Gardy clearly seems to be suffering from some kind of sunstroke down there, as evidenced by these quotes from LaVelle Three's Baseball Notebooks in the Strib:
Rain affected the Twins workout plans for a second consecutive day, but pitchers were able to throw in the bullpen after the rain stopped. Wet fields forced the club to skip fielding drills and live batting practice.But it allowed Twins manager Ron Gardenhire to get on a roll when talking about how he and workout coordinator Rick Stelmaszek handled Plan B.
"All we need actually is a retractable roof right now over our bullpen," he said. "If we had that, we'd be set up perfect out there. A retractable roof over the bullpen and maybe we could talk about an all-grass infield, not turf, grass infield. If we had that, we might be able to take ground balls. That's something we're thinking about."
A reporter suggested a tarp.
"That's what we're talking about," he continued. "I said that today -- put a blue tent over that thing and make it retractable and just roll it over. I don't spend the money. I know I could. I tell ya, there are things I could invent, and I'd be a millionaire. But I just like baseball. I don't want to be a millionaire. I just want to play baseball and go broke. Wait till I'm finished. You'll see me driving down the road with the first car that can actually fly -- no wheels. Glass wheels. It never needs tread. Cuts the road to pieces."
Over the years, the coaches have had to whistle at Luis Rivas to get his attention so they could signal defensive adjustments to him. The hope is that Rivas will be more attentive this season and move on his own.When asked if he hopes he doesn't have to whistle for Rivas' attention this season, manager Ron Gardenhire revealed an interesting tidbit.
"I just hope that little guy who sits on his shoulder listens more than he did," Gardenhire said. "That was Nanu. We saw Luis talking to him all the time on the field. All the time. That's a true story. We'd look at Luis, and he'd be talking. And we just knew that Nanu was sitting there. Wasn't it Nanu?"
No. Gardenhire meant to say The Great Gazoo from the old "Flintstones" cartoon, the green alien who would appear at times to talk to Fred and Barney.
Meanwhile, in an article on mlb.com about the fortunes of Michael Ryan, Gardy proved that he likes to make his funk the P. Funk:
When a reporter asked him what Ryan's role would be this season, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was listening to the classic George Clinton song, "Atomic Dog," play from his laptop computer.Posted by Batgirl at March 2, 2005 10:33 AM"He needs to let the dog out in this camp," Gardenhire said. "If he's going to make this team, we need to see some dog in you.
Perhaps the Dome ain't so bad, if it keeps Gardy out of the sun. Either that or Gardy has spent too much time in the presence of Lewwww and Terry Tiffee (I've heard he has some interesting turns of phrase).
But this article does help explain the playing of Luis last year. An alien talking to me would probably throw me off my game, too.
Just Beth
Posted by: Just Beth at March 2, 2005 10:54 AMI don't think it is sunstroke. Gardy is just so excited about the upcoming season that he has taken to babbling.
By the way, there is more Twins press on Sportsline.com
http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/8242988
http://www.sportsline.com/mlb/story/8242985
Attyfan
I'm just looking forward to the first boneheaded thing Rivas does, reading the batgirl game recap, and seeing the photoshop of (cartoon Gazoo, Alan Cummings as Gazoo, Robin Williams as "Na-nu" Mork from Ork) hovering near Luis's shoulder.
Posted by: amr at March 2, 2005 11:20 AMI love it! The world needs more characters.
Posted by: mmmarkiep at March 2, 2005 11:39 AMIn about 5 minutes,
the Nationals (featuring former Twin Guzzie)
and
the Metroplitans (ft. former Twin Minty)
start the preseason.
The game is available for free on MLBTV
(Go from MLB.com).
Also, tomorrow's Twins game will be free on MLBTV.
Prepeare to lose worktime productivity...
..Now!
amr,
Many many many many thanks.
Wow, that feels better. Spring training is like methodone... not quite the same stuff, but effective in a pinch...
YankeeFan
Nothing bothers me more than a public figure who can't keep his/her cartoon characters straight. Gardenhire's comment on Rivas' incessant babbling to 'Nanu', when clearly he meant 'Gazoo', indicates an ignorance of his culture that cannot be considered cool. I genuinely fear for the Twins chances this season under the direction of such a cultural cretin. Other than that, I do like the way Gardy's wearing his cap in that jaunty-style this spring.
Posted by: imsubversive at March 2, 2005 12:51 PMGardy's turning into Spaceman Lee.
Meanwhile, on Bizarro world, Doogie's batting cleanup for the Mets today.
I'm going to be unpopular and say that both Kyle and Rivas are going to have stellar years.
Posted by: Say Rah! at March 2, 2005 01:22 PMNo, TD, it's not bizarro world, it's the world JD Durbin world, where one can nickname oneself and have it come true (like JD calling himself the Real Deal). Batgirl gave us a glimpse into this world last season. Obviously, Doug has christened himself Doug "I'm a better power hitter than Morneau" Mientkwicz
Posted by: TBIrd41 at March 2, 2005 02:03 PMHOF News:
No Go for Tony O (or Kaat, but that didn't go with my stupid rhyme).
Posted by: Say Rah! at March 2, 2005 02:41 PMMaybe Gardy should just start saying "shitf**k" and "f**kshit!"
Posted by: ForMorneau at March 2, 2005 02:49 PMDoes he think he's Yogi Berra or Casey Stengel or something??
The Nats/Mets also were on ESPN this afternoon. Tomorrow ESPN will be showing the Yankees/Pirates. Friday they have the Dodgers playing. Wonderful to have baseball on the tube again, but a few innings into the game I already had my fill of Jeff Brantley for the year.
Today I saw Guzy hit a solid liner up the middle for a single, and also a weak chopper to the 2B. Dougie walked a couple times and at 1B made a nice scoop in the dirt to complete a double play.
Posted by: frightwig at March 2, 2005 04:49 PMHoly crap frightwig. I feel the exact same way. In fact, I had something close to the following conversation yesterday:
Me: 13 minutes into spring training and already they've insisted that the Mets infield of Ventura, Olerud, etc. was the best defensive infield of all time.
Friend: You're kidding
Me: Ok, I'm sick of baseball again.
BG, can you fix this?
YankeeFan
Posted by: YankeeFan at March 3, 2005 07:45 AM