Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Pull the plug already

The Twins, by any measure, just completed a good road trip, winning three of four in Boston and two of three in Cleveland.

And I can't get past the utter incompetence displayed in the three Cleveland games by Tsuyoshi Nishioka.

By now you probably know how Nishi sabotaged the Twins on Wednesday afternoon -- a second inning error that let to two unearned runs, a sixth inning popup that he turned into a double, a high throw home that let a run score later in the inning. And he took another 0-fer making him 0-for-12 with a walk and a sac fly.

But hey, he hit a line drive, and he managed to turn a double play pivot without breaking his leg.

I have no wish to turn this blog into a Nishioka watch. I'd rather think, and write, about other issues and questions about the Twins. But the decision to bring him up and jam him into the lineup has moved the focus from everything else. He does not belong in the major leagues, and it has become painfully obvious.

This isn't on him anymore. It's on the Twins.

A few days ago, Thomas Boswell, the veteran baseball writer for the Washington Post, recounted an exchange he had years back with Earl Weaver, the Hall-of-Fame manager of the Orioles. Boswell wanted to know how long Weaver was going to stick with a struggling relief pitcher. Weaver's response: Until the general manager gets tired of watching him lose games.

It's your move, Terry Ryan. Make it.

3 comments:

  1. You are right. Time to pull the plug on another blogger who has fallen in love with his own whining.

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    Replies
    1. Anon, you don't have to hang around this corner of the Internet if you don't like it.

      If you're the same Anonymous who flaunts his ignorance of basic sabermetric principles and thinks Nick Blackburn, Derek Lowe and Brad Penny are effective pitchers, I'd really rather you went away.

      Delete
  2. That's kind of harsh, anonymous. I enjoy this column. And it's completely legitimate to call for an end to the Nishioka era. It's become an embarrassment to all parties involved.

    ReplyDelete