Twins Take of the Week – Week 4 – No-hitter, Fire Gardy? & the Worst Team in Baseball?

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Robb

Jered Weaver Records 1000th Strikeout
Photo Credit: acase1968 via Compfight

Nice Picture, huh? Kinda Gross!

Did the offense give the pitching a break for a week?

No Hits in L.A.
Well, there’s nothing like having a pitcher throw a no-hitter against you to get the focus off the pitching, huh? On Wednesday, the 2nd of May, Los Angeles Angels starting pitcher, Jered Weaver, pitched a no-hitter against our Minnesota Twins. That also made it two games in a row the Twins were kept off the scoreboard having been shut out the previous game by Jerome Williams. They ended up scoring only 3 runs in the 3-game series after scoring 13 runs in 2 games at home against the Kansas City Royals.

A no-hitter is a tremendous accomplishment for any pitcher and the team around him! There are other players on the field though. Pretty much every no-hitter has a few great defensive plays that keep it a no-hitter, even if those plays aren’t really remembered much, if at all. The pitcher is remembered for the no-hitter so it seems like the pitcher was solely responsible for the whole game.* Every ball hit the web of the glove that was put in play unless, of course, there was an error. The pitcher knows this and I would imagine they all do something to make it known how thankful he is for all the plays his defense made for him.

*Maybe it should also be known as an all-webber? or a Web-fest? I’ll come up with something! Ooh, how ’bout All-Leather Performance? No?

Most fans seemed to react as if this was rock bottom for the Minnesota Twins. They have the worst record in baseball, were shut out by a 5th starter and now they’ve been no-hit by a pitcher who is the ace of the Angels staff. I obviously don’t want it to get worse for the Twins but I’m not sure that’s rock bottom! How different would people have reacted if they got one hit? Would that have changed their reaction?

In the end, it is just one game and they have to be ready to play the next game.  The Twins had a day off so they had time to think about, hopefully work on and go over the struggles they are going through. They need to forget about not getting a hit and just go play baseball in Seattle.

Worst team in baseball?
Have the Twins been as bad as their record shows? Maybe, but they have played some decent baseball at times. The offense has been performing alright but the pitching has been horrible. They aren’t getting the big hit when they need it, especially with the bases loaded, where they are hitting .200 (5-25) with 1 double, 14 runs batted in (RBIs), 1 walk and 6 strikeouts. Usually when they have gotten a big hit, the pitching has given up the lead and the game more often than not.

They’ve been in games with chances to win. 11 of their 25 games have been one run games and they are 5-6 in those games. Only 2 of their games have been 2-run games and they lost both of those in Baltimore, 4-2 & 3-1. In 1-run games, they have been outscored 60 to 59. In the other 14 games, they’ve been outscored 76 to 31! It’s no wonder pitching was my take in week 2 and week 3. OUCH!

Have the Twins been as bad as they were last season when they were committing errors on defense and just playing bad baseball? I don’t think so or at least I think it’s too early to say with just 25 games played. A lot can happen in 137 games! It will be interesting either way, good or bad.

25 Scoreless Innings? Who Cares?
The Twins broke their scoreless innings streak last night when they scored in the 7th inning last night in Seattle. A lot of people made a big deal of that since they were shut out two straight games. Sometimes fans make too big a deal of those things. After shutting out the Twins for two straight games, the Angels have been shut out twice at home by the Toronto Blue Jays and have been shut out a whopping 6 times in 27 games and they have Albert Pujols on their team!*

*How often does a team with Albert Pujols get shut out 6 times in a season? It can’t be many, right? WRONG! Since 2001, Pujols 1st season, the St. Louis Cardinals were shut out 89 times! Only 3 of those seasons did they get shutout less than 6 times.

Sometimes stats don’t mean anything and they almost always don’t mean anything to the players playing the game. Do you think any of the players knew their scoreless innings streak was at 25 innings in the 7th inning last night? At most, they knew they hadn’t scored in two straight games but don’t care about the one inning they didn’t score in the 1st game of the Angels series and the 6 innings to start the 1st game in Seattle.

Jared Burton
How many of you know that Jared Burton has gone 8.1 innings without giving up a hit? That’s right! He gave up 2 runs (both home runs) in his Twins debut on April 7th and 1 run in his appearance on April 12th but since then he hasn’t even given up a hit. In those 8.1 innings, he’s struck out 8 and walked 2 with 11 groundball outs and 5 fly ball outs. He’s been pitching great and is or should be the right-handed setup guy. I hope I didn’t just jinx him but if I did, I’ll take credit for it! Hey, any publicity is good publicity, people! Tell EVERYBODY! Haha!

Is the Fire Gardy Bandwagon Fueling Up?
With the Twins record at 7-18, a lot of fans have taken to the Fire Gardy bandwagon! A lot of fans have been on that bandwagon for a long time and have never been fans of Ron Gardenhire.

I don’t really know what Gardy is supposed to do with this team. He lost one of his best pitchers in Scott Baker before the season began and Francisco Liriano, his supposed best pitcher, apparently forgot how to pitch. The rest of the staff is either young or old! How much should we really expect from Liam Hendriks, Carl Pavano and Jason Marquis? So the two guys he was depending on are nowhere to be seen or shouldn’t be seen.

It is almost impossible to win without good pitching. You can have the greatest offense in the world but if you can’t keep the other team from scoring, you’re probably not going to be winning a lot of games. The Texas Rangers finally figured that out and look where they are now.

Gardy won’t be in Seattle as he went back to Minnesota for his daughter’s graduation. Or is it Garduation?

Maybe the Twins needed more than three extra days in Spring Training? Gardy?

Twinsactions of the Week – Ups & Downs
4/28 – OF Ben Revere optioned to AAA Rochester Red Wings
4/28 – LF Josh Willingham activated from Paternity leave
5/1 – C Drew Butera recalled from AAA Rochester Red Wings
5/1 – 3B Sean Burroughs designated for assignment
5/4 – RF Erik Komatsu claimed off waivers from St. Louis Cardinals
5/4 – RF Clete Thomas designated for assignment
5/4 – 3B Sean Burroughs outrighted to AAA Rochester Red Wings

  • Sean Burroughs accepted his assignment to Rochester so we’ll see how he does there. That could be good for the Twins.
  • Erik Komatsu might be a better option for the Twins than Clete Thomas. Komatsu looks to have a better feel for the strike zone with a .389 career minor league on base percentage (OBP)
  • Clete Thomas had a minor league OBP of .348 and as you saw, he struck out a tad – in his last 7 games, he was 1-18 with 14 strikeouts and no walks


Those are my TwinsTakes! What are your TwinsTakes? Will the Twins get better as the season goes on? Will it be a repeat of last season?

We want to know what you think! Tell us in the comments or on Twitter or Facebook!

Twins Take on Seattle tonight at 8pm CST – RHP Jason Marquis vs RHP Felix Hernandez! Maybe the Twins can start a winning streak!

As always….GO TWINS!

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2012 Minnesota Twins Take of the Week – Week 3 – Redundancy

Posted on May 1, 2012 by Robb

Photo Credit: Michael Donovan via Compfight

Giving up a ton of hits, home runs and an ERA of 5.77 = LOSING!

It also equals a redundant take! I know last week the take of the week was on the starting pitching and it would be great to have a different take this week but the pitching is the obvious reason why the Twins are losing 3 out of every 4 games in the first 20 games of the season.

If your team is giving up the 3rd most hits, the most earned runs and the 2nd most home runs, your not going to be celebrating too much! For the longest time the Twins were winning with Pitching and Defense. That’s been the “Twins Way” and would always give the Twins a chance to win games and the division. Carl Pavano leads the staff with a 4.91 Earned Run Average (ERA), not counting bullpen pitchers where Alex Burnett has an 0.77 ERA! I’ll say that again. Alex Burnett has a 0.77 ERA to lead the bullpen! He’s been pitching great so far this season!

Obviously with 142 games to play, there’s plenty of time for the pitching to get better. Every pitcher in the starting rotation should pitch better as the season goes along. Francisco Liriano won’t have an ERA over 11 all season long and Liam Hendriks looks like he has the “stuff” to post a decent ERA by the end of the season, down from the 6.89 ERA he has now. Jason Marquis and Nick Blackburn, with ERAs above 7, will get closer to their career ERAs of 4.5 or so. The starters will start getting more quality starts and we’ll see what that leads to, hopefully more wins!

It’s sad because the offense has stepped up and given the team a chance to win but it’s hard to ask them to score 6-7 runs a game in order to win. Yes, the offense could have, or maybe should have, come through in some situations, mainly the bases-loaded situations, but they’ve done enough to win some games where the pitching wasn’t getting the job done.

We’re in for a rough season if the pitching doesn’t get better quickly. Sadly, with a 6-16 record, the Twins are only 6 games back of division leader Cleveland. That being said and with where the Twins are, nobody should be looking or worrying about the division right now. Get your team playing good baseball, pitching good baseball and start winning some games. The theory goes that you get back to .500 before you start thinking about catching the division leader.

The first 20 games were filled with opponents that were either in the playoffs or in contention for the playoffs last season except for the season opening series in Baltimore (and one against Kansas City.) Did the Twins need some time to get it going this season?

The Twins have already dealt with some injuries and other incidents that have caused pitchers to miss starts or delay their season so let’s see where they are after the next 20 games where they get some division opponents and maybe some “average” opponents. There are no easy teams but there are definitely some teams that should be easier to pitch and hit against, right?

That’s my take! What’s your take on the Twins last week? Will the losing continue? Will they right the ship and start winning some games?

Tell us what you think in the comments or on Twitter or Facebook!

As always….GO TWINS!

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2012 Minnesota Twins Take of the Week – Week 2

Posted on April 20, 2012 by Robb

Wearing Their 1982 Uniforms
Photo Credit: Michael Donovan via Compfight

Welcome to the 2012 Minnesota Twins Take of the Week!

Even though this is the 2nd week of the 2012 Minnesota Twins season, this is my 1st Twins Take of the Week! That’s because I just had a thought to post my thoughts on a weekly basis literally minutes ago.

Here’s my Twins Takes of the Week for the 2nd week of the season.

The starting pitching needs to get a lot better!

This is obvious but it still needs to be said. Losing Scott Baker for the season is quite a blow to the starting rotation although the bigger blow might be Francisco Liriano’s horrible start to the season. Pavano and Blackburn have basically been their normal selves. Swarzak pitched well in his first two starts but got lit up last night in the series finale in New York. Jason Marquis didn’t pitch great but got out of some tough jams and never gave up the lead in his first start while getting his first win as a Twin. Liam Hendriks pitched about as well as you could ask from a young pitcher but still lost 4-3 in his only start against Texas. He allowed 1 run on 7 hits in 6 innings. Glen Perkins ended up taking the loss in that game.

Other thoughts on Week 2:

The Minnesota Twins bats finally woke up from the offseason and have given the team a chance to win some games after an 0-4 start. After scoring only 6 runs in the first 4 games (1.5 runs per game), the Twins have scored 42 runs in their last 9 games (4.66 runs per game) and have won 4 of those 9 games. That record won’t get it done but at least they are in most of those games with a chance to win. They do need to get better at capitalizing on chances to score though. Way too many runners left on base already and too many bases loaded opportunities with nothing to show for it.

It was very nice to see Justin Morneau have a break out series in New York. He went 5 for 11 in the 3 games he was in the lineup with 3 home runs, 4 RBIs, 6 runs scored with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts and is now hitting .267 with a .353 on-base percentage while slugging .578 for an OPS (On-base Plus Slugging percentage) .931 for the season.

Josh Willingham will take a 13-game hitting streak to Tampa Bay as he has a hit in every game this season and is now hitting .340, getting on-base at a .411 clip and slugging .700 for a 1.111 OPS with 5 home runs, 9 RBIs, 9 runs scored with 4 walks and 13 strikeouts. He even has a stolen base.

Interesting fact so far this season for the Twins. Before the season started if you were asked who would be the last pitcher to be scored on, how many people would’ve guessed…..Alex Burnett? Huh? How many? NONE OF YOU! I wouldn’t have either but Alex has pitched very well to begin the season and maybe he’s showed the coaching staff that he’s finally turned a page in his career. He has pitched in 6 games, going 8.1 innings, giving up 8 hits while walking one and striking out 4 for a 1.08 WHIP (Walks + Hits per Inning Pitched).

Gardy has even put Alex in some high stress situations. Tonight in New York, Alex was brought into the game in the bottom of the 6th with the Twins trailing 7-6, a man on first and no outs and he was able to get out that inning and the next inning with a couple inning ending double plays from Robinson Cano & Russell Martin. I’m happy for Alex and hopefully he can keep pitching well as the season goes on.

The Twins head to Tampa Bay to face the Rays for a 3-game series that starts on Friday night then they start a 6-game homestand on Monday starting against the Boston Red Sox & the Kansas City Royals:

Friday, April 20th – 6:10pm CST

  • @ Tampa Bay – Liam Hendriks (0-0, 1.50 ERA) vs Matt Moore (0-1, 5.54 ERA)

Saturday, April 21st – 6:10pm CST

  • @ Tampa Bay – Carl Pavano (1-1, 5.23 ERA) vs James Shields (2-0, 3.38 ERA)

Sunday, April 22nd – 12:40pm CST

  • @ Tampa Bay – Francisco Liriano (0-2, 11.91 ERA) vs Jeff Niemann (0-2, 4.50 ERA)

What’s your take on my Twins Take, your take on the Twins so far this season and how do you think the Twins will do next week?

Let us know in the comments or on Facebook or Twitter or TwinsDaily.com!

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Michael Cuddyer and the Minnesota Twins – WWCD – What Will Cuddy Do?

Posted on December 15, 2011 by Robb

CuddyerPhoto Credit: Stephanie via Compfight

Update: Michael Cuddyer has signed a 3-year, $31.5 million deal with the Colorado Rockies.

Michael Cuddyer has apparently been offered a 3-year, $25 million contract by the Minnesota Twins that he is mulling over along with the other things going on in his life.

He has been somewhat busy with the birth of twins of his own. Gardenhire thinks that’s an omen. Since Cuddyer had twins, he should remain a Twin. That’s probably not much of an influence for him on staying here and it’s probably easier to move to a new city with younger children than older children. Put it this way, if he signs with another team, he will always have twins and the Minnesota Twins will always have Michael Cuddyer.

Rumors have the Colorado Rockies very interested in Cuddyer. The Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies are believed to still have interest in the RF/1B as well. The Phillies acquired Ty Wiggington from the Rockies back in November and that quieted the rumors of Cuddyer to Philly while turning up the volume on rumors of Cuddy going to Colorado.

Supposedly, Cuddy would like a couple more million added to the contract offer.* I’m all for players trying to get as much as they can get but what is the difference between $25 and $27 million really? It’s two million, you’re right but that’s not what I mean. When you are getting paid by the millions, I’m not sure 2 more million should be a big hurdle to signing a contract.

*An extra couple million could buy a lot of diapers for the Cuddyer twins though. Heck you could just use the money as diapers at that point. Make sure it’s the paper money though although that could make “changing” the diapers have a whole new meaning. “Do these quarters smell like crap to you?”

It’s easy to think that money is the only reason Cuddy hasn’t made a decision but for a guy like Michael Cuddyer, it might be the better chance to win. Having gone through possibly the worst Twins season ever, he might be looking for a quicker or easier path to the World Series. It’s easy to see him looking at different organizations with the Twins appearing to be pretty far away from contending for the World Series.

Now, maybe the Twins could put some incentives in the deal that could make him earn that difference in the contract. These could include performance incentives like games played, plate appearances, home runs, RBI’s and All-Star appearances. That’s a better deal in my opinion as the player has some motivation to earn an extra bonus in pay.

I do think Cuddyer brings some other intangibles to the table with his leadership and off the field community service. That’s not usually something you think of when a team is trying to sign a player to a new deal but it should be taken into account. It’s hard to put a price on leadership, unfortunately.

Another thing is Michael Cuddyer is probably not going to sell tickets in Minnesota because we know who he is and we’ve watched him for so long. He’s fun to watch and gives 100% every game but he’s probably not getting people into Target Field as much as he would if he signs with a different organization.

In the end, if Cuddy signs with another organization, he’ll be missed by Twins fans as a player that gave his all every time out and a player that could be counted on for some home runs, some clutch hitting and a few outfield assists.

There was an area in right field that the groundkeepers had to replace that was a different shade of green. Michael Cuddyer would usually stand on that piece of right field so I liked to call that piece of land Cuddyland. Michael Cuddyer was the mayor of Cuddyland.* It might say everything that in the offseason, the groundskeepers will be able to grow out that part of right field and it will no longer be a different shade of green.

*With the official signing of Josh Willingham, right field might be manned by Denard Span, Ben Revere and/or Josh Willingham. Now that piece of right field might be changed to the Land of Span or Spanopolis or Willingham, Minnesota or Joshua, Willingham or Willingham Field or Castle Willingham (where’s the moat?) or RevereInRight (welcome to Reverenwright!) or Bentopia or…

Did the Twins err in not re-signing Michael Cuddyer? Are they better off without him? Was Josh Willingham the better option for them?

Tell us what you think in the comments!

Follow us on Twitter and on Facebook and subscribe to our feed!

Robb

Michael Cuddyer Stats
Michael Cuddyer – Fangraphs.com
Michael Cuddyer – Baseball-Reference.com

Other articles about Cuddy
If Michael Cuddyer spurns Twins, it’s probably not about money – (1500espn.com – Phil Mackey) – 12/9/2011
Why Josh Willingham was built for Target Field – (OverTheBaggy.com – Parker Hageman) – 12/13/2011
Will Josh Willingham boost Twins power? – (ESPN.com Sweetspot Blog – Christina Kahrl) – 12/14/2011
Willingham would add pop, brings line-up into focus – (NoDakTwinsFan.com – Cody Christie) – 12/14/2011
Twins Better Off Without Cuddyer – (Fangraphs.com – Chris Cwik) – 12/15/2011
Negotiations with Willingham were ‘sensitive’, Terry Ryan says – (1500espn.com – Phil Mackey) – 12/16/2011
Twins sign Josh Willingham, say goodbye to Michael Cuddyer – (AaronGleeman.com – Aaron Gleeman) – 12/16/2011
Twins Sign Josh Willingham – (WeAreOffTheMark.wordpress.com – Andrew) – 12/16/2011


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2011 Minnesota Twins – Happy Endings To A Bad Season

Posted on September 29, 2011 by Robb

This might be the worst season ever for the Minnesota Twins since all of us thought they would once again compete for the division title and get another shot at the postseason. It wasn’t meant to be so it was almost a good thing to see it come to an end on Wednesday night. There’s probably a lot of people who stopped watching the Twins a long time ago. They haven’t been very fun to watch for quite awhile now. This is not what we’ve come to know as Twins baseball.

I’m more optimistic about the Minnesota Twins than most people. I still think they have a chance until they’ve been mathematically eliminated. The main reason I think this is because I believe the players believe they still have a chance and if they haven’t given up then why should I? Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?

Anyways, it can still be fun to watch so I try to watch every game and especially the last game of the season for various reasons:

  • 1. It’s the last game to see our Minnesota Twins for like five months
  • 2. It could be the last game for some Minnesota Twins players – Cuddyer, Kubel, Capps, Tolbert, Dumatrait, Nathan and almost anyone could be traded. Almost.
  • 3. To see how bad the team wanted to avoid losing 100 games in a season
  • 4. Carl Pavano started so he might destroy a garbage can
  • 5. I love the end of season highlight package.
  • 6. IT’S BASEBALL!!! What other reason do you need?

There was a playoff feel to Tuesday night’s game when Rene Tosoni became the first Minnesota Twin to hit a Grand Slam at Target Field,* leading the Twins to a 7-4 victory.

*The first grand slam at Target Field was hit by Matt Joyce on July 3rd, 2010. Jose Bautista hit one on September 30th, 2010 so it was almost a year to the day since the last grand slam at Target Field.

Last night’s game had the same feel to it. That sounds strange since neither team had a lot to play for. The Royals were 23 games back of 1st place Detroit and the Twins were 32 games back, on the verge of losing 100 games. The Twins really wanted to avoid losing 100 games so they were literally playing “not to lose.” You play to WIN THE GAME! We know Herm. We know.

It was a pitcher’s duel between Carl Pavano & Bruce Chen. Chen pitched 8 scoreless innings giving up 8 hits and 2 walks with 4 strikeouts. Carl went the distance giving up only 5 hits, no walks and striking out 3. He got some defense behind him for a change. Ben Revere made another highlight catch in the top of the 6th inning.

 [flowplayer src=’http://www.twinstakes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/BenRevereCarch9-28-11.mp4′ width=640 height=360]

Mike Moustakas led off the 8th inning with a triple but Carl induced two groundouts to the pitcher and a groundout to third to get out of that jam, keeping the game scoreless.

The game remained scoreless until the bottom of the ninth inning when Denard Span came in to pinch hit for Drew Butera. Drew had a good night. He threw out two guys at second base, a caught stealing and a pick off  of Mike Moustakas, and he went 1-1 with two sacrifices.

Denard had a pretty rough season so it was nice to see him get some hits in the last couple games including the double down the right field line to get into scoring position with 1 out in the inning. Ben Revere grounded out moving Denard to third. I was hoping Michael Cuddyer would somehow get a chance for the game-winning hit as this might have been his last game as a Minnesota Twin. It would never get to Cuddy because Trevor Plouffe hit a game-winning, season-ending single and the Twins celebrated!

 

Here’s a recap if you didn’t see the whole game:

[flowplayer src=’http://www.twinstakes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Baseball-Video-Highlights-_-Clips-9_28_11_-Pavano-and-Plouffe-lead-Twins-to-victory-Video-MLB.mp4′ width=640 height=360]

It was a nice way to end John Gordon‘s career as the Twins Radio announcer and to christen the John Gordon broadcast booth. Here’s the last call of his Twins radio announcing career.

What did you think of the end of the Minnesota Twins season? Did you watch? Did you care? Was it important to avoid 100 losses?

Tell us what you think in the comments!

Follow us on Twitter and on Facebook and subscribe to our feed!

Robb

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