That Miami Sound: Going, Going, Gone?

That one felt…I don’t know, it felt bad, I guess, like a game in late September with hope sliding away with every pitch and a cold autumn rain beating the leaves from the trees along the boulevards (cue Barber’s “Adagio for Strings”).

Maybe that’s just because it was a Friday night, and Friday nights don’t mean much when you get to be a sour old bastard who doesn’t go anywhere and depends on baseball to get him through the otherwise blank stretch of another weekend.

Those games in the eastern time zone are also a sort of panicky proposition; you know that once the game is over there is still going to be a whole lot of hobbled Friday night clock to kill.

It was a grim game all around, I suppose, or at least feels that way after the fact. The Twins actually managed to score first –an increasing rarity– but then in characteristic fashion proceeded to scuffle their way through six scoreless innings as Boof Bonser let the Marlins chip away and build a 4-1 lead. As has so often been the case with Minnesota’s starters, Bonser pitched well enough to win but also just poorly enough to lose. Most nights of late that usually means the latter proposition, and Boof was yanked after six innings despite having thrown only 66 pitches –fucking National League rules.

I’m not quite sure why Juan Rincon was in the game in the first place, but I really have no idea why he was sent out to the mound for a second inning after the Twins managed to tie the score in the eighth. From what I understand Ron Gardenhire admitted he fucked up in his post-game remarks. That’s big of him, and I understand a manager might be a tad bit preoccupied when his MVP first baseman is coughing up blood in the dugout.

Still. Juan Rincon? After his last couple outings? When the entire bullpen was rested and ready to go? Big mistake. Costly mistake.

I have no idea how severe the Morneau situation is (a bruised lung, I just heard), but when a guy is wheeled away on a stretcher with an oxygen mask over his face that can never be much of a good thing for a team’s morale or prospects. Particularly on the night Kenny Rogers returned to the Detroit rotation and pitched like he’d never missed a start, pushing the Twins six-and-a-half back in the Central.

Finally, should the Twins trade Torii Hunter? All of sudden that’s all anyone wants to talk about, and the whole thing just depresses me at this point, so I’ll just say, sure, why not? Trade the man. Let’s get it over with. I’m tired of hearing about it.