Larry Brown Sports

The umpiring crew for the Minnesota Twins-Chicago White Sox game on Tuesday night badly blew a pair of calls in Chicago’s 4-2 win at Target Field.

The first blown call occurred with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. Justin Morneau was on second when Oswaldo Arcia singled to right field. Morneau tried to score on the play, but Alex Rios’ throw clearly beat him. Morneau tried to do a hook slide to avoid catcher Tyler Flowers. Morneau slid around Flowers and tried to reach back to touch the plate, but Flowers tagged him while he was sliding by. Believing Morneau was out, Flowers pretty much gave up after that. However, home plate umpire Jordan Baker missed the tag and instead gave credit to Morneau for reaching over and touching the plate after he was tagged. That bad call literally gave Minnesota a run and made the score 2-1 White Sox.

It’s understandable how Baker missed the call from his angle, so that’s why it would have been great for him to review it.

The next blown call was much worse.

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For the past decade or so, the Yankees have owned the Twins in the postseason. Since the Yankees are always one of the best teams in the American League, that is nothing for Minnesota to be ashamed of. New York has owned a lot of teams, mostly because of how talented their roster is year in and year out. That may not be the only reason they have been able beat the Twins in four series since 2003, however. Former Minnesota center fielder Torii Hunter says the Twins have been intimidated by the Bronx Bombers, which may help explain the results.

“Some guys were nervous, all nervous,” Hunter said of his former teammates according to Eye on Baseball. “There were a lot of guys mentally down — like, ooh, we drew the Yankees.’ Just play the game. Once it gets in your head, you’re done.”

As evidence, Hunter told a story about a game during the 2004 ALDS when the Twins were trailing by a run with a runner on third and one out. Torii says one of Minnesota’s right-handed batters was asked to pinch hit against Mariano Rivera and refused.

“You need a righty hitter against Rivera with his cutter,” Hunter said, noting that Jason Kubel — a left-handed hitter — had to bat instead. “Kubel wasn’t afraid, but he’s a lefty hitter.”

Another former Twin, Michael Cuddyer, called Hunter’s comments “pretty accurate.” The Yankees are dangerous and Rivera has arguably the most devastating pitch in MLB history, but being legitimately afraid of the competition at that level is embarrassing. If I were a Twins fan, Hunter’s revelation would annoy me beyond belief.

UPDATE: Current Twins have denied Hunter’s assertion.

Photo credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-US PRESSWIRE

How much would you pay for a baseball that is signed by the legendary Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian? If you answered “more than $1,000,” you still have a shot to become the proud owner of this rare collector’s item. The Minnesota Twins are currently auctioning off a ball that was signed by the soon-to-be divorced couple, with proceeds benefiting the Minnesota Twins Community Club. The item description on the Twins’ auction website reads as follows:

Fans can now bid on an official Major League baseball autographed by both reality TV star Kim Kardashian and soon-to-be former husband and Minneapolis, Minnesota native Kris Humphries.

“We have as far as we know, a one-of-a-kind item – a baseball with both of their signatures which we believe is best used to raise incremental funds for the good works of the Community Fund,” said Kevin Smith, executive director of public affairs for the Twins.

The Minnesota-native Humphries threw out the first pitch at Target Field on July 1 and his fiancee was there to cheer him on. From there we had the scripted proposal, the marriage, the divorce, and Kim K. chasing after Tim Tebow. You all know the story.

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to buy a lottery ticket this afternoon. If I hit it big, I’m hopping right on that auction website and outbidding everyone for this thing. Once in a lifetime rareness doesn’t even begin to describe how excited I am. Bidding ends on Valentine’s Day. Time to go to work.

Fist pound to Big League Stew

The Brewers beat the Twins 4-3 Friday night thanks to a two-run double by Prince Fielder in the 7th inning. The double came with two outs and the Twins leading 3-2, so it ended up being the game-winning hit. Relief pitcher Jose Mijares didn’t get charged with the loss, but he’s the one who gave up the big hit and he blamed it on poor pitch calling by catcher Joe Mauer.

Mijares was upset that Mauer called for several fastballs in a row instead of a breaking ball. Mauer countered by saying Mijares missed his location on the pitch. Here’s a video of the at-bat to see what happened:

Mijares missed his location by the entire plate. Mauer called for an outside fastball — a reasonable pitch call with a full count — and Mijares threw it inside. Had he hit his spot and still allowed a two-run double, his complaint might have some credence. The problem is he didn’t execute his job. It’s also wrong that manager Ron Gardenhire backed Mijares saying he would have liked to see a breaking ball called as well.

We don’t know what would have happened if Mijares threw a breaking ball instead, but we do know two things. One, Mijares didn’t hit his spot, so he has no place to say Mauer made the wrong call. Two, if he wanted to throw a breaking ball instead of a fastball so badly why didn’t he shake off the sign or call Mauer out to talk about it? Seems like a much more reasonable solution to me. Instead, Mijares comes off looking like a whiner and Gardenhire is wrong for backing him.

If a team decides that they would rather not have couples kissing in their ballpark, that’s their prerogative.  Perhaps the owner of the team thinks the act of kissing or other romantic behavior is inappropriate in front of young children, which depending on the particular act could be a legitimate concern.  What is not acceptable, however, is holding gay and lesbian couples to a different standard.

On Tuesday, Hardball Talk passed along a story about two women, Taylor Campione and Kelsi Culpepper, who have filed a discrimination complaint against an unnamed Target Field security guard.  According to City Pages in the Twin Cities, Campione and Culpepper claim they exchanged a “brief kiss” when parting ways as Culpepper had to use the restroom. Campione was then approached by a security guard wearing a Twins hat.

“I saw you kissing that girl, you can’t do that,” Campione claims the staff member said.  When she protested and responded that she can kiss whomever she wants, the gentleman (loose term) told her that they “don’t play grab ass” at the stadium and instead “adhere to the 10 Commandements.”

Kevin Smith, a spokesman for the Twins, said the security guard has been reprimanded and called his behavior “unacceptable,” although he will keep his job as of now thanks to a previously blemish-free record.

In the era of Dance Cams and Kiss Cams, security guards obviously can’t be projecting their personal beliefs upon fans at the ballpark.  If players like Sean Avery and Steve Nash are making an effort to convince people that gay athletes on professional sports teams would be no big deal, it is important for staff members to cooperate and not convey a contradictory message. Sadly though, this goes hand-in-hand with the kind of comments David Tyree sadly made regarding gay marriage.

They say history and tradition in baseball is lost on the youth, but that’s clearly not the case in Minnesota. The Twins players decided to wear 1961 throwback jerseys for all games the rest of the season as a tribute to franchise Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, who has entered hospice care.

It was revealed Friday that Killebrew would enter hospice care after doctors determined his esophageal cancer was incurable. The 11-time All-Star and Hall of Famer was a consistent presence with the franchise after his retirement. He made annual trips to Florida to help instruct the team during Spring Training and would show up for games in Minnesota, forging friendships with the current players.

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The National League playoff picture has yet to become clear, with only the Cincinnati Reds and the Philadelphia Phillies looking comfortably ahead of their division rivals. As such, we’ll take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of the American League powerhouse teams where the playoff picture is more clear.

The truth is, predicting who will win the World Series, even when picking from eight teams, is a crap shoot at best. The five and seven game series can easily go either way and the better teams, as proven by the 162-game schedule, rarely have any significant advantages over such a short span.

A few points of particular interest, when looking at playoff contenders, are their strengths or weaknesses in the secret sauce categories. During the eight team, Wild Card-era of baseball, teams that have had the most success have three things in common: strikeout pitchers, good team defense and a good closer (all of these are adjusted for ballpark and competition and all that junk).

Each win in the playoffs is that much more valuable, so closers often get extended for two and even three innings while good defenses keep games close. Good offensive teams do not have a significant edge in the playoffs because they face more power pitching and rarely get to see number four or five starters.

So how do the American League teams stack up? Let’s find out:

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