...like they needed another hole in their collective head.

With Alexi Casilla now on the disabled list, the Twins were forced to grab Adam Everett's cell phone number out of the waste paper basket and give him a quick buzz.  I'm not sure what that conversation was like, but I'd hate to be the schmuck who had to make the call.  Whatever happened, he's got his job back.

So now begins the situation of plugging holes and trying to decide who fits best where, and why, and exactly what the best moves are for this team going forward.  Everett, he of the "No Health In '08, Vote 'No' On Proposition 17" campaign (do you have your button?), will either side into the shortstop role or be relegated to the bench.  Nick Punto's exposure will increase, making it more likely his fantastic season at the plate will begin to regress.  Probably.  Hopefully not.  But, probably.  Then there's Brendan Harris, who's still likely to find his role changing day by day.  Brian Buscher's role is still secure as Starting Third Baseman Versus Right Handed Pitchers.

What's best?  From third to short to second, is it Buscher-Punto-Harris?  Is it Buscher-Everett-Punto?  Maybe it's Buscher-Harris-Punto, or maybe you don't like Buscher at all and it's Harris-Everett-Punto?  Or even Punto-Everett-Harris?  The options, such as they are, are endless.

We're not sure how long it will be until Casilla returns, but the bad news is that Matt Tolbert suffered the exact same injury a couple of months ago and he hasn't come back yet.  The good news, of course, is that no two people are the same and even the slightest difference in the injury could mean he'll be back much sooner.  Still, this situation needs no spin for us to realize that this is a big blow for the Twins on both sides of the ball.

The top of the batting order, now Denard Span and Punto, doesn't look all that bad.  Certainly you'd happily trade Carlos Gomez's .289 OBP for Span's .403, and Punto's .345 isn't too far off of Casilla's .351.  The problem of losing one more decent on-base threat is that the bottom of the order becomes that much weaker.  Certainly Buscher holds his own, but with Harris at .314, Everett currently at .235 and the aforementioned Gomez having a tough time, this team should probably be more worried about production from 7-8-9 in the batting order than they should be about 4-5-6 in the field.

Whatever trades for third baseman were being bandied about have suddenly become something of a secondary focus.  Trying to find a shortstop or a second baseman who can hit should become Minnesota's new primary concern.

That was the guy we've been looking for.

On Friday night the Minnesota Twins opened the second half of their season against baseball's most potent offense.  Leading all of Major League Baseball in runs scored, team OPS, hits, doubles and batting average, the Texas Rangers are a formidible ballclub in that on any given night they'll throw up six or seven runs while taking a nap.  Last night however, Glen Perkins just put their offense to sleep.

Staying aggressive for the duration of his six innings of work, Perkins went after the Ranger hitters, big and small alike.  With Texas tied for first in the American League in strikeouts, the former Gopher was the benefactor of some aggression, which led to a number of brief plate appearances.  He averaged just 14 pitches through his first five innings before slowing down in the sixth, where he managed to work himself out of a jam with Michael Young on third base and two outs.

In fact, that was the most impressive part of Perkins' start.  After walking Young on eight pitches with one out, a wild pitch allowed the Texas shortstop to advance to second base.  Josh Hamilton followed that up with a ground out to the right side, moving Young to third.  With the Twins leading just 1-0 at the time, Perkins attacked Milton Bradley with seven consecutive fastballs, largely staying away before finally walking him on one inside.  Marlon Byrd stepped in with runners on the corners, and again Perkins played the predator.  Seven more fastballs were fired through the strikezone, until Byrd finally rolled over on who and grounded out to second base.  It was the type of inning, and the type of reserve, that we haven't seen too often from Glen Perkins--but he stepped up his game last night.

Perkins credit part of his success to a new pitch--a slider.  With his previous breaking ball, which could have been called a bit of a slurve sometimes, breaking 12-to-6, Glen felt he needed to mix in something different.

"There's things I'll try to do now that I wouldn't have tried a month ago," Perkins said. "The biggest thing is throwing the ball inside. I wasn't big on that in the minor leagues — it's a lot easier to miss over the plate. But if you stay in there, you get guys out and make guys uncomfortable."

He worked right-handed hitters inside with fastballs and sliders, recording a few outs on the new pitch.  He also used his slider to break away from left-handed hitters while still using the fastball to jam them inside.  Perkins changed his speeds and mixed his pitches better than I've seen him do it this year, and having that extra weapon in his arsenal certainly didn't hurt.

The offense gave him his support as well, although it took Jamey Wright to enter in relief of Kevin Millwood before the flood doors finally opened.  With Millwood in trouble in the seventh, Wright entered and allowed three inherited runners to score along with one of his own.  All of this before he finally induced a ground ball double play.

Alexi Casilla collected three hits, and Justin Morneau added one of his own--an impressive double.  Once again it was the second half of the batting order coming through however, with Jason Kubel (also with a double), Delmon Young, Brian Buscher and Brendan Harris all notching multi-hit games.  The four combined to go 10-for-16, collecting all six of the Twins RBI.

Stars of the Game

#3:  Delmon Young  (4-for-4, 4 singles, RBI, SB)
#2:  Alexi Casilla  (3-for-5, R, nice defense)
#1:  Glen Perkins  (6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 1 K)

July 10, 2008:  Open Thread Recap, Minnesota @ Detroit

 
via img411.imageshack.us

Riker:  Thank you, sir.  I also hit right handed, and for power.

The strange thing about Riker's promotion is that the bullpen was rock solid on Thursday afternoon, and Justin Morneau provided exactly enough power to fuel the offense.

Kevin Slowey was knocked around early and hard by the Tiger offense.  His final line was better only than his June 8th outing against the White Sox, but only marginally so.  He was knocked out before completing the fourth inning, getting charged with all six runs off of nine hits and a pair of walks.  No matter what he threw in that disasterous fourth inning, Detroit had the answer.

But tonight it was the Twins mounting the late rallies.  In the seventh, Nick Punto, Denard Span, Carlos Gomez and Alexi Casilla played roles in what would be a one-run inning.  Casilla's sac-fly to plate Punto brought the Twins within striking distance at 6-3.

In the eighth, Justin Morneau blasted a deep shot that bounced off the top of the wall just to the right side of center field.  The umpires converged and called it a double, but I'm not too sure.  It looked like a home run to me.  But it's a moot point now, and Justin wasn't done anyway.  He advanced to third before scoring on a Delmon Young ground out.

The ninth inning was a thing of beauty, and returned some of the bounces that had been working against the Twins the last few days.  Consecutive singles by Punto and Span ended up scoring a run thanks to the futility of Tiger outfielder Matt Joyce, and Joe Mauer immediately followed that up with a sacrifice fly to plate Span and tie the game at six.

Things were quiet until the top of the eleventh, thanks to a bullpen that combined for seven and a third scoreless innings by the end of the afternoon.  Following a Jason Kubel fly-out and a nice catch by Clete Thomas, Tiger reliever Freddy Dolsi had logged 2.1 innings and 32 pitches.  On Dolsi's second offering and 34th pitch, Justin Morneau turned and made dead red contact with the fat part of the lumber.  Dolsi's fastball was history the moment it left the bat, and this time they couldn't take Justin's home run away.  Matt Guerrier threw his second scoreless inning to end the game, joining Craig Breslow, Jesse Crain, Dennys Reyes and Joe Nathan in the relief effort.

There was only one point in the game where I truly felt the Twins were working against themselves.  In the bottom of the ninth with the game tied at six, Morneau had just walked to put runners on first and second with two away.  Detroit removed southpaw Bobby Seay for right-hander Freddy Dolsi.  Craig Monroe, who's absolutely destroyed right-handed pitchers this season to the tune of .284/.338/.622, was removed in lieu of Mike Lamb.

Mike Lamb grounded out.

Of course it isn't a big deal, because the Twins did manage to come back and tie the game prior to the plate appearance.  And ultimately, the Twins did win, and that's what matters.  (That, and Morneau going 5-for-5 with a homer, pair of doubles and a walk.)  But this move was completely incomprehensible and, in my mind, without any defense.  Lamb has had a rough year, and I feel for him and I still want him to succeed, but he hasn't hit this year.  It doesn't matter what hand the pitcher throws with, Lamb's been horrible.  Gardenhire, who uses Monroe versus southpaws in spite of his miserable numbers, then lifts him from an at-bat versus a right-hander, who he's destroyed.  Color me baffled.

Still, like I said, the Twins won.  Confusion is easily quelled when the long-term goal is met.  But hopefully, if this situation arrises again, Gardenhire can just turn to Riker.  He mashes righties AND lefties.

Also, the barriers of Deanna Troi's heart.

[Note by Jesse, 07/10/08 7:18 PM CDT ]  I almost forgot!  Mad props to Andersklasen, montanatwinsfan, caseintheface, cmathewson, TMW, Neil, DedicatedFlowerOfFastion, PhoenixV, neide, cooldude, .mnqwerd and Tony_O for keeping the game thread jumping!

This is our final installment.  Check out Part I and Part II for anyone/anything you may have missed.

What the hell happened after I went to bed last night?  I leave, we're up a couple of runs heading into the top of the eighth.  That's not a fun thing to wake up to.  Anyway, let's get these grades over with.  It's infielders today, and that's it.

Grades after the jump!

Also, don't miss out on some other good reading here on Twinkie Town from the last 24 hours:

Recipe Corner:  Late-Innings Stew  (Jon Marthaler)
Bullpen Hole  (cmathewson)
Starting Pitching Game Score Analysis  (biggity2bit)
Another Managerial Mistake, Another Loss  (Andersklasen)

Continue reading this post »

The offense has needed you.

With slow seasons from a couple of key players, youth and inexperience abounding and very little power, from Opening Day the Minnesota offense looked better on paper than it was on the field.  Luckily, there's been some help from unexpected sources this season, and those performances have helped off-set disappointing performances from others.

You know who they are.

The three of them have combined for a .321/.377/.433 line, including five homers and 16 doubles in 277 at-bats.  A 3:4 walk-to-strikeout ratio is pretty good, too.

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:

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!

Twins win in dramatic fasion.

Jake Peavy and Kevin Slowey each pitched like legends on Tuesday night in San Diego.  Peavy, a Cy Young award winner and still just 27, was incredible through six innings.  He struck out six, walked one and was touched for only one run--off Michael Cuddyer's run-scoring single in the first inning.  The San Diego ace can be nasty, and he was near the top of his game for six innings.

But Slowey was better.  Throwing only 92 pitches and striking out seven, walking none, and scattering four hits, Padre hitters fell away from him time after time.  It was arguably Kevin's strongest performance of the season, matching up against an 8-inning 2-run start on June 13th and a complete game 1-run outing on May 29th.  Whatever the case may be, his second year with the Twins is measuring up pretty well against his first:

While the Padres managed to tie the game in the 7th inning off Jesse Crain, the Minnesota offense had been stymied.  Drawn at 1-1 into the top of the 9th, Trevor Hoffman had retired both Cuddyer and Jason Kubel on strikeouts.  On both occasions he set the hitters up with fastballs, and finished them off with his not-as-devastating-as-it-used-to-be-but-still-pretty-dangerous changeup.  According to Kelly Theiser over at MLB.com, the next hitter Brendan Harris had noticed:

"I was just looking for a fastball," Harris said. "I saw he got ahead of the first two guys with fastballs and just went right into the changeup. I was just hoping I would get it and put it into play and not have to hit the changeup."

Looking fastball, Harris was aggressive and went after Hoffman's first pitch.  It was the fastball he was looking for, high and right over the plate.  Harris turned and make excellent contact...and the ball landed in the left field seats.  In his first plate appearance versus future Hall of Fame pitcher Trevor Hoffman, Brendan Harris took him deep on the first pitch.  The solo shot gave the Twins a 2-1 lead.

Hall of Fame pitcher, first plate appearance ever, first pitch fastball, home run...a formula so simple, Brian Buscher repeated it immediately.  Hoffman's fastball came in just above the knees, and Buscher turned on it, yanking a line-drive home run just over the right field wall.  With a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the ninth, Joe Nathan came on and converted his 20th save of the season.

It was an unorthodox win for a power-starved team, but when you ride a winning streak it seems like all the bounces and all the luck go your way.  That was certainly the case on Tuesday, as Minnesota picked up its seveth straight victory.  The Twins are 9-1 in their last 10, and have picked up four games on the White Sox in that stretch.

Huge sixth inning supports strong start by Blackburn.

For seven innings on Saturday night, Nick Blackburn owned the Arizona Diamondbacks.  He worked quickly, throwing strikes and efficiently running through innings.  Blackburn left the mound after the top of the seventh, trailing 1-0 in spite of allowing a mere trio of hits and no walks.  He'd also struck out three, while only throwing 89 pitches.  It was a brilliant performance by Blackburn, who turned in his second consecutive quality start.

It was in the bottom of the seventh that the Twins finally managed to give Blackburn the support he so sorely deserved.  After Joe Mauer scored on Justin Morneau's double, the wheels came off the cart for Arizona starter Micah Owings.

Jason Kubel walked.  Delmon Young singled, scoring Morneau.  Brian Buscher doubled, scoring them both.  Brendan Harris doubled, scoring Buscher.  Then, after Carlos Gomez mercifully struck out for the second out of the inning, Alexi Casilla singled to score Harrs.  Mauer walked to reach for the second time in the inning, but Morneau popped up to end the scoring binge.  By the time the third out recorded, the Diamondbacks were on their third pitcher of the inning.

Amazingly, the Twins have now won five in a row--this following a streak where they looked exactly like the inexperienced and aggressive team that we were worried they could be.  Now Minnesota is three games over .500 at 39-36, and are suddenly a mere two and a half games off the pace set by the 41-33 Chicago White Sox.

Time for a second consecutive series sweep this afternoon!  Win Twins!!

The following will appear in the June kickoff of GameDay, of which I was fortunate enough to be Guest Editor for the second time this year.  Thanks again to GameDay and John Bonnes, as well as to my contributing authors for the monthly features and our graphic artist, Jay.

In Bloom

Minnesota went 15-13 in the second full month of the '08 season, which was good enough to keep them right in the thick of the AL Central.  Entering play on Monday, this leaves them one game off the pace set by current division leaders Chicago.  After a generally lethargic performance by the offense in April, a number of players stepped up their game in May.  The overall difference in team offense between April and May is a pretty stark contrast:

The arrival of Alexi Casilla couldn't have come at a better time.  He's still raw, but his patience at the plate is paying huge dividends.  In 50 May at-bats he raked, putting together a scathing line of .340/.417/.520.  Nobody's under the delusion that he can sustain this level of production all year, but his peripherals look great, and he's been a perfect fit at the top of the order with Carlos Gomez.

Speaking of which, Casilla wasn't the only one to flash some improved plate discipline.  The aforementioned Gomez hit .299/.348/.449 on the month, working six walks as opposed to the disappointing single one in all of April.  If Alexi and Carlos continue to hit well at the top of the order, they're going to give the middle of the order plenty of run-producing opportunities.

Know what?  I think they're up to the challenge...the M&M boys destroyed pitching in May.  Joe Mauer, even after a relatively cold close to the month, put together an astounding .333/.442/.387 performance, including an incredible 19 walks.  Justin Morneau had already hit well in April, but he did even better in May.  While "only" hitting four home runs, he once again displayed the ability to let power be a secondary trait when simply being an exceptionally good hitter and merely driving the ball will do.  He batted .336/.405/.496, hitting with authority to all fields.

With the pitching hitting some stumbling blocks last month it's even more imperative that the bats stay alive.  If the as-of-yet under-performing Delmon Young and Michael Cuddyer (both have had brighter moments recently) can join the guys listed above, we might be talking about a legitimate pennant race by this time next month.

State of the Pitching Staff

First things first:  In case you haven't heard the status of Nick Blackburn (who was hit in the face by a line drive on Sunday afternoon), he expects to make his next start on Friday against the White Sox.  All gold stars and warm fuzzies there.

As for the rest of the boys, there's been some good mixed with some bad.  Boof Bonser had a target on every pitch he threw in May (six starts, 30.1 innings, 38 hits, 35 runs, 8.60 ERA), and is likely headed to the bullpen.  While Thursday's starter is still listed as TBA as of this printing, it's likely that Scott Baker will take Bonser's slot.  Last week, under the guise of keeping Glen Perkins on a 5-day rotation, Bonser's start was bumped back a day.  That move happened to coincide with Baker's final rehab start...wink-wink, nudge-nudge.  If for any reason Blackburn is unable to go on Friday, you might see Boof make one final start there before getting a new role.

On the whole, while there were some big boosts from certain hurlers in May (specifically Kevin Slowey and Perkins), it was still the pitching (and defense for that matter) that kept the offensive boom from netting more than a +2 record for the month:

ON THE HILL  

Tuesday:  Kevin Slowey  (2-4, 3.38 ERA)

¨        2008:  34.2 IP, 30 H, 24 K, 6 BB, 6 HR

¨        2007:  4-1, 4.73 ERA, 66.2 IP, 82 H, 47 K, 11 BB

¨        Fastball, changeup, curve, slider

¨        For a guy who "doesn’t have a strikeout pitch", he does pretty well.

¨        He threw a complete game in his last start, but still threw fewer pitches than he had in his previous three.

¨        As far as Slowey is concerned, accuracy is king.  He won’t overpower anyone, but all of his pitches can be thrown for strikes.  When he’s on his game he’s a marksman, and it’s beautiful

Wednesday:  Glen Perkins  (2-2, 3.90 ERA)

¨        2008:  30 IP, 37 H, 16 K, 6 BB, 4 HR

¨        2007:  0-0, 3.14 ERA, 28.2 IP, 23 H, 20 K, 12 BB

¨        Fastball, changeup, curve/slurve

¨        He had his first rough start in five his last time out, managing only four innings.

¨        Perkins has been throwing his changeup a bit more often this season, but at the cost of how often he uses his breaking balls.  This could be because of how similar is fastball is to his changeup in movement, which makes it more deceptive.

¨        He’s been hit very hard this year, especially for a guy who’s putting up solid number as he has.  Nearly 30% of balls-in-play against him have been line drives, which are the most difficult BIP to turn into outs.

¨        At least half of his breaking balls will miss the strike zone, according to pitch records.  It’s his only pitch with much horizontal break, but there can be a lot of it.

Thursday:  Scott Baker  (2-0, 4.09 ERA)

¨        2008:  33 IP, 31 H, 29 K, 5 BB, 6 HR

¨        2007:  9-9, 4.26 ERA, 143.2 IP, 162 H, 102 K, 29 BB

¨        Fastball, changeup, curve, slider

¨        Baker made his two rehab starts, and pitched well on both occasions.

¨        He gets good movement off both of his breaking balls which, opposite of Perkins, have less spin than his fastball and changeup.

¨        Baker relies on location just like Slowey.  Neither one of them are over-powering, but where Slowey can paint his pitches where he likes, Baker’s able to attack a bit more direct.

Twins drop game two in 12.

The Good

Alexi Casilla:  Casilla's been a god-send for the top of the order.  In six plate appearances last night he reached base on four occasions, three of them by working a free pass.  He's only swinging at 21.4% of pitches that are outside the strike zone, which is fantastic considering how much time he's seen in the majors.  Additionally, he's not really swinging a lot period, taking cuts at only 38.7% of pitches seen overall.

Eight walks (and only seven strikeouts) in 61 plate appearances is a pretty decent ratio.  What impresses me about Casilla this season is just that:  his willingness to simply not swing.  While his strikeout rate has actually declined from his time in Rochest the last two years, his walk rate is 136% of his previous career high.  It's natural to think that perhaps pitchers just aren't throwing him strikes, but the fact that he swings at so few pitches outside of the strike zone is a strong indication that he's either A) recognizing pitches and location much better, or B) that he's been lucky in how unselective he's been so far.  Either way that patience is paying huge dividends right now, and I'm ecstatic.

Mike Lamb:  Lamb was 3-for-6, with a double and a triple.  This means he closes out May with a .302/.340/.407 line.  That, is improvement.  While he's still not showing as much power as the organization had hoped for, that line beats the hell out of his .476 OPS for March and April.  If he can keep that up the rest of the season, the Twins will have the best offensive season from their primary third baseman since Cuddyer's .263/.330/.422 in 2005.

Michael Cuddyer:  Cuddyer collected a pair of hits on Saturday night, including an RBI single as well as the home run that tied the game at 6 in the bottom of the seventh inning.  He's still having a rough time, tallying 23 strikeouts in the month of May (and eight in the last six games), and is still swinging at more than 27% of pitches outside the strikezone on the year, but every time something positive like this happens you hope it's a catalyst for better things to come.  He's still hitting a fair amount of line drives (20.3%), which is a good thing.  If the Twins are going to continue to play "over their heads" (or just simply be a better team), they're going to need Cuddyer to be better, and more consistent, in his production at the plate.

The Bad

Jason Kubel:  Our "everyday" DH didn't produce a lick last night, and while he stranded only four runners he missed a big opportunity with Joe Mauer on third (with one out) in the bottom of the 3rd.  He struck out swinging on five pitches after going up 2-0; he struck out three times on the night.  He never looked comfortable.

Boof Bonser:  Bonser looked pissed on a number of occasions last night, and I can hardly blame him.  A booted ball by Nick Punto in the top of the third (with two outs, it would have been number three) led to three runs in the inning for the Yankees.  While Boof was inefficient in pitch count, and did nothing to rectify the situation his shortstop put him in, it did mean that at the end of the day he only allowed two earned runs.  But, he did allow five runs overall on five hits and a trio of walks.  The Yankees had his number and likely put the coup d'etat on his immediate future with the club.  He's likely headed to the bullpen after an absolutely horrific month of May.  Even if the peripherals insist he wasn't as bad as his numbers, when you have a month like this it doesn't really matter.

The Ugly

Nick Punto:  Punto's error in the third inning, as I mentioned, put the squeeze on Bonser and the Twins.  Later, he missed a line drive into left field that saw an increase in the Yankee lead.  While bad things happen, the bottom line is that they directly contributed to runs being scored when in all liklihood the inning should have been over.  He's just back from the disabled list...but that couldn't have been a very welcoming return for LNP.

Juan Rincon:  Rincon was charged with the loss.  He recorded a 1-2-3 inning in the 11th, collecting a pair of ground outs and a fly out on eight pitches.  Following a ground out, three consecutive singles led to what would be the deciding run in the top of the 12th.  He notched 23 pitches (11 strikes), recording two outs while allowing those three hits and a walk before being replaced by Brian Bass, and what we saw from Rincon in his second inning of work is what we're always afraid will happen whenever he toes the rubber.  From attacking hitters in the previous inning, suddenly he's erratic and missing his spots, unable to find the strike zone.  Then, when he does, he's leaving hanging sliders and some fat fastballs right over the plate.

It's been frustrating watching Juan be unable to regain his confidence and his old form.  If his future isn't already in question with the Twins, it likely will be very soon.  Something is missing, and it doesn't look like he'll be able to get it back with Minnesota.