In a move that Ron Gardenhire hopes will jump start our offense, it appears that Gardy will put Joe Mauer second in the batting order once he returns for the homestand that starts this Friday.  Over the past few years, it has been no secret that Joe is able to get on base.  Over the past two years Joe’s OBP is .429 and .446.  His career OBP is .402. 

Gardy has been hesitant to put Joe second in the order.  The unofficial rule of thumb is states that the best batter on the team should bat third.  The problem is that most batting orders don’t have a black hole called Punto or Cirillo batting right before.  Now that Joe should finally crack the lineup this is a perfect time to make a change.  Gardy seems ready to do whatever necessary to jumpstart the club.  Currently the Twins are sitting at 28-29 and look nothing like the team that they were last year.  The piranhas have lost their appetite and the only hitters to show up this year are Morneau, Cuddy and Hunter.  The new order will now look like this:

Castillo/Mauer/Cuddyer/Morneau/Hunter/Kubel/DH/Bartlett/Punto

The fans, the media and the analysts have been clamoring for this move for quite some time.  Moving Joe will allow Castillo and Mauer to likely be on base prior to having the big sticks step to the plate.  Personally I think that this change will give the Twins something that they have rarely had all year…..  Early inning leads. 

Let’s hope for the best and thank God that today is the last day of our West Coast death trip.  Bring on the National League!

Up.  Down.  Up.  Down.  When does this ride end?  I’ll be honest.  My stomach is starting to get a little queasy.  I loved the positivity that was coming out of the Twins camp over the last week.  That was until we ran directly into the Oakland A’s and Anaheim Angels. 

After winning the first game of the Oakland series, we somehow managed to go cold.  Ice cold.  Billy Beane would be very proud of his squad.  They had the clutch hits, ran the bases well and gave our low-budget small market team a lesson that could have easily been included in the book Moneyball.  The A’s were doing all the little things right.  Meanwhile our squad could not hit the ball to save its life in the final two games of the series.  During those last two games the Twins 3-4-5 batters were a combined 1-11.  In the last game of the series the Twins left an amazing 11 runners on base. 

Last night’s game was not looking any better.  I had some hopes that Boof would come out and shut down the Angels of Anaheim…or was it Los Angeles Angels….  I can never remember.  Either way, I had hoped that Boof would get us back to our winning ways.  That did not happen.  From the first inning it was very obvious that Boof was not in a groove.  He had little control and he could not get his curveball and slider over for strikes.  That is his strikeout pitch and without it he’s very hittable.  Boof left the game in the 5^th inning after he scattered three hits in a row.  Several relievers and innings later, a game that was at one time manageable was now a complete blowout.  Final score:  Angels 16 Twins 3.

For whatever reason the Angels have our number….  Stupid Rally Monkey! Tonight is another game.  Let’s hope that Scott “one more bad start and I’m replaced by Garza” Baker can put the team on his back.Anything could happen.  After all this rollercoaster of a season has to turn upwards sometime.   

Up until recently, whenever a discussion of Mauer vs. Prior comes up I have ALWAYS leaned towards Joe Mauer. He has all the skills. He can hit. He can throw. He is deceptively fast on the basepaths. All signs pointed towards Mauer and I always used to thank heavens that we took him over Prior. The knock on Prior has always been his health. When health Prior has shown dominant skills. While I haven’t changed my opinion (and I am still thrilled that we took Mauer), I am starting to wonder about the health of Joe and whether he is actually any less injury prone than Prior.

His most recent quad injury that has kept him on the shelf for about a month makes me really wonder what is going on with him. Now, I am not doubting Joe and his injury. I am sure that it exists. On the other hand, I have to wonder about Joe’s durability and toughness. I have never known of anyone who has a “buised” quad to be out for so long. Also, does this most recent issue really require a stint on the DL?

I am not about to put all the blame on Joe. Considering that he is the reigning batting champ and hometown hero, I am sure that the Twins organization is being extra careful with him. I must wonder though whether this isn’t something that he just needs to learn to play through. You see guys like Torii “hit me in the face with a fastball and i’ll still play tomorrow” Hunter, Mike “foultip to the groin” Redmond and even Justin “I’ll play with a broken nose” Morneau being very gutty and playing through pain. Maybe it’s time that Joe learn that not everyday will be pain free. There will be times during his career that he will have to gut things out.

As I am writing this, I just heard an interview with Terry Ryan… He just said that Joe will be out “probably another two weeks”.

What? Wasn’t he supposed to be ready yesterday?

The reason for the delay was stated as being “tightness” in Joe’s leg. No pain, just tightness……

Thank goodness for Mike Redmond. I wonder how patient the Twins and fans would be if Redmond was batting .220…..

Get well soon Joe!

Today I read an interesting article by Chicago Sun Times staff reporter Joe Cowley.  You can read the article here.

The premise of the article is this:  The Twins play dirty and are never called on it because they are the cute, loveable small market team from a fly-over state.  As I read this article I couldn’t help but chuckle.  Do the Chicago WhiteSox with all their arrogance really believe that the Twins play dirty???  Cowley uses the following examples as reasoning for why the Twins are a dirty team.

1.  In the 9th inning, Nick Punto (who Cowley describes as Gizmo from the Gremlins), slides hard into second base.  He suggests that Punto deliberately hits Tadahito Iguchi in the ribs.

2.  Cowley references the hit that Torii Hunter put on WhiteSox catcher Jamie Burke a few years back.

That’s it folks.  He uses those two instances as evidence that the Twins are dirty.  He also goes on to say that because the WhiteSox are the bad “big-market” team that they are always picked on.  When AJ tries to step on Morneau’s foot TWICE, he gets boo’d and made to be evil.  When AJ gets into an altercation with Michael Barrett he is made to be evil by the national press.  Punto gets no attention for what he did to Iguchi.  Hunter gets applauded for making a play. 

My question is this…. Why did Cowley interview two players (incedentially the two who are the biggest idiots on the whole team) to talk about how “dirty” the Twins are.  Where is the quote from Iguchi.  Where is the quote from Ozzie about how the Twins play?  I seem to recall that Ozzie loves how the Twins play and hates how his team is now…

My response to Cowley is ARE YOU FOR REAL?  The Twins are cute, soft and cuddley.  Yes, we are hard-nosed.  No, we don’t rely on the 3-run homerun to win games.  Yes, we do the little things right.  No, we don’t constantly overpay and underperform (a la the WhiteSox).  No, we do not have personalities on our team who are idiots in front of the camera and on print. 

We do our business and we do it right.  This is a great example of a homer staff writer who is looking for a story from a team that is losing games, has the worst batting average in baseball and has a HORRIBLE pitching staff. 

To cap off the whole article, he alludes to the fact that the WhiteSox would somehow retaliate for the dirty Twins play.

I say…. BRING IT ON.  We’ll be waiting in July and we’ll kick the crap out of you then.

Cowley….  Your an idiot!

A few thoughts before the Twins take the field against the WhiteSox.

• Kevin Slowey finally gets his chance.  In a move that has been talked about since spring training, Kevin Slowey will finally get his chance to make his MLB debut.  This isn’t really much of a surprise.  He’s throwing the ball very well for AAA Rochester and has been nearly unhittable since the start of Spring Training.  Most Twins people in the media compare Slowey to Brad Radke.  Jason Bartlett disagrees by saying, “He’s like Radke but with wicked stuff”.  Nuff said.
• Matt Garza needs to grow up.  I hate to say this because i’m a huge Garza guy….but he needs to tighen up his upper lip a little.  He seems to think that the Twins are not handling him correctly.  He refuses to throw more “off speed” pitches and believes that the Twins are making a mistake by asking him to do this.  Closed circuit to Matt Garza…..  If the Twins are known for one thing it’s their ability to develop young pitchers.  Listen to them.  They can help you.  Meanwhile, Garza has been passed by Baker and Slowey.  He’ll surely make the team next year but he needs to realize that he’s got lots of competition.  Grow up kid!  You’ve got good stuff but you’re not above teaching or criticism.

• Morneau is on pace to hit over 40 homeruns and 130 RBIs.  Can anyone say MVP?
• Jason Kubel hit his first homerun off of a lefty last night.  It’s good to see that he’s finally starting to swing the bat better.  Everyone has been down on him since the beginning of the year.  Let’s hope that he can continue to get good at-bats and make us believe that he’s the “real deal” that everyone has been talking about.

• Closed circuit to Terry Ryan….  If you want to resign Hunter you might want to start negotiating with him BEFORE the end of the season.  He’s getting more expensive by the day and we can’t afford to lose him next year.  Denard Span is just not going to cut it.  He’s only batting .240 in AAA and has ZERO power.
• Mike Redmond is the best backup catcher in baseball. 
• If the Twins can win today’s game against Jon Garland, they will be above .500 and will have officially leap frogged the White Sox….  Let’s get it done!

We should have known.  The catcher who was once loved by Twins fans once again found himself surrounded by controversy during todays game against the Twins.  Should we be surprised?  A.J. is doing the same things that we used to love about him.  Only now the fans generally boo him when he comes to the plate.  I have heard the term, “Barry being Barry” used many times but I think that we should file todays incident in the “AJ being AJ” column.

During the game today, the White Sox briefly took the lead from the Twins and Santana.  AJ hit what would be a inning-ending double play (6-4-3).  One he passed first he turned and ran towards the dugout.  At this point he ran right by AL MVP Justin Morneau.  He appeared to step on Morneau’s foot.  This in turn make Morneau’s usually stoic face….even more stoic.  He glared at AJ all the way to the dugout.

The controversy would somehow get worse though when first base umpire, Greg Gibson, motioned to the Twins dugout a slashing of the throat as to let them know that he would NOT tolerate the Twins dugout to bark at him for something that AJ did to Morneau.  Gardy was not about to have that gesture made towards him or his team so he immediately made his way out of the dugout and was immediately in Greg Gibson’s face.

In the end no one was thrown out of the game.  AJ appologized to Morneau and used the “sorry man but I didn’t mean to” line.  Morneau accepted the appology and the Twins went on to crush Jose Contreras in the bottom half of the inning.

After winning today’s game 10-4, your Minnesota Twins have finally reached the .500 mark.  They haven’t been .500 for almost a month and I can tell you that this Twins fan is happy and relieved.

If the Twins can win 2-3 from the Sox we can move in front of them in the standings.  Let’s hope that AJ’s fuel can be used to propel them to a series victory or possibly a sweep.

Congrats Justin Morneau! Today you made Ozzie Guillen and the rest of the pale stockings pay for their mistakes. A solo shot in the 2nd wouldn’t be enough for you. No…. You decided to go long in the bottom of the 10th for a game winning walk off homerun. Congrats Justin! Once again… You are the man.

I love how this all played out. Just tonight I was reading an article in the StarTribune about Justin and the extra time he is spending with hitting coach Joe Vavra to go through film of each at bat. It’s funny that on the same day that article talked about not hitting for power and a horrible average with runners in scoring position, Justin launched two out of the park

In other news… Torii Hunter is still in his contract year. He extended his career-high 22 game hitting streak while hitting a sharp single up the middle to tie the game in the 8th inning. Closed circuit to Terry Ryan. Sign this guy. While we all know that he’ll cost an arm and a leg….find a way to close the deal. I can tell you right now that Denard Span will NOT be having 22-game hitting streaks in the big leagues.

Boof Bonser continues to confuse me. Through 5 innings he was cruising. The WhiteSox looked off balance and he was shutting them down. Then the 6th inning happened. Hey Gardy! Let’s have some more pitcher fielding drills. Twice over the last week poor fielding plays by our pitchers have allowed several runs to be scored.

Michael Cuddyer finally returned to the lineup! I’m still chuckling over the spill…. How does one do that???

Closed circuit to Minnesota Twins fans…. Let’s stop with the booing of A.J. Pierzinski! He was a player that we all loved when he was a Twin and he has done nothing to spite us. Please stop the booing!

Game 2 vs. the White Stockings tomorrow. Ramon Ortiz will take the hill….

If I were to show you the following line through the month of April, what would you say?

AB  R   H  2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA   OBP  SLG  OPS
95  19  32 14  0  6  20 6  1  3  16 .337 .366 .674 1.040

What about this this stat line???

AB  R    H   2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA   OBP  SLG  OPS
86  17   29  3   0  6  19  0 0  24 23 .337 .487 .581 1.068
I’ll give you a hint as to who owns each number…

One is a line from someone who in past years has been talked about during MVP discussions.  The other line is from someone who is generally thought of a “streaky” and known more for his glove than for his bat.

Drumroll…. The first stat line is that of Torii Hunter.  The second line is that of Travis Hafner.  Surprised much?

The stats don’t lie.  Hunter is the winner in almost all statistical categories.  This makes me wonder whether Hunter can keep this up.  He’s on pace to his 35 homeruns and 142 RBI.

So while Hafner continues to be feared by pitchers and managers (notice the number of walks), Hunter continues to get atbats while flying under the radar.

Personally, I don’t mind that Hafner gets all the attention.  Hunter’s offensive resurgence consistency will be a great assett to the TWins during this season.  If he continues to put up these kinds of numbers, I wonder what Terry Ryan will do when the season is over.  It’s hard to let go of a guy who has the offensive power to win the AL MVP (and a gold glove to boot)!
 

In a season where the Twins have looked anything but consistent, they travel to St. Petersburg Florida tonight to take on a very young and talented Devil Rays squad.  Coming into the last series against the Tigers I had my doubts about this team… specifically our ability to score runs.  The supposed weak spot of this team was their starting pitching rotation.  While that seems to be shored up (Thanks Rick Anderson), we have been used to getting little production out of anyone not named Mauer, Cuddyer or Hunter.  Having three guys produce in a lineup won’t allow you to win many games. 

This all changed with a 1-0 extra innings victory over the Kansas City Royals.  That momentum pushed us to win two out of three games against the Motor City Kitties.  While we saw flashes of good team play the Twins will certainly try to continue their winning ways during the next week. 

Sidney Ponson (1-3 8.44 ERA) vs. Edwin Jackson (0-3 6.10 ERA)

After taking two of three from the Tigers, it’s nice to face Edwin Jackson.  While our hometown squad has made mediocre young pitchers look dominant, I think that this will be the game that will get us back in our winning ways.  Sidney Ponson is due for a good game and since Ed Jackson is neither left handed or good I am expecting a run away victory tonight. 

Look for Torii Hunter to have another big game.  Can anyone say contract year? 

Look for Joe Mauer (aka… “the kid” or “baby jesus”) to go 3-4 with a double and two singles.  All of his hits will come with nobody on and two outs.  He’s the best hitter in the history of baseball with nobody on base!

Look for Jason Kubel to hit two doubles tonight…. Both off the fence.  When is this guy going to get his first homerun???  I swear that I saw him hit three balls off of the fence during the last week.

Sidney Ponson will squeak out a victory after pitching only the minimum 5 1/3 innings.  The Twins will put the game away in the 7th when the Devil Rays collective wheels fall off.  They are talented but always find ways to lose the game…. I couldn’t imagine having to cover that team.

The Twins have struggled their way through 19 games this season.  Their record is favorable but it seems as if every game has been difficult and inconsistency has certainly plagued the offense since the beginning of the year.

I am not about to write off the 2007 Twins or their offensive capabilities but there are a few alarming trends that I have seen.