MetroDumps

There's something about playing the Minnesota Twins, in their home park in particular, that makes me tremble. Maybe it's the fact that the games start at 8:05 and disrupt my normal cycle; maybe it's that the lack of a sky makes the game seem post-apocalyptic, as if Minneapolis on the outside were a burning hunk of rubble; maybe it's the turf. Then again, maybe it's just because when we're at the Metrodome, the Sox always seem to suck.

This team is playing like they really want to just get off the field and take a nap. The only part of their makeup still functioning the way it should is the defense, and that's not something we're used to. The pitching has been great from Schilling and Papelbon, decent from Wakefield, and shitty from everyone else. After the barnburner we got in game 1, where Schilling and Santana lived up to every bit of the hype they garnered, Francona gave the ball and a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the 12th to the guy he's been giving the ball to a lot this year: Julian Tavarez.

I realize that the team has a lot of money invested in Tavarez, and in Rudy Seanez as well, but I don't understand the logic of continually giving the ball to your "veterans" when they've been proving on a consistent basis that they can't be trusted in a close situation. It's a sentiment I've expressed multiple times on this site, but there's no reason for those two relievers to continue to be overworked in close games when we give our rookies mop-up duty in the blowouts. Eric Wilbur of the Globe wrote a good blog entry of his own on this unfortunate trend titled "Young Gun Shy". Check it out.

Why are we paying guys close to $4 million/year to blow close games when we have rookies who seem to have a greater chance at succeeding who are making 1/4 of that? Actually, check that. We don't know if the rookies have that chance because we've never seen them. All Tito does is crack stupid "Hey, I can read!" jokes and says the prospects have "good stuff" and we need to get consistency from them. Here's what Tito had to say between the quotes:

`Manny's an interesting guy for us," Francona said last night. ``He's young, got a great arm. We tried to somewhat pitch him in situations where we're down a couple just to take a little bit of the heat off him. The other day, he pitched so well. If he can start duplicating that and following up with back-to-back outings, that would be great for our bullpen just because of the stuff he brings." (Globe)

Well now that's interesting, isn't it? Back to back outings? That's weird, Terry, because he hasn't been used in back to back games EVER, and he's only used when we're mopping up, isn't he? Now, whose fault is that, Mr. Francona?

See? This kind of shit annoys me. But I guess I should be happy with the fact that he's consistent in his actions. If I just stop thinking about it, it will cease to cause gridlock in my brain.

On to Atlanta.