Where to begin? How about with more baseball?
Posted on October 5th, 2009 – 9:08 AMBy Howard
Having attended 1,000 or so baseball games, I can say without hesitation there’s little that I haven’t seen at one time or another: No-hitter (check). Game 7 of the World Series (check). Spring training (check). A 3,000th hit (check). A 3,000th strikeout and cycle in same game (check). Blowing 10-run lead (check). Ball stuck in Dome roof (check). The list could go on with events both sacred and mundane.
But the thrills of recent days are an unprecedented combo platter of things that make baseball even better than a last-second touchdown pass or an off-balance three-pointer at the buzzer. From Wednesday night, when all seemed lost, through late Sunday afternoon, when the Dome again shook and then went all misty-eyed, there was hour-by-hour, inning-by-inning churn of drama that I don’t think you can find anyplace else.
Whether it was rubbing the thumb callous while the Twins were turning their 10-0 romp into a 10-7 semi-thriller… Cy Young Greinke v. M-V-P Mauer (and Kubel and Delmon) on Saturday… adopting the Mighty Whiteys in a Bloomington bar on Saturday night… watching Delmon create a new identity in these last few days… overlooking the flaws and relishing the over-achievements… and all of the events during and after Sunday’s game, baseball can do sustained drama like no other sport.
I may be biased about that, but you’ll just have to deal with it. And I understand that others — like the guy who had his purple van parked near the Metrodome at 6:30 this morning — likely have a different point of view.
Maybe it’s because there were so many valleys in this season that we feel like we’re standing on the highest peak right now — even if there’s no guarantee that there will be baseball for the Twins beyond Tuesday. The Twins are making this run with a Factory Outlet infield, their fourth-strongest defensive outfield, a patchwork starting rotation and a bullpen that’s been revised and re-revised in all spots except the very end.
This is better than 2006 because the stakes are higher. The final-weekend burst that season was only the difference between a division title and Wild Card berth. Tuesday, it’ll be like the title game for one of those college basketball conferences where only the winning team has a chance to go to the NCAA tournament. And the’re the added craziness of winning and then heading right to New York to open the playoffs, assuming the Yankees will want to get their postseason party started right away.
(Here’s the mlb.com explanation of the first-round playoff schedule: “In the Division Series, the New York Yankees will host the AL Central Champion (winner of the Tuesday, Oct. 6th DET @ MIN tie-breaker), while the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim will host the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees have clinched the best record in the American League and thus have the right to decide whether they will play in the seven-day or eight-day Division Series (i.e., whether it will start its Division Series on Wednesday, Oct. 7th or Thursday, Oct. 8th). The Yankees must make their selection no later than one hour following the completion of the DET @ MIN tie-breaker.”)
Whatever happens, this has been a season to remember — and to forgive and forget some of the things that some people were saying earlier, whether it those who misguidedly questioned Joe Mauer’s toughness or Jason Kubel being in the lineup every day, or whatever.
A 162-game season offers up plenty of chances for blockhead pronouncements. We all make them and we shouldn’t hold them against one another, especially we’re on the cusp of what would be a fantasy for so many suffering cities. I mean, have you ever talked to a Royals fan? Or a Pirates fan? Or … you get the idea.
Play on, guys.
113 Responses to "Where to begin? How about with more baseball?"
What a great way to finish the last season in the dome. I hope the Twins can win tommorow and continue playing in the dome for a few more weeks.
Howard:
Thank you for yet another inspired piece. All I can say is, “me, too!”
Ahhh……sending the Dome off in style. Gotta love it. Who would’ve thought we’d be cheering so hard for the dirty South Siders? That was an emotional day yesterday. Hard to keep the eyes dry when they were going through the all-Metrodome team and they got to #34. So many memories in that building. I’m hoping we’ve got a few memories left in there! Go Twins! Oh yeah, and go Vikes! Big couple days in the Dome! Let’s have some fun….and like Hrbek said, “lookin’ forward to drinking more beer in here on Tuesday!” Go get’em!
Boy! I’m sad I can’t be there!
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You need another omen for how well this is going to turn out Tuesday?
When I finally got to the front of the line at the ticket window after Sunday’s game and told the pleasant, if somewhat frazzled, lady working the window what my ticket needs/desires were, she clicked her computer keys and responded with:
“I’ve got these in row 11 of Section 220.”
It’s karma, I tell ya.
Howard:
I’m not one for commenting very often, but I figure this is the time for it. I’m a Twins fan down in Omaha, at best I get to a game or two every year and have to hope for Fox or MLBNet to occasionally broadcast a game down here.
I spent this whole season debating whether it was worth it to plan a weekend around the Twins. They seemed out of the race so many times and I just wasn’t sure if spending the time and money to get up to the Cities would be worthwhile. Anyway, a couple weeks ago I decided I needed to see one last game at the Dome before Target Field opens next year. To get to the point, I bought some GA tickets for Friday night, lined up some friends to join me, and crossed my fingers that a late season against the Royals would mean something.
I guess I don’t need to tell you how that went. I got to see a young player hit his first Grand Slam, I saw the Royals a laugher into a tense finish, I saw Joe Nathan stack another save on top of a great season. I can’t say I’ve been to that many MLB games, maybe a dozen compared to your thousand, but this was hands-down the best I’ve made it up for. It’s times like this weekend that make me remember why we all love this sport.
I spent the drive back to Omaha yesterday bouncing between the Twins and Tigers games on XM. I’d like to know what everyone else on I-35 and I-80 thought when they saw me celebrating in the car with every Twins run, every sign of life from the Sox.
Now I’m wasting my morning just getting excited for tomorrow’s game, Let’s go Twins!
My only regret is that I won’t be able to join you guys at the Dome to cheer on the Twins in the next game in a series of “Biggest Games Ever” 
But I’ll be watching from some other location, living and dying on every pitch until whatever happenes happens.
What a great way for the Dome to finish out its last regular season. Words cannot describe how cool it has been to follow the Twins the last couple of weeks. I’m from out of state and had kind of stopped paying attention to the scores around the first of September. Around the 15th or so, I just happened to check the stats to see if Mauer was still in the lead for the batting title. I was shocked to realize that the Twins were just 4 1/2 back. They’ve kept clawing and fighting and it took until the 2nd to last game to even pull into a tie. Simply amazing….
If you are lucky enough to be able to be there on Tuesday, cheer long and loud. We are lucky to be fans of a team that never, ever folds. They just keep on fighting every year, no matter how ugly it looks. Or how much it seems like the season is over.
“”Play on, guys.”" Amen, and do us MORE proud.
“”Play on, guys.”" Amen, and do us MORE proud.
“”Play on, guys.”" Amen, and do us MORE proud.
Dean Martin: “Memories are made of this, (you can’t beat the memories you gave to me)
I was fortunate enough to get to game 2 of the ‘87 WS. The Twins won game 7 of that WS on my birthday, Oct. 25, 1987.
Yesterday was the first day i can remember watching all baseball during the football season. The ceremony was awesome i loved every bit of it and i can’t wait untill Tuseday night.
I thought my last visit to the dome was the Friday night we beat Detroit 6-2 when Kubel’s left field bloop was lost in the lights. I am positively giddy that this was not the last vist! I’ll be there Tuesday, old Homer Hanky in hand!
Even if we don’t win, which will of course be a disappointment, what a ride it has been.
Tried to spot you in 220 on Friday, Howard, but I don’t really know where you sit. From way up in row 29 in section 221, you still actually have a decent view of the game. You should have seen my youngest and how nervous he got when the Royals were cutting away at the lead. He was yelling for Nathan in the 8th, so I had to explain to him that some people thought closers should come in in the 9th only, and some thought your best reliever should come in in high leverage situations like that.
My favorite moment was when Young came up in the first and he saracastically noted ” delmon young, your favorite player dad”, and I assured him Young had been hot and would get a hit. There is a time to “just be a fan” and a time to discuss decisions in a rational way….
BC, me too. Yesterday I said to myself, “self, how cool is this that its a football Sunday and baseball is the only thing on my mind today?”
I texted my daughter and told her that this is the reason we love being Twins fans! Of course she agrees.
I can see where you rank this season over last since we had a mini collapse at the end but the 3 games vs Chicago rank with the last 3 here.
2006 had a lot of drama at the end but I will go with your assesment. However, 2006 had a lot more drama and excitement throughout the year being 13 games back at one point and ending with 96 wins and the division title on the last day.
Regardless of how this plays out on Tuesday,2006 will remain my favorite regular season of all time.
This year was pretty boring until the last 3 weeks. This from a fan who never lost the faith at any point in the season.
My favorite “Delmon moment” came Friday night while I was watching that game on the laptop (the Royals’ feed).
Mijares enters the game in the 8th and the Royals broadcasters mention the little tiff between he and Delmon in Detroit. Of course, Mijares promptly plunks Hernandez.
The camera focuses immediately on Delmon in left field and shows him turn to look at Span (or perhaps it was Gomez by then). Whoever it was must have said something to Delmon because he just shook his head and laughed.
“There is a time to “just be a fan” and a time to discuss decisions in a rational way….”
Well said mike wants win.
Go Twins!
Will someone let me know when the “time to discuss decisions in a rational way” is? I’ve been waiting around here for several years for a rational discussion!
I opted to run the marathon yesterday rather than get out for duck opener. Actually, made that choice before they announced the waterfowl dates. Haven’t missed an opener since I started hunting, other than a deployment in 2005. Turns out, the real choice was to miss the big game yesterday though I didn’t have to miss much. Got a scoreboard update at the finish line. Twins up by 4.
Missed all 4 Kubel and Young homeruns, and I couldn’t wait to get home to the couch to finish watching the game (you can only move so fast after 26.2 miles…what a crazy idea that was).
I was on the phone 30 seconds before Liriano finished off the Royals & spent the next 4+ hours hitting redial and letting my computer refresh for online purchase. “All circuits are busy” and a 15 second countdown are burned in my memory…then, at 10:04 pm, one last attempt before I crashed and there was something different. I almost hung up through pure muscle memory when understanding snapped into my brain, I got through!
I was on hold for a minute or two after selecting the purchase ticket option and I debated hanging up becuase there was no tone, no music, no nothing…just empty air. But the cell phone indicated that I was still connected. Finally, a real live woman asked for my order. All that was left was upper deck obstructed view seating, row 28 or higher. I took them without hesitation and still felt like I’d won the lottery. My Dad and brother and I will be up there in section 230 with the binoculars and John & Dazzle on the AM. I hope it’s so loud we can’t even hear them!
JC…rational discussion the these blogs??? That is halarious.
Kudos to Bremer and Gordon on the introductions…although, I almost puked a little bit when Francisco Liriano was introduced as “the franchise”
Are there any former Twins you wished could’ve been there for the ceremony afterwards that were not in attendance??…for simple crowd reaction Lew Ford and Eddie Guardado would’ve been nice…I loved that Chili Davis was in attendance.
I can’t be there. It’s 1,084 miles from my house to the Dome (or so says the odometer) so I don’t make many games. Cheer them on for me. I’ll be in my living room clutching my beer in one hand and my homer hanky in the other.
Shawn i agree i can only imagine how hard it was for Gordo at the end of the inductions when he talked about Kirby because he was such a huge part of the WS magic in the dome. It would have been nice to see Eddie and Lew but Kirby is the one who was missed.
for simple crowd reaction Lew Ford and Eddie Guardado would’ve been nice…I
For sure those two would’ve been fun.
Will be sitting in section 100 for the game tomorrow and can’t wait. Cabrera is truly an idiot if he is going out drinking with the Sox players this time of year. Some people just don’t get it I guess. Maybe we can find some Vikings fans willing to give up their tickets tonight so the Tigers will have something to do while they are in town!
Good to see Miguel Cabrera out getting drunk all night with the division on the line. Then spending the morning at the jailhouse after a scratch-up with the Mrs. That’s keeping your head on straight for the big series. I’d guess he was out with Leyland talking strategy over a few shots ’til 5am.
Let’s send him some Dom Tuesday afternoon to get him loosend up.
I don’t think Jeff Reardon was there, was he? If so, I missed his intro. He played a huge role.
CharlieMurphy…..I will be in Section 1, Row 1, Seat 1. It’s the only one in front of my TV, and I am my own Donnie the Beerman!
I don’t get back to Mpls very often from my home in northern California, but my Mom is in the twilight of her autumn years and I spent the last week with her in Minnetonka. It was great to watch the Vikings take away bragging rights from all my 49er-fan buddies and maybe even better to see the Twins on their improbable run. The best, tho, was to see Mom get some needed exercise rooting for the home boys!
Or a Reds fan? I’ve lived in Cincy for 3 seasons now and these fans are cursed. They’ve spent money and tried youth movements, brought in Dusty Baker (huge mistake, in my opinion) and now they’re trying to emulate the St. Louis Cardinals. Hope that works for them. Anyway, the Reds fans I know are almost unfailingly optimistic, even while bashing myriad defects of the team/franchise/front office, etc. They are all very supportive of the Twins, too, and envy our approach.
I’m babbling. I’m way excited. Go Twins!
kb: “I’m babbling. I’m way excited. Go Twins!”
As we all are!!!! Thanks for the support.
I was a little surprised that neither Perkins nor Crede was at the ceremony. Slowey, Bonser, and Neshek all were.
Also quite disappointed that many fans were booing at the mention of Knoblauch.
Hey Gus, also down here in Omaha. Glad you got to see the game in person. Down here in Omaha yesterday, the game was blacked out. No video anywhere to be found. Listened to the game on XM in my garage in Bennington. Watched the Tigers/WS on MLB network. The scalpers are out there in full force on ebay goughing the the twins fans and taking advantage of them.. One idiot as of last night had 19 tickets he was selling on ebay.. Yes.. I know..it’s supply and demand.. I hope it comes back to bite these greedy people some day…
BennyW
Perkins was invited but turned it down apparently it wouldn’t help his court case against the Twins.
Random thoughts from the desert;
~ Gardenhire for Manager of the Year.
~ Mauer, MVP, Batting Champ, Gold Glove.
~ Delmon Young, better late then never.
~ Span is a stud.
~ Pavano is a keeper.
~ Orlando C is a gamer.
~ Cuddy, come back player of the year.
~ Kubel, another stud.
~ Punto. My 16 year old son is a highly skilled baseball player. I have no idea where he got his skills. But the player he admires the most, the one he tries to emulate is Nick Punto. A guy that has tremendous fielding skills, a passion for the game, and works his tail off, not taking anything for granted. Its a good thing that Punto is a Twin.
Its not who you play, but when you play them. The Twins are white hot and with the Thunderdome rocking Tuesday, the Tiggers are toast. MN Twins, 2009 Division Champions! I like it!
Great Article Howard!! couldn’t agree more with everything you said! Cannot wait to go to the game tomorrow and hopefully walk out without a voice and deaf from all tho noise! Bring it on Tigers! Let’s go Twins!
To Omaha Gus:
I live in Lincoln and can pick up the games most of the time on WNAX, 570 AM. It usually works in my car and for some reason the undercabinet radio in my kitchen picks them up all the time as clear as a bell - needless to say, I’ve spent a lot of time in the kitchen these past few days!
Go TWINS!
good article..so excited for tomorrow. i took tomorrow off of work last week in preparation for this game!! GO TWINS!!
Benny: Crede couldn’t travel because of his back surgery.
Crede had back surgery and may not be able to travle yet to be there yesterday. Perkins sealed his fate with the team. Unfortunately the team may not get much for him now.
Howard, I figured he would have been there if he could.
Perkins could have been there, and he does live in Minnesota. I think his bridges are all but burned now.
All Perkins did was pi$$ off anyone and everyone that once admired and respected him. And, Glen, enjoy your stint with the Twins, because you showed that you will not have a future anywhere else. We do not need guys like that around here.
Can somebody recap the Perkins situation with the Twins for me…?
Have we really heard all sides of Perkins story? Most people here side with the superstars saying anyone would go after more money even though common sense and Justin Morneau will tell you they already have more money than they can spend in a lifetime. Most fans say Twins are cheap for not signing Santana and Hunter and don’t consider the players are gready for wanting 80 mil instead of 70 mil.
Perkins is not a superstar but had a pretty good year in 08. Injuries and or diminishing abilities shown (not proven) that he might not make it back to prominence. Isn’t it more understandable that a guy like that tries to cash in on his situation. He is likely not set for life and who among you wouldn’t go for more money if you could? Why are the Twins cheap for not paying out many millions for players who are already set for life but Perkins is selfish for trying to
milk what he can out of the system while he can?
Knowing what money means to me I know that if I already had millions in the bank, more millions wouldn’t mean all that much to me but if I spent several years making minor league money and only 2 years making very good money and on the downward spiral Perkins is, I might try to get as much as I can.
By the way, with that said, I always considered Perkins the 5th starter even after everyone was calling him the ace when he had those good games in April and May. I do not really want him back since I think Duensing is at least as good with a better upside with his variety of pitches, but if he can come back and be effective the more power to him.
Guess I’m not quite so down on Perkins as others are. Baseball is a business. That means the team makes decisions based on what’s best for their business in the short and/or long run. I don’t think we can be expecting players not to do the same. I’ll separate the business side of Perkins’ dispute with the Twins from the on-field side. He has some things to prove on the field, but if he does so, and does so as a Twin, that’s fine with me.
It’s the process, the daily ins and outs that so many of us love. When it ends, a whole bunch of us will be having withdrawal. Howard, you summed it up so well. Now, let’s go beat up the Tiggers!
I think it’d be foolish to discard Perk. If we can trade him for a good piece, then yeah, it’d be probably be best to do so. If not, this season proves you can never have too many starters. Perk would probably make for a good Mijares replacement, should his mojo prove to be permanently gone.
Lavelle was on XM radio at 12:45pm this aft on Inside Pitch. Great discussion on how everyone’s picked up after Morneau. I read a few days ago that the Twins are turning on the lights tonight for the 1st time. ESPN will be doing live shots of Target Field probably as they open tonight and during the game..I’m sure they’ll bring up a reference to the big game tomorrow aft… will be cool to see the new stadium live on national tv tonight…..
Howard,
We’re all die hards here, so it’s nice to feel all warm and fuzzy inside now that we have a shot to make the postseason.
But I’m here today to be the voice of negativity (even as tomorrow I will be the voice of positivity). Thus, I want to disspell some “myths” this wonderful September run has brought us (*Note: many of these myths were well understood after five months of the season).
Myth #1: I’m sorry, Jim Souhan, but Ron Gardenhire is not the manager of the year. He was mediocre for five months with a team that included a former MVP, a batting champion, and an All-Star closer, not to mention to other power hitters (Kubel and Cuddyer) and an above average leadoff hitter. If you ask me, September should have been the rule against the AL Central this season, not the exception. As fun as September has been, I’ll take a manager who wrapped up a difficult division earlier with a more impressive win total than one who takes a mediocre division right down to the last day…but that’s me.
Myth #2: Delmon Young has not earned a starting spot next year. What he has done is make himself more attractive trade bait. Young has never been one of Gardy’s guys and if you keep him around, it’s only going to create more headaches in the future.
Myth #3: Nick Punto is not the answer at second base. I won’t elaborate.
Myth #4: Matt Tolbert is not the answer at third base. I hope Bill Smith is fully aware of Myths 3 and 4.
Myth #5: The Twins did not chase down the Tigers by doing things “the right way”. We chased down the Tigers because they were lame enough to lose two out of three to the hapless White Sox in the last series of the year. We chased them down because Cuddyer, Punto, and a few of our pitchers caught fire. Don’t let one month fool you–we didn’t play fundamentally sound baseball this year.
Finally, Myth #6: The Yankees will slaughter the Twins if they beat Detroit tomorrow. A lot like the Tigers were late this season, I wouldn’t want to be the Yankees–a team that has everything to lose as they encounter a red hot little-engine-that-could. I actually think we’d have a shot if we stole one at that quirky ballpark of theirs.
It’s a shame they couldn’t have snuck over there for 163. I know it would never have worked out, but still. Just one of those ‘if life were a movie’ moments.
Criminalities, I enjoyed your 1:30 pm post so much that I ignored the spelling and grammar, seriously.
great blogging, howard — a combo platter it truly has been.
i’ve been to a pair of game sevens and you’d think everything else would pale in comparison. but baseball has a way of rebooting itself and offering another new ride.
from a-z, this twins team is really easy to like and the $14.95 i spent a week ago on mlb.com’s end-of-season streaming deal has turned out to be a godsend.
I am a life long Pittsburgh Pirates fan. So believe me I know how horrible things can be, but that doesn’t excuse the problems with the Twins. It’s only semi-moot now because they have a great opportunity to play the Yankees so the hottest team in baseball (the Twins) can go up against the richest team in baseball (the Yankees)…
Delmon’s last 2 weeks, does not mean that we didn’t get the Altar Boy treatment in the Garza trade.
Carlos Gomez or Delmon Young should have been starting in AAA so they could get 500 plate appearances so we knew what we had out of both players.
Had the Twins gotten Cabrera in the offseason a good chunk of Nick Punto’s ineptitude would have been off the bench, or masking Casilla’s immaturity.
Had we brought in real major league relievers who were available in free agency this team might not have needed to go to 163 this year
And it all boils down to the fact that Special Needs Bill Smith needs to be fired, and should be replaced with Kevin Towers formerly of San Diego… so we can breathe some new life into the front office. Bill Smith is an abject failure, and should not have been promoted out of the number 2 spot in this or any other organization. Sometimes people don’t have what it takes to be THE GUY… This team is winning in spite of upper management just like they have this entire 21st century!
Jason, to tit-for-tat in response to your rain-on-the-parade, I’ll blog negative to your negative blog to equal a positive. In your analysis, starting pitching and middle relief mean nothing. And, what are your analysis of the strength of the Twins at 2B, 3B, and SS (before the OC acquisition).
Sheesh, Jason, as a kid, did you complain about Christmas occurring during the winter?
Not completely on board with #2. #3 I would argue if I knew we were getting the Punto that slaps basehits and takes walks rather than the one swinging uppercuts from his arse at everything he can reach. There is a big difference there. I would tell Punto early on that he will be fined and suspended for any home runs he hits. He can’t do it and shouldn’t try to.
#6 Of course we have a shot. It is probably 1 in 3 which isn’t great but it is 100% better than if we lose Tuesday. I don’t beleive the Yankees are shaking in their boots though.
I also live in Omaha, and I could not believe that game was not on. Instead some college football game was replayed from the previous day. what a joke.
That said, I can not wait for tomorrow. I might have to leave work ealry just to get home and get ready for the game. unless I find a bar to go to first…
hope you’re all goin to the game tomorrow night! (and heck-tonight too!) I’ll see ya there! (click my name)
GO TWINS
Joe, thank you. I would be near perfect if I wrote this on Word first and could see how it posts but I seem to have a hard time editing these small boxes for large postings. Greedy is the only spelling error I see though.
I need to express disagreement with all but #4 and #5.
#1: Gardy definitely has earned consideration for MOY. None of the other teams in the central have had as much production shelved due to injury this year. He has obviously been working hard to keep the clubhouse and games ship-shape. I’m not saying he’s the best, but there’s no way to deny he’s done well. The season is no more really about the bad parts than it it is about the good bits. It’s fitting that the last day of the season coincides with the Twin Cities Metaphor (um, what?).
#2: DY-CG-DS in the Outfield? Sounds like 2010 to me. But where does that leave Cuddy, boss? At third. Unless of course plan A (Getting a better option at 3rd) works out, then Carlos will be getting to know either Rochester or perhaps Pittsburgh much better.
#3: .250/.341/.344 (.685 OPS) 112 OPS+ Those are LNP’s career numbers as a 2B. Plenty of production for a number 8 hitter playing sparking defense. The Twins can’t just go out and fill every hole from outside the organization, as much as we might like.
#5: The Twins made those losses mean something by keeping the pressure on. If they don’t win, the Tigers back right in. Don’t let the general state of the division fool you into thinking the Twins aren’t playing great baseball right now.
Bill Murray in Caddyshack says: “It’sh no big deal.”
(and of course the first time I said #5 I meant #6)
But I’m here today to be the voice of negativity…
Only today?
Dood, can’t argue too much with #1 except to look at the flip side. It took until way late in the season to even come close to winning 8 of 10 in any given stretch. Can’t give him too much credit for Cuddy, Young, Punto, Tolbert getting hot without citing that we didn’t get much done for a very long time with all of our players healthy.
Twins are playing well. I can’t picture us beating Greinke or scoring 4 off Verlander the way we were playing preAugust.
dood- agree with the last line of your post.
fact is, Twins are playing their best baseball of the entire season right now. Wish they would take care of things like this before the season was over (i.e.: making the playoffs), but it wouldn’t be the Twins if they didn’t make it interesting right?
To actual discuss your “Myths”, most of them basically contradict your statements through most of the season. My favorites being….
He was mediocre for five months with a team that included a former MVP, a batting champion, and an All-Star closer, not to mention to other power hitters (Kubel and Cuddyer) and an above average leadoff hitter.
Are you counting the 2 months you spent calling the batting champ a “Glorified Singles Hitter” that wasn’t fit for the #3 spot in the lineup? Not to mention how you continued to badger the other power hitters about “needing to get it going”, and stealing time from guys such as Delmon Young and Carlos Gomez?
Delmon Young has not earned a starting spot next year.
But wait…weren’t you the guy saying that starting Cuddyer (which you argued for about 2-3 months as being undeserved) was stealing precious developement time form the younger and far more important Delmon Young?
I am SO confused right now.
I hate the off days when we have been playing well. Don’t want time for it to go to their heads. We were also the hottest team in baseball in 2006 when we came up flat against the A’s.
I should point out that it is always a 2 team deal. If we lose 8-0 tomorrow it might not be because we are flat but because the Tigers just played really well and things went their way. I would be very confident in a 20 game series with them right now but most individual games are close to 50-50.
thank god im not a royals fan, or a pirates fan, or a vikings fan…you get the idea
Gardenhire is not the manager of the year. 1. Mike Scocia, 2. Ron Washington 3. Don Wakamuki or whatever his name is in Seattle, and even the Red Sox manager should be all ahead of Gardy for manager of the year.
I’m not even going to think about what needs to be changed or done differently by next season right now. WhiteSox fans can get a head start on that discussion.
For all the trials and tribulations of the past 162 games, the Twins and their fans (at least those who choose to do so) get to enjoy 2009 a little while longer before getting in to all that offseason crap.
Nick Punto’s defense is not as stellar as his big defensive play capability would imply. He is not Roberto Alomar or Ozzie Smith defensively.
Matt Tolbert is not going to be the answer at 3rd base, but thanks to injuries, and Tolbert’s glove over Buscher’s glove. However Jason… there is a simple LAW IN BASEBALL
DON’T F*** WITH A WINNING STREAK!!!
so while I can’t argue with some of your points… the pointlessness of your statement right now is ridiculous.
I agree about Delmon not earning a starting spot yet. We saw him get hot late last season, too.
I’m not saying don’t play him every day now, but he needs to have a good start to 2010 before being anointed as a regular outfielder.
If we want to go into the 2010 debates sure…
Right now if we had a decent GM we could be sitting on a great situation with Kubel, Cuddyer, and Span all earning at bats all season long, and with the way that Delmon is playing of late, and the scary potential of Gomez. There is potential there for a decent trade to acquire a big-time starter maybe, but I still go back to something I was saying at the end of last year, all off season and most of this season…
Gomez or Young should have been playing in AAA all season so they could get the ABs they need to be evaluated. So on that note Bill Smith and Gardy failed, but when you fail that badly and end up in game 163 for a chance at the playoffs… it’s got to be put on the back burner until the offseason.
I want Bill Smith fired, but winning has to count for something.
Jason….hangover today or what? You sound a little bitter. I’m sure everyone realizes the faults of the team. Relax and enjoy the action. Save the off sesason whining for later. There’s plenty to rip on at that time.
The only comment I’d make regarding your “myth list” is I can’t believe that anyone in their right mind believes that Matt Tolbert is the answer at 3rd base. Who would even say that? I don’t think Gardenhire, Smith, or anyone else in the front office would tell you that Tolbert is the 3rd baseman of the future. He’s just playing the best at the moment and it’s working, so why mess with it?
Next season?
1. Trade for Zimmerman and or sign Crede and pray;
2. Sign either Berard, Haren, or Webb to an incentive-ladend contract. That’s it.
3. Don’t go wacko with the bucks based upon this year’s pretty good attendance and next year’s anticipated good attendance. The Twins still doesn’t (yes, doesn’t is correct, the Twins is a single item, a team) have the adevertising revenue of many other teams.
4. Punto and Tolbert can split time at 2B based upon who’s hot, plus there’d be two switch-hitting, good-legs guys with one on the bench. Even Gomez as a defensive and platoon role is good, provided he plays winter ball.
5. See how Cuddy plays the first half and give to him a 3 year deal effective at expiration of the current contract.
6. SIGN MAUER no matter what it takes to sign him or I’ll never blog again. (That last comment was added merely to invite smart-a*s remarks about how everyone thinks it’d be worth not signing Mauer just to have me never agains blog about the Twins.)
Criminalities,
IRO your 2:20 pm post; I know. I enjoy (but don’t always agree with) many of your posts.
Benny, the simple solution is to play Morneau through August and play Delmon from July 1st since they have both batted over .300 with power in those stretches.
Personally, I think Delmon has earned the spot. Gomez should be sent to the minors to see if he can improve and excell playing every day there. If he can’t, then he should be brought up to play excactly the roll he has been filling lately.
I’m glad Jason doesn’t operate or manage my favorite MLB team. (But I understand every one of us know exactly what needs to be done and how to arrive at maximum achievable perfection for the club)
The season as a whole was pretty boring really, so I’m just enjoying this late season fun.
JimCrikket says:
October 5th, 2009 at 2:40 pm ……..
i agree 100% we will have a long cold winter to bitch about things.
tomorrow night they can become the best of the worst, imo best is always better than 2nd best.
plus a loss can be blamed on souhan!!
NO to Crede. Is he going to get better (healthy better)? I doubt it, he just had his THIRD back surgery. So .230 with 15 HR’s while eating up a bench spot half the time is not good enough. Search for something better.
Delmon Young could not have spent the year in AAA. If the Twins tried to send him down he would have been picked up by another team. That discussion took place many times over the season so can we at least get off that part of the discussion.
Note from Over the Baggy -
Who are these guys?
Player A: 45 games, 7 HR, 31 RBI, 28/4 K/BB ratio, .305/.324/.492 (816 OPS)
Player B: 46 games, 6 HR, 25 RBI, 34/10 K/BB ratio, .291/.337/.442 (797 OPS)
Give up? They are both Delmon Young. The former is the current streak he is on (excluding Sunday’s numbers) since August 1st, 2009. The latter is his August 8th to the end of the season in 2008. So as Sid Hartman tries to tell you that the Young-for-Garza trade is starting to look good, tell him we’ve seen this act before.
Even if you contend that Delmon has has a disappointing season again, you have to accept that he has finished strong both years. It’s not like he has had only one productive season. He’s had three functional major league seasons. This is not some flash in the pan who got hot for 6 weeks. This is a developing player who is showing growth and continued effectiveness at the major league level.
I like to be a sarcastic prick and a debbie downer too…but, let’s have fun with this. We know we have issues galore on this team from middle infield, to third base, to starting pitching, to bullpen, to a regular/consistent three outfielders…we are not supposed to be winning at this clip, but we are…this is what makes this fun. Just imagine…if some how, some way this is the group that brings us another World Series title to this town…can you vision Delmon Young and Jose Mirajes embracing like lovers during the celebration…
I don’t disagree with you, Dood. I just think Delmon needs to show consistency over a few more weeks to lock down a starting spot.
it’s good to keep in mind that the ‘09 twins have already had a better regular season than the ‘87 twins …
The interesting part of the Twins over/under achieving debate is that they are exactly at their Pythagorean Record.
Whereas the Yankees played to 8 games over theirs.
The Twins were a big part of the Yankees overachieving in that regard. Consider: they won 6 games by the combined margin of the other win. Rarely does a team win that many close games against another.
I agree with this post (except for the spelling):
Gardenhire is not the manager of the year. 1. Mike Scocia, 2. Ron Washington 3. Don Wakamuki or whatever his name is in Seattle
The Angels let their closer leave, lost one SP to death, lost 3 other SPers to injury, lost Hunter and Vlad to injury, don’t have a player as good as Mauer or Morneau (and maybe not Kubel). They also won more games (and some would say against better competition). That race isn’t even close in my mind.
Then add in what Seattle (would you trade the Twins roster for this one?) did and TX (lost their best player coming into the year for most of the year) did this year (one more win or one more loss than the Twins) after how bad they were last year and most of the decade, and I don’t think those races are close either
I have to hand it to the Twins. After giving us perhaps the single most fantastic, agonizing, sublime perplexing,underachieving,overachieving baseball team ever, they now have a great chance to go to the show on the biggest stage in the world.
All year the Punto bashing, Gardy doubting, Delmon dissing, Cuddy loathing bloggers on this page,(myself somewhat included), have talked about (and some still are) what is wrong with this organization and team.
Time to celebrate beesball in October and remember that “your telling me there is a chance!”, and that “it wasn’t over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor!”
Bring on Detroit!!!
Bring on 163!!!
Shawn, I can imagine it but prefer not to. I don’t assume there is still bad blood there. It may be just a spur of the moment thing. If people can’t get mad at each other without it meaning that they don’t like each other then my marriage is in trouble.
Young has shown he can be very good for extended periods of time. The fact that he has had the same kind of results 2 years in a row does not constitute a definitive trend. If it does then we truly should sit Morneau down every September, the Yankees should not let ARod play in the playoffs and Cuddyer should have been traded.
You’re spot on Chinmusic, as was Crikket a bit ago. I’m going to enjoy/worry about 163 before we start the hot stove stuff.
P.S. Jon the First: Your knowledge of grammar is excellent.
Detroit has overachieved according to the Pythagorean formula also.
According to that formula the 87 Twins should have only won 79 games as born out by giving up more runs that season than they scored.
I would tend to say that that formula could be part of many factors that determine how a manager has done. If Pythagoras said you should have had more wins then you did poorly and vice versa. Just one factor obviously, not definitive.
Dood, it is that statistic about the Yankees that tell me we have hope against them. Those kinds of statistics even out over time and maybe things would go our way this time against the Yankees.
Psychologically, I alwasy thought the blown save in the first series at New York had a profound effect on the team at the time. Twins could just as easily swept that series instead of being swept.
On the negative side, Morneau had a monster series there and will not be available this time around.
Dragon, or anyone smarter than me-
Just because I’m bored I looked up the Vegas odds for Twins wins this spring-83.5. What would Vegas do if the win tomorrow would have put them over their projection?
Regards,
I don’t usually drink beer at the Dome because it costs so damn much. But after going to the Dome on Sunday and watching Hrbek, I picked up tickets to Tuesday’s game and will raise an overpriced cup to the boys in the home jerseys. As a sign from ‘87 read, “Flush Detroilet!”
Just wanted to say, I’ve always defended Delmon Young because a lot of people expected him to be a 30 HR, 100 RBI guy the second he walked in the door, which is rarely (if ever) the case for a guy his age.
Ya, I’d like him to be more consistent over a full season, but he gets dogged on far too often and too quickly because of a past reputation he has not demonstrated for a single second while with the Twins.
I’m a Delmon fan, sue me.
Howard, thanks for a great, upbeat article. The last few weeks have been really special — with lots of great moments to store away to think about down the road. In some ways, it has been a “magical, mystical tour” the last month — especially since the Twins had a long road trip in there. Wow, can’t believe that it has come to game 163.
As for changes needed for next year, yep, there are a number of them. But I’m with Doc and GGG on this one … we have a whole long, cold winter to argue about them. As I remember last winter, there was PLENTY of discussion then.
REVEL in tomorrow and whatever comes thereafter, folks — have FUN, sit back and ENJOY!!!
OOPS, my apologies to JimCrikket — should have said that I’m with JC and GGG about waiting until winter for the personnel debates.
jb…that’s ok, because I said that long ago, so “It’sh no big deal”.
I’ll be cheering you on from 2,000 miles away. I live in Anaheim now (actually accross the parking lot from Angels Stadium) but was born and raised in Southern Minnesota. I remember Kirby hitting that homerun in game 6 to force a game 7 in the 91 World Series (I was 11) and Cuddyer hitting the solo shot on Saturday was right there as one of the great moments I remember as a Twins Fan.
See you guys in 2 weeks when you play the Angels in the ALCS!!
In response to Jason’s challenge to Gardy being MOY, they may not have played great baseball all season, but the Twins have played the “right way.” They have the least errors in the AL, their pitchers gave up the least walks in the AL, and they had the most SFs in the AL. It’s hard to argue that they did not do the best they could with the talent available to them this year. That being said, Scioscia and Girardi each have a good case to be made for them.
Also, while not every small move is bound to work for the Twins, Pavano and Cabrera might be the most significant mid-season moves I’ve seen from our front office since Shannon Stewart.
GoFar,
Thankfully I’ve already cashed that ticket.
I’m not exactly sure IF the 163rd game would matter. I suspect it would. Since it is a fairly rare occurance, I don’t remember just HOW the wager reads.
An example: IF you have a total for a single game Over or under, the game has to go 8.5 innings I believe. While I can see that for the under, say you have game X over 9.5 runs and it gets called in the 6th inning due to rain with the score 8-5 (13 runs). The over AND the under is NO BET. So a sure winner and sure loser don’t exist.
Regards,
Thanks for the info, Dragon! Now, we gotta get pumped for the game! Play this one LOUD:
Oops, sorry! That was for a Viking Victory! Same difference! Go Twins! ! !
Is the game on TBS tomorrow?
Yes, JP
Yes, JP, I believe so.
Thank You.
There’s no denying that the Twins have given their fans a great one-eighth of a season this year!
I’m heading to the game today!! Anyone know if the Twins will be giving out any promotions for early fans? Like free homer hankies or something? Just curious if anyone has heard anything. I plan to leave work early and be there at the door around 3:00!! Go Twinks!!
