Twins playing well heading into Chicago showdown
Posted on June 6th, 2008 – 12:06 PMBy Joe Christensen
A few extra thoughts heading into the weekend:
(*) Amid all this talk about the 13-man pitching staff, Juan Rincon’s demise, Nick Blackburn’s swollen lip, etc., the Twins are playing very well. Since that 19-3 drubbing at Detroit on May 24, they are 7-4, and the four losses were by a total of five runs.
Also, they committed just two errors on their seven-game homestand after committing 42 errors in their first 53 games.
(*) Alexi Casilla has been the biggest difference. The kid’s batting .343 and has an eight-game hitting streak. I think the key moving forward is Justin Morneau. Gardy has mentioned the back and leg soreness, and the big guy keeps playing every day, so it’s not easy getting healthy. He is 2-for-15 with two singles and no RBI in his past four games.
(*) With Nick Punto injured, Brendan Harris will take over at shortstop again. Harris has played 12 games at shortstop without an error. Maybe the range isn’t spectacular, but he’s handled the plays he should make and has a strong arm.
(*) Look for Matt Macri to get two starts at third base in the four-game Chicago series, as the White Sox will start LHP Mark Buehrle on Saturday and LHP John Danks on Monday. Mike Lamb is hitting .077 against lefties now.
(*) I know it was a good week for music in the Twin Cities. Death Cab at the Orpheum, R.E.M. at the X. I missed those but saw the best show I can remember Wednesday, when the Old 97’s played First Avenue. They played a 25-song set with two encores. As lame as this sounds, I hadn’t been to First Ave since 1996, for the Jayhawks. But this was the kind of night that will keep me coming back as often as the baseball schedule permits.
(*) This is a big 10-game road trip for the Twins. After Chicago, it’s on to Cleveland and then Milwaukee next weekend. The Brewers have won six straight and are 9-1 in their past 10 games. Besides his his prolific draft coverage, La Velle is our man in Chicago, and I’ll catch you again in Cleveland.
62 Responses to "Twins playing well heading into Chicago showdown"
i, too, was at the old 97s show. after the twins 3-2 loss i had a timebomb in my mind and needed to let it explode.
now, if only we can get the twins to harness some of rhett miller’s energy…
Did all of the Vavra-haters around here see Joe Mauer’s quote crediting Vavra with helping him find his power stroke? Sane, that should make you happy!
has to be killing Gardy to start Harris on a regular basis. Wouldn’t be surprised to see Casilla at SS and Macri at 2B at some point on the road trip.
Good to hear Morneau will play through the pain. I mean, he’s no Paul Pierce and the injury is not like Big Brown’s cracked hoof, but he definately is NEEDED! ! !
What’s the status on Adam Everett’s shoulder? With the way the lineup has been producing lately, we could probably make room for a light-hitting ++ defender at shortstop, and shift Harris into a righty-lefty platoon with Lamb at third.
Funkytown,
I dont see Gardy moving Casilla. Its like Young and not moving him into RF, Young must get comfortable as our LF. Casilla is coming up big at second so why not keep him there.
“Did all of the Vavra-haters around here see Joe Mauer’s quote crediting Vavra with helping him find his power stroke? Sane, that should make you happy!”
That’s awesome he hits two HR’s and now he’s found his power stroke.
BC of ND — first, I’m not going to complain about anyone hitting 2 HRs in a week. However, if you want to make a sow’s ear out of a silk purse, go for it.
Here’s the blurb:
Joe Mauer, who hit his first two home runs of the season this week, has slightly changed his batting strategy.
“Not anything too drastic, but I’m trying a couple of things to help, just taking a chance on some pitches,” the Twins’ catcher said Thursday. “Instead of staying with the (regular) approach, maybe I’m looking for a pitch ‘in’ like that.”
Both of Mauer’s homers came on inside pitches. His upper-deck blast at the Metrodome against the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night wasn’t close to being a strike. Mauer and hitting coach Joe Vavra began working on making a better turn on inside pitches during spring training.
“I’m starting to feel a little more comfortable going inside,” said Mauer, who is among the American League’s leading hitters at .328.
GBG:
“if you want to make a sow’s ear out of a silk purse”
i like that!
“if you want to make a sow’s ear out of a silk purse”
Am i in bizzaro world again?
Joe C.–
In your first paragraph “The Twins are playing very well”…that reeks of homerism…
The Twins split at home against a team with a worse record (Yankees), then lost two of three at home to another team with a worse record who they haven’t dropped a series to in several years (Orioles).
Rosey sunglasses with that “the Twins are playing well” conclusion, don’t you think?
Baseball teams play well and lose all the time. The top of the lineup is playing great, Cuddy is finally busting out of his slump, the bullpen is improving. Sure there are still problems (Delmon, Perkins, the silly 13-pitcher strategy, injuries), but I think Joe’s characterization is fair.
Old 97’s are the best live show I have ever seen. Too bad their last 4 albums have been garbage.
Win Twins
BP says our third order winning percentage declined from .459 to .452. over that 7-4 run.
We’re not doing a whole lot of things right. We’re getting lucky.
Definately rose colored glasses.
This is not a team that is playing well and losing. Its a team that is playing poorly and winning.
“The Twins are playing very well”
You think that’s a fair characterization following a 3-4 homestand, Peter?
I can only imagine what superlatives would have been used if they would’ve gone 6-1 in that homestand.
And don’t give me injuries and individual ups and downs–every team in baseball has to deal with those. That was a homerish, company line…nothing wrong with admitting as much, IMO.
with all the talk about morneau being “tough” and gutting out his injury, when does it reach a point when he’s hurting the team instead of helping it? having watched his swing during the series with the o’s, i think we’re already there. his front side is flying open and he has no chance at anything on the outside part of the plate. i’m no hitting instructor, but he looks like a mess to me. monroe is a good athlete, why not give him a start or two at 1b while the big fella heals properly? thoughts?
Trav–
Well yesterday was the obvious day to sit Morneau and the Twins declined…I don’t think you can afford to sit our best hitter (yes, I said it) in a series as huge as the one we have this weekend…they have training rooms to deal with aches and pains…we need the MVP to step up and we need him in there against the White Sox.
i agree with the masses, i can’t say i’m real impressed with how we’re playing. there are some individual performers who are worthy of that statement, but as a collective whole, it’s been a tough homestand. two impressive comeback wins, do not make a streak of good ball. i like what i see out of mauer, casilla, baker, etc. but there’s too much inconsistency to applaud their recent efforts
Morneau at %50 is still better then any of the other options.
With regard to Joe’s quote on the quality of the Twins’ play, I too think it’s a fair assessment. Aside from the ‘Rays and the Red Sox, the level/quality of play in the American League is down, folks. Sure, the Twins are likely going to be a .500 or near team, but that may be good enough to be a wildcard, or dare I say, the division. Scoff not, you silly kids..
Twins…the division winners….Sorry!
trav,
with all due respect, monroe is nothing more than a nice bat off the bench. yes, he has had a couple of huge hits this season, but overall his performance has not been very good. look at his stats. BA = .231. OBP = .286. four times as many strikeouts as walks. i just don’t get it. he really isn’t very good.
I think it’s a fair characterization of their play since May 24, which is what Joe was referring to. 7-4 with a couple close losses. It’s not like he called them a World Series contender. Cripes. Enjoy the season.
Maybe “playing well” refers to avoiding the defensive meltdowns we saw earlier. (ie; Blue Jay games)
Its possible to play well and lose: and to play poorly and win.
Give JoeC the right to his subjective opinion at the same time you vent yours to an unappreciative audience.
gnellie….. You wouldnt know a good or bad player if you saw one.
gnellie in half the number of AB’s Monroe has the same number of rbi’s as Young and a better OPS .728 to .664. Wait i’m sorry i can’t say anything negative about Young untill he’s played 500 games i forgot.
Casilla is great so far…but does anybody think it will last? I’m not sold on him, especially as an RBI man, as fun as it’s been.
ok. seriously. what’s up with the ad hominem attacks? i guess i should stay away from the little cliques that form on these sites.
“wouldnt know a good or bad player if i saw one?” the information i cited came in the form of statistics. statistics are facts-based numbers. they do not represent opinions i may or may not have derived from personally seeing a player. but, i guess it is easier to criticize my scouting adroitness than to respond to the stats i quoted.
to BC of ND - nice straw man. i was responding to a poster who suggested we bench morneau in place of monroe. i said nothing of young.
BC of ND
Monroe also has an OBP that is .032 lower than Young and probably plays worse defense.
gnellie I know and trav wasn’t saying to make it a permanent benching just for a game or two to rest Justin. How can you say Monroe isn’t very good or can’t play the outfield when you only see him play once a week?
Pete D I didn’t say Monroe should bat leadoff but neither is Young. I know i know Young is the future and he must play everyday and your right his defense is much better he’s shown that too.
bc grumpy again today? it’s friday weekend is coming, turn off the tv don’t watch the games, enjoy yourself. spend the weekend not thinking about young, punto is on the dl again, life isn’t so bad even if the twins don’t win. even fans need a day off to clear their heads!
Tough neighborhood today. Rain getting to everyone?
Not local. Heat index is 100+ = Grumpy Gus.
Your right gobble it’s been raining her for like a month straight i thought i saw a big yellow object in the sky a minute ago not usre what it is. I think i’ll just focus on my Celtics beating the Lakers for awhile.
bc just think with punto on the dl gardy can’t start his little buddy for at least 2 weeks!!!!!
2 inches of rain yesterday now the sun is shinning and nicky is on the dl, in an hour and the weeks over have to be happy.
bc -
i guess i owe trav an apology of sorts. i was reacting more to the general love of monroe by twins fans than his suggestion to give morneau a day or two off (although, i REALLY doubt ANY coach in baseball would stick a player at first without some reps at the position. shifting cuddyer to first and monroe to right is a much more likely scenario).
it seems too many fans look to scapegoats when their team isn’t doing so well. usually, the scapegoat is the coach, and the target of frustration is the lack of playing time for a bench player. my comments have nothing to do with how often or little i have seen monroe play. i never prefaced my criticism with, “after seeing monroe play one or two games…” the fact is, monroe is a career .250 hitter with far too little power for the number of strikeouts. a career 720 OPS for a corner outfielder does not make for the second coming of kirby puckett. there is a reason he was floating around the free agent market before the twins gave him a shot. he just doesn’t have the long term upside that young has. does that mean we shouldn’t give him the occasional start in the outfield? no. does it mean we should stop discussing a long-term change of outfielders, with monroe replacing young? in my mind, yes.
I feel bad for Gardy without LNP there’s no sunshine in his life regardless. I’m going to drink some beer watch the game and laugh when ozzie goes crazy after Blackburn throws a shutout tonight. Go Twins.
genellie
Fair enough and I’m not saying Monroe is the answer i’m just saying he deserves a few more starts based on what he’s done already and we can’t discount his defense because we haven’t seen enough.
bc will mchale get a ring if the celts win for him giving garnett to them?
You know i like McHale he’s one of my boys and arguably one of the best PF ever IMO but as a front office guy he’s made some questionable moves thats for sure but i don’t think the KG move was one of them. He wasn’t going to win with him and he got a very good player in return.
McHale already has more Celtic rings than Garnett, Rivers, Pierce and Allen together.
it just makes me happy i’m not a b-ball or t-wolves fan because that could really be depressing. not sure do the wolves have any fans anymore?
yes, and Jerry West will get one from the Lakers for the Pau Gausal deal if they win.
The Twins are playing better, just not good enough to win a series. I agree with the John Donovan’s assessment from SI’s power rankings:
In a lot of ways, Carlos Gomez is the Twins. Young, exciting at times and boneheaded at others. The Twins are a nice surprise and Gomez (17 steals, three triples), part of the Johan Santana trade, is a big part of it. Unfortunately, so are Gomez’s 60 strikeouts (just eight walks) and .306 OBP. He’ll get better. So will the Twins.
By the way, Donovan ranked the Twins 12th, which means he thinks there are 18 teams that are worse.
“yes, and Jerry West will get one from the Lakers for the Pau Gausal deal if they win.”
bisonaudit i forgot that West was running things in Memphis now that would explain that fleecing. i know the Ainge/McHale connection had a lot to do with the KG trade but at least the wolves got Jefferson who did memphis get but Jordans bust pick Kwame Brown.
sorry for all the b-ball talk.
Speaking of connections ever notice how many trades the Twins have made with MacPhails teams?
Actually he’s retired but his hand picked guy is in charge there so the specualtion (totally unsubstantiated) is the West picked up the phone and called in a favor.
Hey bison have you seen the season old Guzzie is having for Washington this year? He would be a nice fit at SS for us i always liked him and he was once as exciting to watch as Gomez.
bc it’s his contract yr, funny how the play picks up the last yr of a contract. how is silva doing in seattle?
anybody want to predict where livan will go?
My expectations were tempered coming into the season, but my biggest frustration is watching Gomez and Young swing at anything close to the strike zone. Would it kill them to take a pitch? Take a lesson from Mauer and Cuddy - just because it’s a strike, doesn’t mean it is your pitch. I know that Young is a fastball hitter and that’s usually what you see on the first pitch, but when he went 0-4 and only saw 4 pitches all night against the O’s, I could have thrown the TV out the window.
good point gobble but guzzie still has the skill to be a descent player. I can see Livan going to the Rangers for big bucks.
I’m so done with Guzman. He was the worst SS in baseball his last 2 years in MN. The Nationals threw away their money when they signed him from us. I laughed and laughed, and then I went to the O’s game. For 2 of the last 3 seasons he’s been hurt for a substantial part of the year so that’s spared DC fans the agony of watching him. I just pray he doesn’t continue playing so well that the Nationals have no choice but to resign him.
Ask me about Livan in August when we know what kind of pitcher he really is in the AL.
Joe C.–
Care to revise your first sentence assessment yet?
morneau gutting it out at first playing tired or hurt is just stupid sit him down for a game or two and let his body get some rest and the mental rest too this john wayne bs doesnt help any one all olayers need a break every so often
“bc it’s his contract yr, funny how the play picks up the last yr of a contract.”
Speaking of Contract Years, I haven’t been following Hunter’s LAA career too closely.
He earning it yet?
There really no way for Torii to “earn” what he’s making now, but offensively his numbers are right in line with the rest of his career.
“There really no way for Torii to “earn” what he’s making now”
Well, he could pull a Silva and totally blow it…
So yeah, maybe not “earn” but at least not “make them regret”
The Twins have lots of young talent and the worse Manager and coaching staff in the Major leagues. If you don’t believe it, pay closer attention. The Twins media and fans see Gardenhire and Anderson as sacred–not to questioned. The team is run like and experimental minor league franchise. Never a set starting rotation, never a set lineup. Unwarranted tinkering and minipulation by the Manager and Anderson keep the Twins from excelling on a consistent basis. When will the media and the fans finally catch on to what is really going on with the Twins organization?
“Never a set starting rotation, never a set lineup”
Get your facts straight:
1) The rotation going into the season was Baker, Slowey, Blackburn, Bonser, Livan.
2) Baker and Slowey went down with injury early.
3) Liriano and Bonser were ineffective.
Despite all that…the current rotation?
Baker, Slowey, Blackburn, Perkins, Livan.
Gee…looks pretty much the same to me.
———
Next let’s look at the lineup.
Plan going into the season?
Gomez, Mauer, Cuddyer, Morneau, Young, Kubel/Monroe, Lamb, Harris, Everett.
1) Cuddyer got hurt.
2) Young proved ineffective in the #5 spot.
3) Kubel/Monroe are struggling to be consistent.
4) Everett’s hurt. (Actually, 75% of the planned middle infield is hurt)
5) Casilla has stepped up his game and responded to hitting behind Gomez.
6) Mauer and Morneau are feeding off each other in the 3/4 spot.
7) Cuddyer has yet to prove post injury that he can be an effective #3 hitter…and nobody has shown they can adequately protect Morneau.
The current lineup?
Gomez (Day 1)
Casilla (since he has started producing)
Mauer (since Cuddyer was hurt)
Morneau (Day 1)
Cuddyer (since he has come back from injury)
Kubel/Monroe (since Cuddy came back)
Young (since Cuddy came back)
Lamb (since Cuddy came back)
Harris (since Casilla stepped it up)
The only “inconsistencies” in this lineup on any given day are when Gardy shuffles it based on somebody getting rest (usually even then it’s just Redmond batting third…where despite complaints he’s not hitting too poorly)
There was a few days like yesterday where Gardy had to make a late scratch (Casilla) and was forced to shuffle things around.
But overall, Gardy has put together an almost identical lineup since Cuddyer came back from injury. The only major changes have been with the middle infielders, who have been shuffled around since Casilla arrived and began to hit well.
The only time this season where I can remember Gardy having trouble getting a lineup together was when Span was when Cuddyer was hurt and Gardy had trouble finding a spot in the lineup that worked for him.
I’m not saying Gardy or Anderson is flawless (in fact I want to laminate your post as somebody FINALLY suggesting that maybe Anderson isn’t perfect)…but if you’re going to find a beef…at least make it a legit one.
all twins fans “stepback” and remember
you lost your on-field leaders Hunter &
Santana; the Twins have always had leaders (Kirby P.)over the years who were the heart and soul of their teams
and led the way during difficult times.
your center fielder now. will provide this leadership, but he will take time
to develop. Your organization is the best in mlb. Good luck.a sox fan.
Ah sadly, no the Twins are not playing well heading into chitown. They got spanked 4 straight…ouch there goes 1st place. They need to make up some ground now. NEeding to win about 8 of 10 to get back in it.
