When a season blows up, as another Twins season is doing, one of the consolations should be the final few weeks of the season when some of the new guys get a chance to make names for themselves, and maybe improve their chances to have an impact in the following seasons. It can be fun to watch.
The current group of Twins isn't even affording their fans much of that opportunity, mostly stumbling through a 10-game home stand in which they managed to get outscored by 37 runs. If you watched for any length of them, you were likely to see players throwing to the wrong base, giving half-hearted renditions of the little things (like backing up their teammates in the field) and continuing a season of cluelessness at the plate.
The other night, following a particularly substantial mental lapse in the infield, Kevin Correia threw his arms in the air like a substitute teacher wondering what he has to do to keep control of his youngsters.
There's simply nothing to see here.
The glimmers, like Josmil Pinto's game-changing home run Sunday afternoon, have simply been overwhelmed by all that's been done wrong. Dick 'n' Bert have been unnaturally owly when I've caught them; Dan Gladden is a good radio guide for explaining the difference between what's happening on the field and what should be happening.
The Twins aren't even living up to the silly cliché of trying to be a spoiler for the teams they're playing that do have a shot at the postseason. Gardy made that point, especially about the lack of hunger on display during Saturday night's shutout loss to Tampa Bay.
"This is an opportunity for these guys," he said on his ESPN1500 radio show Sunday morning.
This post isn't about suggestions for what to do. If five of us put forth our top five ideas, then we'd get tangled up in debating which ones should be at the top of the list. That's not the point. If you want to know what I think, read this post.
