A little dinged up? Not dinged up enough to sit

The Twins were in Yankee Stadium in 2007 for a four-game series that carried over to the Fourth of July. Alex Rodriguez pulled up lame late in the first game. The Yankees announced that the injury was a strained left hamstring, and there was speculation in the New York newspapers that he would miss a few games.

That surely would have been the case if the player was a regular for the Twins. We would have heard: "Well, there are only six days until the All-Star break, and that could give him three more days, and, boy, 10 days off and this vital cog in our lineup should be ready to go."

The Yankees don't see things that way. A-Rod was in the lineup the next night at third base. He looked gimpy and again left late in the game for a defensive replacement. So, on the afternoon of the Fourth, he was the designated hitter.

There have been a few things to get on the nerves of a Twins follower during this successful decade -- and not all are tied to postseason ineptitude.

There's the battle cry that Twins starters "pitch to contact," as if this is an asset, rather than being a euphemism for, "He's another guy with a mediocre fastball."

There's also the assurance -- most frequently from local telecasters -- that the Twins play great defense, even as the number of catchable balls falling among their outfielders rivals that of the St. Paul Saints'.

You can still hear the Twins being saluted as wise and aggressive baserunners, when stupid and slow-footed is closer to the truth. This is now a team with one above-average baserunner in Joe Mauer.

You had the impression at times this season that the players were filling out permission slips to be in manager Ron Gardenhire's lineup -- sort of like kids needing approval to go on a field trip.

Here's the deal:

If you're A-Rod, Derek Jeter, Robinson Cano, Mark Teixeira or Nick Swisher, and if you don't have anything broken or severely pulled, you're in the lineup. If you're a Twins regular and "a little dinged up," Gardenhire starts looking to get you a game off -- and hopefully before a scheduled day off, so you can have two days off.

That's the coddling move that truly makes me go crazy.

The only good news from the Twins' most recent postseason embarrassment came Monday. The players were in the clubhouse, packing for the offseason, and Michael Cuddyer revealed he will have surgery to clean up a sore right knee that bothered him most of the season.

Cuddyer started 156 games in the field at five positions, and went ironman at first base after Justin Morneau's concussion July 7. He played in the most games at 157 and was second on the team with 675 plate appearances (to 705 for leadoff hitter Denard Span).

Span and Delmon Young were also among the willing on a daily basis. Span played through a sore shoulder. And Young turned down offers to sit when he was banged up in August.

Here's Example A of the competitive ethic that exists with the Yankees:

Jeter, now 36, started 150 games at shortstop, played in 157 and had 739 plate appearances. In contrast, Twins shortstop J.J. Hardy missed time with a half-dozen nagging injuries and started 95 games.

The intention isn't to single out Hardy. It was what it was, and that wasn't good enough.

If you want a lineup of you-can-count-on-me players in October, you need it through baseball's endless summer. And that's what they continually have in the Bronx.

Either that, or you need a bunch of starters that don't pitch to contact.