In his next two plate appearances, Gomez came up with runners on base and took some tenacious swings that left Gardenhire chuckling. "I really think he swung so hard that the bat broke before the ball got there," Gardenhire said. "... He's a little bit of a free spirit."
Gardenhire met with Gomez on Saturday and encouraged him to keep being aggressive. "He took it to heart," Gardenhire said. "He looks at me and says, 'Boy, I like this guy.'
I would like to think this is just an innocent quote about how much Gardy likes the way the young guy swings, but the exact same story appeared in both papers. And the next line of the story is...
"He was hacking; nothing wrong with that. I like the way he plays. He's pretty fast, and he can be pretty exciting."
NOTHING WRONG WITH HACKING! THAT'S WHY IT IS CALLED BY SUCH A DEROGATORY TERM! My god! Is anyone else hearing this? I am less amazed by the fact that Gardenhire thinks the way he does than by the fact that he says these things out loud, to people whose job is (supposedly) to think critically about sports. This was a historic offseason for the Minnesota Twins. They acquired a raw talent who has the potential to be one of the best in the game (Delmon Young) who also swung at more pitches than any other player in major league baseball in 2007. They acquired a center fielder with a ceiling perhaps as high as any, with big shoes to fill (Tori's) and big expectations give who he was dealt for (Johan Santana), who is currently causing injury worries among the coaching staff because of the ferocity with which he attacks every pitch. What does Gardy have to say?
"All the on-base percentage [stats] and all those things -- he's dangerous when he lets that thing fly and gets fastballs."
That's not even a sentence. But it is an incredibly stupid thing to say. Good night.
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