After taking Friday night's game against the Athletics behind a strong debut outing from Kevin Slowey, the Twins threw away a terrific outing from Carlos Silva on Saturday night and couldn't support a not-so-sharp Johan Santana yesterday afternoon in a 4-2 loss. As a result, what once looked like a promising opportunity for a series victory in Oakland ends up as a series loss -- the Twins' first in their last five series -- and now the hometown nine will head into Anaheim to face an even better team in a series that will feature some fairly unfavorable pitching match-ups.
The Oakland series ended up being what many expected it to be: a string of three close and low-scoring games between two very evenly matched ballclubs. The two teams combined to score just 12 runs over the three games, and sadly that meant that while the Twins' pitchers performed well, the team still ended up coming away with a pair of losses.
On Saturday night, Silva took the loss despite giving up just one run over eight innings. Santana's outing yesterday was not nearly as strong, as he gave up four runs (three earned) on five hits and four walks over six innings, but he still bears the "hard-luck loser" label. The Twins' offense got after young righthander Chad Gaudin, collecting eight hits and five walks over 5+ innings against the Oakland starter, but they simply could not deliver the death blow as they managed to convert those 13 base-runners into just two runs and could do nothing against the Athletics' bullpen. The Twins went 1-for-11 in scoring opportunities, hit into two rally-crushing double-plays, and failed to convert a single one of their seven walks into a run. For an offense like this, that is a recipe for failure.
On a broader scale, this series featured a disappointing performance from a Twins offense that had seemingly been settling into a nice groove over the past couple weeks. That probably has a lot to do with the very good pitching staff they were facing, but the more striking issue lies within the heart of the order. Michael Cuddyer, Justin Morneau and Torii Hunter combined to go 4-for-33 (.121) with a total of one RBI in the series. On top of that, Mike Redmond, who has been batting sixth behind those three, went just 2-for-12 in the three games. Saturday night's game was a display of complete and utter domination by Joe Blanton, but Friday and Sunday are examples of games where the Twins should have scored a lot more runs than they did. The offense amassed 17 hits and 13 walks in those two games to earn a total of 30 base-runners, yet they could manage only five runs in those two games. Friday night the Twins still managed to win thanks to some great pitching, yesterday they lost because their ace wasn't spectacular. Clearly, when the big bats in the middle of the Twins' lineup aren't driving in runs at a steady pace, no one is going to do it, and that will lead to a loss more often than not.
Fortunately, those big bats have proven that they are capable of driving in runs at a steady pace, and I'm inclined to give more weight to the two weeks of consistent production this lineup displayed than the three games of ineptitude they displayed against a very good pitching staff this weekend. The problem, of course, is that the Twins are going to face three more tough pitchers in Anaheim over the next three days in Jered Weaver, Kelvim Escobar and John Lackey. Meanwhile, the Twins will be depending on a relatively inexperienced group of starters (Boof Bonser, Scott Baker and Kevin Slowey) to deal with the potent Angels offense.
The Twins won five straight games last week, but now find themselves sitting just a game above .500 after back-t0-back losses. If they want to pick up some steam before heading into their upcoming nine-game interleague homestand, they will need those big bats in the middle of the order to grow some wings against the Angels.
Monday, June 04, 2007
Sunday, June 03, 2007
6540 Seconds
That would be the amount of time it took Oakland As starter Joe Blanton to completely dominant the Minnesota Twins offense. In more practical terms, it took one hour and forty-nine minutes for the game to be over and it felt even quicker. A total of 10 Twins hitters got out within one or two pitches while they managed a meager three hits. Of those three hits, one was a classic infield single by Luis Castillo to begin the game and the others were a second Castillo hit and a hard line-drive single off the bat of Justin Morneau. The only other well-hit balls of the night were off the bat of Torii Hunter for outs. It was, in other words, yet another game filled with offensive ineptitude that hopefully did not set back the Twins offense from the last few weeks of success.
As I suggested in yesterday's post, there was a high opportunity for another pitching duel and that is precisely what happened. As bad as the Twins offense was and as good as Joe Blanton was against them, Carlos Silva was very successful in his eight innings against the As offense as well. In those eight innings, the Twins first complete game of the year, Silva gave up only one run, five hits, and one walk while striking out two. It is important to point out that the one run Silva gave up came on a Shannon Stewart double play in the sixth inning after singles by Mark Ellis and Jason Kendall.
Silva looked very good, as he not only lowered his ERA to 3.86, but also showed a good sinker as evidenced by the 16-5 GB/FB ratio he had last night. Sadly, Silva doesn't have much to show for his overall good start this year, as he has a 3-6 record and the worst run support in the AL.
The run of pitching battles won't end today, as Johan Santana will take on Chad Gaudin, who has had a very successful year so far with a 5-1 record and a stand-out 2.32 ERA. With that, we may get treated to another pitching duel that hopefully ends up in a Twins series win.
As I suggested in yesterday's post, there was a high opportunity for another pitching duel and that is precisely what happened. As bad as the Twins offense was and as good as Joe Blanton was against them, Carlos Silva was very successful in his eight innings against the As offense as well. In those eight innings, the Twins first complete game of the year, Silva gave up only one run, five hits, and one walk while striking out two. It is important to point out that the one run Silva gave up came on a Shannon Stewart double play in the sixth inning after singles by Mark Ellis and Jason Kendall.
Silva looked very good, as he not only lowered his ERA to 3.86, but also showed a good sinker as evidenced by the 16-5 GB/FB ratio he had last night. Sadly, Silva doesn't have much to show for his overall good start this year, as he has a 3-6 record and the worst run support in the AL.
The run of pitching battles won't end today, as Johan Santana will take on Chad Gaudin, who has had a very successful year so far with a 5-1 record and a stand-out 2.32 ERA. With that, we may get treated to another pitching duel that hopefully ends up in a Twins series win.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Slowey's Fine Debut
Since being drafted, Kevin Slowey has made fairly quick work of each minor league stop, most recently dominating Triple-A hitters for two months. Thus, when it was confirmed he'd be starting last night, many Twins like myself were quite excited to see just what kind of pitcher Slowey was.
Last night, Slowey showed up and did the job much better than the guy he replaced. He got through six innings for a quality start, struck out three, walked two, gave up five hits, and he nearly picked up his first major league win is his first career start. The two walks doesn't seem Slowey-like, considering the great control he exhibited in the minors, but this is the Oakland As we are talking about. All things considered, it was a fairly impressive start.
Slowey did not absolutely dominate the Oakland lineup, but thats hardly a reason to see his first start as negative. He did well and he pitched enough to get the game to the great Twins bullpen. Although Joe Nathan gave up a run in the 10th, the bullpen threw four innings, gave up two hits and two walks, and struck out three.
Juan Rincon and Carmen Cali did their jobs and Pat Neshek continued his absolutely dominant year. For those not paying attention, Neshek is 3-0 now with a 1.33 ERA, a 0.81 WHIP, a .133 OBA, and 32 Ks in 27 innings. In other words, there have been few, if any, set-up men as dominant as Neshek this year.
As for the offense, the Twins didn't do much against As starter Joe Kennedy, but they managed a run against him to stay in the game before getting two runs in the 10th against Kiko Calero. Mike Redmond and Jeff Cirillo provided the RBI and Michael Cuddyer had another good game, going 1-for-3 with two walks to continue his hot streak.
Today, the Twins take on Joe Blanton, who is 4-3 with a 4.28 ERA this year, with Carlos Silva on the mound for the Twins. Silva was good his last time out and if he continues that today, the Twins may have yet another pitching duel on their hands, as Blanton has had a year much like Silva. Blanton started off very quick, but has gotten knocked around lately. Good thing for the Twins that Blanton has a 5.92 ERA against them in his career.
Last night, Slowey showed up and did the job much better than the guy he replaced. He got through six innings for a quality start, struck out three, walked two, gave up five hits, and he nearly picked up his first major league win is his first career start. The two walks doesn't seem Slowey-like, considering the great control he exhibited in the minors, but this is the Oakland As we are talking about. All things considered, it was a fairly impressive start.
Slowey did not absolutely dominate the Oakland lineup, but thats hardly a reason to see his first start as negative. He did well and he pitched enough to get the game to the great Twins bullpen. Although Joe Nathan gave up a run in the 10th, the bullpen threw four innings, gave up two hits and two walks, and struck out three.
Juan Rincon and Carmen Cali did their jobs and Pat Neshek continued his absolutely dominant year. For those not paying attention, Neshek is 3-0 now with a 1.33 ERA, a 0.81 WHIP, a .133 OBA, and 32 Ks in 27 innings. In other words, there have been few, if any, set-up men as dominant as Neshek this year.
As for the offense, the Twins didn't do much against As starter Joe Kennedy, but they managed a run against him to stay in the game before getting two runs in the 10th against Kiko Calero. Mike Redmond and Jeff Cirillo provided the RBI and Michael Cuddyer had another good game, going 1-for-3 with two walks to continue his hot streak.
Today, the Twins take on Joe Blanton, who is 4-3 with a 4.28 ERA this year, with Carlos Silva on the mound for the Twins. Silva was good his last time out and if he continues that today, the Twins may have yet another pitching duel on their hands, as Blanton has had a year much like Silva. Blanton started off very quick, but has gotten knocked around lately. Good thing for the Twins that Blanton has a 5.92 ERA against them in his career.
Friday, June 01, 2007
Month in Review: May
Another month of baseball is complete, and it was an interesting one for the Twins. Let's take a look at how they performed as a team, which players did well and which ones didn't, which prospect was most outstanding, and what we can look forward to over the next 30 days.
The story for this team right now is resiliency. Things looked glum after the Indians dominated the Twins in a three-game sweep in the middle of the month, but the Twins have played some very good baseball since then and have pushed themselves back into contention in the tough AL Central. Early in the season, it seemed that when an opposing team took an early lead, the Twins would lay down and die, but that hasn't been the case lately. In Saturday's game against the Blue Jays, the Twins erased a three-run deficit in the ninth inning to force extra innings before they eventually losing in the 13th. In Wednesday's game against the White Sox, the Twins battled back from an early five-run deficit and won in the bottom of the ninth to complete a sweep of their divisional rivals.
After putting up some solid numbers in April, Morneau was downright spectacular in May. His K/BB ratio regressed (13/13 in April; 20/11 in May) but Morneau improved in just about every other category. He nearly doubled his RBI total from April and hit four more home runs, while posting a 1.047 OPS that shattered his .879 total from the previous month.
2. Boof Bonser: 36.2 IP, 4-0, 2.45 ERA, 38 K / 14 BB, 1.36 WHIPBonser struggled out of the gates, but he was in ace form in May, posting a terrific ERA and striking out more than a batter per inning as the Twins won five of his six starts. The only somewhat alarming numbers are the 14 walks and the consequentially unspectacular WHIP, but I think we can live with that given the results.
3. Michael Cuddyer: .317/.430/.524, 5 HR, 20 RBI, 19 R, 1/1 SBIt was really hard to choose just three guys for this segment because so many guys had great individual months in May. Mike Redmond, Luis Castillo, Torii Hunter and Johan Santana all would have been deserving candidates. Still, I had to go with Cuddyer just because he showed such tremendous improvement. In April, Cuddyer drew just five walks and slugged just .450. In May, he drew 10 more walks to increase his on-base percentage by nearly 100 points, and he also hit five home runs (compared to two in April) to increase his slugging percentage by 74 points. Cuddyer responded extremely well after being moved into the No. 3 spot in the order, so it will be interesting to see whether he sticks there once Joe Mauer returns (with Mauer sliding up to the No. 2 slot).
Three Down:
1. Ramon Ortiz: 22.1 IP, 0-3, 10.48 ERA, 8 K / 5 BB, 2.01 WHIPIn our "Month in Review" piece for April, Ortiz ranked No. 1 on the "Three Up" list after going 3-0 with a 2.74 ERA and 0.94 WHIP during the season's first month. Most people felt it was too good to be true, and those people were right. Ortiz was absolutely crushed in five straight starts before being demoted to the bullpen, where he will be pitching mop-up duty for the foreseeable future.
2. Jason Bartlett: .243/.349/.284, 0 HR, 6 RBI, 10 R, 3/3 SBAfter a rough April, things didn't get much better at the plate for Bartlett in May. While his partner on the left side of the infield, Nick Punto, also hit very poorly (again) in May, Punto at least drew 16 walks and stole seven bases while playing outstanding defense to somewhat make up for it. Bartlett's defense has been suspect, and he's not really doing anything exceptionally well at the plate. I continue to expect Bartlett to pick things up and start playing like he wants this starting shortstop job, because he's just too talented to be playing this poorly.
3. Jason Tyner: .209/.286/.239, 0 HR, 7 RBI, 4 R, 0/0 SBIn May, Tyner continued to show no patience at the plate while hitting for no power. Since he didn't collect as many singles as he normally does, this left him with an extremely ugly hitting line and an OPS that barely topped .500. Tyner hasn't been playing a whole lot and he's starting to look increasingly expendable. I fully expect him to be the odd man out when (if?) Rondell White returns from the disabled list.
Slowey's May actually wasn't quite as good as his April, but he still put up some phenomenal numbers and he gets the nod for Prospect of the Month for earning a call-up to the big leagues this week. After going 3-0 with a 1.05 ERA and .152 BAA in April, Slowey went 3-2 with a 1.86 ERA and .231 BAA in May. His strikeout rate dropped from 9.8 K/9 IP in April to 6.7 K/9 IP in May, but his ground ball rate improved. He also tossed three complete games in May after throwing none in April.
May Record: 13-14
Overall Record: 27-25 (3rd Place in AL Central)
TEAM REVIEW
Overall, the month of May could be viewed as a disappointment for the Twins, as they posted a losing record and dug themselves into a bit of a hole in the AL Central. However, looking more closely, it's hard not to be optimistic about what they were able to do. They had a very tough stretch in their schedule where they had to play series against three of the American League's toughest teams in Boston, Detroit and Cleveland. The Twins did not fare well in those nine games, as they went 2-7, but they took care of business for the most part against the rest of their opponents, especially in the latter half of the month. After going 4-11 and averaging 4 runs per game from May 1 through May 17 (a stretch which included the three aforementioned series), the Twins went 9-3 and averaged 6.33 runs per game through the rest of the month.Overall Record: 27-25 (3rd Place in AL Central)
TEAM REVIEW
The story for this team right now is resiliency. Things looked glum after the Indians dominated the Twins in a three-game sweep in the middle of the month, but the Twins have played some very good baseball since then and have pushed themselves back into contention in the tough AL Central. Early in the season, it seemed that when an opposing team took an early lead, the Twins would lay down and die, but that hasn't been the case lately. In Saturday's game against the Blue Jays, the Twins erased a three-run deficit in the ninth inning to force extra innings before they eventually losing in the 13th. In Wednesday's game against the White Sox, the Twins battled back from an early five-run deficit and won in the bottom of the ninth to complete a sweep of their divisional rivals.
THREE UP, THREE DOWN
A look at three players whose performances were outstanding over the past month, and three who fell bellow expectations.
A look at three players whose performances were outstanding over the past month, and three who fell bellow expectations.
Three Up:
1. Justin Morneau: .314/.380/.667, 10 HR, 29 RBI, 21 R, 0/0 SBAfter putting up some solid numbers in April, Morneau was downright spectacular in May. His K/BB ratio regressed (13/13 in April; 20/11 in May) but Morneau improved in just about every other category. He nearly doubled his RBI total from April and hit four more home runs, while posting a 1.047 OPS that shattered his .879 total from the previous month.
2. Boof Bonser: 36.2 IP, 4-0, 2.45 ERA, 38 K / 14 BB, 1.36 WHIP
3. Michael Cuddyer: .317/.430/.524, 5 HR, 20 RBI, 19 R, 1/1 SB
Three Down:
1. Ramon Ortiz: 22.1 IP, 0-3, 10.48 ERA, 8 K / 5 BB, 2.01 WHIP
2. Jason Bartlett: .243/.349/.284, 0 HR, 6 RBI, 10 R, 3/3 SB
3. Jason Tyner: .209/.286/.239, 0 HR, 7 RBI, 4 R, 0/0 SB
PROSPECT OF THE MONTH
Kevin Slowey - Rochester Red Wings
Kevin Slowey - Rochester Red Wings
Slowey's May actually wasn't quite as good as his April, but he still put up some phenomenal numbers and he gets the nod for Prospect of the Month for earning a call-up to the big leagues this week. After going 3-0 with a 1.05 ERA and .152 BAA in April, Slowey went 3-2 with a 1.86 ERA and .231 BAA in May. His strikeout rate dropped from 9.8 K/9 IP in April to 6.7 K/9 IP in May, but his ground ball rate improved. He also tossed three complete games in May after throwing none in April.JUNE PREVIEW
It's time for interleague play, which should be music to the ears of Twins fans after last year. The Twins will play home series against the Nationals, Braves and Brewers; they'll play road series against the Mets and Marlins. The Braves and Mets will likely provide a tough challenge for the Twins, but the rest of those series should be winnable. The Twins start the month with a road trip to the West Coast which kicks off tonight in Oakland and continues into next week with a three-game series in Anaheim that starts on Monday. The only American League opponent the Twins will face at home in June is Toronto, who comes into town for a four-game series toward the end of the month. All in all, the June schedule isn't overly tough and should provide the Twins with an opportunity to make up some games in the standings.Thursday, May 31, 2007
The Greek Gods of Walks?
Yesterday's game brought to a close one heck of an exciting sweep over the Chicago White Sox. In the series, the Twins outscored the Sox 26-12 and also managed to pull themselves two games over .500. Yesterday's win included many good subplots for discussion. The seven runs were impressive. The bullpen was amazing again, picking up after a terrible three-inning outing from Scott Baker. Jason Miller, Matt Guerrier, Pat Neshek, and Joe Nathan combined to allow no hits in six innings while striking out three and walking two. However, one thing stood out above all others: the patience of the Twins hitters.
There are many things that the Twins offense is known for and one of them is perhaps the most overdone catch phrase heard in sports in years (PIRANHA POWER!). But they don't have much of a reputation for patience. When it comes to walking, they aren't often mistaken for the Boston Red Sox or the Oakland Athletics. In fact, out of the Twins hitters, only Joe Mauer is really amongst the elite in terms of patience.
Thus, it was very interesting for this team to score seven runs on only seven hits along with eight walks. Walks were the theme of the game, which was eventually won by a bases-loaded walk by Torii Hunter in the bottom of the ninth that has roundly been attributed to David Aardsma not having enough time to warm-up. Hunter was clearly surprised with the walk, telling reporters, "I didn't know what to do. It was weird, man. That was something totally different. But I like it. We won."
However, Hunter was just the part of team effort in patience. Nick Punto was the standout, walking three times in the game to give him a team-leading 26 on the season. Punto is only hitting .237, but he still holds a fairly decent .337 on-base percentage, giving him a very impressive 0.100 isolated discipline. Interestingly, Punto's average has suffered because of his terrible hitting at home. Punto is hitting .320/.407/.400 on the road and only .177/.269/.219 at home. This is quite unusual, as from 2004-2006, Punto hit .293/.350/.415 at the Dome and only .241/.313/.296 on the road. While his overall offensive performance has been putrid over the past two months, Punto continues to take solid at-bats and his 30/26 strikeout-to-walk ratio is very good for him and its likely that those extreme splits will even out in due time.
Other than Punto and Hunter's walks, Jason Bartlett, Michael Cuddyer, Justin Morneau, and Jason Tyner all took walks, with Tyner's coming in the ninth and helping to set up Hunter's game-winning walk. The walks clearly haunted the White Sox, as five of them came around to score. Cuddyer is another important standout. He walked only 5 times in April but has drawn 16 in May. Cuddyer's solid month has raised his hitting line to a very good .302/.380/.484 with 37 RBI.
The team itself has been pretty good overall in terms of patience, as they came into the game with a .342 OBP to go with a team .276 average. That's a 0.66 isolated discipline, up slightly from the 0.60 they finished with last year. Overall, the Twins' .342 OBP ranks 7th in the majors while their 178 walks now rank them 14th. For a team that prides itself on being scrappy, the progress over the last month towards more patience, seen with hitters like Punto and Cuddyer, is a positive one for the Twins and certainly has contributed to their recent streak of series wins.
When an offense can wear down a pitcher, the way great offenses like Boston's do, and force them out of a game early, that team tends to win a lot. They can even drive an opposing manager so crazy that he relents to proclaiming, "I'm going to get fired? Good. Is this team going to get better having me out of there? I'd be too happy with it."
This has been the recent trend for the Twins, especially in the just-completed series against Chicago, which was displayed prominently in the win yesterday. Hopefully, when the Twins face the Oakland A's this weekend, they can mirror Billy Beane's "Moneyball" focus on patience while walking away with the series.
There are many things that the Twins offense is known for and one of them is perhaps the most overdone catch phrase heard in sports in years (PIRANHA POWER!). But they don't have much of a reputation for patience. When it comes to walking, they aren't often mistaken for the Boston Red Sox or the Oakland Athletics. In fact, out of the Twins hitters, only Joe Mauer is really amongst the elite in terms of patience.
Thus, it was very interesting for this team to score seven runs on only seven hits along with eight walks. Walks were the theme of the game, which was eventually won by a bases-loaded walk by Torii Hunter in the bottom of the ninth that has roundly been attributed to David Aardsma not having enough time to warm-up. Hunter was clearly surprised with the walk, telling reporters, "I didn't know what to do. It was weird, man. That was something totally different. But I like it. We won."
However, Hunter was just the part of team effort in patience. Nick Punto was the standout, walking three times in the game to give him a team-leading 26 on the season. Punto is only hitting .237, but he still holds a fairly decent .337 on-base percentage, giving him a very impressive 0.100 isolated discipline. Interestingly, Punto's average has suffered because of his terrible hitting at home. Punto is hitting .320/.407/.400 on the road and only .177/.269/.219 at home. This is quite unusual, as from 2004-2006, Punto hit .293/.350/.415 at the Dome and only .241/.313/.296 on the road. While his overall offensive performance has been putrid over the past two months, Punto continues to take solid at-bats and his 30/26 strikeout-to-walk ratio is very good for him and its likely that those extreme splits will even out in due time.
Other than Punto and Hunter's walks, Jason Bartlett, Michael Cuddyer, Justin Morneau, and Jason Tyner all took walks, with Tyner's coming in the ninth and helping to set up Hunter's game-winning walk. The walks clearly haunted the White Sox, as five of them came around to score. Cuddyer is another important standout. He walked only 5 times in April but has drawn 16 in May. Cuddyer's solid month has raised his hitting line to a very good .302/.380/.484 with 37 RBI.
The team itself has been pretty good overall in terms of patience, as they came into the game with a .342 OBP to go with a team .276 average. That's a 0.66 isolated discipline, up slightly from the 0.60 they finished with last year. Overall, the Twins' .342 OBP ranks 7th in the majors while their 178 walks now rank them 14th. For a team that prides itself on being scrappy, the progress over the last month towards more patience, seen with hitters like Punto and Cuddyer, is a positive one for the Twins and certainly has contributed to their recent streak of series wins.
When an offense can wear down a pitcher, the way great offenses like Boston's do, and force them out of a game early, that team tends to win a lot. They can even drive an opposing manager so crazy that he relents to proclaiming, "I'm going to get fired? Good. Is this team going to get better having me out of there? I'd be too happy with it."
This has been the recent trend for the Twins, especially in the just-completed series against Chicago, which was displayed prominently in the win yesterday. Hopefully, when the Twins face the Oakland A's this weekend, they can mirror Billy Beane's "Moneyball" focus on patience while walking away with the series.
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Enter Slowey
Some people thought Kevin Slowey should have gotten a shot in the majors toward the end of last season, after he had wrapped up a dominant season in the Twins' minor league system. Many people thought he should have gotten a shot in the Twins' rotation at the beginning of this season after he had posted a 3.38 ERA in spring training while Carlos Silva and Sidney Ponson had been shelled. Just about everyone seems to think that Slowey should get a chance now, as he has spent the past two months dominating the highest level of competition in the minors while Ramon Ortiz's implosion has earned him a demotion to the bullpen. Fortunately, it appears that Slowey will be getting that chance, as the Twins have made it all but official that he will be called up on Thursday and will be making his major-league debut in Oakland on Friday night.
Slowey's performance in Triple-A this year has been tremendously impressive for a number of reasons. He leads the International League in ERA (1.54) and WHIP (0.81), he's second in innings pitched (64.1) and fourth in strikeouts (57), and he's issued fewer walks than any other pitcher with 50+ IP. All this would seem to clearly indicate that Slowey has mastered the Triple-A level and is in need of a new challenge. The most exciting things about Slowey's dominance are the facts that he is still only 23 years old and he's in his first year at pitching at that level. Many pitchers that rank around him in various categories on the league leaderboard are either older or have more experience pitching in Triple-A.
Through his entire professional career up to this point, Slowey really has not faced any serious adversity. He has pitched well at every single stop in his journey through the Twins' system so far. After being drafted 73rd overall in the 2005 draft, Slowey pitched 7 1/3 effective innings in the Appalachian Rookie League before being bumped up to Beloit, where he posted a 2.24 ERA and 68/8 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 64 1/3 innings. He started his 2006 campaign pitching in High-A at Ft. Myers, where he was unspeakably dominant over 14 starts, posting a 1.01 ERA and 99/9 K/BB ratio over 89 1/3 innings. That performance earned him a promotion to Class-AA New Britain, where he finished the year with a 3.19 ERA over 59 1/3 innings.
Of course, just because a pitcher hasn't experienced any real problems in his climb through the minor leagues doesn't mean he won't hit a wall in the majors. Just ask Matt Garza. The major concern about Slowey is that he lacks a devastating arsenal. While his numbers in the minors are comparable to those of guys like Garza and Francisco Liriano, Slowey doesn't have the kind of nasty over-powering pitches that those two hurlers possess. He has a very good fastball that he can throw with great command, but most scouts describe the rest of his pitches as average. There is reason to think that this will affect him more in the majors than it has in any level of the minors. Of course, when a guy is able to post numbers like Slowey has throughout the minors with stuff that is not generally classified as dominant, it's evident that he really knows how to pitch.
That's why I feel that Slowey has a good chance to perform well in the majors. One of the biggest reasons that Garza struggled once he reached the majors last year was his lack of control. Overall, Garza pitched in 10 games and posted a 5.76 ERA last season. However, in the three outings where he issued fewer than two walks, Garza's ERA was 1.40. In the seven outings where he issued multiple walks, his ERA was 9.39. There is plenty of reason to believe Slowey can avoid these problems; he has issued a total of 35 walks over 285 innings in his career so far. That translates to a 1.11 BB/9 IP rate. For comparison, Garza's career BB/9 rate in the minors is 2.60.
In addition to his spectacular control, Slowey has not had problems with giving up too many home runs and he's shown a decent ability to induce ground balls. And, despite his purported lack of great stuff, Slowey has still managed to strike out more than a batter per inning on his way through the minor leagues.
All of these facts don't guarantee that Slowey is going to come up and start dominating major-league hitters. There's a very good chance the 23-year-old will have to go through an adjustment period and will encounter some struggles early on. But there are plenty of reasons to believe that he can help this team right now, and there is every reason to think that he will provide a significant upgrade over Ortiz. My prediction is that a Slowey outing this season will be similar to a typical Brad Radke outing; he'll get hit a little bit and maybe give up a few runs early on before making some adjustments and settling into a groove to finish well. I think Slowey will give the team a chance to win, which would be a refreshing change from Ortiz.
Slowey's performance in Triple-A this year has been tremendously impressive for a number of reasons. He leads the International League in ERA (1.54) and WHIP (0.81), he's second in innings pitched (64.1) and fourth in strikeouts (57), and he's issued fewer walks than any other pitcher with 50+ IP. All this would seem to clearly indicate that Slowey has mastered the Triple-A level and is in need of a new challenge. The most exciting things about Slowey's dominance are the facts that he is still only 23 years old and he's in his first year at pitching at that level. Many pitchers that rank around him in various categories on the league leaderboard are either older or have more experience pitching in Triple-A.
Through his entire professional career up to this point, Slowey really has not faced any serious adversity. He has pitched well at every single stop in his journey through the Twins' system so far. After being drafted 73rd overall in the 2005 draft, Slowey pitched 7 1/3 effective innings in the Appalachian Rookie League before being bumped up to Beloit, where he posted a 2.24 ERA and 68/8 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 64 1/3 innings. He started his 2006 campaign pitching in High-A at Ft. Myers, where he was unspeakably dominant over 14 starts, posting a 1.01 ERA and 99/9 K/BB ratio over 89 1/3 innings. That performance earned him a promotion to Class-AA New Britain, where he finished the year with a 3.19 ERA over 59 1/3 innings.Of course, just because a pitcher hasn't experienced any real problems in his climb through the minor leagues doesn't mean he won't hit a wall in the majors. Just ask Matt Garza. The major concern about Slowey is that he lacks a devastating arsenal. While his numbers in the minors are comparable to those of guys like Garza and Francisco Liriano, Slowey doesn't have the kind of nasty over-powering pitches that those two hurlers possess. He has a very good fastball that he can throw with great command, but most scouts describe the rest of his pitches as average. There is reason to think that this will affect him more in the majors than it has in any level of the minors. Of course, when a guy is able to post numbers like Slowey has throughout the minors with stuff that is not generally classified as dominant, it's evident that he really knows how to pitch.
That's why I feel that Slowey has a good chance to perform well in the majors. One of the biggest reasons that Garza struggled once he reached the majors last year was his lack of control. Overall, Garza pitched in 10 games and posted a 5.76 ERA last season. However, in the three outings where he issued fewer than two walks, Garza's ERA was 1.40. In the seven outings where he issued multiple walks, his ERA was 9.39. There is plenty of reason to believe Slowey can avoid these problems; he has issued a total of 35 walks over 285 innings in his career so far. That translates to a 1.11 BB/9 IP rate. For comparison, Garza's career BB/9 rate in the minors is 2.60.
In addition to his spectacular control, Slowey has not had problems with giving up too many home runs and he's shown a decent ability to induce ground balls. And, despite his purported lack of great stuff, Slowey has still managed to strike out more than a batter per inning on his way through the minor leagues.
All of these facts don't guarantee that Slowey is going to come up and start dominating major-league hitters. There's a very good chance the 23-year-old will have to go through an adjustment period and will encounter some struggles early on. But there are plenty of reasons to believe that he can help this team right now, and there is every reason to think that he will provide a significant upgrade over Ortiz. My prediction is that a Slowey outing this season will be similar to a typical Brad Radke outing; he'll get hit a little bit and maybe give up a few runs early on before making some adjustments and settling into a groove to finish well. I think Slowey will give the team a chance to win, which would be a refreshing change from Ortiz.
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Bats, Defense Come Alive to Support Santana
Just a few starts ago, Johan Santana gave up only two runs to the Indians, but still managed to take the loss despite his dominance and great pitching. Yesterday, Santana was not fantastic, but he was good enough against the White Sox. He went eight innings, giving up seven hits and four runs, while walking one and striking out seven and picking up the win.
As usual, Santana followed his normal problem by giving up a few home runs to increase his total to 12 already this year, which puts him on pace to equal the amount Carlos Silva gave up last year (38). Despite that, the Twins offense managed to support Santana plenty, putting up 10 runs against starter Jose Contreras and the White Sox bullpen.
For the Twins lineup, that's a very good sign, considering how badly Contreras dominated Twins hitters the last time they saw him, as he put together a five-hit shutout only a few weeks back. This time around, the Twins hitters managed to do significantly better, not only scoring seven runs on ten hits, but also walking three times.
Several hitters had important big games, including Nick Punto, Mike Redmond, and Torii Hunter. Punto, who has been nothing short of awful offensively since the beginning of the season, went 3-for-4 with two RBI, a walk, and a run scored. He also stole two bases. Though he had been struggling, he is now 5-for-13 in his last three games and hopefully is starting to put things together. Redmond, on the other hand, had a much bigger hit as he continues to be hot in Joe Mauer's absence.
Since taking over for Mauer regularly on May 5, Redmond is 25-for-64 (.391) with a .531 slugging percentage. He has only had 5 RBI in that time, but he had a huge hit last night, with a bases-clearing double in the sixth to give the Twins an 8-4 lead. Redmond clearly has been spectacular and has done as good of a job as anyone could expect with Mauer gone.
As for Hunter, he not only went 3-for-5 with an RBI to raise his average to .317, but also made a great catch in support of Santana. In the eighth inning, Jim Thome appeared to crush a home run to left-center, but Hunter climb the wall in the very famous section of the park to take the home run away from Thome. Hunter has not been nearly as good defensively as he has in the past, but he has certainly made a few memorable plays in recent weeks.
With 16 hits in 37 at-bats, the offense certainly seemed to come out of its funk. However, only three of those went for extra-bases. They'll face a bigger test today, as John Danks has been good against the Twins this year, going 1-1 with a 2.84 ERA. It's a good thing for the Twins Boof Bonser is taking the hill, as he has been fairly dominant as of late.
As usual, Santana followed his normal problem by giving up a few home runs to increase his total to 12 already this year, which puts him on pace to equal the amount Carlos Silva gave up last year (38). Despite that, the Twins offense managed to support Santana plenty, putting up 10 runs against starter Jose Contreras and the White Sox bullpen.
For the Twins lineup, that's a very good sign, considering how badly Contreras dominated Twins hitters the last time they saw him, as he put together a five-hit shutout only a few weeks back. This time around, the Twins hitters managed to do significantly better, not only scoring seven runs on ten hits, but also walking three times.
Several hitters had important big games, including Nick Punto, Mike Redmond, and Torii Hunter. Punto, who has been nothing short of awful offensively since the beginning of the season, went 3-for-4 with two RBI, a walk, and a run scored. He also stole two bases. Though he had been struggling, he is now 5-for-13 in his last three games and hopefully is starting to put things together. Redmond, on the other hand, had a much bigger hit as he continues to be hot in Joe Mauer's absence.
Since taking over for Mauer regularly on May 5, Redmond is 25-for-64 (.391) with a .531 slugging percentage. He has only had 5 RBI in that time, but he had a huge hit last night, with a bases-clearing double in the sixth to give the Twins an 8-4 lead. Redmond clearly has been spectacular and has done as good of a job as anyone could expect with Mauer gone.
As for Hunter, he not only went 3-for-5 with an RBI to raise his average to .317, but also made a great catch in support of Santana. In the eighth inning, Jim Thome appeared to crush a home run to left-center, but Hunter climb the wall in the very famous section of the park to take the home run away from Thome. Hunter has not been nearly as good defensively as he has in the past, but he has certainly made a few memorable plays in recent weeks.
With 16 hits in 37 at-bats, the offense certainly seemed to come out of its funk. However, only three of those went for extra-bases. They'll face a bigger test today, as John Danks has been good against the Twins this year, going 1-1 with a 2.84 ERA. It's a good thing for the Twins Boof Bonser is taking the hill, as he has been fairly dominant as of late.
Monday, May 28, 2007
The Justin Morneau Show
Sometimes it's scary to think about where the Twins' offense would be without Justin Morneau. Yesterday, as the team toiled away unsuccessfully against Blue Jays starter A.J. Burnett, Morneau was the sole offensive star and he pretty much single-handedly willed the team to victory. I'd say those are the defining characteristics of an MVP.
Burnett, who possesses some devastating stuff, was baffling the Twins' hitters yesterday. The 30-year-old righthander allowed four runs (three earned) while pitching all eight innings in a loss against the Twins. He struck out eight and walked three. Burnett gave up just three hits, but two of them came off the bat of Morneau, who was also responsible for all the Twins' scoring in the game. In the third inning, Morneau came up with the bases loaded and hit a high chopper to the pitcher's mound. Even if Burnett had fielded the ball cleanly and made an accurate throw to first, Morneau probably would have beaten out the play and driven in a run. However, Burnett rushed his throw and it sailed over the first baseman's head, allowing Morneau to move to second and allowing another run to score. This gave the Twins a 2-1 lead. Morneau later extended that lead to 4-1 when he hit a towering two-run homer into the upper-deck in the sixth inning. That was it for the Twins' offense.
Fortunately, thanks to a great pitching performance from Carlos Silva, four runs would be plenty in this game. The Twins really needed Silva to step up and pitch deep into yesterday's game after Saturday night's 13-inning marathon had depleted most of the bullpen. Silva answered the call, pitching into the eighth inning while allowing just two runs. After he left the game to a standing ovation, Juan Rincon and Joe Nathan came in to take care of the final five outs and the Twins got their victory. The series win was the Twins' first at home since their season-opening sweep of the Orioles.
The Twins seem to be coming out of their funk and are playing more like the team I expected them to be this season. The offense has gained some consistency (they've scored 4+ runs in each of their past nine games) and should only get better once Joe Mauer returns, which could take place this week. Meanwhile, the rotation is looking pretty good. Johan Santana has been dominant, Boof Bonser has been impressive, Scott Baker has looked good in his two starts, and Silva made a big statement with his much-needed outstanding performance yesterday. Of course, the major weakness remains Ramon Ortiz, but it sounds like he's headed for the bullpen. The Twins don't need the guy who comes up and replaces him (likely Kevin Slowey) to step in and start pitching like Liriano, but if that player is able to pitch relatively well, this could become a very strong rotation.
In my mind, there are two major things that the Twins need to start doing consistently in order to work their way into contention: win at home, and win against divisional opponents. They haven't been doing either of those things very well this year, but the Toronto series was a step in the right direction toward the first goal and they can take another big step toward both goals by winning their series against the White Sox which kicks off at the Metrodome this afternoon.
Burnett, who possesses some devastating stuff, was baffling the Twins' hitters yesterday. The 30-year-old righthander allowed four runs (three earned) while pitching all eight innings in a loss against the Twins. He struck out eight and walked three. Burnett gave up just three hits, but two of them came off the bat of Morneau, who was also responsible for all the Twins' scoring in the game. In the third inning, Morneau came up with the bases loaded and hit a high chopper to the pitcher's mound. Even if Burnett had fielded the ball cleanly and made an accurate throw to first, Morneau probably would have beaten out the play and driven in a run. However, Burnett rushed his throw and it sailed over the first baseman's head, allowing Morneau to move to second and allowing another run to score. This gave the Twins a 2-1 lead. Morneau later extended that lead to 4-1 when he hit a towering two-run homer into the upper-deck in the sixth inning. That was it for the Twins' offense.
Fortunately, thanks to a great pitching performance from Carlos Silva, four runs would be plenty in this game. The Twins really needed Silva to step up and pitch deep into yesterday's game after Saturday night's 13-inning marathon had depleted most of the bullpen. Silva answered the call, pitching into the eighth inning while allowing just two runs. After he left the game to a standing ovation, Juan Rincon and Joe Nathan came in to take care of the final five outs and the Twins got their victory. The series win was the Twins' first at home since their season-opening sweep of the Orioles.
The Twins seem to be coming out of their funk and are playing more like the team I expected them to be this season. The offense has gained some consistency (they've scored 4+ runs in each of their past nine games) and should only get better once Joe Mauer returns, which could take place this week. Meanwhile, the rotation is looking pretty good. Johan Santana has been dominant, Boof Bonser has been impressive, Scott Baker has looked good in his two starts, and Silva made a big statement with his much-needed outstanding performance yesterday. Of course, the major weakness remains Ramon Ortiz, but it sounds like he's headed for the bullpen. The Twins don't need the guy who comes up and replaces him (likely Kevin Slowey) to step in and start pitching like Liriano, but if that player is able to pitch relatively well, this could become a very strong rotation.
In my mind, there are two major things that the Twins need to start doing consistently in order to work their way into contention: win at home, and win against divisional opponents. They haven't been doing either of those things very well this year, but the Toronto series was a step in the right direction toward the first goal and they can take another big step toward both goals by winning their series against the White Sox which kicks off at the Metrodome this afternoon.
Sunday, May 27, 2007
Not Quite Enough
The Twins tried very hard last night to win their second game against the Blue Jays, rallying multiple times, but eventually, it wasn't enough. Many things occurred in the 9-8, 13-inning loss to the Blue Jays that are worth discussing, but most important was that Ramon Ortiz continued his May self-destruction with another terrible start.
Several things stick out in Ortiz's start. For one, he gave up ten hits in six innings. For reference, that adds up to 40 hits in 21 1/3 May innings. Those are incredibly bad numbers to begin with. However, Ortiz also gave up three home runs to the Jays, adding up to nine so far on the year. He gave up six earned runs in six innings. That adds up to the following May stats: 0-3, 21.1 IP, 40 hits, 28 runs, 27 earned runs, five walks, 10 Ks, six home runs, and an 11.39 ERA.
With that in mind, Ortiz's good April seems like more of a fluke that originally considered. Ortiz was always a streaky pitcher, so it would seem that this is a matter of things evening out. Ortiz struck out only 14 hitters in 35 April innings and that has only continued in May with the 10 strikeouts. The result has been by far Ortiz's lowest strikeout rate of his career. That would only continue a downward trend that started in 2004, as his strikeouts have gone down just as quickly as his ERA has risen every year.
Hopefully, the Twins realize this and quickly end the experiment with Ortiz. It's unlikely that they would just eat his contract or even try to trade him, so the best move to hope for is a move to long relief that will clear a spot for Matt Garza or Kevin Slowey.
As for the game outside of Ortiz's ugly performance, there were some positive performances in what was a disappointing loss. Michael Cuddyer stood out, as he not only had several clutch hits, but started off the scoring with an RBI single in the third. Overall, Cuddyer went 4-for-5 with a home run, 5 RBI, and a walk. With his standout performance, Cuddyer raised his batting line to a more than respectable .290/.354/.479. Other than Cuddyer's 5 RBI, Justin Morneau was the only other Twins run-producer, with an RBI double and a important RBI groundout in the 11th to tie the game for a second time and send the game to further extra innings.
In total, the Twins had 17 hits, but wasted numerous opportunities to win the game. Today's game will prove a greater challenge, as unlike Tomo Okha, A.J. Burnett has been on fire lately, striking out 44 in 35 May innings so far. He will likely strike out a good deal of Twins hitters today. The best chance the Twins have will be to show patience, as Burnett's 31 walks on the year ranks him first in the AL.
Several things stick out in Ortiz's start. For one, he gave up ten hits in six innings. For reference, that adds up to 40 hits in 21 1/3 May innings. Those are incredibly bad numbers to begin with. However, Ortiz also gave up three home runs to the Jays, adding up to nine so far on the year. He gave up six earned runs in six innings. That adds up to the following May stats: 0-3, 21.1 IP, 40 hits, 28 runs, 27 earned runs, five walks, 10 Ks, six home runs, and an 11.39 ERA.
With that in mind, Ortiz's good April seems like more of a fluke that originally considered. Ortiz was always a streaky pitcher, so it would seem that this is a matter of things evening out. Ortiz struck out only 14 hitters in 35 April innings and that has only continued in May with the 10 strikeouts. The result has been by far Ortiz's lowest strikeout rate of his career. That would only continue a downward trend that started in 2004, as his strikeouts have gone down just as quickly as his ERA has risen every year.
Hopefully, the Twins realize this and quickly end the experiment with Ortiz. It's unlikely that they would just eat his contract or even try to trade him, so the best move to hope for is a move to long relief that will clear a spot for Matt Garza or Kevin Slowey.
As for the game outside of Ortiz's ugly performance, there were some positive performances in what was a disappointing loss. Michael Cuddyer stood out, as he not only had several clutch hits, but started off the scoring with an RBI single in the third. Overall, Cuddyer went 4-for-5 with a home run, 5 RBI, and a walk. With his standout performance, Cuddyer raised his batting line to a more than respectable .290/.354/.479. Other than Cuddyer's 5 RBI, Justin Morneau was the only other Twins run-producer, with an RBI double and a important RBI groundout in the 11th to tie the game for a second time and send the game to further extra innings.
In total, the Twins had 17 hits, but wasted numerous opportunities to win the game. Today's game will prove a greater challenge, as unlike Tomo Okha, A.J. Burnett has been on fire lately, striking out 44 in 35 May innings so far. He will likely strike out a good deal of Twins hitters today. The best chance the Twins have will be to show patience, as Burnett's 31 walks on the year ranks him first in the AL.
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Twins Just Squeeze By
After what was a depressing two weeks for the Twins, the team has now won five of its last seven games and have nearly reached .500 again. Last night, the offense got a few breaks, the bullpen was good, and Scott Baker was decent enough. The Twins offense collected 10 hits and managed four runs and just got by with a tight victory over the Blue Jays.
The offensive standouts included Luis Castillo, who went 2-for-3 with a walk and now owns a .336/.381/.371 line, as well as Michael Cuddyer, who hit a big two-run homer to give the Twins a 3-2 lead in the fifth. That gives Cuddyer 6 home runs and 31 RBI on the year. He has started rather slow this year, but he remains on pace to score over 100 runs, drive in 100, and hit 22 home runs. If Cuddyer really starts to heat up, those numbers may start to add up pretty quickly considering what he has done in a relatively slow start. Lastly, Torii Hunter's RBI single in the 7th to give the Twins the lead permanently added to what has already been a fantastic season for Hunter.
Pitching-wise, Baker was not nearly as good as he was in his first 2007 start against the Brewers last week. However, despite giving up three runs in only 5 1/3 innings, Baker had a good run in the game by retiring 10 straight batters. Baker's real problem, besides the game-tying home run he gave up to Frank Thomas, was the four walks he gave up in contrast to only two strikeouts. Baker ran into troubles last year when his fastballs ran high, as they often did last night, or when he lacked control. If he is going to have continued success, he needs to show the control he has shown in the minors.
On the other hand, those few good arms remaining in the bullpen did well again last night. Matt Guerrier, Pat Neshek, and Joe Nathan combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings while striking out four, giving up three hits, and walking one. Nathan's ninth inning got a little hairy, but the breaking ball he threw to strike out Lyle Overbay and end the game was ridiculously nasty. The .294 OBA Nathan has allowed so far is unusual, but the ERA is a great 2.11 and he is still striking out plenty of batters. Looks like there was no reason to worry in April.
Tonight, a more interesting situation will appear for the Twins and their fans, as Ramon Ortiz will be starting after four straight awful outings. Many have now suggested Ortiz move into long relief, which I agree with, and if Ortiz has another atrocious start, the Twins should not think twice of making the move and bringing Kevin Slowey or Matt Garza up to claim their rightful spot in the rotation.
The offensive standouts included Luis Castillo, who went 2-for-3 with a walk and now owns a .336/.381/.371 line, as well as Michael Cuddyer, who hit a big two-run homer to give the Twins a 3-2 lead in the fifth. That gives Cuddyer 6 home runs and 31 RBI on the year. He has started rather slow this year, but he remains on pace to score over 100 runs, drive in 100, and hit 22 home runs. If Cuddyer really starts to heat up, those numbers may start to add up pretty quickly considering what he has done in a relatively slow start. Lastly, Torii Hunter's RBI single in the 7th to give the Twins the lead permanently added to what has already been a fantastic season for Hunter.
Pitching-wise, Baker was not nearly as good as he was in his first 2007 start against the Brewers last week. However, despite giving up three runs in only 5 1/3 innings, Baker had a good run in the game by retiring 10 straight batters. Baker's real problem, besides the game-tying home run he gave up to Frank Thomas, was the four walks he gave up in contrast to only two strikeouts. Baker ran into troubles last year when his fastballs ran high, as they often did last night, or when he lacked control. If he is going to have continued success, he needs to show the control he has shown in the minors.
On the other hand, those few good arms remaining in the bullpen did well again last night. Matt Guerrier, Pat Neshek, and Joe Nathan combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings while striking out four, giving up three hits, and walking one. Nathan's ninth inning got a little hairy, but the breaking ball he threw to strike out Lyle Overbay and end the game was ridiculously nasty. The .294 OBA Nathan has allowed so far is unusual, but the ERA is a great 2.11 and he is still striking out plenty of batters. Looks like there was no reason to worry in April.
Tonight, a more interesting situation will appear for the Twins and their fans, as Ramon Ortiz will be starting after four straight awful outings. Many have now suggested Ortiz move into long relief, which I agree with, and if Ortiz has another atrocious start, the Twins should not think twice of making the move and bringing Kevin Slowey or Matt Garza up to claim their rightful spot in the rotation.
Friday, May 25, 2007
A Lack of Patience Pays Off
In my perusal of numerous Twins blogs and message boards this season, the most popular topic for discussion by far has been Torii Hunter and his future with the team. Hunter, who is in the last year of his current contract, will become a free agent following the 2007 season and coincidentally, he is on pace for the best season of his career. In 44 games, Hunter has batted .315/.352/.607 and he's on pace for 38 home runs and 140 RBI. Should the Twins deal Hunter if the Twins are not in contention around the trading deadline? Should they trade him even if they are in contention? His stellar numbers so far this season are certainly making matters a bit more interesting.
Many people have been stunned by the incredibly hot start Hunter has gotten off to this season, but what it is is actually a much longer torrid streak that stretches back to last season. Many will recall that he was a tremendous force in September of '06, when he hit nine homers and amassed in 27 RBI in 29 games. Since the 2006 All-Star break, Hunter has hit .304 with 28 HR and 89 RBI in just 106 games. For comparison, during that same span, the reigning MVP Justin Morneau has hit .319 with 25 HR and 88 RBI in 122 games.
The striking thing about Hunter's prolonged hot streak is that during those 106 games, he has collected a total of just 15 walks. This season, Hunter has drawn just eight free passes in 179 plate appearances, and that's after he walked twice in Sunday's game against the Brewers and was issued an intentional walk by the Rangers on Wednesday afternoon. Just how odd is it for a player to be putting up numbers like Hunter while showing almost no patience at the plate whatsoever? Among the 18 players in the major leagues with 10 or more home runs, Hunter is the only one with fewer than 10 walks. Among the league's top 40 RBI producers, only Hunter and San Francisco's Bengie Molina have drawn fewer than 10 free passes. It is extremely rare for a player to rack up homers and RBI at an elite rate without showing any patience at the plate, but Hunter has been doing it for almost five months now.
For years, Twins fans have bemoaned Hunter's first-pitch hacks and have wished that he could start to show more patience at the plate. But maybe those thoughts were misguided. The Twins' center fielder is as much a hacker at the plate as he ever was, but he seems to have gotten really, really good at it. Hunter is currently on pace to draw fewer than 40 walks this year. The last time he did that (with the exception of his injury-shortened 2005 campaign) was 2002. And 2002 happened to be the year Hunter posted career highs in batting average and slugging percentage. It also happened to be a contract year.
I'm not even really going to attempt to answer the question of whether or not the Twins should trade Hunter this July. That will be an issue worth tackling a bit further down the road. Right now, I think it's interesting to just sit back and marvel at Hunter's rare ability to combine great power and run producing ability with an utter lack of patience at the plate. The season Hunter is having brings back memories of successful hackers such as Andre Dawson and Jim Rice from the '80s, which is not bad company at all considering that both are borderline Hall of Famers.
So the next time Hunter comes to the plate following back-to-back walks and goes chopping at that first pitch, don't get frustrated. Patience isn't always a virtue.
Many people have been stunned by the incredibly hot start Hunter has gotten off to this season, but what it is is actually a much longer torrid streak that stretches back to last season. Many will recall that he was a tremendous force in September of '06, when he hit nine homers and amassed in 27 RBI in 29 games. Since the 2006 All-Star break, Hunter has hit .304 with 28 HR and 89 RBI in just 106 games. For comparison, during that same span, the reigning MVP Justin Morneau has hit .319 with 25 HR and 88 RBI in 122 games.
The striking thing about Hunter's prolonged hot streak is that during those 106 games, he has collected a total of just 15 walks. This season, Hunter has drawn just eight free passes in 179 plate appearances, and that's after he walked twice in Sunday's game against the Brewers and was issued an intentional walk by the Rangers on Wednesday afternoon. Just how odd is it for a player to be putting up numbers like Hunter while showing almost no patience at the plate whatsoever? Among the 18 players in the major leagues with 10 or more home runs, Hunter is the only one with fewer than 10 walks. Among the league's top 40 RBI producers, only Hunter and San Francisco's Bengie Molina have drawn fewer than 10 free passes. It is extremely rare for a player to rack up homers and RBI at an elite rate without showing any patience at the plate, but Hunter has been doing it for almost five months now.
For years, Twins fans have bemoaned Hunter's first-pitch hacks and have wished that he could start to show more patience at the plate. But maybe those thoughts were misguided. The Twins' center fielder is as much a hacker at the plate as he ever was, but he seems to have gotten really, really good at it. Hunter is currently on pace to draw fewer than 40 walks this year. The last time he did that (with the exception of his injury-shortened 2005 campaign) was 2002. And 2002 happened to be the year Hunter posted career highs in batting average and slugging percentage. It also happened to be a contract year.
I'm not even really going to attempt to answer the question of whether or not the Twins should trade Hunter this July. That will be an issue worth tackling a bit further down the road. Right now, I think it's interesting to just sit back and marvel at Hunter's rare ability to combine great power and run producing ability with an utter lack of patience at the plate. The season Hunter is having brings back memories of successful hackers such as Andre Dawson and Jim Rice from the '80s, which is not bad company at all considering that both are borderline Hall of Famers.
So the next time Hunter comes to the plate following back-to-back walks and goes chopping at that first pitch, don't get frustrated. Patience isn't always a virtue.
Thursday, May 24, 2007
Back In the Swing of Things
After stumbling into their latest road trip with a brutal sweep at the hands of the Indians, the Twins managed to salvage a 4-5 record over the nine-game trip by winning series in Milwaukee and Texas. When Fausto Carmona completed the Indians' sweep of the Twins last week with a complete game shutout, it was perhaps the lowest point of the season for this Minnesota team. But from that point on, the Twins have played much better baseball. In their six games against the Brewers and Rangers, the Twins' offense scored 8, 5, 5, 4, 7 and 5 runs. Now, it's difficult to be too impressed by those numbers considering the Twins didn't face much great pitching over that span and the majority of their offense came from two players (Torii Hunter and Justin Morneau combined drive in 19 of the Twins' 34 runs in those six games). Still, it's nice to see from an offense that had averaged just four runs per game previously in May -- that's including the 16-run outburst against the Tigers a couple Sundays ago. And the Twins won every one of those six games not started by Carlos Silva or Ramon Ortiz.
Yesterday's series-clinching 5-3 win over the Rangers was a nail-biter all the way. The Twins scored a run in each of the first three innings and added two in the fifth. This gave them a lead they would never surrender, but the Rangers always seemed just one swing away from tying the game or taking the lead. Boof Bonser struggled to hit his spots throughout the game and needed 101 pitches to work through five innings, but his end results were good once again. He picked up his third win in May, finishing with a line of: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 6 K, 2 BB.
Bonser hasn't been in the big leagues for long, but already I'm starting to get the sense that he's the type of pitcher that will struggle a bit in the early going and then get better and better as he picks up steam. Last year, Bonser struggled a little bit during his first couple months in the majors, posting a 5.30 ERA over his first seven starts before being sent back down to Rochester for a bit. But he pitched very well down the stretch, posting a 3.62 ERA after returning to the Twins in August, including a September in which he went 4-1 with a 2.63 ERA.
This year, Bonser was roughed up in his first few starts and held a 6.89 ERA on April 15. Since then, he has posted a 2.70 ERA in seven starts and the Twins have won six of those games.
The one area where I'd really like to see Bonser improve is in his ability to pitch deep into ballgames. While Bonser's overall numbers are good (now 3-1 with a 3.88 ERA) and he's among the league leaders in strikeouts, he's averaged less than 5 2/3 innings per outing so far and has completed seven frames just twice in ten starts. With Ortiz and Silva already giving the bullpen plenty of work, you'd like to see Bonser step up pitch deeper into these games.
Yesterday's series-clinching 5-3 win over the Rangers was a nail-biter all the way. The Twins scored a run in each of the first three innings and added two in the fifth. This gave them a lead they would never surrender, but the Rangers always seemed just one swing away from tying the game or taking the lead. Boof Bonser struggled to hit his spots throughout the game and needed 101 pitches to work through five innings, but his end results were good once again. He picked up his third win in May, finishing with a line of: 5 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 6 K, 2 BB.
Bonser hasn't been in the big leagues for long, but already I'm starting to get the sense that he's the type of pitcher that will struggle a bit in the early going and then get better and better as he picks up steam. Last year, Bonser struggled a little bit during his first couple months in the majors, posting a 5.30 ERA over his first seven starts before being sent back down to Rochester for a bit. But he pitched very well down the stretch, posting a 3.62 ERA after returning to the Twins in August, including a September in which he went 4-1 with a 2.63 ERA.
This year, Bonser was roughed up in his first few starts and held a 6.89 ERA on April 15. Since then, he has posted a 2.70 ERA in seven starts and the Twins have won six of those games.
The one area where I'd really like to see Bonser improve is in his ability to pitch deep into ballgames. While Bonser's overall numbers are good (now 3-1 with a 3.88 ERA) and he's among the league leaders in strikeouts, he's averaged less than 5 2/3 innings per outing so far and has completed seven frames just twice in ten starts. With Ortiz and Silva already giving the bullpen plenty of work, you'd like to see Bonser step up pitch deeper into these games.
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Tag-Team Outing
A 7-1 score and a Twins victory might entice some people into thinking that the Twins offense had a good game last night, but that wasn't quite the case. Johan Santana and Justin Morneau were essentially responsible for the victory. Beyond their contributions, Torii Hunter had a late two-run home run and Pat Neshek and Joe Nathan struck out five Rangers in two innings.
Morneau provided almost all the Twins' offense with two home runs and five RBI. In the fourth, he hit a two-run homer to give the Twins the lead and in the following inning, he hit a three-run blast to push the Twins' lead to four runs. With the two big home runs, Morneau is second in the AL for homers with 13 to go along with 32 RBI and he now has a very good .285/.362/.570 line that in some ways feels more impressive than what he did last year. At this point in May last year, Morneau looked like he might have a trip back to Triple-A in his future, but this year, he is now continuing to establish himself as one of the premier sluggers in the AL.
As for Santana, he followed what was a very good outing against the Indians last Thursday (that resulted in a terribly disappointing 2-0 loss) in which he struck out 11 by striking out 13 Rangers in seven innings while giving up four hits, one run, and two walks. Most impressive was not just the 95-mph fastballs combined with that great changeup, bemusing hitter after hitter, but that all 13 strikeouts came on swings, which is certainly a testament to Santana's dominance against the Rangers last night. With that, Santana is now 5-4 with a 3.05 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, .221 OBA, and 80 K in 65 innings to put him in the MLB lead.
Santana's only real blemish so far year, other than the 5-4 record he clearly doesn't deserve, is the 10 home runs he has allowed so far. That puts him on pace for 35 on the season. In Santana's last five starts, seven of the nine runs he has given up have been on home runs. The good news for the Twins fans is it hasn't been a problem, as only one of those home runs was not a solo home run. Considering that Santana is striking out over 11 batters per nine innings, it would seem he is well on his way to his best season ever.
Despite Morneau and Santana's efforts, there aren't too many signs that the Twins are beginning to show some consistency. Morneau, Santana, Hunter, Neshek, and Nathan have all been quite good this season. Consider that the rest of the lineup went only 5-for-25 and it would seem that the Twins have a few more games to win before getting too excited. Good thing that Boof Bonser takes the hill this afternoon, as he was just as good as Santana in his Friday outing against the Brewers, striking out 11. Lets hope for some more double-digit K's.
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Texas Massacre
Many people predicted that the Twins would have a hard time competing this season because of the weak back part of their rotation -- namely: Ramon Ortiz, Sidney Ponson and Carlos Silva. In April, Ortiz and Silva were surprisingly solid while Ponson managed to show some promise. May, however, has been a different story. These three pitchers have been everything we'd feared they would be, and the Twins have gone 1-9 in the 10 games they've started this month. Ponson was released just over a week ago after struggling through seven starts, and now Ortiz looks like he may be next in line after posting an 11.74 ERA and 2.28 WHIP over his past four outings. Silva held out longer than either of the other two, but now it looks like he too may be falling apart.
Silva got the start against the Rangers yesterday in a game the Twins ended up losing 14-4. He lasted just 4 1/3 innings while giving up nine hits and seven earned runs. His ERA rose to 4.47 and his record dropped to 2-5. After Silva came out of the game, rookie Julio DePaula very well may have earned his ticket back to Rochester, putting the game well out of reach with an atrocious outing. DePaula was shelled for seven runs (six earned) on six hits and three walks in just one inning. Silva and DePaula combined to let in 14 runs on 15 hits, three walks and three home runs.
It is becoming increasingly evident that the Twins cannot be a winning ballclub if they continue to start Ortiz and Silva in 40 percent of their games. I wrote recently that Silva's early success seemed somewhat sustainable and I maintain that he could probably be a serviceable No. 5 pitcher in this rotation, but when coupled with Ortiz his struggles become magnified. Meanwhile, Kevin Slowey holds a 1.76 ERA down in Triple-A and Glen Perkins (who will be out for a couple weeks after injuring a muscle last night) has posted a 3.80 out of the Twins' bullpen. There's no guarantee that either of these pitchers would be able to step into the Twins' rotation and light the world on fire, and even if they did there's no guarantee that the Twins would become a competitive team because they play in such a difficult division and because their offense has proven to be so dreadfully inconsistent. Yet, installing a Slowey or a Perkins would at least give fans a promising young player to get excited about watching every five days. Right now, it's becoming difficult to look forward to games started by Ortiz and Silva which have almost literally become guaranteed losses.
Silva got the start against the Rangers yesterday in a game the Twins ended up losing 14-4. He lasted just 4 1/3 innings while giving up nine hits and seven earned runs. His ERA rose to 4.47 and his record dropped to 2-5. After Silva came out of the game, rookie Julio DePaula very well may have earned his ticket back to Rochester, putting the game well out of reach with an atrocious outing. DePaula was shelled for seven runs (six earned) on six hits and three walks in just one inning. Silva and DePaula combined to let in 14 runs on 15 hits, three walks and three home runs.
It is becoming increasingly evident that the Twins cannot be a winning ballclub if they continue to start Ortiz and Silva in 40 percent of their games. I wrote recently that Silva's early success seemed somewhat sustainable and I maintain that he could probably be a serviceable No. 5 pitcher in this rotation, but when coupled with Ortiz his struggles become magnified. Meanwhile, Kevin Slowey holds a 1.76 ERA down in Triple-A and Glen Perkins (who will be out for a couple weeks after injuring a muscle last night) has posted a 3.80 out of the Twins' bullpen. There's no guarantee that either of these pitchers would be able to step into the Twins' rotation and light the world on fire, and even if they did there's no guarantee that the Twins would become a competitive team because they play in such a difficult division and because their offense has proven to be so dreadfully inconsistent. Yet, installing a Slowey or a Perkins would at least give fans a promising young player to get excited about watching every five days. Right now, it's becoming difficult to look forward to games started by Ortiz and Silva which have almost literally become guaranteed losses.
Monday, May 21, 2007
Weekend Recap (w/ Pictures)
After winning the first two games against the Brewers this weekend and taking an early four-run lead in yesterday afternoon's game, it appeared that the Twins were on their way to a big sweep in Milwaukee before Ramon Ortiz imploded and surrendered the lead. You have to be happy with a series win on the road, but this series left me with an empty feeling because the Twins outplayed the Brewers thoroughly for the most part and seemed very close to picking up their third sweep of the season and moving back within a game of .500. As it stands, the Twins will need to sweep the Rangers in Texas over the next three days in order to come out of this road trip with a winning record.
My weekend in Milwaukee was a lot of fun. I only attended one of the three games (Saturday night's), but I think it was the best one. I've got a lot of thoughts on the weekend's series, so I'll get right to them in the classic bullet-point format.
* Mr. Mosvick and I were highly critical of the Twins' decision to sign Ortiz in the offseason, and some readers commented that they thought we were being overly harsh. While Ortiz got off to a fast start in April, a few people popped up in the comments section to give us some grief for our doomsday predictions about the enthusiastic 33-year-old right-hander. The whole time, I responded by saying that I was happy and pleasantly surprised by the way he was pitching, but that by no means was I expecting the facade to last. His slate of starts during the month of May have shown exactly why I elected to reserve my optimism.
Ortiz was awful yesterday. He managed to putter his way through the first four innings with only two runs allowed, but he was treading a very dangerous line by allowing seven baserunners during that span and recording just two strikeouts. In the fifth inning, the Brewers finally got to Ortiz, picking up a pair of singles before Geoff Jenkins smashed a three-run homer to center field to tie the game at 5.
After stringing together five straight quality starts in April, Ortiz has dropped off a cliff in the month of May. In four starts this month, he has seen his ERA jump from 2.57 to 5.36 while his opponent's batting average has rocketed from .217 to .282. Ortiz has allowed 20 earned runs on 30 hits over 15 1/3 May innings, numbers that are nothing short of atrocious.
The Ortiz we're seeing right now is probably the one we should get accustomed to. As nice as his production over the first month of the season was, the Twins really need to start looking at the possibility of cutting bait on him. I say this not because I'm overreacting to a poor stretch of four starts, but because the way Ortiz has pitched over the past four games is pretty much in line with the way he's pitched over the past two seasons. He isn't giving the team a legitimate chance to win when he takes the hill, and that's unacceptable with the number of guys lined up to replace him. I realize that the Twins are none too eager to bring up Kevin Slowey or Matt Garza right now; one temporary solution would be swapping Ortiz and Matt Guerrier's roles on the pitching staff.
* For much of the early part of the season, there was a sentiment from many Twins fans (including my colleague here at NNTB) that Jason Bartlett and Nick Punto should swap places in the Twins' lineup, with Bartlett moving up to the No. 2 spot with Punto sliding down to the bottom of the order. While I was never expressly opposed to this idea, my opinion was that having them switch places wouldn't make a whole lot of difference. Those people got their wish about a week ago when Ron Gardenhire finally made the switch. Bartlett didn't respond particularly well, and yesterday he found himself back at the bottom of the order with Punto again batting second.
The fact of the matter is that these two have been equally bad and they are pretty much interchangeable at this point. I tend to think that Punto is a slightly better candidate for the 2-hole simply because he works the count more and is a better bunter, but both players have been extremely unproductive offensively. Bartlett is batting .240/.329/.295, while Punto is sporting a very similar .241/.323/.305 line. Of course, Punto takes a lot more heat because he plays third base, which I think is a tad ridiculous, but there's no way around the fact that both of these guys need to pick up the pace.
* Friday and Saturday night's victories marked the first time the Twins have won consecutive ballgames since late April, a span of three weeks.
* Aside from Ortiz, the other goat in Sunday's game was Dennys Reyes, who took the loss. Reyes allowed the go-ahead run to come across in the seventh inning when he gave up a pair of hits (both by left-handers) and threw a wild pitch. He now holds a 6.57 ERA and .367 OBA. It wasn't fair to expect Reyes to be as good as he was last season, but he has been absolutely horrendous this year. At the very least, I'd expect him to suppress lefties and avoid walks, but he's done neither of those things this year. Southpaws are raking to the tune of .370 against him, and he's issued nine walks over 12 1/3 innings while striking out 10. During those 12 1/3 innings, Reyes has also thrown two wild pitches and committed a costly throwing error. It's starting to look more and more like Triple-A farmhand Ricky Barrett should get a shot as this team's bullpen lefty.
Incidentally, the Associated Press recap of yesterday's game included the following tidbit:
* I was fairly succinct yesterday in my comments about Saturday night's game, so I'd like to go a little bit more in-depth about what Scott Baker was able to do.
I've come across very few people in the blogosphere who have a better grasp of the game of baseball than Ubelmann, who has become a regular contributor at SBG's site and comments on this blog occasionally. Prior to Baker's start on Saturday, Ubelmann wrote an article predicting the type of contributions that can be expected from the young right-hander during his current turn in the Twins' rotation. Ubelmann concluded his analysis with the following paragraph:
* I was quite perturbed by the fact that Jason Kubel did not get a single start in this series, despite the fact that the Twins faced two right-handers. I realize that Kubel has struggled this year, but do the Twins really view Lew Ford as a superior option, even against righties? Ford went just 2-for-11 in his three starts.
* I have always spoken very highly of Miller Park, and once again I came away impressed after seeing a game there this weekend. It is just so much better than the Metrodome, and not even solely because the building and environment are nicer. There are a lot of things I really dislike about the 'Dome that don't even relate to its hideous appearance or the fact that it is extremely ill-suited for the sport of baseball.
For instance, I really like how the scoreboards in Miller Park display a pitcher's WHIP and a batter's OPS -- helpful statistics that are completely ignored in the Metrodome. Another vastly superior aspect of Miller Park is the food. The hot dog I bought at the game actually had grill marks on it! Imagine that. It's the little things that can make a sporting event enjoyable, and it seems like the Metrodome seems to mismanage even those, which certainly doesn't help to make up for the fact that it is a lousy stadium in the first place.
* Finally, here are a bunch of pictures from Saturday night's game that my girlfriend snapped on her digital camera.
A view from outside the stadium
A view from inside the stadium.
The outfield and scoreboard.
Hunter torques up...
... And follows through on his second-inning homer.
T.C. works his game.
Baker delivers amidst his masterful performance.
Blocked by the blond lady's head in this picture is Randall Simon, who was preparing to take a swing at the green-hatted sausage.
A view of the sell-out crowd.
The Twins celebrate the victory.
My weekend in Milwaukee was a lot of fun. I only attended one of the three games (Saturday night's), but I think it was the best one. I've got a lot of thoughts on the weekend's series, so I'll get right to them in the classic bullet-point format.
* Mr. Mosvick and I were highly critical of the Twins' decision to sign Ortiz in the offseason, and some readers commented that they thought we were being overly harsh. While Ortiz got off to a fast start in April, a few people popped up in the comments section to give us some grief for our doomsday predictions about the enthusiastic 33-year-old right-hander. The whole time, I responded by saying that I was happy and pleasantly surprised by the way he was pitching, but that by no means was I expecting the facade to last. His slate of starts during the month of May have shown exactly why I elected to reserve my optimism.
Ortiz was awful yesterday. He managed to putter his way through the first four innings with only two runs allowed, but he was treading a very dangerous line by allowing seven baserunners during that span and recording just two strikeouts. In the fifth inning, the Brewers finally got to Ortiz, picking up a pair of singles before Geoff Jenkins smashed a three-run homer to center field to tie the game at 5.
After stringing together five straight quality starts in April, Ortiz has dropped off a cliff in the month of May. In four starts this month, he has seen his ERA jump from 2.57 to 5.36 while his opponent's batting average has rocketed from .217 to .282. Ortiz has allowed 20 earned runs on 30 hits over 15 1/3 May innings, numbers that are nothing short of atrocious.
The Ortiz we're seeing right now is probably the one we should get accustomed to. As nice as his production over the first month of the season was, the Twins really need to start looking at the possibility of cutting bait on him. I say this not because I'm overreacting to a poor stretch of four starts, but because the way Ortiz has pitched over the past four games is pretty much in line with the way he's pitched over the past two seasons. He isn't giving the team a legitimate chance to win when he takes the hill, and that's unacceptable with the number of guys lined up to replace him. I realize that the Twins are none too eager to bring up Kevin Slowey or Matt Garza right now; one temporary solution would be swapping Ortiz and Matt Guerrier's roles on the pitching staff.
* For much of the early part of the season, there was a sentiment from many Twins fans (including my colleague here at NNTB) that Jason Bartlett and Nick Punto should swap places in the Twins' lineup, with Bartlett moving up to the No. 2 spot with Punto sliding down to the bottom of the order. While I was never expressly opposed to this idea, my opinion was that having them switch places wouldn't make a whole lot of difference. Those people got their wish about a week ago when Ron Gardenhire finally made the switch. Bartlett didn't respond particularly well, and yesterday he found himself back at the bottom of the order with Punto again batting second.
The fact of the matter is that these two have been equally bad and they are pretty much interchangeable at this point. I tend to think that Punto is a slightly better candidate for the 2-hole simply because he works the count more and is a better bunter, but both players have been extremely unproductive offensively. Bartlett is batting .240/.329/.295, while Punto is sporting a very similar .241/.323/.305 line. Of course, Punto takes a lot more heat because he plays third base, which I think is a tad ridiculous, but there's no way around the fact that both of these guys need to pick up the pace.
* Friday and Saturday night's victories marked the first time the Twins have won consecutive ballgames since late April, a span of three weeks.
* Aside from Ortiz, the other goat in Sunday's game was Dennys Reyes, who took the loss. Reyes allowed the go-ahead run to come across in the seventh inning when he gave up a pair of hits (both by left-handers) and threw a wild pitch. He now holds a 6.57 ERA and .367 OBA. It wasn't fair to expect Reyes to be as good as he was last season, but he has been absolutely horrendous this year. At the very least, I'd expect him to suppress lefties and avoid walks, but he's done neither of those things this year. Southpaws are raking to the tune of .370 against him, and he's issued nine walks over 12 1/3 innings while striking out 10. During those 12 1/3 innings, Reyes has also thrown two wild pitches and committed a costly throwing error. It's starting to look more and more like Triple-A farmhand Ricky Barrett should get a shot as this team's bullpen lefty.
Incidentally, the Associated Press recap of yesterday's game included the following tidbit:
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was agitated and fidgeting with his sunglasses after the game because he learned that Reyes' throwing shoulder had been bothering him since late April.
"Those are the kinds of things that a manager has to know before the ballgame. I found out after the ballgame," Gardenhire said. "I don't know if that's affecting his throwing, supposedly he's fine to pitch ... (but) all I know is a manager should know about things like that."
In light of the recent events that have transpired with Jesse Crain, this is not good news.
* I was fairly succinct yesterday in my comments about Saturday night's game, so I'd like to go a little bit more in-depth about what Scott Baker was able to do.
I've come across very few people in the blogosphere who have a better grasp of the game of baseball than Ubelmann, who has become a regular contributor at SBG's site and comments on this blog occasionally. Prior to Baker's start on Saturday, Ubelmann wrote an article predicting the type of contributions that can be expected from the young right-hander during his current turn in the Twins' rotation. Ubelmann concluded his analysis with the following paragraph:
So I think Baker’s going to be fine, if he gets a couple breaks in his first few starts, or the team just cuts him a bit of slack. He’s not Liriano, and he’s not going to single-handedly turn the team around. But he should be able to keep the score close and give the bullpen and the sharks a chance to win the game, and every now and then, he ought to turn in a performance that nearly wins the game by itself.I found myself agreeing wholeheartedly with this take, and sure enough, Baker delivered a performance on Saturday night that pretty much won the game by itself. Baker was able to keep the ball down in the zone for the most part, as he set a career high by getting 11 ground ball outs, although he did leave a few pitches up which resulted in a pair of homers. Limiting walks and home runs will be the key to Baker's sustained success, and I think he can accomplish both those things if he can consistently keep the ball down in the zone. Of course, that's no secret, and it's something the Twins' coaching staff has vocally advocated each time he's been with the big-league club. Here in his third stint in the majors, it's time for Baker to make the necessary adjustments and prove he belongs.
* I was quite perturbed by the fact that Jason Kubel did not get a single start in this series, despite the fact that the Twins faced two right-handers. I realize that Kubel has struggled this year, but do the Twins really view Lew Ford as a superior option, even against righties? Ford went just 2-for-11 in his three starts.
* I have always spoken very highly of Miller Park, and once again I came away impressed after seeing a game there this weekend. It is just so much better than the Metrodome, and not even solely because the building and environment are nicer. There are a lot of things I really dislike about the 'Dome that don't even relate to its hideous appearance or the fact that it is extremely ill-suited for the sport of baseball.
For instance, I really like how the scoreboards in Miller Park display a pitcher's WHIP and a batter's OPS -- helpful statistics that are completely ignored in the Metrodome. Another vastly superior aspect of Miller Park is the food. The hot dog I bought at the game actually had grill marks on it! Imagine that. It's the little things that can make a sporting event enjoyable, and it seems like the Metrodome seems to mismanage even those, which certainly doesn't help to make up for the fact that it is a lousy stadium in the first place.
* Finally, here are a bunch of pictures from Saturday night's game that my girlfriend snapped on her digital camera.
A view from outside the stadium
A view from inside the stadium.
The outfield and scoreboard.
Hunter torques up...
... And follows through on his second-inning homer.
T.C. works his game.
Baker delivers amidst his masterful performance.
Blocked by the blond lady's head in this picture is Randall Simon, who was preparing to take a swing at the green-hatted sausage.
A view of the sell-out crowd.
The Twins celebrate the victory.Sunday, May 20, 2007
On Location in Milwaukee
MILWAUKEE, WI -- As I sat in Section 213 of the Brewers' stadium and watched the Twins cruise to a 5-2 victory over their neighborly rivals last night, a few questions crossed my mind.
1) What's gotten into Scott Baker?
In the first inning of last night's game, Baker gave up a solo home run to J.J. Hardy. In the ninth inning, he gave up a solo home run to Bill Hall. Between those two pitches, Baker was absolutely phenomenal. He finished the game with a line of 8.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. It seemed like a statement game from Baker, who, because of his horrible performance in 2006, was almost an afterthought coming into the season despite being just 25 years old. I've taught myself not to get too caught up in a good outing from Baker after his inconsistency last year, but there were several encouraging signs in last night's game. His control was excellent, as evidenced his ability to throw 71 of his 96 pitches for strikes and not issue a single free pass. He was economical and entered the ninth inning with a pitch count under 90. He seemed to get stronger as the game went on. Baker's previous career high for innings in a game was seven; last night he looked like he might go the distance before he allowed the ninth-inning homer and left game to a standing ovation from the numerous Twins' fans in attendance. The key for Baker will be to carry this success over into his next start.
2) When are opposing pitchers going to stop throwing meat-balls to Torii Hunter on the first pitch?
On Friday night, Hunter came up with a bases loaded in a 1-1 game, and Chris Capuano tossed a beach-ball over the middle of the plate on the first pitch which Hunter turned on for a game-breaking grand slam. Last night, when Hunter came up to the plate in the second inning against Brewers starter Dave Bush, he received another first-pitch gift and he drilled it into right-center field for a two-run homer that gave the Twins a lead they would never relinquish. Hunter is batting .414 with an .828 slugging percentage when he puts the ball in play on a 0-0 count. I'm surprised pitchers are willing to throw the ball anywhere near the strike zone in the first pitch of an at-bat against him.
3) How crappy are retractable roofs?
Last night's game provided a perfect example of one reason why I'm glad the Twins' new stadium will not have a retractable roof. There were some looming clouds before the game began, so they opted to close the roof. Granted, it did rain for what I'm guessing was about 20-30 minutes during the game, but for the most part it was a beautiful night to watch a game outdoors. Instead the roof was closed for the entire game. I'm a fan of Miller Park, but there's no doubt that the atmosphere is much better with the roof open. It's been closed for the last two games I've seen at the stadium, despite the fact that it could have easily been open for both.
4) Can the Twins switch to the National League?
Why not follow the path of the Brewers? The Twins have owned NL opponents, as they have now won 12 straight interleague games. They might be more well suited for the National League anyway, since their pitchers could probably provide more offensive production than their designated hitters.
1) What's gotten into Scott Baker?
In the first inning of last night's game, Baker gave up a solo home run to J.J. Hardy. In the ninth inning, he gave up a solo home run to Bill Hall. Between those two pitches, Baker was absolutely phenomenal. He finished the game with a line of 8.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K. It seemed like a statement game from Baker, who, because of his horrible performance in 2006, was almost an afterthought coming into the season despite being just 25 years old. I've taught myself not to get too caught up in a good outing from Baker after his inconsistency last year, but there were several encouraging signs in last night's game. His control was excellent, as evidenced his ability to throw 71 of his 96 pitches for strikes and not issue a single free pass. He was economical and entered the ninth inning with a pitch count under 90. He seemed to get stronger as the game went on. Baker's previous career high for innings in a game was seven; last night he looked like he might go the distance before he allowed the ninth-inning homer and left game to a standing ovation from the numerous Twins' fans in attendance. The key for Baker will be to carry this success over into his next start.
2) When are opposing pitchers going to stop throwing meat-balls to Torii Hunter on the first pitch?
On Friday night, Hunter came up with a bases loaded in a 1-1 game, and Chris Capuano tossed a beach-ball over the middle of the plate on the first pitch which Hunter turned on for a game-breaking grand slam. Last night, when Hunter came up to the plate in the second inning against Brewers starter Dave Bush, he received another first-pitch gift and he drilled it into right-center field for a two-run homer that gave the Twins a lead they would never relinquish. Hunter is batting .414 with an .828 slugging percentage when he puts the ball in play on a 0-0 count. I'm surprised pitchers are willing to throw the ball anywhere near the strike zone in the first pitch of an at-bat against him.
3) How crappy are retractable roofs?
Last night's game provided a perfect example of one reason why I'm glad the Twins' new stadium will not have a retractable roof. There were some looming clouds before the game began, so they opted to close the roof. Granted, it did rain for what I'm guessing was about 20-30 minutes during the game, but for the most part it was a beautiful night to watch a game outdoors. Instead the roof was closed for the entire game. I'm a fan of Miller Park, but there's no doubt that the atmosphere is much better with the roof open. It's been closed for the last two games I've seen at the stadium, despite the fact that it could have easily been open for both.
4) Can the Twins switch to the National League?
Why not follow the path of the Brewers? The Twins have owned NL opponents, as they have now won 12 straight interleague games. They might be more well suited for the National League anyway, since their pitchers could probably provide more offensive production than their designated hitters.
---
That's all for today. Tomorrow I'll have a full recap of the series as well as (hopefully) some photos from last night's game.
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Twins 8, Brewers 1
Hey all. I don't have a ton of time to post tonight, because I've been out on the the town and I'm pretty exhausted. The Twins picked up an 8-1 victory over the Brewers this evening, thanks to a magnificent pitching performance from Boof Bonser and a clutch grand slam from Torii Hunter. Hunter's home run was classic Torii; he came up with the bases loaded after Capuano had walked two in the inning, and went after the first pitch. Fortunately, it happened to be a very hittable pitch and he deposited it in the left field seats.
Bonser was outstanding, setting a career high for strikeouts with 11 over seven innings of work, while allowing just one run on three hits and a walk. Bonser is now 2-1 with a 3.91 ERA and .246 BAA. Bonser has looked like a very solid No. 2 starter up until this point, and his K/9 rate of 9.95 is simply outstanding.
Tonight Scott Baker makes his first start of the season against Dave Bush, and I'll be in attendance at Miller Park. I hope to be back with a full report tomorrow or Monday on all the action.
Bonser was outstanding, setting a career high for strikeouts with 11 over seven innings of work, while allowing just one run on three hits and a walk. Bonser is now 2-1 with a 3.91 ERA and .246 BAA. Bonser has looked like a very solid No. 2 starter up until this point, and his K/9 rate of 9.95 is simply outstanding.
Tonight Scott Baker makes his first start of the season against Dave Bush, and I'll be in attendance at Miller Park. I hope to be back with a full report tomorrow or Monday on all the action.
Friday, May 18, 2007
Misery
The next few series aren't "must-sweeps," and in fact they're not really even "must-wins." But if the Twins go into Cleveland and Milwaukee and get utterly dominated, it's going to be time to step back and consider whether or not this is a team that can really compete for a postseason spot.I said that on Tuesday, when previewing the Twins' series with the Indians. Three days later, the Twins don't have a sweep, or a series victory. In fact, they were completely and utterly dominated in Cleveland. The Indians outscored the Twins 25-8 on their way to a comfortable three-game sweep at Jacobs Field, where the Tribe now holds an extremely impressive 14-3 record. Whatever offensive momentum was generated by their 16-run outburst on Sunday night quickly died off for the Twins, as they managed just one run in two games after scoring seven times in a blowout loss on Tuesday night. All the ineptitude culminated yesterday afternoon in a 2-0 loss.
In his previous start against the Twins this year, Fausto Carmona set a career high for innings pitched in a game, delivering 7 2/3 frames of two-run ball as he defeated Johan Santana 5-3 at the Metrodome. Yesterday, Carmona did himself one better, tossing a complete-game shutout. In nine innings, he allowed four hits and two walks while striking out four. The Twins had only one extra-base hit, a double by Justin Morneau, but they did manage to get six at-bats with a runner in scoring position. Obviously, they went hitless in those opportunities. Carmona induced 19 ground ball outs, as opposed to just four fly balls and four strike outs.
For his part, Santana was on his game. He plowed through the first six innings, allowing just two hits and allowing just one runner to move past first base while striking out nine. Santana started out the seventh inning by allowing back-to-back solo home runs by Victor Martinez and Ryan Garko, and sadly, that put the game out of reach for the Twins. Santana now holds a 3.26 ERA, a .228 opponent's batting average, and a 4-4 record.
I'm actually having a fairly difficult time comprehending how the Twins' offense can be this bad. The struggles are nothing new to fans who have followed the Twins for even the last few years; the 2005 squad had similar difficulty scoring runs. Yet, with that team the offensive impotence was somewhat understandable. Joe Mauer was in his first full season after the knee injury in '04, Justin Morneau was struggling in his sophomore campaign, Jason Bartlett was taking his first regular lumps at the majors, and the team lacked a true lead-off hitter with an aging Shannon Stewart posting a .274 AVG and .323 OBP out of that spot. The team lacked a second baseman and Jason Kubel was out for the year after shredding up his knee the previous autumn. This year, the Twins seemingly had the pieces in place to be at the very least a middle-of-the-pack offensive club. Morneau figured things out and surprisingly captured the MVP award in '06, Bartlett seemed to have found his major-league stroke, Mauer had become one of the best pure hitters in the league, Michael Cuddyer had a break-out year and stepped up as a legitimate cleanup hitter, and Luis Castillo has provided a true lead-off man.
Yet, the Twins have struggled to score more than a couple runs per game on a remotely consistent basis. They have amassed three or fewer runs in nine of their 14 games this month, and not surprisingly they have gone 1-8 in those games.
One of the central issues with the Twins' lineup this year has been the lack of production from Bartlett and Nick Punto. I think most people expected these two players to regress somewhat from the outstanding performances they had last year, but both have fallen off a cliff. Punto currently sports a .625 OPS (.725 last year), while Bartlett is at .637 (.760 last year). These two were major catalysts in the team's dramatic turnaround last season, but so far this year their performances haven't been significantly better than the April and May performances put forth by Tony Batista and Juan Castro last year. I think this offense has a chance to turn things around and start scoring some runs, but much of that will depend on the ability of Bartlett and Punto (as well as Jason Kubel) to start hitting like they're capable of, because the rest of this lineup -- with the exception of the black hole at DH -- has been more than satisfactory thus far.
With Mr. Mosvick vacationing in Virginia for the next few days, I will hopefully be taking over blogging duties for the weekend. I'm departing for Milwaukee this afternoon, where I'll be taking in Saturday night's Twins/Brewers contest at Miller Park (drop a line if you'll be there). Hopefully I'll have Internet access in my hotel; if not, I'll have a full recap when I come back on Sunday.
Also, make sure to check out the latest edition of Jeff Straub's Podcast for the Minnesota Twins Fan Network, in which I make one of my frequent appearances for a lengthy interview.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Another Dismal Offensive Effort
Yesterday, I wrote that I believed the offense was showing signs of life. Perhaps I was wrong. That, or the Twins and their fans should pray that the team no longer has to face any left-handers this year. That isn't about to happen though. As last night showed, against a pitcher like C.C. Sabathia, the Twins simply aren't doing very much at all. When comments like "Lew Ford was called up to give the team some power from the right side" can be made about your offense, something is clearly wrong.
However, as I've said in recent posts, the offensive ineptitude really isn't news to anyone paying attention. Instead, the new development is with struggling pitchers. In Tuesday night's game, it was Ramon Ortiz who struggled, lasting only one inning. Last night, it was Carlos Silva. Silva did pitch six innings, but he also gave up five runs, seven hits, and walked three while only striking out two.
Silva didn't give up too many hits, at least by his standards, but his control was not great at all and ten base-runners is simply too many to comfortably allow against the Cleveland Indians offense. His ERA is still good at 3.56, but this was really Silva's first truly bad start of 2007.
Worse than Silva, though, was Dennys Reyes, who continued to provide evidence that his 2006 season was a giant fluke. If Silva had little control, Reyes had no concept of a strike zone. After entering in the seventh, he quickly gave up a hit and two walks before getting two outs, giving up a run, and giving up the mound to Pat Neshek. True, a 6.00 ERA in May isn't death for a reliever, but he has walked 9 batters in 12 innings while giving up 16 hits, giving him a terrible 2.08 WHIP. He still has struck out 10 hitters, but thats nothing new for Reyes' career. He has a career 1.63 K/BB ratio and a 1.43 K/BB ratio this year.
In 2005, Reyes posted a 35/32 K/BB ratio in 43 2/3 innings and in 2002, it was 59/45 in 82 2/3 innings. In other words, it would certainly seem that the old Reyes has returned. If that's the truth, the Twins need to be worried and need to consider making a move to bring up a guy like Ricky Barrett.
Lastly in bad pitching news, Jesse Crain's diagnosis appears to be very bad. In his post-game news conference, Ron Gardenhire noted that a doctor had diagnosed Crain with a torn labrum and a torn rotator cuff. The Twins will seek a second opinion, but regardless, Crain will not be out for only 15 days. In fact, it's likely that he'll now join Francisco Liriano in sitting out the seaon after surgery. If you recall, Brad Radke had a very similar injury and generally, it takes a year or more to return from such surgery.
As mentioned in my last post, Crain's loss is not the worst thing that can happen to the Twins, but it certainly creates a void in their bullpen, which has been key to almost all the success they've had this year. Despite Jorge DePaula's scoreless inning major-league debut, replacing a good Crain will be difficult.
The best news for the Twins? Today, Johan Santana is on the mound, giving the Twins the best chance they've had to win all series. Too bad they go up against Fausto Carmona, who's pretty hot right now. Hopefully, the Twins' bad luck leaves with me, as I take off to vacation in Virginia for a few days. Mr. Nelson should take over posting, unless he cannot secure a hard-line in Brewerville. In that case, I may have to return sooner.
However, as I've said in recent posts, the offensive ineptitude really isn't news to anyone paying attention. Instead, the new development is with struggling pitchers. In Tuesday night's game, it was Ramon Ortiz who struggled, lasting only one inning. Last night, it was Carlos Silva. Silva did pitch six innings, but he also gave up five runs, seven hits, and walked three while only striking out two.
Silva didn't give up too many hits, at least by his standards, but his control was not great at all and ten base-runners is simply too many to comfortably allow against the Cleveland Indians offense. His ERA is still good at 3.56, but this was really Silva's first truly bad start of 2007.
Worse than Silva, though, was Dennys Reyes, who continued to provide evidence that his 2006 season was a giant fluke. If Silva had little control, Reyes had no concept of a strike zone. After entering in the seventh, he quickly gave up a hit and two walks before getting two outs, giving up a run, and giving up the mound to Pat Neshek. True, a 6.00 ERA in May isn't death for a reliever, but he has walked 9 batters in 12 innings while giving up 16 hits, giving him a terrible 2.08 WHIP. He still has struck out 10 hitters, but thats nothing new for Reyes' career. He has a career 1.63 K/BB ratio and a 1.43 K/BB ratio this year.
In 2005, Reyes posted a 35/32 K/BB ratio in 43 2/3 innings and in 2002, it was 59/45 in 82 2/3 innings. In other words, it would certainly seem that the old Reyes has returned. If that's the truth, the Twins need to be worried and need to consider making a move to bring up a guy like Ricky Barrett.
Lastly in bad pitching news, Jesse Crain's diagnosis appears to be very bad. In his post-game news conference, Ron Gardenhire noted that a doctor had diagnosed Crain with a torn labrum and a torn rotator cuff. The Twins will seek a second opinion, but regardless, Crain will not be out for only 15 days. In fact, it's likely that he'll now join Francisco Liriano in sitting out the seaon after surgery. If you recall, Brad Radke had a very similar injury and generally, it takes a year or more to return from such surgery.
As mentioned in my last post, Crain's loss is not the worst thing that can happen to the Twins, but it certainly creates a void in their bullpen, which has been key to almost all the success they've had this year. Despite Jorge DePaula's scoreless inning major-league debut, replacing a good Crain will be difficult.
The best news for the Twins? Today, Johan Santana is on the mound, giving the Twins the best chance they've had to win all series. Too bad they go up against Fausto Carmona, who's pretty hot right now. Hopefully, the Twins' bad luck leaves with me, as I take off to vacation in Virginia for a few days. Mr. Nelson should take over posting, unless he cannot secure a hard-line in Brewerville. In that case, I may have to return sooner.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Offensive Output Doesn't Help Ortiz
The Twins finally put consecutive big offensive nights together. In their last two games, they've scored 23 runs, including seven in last night's contest. However, they lost to the Indians in that game because they gave up over twice as many runs: 15. Most of the Indians' run-scoring came off of Ramon Ortiz, who had by far his worst start as a Twin, and Jesse Crain, who gave up six unearned runs and now is headed to the DL with shoulder problems.
The ebb and flow of the season for the Twins has not been very kind. They started off the season well enough, with the help of a friendly schedule, but since then the offense has hit a wall, Joe Mauer has gotten hurt, and Sidney Ponson was bad enough to get released. Ortiz's May has been very symbolic of these struggles. In April, Ortiz had a sparkling 2.57 ERA. In May? 16 runs (15 earned) allowed over 11 innings.
The difference is night and day, at least for a normal pitcher. However, with Ortiz, it really isn't much of a surprise. He's spent his career having a few great starts or a great month before being absolutely terrible the next month. Take 2004. That June, he was 2-1 with a 1.16 ERA and a .152 OBA. Then in July he went 0-1 with a 2.92 ERA and a .195 OBA. Very good numbers, but in August, Ortiz had a 5.84 ERA and allowed 50 hits in 37 innings for a .331 OBA. (By the way, if your wondering why I went back to 2004, its because he really didn't have any standout months in 2005 or 2006, as he never had an ERA below 4 in any month during the 2005 and 2006 seasons in which he had more than one start.)
With that, Twins fans shouldn't expect Ortiz to have a drastic turnaround too soon. As LaVelle E. Neal III notes on his blog, "the Washington writers warned me that (Ortiz) will have four good starts and then four awful ones. And tonight’s was awful." That would mean Ortiz's next start, scheduled against the Brewers on Sunday, might not be so great. That seems like a good prediction, considering how good the Brewers offense has been this year. (For those not paying attention, Prince Fielder and J.J. Hardy are tied for the NL lead in home runs with 12 apiece.) Hopefully Ortiz makes some adjustments, but his pitches had awful location during his only inning yesterday and he has looked all-too hittable in his last few starts.
As for Crain, a DL stint bodes badly for the Twins. It leads to a call-up of right-hander Julio DePaula from Triple-A, who holds 3.15 ERA and 10/7 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 16 innings. DePaula has been a pretty good pitcher in his minor-league career, but his lack of dominance doesn't exactly predict immediate success at the major-league level. Crain going on the DL also hurts the Twins' chances of making a trade for offense by utilizing one of their right-hander relievers. Furthermore, the fact that Crain's ailment has been described as a "recurring shoulder injury" is always a bad sign. Once shoulder injuries start, for many, they don't end very quickly. Crain isn't an absolutely necessary piece of the bullpen like Joe Nathan, but when he's pitching at his best, Crain is very useful.
As for the offense, the main contributors leave only one surprise: Jason Kubel. Kubel, who for most of the year has struggled, hit his first home run of the year and went 2-for-4 to raise his batting line to .265/.311/.372. Kubel has eight hits in his last 21 at-bats, good for a .348 average. If Kubel keeps getting consistent at-bats, he may very soon start to show everyone what kind of hitter he can be.
Otherwise, Michael Cuddyer went 2-for-5 with a two-run home run in the first while Justin Morneau continued his recent hot streak, hitting two home runs to put him behind only Alex Rodriguez for the AL lead with 11 home runs. Morneau currently has a .281/.365/.568, showing both impressive power and patience, and making perhaps a more lethal offensive weapon than he was last year. Lastly, recent call-up Garrett Jones made his major-league debut, going 1-for-3 with a walk.
Today, Carlos Silva will take the mound against Twins-hater C.C. Sabathia. Sabathia was awful in his last start, but he also has 58 Ks in 53 2/3 innings this year and almost always does well against the Twins. With the offense starting to come around, the pressure will be on Silva to produce another quality start and give the bullpen some rest after last night's pitching breakdown.
The ebb and flow of the season for the Twins has not been very kind. They started off the season well enough, with the help of a friendly schedule, but since then the offense has hit a wall, Joe Mauer has gotten hurt, and Sidney Ponson was bad enough to get released. Ortiz's May has been very symbolic of these struggles. In April, Ortiz had a sparkling 2.57 ERA. In May? 16 runs (15 earned) allowed over 11 innings.
The difference is night and day, at least for a normal pitcher. However, with Ortiz, it really isn't much of a surprise. He's spent his career having a few great starts or a great month before being absolutely terrible the next month. Take 2004. That June, he was 2-1 with a 1.16 ERA and a .152 OBA. Then in July he went 0-1 with a 2.92 ERA and a .195 OBA. Very good numbers, but in August, Ortiz had a 5.84 ERA and allowed 50 hits in 37 innings for a .331 OBA. (By the way, if your wondering why I went back to 2004, its because he really didn't have any standout months in 2005 or 2006, as he never had an ERA below 4 in any month during the 2005 and 2006 seasons in which he had more than one start.)
With that, Twins fans shouldn't expect Ortiz to have a drastic turnaround too soon. As LaVelle E. Neal III notes on his blog, "the Washington writers warned me that (Ortiz) will have four good starts and then four awful ones. And tonight’s was awful." That would mean Ortiz's next start, scheduled against the Brewers on Sunday, might not be so great. That seems like a good prediction, considering how good the Brewers offense has been this year. (For those not paying attention, Prince Fielder and J.J. Hardy are tied for the NL lead in home runs with 12 apiece.) Hopefully Ortiz makes some adjustments, but his pitches had awful location during his only inning yesterday and he has looked all-too hittable in his last few starts.
As for Crain, a DL stint bodes badly for the Twins. It leads to a call-up of right-hander Julio DePaula from Triple-A, who holds 3.15 ERA and 10/7 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 16 innings. DePaula has been a pretty good pitcher in his minor-league career, but his lack of dominance doesn't exactly predict immediate success at the major-league level. Crain going on the DL also hurts the Twins' chances of making a trade for offense by utilizing one of their right-hander relievers. Furthermore, the fact that Crain's ailment has been described as a "recurring shoulder injury" is always a bad sign. Once shoulder injuries start, for many, they don't end very quickly. Crain isn't an absolutely necessary piece of the bullpen like Joe Nathan, but when he's pitching at his best, Crain is very useful.
As for the offense, the main contributors leave only one surprise: Jason Kubel. Kubel, who for most of the year has struggled, hit his first home run of the year and went 2-for-4 to raise his batting line to .265/.311/.372. Kubel has eight hits in his last 21 at-bats, good for a .348 average. If Kubel keeps getting consistent at-bats, he may very soon start to show everyone what kind of hitter he can be.
Otherwise, Michael Cuddyer went 2-for-5 with a two-run home run in the first while Justin Morneau continued his recent hot streak, hitting two home runs to put him behind only Alex Rodriguez for the AL lead with 11 home runs. Morneau currently has a .281/.365/.568, showing both impressive power and patience, and making perhaps a more lethal offensive weapon than he was last year. Lastly, recent call-up Garrett Jones made his major-league debut, going 1-for-3 with a walk.
Today, Carlos Silva will take the mound against Twins-hater C.C. Sabathia. Sabathia was awful in his last start, but he also has 58 Ks in 53 2/3 innings this year and almost always does well against the Twins. With the offense starting to come around, the pressure will be on Silva to produce another quality start and give the bullpen some rest after last night's pitching breakdown.
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