How Are The Twins Leading The AL Central?
What, What, Whaaatttt?
I wasn't surprised to watch the Twins take 2 out of 3 from the Tribe over the weekend. Anytime you face an Indians lineup that features the Humanitarian's Row of Marte (.167), Gutierrez (.213), and Cabrera (.204) in the 7,8,9 holes, you have a good chance of taking the series (and Cabrera's average is inflated due to the hitting tear he's been on over the past few days). Here's what surprised me; entering tonight's action the Minnesota Twins held a half game lead over the Chicago White Sox in the AL Central. Didn't they trade uber-pitcher Johan Santana to the Mets in the offseason? Didn't they lose Tori Hunter to the California Orange County Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim?
Off the top of my head, I can name 5 Twins players. Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Joe Nathan, Livan Hernandez, and Francisco Liriano. Mauer, Morneau, and Nathan are all studs having studly seasons. Livan is 10-8 with a 5.48 ERA, he was designated for assignment on August 2nd. Liriano looked great against the Tribe on Sunday, but he's spent most of his time in the minors this season and his win on Sunday is the first win he's contributed to the Twinkies this year. For those keeping score, only 3 of the 5 "name" players on the Twins are having big years.
I'm still stumped, how are the Twins leading the AL Central? A closer look at the Twins' roster reveals a 2 more players I've heard of! Delmon Young and Boof Bonser. Delmon Young is the brother of beloved Nats 1st baseman Dmitri Young, a.k.a. Da Meat Hook. Delmon is also affectionately known as "the crazy guy who chucked a bat at a minor league umpire." Delmon has a good average (.293), but isn't doing much else for the Twins. The only reason I know Boof Bonser is because you just don't forget a name like Boof Bonser. Boof started the season in the rotation, but has been demoted to the bullpen and is sporting a 3-6 record with a 6.67 ERA.
Still stumped. It appears that the Twins rotation currently consists of Liriano, Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn, Glen Perkins, and Kevin Slowey (if someone gets hurt, Bob Pedestrian will be called up from the International League). Raise your hand if you've heard of any of those guys besides Liriano. If your hand is raised, you either live in Minnesota or you're lying. Baker (7-3, 3.53 ERA)and Blackburn (8-6, 3.56 ERA) are having good but not spectacular seasons, Perkins (8-3, 4.20 ERA) and Slowey (7-8, 4.21 ERA) are having respectable years. How does this add up to first place?
Mauer and Morneau are surrounded in the lineup by guys named Jason Kubel, Brendan Harris, Carlos Gomez, Nick Punto, and Denard Span. It's hard to tell what their everyday lineup is because with only 5 players who have over 300 at bats this season, it appears that most positions are filled on a platoon basis (the Twins have also had more than their fair share of injuries). They only have two guys with over 10 home runs, and only two guys with over 10 stolen bases. And to top it off, they have the 10th most errors in the major leagues, ranking them 22nd in defense.
Good bullpen+decent starting pitching+mediocre hitting+very little power+very little speed+bad defense= leading your division. This is the formula for winning baseball? I give up, can someone smarter than me please step in and tell me how the hell the Minnesota Twins are leading the AL Central? You know what you don't even have to be smarter than me, just please, anyone out there give me an explanation for this.
7 comments:
You wanna know how?
I'll tell you how!
The Sox acquired Jr. It's the kiss of death, I tell ya!
Quite simply the Twins are winning for one reason alone.
They are hitting .315 with runners in scoring position, more that 22 points higher than the next best team in the entire major leagues.
Very little Speed? Gomez, Span, and the now injured Alexi Cassilla are three of the fastest players in the majors. Seriously, I'm not lying they are really really fast. They always play small ball and have the best BA With RISP
The Twins are also 4th in the AL in runs scored.
And you should just delete that part about having very little speed, that truly makes you look clueless, the Twins are easily one of the fastest teams in the Majors.
curtis, good stuff. i'll jump in for my co-writer in that i think he was talking about sheer number of steals.
as a mets fan, i know that gomez has mad wheels.
Yes the Twins have a high number of errors, but they are concentrated in certain positions. They have gold glove caliber players at key positions however. Mauer behind the plate, Morneau at first (he saves many more errors on throws by the infield), and Gomez in CF. Add the rotating IF Nick Punto to gold glove caliber players too.
Also note the Twins had the best team batting AVG in the league the past two months, hitting .297 all together the past month. It's not just the average though, its the effective at-bats that have made the difference. Guys have been using their speed to get on base, other's have moved them around by hitting behind them, and Morneau has practically been a guaranteed RBI when he's up. Also, as of last night they were hitting .344 with the bases loaded.
It will be interesting to see if this really young team keeps this up down the stretch. Also seems like the Chi. Sox are due for their yearly collapse.
The Twins are proof that stats (sabermetric or traditional) don't always tell the whole story. Anybody who watches the Twins on a regular basis knows that they don't make mental mistakes, have great team chemistry, and seem to get the clutch hits when they need them. True, the Twins are winning with a lot of rookies and no-namers. But they've been doing that the past 6 or 7 years, winning 4 division over that span
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