The Twins team I saw in the playoffs was not the same one I watched for
the last 4 months. They had three errors today. Bartlett let a ball go
right under his glove, allowing Bradley's HR to be a 2 run affair
instead of a solo HR. Radke dropped a pop-up he had no business
fielding. Shades of Game 1 in 2002 when they let a couple pop-ups drop
near the pitching mound. Morneau boots an easy grounder which
eventually led to the bases clearing double.

Crain was lights out in September then couldn't find his ass with both
hands, a mirror, and a halogen light, as he intentionally walked in a
run. Joe Nathan throws a wild pitch allowing a run to score on
Wednesday.

In the previous games Hunter dived for a ball he should have played
back on. Bartlett muffs an easy grounder. Cuddyer has hands of stone in
RF, bobbling a couple of routine balls out there. Bartlett looks lost
on the basepaths almost getting picked off of second base but crawled
back as Kendall's throw went high to Scutaro. Then Bartlett looked like
a deer in the headlights hesitating between 2nd and 3rd on a grounder
to second.

The Twins were nervous, impatient at the plate, allowing Zito to cruise
through the lineup even though he wasn't throwing strikes. And Joe
Mauer has turned in a robot, grounding out eight times in 3 games, five
times to second base. The MLB batting champ batted .182 in the
playoffs, getting 3 hits, all singles. Nick Punto batted .167 in the #2
spot.

Who were these guys, because I didn't recognize them.

Go Detroit!

powrwrap wrote:
The manager really had this team ready!

What was Gardenhire supposed to do to get them ready?

Castillo, Redmond, White, Cuddyer, Hunter, Radke, Santana have playoff
experience.

powrwrap wrote:
Well, I guess the team doesn't need a manager then. They looked
overmatched at the plate. Nice advance scouting team. Gardy just seems
like he is along for the ride. His managing of the bullpen is
questionable, and the team is not hitting and he changes NOTHING. They
were in a slump going into the playoffs and it didn't surprise me at all
that the most we could muster was 3 runs at the most. Gardy should have
recognized this and at least try something. He did absolutely nothing.
Which is how he had managed this team his entire career.

I've been saying for about two weeks that Gardy should move Punto to
the #9 spot and move everybody else up. But what would that accomplish
over three games?

Again, what would you have him do? You can't say he should have done
something and not name what it is.

What is with the propensity of Castillo and Punto to almost always show
bunt the first couple of pitches, invariably letting a hittable pitch
go by? What's the point in making Chavez cheat in a little at third
base? That really bugged me. That and Punto diving into first base like
an idiot.

powrwrap wrote:
I agree with the Punto move to 9. Sometimes a change shakes things up.
We will never know as Gardy is as stubborn as Childress. It just bugs
me that Gardy tried NOTHING. At least show the team you have put some
thought into your lineup and move things around when they are broken.
His smug comment about winning 96 games so he should't have to change
the lineup just reeks of laziness. I will admit that I have never been
a big Gardy fan. In his interviews he doesn't sound all that
knowledgeable, and almost acts like he is in a daze. I am sick of
hearing they played their butts off, they battled, etc. On occasion he
will talk strategy, but it is very rare. I just wonder if he has even
put any thought into his gameplan. The team won 96 games...great. But
when the chips were down and the team was slumping, what did Gardy do to
try and break out of the funk? : : Exactly.

I see that Leyland has moved whiffmaster Granderson down to the #9 spot
with Randy Johnson pitching. I also see that Torre is sitting Sheffield
and playing Giambi at first with Bernie Williams DHing. I guess that's
what good managers do.

Yathinkso wrote:

Who said anything remotely like that? I'm no big Gardy backer, but
you're just being nonsensical here.


And that's Gardy's fault?


Oh come on. Get real. You're bending over backwards to place the blame
anywhere but where it belongs - the players. Do you really believe that
the Twins hitters had a lack of data on Zito and Loaiza? That's just
fucking stupid.



I did NOT like him letting Perkins pitch to Thomas, that's true. But
over the season, his bullpen management has been nothing short of
brilliant. It's probably his strongest suit as a manager.

Matt

Matt wrote:
But over the season, his bullpen management has been nothing short of
brilliant. It's probably his strongest suit as a manager.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some nice comments about Gardenhire, Matt. That was nice of you. But,
I'm switching places with you this time and BASHING Gardy.

IMO, instead of playing to win, Gardy was playing not to lose when he
sent Rick Anderson to the mound to tell Reyes to pitch around Frank
Thomas. There were 2 outs, nobody on base, and the score 4-2. Just go
after the guy. Instead, that walk started the big inning for the A's.
Gardy acted scared. What did he have Crain warming up for?

powrwrap wrote:
Who were these guys, because I didn't recognize them.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm wondering if practically being in a must-win situation since June 8
finally wore them out mentally or..... this team is just too young yet
because the whole series they kept trying to pull all those pitches that
were just off the outside corner. Nothing but ground balls resulted. A
perfect example was Tyner in the very last inning of the series. Rondell
White singles. Tyner has been good hitting the ball the other way.
Instead, he tries to pull a pitch off the outside corner and grounds to
2B for a double play. Story of the series.