Johan Santana will not win the Cy Young award this year, thanks in part to the fact that he is 0-5 against the 1st place team in the division, the Cleveland Indians. He pitched crappy against them again Monday, as the Twins fell back to 69-69.
Santana is 14-11, with a 3.15 ERA and 203 Ks in 194 innings. He's been outstanding to be sure, but this is shaping up to be the least impressive year of his career since joining the rotation.
That's all fine and good. Even if he's been a little down this year, Santana is not one of the reasons the Twins will be watching the playoffs on TV this year.
Having said that, I would like to tell Johan to shut the hell up.
For the second straight start, Johan pretty much knocked his own team out of the game early. Last time he gave up four runs in the 1st inning, this time he gave up a run in each of the first three (a Jason Bartlett error contributed to one of them, but so did his own leadoff walk). Yes, the Twins struggled to score runs, but Johan flat out failed to pitch like an ace in his last two starts.
Yet he blatantly threw his teammates under the bus in his postgame comments both times. Rather than take any responsibility whatsoever for leaving pitches up in the zone and walking too many hitters, Johan says, essentially, it's not my fault, I did my part, we lose as a team, and the rest of the team isn't measuring up.
For one it's only half true, and for another, it doesn't do any good to say those things anyway.
Johan has been victim of poor run support pretty much his whole career, so I sympathize on some level, but dude, shut the fuck up.
Blaming the Twins for not scoring against CC Sabathia when you gave up 8 runs in 12 innings in your last two starts just makes you look like a dick. How 'bout giving some credit to Sabathia for doing to the Twins what you, as a 2-time Cy Young award winner, should've done to Cleveland.
*There's a firestorm brewing over a Jim Souhan column in the Strib suggesting that its time to move Joe Mauer to 3B. Gardy and Mauer are all pissed about it, especially the suggestion that Mauer should make a better effort to play through pain.
I'm not for Mauer moving out from behind the plate yet, but it's pretty obvious it's gonna happen eventually.
Souhan does point out that players like Mike Sweeney, Craig Biggio and Todd Zeile all went on to improved offensive numbers when they moved out from behind the plate, but Gardy also points out that none of those players were as good behind the dish as Mauer is.
*Would've been pretty cool if Scott Baker had finished that perfect game. Either way, the dude's been pretty good lately. Kinda like I said he would all year long.
*Nick Blackburn got called up and threw a scoreless inning Monday. He made it from Double-A to the majors this year, the latest quick-rising pitching prospect the Twins have raised. I wonder if they're ever going to trade one of them.
*If the reason Gardy keeps playing Nick Punto, Jason Tyner and Rondell White is because the team hasn't been officially, mathematically elminated from the playoff race, then he's a total, blithering idiot.
Seriously, there's no reason not to give Brian Buscher a long look, not to mention giving Jason Kubel as many ABs as possible. Wouldn't mind seeing Denard Span and Matt Tolbert, too.
3 comments:
Shut up, Zimmer
I guess September is/should be like "fall training" when you're out.
Zim -- I never join in your railing on my team, but RonDL White still sucking up playing time away from developing players - when he is 3 weeks from retirement - is too much even for me. You're "right arm" on that one buddy ---- and we need to trade some of those pitchers for sticks - there is no reward for the team owner that dies with the most prospects in AAA.
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