I am your host, Eisenhower McSteele.
Such a pathetic effort from the Twins (again) is reason enough to start venting on a big-league level. This blog’s mission statement is simple: to educate people as to the pitiful nature of the Minnesota Twins and in particular their manager Ron Gardenhire. Each game, wins and losses, will be recapped in detail here to reveal to the pedestrian fans the underlying reasons for why the Minnesota Twins are the most dreadful team in sports – dreadful in terms of the stress and heartache that they cause their fans.
As a prologue, the ordinary fan must be educated about the 2008 Minnesota Twins. They were a terrible team, as undeserving of 88 victories as any team can be, but at the same time they should have easily won the division if not for the horrendous managing of Ron Gardenhire. The 2008 Twins were perhaps the most gut-wrenching, stress-inducing, gray-hair producing team to follow in the sports world. The team performed in spite of Ron Gardenhire’s best efforts to lose games, and in 2009, the same is true. For the Twins to be hovering on or near the five-hundred mark is truly a sign that a God exists. The same crap that happened last year has recurred again this year, almost more so. In particular, Ron Gardenhire’s continuous mismanaging of a pitching staff consistently costs his team wins, and in last year’s case, all it took was one mismanaged game to cost his team a division.
And in Gardenhire’s world, an A.L. Central Division title is code for “mission accomplished.” The Minnesota Twins are perhaps the most ill-equipped World Series contender, but because Ron Gardenhire and the front office’s standard for accomplishment is merely division titles, they believe they have done their job. Never mind the fact that Ron Gardenhire’s career playoff record is absolutely pitiful (6-15) and that he will never, ever win the “big one”; the regime in charge is pleased as punch as long as the Twins are competitive (read: profitable). When the sole goal of the franchise is not to win a World Series (think the Yankees, Red Sox, or pretty much any team) but to turn a profit, it does not behoove the front office to build a serious contender that can actually win a World Series, as it cuts into profit. Hey, the team is bringing in fans in droves right now, and the majority of the fan base is happy with the team. I represent the minority of fans that frankly cannot accept the way the franchise is being run, both on the field and off. As long as Ron Gardenhire is at the helm, the team will continue to be in a state of arrested development. This blog seeks to illustrate this frustrated stagnancy.
TO THE GAME:
Talk about a game where your opponent was almost literally giving the game to you. The Kansas City Royals are a decent team but quite frankly, Saturday was not their best night. But on all facets of the game – hitting, fielding, baserunning, pitching, and of course managerially – the Twins refused to show their fans that they are a legitimate team. At this point, it is clear that Trey Hillman’s Royals are the superior team, and it is indicative of a good ballclub when they can pounce on their opponents’ mistakes – on the road, no less. Let’s take a look at each facet of the game where the Twins failed:
HITTING
When you get seven runs it seems as if the offense did its job, and it certainly provided the run support needed to win a baseball game. But, when the fielding, pitching, and managing fail you, mistakes at the plate are thus amplified. Nick Punto, questionably the worst hitter in the American League (whose lone competition seems to be Alexi Casilla or Carlos Gomez), had a chance to win the game in the bottom of the tenth inning. With the winning run on third base and one out, all Punto needed to do was hit a fly ball in the outfield to win the game. He could have made an out and won the game. But, facing Royals relief ace Joakim Soria, Punto tapped out pathetically to short, failing to get the job done and win the game.
So stupid was I to think that Punto would get a hit to win the game. Banking on the fact that long shot Mine That Bird won the Kentucky Derby earlier Saturday from the eighth position, I saw the Twins’ #8 as the potential hitting hero. Then I saw Punto wave haplessly at two Soria strikes and thought better of that scenario. When Soria uncorked a wild pitch to move the winning run to third base, it was as much a long shot as Mine That Bird winning the Derby that Punto would get a hit. The lesson learned here: Nick Punto sucks.
FIELDING
When is Ron Gardenhire going to sit Alexi Casilla, or, even better, send him down to Triple-A? The guy can’t hit the broad side of a barn, he’s not a good baserunner considering his sheer speed, and now we know he boots routine grounders in clutch situations. In the eighth, Ron “The Brain” Gardenhire leaves Luis Ayala in the game to complete his Matt Guerrier Special (see below) and he is lifted for Jose Mijares after the go-ahead run gets on base. Mijares gets the job done, striking out the first batter and then getting Miguel Olivo to tap out weakly to the right side. Casilla, pathetically, bobbled the easy play, and the go-ahead run scored. What a good, in-your-face manager would have done is to sit Casilla’s ass on the bench right then and there. Brendan Harris doesn’t have the range that Casilla has, but he’s the much better bat and he can make the routine play. It’s an easy decision – guys hitting .160 do not belong in the big leagues. Most likely, however, Casilla will be back in the lineup on Monday night.
PITCHING
The bullpen is in shambles. This is the big difference between the Royals and the Twins. The starting staff for the Royals is a helluva lot better, too, but it’s the bullpen that’s ultimately going to cost them games. Ron Gardenhire and Rick Anderson share a good load of the criticism that must be leveled at the pitching staff because it’s these guys who continue to have faith in them. Luis Ayala has not proven he can get anybody out, yet Ron Gardenhire has apparently chosen him to be his seventh-inning stopper, this year’s version of Matt Guerrier. The 2008 Twins were so memorable because of the many Matt Guerrier Specials that cost the team critical victories down the stretch last year. A Matt Guerrier Special (MGS) is a relief appearance in which a reliever inherits a lead, squanders the lead, and gives up the go-ahead run. A classic MGS involves the eponymous reliever also giving up an insurance run to boot. In 2009, Matt Guerrier has been rightfully relegated to long-relief, and apparently Ron Gardenhire has given the responsibility of squandering leads to Luis Ayala. The difference between this year and last is that there was a time in the 2008 season that Matt Guerrier actually got batters out, which in the second-half of the season led The Brain to believe that Guerrier could get the job done. Interestingly, Luis Ayala has never gotten batters out consistently in 2009 and yet Gardenhire, perhaps arbitrarily, has continued to believe (stupidly) that Ayala can hold leads.
Whereas the classic MGS involves the reliever giving up the lead and the go-ahead run in the same inning, in this game Luis Ayala did it over two innings. Stupidly, Ron Gardenhire brought Ayala back out to start the eighth inning after he let the Royals tie the game the inning earlier, and this led to the Alexi Casilla debacle. Later in the game, The Brain’s classic bullpen management eventually led to their demise. Mijares and Joe Nathan, the only pitchers who have proven they can get batters out, only go 1 2/3 innings; Matt Guerrier struggled through the tenth, and then Craig Breslow and R.A. Dickey (Gardenhire’s favorite human on earth) combined to provide the second MGS of the game, giving up three runs in the eleventh to lose the game.
Not to be forgotten is Glen Perkins’ forgettable performance, which featured pathetic highlights like two-out, two-run triples to light hitting catchers such as Miguel Olivo.
BASERUNNING
Three times the Twins made the third out on the bases, twice at third base. The cardinal rule in baseball is: NEVER make the first or third out at third base, and they managed to do this twice in a game. Alexi Casilla added to his splendid game by being thrown out at third to end the first inning (Casilla’s game: 0-3 at the plate, thrown out at third to end an inning, and a crucial error that cost the team a victory – awesome, dude). More unacceptable is Nick Punto’s baserunning blunder in the sixth inning, getting thrown out trying to advance to third on Casilla’s popout to left field. Though the play was close, Punto is an idiot for failing to realize who is on-deck: Joe Mauer, who was only hitting about .800. Why do you not get thrown out at third to end an inning? Because with two outs, you’re off on the crack of the bat, and you’re going to score on a hit to the outfield from second base anyways. There’s only a few plays that you would score from third base that you wouldn’t score from second, and Punto needs to know that Mauer is on-deck. A classic Punto temper-tantrum added icing to the cake on this bonehead play.
MANAGERIALLY
Ron Gardenhire has authority over all of the facets of the game. Alexi Casilla has deserved to lose his starting job weeks ago; his game-winning hit in the second game of the season seems to be the only reason he continues to keep his job. It’s too bad that that is the only hit of any consequence that Casilla’s had all year long, and the two runs he drove in on that hit are the only runs he’s driven in all year long. Not that Casilla’s supposed to be an RBI machine, but two RBIs in one month – that’s just pathetic. The Brain’s choice to keep Casilla in the everyday lineup only crimps his team’s chances to win, as now his defense is showing holes.
Nick Punto is a terrible player in his own right, but Ron Gardenhire must shoulder some of the blame, as he continues to play him everyday. Nick Punto is the lamest excuse for an everyday player in the American League; for Ron Gardenhire to have confidence in him proves his insanity.
Most of all, Ron Gardenhire’s approach towards managing his pitchers is the biggest travesty to Twins fans. What is his rationale for continuing to go to Luis Ayala to give up leads? Why are you so willing to let R.A. Dickey give up run after run after run? Gardenhire’s willingness to use Dickey to “save” the arms of the rest of the bullpen is self-defeating; once you bring R.A. Dickey into a game, you have clinched a loss – just like when you bring in Matt Guerrier or Luis Ayala in to “hold” a lead (i.e. blow a lead), whenever R.A. Dickey is brought into a game, you have conceded defeat. Because he babied the rest of the bullpen, he had no other choice but to go to Dickey after Craig Breslow walked the bases loaded (why Breslow was not taken out of the game after the second walk I don’t know).
On contrast, the Kansas City bullpen is a big strength to their team. One guy that Twins fans should get used to seeing mow them down in Juan Cruz. Although he did not look impressive on Saturday, this guy has a power arm that the Twins desperately need in eighth-inning situations. The Twins could have
had Cruz in the offseason, too. They showed interest in Cruz, who was a Type A free agent from Arizona that waited until March to sign with Kansas City. Because of his Type A status, the Twins would have had to surrender their first-round draft pick this year in order to sign Cruz; because Kansas City’s draft position is in the first sixteen picks, they only had to surrender a sandwich-pick rather than their first-round selection. The Twins tried to swing a sign-and-trade with Arizona but the deal fell through. So typical of the Twins – who’d rather not lose a prospect who may or may not pan out than sign the relief pitcher they desperately need right now. Cruz’s signing with the Royals may ultimately cost the Twins a division title, and the other guys in that KC bullpen – Ron Mahay, Kyle Farnsworth, Jamey Wright, Horacio Ramirez, and of course Soria – make the Royals’ pen much more formidable than the Twins, who other than Joe Nathan, are very thin in between.With a stronger starting five (even with Sidney Ponson) and a much stronger bullpen, the Royals appear to have a better chance than the Twins do of winning the Central this season. For Trey Hillman, this would be an incredible achievement, whereas for the Twins, another division title coupled with another early playoff exit would continue to put salt in the wounds of Twins fans everywhere.
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