That's my concensus from tonight's game. The only reason we won was because Johan Santana and Joe Nathan pitched. Otherwise, the Twins looked pretty pathetic still. I mean, yea Jose Lima had a good year. One good year, really, and that was in 1999. The next year he gave up around 50 HRs. Lima time is over, so I think the Twins ought to have light him up instead of getting a meager one run out of him. And who had the RBI again? Justin Morneau.
His timely hitting, along with Lew Ford's RBI single in the 9th, were big positives in a sloppy offensive game. Morneau is proving to be a great cleanup hitter who should, despite his early injury, drive in over 100 runs this season and have 30 HRs. That said, here's the game's hero and it's villian.
Game Villian:
Michael Cuddyer again. He may have walked this game, but otherwise, he went 0 for 3 dropping his average to a paltry .194. This continues to beg the question of why he continues to start. I say its time to bench him and consider placing him on waivers. We have Terry Tiffee waiting in the wings. He continues to be impatient, swing at bad pitches, and make ugly plays, as he did tonight on an overthrow in the third inning. Its time to think hard about our top pick from 97'.
Game Hero:
Johan Santana. Eight solid innings of great work from Santana again. When his defense failed him twice in the third inning, what did he do? He struck out the side. Santana continues to show what a good pitcher he is. And the scariest thing is that we haven't seen his best stuff yet. He hasn't had the best control of his change-up, yet he's 4-0 already and he has a 17 straight decisions with a win. He already has 45 Ks and when he breaks it out this summer, I see 300 Ks well within his reach.
Oh, and lastly, don't forget reliable Joe Nathan, who saved his 6th game tonight showing a good fastball as he ended the game striking out Terrance Long.
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
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3 comments:
Well, he was once a terrific prospect and he put up some gaudy numbers, but has never done anything remotely impressive in the Majors. Still, the organization is clinging on to the desparate hope that he can turn it around and produce at a Major League level. As you can tell, we've run out of patience.
One thing I found funny was in Cuddy's first at-bat last night, Dick and Bert were talking about Gardy had given him the vote of confidence and about how he had talked to Michael about improving his pitch selection, saying that he was hitting bad pitches which was why he wasn't hitting the ball solidly. One pitch after they said this, Cuddyer chased a pitch down and out and dribbled out to second.
Yea. I agree and I'm no expert either, but Cuddyer simply has not made the transition from the minor leagues to the big leagues. He has never had a consistent position, as he has played 2B, SS, 3B, and the outfield, and none of them particularly well. He hit well in the minors, but never has here. Why is that? Bad strike-zone judgement, lack of patience. He walks sometimes, but not when we need it. When we have men on base, he swings at low pitches in the dirt and grounds out or strikes out. We can't have that, so thats why i want Cuddyer on the bench and Tiffee up here instead. How do we do that? Simple: Get rid of Corky Miller, the most useless Twin ever.
right, it certainly begs the corky question, doesn't it? i HAVE been impressed with tiffee . . . so i keep thinking send cuddyer away (anywhere) but corky's probably the best answer. although either (or both) scenarios work for me. (cuddyer and/or miller). thanks.
sheila
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