Twins-D-Backs: Macri leaves game with calf strain
Posted on June 20th, 2008 – 5:27 PMBy La Velle
Matt Macri is listed as day-to-day with a left calf strain. He hobbled to first while running out his two-run single in the third inning. He finished the inning but Brian Buscher pinch hit for him in the fourth inning.
Dan Gladden bobblehead night has arrived. Rick Aguilera is on the field as I write this, one night before he’s inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame.
But this nostalgic weekend, to me, began after Thursday’s game when I watched Jack Morris, Ron Coomer and Paul Molitor play baseball.
While we wrote our stories for today’s paper, Coomer, Black Jack and Molly took the field in a special game for Twins sponsors. Molitor played short. Coomer and Morris pitched. Twins sponsors made up the rest of the teams.
Watched Morris give up a line drive single to center to Twins VP Eric Curry but he got Molitor to pop out to short. I’m like, `this is backwards.’ But the leg kick, the delivery, it was just like the Jack Morris who dominated the 1980’s.
I left after two innings. Morris told me today he pitched five innings. How did he feel?
“Horrible,” Morris said. “I knew my arm and my shoulder would be sore, but my legs are killing me. My calf muscles hurt! My calf muscles never hurt when I played!”
Guess the comeback is out of the question.
Update: Francisco Liriano is pitching tonight for Class AAA Rochester but it’s not going well. You can follow the game here.
Reporter’s note: Guess I had a bad day yesterday. Had Cuddy’s triple hit to right field and Liriano breaking camp with the major league team. You would figure that when I’ve covered only 9 of the past 30 games I’d be a little sharper than that. Sorry.
D-Backs (39-34): 1. Stephen Drew, SS. 2. Conor Jackson, 1B. 3. Orlando Hudson, 2B. 4. Chad Tracy, DH. 5. Mark Reynolds, 3B. 6. Chris Young, CF. 7. Miguel Montero, C. 8. Justin Upton, RF. 9. Jeff Salazar, LF. Pitching:The Big Unit
Twins (37-36): !. Carlos Gomez, CF. 2. Alexi Casilla, 2B. 3. Joe Mauer, C. 4. Justin Morneau. 1B. 5. Craig Monroe, RF. 6. Mike Redmond, DH. 7. Delmon Young, LF. 8. Brendan Harris, SS. 9. Matt Macri, 3B. Pitching: Scott Baker.
56 Responses to "Twins-D-Backs: Macri leaves game with calf strain"
Mauer is catching…Cuddy out
Cuddy’s wife is having a kid today…no surprise he’s out.
Only Gardy would bat a loser like Monroe 5th.
Go check monroe’s splits against lefties. After all that’s what he was brought in to do.
Another pathetic failure by a pathetic front office.
Was hoping to seeing Owings DH for the D’Backs tonight, looks like that aint happening. Monroe hitting 5th is interesting, considering he is the only guy on the roster who has had any, albeit little, success vs. Johnson.
Wow Eric….Take it easy….Billy will Wow us someday!!!
Hello:
Brand new guy to the blog. I must take issue with Erik. The Twins front office is not pathetic. They just have limited success in bringing in veteran, less-expensive guys. They will have a championship caliber team in 1-2 years.
And, even if we cant enjoy a pennant contender this year, we do know the Twins are league leaders in one very important category. If you believe Bert, and I always do, this group breaks wind like beasts in heat. I hear one bench players nickname is “Big Nasty”, and it’s not because he hits a lot of home runs! At least these guys have a noisy time of it in the dugout.
Go Twins! World Series in ‘09!
rayreiner
New to the blog and your already giving us TMI
Early to talk about it maybe, but the Padres called up Chase Headley and are reportedly shopping Kevin Kouzmanoff because they don’t feel Headley can cover the enormous left field at PETCO.
Any chance the Twins make a move for Kouz? I know we’ve got a surplus there right now sort of, but it’s a bunch of low-budget, low-quality options it seems like. Buscher and Macri haven’t had much time, but I don’t see them as long-term solutions, and Lamb’s been every bit as bad as Tony Batista was so far.
Pads need a long-term center field option and a leadoff man… seems to me we’ve got one who’s getting on base at a 43% clip in AAA with no real spot on the big league club for quite some time…
It’d be nice to have a real third baseman for awhile. Kouzmanoff may not be incredible, but he could probably put up a .280/.340/.480 line, with 20-25 HR, he’s fairly young, inexpensive, and a respectable right-handed bat, something the Twins could use, since Cuddyer has proved he’s about as dangerous as a stuffed bunny when he’s not batting between Mauer and Morneau.
Hey Jared Many z’s:
Thanks, I think! What does TMI mean?
Too Much Information…Just a little newbee ripping. No big deal.
DBacks are a homer hitting team —- 8 guys (with 74 HR’s) can crank one out anytime. Of the 8, all have more than Byrnes (who has 6).
Their bullpen doesn’t look bad either.
With Mauer and Redmond together in the lineup, why does Redmond DH? Should it not be Mauer in the DH, and thus give him what is essentially a day off and in turn be able to use him on a day-after-night this weekend when he usually would get an off day? Redmond is going to have to catch anyway in a few days, as is customary, so why not use a rare game like today (both Joe and Mike in the same game) and give him the DH so you can give him an what would amount to an extra day in the lineup.
marcus, isn’t there an off day Monday? I think Mauer is catching tomorrow and Sunday anyway.
And we still need a strong defensive catcher tonight.
Thanks for the info Jared Z. I’m new to the lingo too. I’m proud to have posted something rippable!
I like Steve from Fridley’s uptake on Kouzmanoff. He’d be an upgrade from anybody we have there now. Then again, so would Harmon Killebrew.
At the very least, we could call him “Cowsman-UUF” at home games. It would be great when Boof was pitching and Uuf was taking care of the third baggie.
I’m not so sure he’d take 20 dingers with the lineup around him. Maybe 15. Saw him play last year at Miller Park. Solid guy. Made all the plays. Made nice contact once. He’ll get on base. Definitely better than current options. If we could deal Span for Uuf I’d do it in a flash.
Sorry rayreiner, it’s never great when Boof is pitching!
But “Cowsman-UUF” would be a great aural replacement.
Romer-I agree with you that Joe could be in line to catch both games this weekend.
However, I look at it like this: Mauer, or any catcher for that matter, is going to catch X amount of games in a season and this is an opportunity to give a guy an extra day in the lineup at some point. So when the next day off for him comes up Gardy can look and say, hey, Joe was essentially off last Friday night so we can catch him again today and he’ll get his rest the next off-day.
Maybe my logic is wrong, but I think that’s how you could squeeze and extra day(s) out of Mauer on the rare day they both are in the lineup.
Imagine John Gordon trying to call a rundown between 3rd and home with Boof and Uuf: “Uuf, tosses it to Boof,,,back to Uuf…OUT! WHAT A PLAY! Boof to Uuf to Boof.” How many different ways will that get mangled? They should make the trade just so they could play Boof and Uuf at the same time. It would make for great radio and TV.
Gotta go. Nice to have met ya, rayreiner.
Don’t worry about getting ripped. Only about 10% of those kind of posts are valid anyway.
Rayreiner,
Are you related to Craig…..Just kidding, I think the Twins need to find out what they have for the rest of the season in Buscher and or Macri befor they trade for a 3rd baseman. Not to mention we do not have much to trade away.
Um, we are going to have a real problem when Punto, Tolbert and Everett get healthy. IMO,none of them represent an upgrade over Buscher, Macri and Harris. I’m going to be a bit upset if these three lose out because of the return of any of these. I’m just fine with a 3B platoon of Macri/Buscher and Harris at SS. I haven’t seen a lot of the “Death Star” on his defense and I think his bat is heating up.
I expect the Twins to make the wrong choice and make Punto/Everett more important than they are
Gardy is a genious. Monroe should start all the time. Never play Kubel again.
From Erik:
“Only Gardy would bat a loser like Monroe 5th.
Go check monroe’s splits against lefties. After all that’s what he was brought in to do.
Another pathetic failure by a pathetic front office.”
Erik says:
June 20th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
“Only Gardy would bat a loser like Monroe 5th.
Go check monroe’s splits against lefties. After all that’s what he was brought in to do.
Another pathetic failure by a pathetic front office.”
Erik,
Speaking of pathetic losers, what do you do for a living?
lol you posters are hilarious. i’m a huge fan so whatever works to allow us to win, i’m all for. i hope monroe provides a good bat against lefties. but lets not rip on Erik. he might have taken it a little far, but you can’t say that Monroe has been earning his money. and he’s been ATROCIOUS against lefties even counting tonights HR.
I like innings like the bottom of the 3rd.
This lineup has certainly faired a lot better against The Big Unit (worst nickname ever) considering what happened last time.
JP,
I would NEVER be as hard on Erik as he was on Gardy and Monroe.
To quote the immortal Lou Brown:
It’s startin’ to come together, Pepper. It’s startin’ to come together.
What happened to Macri? Damn Des Moines cable…you’d think we’d be close enough to get FSN North…
baker has a high pitch count, but he’s doing great so far! don’t bring in the boof!
Thanks LaVelle for the Macri update. It’s unbelieveable how many injuries our infielders have suffered this year.
Is there any update coming soon as who has signed from this years draft?
Let’s see, fifteen days on the Disabled List for Macri, plus 20 days rehab, by then we are past the trading deadline so that some of the dead wood could be gone.
Logan:
Go to baseballamerica.com and you will find a link to the Twins draft page. It will tell you up to date info on who has signed.
Twins are building an awesome team for the next few years!
Marcus
According to Dick, if they have to pinch-run for Redman during the game and Mauer is DHing, they would have to use Joe behind the plate and would lose the DH for the rest of the game. I guess they do not plan on having to pinch-run for Mauer.
“I guess they do not plan on having to pinch-run for Mauer.”
When it comes to catcher, Mauer is quicker than Redmond.
And considering the Twins current bench (Kubel/Monroe, Redmond, Macri/Buscher) they really don’t have much in the way of options.
hmmm. twins win four straight and are two games over .500. two hits each for gomez, casilla and young. home run for monroe. great outing for baker.
wait — lemme guess — washington sucks, randy johnson is too old and vavra and gardy should still be fired.
mickey menTal, You were right 75% of the post at 9:35 and sounding relieved, like yours truly, that this one is behind us. Nice win and 3 of the 4 losses in CHI have been retrieved. Looking forward to manana.
Eric-Monroe was not a loser tonight at least.Eric,go to tommorow’s game and call Monroe a loser to his face.I’ll come visit you at HCMC while the plastic surgeons try to put your face back together1
The only way Monroe could hurt Erik’s face is by kicking him in the butt.
“wait — lemme guess — washington sucks, randy johnson is too old and vavra and gardy should still be fired.”
Pretty much. But Chicago? Totally for real! 
I wouldn’t bother calling out Erik. He likely won’t be back (at least as “Erik”) until Monroe chokes again.
“Pretty much. But Chicago? Totally for real!”
sox or cubs?
LAVELLE:
We were wrong, I guess. I did NOT think this Twins team could get to the Big Eunuch. I heard the radar gun had him in the 80’s. He used to be 99 MPH. All I have to say is:
Anything is possible!
ANYTHING IS POSS-I-BULLLLLLLLLLLLLL! ! !
THIS IS FOR EVERYBODY IN ‘SOTA ! ! !
(kevin garnett, get it?)
Glad to see the Twins win today. We saw Baker pitch Sunday in Milwaukee. Never paid attention but man, his pitch count sure gets high in a hurry. I think he was at 80-82 after five.
Is this a recent development or has he been this way all year?
Hey MM, When CHI loses (take your pick), I’m thrilled. As the adage goes, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. As regards the Cubs/Sox series and for the Twins benefit, let the Northsiders have two great weekends in a row and then, as usual, fall on their prats.
let them fall on their prats like usual.
well put, d66, well put.
Liriano was on center stage tonight as the boys in the front office went to see him pitch. Rocky outing, 2 home runs and 5 earned runs in 5 innings despite 7 Ks. He won’t be up any time soon.
I think it is safe to say that Liriano cost him many millions of dollars with that dud he put up there tonight. If he was lights out, there would have been alot more pressure on the front office to pull the trigger on him.
If he was called up, he would have had a chance to meet the super2 classification and gotten to arbitration. Now, he is gonna be a full year off of arbitration, and that’s gonna cost him a bundle. Good for the Twins, not so good for him. Kinda hard to blame the orginanization for holding him back when the results were so poor.
Well, I am sure when it closes in on contract time, he isn’t gonna remember his dud, keeping him out of the majors. Probably won’t remember his poor conditioning prior to the season. Probably won’t remember them taking him to the majors at the beginning of the season, and getting SHELLED.
All he will remember is that he wants to get paid, probably at a VERY high rate too.
Baker pitched an outstanding game against a very good Arizona team. Unfortunately for the Twins, Gardenhire did’t have much good to say about Baker’s performance, which is very odd considering everyone else on the team, the fans, and the media seemed to think he pitched a really really good game. I think Gardenhire’s statements show his weakness as a manager in that he is mentally not with it. Gardenhire should be replaced by the Manager from AAA Rochester, who is much better at handling players and making decisions. Gardenhire continuously shows his lack of understanding of statistics, his lack of education, and an overall inability to function as a quality manager. He seems much better suited to working as a clubhouse boy or a groundskeeper, where he can keep his mouth shut and not embarrass the team with stupid statements about his players.
Maybe Gardenhire has a drinking problem. His nose is red and he is over-weight. Some of the things he says don’t make sense and he often makes poor decisions about putting different players in the lineup. He gets mad alot and gets thrown out of the games. They say he drinks beer in the dugout clubhouse too.
herb-tommy,
Both personnas in your Multiple Personality Disorder are jackasses.
So maybe you have one crappy personality, but multiple names that you need to diguise.
So Gardy’s a bad manager, and a drunk to boot? You have a problem HerbTommy(HT)…check the standings and see the Twins are now +2. Consider that their pitching staff is primarily in development, most of their positional roster is composed of journeymen utility type guys, and they are near the bottom of the league in scoring. And Gardy is doing a bad job? Wake up dude, take your meds, get some rest, and come back when you have something decent to contribute.
rayreiner,
“they are near the bottom of the league in scoring.”
Actually they are nearer the top.(8th in MLB)
And tied for 4th in MLB BA.
The next meeting of the “Fire Vavra Vigilantes” will be held in a Metrodome phone booth or a men’s room stall.
Thank you Sane. The Twins are low in OBP and Slugging, yet are scoring runs at a very good pace. All of you who have found fault with Gardenhire’s lineups should apologize. His choices for who to play and where have been pretty good. Monroe is a spot starter, and has had a few good games. Kubel is basically being platooned, and the numbers back that up. Harris is hitting better and just in time to save his spot on the roster. I could go on, but I think most of the manager’s choices have been defensible, if not correct.
I stand corrected on the scoring stats. Thanks for pointing out the obvious Sane. I need to pay more attention to stats. But beyond the stats, I don’t see the Twins as a dynamic offensive team, capable of scoring when they need. They can bunch up runs, especially when the defense gives them outs. Kudos to the Twins in that regard. But I just dont see them as having a lot of offensive talent, although some guys could develop into really good offensive threats.
The question that started the whole thing was the ridiculous assertion that Gardy is poor manager. Honestly, he’s done a great job with not a lot to work with beyond Morneau and Mauer. Cuddy is way off this year, Kubel isnt exactly lighting it up, he’s got virtually nothing from SS or 3B in terms of offense. The big surprise is Casilla, and they couldnt have expected him to perform at the level he has, although he’s showing signs of slowing a bit. Speed kills, and they have plenty of it, and I think that is the Twins’ saving grace on offense. They can manufacture runs, but too often need mistakes from the other side to sustain innings. They will need to figure out who will take 2B, SS, and 3B long-term. And, find one more bridge reliever to get to Nathan, and the pitching staff doesnt look bad. But let’s get some more consistent offense, and better defense, on the left side of the infield. When he has more pieces to work with, Gardy can be the best in the business. Twins all the way in ‘09!
Gardenhire is probably the most overrated manager in baseball. Who was the worst offensive player in baseball last year? I’ll give you a hint… it was the same guy who was also 3rd on the Twins in plate appearances. And as soon as that stupid lineup cancer is back (talking about Punto, obviously) he’ll be plugged in there four times a week.
Mauer continues to bat in the three hole, despite the fact that he has nothing even close to a three-hitter’s mentality. He’d rather work the count full than swing at a 2-0 fastball down the middle with a runner on second base. I love Mauer’s patient approach… as a 2 hitter who’s trying to get on base for someone to drive him in. I hate saying it, but I’d rather see Delmon or Cuddy batting 3rd. Cuddyer’s proved he can hit between Mauer and Morneau, and nowhere else. Delmon’s been disappointing, but he gets a steady dose of breaking balls and junk pitches batting 7 with Lamb and Harris behind him. I’d be curious to see how he does with more opportunities when Gomez and/or Mauer are on base ahead of him, with Morneau behind him. Sometimes I wish Joe would take a page out of Delmon or Gomez’s book and just unload on the first pitch. It’s going to be a meatball 99% of the time, because every pitcher in the league knows Mauer is taking the first pitch at this point anyway…
Mauer essentially shifts the focus to Morneau. Many of his hits advance the runner only to third, so it gives great opportunties for Morneau to drive in runs. Certainly Mauer isn’t an ideal #3 hitter, but there is no one else on the Twins roster who would be better and not disrupt the rest of the order.
