I understood why the Minnesota Twins chose to go with Sidney Ponson in their starting rotation over Matt Garza. I get that they want Garza to develop a little more in the minors before feeding him to the lions in the AL Central.That doesn't necessarily mean I agreed with their decision.
Sure, they can't really be sure what they would get from Garza, but the Twins should know full well what they're going to get from Sidney Ponson. Bad pitching. Garza might be fantastic, Ponson won't.
Let's just look at Sir Sidney's numbers since his 17-win season of 2003. He's 26-37 with a 5.92 ERA. What exactly about those stats fills the Twins with confidence about Sidney?
Monday night was Ponson's debut in Minnesota, and he didn't look any different than when we last saw him as a Yankee, Cardinal, or Oriole. He lasted 5.2 innings and got smacked around for 8 runs on 10 hits, two of which were home runs. The Twins would lose to the Yankees 8-2.
"That's not the way I wanted to start the season with the Twins," Ponson said. "I didn't pitch good. The line will tell you that. I go out there to win ballgames, and I put the guys in a hole to start the game. That's not fun. Hopefully, my next start I won't do that."
To Ponson's credit, after giving up a two-run homer to Bobby Abreu in the second that made the score 5-0 he found a groove. He sat down 14 straight batters before the A-Rod struck a fatal blow in the fifth inning. Rodriguez crushed a three-run homer off to make it 8-1, and Ron Gardenhire blamed himself for it.
"That man will take the ball and pitch forever if he could," Gardenhire said of Ponson. "I knew Matty [Guerrier] didn't have good numbers against A-Rod, but that was stupid, leaving [Ponson] in. Ponson had battled his tail off, and I should have taken him out."
Trust me, this won't be the last time Gardenhire has to make excuses for Ponson if the Twins keep him in their rotation. He can give as many as he wants, it's not going to change the fact that Sidney Ponson just can't get the job done.
Previously at the Fanhouse:
It's Safe To Say Sir Sidney Does Not Miss Baltimore
What Do Sidney Ponson And Britney Spears Have In Common?
Being A Knight Is Apparently Meaningless
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-14-2007 @ 1:30AM
moparyoder said...
I agree with the fact that Ponson is old and washed up (and congrats to the twins for cutting him today). That said, I am glad the Twins gave him a chance--it was a low-risk contract that cost them next to nothing if he did poorly (which he did). Most of his problems on the field since his good year in '03 had come as a result of problems off the field, which he dealt with before joining the Twins. Of course, I am worried that he will go home and get back into trouble with his lack of a team. All in all, I'm glad the Twins gave him a chance, and I'm glad to see him go. He cost the Twins 5 games, not that anyone else would have won all 5 of them anyway. He got his chance, and the Twins (and MLB) got the chance to see whether he still had it.
Reply