It's easy — and accurate — to criticize Delmon Young for not scoring in the third inning Saturday when Jerrod Washburn threw a pitch to the backstop. There came a point in watching the play unfold when I thought, where is he? He apparently got a lousy jump — the Fox broadcast didn't delve into the issue at all — and, as seen above, got tagged out.
Which put fini to a very promising inning. Bases loaded, one out — and no runs.
But just as guilty in ruining that inning were Denard Span and Justin Morneau, and Span not so much. He struck out, but his real failure was in not successfully bunting — and that was negated by Joe Mauer's walk. Morneau waved at three pitches, all well out of the strike zone, a truly poor at-bat. Bad at-bats from a couple of guys who haven't had many of them.
But Young gets the blame because — well, because Young hasn't done a whole lot of anything right all season. Morneau had a bad at-bat, and that happens every so often. A lot less often with Morneau than with Young.
If Young had scored on that play, as he should have, the Twins don't necessarily win the game. But they'd have had a chance.
They'd have had a better chance had Span, Mauer and Morneau gotten some hits. They went 0-for-12.
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