In the Right Direction
On
June 1, the Twins lost 4-2 to the Tigers in Detroit. Following the game,
manager Ron Gardenhire said that a decision would
have to be made on Jason Kubel and Jim Thome and that at least one, if not both, would need to be
put on the disabled list. A day later, both were put on the 15 day disabled
list. Since that day almost three weeks ago, neither has returned. In fact, Denard Span and Justin Morneau
have been added to the Disabled List since then. Thankfully, the Twins have
added Tsuyoshi Nishioka and Joe Mauer
to the lineup and Glen Perkins to the bullpen in recent days and hopefully they
will all heat up soon.
(Following
games played on June 1, 2011)
Cleveland 33-20 --
Detroit 29-26 5.0
Chicago W.S. 27-31 8.5
Kansas City 25-30 9.0
Minnesota 17-37 16.5
(Following
games played on June 19, 2011)
Cleveland 39-31 --
Detroit 39-33 1.0
Chicago W.S. 35-38 5.5
Minnesota 31-39 8.0
Kansas City 31-41 9.0
Speaking
of heating up, I think it is fair to say that the Twins have somehow done just
that. When things couldn’t have been any worse for the Twins, they have found a
way to completely turn around the season. Well, that might be a bit much. They are
still eight games below .500. However, they have been playing a different style
of baseball. In fact, it is the style of baseball that we have come to expect
from the Twins over the last decade. Finally, the starting pitching came on, and
likely in part due to the improved starters, the bullpen has been much
improved. Alexi Casilla and Michael Cuddyer have led the offensive attack while Ben Revere has
been an incredible catalyst at the top of the order and making some incredible
catches in center field. As important, they are getting contributions from most
everyone. Danny Valencia hit two huge home runs over the weekend. Drew Butera had the game-winning single on Sunday. Rene Tosoni and Matt Tolbert had big late-inning doubles on
Sunday.
The Twins
will start getting more of their injured players back in the (hopefully) not
too distant future. We assume that can only be a good thing. Thankfully this
group has been able to turn things around so that the Twins have been patient
with Denard Span and Jason Kubel
and Jim Thome and others. But let’s not fool
ourselves either. Those big names like Mauer and Morneau, Kubel and Thome, they will be the key to the 2011 Twins season. They
will need help from the rest of the players, but they will be the key.
If
nothing else, we as Twins fans at least have a fun product to watch on TV for
the next four months. For that, I’m thrilled!
Here
are a few quick notes:
·
I
was joined by Elizabethton Twins RHP Todd
Van Steensel and the North Dakota Twins Fan,
Cody Christie, on last
night’s SethSpeaks.net Sunday Night Twins Podcast. Van Steensel is an Australian, in his first year in the
organization. You will want to bookmark his blog, The Clubhouse Chronicles.
·
Tonight,
Travis Aune
and I will be co-hosting Twins
Minor League Weekly. We’ll talk about all four full-season affiliates,
but now we will also be discussion the Elizabethton Twins (whose season starts
tomorrow), and the GCL Twins (who will play their first game today).
·
Don’t
forget the auction for Rochester Red Wings game-used jerseys from their weekend
series. They wore three unique jerseys and each will be auctioned. Click
here for details.
Feel
free to discuss the Twins weekend. I’ll be back later today with the Twins Minor League Weekend
notes.
\