Time to warm up the fire Gardy thread again

[IFallsRon]

It's no wonder the punk players on the Twins yap about the fans. They get it from the manager. Heard a caller on Sunday a.m. rip Gardy a new one. Rather than take full responsibility for the team's lackluster play over the past two weeks, the skipper took the Denny Green high road and told the fans to take a hike.

The Twins shouldn't have had to limp into NY for the first round when their best bet would have been to have the first two games in the Dome. The Yanks may stumble against Santana and Radke at home but they'll light up the gas cans who start in the dome.

[Swamprat72]

Fire Gardy? What other manager for the Twins has gotten 3 consecutive division titles? No, they didn't get home field, but they did rest the players who were/are playing with some injuries and they now have their pitching set up the way they want it. If there is a manager that needs to be fired, look at the most overrated manager in baseball, Dusty Baker. The talent that was on this team should never have choked away the wild card. Thanks to a lack of discipline that starts with Dusty they did just that, and on the way to doing it may have injured Prior more.

[friendlyfisher]

Fire Gardy???????? Your crazy.

[Mudcutter]

Punky players on the Twins???? Come on. Swampy got it right on the team that has "punky" players and a manager that can
't manage. The Cubs.
Anyway--- the Twins have beaten the Yankees in Yankee stadium. Game 1 last year. I agree, it would have been nice to start at home agst the Red Sox, but I think I would rather face Mussina and Lieber on the road rather SCHILLING and Pedro at home. But I think instead of winning 1 in New York and being content, the Twins need to win 2 and play the remaining games like your down 2-0.
Fire Gardy---- come on, we don't need negativity like that right now. Save that for towns that having nothing better to do.
GO TWINS

[The Grebe]

Boys,boys, relax, the Twins did'nt come this far on luck and poor management? Nor was this team created by luck and poor management....they'll be there when the time comes...at home, or away, they'll toe the mark when the chips are down! GO TWINS!!!!

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Predictions from the south side of Chicago, in the baddest part of town (as Jim Croce sang).

Yankees over Twinkies 3 games (maybe 4)
Angels over Red Sox 5 games
Dodgers over Cards 5 games (my upset special)
Astros over Braves 4 games (on a roll)

YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD....YES!

[Stratosman]

I agree it is a big dissapointment that we did not get home field advantage since we havn't beaten the Yanks at Yankee stadium in like 2 years and they are 22-3 agianst us. But it is nice to have rested your key players going into the playoffs, you can look at it two ways, possibly have home field advantage and have some players not 100%, or know going in that every one is good to go. And against New York you want all your keys guys 100% in order to have a snowball's chance in hell to beat them. I hate the Yankees so much it is gonna be an awesome ALDS.

[Mudcutter]

Predictions from the south side of chicago?? Do these predictions include anything about the pale sox?? Didn't think so. If your predictions are anything like your previous predictions that I have so come to adore; thanks for blessing the teams you pick to come up short, even thou I agree with half of them.

[pikehunter]

Not so sure how you qualify Dodgers over Cards as an "upset special."
At best, it might be a MILD upset. Let's remember that the Cards will be without their ace and the rest of the rotation has looked like a JV squad since the All-Star break. Their going to hit the heck outta the ball to win that series.
Go Twins!!!

[Stratosman]

If Santana wins both his starts the Twins will beat the Yankees, the Yanks have the worst starting pitching than any other team Torre has managed, so, if Santana can shut them down and our key players step it up behind the plate we will win, Koskie has been a Yankee killer along with Stewart, both are hitting well over .500 against the Yankees, but on the flip side, Matsui and Sheffield kill the Twins every time we play them, so it's up to our pitching to take care of them, and the starters are going to have to go deep because out bullpen is young and lacks experience in the playoffs, but we have a good mix of righties and lefties to use. Fultz and Romero scare me though.

[bigbucks]

Santana tonight is the key, we need at least 7 & preferably 9 from him with 0-1 runs. Tall order, but he's the man for the job. Hopefully Radke can give us 6+ strong innings tomorrow, & we seriously have a very good chance to come home up 2-0. I do expect that it will be at least 1-1. I don't believe that we'll lose 2 there, but tonight is the key.

As far as firing Gardy, do you realize you can go to jail for smoking that cheap hooch?

[Guest]

Geeze Ron,
What is it with you man?
You rip on Gardy, you rip on Daunte, you rip on Moss, you even rip on KG, Geeze, you'd think you were Packers fan!!...LOL

Other than the way he favors the vets on the team, Gardy is one of the best managers in the game. Look what he did with all the injuries this season? The guy knows how to get the most out of his players, a skill not many managers have.

Twins in 4 over the Yankees.

And Windy City.....YOU can put THAT on your stinkin board!!!

[The Grebe]

Twins one...Yanks zip! Hee, hee, hee!

It's 3 to 1 in the second right now, so I guess we will see...the boys sure the hey ain't ascart of em!

They got that out of the way in the last meeting...they lost that series, but did some major recon on the Yanks! GO TWINS!!!

[muskiejoe]

I gotta vent boys... No Gardy should not be fired but he did blow that game last night and probably the series. He had two terrible decisions. Brad Radtke should not have started the 7th inning. You have the best bullpen in baseball use it. Why would you send Homer Radtke in to face that top of the line up again? The worst decision was to not pinch hit for Jason Fricken Kubel when they had guys on second and third with only one out. There was no way this guy was going to touch the ball in Yankee stadium agaist the best closer in baseball. He should have had Ford or anyone who could actually make contact. All they needed was a fly ball to take the lead.......

[IFallsRon]

muskiejoe, second and third and one out. The infield was playing behind the bags on the corners. How about a squeeze bunt for the go-ahead run rather than someone swinging like a rusty gate.

[muskiejoe]

Anything but Kubel. That was embarassing....... And it lost the series. Believe it or not I think the Yanks are more vulnerable at home.

[Farley]

Lost the series???? Last I heard it was 1-1 with the Twinkies comming back home. That's pretty good against a monopoly, i mean franchise, like the Yankees.

[Mudcutter]

Big game. Big loss. Heartbreaking. But lost the series??? Come on. I don't buy it one minute with this team. 2 games at the dome. A legitmate chance to win the next two going up agst Brown and El-Duque, both of whom are not in Clemens or Wells class of last year.The Yanks won 44 games on the road. 57 at home. The Twins are not going to be in a frame of mind to lose the series at home this year.

[pikehunter]

WOW, things are even more bitter in here this morning than I thought.
I'm as heart-broken by last night's result as anyone, but the series is over!!??
Coming out of NY 1-1 is pretty good, all things considered.
I will say that I would have pulled Kubel in that situation as well, and probably would have squeezed. (I wouldn't even trust him to bunt after what I saw last night.)
As far as the Radke decision, he's our veteran. You have to put your eggs in his basket on occasion, or you won't get anywhere in the postseason. The alternatives just weren't promising. And, for the record, we don't have the best bullpen in baseball. Not even close.
Of course, if these changes had been made and didn't work out, we'd all be here arguing the opposite point this morning. Screaming that Radke should have pitched the seventh and moaning that they shouldn't have attempted a squueze.
That said, I think if there's anything to complain about regarding decision-making, it's this: Why is Shannon Stewart playing left field in the bottom of the 12th while Lew Ford is on the bench? Lew is a better left fielder when both are healthy and Stewart is NOT. I understand that Stew needs to play in the field to feel part of the game and theres a chemistry with Hunter and Jones that goes along with it. However, in the bottom of the 12th, why not use Ford as a defensive substitute? I'm 95 percent sure he would have tracked down the fly ball hit by A-Rod, which turned into the game tying double.
Oh well. That's what makes baseball the Greatest Game. And this one truly was one of the best games I've ever seen.
We'll get em Friday.
Go Twins!!!!

[Willy]

Gardy needed to pull Nathan after he walked Cairo. He didn't really have anyone else that he could trust though. He should have put Lew Ford in after Kubel was largely uneffective.

I thought it was a heck of a game though. To come back against Rivera, he's only had like 2 blown saves in the playoffs in his career.
Sure would have been nice to win this one though.

[Stratosman]

Yeah that was neat to watch all the Yankees fans in dismay after we gave it Rivera, although he did help us out a bit. But that at bat by Koskie was awesome and if that didn't bounce over the wall who knows? I think we are in good shape for Friday, Rincon is doing awesome and if Silva has a good game, who knows. It should be fun.

[muskiejoe]

Pikehunter, thanks for your comments. I disagree about Radtke and the bullpen though. Our bullpen didn't even give up a hit for 4+ innings. There is a big difference between being down 4-3 and 5-3. That was the 4th time through the batting order when he faced jeter, a -rod etc. Balfour should have started the inning. By the way, I never knew Jacque Jones had such a cannon of an arm.....

[pikehunter]

Muskie,
You've got a point. Gardy is definitely suspect for the Radke decision, I just think you have to let him start the inning to see what he can do with it. He probably should have been pulled earlier, though.
As far as Jones, I've heard a lot of people ripping him today, and I think it was just the fact that it was a line shot right at him. He simply didn't have any time to set himself up for a throw.

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

What,
No "Hee Hee's" from The Grebe?
YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD....YES!

[The Grebe]

They had that game, the Twins could have won it even with the poor coaching decisions, Radke, Kubel, Borders, if they would have gotten a couple of breaks, the ground rule double, JJ's sore arm throw, ahh, forget it....let's get ready for Friday, yesterdays game is water under the bridge! GO TWINS!!!

[The Grebe]

Nah, no hee, hee's today, I'll take the lumps right along with the Twins..yesterday was the day the twins fans had to suffer the blackeye! But, look for a couple tommarrow!

[muskiejoe]

Hey Farley and Mudcutter ya still think I am wrong about it lost the series............ They had their chance and they blew it once again.

[Swamprat72]

Gardy just showed why he put Nathan out for a third inning Wednesday night. Romero gives up a 5 pitch walk and it was a good thing Cairo bunted or he may not have recorded an out. Crain comes in and promptly lets Jeter get a 2 run single and steal a base that was uncontested because of the jump that Jeter got off Crain. Hopefully, Santana can pitch them to the 5th game.

[The Grebe]

Windy City....you out there? Looks like the "Hee, Hee's" are on me tonight, just like they were last night!

It's the 8th inning and "Shesa no lookin to goot" for us! You just don't come back from a 7 run defecit, in the 8th inning, against the Yankees!

Hee, hee's the first game, boo, hoo's the last two!

Still have a game to go, maybe two, it ain't over until it's over.

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Hey Grebe,
Way to "cowboy up" and take your lumps. You know I am just blowing you a little feces like any good baseball fan would do. At least you guys still have a game left to play if that's all you get. I am sitting around watching the Frank Thomas and Magglio Ordonez medical reports. At least we get to beat up on the Cubbie fans a little but I think SamMe is doing that just fine himself, what a jerk! Should make for interesting reading this winter. Anyway, Yanks just tied up the game on Santana, got to go watch. As always, "YOU CAN PUT IT ON THE BOARD....YES!
Curt