Riding the Wave

by Jesse on Jun 26, 2008 9:23 AM EDT in News

Twins win eighth straight, ten of eleven.

Baseball or life, it's all the same--it goes in cycles, and nothing ever stays the same. But for the moment, for the Twins, life is very, very good. While it's a team accomplishment, I wanted to take a moment to check out exactly who we can thank for two weeks of exciting baseball from the offensive side. The pitching, on the whole, has been fantastic. At no point over the last 11 games have the Twins allowed more than four runs...at that was only twice.

So, before the Twins go for their third consecutive series sweep this afternoon in San Diego, I present your Minnesota offense, since June 13th:

Name	Games	AB	H	XBH	TB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG
Carlos Gomez	11	48	12	1	13	2	13	.250	.280	.271
Justin Morneau	11	44	13	3	19	4	4	.295	.354	.432
Alexi Casilla	11	42	11	2	13	2	1	.262	.295	.310
Joe Mauer	11	40	12	4	16	6	5	.300	.391	.400
Brendan Harris	11	40	12	7	24	1	9	.300	.317	.600
Jason Kubel	9	34	11	4	20	5	5	.324	.400	.588
Brian Buscher	9	32	13	2	17	2	2	.406	.417	.531
Delmon Young	8	31	11	3	14	3	6	.356	.412	.452
Michael Cuddyer	10	27	9	5	16	7	3	.333	.471	.593
Craig Monroe	6	10	2	2	8	1	3	.200	.273	.800
Mike Lamb	4	7	1	0	1	1	2	.143	.250	.143
Mike Redmond	2	6	0	0	0	1	1	.000	.143	.000
Matt Macri	5	5	2	0	2	1	1	.400	.500	.400
Total Offense	11	366	109	33	163	36	55	.298	.361	.445

Any time your entire offense can carry an OPS over .800, you're probably going to win most of your games...especially when your pitching staff is averaging less than 2.4 runs per contest in that stretch. Additionally, the Twins have hit eight home runs (Morneau, Buscher, Kubel-2, Monoe-2, Harris-2), which is quite a few for this team in just 11 games.

At any rate, just a quick glance at the offense before today's game. The game thread will be up around noon, see you then!

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Comments

Gomez getting a lot more opportunities to strike out.

It sure is a bitter pill to swallow to see Gomez get so many more plate appearances than the rest of the team by being in that leadoff spot. His numbers aren’t that bad for a rookie. In fact I think they are kind of encouraging, however it is still tough to see the offense hamstrung by a leadoff guy with only 12 walks to 77 strikeouts and an OBP of around .300 even.

Someday Gomez might be an excellent leadoff hitter. This season Gomez would look really good at #9.

I know, I know… “well who else would you put in the leadoff slot if not Gomez?”

by montanatwinsfan on Jun 26, 2008 11:15 AM EDT reply actions

Casilla...

If Cuddyer keeps heating up, you could put him between Mauer and Morneau again with Casilla leading off and Gomez batting ninth.

He ALWAYS seems to make an out in the first inning, but then usually comes back later in the game and gets a hit or two.

Although, he is really emotional, so it’s hard to gauge how he would react to moving to the bottom of the order. In that sense, it would likely be best to leave him where he’s at.

I’m just glad I’m not the one making these decisions.

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by joeiscool12 on Jun 26, 2008 11:33 AM EDT up reply actions

Observations

1) It’s great to see Cuddyer coming around – his overall numbers still are bad, but that’s a heck of an 11-game stretch, anyway.

2) Monroe’s line is great (“great” meaning “fun to see”, not necessarily “super productive”) – 2 hits, 8 total bases.

3) Moving Gomez down in the order wouldn’t be a terrible thing, although I see that Casilla, the likely replacement, hasn’t been all that hot lately either. I’m not sure what an optimal batting order is for this team, other than Mauer-Morneau-Cuddyer-Kubel in four of the 2-6 slots.

4) Harris’ K/BB is pretty awful, but that slugging average is fantastic.

5) Buscher!

"There are only two things that are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein

by BeefMaster on Jun 26, 2008 11:37 AM EDT reply actions