New 3rd base coach....

[Dylan33]

The Twins need one. Was Scotty Ulger coaching 3rd last night? How many times have we seen it this year....Ulger sends a guy home with the game on the line, and the runner is gunned down and is out by 10-15 feet.

Last night Delmon (Del-Money) got the go ahead run home on a grounder to right field and proceeds to send Kubel home and the play wasn't even close. We are lucky that that one run didn't cost us the game.

I am usually not one to complain about the Twins- I usually defend them when you all are ripping 'em....but I can't ignore the poor base coaching at 3rd.

[Burbslayer]

Couldn't agree more, how embarassing

[PierBridge]

One of the tougher things to do is coach 3rd and know when to send a runner. Not the greatest decision last night but a lot of the time you are to send the runner with 2 outs. It's just aggressive baseball and Detroit made the play.

Now Al Newman use to do some crazy stuff but Ulger has been rock solid IMO!

[thatoneguy]

Coaching 3rd is not difficult. Not. A. Bit. You know your baserunners, you do the research and learn the arms & accuracy of the OF on the team you're playing, and you watch the ball. It's by far the easiest job in professional baseball. Will you make some decisions that result in a guy getting thrown out at the plate? Yeah, if you're being aggressive enough. But it should NEVER be a decision that results in a guy getting gunned by a country mile - especially if it's one of the slowest guys on your team.

Ulger has made a number of impossibly stoopid decisions this year, and most of them seem to indicate he's just not thinking about who is on base - which is inexcusable for a guy in his position.

Last night was not the first time (or the second, or third, or fourth etc) that he sent a guy who was thrown out by 30 feet. It's ridiculous.

[Scott K]

It was a very bad call last night, and it wasnt his first. I do agree, it is a tough job, but he is a professional, and should be doing a much better job at it.

[zepman]

He looked a little nervous/upset in the dug-out after the inning break last night...

He has made some really, really bad decisions this year.

[solbes]

Wow was he ever OUT! Seemed like he got tagged 1/3 the way up the line with plenty of time to spare. I agree on being a little extra agressive with 2 outs, but that one crossed the line.

[PierBridge]

It happens every night in MLB and no coaching 3rb base is not an easy job in the least bit. Frankly there is more [PoorWordUsage] and moaning about not sending runners home.

It all leads to the back seat driver, after the fact, shoulda woulda coulda, arm chair QB mentality that we have as fans.

[Dylan33]

I am not saying coaching 3rd is easy. But to have someone thrown out by THAT far is a terrible decision. No debating that. It was a TERRIBLE decision on his part. If Kubel was thrown out on a close play, where the right fielder had to make a great throw and cather had to make a play, that is one thing, but most people on the forum could have thrown Kubel out on that play!

[Dylan33]

It happens every night in MLB and no coaching 3rb base is not an easy job in the least bit. Frankly there is more [PoorWordUsage] and moaning about not sending runners home.

It all leads to the back seat driver, after the fact, shoulda woulda coulda, arm chair QB mentality that we have as fans.

did you watch the play? This isn't a backseat driver mentality. That WAS a TERRIBLE call on his part.

Sorry...i am done complaining now....on a side note---Indians 4, white sux 1 top of seven- GO TWINS!

[Hookmaster]

When the catcher caught the ball, Kubel was not even in the TV picture. I thought he had stopped and gone back to third.

[thatoneguy]

Pier, you are out of your mind. Plays like that don't happen every day in baseball. They don't happen every MONTH in baseball. You hardly ever see a runner thrown out by that far - unless it's a Twins plodder that Ulger foolishly waves home. It was an abysmal decision by a third base coach who makes far too many mistakes.

Criticizing the Twins doesn't mean you're less of a Twins fan, it just means you don't have blinders on. Get real.

[PierBridge]

It was a bad call on Ulgers part, about the 3rd time this year and it happens no more or no less than other teams in the league.

And yes good, diehard knowledgeable fans like yourself can be critical.

[thatoneguy]

I agree that other teams get guys thrown out at the plate. That's part of the game. I disagree completely - and I watch more baseball than is probably healthy for any sane person - that any team has as many people thrown out by huge margins in close games as the Twins do.

It's happened to Kubel alone three times this year. Thome twice. Young a couple times. It just can't be that way in a pennant race!

The hard part is that you want to be aggressive - just like you don't want to waste outs and kill rallies by being stupid like Ulger was last night, you don't want to leave runs on the board by being overly timid. But I don't think it's asking too much for a major league 3B coach to know his players and the opposing OF well enough to know when his guy has a legitimate chance to score.

[PierBridge]

It's not a little league game you get a split second to decide. I get the frustration for sure and if Gardy thinks its an issue he will remove Ulger in a heart beat just like he did mid-season with Al Newman who unlike Ulger actually cost us a few games.

[Coach1310]

Coaching 3rd is not an EASY job per se, BUT for a major league caliber coach it isn't EXTREMELY difficult like Pier wants to make it sound. In my honest opinion, Ulger is NOT a very good 3rd base coach. Last night he should have been 50 feet down the third base line and as soon as he saw Wells come up with the ball clean, put the stop sign on. It was poor mechanics and poor judgement on the one last night. It all comes down to fundamentals and last night the Twins did a BUNCH of fundamentals poorly, but still managed a win....

[hanronson]

I wonder how many people would have complained if we had lost? Wow, get over it, we won for crying out loud ! ! ! Now, about O-Dog, that's another story.

[Big Tom]

It was a bad call on Ulgers part, about the 3rd time this year and it happens no more or no less than other teams in the league.

3rd time??? How many games have you not watched this season? I can think of three since and including when your favorite player forarm shivered A.J. a couple weeks ago.

I'd need at least three hands to count the number this year that he got wrong sending and holding. Delmont has run past his stop sign a couple times and scored.

His bad decisions at third are nothing new to those who watch or attend the games. Been happening for years. He does have a pretty good record when Gardy gets tossed though.

[Cicada]

thatoneguy, you are off base and about to get picked off. I still don't have television, and have to listen to most games on the radio. Like Gladden or not, he has some insight on that part of the game. He will flat out say it if Ulger messes up, but he will explain what happened when it is not neccessarily Ulger's fault. For example, a week or so ago, Ulger got someone thrown out at home and it was not close. Gladden explained what Ulger saw. He saw a throw going to the second baseman, which means the throw not going home. What you did not see on television is that the shortstop moved out of position, took the throw by a little luck was able to send it home. The throw was going to the right guy to send the runner, send him...the trow was a bit off target, send the runner. Decision made, send him. The play changed after the time to make the decision was made. Yes, he has made some mistakes and yes they are glaring sometimes...to Twins fans. You see almost every game broadcast by the Twins. Do you see as many Royals, Dodgers, Blue Jay, etc games? Their third base coaches mistakes aren't hitting the highlights so you can complare with our guy. There is no job at the major league level that is easy. You or I can not do it.

A fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom. They may show their enthusiasm by being a member of a fan club, holding fan conventions, creating fanzines, writing fan mail, or by promoting the object of their interest and attention.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Merriam-Webster, the Oxford dictionary and other recognized sources define it as a shortened version of the word fanatic, and the word did first become popular in reference to an enthusiastic follower of a baseball team. (Fanatic itself, introduced into English around 1550, means "marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion".

From Wikipedia, Etymology of the word fan.

Likewise, displeasure toward a particular play, player, or team is met by fans with jeers, which consist of booing, the shouting of expletives, and in occasional, extreme cases, the throwing of bottles or even garbage cans onto the field of play in the hopes of injuring a particular participant. This violent type of fan reaction is called hooliganism.

From Wikipedia, Types of fans.

Fan or hooligan?

[Scott K]

Nice call to send Cuddy this time!

[maros91]

I would have sent him. 2 outs, he's off at the crack of the bat and the guy in right has to field it cleanly and come up and throw a strike, which he did. Tip your cap and move on.

Coaching 3rd being easy? Come on.

[Canon Guy]

I would have sent him. 2 outs, he's off at the crack of the bat

There was only 1 out.

[Big Tom]

It was also fielded by the center, not right, fielder.

[Canon Guy]

I would have sent him. 2 outs, he's off at the crack of the bat and the guy in right has to field it cleanly and come up and throw a strike, which he did. Tip your cap and move on.

Coaching 3rd being easy? Come on.

Oh,now I think you were talking about Tuesdays game.

[MinnesnowtaWild]

I can't remember who but there was definitely another mistake in tonights game with one of our guys getting thrown out at home by a long shot.

Good one at the end though.