MN Sports Blog

The Good:

.434: Batting average for Delmon Young in the month of July. Young had 12 doubles, a triple and 6 home runs with 30 RBIs in that span. He has been on absolute fire with no sign of slowing down. He pushed his batting average all the way up to .335 and ranks fourth in the Majors behind Josh Hamilton, Miguel Cabrera and Justin Morneau. He is also tied for fourth in RBIs with the Phillies’ Ryan Howard at 81.

.453:  Batting average for Danny Valencia for July. Valencia played in just 16 games in July but he made them count. He had 24 hits in just 53 at bats with 6 doubles a homer and 11 runs driven in. The Twins haven’t had a productive third basemen in a few years so Valencia could be just what they’re looking for.

4-0: Carl Pavano’s record for the month. Pavano was outstanding for the Twins this month as he was undefeated while posting a 2.91 ERA 24 strikeouts and just 7 walks. Pavano was tied for third in the month of July for most innings pitched with 43.1 behind only Felix Hernandez of the Mariners and Johan Santana of the Mets.

33: The team-leading number of strikeouts for Francisco Liriano. Liriano went 3-1 in July and improved to 10-7 on the year while posting a 2.97 ERA in July.

.311: Team batting AVG – 1st in MLB

60: Number of doubles – 1st in MLB

143: Team RBIs – 3rd in MLB

15-11: record in July riding a 7 game winning streak

13: wins by starters

The Bad:

.232: Jason Kubel’s average for July. Kubel had a very streaky month of July where it seemed to be feast or famine. Kubel struck out 27 times in July which by far led the team with the next closest being Michael Cuddyer with 14. On the season Kubel is hitting .259 but he does have 61 RBIs and 12 dingers.

.245: Average for Denard Span in July. Span was on fire in May hitting .353 but he hit just .264 in June and now down to .245 in July.

8.00: ERA for the usually dependable Matt Guerrier. Guerrier was 0-3 in July giving up 8 earned runs in just 9 innings while giving up 12 hits and 4 walks.

Team Leaders for May

Batting Average:

1. Danny Valencia: .453
2. Delmon Young: .434
3. J.J. Hardy: .351

Runs Batted In:

1. Delmon Young: 30
2. Joe Mauer: 19
3. Jason Kubel: 15

Wins

1. Carl Pavano: 4
2. Francisco Liriano: 3
3. Scott Baker: 3

Strikeouts

1. Francisco Liriano: 33
2. Carl Pavano: 24
3. Scott Baker: 23

ERA

1. Jesse Crain: 0.00 (11.2 IP)
2. Brian Duensing: 1.83 (19.2 IP)
3. Carl Pavano: 2.91 (43.1 IP)

The Twins continued their absolute tear tonight against the Kansas City Royals as they pounded out twenty hits scoring nineteen runs. They even managed to do so against former Cy Young award winner Zack Greinke. Greinke lasted just four innings giving up eight earned runs on eight hits while somehow managing to strike out seven. Francisco Liriano on the other hand returned to form giving up just three hits in seven innings with six strike outs. Liriano improved to 9-7 on the season and lowered his season ERA to 3.35.

Offensively the Twins were absolutely unstoppable. They filled the stat shit early and often as five Twins hitters had at least two hits with Thome being the only starter without one. Joe Mauer made up for some lost time going 5-for-5 driving in 7 RBIs. Mauer hit his sixth homer of the year and falling just a triple shy of the cycle.

Danny Valencia was matching Mauer’s cycle attempt as he needed just a triple for the cycle. Valencia was 4-for-4 with his first career grand slam, four RBIs and two doubles. Delmon Young went 4-for-6 with an RBI and a pair of doubles as he continues his torrid pace. Delmon is hitting .410 in the month of July with five home runs, 23 RBIs and nine doubles. Young has pushed his average all the way up to .324 compared to .263 two months ago.

The Twins are in a much needed easy part of their schedule as they took three out of four from the Orioles, three against the Royals and then three against the struggling Mariners. The Twins are starting to do what they were supposed to do and really need to do which is beat the teams they’re supposed to beat. The month of August is a little more difficult for the Twins as they’ll face off with the White Sox for six, the Angels, the red hot Texas Rangers, and the Tampa Bay Rays.

In semi unrelated news Matt Garza, who was part of the trade that brought Delmon Young to the Twins from the Rays, no-hit the Detroit Tigers for the first time in franchise history.

The Good:

Justin Morneau: Morneau has been on an absolute tear this season and even more so in the month of May: .400 AVG/ 6 HR/ 19 RBI .496 OBP. Morneau currently leads the league in hitting with a .377 AVG overall.

Denard Span: Span didn’t get off to the start most had hoped for but he has been turning it on as of late with a .353 AVG in May with 10 RBI and 10 stolen bases. Span was hitting just .211 in April with 9 RBI and 6 stolen bases. He also improved his on base percentage to .403 from .339 in April.

Nick Blackburn: After a brutal start in April (1-1 with a 6.85 ERA) he has been on fire in the month of May going 5-0 with a 2.65 ERA.

Team batting AVG: .283 – 4th in MLB

63 doubles – T-1st in MLB

12 Errors – Fewest in MLB

16-12 in May with a current five game win streak

15 wins by starters

The Bad:

Joe Mauer – Mauer is hitting “just” .293 in May with 1 HR and 11 RBI versus .414 in May of ’09 with 11 HR and 32 RBI.

Jim Thome – .217 AVG in May with just 7 RBI and 1 HR. Although he lacks the plate appearances and opportunities he is still disappointing so far this year in the power and run production.

Francisco Liriano – Liriano was the AL Pitcher of the Month in April going 3-0 with a microscopic .93 ERA in April but is 2-3 with a 5.15 ERA in May.

Jon Rauch – 7-for-8 saves with a 4.09 ERA in May vs. 1.80 ERA in April going 6-for-7 in saves. Rauch was fantastic in April but the saves have gotten a little more nerve racking ever since.

Read more…

The ninth inning for the Minnesota Twins will get a little more interesting in 2010. Joe Nathan is set to undergo season ending Tommy John surgery following a throwing session with Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson.

“It didn’t go like we hoped. We knew it was a long shot, but I think this will clear my head. There definitely was no gray area. It was definitely on the dark side. We know now that we’re going to need to go in and have some surgery done and get this thing taken care of.”

The news is obviously devastating to Twins fans and the organization who had one of the their most aggressive off seasons in recent memory. The Twins were in a position to have a very strong lineup to open the 2010 season in Target Field but now they’ve been blindsided by this injury that has left most scratching their heads trying to figure out a replacement.

Nathan has been one of the best closers in the game leading the entire league with 246 saves since 2004. He went 2-2 with a 2.10 ERA with a career high 47 saves. Nathan struggled in the postseason, to say the least, against the New York Yankees with a 9.00 ERA and a very costly throwing error.

The Twins have fairly limited options within the organization for Nathan’s replacement. Jon Rauch is a likely candidate with the most closing experience. Over his career Rauch has 26 saves but also 27 blown saves with an ERA of 3.79. Rauch came over to the Twins last season and was solid with a 1.79 ERA over 17 games.

The Twins also have semi-candidates in Matt Guerrier and Pat Neshek but Neshek is coming off of surgery himself and Guerrier has less than overpowering stuff. In the ultimate worst case scenario that no Twins fan wants to see would be Jesse Crain taking the hill with the game on the line.

The most irresponsible notion for a potential closer is Francisco Liriano. Liriano was dominant in the Dominican league and absolutely solid this spring. Liriano owns a 2.70 ERA for the spring over 10 innings with 16 strikeouts. He was already struggling to regain his focus and confidence as the Twins potential fifth starter and then throw in the idea of him being a closer candidate when clearly he doesn’t have the mental prowess to handle high pressure situations.

The fact that the Twins even acknowledge the idea of Liriano as a closer is simply irresponsible. Besides the fact that he has shown the inability to handle high pressure situations, he has been dominating hitters all off-season as a starter. Liriano is the best available option for a starting role in a rotation that is fairly lacking in shut down type of stuff.

One thing to keep Twins fans optimistic though is that is has been confirmed by the Star Tribune that the Twins have been heavily scouting Padres closer Heath Bell. The downside is that the Twins would likely have to give up a fair number of prospects for a temporary closer should Nathan return next season and beyond.

Heath Bell 2009 Stats