White Sox, I mean. In this case.
While my wife and I were on our honeymoon back in May, we had so much fun going to all these different ballparks that we looked at the schedule and said, 'Hey, the Twins have a doubleheader in Chicago the weekend after the 4th - maybe we should go.'
But we didn't. And that's too bad.
All we missed was the Twins scoring 32 runs in a two-game pistol-whipping of the sinking Sox.
Would've been a good day to be at the park.
A few thoughts on the twin-bill sweep.
* While the retards on FSN tried to spin the 20-14 win as some kind of great moment in team history on the Game 2 pregame show, it was actually anything but.
When the final score of a major league baseball game is 20-14, that is an embarrassment to baseball. Neither team should be particularly proud of it.
It reminded me of a game in 1996 when the Twins beat the Tigers 24-11 at Tiger stadium, powered by a 5-hit, 5-RBI day from catcher Greg Myers.
Twins manager Tom Kelly apologized to the fans after that game, and his team won by 13 runs.
Scott Baker allowed seven runs in five innings and got the win. Last week he gave up one run in a complete game and took the loss. It's a funny game.
*Carmen Cali was called up to give the team an extra arm in the bullpen, and he stunk up the joint in his first outing. With Dennys Reyes pitching well again, I wonder how long the Twins will decide they need him.
*Jason Kubel could be poised for a big second-half. He's up to .255 with 7 homers and 37 RBI. If he keeps hitting in the second half, he could end up around .280 with 15-20 homers and 80 RBI, which is what a lot of people were hoping for to begin with.
My only concern is that a certain boneheaded manager will start taking at-bats away from him when Rondell White comes back from the DL.
Hopefully Joe Mauer's 4-hit day is a sign he's about to warm up, too.
*What the hell happened to Jermaine Dye? Nobody expected him to repeat last year's numbers, but .215?
*Three bombs for Justin Morneau. He continues to take care of all those embarrassing streaks (19 years without a 30-homer guy, 34 years without a 3-homer game). Would've been awesome if he'd hit No. 4 late in the game.
The fact that he hit one to right, one to center and one to left suggests he's really seeing the ball well.
*Nice debut for Matt Garza. It's just one start, but my guess is he's here to stay. With his stuff he has a chance to make a big impact, bigger than Kevin Slowey or Baker for sure.
Garza showed his fastball has enough late jump that he can use it to put hitters away, and his curve looked pretty good, too.
*I did a double-take when I looked at the screen and saw .273 under Michael Cuddyer's name. He's on pace for over 100 RBIs, and batting average isn't much of a way to grade cleanup hitters, but still, that surprised me. And his slugging percentage, which is a good way to grade cleanup hitters, is only .439.
Of course, he homered to right on the next pitch.
*Lastly, the fact that the Twins won the game 12-0 while essentially playing 8-on-9 should end Ron Gardenhire's inexcusably stupid insistence that he carry three catchers on the roster.
Gardy's worst nightmare has always been that if he puts Mauer and Mike Redmond in the lineup at the same time one would get hurt and (GOD FORBID, OH NO), they'd lose the DH for a game.
That happened, in the 1st inning even, and Garza had to bat. He struck out, grounded out, and laid down a nice sac bunt. The Twins scored 12 runs.
The nightmare scenario that Gardy has dreaded more than a death in the family turned out to be - get this - a total non-issue. It didn't matter.
Every roster spot is precious. There are only 25. That 25th spot can be a mop-up long reliever, or an extra lefty setup man, a pinch-hitter, an extra left-handed bat, a utility guy, a 5th outfielder....pretty much anything would be better than a 3rd catcher who will get at most 1 start every two weeks.
And yet Gardy wants to do that, just because he's terrified that the non-catastrophic scenario that played out last night might happen. It usually doesn't.
And when it did, nothing happened.
Stupid, stupid, stupid.
13 comments:
Reports on RonDL Black are that he's returning to the Twins lineup after the all star game. The Twins are still concerned however due to the fact that RonDL Black can't finish a complete 9 inning game. He's been complaining of sore and tight hamstrings in the 6th and 7th innings. I give him 2 weeks before he's back on the shelf.
SD twin - your RR's overwhelmed the Muckdogs yesterday. I was a little disappointed you didn't charge the mound after being dotted between the shoulder blades.
I think we should give Rondell White the Nancy Kerigan treatment. You know Gardy will play him.
I know I'll get heat for saying this, but I think Tyner should get more at-bats. He may not have any power, but he at least puts the ball in play. I think with Kubel and Tyner, there is no need for Rondell or Lew Ford.
--Also, how many Mudcat teams are there in SD?
RonDL might hit okay, but he will get hurt.
Also, Tyner is not very good.
As far as the Roadrunner domination, I was only disappointed that the game was called after 5. I wanted a shot at payback.
I've now been hit by pitch 5 times this year in 16 at-bats. Apparently I am quite popular around the league.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say this year, Tyner will hit as many home runs as Rondell White. Also, he will finish the year hitting at least .050 points higher.
If only Rondell Bernard White's bat was as good as his arm...
Also, I should add, Tyner has a bobble head created in his likeness. Rondell White does not. This automatically makes Tyner better.
Tyner's bat is as good as Rondell's arm.
Gardy likes the extra drive Rondell gets from having a third leg. His "leg" is equal in size to Tyner's left arm.
Rumor has it that the third leg is what he stepped on when skipping out of the dugout earlier in the year. The team called it a calf injury, but we all know he cleated his own crank.
Dan Patrick is leaving ESPN radio. Thank goodness. May he take that whiney liberal Obermann with him.
Rondell is taking so long to recover because the chubby white girls won't leave his injured crank alone.
RonDL is back on the DL with a sorehamstring, and he hasn't even played yet. What a pussy. Looks like Garrett Jones is going to get another crack at the bigs. Twins need to sell this year, and gear up for next. Will a 2 week slump after the break result in Hunter being traded? With Ichiro's new 5 year/$100 million contract, Hunter is now completely unsignable by the Twins, so they should Trade him now, and get all they can for him. Free's up big money for Morneau, Cuddyer and Santana.
I have a hard time giving up on the season, but you make some valid points. Hunter probably will be unsignable, and his stock will never be higher than it is right now. I think they can trade Hunter and still win the division. If Tori is traded, expect a HUGE 2nd half from Jason Tyner (CF).
Word has it; the Twins have been working out Joe Mays. They say he's been hitting his spots and has finally figured out how to throw a sinker. If he gets his amateur baseball ERA down to 5.00, you could see him in the starting rotation by the end of July.
Was Joe Mays the kid that started for the muckdogs the other day against the Roadrunners? He's got a long way to go before getting his ERA down to 5. But it's possible I guess.
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