I hope you weren't enough of a sap to fall for the Twins latest "threat" to get back into the AL Central race.I wasn't.
They won five in a row because the Orioles are the worst team in baseball right now. Once they had to play a real major league baseball team, the Twins once again showed their true colors.
If the Indians were to split their remaining 30 games 15-15, the Twins would have to go 24-5 to win the division.
It's over.
Considering the overall significance of the moment, and all that had happened in the first 132 games and 8 innings, I think Nick Punto's failed bunt in the 9th might be the most significant at-bat for the Twins since AJ Pierzynski's homer off Billy Koch.
It symbolized everything that is wrong with this team, everything that has gone wrong this year.
He's hitting .196, he's terrible, he has no business in the lineup in the first place, but there he is with a chance to contribute by completing a very simple task - get down a bunt. Something your average high school player can do.
And he failed. Again. It's beyond the point of benching Punto for the good of the team, he should be benched for his own good. If Gardy cares about these guys as much as he says he does, he should take Punto out of the lineup to save him from further embarrassing himself. There's a very good chance that this will go down as the worst offensive season by a player in ML history.
*Johan Santana's 4-run, two-homer 1st inning should disqualify him from the Cy Young award. I still think he's the best starter in the game, but he leads the league in homers allowed, and its not like he's just giving up a single, solo homer a game. It's been more than that, and Santana, with an 0-4 record against the 1st place team in the division, hasn't exactly stepped up when the team needed him this year.
*Carmen Cali in the 8th, in a one-run game? Seriously?
*Jason Bartlett leads the Twins in slugging percentage since the All-Star break (.518).
*Joe Mauer is hitting .274 with a .364 slugging percentage since the break. And he's out with hamstring problems again.
*Michael Cuddyer has very quietly failed to repeat last years numbers. He hasn't been bad, but he's hit like a No. 7 hitter, not a cleanup hitter.
*Jason Tyner is on fire. This is the high point of his career.
*Rondell, if you're really going to retire, would you please bring Punto with you. And Lew Ford. And Ron Gardenhire.
6 comments:
Word has it, the Twins management has been meeting with a controversial scientist who specializes in human mutations. It can be assumed that this off-season they will be trying to merge Jason Bartlett and Nick Punto into one human being. The goal is to create a decent hitting shortstop with a great glove. However, one may also create an error prone shortstop who is also the worst hitting everyday fielder in the majors. Personally, I'm not sure it's worth the risk, but that's why Gardy and Terry Ryan are paid the big bucks. They can make these tough decisions.
Nice to see you giving props to the great Jason Tyner. Along with breaking the mark for most consecutive games with a hit, I wonder if he'll hit over .400 next year as the Twins starting center fielder. Any thoughts?
So, if Gardy's had good teams, but can't seem to go that far into the playoffs, and the Roadrunners have good teams, but can't seem to go that far into the playoffs, wouldn't your managing and Gardy's managing go hand in hand?
Roadrunners went 3-7 in league play during the regular season, but advanced to the final four in the playoffs.
I'd say that's just the opposite. I'd say that's a team overachieving thanks to brilliant managing.
Brilliant, brilliant managing.
It's not about Punto, or Gardy, or the Roadrunners. It's simply about the Twins not dropping the head of the bat, like Blyleven says every at bat. And it because Justin Morneau thinks he has to take 2-strike cockshots with runners on base.
Silva will be the only trade the Twins make before the Aug 31 deadline.
At least we got the Vikes!
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