Saturday, May 06, 2006
April 19, 2006
That would have been the perfect day to end the baseball season, as far as Twins fans are concerned. After a rough start (losing two of three in Toronto, then getting swept in Cleveland), the Twins came home and were born anew, sweeping the A's, and taking 2 of 3 from the big bad Yankees. After losing the series opener to the Angels, the Twins clawed their way out of numerous holes on the evening of Wednesday, April 19.
Although Kyle Lohse tried his damnedest to hand Los Angeles de Los Angeles the "W," the scrappy Twins scored 4 in the 2nd, 4 in the 6th, 1 in the 7th, 1 in the bottom of the 9th (off K-Rod) to send the game to extra innings, and then Michael Cuddyer blasted a 2-out dinger off former Twin J.C. Romero for the 12-10 victory.
It seemed a good time to be a Twins fan. Their record stood at 7-7, and Santana had yet to pitch a good game. Rondell White was sure to snap out of his funk, and Silva and Radke could only improve.
Well, things have definitely gotten worse. The Twins have gone 4-11 since April 19, getting outscored 84-40. If you don't count the games against the worst team in baseball (the Royals), the Twins have gone 1-9 since then, and have been outscored 75-24. The overall numbers hurt to even look at (keep in mind there are only 14 teams in the AL):
The only areas in which the Twins don't completely suck are steals, steal success rate (80%!), pinch hitting batting average (.400), K/9 (thanks to Liriano, Rincon, Nathan, & Santana), K/BB (thanks to the four previous guys mentioned + Silva, Radke, & Baker).
Something I noticed while looking at stats- Lohse's overall numbers are awful, but he's actually had two good starts thrown in there (12 innings, 10 hits, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts, 2.25 ERA, 1.42 WHIP). When you remove those two good (lucky?) starts, his numbers in the remaining 4 starts are absolutely revolting:
an average of 4 IP, 7.5 H, 1.75 BB, 7.25 ER, 2 SO, 15.82 ERA, 2.55 WHIP.
With the way the Twins have played against our competition for the division (0-10), it's time to write off this season, trade Hunter, and give some young guys some serious playing time.
When does football season start?
Although Kyle Lohse tried his damnedest to hand Los Angeles de Los Angeles the "W," the scrappy Twins scored 4 in the 2nd, 4 in the 6th, 1 in the 7th, 1 in the bottom of the 9th (off K-Rod) to send the game to extra innings, and then Michael Cuddyer blasted a 2-out dinger off former Twin J.C. Romero for the 12-10 victory.
It seemed a good time to be a Twins fan. Their record stood at 7-7, and Santana had yet to pitch a good game. Rondell White was sure to snap out of his funk, and Silva and Radke could only improve.
Well, things have definitely gotten worse. The Twins have gone 4-11 since April 19, getting outscored 84-40. If you don't count the games against the worst team in baseball (the Royals), the Twins have gone 1-9 since then, and have been outscored 75-24. The overall numbers hurt to even look at (keep in mind there are only 14 teams in the AL):
| Batting | | | Pitching | |
| Category | Rank | | Category | Rank |
| BA | 11 | | ERA | 14 |
| OBP | 12 | | WHIP | 12 |
| SLG | 14 | | K/BB | 1 |
| R | 13 | | K/9 | 5 |
| 2B | 13 | | HR | 12 |
| HR | 12 | | 2B | 13 |
| HBP | 14 | | BAA | 14 |
| SB | 7 | | SLG | 14 |
| SB% | 2 | | OBP | 12 |
| PH BA | 1 | | | |
| IsoP | 14 | | | |
| P/PA | 11 | | | |
The only areas in which the Twins don't completely suck are steals, steal success rate (80%!), pinch hitting batting average (.400), K/9 (thanks to Liriano, Rincon, Nathan, & Santana), K/BB (thanks to the four previous guys mentioned + Silva, Radke, & Baker).
Something I noticed while looking at stats- Lohse's overall numbers are awful, but he's actually had two good starts thrown in there (12 innings, 10 hits, 3 walks, 7 strikeouts, 2.25 ERA, 1.42 WHIP). When you remove those two good (lucky?) starts, his numbers in the remaining 4 starts are absolutely revolting:
an average of 4 IP, 7.5 H, 1.75 BB, 7.25 ER, 2 SO, 15.82 ERA, 2.55 WHIP.
With the way the Twins have played against our competition for the division (0-10), it's time to write off this season, trade Hunter, and give some young guys some serious playing time.
When does football season start?
