In a few hours, this will be overshadowed by what is certain to be a more entertaining feature, but here I go anyway...
1) No joke, this was the image presented to baseball fans at Safeco in the second inning:
I'm not sure if that was supposed to be a mistake or a suggestion. At this point, I think the Twins might actually be better off with Jerry White in LF and Rondell White as the first base coach.
2) The Safeco scoreboard operators went absolutely over-the-top to find anything that would make the Twins' hitters look good. You could judge how good each hitter was by how far back they had to go to find something positive about them. For Morneau, they mentioned is batting average in July. For Tyner, his 2006 batting average against RHP. For Punto, they noted that he had a 19-game hit streak last year. (No, I did not make the last two up, they seriously went to that much trouble to make them look like worthy opponents.)
3) Even when things went right last night, they seemed oh so wrong. I didn't have the greatest vantage point in the world, but when Mauer doubled, it sure looked like Jones dropped a catch he could have made. Now, I'll grant you, Jones is a pretty rangy guy over there, so that's probably a hit most of the time. But for Mauer to then get thrown out at third for the third out of the inning? Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth. That was maybe the most obvious example, but the whole team really has been "pressing" (or whatever you want to call it) on offense. That's one way I can see this as a self-perpetuating slump. Players are so desperate to score more runs that they make stupid decisions in their desperation, leading to even fewer runs. Repeat as necessary to drive fans crazy.
4) The friends I went with to the game left saying that it was a good game. I couldn't help but think nothing could be further from the truth. For many, simply having the game be close makes it a good game. I didn't see that. I saw the Mariners putting an absolutely ridiculous lineup on the field. I saw the third out of the inning made at third base. I saw Nick Punto not only fail to get a bunt down, but then have the audacity--in the middle of his bunting slump--to try bunting with two strikes only to foul it back into the crowd for a strikeout. I saw what seemed to be an unusually large number of fielded balls bobbled in the field--some came with a cost, others just made the pitchers work harder. And while I didn't know it at the time, I saw the game end on a meatball right down the heart of the plate while the Twins' best two relief pitchers sat in the bullpen. Neither Felix or Johan seemed particularly sharp, though both were pretty effective.
5) Given the way that Punto has been failing miserably at bunting lately, I don't see how Luis Rodriguez pinch hits for Casilla that inning and not Punto. I mean, come on. Luis Rodriguez is not a good hitter, and that he's 1-2 off J.J. Putz is totally irrelevant. He can probably get a bunt down better than Punto, though. And it probably doesn't make a bit of difference, since Putz can crush Casilla and Bartlett anyway, it's just not a good way to use the talent you have at your disposal.
6) Richie Sexson, either cheered or booed at the end of each of his at-bats tonight, now has 19 home runs this season. Jason Tyner, Nick Punto, Luis Rodriguez, and Jason Bartlett have 24 home runs, combined, for their entire careers. I can't help but think what the outcome might have been tonight if the Twins had had someone like Russ Branyan instead of Luis Rodriguez as a pinch hitter.
I feel like Terry Ryan has bought a great home entertainment center. A great big HDTV, a nice receiver, surround sound, and even a nice HD-DVD player. But Terry forgot one thing--the entertainment center doesn't do you any good without some programming! Terry Ryan still hasn't bothered to order cable or satellite TV, buy any DVD's, or for that matter, he hasn't bothered renting any DVD's either. Instead, he's trying to figure out how to hook up his VCR to his HDTV and it's just not working. Frankly, I'm getting sick of watching him futz around trying to hook up the VCR, and I'm just about ready to go home and spend my time doing something else.
*places ubelmann on suicide watch*
*places TR under witness protection*
Guerrier has been very solid this year, posting numbers somewhat similar to Neshek. Neshek has better numbers in general, but lately he's been having a few more problems lately (usually I have these numbers at my fingertips, but I don't today, sorry). It's against many blogger's opinion, but I think Gardy made the right choice in choosing Guerrier. It just didn't turn out the way it should have.
Guerrier is a defensible choice in normal situations, but in normal situations JOE NATHAN HASN'T HAD EIGHT CONSECUTIVE DAYS OFF!!!
(Not trying to criticize you Beth, just infuriated by Gardy choosing to handicap an already crippled team)
It wasn't a save situation. Everyone knows you don't use your closer unless it's a save situation. Duh.
I understand that, but I think it's really showing the weakness in the bullpen. I just think Gardy was between a rock and a hard place--wanting to keep the closer on hand in case the Twins get ahead (hey! anything is possible!), and wanting to keep the team in the game. The rest of the bullpen is pretty weak, and there's no reason Guerrier can't go out there for two innings.
As unpopular as it is, I'm in favor of keeping the closer seated until necessary in extra-inning away games (home games? Bring him on!). Because it would suck to finally pull out a go-ahead run in the top of the 13th, only to have the opponent re-tie/win in the bottom of the inning, because the Twins have brought in a less reliable pitcher. Of course, "until necessary" with this bullpen is "after Guerrier and Neshek have pitched." I'd put Nathan in before Rincon, Cali, Ortiz, and Reyes.
(This does not expalin Nathan not getting a random inning of work in the last five or six games, though.)
I agree that in general for away games, I'd save Nathan until the Twins got a lead. Pretty soon, though, he's going to have to pitch just to get some work in, so it might as well have been last night. Not one of the worst things a manager has ever done, but it'll drive me crazy if Joe winds up pitching tonight with the Twins down by 8 runs or something like that.
My thinking is when you get to the ninth inning, you should use your bullpen in the order of effectiveness, best to worst. The longer you keep the other team from scoring, the better off you will be. So, the next guy to come in, in my book, should have been Nathan. The question is, though, should he have come in for the ninth or the tenth with Guerrier still out there. I don't think it is unreasonable to run Guerrier out there for the ninth, but Nathan has been idle for over a week and should be fresh enough for two innings at least, so there's a case for bringing in Nathan there, too.
I totally agree with SBG here. The point is to use your best relievers in high leverage situations and there is no higher leverage situation than a tie late in a game. While taking the lead and then losing it in the bottom of the inning might be a bit demoralizing it is more optimal to try and hold your opponents scoreless as long as possible. Waiting for your team to score until using your best reliever gives your opponents a better chance to score before you do.
I hate it when managers refuse to use their closers for more than one inning because they "want to keep them fresh in case they need them tomorrow". Guess what...tomorrow's game might be a blowout and you might not need them. What we do know is that we need them now.
I think Gardenhire was planning for a very long extra inning game here and was hoping to squeeze and extra inning out of Guerrier and then use Nathan in the next inning. Given that the Twins had the heart of their lineup due up in the next inning, there's a pretty good chance we score and then let Nathan close out the bottom of the 10th. Of course, this plan fails completely if the Mariners score and we don't even get a chance to hit.
(Edited to make the first paragraph make sense)
I think Gardenhire was planning for a very long extra inning game here and was hoping to squeeze and extra inning out of Guerrier and then use Nathan in the next inning.
I think that's consistent with what Gardy's done with Nathan in the past. Recently, he's burned through relievers right quick when the Twins had a lead, but when the game is tied, he does try to get at least Guerrier and Neshek a couple of innings each, and he's generally used Nathan a lot in tie games.
Are you any relation to justbeth?
I also go by JustBeth.
welcome thisisjustbeth. Saw a lot of you over at BG's place. The Nation has been a (unintentionally so!) boy's club for a long time
*changes out of wife-beater into regular teeshirt; puts pants back on; grabs for tictacs; shoves week-old pizza box under sofa*
Whaddyatalkinabout? BabySBG has been here for 4 months now!!
I thought Jones should have caught Mauer's double, too.
I was watching the game log at USSM last night and Dave Cameron was talking about how that double by Sexson was crushed -- would have been in the upper deck in Comiskey -- never mind that "US Cellular" does not have an upper deck.
Sexson's double really was crushed, though. The LCF alley in Safeco is absolute death to fly balls at night.
never mind that “US Cellular†does not have an upper deck.
I can see where he'd get confused, though. Down the LF line, there's an upper-deck-like thingy.
He hit it squarely, but didn't really get his arms extended, which is why it didn't go out. Plus, the LCF alley is 388 ft. That early in the evening, before the sun goes down, the air off the bay hasn't cooled the park down too much. If he'd been able to extend his arms, the ball would have carried out. I thought it was a fair outcome.
Re: point 4. Sometimes I get nostalgic for when I was a kid and didn't understand baseball as well. In some ways, the game was more fun when the players were all heroes and I believed everything the announcers told me. It was nice to think that Sergio Ferrer was going to be rookie of the year, or that Craig Kusick was going to turn into a power hitter, or that a game was a good game just because it was close.
I'm not promoting ignorance, and I wouldn't truly go back to that if I could, just as most of the time we wouldn't truly want to go back and live in the times we get nostalgic for. When I remember it, though, it makes me better able to understand why people believe what the Twins announcers tell them. To a certain extent, it's easier that way.
Agreed, Jeff. I remember getting hooked on baseball listening to the 1990 Twins. They had some good players, but probably not as many as this 2007 club. I was just a kid, of course, but I don't remember agonizing over Al Newman's playing time, or Fred Manrique or John Moses...
I think another key variable is contention and expectations. If Monday's game happened with the late 90's Twins teams, I think more people would have called it a "good game." (Actually, far fewer people would have noticed the game at all, but of those that did, they would have been more likely to call it "good.") It's probably why the 2005 season was so frustrating too -- 83 wins wasn't terrible, but it was certainly a drop from 3 consecutive division titles. And the "down" season of 2005 made 2006 all the more enjoyable, even when it wasn't clear we'd ever catch Detroit or Chicago. Unfortunately, 2006 got expectations WAY up for 2007, and all of a sudden, it looks like we might finish with our worst record since 2000.
On the bright side, the expectations for 2008 now project to far more easily attained!
The Twins themselves pump up expectations. Even now, they are still shoveling a "we're still in it" line of crap.
As for the '90s, well, the year that Kirby woke up and couldn't see was one of the great disappointments of my life as a Twins fan... Molitor had a nice year and the Chuckster was off the charts great. With Kirby and a prematurely retired Kent Hrbek, they might have contended. Instead, they slowly sunk as the summer turned to fall. If only.
1992 was a huge disappointment. The Twins were playing absolutely great -- Steve Rushin wrote about back-to-back titles in SI -- and the wheels came completely off. The Twins ended up with a nice record, but boy was I disappointed.
2005 and 2007 were and are disappointments because the Twins had/have a solid nucleus. They should contend. That they didn't/aren't is a failure and a disappointment.
As for the future, I'll bet a lot of fans are fearful of a return to the bad old days of the late '90s. I don't think that will happen... I think TR's approach probably will keep that from happening. But, man, this turned out to be a year where the Twins could easily have won this division. Nobody, nobody is as good as any of the three top teams last year. That's what's so disappointing. We could have won again this year with a team that isn't even close to the team that we had last year.
I have to admit, there is a part of me that's hoping that Detroit and/or Cleveland will start playing really good baseball and just eliminate any hope the Twins have of winning the division. Part of the pain of watching the Twins right now is seeing that division title just sitting there up for grabs and thinking about how the Twins could easily be in first play right now. I feel like Krusty the Clown from that one Simpsons episode where he bets on the Washington Generals:
"Come on! He's spinning the ball on his finger...just TAKE IT!!!"
If either of the teams above us just pulled away right now, I think a lot of the focus would move from the division race to the incompetent hitting. Terry Ryan would be forced to realize
a) You need BOTH good pitching AND good (or at least adequate) hitting to win;
and
b) 4 hitters cannot do the job of 9 no matter how good they are. This isn't basketball and you don't have the option of letting Morneau and Mauer take at bats in place of Nick Punto and Jason Tyner. Having consistency throughout your lineup is extremely important for a winning ball club.
Until this team got hitting from the other 5 spots in the lineup, I'd be embarrassed if the Twins somehow made it to the post season. Sure, last year's Cardinals limped into the post season, but this team couldn't compete with last year's Cardinals (well, offensively anyways).
Sure, but this team's starting pitching could take the Cardinals' to the cleaners.
1-0 losses, ubes, 1-0 losses...
My guess is that Gardy looked at his lineup and figured that if the Twins would win, it'd probably be another 6 or 7 innings, and Rincon, Ramon, and Cali have been overworked (and bad) lately, so he should at least try to get two innings out of each reliever. I would have made the same choice.
and Rincon, Ramon, and Cali have been overworked (and bad) lately
that's redundant, AMR.