KFAN Rube Chat

feekdogg:

Self-High Five:

NastyBullPen:

Delmon Young is the reason why Baker lost a total gem tonight.  Bass got nicked for a run but but Delmon Young flat out is stupid in his approach at the plate.

I do not care about how talented he is... when you make idiotic decisions to swing at the plate for yourself and do not think about the team... you just plain suck.

I really hope he sits tomorrow.  Give Monroe a shot against Lester.

Young did cost us the game.  Granted, the others didn't do much in hitting, but YOU can't leave seven men on base.

I can only think of the Simpsons, where Mr. Burns is yelling at Bart (who is pretending to be Homer):  In ten short years, you've caused seventeen meltdowns.  One is too many!

Well played with a Simpsons analogy....

---

When I was a kid, my father told me, "never hit anyone in anger, unless you're absolutely sure you can get away with it."

Vikes Rube 11:

twinsguy:

metaxa:

twinsguy:

I can't stand Gardenhire. He is the worst manager ever. Why don't they fire him. Bill Smith is just another Terry Ryan. This team is not doing anything, nor will they the rest of the season. What a mirage. We should have traded for Sabathia but Pohlad is too cheap. This is the worst franchise in Minnesota.

I will say though, why in the h*ll do you bring in Brian Bass in a scoreless game bottom of the 8th? I think he is about our 5th best reliever. He should not be pitching in this game.

And I love it how Ernie says...."Monroe is batting .141 v. leftys but it is creeping higher"....what a flippin bafoon.

Kubel should have been batting....but Gardenhire plays the lefty/righty game too flippin much, but I have always said that.

Probably so...but you know Gardenhire is going to bring in his guys to get his work. That is what he does. I would have brought in Breslow just to phvck with them. I don't think Bass should even be on the roster but what are you going to do? Him or Bonser...."but he is young...so we will keep him...in case of injury". Tough night for Young. He donked it twice with ducks on the pond. They should have let Kubel bat. I think they could have scored at least 4.

Is it me or am I the only one who thinks Dice K is a little overrated. He has control problems sometimes and I don't see what the big deal is....he's got okay stuff...but not THE DICE MAN as everyone has hyped.

I forgot they had Colon.

Tough night for Baker. Man he has had some hard luck this year. Throws a gem and we can't get him a couple of runs. Cripes.

Get that first game out of the way in Fenway and settle down the kids I guess.

Twins win 6-2 tomorrow.

Daisuke does walk way too many batters, but remind me how many runs he gave up? He's a damn good pitcher. I have the MLB package and I watch most of his starts, he is definitely for real. Perhaps you haven't seen him pitch enough?

Daisuke pitches like Kenny Rogers (but has a wider repertoire).  Neither guy is afraid to run his pitch count up to astronomical levels.  (In Japan 140-150-pitch outings for him were not uncommon; not to mention he had a TERRIBLE bullpen with Seibu.)

---

中日ドラゴンズ：
セ・リーグ優勝・CLクライマックスシリーズ優勝・日本シリーズ優勝
目指せ！完全制覇！！！
～Road To Victory 2008～

Terrible, terrible terrible.



Young sucked (again), Gomez sucked (always), and Gardy's pitching change blew up in his face, (again)
Anytime you get shut out, it sucks.  I loved how the Twins quit once Boston scored.

---

Gomez-haters unite!

LittleMac:

Crap.  I just noticed that Gardy did the whole three lefties in a row lineup deal.

Another lineup genius move.

---

Gomez-haters unite!

You guys can bitch and moan all you want but I really love this squad.

Baker's performance alone should easily equal out the loss.

We're going to be right there in the end.

 

---

"I got a lawyer... I got a great lawyer. He once got a rape charged reduced to tailgating."

LittleMac:

Terrible, terrible terrible.

---

When I was a kid, my father told me, "never hit anyone in anger, unless you're absolutely sure you can get away with it."

Somebody explain why that fat, first-pitch-swingin', lackadaisical LF of ours can't be platooned with Span when Cuddy comes back? There is no sign of hustle or a willingness to make adjustments in that dough-boy. And he has no business being in the same room with Oliva, The Killer and Carew in that dopey commercial either.

TBGH:

I knew the sky would be falling in here.  I only saw from the 7th on, but it seemed like an exciting game.  Punto nearly  got that one out, and then the whole game changes. 

On a side note, my dish went out for the top of the 9th, so I had to listen to the end of the game on the radio.  Extremely disappointing.  F'in weather.

The sky is not falling. This was such a close game and we had it in our hands, bases loaded with 1 out, and we let it slip away. And then to throw Bass out there in a 0-0 game, I think it hit home for every Twins fan.

All in all, pretty impressive that we only let them get one run. Im highly disappointed in the last inning. Brian has a great AB getting 7 pitches, and then Punto and Span swing and pop up/ground out on their first pitch. They should have taken atleast 1 or 2 pitches to wear him Papelbon down some more, especially in case we have to face him again.

I do not blame Gardy for this loss..

These guys are professionals.  Coddling and procurement happens in the minor leagues to a large extent.

 

The Negatives

With that being said, Carlos Gomez has got to be taught how to be a leadoff man.  It is time for him to have mandatory meetings with Rod Carew and Oliva about the role of a leadoff man.  He has no consistent mental approach at the plate and rather than attempt to move a runner over or shorten his swing with two strikes he still throws the hammer through the zone with wreckless abandonment.   

Delmon Young has been painfully hard to watch, both in the box and in the field.  He is lazy in the OF and has misplayed the ball a few times and he puts in a real lousy effort in getting a ball that has trickled past him.

Watching Young hit is a head scratcher as well.  If the pitcher hits his spots he is done.  Young maintains no plate discipline and most scouts are quickly learning  (especially after national television) that he is a guess hitter and a free swinger. 

As a fan, there is nothing worse than seeing an at bat destroy a rally because of poor discipline and selfish decisions.  Delmon Young stole opportunities from his own offense tonight to score runs for Scott Baker through his own gross negligence of the magnitude of the game situation.  It wasted a splendid pitching performance and I feel for Baker. 

A Positive

This was good for Denard Span and Brian Bass to get this 'playoff atmosphere' in this short tenure.  Even though Bass made two mistake pitches tonight, he has acquired big game experience by having to have Manny Ramirez when it really mattered.

Jesse Crain's velocity was up between 94 and 97 on radar.  One would hope this is an indication that his arm had regained its life.

The following is an excerpt from the wrap from mlb.com....

"Matsuzaka held the Twins scoreless for 7 1/3 innings, allowing just six hits while walking three and striking out five. But Baker matched Dice-K with his own sterling performance, throwing seven shutout innings and allowing just five hits while striking out seven batters.

But the Twins certainly had their chances to score off Matsuzaka.

Twice in the contest, both in the first and in the eighth, Minnesota had a bases-loaded situation with two outs and left fielder Delmon Young at the plate. But both times, Young grounded out to the infield on the first pitch."

[end of excerpt]

_________________________________

---

Voted 'Top Gun KFAN Twins Poster' by Stegaman Quirple's Fantasy Baseball Zone.

BigBen:

You guys can bitch and moan all you want but I really love this squad.

Baker's performance alone should easily equal out the loss.

We're going to be right there in the end.

 

 

Even though bakers performance was great to watch, nothing equals out a loss when every game counts.

---

In the eye of the storm.

boxter432:

here's why we got ya Craig   

 

You got to love that AB, what an ass clown, just get the friggin run home.

---

In the eye of the storm.

That was a tremendous game, even though the Twins lost.  I think it showed how good the Twins really are.

Baker was brilliant.    Just brilliant.  Span did an awesome job in RF.   Morneau was great and why, oh why, couldn't Punto have hit that ball 2 feet further?

I don't second-guess Gardy for putting Monroe in, because he's had recent success pinch-hitting.  It didn't work out, but it wasn't a bad move.  I DO second-guess putting in  Bass in such a tense situation.  But I also second-guessed Crain, and he shut them down.

Delmon, Delmon, Delmon.  You gotta' use your head and think about your ABs.  Bad night.  But I'll give him credit for talking to the media afterward.  We've seen other guys have bad nights and skulk off so I'll give him character points.  

---

I am a well-known Ted Thompson hater.

PJ:

That was a tremendous game, even though the Twins lost.  I think it showed how good the Twins really are.

Baker was brilliant.    Just brilliant.  Span did an awesome job in RF.   Morneau was great and why, oh why, couldn't Punto have hit that ball 2 feet further?

I don't second-guess Gardy for putting Monroe in, because he's had recent success pinch-hitting.  It didn't work out, but it wasn't a bad move.  I DO second-guess putting in  Bass in such a tense situation.  But I also second-guessed Crain, and he shut them down.

Delmon, Delmon, Delmon.  You gotta' use your head and think about your ABs.  Bad night.  But I'll give him credit for talking to the media afterward.  We've seen other guys have bad nights and skulk off so I'll give him character points.  

Yes it was a bad move, and it's ok to say so. Take out one of your hottest hitters, who makes contact, which is needed in that situation, for a free swinger. In case you forgot PJ, the score was 0-0. Just get the ball in the outfield. If the Twins were down by a 3-4 I could understand more, but they weren't.

Gizmo-:

TBGH:

I knew the sky would be falling in here.  I only saw from the 7th on, but it seemed like an exciting game.  Punto nearly  got that one out, and then the whole game changes. 

On a side note, my dish went out for the top of the 9th, so I had to listen to the end of the game on the radio.  Extremely disappointing.  F'in weather.

The sky is not falling. This was such a close game and we had it in our hands, bases loaded with 1 out, and we let it slip away. And then to throw Bass out there in a 0-0 game, I think it hit home for every Twins fan.

All in all, pretty impressive that we only let them get one run. Im highly disappointed in the last inning. Brian has a great AB getting 7 pitches, and then Punto and Span swing and pop up/ground out on their first pitch. They should have taken atleast 1 or 2 pitches to wear him Papelbon down some more, especially in case we have to face him again.

I'm with you.  This one stings more because they definitely played well enough to win and flat out blew some really good chances.  I didn't expect them to win more than one game in Boston anyway, but it sure would have been nice to get last night's game.

---

They don't call me Colonel Homer because I'm some dumbass army guy.

We miss Neshek a lot more than anyone thinks.
Young and Gomez  stink, and that's  the bottom line.
 

---

Gomez-haters unite!

metaxa:

PJ:

That was a tremendous game, even though the Twins lost.  I think it showed how good the Twins really are.

Baker was brilliant.    Just brilliant.  Span did an awesome job in RF.   Morneau was great and why, oh why, couldn't Punto have hit that ball 2 feet further?

I don't second-guess Gardy for putting Monroe in, because he's had recent success pinch-hitting.  It didn't work out, but it wasn't a bad move.  I DO second-guess putting in  Bass in such a tense situation.  But I also second-guessed Crain, and he shut them down.

Delmon, Delmon, Delmon.  You gotta' use your head and think about your ABs.  Bad night.  But I'll give him credit for talking to the media afterward.  We've seen other guys have bad nights and skulk off so I'll give him character points.  

Yes it was a bad move, and it's ok to say so. Take out one of your hottest hitters, who makes contact, which is needed in that situation, for a free swinger. In case you forgot PJ, the score was 0-0. Just get the ball in the outfield. If the Twins were down by a 3-4 I could understand more, but they weren't.

That would make me a hypocrite since I thought Gardy should put Monroe in last night before I knew he was putting in Monroe. 

Nothing was happening.  I thought perhaps Monroe might shake things up.  It didn't happen. 

---

I am a well-known Ted Thompson hater.

PJ:

metaxa:

PJ:

That was a tremendous game, even though the Twins lost.  I think it showed how good the Twins really are.

Baker was brilliant.    Just brilliant.  Span did an awesome job in RF.   Morneau was great and why, oh why, couldn't Punto have hit that ball 2 feet further?

I don't second-guess Gardy for putting Monroe in, because he's had recent success pinch-hitting.  It didn't work out, but it wasn't a bad move.  I DO second-guess putting in  Bass in such a tense situation.  But I also second-guessed Crain, and he shut them down.

Delmon, Delmon, Delmon.  You gotta' use your head and think about your ABs.  Bad night.  But I'll give him credit for talking to the media afterward.  We've seen other guys have bad nights and skulk off so I'll give him character points.  

Yes it was a bad move, and it's ok to say so. Take out one of your hottest hitters, who makes contact, which is needed in that situation, for a free swinger. In case you forgot PJ, the score was 0-0. Just get the ball in the outfield. If the Twins were down by a 3-4 I could understand more, but they weren't.

That would make me a hypocrite since I thought Gardy should put Monroe in last night before I knew he was putting in Monroe. 

Nothing was happening.  I thought perhaps Monroe might shake things up.  It didn't happen. 

Kubel was happening. He had one hit and one walk.....why would you want to shake that up?

The thing that's so frustrating about Young is that we had to watch Hunter and Jones use the same approach for YEARS!  Jones never grew out of it.  Just when Hunter started to grow out of it, he was gone.  Now the aggravating, undisciplined crap is starting all over again with Young, and to a lesser extent, Gomez.  I fault the coaching staff for allowing it.  It's simply not professional.

---

Twins baseball.....where offense comes to die.....but we run out every ground ball.....and we never give up.....we play the game the right way.

We lost 1-0 in Boston, it's not the end of the world.  It happens to all teams now and then...I think the Tigers and their $140 million payroll (or whatever) have been shutout like 10 times this year. 

There's some days it's just not happening.  Putting Monroe in for Kubel with the bases loaded made sense to me, but it didn't work.  But why Gardy seems to think that Brian Bass is the new Pat Neshek is beyond me.  This guy was called up as a essentially a mop-up pitcher, had a few good outings in that role, and suddenly, he pitches in the 7th and 8th.  No way.

Also, before I could complete the sentence "Why doesn't Gardy pinch hit for Punto in the Top of the ni...", Punto had already fouled out on the first pitch.  Some things I just don't get, but I won't kill myself over losing in Boston following a stretch where we won 16 of 18.

PJ:

That was a tremendous game, even though the Twins lost.  I think it showed how good the Twins really are.

Baker was brilliant.    Just brilliant.  Span did an awesome job in RF.   Morneau was great and why, oh why, couldn't Punto have hit that ball 2 feet further?

I don't second-guess Gardy for putting Monroe in, because he's had recent success pinch-hitting.  It didn't work out, but it wasn't a bad move.  I DO second-guess putting in  Bass in such a tense situation.  But I also second-guessed Crain, and he shut them down.

Delmon, Delmon, Delmon.  You gotta' use your head and think about your ABs.  Bad night.  But I'll give him credit for talking to the media afterward.  We've seen other guys have bad nights and skulk off so I'll give him character points.  

It's like you're in my head, this is exactly how I feel on every topic you mentioned.

LittleMac:

We miss Neshek a lot more than anyone thinks.
Young and Gomez  stink, and that's  the bottom line.
 

You're out of your mind!! Lets see they're both what, 22 years old and between the two of them have oh lets see here..............a little more than a season and a half under there belts!!! I hate the way Young doesn't bother to take any pitches and actually get ahead in the count. But to say these two stink is absurd. Gomez changes the game/inning almost every time he's on base. Gomez has the 2nd most hits on the team with 95!!

---

" It takes a lot of balls to golf the way I do"

JeremyLee:

Somebody explain why that fat, first-pitch-swingin', lackadaisical LF of ours can't be platooned with Span when Cuddy comes back? There is no sign of hustle or a willingness to make adjustments in that dough-boy. And he has no business being in the same room with Oliva, The Killer and Carew in that dopey commercial either.

Since when is Delmon fat? He looks like a pretty good athlete to me, he certainly isn't fat.

---

"Troy has great hands." Brad Childress

JeremyLee:

Somebody explain why that fat, first-pitch-swingin', lackadaisical LF of ours can't be platooned with Span when Cuddy comes back? There is no sign of hustle or a willingness to make adjustments in that dough-boy. And he has no business being in the same room with Oliva, The Killer and Carew in that dopey commercial either.

This is a good point, and the first I have heard of it on here.  Platoon Young and Span after Cuddy is back.  They were saying on the ESPN telecast last night that Gardy said he is going to keep both Cuddy and Span on the roster.  Or when Young does play have him DH, I would rather have Kubel in the field then him.  But I really like the idea of Span and Young platooning, until he gets some disapline at the plate.  I really want this trade to work out, and even more so with Garza pitching good, and Harris batting in the 230's.  I love Span's D too, he can really get after it.

---

"I've got what Doctor's call a little bit of a weight problem. . . "

It's really too bad that we're winning. Especially for Young and Gomez. These two guys have held their own for most of the year and deserve some patience from us as they get experienced. In fact the plan before the season started, to most people here, was lets rebuild and we have two young outfielders who are raw but very talented. So this year was the year we going to get our young guys some time in the bigs so we'd be ready to contend next year and especially the following year when the new stadium opens. Problem is we're winning now and people think that we're winning despite what Young and Gomez are contributing not in spite of it. Both guys have good averages and have gotten better and better as the season moves on. Do they have flaws? Heck yeah, but they're both waaaayyy more talented than anyone else this organization has to replace them with so I say let the kids play. I think they're doing fine and they look like they are big leaguers, if they start showing signs of not belonging move them down, but I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen.