First of all, I’d gladly trade the Fan Appreciation Weekend streak we’re on — the Cub Foods gift card Friday and being in the Hormel Row of Fame today — for a couple of victories. We’re team players, after all, in Section 220.

But we really shouldn’t have to think about making that sacrifice.

Instead, in the head thumping following this loss, there’s little to think about but the ifs.

If the Twins hadn’t grounded into rally-thwarting double plays with runners on first and third and one out while they were scoring in the second and third…

If Boof hadn’t lunged for (and deflected) the one-hopper in the sixth that went from being a double play grounder to a game-tying single…

If Nick Punto was a few inches taller than 4-foot-20, he would have been able to grab that soft liner during the Royals’ sixth-inning rally…

If Matt Guerrier had… (More on that later.)

If Jesse Crain hadn’t thrown a wild pitch on the third strike to Jose Guillen in the seventh…

Then the infield wouldn’t have been playing in with one out and runners on second and third…

And the feeble pop-up by the next batter would have beem an easy grab for Morneau instead of a two-run single that brought home the game-deciding runs…

If Alexi Casilla, normally the slickest of bunters, hadn’t popped up on his try in the seventh…

If the probable batting champion and the possible MVP hadn’t joined the ranks of the GDP guys with runners on base in the seventh and ninth.

If, if, if, if.

Then all the post-game grrrrrrrrrrrrs, as in Grrrrrrrrrrrrr-rier, wouldn’t be cycling through baseball fans in these parts.

The one thing I’m still trying to figure out is keeping the seriously struggling Matt Guerrier in to start the seventh inning — when the Royals scored their final two runs — after he used mirrors and a good defensive play by Brendan Harris at third base to escape the sixth, retiring the Nos 8 and 9 guys in the Royals order with the bases loaded. Guerrier had fallen behind 2-and-0 on both of them, so it’s not like those were lights-out outs.

A quick refresher for those who need to be reminded how much Guerrier had struggled this month and last — or for those who hopped this blogwagon in the last couple of weeks: Guerrier has given up 22 earned runs in 19 2/3 innings since August 1, putting 45 base runners on (more than two per inning) during that time. He’s been the losing pitcher five times, including today.

With all of the arms-in-waiting in the bullpen, I was pretty amazed that Gardy kept Guerrier in the game to start the seventh against the top of the Kansas City order. Two hits later he was swapped out for another right-hander, Jesse Crain, whom I’d expected to see start the inning.

Gardy has done a better job managing the bullpen than a lot of people give him credit for, and has revamped his A-list relievers as needed down the stretch. But this one was a puzzler.

Earlier this week, Gardy got testy about being second-guessed about choosing Kubel over Cuddyer (on the night when Kubel came through with two homers and a triple against the White Sox and Javier “Big Game” Vazquez). Baseball is about second-guessing. Fans and media second-guessing decisions made from the front office to the dugout; talk-show callers blasting away whether or not they know what they’re talking about; bloggers and their commenters challenging the universe and each other.

That’s all part of the fun (baseball is a game) and everyone needs to accept it, including a very good manager who finds himself in an unexpected and unanticipated title race on the final day of the regular-season schedule. Come season’s end, regardless of when that is or how things play out over the next day or so, I will be among those calling for appreciation  for players, a coaching staff and a front office that kept us from having to get our thrills mostly by trying to ruin other teams’ seasons.

And one more thing: All along, when people asked for my MVP thoughts, I’ve deferred by talking about how making the right choice could literally come down to the final days of the season. Our hearts tell us Morneau. But if I look at these last couple weeks, I’m seeing 10 hits in his last 50 at-bats with no home runs and 5 RBI.

What if he’d gone on one of his hot streaks to close out the season, with a couple of memorable game-changing at-bats? Then we’d be saying MVP, no doubt. After all, a couple more game-changing at-bats (or probably even playing at the pace of his season-long numbers) and we’d be watching the reserves get some playing time while getting ready for Thursday’s post-season opener against Tampa Day.

Right now, it’s coming down to the regular season’s final swings — for MVP and for the playoffs. I hope Morneau brings a few good ones to the ballpark on Sunday so that it’s easy to look back on his excellent season the way we should.

And I hope that everyone else in the home team’s colors brings their “A” games, as well as everyone (for one more day) in a Cleveland uniform.

I’m kind of frustrated and a bit befuddled right now. But I still believe this thing is going to turn out all right — and that I’m gonna be at a baseball game in the Metrodome next Sunday.

As the prophet-in-training Carlos Gomez told Joe Christensen after the game: “Yeah, it’s one game tomorrow. But it’s not the last game.”

Can I get an Amen, people?!

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 27th, 2008 at 9:48 pm and is filed under From the Dome. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.