Ok, Thome’s first time to start – and the big bloggers have put me in the nearly unbelievable position of defending Delmon Young being in the lineup. Holy Cow, some things you just never expect when you’re a little twins fan. I’m really not a Delmon devotee, honest.
A) I don’t follow all the young prospects and rookies nearly closely enough to have become a fan when he was impressing the hell out of everyone. So I pretty much had to catch up after he was traded here. And he wasn’t impressing anyone then.
B) If you know me, you know I’m rather fond of good glovework.. *cough* So, um, yeah, Delmon hasn’t impressed me there either.
So here it is… I don’t think Kubel is any better in the field than Delmon – sorry, I just don’t. Delmon is faster if not as sure-footed. *rolls eyes* Of course, all the big bloggers are trotting out their numbers about how Ervin Santana should have a lineup of 15 lefties if we have to pull them off the street. Sorry, I don’t buy it. Yes, you should adjust what you have to put your best team forward. But no, you don’t play two DH’s if you can help it. And for all his versatility, Kubel is a DH. You leave your starting LF in his regular place – ESPECIALLY WHEN HE’S ACTUALLY HAVING QUALITY AB’S!! Don’t mess with that, please.
I knew this argument was going to come up when we got Thome. My biggest fear was that his arrival would mean that he would end up being in the lineup as a starter at the same time as Kubel. Especially since Gardy actually seems to have a fondness for putting Kubel in the OF, much to my great aggravation. So imagine my pleasant surprise to see such a logical – to me – lineup arrive today!
For all those trotting out numbers, please remember that they are from LAST YEAR. Last year we didn’t have a Delmon who was actually STEALING BASES and WALKING, of all things. I would look horrible if I lost 30 lbs but I gotta admit that while he’s not my particular taste, he looks darn good having left the extra behind … behind. Let’s give it a shot before we all have heart attacks, ok? For that matter, let’s all be glad that we have a great bat on the bench that we can trot out there if we need it.. Isn’t that why we got Thome in the first place? Yeesh…
| Minnesota | @ | LA Angels |
| Span, CF | Aybar, E, SS | |
| Hudson, O, 2B | Abreu, B, RF | |
| Mauer, C | Hunter, CF | |
| Morneau, 1B | Matsui, H, DH | |
| Cuddyer, RF | Morales, K, 1B | |
| Thome, DH | Rivera, J, LF | |
| Young, D, LF | Kendrick, H, 2B | |
| Hardy, SS | Napoli, C | |
| Punto, 3B | Wood, B, 3B | |
| Pavano, P | Santana, E, P |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | 0 |
| LA Angels | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 0 |
click anywhere in the boxscore for more game details
The vote in the game chat gave the BOD to JJ Hardy for fantastic plays on both sides of the duty list. But I would like to offer honorable mentions to Carl Pavano for a fantastic pitching start and Nick Punto just because triples are so much fun to watch (they just don’t have to run like that for a HR!)