The Daily Gopher Fix 9.18.08
by PJS on Sep 18, 2008 2:00 AM CDT
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PrintThis is a Minnesota Gophers blog. Always will be. But many of us here also are Minnesota sports fans generally. Many of us cheer for the Twins, Wild, Vikings and three of us cheer on the Wolves.
With that in mind, I want to send a quick message to our Minneapolis/St. Paul media. Right now, the most intriguing story is Tim Brewster and the Gophers. Ron Gardenhire's troops are in the midst of a great collapse. Meanwhile, the Brad Childress led Vikings are much more infuriating than anything Tim Brewster is putting on the field. The Vikings now have Gus Frerotte starting at quarterback. This, my friends, isn't going to sell papers. I'm sure the boys at Twinkie Town and the Daily Norseman can give you many more excruciating details.
What will? Coverage of the 3-0 Gophers! Instead of assigning Patrick Reusse the task of savaging all that is possibily savageable (is that a word?), perhaps the Star Tribune could take one of their two writers covering the dying Twins or one of their 5 hired hands covering the Vikings on any given Sunday and assign them to cover the best sporting story in town right now .. ... Tim Brewster's Gophers.
- Expectations are probably down some for Florida Atlantic as the enter the Metrodome this weekend, but Ted Roof and the Minnesota defense doesn't think we should underestimate the Owls. I agree. FAU has skill players on offense and quarterback Rusty Smith hasn't been sacked at all this season. Roof and company hope to change that.
- Getting to know DeLeon Eskridge courtesy of the Pioneer Press. Speaking of Eskridge, because his name is so very annoying to type, I really think we need a nickname for him. If Twins fans can turn Carlos Gomez into Go-Go, certainly we can find a way to promote DeLeon.
- Think BIg Ten non-conference schedules were relatively weak this year? Me too. ESPN's Rittenberg notes that Illinois has agreed to face Fresno State in the coming years, Minnesota will face California, Colorado and Washington State. Penn State is going to play Alabama and Virginia. And there's more. I think this is good for the conference.
- “Five yards, five yards, five yards, that’s what Minnesota is,” said defensive coordinator Kirk Hoza... ... That courtesy of everyone's favorite FAU beat writer Ted Hutton. I would hope Hoza has noted that the Gophers have been able to take advantage of big plays. A lot of dink and dunk, a lot of bubble screens and a safe mid-range passing game. The same article also states that FAU has been working on a 4-2-5 defensive alignment with five defensive backs.
- If you didn't know, Michigan doesn't play this weekend. Whew. Saves the conference from more embarrassment!!!!!!
- I wonder if in 1896, when the powers that be at New York Times decided to label its product "All the news that is fit to print," had blogs in mind? Anyway, Tim Brewster made an appearance on the NYT's The Quad blog in an item titled Redemption. Indeed, it has somsomething to do with FAU.
- A new reason to dislike Wisconsin! The Badger Herald had this to say . .. "The Big Ten boasts five 3-0 teams in the conference, tied for the national lead in that category. Though some may attribute that to weak scheduling, the Big Ten coaches are ignoring the criticism and trying to stay focused. Surprisingly, Minnesota is in that undefeated group and may go 4-0 when it faces Florida Atlantic this coming weekend."
- I agree that the Big Ten is down. But the Indy Star's Bob Kravitz is pretty blunt about it.
- If you want to keep up with Dan Monson's progress at Long Beach State, here's a quick study.
- Finally, keep the recommendations for naming the Fix coming in. I have a personal favorite. But some of you aren't here everyday. So, if you missed yesterday's request, please consider offering us a potential name or two that we can use to call this daily collection of awesome material. We'll narrow the offers down to five and poll for the winner and he/she who creates the winning name gets a prize. Fun!!
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disagreement and Fix
Not sure I agree. The Twins are tanking but still in a pennant race. The Vikings are THE team in town and a QB change is news that people care about. The Gophers are a great story and 3-0 is fun but they have yet to play a BCS team and this program is used to 4-0 non-conference then mediocrity in the B10 season. Make OSU a close game then beat Indiana and then we’ll talk.
For the Fix, I would like to see the use of Carl Spakler somehow, like Carl’s Diary or something.
what you say here can, and will, be used against you
The NFL has become unwatchable
I do realize I am in the minority here, but I predicted the Vikings to go 6-10 this year, so they are meeting my expectations. I also think that the NFL has become completely unwatchable. I don’t even care about football on Sundays anymore—it is Saturday that stokes my passion. The game is much more exciting, creative, and dramatic. I think I actually like the NBA better than the NFL these days.
As for the Twins, it is time to start blaming Gardenhire. I’m not saying fire him, but he continues putting guys in situations where they aren’t successful. There have been several games where he has used Guerrier, Guardado, or Crain in the 8th inning with terrible results—and continues to do so. Why not Reyes or Breslow? They can’t be any worse. I first started blaming Gardy when he had Jason Pridie, a September call-up, in RF in the 9th inning of a 1-run game in Toronto. What does he do? He boots a ground ball in the outfield that allowed the tying run to score with 2 outs in the 9th and we eventually lost. What is a September call up doing in a one run game in the 9th during a heated division race? Nathan struck out the next batter that would have ended the game with the tying run on 3rd. The Twins are officially done.
Hail Goldy!
Go-Go?
I thought Carlos Gomez’s nickname was Go-Oh For Four-mez.
by LittleBobbyHillis on Sep 18, 2008 12:43 PM CDT reply actions
This is an always will be a Vikings town – I think the majority of football fans prefer the pro game (myself included).
That said, I do agree that general apathy is setting in on the Twins – they are almost unwatchable right now. I’ve finally come around to the idea that Gardy’s time here needs to be done.
I Hope So
I hope they do fire Gardenhire. The Brewers need a good manager that’s good with a young team. I’d kill to have him as our manager.
Mark 8:36
lb ...
Would you like it if your manager set his lineup in order of position. For instance 1. OF 2. 2B. 3. C ….
So, anytime, for instance Joe Mauer gets a day off, our backup catcher hits third??? Is that not the most asinine thing you’ve ever heard?
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room.
Twins/Gardy
I do question some of Gardy’s late inning moves, but what is he supposed to do? He has nothing to work with in that bullpen. Not having a shutdown setup guy is what ultimately doomed this team and this season.
Bullpen
Breslow and Reyes have been good, but he insists on using Crain, Guardado and Guerrier in the 8th. Look at the latter three’s post all-star stats. They are TERRIBLE. Meanwhile, Breslow and Reyes have been good.
I don’t think Gardy needs to go, but he does need to shoulder most of the blame for the collapse. How many close games have we flushed down the toilet in the last three weeks; 6-7?
Gardy? really?
This team was supposed to finish 4th and was considered two years from competing. He has done a great job this year imo. Every manager in the league gets questioned for a move here and there in games. But managing a team in MLB is more then when to pinch hit and when to bring in the lefty. His late inning routine was predictable but it was also incredibly successful over the last several seasons.
I’m much more under the opinion that this season was great that they were competitive and fun to watch.
what you say here can, and will, be used against you
Yes, really
I’d be supportive of Gardy moving to a front office role beacuse I refuse to watch the Twins play during games when Mauer is out and Redmond is batting third. Most. Annoying. Move. Ever.
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room.
Agreed, but...
The difference is in seasons past, he had a bullpen that was reliable and he could afford to be predictable. When you don’t have that luxury, sometimes you need to roll with your starters for another inning or two. I agree they have exceeded my expectations and were fun to watch. I think Gardy is a good manager, I’m just disappointed he was given the tools he needed to make a stronger post season push.
Redmond at third
is the most annoying thing. But the guy gets results with less than most. For me, he and Tubby are the two untouchable coaches in our market. Wittman and Childress need to go long before we start up www.firegardy.com
what you say here can, and will, be used against you
As a White Sox fan..
Let me just say that the hating on Gardy is hilarious. If anything, you guys should be upset with the idiocy that is Bill Smith. He’s a clueless GM, and is absolutely terrible in comparison to the genius that is Terry Ryan.
If you have any doubt in your mind, I’ll just finish this post with a Bill Smith quote: “I’ll take the (10) wins. Who do you want, a guy who’s 10-15 with a 2.80 ERA or a guy who’s 16-8 with a 7.00 ERA? I’ll take the 16-8.”
don't forget
Livan! He gave us 10 wins AND a huge ERA.
what you say here can, and will, be used against you
by GopherNation on Sep 18, 2008 4:51 PM CDT up reply actions
Smith is not the problem
What was Smith supposed to do? Who were we supposed to sign? There wasn’t much out there. Trading one of our SPs for Beltre was DEFINITELY not the answer. That would have guaranteed a spot for Livan the rest of the year in our rotation.
We weren’t supposed to compete this year anyways. Next year is looking promising if our young pitching stays strong. We still need a few bats. I think Lamb was worth the flyer—it didn’t work out, so what.
The biggest problem is they have NO offense in the minors and haven’t since Morneau, Mauer, and Cuddyer came up. The cupboard is bare in AAA and AA. Hicks and Revere look good, but again they both lack power which is what we need and our minor league is barren of power.
Smith
Instead of trading for MOnroe and signing Lamb, Everett and Livan, why not use all that money on one guy who could actually contribute? I don’t remember who was on the market last winter, but there HAD to be something. Smith didn’t improve the Twins’ bullpen. He went and got Guardado when he could have nabbed Hawkins or others. I think we should give him some time, but the first year wasn’t one to remember.
Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room.
Smith
Well it’s easy to say they should have pooled that $8-10M for a single better player but keep in mind that 1 player in that range doesn’t sign for 1 year. The one thing these type of signings do is help you maintain long term flexibility (altough admittedly they haven’t panned out over the past 3 years).
Just in case there is any confusion
He was talking about Livan when he made that quote. Twins general manager Bill Smith, on Livan Hernandez, who improved to 10-6 with a 5.29 earned-run average with Saturday’s victory over Texas: “I’ll take the (10) wins. Who do you want, a guy who’s 10-15 with a 2.80 ERA or a guy who’s 16-8 with a 7.00 ERA? I’ll take the 16-8.”
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