Game 37 - Twins @ Detroit - 5/17/12

[Seth Stohs]

Twins Lineup:

Ben Revere CF
Brian Dozier SS
Joe Mauer 1B
Josh Willingham LF
Justin Morneau DH
Trevor Plouffe RF
Alexi Casilla 2B
Drew Butera C
Jamey Carroll 3B

SP: PJ Walters

Tigers SP: Doug Fister

[travistwinstalk]

What happened to this, "Justin Morneau will be the 1st baseman until further notice" well I guess further notice was 2 games.

[Mauerzy4Prez]

With his double last night maybe Gardy thought it was too important to keep Drew in the lineup.... NOT!!!

[Kirby_Waved_At_Me]

With Doumit out, this makes some sense - they probably were going to have Doumit catch and Mauer DH today.

[stringer bell]

With Doumit out, this makes some sense - they probably were going to have Doumit catch and Mauer DH today.

Doumit caught and Mauer DHed yesterday, you would think that it was Mauer's turn to catch. However, I suppose they didn't want Morneau to go 18 innings in the field in 24 hours.

[travistwinstalk]

plus with going to Milwaukee Morneau is likely going to have to play 1st all 3 games so maybe they wanted to get him a day before the series with Milwaukee.

[Kirby_Waved_At_Me]

Doumit caught and Mauer DHed yesterday, you would think that it was Mauer's turn to catch. However, I suppose they didn't want Morneau to go 18 innings in the field in 24 hours.

oh -oops. In that case, yeah, it would be nice to have a better hitter than Butera in the lineup.

[thrylos98]

Mauer needs to be catching some games... I'd rather see Mauer C, Morneau 1B, Willingham DH and Mastroianni at the OF. And if Span is hurt and out and Doumit is hurt and out one needs to go to the DL. Going into NL play tomorrow this is nuts.

[Kirby_Waved_At_Me]

Maybe putting Butera in the lineup gives Gardy more bench flexibility with Doumit and Span technically active but not able to play?

[thrylos98]

Maybe putting Butera in the lineup gives Gardy more bench flexibility with Doumit and Span technically active but not able to play?

Flexibility? In what way? And he has him hit in front of Carroll (again) too

[ashburyjohn]

And he has him hit in front of Carroll (again) too

Looks to me like Gardenhire wants Carroll as the permanent #9 hitter (that will change with NL games of course). It's one school of thought to put a leadoff-type hitter at #9, someone with the same skillset but less talented than your actual leadoff. That way, after the 1st inning of course, you have two consecutive OBP guys setting the table for the big hitters. Carroll will steal a base and his OBP is .322 this morning despite the low BA - higher than all but 4 players on the team, all of whom do not belong at #9. It's more of an insult to bat #8 in this mindset, and that's where Butera is (and belongs).

[USAFChief]

Nice play by Dozier. He has looked like a MLB shortstop so far.

[USAFChief]

That Butera is IN the lineup is what matters, not whether he hits 8th or 9th.

Honestly, some people just look for things to bitch about. They end up making themselves look uninformed in the process.

[twinswon1991]

Mauer was too exhausted after DHing to catch today???????? What a wimp! To come close to earning half hisbpat he needs to catch 140 games. Instead we have a liability at catcher today and a Judy playing first.

[Jim Crikket]

nice double by that .294 hitting liability.

[Yoshii]

Its not like Butera has been hitting the ball terribly this year geez.

[USAFChief]

Atta boy Mauersie.

[Yoshii]

And Morneau needs to do more of that! Good to see though.

edit: First back to back of the year?

[USAFChief]

Good swing from Morneausie.

[Kirby_Waved_At_Me]

Flexibility? In what way? And he has him hit in front of Carroll (again) too

Flexibility meaning that you have Mastro on the bench, who can fill in for almost anyone on the field in case of injury. If Butera's on the bench, you only have Komatsu available...