Why Tony came to town

The Twins limped back from Cleveland on Monday and got ready for a visit from the Oakland Athletics, a brand name team whose success in recent years has largely mirrored that of the Twins themselves – the A’s are a scrappy, intelligent, limited budget team well loved by the baseball intelligentsia that somehow manages to contend. The A’s typically have a star or two on offense, outstanding pitching and play fundamentally sound baseball. The A’s also play in a stadium better suited for football and considered obsolete for baseball.

So the green-clad doppelgangers took the field against the Twins and fell 7-6, largely because Tony Batista did what he does best – hit a poor pitch about eight miles. Batista and Rondell White came into the Dome after accomplishing essentially nothing during the Twins’ desultory opening road trip. Both were hitting well under their weight and seemed to provide neither intimidation nor consistency against the Blue Jays and the Tribe. The guess here – Batista does not have much left, but he could still hit 30 or more home runs this season. It is evident that, if a pitcher hangs a slider, Batista does not miss it. And at least 10 of those times, it will have a major, positive impact in the game. And that may be enough to narrow the gap between the Twins and their rivals.