Tag: Texas Rangers

What’s behind the Kendrys Morales signing?

Kendrys Morales
Kendrys Morales

The Twins announced yesterday morning that they have signed free agent DH/first baseman Kendrys Morales to a one year, prorated, $12 million deal. The prorated dollars come out to about $7.5 million. Since Morales who is represented by Scott Boras will not spend the full season with the Twins, they will not be able to extend him a qualifying offer next off-season. Rumors were rampant as early as Saturday that the Twins and Morales had agreed on a deal but it was not announced until after a physical was completed. Morales will wear uniform number 17 as a Minnesota Twin.

The Cuban born Morales who will be 31 in a few days has played in 620 career games, hitting .280 with 130 doubles, 102 home runs, 345 RBI, 280 runs scored and 165 walks. He was originally signed by the Los Angeles Angels as an amateur free agent in 2005. The Angels traded Morales to the Seattle Mariners in 2012 for pitcher Jason Vargas. Morales became a free agent after the 2013 season.

Morales was one of several players this offseason who struggled in the free agent market after declining a $14.5 million qualifying offer. Stephen Drew only recently signed his prorated one-year deal with the Red Sox, and outfielder Nelson Cruz ultimately took a one-year deal with the Orioles. All three players ended up with significantly less than they would have gotten if they had accepted their qualifying offers.

The Twins immediately placed the switch-hitting Kendrys Morales on their 25 man roster and to clear a roster spot the team designated outfielder Jason Kubel for assignment. Kubel was the Twins 12th round pick in 2000 and made his big league debut with the club in August 2004. Kubel left Minnesota as a free agent after the 2011 season and signed with Arizona where he played in 2012 and part of 2013 before the D-backs traded him to Cleveland for cash and a PTBNL. Kubel again tried free agency after the 2013 season and ended up resigning with his original team, the Minnesota Twins.  Kubel had a strong April but fell on difficult times in May. Kubel appeared in 45 games for the Twins this season, hitting .224 (35-for-156) with one home run, six doubles and 13 RBI.

The Morales signing was kind of surreptitious as Minnesota was not linked to being in the hunt for Morales. According to the so-called experts teams like the Orioles, Rangers, and the Yankees were the front-runners to sign Morales. The timing of Terry Ryan and the Twins however; was impeccable as the Rangers just lost Mitch Moreland for at least 3 months for ankle reconstruction and they might have made a serious run at Morales and priced the Twins out of the market. Just a week or so earlier the Rangers lost their starting first baseman Prince Fielder for the season due to neck surgery.

Most Twins fans were shocked or at the very least pleasantly surprised with the Morales signing which seems to go against the grain of how the club has operated and looked at free agents in the past. With the club in last place in the AL Central, adding a player of this caliber in early June with no guarantee of signing him for the future does not seem to make a lot of sense from a baseball perspective. The Twins are 29-32 and last in the division but they are only 5 games out of the first place and a case can be made that they are in the playoff hunt but realistically you have to say that the odds are slim at best. Jumping over four teams in your division is not an easy task when each team in the division has to play each other 18 times. The wild card is a better possibility but that too is a long shot this year.

There is no doubt that the 2014 Twins are hitting challenged. The Twins have scored 266 runs this season which averages out to 4.36 runs per game, at the current pace the team will score about 706 runs. The Twins best runs per game average was 5.41 in 1996 and their worst was 3.44 in 1981. Last year the Twins scored runs at a pace of 3.79 per game, third worst in team history. This years team is hitting for a .245 batting average, sixth worst in their 54 year team history. Their RISP average this season is .228 which is the second worst RISP in team history and the only Twins team that had a lower RISP (at .225) was you guessed it, the 2013 Twins. How long has Tom Brunansky been the hitting coach? Oh yeah, two years. Maybe the Twins front office should look to make some changes there also. I know you need to have good players but maybe the hitting strategy of the hitting coach is just not a good match here.

So why else would the Twins invest $7.5 million in a player for about 100 games with the team in last place? The Twins business side has to be screaming “help me!”. Fan attendance at Target Field has been dropping like a rock since 2011 and even the fact that Minnesota is hosting the 2014 All-Star game can’t stop the attendance slide. Since 2010 when Target Field opened with a season ticket base of 25,000, the season ticket holder base has dropped to 23,000 in 2012, 19,000 in 2013, and 17,000 this season and would have dropped a lot lower had the lure of tickets to the 2014 All-Star game not caused some fans to hold on for just one more season.

The Twins appear to have bottomed out in 2013 and are on the way back towards respectability with some nice free agents signings, some trades and a strong farm system bolstered by high draft choices due to the teams poor play since 2010. The Twins may be playing better baseball but attendance is down about 4,574 fans per game this season and the Twins need to turn that around as soon as possible and the best way to do that is to put a good product on the field. You can’t make the Twins a playoff contender over night but an investment of about $7.5 million in Morales sends a message to the team and its loyal fans that it is willing to spend money to make money. There is not a business in existence today that will not tell you that it is much less expensive to retain a loyal customer then it is to try to attract a new loyal customer. That is one of the reasons that the Twins signed Kendrys Morales to play at Target Field. The Twins are not stupid, they are being proactive for a change instead of being strictly reactive and doing what they can to generate fan interest while this team is rebuilding.

I understand why the Twins need a player like Kendrys Morales from a baseball perspective and why they need him from a business perspective but I can’t help thinking that there is more here then meets the eye. I believe in my gut feelings, don’t believe in coincidences and I have said many times before that my “glass is half empty and is leaking” philosophy has served me well during my years. I have followed the Twins since 1961 and I have found that the Twins front office has on occasion been less than forthright over the years. I don’t hold that against them as most professional teams keep their information close to the vest. An injury perhaps? Maybe there is reason they don’t want to divulge on why Joe Mauer is playing so badly other than bad luck? Maybe a big trade is in the works?

I personally like the move but I don’t see it making a huge difference in the standings, I see it more as a symbolic move to the fans that says “see, we will spend money to put a winner on the field; hang with us as we get better”. So what is the real reason the Twins are willing to fork over $7.5 million dollars to Kendrys Morales for 100 games and will there gamble pay off?  I guess we will just have to wait and see, time will tell.

This Day in Twins History – May 16

Blly Martin
Blly Martin

May 16, 1928 – Alfred Manuel “Billy” Martin was born in Berkeley, California. Billy played in the majors for 11 seasons with the New York Yankees, Kansas City A’s, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Braves and finished his career with the Minnesota Twins in 1961. Martin managed the Twins in 1969, the Detroit Tigers in 1971-1973, the Texas Rangers in 1973-1975, the Oakland A’s from 1980-1982, the New York Yankees from 1975-1979, 1983, 1985 and again in 1988. Billy Martin died as the result of an automobile accident on December 25, 1989.

May 16, 1983 – The Twins enter the ninth inning at the Metrodome trailing the Oakland A’s 7-0. The Twins hit four home runs in the bottom of the ninth (Dave Engle, Bobby Mitchell, Gary Gaetti, and Mickey Hatcher and they score 6 runs. They have the tying run on first when Dave Engle who pinch-hit a home run to lead off the rally strikes out to end the game. Hatcher’s home run was also as a pinch-hitter marking the third time in Twins history they have pinch-hit two home runs in the same game. The attendance was only 7,056 and you wonder how many fans were actually still at the Dome to witness this amazing comeback that fell a run short. Boxscore

Harvey Mackay
Harvey Mackay

May 16, 1984 – The Twins sell 51,863 tickets to their 8-7 loss to the Blue Jays, but only 6,346 fans show up for the game. The skewed numbers are the result of a massive ticket buyout plan organized by Minneapolis businessman Harvey Mackay to keep the Twins in Minnesota; if the club does not sell 2.41 million tickets this season it can break its lease with the Metrodome. Taking advantage of reduced prices on the Family Day promotion, Mackay pays $218,718 for 44,166 tickets. Boxscore

May 16, 2010 – Jason Kubel hit a stunning grand slam off Mariano Rivera with two outs in the eighth inning Sunday, and the Twins snapped a nine-game losing streak against the Yankees with a 6-3 victory in Yankee Stadium. Kubel’s third homer of the season and sixth career slam snapped a string of 51 straight converted save opportunities for Rivera at home, tying the major league record set by Eric Gagne with the Dodgers. Nick Blackburn (4-1) allowed three runs and nine hits in seven innings for Minnesota, which picked up its first win against New York since Aug. 13, 2008. The Twins had lost 12 straight overall against New York, counting the sweep in last year’s AL division series. Boxscore

According to Elias

Three Wins In Three Games For Kyle Gibson

Kyle Gibson
Kyle Gibson

Kyle Gibson pitched eight innings and did not allow a run in his victory against the Blue Jays on Thursday afternoon. Gibson has won all three of his games for the Twins this season and he’s sporting a 0.93 earned-run average, having given up only two earned runs in 19¿ innings. Since the original Washington Senators relocated to Minnesota in 1961, the only other Twins pitchers to win their first three starts of a season while posting an ERA below 1.00 were Bill Krueger in 1992 (0.75 ERA) and Francisco Liriano in 2006 (0.56 ERA).

By the way, the temperature for the first pitch at Target Field in game 1 of the day/night doubleheader was 31 degrees, the coldest start ever for a Twins home game.

 

Twins Draw Eight Walks In One Inning

The Twins scored six runs on only one hit in the bottom of the eighth inning as they came from behind to beat the Blue Jays, 9-5, in the second half of their split doubleheader at Target Field on Thursday. Minnesota’s six-run “rally” benefited from the almost total inability of Toronto pitchers to throw strikes in that inning, as Steve Delabar, Sergio Santos and J.A. Happ combined to walk eight Twins batters. (Santos threw gasoline on the fire by uncorking three run-scoring wild pitches in that inning.) Minnesota was the first big-league team to draw eight walks in one inning since April 19, 1996, when the Texas Rangers did that as they scored 16 runs in the eighth inning of a 26-7 win against the Orioles. The eight walks by Baltimore pitchers in that inning were issued by Armando Benitez, Jesse Orosco and infielder Manny Alexander.

It makes me wonder

 

Eddie Rosario
Eddie Rosario

What the heck was Eddie Rosario thinking after failing his first test and then doing whatever he did to fail a second test? The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced yesterday that Minnesota Twins Minor League second baseman Eddie Rosario has received a 50-game suspension without pay after a second positive test for a drug of abuse in violation of the Minor League Drug Prevention and Treatment Program. Rosario is one of the Twins top prospects and has a bright future in baseball and he does something like this just before possible making his major league debut with Minnesota in 2014? I know that youngsters make mistakes and I sure hope that this one wakes Rosario up and gets him thinking straight again.”It’s disappointing, but now he has to pay the consequences and be accountable,” Twins general manager Terry Ryan said. “Losing 50 games, that’s a huge setback. That’s a lot of development time, a lot of learning that he’ll miss. It sets back his progression [toward] going up to the big leagues. But young people make mistakes, and hopefully he learns from it.”

What the Minnesota Twins TV contract pays them and what is the length of the contract? According to recent reports the Philadelphia Phillies’ new deal with Comcast SportsNet is for 25 years, and the contract is worth $2.5 billion in addition to an equity stake and ad revenue. The rights fee will be paid out on a schedule that increases about 3 to 4% per year, averaging out to $100MM per season over the 25-year term. An average of $100MM per season? That is a good start on your annual payroll.

Lucrative television contracts for Major League Baseball teams are not new. The New York Yankees signed a 12-year, $486 million deal with the Madison Square Garden Network in 1988, a deal that propelled them to an improved financial situation. While teams were trying to improve finances through the“stadium boom”of the 199s and early 2000s, the Yankees were again striking gold with television money. They formed their own network in 2002, and immediately began reaping the benefits. The Yankees received an estimated $85 million per year from YES beginning with the 2013 season, a figure that could pay off 41 percent of their projected payroll of $207 million before selling a single ticket, hot dog or jersey. Prior to the 2010 season, the Texas Rangers signed a deal with Fox Sports Southwest worth $80 million per year. The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim raised the bar for television contracts in December of 2011 when they reached a $3 billion, 20-year deal with Fox Sports. None, however, can come close to the level of the deal struck between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Fox Sports late in 202. The deal will pay out an unprecedented $6-$7 billion over the next 25 years. That translates to $240-$280 million in revenue per year. But not all teams are on the same pay scale, the St. Louis Cardinals for example are stuck with a deal that pays out a paltry $14 million per year and does not expire until 2017. A number of small-market teams are locked into similar deals for under $20 million per year including the Florida Marlins ($18 million per year) and Pittsburgh Pirates ($18 million) that will certainly affect budgets for re-signing players and making bids on free agents.

Terry Ryan (courtesy of SI.com)
Terry Ryan (courtesy of SI.com)

If GM Terry Ryan is done tinkering with the Twins line-up. This off-season Ryan has stated repeatedly that the Twins needed starting pitching but that the Twins offense also needs help. Only the Houston Astros and Chicago White Sox scored fewer runs in the AL then the Twins sad total of 614. The Red Sox led the AL in runs scored with 853, that is a difference of 239 runs or 1.48 runs per game when compared to the Twins. I sure hope that Ryan doesn’t think that bringing back Jason Kubel on a minor league make good deal solves that problem. At this time the Twins payroll sits around $70 million with 3 arbitration eligible players in Brian Duensing, Trevor Plouffe and Anthony Swarzak that will probably get a total of $7 million or $8 million between them. After that most of the rest of the roster will not get much above league minimum so my guess is that the Twins will start the 2014 season with a payroll of about $85-$88 million, a jump of about $10-$13 million from the 2013 open day payroll. I was hoping for better coming off three miserable seasons in a row. I know that money does not buy you a pennant or happiness for that matter but I also know that you get what you pay for in the long run.

Brian Dozier
Brian Dozier

Why does 2B Brian Dozier get so little respect. Numerous fantasy baseball prognosticators have Dozier rated as one of MLB worst second baseman, rating him in the bottom 33% in all of baseball. I know he only hit .244 but he hit 18 home runs, scored 72 times, knocked in 66 runs and stole 16 bases. I know that fantasy baseball does not take defense into consideration and Dozier did pretty well with his glove but those are some pretty decent numbers for a middle infielder in spite of the low average. The Twins don’t seem to be doing anything to promote Dozier as an up and coming player either and you often hear that Rosario is the 2B of the future. Sometimes we just don’t appreciate what we have and keep thinking that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. I say that Dozier will be better than you think and will become a leader on this Twins team that has no face to it.

Why shortstop Stephen Drew is still unsigned on the free agent market. I would love to see the Twins open their wallet and sign the 30-year-old Drew to a three-year deal for say $25 million. That is not cheap but I don’t see any shortstops in the Twins minor league system that are ready for the big leagues either.

Miguel Sano
Miguel Sano

What the date will be when Trevor Plouffe becomes Miguel Sano‘s caddie. Although I think that Miguel Sano will start the season in AAA Rochester, I see him in Minnesota as the Twins stating 3B before Memorial Day. I for one can’t wait to see Sano in Minnesota and Plouffe on the bench or with another team.

Just a few thoughts on a cold winter day in Minnesota when the high temperature today will stay below zero and the high temperature for tomorrow is predicted to be a -15 degrees. Holy Cow! I can’t wait to get down to Ft. Myers and catch some spring training action.

2013 MLB award winners according to Twins Trivia

At the conclusion of every season the members of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance (BBA) are asked to submit their ballots for the top awards across baseball. Each of these awards is named in honor of a player that epitomized a similar role in Major League Baseball. When the BBA voting is completed, I will post the official announcements from the BBA.

 

Connie Mack Award (Top Manager) in the AL

Boston Red Sox Photo DayMy vote goes to John Farrell for leading the Boston Red Sox to the AL East title with a 97-65 record after the team finished dead last in that division in 2012 with 93 losses. An improvement of 28 games.

My second place vote goes to Cleveland Indians manager Terry Francona for taking his team from 68 wins in 2012 to 92 wins in 2013 and finishing just one game behind the division winning Detroit Tigers.

My bronze vote goes to Oakland A’s skipper Bob Melvin. Nobody does more with less than Oakland does.

Connie Mack Award (Top Manager) in the NL

Clint Hurdle Easy choice for me here, Clint Hurdle leads the Pittsburgh Pirates to the playoffs for the first time in 21 years with 94 wins after finishing 79-83 in 2012. He is my NL Manager of the Year.

Second place vote stays in the same division with St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny right on Hurdle’s heels in this race after taking the division title over the second place Pirates.

The bronze vote might be a surprise to some but I am giving it to Florida Marlins skipper Mike Redmond for leading that motley crew to 62 wins. That is an amazing achievement!

 

Willie Mays Award (Top Rookie) in the AL

Wil MyersMy AL Rookie of the Year is outfielder Wil Myers of the Tampa Bay Rays. This mid June call-up sparked the Rays offense and put up some very good numbers for roughly half a seasons work. Although he struck out 91 times, he did hit 13 home runs and had a .354 OBP.

My ROY runner-up is also with Tampa Bay, RHP Chris Archer. The 25-year-old Archer had a 9-7 record with a 3.22 ERA and a 1.13 WHIP in 128+ innings.

The third place vote goes to another outfielder, J.B. Shuck of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. I am not sure his potential is as good as some other rookies since he is already 26 but never the less he had a good rookie season getting more at bats than any other AL rookie.

Willie Mays Award (Top Rookie) in the NL

Jose FernandezMy NL Rookie of the Year is Florida Marlins RHP Jose Fernandez. The 2011 first round pick (14th overall) went an astounding 12-6 with a 2.19 ERA with a 0.98 WHIP in 172+ innings for a team that lost 100 games. A true Ace for years to come if he can stay healthy. I know he only plays every fifth day but what a pitcher he is.

My runner-up choice for the NL ROY is Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig. The 22-year-old Cuban was called up in early June and took the league by storm by putting up a .925 OPS. He did strikeout 97 times but that is nitpicking.

The third place vote goes to power hitting 2B Jedd Gyorko of the San Diego Padres. Gyorko hit 23 home runs and knocked in 63 while hitting for a .249 average. I would expect Gyorko to cut down on his strikeouts and improve his average as his average in the minors was .301.

Goose Gossage Award (Top Reliever) in the AL

Greg HollandThe top closer award in the AL this year goes Greg Holland of the Kansas City Royals. Holland had 47 saves in 50 chances with a 1.21 ERA and a 0.87 WHIP. In 67 innings he struck out 103 while batters hit him at a .170 clip.

The runner-up this year is Joe Nathan of the Texas Rangers who had 43 saves in 46 chances. Batters hit only .162 and he posted an ERA of 1.39 and a 0.90 WHIP.

Mariano Rivera is third this year in his final season as he awaits induction into the Hall of Fame as the greatest closer in MLB history. The 43-year-old Rivera had 44 saves while putting up a 2.11 ERA with a 1.05 WHIP.

Goose Gossage Award (Top Reliever) in the NL

Craig KimbrelThe top closer in the NL is an easy choice, just say Atlanta Braves closer Craig Kimbrel and you said it all. The man is a machine, a league leading 50 saves in 54 chances with a 1.21 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP in 67 innings with 98 strikeouts. Batting average against was .166

The silver goes to Cincinnati Reds closer Aroldis Chapman. In 63+ innings Chapman had 38 saves while striking out 112 and kept opposing batters to a .164 average. ERA was 2.54 and WHIP was 1.04.

I will give my third place vote to San Francisco Giants closer Sergio Romo who put 38 saves on the board to go along with his 2.54 ERA and his 1.08 WHIP.

 

Walter Johnson Award (Top Pitcher) in the AL

Max ScherzerMy AL  top pitcher award goes to the Detroit Tigers starter Max Scherzer who went 21-3 with a 2.90 ERA and a 0.97 WHIP with 240 strikeouts in 217+ innings. Opposing batters hit a measly .198 off him this season.

Second place vote goes to Seattle Mariners  pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma who managed to post a 14-6 record with a 2.66 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP for a team that won 67 games. Iwakuma threw 219+ innings and held opposing hitters to a .220 average while striking out 185.

My third place vote goes to Texas Rangers starter Yu Darvish who threw 209+ innings and struck out 277 batters while holding opposing batters to a .194 average. Darvish had a slick 2.83 ERA to go along with a 1.07 WHIP.

 Walter Johnson Award (Top Pitcher) in the NL

Clayton KershawMy vote for the best pitcher in the NL goes to Los Angeles Dodgers LHP Clayton Kershaw who posted a 16-9 record with a league leading 1.83 ERA and a league leading 0.92 WHIP. For good measure he led the league in KO’s with 232 in 236 innings. The league managed to hit him at a .195 pace.

My second place vote goes Florida Marlins HP Jose Fernandez who in just his third year of pro ball goes 12-6 with a 2.19 ERA for a 62-100 team.

My third place vote goes to the big right hander from St. Louis, Adam Wainwright. Wainwright was 19-9 with a 2.94 ERA with starting a league leading 34 games and throwing a league leading 241.2 innings.

Stan Musial Award (Top Player) in the AL

Miguel CabreraOnce again this year my vote for the top player in the AL goes to Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers. I am not going to list a bunch of his stats here, if you want to see them just look them up. The 2012 Triple Crown winner won his third straight batting title in 2013 and finished second in home run and RBI’s. Cabrera has played for 11 years in the big leagues and is just 30 years old….

The runner-up again is the LA Angels outfielder Mike Trout. If there was no Cabrera in the AL this guy might be the winner two years running.

The third place vote goes to the surprising Chris Davis of the Baltimore Orioles who had a league leading 54 home runs and 138 RBI. An amazing season for a guy that only hit more than 21 home runs once and had 60 or more RBI just once.

Stan Musial Award (Top Player) in the NL

Paul GoldschmidtAlthough it was a tight race, the top player in the NL in 2013 should be Paul Goldschmidt from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Playing for a .500 team this first sacker appeared in 160 games hitting at a .302 clip while finishing first in RBI with 125, tied for first in home runs with 36 and scored 103 runs, good for third most in the NL.

Finishing a close second is outfielder Andrew McCutchen of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Although this talented player led his team to the playoffs for the first time in many years, he did not lead the NL in any of the hitting categories,

The third place vote goes to Atlanta Braves 1B Freddie Freeman. The 24-year-old had a very nice season with 23 home runs, 109 RBI and a .319 batting average.

 

There you have, the Twin Trivia 2013 MLB award winners. Congratulations to all the winners.

This Day in Twins History – September 25

Jim "Mudcat" Grant9/25/1965 – The Twins Mudcat Grant one-hits the Washington Senators to win the first game of the DH, 5 – 0 at D.C. Stadium. Senators Don Blasingame‘s double in the 3rd is the only hit for Washington; it is the 4th time that Blasingame has collected the only hit for his team. This is Mudcat’s 20th win of the season and he becomes the first African-American pitcher to win 20 games in the American League. The Twins win the night-cap 5-3.

9/25/1985 – Bert Blyleven beats the Texas Rangers 5-1 at Arlington Stadium and the Twins rack up win number 2,000.

9/25/2000 – In only the second three-team doubleheader in the majors since 1900 and first since Sept. 13, 1951, the Cleveland played host to two different teams, beating the White Sox 9-2 before losing to Minnesota 4-3. It was the Indians’ third doubleheader in six days. By the time Minnesota’s players arrived at the ballpark for their 4-3 win in Cleveland on Monday night, the only trace that Chicago had used the visitor’s clubhouse earlier in a 9-2 loss to the Indians was a pair of white socks left behind by one of the White Sox players.

9/25/2006 – The Twins beat the Kansas City Royals 8-1 at the Metrodome and clinch at least a wildcard playoff spot. This is the first time in history that the wildcard has come from the American League Central Division. It has been an amazing run from a 25-33 start and 11 1/2 games out of first as of June 7th.

9/25/2008 – The Twins cap a thrilling three-game sweep of the Mighty Whities to reclaim first place in the AL Central. The team came back from a 6-1 deficit to win the game on Alexi Casilla‘s walk-off single in the 10th inning for a 7-6 victory. After the game, manager Gardenhire was quoted as saying “I can’t even breathe” while closer Joe Nathan said that “this was the most intense series I have ever been a part of”. On the other side of the coin, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen sighed and said “We wasted 26 innings in this town.”

9/25/2010 – The Twins scored five runs in the first inning and another five in the fifth before dropping an 11-10 decision in 13 innings at Comerica Park. It was the first time since relocating to Minnesota in 1961 that the Twins lost a game in which they scored at least five runs in each of two different innings. It happened only one other time in franchise history. That was on July 1, 1907, when the Washington Senators suffered a 16-15 loss to the Highlanders in the first game of a doubleheader at New York’s Hilltop Park.

According to Elias

Kevin Correia
Kevin Correia

Kevin Correia threw seven innings and recorded 14 outs on groundballs in his win over the Rangers on Sunday. Correia induced two double-play grounders, bringing his total for the season to 23, which now leads all American League pitchers. Mariners teammates Felix Hernandez and Joe Saunders, who shared the A.L. lead with 22 apiece entering play on Sunday, are now tied for second place.

From Elias yesterday –

Matt Garza had nine strikeouts in his seven innings against the Twins, the highest strikeout total for any pitcher in any of Saturday’s major-league games. But when the day, and the month, were done, major-league pitchers finished August with an average of 14.945 strikeouts per game, the sixth-highest average in any month in major-league history in which at least 100 games were played. And, yes, it’s our end-of-the-month duty to note that the streak continues: the 12 months with the highest strikeouts-per-game averages in major-league history (minimum: 100 games) are the last 12 months: September of 2011, all six months of last season, and the five months played so far this season.

The Twins got themselves their own piece of strikeout history: with 11 strikeouts on Saturday night – nine at the hands of Garza and two more by Joe Nathan – the Twins finished August having struck out 291 times in 30 games, the highest total of strikeouts by any team in one month in major-league history.

According to Elias

Liam Hendriks
Liam Hendriks

Liam Hendriks was the winning pitcher in the Twins’ come-from-behind victory at Texas, improving his record to 2-12 in 25 career starts. The last pitcher with two or fewer victories in his first 25 major-league starts was Jason Hammel (2-12 from 2006 to 2008).

This Day in Twins History – August 7, 1976

Steve LuebberSteve Luebber‘s Twins pitching career was relatively short, just 58 games with 24 starts in parts of three seasons (71, 72, and 76). But on this day Luebber felt confident, he was facing the Rangers for the second time in a two-week period and he was coming off of a complete game shutout of the Oakland A’s. After 6 perfect innings, Luebber had faced 18 batters and retired everyone one of them and the Twins had staked him to a 3-0 lead. In the 7th the Rangers loaded the bases with 2 walks and an error but Luebber buckled down and retired Toby Harrah for the final out of the inning and the no-hitter was still in play. Luebber retired the Rangers 1-2-3 in the 8th inning and went on to retire the first two batters in the ninth inning and was one batter away from a no-no. Roy Howell was the Texas batter and Lubber had him 2-2 and threw what he thought was strike 3 but umpire Art Frantz didn’t see it that way and the count went full. Luebber tried a fastball again but this time Howell hit a sharp single to center and the normally slick fielding Lyman Bostock let the ball get past him and Howell ended up on third base. The next batter, Mike Hargrove followed with a single and Howell scored and Luebber had lost both his no-hitter and the shutout. At this point manager Gene Mauch had seen enough and brought in reliever Bill Campbell who struck out Jeff Burroughs to end the game, preserve the victory for Luebber and the Twins were 3-1 winners in Arlington Stadium.

Luebber is and has been the pitching coach for the Wilmington Blue Rocks since 2007. Wilmington is an “A” ball affiliate of the Kansas City Royals. He has also coached in the Padres, Orioles, Rangers and Marlins organizations.

Although several Twins pitchers have come close on a couple of occasions the Twins still have not had one of their pitchers throw a perfect game.

With MLB baseball you just never know

Since the all-star break I have found it difficult to sit down and come up with something interesting to write about the Minnesota Twins. It is not the Twins fault, they have won two series (Indians and Angels) in a row and are 4-2 since the break but I am just stuck in rut.  I don’t want to spend time writing about possible trade scenarios that have no chance of  taking place, there are plenty of blogs writing about that. Fire Ron Gardenhire? I have been there and given my thoughts about that. I think the problem is that I know this team is not going anywhere and it frustrates me because I know this team is going to go through streaks of playing winning baseball when they are fun to watch and then they will play like crap for a series or two and drive me nuts. Yet I know and understand that is how young players play the game and learn to win.

But the Twins are not the only team playing inconsistent baseball. When the season started I had the Blue Jays, Tigers, and Angels winning their divisions with the Rays and Royals as wild cards in the AL. When I look at the American League standings now I see the Tigers, Red Sox, and A’s winning their divisions with the Rays, Orioles, and the Rangers in hot pursuit as possible wild card candidates. The Blue Jays have stunk and are playing .455 baseball, who would have predicted that? I thought that the Red Sox would suck again this year and they have 61 wins in the bank, better than any team in baseball. In the NL I had the Nationals, Reds, and Dodgers as division winners with the Braves and Pirates as wild card winners. The standings in the NL now show us that the Cards are going head-to-head with the Pirates, The Dodgers are battling with the D-Backs and the Braves are running away from the Phillies and the third place Nats. Heck, the Miami Marlins have won more games than the Astros and almost as many as the White Sox.

It just goes to show how unpredictable MLB baseball really is from year to year and why it is such an interesting and great game. A team can sign a slew of free agents or make a mega trade (hello Blue Jays) and all the baseball experts or talking heads as I like to call them jump on the bandwagon and predict great things and guarantee a cake walk to the playoffs. But when the season ends you find this teams players packing their bags and cleaning their golf clubs when game 162 is in the books. I had originally picked the Detroit Tigers and the Washington Nationals to play in World Series 2013 and for the Nats to win in six games. Now the Nationals will have to play some amazing baseball just to get in to the playoffs. Last time I looked, the Twins were 100 to 1 to win the World Series. Those are some long odds indeed but I remember back in 1987 when I made my annual February trip to Las Vegas and put $10 down on the Twins to win it all and I put $400 in my pocket later that year.