Astros top Perkins, Twins to win series

Once again, a previously crummy pitcher looks like Cy Young material against the good old Twinkies. Why is this?

Anyway, great offensive effort by MN Little League. I have to laugh every time my friend insists we're contenders. But, hey, at least we didn't give up any homers for a change. Not that they needed one.

Does anyone know Mauer's batting average when Morneau is not in the lineup protecting?

Breaking News:

"Ron Gardenhire has just signed a LIFETIME contract
with the MN Twins"

Rumor has it Mchale(formerly of Timberwolves) was
the advisor to the Pohlads!

He can retire whenever he wants.........as long as
he hasn't taken the Twins to the World Series!

Ron wrote:

Does anyone know Mauer's batting average when Morneau is not in the lineup protecting?

Yes, it's .200. Outside of the four at-bats today, Joe Mauer has come to the plate just one other time when Justin Morneau wasn't batting behind him. In that at-bat, Mauer homered as a pinch hitter off of Jonathan Papelbon. Today was the first game that Morneau has missed all year.

Ron wrote:

Does anyone know Mauer's batting average when Morneau is not in the lineup protecting?

This is a very good point, but considering Justin's proclivity for playing nearly every game, I'm guessing the numbers you got wouldn't be enough to warrant statistical significance anyway. It would be fun to look at, though.

Today's game looked like a kiss of death. Fortunately, it's baseball, and the season isn't half over. The Twins haven't done as well this season against good left-handed pitching. The team's light hitters continue to be light hitters. Young, Gomez and Tolbert are too easy to handle when the opposing pitcher is halfway decent. The Houston pitcher was very good today. Mauer had a bad game. He is definitely out of synch. It's painfully clear how important Morneau is to the Twin's offense. On the bright side, Perkins, Guerrier, and Dickey all pitched well.

Cuddyer showed his importance to the Twins today, but the real MVP is Morneau. I think he absolutely had to have the day off, he probably should get a few more over the summer - but without him in the lineup the Twins are just not the same, even Mauer.

Gardy says he has no one ready to bring up. Uh hey, Gardy, how is Alexi doing? The last I saw his numbers are OBP .386, SLG .435, AVG .337, OPS .821. How ready does he have to be? How does this compare with Tobert's and Punto's numbers? Same old favoritism.

For Christ sake, the Twins propaganda trains controls the St. Paul paper too. Injuries cost the Twins this game? Illnesses? Give me a break. The Astros' DL lists looks like most teams ACTIVE ROSTER!

You have a pitcher that shouldn't be in the rotation; he should be watching Swarzak pitch from the bullpen. You have a hitting coach that shouldn't have a job. You have a manager that constantly out-thinks himself in an attempt to be viewed as "savvy."

The Twins problem is the same problem they've had for the last three seasons: its coaching staff. Sooner or later, these losers have got to step up and be accountable, like rival Ozzie Guillen is each and every night. Take the blame for a change, you bums! This team has underachieved all year (and the better part of the last FIVE seasons), and they look downright uninspired. In truth, this team should run away with this division this season; in truth, this is the most talented roster the Twins have had in almost two decades.

Illness? Injury? Whatever it takes to escape being accountable, Gardy.

This team needs, more than anything, a change in coaching staff and that staff's attitude.

Eddie, you are a genius, my friend. God, did you hit that one on the head!

losing to the astros is bad, real bad. the astros are a terrible team.

Typical Gardy get-away day lineup. He starts Redmond and his .247 average so he can sit Morales and his .364 average. Kubel gets hurt, but he still keeps Mourneau on the bench. A home series against Pitt and Houston, and all you can do is 3-3? Pathetic.

eddiep wrote:

Gardy says he has no one ready to bring up. Uh hey, Gardy, how is Alexi doing? The last I saw his numbers are OBP .386, SLG .435, AVG .337, OPS .821. How ready does he have to be? How does this compare with Tobert's and Punto's numbers? Same old favoritism.

I've seen Alexi Casilla play for Rochester very recently. Maybe it was due to circumstances I don't know about, but I was very irked by what I saw. He didn't warm up with the team (stretching or catch), he stood by himself in the dugout the entire time, he didn't hustle out to his position (the outfielders were beating him to their positions), and he played very nonchalant.

When at the major league level, his hitting has been abysmal, which I understand isn't that different from Punto or Tolbert, but the fielding errors and the MENTAL errors warrant his absence from the major league club. I haven't seen a game this year where he doesn't do something stupid. He's got a bad attitude, and his play isn't worthy of a spot in the line-up, no matter how well he's hitting in AAA. I won't even get into the BS he spouted when being sent down after Punto came off the DL. At least Tolbert and Punto play hard and play well in the field.

All this being said, 2nd base is obviously a problem for us, mostly in the batter's box. Punto has been hitting much better lately, but can't stay healthy. Tolbert regularly has completely unproductive at-bats. However, Casilla is not the answer.

Morneau needed the rest...he was 0-8 in the series, and 1-12 in previous series...

This game was over in the first inning...glad I didn't pay to see it!

The next 9 games (on the road)will determine if the Twins are contenders or pretenders.

eddiep wrote:

Gardy says he has no one ready to bring up. Uh hey, Gardy, how is Alexi doing? The last I saw his numbers are OBP .386, SLG .435, AVG .337, OPS .821. How ready does he have to be? How does this compare with Tobert's and Punto's numbers? Same old favoritism.

Casilla has played very poorly with the Twins. Once he's in the majors, the Twins seem to get a different version that isn't any better than Tolbert or Punto. Gardenhire is probably just tired of yanking them back and forth, and figures he's stuck with a lousy second baseman this season no matter how he cuts it. Punto has a decent on-base percentage. He has been walking a lot more and is a good fielder. But Tolbert should be replaced--it doesn't look as if he's a major leaguer, which is sad to say because he has the right attitude. Maybe it's time to bring up someone new. It couldn't be much worse than Tolbert right now. Who else do the Twins have in the minors?

Lala72 wrote:

This team has underachieved all year...and they look downright uninspired.

This part of Lala72's comment rings especially true. The team has been home for six games and played two relatively weak NL teams. They should have done better than .500 baseball. Someone said in another post that the Twins' inability to hit with runners on base is a major problem. They did hit three homers in the second game against Houston and one yesterday--all solo shots. Doubleplays have taken the Twins out of a lot of innings lately. It is the team attitude, though, that is worrisome. It is that lack of emotion remininiscent of the Bud Grant Vikings, the difference being that the Vikings were usually winning. It would be nice to see the players get a little bit more fired up.

Sorry, but Garden-fire lost me two years ago. I wouldn't let him "coach" my 9 year olds softball team. Blatant favoritism to guys like Punto who shouldn't even be on a major league roster, but we MUST start him. Horrible managing decisions daily, getting out-coached game after game, and a failure to take charge nof the team= failure as a manager. Add a pitching coach that has seen most of the bullpen and half the starters regress and a hitting coach that should have been fired. This team will never be better than mediocre until the entire organization decides they actually want to be more than average.

Another Sunday, another Twins loss. Also, this game showed what happens when Morneau and Mauer are both out of the line-up.