Wild and Twins
By Tom Grout
April 17, 2008
-The Minnesota Wild can drive me nuts. They have all season as they can go up and down and up and down. I was very fortunate that I did not see much of the last game at all. The one where they lost 5-1 which I have heard was a pathetic performance.
It sure would have been nice to have had them come home up three to one and just needing one more win to end it, but nooooo they had to give one away just to make things more interesting. All season they have played better with their backs to the wall so hopefully that will be the case again.
The loss of Kurtis Foster has been “large”. He was a better than average defenseman and had a murderous slap shot from the point on power plays not to mention a fine leader on the ice. The loss of Nick Schultz was “behemoth” especially after Foster went down. Schultz was our most steady player on defense and definatly a leader on the ice. With these guys missing from the lineup it puts a lot of pressure on the other defensemen and some of them, Carney and Hill, are getting older and can’t play extended minutes. This means Brett Burns, Martin Skoula, and Kin Johnsson have had to step up and play a lot of minutes and with some of the games going overtime that’s even more minutes.
The offense hasn’t really gotten going either as Marion Gaborik has been almost non-existent. I still think the Wild are the better team here but you just never know what team will show up. There backs are against the wall so maybe they will shine through again.
-The Twins have been interesting to watch and a little frustrating at times. The Tiger series was very frustrating especially the middle relievers. Overall though, I think the Twins are still trying to find themselves. There are so many new players on the team this year and it does take a little time to get things to gel.
Carlos Gomez is exactly what he thought he was going to be. Exciting and frustrating. The only area that is frustrating for me is at the plate as there are times he is patient and then other times he is swinging away at everything. There is no denying that when Gomez gets on base he is one of the most exciting players in the league.
Mauer is starting to hit now and Morneau will be fine. Young has a lot of holes in his swing but I think once he settles down a little he has shown signs of being a pretty good hitter. Jason Kubel has been blasted by a lot of fans in the past but he has always been a good hitter and so far he is proving it. His outs are even hard hit. Speaking of hitting the ball hard and have nothing to show for it, Mike Lamb has fit into that category as well. He is a good hitter and the hits will start to fall.
I like Brendan Harris. The guy isn’t a great fielder but he isn’t that bad either. His biggest asset is his hitting. I just like the way he approaches his at bats as he will go the other way when he needs to and he seems to get the big hit which is something even the big hitters don’t always do. Adam Everett has been a little disappointing. His shoulder injury is not a good deal because if he can’t throw he is useless for the Twins because they got him for his defense. If he can’t throw he can’t play defense. Matt Tolbert has been a good addition for the Twins to fill in. Denard Span has shown me that he is better than I thought he was, but when Cuddyer comes back I’m not sure there is a spot for him. I’m not ready to send Gomez down and I’m not ready to give up on Craig Monroe’s right handed bat yet either. So Span may be the odd man out, but it is nice to know he is ready to step in again if needed.
The starting pitching that everyone thought was going to be trouble hasn’t really been that bad. Livan has pitched very well and although we can’t expect him to be that good, he will be a steady pitcher for us this year unlike Ramon Ortiz was last year. Baker, Bonser, and Blackburn have pitched good enough to win every time they have pitched. Liriano is still a work in progress and I have no problem with him in the rotation. Slowey when he returns gives them another good option or back up plan if any of the others go down.
The relief pitching has been good until the Tiger series. It is a little concerning, but I think Neshek is flat out trying to hard I think. He needs to cool his jets a little and focus a little more. Crain got roughed up by the Tigers too but did you see his fastball go into the high 90’s? Reyes and Rincon looked good last night and Bass has looked good but Guerrer has looked a little shaky and has all spring. He had some personal stuff going on in spring training and missed some time so I wonder if that may be some problem.
Anyway it’s still early and I look forward to the rest of the season.
-By the way, thank you all for your concerns at the loss of my mom. It is very comforting and much appreciated.
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