Minnesota Twins @ Kansas City (April 20-22)

Neutron 14 · Post by **Neutron 14** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 5:46 pm

boblee appears to be AOL AWOL.

The Twins with Sidney Pontoon are favorites on the road tonight.

I can't imagine Sid the BigMid will be favored in many more road games.

Fat is beautiful.

Hit the Boofin Ball.

Go Twins.

Sweep.

grindiangrad-80 · Post by **grindiangrad-80** » Fri Apr 20, 2007 9:48 pm

I don't want to rip on the Twins- they are a fun group to watch. They consistently put a competitive team on the field. That is not easy in this day for a small market team. But......................
When you are down a run, runners on 1st and second, nobody out, please bunt the boofin ball. I don't care if you are Babe Ruth or Tyner. Bunt those guys over. Don't even waste time lookin down at 3rd. Get a strike, and get it down. I love Hunter. But he is a double play machine. Even if he hits a home run, he should have bunted.
Easy to second guess. I will quit whining now. Go Twins.

boblee · Post by **boblee** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 10:04 am

Thanks for picking me up Nuet. I was out and about. Ponson was dreadful last night.

Blue Breeze · Post by **Blue Breeze** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 11:08 am

grindiangrad-80 wrote:I don't want to rip on the Twins- they are a fun group to watch. They consistently put a competitive team on the field. That is not easy in this day for a small market team. But......................
When you are down a run, runners on 1st and second, nobody out, please bunt the boofin ball. I don't care if you are Babe Ruth or Tyner. Bunt those guys over. Don't even waste time lookin down at 3rd. Get a strike, and get it down. I love Hunter. But he is a double play machine. Even if he hits a home run, he should have bunted.
Easy to second guess. I will quit whining now. Go Twins.

I completely agree with you. Hunter is not a .300 hitter nor a 40 home run guy so he should be bunting right there, I was pining for it when he walked up to the dish. He hits into too many DP's and is not nearly disciplined enough to be given anything but the bunt sign in that situation. When you have a hitter like Redmond who can put the ball into right field or to the right side basically on command, you have to move them over to 2nd and 3rd. That really upset me last night.

grindiangrad-80 · Post by **grindiangrad-80** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 12:41 pm

We'll get 'em today Breeze!

Irishmans Shanty · Post by **Irishmans Shanty** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 5:56 pm

Well, I'm glad I'm not alone on this one. Bunt the Boofin ball with runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs.

Like I said, Rondell can take his time coming back, I'm fine with Redmond in the order somewhere.

Neshek is the goods.

Take the series tomorrow.

Govs93 · Post by **Govs93** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 11:50 pm

I'm sure all of you are very broken up about my delay in posting my KC pics, but have no fear - I've now posted them (including me overseeing Mr. Bonser's pre-game work in the infamous "BOOOOOOF" jersey)!

We're sticking around for one more game, and will be on the road home tomorrow afternoon. Cool thing happened tonight... We're sitting at the bar down the road from our hotel, and Joe Nathan sits down next to us. It was pretty apparent that he just wanted to have a beer and chill out for a little bit, so we just shook hands gave him a "good game" and left him alone.

Unfortunately for him, not everybody else would let him up for air, so once it got around the bar who he was, people starting crowding in on him and security had to cover the poor guy.

Anyway... I tried to discreetly take some pictures with my cellphone but it was too dark and you can't see a thing, but he was there! Seemed like a good guy, but a guy who would rather have just had his beers left.

packerboy · Post by **packerboy** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 9:10 am

Irishmans Shanty wrote:Well, I'm glad I'm not alone on this one. Bunt the Boofin ball with runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs.

I dont know. I am not a big fan of the bunt. I think it gets over used a bit. It probably doesnt come out in my posts but I like to emphasize the hitting part of the game.

But even if that was good spot for it, I would not bunt Hunter. Part of the Twins struggles on offense this year is that they are depending on 4 guys every night. Hunter is one of them. The guys hitting behind him are not. If you bunt Hunter you are playing for one run on the road to tie.

I am with Gardy on this one. If it was Punto up with 2 on (as if) and noboby out, for sure , bunt him and let your guys drive them in.

Get a BooFin hitter in here. 3-1 loss to the Royals. Come on. Hit the Boofin ball.

grindiangrad-80 · Post by **grindiangrad-80** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 12:32 pm

packerboy wrote:
Irishmans Shanty wrote:Well, I'm glad I'm not alone on this one. Bunt the Boofin ball with runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs.

I dont know. I am not a big fan of the bunt. I think it gets over used a bit. It probably doesnt come out in my posts but I like to emphasize the hitting part of the game.

But even if that was good spot for it, I would not bunt Hunter. Part of the Twins struggles on offense this year is that they are depending on 4 guys every night. Hunter is one of them. The guys hitting behind him are not. If you bunt Hunter you are playing for one run on the road to tie.

I am with Gardy on this one. If it was Punto up with 2 on (as if) and noboby out, for sure , bunt him and let your guys drive them in.

Get a BooFin hitter in here. 3-1 loss to the Royals. Come on. Hit the Boofin ball.

You have a good point.

Irishmans Shanty · Post by **Irishmans Shanty** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 12:49 pm

There is a certain time/s in the game that you need a productive AB from a given player. A three ring binder doesn't tell you when those times are but the festering in your lower intestine does. Something tells me Gardy's first instinct was to bunt Hunter but then he said to himself at his price he needs to swing away. That is the third time this season Hunter has had that AB and he has hit into a double play everytime.

packerboy · Post by **packerboy** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 1:00 pm

I agree IS. There is no rule to go by.

I dont trust Hunter that much either. He annoys the hell out of me sometimes with his undisciplined approach at the plate. He gets himself out in key situations way too much.

But when the dust settles he is good for 25 Hrs and 90 RBIs and he has nobody hitting behind him. First base was not open so they have to pitch to him. Also, he has been going pretty good lately.

I think Gardy felt that the best way to score was to let him hit. I tend to agree with him.

Irishmans Shanty · Post by **Irishmans Shanty** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 1:38 pm

packerboy wrote: He annoys the hell out of me sometimes with his undisciplined approach at the plate. He gets himself out in key situations way too much.

Next year when Hunter is suiting up for another team with his multi year-multi million dollar contract, how long will it take for those fans start to wondering what is wrong with his bat?

packerboy · Post by **packerboy** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 2:01 pm

I hope that doesnt happen. I think, considering the talent pool at the OF position that Hunter may be a priority. Id go 4 years with an option for a 5th with him.

I know this will sound like heresy, but considering the depth in pitching, and ,of course the economic realities, It may be better ,long term, to sign Hunter than Santana.

ChrisK · Post by **ChrisK** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 3:18 pm

I think you're right packerboy, Santana is going to be astronomically expensive to sign and they do have a lot of good young pitchers.

The one concern I have with Hunter is that it looks like he may have lost a step. They do have Denard Spann in Triple A so they might be able to replace Hunter's glove and pick up a slugging left fielder or third baseman.

Blue Breeze · Post by **Blue Breeze** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 3:57 pm

I'm still an advocate of Hunter bunting in that spot. Redmond was hitting behind, and puts the ball to the right side about 90% of the time. In a game like that, I'll take my chances that we can score more runs on their bullpen than they can on ours.

packerboy · Post by **packerboy** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 4:22 pm

These are fun discussions and I always like to try and understand why people like the bunt so much.

BB, you've got a guy in scoring position already. There is noboby out. At the plate is a guy who hit 30 HRs and knocked in 100 last year. I like that situation.

Now, you want to take that situation away and change it to one out and move the runners over one base with a guy at bat who is a career back up. Why?

OK, so now "Mr hit the ball to the right side" comes thru with a ground out, the game is tied, and now who is up with 2 down and a runner on third? Some banjo hitter like Luis Rodriguez who wont hit 30 HRs and knock in 100 his whole flippin life. Great.

If I am the opposing manager, Id send you over a bottle of your favorite beverage for bunting Hunter.

Blue Breeze · Post by **Blue Breeze** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 4:54 pm

PB,

Hunter's year last year was his best ever. Prior that he had never hit 30 homeruns or driven in 100, so I am not yet willing to classify him as a legitimate power threat.

The guy on deck may be a career back-up, but he has a career average that is 23 points higher than Hunters. Redmond is a contact hitter who rarely strikes out, I like his chances of driving in the run.

Hunter's discipline is awful. Bunting removes the threat of a double play that can kill an inning. Hunter hits into a lot of DP's because he swings at a lot of bad pitches, which can result in a DP or a weak pop-up that severely reduces the chances of scoring.

Mostly, in a battle between bullpens, I will take ours every time.

I'm sure there's a split in the bigs of managers who would do each, but I personally play for 1 run in that situation. The only players I would not ask to bunt in that situation are Mauer and Morneau.

packerboy · Post by **packerboy** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 5:12 pm

Yes, there is a reason that Hunter bats 6th, even in that lineup.

But I cant trade Hunter's bat for Redmonds. Hunter is career 25 Hr 90 RBI guy. I doubt Redmond has hit 25 his whole career.

You talk about the double play and removing it. Sure, thats a possibility but people also talk about the execution of a bunt as if its an intentional walk, high school rules. Its not.

Ive seen a lot of popped up bunts and failed attempts that really make the idea not so good.

Neutron 14 · Post by **Neutron 14** » Mon Apr 23, 2007 5:40 pm

Flip a coin, the argument has valid points on both sides. Gardy, like TK before him, is a gut guy. I'm sure that was a big part of it.

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Minnesota Twins @ Kansas City (April 20-22)

Minnesota Twins @ Kansas City (April 20-22)

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