Last night I was able to take in a Minnesota Twins’ game live for the first time this season and I came away with one thought in mind: Ron Gardenhire is sure making it tough for me to defend him with the managerial moves he is continually making. Last week I came out with an article that, in essence, supported Gardenhire and stated that firing him would change nothing. To access this article, simply click here. Based on that article, I believed that Gardenhire hadn’t lost his ability to manage and that the Twins should give their manager some slack as the team endures a rebuilding process; but as the game unfolded last night, a situation in the eighth inning has made me question my initial premise.

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With the game tied at two last night, up stepped Trevor Plouffe with nobody out and runners on first and second base. Plouffe was hitting second in the batting order last night—which in itself was a huge mistake—and was put into a great position to drive some runs in, which was the reason that Gardenhire reportedly placed him there to begin with. With the Twins only needing one run to break the tie and Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau waiting in the wings, Plouffe was in an obvious bunting situation. Brian Dozier had failed to successfully bunt over Pedro Florimon the at-bat before, but was bailed out by a Nick Swisher error which allowed Dozier to reach first safely setting up the Plouffe at-bat.

It is no secret that Plouffe is not a good bunter; but during his at-bat, which lasted all of two pitches, Plouffe didn’t even attempt to bunt once. This obviously is Gardenhire’s call and fault for not sending in the sign to have Plouffe bunt and it should have cost the Twins the game last night if not for Mauer’s clutch RBI single. Such a managerial mishap has been a hallmark for Gardenhire this season and it is for that reason that it is becoming increasingly difficult for me to support him and defend his credibility as a manager; but as I got to thinking more about the situation, I came to an additional conclusion that goes even deeper than the Gardenhire mishap: Gardenhire doesn’t have enough players on the team who can bunt.

The players on the roster who can be considered competent bunters would be Jamey Carroll, Pedro Florimon, Clete Thomas, Aaron Hicks and Dozier. Thomas and Hicks have proven that they are most effective as bottom-of-the-order hitters, Dozier currently bats leadoff and Carroll is not an everyday player. With that being said, having Plouffe bat second in the order still makes little sense because it seems as if Dozier would be a better fit as a number two hitter. It’s possible that Carroll could be an effective number two hitter, but that would likely come at the

expense of Plouffe—or one of the other “competent bunters”—sitting.

Ultimately, Plouffe belongs in the middle of the order and the Twins need to have more players who are more fundamentally sound and can play station-to-station baseball. Part of that is Gardenhire’s fault for not placing the players he has in the right spots in the order to be successful, but part of the blame also falls on Twins’ management for not giving Gardenhire enough flexibility to place players in different spots in the order to play effective station-to-station baseball. The Twins used to be very effective under Gardenhire at playing solid fundamental, station-to-station baseball during the years of the “Piranhas”, but the team also had significantly more talent during that time as well; nevertheless, there is plenty of blame to go around.

There are no excuses for Gardenhire not at least attempting to bunt with Plouffe out of the two spot and there are no excuses for his inability to successfully manage the game to get runners in scoring position, but let’s not forget that there still is a talent deficiency on this roster which does handicap Gardenhire’s ability to manage slightly. However, at the end of the day, it starts and ends with Gardenhire and if he plans on keeping his job and getting the most out of the team he has been given, he needs to get back to the basics of managing.

99 percent of the fans knew the Twins’ should have bunted in the eighth inning last night; the fact that Gardenhire didn’t seem to know, worries me.

Brian Wille is a Minnesota Twins writer for RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter@BeeWill15 or “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google

To view more articles by Brian Wille, click here

You're right that Plouffe should be a 5 or 6 hitter, and you're right that the 2 hitter should be able to bunt. I also agree that Gardy doesn't have a good enough roster to make this type of situation work to his advantage. And I don't argue that its time for Gardy to move on.

Where I struggle is the assumption that just because it was a bunting situation, Gardy had to give Plouffe the bunt sign, and anything less is managerial incompetence. I didn't see the sign, but maybe Plouffe ignored/didn't see it. Or maybe Gardy didn't think Plouffe could put down the bunt, so what the heck, let's let our right handed hitter with some power try to pull a home run down the line. It is the AL after all.

It's organizational philosophy, TK sure hated on Francona bunting last night, and it didn't work in the end

If Plouffe's not a good bunter, then why give the Indians free strikes attempting and probably failing to bunt? I like Plouffe to be swinging there.

Why do you think 99% would think a bunt was the right play there? That was one play Gardy assessed correctly if you realize that his objective, along w scoring anyway possible, was to get Mauer an at bat.

If Plouffe bunts successfully in that situation Gardenhire takes the bat out of Mauer's hands. W a runner on 3rd and less than 2 out Francona can't pitch to Mauer. In that situation Mauer gets walked and Francona has a lefty to get Morneau and leaves the lefty in to face Doumit rt-handed. Whether the Indians get out of that without allowing a run is not important - what matters is that the Twins by sacrificing would have played it so as to make it possible for Francona to get out of that situation without the Twins giving their best player a shot to decide the game.

The only way Gardenhire gets Mauer to the plate w a chance to swing the bat is by letting Plouffe swing away. The dp was not optimal, but Francona bit. He let his guy pitch to Mauer. Odds are always w the pitcher and it's a long season: Francona wins long-term by showing confidence in his guys and going after the other guy's best long before it gets to do or die. How else is he going to get his players to perform in those situations like they've been there before unless, you see, he's given them opportunities to come through in those situations? He's a good manager. Sometimes you have to engage in a battle you would prefer to skip because there are greater battles ahead that cannot be avoided. This was an interesting call on Terry's part. And maybe Francona needs to learn what his own players can and cannot be asked to do.

I disagree 100% that the bunt was required in that scenario. The objective is to score and to give your best player a meaningful AB. Both of those objectives are best met by Plouffe swinging away.

Please explain how Gardenhire could have played it differently to get Joe an AB?

I'm not necessarily hating on Gardy not having Plouffe bunt in this situation, but Gardy has refused to bunt runners into scoring position numerous times this year. It was more frustration out of having Plouffe in the number two spot when he cannot bunt. I do concede that since he cannot bunt, giving him the bunt sign may have been wasted strikes; but to me you have to at least try once to bunt. I understand that Francona would likely walk Mauer but there is no guaranteeing that. Heck, we thought Francona would walk Mauer with a runner on third and first base open, but he opted not to. The article was supposed to be more focused on the fact that Gardy didn't construct the lineup correctly in my opinion and that he needs more players who have the flexibility to bunt in order to be successful. Thanks for the comments, I appreciate it!

Yeah right keep making excuses for Gardenhire.

part of the blame also falls on Twins’ management for not giving Gardenhire enough flexibility to place players in different spots in the order to play effective station-to-station baseball? this statement makes no sense to me. I believe Gardenhire has the most flexibility to place players in different spots in the batting order in all the baseball teams.

I'm not necessarily hating on Gardy not having Plouffe bunt in this situation, but Gardy has refused to bunt runners into scoring position numerous times this year. It was more frustration out of having Plouffe in the number two spot when he cannot bunt. I do concede that since he cannot bunt, giving him the bunt sign may have been wasted strikes; but to me you have to at least try once to bunt. I understand that Francona would likely walk Mauer but there is no guaranteeing that. Heck, we thought Francona would walk Mauer with a runner on third and first base open, but he opted not to. The article was supposed to be more focused on the fact that Gardy didn't construct the lineup correctly in my opinion and that he needs more players who have the flexibility to bunt in order to be successful. Thanks for the comments, I appreciate it!

It was a decision rich stretch where the managers impacted the outcome. Reasonable minds can disagree on this one. I preferred the choice Gardy made and always appreciate it when they pitch to Joe in a game situation.

On to LA!