http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-WKVJi701RKtXLiS199WWT9oo en-us Fri, 16 May 2008 21:49:35 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-WKVJi701RKtXLiS199WWT9oo?p=27
It's also important to look at the big picture. In late April, the Twins were at a season-low three games under .500, coming off a losing road trip to Oakland and Texas and were facing the next 15 games against the White Sox (5 games), the Tigers (3), the Red Sox (4) and the Jays (3). That looked like a killer stretch at the time and the Twins came away with a 9-6 record to get to .500. If you had told me before this stretch that the Twins would go 9-6, I would have been thrilled.

How the Twins bounce back from the disappointing sweep will be key. The next stretch ahead looks favorable. The next 13 games are against Colorado (3), Texas (4), Detroit (3), and Kansas City (3). With Detroit struggling once again, every series appears winnable. However, all but the Texas games are on the road, where the Twins have struggled (6-10). They have lost four straight road series. Hopefully, the Twins can shake their road woes and get their record above .500. I would think eight wins in this stretch can be done.
]]> Fri, 16 May 2008 21:49:35 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-WKVJi701RKtXLiS199WWT9oo?p=26 ]]> Tue, 13 May 2008 17:34:37 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-WKVJi701RKtXLiS199WWT9oo?p=25
Craig Monroe had two walks in the game as the DH, which was twice as many as Jason Kubel has taken the whole season as the Twins' DH. Suddenly, it doesn't look so silly for Monroe to start over Kubel at DH on Opening Day. We'll probably be seeing a lot of Monroe until Kubel starts to hit anywhere close to what he did the second half of last season. Of course, after Delmon hurt his ankle last night, we could be seeing a lot of both players if Delmon has to go on the DL.

After scoring 25 runs in four games against the defending WS champs, the Twins are now eighth in runs per game. The Twins have moved ahead of the Yankees and Cleveland in average runs per game. All this despite Kubel hitting horribly, Lamb starting out horribly and improving to disappointing, and Delmon showing no power whatsoever. Plus, Cuddyer was on the DL for a while and hasn't done a whole lot this season either. It would seem that the Twins still have room for improvement and could have an above-average offense for the first time since 2002.

The Twins now start a series with Toronto, which is missing Vernon Wells (DL) and Frank Thomas (released) and has shown a horrible offense. Only the Royals have scored less runs in the AL. The Blue Jays are coming off a doubleheader yesterday in which they went 18 scoreless innings before scoring three runs in the 10th inning of Game 2 to split the two games. With the Indians splitting the DH and the White Sox getting pounded by the Angels, the Twins enter tonight's game with a 1 1/2-game lead, which of course guarantees at least one more day all alone in first place.

The Blue Jays are third in the AL in runs allowed and the Twins will face Roy Halladay, who is 6-0 with a 2.66 ERA against the Twins in his career, in Game 2.
]]> Tue, 13 May 2008 05:17:49 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-WKVJi701RKtXLiS199WWT9oo?p=24 this situation before? Probably because you have been paying attention. This makes three straight seasons that Joe Nathan has saved a game by getting Manny Ramirez for the final out with him representing the tying or go-ahead run and this was the fourth time in five seasons that he has done that.

Manny is known as one of the more clutch hitters and should be a first-ballot Hall of Famer when his time comes, so holding him to 0-for-4 with 2 Ks and a GIDP with the game on the line shows what a great closer that Nathan is. But this seems truly bizarre that this batter-pitcher matchup would happen for the final out of the game so many times for teams that don't face each other that often, usually 6-9 times a season.

I was at the game in 2006 and I remember the game last year that reminded me of the game I went to and of course this game reminded me of those two, which is why I was able to look up this stuff. In the game I went to in 2006, Nathan also struck out Manny in the eighth inning with the bases loaded and no outs in a 4-0 game, so he twice struck out Manny when he represented the tying run. The two runs he allowed tonight was just the second and third he has given up to the Red Sox in his career (13 2/3 innings).

This is just another example of why baseball is such an amazing game.

AP story

Video highlights

Box score

Updated Twins stats

STrib gamer

STrib notes

Sid on Twins

Reusse on Perkins

Reusse on Twins
]]> Mon, 12 May 2008 05:52:05 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-WKVJi701RKtXLiS199WWT9oo?p=23
While they do have a strong and deep bullpen, Neshek may very well be the lynchpin to it. Joe Nathan is the best pitcher in the bullpen, but because Ron Gardenhire refuses to use him in any situation other than a save situation in the ninth inning or later, Neshek is probably used in more of the high leverage situations than any other pitcher. Plus, he is the one pitcher that will be brought in to get out of an inning when another pitcher is struggling late in the game.

All the other Twins relievers have question marks surrounding them. Matt Guerrier doesn't have the ability to get strikeouts that you would like a late-inning guy to have and he's been shaky this year, including Thursday when he got into a bases-loaded jam before wriggling out of it. Juan Rincon has been in a constant decline the last few years, although he has pitched better to start this year. Was 2006 just a fluke for Dennys Reyes? How will Jesse Crain bounce back from surgery and does he have the intestinal fortitude to pitch in crucial situations?

With the Twins in the midst of a crucial stretch of games with only one day of rest in six weeks, their season may very well turn on the answers to these questions as well as one more: When will Neshek return?

AP story

Box score

STrib gamer

STrib notes

Updated Twins stats
]]> Fri, 09 May 2008 06:17:09 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-WKVJi701RKtXLiS199WWT9oo?p=22
While Gomez's cycle was certainly impressive, I think the value of it is often overstated. Would he have had any less of an impact on the game if the double had been ruled a triple instead? Getting four hits, three for extra bases, is always impressive. Getting a homer, triple, double and single is just a cool way for it to happen.

Gomez is now hitting .282/.306/.427 and is tied for the team lead in extra-base hits with Justin Morneau with 11.

Nearly lost in the excitement of GoGo's cycle was Nick Punto's double and triple with what I'm sure is a career-high five RBIs. If you had asked me which more unlikely to happen, I would have gone with Punto without hesitation.

Another rare feat was narrowly missed when Livan Hernandez lost his shutout in the ninth inning, but he still managed to finish the game, something that Gavin Floyd was not allowed to do the previous night for the White Sox when he lost his no-hitter in the ninth inning.

So far, Livan has provided more than I'm sure even the Twins could have hoped. He has benefited from the best run support on the team (the Twins are averaging over 6 runs per game for him), but he has lowered his ERA to 3.83, he has cut his career BB/9 of 3.2 almost in half to 1.7, and he leads the team and is fifth in the AL in innings with 51 2/3. He's really had only one poor start and he has five quality starts out of eight starts. He's also gone at least 7 innings in five starts.

I thought it was funny that a night after Joe Mauer got the Twins' lone hit in the ninth, the Twins' offense erupted while Mauer was given the night off. When previewing this series, I stated that the Twins needed to take care of business against Floyd and today's starter, John Danks, because of Mark Buerhle's great record against the Twins. This is why I love this game. You just never know what is going to happen from game to game.

AP story

Box

STrib gamer

STrib notes

Updated Twins stats
]]> Thu, 08 May 2008 14:32:36 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-WKVJi701RKtXLiS199WWT9oo?p=21 LEN3's blog.

I knew plenty of others in the blogosphere would have the same thoughts, but LEN3 provides a different view in that:

1. He was at the game.
2. He has professed to not being a Twins fan in an attempt to be unbiased in his reporting.

So, when he says the Twins did a bad job of hitting, and specifically making adjustments, that makes me sit up and take notice.

So, I decided to take a more in-depth look at the game last night that I wasn't able to watch using mlb.com's Gameday pitchtracker, which is a very useful resource. I specifically was interested in a couple quotes from LEN3.

1. "I sent Joe C. a text message around the fourth inning remarking how Floyd couldn’t get ANY breaking pitches or his change up, over for strikes."
2. "One thing I noticed was that the Twins, while trying to have good at-bats, took a few fastballs down the middle for strike one.
3. "Floyd didn’t even get a curveball over for a called strike until the seventh inning, based on my recollections."

On the first quote, LEN3 was essentially right. In the first four innings, Floyd did not get a single called strike on a breaking ball or changeup. However, he only threw five breaking balls and one changeup up to that point. In fact, in the fourth inning, of Floyd's 12 pitches, 11 were fastballs and one was a cutter. At first glance, it looks like the Twins just couldn't hit Floyd's fastball and so Floyd just kept throwing it until they proved they could.

Of his second quote, I saw five instances of a fastball being called for the first strike that was not a somewhat borderline pitch. One of the instances was Brendan Harris in the first inning and he ended up walking for the only time someone other than Joe Mauer reached base. Another time came in the third inning. Justin Morneau took a fastball for strike one after Mauer walked on five pitches. Morneau later in the at-bat got a better pitch to hit and lined it to right, which was dropped for an error that led to the Twins' lone run.

His third quote is correct, however Floyd only threw 8 breaking balls in the first six innings. Two of them came in Morneau's at-bat to end the 6th. Morneau grounded out on a curveball that was thigh high on the inside corner. In the first inning with two on and two outs, Michael Cuddyer swung and missed at a slider that was right down the middle of the plate.

What struck me is that the guy was not living at the knees as you would expect in a dominant performance like this. Instead, almost everything was thigh high and above. The Twins were probably more aggressive than they should have been, but seeing all those fastballs left up probably had a lot to do with that.

Acting manager Scott Ullger commented that the Twins weren't patient enough because the strike zone was small, however I saw several generous strike calls, so if anything, the strike zone was inconsistent, which can lead to a very frustrating night at the plate.

In the end, I think the Twins got their pitches to hit, especially in the first six innings, but just didn't hit them. That's the way it goes sometimes. In the sixth inning, Mauer got a cutter down the middle of the plate, but flew out. He got the same pitch in the ninth and didn't miss it.
]]> Wed, 07 May 2008 17:54:52 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-WKVJi701RKtXLiS199WWT9oo?p=20
I'm sure there will be plenty of complaints about the offense after this one, but really, after a performance like that, you just really have to tip your cap to the pitcher. And he has pitched well this year, especially of late, and Gavin Floyd even took a no-hitter into the eighth inning in another game.

I do think the Twins should have worked the count more, which looks like will be a common theme this year. Floyd walked two in the first and rarely had strikes called on first pitches, but the highlights I saw on ESPN didn't show the Twins chasing pitches for the most part.

AP Story

Box Score

Updated Twins stats

STrib Gamer

STrib Notes

ESPN.com highlights

Soucheray column on Gomez


]]> Wed, 07 May 2008 05:24:39 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-WKVJi701RKtXLiS199WWT9oo?p=19
It may not take too many runs to win this series, since the White Sox have scored eight runs in their last five games, including a 1-0 loss to Toronto yesterday. The Sox haven't scored in their last 14 innings, so keeping off the board early tonight will be important to keep the Sox frustrated.

Much like the Tigers, the White Sox also tried shaking up their lineup without much luck. Orlando Cabrera was moved to leadoff after batting second most of the season. Nick Swisher went from first to sixth and Carlos Quentin went from sixth to second. All three players involved went hitless with Swisher drawing the only walk.

The beauty of the Twins being two games up is that they can lose this series and still be a game ahead of the White Sox. I'd forgotten what it was like to follow a front-running team. The Twins hadn't spent this much time in first place, or been this far ahead, since winning the division in 2004.

The AP wrote a nice feature on the surprising Twins.

Shooter talks about Nathan

Pioneer Press feature on Nathan
]]> Tue, 06 May 2008 21:26:43 GMT http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-WKVJi701RKtXLiS199WWT9oo?p=18
With an upcoming homestand facing the first-place White Sox and the resurgent Tigers, last place seemed like a far more certain resting place for the Twins after this past week than first place. Instead, the Twins swept all five games, including a dramatic comeback on Sunday to complete their first three-game sweep of the season.

Now the Twins stand atop the division in much the same way they dominated it earlier this decade, by taking advantage of a suddenly weak division. The Twins are the only team in the division with a winning record and are 12-6 against divisional foes.

The Twins are up 1.5 games for only the second time since they won the division in 2004. In 2006, the Twins didn't lead until the final day of the season and won by only one game. The Twins never led in 2005 and the Twins had a 1.5 game lead last year for one day (April 21) before promptly losing four straight and never really sniffing first place again.

The Twins now enter perhaps the most difficult portion of their schedule. They play 40 games in 41 days that include series against the Red Sox, Yankees, the defending NL champion Rockies, and the suddenly pitching-rich Blue Jays. They cap off this stretch with a 10-game road trip at Chicago, Cleveland, and Milwaukee before finally getting an off day on my birthday, June 16. The best present I could get would be to celebrate my birthday with the Twins in first, because this could very well signify that this team is a real contender, and/or this division is much weaker than most predicted.

Links

I decided I'm going to try and take advantage of my Pacific time zone and help Twins fans find all their updated info on the Twins when they come to my site. I kind of want to be a one-stop shopping place for Twins by linking to all that I can, so here goes:

AP story

STrib gamer

Box Score

STrib notes

Top Jimmy/Shecky column

Sid talks Twins

Powers column

Video highlights

Updated Twins stats

St. Cloud Times column

Big League Stew leads with Twins
]]> Mon, 05 May 2008 05:39:49 GMT