Impotent Lineup: Maybe the Twins Need to Watch Those Viagra/Levitra/Cialis Commercials
Nick Blackburn looked fantastic tonight, going 7 innings and giving up only 1 run on 5 hits, 1 walk, and recording six strike outs. I don’t think we could have expected him to do any better … especially considering the way the run finally scored in the 7th inning: infield single, sacrifice bunt, advanced on a groundout, scored on a wild pitch. That’s a pretty well-manufactured run.
But given the lineup Gardy saw fit to trotting out there, one thing could be expected: the Twins weren’t going to score in this game. Not only did they not score, only one baserunner advanced past first base (Punto, who stole second and advanced to third on an error). The only other baserunner who was actually stranded on base was Cuddyer; everyone else was either caught stealing or doubled up in one of the four double plays we grounded into. And all of them were to the second baseman.
The Twins combined for all of 29 plate appearances. I just wanted to write that explicitly. There are 27 outs in a game … and we only had 29 batters.
There’s not too much to say about this game. The Twins just didn’t hit. I realize we were facing a left handed pitcher and it’s a day game tomorrow, but by taking Mauer, Kubel, and Lamb out of the lineup, the offense becomes just about as impotent as possible.
Gardy made just a couple of questionable moves:
- Why bat Harris second? While it’s promising that he doesn’t consider the 2nd spot “the catcher’s,” and just put Redmond there … Harris isn’t much of a #2 hitter. It would probably have been better to just push Cuddyer/Morneau/Young up a spot and put Harris between Punto and Tolbert at the bottom of the order.
- Why let Tolbert bat against K-Rod in the 9th when Kubel/Mauer/Lamb are on the bench? I realize Tolbert walked and then was doubled up by Mauer, but that doesn’t change the fact that a slap hitting utility infielder with 3 major league at bats led off an inning against an elite right handed closer while 3 good left handed hitters sat idle on the bench.
Finally … Gomez. He attempted 5 bunts tonight, and all 5 of them went foul. Including the last one, which counted as a strike out in the 9th inning. Gardy has repeatedly said that Gomez needs to learn the game and that as he does, “things will be interesting out there.” Well, that was clearly a bone headed move by Gomez. The question I have is this:
Will Gardy manage to teach Gomez the proper thing to do without castrating his exciting offensive personality? Will Gomez still be allowed to use the bunt as a weapon, but be restricted only from using it with 2 strikes, or will Gardy completely muzzle him? How angry is Gardy going to be at Gomez, compared to the rest of the hitless team?
Just something to keep an eye on.
12 Comments so far
Leave a reply
Gardy sure is keeping opposing teams on their feet - rather than waiting until a day game after a night game to pull out the Twins Lite line-up, he tosses it out there during a night game. I can’t wait to see what other shenanigans he’ll be up to this year to keep opponents on their toes.
It’s important to throw a changeup every once in a while.
Gardy must be working on his.
I’ve also noticed that Gomez has some trouble hitting the cutoff man. He needs to work on that. Also, why didn’t someone tell him what the difference between sac bunt and bunt for hit are? I realize he is fast and will often get on base by bunting for a hit, but that situation clearly called for a sac bunt. Just put the ball on the ground and move the runner. We were only down by 1.
Gomez certainly doesn’t like to hit the cutoff man, and that has to be fixed, but in the situation tonight it was the correct decision. With men on first and second, the tail runners aren’t going to advance. He prevented a run by sending the ball straight home (and it was a good throw), and there was no penalty for it.
That’s an excellent point about sac bunt vs bunt for hit. He was clearly trying to get himself on base, and it just wasn’t necessary there. In that situation, getting on base is just a bonus. (And with Mauer’s grounder to second in the on deck circle, getting on base isn’t really what we wanted. Seriously, how many of those has Mauer hit so far this season?)
I was referring to the time where he was supposed to hit the second baseman, but for some reason punto ended up with the ball. The throw home was good, but the one earlier was not. It was pretty clear he missed harris and Punto was surprised to be getting the ball.
Ah. My bad.
I definitely agree that his decision making needs improvement … but I think we just demonstrated that “improve your decision making” doesn’t always just mean “change your decisions.”
I also forgot to mention Blackburn’s beaning of Kendrick last night. He showed pinpoint control up until that point and then hit him. I’m sure it was retaliation for Kendrick sliding into Mauer. I think Mauer took exception to it, so maybe asked Blackburn to hit Kendrick. I think he just tried to throw him inside, as a warning not to do it again and it got away from him. I was hoping to see a benches clearing brawl, but alas no.
While the Twins repeatedly say they “don’t do that,” there are definitely some pitchers who are willing to hit a guy in retaliation for something. Guerrier is one, and apparently Blackburn is another.
If Mauer took exception to Kendrick’s slide, then that was a good move by Blackburn. I guess everyone’s making a bigger deal out of it than I am.
7 double plays this year gentlemen, we have hit into 7 DP’s and our groundball to flyball is some atrocious rate, like 3.5 to 1.
I agree Blackburn looked good, although I need to see that game from him again. He never struck out many people in the Minors so that was kind of surprising.
I’m excited to see the A lineup this afternoon as I’ll be dipping out early to catch the game under the Teflon, however, our A lineup is more like a C+ lineup compared to the rest of the league.
I think Blackburn is a “Scouts vs Stats” guy. What I mean by that is that the scouts say he’s got great stuff and has a good head on his shoulders and knows how to pitch and just needs to put it together at the major league level but will end up being pretty damn good; whereas the stats say he has a low K/9 and his peripherals make his ERA unsustainable.
I’ve only seen him pitch a few times, but he’s looked pretty good. I’m leaning towards the scouts’ point of view on Blackburn, but the jury will be out for a few more months.
We like your blog!…
[...]Mabuhay, my colleagues and I heard of your blog over at McBrides, so we thought we would take a look. We’ve read several of your posts and we all agree that you have a fine writing style[...]
…
[...] tagged impotentOwn a Wordpress blog? Make monetization easier with the WP Affiliate Pro plugin. Impotent Lineup: Maybe the Twins Need to Watch Tho… saved by 17 others idiotjim bookmarked on 05/22/08 | [...]