Article: White Sox vs. Twins, 06/25/2012, 7:10pm

[Brock Beauchamp]

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?70...25-2012-7-10pm

[Ultima Ratio]

Perhaps the most important series of the season (at least to keep the fans interested/teased for another couple of weeks) . For some reason I'm optimistic that we can win 2/3 and it all starts tonight, then take 2/3 against KC.

[Brock Beauchamp]

White Sox:
De Aza CF
Youkilis 3B
Dunn DH
Konerko 1B
Rios RF
Pierzynski C
Viciedo LF
Ramirez SS
Beckham 2B
(Peavy P)

Twins:
Span CF
Revere RF
Mauer DH
Willingham LF
Morneau 1B
Plouffe 3B
Dozier SS
Butera C
Carroll 2B
(Liriano P)

[SpiritofVodkaDave]

Cntrl+F= "Doumit"

zero results found.

Cntrl+F= "Butera"

one result found

WHY?

[snepp]

Cntrl+F= "Doumit"

zero results found.

Cntrl+F= "Butera"

one result found

WHY?

Because Doumit excels against right-handed pitching, and Peavy is a....well....ummm.....Butera calls a great game!

[SweetOne69]

Cntrl+F= "Doumit"

zero results found.

Cntrl+F= "Butera"

one result found

WHY?

Since Liriano was reinserted into the rotation, Butera has been his personal catcher. Butera does a better job of babysitting Liriano than Mauer does. He goes out to the mound more and is more animated behind the plate in his efforts to keep Liriano focused and relaxed.

[jokin]

Perhaps the most important series of the season (at least to keep the fans interested/teased for another couple of weeks) . For some reason I'm optimistic that we can win 2/3 and it all starts tonight, then take 2/3 against KC.

Has anyone seen Ryan Doumit's face on the side of any milk cartons? One day off, yes, but two straight days? Yes, Liriano is pitching (Son of Sal caddy duty), but unless he's hurt, how do you keep his bat out of the lineup again?

He's only the top hitting MLB catcher over the last 7 days. Here's his line: .467/.467/.733/.1200, with a .515 WOBA. Hey, at least we have a good PH option available. I just like riding those hot bats as long as possible, especially in a big series like this.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Cntrl+F= "Doumit"

zero results found.

Cntrl+F= "Butera"

one result found

WHY?

Francisco really likes it when Son of Sal slaps him on the ass and yells "¡bravo!" after every half inning.

Mauer and Doumit just don't have that kind of relationship with Liriano.

Twins Baseball™. Completely illogical since 2002.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Has anyone seen Ryan Doumit's face on the side of any milk cartons? One day off, yes, but two straight days? Yes, Liriano is pitching (Son of Sal caddy duty), but unless he's hurt, how do you keep his bat out of the lineup again?

He's only the top hitting MLB catcher over the last 7 days. Here's his line: .467/.467/.733/.1200, with a .515 WOBA. Hey, at least we have a good PH option available. I just like riding those hot bats as long as possible, especially in a big series like this.

There is no reason for two of the better-hitting catchers in baseball to be out from behind the plate in favor of the absolute worst hitter in all of major league baseball to be in their place.

None. It's awful. Just awful.

[SpiritofVodkaDave]

Francisco really likes it when Son of Sal slaps him on the ass and yells "¡bravo!" after every half inning.

Mauer and Doumit just don't have that kind of relationship with Liriano.

Twins Baseball™. Completely illogical since 2002.

I assumed they just enjoyed playing so much in the NL that they decided to keep at least one guy in the lineup who has no chance of getting multiple hits in a game.

[snepp]

Since Liriano was reinserted into the rotation, Butera has been his personal catcher. Butera does a better job of babysitting Liriano than Mauer does. He goes out to the mound more and is more animated behind the plate in his efforts to keep Liriano focused and relaxed.

No amount of babysitting will ever make up for this.

[GCTF]

I assumed they just enjoyed playing so much in the NL that they decided to keep at least one guy in the lineup who has no chance of getting multiple hits in a game.

Looks like your sponsorship of Buterrible's BRef page has expired. Just giving a heads up.

[GCTF]

No amount of babysitting will ever make up for this.

He's no Johnny Bench, or Mrs. Bench for that matter.

[snepp]

I bid $0.25.

[SpiritofVodkaDave]

Looks like your sponsorship of Buterrible's BRef page has expired. Just giving a heads up.

Yeah, they doubled the price to $35! Bastards.

[striker_86]

I bet Youk goes 3 for 4 with a homer tonight....

[twinzgrl]

I'm not a big Butera fan or anything, but the man is hitting much better this season than last...and if he can keep Liriano calm, well, he deserves a medal. Another White Sox series, another three games of AJ antics....can't wait.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I'm not a big Butera fan or anything, but the man is hitting much better this season than last...and if he can keep Liriano calm, well, he deserves a medal. Another White Sox series, another three games of AJ antics....can't wait.

He's had all of 50 ABs this season (even though it seems like about 100 more than that). The guy is one of the worst hitters in baseball. That's not going to change. He shouldn't be on any team's roster, much less starting games in front of talented catchers like Mauer and Doumit.

Remember when people thought Butera helped Pavano concentrate? And remember how Pavano put up the same numbers when Mauer was behind the plate?

Butera does far more damage to the lineup with the bat than any benefit he could ever bring to a pitcher's delicate mindset. These pitchers aren't children. They've made it to the highest level of professional sports by being mentally tough enough to compete. Francisco is pitching well because his mechanics are back in order and because he's using his devastating slider more often, not because Son of Sal is sitting behind the plate, making sure the bottom third of the Twins lineup never, ever scores another run.

[jokin]

He's had all of 50 ABs this season (even though it seems like about 100 more than that). The guy is one of the worst hitters in baseball. That's not going to change. He shouldn't be on any team's roster, much less starting games in front of talented catchers like Mauer and Doumit.

Remember when people thought Butera helped Pavano concentrate? And remember how Pavano put up the same numbers when Mauer was behind the plate?

Butera does far more damage to the lineup with the bat than any benefit he could ever bring to a pitcher's delicate mindset. These pitchers aren't children. They've made it to the highest level of professional sports by being mentally tough enough to compete. Francisco is pitching well because his mechanics are back in order and because he's using his devastating slider more often, not because Son of Sal is sitting behind the plate, making sure the bottom third of the Twins lineup never, ever scores another run.

This causes me to start bringing in the nepotism topic from another thread. Somehow, I doubt the reason Sal JR catches for Liriano is because of his scholarly command of South American Spanish and Gardy's pledge of no more scholarships and no more 3 rostered catchers lasted about 30 days. Even his fielding statistics are below Bench level- and by that I mean Mrs. Bench.

[snepp]

I'm not a big Butera fan or anything, but the man is hitting much better this season than last...

No, not really.

The only difference between this year, and the previous years, is that he had a spurt of good games right away rather than hidden somewhere in the middle.