A long overdue Rocky IV reference
If the head coach of the University of Michigan lost to Ohio State every year, that is basically grounds for firing. Ron Gardenhire has a sub 300 winning percentage against the Yankees since he became the Twins manager in 2002. That isn’t good. I’m not sayin he should be fired for losing to a team we only play seven times a year, but he needs to tell the players that we aren’t facing Ruth and Gehrig everytime we play them. We need to cut them, like in Rocky IV, after Rocky makes Drago bleed and Duke (his trainer) says “You see? You see? He’s not a machine, he’s a man, he’s a man” Well right now, the Twins think the Yankees are a machine. If Liriano can come out today and shut them down for 7 innings he can show the rest of the team that they are just men. Same as any other team (just more expensive).
When we faced the Yankees back in May we walked them twice as much as they normally draw walks on a per game basis. I’m pretty sure this is because our pitchers were scared of them. Swarzak didn’t look too bad last night and he didn’t give up. He kept trying to make his pitches, but those damn Yankees are so damn patient. Jerks.
Let’s hope the title of my next blog post can be “They’re cut! The Yankees are cut!”, and not “If they die, they die”.
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If Gardy’s record against the White Sox and Indians were under .300, that would be a considerably bigger problem. But I’ll point out that Jim Tressel doesn’t get fired for losing to Florida every year.
That said, I think your take that the Twins players are afraid of the Yankees is right on. They just seem overwhelmed by the presence of those historic uniforms. Gardy needs to do something to get them over that.
Although, I think it is still a semi-apt comparison. If Gardy can continually beat the AL central and then get steamrolled by the AL east in the regular season and playoffs, its a cause for concern. Much like if Jim Tressell beat up on the inferior big 10, then loses to the SEC in non-conference play and bowl season. At some point it becomes clear that a wall has been reached. Can’t take the next step, etc. Where the comparison stops being usefull is the players. Its Jim Tressell’s fault if he keeps losing recruits to the SEC, but its not Gardy’s fault he keeps losing free agents to the Yankees.
However, I think it is his, and his staff’s fault that our players are scared of the Yankees. Consider this: CC, AJ Burnett and Mark Texiera, are all first year Yankees. So are they really just afraid of the jerseys?
They might also be afraid of the dollar signs.
But I think the Ohio State / Twins metaphor holds a little more water than you point out there. OSU’s biggest problem is that they build their team around big slow guys, and that model used to work, but it’s been surpassed by a more modern conception of the game.
The Twins build their team around slap hitting speedsters, valuing batting average over everything else, and command pitchers. That model used to work in the olden days, but it’s old news now. Until we start move on from the Ohio State Model, we’ll be stuck as inferior to the AL East teams. (And by “inferior,” I mean “lose to them like every time.”)
Also, this probably deserves its own post, but when is Gardy going to move Mauer back to hitting second? Harris has hit under 200 since moving permanently to the two spot. Thats not good.
Span Mauer Morneau Kubel/Cuddyer Cuddyer/Kubel Crede Harris other outfielder Punto
Why not give it a try. Oh wait, we already did. And it worked.
Come on, you know that Gardy hates going against the conventional wisdom of salty old baseball men with cigars and funny hats. Especially if doing so leads to scoring more runs.
Freaks him the hell out.
Well, the first time he used Mauer in the two hole this year was a day game. Maybe he will do it again today and we will light shit up.
I wouldn’t count on it.
Also — he’s probably pissed at Morales for hitting a line drive off Mariano last night. Say good bye to your playing time, loser. Learn from Redmond — either strike out or hit an easy grounder. You’re not sucking enough for Gardy!
I like Redmond, and I think he is a great teammate. Or so I’ve heard, I’m not actually a Twins player if you were still wondering. But why in the hell isn’t Morales getting all the innings at catcher that Mauer isn’t? He is a better hitter, and they are at best even defensively. Redmond isn’t some gold golve caliber catcher back there. I believe he threw out zero baserunners in Mauer’s absence in April. ZERO. I’m not sure who calls a better game, but judging by April ERAs either is all that great, so why not just go with Morales. They are even in two categories, and Morales is way better in the third. Plus he’s a switch hitter.
Yeah, it makes no sense.
I mean, I understand that they want to keep Redmond happy so he accepts a coaching job somewhere in the organization after he retires, and cutting his ass isn’t going to keep him happy.
But we did the same crap with Lecroy — and after sabotaging our team to keep him happy, some other dumbass team (the Nationals) thought he was worth a go. He wasn’t, but “keeping him happy” was a stupid move by the Twins. It’s a good thing our front office always learns the wrong thing from every lesson.