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)

Jason Kubel led the Twins to their first victory against the Yankees after losing the last ten regular season games against them. Kubel’s grand slam was just his third  homer of the year but gave the Twins enough of a cushion this time to hang on to the victory. The slam came against Mariano Rivera of all people who had successfully converted his last 51 save opportunities.

Jon Rauch tried to make things interesting in the bottom of the ninth giving up back-to-back singles but he managed to slam the door shut striking out Jeter, Gardner and Teixeira. The save was Rauch’s tenth of the season and helped lower his ERA to a very impressive 1.80.

This might help the Twins develop some amount of confidence whatsoever against the Yankees who have absolutely dominated them in the past few years. If the Twins turn out to be the contenders we hope they will be they’ll need to find some way to handle the American League East. Although this is the last trip of the regular season the Twins will make to Yankee Stadium they have another three game series against the Yanks starting May 25th at Target Field.

The next AL East test comes on Monday in Toronto as Kevin Slowey (4-3, 4.62 ERA) faces off against Dana Eveland (3-2, 4.81 ERA) and the Blue Jays.

Minnesota Sports Blog

The Twins opened the magnificent Target Field in style today beating the Boston Red Sox 5-2. In a day of firsts, Jason Kubel helped lead the Twins to their first home victory by hitting the first home run in Target Field. Kubel had a great day at the plate going 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs to lead the offensive charge.

Carl Pavano (2-0) had the honor of pitching the first game at Target Field and he pitched brilliantly. Giving up just one run four hits in six innings with four strikeouts Pavano earned his second victory in as many attempts this season. Pavano owns a very tidy 1.38 ERA for the Twins this year as he proves to be a very steady, reliable starter.

Mauer lived up to all expectations of the hometown crowd going 3-for-5 with two RBIs and two doubles bringing his total to five on the season. Mauer also brought his average up to .423 on the young season. Morneau was the only Twins player not to crack the hit column as he went 0-for-4 with a strikeout.

Jon Rauch came in and further eased the nerves of some Twins fans by earning his fifth save in five chances. Rauch lowered his season ERA to 1.80 on only nine pitches. Guerrier and Rauch combined in the eighth and ninth innings respectively to throw just 15 pitches to get six outs as Guerrier still owns his perfect 0.00 ERA.

Up Next: The Twins have an off day on Tuesday before they continue the three game series against the Red Sox on Wednesday where Kevin Slowey (0-0, 1.69 ERA) takes the hill against John Lackey (0-0, 0.00 ERA).

Minnesota Sports Blog

The addition of long time Twins killer Jim Thome is a puzzling one. Though it’s fairly low risk at a $1.5 million one-year deal, you have to question the motivation behind it. The Twins already have a powerful, left handed slugger in Jason Kubel. Kubel obviously lacks the experience and career numbers of Thome, but Kubel’s career seems to be on the rise while Thome’s numbers are on the decline. Thome will also turn 40 this year while Kubel will be turning just 28. Gardy has said Thome will serve as more than just a bench player for the Twins filling for DH or even an occasional first base.

This signing follows the unfortunate trend of the Twins organization of signing players who are clearly on the decline of their career. Another key question of this signing is why sign Thome at all when we still have question marks in the rotation, bullpen and third base?

The Twins solved their outfield surplus trading away Carlos Gomez for JJ Hardy this off-season but now find themselves in a similar situation with finding time for Kubel as well as Thome. Kubel has expressed his interest in playing more outfield which creates an additional problem with finding time for Delmon Young.

Delmon and Kubel are about equal when it comes to fielding so there won’t be a huge issue there. The issue comes from playing time and plate appearances. Time and consistency are huge in baseball and dividing that time up between a few players and positions will only complicate things.

Jim Thome 2009 Stats

Jason Kubel 2009 Stats

Minnesota Sports Blog