Media Round-Up

• Mauer wins AL Player of the Week (multiple sources)

Can we say enough about this guy? He's leading the AL in season batting average, and he hit .625 over the week in question, reaching base four times each in five straight games during that span--and he's the only ML player ever to do that. And yet he's still not in the top 5 vote-getters for AL All-Star catcher. Which just goes to show that having the public pick All-Stars is kind of like asking a teenager to choose the best-made jeans, regardless of brand. The label will win every time.

• Morneau feeling good: "This was the first series that my swing has felt good for the whole series -- instead of one game or two games," Morneau said [after the weekend series against the Orioles]. (twinsbaseball.com)

Yes, Justin, your swing felt good to all of us here in Twinsland this weekend, believe me. Crash! Bam! Boom! Music to my ears.

• The struggles of Torii Hunter at the plate were part of the reason for Cuddyer being moved up to the cleanup spot for the Twins on Sunday. Over his past seven games, Hunter has recorded just four hits with one RBI, so Gardenhire made a decision to move the center fielder down to sixth in the order and bumped up Cuddyer and Justin Morneau to the fourth and fifth spots, respectively. (twinsbaseball.com)

Okay, so, you know what? I'm not an ML manager. And there are lots of very good reasons for that. But the fact that Torii "GIDP" Hunter does not, never has and never will belong in the #4 spot? Pretty obvious, even to yours truly. He is truly one of the great defensive players of our time, but, ah...not so much with the cleanup hitting.

• The good news: Just one day after Guerrier took a screaming line drive from the Mariners' Richie Sexson off his pitching hand in the sixth inning, the diagnosis was a little better than expected. While the Twins doctors still determined that there indeed was a fracture in Guerrier's right thumb, the pitcher will not have to don a hard cast as first thought. Instead, Guerrier was wearing a soft cast that will be on for approximately four weeks, depending on how the injury heals. (twinsbaseball.com)

Four weeks? Witness TBL perk up in much the same way Pooie does when she hears the can opener. They were saying eight, before. Yes!

I've never really understood why so many people roll their eyes and shudder when Guerrier is mentioned. I think they got him confused with Joe Roa or something, back when he (Guerrier) first came up. This guy has been a rock, folks. Starter got shelled? Call Guerrier, he'll settle things down. Need someone in the 7th after you went through the whole bullpen yesterday? Call Guerrier, he'll pitch twice a day if you let him. He gave us a 3.39 ERA in 43 games/71 innings last season, and considering how he'd sit in the bullpen for a week or more and then suddenly be needed for 10 innings over four days, that's damn good. And this team needs him. Desperately.

• The bad news: The Twins placed Guerrier on the 15-day disabled list Friday and recalled Kyle Lohse from Triple-A Rochester to replace him in the bullpen. (twinsbaseball.com)

We are f***ed.

• [DH Rondell] White enters tonight's game against the Boston Red Sox batting .190, and Twins manager Ron Gardenhire has been playing him less and less. With Jason Kubel batting .279, and looking more comfortable by the day, the Twins have no intention of sending him back to the minors, which puts White in line to go [when Shannon Stewart or Ruben Sierra return from the DL]. (Star Tribune)

Remember how excited we all were when White was signed? Finally, a proven, professional hitter, we cried. Which just goes to show you, this team can turn even the best hitter into a fair imitation of a spastic chimp. Heck, it's not just possible--it's tradition!

• Besides White, the team is also losing patience with third baseman Tony Batista (batting .236 with five homers and 21 RBI), and shortstop Juan Castro (.234-1-14). (Star Tribune)

Losing? Once again, the fans are way ahead of the curve.

• Terry Tiffee, already on the roster, is a candidate to replace Batista at third, though the team has concerns about his defense. (Star Tribune)

Hey, does Luis Rodriguez play for this team anymore? 'Cause he plays a pretty good hot corner. I mean, he's no Corey Koskie, but you can't ask some poor kid to try to be Corey Koskie. Not gonna happen. But he's a switch-hitter, and he can run some, too.

• And there is talk of an upcoming promotion for shortstop Jason Bartlett, who entered Monday batting .306 with seven errors in 56 games at Rochester. (Star Tribune)

#$%@.

*#&?!$^.

&*^%$#*@!!

Did you know that it is actually physically possible to expel steam from one's ears? It's true.

So, nearly three months after the Twins decide to send down "the future at shortstop" in favor of a fair-glove, no-bat utility guy whose glove has since gone from fair through middling and is now leaning toward "yikes!" under the strain of playing every day, there is talk? TALK?! How 'bout some action over here?

Okay, listen. I love the Twins. I adore the Twins. They're my boys of summer, and if the Dome isn't Giamatti's "green field in the sun", well, it's what we've got, and the clock is ticking. I'm not harping on the Twins because I don't love them, or because I don't have any faith in them. I do.

But some of the stuff that's been going on lately? When I was growing up Down South, they had a phrase for things like this: "crazy-makin' ". It's a good phrase. It says a lot.

And the Twins, as an organization, from the GM right on down to the last futility infielder, last season and especially this season, are crazy-makin'. Every day it seems like there's something new, something that makes us all go, "what the hell are you thinking??"

If it's not inexplicable personnel moves from on high, it's boneheaded plays in the field, or it's bringing in a pitcher in the eighth inning of a close game to face the very same guys who beat him like a mule the night before, and then wondering to the media why on earth he couldn't get them out. Or (speaking of the media) it's a player getting a new hole ripped in the morning paper for one lone wrong move, while another guy does something abso-bleepin'-lutely stupid every other freakin' day and there's nary a peep from the bench.

It's Jason Bartlett wasting away in Rochester because Juan Castro "looks good out there".

It's shoehorning Carlos Silva back into the rotation before he's even come close to proving that he has his stuff back.

It's Torii Hunter batting 4th.

It's bringing up Kyle Loshe instead of Pat Neshek. Or anyone else with a pulse.

It's trotting out the same underperforming batting order day after day for weeks on end, and being startled when it produces the same result day after day for weeks on end.

It's bemoaning Scott Baker's "slow pace" when his starts average well under three hours total game time.

It's creating a huge hole on the left side of the infield and then blaming the pitchers for all those hits that zip through it.

On that note, it's letting Corey Koskie slip through our fingers three times in a little over a year. Has anyone else noticed that we haven't done much winning since he left? I'm just sayin', is all...

This team, it doesn't have "champion" written all over it. But you look at what we've got between Minnesota and Rochester, and what we could have had the last two trading and free agent seasons, and it could have been so much more than it is. The 2006 Twins could have been a good team, a winning team. A team worthy of the devotion we the fans still heap upon it.

If we didn't love our Twins, we wouldn't be so bloody frustrated about all of this.

It's crazy-makin', I tell ya.

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Game Re-Crap

In the first inning, the Twins scored two runs...but it would have been three, if not for Lew Ford's baserunning blunder. And then Boof Bonser coughed up two homers for three runs in the bottom of the inning...but that would have been only one run if Juan Castro (Free Jason Bartlett!) had handled Mauer's throw to catch Jose Lopez stealing with two outs.

The Twins started out the second inning with two singles, then failed to even advance the lead runner to third. In the bottom of the inning, Boof let loose his third homer of the night thus far, a two-run shot.

In the third, Torii Hunter decided that the third base coach's "STOP!" signals do not apply to him, and was thrown out by a mile at home. If he had listened to the man who is paid to make these decisions for him, the Twins would have had the bases loaded with one out. But at least Boof didn't surrender a dinger in the bottom of the inning.

In the fourth, Joe Mauer drove in a run. How 'bout that? And Boof didn't give up a tater.

In the fifth, TBL dozed off a little.

In the sixth, Willie Eyre (the only Twin who wears his socks the right way) gave up a single and an RBI double with two outs. He filled first by drilling a guy--oops--and was lifted for Dennys Reyes. This, in retrospect, turned out to be a big mistake. Because Dennys threw a ball, and then a strike. And the strike, it was like the strikes Boof Bonser threw early on. Which is to say, it went over the wall. Oops.

In the seventh, TBL dozed off again, and woke up...

...in the eighth, with two out, bases loaded and Michael Cuddyer at the plate. The Twins had scrounged up a run somehow (it was revealed this morning to have been a bases-loaded walk to Joe Mauer), and TBL made some sort of comment about how you could tie this thing up right now, Cuddy, and maybe there would be some forgetting about 2005 here in Casa Liberales. And sure enough, Cuddy launched the Balloon of Happiness with one mighty swing.

Not much happened until the bottom of the eleventh, when Jesse Crain (Free Pat Neshek!) faced Carl Everett with two outs, and Carl Everett introduced the Balloon of Happiness to the Blowgun of Reality.

So.

Anybody got any duct tape?

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Since You Asked...

Pulled from the comments on a previous post:

She-Ra wonders:
So what the heck is going on with Castillo and Morneau? Do neither of them speak enough baseball to say "I got it!"? Seems like that's at least the third time in the last few weeks that I've seen them stumble over each other in the field.

An interesting question. While I have waxed eloquent (or at least long-winded) on the Twins' recent defensive woes, I had not until now considered the possibility of a language barrier. After thinking long and hard, I have come up with two hypotheses I consider equally probable.


Hypothesis #1: No Hablo Canadian

The Dominican Republic is a long, LOOOONG way from Canada. So it's only natural that certain Canadianisms would be somewhat confusing to a Dominican. So when the ball plummets toward the infield, and Justin yells, "I've got it, eh?", poor Luis doesn't quite know what to think.

He hears, "I've got it", but he also hears a question. So he thinks, perhaps Justin is unsure that he really has it. But Justin needs to be confident in himself, so I will back off and let him catch it. He takes a step back.

But wait, he thinks, if he is not sure he has it, perhaps he does not have it! I must get it! And so he moves forward. And Justin, seeing Castillo keep going for the ball, thinks Castillo didn't hear him, and tries to get out of his way.

And the ball hits the turf.


Hypothesis #2: Whatever You Say, Eh?

On the other hand, it wouldn't be strange if, in the excitement of a play, a man lapsed briefly into his native tongue, would it? So there's the ball, coming in right between them, and Castillo cries, "Lo tengo!"

But Justin, not being a Spanish speaker and also thrown off somewhat by the crowd noise, hears "Go tango!" And it seems a little strange, really, but he hasn't been in the big leagues all that long. He wants to win Gold Gloves and hit a lot like Luis does, so he bows to the unfathomable wisdom of the veteran and does a little dance step...away from the ball. And Luis forgets the ball because, well, his teammate is doing the tango. Alone. In the infield.

And the ball hits the turf.

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Familiar Faces

The Rochester Red Wings won 9-7 over the Durham Bulls this afternoon.

Jason Bartlett went 3-for-5 with two singles, a triple and three runs scored. Closer Pat Neshek (who is going to be a familiar face to Twins fans, hopefully soon) ended the game by striking out pinch hitter Luis Rivas.

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Sign on the Dotted Line

I am beginning to believe that somewhere, deep in the bowels of the Commissioner’s Office*, there is a file. It probably looks much like any other file, but it is not. It contains thirty contracts. Not player contracts—team contracts. These contracts, between the MLB and the teams, lay out the rights and responsibilities of each team.

For instance, I feel secure in positing Atlanta is contractually entitled to win its division 19 years out of 20. However, they are obligated to collapse in the playoffs every time. The Yankees promise to be the defensive laughingstock of the league in return for being allowed 60% more arrogance than any other team. And we all know what the Cubs contract says.

Folks, if I’m right (and I think I am), the Twins need a better agent. What sort of moron agreed to a 75% sucking ratio on each decade? And to never, EVER sign a 40-home run hitter on penalty of falling below the Royals in the standings? Could someone please explain why we had to agree to stomp mercilessly on the dreams and hopes of 87% of our promising young players just to get a little Field Turf? And that clause stipulating that every third roster move must be decided by throwing darts at the Minnesota and Rochester rosters can’t be legal. It just can’t.

The good news is that the stale air clause and bad food rider are null and void when the new ballpark opens in 2010.

*Should I have referred to bowels and Bud Selig in the same sentence? Perhaps not.

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Friday Roundup

Check out the Baseball section of my Favorites menu, because I've added some fun new links for you.

There's the official Minor League Baseball site, which underwent some huge revisions in the offseason and now features Gameday play-by-play! Keep up with those Red Wings, folks.

We've also got "TwinsCards.com", which is kind of like digital Nirvana for baseball card lovers who also happen to be Twins fans.

And last but not least, the brand-spankin' new blog "Thank You, Brian Sabean", which focuses on the three great players we stole received from Giants GM Brian Sabean in trade for AJ Pierzynski.

Also, in the Diversions section, those of you who enjoy a British sense of humor should love my sarcastic friend Dan's blog, "Blue Man Sings the Whites".


Back to this blog, TBL is woozy from the allergies and the rage over the jerking around of young players, so today you get the old standby "Who's Hot, Who's Not".

Last 7 Days

Hot:

• Joe Mauer, .500/.533/1.247(!), 14 hits, 5 runs, 2 walks, 3 doubles, 3 RBI.
• Tony Batista, .294/.333/.804, 3 RBI, 3 doubles
  
• Francisco Liriano, 11 innings, 0.00 ERA, 5 hits, 10 strikeouts
• Juan Rincón, 5 innings, 0.00 ERA, 2 strikeouts, 1 save

Not:

• Torii Hunter, .222/.207/.577
• Rondell White, .222/.222/.500
  
• Boof Bonser, 12 innings, 6.00 ERA, 13 hits

Last 30 Days

Hot:

• Joe Mauer, .402/.449/1.016(!), 16 runs, 18 RBI, 9 walks
• Torii Hunter, .340/.407/.921, 20 RBI
  
• Johan Santana, 36 innings, 3.00 ERA, 2 wins, 43 strikeouts
• Francisco Liriano, 24 innings, 1.13 ERA, 3 wins, 26 strikeouts

Not:

• Luis Rodriguez, 23 at-bats*, .130/.200/.330
• Juan Castro, 65 at-bats, .231/.261/.584, hit into 5 double plays
  
• Brad Radke, 35 1/3 innings, 5.60 ERA, 13 walks
• Willie Eyre, 8 innings*, 6.75 ERA, 4 walks

*maybe he'd do better if he, um, got to play sometimes?

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The Season Thus Far, Part 2

In winning the last game of May, the Twins posted their first winning month in 2006 with a record of 15-13.

And now, the details.

Twins team stats for May 2006:

Category	Stat	Value	AL Rank (of 14)	ML Rank (of 30)
Hitting	BA - Batting Avg	.288	3	4
	OBP - On-Base %	.342	7	13
	OPS - On-Base + Slugging %	.771	6	13
	H - Hits	281	2	4 (2 tied)
	R - Runs	149	4	10
	HR - Home Runs	24	12 (2 tied)	24 (3 tied)
	XBH - Extra-Base Hits	84	8	18 (2 tied)
	GIDP - Ground Into Double Play	25	9 (3 tied)	18 (4 tied)
	K - Strikeouts	137	2	4
	BB - Walks	78	10	23
Pitching	ERA - Earned Run Average	4.19	4	14
	IP - Innings Pitched	249.0	n/a	n/a
	H - Hits	279	13	25
	R - Runs	129	5	14
	ER - Earned Runs	116	4 (2 tied)	12 (4 tied)
	HR - Home Runs	31	6	16
	BB - Walks Allowed	67	2 (2 tied)	2 (2 tied)
	K - Strikeouts	229	1	2
	WHIP - Walks & Hits Per Inning	1.39	7 (2 tied)	16
	K/BB - Strikeouts Per Walk	3.40	1	1
	P/IP - Pitches Per Inning	16.20	5 (2 tied)	13 (3 tied)
Fielding	FPCT - Fielding %	.980	12	n/a
	E - Errors	21	12	n/a
	DER - Defense Efficiency Rating	.661	14	n/a
	SB - Stolen Bases Allowed	12	4	n/a
	CS - Caught Stealing	8	3 (3 tied)	n/a
	% Caught Stealing	.400	3 (2 tied)	n/a

Analysis: At the plate

Say, that's more like it. Now, they really need to work on taking more walks and hitting for extra bases, and the Twins' proud tradition of grounding into double plays at every conceivable opportunity especially with one out is still going strong. But scroll down, take a gander at April's hitting stats, and then look at May's again. Looks like a whole different team, doesn't it?

Which is good, because no one wanted to see the April Twins again.

Analysis: On the mound

The good news is, Twins staff shot up to #4 in the league based on ERA in May. The bad news is, #s 1, 2, and 3 are all in our division. Crap!

And yet, to practially halve the team ERA in a month is no mean feat, and our boys should be proud. They gave up a metric crapload of hits, but got so many strikeouts, double plays and well-timed infield flys that they managed to wriggle neatly out of most of their own jams. I personally would rather see the bags a bit more empty as we stride boldly into June, but if stranded runners are all they're offering, I'll take 'em.

Analysis: In the field

Holy meltdown, Gloveman. The Twins' hitting and pitching skyrocketed past the league median in May, and yet they barely posted a winning record. Here, we see a big part of the explanation. Errors abound! Lowest defensive efficiency in a league that includes the New York "We Don't Need No Stinkin' Gloves" Yankees!

And three--THREE!--of those 21 errors happened in the outfield. Only one was committed by a pitcher. None by the catchers. Which puts 17 errors in 28 games on the infield.

I promised myself I wasn't going to do this, but I just can't hold it in any longer.

Juan Castro has 7 errors in 41 games with the Twins and is hitting .238/.265/.580.
Jason Bartlett has 7 errors in 46 games with the Red Wings and is hitting .304/.320/.763.

WHAT IN THE NAME OF ALL THAT IS HOLY DO WE HAVE TO LOSE BY BRINGING BARTLETT UP?!?!?!?!

[This post has been temporarily interrupted while the blogger receives treatment for self-inflicted cranial bruising.]

----muzak----

----muzak----

----muzak----

[We now rejoin our scheduled post.]

So anyway, we've got an infield displaying the approximate competence of Enron management. Which begs the question: What's to be done?

First base is not a concern here. Morneau's doing fine. He has two errors on the season and a .995 FPCT, which places him squarely in the middle of the AL pack for first basemen.

At second, Castillo is obviously having some trouble adjusting to the Dome. He's a Gold Glove fielder who is only one error shy of his 2005 total already. He's also missed a few days with nagging injuries which may be fouling him up in the field. I wonder if a rotating Punto/Rodriguez/Castillo platoon in the Dome for a few weeks, with Castillo making all feasible road starts, would help ease him into the Dome and out of those injuries?

At short, we have Juan Castro. This guy is an excellent defensive utility infielder, but the strain of the day-to-day grind is starting to show in both his hitting and his fielding. He had two errors in April, five in May. His range factor has decreased markedly in the last few weeks, another sign of trouble. As you all know, I'm for solving this by bringing up Jason Bartlett. Even if JB came up and did his best Bret Boone imitation, there would be a couple of weeks of much-needed rest for Castro before the next demotion.

At third, Tony Batista, who is doing as well as can reasonably be expected of a slightly pudgy guy in his thirties who's never borne any resemblance to Corey "MINE!" Koskie. Which is to say, he's a mediocre fielder, but he tries. He does quite well with the balls he gets to, really, but his range is only slightly larger than a postage stamp. Unfortunately, this infield needs a little more right now. Luis Rodriguez has performed well in the hot corner in the past, and Terry Tiffee is waiting in Rochester. But do the Twins then release Batista? He's not a BAD player, you hate to just toss him out on his ear. Another platoon situation, perhaps, with Batista backing up our fly-ball pitchers and Rodriguez getting the start behind the others? Or does Gardy just need to be more willing to pull him for a defensive replacement in the later innings of close games?

It's a conundrum, and I'm glad it's not my job to solve it. Unfortunately, I don't think it will be actively solved. Gardy has his guys he's stuck on, and the only way they come out of the lineup for more than a day is via injury. I think that stubborness cost us a lot of games last year, frankly. I think it's cost us some this year.

And maybe there's the biggest problem of all. We've got ourselves a manager who did a great job with a group of players that was primed to win, but seems lost and confused with a team that has struggles that are not temporary in nature, and will not change without decisive leadership.

We've got some damn fine young players marking time in Rochester because they need to "figure things out" and "work through some issues". But where do you send a manager to do the same?

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