Rainy Day Dispatches

First and foremost, a warning: Don't plan your evening around watching the Twins-White Sox finale tonight.

U.S. Cellular Field typically gets more rain than we do just a few blocks south of the stadium, and they'll need a canoe to get from home to first if the rain keeps up like this.

And now, a few more notes from last nights game. 

First, the most encouraging thing from a win like that for the Twins was that they didn't need the Sox pitchers to be as wild as they were. Sometimes in routes like last nights, a few good pitches would have changed the outcome, but I don't think last night was a game like that.

They only hit one home run, that coming with two outs in the inning.

The rest of the runs were scored by showing discipline at the plate and going with the pitches. Delmon Young not only drew a walk, but also pulled the ball for his first hit, another very good sign. 

Next, the top of the order looked very good last night.

Even though Carlos Gomez got picked off first, he was there after drawing an opening walk. He hit the ball hard, getting a double and having another XBH stolen on a nice play by Nick Swisher.

Brendan Harris looked rough defensively, but that was the trade off going in. He'll hit, but may not field well. If last night is any indication of what Harris can do, the Twins will make that trade off 99 times out of 100.

Joe Mauer looked more comfortable at the dish than he did most of last year. He seemed to be fine simply trying to put the ball in play, rather than swinging for power.

The Twins will be a lot better off if they let Mauer hit his 7-10 home runs and hit for a .320-.350 average instead of trying for more power and hitting .270-.290 with 15-20 home runs.

Lastly, my gripes with the state of White Sox fans are well aired, so I won't do it again here, but I was pretty disappointed with the crowd last night.

I understand that there are awesome Sox fans out there, I've met a handful of die-hards who love their team through thick and thin, are incredibly knowledgeable about their team, and just generally love the game of baseball, but sadly they are getting overwhelmed with a much less desirable sort.

The number of people cheering as Mike Lamb lay at home plate clutching his ankle was appalling. I don't mean to sound like a grumpy old man here, but seriously, that's pretty low.

I see two good reasons why one should never cheer an opponent's injury.

One, it degrades the humanity of both the jeerer and the one being jeered. The one being booed is reduced to nothing more than "the opposing team's player," which is unfair. The one booing is degraded because he or she cannot see past the injured players jersey, and that shows a serious weakness of character.

Maybe I'm overreacting, but I doubt it. If someone near you is doing this, call them out. Please.

The second reason is a bit more pragmatic, because in this era of free agency, that player could be suiting up for your team next year, and no one would cheer their own team's injuries. 

The last note is a little praise for Ron Gardenhire.

He managed the pen very well last night, by using Brian Bass for four innings regardless of Bass' outing. He knew the game was locked away and wasn't going to use anyone else.

Then today, when ex-Twin Matt Garza told the press that his nerve injury, which just landed him on the 15-day DL, reached back to the end of last season, Gardy was having none of it.

He told MLB.com that Garza wasn't hurt when he was a Twin and if he was, he never told anyone. Great job by the manager to nip this non-story in the bud.