I was wondering about that too. I don't think I'd mind Punto over Kubel here and upgrading defense somewhere else or just using Harris at DH.

Cuddyer looked awesome last year I thought but I know what you're talking about.

Also, since I've turned it on (about the time of my last post) Liriano has looked filthy. His slider looks basically unhittable.

Twins have the bases loaded with just 1 out....and come away with nothing

what is gardenhire doing? why take neshek out?

HUGE out....chopper back to the mound

this game has been kind of tilting, but on the bright side, delmon has looked really good this year. especially in the field - he looks like a totally new player - hopefully it's for real.

even that strikeout with the bases loaded, i thought his approach and swings looked pretty good. that pitcher basically just pitched the perfect at-bat.

Pretty weird move to leave Harris in to hit if you're just going to pinch run for him anyways. Seemed like an ideal spot for Thome or Mauer.

lol anyone hear the Sox fans heckling Hudson while he's at bat?

"Hudson! Hudson! Hudson! You were a little late! Start swinging now!"

Tigers gonna run away with **** this year.

if you somehow ended up in the 12th inning with the game tied and bases loaded for alexi casilla, would you PH mauer and deal with the defense after? (i sure would)

what would you do? mauer RF, cuddyer 3B? mauer 3B? mauer C, butera 3B? mauer 2B hudson 3B? abandon the DH and put kubel in RF, cuddyer at 3b, and a new pitcher into mauer's lineup spot?

i'd ask mauer what he wanted to do and do that, but i think mauer RF cuddyer 3B makes the most sense if all you care about is winning this game

edit#2: bunting span there is so bad. i mean if it was punto or butera fine. or even delmon or harris or hudson, i can live with it. but a .400 opb guy?

I have a feeling your manager wouldn't wanna do that. He'd be too scared Mauer would get injured or something lol.

Also why the **** is Mauer sitting in the first week of the season and not even DHing? Seems a little weird.

Mauer is in now...pinch running

That Cuddyer hit looked a lot like a HR to me in slow motion. I think it went right over the foul pole which is fair iirc.

lol dude it CLEARLY crossed infront of the foul pole...like it really wasn't that close.

obligatory lol SOXXX

i agree with greear that it appeared clearly foul.

cuddyer is such a puss in the OF. span is not.

hudson has looked not great at 2b to me so far, especially covering the bag. hopefully just variance or me seeing something that isn't there.

4-1 weeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!1!!

Also Mauer gets a day off about once a week.

I heard this and thought it was really funny.

"You can't catch up to the fastball, you'd better start swinging now!"

Yeah my homerism probably blinded me, along with my bad vision.

lol yeah, good stuff

After watching Kubel flail away tonight, I think you were right willie.

Having Butera in the lineup is like batting the pitcher, only worse.

GOD I LOVE THIS TEAM

That was my exact thought after his sac bunt. "Wow since when did pitchers bat in the AL??"

Hudson just looks like he is not all there right now. I am tired of seeing him slip while he swings and makes contact too. I have counted 4 times now in 5 games.

Me, too. So much confidence. I'm loving Hardy, both at the plate having a SS with power and in the field where he has looked great. Hell of an arm. Our team has yet to make an error yet, and looks great. Our pen looks solid, even without Nathan (if we had Nathan...hell, I'd say we would be a top 5 team in MLB). And I'm really excited by our starting staff. I think Slowey is going to be great this year. Pavano is an ex-stud with a lot to prove. Hopefull Nick remains consistent. Questions for me are Liriano and Baker...if one of those two is good, and one is great, then 1-5 we have a great chance every game.

Hudson has earned his nickname thus far. O-dog. What a dog! Everything he does seems suspect at the moment...his fielding and base running are questionable, and he hasn't hit at all. I hope he comes around. If he does (which I expect he will) our lineup is filthy. Even Punto batting ninth can get onbase at .375 or something with his speed that's great from our least productive player in the lineup.

Finally, Delmon. I have no feelings towards him. I mean, I don't care personally if he does well or fails (and we put someone else in for him). But right now he looks good at the plate. Someone said something about his bases loaded strike out against Pena and I agree...Pena was nasty and Delmon had good cuts at good pitches (fouled a high fastball straight back...so close to sending it 500 feet). He hasn't had any of his typical ****ty at bats (swinging at trash, no patient, weak groundballs to the second baseman). Dude's young...I think he can actually put up good numbers, especially in this line up. Here's to hoping.

Wow that was long. I have an assignment due in a few hours that I didn't do last night and woke up early to do this morning and look at me rant about the Twins. I will say I'm happy to be back in the central time zone...game ending at midnight are tough for some people!

lol A+ homerism manupod. punto .375.

I heard Dick and Bert saying that Butera is on the 40-man roster and Ramos isn't. Not really sure how the confusing transactions work in MLB, but if we moved Ramos to 40-man and took Butera off, wouldn't he have to clear waivers?

Edit: I guess he is on the 40-man, but your assessment is correct according to this article:
http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/news/...=.jsp&c_id=min

I'm legitimately not sure if Butera is even capable of getting a hit against MLB pitching. He looked like me in little league up there, especially how it looked like he was just trying to get a walk each time since he knew he had no shot.