Looking for the next Ron Gardenhire

Managerial candidates Wally Backman and Jose Oquendo were middle infielders on the Mets in the '80s, as was Tim Teufel, now managing in the Mets' system. But the best choice among those Met '80s-era middle infielders is unavailable - he was just named AL Manager of the Year.

In nine years as Twins manager, Ron Gardenhire has finished first six times, second once and third twice. He finished under .500 only once, going 79-83 in 2007. Since the Twins traded Johan Santana, they have won at least 87 games all three seasons. All this with a team that had a limited payroll until 2010.

Gardenhire played for the Mets from 1981-1985. He was the starting shortstop in 1982 in an infield that included Backman, Dave Kingman and Hubie Brooks. The only other year Gardenhire got significant playing time was 1984, when he shared shortstop with Oquendo, who was on the Mets from 1983-1984.

If Backman, now one of four finalists, gets the job, that will mean that managers will have come from players who started games at three of the four infield positions on the 1984-85 Mets, since Ray Knight managed the Reds in 1996, 1997 and one game in 2003.

Who would have guessed that the only 80s-era Mets infield position with no managerial possibilities would be Keith Hernandez' first base?

If you count catcher as part of the infield, the mid-1980s Mets also produced a manager there. Sorry, Gary Carter, it was John Gibbons, who played briefly for the Mets in 1984 and 1986 and managed the Blue Jays from 2004-2008. Gibbons was both hired and fired by then-Toronto GM J.P. Ricciardi, who was also Gibbons' roommate in the Mets' farm system. Gibbons, now the Royals' bench coach, reportedly took himself out of consideration for the Mets' job last month.

If the new Mets' moneyball front office ends up hiring Teufel down the road, it would bring things full circle - when the Mets acquired Teufel from the Twins before the 1986 season, one of the players they gave up was Billy Beane.

A-Rod makes Twins pay for misunderestimating him

It was a great sports night for me (more on that in a sec) but the best moment of the evening was seeing Alex Rodriguez make Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire look like a fool.


In one of the more head-scratching moves I've seen in recent years, Gardenhire not only intentionally walked Mark Teixeira to load the bases for A-Rod (which was crazy enough, given that Alex's numbers going into last night's game after a Tex intentional walk were "3-for-3 with a walk, a sacrifice fly, a home run and 10 RBI in five plate appearances," writes Minnesota columnist Jim Souhan.

Then Gardenhire brought in Matt Guerrier to face A-Rod. Bad move. As Souhan notes:

Rodriguez, in his career, was 4-for-6 with three homers, a double and a walk against Guerrier. It's hard to hit that well in batting practice or tee ball, much less against a quality big-league reliever.

And the strangest thing is, Gardenhire knew these numbers, and still went with that matchup!


Of course, A-Rod, the guy who killed the Twins in the playoffs last year, with his game-tying homer in Game 2, and his big homer to tie Game 3, destroyed Minnesota - again - with a grand slam. From MLB.com:

"That's what Alex Rodriguez does," Teixeira said. "He's done it so many times in his career. Nineteen grand slams? That's ridiculous."

When asked if the free pass to Teixeira gave him with any extra motivation, Rodriguez was quick to respond.

"No question," he said. "That's why I hit fourth."

Rodriguez hasn't gotten off to a great start so far, but maybe last's night's results will be the start of a terrific year for him.

And you know, even I didn't know that A-Rod had had so many grand slams in his career. But gee, I thought he was totally unclutch and all! Maybe he was just stat-padding with those homers. Showoff!

One other thing - I like that the scorer gave the win to Joba Chamberlain (who struck out the side in the eighth) as opposed to Damaso Marte (who blew the lead.) That type of scorer's decision should happen more often!

* * *

The Yankees' victory wasn't the only sporting event to put a smile on my face last night:

* Hideki Matsui hit a three-run homer off Dallas Braden to beat him and the Athletics. "It was a breaking ball," Braden said about the pitch he threw. "I felt like I almost told him it was coming. He Godzilla'd it right out of the ballpark."

* Oliver Perez had another Ollity start - as in the opposite of quality - for the Mets. Much gnashing of teeth ensued.

* And, most importantly, my beloved Philadelphia Flyers (I've been following them for a whole two days now!) beat the Boston Bruins after being down 0-3 in Game Seven (and 0-3 in the series), to win the game - and the series! Squawker Jon asked me to name a Flyer, and the only name I could come up with was Kate Smith! Nonetheless, I love to see Boston fans miserable. I saw that they threw stuff on the ice - again. Classy!


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