Twins go for third straight road series win against The Fighting DeRosas
Posted on June 28th, 2009 – 11:28 AMBy La Velle
Haven’t seen St. Louis’ lineup but heard that newcomer Mark DeRosa is batting cleanup and playing left.
I’m wound up over the little spat between the Twins’ Michael Cuddyer and Cardinals’ Yadier Molina yesterday. Cuddyer could have cleaned Molina’s clock on the play at the plate but decided just to make sure there’s no tag on him and throw to first to get Mike Redmond. So Cuddyer slid into home plate.
Now….Molina is wearing all the gear. He has his catcher’s mask on. He even dropped a forearm on Cuddyer as he slid in (there on marks on Cuddyer to prove it). Cuddyer’s head bangs off the ground. And Molina still complains to Cuddyer about sliding into his knees?
Cuddyer should have told Molina to stuff it - but I think the home plate umpire jumped in to make sure the talk never got to that point.
Even Cards manager Tony LaRussa said after the game that the Twins don’t play dirty.
I had calmed down until about an hour ago, when I asked Gardenhire the following question:
Me: “No Cuddyer at second today?”
Gardenhire: “You want him to be a dart board?”
The manager is concerned that someone with the Cardinals might want to support their teammate with a hard slide into Cuddyer during today’s game. LaRussa is the biggest retaliator in the history of the game (does anyone pitch inside to Albert Pujols?). I still would have given Cuddyer a shot. I remember a few years ago when Eric Munson tried to take Cuddyer out on a double play ball and ended up in the trainer’s room.
Anyway…
This is a big outing for Liriano. The Twins need to win this series. And he needs to stay in the rotation….
Lineups
Twins (38-38)
1. Denard Span, CF
2. Brendan Harris, SS
3, Joe Mauer, C
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5 Jason Kubel, LF
6. Michael Cuddyer, RF
7. Joe Crede, 3B
8. Matt Tolbert, 2B
9. Francisco Liriano, LHP
Cardinals (41-35)
1. Skip Schumaker, 2B
2. Khalil Greene, 3B
3. Albert Pujols, 1B
4. Mark DeRosa, LF
5. Ryan Ludwick, RF
6. Rick Ankiel, CF
7. Jason LaRue, C
8. Joel Pineiro, RHP
9. Tyler Greene, SS
265 Responses to "Twins go for third straight road series win against The Fighting DeRosas"
the twins pitchers need to knock Pujols on his arse, despite the consequences. show SOME sign of life out there.
Does this mean the Cards aren’t trading for Matt Holliday? I think so.
Are you hinting at something LEN3 with this comment:
This is a big outing for Liriano. The Twins need to win this series. And he needs to stay in the rotation….
???
La Velle, I think Morneau’s blog entry may have screwed up his swing.
Wait…Cleveland dumped DeRosa already? Wow.
I wish he had people on our team like Molina. We have no attitude, no swagger, we look pretty soft to me. The slide pretty much said it all I thought.
Cuddyer should have taken Molina out. He had the momentum. That was no time for “Minnesota nice” and Molina still got bitchy about it any way. If he can’t take a hard slide, see how he feels about getting slammed with a shoulder.
This is definitely the day to go inside against Pujols. That said, you’d better make sure you don’t miss and leave it on the inside half of the plate and does anyone here really believe Liriano has the control right now to make sure that doesn’t happen? Best shot at knocking Pujols down might just be by having Liriano try to throw him a strike.
Munson the consummate AAAA player. I remember that play. Anyway, my son caught a foul ball from Munson last night here in Vegas.
Erik……YES!
Union….YES…the Twins need to get the red arse once in awhile.
Gardy vs. LaRussa…I’ll take Gardy in a battle any day. Good day for drilling Pujols in the back and letting Tony know that the American League is boss. Let Henn do it if we’re ahead–he’s garbage anyways.
Side note: why don’t the Twins EVER score on plays at the plate? Cuddy and Mauer this series, but the one that will always stick with me is Cuddy not putting enough hurt on Pierzynski in Game 163. Effing A.J.
that’s a joke! gardy won’t walk the guy because it disrespects the game and you think he’d throw at him?
this team has been minnesota nice for a long time and i don’t see anyone on this team to change that except for ironically the minny guy perkins. he has been the only guy to knock guys down.
Bill Smith is a very nice man but he is overmatched as GM………..He blew it trading for Young….letting Dennis Reyes go……..knowing for 2 seasons the bullpen is a mess… Fails to trade for a second baseman……lets DeRosa go to Clev during the winter…..Bill is not qualified to be GM. The Twins are a mess ..When I watch the Baseball Channel and the opposing team announcers, they all have made a point to mention that the Twins hardly seem to be a 500 team…..they should be better than that.I don’t know they have messed up the catching thing..to sentimental let red dog go..Morales needs to play and hit.It seems from the Twins mgt. they are not working to put a winner on the field even thou they are making money. It’s time the Twins go outside the organization and get a GM.
B Dubz, aren’t you forgetting Randy Bush’s amazing slide in the World Series? The Twins can score sometimes!
Oh snap, big ups for Randy Bush. Best PH in baseball that year and the sweet sweeping slide! That was a long time ago, though!
I was at that game, Icon.
Remember when Torii Hunter DESTROYED Jamie Burke at the plate back in 2004? That play demoralized the sox.
We definitely have gotten softer since then.
This is one area where I think the Twins need to retaliate. That was a dirty play by Molina and made worse because he whined about it. I’d like to see him take one in the ribs today.
2003
This is a pretty easy thing. Gardy isn’t a good manager. I’m so pissed off right now after watching the Twins lose to Albert yesterday. I drove up to watch the game against the Astro’s as well in which Gardy choose to use Sean Henn and Luis Ayala in the 7th up 3-2. We lose 6-5. THEN… THEN he brings in Guerrier the NEXT GAME DOWN 4-1?!?!?! He was too tired the prior game after he had 5 days off?!?!?! Okay so this game. Guess what? The Cards can’t hit. They can pitch we get up after pitching to Albert the 1st time. They let him beat us. Slowey is a smug little pittcher who basically said he wouldn’t do that much different against the King. Uh that was pre-game. Knew we were in trouble. When there is ONLY one guy in the lineup that can beat you. YOU DON’T LET HIM. Gardy if I saw you i’d tell you straight. You should be fired and maybe someone needs to talk to Slowey who thinks he is great because he is 10-3. Look at your ERA and Homers allowed. You don’t pitch to Albert you aren’t Nathan. At 500 because the Twins are smug. Bill Smith is smug. Gardy is smug. Slowey is smug. Game starts in a few they better… BETTER not pitch to the King.
Sean, don’t sugar coat it, tell us how you really feel!!! 
Right, Sean. Low and inside, every pitch. He swings at everything, so it would either be a strike out or walk. He swung at ball four two or three times before his first homer Saturday. Unbelievable that Sloe-gin grooves one on a full count.
Gardenhire may look like your run of the mill truck driver but his team is “soft,” “light in the loafers.” Get more hockey players, the old time hockey player mentality… we had such in 1987, 1991.
Too bad that it was’nt Hunter coming home on that play. The only thing left at home plate would have been Molina’s smoking cleats.
What about Punto? Where is he? If he’s not ready, why not on the DL? Where oh where is Punto? Is he ready or is he not? DL or no DL? Why do they keep waiting on Punto to heal? He’s leaving them a man short…..Gardy would not do this for anyone except Punto…….
Where of where is PUNTO!
The injury prone players don’t need to be that way, but Gomez, Young, Tolbert, Harris, Punto, Buscher and Morales could sure mix it up with no harm done. That’s half the team.
brag about the team org. and gardy, man are we lucky to have a .500 team for the last 2 1/2 years. what more should we expect?
Pre-game show has started. I wonder if there will be any Pujols highlights. I didn’t see enough of them last night.
Sean is absolutely right.
Yep - nothing like mediocre team, on the fence, luke warm… I’d rather know that someone or in this case, my team is cold and sucks (so we can make some wholesale changes) or is hot. With this continuing saga of waiting to make minor (with major player) changes, is like having cancer.
Cards have an off day tomorrow? Maybe LaRussa can take Molina dress shopping.
So what exactly are you trying to say, LEN3?
cmath, Molina won’t be taking one in the ribs today regardless… LaRue is behind the plate.
But I agree… it’s time for someone on this club to get a little pissed off and have the guts to do something about it.
I am pretty sure it is time to DL Punto.
Sounds like you all want Nick Swisher.
Gomez can definitely mix it up. Hell, he once stepped into the batter’s box and the ump asked him, “So are you going to be good or bad today?”
The Wild acquired Chris Simon and Todd Fedoruk to get tougher, and everyone complains about it because they didn’t add much talent to the team. Now you all want the Twins to do the exact same thing?
Typical Twins fans. Cuddy slides hard it’s just ‘good hard-nosed ball.’ Pierzynski or anyone else does it … you guys whine like someone made your hotdish and left out the Tater Tots.
JEEBUS!!! All the pencil-necked internet tough guys are beating their sunken chests today. “Gotta have more swagger, like I do when I play Dungeons & Dragons.”
If Harris would have dived he could have made it.
FINALLY! We’re learning we can’t send everybody home!
Thatta boy Morneau!
Justin, that is one way to send everybody home.
Morneau! Nice!
3 runs on 2 hits. Talk about efficent.
They should have drilled Kubel to stir things up a little!
Aw, too bad Skippy.
3 hits, Span had an infield hit to lead off.
Even with DeRosa, that lineup really sucks outside of Pujols (especially today without Molina in there). If Liriano can’t beat these guys, they need to get him out of he can’t get these guys out.
Nothing wrong with Cuddy’s slide, but he could have been safe by sliding to the outside.
oops. thats what happens when you answer the phone in the middle of typing a comment. Meant to say, “If Liriano can’t beat these guys, they need to get him out of the rotation.”
DrDon, I think Span’s was ruled an error?
He could have raised a lot more hell by mowing Molina down with a lowered shoulder and a forearm shiver, that is what I was expecting.
Oh, they changed it? I did not know that.
Dick just mentioned our 4th hit?
It’s SO transparent. Anybody but Punto and he’d have been retroactively DLd for Tolleson/his equivalent, but Professor Gardenhire needs his favorite TA around. The Twins have to be among the most conservative orgs in baseball in terms of giving minor leaguers a legitimate shot when the opportunity presents itself.
Nice AB Tolbert.
Bremer’s homerism is so embarrassing.
toby: You’ve never watched a WGN Sox broadcast have you?
On a side note, Liriano got screwed by that second called strike.
Imagine that, Dick once again has no clue as to what is going on.
T, just because Hawk is a homer, doesn’t mean Bremer isn’t as well.
Wow…I already get the tone today (despite being up 3-0)
Have a good afternoon being miserable. I’m out.
“Nothing wrong with Cuddy’s slide, but he could have been safe by sliding to the outside.”
Well……which is it, Shaun?
Cuddy slid feet-first into the catcher rather than to the plate. And while his feet were sliding past the plate and into Molina, he then tags the plate late with his hand. Stupid.
I believe he could have scored otherwise. And the Twins may have won.
“”toby says:
June 28th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
Bremer’s homerism is so embarrassing.”"
toby, would you rather listen to the blathering Joe Morgan on ESPN?
Punto looks like such a tool during that shill spot.
Joe Morgan is so bad it’s almost entertaining. You can actively research how many ways the stories he’s telling are B.S. while he tells them.
T: to the contrary, I have mlb.tv, and when I get home from the bar on a night the Sox have been blown out I often watch the CSN/WGN replay just to listen to Hawk make excuses and get disheartened.
i meant nothing real “dirty” about the slide
Like Letterman said long ago, Morgan is just chatty. Woulda been a helluva bad teacher.
most baseball announcers are homers.
Joe 2 for 2.
Might Casey, I have MLB TV and while there are many out there that are homers, there are also many out there who aren’t. Bremer would definitely be in the top half of homer broadcasters out there.
The color guy for the Padres is ALMOST as bad as the Harrelson. He actually says “he gone!”, too. The Marlins tv guys are REALLY good: they actually make semi-intelligent use of stats and don’t make it their personal mission to denigrate sabremetrics the way so many tv “analysts” do.
Atta Boy Kubes!!!!!
Big two out hit by Kubel.
It amazes me how so many supposedly “smart” people don’t seem to realize that local team broadcasters are SUPPOSED to be homers. EVERY mlb team’s local broadcasters are. It’s not like national broadcasts.
btw, how about E-town? They’re a machine again this year: 5-0, combined scores 42 to 12.
I’m with you on that, Shaun. Nothing necessarily dirty about it.
And I’m sure in Cuddy’s mind he was anticipating a collision anyway, so he instantaneously put himself as the aggressor in the situation.
The problem is it *looked* dirty.
JimCrikket, obviously you have not listened to every team’s local broadcasters because if you had, you would know that not all of them are homers.
i would be annoyed if dick and bert weren’t homers to some degree
Good first time through the order for Liriano, let’s hope he doesn’t implode the second and third time through it like he usually does.
Jim: There’s a difference between subtly showing sympathy and actively cheering. Listen to Vin Scully call a few Dodgers games. It’s like heaven on earth.
Talk about homers, listen to Daron Sutton and Mark Grace. You can imagine how hard it is to endorse the Dbacks
even national broadcasts (esp. ESPN) are homers to the yankees/red sox/mets
if the cards had former twin lenny green at first and dick green from s.d. at second they would have a “green” infield.
is vin scully radio or tv?
Ben I have mlb.tv too and I’ve been listening to games from all the teams. If you DONT think they’re all homers… paid to generate fan interest in the team that employs, them… then you’re just one of the multitude around here who just like to bitch and moan.
Phxtwins, at least Grace will bust out into some interesting stories from his playing days or mention a “slumpbuster”.
Jim, so you are telling me Vin Scully is a big time homer?
Mighty Casey, Scully is on tv.
Twins 3-4-5 hitters VERY excellent so far. Liriano cruising.
Thanks, DocDon, for reminding me how GOOD things are going. (I’m a homer for the Doc……..want some of his good luck to rub off on me.)
Vin Scully is great, I agree… but you can’t honestly say his “homerism” for the Dodgers doesn’t come through during the games he does.
Sure, some of it is more overt than others, but it would be boring as hell if every broadcaster had to have the same style and personality.
That’s a classic, Ben. Gracie is one of the funniest color guys
Also how about Steve Stone, if memory serves me correctly, he was ousted by the Cubs because of being overly-critical of some Cubs players.
Scully is on tv (but he’s like radio on tv). He doesn’t do all the road games, though. No color guy, just Vin making sure you are always aware of the score and the situation. Jim: they are absolutley all “paid to generate fan interest in the team that employs them” as you say, but NOT all of them do things like say “I hope he hits a home run” and “how about a base hit right here”. That’s the difference. Leave the hoping to the fan at home. I watch more non-Twins games than Twins games on mlb.tv and always watch the replays using the visiting team announcers so I don’t have to listen to DicknBert.
You should hear how he talks about Sosa, he admits he can’t stand him
Grace, that is
I can’t say I find that surprising, toby. After all, most of the people around here seem to have an outright aversion to anything ever being said or written about the Twins that’s the least bit supportive. I can see why having to put up with 3 hours of that would drive you nuts.
i like dick and bert. i’m cheering for the twins too so i don’t mind “homerism” one bit. they are far from over-the-top.
Actually, I’m not so worried about the results Liriano gets as I am about him always making good pitches.
So far so good.
I can take or leave Dick and Bert. Same with Gladden, Morris, Smalley, etc. I’ve said many times I think they should mix things up occasionally and keep guys from getting too stale from working the booth every game. Give people some variety in terms of style and experience. At least you wouldn’t hear the same stories 20 times a year.
that’s the right place to pitch him, hope it doesn’t hurt us.
Has to irritate the Cubs. I think they really miss DeRosa and to have the team they traded him to turn around and trade him to the Cardinals has to burn a bit.
JC, we need Wild Bill, aka romer, the karaoke king to announce a few Twins games, with color commentary by sane and thrylos.
Stupid baserunning by Span.
When did it become the “Rawlings” Gold Glove? I feel like growing up I only ever heard about Gold Gloves, but it seems like every time Bert says “gold glove” it’s a “Rawlings Gold Glove”.
And Doc can do the off-color commentary. Make Bert real envious.
Ben: isn’t he supposed to go as soon as he identifies a groundball to the right side?
Because Rawlings sponsors the Gold Glove Awards.
stupid baserunning by span?
how so?
DrDon: I didnt’ ask WHY, I asked WHEN. I suppose a why is begged inasmuch as there’s no reason for announcers to give them free pub, but that happens everytime they use the sponser names for the ballparks.
Count me in romer, and we can use Ben as the devil’s advocate to complain about everything. Hey, we have a complete team!!!!!!!!!!!
toby and Mighty Casey, not if it is a hard grounder to the first basemen when he is playing in.
Ok, wikipedia says it’s always been the rawlings gold glove. Maybe I just never noticed as a kid… or maybe Bert just says it way more than most.
No DrDon, I will cheer when guys get big hits like Morneau’s three run shot and Kubel’s big two out hit, but I am also not afraid to criticize when the situation is warranted which I felt like it was on that play by Span. He committed the cardinal (no pun intended because of their opponent) sin of baseball by making the first (or third) out at third base.
ben…
stupid hit by harris then too. also bad managing by gardy… etc etc
anyways. span made the right play.
I’ve never heard of the runner on 2nd waiting to see where the groundball to the right side ends up before breaking for 3rd.
Okay, the perfect game, no-hitter, and shutout are gone.
And it’s another critical 5th for Liriano. Let’s see if he bears down.
stop the bleeding
If I ever hear Bert say that a pitcher is “just leaving some pitches up” again, I am going to scream.
cmath: then it’s time to start that metal band.
toby, that is a situation where when you look at the fielders before the pitch, you realize where they are playing. Pujols was in and you don’t break on a hard ball hit toward him if you are gonna get thrown out by 3 feet.
Come on Liriano, let’s get out of this.
It’s all mental with Liriano.
I have seen much advantage to batting the pitcher 8th in this series.
Just a nice play by Pujols, not bad baserunning by Span.
Vin Scully does radio and TV at the same time for the first three innings, by the way.
oops — meant “haven’t seen”
Not a bad pitch that Pineiro gets the successful bunt off.
…i thought scully did radio
Fran: makes sense, since like I said he calls a near-radio style while doing TV. I’m just struck by the way he’s never boring, never obtrusive and yet he does it all himeself. Re: Span/Pujols: yeah, ben is right that it would’ve been a GOOD play by Span if he could’ve read the ball’s trajectory and speed that perfectly to know not to go, but I don’t think it’s his JOB to do that in that situaiton. It’s just his job to pick up “groundball, right side”.
need to get the big 3rd out
And not bad pitches that Liriano gets outs 2 and 3 with.
After a rough start to the inning, a nice job of limiting the damage. Let’s get some insurance runs.
Scully does radio “while” he is doing the television? I didn’t know that. That’s interesting.
My point: Two of those pitches were called up, the other one was right at the glove down and away. Ludwick hit a good pitch on the outside corner just above the knees. Ankiel hit a good pitch up and in that broke his bat. And LaRue hit a good pitch up and in that he inside outed. It’s not all the pitcher’s fault when guys get hits. Sometimes guys hit good pitches.
Shaun: I just meant that he always describes exactly what’s going on rather than commenting on it or letting the pictures speak for themselves (ala Harrelson while the Pale Hose are getting blown out).
I guess Pineiro left that pitch up because somehow Kubel was able to hit it.
Thanks for your 2:35, cmath.
That’s what I was getting at with my post above stating I’m not necessarily worried about results as much as I am wanting Liriano perform like a good pitcher at long last.
Only 12 pitches that inning for him.
Shaun, the Dodgers simulcast Scully’s TV call on the radio for the first three innings…
While Scully handles all nine innings of the team’s television broadcasts, the first three innings of each of his games is simulcast on radio.
Crede hits more pop-ups than anyone in the league, just like he did when he was with the Sox.
Scully is the Johnny Carson of TV baseball.
Same generation as the late great Prince of Comedy too.
boy, he does get anxious
I just can’t figure out how it could be that impossible out of the millions of baseball fans out there to find the next Vin Scully. Who decided that people want to listen to jackhole, vanilla baritones with an air of totally undeserved self-importance? BERT APOLOGIZES FOR AN F-BOMB! HILARIOUS!
low and inside. perfect.
Struck out the great Albert Pujols! That’s good pitching.
Beloit’s winning 5-0. Angel Morales homered.
Tolbert first pitch swinging. Again.
Pujols is the Magic Johnson of BB. His advantage is he’s big and strong. And I never liked that advantage re Johnson either.
It’s no fair!
Never liked Magic either. But had to respect him. Hard for a big guy to get it together like that.
In Magic’s case, he incredibly was a point guard. In Pujols case, he incredibly can hit like a small-ball batter — with his perfect mechanics and all.
That was pretty impressive inning by Liriano. Thought he might come back and lose it again after the last inning. Maybe he really is coming around.
tolbert has had solid ABs all week.
Hey! The “barrel of the bat” is Bert’s key to bunting, too.
The shortstop should have thrown out Span, it was a routine play.
Hope Span gets a hit though.
No DP please, Harris.
That strike zone sure looks inconsistent.
YES!
Very early this morning, I was dissing Harris. I take none of it back YET.
But sincerely hope he continues growing up and improving.
nice stickwork by Harris
Doh. Ben?
Ben?
Can deal with that as you are trying to get a runner into scoring position for Mauer and now he will lead off next inning.
Gotta have the pen warming up to start this inning.
Despite the fact that I’m a Twins fan, I’ll support a player like Molina over a bumbling blowhard like Cuddyer any day. Cuddyer’s all talk and his constant “Twins way” chatter every time someone sticks a microphone in his face gets really sickening after a while.
Excellent play by Crede, good thing the catcher was running.
johnrambo: amen. I hope cuddyer keeps posting decent numbers so they can trade him and get good value. I fear they’ll never trade the suck-up, though.
Really, the “Twins way” is so bad? I respect the way Gardy runs the ship and think it is an asset. As for Cuddy, .281/.362/.514 speaks for itself.
Nice outing today by Liriano.
He left that ball up, but the hitter missed it. So it was a lucky strikeout.
yes, that 8-9 pitcher/hitter strategy is working out well for Tony.
Wow Brandon Inge just hit a two out two run homer off Jose Valverde to give Detroit a one run lead in the top of the 9th in Houston.
Wow. What a catch by DeRosa
I have great personal distaste for Michael Cuddyer based on the way he comes across in interviews and things I’ve read about him. His offensive production is offset to a great degree by his awful defense and his injury vulnerability. I’d very much like to see him traded. That’s all.
Frickin Brandon Inge with a 2-run HR with 2 outs in top of 9th to rescue Detroit.
The pitcher hitting 8th is just LaRussa’s ego trying to demonstrate how much smarter he is than every one else who’s ever managed. I’m not impressed (by the strategy or the manager).
The manager’s resume speaks for itself.
I’d take anyone over this guy.
http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=4292202
Atmosphere matters.
Brandon Inge is fast becoming my least favorite player in MLB. Somebody check that dude out for roids already.
I have a bad feeling about this. Hope it is just gas.
Ha, OB!
Looks like Lou is retirement age for sure.
LaRussa: .534 winning percentage with 11 division titles in 31 total seasons.
Gardy: .545 winning percentage with 4 division titles in 7 total seasons.
LaRussa’s “genius” is overrated. Why do you think he’s never criticized McGwire? He rode Big Mac’s roid-fed success to several titles.
Do you suppose the cards fans are bitching about their team being shutdown by a pitcher with nearly a 6 ERA?
Maybe Twins fans will remember that it happens to all teams once in a while.
JimCrikket, you are missing something big: Larussa has 2 WS titles, how many does Gardenhire have again?
MLB rode the roids back to relevence too.
Isn’t this a spot for Nathan?
2 WS titles in 32 years! WOW, thats IMPRESSIVE. Take away the one that was due to the Roid Brothers and you have one… in a season where his team won barely half its games.
Comparatively, Gardy’s career is still young.
LaRussa’s also finished 4th or worse half a dozen times at least. Guess he isn’t ALWAYS a genius.
Just saying, if you’re going to say “resume speaks for itself”, you have to look at the WHOLE resume.
Unless you just want to cherry pick stats, but then NOBODY around here does that, right?
Jim, 2 World Series titles and 5 times he has been to the World Series. It seems to me Gardenhire is still looking to sniff the World Series. Until he can get his team there, I don’t think you can criticize Larussa while praising Gardenhire.
Gardy is wise enough to get the Twins to the playoffs, but I’m not sure he has what it takes to get them to the WS.
Well the cardiac kids get through the eighth somehow…
Crede rocks!
Ya gotta be able to bunt, Tolbert.
Much better…….I like you now.
:)>
Who’s praising Gardenhire?
I’m just pointing out that if you’re going to say something like LaRussa’s “resume speaks for itself”, you better look at the whole resume… and when someone who every around here says sucks as bad as Gardenhire does has a better win pct and a higher average finish, just how good can LaRussa really be?
MAYBE he’s just stuck around a really long time.
Buscher has been thrust into a veteran’s role this year. He sits on the bench and awaits.
Poor BA, but his OBP is decent for a guy sitting stale so much.
Meaning, his manager isn’t let him get going. And opposing pitchers likewise, because they walk him so much.
That worked.
Everytime I come to this blog it is a chore now.
Someone explain. Why Buscher instead of Morales?
Yeah, Buscher is a guy who rarely swings at ball 4.
“Gardy is wise enough to…”
Sounds like the start of a positively madcap comedy bit to me.
Probably to get Buscher a PA this weekend Dryburn.
Nice hit.
“Gardy is wise enough to…”
Or the start of a great work of fiction.
Kinney made a heck of a play on the attempted DP.
Not a bad day today by Harris. I’d still prefer to have M&M hitting 2-3, but he’s done well today.
“Everytime I come to this blog it is a chore now.”
You might find it more comfortable here:
Nice, Dryburn.
“You might find it more comfortable here:” that’s what she said.
Exactly, JC. With Mauer hitting 2nd, the Twins could crush the Tigers at home in the 1st inning Tuesday.
I heat that about M&M Jim. Harris’ bat sounds great to me in 6 or 7 hole depending on the handedness of the pitcher.
Make up your own name, spammer
Mauer raises his BA today (barely); but we want *so much* more…….
I’m just pointing out that if you’re going to say something like LaRussa’s “resume speaks for itself”,
Look at Gardy’s fingers and look at LaRussa’s fingers. Gardy is missing a few rings.
Gardy has prettier nails than LaRussa’s though.
I disagree with that, LaRussa takes great care of his nails
“Make up your own name, spammer”
????
Let’s put it this way. Why is it that even Gardy’s most ardent defenders — the sort that can’t BELIEVE anyone might have a problem with him as Twins manager — instantly KNOW I am ribbing him/them when I call him “Professor”? Why is that? Because deep down everybody knows he’s a boob. It’s comedy because it’s attaching a very obviously untrue description to an object.
The one in the black is not me
Once you go black you never go back.
nice
To me these commercials for local fox 9 morning news just drive home how provincial this farmtown is. They make me want to watch the “news from new york”.
gatty, the one in black is the moderator.
Gardy may not know his stats toby, but it takes intelligence to manage a clubhouse.
OB: a sort of intelligence. I really wish they’d hire a bench manager to whome they’d him de facto control of tactics.
they’d GIVE de facto control of tactics.
I’m not watching the game…what just happened with Thurston?
and whom. never ind. mind. ALL RIGHT NATHAN.
Yay, the Twins win.
Yay, the Twins win…
I agree wholeheartedly. Gardy certainly has his shortcomings.
If you are going to bring in Nathan anyway, and have him warm up, why not just bring him in to start the inning and avoid the drama?
wow: Ian Snell struck out 17 today after basically volunteering to go down to AAA from the Pirates.
For that matter, Dryburn, why not get him ready in the 8th for Pujols?
Gardy likes to make the eight and ninth innings the most exciting possible for the fans…
OK, thry… if that’s how you and others want to measure managerial genius… a guy winning a WS once every 16 years of his career… you win. LaRussa’s a managerial genius.
Agree totally with Dryburn. It was not a save situation with a 4-run lead. It seems like mgrs do the closers a favor and allow them to pad their stats and not “waste” an appearance in a non-save situation. Just seems stupid to risk a win in order to give Nathan a save.
JC,
I am not saying that he a “genius”. He won 2 world series and 5 pennants. That should count for someothing
Was the Cuddyer play at the plate yesterday a force play? I don’t think it was. I didn’t see it live. If it wasn’t a force play, then what is this B.S. Cuddyer is spewing about making sure Molina didn’t throw to first to complete a DP? That is one of the dumbest things ever to come out of a big leaguers mouth. Are you serious dude? How in the world does a catcher have enough time to apply a tag and then throw to first? I don’t care who is running - it’s not possible. If it was a force at home and no tag was needed - then yes it’s possible as we’ve all seen done a million times - the gool ‘ol 1-2-3 DP. I can’t believe Cuddyer expects people to believe that excuse and the fact that people actually bought is even more embarrassing.
I didn’t see the play BB, so that qualifies my comment. But I know Red ain’t too speedy and that’s who hit the ball. A DP off the tag is certainly unlikely but hardly impossible.
I guess I didn’t see bringing Dickey in with a 4 run lead as being a terribly risky move. He got a couple of outs, gave up a couple of hits and Nathan came in and threw 4 pitches, meaning he should have no trouble being available tomorrow night in KC. If he had come in to start the inning and HE had given up a couple of hits, etc., you risk having him throw more pitches and using him more than the situation necessitated.
Again, for a total moron, I guess somehow Gardy managed to survive the game with a win.
Redmond was barely halfway down the line when the play happened because Cuddy broke down on a contact play so the chance of a double play was likely, but Yadi is just being a baby and needs to get over the fact that Cuddy went down for the slide instead of bulling him over which is what he was bracing for.
Zero chance and I repeat ZERO chance of a double play if Molina has to make the tag. I’ve been around the game for many many years and have never seen a DP in that fashion. I’m not saying Molina had a beef, I’m just saying that Cuddyer’s explanation is ridiculous and I’m not surprised it came out of his mouth.
Twins win a good one today, and people still bitch and moan, cuss and discuss about a single incident from yesterday. Are lives that empty????
Again, for a total moron, I guess somehow Gardy managed to survive the game with a win.
If it weren’t for Gardy, Smith, and about 90% of the roster, the Twins would be undefeated right now.
Zero chance and I repeat ZERO chance of it being zero chance.
Is bitching about the constant bitching any better than the constant bitching about the bitching about the constant bitching?
sane…it’s a bitch, ain’t it.
One thing that is worth mentioning:
Great performance by Liriano. What was the difference? Several things (including getting his confidence up), but this is the first time since last season that he threw his change up 20% of the time. Only one change up got in for a hit. The others were fouls, swinging strikes and 3 balls. Not bad. I hope he keeps it up.
Good points, thry….and credit Mauer for telling him…”Trust Me”.
credit Mauer for telling him…”Trust Me”.
Mauer has made a difference in the pitching stuff. Here are some interesting numbers that show Mauer’s value and also might give some light to the Morales vs. Redmond debate:
opponents OPS and CS% by catcher (today’s game not included) :
Mauer: .729 OPS, 37.5% CS (1406 PA)
Morales: .774 OPS, 35% CS (559 PA)
Redmond: .775 OPS, 13.6% CS (876 PA)
the PA number makes this significant.
“Baseball’s Golden Age” on FSN is pretty interesting, especially the part when big leaguers would come to the Dakotas for exhibition games. They had to cuz they didn’t get paid enough during the regular season!
Is bitching about the constant bitching any better than the constant bitching about the bitching about the constant bitching?
Considering that 9 times out of 10 you’ll get buried for even attempting to suggest things aren’t as horrible and world-ending as many think…
Yeah, I think the initial bitching is the worst.
Roid rage?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/06/27/Phillies.confrontation.ap/index.html
OB….And we think we got problems??????
I don’t doubt that Mauer helps the pitching staff, but most of the credit for good pitching performances belongs to the pitchers themselves.
The catchers can lead them to some extent, but they still have to execute. Perkins and Liriano did a pretty good job of that this weekend. Slowey didn’t, and he admitted it:
“[Catcher Mike] Redmond set up in the lefthanded batters box,” Slowey said, “and I threw it right down the middle.”
http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/49346482.html?elr=KArksUUUoDEy3LGDiO7aiU
Go Twins!
The catchers can lead them to some extent, but they still have to execute. Perkins and Liriano did a pretty good job of that this weekend. Slowey didn’t, and he admitted it:
“[Catcher Mike] Redmond set up in the lefthanded batters box,” Slowey said, “and I threw it right down the middle.”
Yes and no.
The catcher calls the pitch and establishes location. That is that.
From the pitcher’s perspective, the type of a pitch is much easier to get established that the location. And a catches should see what kind of command a pitcher has and call accordingly. Did Redmond have to call for fastballs that were greeted appropriately at those occasions? What’s wrong with breaking stuff away to the one hitter who can hurt you?
The Franchise and some offensive production are the keys to the second half.The Tigers just won today for the second time this week in comeback mode.Sometime it is better to be lucky than good.Those things even out in the long run.Jackson and Porticello(sp)will come back to earth and Rodney and Zumella(sp)have histories of arm problems in the second half.
opps-some offensive production at second base!
Once again, we can thank the all-knowing Thyroid for flooding us with more useless stats that no one cares about.
Pete your speaking for yourself and no one else
Interesting story about J.C. Romero, thanks OB. I had forgotten he tested positive before last season’s World Series but appealed and got to play. He claims he bought the pills at GNC, but got the 50 game suspension. He’s had bad luck year this year so far, just got back from AAA, pitching for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs. Sooey!
Pete your speaking for yourself and no one else
Nah, I agree at times. Especially when a player accepts responsibility for something and thrylos still pushes the blame over to one of the following:
1) Gardy
2) Cuddyer
3) Redmond
I thought the first Pujols HR Saturday was a slider that broke over the middle of the plate instead of outside, where Redmond set up.
I could be wrong though because I’m basing that on replays I saw that night after I got home.
Which brings up MY pet peeve about Busch Stadium (since LEN mentioned his)… they almost never show replays on their big scoreboard screen. I understand no teams can show controversial plays, but it seemed like every time I wanted to see a replay, I was disappointed. Guess making sure the ad time got fit in is more important, but I sure hope the Twins don’t waste their fancy new HD board at Target Field that way.
Suffice to say, this is again relevant.
http://www.aarongleeman.com/2009_05_10_baseballblog_archive.html#8350355619127199410
At least start Gomez in CF vs. LHP with DY at the DH and Kubes on the bench.
“Did Redmond have to call for fastballs that were greeted appropriately at those occasions? What’s wrong with breaking stuff away to the one hitter who can hurt you?”
Did Slowey have to accept Redmond’s fastball call?
No.
If Slowey thought that “breaking stuff away to the one hitter who can hurt you” was a slam-dunk, he would (should?)
have held out for that pitch call.
Slowey is a smart young man who is standing in the DANGER ZONE 60ft,6in. in front of Albert Pujols, while Mauer is behind Pujols wearing catcher’s gear.
Slowey makes the final decision, unless Mauer wants to become an accessory to manslaughter.
Change that to:
Slowey makes the final decision, unless RED-DOG wants to become an accessory to manslaughter.
All of this talk about pitch selection and location; my two cents. Opponent OPS is a nice way to summarize and reflects what we already know (Mauer is a great catcher). That being said, debate about a single pitch is purely subjective and can never be settled.
Thanks sane. I just got around to reading through yesterday’s blog, and was going to comment myself…the catcher puts down a sign so he knows what’s coming; the pitcher bears the ultimate responsibility for deciding which pitch to throw, and for then executing it.
RE: thrylos and numbers. I’m with T. It seems to me you should use data to help form an opinion. thrylos often does the opposite. He forms an opinion, then goes out and finds some data to support it, even if it means ignoring mountains of other data.
And now we get the report the Twins are going up to a 12-man staff. What for?
BP, except Henn, is doing real fine. So are the starters (ignoring the blip by Slowey).
I can’t imagine KC will be an offensive challenge to the staff. There will be two days of between now and the AS break (7/13).
What pitcher can possibly make a difference for them for those last 9 games at home from 7/2 through 7/12?
two days off before the AS break.
too early for a lineup?? or a report?? hello??
Punto, Gomez and Tolbert are in the lineup today. I have to laugh at Gardy. What does he see in these clowns?
