Does this Comment Bother You?

[fishedwithhrbie]

“If he goes out and tries to duplicate what he did before,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said before the game, “he’ll get in trouble.”

 

it bothers me greatly. I sometimes argue semantics too much...However...you have a young pitcher who pitched a great debut...and the manager makes a comment with the key word tries...I dont know about you, but I want my pitchers to try for that each and every time. if they don't, they don't belong. Maybe Gardy meant "expect"...but I can no longer give him the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes I get the ridiculous feeling that Gardy's message is channeling Homer Simpson "Kids, you tried your best and you failed miserably. The lesson is, never try"...."If something's hard to do, then it's not worth doing"

 

Anyways, what do you guys think of his quote in the strib after Albers actually did try to do it again...And do you think Albers will be benched for not following orders.

[DaveW]

Listen, I am as happy as anyone about Albers, but he is walking a very fine line out there. Adjustments will have to be made, and if anything I think it's good that Gardy and company aren't going to let the success etc goto his head.

[fishedwithhrbie]

Well it was one start...and the message was to not try for that again...what is he supposed to do...the Twins way and shoot for 5 runs in 3 innings?

 

I get tempering young kids...but Gardy's message to Albers was "it was a fluke kid...you aren't any good"...now that may be the case, and it may not...but you don't say crap like that. Like I said...maybe Gardy meant to say "expect"...which would make sense...but again, can't give gardy benefit of doubt here. I want to be on record that I want all the young players from now on, to ignore every word Gardy says.

[Oldgoat_MN]

I find that comment unsettling.

 

Not sure of the context, but if it was about Albers and his debut, well, I hope he tries to do that every time.

[Halsey Hall]

That comment makes no sense whatsoever to me. I'd have to hear the entire interview, and it still probably wouldn't.

[twinsnorth49]

I love what Albers has accomplished, it's been fun to watch, however he was helped last night by some pretty timely defense, he got hit hard a few times, more than in the KC game and was a touch lucky they ended up in outs. There were a couple of warning track outs that were an inch or so from being squared up and gone.

 

I'd also like to hear the full context of that quote, doesn't make much sense.

[cmathewson]

Well, he went out and tried to do the same thing last night, and he only pitched a 2-hit shutout. So maybe Gardy isn't such an expert after all. That said, he will need to continue to mix up his pitches and throw strike 1 to be effective. To me, that's what he tried to do in the first two games. And he succeeded. I'd be happy if the tried to do that for the rest of his career.

[drjim]

Is there a link or context for this quote?

[old nurse]

Context of trying to do what is totally missing. If Albers had a pattern of pitching then no he shouldn't use the same pattern over again. Clubs are quick to pick up tendencies. If Gardenhire gave more of an explanation then other clubs would know what to look for. They may know by now after looking at the tapes.

[70charger]

I'd love to see the context too. How many times have I said something that maybe wasn't phrased perfectly, or maybe only made sense within the general context of what I'm talking about? It's far too easy to take a line out of a press quote and parse it to death when perhaps what Gardy was talking about would have been apparent if we were there.

 

That said, it certainly sounds suspect, but I would be willing to believe that what Gardy meant wasn't that "he should try to do well every time," but instead "he shouldn't expect to do well every time without making any adjustments." The latter seems more probable to me.

[fishedwithhrbie]

After pitching into the ninth inning in his major league debut last Tuesday, lefthander Andrew Albers set quite a standard for himself as he approached his second start.

“If he goes out and tries to duplicate what he did before,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said before the game, “he’ll get in trouble.”

Albers didn’t duplicate. He added on

 

....here's the link to strib article...

 

Twins shut out Cleveland 3-0 behind Andrew Albers | Star Tribune

 

Granted gardy could be talking about his approach...but the way the article was pieced together makes it seems unlikely. who knows...but if i was a young kid on a team and an article conveys a message from the manager that I shouldn't expect to be that good again...well

 

 

 

 

[twinsnorth49]

Granted gardy could be talking about his approach...but the way the article was pieced together makes it seems unlikely. who knows...but if i was a young kid on a team and an article conveys a message from the manager that I shouldn't expect to be that good again...well

 

Or he shouldn't expect it to be that easy again, I don't think Gardy meant for him to be not that good again, that's a bit silly to me. While I don't necessarily dislike Gardy, I don't love him either and he's not above criticism but this is a bit of a stretch.

[Craig Arko]

I wonder what TK would have said.

[James]

I'm not a huge Gardy defender, but I'm pretty sure that he was talking about expectations or that he will still need to make adjustments.

 

The later quote by Gardy makes me think that he was talking about expectations:

“We saw how pitching is supposed to be,” Gardenhire said. “Pitching you like to see.”

 

If you listen to the interview with Albers, it sounds like he knows this isn't going to happen every time and that he really relied on the defense. Sounds like quite the grounded guy.

[Chance]

What?! You honestly would take it as a poke at Albers that he wouldn't want him to succeed? Really?! Gardy's job depends on this team not completely crumbling. He had to have meant that he can't use the same approach that he found success with. The author of the article clearly got the rise he was hoping for with the strategically placed quote.

[beckmt]

I think you will see on Saturday and in the future many players swinging at the first pitch. This is what adjustments are about. Will see if it changes things on Saturday.

[IdahoPilgrim]

If this was the forum (a pregame interview) in which Gardy surfaced these thoughts, then possibly there might be a valid critique, although personally I think it's a mighty big reach to get there, even for those who are his biggest critics.

 

My guess, however, is that Gardy had a conversation with Albers after his first start and debriefed him on it, and probably Anderson too. In it I'm guessing they complimented him on the things he did well and gave him some thoughts for areas to improve. He doesn't have overpowering stuff, so he truly has to pitch and not just throw. In those cases there is always room for improvement and to learn, and the margin for error is diminished (as Mr. Diamond has shown us this year). My guess is that the quote highlighted here is in relation to those areas where they pointed out to him areas of improvement, in which case the quote becomes quite valid.

[ashbury]

I'm not a huge Gardy defender, but I'm pretty sure that he was talking about expectations or that he will still need to make adjustments.

 

The later quote by Gardy makes me think that he was talking about expectations:

 

 

If you listen to the interview with Albers, it sounds like he knows this isn't going to happen every time and that he really relied on the defense. Sounds like quite the grounded guy.

 

The article with the mentioned Gardy quote didn't provide any further context. I expect the context would have shed better light.

 

In addition to what's already been said here, I'm thinking that Gardy might have been referring to situational pitching where expectations have to be kept realistic. Say the first two batters reach and he's now got a second and third situation with the heart of the order coming up; if it's late innings and a one-run lead needs to be preserved then it may be right to go for a strikeout or two even at the risk of a home run, but if it's the first inning then the shutout isn't that important if you can limit the damage, so just pitch normally and keep the ball low but near the strike zone and take your chances.

 

Gardy could have probably phrased it better if that's what he was getting at, sure.

[IdahoPilgrim]

Since this thread started with a critique of what Gardenhire said pre-game, it seems appropriate to add his comments post-game. Fair is fair, after all. Taken from the Twins site:

 

"I think we saw pitching the way it's supposed to be," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He works quick, moves the ball in and out and changes speeds. That's two performances in a row just like that. So that was special for him to do that tonight in front of our crowd."