Nice weekend, huh? First the Twins dismantle Cleveland on Friday and then pull off come-from-behinders on Saturday and Sunday in very, very different ways. It was a continuous assault of offense that allowed them to catapult to victory on Saturday night and a disciplined rally against the half-season’s best AL starter, Cliff Lee, that finished off the sweep. And for good measure, CC Sabathia has been sent to the National League.

Those who predicted in your comments that the Twins would be 12 games over .500 a week before the All-Star break can come down to Kirby Puckett place over the noon hour today and pick up your medals.

It’s pretty sweet right now. Watching the Twins maneuver and wiggle and shake things into all the right places has been almost as rewarding as watching, what Ms. Baseball calls, the celebratory man love that has been a staple of the dugout and post-game scenes. Success has been a combo platter of tangible and intangible, and I dare anyone to say that both don’t have a place in the team’s success.

Yes, as much as I like numbers, I think there’s something to the wisdom of an aging pitcher whose team has managed to win in 13 of his 19 starts, even though his statistics look like something out of a Carlos Silva nightmare. And there’s something to the presence of a veteran such as Craig Monroe, whose .222 average is secondary to the threat he poses from the bench and the advice he’s reportedly provided to Delmon Young (and probably others). I think there was something to the two-game sabbatical Nick Punto was given after his petulant and substandard return to action during the Milwaukee series the weekend before last. (You should know that, while gathered around the XM on the Upper Peninsula, Punto’s home run Friday night was greeted by more laughs than cheers among those assembled.)

Tangibles need a complement of heart and smarts to be successful over the grind that is the baseball season. Ray Miller, the frequently (and rightfully) maligned manager for parts of the 1985 and ‘86 season, called it getting your team in “position to win.” Unfortunately for Miller, he didn’t really know how to get ‘em there in the way that Tom Kelly did, and in the way that Gardy has done more often than not during his tenure.

What is the mix of tangible and intangible that makes a manager decide when to move around a bunch of infielders who can play multiple positions? The mix that led Gardy to resist whatever temptation there may have been to take his best shortstop, Alexi Casilla, and keep him at second base while installing the range-impaired but steady-gloved Brendan Harris at shortstop … and then picking the right time (this weekend) to flip Harris and Punto between third base and shortstop against left-handed pitchers?

How do you call Carlos Gomez on the maddening stuff — forgetting the number of outs, the two-strike bunts, the brain cramps on the bases — without taking away the aggressiveness that makes him the best defensive center fielder in the majors? (The “best” contention is based on the wonky and very useful “zone rating.” Here’s a link to the ratings and another one to an explanation– and, while you’re checking them out, take a look at where that Torii Hunter fellow ranks this year.)

Casilla, Brian Buscher and Denard Span have all been put to the best use at just the right time, and the same can be said to a lesser extent for Macri, Tolbert and even Howie Clark. The front office has resisted false pride and has not talked up the Triple-A pitchers received in the Santana deal (Humber and Mulvey) at the expense of the current staff. And the early-season Liriano mistake is becoming a distant memory, as are Rincon in the bullpen and Boof in the rotation.

Of course, intangibles mean little if Mauer isn’t second in the league in on-base percentage and Morneau in RBI … and Jason Kubel doesn’t slug homers and Joe Nathan doesn’t dominate the ninth … and the young starters don’t mature and the team isn’t third in runs scored (despite being last in homers). Tangibles beat studs Ben Sheets and Cliff Lee (20-2 against everyone else, 1-2 against the Twins) on successive Sundays, with intangibles sealing the deal.

By the end of the series, despite all the pain Cleveland inflicted on us last year, I was feeling a bit bad for ‘em. Minus Pronk, Martinez and Carmona — and with a closer who was just sent to the minors — they are a pitiful shadow of the ‘07 team and in the process of being dismantled and put back together. (Can the Twins get Casey Blake, please?)

Only a bit, though. I was too busy being thrilled about what the home team did this weekend.

One more thing: Nice to see the deserving Mauer, Morneau, Nathan combination get their All-Star props. Congrats to Johan and Torii, too.

What, they didn’t make it?

As TK would say, “Aw, that’s a shame.”

other people are here too

This entry was posted on Monday, July 7th, 2008 at 8:19 am and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.