Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Cloudy Skies

Last night's game was blotted out by a steady stream of rain and the weather forecast calls for similar conditions this evening, so the Twins -- winners of three straight -- might have to wait to find out whether they can continue their reclamation tour at Target Field.

The next few games, whenever they take place, will allow the Twins a chance to avenge their series loss in Tampa Bay earlier this month. The good news is that two of three losses at Tropicana came in contests where the since-demoted Joe Nathan relinquished ninth inning leads, and in general the Twins seem to be clicking much more now than they were at that point.

It's been a rough early going for the Twins, but better things lie ahead. Given that they've opened the season with 14 of 21 games on the road -- all on the treacherous East Coast -- a 9-12 record is hardly the worst thing they could be staring at, especially in light of their dreadful season-opening slump on offense.

Bettering their outlook is the fact that, among divisional opponents, the only teams that have jumped out to surprisingly strong starts are the Indians and Royals, who seem unlikely to stay above .500 for long. The White Sox have looked every bit as bad as the Twins in this young season.

Much traveling still lies ahead ahead, as the Twins will follow up this two/three-game homestand against the Rays with another nine-game road trip. This makes it all the more important that they win at least a couple against Tampa and -- more importantly -- get Joe Mauer back as soon as possible.

The catcher is eligible to come off the disabled list tomorrow, but his return (much like the sun these past couple days) is nowhere in sight.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just wanted you to know that I blame you 100% for the rain.

Matt said...

Some optimism!
You could have said that the rain ruined the momentum party the Hometown 9 was enjoying... but you didn't.
This is pure speculation, but it seems as though maybe Mauer didn't work out in the off season like he should have or didn't rehab the knee very well, doesn't it?

Nick N. said...

This is pure speculation, but it seems as though maybe Mauer didn't work out in the off season like he should have or didn't rehab the knee very well, doesn't it?

From what I heard, Mauer was spending 6-7 hours per day trying to strengthen the knee in early spring training, and still had nothing when he took the field. Not a good sign. I think there's more to this than a lack of conditioning (which, knowing Mauer, probably is not a contributing factor).

Ed Bast said...

First, if Mauer doesn't come off the DL, does that mean he's on another 15-dy DL? Or is he taking up a roster spot?

Second, from a PR perspective, the Twins are handling this Mauer injury about as well as Cuddy handles low and away sliders. First they come out with this "bilateral leg weakness" diagnosis, which if you take 2 seconds to look it up online (which the Twins obviously did not), is a central nervous system problem, very serious indeed. Did an actual doctor come up with that? I suspect Bill Smith or someone made it up to sound like they knew what was going on.

Then, when folks call BS on their spaghetti-on-the-wall "diagnosis", they attribute everything to this virus. Did they even talk to Mauer before saying this? Has a medical professional been involved at all?

Then, when Mauer himself calls BS on their convenient "re-diagnosis", Bill Smith throws his hands up and says, I don't know, Gardy doesn't know, nobody knows. No timetable. So basically, we give up. Fans will have to speculate on their $23 mil man, because we have no idea what to do. Rehab assignment? Maybe (according to Billy); yes (according to Gardy. Have these two ever discussed the issue? More revolutionary yet, have those two AND MAUER discussed the issue?

We all know Smith has zero baseball savvy - look at his trading resume for proof of that. He has built clubs that have won a combined zero playoff games. From a PR perspective he leaves a lot to be desired. His star player, and local deity calls him a liar in the media - lots of respect for the boss, eh? Can someone please illuminate me on one of his positive qualities?

Nick N. said...

First, if Mauer doesn't come off the DL, does that mean he's on another 15-dy DL? Or is he taking up a roster spot?

It's just a minimum of 15 days; he can come off at any point following that window.

First they come out with this "bilateral leg weakness" diagnosis, which if you take 2 seconds to look it up online (which the Twins obviously did not), is a central nervous system problem, very serious indeed. I suspect Bill Smith or someone made it up to sound like they knew what was going on.

"Bilateral leg weakness" literally means weakness in both legs. It would seem to be a very accurate description of the catcher's ailment.

Drew said...

Ed is right, we should get rid of Bill Smith and get Kenny Williams, Because his off season moves are really working out.

oh and for the record we one 3 games in the playoffs.

drew said...

*Won

Ed Bast said...

According to freemd.com, bilateral leg weakness "may be caused by a malfunction of the brain, the spinal cord, or nerves." It's a specific medical condition.

Like I said, I'll bet they scanned through a list of leg issues and picked the one that best sounds like "sore legs" while making it sound like something more official to justify putting their $23 mil man on the DL for sore legs.

It's like calling a sore back scoliosis.

Drew, Bill Smith took over as GM in 2007. He's presided over 1 2nd place finish and 2 embarrassing sweeps at the hands of the Yankees. Check your math.

Nick N. said...

According to freemd.com, bilateral leg weakness "may be caused by a malfunction of the brain, the spinal cord, or nerves." It's a specific medical condition.

It is a symptom, not a condition. And it may be symptomatic of a great many things. Jumping to the conclusion that Mauer -- a major-league catcher who had knee surgery during the offseason -- is suffering from some sort of serious nervous system issue just because his legs are weak is kind of ridiculous.

Obviously the Twins have a problem on their hands here, and frankly I think their public befuddlement has more to do with legitimate confusion than incompetence. This is a strange situation and no one knows quite to make of it, but jumping to such drastic and baseless conclusions won't do any good.

Ed Bast said...

"Jumping to the conclusion that Mauer -- a major-league catcher who had knee surgery during the offseason -- is suffering from some sort of serious nervous system issue just because his legs are weak is kind of ridiculous."

Right. So why would the Twins throw out this ridiculous term that would lead fans who did 2 seconds of research to reasonably come to this conclusion? That's precisely my point.

Of course he doesn't have a central nervous system problem. I'm not suggesting he does. By throwing out this term, the Twins were the ones leaving that possibility open. My point is that by throwing out these terms and multiple diagnosis and conflicting statements, they're coming off really poorly. Do you think they've handled it well?

Nick N. said...

So why would the Twins throw out this ridiculous term that would lead fans who did 2 seconds of research to reasonably come to this conclusion?

It's not a ridiculous term. It means he has weakness in both legs. That's what Mauer is dealing with. If panicky fans are going to look up conditions that this particular ailment could be related to and start theorizing about worst-case scenarios, that's their own prerogative.

Anonymous said...

Women weaken legs.

Ed Bast said...

"It's not a ridiculous term. It means he has weakness in both legs. That's what Mauer is dealing with."

Okay, fine. I'm dealing with unilateral adenoidal blockage. Aka a stuffy nose.

If that's what he's dealing with, why did they immediately change face and say it was all caused by a virus?

USAFChief said...

It took the mental midget Francisco Liriano exactly 20 minutes to kill any "momentum" the Twins may have built up over the weekend.

20 minutes...the time it took from first pitch to record the first out.

Ryan Ries said...
This comment has been removed by the author.