Money Isn't The Only Difference Between The Twins And Yankees

With the exception of a few teams in baseball, such as the Red Sox or the Phillies, most teams think of themselves as being different than the Yankees because they don't spend as much money as the Bronx Bombers.  The Twins are no exception to that.  There are those Twins fans that believe they can't compete against the Yankees because their payroll is twice that of the Twins.  The money argument is a stale one, considering the success of teams like the Cardinals and Giants over the last couple of years.  The truth of the matter is that it doesn't have as much to do with the amount a player makes, but more with the talent he has and what the team does with it.  Right now, it doesn't appear the Twins have done enough with the talent they do have, and continue to feel sorry for what they don't have.

With the Twins now 13 games back in the Central Division, 2011 has quickly become a lost season.  Injuries ravaged the team from the start, and made it clear that if they were to succeed this season, it truly would be a total team effort.  For the most part, the Twins and their fans tend to be a bunch that lives in the past, rather than a bunch that looks at what's going on in front of them or in the future.  You'll hear statements such as, "we've won six division titles under Ron Gardenhire," or, "he's a three-time batting champion," or, "he was the MVP back in 2006."

It can be said that teams like the Twins or like the defending World Series Champion Giants have to make the most with what they have.  This is very true.  At the same time, teams like the Yankees and Red Sox do the same, making the most of the players they have, and in many cases, making them better than they were.  People can complain about them buying all the "great" players, but what matters is what those "great" players do for the Yankees when they're there.

A prime example of this is evidenced by the breakout season of Curtis Granderson.  Granderson was always a fantastic player for the Detroit Tigers, but seems to have taken his offensive game to a new level with the Yankees.  Upon arriving in New York, Yankees hitting coach Kevin Long worked with Granderson, an already proven big-league hitter, on his stance, calming his movements down at the plate.  The result has been noticeable, with Granderson leading the league in Runs, RBI's, and Extra-Base Hits, and currently sitting second in Home Runs.

What the Yankees don't tend to tolerate is mediocrity.  If a player isn't getting the job done, the Yankees will find a solution, either through a trade during the season, or the free agent avenue after it.  Yes, often times that requires the check book to come out.  But, what it does show, to both the Yankee players and their fans, is that the team is willing to do what it takes to win.

When the Yankees come to town, boos can be heard throughout the Twin Cities.  Those boos are for Alex Rodriguez.  Those boos are for Derek Jeter.  Those boos are for Nick Swisher.  Those boos are even for Mariano Rivera.  Sadly, those boos are incredibly misplaced.  OK, maybe the boos for A-Rod are placed pretty well.

When a team continues to allow its star player to average an extra-base hit in every 17.9 at-bats, that should be booed.  When a team allows its rookie shortstop to struggle immensely at the plate and in the field without even an attempt to find a better solution, that deserves to be booed.  When a team's "power-hitting" first baseman sits out a game because he fouled a pitch off his foot the night before, while his counterpart in the other dugout who fouled three pitches off his feet in one at-bat in that very same game plays, that should be booed.  When a team continues to accept mediocre-at-best performances from its starting rotation, as well as pathetic displays from its bullpen during important close games, that needs to be booed.

Just because a team comes into town with the willingness and desire to actually succeed, regardless of the financial cost, they shouldn't be booed.  They're doing only what we would want our own team to do, and that's be as competitive as possible.  If people think that booing the opposition for wanting to be the best is something that helps their own team, they're mistaken.  It really only shows how little respect those people have for the game.  If you're booing that, then you're accepting the very mediocrity that your own team continues to march onto the field, which only means that you can expect to continue seeing that level of mediocrity in the future.

But hey...you've won six division titles in the last 10 years, so, it's not that big a deal, right?

Closing The Door On Closers

Another day, another blown save.  That's been the story for the 2011 Minnesota Twins.  Between Joe Nathan early in the season, and Matt Capps shortly thereafter, the Twins have been having a very difficult time showing confidence in their closers.  With Saturday night's blown save and subsequent loss against the Milwaukee Brewers, the Twins ran their total to 17 of 30 in save opportunities this season.  Something to think about, especially for a team sitting nine games under .500 for the season.  Imagine what those additional 13 games could mean in the standings, considering the Twins are only 8 games back of the Cleveland Indians for first place in the American League Central.

So, exactly how important is it to have a reliable closer in baseball?  It's something we've heard about for many years, that having that "terminator" type hurler at the back of the bullpen is a must for any team considering a run at the World Series Championship.  Would you believe that in 2009, the Phillies advanced to the World Series after having blown a total of 22 saves during the year?  Strangely enough, the 2010 Texas Rangers blew 20 saves and still made it to the World Series, only to go down to the San Francisco Giants.  Are saves really the end-all-be-all when it comes to making it into the playoffs?  For that matter, are closers even really that important?

With the roller coaster ride that's been the Twins' season thus far, it's obvious that it hasn't been just the bullpen that has cost them many games.  It's also fair to say that they are where they are in large part to the bullpen's ineffectiveness throughout the first half.  Nathan and Capps have both been the reason for many nervous stomachs in Twins Territory, but the middle relief has been equally to blame.  In fact, during the Twins 8-game win streak earlier in June, it almost seemed clear to everyone that Ron Gardernhire and Rick Anderson had such little faith in their bullpen that the phrase "pitch count" seemed to escape both of their vocabularies.  We saw pitch counts in the 110-120 range for almost all of the starters at one point during that stretch.  Kudos to the starters for putting the team on their backs and throwing some of the best baseball they have in a long time.  But at some point, the bullpen needs to hold its own.

Given Capps recent tendency to give up the lead late, it seemed as though Gardy was sending a message on Sunday afternoon, handing the ball to Glen Perkins to close the game out.  His reasoning was almost as nonsensical as the defense's closing arguments in the Casey Anthony murder trial.  His explanation for allowing the left-handed Perkins to face Prince Fielder of the Brewers was more about the "match-up" than it was about a lack of confidence in Capps.  Really?  Since when do you play the match-up card when dealing with closers?  I'm sure we'll hear the same logic from Joe Girardi of the Yankees when he decides to lift Mariano Rivera for the left-handed Boone Logan to face two lefties in the top of the ninth.

The save is the most over-rated statistic in all of sports.  The object in baseball, as in any sport, is to win the game.  What I've never been able to figure out is why the idea of match-ups are forgotten when it comes to closers.  As fans, we can sit and watch managers come in and out of the dugout three or four times in the seventh or eighth inning, going from lefty to righty to lefty again based on which side of the batter's box the next hitter steps in to, yet, in the ninth inning, we will see that same manager bring a right-handed closer into the lineup to face the middle of a team's lineup comprised of all left-handed hitters.  Really?  So...the match-ups don't matter now?  How does that work?

What the Twins need to do is just win games.  If that means playing the match-up game in the ninth inning instead of giving the ball to either Capps or Nathan, then that's what Gardy needs to do.  The closer-by-committee option isn't a bad one, it's just not the norm.