Fatty Sure Knows how to Kill A Rally

Rally-killer. Fatty. No run. Whatever you want to call him, he's on the worthless list with Mr. Mulholland. Its your favorite clubhouse animal, Matthew LeCroy. And with the tying runners on base, Fatty grounded into a double play on the first pitch from new Detroit closer Kyle Farnsworth and that was with no outs. Sure, it was a good play by Guillen, but a fast runner or someone giving minimal effort on the basepaths would have given him a run for his money in turning the double play. But Fatty doesn't try. And there goes the rally and the game. And I've still trying to figure out why a guy who can't hit righties, especially hard-throwing righties like Farnsworth, wasn't pinch hit for, even if that hitter was Mike Redmond. I don't care. Whatever, I am really dissapointed in his play. But that same message goes to Bret Boone, who made several terrible plays to help the Twins lose this important 5-game series. And, of course, he's still the .228 hitter we got in the trade. Still no extra-base hits and he helped kill a rally when he and Shannon Stewart struck out to end an eight-inning rally.

Yep, its the same message. No offense except a Cuddyer double followed by a two-out Stewart RBI-single and a ninth-inning Joe Mauer home run. Bonderman is a good pitcher, but the Twins have a knack for making decent right-handers (Daniel Cabrera, John Lackey) look like strikeout kings. It has to change. They need to make a trade and it became apparent yesterday that there is reason not to trade a Lohse or to get rid of Mulholland. Scott Baker is clearly ready for the majors. He's a great young arm who throws up to 95, pitches insides, hits the corners, and changes speed. He looked excellent and fully-ready to tackle a major league job. He's a good step above Lohse in fact because he understands those things Lohse usually ignores.

As he did today, getting fastballs over the plate all day for the Detroit hitters to feed on, as they did when Mays was on the hill Friday. 11 hits, five runs (one unearned on a terrible Shannon Stewart bobble), three walks in 5 and 2/3 innings. He lacks control and consistency and thats just as troublesome for the Twins as it has been since they called him up. We need to trade him while he still has value.

Next up is an even harder challenge, as they travel to play the Yankees on the road. They will face Randy Johnson on Tuesday and although I'd love to see Radke get the win, I have my doubts since the last time Johnson faced the Twins, he pitched a shutout with 10 Ks. Lets just hope they make a move before then.