Congratulations Wes, RIP Toby.

What a vacation. I went to a wedding, a funeral and a Twins game. How I missed the plains.
Now that I'm back, here's this breaking news.

Most of the month of May was very dark for the Twins. Injuries, poor pitching and quiet bats plagued the team for most of the month. Rondell White, Joe Mauer and a good piece of the bullpen spent most or all of May on the disabled list. Some pitchers regressed while others surged. A poor start prompted some doomsayers to signal the end, but a strong showing in the final two weeks got the Twins back into a decent position.

Starting pitching was a major problem for Minnesota. The rotation went 10-11 with a 4.89 ERA. As well as Ramon Ortiz pitched in April, he pitched just as poorly in May. He posted an 0-3 record with an ERA of 10.48 and averaged just 4 1/3 innings per start. Ortiz gave up 40 hits in 21 1/3 innings before being sent to the bullpen. His worst start was May 15 v Cleveland when he gave up six runs on seven hits in one inning of work. The lone bright spot of his month was a perfect inning of relief against the White Sox.

Fortunately, we were put out of Sidney Ponson’s misery. The ham-fisted greaseball was released after going 1-2 with a 4.96 ERA. Ponson’s career numbers as a Twin against teams other than Tampa Bay: 0-5, 9.24 ERA, 41 hits, 25 1/3 innings, six home runs allowed in five starts.

After a fine April, Carlos Silva took a step back in May. He went 1-4 with a 5.28 ERA. In his first two starts, he was a hard-luck loser. He allowed four runs while the Twins scored none. In his next two starts, he was rocked to the tune of 12 ER on 16 hits in 10 1/3 innings. On the 27^th, he made his best start of the year. He pitched 7 1/3, giving up two ER on six hits in a 4-2 win over Toronto.

Taking Ponson’s turn in the rotation was Scott Baker. In his season debut, Baker dominated the Brewers, giving up two ER on six hits over 8 1/3. But in his next two starts, he pitched a combined 8 1/3 and gave up 9 ER on 15 hits, earning two no-decisions.

The best part of May was watching the emergence of Boof Bonser as a legitimate number two starter. He led the starters in wins (4), ERA (2.45) and innings pitched (36 2/3). He struck out a career high 11 Brewers on the 18^th and had 9.33 strike outs per nine innings pitched. After a rough beginning, Boof has lowered his ERA in six of his last seven starts.

Statistically, Minnesota did well at the plate in May. The team hit .279 with five players batting over .300. But at times, especially in the first three weeks, the offense was nowhere to be seen. Despite his aching legs, Luis Castillo had a phenomenal month. Hitting safely in 21 of 25 games, Luis batted .368 with a .419 on base percentage. He scored 24 runs and collected 39 hits, including the 1,500^th of his career. It has been over a year since he committed an error and at months end, his streak stands at 139 games.

Nick Punto had a much improved month, hitting .253 with a .369 OBP. He stole seven bases in nine tries while playing a solid third base and filling in at second occasionally. Unfortunatly, he’s still striking out too much. He k’d 19 times and walked 16.

The middle of the order finally came to life. Dorn hit .317 with 20 RBIs, lifting his season average to .302. Torii Hunter continued his hot start by batting .311 with six home runs and 27 RBIs. He also struck out 23 times. Justin Morneau again had us chanting MVP with his heroics. He hit .314 with 29 RBIs, 10 HR, and a .667 slugging percentage.

But in my mind, the MVP was Mike Redmond. When Mauer went down with a leg injury, Redmond stepped into the everyday catchers role and excelled. He hit .366 with 6 RBIs and a .418 OBP. Defensively, he didn’t make an error and threw out 48% of potential base stealers.

Unlike other parts of the team, the Bullpen performed well throughout May. The relievers amassed a 3-3 record with a 2.98 ERA. Pat Neshek allowed six hits while striking out 18 with an ERA of 0.66. Joe Nathan went 1-0 with four saves with a 1.50 ERA.

No Posts

Why no posts???
Jensen is on vacation, and Savage has no internet.
Check back soon!!

Getting Back in it

There is nothing better than a sweep of the White Sox. Back in third place and charging.

This is Twins Territory

By Scott Doucette

Lately I've been listening to a lot of bickering from people who call themselves Twins fans. Yes, the team from Minnesota has struggled this year. But guess what? That is going to happen from time to time. Baseball is a game that requires much from it's fans; patience, dedication, and unwavering attention to detail. All virtues which have eluded a vastly underwhelming generation of "Twins fans".

My father has been a Fenway Fanatic for over 50 years and he recently celebrated his team's first World Series Championship. That's right. One championship in 50 years. 50 years in which Carl Yastremski, Fred Lynn, and Jim Rice all won MVP's. 50 years in which Carlton Fisk hit the foul pole in game 6, Dwight Evans won 4 consecutive gold gloves, and Roger Clemens struck out 20 batters in a game. Twice. All that greatness and only one championship in 50 years. But he also went through 50 years in which bad trades led to playoff woes, Bill Buckner pulled a "buckner" and Rico Petrocelli hit .240 anually. But my old man loved Rico Petrocelli and he cheered for his team every year, even when the Sox hit a combined .236 as a team in 1968. He loved the subtle nuances of a game that will reward those who truly appreciate it. Baseball doesn't need sausage races, T-shirt rocket launchers, kiss cams, or Twingo. The game itself is all a true fan needs. And maybe a dome dog.

So I pose a question to those of you who grumble "Punto sucks" or "we need a power hitter" and then hastily switch off the game to catch the season finale of Heroes: are you a true fan of the game? Did you follow our team through the dreadful mediocrity of the mid to late 90's or do you merely want to enjoy the good times? Because I'll tell you something, Nick Punto is a piece of crap. But he is our piece of crap and it doesn't matter if you like it or not. I for one, do not. I'd love to have A-Rod or Miguel Cabrera at the hot corner, but we don't. We have a sissy little Piranha who works his ass off every night. To be honest, I think half of the players on our team have below average talent, yet, expectations are set very high. This is because the Minnesota Twins are a baseball organization with the right idea. The Twins do not sacrifice integrity for press coverage and they do not hump the bottom line. Likewise, the Twins don't sell out every home game and they don't lead the league in revenue production. They don't contend for championships on a yearly basis and they don't have a rich history like the Yankees or Red Sox. But they do win games with class and they don't put players on the field who lack heart (Ponson gone, Bartlett benched). Love 'em or loathe 'em, they are the Twins. It's time to quit the bitching and get on the bus for good or go back to watching reruns of Happy Days. I guarantee the Fonz won't disapoint you nearly as much as our lack of power.

Johan Has Come!

By David Jensen
This story is dedicated to the memory of Sam Hanson.

A small break in the endless dark cloud has come, allowing a ray of light to shine through. Johan Santana has arrived at his mid-season form. Though by no stretch of the imagination did he pitch poorly in his first eight starts, he wasn’t dominant enough to overcome his team’s poor offense at times. He went 4-3 with an ERA of 3.35 and 56 strike outs.

In his last two outings, he’s pitched 14 innings, given up 8 hits, 3 ER, 3 walks and struck out 24. All three runs came on solo home runs. He’s 1-1 in those starts after coming out on the short end of a 2-0 pitchers duel with Fausto Carmona. Keep an eye on him. This failed closer may be the thing that puts Cleveland over the top, if he can fool the AL the second time around.

In his four starts in May, Santana’s ERA is 2.16. He’s struck out 34 and allowed just 21 hits. But he’s only 2-2 for the month. Most shocking has been his vulnerability at home. After winning 17 straight decisions at the dome, he’s 1-3. That is partly due to poor run support. In those four starts, the Twins have scored 10 runs behind him, while he has amassed an ERA of 3.96.

Tuesday night against Texas, Santana made one of his best starts of the year. Going against a Ranger team that lit up the Twins for 14 runs the night before, he allowed one run on 4 hits and struck out 13 over seven innings. Twins pitchers combined to strike out 18, a Texas hitter’s record for a nine-inning game. All strike outs were swung-on.

Overall, he stands at 5-4 with an ERA of 3.05. He leads the AL with 80 strike outs and is sixth in innings pitched with 65.

No matter how the rest of the season goes, we still get to watch Johan befuddle AL hitters. That is unless the unthinkable happens. Keep knocking ‘em dead, Johan. And please hurry back Joe.

Side Notes

Need more evidence of Santana’s brilliance? Last night, he pitched five full innings for the 101^st consecutive start. In the last 50 years, only Bob Gibson, David Cone and Curt Schilling have had longer such streaks.

Luis Castillo has gone a Major League record 130 games at second base without committing an error. He passed Ryne Sandburg (123) last week but no one noticed. I learned of the record from the Rangers’ broadcasters. They said the Twins didn’t even realize it until days later.

Even with a few bad starts recently, Carlos Silva is still doing much better this year than at this point last year. In his first eight starts last season, he had allowed 18 home runs. After nine starts this year, he’s only given up four gopher balls.

Minnesota is no longer last in the AL in home runs. Justin Morneau’s three against Texas have pushed them in front of Baltimore. The Twins have 35 while the O’s are at 32. Morneau (14), Torii Hunter (11) and Michael Cuddyer (5) are the only Twins with more than one.

Expos Fever

By David Jensen

While listening to the Twins last night, I also watched Seattle v Tampa Bay. The D-Bags were back in the Tampa Dome after playing a series in Orlando. Not surprisingly, nobody noticed. Only 9,254 showed up to watch the Rays lose 5-3. By the eighth, there were no more than a thousand people left in the stands. I felt sorry for the players. Losing is bad enough without having to do it while wearing those dopey cut-off uniforms in an empty stadium.

I came to the conclusion that a change needs to be made. The Rays are going nowhere in Florida. As I mentioned, they’ve recently resorted to playing home games at a minor league park in Orlando. At least they almost filled that stadium. Waning interest can’t be blame by Floridians alone. Management has been inept from the franchises inception, doing little to create fan interest or a culture of winning.

There’s only one way to fix the problem: move the team to Montreal. Although there are a lot of fair weather fans, Montreal is a good sports town which is ready to embrace the Expos more than they did before. If you don’t think they support their teams, try getting Canadiens playoff tickets. You can probably blame Bud Selig for the city’s apathy in the last years of the Expos.* Threatening contraction and publicly stating that the team will head to Washington, D.C. is a good way to alienate a fan base.** And Expos fans couldn’t have been happy when the magical season of 94 was ended by the strike.

There is still a decent stadium downtown which is far better than the Rays current home. If you think the Metrodome is bad, you’re crazy. But you should see what the Devil Rays call home. With bad sight lines, catwalks and hanging wires, Tampa’s dome may be the worst venue in Major League Baseball. The steel roof doesn’t even let the illusion of sunlight in like at the beautiful Metrodome.

So give Montreal a second chance. If you do it right, Baseball can thrive in the great white north.

*Almost everything wrong about baseball can be blamed on Bud Selig.

**Sound familiar, Twins fans?

Twins Rangers Game 2

Last night may prove to be the turning point that we need. Santana was back in true form, and the only mistake he made was to pitch to a roid rager who is on a quest to hit 600 to try to get in the hall (which he won't).
Morneau was on fire last night and he had 5 RBI, Hunter had 2 RBI. If the Twins are going to get hot it will need to get more help from the left side of the infield. Punto needs to bring the BA up, and soon! Kubel needs to get hot, and help pay the bills, currently he looks like a freshman at fall camp.
Big Rubber game (I think it's only three games) tonight, if the Twins win that will be two series wins in a row. Big night for BOOF!
-TS