one_eyed_jack

I'm little perplexed about the amount of attention and gushing praise that Hughes has received the last couple of days. He had a few nice moments and seemed like a quality guy. But to read some of the stuff that's been written about him, Jesus Christmas, you'd think the Twins just gave up on the second coming of Lou Whitaker from down under.

This was a nice win. Real happy to see Marquis get a W after what he's been through with his daughter, and thrilled to see Justin Morneau look like, well, Justin Morneau. The bats are coming alive, but yeah, it's hard to see how we have enough pitching to really go anywhere. Being at best average defensively doesn't exactly help that cause either. This team is at least 1 top-of-the-rotation starter and 1 quality arm in the bullpen away from being truly dangerous but I think a 15-20 win improvement over last year and a second-place finish in a weak division are achievable.

My favorite Luke Hughes moment was when he supposed to get in for a game at Target Field but didn't after he missed his flight because he was waiting at the wrong gate at the airport! Seriously though, if he does get picked up, good luck to him. Don't think he'll ever amount to much more than an average bench player, but he seems like a decent bloke.

Good game so far. Love seeing Morneau hitting the cover off the ball. It's 6-4 Twins but man, I tell ya, a 2-run lead feels like a 3-run deficit when we're playing in the Bronx.

I'm with John, I don't get it. As I understand it, Morneau wasn't available to play the field until tonight, thus Gardy couldn't DH Doumit without taking Morneau's bat out of the lineup. SO Gardy was so paralyzed by fear of DHing one of his catchers while the other one caught that he did it at the first opportunity he had? And maybe I missed it, but I don't recall any complaning about this previously. Only after the ESPN piece, which didn't even talk about the DH thing, only the bogus issue that Doumit has been kept out of the lineup too much. Most of the stuff I read in national sources about teams in flyover country is garbage. That's why I come here.

Oh I'm staying. I've just seen these kinds of games end badly for the Twins so many times, that I'm conditioned to lose hope when I see something like that happen in the later innings. I forget the exact numbers, and I'm too lazy to look them up right now, but in a long stretch of losses at Yankee Stadium, the Twins had the lead in the 6th inning or later in over two thirds of them.

Well that was a huge blow to my hopes for a Twins W this evening.

If anything I'd rather see them get back to pirhana-ball. Home runs are exciting, but you don't necessarily have to be able to outslug everyone else to win. Only half of the last 10 World Series winners finished in the top 5 in the league in Home Runs. 3 of them finished in the bottom half of the league in that category. Target Field is not a home-run hitters park. And without major changes, it's not going to be. So why try to win by being a home-run hitting team? Runs count the same no matter how your score them. A towering 2-run shot may make for a great SportsCenter highlight. But having a couple of speedsters get on by walking or bunting or blooping, then stealing bases, then coming home on sacrifices and singles can make for long innings and be much more effective and wearing an opposing pitcher down.

Umm, they're both in the lineup tonight for the 7th time in 10 games. The 3 games they weren't were: -The 8-2 loss in game 2 (hard to see how Doumit's presence turns that into a W) -The 10-9 win over the Angels (man, how did we manage to score 10 runs without Ryan "Triple Crown" Doumit in the lineup?!) -Yesterday's 4-3 loss (in which Clete, who played instead of him, accounted for most of our offense) I'm not seeing any evidence here to support the claims that 1) Gardy's "worry-warting" is keeping Doumit out of the lineup too often, or 2) when it does, it's hurting the team. But hey, why let facts get in the way of yet another round of irrational Gardy-bashing, right?

It's frustrating. But still, we've only played 6% of our schedule. I'm not going to throw in the towel because we're 4 games out with 153 to go. Plus this division, outside of Detroit, is pretty underwhelming. Hard to count anyone out of it until they get buried pretty far back. And while I'd put my money on the Tigers to win the divison, I don't think it's going to be the cakewalk that lot of people are predicting for them. They've got lots of power, the best pitcher in baseball, and a very good rotation. But their overrated bullpen and subpar defense are going to cost them some games along the way.

In a way I'm glad the Yankees are coming up. A good showing in the Bronx might inspire some confidence in this team, which is I think what they need more than anything. It's an opportunity for them to show that this year can be different. It seems like they're in a situation where they feel like they need to play flawless baseball in order to win and thus are playing like a team afraid to make mistakes and trying to make too many perfect plays. Of course, I'm afraid it will more likely be the same 'ol story, same 'ol song and dance in New York. But if they did manage to take the series, it would give me a different feeling about the rest of the year.

Another bad outing by Perk. Another non-productive day for the M&M's. But Carroll's failed bunt may have been the most frustrating moment of the day for me. That whole inning changes if he's able to move Span over.

Lots of wasted opportunities in this one. Ugh. And while I've been a big supporter and defender of Mauer, and I know it's early, the fact that he's had only 1 productive game in the first 8 is bit troubling. He needs to show up more than once a week if this team is going to have any measure of success this year.

I'm sorry, but this piece is ridiculous. Yes, racism is still real, and it is a sensitive and complex topic. But just because racism is a serious topic does not mean that we are required to take every accusation of racism seriously. I do not see a shred of evidence that MLB front offices are, as the author suggests, more focused on constructing a team that mirrors the racial makeup of the local fan base so that they'll spend more money than in fielding the best team possible within their budget. Plenty of counterexamples have already been provided to refute the claim that there is a pattern with the Twins. Certainly, there can be individual cases like Mauer where the fact that he's a beloved local boy plays into the equation. But would if Mauer were black, would he not be here anymore? Would the Twins have traded him or let him walk? We'll never know, but I seriously doubt it. Puckett was beloved by the fan base. And suppose Hunter were white. Would the Twins have coughed up that kind of contract to keep him? I doubt it. And it's not like Hunter was replaced by a white guy. In fact, they traded for Delmon Young at least in part because they felt they needed another right-handed bat in the lineup to replace Hunter's production.

I think the whole "Heart" thing gets overplayed. There's often this knee-jerk explanation for sports outcomes that it all comes down to the victor having a greater desire to win. I'm sorry, but I don't buy the idea that reality is that close to Rocky movies, and it's all about who has the "eye of the tiger" and other factors (talent, injuries, matchups, luck, bad calls, bad decisions, weather, scheduling) have no impact at all.

The "last few years"? 2011 may have seemed like it lasted for about 4 years, but it was actually only 1. Unless you spent 2008-2010 watching replays of the 2007 season, I don't see how you could characterize the Twins as lifeless for the "last few years".

That was great! How's about, oh I don't know, maybe 87 more of those this year? (It's not even tax day yet. As a fan, I reserve the right to focus on the possible over the likely at this point.)

Leyland is an overrated manager. It's funny, I thought the Twins faithful were hard on Gardy, but man, go read the comments on the Detroit Free Press some time. The Gardy-bashing in the Strib comments is mild by comparison. He has had some bad years. The last-place finish despite big acquisitions and high expectations in 2008. The colossal choke in 2009. Guillen was able to ride his success of 2005 for too long. His teams chronically underachieved after that. There are things you can criticize Gardy for, but I take him over either of those 2.

I guess I'd put myself at a 6 or 7 on that scale. The Twins are my team, but I'm a baseball fan first and a Twins fan second. There seem to be a lot more people on the extreme ends than in the middle. It's either blind cheerleading or knee-jerk negatvisim about absolutely everything. I tend to be a little more rational about it. But I'll tell you this - I'd much rather watch a game with a bunch of 10's than a bunch of 1's. It's baseball, people, it's supposed to be fun. You can get into it, and even be passionate about it, but at the end of the day, it's a harmless diversion. The experience of a baseball game isn't all about whether your team wins. Sometimes the home team wins, sometimes they don't. Sometimes you get a close, flawlessly played game that's decided in extra innings, sometimes it's a laugher that's over by the third inning. Sometimes you get an eventful game filled with suicide squeezes, double steals, 7-man infields, grand slams and crashing-into-the-wall catches. Sometimes it's an unremarkable bunch of routine plays. But it's more than that. It's the pleasure of sitting outside enjoying the sights, sounds, tastes and smells of a major league game on a perfect summer evening. It's the look of unbridled elation on the face of a kid who just had a foul ball bounce into his hands. It's the sweetness of seeing a couple of octogenarians decked out in Twins gear holding up a "Circle Me Bert" sign that announces they're celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. And I would much rather experience all that surrounded by a bunch of people shouting "Go Twins" even though all realistic possibility of victory evaporated 3 innings ago than by a nattering nabob of negative ninnies moaning, groaning and muttering "I told you so" after every little Twins misstep. (Seriously, if you're one of those people, do the rest of us a favor and stay home.)

That may be a valid point, but calling Mauer's contract the "worst in the history of professional sports" seems an odd way to try and make it, doncha think? I do find all of the Monday Morning Quarterbacking of the decision to pay up for Mauer pretty amusing. When the time for a contract extension arrived, I didn't hear anyone suggest that it if he wanted too much money and/or too many years, we should just let him walk. Virtually all of Twins Territory demanded he be re-signed. And you had to know it was going to be a fat, long deal because that's what he would have gotten had he hit the open market. Had the Twins allowed him to walk away and sign with, say, the Yankees for Red Sox, there would have been a torch-and-pitchfork mob heading down Hennepin Avenue demanding the blood of everyone in the front office. Also, it was, ironically, precisely the type of move that Twins fans spent years whining about the team NOT making because they were too cheap. But familiarity breeds contempt, I guess. When the Twins don't spend money, the fan base whines about ownership being unwilling to invest in talent. When the Twins do spend moeny, they whine about guys being overpaid. It's like listening to little old ladies at restaurants who complain that the food is terrible and the portions are too small.

---It's premature and melodramatic to be making such claims. We're 1.025 seasons into an 8-year deal. Mauer has a lot of disappointing baseball to play before you can start mentioning his contract in the same breath as Barry Zito's or Mike Hampton's. And if we're talking all of pro sports, it's hard to compete with the NBA for absurdly bad contracts. (See, e.g. Rashard Lewis and Elton Brand).

Going into panic mode after 2 games out of 162 makes about as much sense as going into panic mode during a game because your leadoff hitter takes a couple of pitches for strikes in the 1st inning. It's way too early. That said, the only positives I could see from these first 2 games were Morneau swinging a good bat and Carroll looking surprisingly solid. Other than that, it was keystone cops on defense, a pitching staff that throws too many batting practice fastballs, and an overall punchless lineup. This is a flawed team, but they can do better than that. And I hope they start showing it soon. The Vikings made it a long fall. The Wild and recently the Wolves made it a long winter. If we keep seeing the type of baseball we saw the past 2 days, it is going to be one hell of a long summer.

1) The 100-pitch limit is hardly unique to Gardy. It's standard practice in today's MLB, for better or for worse. So that's something you could throw out as a criticism against, oh, about 29 or so other major league managers, and thus not a very persuasive anti-Gardy argument. That's like criticizing him for not regularly using his closer for 2 and 3 inning saves as was done back in the day with guys like Bruce Sutter and Goose Gossage. 2) Can you give examples of "coddling players"? 3) Punto was the only guy there that you could maybe consider a "favorite". He had his ups and downs, but watching last year's team was a pretty good lesson in why he was valued. The results weren't always what you'd hoped, and he could make some maddeningly dumb mistakes at times, but Punto's effort and commitment were never in question. Also, he did have seasons where he hit .284 and .290, so he was hardly always a "sure out". Butera was only used regularly when it was a necessity. Hocking played under Gardy for 2 seasons and appeared in slightly more than half the teams games in those, which was less action than he was seeing under TK. So unless you can come up with specific, verifiable examples of "coddling", I think you struck out on 3 pitches here, chief. Cheers.

Hope springs eternal - it always does at this time of year! But seriously, I think we'll see a better team than last year. How much better remains to be seen. Most of the "experts" have us finishing 5th. I think we'll do better than that. I think this lineup will be able to put runs on the board and the rotation could be solid. But it's defense and the bullpen that worry me. If we see a lot of extra outs and blown leads, it will be one hell of a long season. The fate of this season will hinge largely on how well the team is able to handle the brutal early schedule. After Baltimore, it gets ugly - 28 of the next 36 are against the Angels, Yankees, Rangers, Rays, Red Sox, Jays and Tigers. It softens up quite a bit after that, so if the Twins can get through that stretch in tact, they might even be able to hang in long enough to make it interesting. OTOH, if last year's team show's up, this thing could be over by Mother's Day.

---Oh, but shooting down ridiculous straw man arguments like "Gardenhire is perfect" and accusing people of being "brainwashed" really adds to the quality of the discussion, doesn't it? As for Gardenhire doing a lot with a little, maybe the last 2 years he hasn't, but from 2002-2009 he certainly did. How about taking a team with the 4th-lowest opening day payroll in baseball and getting them to within 3 win of a World Series appearance? How about consistently winning division titles, even though your rivals are making big offseason splashes while your front office jettisons your most talented players when they become too expensive and replaces them with bargain bin free agents. How about 2008 when most of the "experts" picked the Twins to finish dead last after the departures of Santana and Hunter while prematurely crowning the Tigers based on moves to bring in Willis, Cabrera and Renteria. But Gardy had the Twins playing past game 162 again. How about the comeback in '09, this time capped by a win in game 163, in which Gardy pieced together a late run using a bunch of September callups while guys like Morneau were out. These were all pretty impressive performances, that I think, unfortunately, have been largely overshadowed by postseason disappointments and taken for granted because they happened so often. But winning year in and year out despite roster upheavel is a tough thing to do. Tom Kelly was a great manager had the 2 unforgettable post season runs, but even he couldn't manage to keep the team in the mix consistently. In his 15 years of managing, he had only 5 winning seasons. Nobody, especially me, is claiming Gardenhire is a perfect manager. But I will say that he's one of the best in the business, and largely underappreciated by the flock.