What has gotten into the lads?
Posted on June 26th, 2008 – 12:46 PMBy La Velle
I woke up this morning in need of a nice cup of coffee, but before I did that I turned on the computer to look at boxscores and stats.
I ran across the following, and suddenly didn’t need the caffeine kick:
I don’t know how long it will last, so I better make a big deal out of this now.
Who would have believed that the Twins are outscoring teams like the Yankees? Or leading their division in runs? Or scoring despite being so power deficient?
They don’t have a leadoff hitter (or their leadoff hitter is actually batting second), their No. 5 hitter has three homers, their left fielder has underperformed.
But they have a lot going for them right now.
Joe Mauer: You can knock him for his lack of power, but there’s no one else on the team more qualified to bat third, and he’s done it well.
Justin Morneau: He’s third in the AL in RBI as he continues to evolve as a hitter. By that I mean his pitch selection continues to improve.
Alexi Casilla: He’s worked with Joe Vavra and Rochester coach Riccardo Ingram to shorten his swing and not drift as he swings. He’s taking good at-bats and sets the table for Mauer and Morneau. And he has more RBI than Mike Lamb, Delmon Young, Brendan Harris and Craig Monroe - and as many as Carlos Gomez - in just 37 games played.
Other stuff: Harris has hit well the past week or so. Brian Buscher has provided from third base - which isn’t what we’re used to. Jason Kubel could hit 20-25 homers on a team that sorely needs power.
Stats: The Twins are batting a major league best .314 with runners in scoring position. They are second with a .279 average with two-out RISP situations. They are third in the majors in close and late situations (kind of an odd stat, but I’m rolling right now), batting .277.
I don’t think Casilla is the only reason, but since he was called up on May 13, the Twins are averaging 0.7 runs a game more than before.
The Twins are on pace to score 783 runs, up from the 718 they scored last season.
A couple other things: The Twins’ run diifferential is only plus-6 - it’s taken awhile to work off the fat from the White Sox series - but Arizona made the playoffs last season with a differential of -20.
And the Twins’ piostseason odds have taken a noticaeble leap, according to Baseball Prospectus. I remember them being in the single digits before the streak. Now the Twins have closed the gap on the Tigers.
48 Responses to "What has gotten into the lads?"
Good stuff. And Matt Garza’s pitching a no-no through 5 innings for the Rays.
LaVelle,
Thanks again for hosting 2 hrs of baseball talk yesterday. Casilla is giving MN what it lacked..production from the 2 spot. Like you noted about Mauer, right now there probably isn’t anyone else on this team to handle the 2 spot better than Casilla.
Matt Garza– no hits allowed through 6.
The curse…
I just flipped on mlb.tv, and on the first pitch of the 7th inning, Hanley Ramirez hit a home run.
Eff Garza.
But Hanley Ramirez says, “Only Anibal Sanchez throws no hitters in my house!!!”
and wanted to fire Vavra. The guy seems to be working with the whole team. now get lamb going!!
Win Twins!!
Anibal Sanchez… ha!
Speaking of trades that worked out well for both teams!
Garza just gave up a home run… Who cares he sucks?
Twins are leading the league in triples by a pretty decent margin.
If Carl were not such a cheapskate the Twins may have a legitimate chance to contend this year. While I am happy for this burst of success, I dont see it going long term enough to win the division.
They need a couple more quality players. Good thing we bought him a stadium so he could keep his star players.
Runs scored and allowed are very close for the Twins.
It’s been hard to win slug fests against HR hitting teams this year
This is even more impressive when you consider that scoring is down leaguewide. Then again I can’t confirm that but I know for a fact it was down quite a bit a month ago.
Its funny how come people can’t even enjoy when the Twins are playing well. Just enjoy it for once instead of just being negative. Geesh.
Chicks dig small ball. Who need power hitters?
I agree with Nora!
Why are they giving up runs to the Padres? Stop it.
You forgot your(s)in RBIs. Please make a correction in your next post. Thank You!
When Everett and Tolbert comeback off DL
who gets sent out? my guess Lamb and Everett will both be cut. What do you think?
Fudd:
RBI are the first three letters in Runs Batted In. How much more plural can you get than “Runs”? Doesn’t need an S.
Please make a correction in your next post.
Enjoy this streak. The whole team is trying very hard to win. Many teams can not make the same claim. 
I am not suprised about the Twins recent success, after all, it’s in the song… We’re gonna win Twins, we’re gonna score…
The lads? You must still have football (soccer) on the brain. Who do you like in the Euro final - Spain or Germany?
Where’s original Craig? I remember from about 3 weeks ago an almost daily update about our project runs scored and how we sucked and so on. Now on pace for 783. Comments Craig?
Please don’t ask for the original Craig to come back. It is very pleasant with him on “hiatus”.
They don’t have a leadoff hitter? Please remove head from butt, La Velle. Casilla doesn’t even have half the at-bats of Gomez. Guess who was also hitting .300 when he only had 141 plate appearances? Enough with the bashing, bandwagon jumper.
It’s great to have a nine game winning streak going. and now they are coming home to have their final interleague series with the Brewcrew! I believe the Twins have the confidence and the ability to pull off another series sweep. so Let’s go Twins…..
The Twins DON’T have a lead-off hitter. They have a fast guy at the top of the order that swings at anything close. Casilla is a real lead-off hitter right now, and it would suit the Twins nicely to move Gomez down to 9 and get everyone else an extra at-bat late in the game! That said, it’s hard to complain about 9 straight wins.
The Twins DON’T have a lead-off hitter.
Twins don’t have a lead off hitter, a #3 hitter, a cleanup hitter with enough HRs, a #5 hitter, a third baseman, a SS, a LF, a DH, a RF, a perfect bull pen, a #1 SP, a #2 SP, a bench with power, a catcher with power, a manager, a hitting coach, an outdoor stadium with a roof.
Did I cover everything?
Really is amazing that they win any games at all.
Some people reason that since “RBI” stands for “runs batted in,” there is no need for an additional “S” to indicate a plural, and speak of “120 RBI.” However, though somewhat illogical, it is standard to treat the initialism as a word and say “RBIs.” In writing, one can add an optional apostrophe: “RBI’s.”
The same pattern applies to other such plural initialisms as “WMDs” (“weapons of mass destruction,” “POWs” (“prisoners of war”), and “MREs” (“meals ready to eat”)
Even the dictionary lists RBI:
RBI Definition
? RBI (är?b????, sometimes rib??)
noun pl. RBIs, RBI, rbi’s, rbi
a run driven in by a batter: an official statistic
Tolbert will not be ready to play until August 1st at the earliest; it may be mid-August or later. Torn ligaments take forever to heal, and then he will have to get strength and flexibility back in his hand. He will probably do a rehab in the minors until Sept 1.
I suspect Everett hurt his arm because of leg weakness related to last year’s bad fracture; I don’t think we will see him again before September, either.
They could also go back to 11 pitchers if the starters keep it up, to clear a spot. Might they try to move Boof or Livan at the trading deadline? I’m not sure either of those currently figure into the long-range plan.
Go Bottom feeders! Sweep the Brewer! 12 in a row!
Amen, Carlos G!! One can only imagine what it would be like if, indeed, the Twins had lost nine straight. I know it’s a late summer but stop and enjoy the success these young men have granted all of us!
I should have said “late arriving summer” but, then again, that’s normal in Gopherland, eh?
Amen, Daniel! Summer is finally here… later than normal, but great now. Young pitchers are feeding off each other. We’ve been around long enough to know we are going to have some more downs in the ups/downs of a season… but enjoy we will.
Let’s get some more against the Brewers this weekend. I’ll be there on Saturday.
The Twins front office looks almost brilliant right now. This is fun!
Carlos G, Did you enjoy Mr. romer’s late night salutations to Mr. Dragon last evening. I am sure he retired at 1:15 am EDT with pleasant memories of old heroes like Camilo Pascual and Pedro Ramos. All in all, a classy thing to do. Lastly, it has been only 43 years but, finally, the two of us could cheer, yet again,for both the Twins and Dodgers on the same day!
Daniel,
Yes, I noticed that this morning. That was good. Time to head off to bed myself. Twins and Dodgers. Mmmmm! Good thoughts. Did you ever read that Koufax book by Jane Leavy? Great material, although I didn’t particularly like the writing style. Those guys really took a beating on their bodies. OK, hopefully back tomorrow.
the amazing stats in that Team Stats to me is Cleveland, and Detroit. Wow what happened to THOSE two clubs?
June offered a cakewalk schedule, for the Twins. They have had a real nice run against some very pathetic teams. It has been a nice summer break, for the boys, and a chance to rack up some runs and easy wins. The competition begins again in July.
Did anybody else see that moron Brian Runge got suspended for looking for a fight during the Mets Mariners series. In case anybody forgot, Runge is the ump who Gardenhire constantly has runins with the crew that run up Harris in the Brewers series when he was looking straight down at the ground. That crew should just be outright fired.
Coincidentally enough, there has been another major contributing factor to our increase in runs scored since May 13th: Jason Kubel. Kubel has hit .297/.387/.534 since then, for an OPS of .921. For comparison’s sake, Morneau is hitting .310/.371/.493 this year (OPS of .864).
Craig Monroe needs more playing time. Kubel needs to sit versus lefties.
“I just don’t see how this team can finish more than a couple of games above .500″.
I am really enjoying watching the Twins this year. 3 runs down? No problem! Did you see the double that Mauer got a couple days ago? Gomez and Casilla ran the bases like greyhounds.
SEEMS LIKE WE’RE FINALLY COMIN TOGETHER AND THATS A SIGN OF A GERDY TEAM!
NOW IF WE JUST HAD SOME REAL STARTING PITCHER THAT COULD BE TRUSTED IN THE POST SEASON…BUT WE DON’T SO WE’LL STINK IT UP IN THE PLAY-OFFS….BUT NO ONE GAVE US A CHANCE TO MAKE IT THAT FAR…GOOD JOB GARDY….BAD JOB FRONT OFFICE LETING JOHAN GO!
“Did you see the double that Mauer got a couple days ago?”
Not to be a hater, Dave, because it was a clutch hit…but yeah, I saw it, it looked just like a lot of Mauer hits…a slicer to left. The way you said it made it seem like it was a majestic shot off the right-centerfield wall.
Still, can’t complain about the high batting average.
Is there a MIL-MIN series preview on the Strib? I don’t see it.
Dave T.
You have to understand Jason, He far prefers someone who hits a HR once and 10/12 AB and K’s all the rest of the time, over someone who can gets on base almost 40% of the time, but only hits a HR every 3/4 weeks. There is one EXCEPTION which proves that rule. Kubel is on his unfavorite (trash) list. I presume Jason doesn’t think Kubel’s HR’s are real.
Jason IS NOT impressed with Mauer, AND WOULD NOT be impressed with Mauer even if he had a 1.000 OBP.
I like your way of enjoying what happens, rather than looking for the dust spect the maid happened to miss.
Regards,
