney Ponson Tosses Gem In 10-1 Rangers Victory

April 26th vs. Minnesota : 5.1 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4 K. 93 pitches, 58 strikes.

May 1st vs. Kansas City: 8 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K. 104 pitches, 74 strikes.

May 6th at Seattle: 7 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 K. 103 pitches, 67 strikes.

May 11th vs. Oakland: 5.1 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 5 BB, 1 K. 103 pitches, 59 strikes.

May 16th vs. Houston: 5 IP, 9 H, 7 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 2 K. 80 pitches, 55 strikes.

And now:

May 21st at Minnesota: 9 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K. 110 pitches, 72 strikes.

I don’t believe I know what’s going on here any better than you do.

In his seven starts in a Minnesota Twins uniform in 2007, Sidney Ponson lasted more than six innings and yielded fewer than two earned runs just once. That effort came on May 1st against the since-renamed Tampa Bay Devil Rays, who wielded a respectable, if not exactly intimidating, offensive assault, headed by second baseman-turned-center fielder B.J. Upton and his otherworldly .365/.413/.689 batting line coming into the new month.

Upton collected two hits in three official at-bats against Ponson that day. The remainder of the Devil Rays lineup, comparatively, worked just three hits and a pair of walks off Sir Sidney in his seven sharp innings of one-run baseball.

Despite still being one start away from matching his 2007 total, Ponson has already twice surpassed the six-plus innings, two or fewer runs benchmark in a Texas Rangers uniform.

He was singularly brilliant on Wednesday evening, effectively mowing through a beleaguered Twins lineup with his trademark low-90’s sinker that often touched 94 MPH with sharp, vicious sinking action - the apparent by-product of a mechanical alteration to his delivery, which was applied after a brief visit with pitching coach Mark Connor and bullpen coach Dom Chiti between starts:

“He was moving a little side-to-side instead of straight downhill,” Connor said. “I think he was overthrowing a little, trying to make the ball do too much. We had a quick talk about it, and he did all the work.”

Perhaps even more importantly, Ponson was quick and efficient, pacing himself exceptionally well and leaving Minnesota little time to construct an alternative method of attack. The 18 ground ball outs he induced on Wednesday evening, in fact, stand as the sixth-highest mark in franchise history according to Senior Director of Baseball Media Relations Rich Rice, whose tireless research has been graciously disseminated by the great Jamey Newberg.

It appeared for a time that Milton Bradley’s second-inning ejection from the game by home plate umpire Jeff Nelson would loom particularly large, given what an integral cog Bradley has been within this team’s patently dangerous lineup. Bradley was tossed for arguing balls and strikes (the pitch in question was a 3-2 fastball that was definitively outside, but was called as strike three regardless), and manager Ron Washington for defending his slugger.

Great crew you’ve cobbled together there, Bud.

Fortunately, neither absence proved terribly relevant in the end. After playing to a scoreless draw through the first five innings, Texas pounded Minnesota starter Nick Blackburn to the tune of seven runs (only one of which was earned) in the top of the sixth inning. Michael Young launched a tie-breaking solo home run, Gerald Laird and Ramon Vazquez each collected RBI singles, and Ian Kinsler deposited a three-run blast into the left field bleachers to cap the game-breaking rally.

From there, it was a simple matter of Sir Sidney bringing it on home. Ponson’s lone hiccup of the evening came in the bottom of the sixth inning, when Adam Everett scored on a one-out RBI sacrifice fly after mashing a lead-off triple. Not to be outdone, the Rangers tacked on three additional runs over the final three innings of the game, with Laird’s two-out solo shot in the ninth inning serving as the ever-appropriate exclamation point.

Then again, it can be argued (quite convincingly, in fact) that Young’s vacuum-like defensive performance at shortstop was the real punctuation mark of the night. He’s still got a little something, even if that something is slowly waning to the point where he’ll no longer be an acceptable solution at his current stead.

Just two hours and 24 minutes after the festivities had begun, they were over - and not a moment too soon. The final out was recorded just in time to flip over to TNT for the third quarter of Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs, which found Kobe Bryant and friends completing one of the great all-time playoff comebacks in NBA history in effortlessly erasing a 20-point deficit to win by an eventual four-point margin.

Sidney Ponson just completed his own comeback of sorts, as well. And even if it wasn’t nearly as dramatic or spellbinding as the Lakers’ awe-inspiring climb out of the bottomless pit crafted by the Spurs, you can bet it was every bit as satisfying.

Quick Hits: Thomas Diamond made his first appearance in 14 months for Double-A Frisco on Wednesday, surrendering six runs on four hits and four walks in 4.2 innings while fanning five…Hank Blalock (partially torn left hamstring) played five innings at first base in an extended spring training game on Wednesday, and barring any further setbacks, will be activated from the 15-day disabled list on Friday…Doug Mathis, not A.J. Murray, will start Sunday’s series finale at Cleveland…Kevin Millwood (strained right groin) encountered no problems during a fielding practice session on Wednesday, and is tentatively scheduled to make a minor league rehab start on Sunday, which would place him on track to return on May 30th versus Oakland.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 22nd, 2008 at 2:29 am and is filed under The Season. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.