Help Wanted: Twins Interim Manager

photo courtesy of Yahoo Sports

At the conclusion of tonight's game with the New York Yankees, Minnesota Twins general manager Bill Smith announced the team is looking for an interim manager. Don't worry, Ron Gardenhire, one of the best managers in the game, has not been fired. It's just that Smith figures maybe someone else will have better luck when his team plays the Yankees.

Okay, so all of the above is bs, but you could understand Smith thinking that way. With tonight's 7-4 Yankees victory, the Twins have lost 24 of the last 27 games played in the Bronx. Add to that playoff losses in 2003, 2004, and 2009. Things weren't much better in the Metrodome where the Twins won only 11 of their last 29 games with the Yankees.

Like many of their previous encounters, the Twins had a chance to win tonight's ball game. They rallied against Damaso Marte to take a 4-3 lead in the 7th, but the Twins' pen imploded in the bottom of the 7th.

Francisco Cervelli led the inning off with a single against Twins starter Scott Baker and Derek Jeter followed with a bullet off of Baker's leg for a double. Lefty Brian Duensing retired Brett Gardner, but Gardenhire made the dangerous decision to intentionally walk Mark Teixeira and face Alex Rodriguez with the bases loaded.

Gardenhire had the unenviable task of picking his poison, but Rodriguez was 4-6 lifetime with a trio of home runs against the reliever, Matt Guerrier, that the Twins' skipper opted for.

Quicker than you could say, well, Gardenhire, A-Rod launched a grand slam to left to put the Yankees back on top for good. The Yankees third baseman also scored points in the post-game by taking the high road when YES' Kim Jones wondered if getting intentionally walked irritated him.

Joba Chamberlain (three K's) and Mariano Rivera made quick work of the Twins over the final two innings to hang yet another "L" on Gardenhire and the Twins.

Notes

Per Sweeny Murti on Twitter: "Joba has struck out 7 of last 10 batters (over 3 apps)." And this from Jack Curry on Twitter: "Memo to ML Managers: According to STATS, Inc., A-Rod is 4-4 w 2 HRS and 14 RBI in six plate apps after Teixeira was intent walked b4 him."

Nick Swisher left the game after one at-bat due to his bad bicep. (Correction) He went for an MRI, which showed nothing out of the ordinary a slight tear. He's listed as day to day.

Francisco Cervelli continues to be remarkable. Two more hits tonight, threw out a would-be base stealer, and delivered an RBI triple for an insurance run in the 8th inning. He's now 10-13 with runners in scoring position. Cervelli was even impressed by it during the post-game. "That's pretty good", he said with a chuckle.

A.J. Burnett started the game with a shaky first inning, but settled down and left the game with a 3-2 lead in the 7th. He did give up a scorched home run to Joe Mauer.

Some Game 1 Thoughts

Workouts after victories aren't so bad.

The sun is always a little brighter after a nice win. Some thoughts about last night's win.

. How good does A-Rod feel this morning? A-Rod got the monkey off his back with a couple of RBI singles. It was strange seeing Kate Hudson and Jay-Z celebrating together.

. Derek Jeter is Derek Jeter. The Captain of Clutch comes through again with a 2-run, game tying home run that rocks the house. (Great piece on being Jeterian by the Star Ledger's Steve Politi)

.Was it necessary for Joe Girardi to go with Mariano Rivera in the 9th? With a day off today, Girardi probably wanted to keep Mo sharp. But after getting two quick outs, Rivera issued a walk and gave up a base hit. Suddenly his pitch count was to 23. No reason to yank Phil Hughes with two outs in the 8th either.

. Jorge Posada thought he had Game 1 off too. Posada and CC Sabathia crossed each other up, once each according to Sabathia, which resulted in a pair of passed balls for Posada. To make matters worse, Posada lolly gagged after one of the pitches, enabling Joe Mauer to score from third base.

Posada made a nice block on a pitch in the dirt later in the game, but couldn't locate the ball, allowing two runners to advance. The YES Network's John Flaherty pointed out that Posada didn't freeze the base runner at second with his eyes.

. TBS isn't as annoying as FOX. Okay, someone on Twitter pointed out to me that I set the bar pretty low on that one. Chip Caray is carrying on a family tradition of bad/annoying/inebriated (ok, that was just grandpa Harry, though maybe that applies to Dad Skip too) announcers. The "internets" are still laughing about Caray's overuse of the word "fisted" in the Twins-Tigers one game playoff.

I've always like Ron Darling as a commentator, but he was rambling last night and threw in a few malapropisms ("Joba needs to grab the antlers" - it's "grab the bull by the horns", Ron).

TBS had some of the same nonsense production as FOX though- Trying to break the record for talking about the Yankees payroll and failed playoff performances. They brought up all the negative stats for A-Rod, even when he did come through with a clutch hit.

There was sound/audtio problems, but nothing compared to those that took place in the two other division series games that TBS showed yesterday. The Cards-Dodgers was particularly bad.

. Mark Teixeira's start to the playoffs made me think of Tino in '96.

. Orlando Cabrera is annoying.

. Still surprised Ron Gardenhire pitched to A-Rod with a man in scoring position after A-Rod's earlier RBI hit.


As you may or may not know, we/me/I here at My Pinstripes tweet quite a bit during games. There's good interaction between the Yankees fans, beat writers, and other baseball people. I encourage you to join, if you haven't already, and follow me

Tweet of the Night - Have to go with Steve Politi (NJ_StevePoliti): "If Posada gets the game-winning hit, does Burnett send Molina out to pie him?"

The Daily Yankeeland - 3/2

A foot of snow is falling on the tri-state area; even more reason to wish we were in Tampa right now. Here's what's going on down there.

Alex Rodriguez met with MLB investigators for a couple hours on Sunday and was "cooperative", according to a press release. With A-Rod off to the WBC now, the Yankees will gladly welcome less distractions.

Former Yankees pitcher Tom Sturdivant passed away Saturday at the age of 78. He was a member of the Yankees from 1955-1959 before being part of one of the many trades the Yankees that made with the Kansas City Athletics back then. The deal brought Ralph Terry and Hector Lopez to the Bombers.

Sturdivant enjoyed a 10 year career, but his first two full seasons in Pinstripes were his best, winning 16 games in back to back seasons, and he posted an AL second best 2.54 ERA in 1957. He was a member of four pennant winners and two world champions while in the Bronx, contributing with a victory in the 1956 series with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Our thoughts go out to his friends and family.

The Yankees are in Kissimmee today for a game with the Astros. This will mark the first spring appearance for Chien-Ming Wang. We went to a game in Kissimmee back in 2000, seeing El Duque face off against Doc Gooden, who was trying to make the Astros. He later joined the Yankees that year and won some key games. It's a 1:00 start and you can hear Ma and Pa Yankee on WCBS radio.; turns out the game is NOT on WCS radio.

Jack Curry of the Times has a great piece today on Mark Teixeira's admiration for Don Mattingly. Though Teixeira grew up in Maryland and was an Orioles fan, Donnie Baseball was the man. A poster of the hit man still hangs in his parent's house in his old room.

Mark Carig is the new guy on the block at the Star Ledger. He's got an interview with the Yankees new guy on the block, Nick Swisher. Swish was miserable in Chicago last season, when he hit a career low .219 and found himself in Ozzie Guillen's dog house.

Ron Gardenhire thinks the Yankees will end up with Manny Ramirez. Might be a little sun stroke. Manny and the Dodgers are now $1.5 million apart from a deal.

Girardi Still not Bowled Over by Play

Though he said that he doesn't feel the play will carry over to any of their future meetings, Yankees manager Joe Girardi was still clearly ticked yesterday about the collision at home plate Saturday that will cost catcher Francisco Cervelli up to 2 months of playing time.

"It's just disheartening in a spring training game," Girardi said. "I just don't understand it."

But the incident won't change Girardi's own philosophy.

"I've told my players that I don't want them running into catchers in spring training because I don't want them or someone else to get hurt," Girardi said. "We'll continue to play the game hard, and in my mind, play the game the way I want them to play it."

Rays manager Joe Maddon still stood by his words yesterday and continued to not understand Girardi's viewpoint.

Source: NY Daily News

"This does not deserve any legs," Maddon said. "It was an issue that occurred yesterday in a game, it was a hard baseball play; the issue is based on whether you should do that in spring training or not, so it's a philosophical difference."

Maddon even made light of the situation when he was asked if he planned to talk to Girardi about the incident before Wednesday's game. "I've always liked Joe," Maddon said. "If he would like to have a conversation, I'd like to talk about politics, I'm good with global warming, I'm good with a lot of different topics on a daily basis. I like iTunes, I download some stuff off iTunes, I like different restaurants, I like red wine. I have a lot of different areas I can go conversationally."

Don Zimmer agreed with Maddon's take on things.

Source: NY Post

"The plate was blocked and our guy bowled him over," Zimmer, a Rays senior advisor, told reporters in St. Petersburg.

"What's that got to do with spring training? That's the way to play the game."

"I'm talking about a guy who's like a son to me. I can't believe that he went after it the way he did," Zimmer said. "And being a catcher on top of it. You block the plate.

"If I slide into him and break a leg, nothing is said. Instead of breaking my leg I bowl him over and it's not the right play? Well, to me it's the right play, spring training or no spring training. Play the game the right way.

"To me, our kid played it the way he thought it was right, and I think it was right. I'm surprised they made such a big thing out if it. I was dumbfounded. Of all people, I mean Girardi's a tough guy, a tough catcher. I don't know what spring training has got anything to do with it."

Reporters looked to a neutral party, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, when the Yankees visited Ft. Myers yesterday. Gardenhire took the diplomatic route, saying that he agreed that a play like that should not take place in spring training, but he also understood playing the game aggressively and hard.

Reporters of course also approached Shelley Duncan, who is known for his hard nosed style of play. Duncan said he never would have thought to run over a catcher in spring training...until now.

Source: NY Daily News

What it does is it opens another chapter of intensity in the spring training ballgames," Duncan said Sunday about the incident in Saturday's game between the Yankees and Rays. "They showed what is acceptable to them and how they're going to play the game, so we're going to go out there to match their intensity - or even exceed it." Will the young Yankee, known for his all-out style, take a different approach if he has a chance to collide with one of the Rays' catchers on Wednesday? "I don't know," Duncan said. "That will be determined in between third and home."

While there may not be a collision at the plate, that doesn't mean that someone won't take over Scott Proctor's role and plunk a Rays hitter. We shall see.

Girardi Still not Bowled Over by Play

Though he said that he doesn't feel the play will carry over to any of their future meetings, Yankees manager Joe Girardi was still clearly ticked yesterday about the collision at home plate Saturday that will cost catcher Francisco Cervelli up to 2 months of playing time.

"It's just disheartening in a spring training game," Girardi said. "I just don't understand it."

But the incident won't change Girardi's own philosophy.

"I've told my players that I don't want them running into catchers in spring training because I don't want them or someone else to get hurt," Girardi said. "We'll continue to play the game hard, and in my mind, play the game the way I want them to play it."

Rays manager Joe Maddon still stood by his words yesterday and continued to not understand Girardi's viewpoint.

Source: NY Daily News

"This does not deserve any legs," Maddon said. "It was an issue that occurred yesterday in a game, it was a hard baseball play; the issue is based on whether you should do that in spring training or not, so it's a philosophical difference."

Maddon even made light of the situation when he was asked if he planned to talk to Girardi about the incident before Wednesday's game. "I've always liked Joe," Maddon said. "If he would like to have a conversation, I'd like to talk about politics, I'm good with global warming, I'm good with a lot of different topics on a daily basis. I like iTunes, I download some stuff off iTunes, I like different restaurants, I like red wine. I have a lot of different areas I can go conversationally."

Don Zimmer agreed with Maddon's take on things.

Source: NY Post

"The plate was blocked and our guy bowled him over," Zimmer, a Rays senior advisor, told reporters in St. Petersburg.

"What's that got to do with spring training? That's the way to play the game."

"I'm talking about a guy who's like a son to me. I can't believe that he went after it the way he did," Zimmer said. "And being a catcher on top of it. You block the plate.

"If I slide into him and break a leg, nothing is said. Instead of breaking my leg I bowl him over and it's not the right play? Well, to me it's the right play, spring training or no spring training. Play the game the right way.

"To me, our kid played it the way he thought it was right, and I think it was right. I'm surprised they made such a big thing out if it. I was dumbfounded. Of all people, I mean Girardi's a tough guy, a tough catcher. I don't know what spring training has got anything to do with it."

Reporters looked to a neutral party, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, when the Yankees visited Ft. Myers yesterday. Gardenhire took the diplomatic route, saying that he agreed that a play like that should not take place in spring training, but he also understood playing the game aggressively and hard.

Reporters of course also approached Shelley Duncan, who is known for his hard nosed style of play. Duncan said he never would have thought to run over a catcher in spring training...until now.

Source: NY Daily News

What it does is it opens another chapter of intensity in the spring training ballgames," Duncan said Sunday about the incident in Saturday's game between the Yankees and Rays. "They showed what is acceptable to them and how they're going to play the game, so we're going to go out there to match their intensity - or even exceed it." Will the young Yankee, known for his all-out style, take a different approach if he has a chance to collide with one of the Rays' catchers on Wednesday? "I don't know," Duncan said. "That will be determined in between third and home."

While there may not be a collision at the plate, that doesn't mean that someone won't take over Scott Proctor's role and plunk a Rays hitter. We shall see.