06 May 2007

My Cheatin' Heart

Back at it over at Bat-Girl... but for who knows how long?

15 comments:

Eric J. Burton said...

Shame on RWD's. Very naughty. I hope there is something about losing 3/4 games. Not a happy twins fan right now, but I realize that there are about 130 games left in the season.

Badger Backer said...

Well hopefully you can do Baker/Garza/Perkins/Slowey's diary, because frankly I can't take any more Ponson starts this year.

DC said...

The thing that bothers me is Twins fans will accept mediocrity in anyone but poor Sidney. He is 2-0 against the Devil Rays, and if you want to say "IT'S THE FREAKIN' DEVIL RAYS" then you have can't really excuse the other pitchers for their losses against the D-Rays.

No one (except Torii) is above reproach at this point. I don't think Sidney's in a class by himself.

Anonymous said...

RWD,
I agree, Torii was the only one I could think of that's doing WELL when I wrote my entry. Everyone else is either hurt or sucking big time. Don't even get me started on Justin Morneau's BA with runners in scoring position - .091 or something?? YUCK! You're right, Sid is just a good target right now cuz he's the new guy and everyone expected him to suck.

LetsGoMavs said...

Justin is sucking it up because he's not living with Joe anymore. Joe kept him in line and his focus on baseball. Welcome back to the old Justin!

Sid needs to get rid of the jeri-curl. It freaks me out!

I do love the Sid diary though!

Badger Backer said...

Ponson isn't the only guy I've got problems with. Silva/Ortiz are just ticking time bombs. It's a joke that Punto is a starting third baseman. Kubel has been disappointing. Really the entire team except for Cuddyer/Hunter/Morneau/Mauer hasn't been pulling weight.

But here's the thing - we've got no replacement for our position players because we lack depth there. The reason why I, personally, can't stand Ponson isn't necessarily because he's terrible (which he is) but because we have so many better options.

The idea that Ponson and his 6+ ERA is still in the rotation has less to do with Ponson himself and more to do with the fact that we have a rotation in AAA that is blowing away those hitters and has nothing to prove. The issue is that Ponson's been awful, and there are better options that we can go to that would be an immediate improvement, but for whatever reason we aren't doing it.

DC said...

Seriously, BB, if you think Morneau is pulling his weight... He's batting .267, and he will flail wildly at pitches out of the strike zone, and strikes out looking on the good pitches.

Whoever (WT or LGM) said he needed to move back in with Joe is right. He needs PATIENCE. It's like when Jacque Jones left, someone else needed to step up and strike out a lot in key situations.

Like I said, only Torii is beyond reproach.

Badger Backer said...

You wrote that at 3:53 yesterday, and 7 hours later I think we know how Morneau came out. I'll respond as if last night never happened.

Even though his average is down, he's still got a solid on-base percentage (he's tied for the team lead in walks, although none of the Twins are particularly good at taking them) and he is hitting for power, so although his numbers aren't quite what they were at the end of last year, he's probably been the third best hitter on the team behind Hunter (who's been out of his mind) and Mauer.

I think he could hit better, especially given his numbers last year, but he's hit for power and he's taken walks, so that separates him from the rest of the team, which doesn't take walks and hasn't hit for any power at all.

DC said...

When RWD calls someone out, they answer BIG TIME.

Let this be a lesson to y'all.

I was very happy to see Justin have a big night, and I hope that this is when he takes off running.

He could walk so many more times if he just... oh I don't even want to get started on it.

Anonymous said...

BB,

In RWD and my own defense, regardless of the walk-off, Morneau's still batting less than .100 with runners in scoring position. The number 4-6 guys NEED to get the runners in, or it's pointless to have guys like Castillo at the top of the line-up...

Anonymous said...

Yeah, Morneau capitolized on the mother of all regular season meltdowns, that's for sure. Poor Javier Vazquez. Don't know if he's really all that good, but seriously, how pissed do you think he was after he pitched so masterfully and then watched a few former Royals and a former Cub blow it? I knew when Aardsma bobbled that sure Cirillo bunt double play ball, that the Twins would win.

Anyways, how about the piranha's? Who came up with that lame gimmick? Who are the Twins "eating up?" Not the Sox (Red or White), not the Indians or Yankees (and they're in last place!), not the Devil Dogs either.

Kubel, Rabe, and Tyner aren't good enough to crack the Majors on nearly any other team in the major leagues. Rondell White is a bust. Cirillo is doing ok but Terry Ryan signed him to play a bigger role than can be expected even if Cirillo remains healthy.

This lineup is weak. Take Mauer out of the lineup and really, Morneau is the only threat you've got. Cuddy can get a hit now and then, but seriously...is he really a cleanup hitter? Morneau is more of a cleanup hitter but they can't put two lefties together in the lineup.

I'd trade Cuddy and a pitching prospect for a power hitting OF that isn't washed up. And, yeah, I think they should have kept Jaque Jones (and, no, I don't think the Twins should trade for him even though he's available).

You know what I'd do? Ponson is a bust and we won't be able to get rid of him to anyone. So...let's trade Silva while he's pitching well enough to pull the wool over the eyes of whomever is dumb enough to believe that Silva's any better this year. Trade Silva and perhaps Crain for a starter, demote Ponson to the bullpen, bring up Garza or whatever his name is, and there you go.

DC said...

Whoa, whoa now. Cirillo is sexy. We can't be getting rid of him.

How about that chick over at BG that thinks Ponson is sexy? I almost died. It made me not want to write the Ponson diaries anymore.

Badger Backer said...

Ponson is making "sweaty drunk" sexy again, I guess.

And I wouldn't trade Cuddyer. He's about middle-of-the-road in terms of right fielders based on OPS, and he's got a cannon for an arm leading the major leagues in outfield assists, so he's not the problem.

Terry Ryan doesn't like to trade pitching, but I think it would be useful right now to trade one of our stock of arms to maybe get a better hitting third baseman or left fielder, since frankly having Tyner and Punto lining up in power positions is not acceptable for a team that wants to contend.

Kubel's been terrible this year, but he was a stud prospect a couple of years ago and is just now getting healthy, so I'm hoping he'll turn it around and become that power hitting left fielder he was supposed to be two years ago.

DC said...

If Kubel and Bartlett were gone, I don't even think I would notice.

Badger Backer said...

This is becoming the official baseball blog of offseason college hockey fans. It's good to see that fans of all WCHA teams can come together to root for the Twins.