Talkin’ Tigers, Twins, Yanks and Nook LaLoosh
By Punch N. Judy
BaseballBigMouth.com baseball news
You’d probably have to harken back to the days of Whitey Herzog and his flock of speedy Cardinals to recall a ball team as pesky as the Minnesota Twins.
Having just left Detroit victors in two of the three games played here, you get the sense that this is one club that won’t be venturing far from the top of the AL Central. Led by the loop’s best starter, closer, and a pair of premier thumpers, Ron Gardenhire’s team plays the game the way it was meant to be played. Hit the cut – off man, move that runner and pound the strike zone seems to be credos ingrained throughout the organization.
In fact, when David Ortiz first signed with the Red Sox he was threatened with his release by He Who Shall Not Be Named for not pulling the ball. So used to playing the game the “Twins way” was Big Papi, his new teammates nicknamed him Juan Pierre in that spring of 2003. He had to completely re-program his approach at the plate to become the dominant individual force you see today.
When the Twins left town last April, victims of a cumulative three game 33-1 Tiger drubbing, I was pretty certain their closest competition the rest of the way would come via Kansas City. This time around I fear it may come in the form of a World Series appearance.
Brandon Inge needs to do more than hit the occasional dramatic home run for me to jump on his bandwagon. Yeah, I know he makes some great plays down at third, but even so he’s no gold glover. Had the cocky little guy not signed for so much money in the off-season make no mistake the Toledo Mud Hens would have themselves a new third baseman.
As I write this blog Gary Sheffield has just stolen both second and third. That makes him five for five in this category. Having watched all five I can tell you that every one was clean and every one was big in the context of the game. I know his stats are still slow to come around but . . . this guy is a ball player through and through.
The Joel Zumaya meltdown couldn’t have come at a better time. How so? Just ask Houston’s Brad Lidge how it feels to finally discover you’re human in the ninth inning of a tied playoff game.
If the Yankees plan on using Bobby Abreu in the three hole, somebody should tell him that even if third base coach Larry Bowa is standing on his head, half naked with a hot dog between his toes yelling something that seems to rhyme with the word runt, he is not to square around to lay one down. Whether he is doing it on his own or by Joe Torre’s direction, it is very un-Yankee-like.
Where’s Annie Savoy when you need her? Remember Nook LaLoosh’s girl who implored him to breath through his eye lids as a form of restoring confidence when things got tough on the mound? In his last start Justin Verlander became so out of sorts he actually pitched to a batter or two from the stretch even though nobody was on base. Always a quick worker, Verlander would almost certainly benefit from the odd Fernando Rodney – like stroll around the mound.
Since the Tigers moved back the left field fence 220 homers have been hit that didn’t clear the original wall. Detroit has benefited from 106 of them. In terms of confidence however, that number is probably a little more valuable.
Time to stop writing, the benches have cleared at Comerica Park after Jeremy Bonderman plunked Miguel Tejada.