The Rangers beat the crap out of the Twins last night. The final score was 20-6. The Rangers had 27 hits, and every starter aside from Chris Davis had at least two. Hell, every starter aside from Davis and Josh Hamilton had at least THREE.
But I’m not here to talk about the offense in this game. I’m here to talk about each team’s final pitcher of the game. With the score 20-5 in the bottom of the eighth inning, Ron Gardenhire brought in a position player to throw an inning. This isn’t really out of hand. It happens every so often, and it’s a fun little novelty. My issue is *which* position player Gardenhire chose to bring in. Gardenhire didn’t bring in anyone off his bench. He didn’t bring in a light hitting middle infielder with nothing to lose. No, he brought in his best hitter at the moment, and the Twins lone All-Star, Michael Cuddyer. This is unbelievably stupid. Why in the name of all that is holy would you let Cuddyer pitch? The Twins are hanging on by the skin of their teeth to their spot in the playoff race, and Gardenhire brings in his BEST HITTER to PITCH? Does he not remember what happened with Jose Canseco back in the day? It was a completely unnecessary risk, and Gardenhire should be ashamed of himself.
He may have been one upped in the top of the ninth inning by Rangers manager Ron Washington, though. With the Rangers up by more than two touchdowns, Washington didn’t go to one of his slop relievers to finish the game off. He didn’t let the struggling Arthur Rhodes get another inning of work. No….he went to his CLOSER, Neftali Feliz. There is nothing to save here. Your team has a FIFTEEN run lead. Why would you bring in Feliz? It doesn’t make any sense to me at all. I know what the answer is going to be. It’ll be the tried and true excuse of “he needs work”, since Feliz hadn’t pitched in a game since last Sunday. But why are you wasting him in a game that is so far out of reach that you couldn’t touch it with a hundred foot pole? It was another unnecessary risk from another manager.
Scary fact about that: Gardenhire won the AL Manager of the Year last season. Washington was the runner up. I don’t think we know what makes a good manager anymore.
Around the League…Seattle’s losing streak is up to 16…Jason Kipnis walked off…JA Happ’s terrible season continues
What to Watch: lots of good matchups tomorrow. Jeff Karstens vs Tommy Hanson, Ricky Nolasco vs Jordan Zimmermann, Jhoulys Chacin vs Clayton Kershaw, David Prics vs Brandon McCarthy, and Doug Fister vs CC Sabathia
