Every game is a winding road
Posted on July 22nd, 2009 – 8:58 AMBy Howard
The universe righted itself a bit Tuesday night. Good pitching + Just enough hitting = Extra-inning victory.
I don’t get too excited about teams “bouncing back” from tough losses. You have a bad day at work, you shouldn’t bring it to the office the next day. They have a bad day on the field, same thing. Learn from it and come back ready to go.
The good stuff:
*Seeing Anthony Swarzak adjust after three shaky innings and throwing four excellent ones. That was the adjustment he didn’t make during his fourth-inning knockout the last time he poitched in Oakland. It was all about using his curveball, as LaVelle pointed out in his postgame blog post.
*Watching Michael “Cristian Guzman” Cuddyer put aside four crummy at-bats to smash the game-winning triple to right-center in the 10th off A’s closer Andrew Bailey. Cristian Guzman? That was Cuddyer’s sixth triple of the season, putting him one behind the league leaders and a career single-season best. Not exactly a place you’d expect to find him.
*Joe Mauer batting second and getting two hits. Let’s stop the silliness and settle on Mauer in the two spot — at least until the arrival of Mark Grudzielanek.
*Joe Crede getting two hits against a lefty. Crede had been flailing against lefties all season and is still looking for his first homer against a lefty since 2006. But both hits were solid. Stay healthy, OK?
*Joe Nathan having another good-luck-hitting-this outing in what is becoming the best among his excellent seasons.
*Matt Guerrier having another quietly reliable outing and putting the disaster of 2008, powered by overuse, further in the rear-view mirror. Give some credit to Gardy and Andy for their discipline in using him even though he’s tied for the AL lead (with Craig Breslow) in appearances.
*Is Colorado must be trying to play itself into a position to trade closer Huston Street? How else do you explain the decision to bring ex-Twin Boom Boom Pow into the eighth inning of a tie game last night? Juan Rincon gave up the eighth-inning, game-losing home run that let the Diamondbacks beat the Rockies. Don’t hold your breath, though. The Rockies are still leading the NL Wild-Card Race by a half-game.
Day game today. No TV. If GameDay is a bit too obvious at your desk, you can follow the play-by-play here. No fancy graphics. Just the facts.
74 Responses to "Every game is a winding road"
There was a lot to like about last nights game. I liked the way Anthony pitched and how Matt and Joe finished the game. I liked seeing Joe in the two spot but would rather see “Michael “Cristian Guzman” Cuddyer” in the three spot and leave Justin 4th.
It’s nice to see Cuddyer bounce back after his injuries this past year. His SLG (.522) and OPS (.876) are higher this year than any other year and is on pace to match his career HR total (24) from 2006.
BC - I think you have to keep Mauer and Morneau back to back. You can split up Morneau and Kubel though in the 3 and 5 spots with Cuddyer in between them. Then bench Casilla for Harris, and we are solid.
If you’re going to point out that Juan Rincon is still putting gas on the fire in the majors, you probably should also point out that Eddie G. and Craig Breslow, two guys we gave up on since the end of last season, are doing quite well with their current teams.
It was a win over Oakland last night. We needed it. You lose there and stuff might spiral, even as I agree with Howard’s ‘no need for a bounce back’ theory. If you stick with Nathan-Guerrier-Mijares-Dickey, usually we’ll be okay.
… then bench Punto for Grudz (hopefully).
I saw the Rockies “highlights” last night and when they mentioned Juan, I just had to shake my head. I didn’t even realize that’s where he had landed.
I also had to shake my head when I read LEN’s article this morning where he mentioned that Gardy “dejectedly” admitted he had to go back to M&M in the 2/3 spots.
I’m as “old school” as you can get in many areas of the game, but it amazes me that a manager would so steadfastly resist using what is so obviously his most effective order.
If Swarzak keeps pitching like this, anybody else vote to put Frankie in the pen to be your 8th inning guy?
Dang Jason, Quit telling people what to write and have some fun once in a while. It’s a blog. It’s baseball. It’s not a research paper.
While I agree, Howard, that one shouldn’t let a bad day influence future days it often occurs. Joe Poz has recently been discussing how this type of behavior has stymied the Royals. I would argue that the Cubs too are afflicted with some serious dysfunction.
JC
You’re right about Gardy resisting the decision to put Joe in the #2 spot - in some ways he’s “out of touch with reality” in his decisions because that one seems like a no brainer to me. I don’t mind loading up the light hitters and fast guys at the end of the lineup and maybe they get on and our big dogs can get some hits. Go with the flow, Gardy, and you may be surprised with the results. Cuddyer is getting some key hits (instead of meaningless ones) and that is great to see; was also impressed with Delmon’s hitting and hustle last night.
Phil Hughes has worked out pretty well in the 8th for NYY.
You make a good point, OB, about Hughes. Like Chamberlain before him, he’s proven that a supposed high ceiling starting pitcher prospect can be effective in a supporting bullpen role. Not that the Twins have a lot of pitchers with Hughes/Chamberlain talent levels, of course. But if Slowey is able to return (which apparently is no sure thing itself), one of the SPs will need to either go to Rochester or to the pen. Given what’s currently sitting in the pen for the Twins, I’ll be very disappointed if one of these current starters goes down instead of one of the current bullpen arms.
I am also hoping that they keep Joe batting second. It just makes the most sense right now for this team as nobody else is stepping up at all. As for Swarzak I am liking this guy more and more. Not a lot of pitchers are capable of making those kind of adjustments mid stream in a game. Especially a rookie pitcher! I believe that they have to keep Swarzak up for the rest of the year now. Now who goes to the bullpen when Slowey comes back??
Eric N….I’m just trying to be fair and balanced 
JimC, it was a bit disconcerting to read Gardy’s statement about the batting order. He just can’t let the 60’s and 70’s go, can he? I have no idea why sports is so change averse - if other industries were like that, there’d be no industries left. You need to always be trying to learn how to do things better, this whole fear of statistics and “new thinking” is just not the way to get better in the long run.
I honestly dont blame Gardy because in a perfect world M @ M belong 3-4 but he’s getting absolutely nothing from the 2 spot. Why not let Michael “Cristian Guzman” Cuddyer hit second?
C’mon, guys, lay off of Gardy. He manages “by the book.” When he’s finished coloring all of the pages in it I’m sure he’ll move onto those newfangled stat thingies.
Howard,
How much more does Kubel have to do to get any type of mainstream attention (besides Fantasy League’s “Look at this guy” kind of articles). The guy is lights out this year and not a whisper…must be frustrating. Put Mauer in the duece, Morneau batting third, and Kube’s has proven he can handle clean-up.
BC, Cuddy and DP are all anyone needs to explain the reality of that thought. Sorry, I’m sure on second thought you would find the error of that preponderance
I’m guessing today’s lineup will not feature a player at the top of the order who has no real business being there, as we’ve seen the last two nights. Although, we probably will see some interesing things…
some possibilities:
-Casilla hits second today
-Buscher plays in place of Morneau at 1B
-Harris might actually start
blake,
That’s an excellent question, but I’m all in favor of guys flying under the radar for as long as possible. As much as many of us wanted to see Kubel play more than in past years, I’m not sure we envisioned a .300 hitter with reasonable (read: Delmonian) defensive skills. I know that I didn’t.
I like the idea of Cuddy hitting in front of Morneau. Cuddy has mediocre plate discipline but can do a lot if he gets his pitch. Hitting in front of Morneau will ensure that he gets pitched to more often.
Span LF
Mauer C
Cuddy RF
Morneau 1B
Kubel DH
Crede 3B
Harris SS
Gomez CF
Punto 2B
danielspr, DP? what DP? Span walks, he hits a triple, and Mauer get’s at least a sac fly. Twins are up 2-0 you gotta like that.
I don’t think it needs to be pointed out that Cuddy had is best year by far hitting between Mauer and Morneau, so your idea isn’t too far fetched.
Why would you put an apostrophe in the word ‘gets?’
To ensure future superfluous posts.
I would rather see Morneau third and Cuddyer fourth. Kubel is the overall better hitter, but breaking up the lefties is a good idea. It lets Cuddyer get more looks against lefties late and Kubel get more looks at righties, both good things.
As far the the MI, I haven’t given up on Casilla. He has talent and has put together quite a few good at-bats (with minimal results) this week. Stick with him for another week to ten days and see if some of those liners and grounders in the hole might end up being hits. He has walked four times and only struck out twice and I can recall at least three balls that requried good plays to get him out.
OB,
“To ensure future superfluous posts.”
Any fear you may have, that the flow of “future superfluous posts” is in danger of drying up, is unfounded.
Was in Colorado a couple weeks ago for a vacation, mentioned this on one of the blogs..
went to a Rockies game vs. the Nationals, couple former twins saw action.
Christian Guzman and Juan Rincon.
I also cringed when I saw Rincon come in for them, but he got 2 outs to escape a jam for them in that game and they won 5-4 or something like that.
By the way, thanks to Howard we all now have that Sheryl Crow song in our head all morning!
Thanks, Disco.
Lots of people put an apostrophe on Twins too. As in “I hate when the Twin’s lose.” Superfluous or no, I gotta admit it bugs me.
Just curious how many times has Cuddy been picked off first? How many errors in the outfield? A vet should not be making boneheaded plays.
“Why would you put an apostrophe in the word ‘gets?’
I was thinking of gets us and typed get’s ah hell i’m just dumb.
The Twins appear to have a capable starter in case the injury bug bites the staff once again.
Keep Frankie in the rotation unless he pitches his way out.
How many teams can say that they have 6 decent starters?
Now, if we had a staff ace…
Sheryl what?
Is that the gal who says we all need to use less toilet paper to save the planet?
It would take a chisel to get one of her songs in my head.
of course, with “six decent starters”, you’d think you could move one of them - and a prospect or two, if need be - to get the number one or two starter that will be needed to win a playoff series (will need two, top starters in a five or seven game series - and streaky current rotation, as much as it’s coming around in most respects, can’t be counted on for more than one come september).
teams with top starters on the trade market should all be hearing from bill smith right now.
the division (and thus the playoffs and beyond) is there for the taking. add a top starter and the sky’s the limit. chicago and detroit are counting on smith doing nothing. there may never be a better time to make a big move.
sane,
Thanks for the correction where Santiago High was the other day.. Chino - Corona kind of blend into one another. The tryouts that the Mariners put on was pretty big. Bigger then I thought. There were a lot of scouts there from MLB and colleges. I know the Royals, Pirates, and Braves were there but I don’t know if a Twins scout was. The Mariner people were all very nice and after my Son pitched they made sure they got all my contact information. It was a nice event for him to go to.
I would be comfortable moving any one of our six decent starters plus a Casillo,Harris,Buscher,Duensing,Mulvey
Keppel,Dickey or all of them together for a staff ace.
Ain’t gonna happen though…
I agree that Span-Mauer-Morneau is the best 1-2-3 lineup. But if Gardenhire just can’t stomach that, how about have Gomez lead off and bat Span 2nd? Gomez might stop swinging for the seats if he is leading off. Span is almost as liable to move Gomez over with a walk as a hit. The only knock on Span as a lead-off hitter I can think of is his base running skills.
While Gomez-Span is not as good as Span-Mauer, it is 100% better than Span-Whoever-is-playing-second-base-that-day.
I just saw the fault in my Gomez-Span-Mauer 1-2-3 order: Gomez is probably not going to play everyday.
Funny you mention Colorado and Rincon.
He’s actually pitching very well for them. Hard to stay focused sometimes when you only pitch once a week, but he is doing a great job.
As for the Twins I hate when they say they will not trade future talent for proven guys to win NOW. WHEN in any part of this teams history have we won anything when we sat back and didn’t make a trade? I do believe the times we won the World Series, big time trade deadline moves were made.
But hey, why would we want a world series title, when we can just keep these talented future players that end up to be nothing in the long run.
Jay,
In what world is a 5.75 ERA (6.30 for Colorado)for the season pitching well? He’s given up 7BB and 8 hits in 10 innings, since he’s been with the Rockies.
I think batting order is highly overrated.
Batting order may or may not be over-rated within one game, but over a season, the leadoff spot gets significantly more ABs than the number 9 spot. So, over a season, where you bat players can make a difference.
By the way, I know this is EXTREMELY off topic, but ESPN can no longer be taken seriously as a news organization for failing to report the Big Ben story. Just thought I would advance that thought for the journalistic minds among us.
Mike, I agree, but since that is the case, would you not want a HR hitter in the leadoff spot? That means they would have more ABs than anyone else over a season and they can score a run with one swing. I do understand that then the HR hitter has less likely chance to have base runners on when he comes up, so I would not suggest the HR hitter is the leadoff guy. But whether Mauer hits 2nd or 3rd, is that a huge difference?
has ESPN EVER been taken seriously
its in the name: Entertainment and Sports Programming Network. Its an entertainment outlet, not a journalistic outlet, even a sports journalism outlet.
By the way, anyone remember a few years back there was this sports fan nut who wanted to name his kid ESPN, and actuallly did?
Trading for ace of rotation (Doc H from Jays or Peavy from Pads) is risky. First have to get agreement from player. Second have to resign for long-term (if not dont make trade). Third would probably have to trade one of our decent starters (Baker, Blackburn, etc.) Delmon and some minor leaguer. That is a lot especially if one of guys traded away becomes star.
Most of these trades backfire–starting with Braves getting young Smoltz so Tigers use Doyle Alexander to win one pennant.
DAM
Original kevin, while batting order construction is still being studied by the stats heads, I do believe they have found a correlation between OBP and runs scored.
It’s not so much about Mauer hitting 2nd, it’s about not having a stiff hit 2nd. If your choices for who hits 2nd in the order are a guy that gets on base less often than I make a cogent post, and Mauer, you need to make it Mauer.
But whether Mauer hits 2nd or 3rd, is that a huge difference?
No.
What does become important over the course of a season, though, is if the manager insists on shoehorning a weak hitter into the lineup AHEAD of Mauer, using as logic some outdated idea of what a ‘2 hitter’ is supposed to look like, while in reality only chewing up outs at the top of the lineup and costing better hitters plate appearance and RBI opportunities.
To quote the Dixie Chicks, “There’s your trouble.”
lineups yet?
I had to chuckle, jason, at your characterization regarding the Twins “giving up on Eddie Guardado.” There was not a single person who checked this board last summer who had not “given up” on Eddie. Except you, jason, and you apparently decided not to let us in on that particular opinion.
We have Sheryl Crow, Black Eyed Peas and now the Dixie Chicks referenced in one post. Might be time for a music moratorium before someone goes all Britney Spears on us and claims that Billy Smith is seeking a No. 2 hitter named Amy, or something like that.
“is if the manager insists on shoehorning a weak hitter into the lineup AHEAD of Mauer, using as logic some outdated idea of what a ‘2 hitter’ is supposed to look like, while in reality only chewing up outs at the top of the lineup and costing better hitters plate appearance and RBI opportunities.”
Since you did not name “the manager”, I am going to assume this is a hypothetical situation to which you are referring.
You’re right, birdofprey, I never lobbied for the Twins to go after Everyday Eddie as a reliever for 2009. But as we point out time and time again, we have no real control over it anyway.
I did lobby quite a bit over the summer for the Twins to find a suitable bench player to back up 1B and 3B, using Doug Mientkiewicz as my prefered example. The Twins did nothing about that and we’re suffering in that area as well. (Yes I’m aware Mientkiewicz is on the DL)
over the winter, i meant.
Is the word “poitched” a botched pitching outing? I think you have a typo or I am not up on the current baseball slang.
I have no problem with ex-Twins being good players elsewhere. It’s the decision making on which to keep/cut that sometimes baffles me (using the information we have at the time of the transaction). But, I’m trying harder, since coming back from vacation, to just enjoy the games.
1. Sheryl Crow
2. Black Eyed Peas
3. Dixie Chicks
4. Britney Spears.
One of these things is not like the others. 
Jason, Lineups are posted on LEN’s blog. He was getting some news on Crede’s shoulder, which acted up again yesterday.
Ben, It’s a tpyo, er, typo. You see ‘em on blogs sometimes.
Chief, Excellent point.
does the fact that Green Day is my favorite band help explain how I view the world somedays, and why my posts come out that way the do?
*funny, I never feel that way about my kids or wife or our friends - the stuff closest to me…
mike,
“But, I’m trying harder, since coming back from vacation, to just enjoy the games.”
How did that work for you Monday night?
If you managed to “enjoy” that game, I need you to give me some psychological suggestions.
Sorry if my post sounded critical on the typo. I actually like the word “poitched” and it actually made sense in a strange way.
Ben, No worries. Good editors are good to find, even apres-typo.
Crede is a dead man. We could honestly pick up Sanchez and Jack Wilson for nothing we would miss. Harris plays third.
Chief-
I’m not sure which one is not like the others…they all have at least one hot female in the group…Brittany might be the different one because she’s a smack-head…BEP’s are a much different genre…Dixie Chicks are “un-American”…Cheryl Crow is probably the oldest…can I pick e) Bon Jovi - Livin’ on a Prayer, as the Twins will be doing if they don’t fix their middle infield.
I went to bed while they were ahead. That made the pain much less than it would have been otherwise.
“I went to bed while they were ahead”
That is a great idea.
I’ll try it tonight.
However, it’s going to be a problem during afternoon games.
sane… what, youve never heard of naps?
I’m not sure which one is not like the others
Um, one **coughbritneycough** is missing any shred of talent?
Have to “respectfully” disagree with Howard on the “not big on bouncing back” games. Championship team (including both the ‘87 & ‘91 Twins) point to certain games helping to define, shape or save a season all the time. Just as teams which just miss out point to critical or bad losses hurting their cause.
And the biggest thing about them is the “old mo” theory. Wins,especially dramatic ones, can have like a high affect on a team. They can help you start a winning streak, end a losing streak or just keep your winning ways rolling. A bad loss has the danger of lingering. Get behind early the next night and your will to fight goes away much easier. Bad losses can have a hangover affect.
A since coaches and players say so often that games are about runs (especially in Basketball). Season are about streaks. Long winning one and short losing ones.
So it’s not just the loss on Monday night that hurts. It’s the way it happened, coupled with having lost the night before in extra innings and the danger that it made a significant losing streak much easier to happen. At this point of the season one of those could sink the season.
Winning on Tuesday helped stop that bleeding but now it appears Perk in doing his best to peel back the scab. Now a team having lost 3 of 4 going to AL West leading LAA in on the edge of a serious losing streak. And that is what would make one look back and say that Monday night setback was such a crushing loss.
Here’s hoping it doesn’t work out that way!
Looks like I waited too long to start that nap…..
