Joe Nathan

[Superduty]

My hat is off to Nathan for working hard and coming back as the closer a year later. Not an easy thing to do. Now the critical part: It looked like he had zero confidence in his fastball today. 90 mph and it looked like it didn't have any movement. That isn't gonna cut it in the closer role. It's only one outing and I wish him and the Twins the best. They have a lot of baseball to play. How patient do you think Gardy will be with Nathan as the closer?

[walleyeking19]

He must have been pretty confident today to leave him in after all those walks. He could've pulled him with 2 outs and a lefty at the plate, cause the Twins had a lefty warm in the pen. But Nathan came through and got the out. Hopefully his next save goes more smoothly next time.

[JBMasterAngler]

Hopefully he'll sit out the whole yankees series! Hopefully it was just the comeback jitters, but I doubt it, I think this is what we can expect from him on a regular basis this season.

[blue_healer_guy]

Im sure we are more concerned than he is, a life of a closer.

[mrklean]

Just getting the rust off

[SledNeck]

NY is like kryptonite to Nathan

[lakesbison]

Im buds with Joe. I was down in Fla last year when his ARM went out. The guy really cares, and today was just shakey, couple bloop hits, nishi playing in wrong position and a couple close pitches. He will be fine no worries , he puts more pressure on self then all of us could

[ozzie]

Joe Nathan is the worst closer to watch in the major!!!! not only does he give us the fan no confidence that he will close the game but at the same time we have to watch him twitch and shake the whole time he is on the mound.....he is one guy I wish would not have made a comeback!!! In fact I won't even watch the Twins anymore when he gets into the game

[SledNeck]

I gotta feeling the twins will move Capps to the closer role and pull off a trade for a bullpen guy/set up man.

[pegleg]

Even Gardy at the end of the game kiddingly said he isn't happy of seeing Nathan back in the closer role because of all the suspense he brings with the role... A lot like Everyday Eddy when he closed. He would always make the 9th inning interesting.

Got to give Nathan a chance though after coming back from major arm surgury and also $12 million salary whether you use him or not...

[Dylan33]

Hopefully he'll sit out the whole yankees series! Hopefully it was just the comeback jitters, but I doubt it, I think this is what we can expect from him on a regular basis this season.

We don't have to worry about seeing him face the Yankees. Joe is the closer, the Twins would actually have to be beating the Yankees in the ninth to see him. We know that won't happen.

[solbes]

Good point. Our record in NY is well...Not good.

I think they moved Joe back to the closer a little fast. Why not let Capps do it for a defined period to take some pressure off Joe? But we already started the season off this way, so we should continue as is until there's reason for a change.

Hats off to Joe for making such a quick recovery, especially given the fact that he's not the youngest guy on the hill.

[PierBridge]

NY is like kryptonite to Nathan

Yeah I would look for Capps in the closer role any day now... NOT~

[Esox_Magnum]

Joe didn't look to bad against Jeter.....

[SledNeck]

Capps was the player of the Game in my opinion. 2 quick shutdown innings. and WOW Joe Nathan, Im at a loss for words.

BTW Cuddy was a mess at the plate tonite, my God!

[Duffman]

BTW Cuddy was a mess at the plate tonite, my God!

LOL You're killin me Sled. Yea, he looked terrible.

Of all people, Kubel is the only Twin who has confidence against the Yanks. Kubel.

And I know you all were laying down mythical bets to mythical bookies when Nathan came in. I lost my boat.

[PierBridge]

Quote:

And I know you all were laying down mythical bets

And I won Slednecks spot in the Stuttgart Arkansas Duck trip!...

On a side note Delmon Young remains totally lost at the plate with only one legitimate hit on the SEASON~ 6-4-3 and another rally killing DP for Delmonty~~

Go Twins~

[SledNeck]

And I won Slednecks spot in the Stuttgart Arkansas Duck trip!...

On a side note Delmon Young remains totally lost at the plate with only one legitimate hit on the SEASON~ 6-4-3 and another rally killing DP for Delmonty~~

Go Twins~

Sure. Downplay the hit of the season for the twins! Atleast he's making CONTACT!

[pikestabber]

The sky isn't falling, and we will be just fine (we won in NY last night, by the way, and that's cause for celebration). Twins play their best ball in September, then August before that, then July...they have always started slow (save last year) and get better as they go. Be thankful we are not Boston.

[jwmiller33]

Boy some twins fans you just can't please. Delmon had an extremely clutch 3 rbi base hit last night against the YANKEES of all teams. Without that hit (yes it was ruled as a hit), you would probably be complaining about the twins losing to the yanks... I guess you can never please some people.

You should remember that the baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint. The season is not even a full week old yet and your complaining about some guys not being in mid season form or having found their swing yet. Let's all just relax a little bit and let last nights comeback victory against baseball's only $200 million team soak in a little

Pier, what gives you the authority to classify basehits as legitimate or not? Maybe you should quit your day job and go work for the twins as a professional Monday morning quarterback....

[mrklean]

ha 5 games in and everyone is turning on each other already gonna be a long season

[PierBridge]

Boy some twins fans you just can't please. Delmon had an extremely clutch 3 rbi base hit last night against the YANKEES of all teams. Without that hit (yes it was ruled as a hit), you would probably be complaining about the twins losing to the yanks... I guess you can never please some people.

You should remember that the baseball season is a marathon, not a sprint. The season is not even a full week old yet and your complaining about some guys not being in mid season form or having found their swing yet. Let's all just relax a little bit and let last nights comeback victory against baseball's only $200 million team soak in a little

Pier, what gives you the authority to classify basehits as legitimate or not? Maybe you should quit your day job and go work for the twins as a professional Monday morning quarterback....

What are you talking about ? and who gives you the AUTHORITY to question my authority? LOL

And stop steeling my lines, like it's a Marathon not a sprint. I often use that one in here. like last season when YOU went on a 100 paragraph rant about trading a bunch of players and prospects for a starter that would have played a dozen games for us and then left via free-agency. Also when you were disappointed about the Capps trade ....looked pretty good last night eh?...LOL...try to be a little more positive it's MARATHON not sprint.

And for the record NO-ONE...I REPEAT NO+ONE in this forum is more of a "HOMER" of the Twins entire organization from top to bottom than I am....so much so it's almost beyond ridiculous some would say. DOH! I Jumped and Screamed when Delmon's blooper fell in and the righ-fielder booted it~

Don't mind Sled and I, we'll continue annoy you guy's on occasion with our silly old redundant aurguments "SRRY"

I do agree your post could be directed to a few in here though...

Hope this clears things up for you!

Go Twins even Delmonty!

[jwmiller33]

like last season when YOU went on a 100 paragragph 50 million word month long rant about trading a bunch of players and prospects for a starter that would have played a dozen games for us and then left via free-agency. Also when you cried about the Capps trade AD nasuem....looked pretty good last night eh?...LOL...try to be a little more posistive it's MARATHON not sprint.

we sure could have used a decent starter come playoffs last year couldnt we?

as for Capps, my whole argument was that he wasn't going to be the end all solution to our bullpen/closer needs like all of YOU thought, and his post season performance last year solidified that argument. His performance last night was great, but Capps is still a quality set up guy, nothing more. What was Capp's ERA in the playoffs last year? I forgot... Oh ya, it was 9.00!!! What was his WHIP in the playoffs? 2!!! When it comes to evaluating a player, his performance in the post season speaks a lot louder than game 5 of 162 of the regular season. I sure am glad we dumped those prospects on a relief pitcher with an ERA of 9 in the post season. I think the fact that Gardy only used Capps in 1 inning in the playoffs showed how much confidence he had in him.

I will also mention that we failed to have a SP register a [statistical] quality start in the playoffs. So yes, it still looks like the Capps trade addressed the wrong needs, especially considering Fuentes/Rauch, and if you disagree with that, please provide some logic (perhaps with some supporting stats) rather than just stating an opinion.

no personal attack at you at all. just more at the fact that Twins fans are hard to please. Delmon has 3 RBIs last night, regardless of how he got them, and we are 5 games into the season and your talking him down for not being in mid season form. You could say the same thing with about every guy on our roster as of right now

and I've been saying the "it's a marathon, not a sprint" since you were playing t-ball

[jwmiller33]

another thing about Capps... we are paying him $7,150,000 this year..... which puts him at the 6th highest paid player on our team. Lets wait til the season is over before we draw any conclusions on that investment.

[PierBridge]

I'll take the blame. If I or Nathan's perfomance in NY would not have riled Sled up he would not have thrown in his patented Cuddy cheap-shot which had nothing to do with the thread anyway. So I just pointed out, in responce, Delmon has one solid hit this year, one bloop and one dribler to 3rd. What can I say, when I pitch a purple cracker ringworm Sled's way he bites every-time...catch and release is fun..LOL

Not to worried about him but it is a little puzzling why he's kind of struggled so far considering how hard he hit the ball this spring. He'll still have big year hopefully. Some of the other guys that didn't get as much spring work like Mauer, Cuddy are really showing there rust and the importance of spring training.

Your take on acquiring a starting pitcher last year and Capps are Rock Solid! Still glad we have Caps for now and it looks like Ramos is off to hot start for the Nats!