Nobody to blame but themselves (and Phil Cuzzi)
Posted on October 10th, 2009 – 2:00 AMBy Howard
Well, that was craptastic. Yes, I know that word is probably beneath the dignity of our slice of the Internet, but the only other ones I can think of are a little bit too vile, and I would regret seeing them attached to my name when looking back some day at my body of cyberwork.
The Twins gave away Game 2 in so many ways: Leaving 17 men on base… Gomez’ run-erasing baserunning gaffe… Leaving 17 men on base… Nathan’s pathetic ninth inning… Leaving 17 men on base… Young and Gomez swinging at first pitches in their bases-loaded at-bats in the 11th… Leaving 17 men on base… Nathan’s pick-off throw into center field in the 10th… Leaving 17 men on base… Kubel’s four strikeouts… Leaving 17 men on base.
So while Nathan’s performance will likely be the one that stands out over time, there were plenty of other people who contributed to the Game 2 demise.
As Joe Mauer said afterward, “We could have won the game earlier.”
Gotta like that for understatement.
Mauer made his comment when he was weighing in on the hubbub surrounding the blown call in the 11th by umpire Phil Cuzzi, who ruled Mauer’s fly ball foul when it clearly dropped about 10 inches inside fair territory. Called correctly, it would have been a ground-rule double. According to SI.com, Mauer went so far as to imply that Kubel’s at-bat could have ended differently if Mauer had been on second base instead of first (with the single he got after the blown call) because there wouldn’t have been the big hole between first and second that resulted from him being held on base. Kubel singled through that hole to right.
I also can’t help but think about the pitch that hit the muumuu that Brandon Inge wears for a baseball jersey during Tuesday’s Game 163. You know, the one that would have given the Tigers a lead in the 12th inning if it had been properly called. (Wearing a uniform top four sizes too big isn’t against the rules.) As Twins fans, we can be outraged by one call and whimsical about the other, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be called on our inconsistency.
This is probably petty, but the thing that seems to be bugging me most about these first two games is what the Twins have done to rehabilitate A-Rod’s reputation as a post-season puddle of ineptitude. He had two key hits in Game 1 and the game-tying homer off Nathan, which included that smarmy look-at-me fist pump toward the Yankees dugout — just so he could make sure they’d all been watching, I guess. Lame.
The Twins have proven beyond doubt that you can beat a favored team without playing excellent baseball.
It’s just that when you reach a critical mass of mental mistakes, individual meltdowns and game-long bouts of ineptitude, you’re not likely to beat the New York Yankees — or even the New Britain Rock Cats.
***
There’s been a lot of blog comment chatter about the Chip Caray/Ron Darling team that’s calling the games on TBS. Normally, I stay away from critiques of network announcers because, frankly, I don’t expect much from them. However, I can say without hesitation that listening to Caray and Darling is like hearing an audition tape from a couple of guys in Moose Jaw. The omissions and mistakes are painful. I’m still trying to figure out who the “Spanish players” are on the Twins’ roster, a conversation snippet from Game 1. Rafael Nadal and Pau Gasol? Darling often sounds like he’s trying to figure out what Caray just said.
Richard Sandomir, who writes about sports media for the New York Times, offered the other day: “Every announcer makes mistakes, but Caray’s lips form a pattern of an announcer out of his element.” For Sandomir’s entire takedown, go here.
It’s kind of sad to write this. I remember listening to Chip’s grandfather, Harry, do White Sox games (which was before he started the doing the Cubs). When I was in college, and cable was rare enough that you had to go to a dive bar in Bloomington to watch the Cubs on cable, Harry was there watching them (he was in town for a Twins-White Sox game) and he bought me a Budweiser.
At least on Sunday, I’ll be at the Dome so I won’t have to listen to Chip ‘n’ Ron The baseball in this series so far has generated enough pain. The broadcasters needn’t add to it.
***
Saturday morning update: There’s a query below asking if I’m “going to own up to my miscall” about the Twins starting Gomez in center field for Game 2.
No, I’m not.
As the questioner points out, Span made a catch early in the game that I don’t think Kubel makes. And I’m not sure if Span, who doesn’t have Gomez’ range in center, gets to Posada’s fly ball that led off the sixth. And Gomez’ two-out walk — yes, a Carlos Gomez walk — started the two-out, two-run Twins rally in the eighth.
So, yes, Gomez made an egregious error that went a long way toward costing the Twins the game. But calling the decision to start him a “miscall” in short-sighted and revisionist.
100 Responses to "Nobody to blame but themselves (and Phil Cuzzi)"
Agreed! I turned off the sound and listened to the radio. That was fun since the radio is about 10 seconds ahead of the picture on the tv. I couldn’t take listening to those TBS talking heads anymore. Do your homework so you don’t mispronounce every name on the Twins jersey’s. Although I eventually handed the remote to my wife so she could watch her Friday night “soaps”
The ump call may have been bad, but they should not have been in the 11th inning to begin with.
I know everyone believes Nathan is a great game saver(although apparently not against the Yanks)but he’s looking tired. I am so ready for Neshak to be back!
Aren’t you at least going to own up to your miscall to start Go-Go? I’ll own up to thinking it was a good idea. Do you think that the catch made by Span in RCF early in the game would’ve been made by him as a CFielder, had he started in CF and Kubel in RF? Could Kubel have made the catch?
As for the ostensible Inge-uniform-brushing (if indeed the ball did brush his uniform), it’s still the ump’s discretion to award the base. If the ump believes that the player didn’t make an attempt to avoid the pitch, the ump doesn’t have to award the base. Inge made no such attempt. And why should he, when he knows that he’ll only get hit on the uniform.
MLB should require that all players wear form-fitting uniforms and stirrups up to the knees; cf. ARod’s uniform. No more do-your-own-thing with the uniform, because it may impact the result of a game.
MLB should use the computer-generated pitch zone to call all balls and strikes. It’s disgusting to hear announcers talk about this or that ump’s strike zone or say ‘that’s how he’s been callin’ ‘em all night.’
I’d be difficult to use replay in baseball, but it’s hard to believe that one of the other umps didn’t overrule Cousins. Other than for HRs, instant replay would be difficult to use in baseball, because what if Mauer’s ball didn’t go into the stands and the foul call is overruled after a review of a re-play? Double? Triple? What if runners were on base in such a situation? But MLB must do something. There have been so many bad calls in the playoffs. But something needs to be done, starting now. Yes, now, for the rest of the playoffs. What? I don’t know, but something.
To preserve the integrity of MLB, the game must be replayed from the point of Cousin’s miscall, because of Cousin’s history of prior calls in favor of the Yanks in other games and the fact that he’s from NJ, so very likely, was/is a NYY fan. I’ve played and followed baseball most of my life, but now I question the integrity of the MLB game. Umps prove that unions are bad and protect the incompetent. Same result with umps as with our unionized, so-called educators.
As for what the Twins should do in the meantime (that is, on Sunday): It’s time to more selectively use Nathan; e.g., he should never pitch to ARod, MT, or Granderson, to name a few. Funny how in one season, he went to low-to-mid-nineties from 99-to-100. He’s from Long Island.
Go-Go simply may not be smart enough to play in MLB. While one certainly doesn’t need to be an intellectual to play any sport, it’s unlikely that Go-Go could exceed 80 on an IQ test. He’s all emotion and no thought.
How often have Go0Go and DY swung at the first pitch with the bases loaded? What’s each player’s stats (BA, RBI, OPS, and all of that) after swinging at the first pitch with the bases loaded? Do they ever watch the ABs of Span and Mauer? Harris, too, often swings at the first pitch. Yes, DY hit the ball hard, but so what? Wouldn’t it have been better to wait for at least one more pitch been better? We’ll never know.
Anyway, I’ve always considered conspiracy theories as something to do for people who have too much time on their hands, but…all I’ll remember of this game is the miscall and Nathan’s meltdown.
And, please, dispense with the 17 LOB, as though this lessens impact of the bad call. Every team has had such games and yet, from time-to-time, still won such games. To say that the Twins had other chances and therefore, this diminishes the impact of the miscall is specious logic, but I’m sure that you know this. There’s no excuse for Cousin’s miscall, if, indeed, it was an unintentional miscall.
Oh, and did I blog that the miscall was so bad, that MLB should void the result and replay the game with Mauer on 2nd and no outs in the top of the 11th? Didn’t they do that for G. Brett?
Remember the Gophers- Wisconsin game a couple years ago- the fumbled punt for a ’sconnie TD at the end of the game? The good news is I got through the evening with no broken furniture, cracked TVs or holes in the wall. I didn’t figure the Twins to win this series- but didn’t think it would be so excruciating. And as for the announcers- why don’t the networks make use of the local guys- One from each like Fox did the last few Saturdays? At least, since I was watching TV I didn’t haveto listen to Jon Sterling call either of those home runs- And please- don’t get me started on Gomez and Young- as I posted on my FB page- they’ve found the pod in Delmon’s basement- the real Delmon’s back! It’s quarter to seven on Saturday morning and I’m still angry!
DY’s problem is that he applies Will Roger’s philosophy to baseball: DY never saw a first pitch that he didn’t like.
Having posted that, DY is smart and coachable; I think he’ll be a good player and one that the Twins shouldn’t be so quick to shed.
BYW, Howard and all others - 17 LOB is the result of the players’ performances. Cousin’s miscall negated an attempt by a player to overcome the 17 LOB. This is why it’s silly to say, ‘Oh, well, they had other chances.’
Sandomir seems to think Darling is worth listening to! The man is an idiot. Hearing “Carlos Gomez amended his error” when he meant “atoned for” was just the icing on the cake.
Howard, leaving aside the LOB factor, the Inge call and Cuzzi call cannot be equated.
The Inge call was an easy call to miss, because it was so close.
The blown call by Cuzzi was not close. It was one of the worst calls I’ve ever seen in pro baseball.
However, for all you Yankee fans trolling this site, I’m not blaming that blown call for the loss.
That rests squarely on the shoulders of Joe Nathan.
JOE THE 1st.-
It is absolutly correct to say that the Twins”had their chances” The had 14 LOB BEFORE the blown call. If I understand you correctly, the bad call in the 11th negates all the other chokes at the plate by the Twins hitters in innings 1-10?
17 LOB is a very important statistic in this game. It ranks 3rd in the “blame game” on this one. Nathan blowing it being #1 and Cuzzi (not Cousins mind you) blown call being #2. You can’t always blame everyone else, sometimes it is best to “man up” and admit when you choke.
Let’s add the mental mistakes of the Twins as reason #4 of why they lost.
Blake,
Nathan blew the save, not the game, because he failed in his performance. Cousin’s call negated a chance for the Twins to overcome prior failures in hitting and pitching. We don’t know what would’ve happened had Cousins made the correct call and that’s the whole point.
Bad calls shouldn’t be shrugged off as part of the game. Sheesh, no wonder America is losing jobs to other countries. With such an attitude, Who wants to buy American made products?
It’s as though, ‘well, the Twins didn’t come through the other 14 times with RISP, so it’s okay to make a bad call.’
As for where Kubel hit the single, yes, if Mauer were on first, it possibly could’ve been a gound out, but I don’t think so, because they don’t play Kubel as a dead pull hitter and the ball was hit very hard (this is why Mauer couldn’t advance to third on his single) and so, it still likely would’ve been a single.
Even if Kubel had gounded out with Mauer on 2B, Mauer would’ve advanced to third and Young, instead of trying to break open the game with a hit, likely would’ve tried to drive a pitch to the OF to bring in Mauer from third with one out.
Also, maybe Kubel intentionally hit his single to that spot, because of the hole, but if Mauer had been on 2B, Kubel might have taken a different approach to the AB. For example, Kubel might’ve decided to give to us another exciting K.
None of the above negates MT’s HR off of JM, but the HR would’ve only tied the game.
As for Inge’s alleged HBP, it’s the ump’s discretion to award the base on a HBP, if the player couldn’t avoid being HBaP. So, the Inge call (not miscall) doesn’t even remotely compare with Cousin’s miscall, because there’s no discretion on a fair-or-foul call, unless you and most of your friends and relatives are Yankee fans. Then, apparently, there’s the discretion to make the call what you want to be the outcome.
Also, with Inge’s 4XL on a size L body, maybe the ump just decided to forget about it arguing whether Inge tried to avoid being HBP and rule that it didn’t hit him. This is all the more reason to make all players wear form-fitting uniforms with the stirrups out and pulled over the lower pant leg to just below the batter’s knees. The baggy uniforms give to the batter an unfair advantage over the pitcher, because the batter can crowd the plate with the uniform hanging in the strike zone and get HBP that’s down the middle of the plate, because when the batter moves, the baggy uniform expands.
As for Nathan, he does choke up in big games and certain players hit him well and he blew the game for the Twins, before Cousin’s blew the call, but this can’t be used as an excuse to say, it’s okay to blow a call if a team failed to perform in prior situations. Heck, under this theory, an ump can miscall every ball a strike on a batter who struck in a previous AB or call every strike pitch a ball on a pitcher who walked the batter in the batter’s last AB, b/c, well, hey, when the ump was callin’ ‘em correct, the batter struck out or the pitcher walked the batter anyway, so how do the bad calls affect his performance?’ Sheesh.
What’s the breakdown of Nathan’s stats against players grouped by the batters’ performances? Is it time to dispense with the save situation and go with who’s hot? Guerrier was pitching okay, so he could’ve started the ninth against MT and ARod and maybe Mijares could’ve pitched to Matsui.
Anyway, even the appearance of a conflict of interest should be enough to replay the game from the top of the 11th with Mauer on 2B and no outs.
And the MLG should fire Cousins for gross negligence. However did this guy get selected for such a big game? And to blow the only call that come under his very limited perview for making calls. Sheesh. Does he always push a door when the sign says pull and vice versa? How often does he turn on the hot water when he meant to turn on the cold water? Does he have signs in his house that read: Cold: right side. Hot: left side?
I just commented on LEN’s column of today that he’s 100% wrong and my comment is awaiting moderation. Geez, LEN, you’re an opinion columnist and you can’t take the heat of commentary? Have you ever heard of the expression that if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen?
Also, have you ever heard of the replay of the Yankees/Royals game after an ump wrongly voided a G. Brett HR?
Why are you people saying “Cousins” blew the call? Cuzzi made the mis-call on Mauer’s double.
They’re not going to re-play the game from any point, so you’d better get over that very quickly. We don’t need to be happy one bit, but move on.
Joe, LaVelle had nothing to do with your comments going into moderation. It’s not been made live. The software can put comments in moderation for an assortment of reasons — and sometimes randomly. Be careful when you start accusing people of things.
I blame Gardy. Why didn’t he throw out the little red flag?
Oh. Never mind…
Still, I think the Twins did pretty well, considering they were playing with a 3-run handicap. 2 from Nathan, and the coup de gaffe from Señor Goat.
Tom Niska,
No, you completely missed my point. I do offer reading tutorials for a nominal fee.
The point is that the blown chances don’t lessen the impact of the blown call. Read my other posts on the other columnist’s sites of today.
Mark,
The Twins still should protest the game. The Orioles protested the game. Of course, the protest was denied, but, nevertheless, the Twins should protest the game.
Have you ever heard of the re-play of the Yanks/Royals game and the reinstatement of the Brett HR after it was voided by the HP ump? So, it not as though my suggestion comes out of left field.
And, please, Mark, cut-out the school-marmish “you better get over that very quickly.” Be a man and write like a man, not like a pre-school recess monitor.
Joe, Protests are only allowed for a rules interpretation, not to question a call. The Brett pine-tar case you cite was about a rules interpretation.
1) yes, it was a blown call. cuzzi admitted it himself. these things happen in baseball, that’s why they should use instant replay for things like fair or foul, like they already do for homers (balls and strikes, not so much).
2) remember that pitch that grazed brandon inge’s jersey in game 163 that would have forced a runner home? it was ruled not an HBP (clearly a blown call), and the twins went on to the win the game in the bottom of the inning.
3) mauer himself pointed out that the defensive alignment would have been different if he were on second, since the hole between 1st and 2nd wouldn’t have been so big and kubel might not have gotten a single.
4) OR, girardi could have decided to walk kubel to set up a potential double play for cuddyer (which would have resulted in the exact same situation).
5) and finally, despite the blown call, the twins ended up with the bases loaded and no out. whose fault is it that they got ZERO runs out of that?
the point is, the umpire blew the call and that really shouldn’t be happening in MLB postseason games - but the twins have no one to blame but themselves for this loss.
What are the Twins going to protest? The fact that Nathan sucked when it mattered most? 17 guys LOB? Gomez not knowing how to run the bases?
Cuzzi’s call was among the worst I’ve ever seen but it did not lose the game for the Twins.
Fisted.
Brutally sad night for the Twins and their fans.
My thoughts afterward:
If Gardy is praised non-stop for getting them to the playoffs every year, does he deserve non-praise for their performance? They haven’t been close to competitive in a series in how many series?
As for ripping Nathan, he blew a save. That does not make him a bad person, or even a bad reliever.
That umpire should never be on the field again. That was right in front of him. He’s getting paid thousands of dollars a night, to do one thing in the post season. Make a fair/foul call. Brutal. However, it was the Twins leaving runners on base that cost them that game.
Yeah, it was a fair ball & a horrible call and I would be quite upset being on the other end of it, but you guys really are a bunch crybabys. Gardenhire’s assumption that Mauer would have scored on a single from 2nd base doesn’t quite cut the mustard. Mauer was ON 2nd base & a single WAS hit by Cuddyer, yet Mauer did not score from 2nd!
As Michael Kay would say on a Yankee broadcast, you cannot subscribe to the fallacy of a pre-determined outcome. Besides, YOU STILL HAD THE BASES LOADED WITH NOBODY OUT AND COULDN’T SCORE!!!
And you know what else??? Even if you would have scored FOUR runs, who’s to say that the Yankees wouldn’t have scored another 4 or more in the bottom half of the inning?
Stop crying, lose the skirt, grow a pair & do what the Red Sox did back in ‘04; come back from the brink of elimination & PROVE that you’re the better team & that you DESERVE to move on.
17 left on base, a poor base running mistake, & an inept closer…..and you want to cry about a call that didn’t even prevent you from loading the bases with NOBODY OUT!! But NOOOOO, it’s not just a horrible mistake by an umpire, but it’s a whole conspiracy involving a hometown umpire purposely making the wrong call because he’s a Yankee fan. Come on now…..really??? If that gives you the self pity you need to wallow in, then so be it.
You can’t put this on Gomez. He screwed up. In my opinion, Delmon also screwed up by not running a little harder but then I saw Brendan Harris doing the same thing a little later. Waatching the ball in the outfield as they are running to home plate. By that point, the decision to go home has been made — seems to me you should put your head down and get there as quickly as possible.
It has been difficult watching Nathan the last couple of months. I almost have to turn the channel every time he comes in. I just can’t stand the drama.
There was enough heartbreak in this game to last me a long time. The only optimistic thing I can say is that the Yankees didn’t beat the Twins. The Twins beat themselves. So maybe, with their backs to the walls, they can get over this sado-masochism and BEAT THE YANKEES.
mike,
You touched on something I have been thinking about.
Gardy gets soundly ripped on, whether justified or not.
I said earlier in the season that maybe Gardy has taken the Twins as far as he can as a manager.
Now with the Twins making the playoffs and once again facing the big bad Yankees, that Gardy might be good enough to get the Twins to the playoffs, but might not be capable of getting them further.
Maybe they need a new manager to get them past the ALDS…?
Hey everyone,
Let’s remember baseball strategy here. If Mauer’s double stands,neither of the next 2 hits happens. Either Kubel bunts Mauer to 3rd, or he is “unintentionally” intentionally walked. If he bunts Mauer over, the next batter is intentionally walked to set up the double play. If Kubel is walked, runners are now on 2nd and 1st w/no outs and the next batter bunts to advance the runners. The following batter is then walked to set up the double play. Either way, at best, the Twins end up with bases loaded and one out.( Are you following this?) Bottom line is Mauer ended up on 3rd with NO OUTS! Blown call had no impact on the outcome.
Yes, Brandon Inge got clipped by a pitch with an oversized jersey. But it wasn’t obvious. Cuzzi had one call all night down the left field line and blew it so freakin’ bad! As great as Tuesday’s game was (I was there) going through last night has just left a complete sour taste in my mouth. Yes, we blew the game but to have to watch A-Roid and the rest of that team I totally despise beat us like that, I was so pissed off. Now I have to prepare for the fact that the Dome may close for baseball with the Yankees walking off the field with a series win.
While I would normally urge us to forgive and forget the Cuzzi call, I believe we cannot do that in this case. The reason is because Yankees fans would go ape– if this had happened to them. While I feel sympathy for Cuzzi and realize he’s human, that would not be good enough for Yankees fans. You know that he would be absolutely crucified in the media if it was a call against the Yankees that cost them the game.
Am I missing something here? If Mauer gets the ground rule double and Kubel grounds out to first instead of singling to right, Mauer goes to the 3rd. One out. Then Mauer scores from 3rd easily on Cuddyer’s single up the middle. 4-3 Twins.
Joe- I hope you’re right about DY- I’m skeptical- Bill James used to always say that it was impossible to teach someone to hit at the Major League level- can you teach patience? It seems that Sammy Sosa made his big jump, not so much from the juice but from increased selectivity- or maybe the juice makes you more selective? Dunno- four hours later and I’m still cheesed!
just checking out what you minny fans are going through - not gonna comment negatively on the cuzzi call because I would be pretty pissed off myself, but how are you not more angry with your team? Mauer still got a hit (and actually should have scored on Cuddyer’s single as Brett Gardner has NO arm) and they had the bases loaded with nobody out. It is almost impossible not to score in that situation.
real reason I needed to post something is the comments about the ninth. Are there actually people who are second guessing bringing in nathan? Someone commented that they should have left Guerrier in the game to pitch the ninth against 2 of the top 5 hitters in baseball in a playoff game in yankee stadium when you have a guy in your bullpen who had 47 saves and is probably the 3rd best closer in the AL? Are you on crack or just mentally retarded? That is a classic BS second guess and an embarrassing comment to make as a baseball fan.
I hope that they listen to the geniuses who think that and Nathan doesnt see the mound in game 3. Too bad that wont happen because your manager isn’t a moron.
On a brighter note - Those Twins are a damn good team - Their record against the yanks shows you why stats can be very misleading because they have been tough in pretty much every game
If Mauer said that about Kubel not getting the single if he were at second: May very welll be true, and also kudos to Mauer for being such a sportsman. But if there is one thing missing from Mauer, (he excels at everything else) he just doenst have that anger or gusto or drive to win that some Twins stars of yore have had. I would like him to be MAD at that call, and not make excuses for it.
And- I’ve often been critical of Gardy during his tenure, but I’m not sure what he could have done differently- and while I’m pissed that Nathan blew the save- he is the closer, and it is the kind of high leverage situation that the closer is supposed to deal with.
Mauer admitting he’s too tired right now. I’m sure all of us saying he should move out from catcher sooner rather than later will be commenting on this a lot over the offseason…
On swinging at the first pitch, it’s complicated.
Denard Span is doing this right. He has handled the first pitch in his plate appearances very effectively this year.
Orlando Cabrera often swings at the first pitch, and occasionally gets a hit. If it’s a good pitch, and he puts it in play, he should get more hits off of first pitches.
Joe Mauer takes too many grooved first pitches. When he swings at a first pitch and puts it in play, he rarely gets a hit. If he asked this rube for something to work on over the offseason, this rube would say work on the first pitch. Mauer gets in a lot of 0-1 counts after the pitcher threw a meatball, and instead of just giving them a free pitch right away, if he can make them pay on the first pitch, he could improve.
Morneau swings at a lot of first pitches. He is often effective. He could stand to work the count more in critical situations.
Young swings at a lot of first pitches. He definitely needs to work the count more in critical situations.
Gomez is a mess. He needs to work on everything.
Generally speaking, the Twins take too many grooved first pitches that were right over the heart of the plate. The Twins just need to get better at attacking meatballs on the first pitch, and laying off breaking pitches thrown on the first pitch.
This will result in more pitchers throwing off the plate on the first pitch. That will result in more 1-0 counts to Twins batters, which would be a good outcome.
Darling is excellent during the regular season. caray is awful. the bankees buy the best players….did they buy the umpires?
OK, start crying now, Minnesota. Nobody to blame but themselves, nobody Howard, so stop whinning about everything (including announcers and A-Rod’s look at the dogout - come on). Mistakes happen - you know it. Twins blew it big time and lost. And remember - Tex was first at bat at that inning so Yanks could easily score more. Honestly, did you think that you can beat Yankees?
they cant get rid of Gomez, that would be idiotic Bill Smith admitting the Santana trade was the disaster it was. They would have been better off holding him for the last season of his contract, and just taking the draft choices for losing him in free agency. This team will never win the big one with BS and the cheap Pohlads at the helm.
In reply to “I’m not sure what he [Gardy] could have done differently”
Here’s my list.
Pinch hit Redmond for Gomez in the 11th. He has Cuddyer, Kubel, and Punto — all of whom can play outfield. He would still have had Morales to catch if Mauer had got hurt or exhausted.
If Gomez bats, try a suicide squeeze. There was one out with the bases loaded.
Have Span sacrifice bunt in the top of the third inning after Punto led off the inning with a walk.
Teach Delmon Young to bunt so that he could have sacrifice-bunted Cuddyer to second base in the top of the second inning.
Try to steal bases, especially against Posada.
Use Nathan in the 8th inning, and Guerrier in the 9th. Rationale: Nathan has bad numbers against A-Rod and Texeira.
Above all else, take more chances. You are the Minnesota Twins, massive underdogs against the “Bombers.” Do not play garden variety baseball. To even your odds, you must play unconventional, risk-taking baseball.
Fire Brewster already. It was obvious the day he was hired he stunk as a coach.
Reviewing the play-by-play scorecard for last night, there seems to be a mistake. Didn’t Brendan Harris bat in the top of the 10th inning? Wasn’t he out? Well, that is not listed at the link below, which seems to indicate that the Twins only had two outs in the top of the 10th inning.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/boxscore?gid=291009110&page=plays
Someone please tell me they remember Harris batting in the top of the 10th. We didn’t forget to send him to bat, did we?
Redmond PH is a phrase that should never be used.
PCheck this out - hilip Cuzzi…born in August 1955 in New Jersey…resides in New Jersey…married to Gilda…played baseball and football at Belleville High School…participates in community work as a member of the Italian Fiorenti Club in New Jersey.
Think he grew up a Yankee Fan or is he connected?
I’ll say this about DY’s at bat in the 11th….. I’ll take a line drive out any day of the week… even if it’s on the 1st pitch. It’s Go-Go’s at bat that was devastating.
If Cuddy’s call at the plate isn’t blown in Oakland, there is no blown call with Inge. Twins are well rested for Game 1. Umps need to start being held responsible especially when they’ve lived their entire life in Yankee Country.
I feel no sympathy for Cuzzi, I think he went rouge on that play. Either way he should be fired, first if you can’t make a very easy call, and the only one you have to make all game, and miss both calls on that one play you aren’t big league material, also if he did see it fair and didn’t call it, obviously no one would disagree with the proper punishment.
I’ve cemented my feeling on replay, can’t replay balls/strikes. Only replays would be line calls past infield (fair or foul), Home Runs, and plays at the plate. MLB’s integrity is starting to be heavily questioned, they don’t want to be like the NBA and need to fix something.
I was searching for info on Phil Cuzzi and found a very interesting Wikipedia posting. Look it up. He’s been doing this crap for years. How is he still employeed by MLB?
Hey Twins fans, maybe if your team put money into the team. George Steinbrenner buts money into building a team instead of in his pockets. The money you get from revenue sharing alone could get you a decent player.
Go Yankees!
The Twins just signed a new Spanish player. His name is Inigo Montoya, and A-Rod killed his father. Prepare to die!
Inigo bringa a lot to the Twins. Montoya doesn’t handle a bat too well, but he is a beast with a sword. Also, he can teach the Twins how to rise up after taking a dagger to the stomach. The Twins may appear to be mortally wounded right now, but they will eventually prove that it is just a flesh wound, and they will finally get their revenge on the Yankees.
Also, I heard that Mariano Rivera has six fingers on his pitching hand.
My last comment probably only makes sense to people who have seen “The Princess Bride.”
If you haven’t seen that movie, then you should Netflix it immediately and watch it 12 times. Because it is the greatest movie ever.
On the first pitch, Kubel doesn’t swing enough and Cuddyer swings too much.
Camden,
You can use the computer graphic to call balls and strikes and the ump at the plate only would make calls on balls in play.
You can’t even do replay on fair/foul, b/c if the ump calls if foul, no one runs. So, the replay shows that it’s fair. Now what?
Howard, the rule interpretation argument would be that the ball hit the players glove while the player was in fair territory. The Twins can be creative in this area. The Orioles protested the fan interference and that wasn’t about a rules interpretation.
Go-Go needs a lot of quality time in the minors, because he’s not smart and will take a lot of time to learn pitch selection. DY is coming around, his fielding has shown a slight improvement, and he at least swung at a strike last night. He’s an intelligent player who needs to be more selective on the first pitch. The Twins should keep DY.
Whereas Gomez who needs work on hitting the cutoff man, base running, bunting, pitch selection regardless of the count, and controlling his emotions. Even on Posada’s bloop single, it appeared that he leaned back, hesitated and then ran in for the ball. From the couch in front of the TV it seemed very catchable.
Gomez ain’t even a contact hitter on bunt attempts. He’s too herky-jerky when he attempts to bunt and he uses poor pitch selection when he’s bunting for hits, because he attempts to bunt high pitches. Of course, he has no option on suicide squeezes and some SAC bunt situations, but even in SAC situations he seems overly anxious.
(Yes, I know, last year he had a ton of bunt hits, but this year other teams are prepared for it, so w/o the element of surprise, he gets too excited when attempting to bunt.)
Iconoclast, the Princess Bride is, indeed, a great movie, and I hope the boys have fun storming the castle, even if it would take a miracle.
Joe, I agree Gomex looks lost. My wife (a teacher watching only her 2nd game of the year last night) was actually wondering last night if he has some sort of learning disability given the way he looked after the play at second and after his AB in the 11th. I’m not trying to insult the guy, but it makes you wonder. He just doesn’t seem to get it.
As for DY swinging at the first pitch, he obviously needs to be more selective. However, he actually hit that ball on the nose in the 11th. It was just an at ‘em ball. sigh.
Bottom line is: if the Twins have an extra 60 mil. to spend on Arod and Teixiera, and the Yankees have to trade for Young, Harris and Gomez; the Twins win every game of this series. 206 million dollars is why baseball is effing meaningless…
Its hard to win leaving 17 on-base and an umpire. That blind call cost millions on dollars to the Twin Cities and lots to the players. Hey ump pay up.
The Twins $67 million (or whatever it is now) has come very close to beating the Yankees’ $200+ million.
For what the Yankees have paid, we could take the entire payrolls of the Twins, Royals and Rays or a variety of other Trifectas (just drooling over Greinke, Soria, etc.). Not just pay the top stars from those teams but pay the whole d*mn teams.
I don’t know whether to laugh or cry over the Twins vs. the Yankees but I do know that the Yankees aren’t 3 times as good as the Twins. They’ve got maybe a 30%-40% edge in talent yet they are paying 300% in salaries.
That $90 million payroll that’s been discussed as a possibility for next year is much more realistic for having a team that can compete in the postseason. I’ll be waiting this offseason to see how it all shakes out.
Leif, what a lot of us must realize is that the only thing that is good for MLB is what is good for the Jankees.
Hey folks, Don’t get silly about accusing Cuzzi of “bias” because he’s from New Jersey. The crew crief for this series, Tim Tschida, is from St. Paul. And he went to the same high school as Joe Mauer.
The sad thing is I went into this series with zero expectations of winning it or really even winning more than 1 game. It was all just a bonus after beating the Tigers. Now the pain is maybe bigger than any loss I can remember.
Sad stuff.
To Joe the First: There’s no way a computer should be used to call balls & strikes. What umpire would work under that condition? How many people in any job would want to be under the scrutiny of a camera (or their supervisor) standing over them the whole time they were working?
You comment about people with too much time on their hands, but from the length of your posting, it appears that may be the case with you.
Cheers!
cry me a river for those poor small market twins with their billionaire owner. Good news for them is that they play in the absolutly pathetic al central where teams apparently need 163 games just to win 87 games.
i actually have some sympathy for the Rays or even the Blue Jays because they have the yankees and red sox in the same division - they have trouble competing
your team plays in a little league division and with the unbalanced schedule they get to play those pieces of garbage over and over again. Once teams make the playoffs anyone has a punchers chance in a short series which is what makes baseball great. High payroll matters much more over the span of a 162 game season and playing in a division where the 3rd place team is probably the 4th best team in the AL - yes much better than anyone in the AL central - a high payroll is neccesary to compete. Does it have to be as high as the yankees - no it doesnt, but it would bother me a lot more if the steinbrenners put their profits in their pockets instead of the team the way the pohlads do. And you better believe your ownership is mighty happy about all the money the yanks spend - after all the luxury tax and revenue sharing helps keep a team in minnesota
Don’t be suprised if the Twins win the next two games at home. Then we can see how the Yankees play under pressure. The Dome isn’t ready to die and it’s “magic” may just help the Twins out in the next two games.(even with terrible Umps)
P.S. Gomez should be starting in center field with Kubel as D.H.or playing right.
NOT over yet people. we just gotta believe. still love these guys even though the unthinkable happened. lets get behind them and hope the dome magic is higher then the yankee all star squad. pathetic to think our twinks almost took out the best team in baseball. NOT OVER YET GUYS. GO TWINS. PUT THE PAST BEHIND AND FORGE AHEAD. YOU CAN DO IT. GO TWINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNS. MAKE IT HAPPEN.
YankeesFan speaks a lot of truth. Sure, the Twins will never be able to compete with the Yanks purely on revenue, but we have the richest owner in baseball by far. Should he spend his own money just because hes rich? No, but then we taxpayers should not have bought him a stadium if he is that rich. We would be better off subsizing the payroll. Not that I would really want us to do that, but right now, we indirectly do that anyway, even though all of the money we spend does not flow to payroll but to Pohalds pockets.
So we cannot match the Yanks 200 Mill plus payroll, but we could go over 100 mill. That would make a huge difference.
I do disagree with YankeeFan on payroll in the playoffs. It does matter when you have one player after another in the lineup like A Rod and Teixera that can tie and end the game with one swing like they did last night, or Thome did in the one game playoff last year.
The Twins have a ocuple of those guys, but the Yanks have them at almost every spot in the batting order.
My first instinct was to write an angry screed about how big of a jerk/idiot Yankeefan is. But then I realized that I’d probably have the same smug attitude if things were reversed. In fact, I have acted the same way recently when the Vikings beat the Niners (I live in CA, so I work with a whole cadre of 49er fans).
And I do have to admit that, although he/she has terrible subpar spelling and punctuating skills, Yankeefan made some solid points. First, the Twins aren’t exactly poor. Their owner is stinking rich and they play in the 15th largest market in the country.
Second, the playoffs are in many ways just a crapshoot. The Yankees’ zillion dollar payroll has gotten them to the playoffs every year, but they haven’t won it all since 2000 because the postseason is very unpredictable. Yesterday’s game could have gone either way, just like game 7 in 1991 could have gone either way. Fortunately, the Twins got some lucky bounces in at least one of those games!
Yes, I realize that I just committed a typo in a sentence where I was dissing someone else’s spelling and punctuation.
I may be a hypocrite, but at least I can own up to it!
Howard, just have to point out:
What bearing does the fact of Tim Tschida being from St. Paul have on Phil Cuzzi being from New Jersey and their respective existing or non-existing biases? They are different people, maybe they are both biased toward their ‘home’ team, maybe they are both not, maybe 1 is and 1 isn’t.
We can speculate on bias all we want because the fact is: it was a Horrible call that everyone except the guy who is 10 feet away from it and whos only job in the seres it is to see, made it wrong. It smells funny if Cuzzi is from New Jersey or not.
as for the broadcaster’s Caray and Darling. I still can’t get over the fact of how they we’re gushing about A.J. Burnett’s pitching performance while Nick Blackburn was holding the yankees hitless and overall pitching BETTER, yet they didn’t even mention him. Their is Bias all around in this series toward the Yankees side, that can not be denied.
well, at least all the overboard punto bashing has (temporarily) subsided …
The Pohlads are worth 3 billion, what difference is 100-130 million on a baseball team going to make?
TNG,
It has no bearing at all, which was my point. Where the umpires live is a 110 percent lame discussion point.
Yankeefan does have some good points. However, the Yankees get how much for local cable/tv/radio rights? $47 million a year? How much do the Twins get? $4 million? Makes paying that luxury tax a bit easier even if they are both billionaire owners.
The rule on “hit-by-pitch” says that any equipment or uniform properly placed on the batter is part of the batter’s person (bat not counting).
If a player deliberately wears a uniform that is too large so that flaps and folds deliberately stick out, the umpire could rule that the uniform is not properly placed on the batter, and thus the batter would not be entitled to 1st base if the ball hit one of the flaps or folds.
Same way a batter can be denied 1st base if he does not make an attempt to avoid a pitch and deliberately stands still so that the ball hits him.
The hit by pitch was a very close thing and easy to miss.
The blown call against mauer was not even close.
The Yankees are baseball,the Twins,except for Mauer,Morneau,Cuddyer,Kubel,Span,and Nathan(when not facing the Yankees)are nothing more than a AAA farm team.It is a team of want to be’s, has beens, and minor leaguers.Gomez proves time and time again he does not belong in the majors.Garde’ should be manager of the year given the”mutts” he has to work with.Until the front office decides to go out and get 2 or 3 quality free agents to put them over the top this franchise will continue to fall short of competing in the post season.
Punto sucks!
I just didn’t want you to get too comfortable, mickey mental!
I think your right on all accounts Mike wants win..and that ump should not only be fired but as stated on another site, his pay stubs should be checked…
I know it is difficult to take, by I think the blown call by the ump o f Mauer’s fly ball had NO EFFECT on the outcome of the game.
Mauer eventually got a single, and the next batter, with Mauer on the move, singled up the middle. Mauer would NOT have scored on that single to center he he been on second base anyway. The only way he went first to third was because he was on the go.
So, after two batters, whether Mauer had been on first or second, the result would have been the same; first and third, no out. The blown call had nothing to do with what happened after that.
Even had the correct call been made, it would have resulted in the same situation that eventually occurred.
Even if the call WAS incorrect (and it was), the Twins are only getting payback for the 1991 series when Kent Hrbek lifted Ron Gant off first base and the stupid umpire calling Ron OUT.
I am STILL mad about that!
thanks, boneyard. you made me laugh on an otherwise glum baseball day.
but i think we all know better at this point.
Mauerpower= like the list- I did think about the squeeze- the guy can’t hit so why not- Gardy’s never been a lever-puller. As for yankeefan’s small market crap division argument- OK it is a crap division- but is there anyone as woeful as the O’s? And, while I’m at it doesn’t really matter how much money the Pohlads have- we can’t ask them to spend 200million smakcker as if it were our own. What I think is still true that the earning potential of the Yankees market is, in a back of the envelope calculation 4? 5? times larger than the Twins. And yes I’m taking into account the fact that they share the market with the Mets- if the Twins wrung every bit of revenue out of their market (which I don’t know if they do or not) they would still fall far short of what the Yankees could. And this has nothing to do with how well the teams are run, it has to do with a competitive advantage that is bestowed upon the Yankees (and 7 or 8 other clubs, including the Red Sox)by MLB- and the by the way they’ve had this for most of the last 90 years or so- even in the bad old days of restricted contracts and the reserve clause. I think we are reaching a point where there may have to be a Premier League (NYY, NYM, BOS, PHI,CHW, CHC, LAA, LAD and perhaps PHI and STL) I’ll admit the Cards seem to not fit with the others, but I think there are historical reasons why they should be so considered. Does anyone really want that? Does Yankeefan want to see the Sox 35/year? The fact is that the value of the game is created by BOTH teams. Now, I’m no socialist, but I don’t think sharing baseball’s wealth more evenly is in fact socialism.
last time gardy tried to squeeze people screamed bloody murder.
the manager is brilliant when it works and an idiot when it doesn’t.
Howard - my bad, we agree then.
On that blown call by Cuzzi, why didn’t the 3rd base ump override him? On the replays it shows that he had a clear view of the play and yet he didn’t do anything or there wasn’t even a discussion. What a joke. With that said, it shouldn’t have even mattered. Nathan blew it. I questioned Gardy’s move because Tex and ARod and Matsui had career batting numbers of .600, .500. and .285. I don’t know what Guerriers numbers were against them, but with Nathan obviosly laboring the past month, Gardy took a HUGE gamble. As for Gomez base running gaffe, I thought he slipped rounding second, and he must have decided that he couldn’t make and didn’t get back in time.
i wonder what would happen if the blown call on mauer’s double would have happened to one of yankee’s players and they would have lost. you can bet that espn and the yankee fans would be livid
Don’t worry about Joe Mauer… he’ll be a free agent just after Jorge Posada’s contract expires. So he’ll be able to travel to Yankee Stadium… win a majority of his games and go to the playoffs (almost) every year !
East coast rumors have it that he’ll definitely replace Posada in 2011 !
There are calls all the time that are a matter of opinion of the angle the umpire had led him to make the wrong call. Those you live with and they tend to even out. This call was inexcusable. It could not have been more obvious. The umpire was in a perfect position to make the right call. He is either blind, lazy or crooked. There is no other explanation possible. Like I said you live with missed calls but this was inexcusable. He should not be working any games if he couldn’t get that right.
That “smarmy” look by A-Rod would have been ok by you if Mauer would have popped one and did the same thing.
Please, stop the whining.
You had no business being in the series had the right call been made on the Inge play.
Twinkies got bitten by Mystique and Aura.
I do have to say that Punto is a tough out.
Give me a break, Sinker. You can’t lump Young’s and Gomez’s AB’s together. Young crushed the ball- albeit right at Texiera. Gomez… well, Gomez did what everyone in the nation except you and Gardy knew he was going to do. Its just hard to swing the bat with your hands around your neck.
Low baseball IQ costs Twins again
The 11th inning was the perfect example of a glaring problem this team has had for two seasons. Bases loaded and none out and the next two hitters BOTH swing at the first pitch. That’s not good baseball and there’s no excuse for it.
This wasn’t the first time it has happened in similar situations during the past two years with the same culprits — Delmon Young and Carlos Gomez. Both guys have world-class raw talent and the lowest possible baseball IQ. I’m not saying the end result would’ve been any different had they taken at least until the first strike — heck, they’re allegedly major league hitters, they should be comfortable taking two strikes before swinging — but at least they would’ve given themselves a greater chance. Maybe the pitcher becomes rattled in that situation and hits the batter, throws a wild pitch or just grooves one. Maybe not, but if you swing at the first pitch in that situation with consecutive batters, you just don’t open yourself to that opportunity. Unless they’re Kirby Puckett or Vlad Guerrero — guys who can hit everything thrown and still hit it hard and for a high average — they have no business taking the bat off their shoulders without first seeing a strike or two.
Neither Young nor Gomez should’ve gone after the first offering. But, after Young did it, Gomez certainly never should’ve done it. Gardenhire should’ve given Gomez the red light. Maybe he did. If he did, it’s time for Gomez, who also shouldn’t have been rounding second with two outs on Tolbert’s single (Gomez was picked off when the situation clearly called for him to hold the bag), to spend some time in a winter instructional league and a season or two in New Britain. If Gardenhire didn’t give him the red light, shame on him. That’s not the kind of in-game managing that has led the team to the postseason rather consistently during his tenure.
It’s been mentioned before, but net worth doesn’t mean you can write a check from one of their companies to another. Also, I doubt Bill keeps $100 million in cash at his estate.
Gomez is the baseball equivalent of the movie Slap Shot’s the Hanson brothers. Sometime in the future, when he writes the story of his Twins years, Gardy will lament having to have coached Go-go in the same way Paul Newman lamented the Hanson brothers - “those guys are retards.”
Completely lost in all this was that Nick Blackburn had a no-hitter going into the 5th or 6th inning.
Mauer Power is correct: Blackburn’s outing was the single best performance by any Twin this year, by a huge margin. Unlike Joe Nathan, Blackburn looked in the mirror this morning and saw a MAN looking back.
Neil B. says:
October 10th, 2009 at 10:16 am
3) mauer himself pointed out that the defensive alignment would have been different if he were on second, since the hole between 1st and 2nd wouldn’t have been so big and kubel might not have gotten a single.
4) OR, girardi could have decided to walk kubel to set up a potential double play for cuddyer (which would have resulted in the exact same situation).
There is no way Mauer doesn’t score in the 11th without the blown call of the Umpire. Even if Kubel grounds out with the Yankees not holding Mauer on at first, Mauer then moves to 3rd with 1 out, and he scores on Cuddy’s single.
Some have said Kubel might been intentionally walked or would have bunted to move Mauer to third. Doesn’t happen. Kubel was 0-8 with 6 strikeouts to that point. Are you telling me Girardi intentionally walks a guy to put more runners on base with zero outs in extra innings, just to get to Cuddyer, who was 3-9 at that point? No way. As for Kubel bunting Mauer over to 3rd? Doesn’t happen. 1st, Kubel does not bunt. 2nd, even if he did, then Mauer scores from third on Cuddyer’s single.
Others have said it already, but it bears repeating. Even if the Twins had left the bases loaded in all 11 innings, it doesn’t negate the fact that the Twins score in the 11th without that blown call by Cuzzi. And, most importantly, the ball was not close to being foul.
Until Cuzzi explains himself on what exactly he was looking at, Cuzzi remains the goat for this game and should be suspended by MLB. “Sorry” will never be enough, especially when those words didn’t even come directly from Cuzzi.
That “smarmy” look by A-Rod would have been ok by you if Mauer would have popped one and did the same thing.
When’s the last time a Twins shot anybody a smarmy look?
I believe if Joe’s hit down the line was correctly called he would’ve been awarded 3B. On a Twins websight article he said he was around 1B when the ball was called foul. If in fact he was around 1B when the OFer touched the ball, He would be awarded 2 bases from that point.
“this franchise will continue to fall short of competing in the post season” -Tom Bianconi
I understand the Twins are down 2-0 in a best of 5 series, but I’d say losing a very close game that they easily could have won qualifies as competing in the post season.
I’m just here to say-I hate the yankees always have - always will
if the twins can’t be in it -and since the cards broke my heart by losing i’ll hope for a Hollywood World Series - LA vs LAA
Hmmm. Red Sox lose the SERIES after Papelbon gives up three in the top of the 9th.
By Twins fans standards…that makes him worthless and he should be cut immediately I guess.
Delmon should foul one off his cup every at bat.
