Designated Swinger

Which is more surprising, the fact that the Twins refused to go get a legitimate designated hitter in the offseason, or that they are admitting that mistake following the awful play of Rondell White?

Twins fans don't ask for much - we have a guy in our section who wails, "Come on Twins! Get a single!" - and they aren't getting much, either. For as much abuse is heaped on the Cubs for failing to field a competitive team or upgrade in the offseason, there should have been torch-carrying mobs after this lineup was released.

Juan Castro has been given the start at short and he and Lew Ford carried the team last night against the Angels. The big shock of the night was when the lineups were released before the game and Tony Batista had been slotted in the four slot with White falling all the way down to a generous seven.

Before the game, White was at .085, not what you'd hope for from your cleanup hitter. Worse still is that his only job is to hit the ball. It's a pretty bad sign when your DH is hitting in double digits and the replacement is a man who played in Japan last year... and isn't named Ichiro.

With a strikeout in the second, White dipped to .083 and flied to left in the fourth. In the fifth, lightning struck and White made it aboard with a single, raising his numbers to .100 on the season. I'm not kidding when I say that the crowd gave him a standing ovation. The place went nuts and he seemed a little pissed off by the whole scene.

When he came up to bat to lead off the ninth, I was (loudly) welcoming him to triple digits with that even .100 and openly speculated about whether or not he'd be heading home that night hitting over or under .100 for the season.

Like the Clippers/Grizzlies game last night, take the under.

I'm not sure how much longer the Twins will keep him out there as he hacks away and is openly mocked. He looked pretty solid to start the season (but pinch-hitter solid, not DH solid) but unless the Twins fill this hole, they're going to struggle through the season. Torii Hunter is batting fifth and Justin Morneau is batting sixth (but takes too many wild swings to be moved into fourth) so it's pretty up in the air what the team is going to do.

Barring a free agent pick-up, this could be tough to watch come June.

(Image from: www.governor.state.mn.us)