twins/mlb
Jim Souhan analyzes the local sports scene and advises you to never take his betting advice. He likes old guitars and old music, never eats press box hot dogs, and can be heard on 1500ESPN at 2:05 p.m. weekdays, and Sundays from 10 a.m.-noon.
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Posted by: Jim Souhan under All-Stars and honors, Professional baseball, Ron Gardenhire, Target Field, Twins fans, Twins management, Twins offense Updated: July 6, 2011 - 11:19 AM
This is highly unscientific, which works for me, because I'm not a scientist.
Picked up my newspaper (yes, we still print a paper) today and looked at the American League leaders. There are no
Twins. Anywhere.
Now, this is unscientific because we print a shortened version of AL leaders, basically cramming what fits into the alloted space. But that's still remarkable: This Twins team, with the highest payroll in franchise history and a lineup filled with former or potential All-Stars, has nobody among a random list of leaders. Not in pitching categories. Not in hitting categories.
So everyone who whined about Ron Gardenhire's managing early in the season, please realize that you're blessed to have one of the best managers in the game working in your town. The Twins have won 21 of 30 games with a Triple-A lineup and a shallow bullpen. That's not coincidence.
To be clear, I don't always agree with Gardenhire's moves. It would be impossible to think independently and agree with all the moves any manager makes. They make dozens of decisions a day.
But he's won too much, with too many different players and styles of play, for any rational human to fail to credit him for a decade of consistent winning.
I mean, look at today's lineup: Revere, Casilla, Cuddyer, Thome, Valencia, Tosoni, Repko, Rivera, Nishioka. My lord. Apparently Jeff Reboulet was unavailable.
A team that looks like it's going to climb into contention has Tosoni, Repko, Rivera and Nishioka in the same lineup. And Gardenhire is winning with this collection. And yet Gardenhire gets bashed every time the Twins have a bad month.
How silly is that?
-The British Open is coming up soon, and yet today I had to look up the dates. With Tiger Woods out of the picture, I have been transformed from a rabid golf fan into a passive golf fan. Now I'll watch it when convenient, but I won't go out of my way to find it.
-I'm on with Reusse after the Twins game today on 1500espn, then I'm running Garage Logic from 4-6 p.m. today, and the rest of the week.
I plan to have Roy Smalley on, and Matt Apuzzo, an Associated Press reporter who covers the CIA and recently authored a fascinating piece on story behind the hunt for Bin Laden.
-My Twitter name is @Souhanstrib.
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