Nick Punto wasn't Twins' only goat in this series

When you're playing the New York Yankees, you can't afford many mistakes. The Twins made more than their share in the American League Division Series, and a few were doozies.

[Ron]

The goat in this series, without a doubt, was Joe Nathan. He performed terribly. He was going down hill late in the season, too.

[Joe]

No mention of Kubel's sorry performance at the plate and in the outfield?Don't blame it all on Nathan,Gomez & Punto. Its petty hard to blame too much on Gomez he didn't play much. Nathan may have good numbers but very few of his performances were all that clean and he was shaky most of the time to say the least. There is enough blame to go around as long as its blame game time.

[its gardenhire stupid]

If Gardy had an ounce of self-respect, he would resign as manager today. It used to be the manager's job to motivate players for big games. Punto would be a great utility man but NOT a starter no matter how hard he tries and that is a painful fact for the Twins and Gardy. Look at the players who did NOT choke if you want to build a better team. Span, Mauer, Pavano, Blackburn, and Guerere come to mind first for me.

[Dicky]

1 for 14, with 9 K's and Kubel's name didn't even get mentioned as a goat in this series. My personal list of top goats would be:
6. MLB - for not being able to change the Twins schedule to have a day off after the play in game.
5. Blind umpire down the left field line in game 2.
4. Punto - very bad play demoralized the final comeback effort (but other than that played excellent - 4 for 9 and 3 walks, with good fielding)
3. Carlos Gomez - brought in to energize the team, but did just the opposite with his out on the basepaths and his pitiful first pitch swinging with the bases loaded in game 2.
2. Joe Nathan - just got owned by Teixiera and A Rod. His job is to close games and he failed miserably.
1. Kubel - hard to hit the ball with your hands around your neck (sorry, I liked Kubel all season, but that was just pitiful).

[My Vote]

Is for Nathan as series "goat." His skills as a closer are terrible, esp against the Yankees.

In all fairness, I do think the Twins might have fared better without some significant injuries--most notably Morneau. They really could have used both his defensive and offensive skills against the Yanks. Also, the Twins front office bears the brunt of the Twins loses.

Good luck next spring...hope the front office works on getting some decent pitchers in the off season. Too much of a load on Nathan--need to spread around the close duties.

[Calvin]

My Vote wrote:

Is for Nathan as series "goat." His skills as a closer are terrible, esp against the Yankees.
In all fairness, I do think the Twins might have fared better without some significant injuries--most notably Morneau. They really could have used both his defensive and offensive skills against the Yanks. Also, the Twins front office bears the brunt of the Twins loses.
Good luck next spring...hope the front office works on getting some decent pitchers in the off season. Too much of a load on Nathan--need to spread around the close duties.

One need not look far for the 2010 goat (and every year after that)...it's the dumb-asses that designed Target field without a roof.

[Rick]

I really thought the Twins would be out of gas if
they did make the playoffs. Surprisingly they had
excellent chances to win both of the last 2 games.
When they did, however, the same ugly things that
had haunted them off and on all year resurfaced-
stupid base running and lousy relief pitching. If
you look at statistics, Joe Nathan had a great year
but in reality, he was a disaster waiting to happen
almost every time out. The blown saves and defeats
that he did suffer were devistating blows. Punto
has 2 places for his head- it's either "heads up"
or "head up his" you know the rest. The Twins only
played up to their ability for the last 3 weeks of
the season leading us all to believe the momentum
would keep carrying them on. They might have done
it without all the stupid mistakes. Question for
next year- Who will be at 2nd, 3rd and short???

[Tank Murdoch]

Is Punto a dirty word???

[mr smooth]

IT LOOKED LIKE PUNTO took base running lessons from gomez who lost game 2 by removing what was the winning run with the dumbest base running i've seen in my 83 years! next year they better have gomez and casilla and punto cleaning kelly's dog runs and KEEP THEM OFF THE BALL FIELD!!! i can't take anymore stupidity.

[shenna]

Punto played great thru the whole central division and the World Series playoff except for one play.
Who on that team didn't make a mistake or couldn't hit the ball or pitch.
The other players didn't have a chance to make the mistake Punto made because they didn't get any hits.

[eddiep]

Punto has few worries no matter how asinine he looks trying to star on every play. His godfather, Gardenhire, will defend him. "He feels just terrible about it"(his stupidly getting picked off at 3rd). Where did Carey and Darling from TBS get the misleading inside information, "as Punto goes so go the Twins." I'm sure that makes Mauer, Morneau, Caddyer, Span, Cabrera, etc. feel terrific. And the reference to Carlos as "The undisciplined Gomez." Sounds like people fed TBS some heavily biased and well edited information. Was it the manager? Was it two fsn commentators?

[Arrogant American]

Punto led the Twins in batting average and on-base percentage in the series.

[Arrogant American]

Rick wrote:

Question for
next year- Who will be at 2nd, 3rd and short???

The Twins will likely re-sign Cabrera to play short. Punto is already signed for next year and will play second. As usual, the Twins are still looking for a third baseman.

[Wheelchair Charley]

The twins are not that good!...and for you Joe Crede fans who felt he would cure 3rd base ills are you going to petition the twins to sign him for next year or finally admit he was a bust?