Fri, May 16 2008
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Ouch.
Friday night’s crash at home plate — which sent Justin Morneau to the hospital coughing up blood — was a painful reminder that not all such collisions work out in the Twins’ favor.
It only seems that way. In fact, two such plays stand out as signature moments in the Ron Gardenhire era.
Sept. 3, 2003: The Twins try to narrow the gap on the White Sox in the divisional race. In a daytime getaway game at the Dome, Minnesota trails Anaheim, the defending World Series champs, 5-4 going into the bottom of the ninth.
The Angels bring in Troy Percival, whom the Twins not only had never beaten, they had not so much as touched him for an earned run. Percival blows through the first two hitters. Morneau, pinch hitting for Cristian Guzman, draws a walk; Dustin Mohr pinch runs. Shannon Stewart lashes a ball down the right-field line, and Mohr is waved home.
The throw beats Mohr to the plate, but catcher Bengie Molina has to reach out for the throw. The collision with Mohr breaks Molina’s wrist. Not only does Mohr score, so does Stewart, and the Twins win 6-5. (Both runs are unearned; the error is charged to Molina.) The Twins go on to win their divisional title.
July 26, 2004: Torii Hunter blasts through Chicago White Sox catcher Jamie Burke in a play still seen by many in Soxdom as a cheap shot. Burke’s career is essentially finished; so is the fight in the White Sox. The Twins go on to win the division title by nine games.
This play proves a catalyst in the long run for Chicago. Declaring that they want a team more in the mold of the Twins, the White Sox during the coming offseason trade away Carlos Lee and let Magglio Ordonez depart. They bring in, among others, A.J. Pierzynski and Scott Podsednik. Less power, more grit.
The Sox go on to win the 2005 World Series — and then trade some of that grit (Aaron Rowland) for slow power (Jim Thome).
Signature moments. Plays that resonated beyond the runs that resulted.
Twins fans can only hope there is no such resonance and symbolism to the Morneau play.
O, Andy
Once upon a time it was called “The Oriole Way.” For roughly two decades, the Baltimore Orioles did more with less than anybody in baseball.
They scouted, they drafted, they developed players. They found talents in castoff players other teams had missed. They ate, slept and breathed defensive fundamentals in the field and lived by the pitching mantra of work fast, throw strikes, change speeds. And over the years The Oriole Way spread around baseball as coaches moved on to become managers elsewhere and front office execs move on to other organizations.
One of those influenced by the Orioles was Andy MacPhail —a third-generation baseball man whose father, Lee, ran the Orioles before moving on to eventually become GM of the Yankees and president of the American League.
The younger MacPhail grew up to be the general manager of Minnesota’s two World Series champs. His influence is still felt strongly in the organization well over a decade after his departure; MacPhail, for example, was the man who brought Terry Ryan and Gardenhire into the organization.
And now “Young Andrew,” no longer so young, is the new president of the Orioles, with, it is said, full authority to run the operation. Peter Angelos has built quite a reputation for micromanaging the O’s, and it remains to be seen to what extent he can stand to be sidelined, but it is obvious even to him that something had to change.
When MacPhail resigned last fall as president of the Chicago Cubs, I detailed my theory that he was done in by his inability to find somebody who could do for him what he had done for Carl Pohlad. Jim Hendry, the third GM of MacPhail’s tenure (following Ed Lynch and MacPhail himself as an interim GM) had much of Ryan’s resume but has lacked Ryan’s judgment.
It does not appear that MacPhail is interested in the hands-on, long-houred duties of a general manager. And if he is indeed the most likely successor to Bud Selig as commissioner, he doesn’t figure to spend many years in the Orioles job.
Success in Baltimore for MacPhail shouldn’t be measured in terms of wins and losses. It will mean identifying the people in and outside the organization who can rebuild The Oriole Way — and insulating them from the owner long enough to get the job done.
Edward Thoma is a Free Press staff writer. He is at 344-6377 or at ethoma@ mankatofreepress.com. He also has a baseball blog at www.mankatofreepress.com.
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