Another inconsistent start for Francisco Liriano, as he pitches decent but gives up three home runs -- a solo shot to Jeff Mathis (he of the Puntoesque batting average of .197), a two-run home run to part-timer and ex-Gopher Robb Quinlan (his 25th career home run in seven seasons) and a back-breaking three-run home run to Mike Napoli, who won the game with a double the game earlier. It was especially disappointing considering the fact that the Twins desperately needed a good start from Liriano to save the bullpen if nothing else. After Glen Perkins went one pathetic inning against Oakland on Wednesday and Scott Baker amassed a huge pitch count on Thursday and had to leave after five innings, the Twins were counting on Liriano to pitch deep in the game. But the Twins have been counting on Liriano to pitch well all season, and he has just not stepped up to the plate at all. He's only had maybe one instance where Liriano pitched well in two consecutive starts; for the most part, Liriano's been bad with patches of brilliance. It's the kind of recipe that would make for a pretty successful relief pitcher, and it really makes sense to move him to the bullpen when you consider what the Twins have out there currently. But Ron Gardenhire stupidly believes in Liriano, and this crap will continue for the rest of the year. The loss drops Liriano to 4-10 and he's also the owner of a dismal ERA of 5.56. As long as Ron Gardenhire keeps going to Liriano every fifth day, he's easily going to lose fifteen games, with a good chance to lose a few more after that. Pathetic.According to Dick Bremer, Ron Gardenhire has moved Joe Mauer into the #2 hole "at least in the short term, permanently." First off, what the hell does that mean? It's either permanent or in the short term, there, brainiac. In all fairness, I'm not sure 
which idiot has the information wrong -- Gardy or Bremer. A pipeline of information like that is something that I cringe at, but any way that it goes, we know that that info's going to be worthless however you interpret it. It's kind of like when Bremer reported that Gardenhire had commented that reliever Brian Duensing (5.82 ERA) was doing "fine." Whaaaaaaat? If that's "fine," I'm scared of what your opinion of "good" is -- well, we kind of already know, since Nick Punto has the best job security on the planet, as even the jaws of life couldn't pry Punto from the starting lineup. Getting back to the #2 hole controversy, Gardy claimed he did this earlier in the season to, in May, when the season could still be salvaged. Let's just put this into perspective; Ron Gardenhire waited until July 24 -- 97 games into the season -- to address the weakest part in his batting order. He gave Alexi Casilla three separate occasions, Matt Tolbert way too many opportunities, and it got so bad that he put Nick Punto there earlier in the road trip. I'm shaking my head just thinking about that stupidity. The higher you hit in the lineup, the more at-bats you're going to eventually get during the season. Why any person -- baseball person or not -- would hit a guy hitting in the .160s over a two-time batting champion is absolutely beyond me. Casilla, by the way, went 0 for 3 again, putting him at 3 for 29 since being recalled from the minors again. It's incredible how each time that Casilla has been called up, he's been miraculously worse every single time. And Nick Punto, who had a three-hit game in Texas last week that apparently prompted Gardenhire to bat him second in Oakland, has exactly one hit since then, going an incredible 1 for 17, dropping his average to a .202 average that is, well, Puntoesque. Mauer, by the way, went 2 for 4 with 2 home runs hitting out of the #2 spot on Friday.
which idiot has the information wrong -- Gardy or Bremer. A pipeline of information like that is something that I cringe at, but any way that it goes, we know that that info's going to be worthless however you interpret it. It's kind of like when Bremer reported that Gardenhire had commented that reliever Brian Duensing (5.82 ERA) was doing "fine." Whaaaaaaat? If that's "fine," I'm scared of what your opinion of "good" is -- well, we kind of already know, since Nick Punto has the best job security on the planet, as even the jaws of life couldn't pry Punto from the starting lineup. Getting back to the #2 hole controversy, Gardy claimed he did this earlier in the season to, in May, when the season could still be salvaged. Let's just put this into perspective; Ron Gardenhire waited until July 24 -- 97 games into the season -- to address the weakest part in his batting order. He gave Alexi Casilla three separate occasions, Matt Tolbert way too many opportunities, and it got so bad that he put Nick Punto there earlier in the road trip. I'm shaking my head just thinking about that stupidity. The higher you hit in the lineup, the more at-bats you're going to eventually get during the season. Why any person -- baseball person or not -- would hit a guy hitting in the .160s over a two-time batting champion is absolutely beyond me. Casilla, by the way, went 0 for 3 again, putting him at 3 for 29 since being recalled from the minors again. It's incredible how each time that Casilla has been called up, he's been miraculously worse every single time. And Nick Punto, who had a three-hit game in Texas last week that apparently prompted Gardenhire to bat him second in Oakland, has exactly one hit since then, going an incredible 1 for 17, dropping his average to a .202 average that is, well, Puntoesque. Mauer, by the way, went 2 for 4 with 2 home runs hitting out of the #2 spot on Friday.
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