Whole Lotta Losin' Goin' On

I'm having flashbacks to last season. And not the good part of last season. No, I'm visited by visions of May and June and the vast quantities of sucking which made that period so memorable.

Perhaps watching/hearing the two teams I follow (Gophers hockey and Twins baseball) combine to lose five games in 48 hours has made me pessimistic. In fact, it's quite likely. But the Twins' hitting foibles today were eerily reminiscent of last season's early flaws.

Considering that no one scored until the seventh inning, it would be easy to assume that the game against the Reds was a pitcher's duel. It wasn't. Granted, Mays gave an excellent performance for the Twins, and the Reds pitchers certainly didn't suck, but before either team scored the Twins loaded the bases not once but twice with one out, in the third and sixth innings. Both times, they failed to score.

Allow me to repeat: twice the bases were loaded with only one out, and both times the Twins utterly failed to plate so much as one measly run. The bastards.

They lost by three runs after leaving ten runners on--five in scoring position. I have a message for the Twins. Are any of you out there? Okay, lean in close, I want to make sure you hear this. Everyone listening?

FUNDAMENTALS!!!

How often do we hear, "so-and-so's job here is to move the runners over"? Hey, guess what? When the bases are loaded, moving the runners over makes them score! Who knew?

Oh, and someone might want to mention to Gardy that perhaps Guerrier isn't the best choice to pitch late in a close game. Just a thought.