Unfortunately for the Twins they got all of their offense for the weekend out on Friday night, slugging an amazing four home runs against the Mariners and blanking them 11-0. Scott Baker pitched seven shutout innings, was inexplicably taken out after the seventh, and lowered his ERA to 6.83. When your team's bullpen has already been overworked this season, games like these are godsends to the manager -- your pitcher can go the entire way and save your bullpen. Not so with Ron Gardenhire, who chose to go to Jesse Crain and Joe Nathan to finish the ballgame. As certified idiot Dick Bremer mentioned, Gardenhire wanted to get Nathan some work in the game, as he had been underused this season. Here's a tip, Gardy: let Joe Nathan go for a two-inning save when you really need it! That'll sure get him some work.
As for the offense, it appears to be hard to take negatives out of an 11-0 win, but there are. Justin Morneau continues to inflate his numbers in blowout wins. His home run in the fifth inning was a prodigious shot, but equally as astounding is the fact that a home run like that would never come in a game that actually matters. He's quickly getting the reputation of being a bad ball hitter, and although he may slap those outside curveballs into left for singles, opposing pitchers are going to be plenty happy with giving up a slap single to a guy who can launch straight fastballs 400+ feet. As a friend of the Re-Education Center has written, Morneau needs to be a lot more patient at the plate.
Brendan Harris had perhaps the biggest hit in the game, a thr
ee-run home run in the second inning which made it a 5-0 game. What does it take for Brendan Harris to get in the everyday lineup? Since the demotion of Alexi Casilla earlier this week, Ron Gardenhire has started light-hitting Matt Tolbert at second base, batting second. Tolbert is certainly a Gardenhire-type of player -- punch-and-judy hitter, "good" fielder, "smart" baserunner. But these are all attributes that were heaped on Alexi Casilla last season and even at the beginning of this season. Tolbert is not the answer for the Twins. The way that the pitchers are throwing, the Twins are going to need all the offense they can get. You may lose a step with Harris playing defense, but his bat is quickly becoming invaluable to this team. This is a prime example of how Ron Gardenhire is a terrible evaluator of talent. Guys like Matt Tolbert and Alexi Casilla do not crack major league starting lineups anywhere else than in Minnesota. Their "hustle" and "grittiness" may win them utility infielder positions, but no smart manager in his right mind would actually consider playing them everyday. It's a shame that Twins fans are constantly inculcated with this philosophy of "Twins baseball." Quick -- name a team that has won a World Series playing "small ball." I'm still waiting...
ee-run home run in the second inning which made it a 5-0 game. What does it take for Brendan Harris to get in the everyday lineup? Since the demotion of Alexi Casilla earlier this week, Ron Gardenhire has started light-hitting Matt Tolbert at second base, batting second. Tolbert is certainly a Gardenhire-type of player -- punch-and-judy hitter, "good" fielder, "smart" baserunner. But these are all attributes that were heaped on Alexi Casilla last season and even at the beginning of this season. Tolbert is not the answer for the Twins. The way that the pitchers are throwing, the Twins are going to need all the offense they can get. You may lose a step with Harris playing defense, but his bat is quickly becoming invaluable to this team. This is a prime example of how Ron Gardenhire is a terrible evaluator of talent. Guys like Matt Tolbert and Alexi Casilla do not crack major league starting lineups anywhere else than in Minnesota. Their "hustle" and "grittiness" may win them utility infielder positions, but no smart manager in his right mind would actually consider playing them everyday. It's a shame that Twins fans are constantly inculcated with this philosophy of "Twins baseball." Quick -- name a team that has won a World Series playing "small ball." I'm still waiting...It's a good thing the Twins were able to salvage one game out of this series with the struggling Mariners. Felix Hernandez and Eric Bedard are the starters for the final two games of the series, which doesn't bode well for the Twins' chances to win the series. They have been struggling with rookies and washups lately -- Brad Bergesen, Mark Hendrickson, Rick Porcello -- and now they get to struggle with somebody that actually has talent. Interestingly, the Twins have always hit Bedard pretty well; he's yet to post a victory against the Twins in his career. That trend is likely to change on Sunday.
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