Cleveland 5 (and adding), Twins 0 (we will threaten, but I don’t think we will score)

Since I took a look at the starting line up for Twins today, I have been pouring over the stats of several players, attempting to understand why these players (I won’t call them batters, no one else in the majors would) are in the line up. The most glaring and continuous presence is Mr. Punto. When compared to the stats of Rodriguez or Bucher, he has a slightly better average?!? This strains all thought processes, but is apparently the case. Now Buscher has only 3 Abs against lefties, so you wouldn’t think that would be enough to exclude him, but Gardy knows more than the rest of us, which is why Punto is in the line up and we are all stuck with trying to fathom the reason why!!!!

The other conundrum in the line up is Mr. White. RonDL is hitting (I blush to call it that) slightly better against lefties than against righties (which says not a lot). Mr. Kubel is hitting better against righties or lefties than RonDL is hitting against anything but a batting T.

Once again Gardy’s line up is so puzzling and just distressing. We are out of the playoff run – so why can’t we see some one other than Punto in the line up? Having him in the line up if you think you still have a chance at the playoffs makes no sense, and if you are out of the playoffs, Punto in the line up, again, makes no sense. This should be a time to get a jump on next year and try out something different. Why not move Cuddyer to third for a few games? We are calling up Lew Ford, and we have Lois Rodriguez on the bench, they can cover right field. When Cuddyer played third regularly in 2005, I for one was driven batty by his performance. I remembered him being simply awful at the plate, but I checked his stats for 2005, he was hitting .263! Wouldn’t that have been nice at third this year, and of course Cuddy has a little pop in his bat.

Moving Mr. Mauer would be something to try, but of course his hamstrings are unstrung, and he is again warming the bench and haunting the training room for rehab. The Twins need to make some hard decisions and move Mauer, having him sit on the bench being Mr. Nice Guy is not putting up any hits, or god-forbid, runs for a team that is hurting for both. Both local newspapers sports writers today have proposed moving baby Jesus to third base, and this could be a good place for Joe. It keeps him in the action of the game (the third base “hot spot”) and gives his legs and those infamous hamstrings and knees some rest.

Gardy has become all hot and bothered because both local newspapers are advocating moving Mauer from catcher to another position where he would be less likely to be injured and warming the bench. In his comments, Gardy has apparently lost the point those writers were trying to make. Neither are saying that Joe is a bad catcher defensively. They know that Joe makes a good backstop at the plate, when he is in the game. The point that Gardy is steaming past is the “when he is in the game”. Joe is too tall to be an every day catcher. To keep Joe’s valuable bat in the line up, he needs to move to a less physically stressful position that could enable him to play everyday.

The main thing is the Twins need to do some things differently. This year’s mix has not worked. Change is long overdue for this team.