Give it away, give it away, give it away now

The Minnesota Twins are now 2-9 on the year when they have a chance to sweep and 0-5 on their last five getaway days.

Gardy's about to get fried for his Giveaway Day lineups, and I'm tired of defending him.


Now, my good friends say I'll be fine with the lineups come mid-September, and there is truth to that.


But Gardy has been giving away games all season. Honest. People thought I was crazy when I brought it up a month into the season, but it has been there all along.


With Hudson and Hardy still out, he sat Mauer today, DH'ed Kubel and had a 7-8-9 of Punto, Valencia and Son of Sal Butera -- along with Matt Tolbert in the two hole -- to face the best pitcher in the game. Mauer on the bench, Thome on the bench, and Delmon Young -- the hottest hitter in the league -- in the six spot rather than the two spot, costing him at least one AB.

On Sunday it was even worse, as Span got the day off (much deserved, but, again, with Hudson out?) Mauer DH'ed and Gardy had an 8-9-1-2 of Tolbert-Valencia-Punto-Plouffe. (That's right, he hit Punto leadoff. In a big league game. As god is my witness. With the series on the line against the Braves.)

He can't keep doing that shit. If Joe's going to get time off -- and he needs to -- then they need to bring Ramos back up from AAA, so they have a competent stick when Mauer's out. In fairness, I think this is what Gardy would like to do, too. Span's been scuffling, but he needs to be in the lineup with Hudson isn't.

It's almost like he's trying to hold this team back, some days, and it frustrates me. They could -- and arguably should -- have put this division away by now.