Stress fracture in back shelves Justin Morneau for the rest of the season.
Posted on September 14th, 2009 – 3:19 PMBy La Velle
First baseman Justin Morneau has been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his back and is done for the rest of the season. He’ll need three months to recover.
Will post after I get off deadline…
(back) and DH Jason Kubel (neck) are not in tonight’s lineup, but Kubel being 1 for 10 against Jeremy Sowers might have something to do with his absence too. Will find out when the clubhouse opens in a few minutes.
Justin Huber gets his first start with the Twins
Jose Mijares is 1-0 with a 0.93 ERA since Aug.5.
Twins hitters entered the day leading the AL with a 134 GiDP’s.
Updates: Joe Crede is likely done for the rest of the season. He felt soreness in his back and legs while tyring to DH yesterday and…well, it’s just not going to happen for him.
The Twins are in contact with the specialist who worked with Crede during the offseason to figure out how to treat the injury.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said before the game that a MRI during an annual end of season exam on Justin Morneau revealed inflammation in his back. He spent Monday seeing a specialist in the town but was expected to arrive at the ballpark soon.
Justin Huber pulled an oblique muscle during batting practice and was scratched from the lineup. Matt Tolbert will bat in Huber’s spot and play third while Brendan Harris moves to DH.
Oh, but Jason Kubel felt much better on Monday - which is good because there are so many tables in the trainer’s office. He’s available to pinch hit.
Finally… I know. I know. The Bears lost.Urlacher’s out. Cutler stunk. Everyone keeps reminding me of this…
Lineups
Cleveland (61-81)
1. Michael Brantley, CF
2.Jamey Carroll, 3B
3. Asdrubal Cabrera, SS
4. Shin-Soo Choo, RF
5. Jhonny Peralata, DH
6. Luis Valbuena, 2B
7. Matt LaPorta, 1B
8. Lou Marson, C
9. Trevor Crowe, LF
Pitching: Jeremy Sowers, LHP
Twins (71-72)
1. Denard Span, RF
2. Orlando Cabrera, SS
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Michael Cuddyer, 1B
5. Brendan Harris, 3B DH
6. Delmon Young, LF
7. Justin Huber, DH Matt Tolbert, 3B
8. Carlos Gomez, CF
9. Nick Punto, 2B
Pitching: Carl Pavano, RHP
259 Responses to "Stress fracture in back shelves Justin Morneau for the rest of the season."
gotta sweep em
Wow, no Crede.
So, all of Crede/Morneau/Kubel out with injuries.
Hence, Harris hits 5th.
Looks like Denard will be in right-center tonight.
Nineteen games remaining. I don’t think the Twins get in with anything less than 14-5 and that would include at least 5 wins out of seven vs. the Tigers. Given the club’s performance, I don’t like their chances.
14-5, probably five out of six this homestand.
Time is running short and frankly I just don’t see this team pulling it off. They blew a golden opportunity Saturday to gain a game.
Hope I’m wrong but my best guess is by the weekend the talk will turn to the offseason and who will stay and who will go.
“Looks like Denard will be in right-center tonight.”
With Gomez in left center. That is the best way to compensate for Delmon being in LF!
“Twins hitters entered the day leading the AL with a 134 GiDP’s.”
Hey, we’re leading something! Eat it, Cleveland!
Morneau is hitting .111 against Sowers, so that might have been a factor, as well.
Sowers should look like a Cy Young Award candidate against this Twins lineup.
What can we expect from Huber? Not one of the minor leaguers I am familar with.
Rick Blaine,
Huber hit .273/.356/.482 for Rochester. He had 22 HR and 76 RBIs.
What can we expect from Huber?
.274/.356/.482 22 HR, 76 RBI in Rochester + a great play at 1B the other day with the Twins
Twins hitters entered the day leading the AL with a 134 GiDP’s., we have officially become the White Sox.
great, is Cabrera still leading the AL? Nice 2 hitter.
“What can we expect from Huber?”
Strikeouts on breaking balls.
“What can we expect from Huber?”
“Strikeouts on breaking balls.”
He ought to fit right in then.
Glad to see LNP is back at second tonight, with Kubel and Morneau missing they will really need his bat.
ES16 - why would Morneau be out versus 1 of the pitchers he’s HOT against? .111 might be number one in Aug/Sept
Gardy had Crede as the DH on Sunday. A .225 AVG and .280 OBP. What a hitter.
Today it’s Huber at DH. Even worse. Poor Gardy.
Yes, oh woe is Gardy, being so saddled with terrible players.
So Huber gets a chance to play and we spend the afternoon complaining about him BEFORE he goes out? Gotta love the optimism here.
I like Redmond, seems like a great guy…but how awful was he on Saturday? Among other things, he really killed the Twins chances of winning that game between his noodle arm and awful at bats. I just don’t understand Gardy sometimes, Morales is clearly the best option when Mauer needs a day off.
According to mlb.com, Gardy wants a regular spot for Span in 2010. He said Span has earned it. He said he wants the matter settled this off-season. Gardy said he believes his 4 outfielders all should be everyday players. I assume that means he wants one to play elsewhere.
CharliieMurphy
I agree with you..the twins could win the world series and it wouldn’t be enough for a lot of people on here. way too much negativity
“”"CharlieMurphy says:
September 14th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
So Huber gets a chance to play and we spend the afternoon complaining about him BEFORE he goes out? Gotta love the optimism here.”"”
Welcome to the BigTime, Charlie.
“So Huber gets a chance to play and we spend the afternoon complaining about him BEFORE he goes out?”
He’s had 2 at bats. That’s enough chances. More than he deserves.
I wonder what Alexi Casilla’s mindset will be heading into spring training.
Jordan,
What about Morales’ “noodle arm”? Way more noodly than Redmonds.
“I wonder what Alexi Casilla’s mindset will be heading into spring training.”
Probably this: “I can’t wait to check out this new city I get to be in for spring training. It’s not any thing like Ft. Myers.”
What does it matter whose arm is the more noodly when neither one can throw out a base stealer?
gomez should have spent most of the year in aaa fine tuning his hitting, bunting, and base running/stealing instead of playing part time with the twins.
right now he isn’t who they thought he was the 5 tool player with great upside. right now he is a very good outfielder (suspect idea of where to throw), very weak hitter and not much of a base stealer.
having done that we’d also know if dy is worth keeping or not. now they screwed around with him enough they don’t know if he can be a good producer and he now has no value in a trade.
I don’t care if they lose, I am happy to see this lineup. I was so sick of seeing Morneau in the 4-spot. I’d hope to see a spark out of these guys — they are finally getting to play.
“gomez should have spent most of the year in aaa fine tuning his hitting”
Saying “fine tuning” suggests he almost has it right.
Lineup sure looks different in the middle of the order tonight. But lets go get ‘em!
Re: my comment on the blog’s previous day. I mentioned that both Smith and Gardy must go to be replaced by Ryan and Kelly, a reply was that T.K. does not want to manage anymore. That is simply too bad, ownership should demand he manage as following orders is required as part of employment, at least it is in the real world. And how can Smith general manage effectively if he is second guessed by Ryan? My comment begs for other responses, doesn’t it?
“I wonder what Alexi Casilla’s mindset will be heading into spring training.”
It better be something along the line of ‘Geez. They gave me a starting gig last year, and I wasted it. I don’t want to get beat out by Nick Punto and Matt Tolbert again. I need to play better.’
oldguy they should be replaced with young guys that have the energy to do the job and with fresh ideas.
we don’t need to go back to the past, a new stadium with a whole new attitude. by the way i’m an old guy also.
bunting the “fine tuning” was an attempt to be nice!
Starting outfield should have been and should be:
Young LF
Span CF
Cuddyer RF
Gomez should be down in AAA next year working on hitting, bunting, baserunning, and hitting the cutoff man.
lets say for arguments sake Morneau misses the Cleveland series, and Cuddyer hits 4th the entire series and is on fire, does he get shifted back down for a guy who is slumping and coming off of an injury or will Morneau have to take a bitter pill and NOT bat 4th….. when was the last time he batted lower than 4th anyways?
I’d have more respect for Gardenhire (that’s not saying much since I don’t have an awful lot as it is) if he would just say: Morneau is struggling, we’re going to give him some time off to work on things outside game situations. That’s essentially what Leyland did with Ordonez. I wouldn’t expect Gardenhire to also say publicly: the guy is hurting this team’s chances to win right now. That would not be a good idea but he should say it to Justin privately.
It’s amazing how everybody, whether pitcher or position player, on this team who has struggled has had some kind of medical condition. These are highly paid professional athletes. What’s wrong with not hiding behind medical problems and just say the player is getting a “breather” on the bench? While I don’t doubt that some of the medical conditions are real (e.g. Kubel who is one of the biggest contributors this year probably does have a crick in his neck), hiding a lack of accountability behind medical conditions doesn’t bring higher team performance or more respect for the management. Neither does “battling his tail off” despite injuries that actually hurts the team because of abysmal performance at the plate.
But then Gardy has always valued hustling tails more than accountability, real good to high performance, etc. The Twins sure are good at imagining and keeping “ideal” players that don’t include the Garrett Jones, the Randy Ruiz’s, the Adam Everett’s and eventually one or both of the Delmon Youngs and/or Carlos Gomez’s.
oldguy, there’s a little interesting speculation on SI.com today that Andy MacPhail might try to get TK to manage in Baltimore.
“The Twins sure are good at imagining and keeping “ideal” players that don’t include the Garrett Jones, the Randy Ruiz’s, the Adam Everett’s and eventually one or both of the Delmon Youngs and/or Carlos Gomez’s.”
You say that like it’s a bad thing.
Garrett Jones is having the hottest 3 month stretch of his career. If you think this is the type of player he is, I don’t know what else to tell you.
Randy Ruiz is a 31 year old DH with 168 career major league ABs.
Adam Everett is hitting worse than Nick Punto.
None of those players were let go because they didn’t hustle. They were let go because they aren’t very good, and the Twins have no real place to put them.
Pete, if you have a crystal ball that can predict whether the players mentioned are just experiencing a statistical anomaly or might merely have “escaped” the vaunted Twins “system,” then please do us all a favor and lend it to pols in D.C. It might help the country.
Given some of the trades and draft choices of recent years, not to mention the entire rotation (always considered the paramount Twins strength) regressing significantly this year, it might be useful to analyze is the org. not getting the most out of every player or are all these guys really all that bad? 19 HR’s or whatever he’s up to by now in much less than a full season, is it possible the Pirates are doing something different with this player than what the Twins did?
I haven’t compared Everett’s and LNP’s stats but every time I catch the game summaries of the Tigers, that Everett guy is hitting a clutch hit.
Looks like the Jays are willing to give Ruiz a chance and yes, he still does strike out a lot (especially against the Twins who undoubtedly know how to pitch to him), but he’s also done well enough that they are giving him a chance.
“bunting the ‘fine tuning’ was an attempt to be nice!”
We need some “nice” here, gobbledygookguy. Thank you. I need an infusion of “nice” as much or more than anyone.
I told people a while back that Serena Williams is really DY in drag. Now with that outburst yesterday will people start to listen to me.
What can we expect from Huber?
6 total bases. Not sure it’ll happen, but that’s what I’m expecting.
Pete D— Everett is hitting worse than Punto?? neither is tearing up the league– but I would give Everett a slight edge.
Everett .245/.297/.353 3HR 41RBI
Punto .224/.320/.281 1HR 30RBI
I haven’t decided if I want a homer and two singles, a homer and a double, or just your run-of-the-mill three two-baggers.
huber? really? AND delmon young?
gonna see some solid ABs tonight, boys.
huber scratched. crede out for season.
good.
wait does that mean Tolbert is the 3b? I really can’t see him being the DH…. although why isn’t morales DHing if he is only good for a bat?
LOL people make fun of DY but give Gomez a pass
Tolbert at 3rd, Harris DH
“I need an infusion of “nice”…
OK you got it. I’ll be nice to you. And we’ll both be nice to Twins players too; right?
okay the game has gotten more painful now watching Tolbert playing 3b…. um, can someone remind Gardy we have Morales, and he is a pretty good hitter….
Steve:
I totally agree. Its great to see Punto back in the line-up. He is THE
heart and soul of this team. NOT the
M&M boys as all of Minn wishes.
Huber, WOW, now thats taking a chance.
This is the BIGS, not AAA w/ Valencia.
M isn’t sitting because of his major Slump. He’s sitting only because of his bad back. He must be sitting too close to Crede. Speaking of Crede. Ouch!
0 - 4 w/ 4 K’s. That’s the kind of #s even 98 likes. What is he doing in the line-up? The experiment should be over. NO MORE BAD BACK CREDE.
Til next year.
“OK you got it. I’ll be nice to you. And we’ll both be nice to Twins players too; right?”
How about if we are nice to Twins players on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays?
It’s a start. Too much nice all at once is dangerous to mess with. Who knows what could happen.
How come LEN is slow in posting the lineup changes (Tolbert at 3B)?
Tolbert is better D than Harris.
Wow, no Casilla. He must REALLY be in the doghouse.
The Bears lost.Urlacher’s out. Cutler stunk. Everyone keeps reminding me of this…
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer pair in you and Howard. Better luck next year.
Perhaps my expectations were too much for Huber to handle.
Why isn’t Valencia up?
Ha, AM!
I wonder if Kubel and/or Morneau could pinch hit.
What a lineup of mighty-mights.
Aw well, wth. If you think the Twins still have a chance this year, then you have to say the Red Sox have a chance in the East too — since both teams are 6 out in the loss column.
No one expects either team to take it. So, I’ll just try to enjoy and root for the underdogs tonight.
Yeah, even FSN doesn’t care……..they’re talking about hockey right now, interviewing the coach.
Twins are so underdog that they can’t even get on their own program.
At least Span and Mauer are the only two lefties against Sowers tonight. And they’re easily hitting over .300 against lefties.
Mauer bats 312 versus lefties, Span is hitting 338.
Okay, I think it’s official. Crede was a bust.
The only way this lineup could be better is if we had Harris benched and Red DHing
Romer, I’m thinking of placing some unreasonable expectations on all of the Tigers.
Wow, no Casilla. He must REALLY be in the doghouse.
No kidding.
I’ve always wanted to see Punto, Harris, Tolbert & Gomez all in the lineup at the same time.
Have no fear, the Twins win when Delmon is in the lineup. Seriously.
I still don’t get why he did not play Morales at DH and keep Harris at third…
btw, LaVelle, your Bears will be competing with the Lions for the 1st pick of the next draft
So instead of putting tolbert in the line up, why not DH morales and leave Harris at 3B, that looks better than tolberts .191 average
thrylos98,
Must be the curse of Sid Luckman or something.
Why isn’t Valencia up?
because by now with his season over at Rochester he is at home in Frorida for a week, since was not called up last week
2 outs. Harris due up.
Send him.
“I still don’t get why he did not play Morales at DH…”
Wouldn’t it be something if LEN asks Gardy about that and Gardy’s answer gets reported.
Why not…….it’s not like it’s important anymore and that people would get mad at each other or something.
Why doesn’t Gomez play some winter ball, work on the offensive skills? He’s got a lot of gas in the tank.
thrylos, I tried post at your 10 Inning Stretch, but couldn’t. I hit on the flat-belly ad, and it crashed my windows.
You got things jimmied up to match the Twins’ season?
Gardy is adding a little speed and fielding by going with Tolbert.
Sounded like a foul tic…..but FSN’s got their sci-fi sound goin’ tonight.
uldger should have sent mauer, they were throwing to second. need to be aggressive on the base paths
twinks need to slam that sowers bitch
Verlander’s getting lit in the 6th - 4 runs in so far in the 6th. No outs. 4-2 Jays.
Wow, with this lineup I feel like I’m having a 90s flashback. I hope Denny Hocking has a good game tonight. Oh…forget it….it doesn’t really matter.
Thanks for the news JustinCB.
I thought Mauer would have been out at home.
Who knows……
5-2 Jays on two home runs. 1 out.
go SPANIARD!!
At least they’re jabbing at Sowers.
I thought Mauer would have been out at home.
It looked to me like he would have been safe. He stopped half way, made a quick move toward home, and still had time to get back to third on the throw.
romer,
nothing is jimmied over there. And I did not see or have any flatbelly ads up…
Gomez plays winter ball every year in the Dominican. I am sure that he will play this winter as well…
sowers wriggles out of a jam again. little bastard
Pavano’s pace so far is like he’s pitching in the 7th inning.
…says i agree, uldger should know the situation. you have brendan harris due up, nothing against him, but i rather force the throw
i think when the twins see the tigers losing makes them think they can lose. the tigers are serving the division on a plate and the twins cannot take advantage. ARG!!!
thry, on your 9/7 blog, “1 trick of a flat belly” is still up under ads by Google.
I’ll try and post a comment now.
spanman is the twins feel good story of the year. of course mauer is kicking ass, but span has not had a sophomore slump and has played awesome.
Sowers wouldn’t even be in the bigs any more if he couldn’t beat the Twins 4 times a year.
class of pohlads? they probably made the players pay
time to get the overshoes on, twins bs!
it’s ok to have a mediocre team but we have a great clubhouse and have lots of fun!!
it’s ok to have a mediocre team but we have a great clubhouse and have lots of fun!!
tigers are trailing, so the twins can kiss this one good bye. twins do not have the cajones to pick up a game on the tigers.
thry -
Yeah, I get the error code “bX-x27joa” when attempting and OpenID post.
I was gonna post —
Thanks for your gentle reminder of you 7/24 suggestions (etc).
mauer is going to look good in an angels uniform. he may get tired out with all the beach bunnies out there, however.
not looking too promising
I can’t believe these two lineups are major-league lineups. Cleveland’s 2 runs are likely to stand up.
twins do not have the cajones to pick up a game on the tigers.
Punto, Tolbert, Cabrerror, Harris, Gomez, etc etc in the lineup.
I’d say it has more to do with talent than cajones.
frick, frick and double frick!!
What an absolute joke this team has become. There is no way Gardenhire should be retained as manager of this team. This team has no fire at all. Look up at the scoreboard and see that Toronto is beating Detroit once again for the 3rd time in 4 days. Have a sense of urgency. The apples sure don’t fall far from the tree on this team.
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. God, this team blows.
Well, Toronot didn’t start Halliday tonight. But they’re going through their BP trying to hold the Tiggs down.
B. League is pitching now.
No kiddin’…….
Still 5-2 Jays with 7 complete.
Better start pitching inside, dewds.
Maybe Halliday is being traded.
LaVelle,
If Crede’s done, how much did he end up making with bonuses and such? Was he worth what he made in the end? Think his career’s done now?
ML: Here’s a thought…look it up yourself.
Easy boys!
Where wouldja look for the info, Chief?
Nice now could we please score some runs? With this lineup it may be too much to ask!
Cot’s Baseball Contracts for the salary info.
Any one of a gozillion places to see how many PAs Crede accumulated.
The Tigers can continue to lose against other teams all they want. If the Twins don’t ever want to win a ballgame, all they need to be worried about is Chicago.
This team is just gross. Should have called up the Red Wings to finish off the season, heck they have probably beat this cleveland team a few times.
Wow Chief. I’ve never said anything to you in the past. What’s up with that? LaVelle has easier access to the exact info than I do. If you think it’s that easy, find it yourself.
Chief, how about you take a look at the Indians lineup tonight and tell me how it has more to do with talent than cajones. It’s not like the Indians are trotting out there a ML lineup either.
It’s unbelievably easy, ML.
Try this little invention called “google.”
LaVelle has no easier access to that info than you do.
Chief, don’t take out your frustration from the Twins on some other poster.
Chief, don’t take out your frustration from the Twins on some other poster.
Tigerettes appear to be choking tonight. They’re not striking out, but they ain’t getting the hits either.
Well thanks for the info. How do you find that google thing? Is it like Yahoo?
I missed your post about Cot’s page before I previously posted. I’ve been there once and completely forgot about it since. Don’t expect everyone knows about it.
My frustration with the Twins has nothing to do with lack of patience for yet another poster asking for info that’s incredibly easy to find.
My frustration with the Twins has nothing to do with lack of patience for yet another poster asking for info that’s incredibly easy to find.
Good job Gardenhire and the rest of these underachievers. Detroit just tied it up in the 9th. You are officially DONE!
Chief, you got it wrong when you were trying to mock me. It was two consecutive posts saying the same thing, not two of the same statements in the same post. Better luck next time buddy!
It was a (lame) attempt at humor, Ben.
Relax.
Very lame I might add.
skippy tolbert should be the 3b next yr with nicky at short and casilla at 2b we don’t need any new infielders.
gobbledygookguy, you win it for most sarcastic post of the night.
ML did ask LaVelle for his opinion too - cant look that up….
Patrick Swayze passed away…
mr. clutch!
skippy tolbert should be the 3b next yr with nicky at short and casilla at 2b we don’t need any new infielders.
Bunting (c r a i g) Twins agrees.
Hopefully smarter heads prevail.
Cuddyer, nice clutch at-bat.
booty-full!
Ben, All I have to say is Sowers is really throwing the heck out of the ball…
Twins hitters entered the day leading the AL with a 134 GiDP’s…
…and counting.
minntwins5, quit already writing Gardenhire’s post game presser for him. What are you going to do if the Twins finally do the right thing and can him? You will no longer be needed.
Gardy’s heroes playing typical against a team they can’t beat.
Ben,
You know as well as I do, Gardy is like Punto.. he is here to stay…
This is jeremy sowers, that is shutting us down for the 2nd time … the jeremy sowers who has been in AAA , with a 5+ era
tigers win on an error
Tigers just won it, now let’s see this rally from a 3 run deficit Gardenhire!
time to not spoil our chances.
Delmon is only 24!
Delmon is only 24, carlos gomez is only 20 whatever, the rotation is fine! keep this team for next year!
tigers win
minntwins5, unfortunately I know that you are correct.
LOL Walter.
Tigers score 3 in the bottom of the 9th to tie and are about to win in the 10th. Twins can’t score a run or beat last place teams. Detroit deserves the central title. Twins are a joke.
Tigers win 6-5 on a error!!!
Kanye West’s manners > Twins players’ hearts.
Maybe its a good idea for the Twins to loose another series while Detroit sweeps there next one and then the talk can stop about there slim to none chances they currently have. Don’t resign Creede. He is a train wreck.
Nick34, Crede ain’t a trainwreck. His *back* is a trainwreck.
Plenty of other candidates on the Twins for being trainwrecks.
nicky did a nice job not hitting into a dp.
Serena Williams’s level of respect for line judges > Carlos Gomez’s talent.
Hopefully Casilla, Punto, Creede, Butcher, Ocraberrer will not be in Twins uniform next year to name a few.
Twins probably down to essentially their last 6 outs of a feasible season.
romer, I would agree with Nick34, Crede is a trainwreck. If it isn’t his back it is his fingernail. If it’s not his fingernail, it is something else.
Span, nice patient AB there in a clutch situation. This team just completely follows Gardenhire’s lead and chokes chokes chokes.
Judgement of the guy captaining the Titanic > Judgement of Bill Smith.
Must be Cliff Lee on the mound tonight huh?
Nick34, I have another one to join your list, actually add him to the top of the list: Ron Gardenhire!
i’m still rooting for gardy and the guys they’re having a swell season and really trying hard.
You know LAffey is going to shut the twinkies down on Weds
safe
Gobble,
They are battling, they are trying, guys are getting after it. Its just the pitching…oh wait….
Seven games left against the Tigers. I will be surprised if this team wins one.
Gardy must also go namely for being so stubborn about playing certain players and Justin staying in the 4 spot even when he was struggling so much. Fire Gardy!!!
This team is done, fried, mentally and physically. Hmmmm Morny has a strained back? I wonder if that could be from trying to constantly pull the ball these last 2 months???? Yeah Detroit will win, it is over. This team knows it and Gardenslop has been tuned out. I think the team really lacks confidence in his skills and leadership qualities as a manager, especially against good teams. It is becoming apparent he has difficulty managing against anyone now. Publicly stating having 4 outfielders is hard? C’mon folks a REAL MANAGER does not air that put. Point is when fairly healthy this should be a 92-97 win team, this manager, his style and his coaching staff are now retarding this team and he speaks like he knows he’s coming back. Man how I would love to see some fresh faces coaching this team.
Speaking of choking…The Bills losing to the Pats the way they did is unbelievable. Go Vikings!!!
Gardy must go!!
I still think Bill Smith has a lot more to answer for than Gardenhire.
His last two offseasons have been pretty terrible.
I am fine with keeping Anderson, White, Ulger, Liddle - but vavra? come on, the guy couldnt sniff a jock at AA ball….get someone in there that has a clue.
Chief, Smith has been here for 2 seasons. It takes time as a GM when you have a cheap owner. Gardenhire has been here for way longer and not accomplished anything other than one series win in the postseason. It should not even be a question as to who goes first between the two: Gardenhire (I refuse to call him Gardy) is the answer.
it will take a house cleaning from gardy on down. never happen, however.
Hey Gardenhire, you have it right where you want it, first and second with nobody out and one of your three best buddies on the team up.
Nothing will happen this year. Management thinks by keeping the same personnel it will bring stability and it will. A underachieving team. Look at the Rockies and the fire lit under them when Tracey took over. Something happened there. They were 10 under .500 and now there 20 over .500. Fire Gardy, I mean Fire Gardenhose, Gardengarbage, etc.
6-4-3 its coming
Cuddy up with 2 on and nobody out…Any guesses as to what type of choke he will create at this at bat?
Thank you Cuddyer!
well i am glad i was wrong, i still think he is over paid but there you have it
What a lousy team we got…….
SQUAWK - SQUAWK!!
MR. Clutch, yep you heard it.
thank you mr. perez
OK..Cuddy must of heard my rant but the Twins still have an inning to blow this game.
Look the fact is lose Crede, Blackburn and Perkins via trade, Redmond retire or lose him. Get J.J. Hardy if possible, job goe to Casilla for the whole year and get 1 stud pitcher, the bullpen will be fine and our health will be better. What can Smith do? He can bring in a leader, a fighter, a will to win, that is what this team is lacking and cannot generate from the inside. If GM Smith solves that problem, we will be much much better.
100 HRs = Twins Hall of Fame
random thoughts on cuddyer anyone?
you can’t lose a FA (Crede) via trade….
romer, it’s just a tie game the Twins have not won a thing yet.
minn twins5, that is about right if Radke can get there for just over 100 wins
Span needs to play CF next year, Cuddyer can stay in RF- its basically between gomez and young, and they both suck, but Young has had success at this level (decent numbers) Gomez hasn’t done a whole lot -other than his speed and tail battling
A little duck snort! Good baserunning by Delmon there. Gomez get him in!
questioning the guys’ “heart” and suggesting they are for whatever reason faking or not “gutting out” injuries is so very pathetic and juvenile.
heart shows in hustle not batting average.
moreover, to suggest that the manager is somehow at the root of all these problems is laughable. bitch and moan all you want but gardy is staying. he deserves to stay. although not right 100% like startrib bloggers, he is right more than most other managers, which at the end of the day is what matters. it shows in the win column.
the fact of the matter is that the front office has had a couple less than stellar years (which is a change for twins fans). giving up a cy young pitcher and all-star centerfielder for next to nothing is remarkably tough to rebound from. the truth is the team overperformed last year and came up one run short.
Ok now Gardenhire really has me here, Kubel is good enough to pinch hit but he can’t DH???????? Are you serious?
his bat flip was prettier than Huff’s? Is that random enough for you mickey?
I thought Kubes had a crick in his neck.
Mighty Casey, you lost me at Gardenhire deserves to stay. You should never have continued with anything else. It could have been the most brilliant paragraph written, but after that statement, nobody is going to bother to read it.
“Is that random enough for you mickey?”
yes, but i want more …
Nathan time, BABY!!!!!
Nick34, yeah so how now is he all of a sudden able to PH and not start?
Thank goodness for the WP.
LMS for PoD at 9:52.
Ha!
That will WORK! Remind me again why Gardenhire had him BENCHED to begin the game!
Trade Kubel……..last year, this year.
Way to go, Gardy!
I can’t say anything bad about Kubel, he is a solid DH for us.
That Santana trade may not be such a bad trade after all. Twins got a good pitcher in single A right now and GoGo has not shown his overall potential yet. Wait and see 2-3 years down the road on that trade. I hope Santana gets better after his surgery but well wait and see on this one.
gardy looking pretty smart so far tonight.
Kubes!!!
i vote for ben to take over as twins manager.
we could call it little big league 2
Good to see the muscle relaxant wore out in time. Who would want to bat when he’s a little stoned?
Ben: I heard Kubes had a cricket in his neck. Fake injury….who knows.
“Way to go, Gardy!”
DrDon, your inverted logic inverts the previous inverted logic.
Way to go!
LNP gets his little hit. Oh well..The box score tomorrow will show it as a line drive.
Looks to me like Gardenhire made a bunch of these blog whiners look pretty foolish tonight. Seems that every once in a while, he can do something right, right?? Waiting to see some of that crow about Gardenhire not being able to manage a game.
Is it just me, or does Punto look thicker now than he did earlier in the year? Definitely not fat or pudgy, but thicker?
of active managers that have managed at least 1,000 MLB games:
Winning %
1. Mike Sciosia .556
2. Bobby Cox .556
3. Charlie Manuel .547
4. Ron Gardenhire .543
5. Joe Torre .540
6. Tony LaRussa .536
I admit that Tigers comeback made me more cynical than usual, however, I still say Ocraberrer, LNP, Casilla, Reddog, Butcher, Creede, must go to name a few.
I won’t bitch about Gardy.
But I’ve been saying it looks like he’s worn down and could use a year off.
mighty casey,
the gardy haters will just say he never won the big prize, so he’s terrible (kinda like bud grant and gene mauch).
I say again…Smith has a lot more to answer for than Gardenhire.
Mighty Casey, what you fail to mention is the fact that Gardenhire has managed in the AL Central, which has been the worst division in the league for the majority of those years. look at his record against decent teams.
Nice comeback, I will give them that. A stiff neck? Horsecrap, but he is a clutch hitter and turning out to be the highly touted prospect we thought before the knee problem. It baffles the mind how he did not take over the 4 spot when Morny has been struggling. That is just stupid, stupid managing by Gardy and has cost us games for sure. Mighty Casey, that CY Young award winner is now on the downside of his career with possible elbow problems. He is good at times very good for the Mets and he is a battler, but his stuff is clearly not the same. Gomez? Well he has all the tools and as I recall Hunter was raw for a while and swung at everything under the sun, in fact he never hit .300. Let this kid have some time, no doubt he can play the field. Guerra is the other sweet piece to the deal, a flame thrower who will be Nathan’s eventual replacement.The Mets really liked both these guys. Santana will retire and these two will still be playing, that will be nice. Never played ball stoned, but golf, oh yeah……..
Where did our chief bellyacher, Ben, go when the Twins pulled that rally?
mickey mental, you might be satisfied with a single playoff series win in six years, but the majority of us aren’t.
Look at the players the Angels get compared to what the smaller market teams get. Mike Sciosia is a great coach, but his players he has on the team help him have a fat winning %.
Never mind, he’s back.
I am still here Doc, and I said Cuddyer had a good AB there. I am willing to eat my words when necessary, unlike yourself. At the same point,I definitely stick by my point that Gardenhire needs to be GONE! Just because he is the same age as you does not give him a free pass.
Where are all the people who said trade Cudyer.. Nice come from behind win..
Go Twins live is left….
Geez-
Catching up with the posts, what a bunch of sour pusses! When they were down 3-0, gardy sucked, get rid of him. They win 6-3, so now all of you haters should post “we love you Gardy”. As a fan we have a right to complain about anybody…ok…but like pigs to the slop, many of you pile in…You say “Young/Cuddy/Punto/Gardy suck?” OK, well I say Twins WIN, YOU suck!
Exactly his record against winning teams is putrid and Chief, Smith does not have squat to answer for, the damn Santana trade was overblown. These two have very good upside and are young. Santana wanted too much money and too many years. Same with Hunter. No we were not going to win a World Series with those two and looking at them this year, I am not exactly crying about not having them around. They are breaking down. Garza, yes great last year, this year a head case below .500 pitcher. Bartlett, yes I do miss him, good leader, good bat and glove. But Harris while is not great defensively has a good stick and Young has been pretty good for someone given up and down playing time. Let him play 150 games for two years and then we’ll see. We are way to quick to judge these deals, but Gardy’s deficiences are reflected in how this team plays at times and his stubborn, non-flexible way of managing. Simply put he looks overmatched too many times.
Nice comeback win for the Twins, but make no mistake about it, that the Tigs put in yet another nail into the central division coffin.
the gardy haters will just say he never won the big prize, so he’s terrible (kinda like bud grant and gene mauch).
exactly. joe mauer has never won a world series either but i think i’ll take my chances with him. the logic is the same.
MLB is a crap-shoot. but… someone tell me how gardy in any way got outmanaged in the 4 playoff runs.
2002 - bit by the rally monkey… also a much superior team.
2003 - not a good twins team to begin with. memory fails me on this one.
2004 - koskie huge off of mo. nathan ALMOST brought back a 2-0 lead from yankee stadium. silva… rincon… ouch. who would you have pitched, hindsight being 20/20??
2006 - cy santana gets bit in game one. radke chucking 79 mph in game 3. that was over the minute big hurt took johan deep.
ben-
find me a manager who has a record over .500 vs teams over .500. also, 2 AL pennants came out of the AL central since 2002 that i can recall.
AKDanimal,don’t get it twisted, Gardenhire still sucks.
“Young/Cuddy/Punto/Gardy suck?” OK, well I say Twins WIN, YOU suck!
Welllll…I don’t know.
Punto still sucks.
ben, major league baseball is entertainment and the last several seasons for the twins have been very entertaining.
Casey a rally monkey? Please do you listen to yourself. The Yankees slapped us around, Nathan blew the game to go up 2-0, the next tim they slapped us around again. How about that Oakland debacle? How about the last three years for Gardy? How about Leyland took the Tigers to the World Series, the Chisox won a WS with Ozzie. My friend this guy was a scrappy ballplayer who was under TK and so he got the job. He has done okay but he failed in the playoffs again and again, the better teams he cannot even defeat on a regular basis. When is the last time we won at Yankee Stadium? Don’t give me this small market crap. Gardy if he is so hot will be scooped up quick, but personally I think new blood is needed but someone who can COMMUNICATE with this team not at them.
Hey Micky Mental do theygive out those rings for entertainment value? Huh, I wonder if Joe Mauer wants one, they sound just freaking dandy.
Whatever..how about trying a different Mantra…he’s/they’re here, it’s the team, I want like hell for them to make it and when Nicky get’s a hit, it’s real funny that it was meaningless. I’ve also seen him have a clutch one or two as well. At least I feel I can be happy if they make another miracle run to get in. If not, I’ll root against the Stanks or the Crimson Hosers, and know that “hope springs eternal” next year.
Go Twins!
Ben, I guess you are even then.
Casey, please remind me how many of those AL pennants that came out of the AL Central lately came from Gardenhire!
“Hey Micky Mental do theygive out those rings for entertainment value?”
not much different than an oscar or a grammy. entertainment.
idiots-
would childress be a better coach than bud grant if he wins the super bowl this year?
Casey, you seem to be trouble with coming up with anything in Gardenhire’s defense.
Mighty Casey, that was an excellent post at 9:51.
see 10:18 pm
thank you. with that i am out.
Casey, sorry but you didn’t prove a thing.
Let’s face it, even the president only gets about 60 percent of the votes during an election landslide. Some people will have detractors, no matter what.
And I agree that the GM has a lot more to answer for than the manager, who can only play who the GM gives him.
amtrekman, what you are forgetting is the fact that the GM is limited in what he can do because of his cheap owner. The manager has mismanaged games all season long.
Well, pretty much explains why Morneau was hitting like Punto usually does since all star break. Why was this not found sooner?
OK, then fault the owner, too. What should the payroll be?
If this team would have had better starting pitching the first four months, it would be just fine. But, it didn’t. And Now that the pitching is better, the hitting has struggled.
Some seasons, it just never all clicks. When it does, like the last four months of 2006, it’s beautiful.
amtrek, so how does your last post equate to it being Bill Smith’s fault? It sounds more to me like Gardenhire or Rick Anderson’s fault.
Now Kubel can bat clean-up, and he will rake. He hits for a better average, is a much better clutch hitter, and the GIDP will be greatly reduced. I was not at all surprised to see the Twins lead the league in GIDP. Between Morneau, Cabrerra, and worst of all Cuddyer, it seams like thats all we see.
I have followed this blog for a long time as a reader, but I just gotta say, Ben you are the most annoying poster on the board. I bet 90% of your posts are “Gardenhire this, that and the other thing.” You are like a teenage boy with a crush on a girl so you pull her hair and send her hate mail. It is almost like an “I want carnal knowledge thing” (OK too far….I actually threw up a little in my mouth….). Seriously, I challenge you to go the rest of the season w/o saying one thing about Gardy…I bet you can’t do it. If you can, one day after the season, I will post that you “rock”, 100 posts in a row.
it’s been assumed over several seasons that the twins were cultivating and stockpiling top-shelf starting pitchers.
if true it would be making all the difference, but so far it hasn’t panned out.
AKDanimal, it would be much easier if he was not the reason for most of this team’s fault.
Now with Morneau being out the rest of the season, this team has about a 5% chance of making the postseason. Nice work medical staff. Way to diagnose that early!
“”"”AKDanimal says:
September 14th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
I have followed this blog for a long time as a reader, but I just gotta say, Ben you are the most annoying poster on the board.”"”"
Agreed, AKD…. All in favor say “AYE”
Aye.
