Oh, the wondering about it all
Posted on May 3rd, 2007 – 10:10 PMBy Howard
Some things I’m pondering right now:
*How badly was Michael Cuddyer hurt in his (now not very funny) forward roll on the top of his batting helmet the other night? JoeC reported that x-rays were negative, but a bad bruise in the middle of the clean-up hitter’s back doesn’t bode well for power nor for mobility in the outfield. If this continues much longer, I’m wondering if Gardy will see if Torii can conquer his batting-cleanup phobia.
*How much faith have Gardy and Rick Anderson lost in Dennys Reyes? Was anyone else surprised not to see him to get a shot at the left-batting Carlos Pena in the bottom of the eighth? I was thinking that before Pena took Jesse Crain to the catwalk, I promise. Of course, yielding 21 baserunners in 7 2/3 innings isn’t quite trust-inspiring. I get a tad suspicious when a guy doesn’t pitch for a week and then it gets mentioned that he’s sore. (You think D-Rays closer Al Reyes was disgusted when they flashed D-Reyes’ stats on TV by mistake when A-Reyes came in to pitch?) Yo, Terry Ryan. How’s Venafro looking at Rochester? Scoreless 
in his last seven appearances? That’s good!
*And what’s up with Juan Rincon’s elbow? He would have pitched after Joe Nathan in the 10th on Wednesday if he’d been healthy.
*At the end of the season, will it be written that an early indication of the Twins’ troubles was that they dropped the season series to Tampa four games to three? Or will it be written that they won 95 games despite losing a season series to, of all teams, the Devil Rays?
*The Rays are tied for second in the AL East. If that keeps up, will the sun rise in the 
West before our grandkids lose their teeth?
*A challenge for Joe Vavra: Can you get Morneau and Mauer to take more aggressive at-bats against right-handers who can throw a good change-up? They looked like a couple of kids with day passes from New Britain on Thursday night. (Please, nobody interpret that as thinking the reigning MVP and batting champ suck. Thanks.)
*When Sidney Ponson starts Sunday, how many people are still going to be rooting for an 11-10 victory? You know, outscore ‘em while the beefy guy looks bad enough to replace.
*Are you gonna feel bad that Jim Thome is on the DL and won’t be playing against the Twins next week?
*Somebody posed this question to Curt Schilling on his blog: “While this is a little off topic, I was hoping that you could provide your input as a professional athlete. The Pats just signed Randy Moss. Like everyone else, I’m hoping that his reputation as being a 
“clubhouse cancer” is way overblown. However, if it is not, is there a chance that a player who is nothing but trouble can bring down a whole team? Is this a real risk? What should the clubhouse leaders/veterans do to keep the team together in such a situation?” I want to read his answer. I want Pat Neshek to answer that question on his blog too.
What are you wondering about?
15 Responses to "Oh, the wondering about it all"
How in the world does Gardy and Anderson have faith in Crain? He gives up HRs every game he appears in. By sending him out it seemed like they were not interested in winning the game because the predictable happened.
If the Rays are 2nd and won series against the 2 division leaders last year. Maybe they are not so lowly at least right now. People keep saying that but biy do they have a very good hitting lineup which might makeup for some of their other inconsistencies.
crain & rincon have sliping the last couple of years, sylva is only good for three innings at a time, maybe we should put him in the middle roll and neshek at the end,,I do think that it`s time to cut bait and run, with the Sid-man, and bring up Garza,,, give him innings at this level, thats the only way that he`ll learn his craft at pitching to the big dogs like hw did last year,,and did it,,well
I agree with Crain slipping. Rincon has been fine for the most part. Garza will only be brought up if he consistently throws his breaking pitches. If he doesn’t he will only learn that every major league team can hit a fastball.
I was really pumped when we had bases loaded no outs with Mauer and Morneau coming up, but now we all know the outcome. How discouraging was that?
Morneau and Mauer did suck in this series, the whole team did. How many times have the Twins had the starter on the ropes in the first inning only to let him off and then look like little leaguers the rest of the game. Another issue is the base running, my gosh somersaults on the base paths, third out by a catcher trying to go to third, runners falling down stealing bases on and on. once or twice is amusing, but it is getting out of control.
The team has not really had much trouble getting on base at all this series. That clutch hit was elusive though.
I will be one of those people hoping for a 12-10 Twins victory on Sunday when Ponson starts.
When they are finally forced to make a move on Ponson, I hope the Twins consider using Perkins in the rotation. I like how he’s been pitching.
I didn’t realize until the other day when buddy of mine pointed it out: the Twins currently have a Perkins and a Dennys on the roster.
After having the easiest schedule in the American League through yesterday, we now enter a brutal streach. Outside of Santana, and maybe Ortiz, I have no confidence in the rest of our pitching. Plus we hear that Baker will be the first one to be called up. This is a travesty. Baker’s trade value will never be higher than right now. Bring him up, and after he fails, he is done as a prospect. Slowey, then Garza need to be the first two called up. Ryan holds on to pithcing prospects too long. Emil Brown for Baker? I would do it in a heartbeat, and I bet KC would too.
Reyes has always sucked. He had one good year with us last year. We should have traded him when everyone was high on him. Now we are stuck with the same old Reyes. Perkins seems versatile enough to be a starter, long guy or situational lefty. I think we should keep him up for now.
The Twin’s proved my point again the last 2 nights. They are a very streaky offensive ball club simply because they are so undisciplined at the plate. For a team that prides itself on doing things the right way, their refusal to adjust to pitchers is very frustrating!
DG
Howard, You can root for a 11-10 decision, I’ll root for something far more practical…Mauer & Morneau learning to hit when it actually matters.
Regards,
DG,
AMEN! Did you see Hunter swing at the second bounce last night?
I’m not totally ready to give up on Reyes quite yet but if he completely tanks I agree Venafro would be a great option (he certainly has earned his stripes in spring training and AAA).
Perkins has been OK but I think he would be better off pitching regularly in AAA. Gardy hasn’t really been using him situationally much anyway and having him as “long relief” isn’t the best way to prepare him for being a starter. Let him pitch every 5 days in Rochester.
So far Crain is the one that scares me the most and even Rincon has been pretty wild. Guerrier and Neshek have been the most consistent bullpen guys by far.
Here’s to Sid Ponson’s sweat today. May it avoid his eyes and put some spin on the ball.
