Twins 4, Indians 1: The return of ‘Rally Floss’
Posted on August 1st, 2008 – 11:54 PMBy Joe Christensen
Maybe it was just these two Jeremy Sowers starts, five days apart. Or maybe it was Tuesday, when the Twins scored five runs in the fifth inning against Chicago to take a 5-4 lead.
It started hitting me that this team has something magic working in the middle innings.
Sowers retired the first 15 batters he faced tonight, just like Sunday in Cleveland. But the Twins eventually won both games.
“The fifth and sixth have kind of been our innings,” Brendan Harris said. “We were a little frustrated, especially after getting no-hit through five.”
I asked Harris if anybody says anything like that on the bench.
“Red does,” Harris said. “He says, ‘Fifth inning’s a mother.’ ”
Mike Redmond said this is indeed one of his mantras, though he warned that I was getting the PG version. His point is that the fifth inning is a huge mental barrier for a pitcher. If he gets past it with the lead, he’s in line for the win.
The Twins are determined to make that difficult.
“For the most part, it usually coincides with the second or third time through [the order],” Harris explained.
I thought I’d make this my game-story angle, until I remembered the Twins didn’t do anything tonight (or Sunday) until the sixth.
They have outscored opponents 80-56 in the sixth inning, but it’s 62-62 in the fifth.
The fifth inning might be a mother, but it was insignificant tonight.
So what happened in the sixth?
“Rally floss,” Redmond said.
Yes, in a practice that dates to 2006, Redmond started flossing on the bench when it was time for the boys to rally against Sowers.
“I broke it out for the first time all year,” Redmond said, rather pleased with himself, as he walked to another part of the clubhouse, with sons Ryan (age 7) and Mookie (5) in tow.
Well … I keep looking for ways to explain this team’s success, and that’s as good as any, as they moved returned a season-high 13 games over .500, at 61-48.
39 Responses to "Twins 4, Indians 1: The return of ‘Rally Floss’"
Good win for the Twins. Too bad the WhiteSox won. Hopefully tomorrow will be the day the Twins take over 1st in the division.
Too bad the other Sox won also. We’re also only 1/2 game behind them for Wild Card lead.
Give up, ChiSox, resistance is futile.
Wouldn’t hurt to get a little help from the friggin Royals. Watching that game tonight was frustrating. The Royals just are not good.
Whenever Twins are 1/2 game out Sox draw the pushover Royals. Frustrating. Royals should play the role of spoilers, what else have they got to look forward to this season?
“The Royals should play the spoilers.”
They did that in 2006. I’m afraid hoping they can do it again in 2008 might be expecting too much.
Be careful what you wish for from the Royals. Seems the Twins are lined up to play them pretty soon too.
I’m interested in knowing how often the Twins score first. Lately it has seemed that they’re almost always playing from behind.
Be very careful what you wish for from the Royals. They are the Twins’ last series of the regular season.
Praise to Gardy for continually refining this team and developing the young talent. Gomez in the nine spot is statistically right. Not trading any of our young pitching talent — right. Releasing Livan and Craig — right. Releasing Everett originally — right. Re-signing Everett — well, you can’t get everything right. . err. . or can you?
What our squad needs to remember is that, even though anything can happen in a short series, we nevertheless have to give ourselves a reasonable shot at being consistently competitive with the likes of the Red Sox, Yankees, Angels, and Rays.
Adam Everett is not competitive at that level. He is not major league talent, at age 31. We would be much better off bringing up minor league blossoming talent. It would have been less expensive for us to embrace this reality at the start of the season.
TWINS FRONT OFFICE: The Steroids Era is over. Older players can’t power up on meds. Given Mr. Pohlad’s unwillingness to stop dividending himself $20 million each year, we have to stay lean AND embrace youth.
Sure, young players will make mistakes. Sure, we’ll make mistakes in whom we choose to bring up. But signing Livan, Monroe, Everett and other 30-plus expensive vets whose numbers are trailing. . . this is insanity. I am praying that Bill Smith embraces this reality. My fear is that he’ll turn Ryan’s magic into misery over the next 5+ years. Remember, this team was not built by Smith.
The best sign for this team is when we do NOT see Everett in the lineup. Period. The even better long-term sign is when you stop contracting old trailing talent at high prices.
T-Mouse, reminding everyone I was willing to eat innings w/ a 6+ ERA at a much lower cost than what we paid Livan
Not only be careful with the Royals. Also, be thankful. They are 6-3 against the Tigers, without which this would be a legitimate three-team AL Central race.
Joe, you gotta be careful these days. If you say something “seems so”, you’ll get ripped on for another month if a few days go by where it isn’t.
——
But to stay on point, does anybody think this middle innings magic or whatever it is could be because after the first few innings the lineup gets a look at the pitcher.
Maybe they go out there with their game plan, and then when they see if it works or not make adjustments.
Or maybe, they play dumb the first few innings so the oppposing manager leaves his guy out there too long, at which point they hammer him and take the win. 
They are 6-3 against the Tigers, without which this would be a legitimate three-team AL Central race.
Twins are 10-5 against the Tigers.
Everett and Hernandez were/are legitimate bridges to get from here to there. Hernandez was valuable in the early season to provide mostly serviceable starts while the kids sorted out various health and experience issues. Everett is probably providing a similar bridge until Casilla and/or Tolbert get healthy. Of course, in Minnesota we know that bridges sometimes fail, but you’ve still gotta have them.
Excellent point Dave, the Hernandez whiners seem to forget that he was signed as a last minute as a stop-gap on the pitching staff. His resume reads innings eater with high ERA. We more-or-less got what we were expecting, actually more. Everett the same thing: poor BA (though south of .200 is a bit much), good glove. These are role players folks, not the future of the club.
Hernandez and Monroe were useful to the club and for a little longer, so is Everett.
Monore could have been kept or let go…. either way
Hernandez could have been put in the bullpen… but its a move that should have been done 3 weeks ago.
I’m really curious to see what this blog holds once Franchise gets absolutely shelled during one of his starts. It WILL happen. Sure, he’s dominated the minors and the MINOR league hitters. He won’t be the Frankie of ‘06 that we all remember. He will, however, be better than Livan. I guess that Souhan will be having an “I-told-you-so” moment when that happens.
They do seem to fall behind and come back a lot. But I’m not going to complain.
The memory of days gone by when you knew falling behind by even a couple of runs meant you might just as well turn the game off because the likelihood of a come back was not good. It wasn’t that they quit, but they just didn’t have the bats.
This year’s team is worth watching all the way through the 9th inning.
What Bill James proved to me is that there should be no “bridge” players in a well-run organization. Let me explain.
All of the players you’ve defended — Hernandez, Monroe, Everett — are guys whose age and statistical patterns can predict their future performance with sufficient accuracy.
The idea that you need to pay up to get these “wise sage players” is not supported by baseball evidence. The money that was spent there could have gone either to: a) hunt future stars or b) pay up for one much higher quality free agent.
The Twins cannot afford aging, submediocre talent at high costs in the hopes that they will mentor our players. Further, you must learn to anchor on the stats that matter. Won-loss records for pitchers, that’s a largely irrelevant statistic.
There is simply no question that the team could have more effectively spent $5 million on its pitching staff this year. Livan — a nice guy — is at the end of his career. His pre-2008 performance made it very clear there was little value left. That sounds harsh. But when you deal in smaller-market teams like this, the business sense as well as the committment to seeing things as they truly are grows in importance.
I know you’re not referring to T-Mouse when you call out whiners. This is certainly not a whine. Instead, it’s the reasoned opinion of someone who has delved deeply enough into the Jamesian approach to know how to tilt the probabilities of success in your favor.
I hope Bill Smith’s copy of Moneyball is riddled with sticky notes and underlines. I’m worried it isn’t.
No whiners here. Just T-Mouse indahouse.
I have yet to read “Moneyball.” Should I buy it?
When people refer to themselves in the third person it makes them sound arrogant and more than a bit douchey.
T-rat,
“it’s the reasoned opinion of someone who has delved deeply enough into the Jamesian approach to know how to tilt the probabilities of success in your favor.”
How is the “Jamesian approach” working for Billy Beane?
53-55 15 1/2 games out of first?
Or for Theo Epstein who only requires a $200 million budget to get 1/2 game ahead of the $50 million Twins?
The Jamesian approach is a load of crap, much like you are handing out.
a) hunt future stars or
b) pay up for one much higher quality free agent.
Wow, what a concept!!
I bet nobody has ever considered that approach!
You mean we should have bunched our $15 million together and signed A-Rod!
And future stars! Everyone knows who they are, but not everybody wants them.
Most teams are hunting for future flame-outs.
Brilliant!
“T-Mouse indahouse’
Fumigate dahouse!
Moneyball was a fascinating book and worth a read. It made a good case for the A’s way, but didn’t convince me that it is the only way or even the best way. I was fascinated by the comparisons and contrasts between Billy Beane and Terry Ryan. They have more in common than I once thought, in that both realize that their resources compel them to be “buy low, sell high” operators. Beane put more emphasis on statistical analysis while Ryan placed more faith in scouts’ judgment, but those weren’t mutually exclusive categories. Looking at the mid/long term results over a 5+ year period, it is hard to say that one franchise has substantially outperformed the other. Both are more than holding their own and are generally respected throughout MLB. T is absolutely correct that “The Twins cannot afford aging, submediocre talent at high costs.” They have invested cautiously, and you can argue that they didn’t learn enough from their experience with Castro, Batista, et al, although at least they didn’t bite on any additional former Cuban dictators! Livan is the ultimate challenge to Bill James lovers because his numbers are just atrocious. The entire league hit better against him (.340) than the AL’s leading hitter is averaging this season. But yet he won some games for us with bailing wire, mirrors, and card tricks that we probably wouldn’t have won otherwise. I think, although I can’t prove it, that the Twins season record is better than it would have been if we had never signed him. Yet it was (maybe slightly past) time to move on.
T-Mouse,
I don’t remember the names of ALL the team Presidents or GM’s. Could you refresh my memory of where in the Major Leagues Bill James has employed his theories? And, which teams have won the WS consistantlly since the Yankees run in the late 90’s.
Regards,
Gardy is suspended for tonight’s game
“I keep looking for ways to explain this team’s success,…”
I have a way.
The Vavra regime is working. (And BC Benecke and the like are eating their own digestive product.)
The Twins hitters are obviously doing a professional job of studying the starting pitcher and being patient about it until the right time (5th inning for instance) arrives.
And I should think Joe C’s 5th and 6th innings stats are somewhat irrelevant since they are season-long stats. What about the 5th and 6th the last couple months?
“I’m really curious to see what this blog holds once Franchise gets absolutely shelled…”
I will say that it’s certainly no worse than Livan and the team is still improved.
Twins fix,
“I have yet to read “Moneyball.” Should I buy it?”
Don’t buy it!
There are free used copies in the trash bins at the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum.
Otherwise its available on ebay for 2 cents a copy or amazon.com for 3 cents a copy.
Don’t buy it!
There are free used copies in the trash bins at the Oakland Alameda County Coliseum.
Otherwise its available on ebay for 2 cents a copy or amazon.com for 3 cents a copy.
Sounds like a pretty typical response from someone who hasn’t read it. Are you Joe Morgan?
I think sid’s point was you can get it for cheap, rather than spending the $$ at B&N or Borders…
If, in fact, the reason we have middle-inning success against SP’s is because we “get to see pitches” during the first few…
a) I think statistically the 3rd+ time through the batting order is the worst for a starting pitcher, isn’t it?
b) It doesn’t speak too well to the preparation of the players by the coaches (and players themselves). How about a little video - perhaps some analysis of the pitcher, to know what he’s going to throw in which situations. Granted, a lot of these young kids haven’t seen the pitchers before, so they don’t have any personal experience to go off of - but c’mon, really?
snepp,
“Sounds like a pretty typical response from someone who hasn’t read it”
I bought it.
I read it.
I own it.
Big freaking deal!
The entryway for stat geeks to become “baseball insiders” without ever playing the game.
Its crap!
On the other hand, the concept of using an effective player evaluation technique that is NOT used by your competitors is/was a great idea.
The problem now is that most teams include that technique as part of their player evaluation.
The trick will now be to discover ANOTHER technique which hasn’t yet been copied.
Redmond named his kid Mookie?
Wow. I’m watching KC/CHW on FOX right now. Griffey in center is painful. They’re XBH all over the place.
It’s fun watching the FOX annoucers make excuses for Junior’s poor range.
Livan is/was a warm body, hence the term “innings eater”. He was brought in so the bullpen could take a day off now and then if the youngsters were to struggle. Anything over a .500 record when he starts is gravy, hence he served his purpose very nicely. That was money VERY well spent. Anyone who complains about that off-season move clearly does not know why he was brought here.
Mookie is Michael Jr. Im guessing Mookie came about because his older brother couldnt pronounce Michael…
Great job by our speedsters. Its a bunting frenzy out there.
I am late reading this post Joe but I had to comment on how great it is to get this kind of insight. Awesome! Redmond is great!
