Last night’s loss in Seattle was flat out ugly. The hitters couldn’t hit a soft-tossing pitcher. Nick Blackburn’s sinker wouldn’t sink and he got knocked around by a team who’s 2010 offense has been… well… offensive. Most of us who stayed up to watch/listen to the entire game wondered, after the fact, why we had lost sleep to witness that futility.
But today’s another day and tonight presents a whole new game and most of us will do it all over again.
To get us through the day though, how about a bit of humor? A few quotes from around Twins Territory.
Ron Gardenhire, on the subject of Jon Rauch’s stiffness in his right hamstring: “It doesn’t affect him when he’s pitching, just when he’s getting tattoos.” I don’t think I wanna know where he’s getting that tattoo if it makes his hamstring stiff.
After getting his “call up” about midnight Tuesday, Matt Tolbert went to Rochester’s Frontier Field to get his equipment, then tried to catch a few winks before his 5:30 am flight: “I worry about oversleeping, so I set a bunch of alarms.” Good thinking Matt. “Sorry I missed the game, Gardy. I overslept,” probably wouldn’t go over real well.
Starting pitchers follow a specific routine on the day of their starts. Apparently, checking the lineup card is not part of Francisco Liriano’s routine. This observation from Frankie after Ichiro led off Monday’s game by grounding out to Michael Cuddyer at 2B: “I was like, ‘What’s Michael doing here?’ I didn’t know he was playing second, so I was really surprised.” Welcome to the club, ‘Cisco… we may have found out about it long before you noticed, but you certainly weren’t the only one “really surprised”.
And what did the Twins “real” second baseman, Orlando Hudson, think of Cuddyer’s performance? “He looks good. That’s the biggest second baseman I’ve ever seen.” Hey, Cuddy… I think O-Dog just called you “fat”.
Speaking of Hudson… Gardy, can you tell us how Lando’s doing? “He’s really upbeat, I can tell you that, because he’s talking. No, wait, that’s every day.” I suspect Hudson will be in the lineup REAL soon… if only to give Gardy a few minutes’ peace on the bench while the Twins are in the field.
I want to thank Joe Christensen at the StarTribune and Kelsie Smith at the PioneerPress for the quotes… and for giving this tired Twins fan something to smile about over his coffee this morning. – JC
LMAO I was just thinking that I should come post something to ‘lighten the mood’ in Twins Fandom but I hadn’t really gathered my thoughts yet. Good thing you start thinking in the morning before I do because this was perfect.
‘biggest 2B I’ve ever seen.. ‘ *dies laughing*
I wonder how poor Gardy weathered the game-long presence of Orlando on the bench. I have a feeling we might get yet more colorful quotes from Gardy really soon.
Liriano’s was probably my favorite. To not realize who your 2B is, then follow the ground ball off of Ichiro’s bat and only then see who’s fielding it… he had to be thinking “WTH?”
Liriano’s was probably my favorite. To not realize who your 2B is, then follow the ground ball off of Ichiro’s bat and only then see who’s fielding it… he had to be thinking “WTH?”