I’m on the search for a co-editor, co-owner, co-cool person to help run TwinsMVB.com with me. If you love the Twins and want to blog about it, watch the video and apply by emailing twinsmvb (at) gmail (dot) com.
PS. I apologize for the misplaced audio, I didn’t have time to fix it and I know it’s annoying.
PPS. If you notice what is wrong with this video (not counting the audio) leave a comment in the comments section and you could win a prize.
After a rather boring All-Star break the Twins are back at it to start the second half of the season. John Meyer, the Twins MVB, has an audio version of the series preview. Take a listen!
Another version of Good Twin, Bad Twin, and a Thought on June 29th.
Good Twin: Denard Span becomes the first player since Rafael Furcal in 2002 to hit three triples in one game. Span was all over Target Field tonight going 4-4 with two runs and five RBIs. Doesn’t get much better than that.
Bad Twin: Justin Morneau looked confused tonight with three ugly strikeouts. Morneau was 1-5 and left three runners on base. But at least Justin Bieber, who was performing next door at the Target Center, likes him.
Thought: Although the Twins regained first place in the AL Central with their defeat against the Detroit Tigers, Cliff Lee pitched his third consecutive complete game for the Seattle Mariners defeating the mighty New York Yankees. Just saying.
This week’s Fan Friday comes from Eric Meyer (no relation to me) who is back for his second Fan Friday. Meyer recently worked for the Minnesota Timberwolves and is a contributor for The Post SD. He’s a cynical Twins fan with a sense of humor.
As it stands right now, Twins fans are a little nervous. The Twins are going through one of the toughest stretches in the majors; in their next 9 series, only the Brewers are sub .500. Meanwhile, the Tigers are nipping on their heels as they voraciously stroll through sub .500 teams and remain only a 1 game back. To make matters worse, the White Sox have found new life and are on a torrid pace to catch up, winning 9 in a row and 11 of their last 12.
Scared? I’m not. Though they are in a tight race right now, the Twins love playing second half baseball.
The Twinkies have always been regarded as a second half team, and until I saw the stats I figured it was just something they say, like Kobe is the best finisher in the game. Since Gardenhire took over in 2002, the Twins winning percentage in the second half is a staunch .566 compared to their first half which is only .531, This includes four seasons with a winning percentages over .600, and another two over .500.
Not only is their winning percentage dramatic, but they also play a bulk of their games against the division. In their last 81 games, they get to play more than half of their games against divisional rivals. This year the Twins have feasted on the central like a fat guy at Old Country Buffet. In the division this year they are 17-9, and the only team in the AL Central that has a winning record against other central teams.
So what does all this mean? It means I expect the Twins to tear through the second half of the season and clinch the AL Central easily. And since they don’t have the same type of competition that the AL East will be in, it means that they could potentially come out on top as having the first or second best record in the AL. Currently, in the East, the Rays and the Red Sox are within 1.5 games of first place, and the Blue Jays are only 6 and still surging. The same could be said about the West. The Rangers cannot keep up the current pace and will have to deal with the Angels and the A’s in the next few months.
Even with all these figures are you still not convinced? What if I were to tell you that according to Buster Olney of ESPN, the Twins are a leading contender for former Cy Young winner Cliff Lee? Feel better now?
Olney told Seth Everett on The MLB Today podcast that the Mariners are in despereate need of a new catcher. The Twins have several young catchers that have shown promise. Since the Mariners are out of contention already, they will be looking to get rid of Lee for some pieces in the future. One such piece is Wilson Ramos, who came up for a brief stint and did spectacularly well. He hit .296 in 7 games, two of which were multi-hit games. And let’s face it, if you are a good catcher in the Twins farm system, you have no future with the franchise.
It is unusual for the Twins to make a big move like this, but then again this is a very unusual year for them. In 2009 the Twins payroll was at 62 million, making them 24th in the league in payroll. This year they have ballooned their budget by a staggering 43.4% to 97.5 million. Even if the Twins take on Cliff Lee’s salary at 9 million, it will be prorated from when they receive him, and he will come off the books at the end of the season. At this point, it seems almost foolish for the Twins not to take him.
Hopefully by the end of this article you are feeling better about the Twins chances to not only make it out of the Central and maybe even a shot of winning the World Series. We do, after all, have the best catcher in the league, Morneau is on his way to his second AL MVP and of course Gardenhire can flat out manage. Yes, even after losing two in Milwaukee, I feel only encouraged by the franchise and hope to cheer them on as they fight to defend their division championship in beautiful new Target Field.
***Quick side note. If you haven’t been to the new stadium it is a must! And when you do go, make sure to sit along third base/ left field line (Twins MVB Section). The view of the Minneapolis sky line is absolutely breathtaking.
I had a fun time tonight joining the Godfather, Vito Chirco, and Steve Fetch from Twinkie Talk on the Sports Talk Soup podcast on Blog Talk Radio. It was great talking Twins and meeting another fellow Twins blogger.
The three of us discussed many topics including Cliff Lee and Twins trade deadline rumors, Delmon Young, Jon Rauch’s future as the Twins closer, Justin Morneau’s MVP chances, Joe Mauer’s lack of power, and the Twins standing in the AL Central.
To listen to the 26 minute piece click the link here and move to the 37 minute mark.
Thanks again to the Godfather for inviting me on the show and Steve for joining me.
This week’s Fan Friday column comes from Matt Taylor. This is Matt’s second Fan Friday. Matt now has his own blog, Three Run Jack, that is about all things baseball and includes a Twins Tuesday column on Tuesday. They post a lot of content and it’s worth checking out.
Delmon Young: Zero to Hero?
After the Twins acquired Delmon in the offseason before the 2008 season everyone, including me, was excited. We were hoping for the same guy who won the 2007 AL Rookie of the Year Award the previous year after posting a .316 average and 93 RBI. This was a great acquisition because with the addition of Delmon Young, we could move Jason Kubel to designated hitter and stick Delmon in left field, and not have to put Jeff Cirillo as a DH anymore. From the looks of this trade it was nothing but positives for the Twins. We only had to give up Jason Bartlett who had a .265 average in ‘07 and Matt Garza who only had a 42% winning percentage in that same year.
Delmon’s first season with the Twins wasn’t as good as his rookie season but it was definitely an improvement over Jeff Cirillo. He posted a .290 average with 10 homers and 69 RBI. It was a bit of a disappointing season, but with Delmon Young, the general concensus was that he’s still young and that he has time to improve. 2009 was the season that people thought Delmon would come out and post the season that everybody was hoping for. That just did not happen. Delmon had his worst year of his career thus far, he had an OBP of only .308 with 12 walks in 416 plate appearances. He only had 12 home runs, 60 RBI and was third on the team with 92 strikeouts.
This brings us to 2010. Coming into this season, people didn’t really have very high expectations for Delmon. People lost hope in him, in a way, after a disappointing 2008 and 2009. People were more so anticipating big years from Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer. However, Delmon Young is quietly having a terrific season a quarter of the way through. D-Young thus far is hitting .285 and has already had more base on balls than all of last season. Delmon is tied for second on the team with 8 home runs and is only 3 RBI behind Justin Morneau with 40. Delmon has arguably been the best outfielder and arguably been the best hitter this year, throwing the M&M boys aside.
If you missed last night’s episode of Twins MVB LIVE you can catch it here. We talked about potential Twins roster moves, the disabled list, the perfect game that wasn’t, and Kyle Schmidt’s love for Brendan Harris.
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