Reflecting on a storybook game for Twins, Tigers
Posted on April 15th, 2008 – 11:10 AMBy Joe Christensen
DETROIT — Well, last night brought one of those games that you could pick apart and talk about for a week. I tried boiling it down for the game story, answering as many questions as possible about how the Twins could squander those 5-0 and 9-4 leads in an eventual 11-9 loss.
Hard to believe, the Twins came very close to re-tying that game in the ninth inning. Tigers closer Todd Jones got the first two outs, but Jason Kubel walked, Brendan Harris singled and Nick Punto came to the plate representing the go-ahead run.
Even with Craig Monroe on the bench, Manager Ron Gardenhire stuck with Punto, who had entered as a defensive replacement at third base for Mike Lamb in the eighth. I wrote about Monroe in today’s notebook, so I knew how much it would mean to him to get a chance in that spot. But as a switch hitter, Punto could bat lefthanded against the righthanded Jones, and he hit the ball well.
So much had happened by that point, it was easy to overlook what a great play Tigers left fielder Ryan Rayburn made on Punto’s deep fly ball. If that ball drops, it’s a tie game with both runners hustling with two outs. Rayburn had just replaced Jacque Jones in left field at the top of the inning.
Anyway, what a game. Detroit’s comeback will be memorable for me just because of how awful the Tigers looked earlier in the game. Seriously, that dropped popup by Pudge? He’s a 13-time Gold Glove Award winner. It would have been the third out in the second inning, but the Twins made him pay with two runs.
I kept thinking how the Tigers have the second highest payroll in baseball at $138 million and looked like “The Worst Team Money Could Buy.” I’ve read Bob Klapisch and John Harper’s book about the 1992 Mets, and for 5 1/2 innings, these Tigers looked like suitors to the throne.
As the Tigers kept limping around the bases and fumbling plays, the Twins kept sprinting around the bases. Detroit looked old, fat and slow. The Twins looked young, hungry and fast. Joe Mauer, in particular, looked terrific running from first-to-home on Delmon Young’s double in the sixth inning.
Tigers 3B Miguel Cabrera was charged with one error and misplayed two other chances to start 5-4-3 double plays against Carlos Gomez. At one point, I heard one fan bellow at Cabrera, “Go back to Florida!”
Well, the Tigers might be gimpy, but they can certainly hit. After Nick Blackburn got the second out in the sixth inning, 14 of the final 19 Tigers hitters reached base.
By the end, Pudge was at the heart of Detroit’s comeback. “It’s tough, but I got mad at that play [the dropped pop-up],” he told the Detroit Free Press. “I take a lot of pride in my defense.”
From John Lowe’s game story in the Free Press, there is also this:
The fans who left missed the first Detroit appearance of the fully animated Miguel Cabrera. As the eighth culminated, he was on the top step of the dugout, cheering. He had a bounce in his step as he went out for the ninth. “He’s just a big kid who likes to play baseball,” Leyland said. “I told him again today to be himself.”
I have a feeling that was the kind of game that will let these Tigers be themselves for a while. I think they got their wakeup call, and the Twins were the unfortunate squad that woke them up.
164 Responses to "Reflecting on a storybook game for Twins, Tigers"
C’mon you moaners and groaners…..if this is the most important thing in your life, you need to visit Haiti and eat some “dirt cookies”
I agree this was their wakeup call. Watch the Tigers reel off a long winning streak. Not a well-played or managed game.
Who cares if Punto is a switch hitter, he batted .210 last year always batting from the opposite side of the plate. I was in disbelief when Gardy let Punto bat instead of PHing Monroe. Also, enough of Everett, I think Tolbert has earned the spot, but moreso Everett has lost it. My grandma could beat Everett in an arm-wrestling match; I’ve never seen such a weak arm.
Everett has incredible range and makes spectacular plays from other SS into routine plays for him. Do a little research on defensive baseball
Thank’s AaronK
IMO, not pinch hitting Monroe for Punto in the Ninth Just shows me that he will NOT be with the team when Cuddyer gets back, Otherwise why would you not Pinch hit for Punto. I believe Tolbert was still available to take over at third.
Joe: Do you mean the “1962″ Mets?
I’m glad it took the Twins beating them for Detroit to finally realize how terrible they were playing.
I dread the thought of seeing this game on the “Sports Illustrated congratulates the 2008 World Champion Detroit Tigers Commemorative DVD”.
Tolbert is nice player but is no major leauge shortstop. He doesn’t have the defensive talent to play there day in and day out. So I say its’s pick your poison for the Twins at short this year. Everyone is mad at the Everett for the play last night and rightfully so, but that one play did not lose the game.
Did anyone else notice the horrible routes to the ball that Gomez was taking last night? Those two triples both should have been at best doubles. Had he cut off Pudge’s triple that line out to Young would not have scored him.
I expected Gomez to be inconsistent on offense but some of his reads in Center have me a little concerned.
The Twins did a lot of the little things wrong those last 4 innings which is why they lost the game.
Re: Everett- It has been reported that he is having some serious pain in his arm and shoulder so I can understand why his throws have been off. But if that is the case why is he playing right now? If he is injured let him rest his arm/shoulder until he is healthy.
Bufftwins, no, the book is about the 1992 Mets.
Jimmybee, you can throw out a thousand stats and numbers. I can see that Everett has a girl arm. He can catch the ball all over the place, but practically needs to crow hop to get it to first from short.
Everett has incredible range and makes spectacular plays from other SS into routine plays for him. Do a little research on defensive baseball
Thank’s AaronK A
yoke - Read the whole statement. I knew that this acquisition would come back to bite people in the arse so I saved a comment regarding Everett. I saw everyone complaining about Punto and said this guy is a glove man and hits like .230 for the year and has Tyner type power. I thought I better save a good quote while I was bashing Everett when we first got him
Why the blankity blank did Gardy not bat Monroe? I mean, come on! Here’s a Kirk Gibson moment for a guy who was cut by the Tigers! I like Punto…still I don’t know why…but come on! Throw in Monroe!
Last nights game was fun to watch and fun to hate.
HA HA HA
Yes, he has exceptional range, but what good did it do last night on the short-hop to Morneau? You can keep spouting that out AaronK, but it doens’t change the fact that you still need to complete the play for it to be an out. It’s good that he keeps the ball in the infield, and if there was a runner on, he could have gotten the out at seconds, but for now, when he goes deep into the hole, he really is a liability when he throws it. He needs to sit until he can regain his throwing arm. The reports that I have read show him to have great range with an average arm, so far this year, we have seen the range, but not even close to an average arm. Once he gets the arm strength back, this will become a mute point, but until then, when he has an ill-timed error, no need to keep pointing out the range-factor, since it really isn’t worthy of pointing out at that time.
AaronK says:
April 15th, 2008 at 11:50 am
Everett has incredible range and makes spectacular plays from other SS into routine plays for him. Do a little research on defensive baseball
Thank’s AaronK A
Punto should be playing every day he nearly single handedly won the game last night. He hit a screaming line drive that the left fielder made a miracle catch on what would have been an inside the park homerun with Punto’s speed. Monroe has never hit a ball that hard and would have only struck out.
Everett = Buckner 
He’s getting all the blame here for a team failure.
Let’s ship him out of town and then wait 23 years to say sorry.
About 16 things went wrong in the 8th last night. Not the least of which is Detroit’s billion dollar bats came out of hibernation for the first time all spring.
To be honest, I was actually pretty confident in Punto getting a hit there, it was just my feeling in how the game was flowing. He hit a screamer out that a replacement fielder had to make a great play on to get the out. I thought it was in there when he hit it. Sometimes the little bloopers are better, but man, I really thought that he had a HUGE hit in that spot. If it would have fallen, you could have expected to see MUCH more Punto, since I think that he would have his groove on, and I am sure Gardy would have felt the EXACT same way.
Well, so much for what-if’s. The ball didn’t fall, Gardy opened himself up to criticism again, and of course, the Twins lost a game that the had been given by a superior team.
Sucks, but it that is the way it is, especially with a young team like this.
The only reason the left fielder made a “good play” on the last play last night was becuase he took a horrible angle to the ball, he jumped way out in front of it and the result was he had to stretch out behind himself to make a “good play”
You guys are nuts.
Everett is my shortstop. If he is hurt, he hasn’t mentioned it. Today we will be playing the 2nd baseman in on the grass to take the relay from Everett. Only the fastest runners will be safe with this strategy in place.
The pitchers were fine. They made a few mistakes and you know it was cold, so I didn’t really want to bother the other pitchers in the bullpen. Besides, I had finally warmed up my seat. If guys can’t hold a 5 run lead then that’s just the way it is. They learned their lesson.
We had a lot of laughs on Span’s first home run. Did you all appreciate it as much as we did?
Morney puts on a good show with his base running, don’t you think?
I was saving Monroe for extra innings.
Too bad we couldn’t get Blackburn his first win, maybe we’ll send him back to the minors to work on pitching complete game shutouts. That should about do it.
Any questions? Good… heading to early bp.
Punto was hitting .500 before his screaming liner last night.
Monroe is still hitting .133.
Last year?
They were both bad.
Punto=.210
Monroe was worse and released TWICE.
Monroe pinch-hitting for Punto last night would have been the wrong move EVEN IF IT HAD WORKED.
Maybe Gardy should be allowed to second-guess YOUR life decisions.
I agree with Bisonaudit “16 things went wrong last night. The Guerrier/Neshek combo, who helped the team so much last year, collapsed again and cost us the game.
There will be other days…
Gardy is Kubel inbreed or have fetal alchohol syndrome
The reason Punto was not pinch hit for is because Everett was due up next.. Lets say Monroe bats for Punto, and gets on base, then you have to let Everett hit because you dont have anyone to replace everett if we take the lead. if Punto were to get on base you have seen monroe pinch hit for Everett. Then Tolbert would enter the game for everett
Everett and Punto are the same player, one of them needs to go
The ball Punto hit may have been the hardest hit ball all night. Pure luck it wasn’t an inside the park homerun with his speed.
We can argue Punto v. Monroe all day day…personally, I would never have Punto at the plate with the game on the line…
But where there’s no argument is Adam Everett…I was in KC over the weekend and he looked awful in the field there, as well, and his error last night was about as inexcusible as it gets.
So far our “Astros” have been horrendous.
Good observation Jason, yeah we really can’t have Punto and Everett playing at the same time just becuase of situations like last night. Everett needs to hit the weight room or hit the road.
But you know, if Morneau would have dug that Everett throw out of the dirt we wouldn’t even be talking about it.
Dear Joe –
Your job is to protect the plate when someone is coming in from third. Get down and brace yourself for a hit rather than letting every baserunner go right by you and swipe their arm across the plate. Boo hoo, if you get banged up, you only play for 2-3 days before you need another “rest”. My grandpa needs less rest than you do. You cost us another game, take a hit from Sheffield and catch the ball. Please do your job. I despise the Yankees, but I have a lot of respect for Posada he’s out there every game playing hard and swinging the bat. Maybe you could learn something from him.
Oh yeah,
We’re all real tired of seeing you stand at the plate with your great eye watching every good pitch go by. Then when you do swing it’s a groundout to first or second. Maybe on your “rest” days you can spend some time in the batting cages.
Gardy Says Says,
for some reason I can actually here him saying that. Everytime I hear him speak or read one of his quotes I think that a little league coach could be more insightful. I especially like his quote when he refers to some horrible pitcher on the other team “keeping our hitters off balance today.”
Why do we still have Everett AND Punto on the team? They are basically the same person, except one has a weak arm.
Lets say Monroe bats for Punto, and gets on base
The point is that Monroe could have gotten a 3-run homer to get the lead or a 2-run double for the tie. Lamb could have done the same, too. To begin with, getting Punto in for Lamb, before the bottom of the ninth was not a smart move…
If anybody tries to pin the loss on Punto’s AB in the 9th they weren’t paying attention during the other 8 innings of that game.
The Twins bullpen and the Twins defense cost them that win.
If an offense scores 9 friggin’ runs in a game there’s no excuse for that to not be enough.
To begin with, getting Punto in for Lamb, before the bottom of the ninth was not a smart move…
Oh yes, because Gardy could have forseen Guerrier and Neshek and his defense going completely to pot within one half-inning.
The pitching and defense does it’s job, the game at worst goes into the bottom of the ninth as a save opportunity for Nathan.
Love the Mauer smack talk from Mauer sux….nice to get some balance once in a while.
What the…
Pure luck it was not a homerun?? Have you seen his batting average from last year. How about is career batting average. Dont give me the argument that he was hitting .500 before that at bat last night since he only had about 6 at bats up to that point. Give me a break! It is pure luck that he is still in the majors. He would not make it on ANY other club. The Twins are just too nice to cut him.
Leyland really screwed up by not intentionally walking Punto, without a pure lucky catch the Twins win.
Hey Jason, it’s only balance if it’s warranted….but you can’t say:
We’re all real tired of seeing you stand at the plate with your great eye watching every good pitch go by.
When the guy takes three walks out of 5 plate appearances.
T, I don’t think anybody is pinning the loss on Punto’s AB, we are just saying why not put a guy like Monroe out there with some HR and gap power and a bone to pick with Detroit? Odds say it wouldn’t have worked but the odds would have been higher for Monroe than Punto.
Wait… a pinch hitter? That’s right, I could have used a pinch hitter for Punto and also for Everett. I could have used Tolbert and Monroe there in the 9th. And, in a worst case scenario, where we actually did score the runs to make the bottom of the 9th something to even worry about… I could have moved Joe over there at 3b and put Red Dog behind the plate and Tolbert at SS. Yes, that could actually have worked. Whereas, what we tried definitely DID NOT WORK. Maybe I shouldn’t be saving Monroe for later. Maybe he could have risen to the occasion of paying back his old team. Maybe we could have had a story book finish. Hmmmm?
It is a good point to discuss pitching. Everyone thought our bullpen was our only strength. Now our starting pitchin is looking pretty good, offense looks about average (which is good for a twins team) but our bullpen has been getting shelled recently. I dont see any fixes in the future w/out brining in young guys and doing a complete remake. Guerrier has been off all year. Neshek has had some horrible outings. Rincon started to stink it up last year. Crain, well who knows what to expect from him. Nathan has been the only decent pitcher that can be relied on.
Imagine being Craig Monroe today…you were passed up for Nick Punto with the game on the line? What the hell’s next, will Gardy use a bat boy to pinch hit instead of Monroe?
OUTSTANDING
If we are happy with with 3 walks out of 5 plate appearances then let’s please send to Punto to the plate but let’s not give him a bat.
We need an offense that is aggressive and swings. Wasn’t it Joe (again) who struck out looking with the bases loaded last weekend in the KC loss.
Why is it that Joe always seems to be at the plate with two outs with runners in scoring position and he’s up there looking for a walk.
The big wooden object in your hand is called a bat, baseball players use it to a hit a small circular object called a baseball. Sometimes when the two make contact the baseball will go in the opposite direction and land on the ground for a hit — better yet in the stands.
Have to agree with T here — Mauer gets three walks and the Twins score nine runs. Have to think there’s a connection there.
You can argue that you don’t want your #3 hitter drawing walks with men on base, but then again, if your #4 and #5 guys are doing their jobs, they’ll make up for it. Wearing down the enemy pitcher and keeping the inning going are both good things.
Joe i would like to put a “wakeup call” in for the Twins for 6:00 pm tonight. The song i would like played is “Were not gonna take it” by Twisted Sister please.
Tough night-the Twins didn’t play well. Detroit shows what good patient hitters(and a little luck)can do. A lot of if’s and but’s with their hits.
i think people expect out joe what isn’t there. he will likely not ever hit for power, 10 hrs in a good year maybe. he’ll hit around .300 over his career and be an above average catcher. he is not, unless he makes drastic strides, ever going to be a hall of fame catcher. and he will continue to hit into a lot of dp’s because he hits mostly ground balls and line drives.
gobbledygookguy–obviously Gardy is one of those guys who expect joe to be what he isn’t. Why else would he bat third?
7 HR, 60 RBI last year in the three-hole.
Again, no one will argue that Mauer isn’t a fantastic catcher or one of the best players on our squad…but let’s put our love for Mauer in perspective, in the interest of balance, and on that note, I offer this stat line:
A.J. Pierzynski–.421, 2 HR, 9 RBI
DMW:
Agree with everything except the incongruous ‘they’ll make up for it’ bit re: taking a walk. Your heads in the right place but your language is bias toward the very thinking your combating with the rest of your post.
We scored 9 runs. That should be enough.
There’s no clock in this game. You get 27 outs, the most valuable thing you can do for your team is not make one, everything after that is icing on the cake.
Everyone hates on Boston and New York because they win and spend a lot of money. Everyone sees Pappi and A-Rod hit 45 home runs but no one sees those teams take more pitches than just about anyone else in the league.
“obviously Gardy is one of those guys who expect joe to be what he isn’t. Why else would he bat third?”
Because Cuddyer is injured and Mauer is holding the spot for him.
In the interest of ‘balance’
2007 stat lines
Joe 293/382/426
AJ 263/309/403
Jason,
We could offer Nathan, Bonser and Liriano for AJ and see if the White Sox will give him back.
As a life long Tiger fan I have questioned some of the trades in the off season. Power is one thing, but pitching makes the difference. The game last night was what we now expect from our Tigers. Bad pitching and hoping the hitters will hit enough to win some games. I as many of the Tiger fans were disappointed in the trade that took Craig Monroe away. C’Mo is a class player and gave his heart and soul to the Tigers. I was suprized that he was not put in to pinch hit in the nineth. He is a good clutch hitter and a three run homer to win the game for you would have be poetic justice.
sid says:
April 15th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Jason,
We could offer Nathan, Bonser and Liriano for AJ and see if the White Sox will give him back.
Not a bad idea. Than we could use Joe as the DH
LJ,
Monroe for Sheffield, Granderson or Magglio.
Your choice.
The reason Everett plays… is the fact that he can bunt better than anyone on this roster… it’s a really underrated skill…
But IMO It’s no coincidence that the first suicide squeeze by a twins player in a long time ( i can’t remember the last time) happened with everett at the plate.
That’s the reason why Everett’s .230 is better than Punto’s .230, the simple fact that Everett can consistently move runners over, something that was incredibly frustrating last year with Nick
It would be nice to have a DH that you know always is a power threat. I don’t see AJ as that.
starting lineups for today???
Curt
A healthy Everett may be better than a healthy Punto, but Everett isn’t healthy right now and can’t hit or field his position well enough to justify being in the starting lineup. He belongs on the DL, IMO.
That’s the reason why Everett’s .230 is better than Punto’s .230
Tolbert’s .400+ is better than both. And at least a mistake he makes in the field is more likely to be a fixable experience issue as opposed to an aging injury issue.
Wasn’t it Joe (again) who struck out looking with the bases loaded last weekend in the KC loss.
Way to cherry pick your ABs. I guess I can point to Mauer’s first hit of the season (and first AB of the season) driving in Gomez from 2nd for the 1st run of the first game and say he’s the best catcher ever.
Likewise. David Ortiz is hitting .077 (or .091 after his first AB last night)…I guess that means he’s terrible?
Is Everett’s .185 better than Punto’s .429?
What does anyone think AJ says while catching to the batters to make them so angry
Tolbert is what the Twins need-a guy who can hit. He may give up somethign on defense, but let’s be honest-it hasn’t been the defense that has kept the Twins from going to the World Series.
I’m baffled that defense has not been fingered on this posting more often. The Punto/Monroe decision was one thing … I’ll take the laser that Punto hit most of the time. The pitching is obviously another issue - I had a problem with Guerrier going back out for the 8th after finishing the sixth and sitting through a couple long Twins ABs…
BUT, what really stood out to me were three defensive “little things:”
1) With two out in the bottom of the sixth, Lamb is unable to even make a throw on a roller up the line. He chops his feet, he’s slow to react, and he doesn’t have much of an arm. Punto throws out the runner more often than not there. The Tigers go on to score three two out runs AND our bullpen is extended. What’s Lamb’s avg?
2) Gomez and Span take poor angles on Pudge’s triple. When you can read the names on the backs of both outfielders chasing a gapper, you know you’re in trouble. Jones’ SAC line drive and the Tigers lead. Whether it was a communication error or whatever, Jerry White needs to sit these kids down and give ‘em a whipping.
3) SAME THING happens two batters later. The Tigers’ kid CF hits a rope to right center and Gomez makes the SAME MISTAKE. Ends up scoring easily on the Polanco single. Gomez at least has a shot to throw out the runner if he holds him to a double on the previous play.
These three instances had just as much if not more to do with the outcome as the Punto/Monroe decision…
ok the yankees are hurting for a catcher why don’t we trade redmond for the kid they have playing ss for jeter? as long as we’re rebuilding anyway, we don’t have a real quality ss prospect ready anytime soon unless i’m missing someone. casilla seems to have imploded.
just a dumb thought ….
Defense hasn’t kept the Twins from the WS because it been prioritized in the past when we’ve won the division…
Winning the division is great and all, but if the Twins’ bats hadn’t gone cold in the 2002 ALCS, or the 2003, 2004, and 2006 ALDS’ then the Twins would have had a better chance to go the WS.
Even Torii Hunter’s defensive gaffe against the A’s in 2006 that led to the inside the park HR isn’t what led to the Twins getting swept.
How many times have we seen Twins’ pitchers do fine with giving up 1-3 runs but to lose since the bats can’t scrape together some runs?
punto hit a “laser” a “screamer” by game time it will have been hit harder than mantle’s 565′ shot!
Punto’s “out” is not the issue: that’s my point.
I was wondering about Jones sac fly to left also how is it possible that Pudge was able to tag up and score on Youngs “great arm” he’s not that fast and it wasn’t that deep.
If we had a Post of the Day I’d nominate Wyatt for that last one.
Insightful, deep baseball, and after 70 posts, something fresh. I just had the game cast up on MLB.com and see TWO gap triples against the fastest man in baseball, one of them by a dude named ‘Pudge’ and I’m thinking WTF. I know the gaps are huge in Detroit, but WTF.
Gomez has some serious tools but he’s pretty raw. Hopefully, he’s teachable and they’ll get these things ironed out. In the mean time…
“A lot of what we mistake for pitching is really defense.” - Bill James paraphrase
“punto hit a “laser” a “screamer” by game time it will have been hit harder than mantle’s 565? shot!”
We may be setting the bar a little lower for Punto. Expectations were slightly different for Mantle.
I had to get off of Howards Blog. He drives me crazy because he erases peoples opinions if he doesn’t think that the blog is supportive of the Twins or his column.
BC,
If you didn’t see Young’s catch, he was running full speed toward the foul line and had to extend to make the catch.
He could not regain his balance immediately. All his momentum was toward the foul line.
punto’s out is the point it ended the game!
i think the issue is monroe would have given us a better chance to tie or win the game. if you don’t pinch hit monroe last night send him packing because he isn’t worth sitting on the bench if he isn’t a better option. last year we had tyner and irod pinch hitting because we didn’t have a better option that’s one of the reasons they gave for getting monroe.
I just wanted to say that all you people who said Tolbert was just like Punto are dead wrong. He is looking like our best option at either 2B or SS. I would put him at second and let him play. Harris and Punto are utilty players and that is all there is to it. Everett can’t hit a lick, but he is one of the 3 best defensive SS in baseball and we need that defense for this young staff. Might as well let the young guys play. I am all for letting Gomez,Young,Kubel, and Tolbert get 500+ ABs.
sid thanks i guess i did miss that.
Not to mention this Blackburn is the real deal. He is the new staff ace.
gobble,
IMO pinch-hitting for Punto last year was more a no-brainer than it was last night with Everett on deck (who also was a candidate for a pinch-hitter).
If you pinch-hit for both, you are short an infielder.(which is another option that is bad but not terrible)
Everett - can’t field or throw (maybe he’s injured)
hitting coach - way overrated
Gardenhire - leaves Neshek in too long, lets Punto hit. What about Redmond?
coaching of the outfielders: who is coaching them to throw the ball so it short-hops to the guy they’re throwing it to? If they can throw it that far, they can throw it all the way on a line.
Terrible. Disgraceful performance by the Twins.
zach,
At this moment Everett is NOT “one of the 3 (30?) best defensive SS in baseball”.
Harris is young and hitting .351.
Tolbert needs to get his PT at SS and 3B unless Harris moves to one of those positions.
You all can criticize me all you want. I have complete confidence in my abilities. I believe in taking care of myself and a balanced diet and rigorous exercise routine. In the morning if my face is a little puffy I’ll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches. I can do 1000 now. After I remove the ice pack I use a deep pore cleanser lotion. In the shower I use a water activated gel cleanser, then a honey almond body scrub, and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub. Then I apply an herb-mint facial mask which I leave on for 10 minutes while I prepare the rest of my routine. I always use an after shave lotion with little or no alcohol, because alcohol dries your face out and makes you look older. Then moisturizer, then an anti-aging eye balm followed by a final moisturizing protective lotion.
I work with a guy that I think takes 14-16 craps a day at work.
Sick,
Its not likely any coach is instructing OF to short-hop their throws. All coaches say “long hop or NO hop”.
Just because players fail doesn’t mean they are coached to fail.
jimmy,
“I work with a guy that I think takes 14-16 craps a day at work.”
Is that the insight that got you censored by Howard?
Gotta love Howard!!
Harris is not very good. Tolbert has more potential. Everett is a great defensive shortstop. One bad game does not make him bad defensively.
sid nah. I said something like I would start watching the Twins more in 2011 when they start caring. But I actually never miss a game on my 50 inch Plasma. I can see the rotation of the ball it is so clear. I don’t sit either cause I am so pumped up. Drives my wife crazy. I even start swinging an invisable bat
“Adam Everett says:
April 15th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
You all can criticize me all you want. I have complete confidence in my abilities. I believe in taking care of myself and a balanced diet and rigorous exercise routine. In the morning if my face is a little puffy I’ll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches. I can do 1000 now. After I remove the ice pack I use a deep pore cleanser lotion. In the shower I use a water activated gel cleanser, then a honey almond body scrub, and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub. Then I apply an herb-mint facial mask which I leave on for 10 minutes while I prepare the rest of my routine. I always use an after shave lotion with little or no alcohol, because alcohol dries your face out and makes you look older. Then moisturizer, then an anti-aging eye balm followed by a final moisturizing protective lotion.”
Huh? WTF?!?!??
Harris is not very good.
Sarcasm?
it’s pretty simple, Everett needs to sit with the bum arm but he better get back to normal or we have a gaping hole in the most important position on the field cause Casilla stinks and Tolbert will lose his spunk in couple weeks if he plays everyday, just like last year at AAA
Todd Anthony says:
April 15th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I love that movie. American Psycho. Do you like Huey Lewis’ hip to be square
zach,
“One bad game” would bring ZERO criticism.
He has struggled since February.
Tolbert is good and he and Harris should both play.
And at this point (I can’t believe I am going to say it - Please stop me!!!) so should Punto!
I think that we have a great core to build on in Morneau,Young,Mauer,Gomez,Kubel,Blackburn and Baker. If Liriano can come back at 85% he will be good. It will be interesting to evalute Gomez, Hughes, Ellsbury and Lester this season. As of right now it looks like we didn’t make a bad decision on who we traded Santana for. I still think Hughes will be the best of them, but he has a lot to figure out. I will bet a $1000 dollars that Gomez has a much more successful career than Ellsbury.
problems last night…
everett shouldnt be the shortstop anymore.. tobert deserves it and doesnt lose us games.. (with bat AND with fielding….)
guerrier was in the game too long.. gardy messed up.. should have had neshek ready incase something went bad.. couldnt get neshek warmed up till it was too late…
punto is not a hitter in that situation…..
bullpen lost it for us…
one day we score aton and the bullpen gives it all up… we should just do 3-4 games cause normally we dont give up runs then 
Neshek had a bad second half last year and is starting off horrible. He is a situation pitcher just like Reyes, not good for a full inning.
Zack doesn’t get it, Harris has much more potential than Tolbert will ever have. BAT HARRIS SECOND AND HE WILL PRODUCE BIG TIME. Only the homers dislike Harris.
“I have a feeling that was the kind of game that will let these Tigers be themselves for a while. I think they got their wakeup call, and the Twins were the unfortunate squad that woke them up.”
It’s not hard to “wake up” your offense when the opposing pitchers are throwing up in the zone with no movement.
What’s over is over–I hope the boys can shake that one off and come back and get a win tonight.
Go Twins!
P.S. After getting on base three times last night, Kubel better stay in the lineup! He’s done more than Young, and Young never sits!
Reposting my thoughts from Howard’s thread because I think everyone abandoned ship over there:
(thoughts on the game) well, in my history of following the twins, I don’t remember many games that they threw away that compared to this one. But after it got to 5-3, they scored more, and then allowed it back to 9-5, I looked at my buddy and said “I think we just woke a sleeping dog”. You could see and feel that the Twins were losing control of this game and Detroit was coming alive, and by the time it was 9-8 you knew they were going to lose. It wouldn’t surprise me now if Detroit goes on some unprecedented or fantastic winning streak and starts living up too all the hoopla prior to the season.
other thoughts on the game:
-poor Nick Blackburn, arguably he is pitching the best of any of the starters right now but he has yet to record his first MLB Win, after being spotted a big lead, the ’shut down’ bullpen became human, and blew it for him, maybe next time…
-I’ve read some people post in other threads that they’ve always thought Gardy made good decisions with his bullpen, I happen to disagree. I’ve always thought Gardy’s handling of the bullpen has always been suspect and his biggest flaw as a manager. Last night is another small example, 4, 5, or 6 straight hits and the guy isn’t pulled? More arms could have been used (crain, reyes anyone?), Guerrier has been a long reliever and can definitely throw more than 1 inning, but as soon as he goes out there the next and is getting rocked and you can feel the momentum shift at the South Pole, you gotta make a change, in this case much sooner.
-Adam Everett needs to show me something more, even if he’s a little banged up or his shoulder isn’t fully healed, that throwing error was BRUTAL. BRUTAL. I have a better arm than Everett right now, and I play Amatuer ball for 4 months in the summers, he does it as a profession. We know the guy can’t hit, but he is suppose to be the Uber-Defensive SS. He is not even close to that right now. as Bert said on the Telecast on that throw, you knew it was bad the second it left his hand. Bam, allows the difference making runs to score. With Punto and Tolbert on the roster right now and Everett playing defense like this, I don’t see the spot for him on this team, second coming of Juan Castro in my opinion, and more expensive.
-Why is Nick Punto batting with 2 outs and the tying runs on base? I understand that he was brought in as a defensive replacement in the 8th, BUT WHY SHOULD THAT HAVE ANY BEARING ON BEING ABLE TO PINCH HIT FOR HIM WITH THE GAME ON THE LINE? I’m pretty sure that was the exact spot in the game that Craig Monroe was brought in here to get an at bat, or even Tolbert in this case for christ sake. LNP gave a good effort driving it to deep left, but face it, thats as far as LNP can hit the ball, probably the best ball he’s ever hit in fact. the absolute LAST guy I wan’t up in this situation is Punto, and there he was.
Overall, the game was a combination of Detroit coming alive and bad game management by Gardenhire, which led to other team mistakes ultimately costing them the game.
-man, you can give me all the fielding stats and ‘range’ ratings you want. I’ll make my judgements by what I see in the field and the actual plays of the games. And Everett isn’t making those crucial plays, and costing the team baserunners and runs. He has yet to show me anything that justifies all the talk about how good of a defensive SS he supposedly is. Maybe we should change those statements to, ‘he WAS a great defensive SS,’ because he’s not playing like it here.
-sane - good example i forgot to give(Gomez’s throw into the infield that no one fielded, allowing a run to score), another - “And Everett isn’t making those crucial plays, and costing the team baserunners and runs.” - play on his part because I also thought that throw was a good strong relay that was catchable/playable, and he let it go by.
-jimmy - I think so and agree. whats the point in having two guys who can supposedly field and not hit, and everett isn’t doing either right now? and I’m not sure he can play any other positions to be a utility guy…I can’t believe I’m gonna say this, but there is actually a WORSE overall player in terms of value on this team than Punto right now: Adam Everett.
-and Gomez looked the ‘raw’est he has all season last night in the field and at the plate. glad you guys pointed out the angles on those gap shots, you never want to be ‘chasing’ a ball that is hit to the outfield (as in you can read the players name and number as he goes after ball), you want to cut it off, Gomez was holding too much faith in his speed on those plays.
I agree with bisonaudit, that Wyatt’s post at 1:54 is the post of the day. Very insightful.
jimmy bee says:
April 15th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Todd Anthony says:
April 15th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I love that movie. American Psycho. Do you like Huey Lewis’ hip to be square
do you know anything about Phil Collins
If I ran the Twins I would have Tolbert and Casilla starting in the middle of the infield. Maybe giving Plouffe a shot later in the season. I would have not signed Everett. I think that the Hernandez and Lamb signings were good pick-ups. I see Lamb hitting about .275 17 75 this season. That is a drastic improvement over what we had available at 3B. I think that Everett/Harris are not going to provide much more production than Casilla/Tolbert. The Twins will not contend this year and I would rather let some of the young players work out the kinks this season so we can contend maybe next year and surely 2010.
Tolbert is a nice looking player, but in no way is he a MLB shortstop. If he is going to srart it has to be at 2nd or 3rd. NO way does he have good enough D to play in the show every day. That is why I think he is going to come off the bench for a while until the team gives up on Lamb or Harris.
Tolbert is an upgrade over Punto as the utility infielder, that’s about it. Every time Punto is used, he takes ABs away from Tolbert primarily… He might grow into a starter some day, but this day is not any time soon
It is so funny how short-sighted some of you people are. If most of you don’t think that most of the moves Bill Smith made were good, than you don’t know shit about baseball. Yes, Gomez needs to greatly improve his hitting but he will be a superstar if he can hit .280 regularly. The guy has all the talent in the world and the Twins in case you haven’t noticed are pretty good at developing top tier talent. (and then losing it to other teams) I like all the moves that Smith has made except signing Everett (although I understand why he did it) and accepting Harris as the return for Bartlett in the TB trade. But I am not even that upset about that because Young will be much better than Garza.
Re: “Adam Everett says:
April 15th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
You all can criticize me all you want. I have complete confidence in my abilities. I believe in taking care of myself and a balanced diet and rigorous exercise routine. In the morning if my face is a little puffy I’ll put on an ice pack while doing stomach crunches. I can do 1000 now. After I remove the ice pack I use a deep pore cleanser lotion. In the shower I use a water activated gel cleanser, then a honey almond body scrub, and on the face an exfoliating gel scrub. Then I apply an herb-mint facial mask which I leave on for 10 minutes while I prepare the rest of my routine. I always use an after shave lotion with little or no alcohol, because alcohol dries your face out and makes you look older. Then moisturizer, then an anti-aging eye balm followed by a final moisturizing protective lotion.”
That’s my routine, stop stealing it. Your making me look bad
I think Gardy will play Nick at SS tonight and Tolbert at 3B.
Gardy sounded very upset about the error at SS last night.
Fielding is the Achilles heel of the 2008 Minnesota Twins. The pitching and hitting is there, but not the fielding.
The Twins will not contend this year
the Twins should content this year:
a. Cleveland and Detroit have issues
b. the starting pitching has so far been better than expected and this with the 2 pitchers with the highest ceilings (Liriano and Slowey) injured.
c. All this team needs is another bat, work out the kinks in the pen and cut out the dead weight (Punto, Rincon)
didn’t casilla get suspeneded or something?
last nights game is over lets move to tonights game, joe get us a lineup to criticize least we be happy about our team.
mama said there’d be days like this there’d be days like this mama said!
time to move on.
I don’t understand the body scrub, facial mask stuff. It’s been posted and copied several times now. Can someone explain what this is supposed to mean?
The Twins may only need 1 more bat if the current bats on this team can start hitting consistently.
Thrylos98
The real dead weight it Adam Everett… I’d rather have Punto than Everett. Of course Tolbert is better than both of them by far… on offense and defense (at least better than Everett on Defense)
Phil Collins’ solo career seems to be more commercial and therefore more satisfying, in a narrower way. Especially songs like In the Air Tonight and Against All Odds. Sabrina, don’t just stare at it, eat it. But I also think Phil Collins works best within the confines of the group, than as a solo artist, and I stress the word artist. This is Sussudio, a great, great song, a personal favorite.
This might sum up Adam Everett’s career
Craig i think it’s in refrence to Everett trying to look good but i maybe wrong.
think i’d rather have the old craig back!
gobble be careful what you ask for
gobbledy,
What did I do?
Bret Easton Ellis references to AE’s lookin’ good
i miss the trade morneau for pitching posts 50 times a day.
The body scrub stuff comes form the opening scene in the movie American Pshyco. It is what Christian Bail’s character says to open the movie. How it has anything to do with Everett I have no idea.
gobbledy,
I love Mourny, now. He’s working on that base-running and making those scoops, on balls in the dirt.
I’m reformed. La Velle rehabilitated me.
Patrick Bateman= <3
I’m sorry but from the looks of it Punto is getting out of his rut.
I know his hitting isn’t all there but guess what, half of the crappy errors and pathetic excuses to produce double plays which don’t turn out to double plays are really ticking me off. We need his glove, like Joni needs Chachi.
I bet you money he’s playing SS today.
is inge riding pine behind Cabrera? Shoule we try to get him or is he too expensive?
patrick Bateman Ooooooh watermark. Hip to be square Patrick Bateman
Craig is funny but seriously a friend of mine who’s a non Twins fan asked me who would win in a race Morneau or Kevein Millar and i said it would be close.
The New and Improved Craig says It is a few sayings from a movie called American Psycho. Ooooooh watermark
Okeedoke,
The Tigers would never trade him now that they have so many injuries as Inge can play just abut anywhere. And if they did they would not trade in the division. Teams just say no to trades in the division.
gobbledy,
Now that you brought it up, trade Morneau for pitching, 50 times a day, was pretty funny, looking back at it.
However, I’ve paid my debt to blog society, and now I am a new man.
can’t wait to hear jimmiebee’s observations of his co-workes
Eggshell White
BC of ND who would win in a race
Dick or Bert
Prince Fielder vs Adma Dunn
Dennys reyes vs Bobby Jenks
Ichiro vs Gomez vs Reyes
BC of ND,
If Morneau raced his pregnant sister, he would finish 3rd.
I work with a guy I call the captain here he goes to sail away to his restroom chair ishi ishi stinky.
If I carried around a huge igloo container to keep my lunch cold in I may take 14-16 craps a day too like the Captain
Jimmybee
Bert by .25 sec
Dunn by a mile
The third one is tough if it was just to 1b off of a hit i would take Ichiro he’s the master.
Sane that’s hilarious.
jimmy bee,
Stop following that guy to the stall just to make sure he isn’t doing a onesy.
jimmy bee,
In the Octagon:
Adam Everett VS. Nick Punto
Special referee: Karlee
Who wins and how?
Nick Punto with an arm bar 2nd round 2:15 left in the round. Crowd notices that Everett injures his gimpy throwing arm. Rematch is set for June 2, 2008 by Dana White UFC 82 Unleashed
How about in a 1000 meter
Bobby Jenks vs CC Sabathia
jimmy bee,
I saw Howard and JoeC in the hall and they were talking about you.
ha ha ha ha ha cool
“Bobby Jenks vs CC Sabathia”
Dual belly flop, empties pool of water. No contest declared.
Nick wins, using his ninja super man flying powers. And being able to actually play(but not hit,he beat him over the head with his should-be golden glove) being hurt.
Adam Everett is pulling the Joe Mauer, saying he has an ouchy…and he needs his new tiger woods gatorade, grape flavor.
Who would win in the biggest tool contest?
Manny Ramirez or Nick Swisher?
Woooooh Everett is going down wooooh!!!!
Manny Ramirez because Swisher is on to many drugs to know what planet he is on. I don’t even know if Swisher realizes he is playing Baseball sometimes. Here is one for Karlee who is more out of it Swisher or Eric Byrnes
Oooohhhh…I’d have to pick Swisher because I just live and breathe and feed off of my hatred for him.
Byrnes actually makes me laugh sometimes, thats rare. I hate everyone.
Who’s more insane?
Swisher or Papelbon?
Swisher because he is actually so out of it he could take a nail gun and attach his arm to his leg and not notice.
after viewing this Papelbon pic I dunno
http://wwwimage.cbsnews.com/images/2007/12/21/image3638275.jpg
Who would you rather introduce to your family
Mitch Wild Thing Williams or
Steve Garvey
Wild Thing.
I wouldn’t allow Garvey near anyone I love.
I would have to agree with that one The New and Improved Craig
He’s all sorts of special.
Oh on my blog I have a gif of him dancing.
I’m trying my hardest to find the link right now because its worth the look.
Papelbon pic looks like jimmeebee’s coworker in the lav
He looks pumped hmmmm…. I wonder why a person would need to take 14-16 craps a day
Lineups and new blog from Joe C
cuz he watches LNP play
http://omgmntwins.blogspot.com/2007/08/oh-wow.html
that will make you laugh, and make you forget about last nights game.
Time to head home and watch the Twins game soon. Time to sing my clean up and get ready to leave soon song. “Well I’m not the type to kiss and tell, but Ive been seen with Farah. Its true I hire my body out as ba-a-a-it. God the Fall guy was cool…..
I can’t believe how much negativity there is after each and every loss. I agree, some of the Gardy moves last night were questionable, but they just as easily could have won us that game. We need to realize that in every teams season (even the eventual champions) there are going to be games like this. We need to focus on the fact that the Twins Starting pitching has been way beyond our expectations so far and the fact that most of the time the Twins play the proper brand of professional baseball.
“Tolbert is nice player but is no major leauge shortstop. He doesn’t have the defensive talent to play there day in and day out.”
So, you’ve scouted him then?
[…] Christensen at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune thinks last night’s game between the Twins and the Tigers was the stuff storybooks are made of, if only because the Tigers looked real bad in the first five […]
[…] Around the Majors wrote an interesting post today on Reflecting on a storybook game for Twins, TigersHere’s a quick excerptReflecting on a storybook game for Twins, Tigers Posted on April 15th, 2008 – 11:10 AM By Joe Christensen DETROIT — Well, last night brought one of those games that you could pick apart and talk about for a week. I tried boiling it down for the game story, answering as many questions as possible about how the Twins could squander those 5-0 and 9-4 leads in an eventual 11-9 loss. Hard to believe, the Twins came very close to re-tying that game in the ninth inning. Tigers closer Todd Jones got […]
