The Twins offense has been dormant for over a week now, and that has had a lot to do with the struggles of their two biggest hitters, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. Last night, Mauer went 3-for-4 with a walk while Morneau drove in three runs as the Twins won 9-5 over the Tigers.
Matt Garza struggled a bit in his start. He had trouble throwing anything other than his fastball for strikes and as a result he walked four and allowed four earned runs on five hits over 4 and 2/3 innings. He also flashed some good stuff, striking out six hitters during that span, but overall it wasn't a particularly impressive outing. Fortunately, the bullpen was lights-out (except for Juan Rincon, who gave up a run on two hits and continues to struggle) and the Twins coasted to victory thanks to an offensive outburst against Detroit starter Wilfredo Ledezma.
It was nice to see Mauer pick up three hits, as it was his first multi-hit game since August 24. Suddenly, he's hitting .320/.469/.480 in September and his "slump" isn't looking so bad. Meanwhile, Morneau now has 118 RBI, placing him second in the AL behind David Ortiz.
Tonight will be a big test for Boof Bonser. He has pitched well as of late, but if he can push the team to victory against this tough Tigers squad he will give the Twins a good chance for a series win as Johan Santana pitches tomorrow afternoon.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
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2 comments:
I have to disagree with your comment about Morneau. Justin, unlike most of the Twins, hasn't really struggled that much at all lately. In fact, in his last seven games, Justin has hit .360/.448/.640 and is hitting .379/.455/.655 in six September games.
Though he slipped a bit in August, a .294/.388/.490 isn't exactly disasterous. So I wouldn't say Justin has struggled at all.
One interesting sidenote though: If you have insider access at ESPN, check out Buster Olney's entry today. Olney contends that Johan Santana should be considered for MVP, saying that:
"ohan Santana has made 30 starts this year, and in those games, the Twins are 25-5. He's 17-5 himself, and Minnesota has won every game in which Santana got a no-decision; if he hasn't won, he's given them a chance to win.
Let's review. When Santana starts, the Twins are 20 games over .500. When anybody else starts, they are 56-54, basically a .500 team.
When Santana starts, the Twins are as unbeatable as the '27 Yankees. When anybody else starts, they are a non-playoff team. "
Interesting stuff.
First of all, on the Morneau thing, I didn't necessarily mean to say that he's been slumping at the plate, he simply hasn't been delivering the game-changing hits the team has needed. Morneau hit the big three-run homer in the Twins' lone victory against the Yankees, but outside of that he had just two RBI in his past 12 games, with one of those coming on a double with the Twins already down 8-0 against New York. That's why it was nice to see him come up twice with ducks on the pond yesterday and come up big.
As for Olney's column... it's nice to see a national guy saying it, but in all honesty it's almost exactly the same thing I wrote when pushing Santana for MVP in my post on Thursday: "The Twins are 25-5 (.833) in games started by Santana, and they've won the last 11 games he's started. That means that even when he's not getting a decision, he's still putting the team in position to win."
I'd accuse him of copying me if there was any chance in the universe that he read this blog :-)
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