Tampa Bay 7, Twins 1: Wasteful Twins clobbered by waste-not Rays

by Jon Marthaler on Apr 27, 2009 11:03 PM EDT in Game Recaps

Carlos Pena homered, tripled, and drove in three runs, as Tampa Bay took advantage of every chance they had in beating Minnesota 7-1 at the Metrodome. The Rays were 5-7 with runners in scoring position, including 3-4 with two out, while the Twins were a dreadful, punchless 0-9.

"Not much happened for our ballclub tonight," said Ron Gardenhire. "We just didn't do anything."

Scott Baker had just two bad innings, but they were bad enough to put the Twins in a hole right from the start. With two out in the first inning, Evan Longoria doubled down the left-field line. Pena immediately followed with a triple to right, as Michael Cuddyer's leap at the fence couldn't bring the ball down, and Pat Burrell singled off the left-field wall to make the game 2-0 before the Twins even came to the plate.

Baker settled down a bit, retiring ten in a row following Burrell's single, but ran into trouble again in the fifth inning. The Rays combined three singles with a walk and two wild pitches to manufacture two more runs.

Meanwhile, the middle of the Twins' lineup was busy wasting chance after chance to keep the game within reach. Jason Kubel and Joe Crede failed with a runner in scoring position in the first inning; Kubel and Justin Morneau both struck out in the third inning in the same situation, and Morneau lined to center in the seventh with yet another runner on second. Crede hit a solo home run for the Twins' only run, but he must share in the blame for the loss along with Kubel and Morneau.

In the eighth, Pena finished off his big day with a two-run homer off of RA Dickey, who threw a knuckler to the Rays slugger that did not knuckle. Jason Bartlett added a solo home run in the ninth, off of Juan Morillo, to finish Tampa's scoring.

The bases were full of white jerseys for most of the night, but all died where they were - while only one Rays baserunner got as far as second base but did not score. Waste not, want not, says the old proverb - one the Twins failed abjectly to follow, while Tampa Bay paid heed.

After the jump, the Twins' three stars for the game.

3. Denard Span
Singled and stole two bases - but popped out in the seventh with a runner on second.

2. Alexi Casilla
Casilla walked twice, but seemed to spend much of the night waiting forlornly for one of the high-paid bashers behind him to do something.

1. Scott Baker, Innings 2-4
Baker was bad in the first and fifth, but for three innings there, settled down and was much the pitcher we all expected. In retiring ten batters in a row, Baker racked up five strikeouts, and looked near-untouchable. Now, if he can just keep from going to pieces any time someone ends up on first base.

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Comments

Hmm.

Why’d we let Bartlett and Garza go again?

Dear Firpo, looks like my stock is fine.

by MNPundit on Apr 27, 2009 11:55 PM EDT reply actions

I am pretty sure Smith

inherited the team in some sort of Brewster’s Millions type scenario….that is the only explanation.

by guinness junky on Apr 28, 2009 12:01 AM EDT up reply actions

maybe Mauer

will come back and all of the sudden they will hit 0.300+ with RISP

by guinness junky on Apr 27, 2009 11:59 PM EDT reply actions

I was going to go to this game tonight, but decided not to when I realized that Baker was pitching.

by ianmader on Apr 28, 2009 12:13 AM EDT reply actions

I didnt realize

Niemann was a rookie…the Twins seem to do a very good job of giving rookies a kind welcome to the bigs

by guinness junky on Apr 28, 2009 12:15 AM EDT reply actions

Baker

Baker got hurt today, that triple for one was IN Cuddyer’s glove, he absolutely should have caught it.

"You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the damn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all."
~ Earl Weaver
"In God we trust. All others must provide evidence."
~ Billy Beane

by AdamOnFirst on Apr 28, 2009 12:26 AM EDT reply actions

What was Gardy thinking?

Leaving Dickey in to pitch to Pena with Mijares warmed up? At that point, it was a 4-1 game.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Apr 28, 2009 9:45 AM EDT reply actions

Fun Fact

Jason Bartlett has a higher OPS than anyone on the Minnesota Twins. He would also be tied for first on the team in stolen bases and third in home runs.

Bill Smith just lit himself on fire.

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Apr 28, 2009 11:15 AM EDT reply actions

Cmon folks, I know that trashing the GM is a favorite pastime here and on all blogs, but

try to get some of your rantings in perspective. Until this trade was made this blog (and others) were filled with anger towards Terry Ryan for continually failing to go out and sign or trade for a power hitting Right Handed bat. Month after month, year after year, people griped and complained about it even though the Twins continued to plug along successfully for most of this decade.

So what was one of Bill Smith’s first moves? Trading for that power right handed bat. Thos types of players just dont come cheap, and we had an overstock of healthy young starters to use as tradebait. When Bill Smith traded Garza and Bartlett for Delmon and Harris, it was a risky move, but the risk was artfully hedged by trading from a strength for a weakness.

Alright, Delmon Young has sucked donkey doo doo so far (compared to our expectations) but he looked like a pretty good prospect when we got him.

And on another note: the same gripers also consistently griped about Terry Ryan’s conservative nature – well Bill Smith took a gamble, and now your griping about that…c’mon folks trashing the GM is fair game on blogs like this but a little perspective wouldn’t hurt.

by montanatwinsfan on Apr 28, 2009 12:12 PM EDT reply actions

Whoa, there

I was just making a joke – I don’t think anyone expects Jason Bartlett to keep hitting like this, including Jason Bartlett, and at this point in the season it’s just a funny observation (the “lit himself on fire” line is a homage to Bill Simmons). I also thought the Delmon trade was defensible at the time, and may still turn out to be non-horrible. That said…

So what was one of Bill Smith’s first moves? Trading for that power right handed bat.

The problem is that instead of a power right handed bat, he got Delmon Young.

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Apr 28, 2009 1:01 PM EDT up reply actions

Your comment was clearly a joke, and pretty funny.

Bill Smith just lit himself on fire.

I was just speaking to the larger group of individuals who have been so hard on Smith for this one and for Santana. I think there might be legitimate reasons to criticize Smith (anyone look at this bullpen issue and realize that Ayala is NOT the answer?) but I get frustrated when I see people criticize a GM, or Manager for something and then when they take the gamble and fail, the same people criticize the GM or Manager for that.

by montanatwinsfan on Apr 28, 2009 1:59 PM EDT up reply actions

Well here's the problem.

The Twins management drove Santana away with their management style. That’s what happened. That may or may not fall on Bill Smith, I blame Ryan for it as well. I don’t really blame him for Bartlett though with the troubles we have had getting a decent shortstop I was pretty shocked that they sent him off, what I do blame him for is Garza.

Dear Firpo, looks like my stock is fine.

by MNPundit on Apr 28, 2009 9:36 PM EDT up reply actions

I understand why he made the trade for Delmon

I just never really agreed with it. The Twins are all about pitching and defense. Yet, they traded their best young pitcher and the best defensive shortstop they had had since Gagne. WTF? Well, the organization has this crazy preference for left-handed bats in the draft. Not surprisingly, that means there weren’t any right handed bats coming up to balance the order out. So the Twins had to trade two very good pieces to get a good tight-handed bat.

I don’t blame Bill Smith for the regression of Delmon Young. He was a pretty promising player when we acquired him. I remember the sentiment in blogs like Sickels’ was it was a steal for the Twins when it was made. It wasn’t as one-sided as it has looked since. That’s how far Delmon has regressed since being the runner up for ROY as a 21 year old. But I would not have made the trade even if Delmon had progressed to being an above average corner outfielder.

"You're thinking too much. Just have fun." -- Bennie "The Jet" Rodriguez in Sandlot

by cmathewson on Apr 28, 2009 10:20 PM EDT up reply actions

Santana

I wouldn’t blame management for Santana. The way I read the situation, it looked like he’d made up his mind that he was going to a place where 1) he could be a more national star, and 2) they would pay him a gazillion dollars. I don’t buy that he left because the Twins weren’t competitive enough – the fact was that he was going to test the market, and the Twins made the calculated decision to get value for him rather than risk losing him for draft picks, which seems logical given the ridiculous amounts of money the top-tier payroll teams spend on free agents.

In retrospect, it may have been the wrong decision – last year’s Twins with Santana in the rotation and a full year of Span over Gomez in center could have been World Series material – but at the time, the team looked like a year or two from contention, and building for the near future seemed like a better idea that wasting a year of Santana and getting two draft picks that don’t contribute for four or five years.

My master plan was to keep Santana, and instead of making the Delmon trade, signing Barry Bonds to split the LF/DH role with Kubel and going all-in for a Series run. Maybe when I make my first billion and buy the team…

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Apr 28, 2009 10:49 PM EDT up reply actions