Its a Bird....a plane...no....its Jason!

Hi, I'd just like to make a shout out to all my adoring fans. I'm still alive, just very lazy. I don't know if I'll restart this blog up but I'm thinking of doing something on the OOTP boards, see you in 6 months or so.

The Twins offense

It looks like I may have jumped the gun a bit on our offense. We seem to have the same problems, not getting our pitchers the run support they need. When a pitcher gives up three runs in 8 innings he is giving you a chance to win. Like so many times last year the Minnesota Twins get alot of hits but not at the right time. The Twins got on base 31 times in the last 2 games, they only scored 5 times. The Twins grounded into more double plays than scored runs in the last 2 games, 6 double plays. The return of Justin Morneau could help, definitely, but I don't think he alone can wake up our batters. Brad Radke I'm is sure sick of it. He off all players knows what its like. He constantly gives this team the chance too win and they blow it. Radke can only do so much, the hitters have to hit. He is there to pitch. If they don't pick it up they won't be getting past the first round this year once again.


The Twins still have plenty of time to regroup and start hitting smarter. They have the ability, but can they use it? As for the sending down of Terry Tiffee and David Gassner instead of Corky Miller, can you say Justin Morneau,Michael Restovich,Johan Santana? Just a few of the questionable moves by Gardenhire. Don't get me wrong, Gardy is a great manager, he just sometimes makes some odd decisions. I can see getting Gassner some more time but Terry Tiffee I feel is ready, more ready than Corky is or ever will be. In Corky Millers best year he hit .267 with 5 walks and 7 strikeouts, in 30 at-bats. Terry Tiffee in 66 career at-bats has batted .288 with 5 walks and 3 strikouts. We also have 4 catchers on the roster, Terry Tiffee is better with the bat and gives us depth at positions we can use it.

*Note: Sorry about the lack of updates, I've been sick the last couple of days.

6 game winning steak snapped

The Minnesota Twins may have lost today but they gained something bigger than a single win, a confident and healthy Joe Mays. Joe Mays made only 72 pitches in 7 innings allowing a single run, A solo homerun in the 3rd inning to Ronnie Belliard. Ron Gardenhire's comments on taking Joe Mays out in the 7th,

"I know he wanted to go farther. In all honesty hes been away for two years. We're trying to inch this thing along so we can have Joe Mays for the rest of the year." - Ron Gardenhire

In Joe May's 2 starts of the year he has gone 12 innings allowing only 4 runs. Mays has shown in the past that he has what it takes to be a great pitcher, he isn't some young kid getting lucky because no one has seen him before. Joe Mays has started 122 games in his career. In his only full year(2001) he went 17-13 with a 3.16 ERA and was an All-Star. In the last 3 years combined he has pitched less innings than in the 2001 season. Last year was ofcourse because of the injury, but that still means Joe was really only able to show his full season stuff once.


Right now he is 29 years old, he is in his prime. Joe Mays has the pitches, he now has the confidence back. Joe Mays will take #3 back in the rotation. Carlos Silva will claim the #4 and Kyle Lohse will come in at #5, Gardy wanting to give Lohse one more chance. It may be a bit early to praise Joe Mays after only 2 starts but I feel he has proven himself in the past and he will take every opportunity he gets this season and turn it into a chance for this team to win. Run support has been sorely lacking for a long time, just ask Brad Radke. But I feel the offense that has been put together this year will be that run support Minnesota pitchers have longed for.

Todays Game

David Gassner was excellent today pitching 6 innings allowing 2 runs(1 earned) and only allowing 3 hits. Gassner was pitching great until an error at 2nd by Nick Punto in the Bottom of the 2nd inning which lead way to a 2-run Home run by Jose Hernandez to put the game at 2-0 Cleveland. But even with that if Gassner keeps pitching like this we won't be missing Silva and when Silva comes back Gassner could make a great #5 pitcher. Gassner most likely won't keep this up every appeareance especially once teams start to figure him out but we'll take it for aslong as we can get it. Lew Ford may have started off slow but he showed he can get the hits when it counts when he jacked a 3-run homer in the Top of the 6th to give the Twins a 3-2 lead over the Cleveland Indians. I think this will put Ford back on track along with Torii Hunter who went 3 for 4 with a double and a 3-run homer which he got off of pitcher Kevin Millwood in the Top of the 8th. Terry Mulholland came in in the 7th and gave up a 2-run HR to Ryan Ludwick in the 9th. The Twins went on too win it 6-4. The Twins remain tied for 1st today with a 8-3 record. The White Sox also won today, 2-1 over Seattle.


The Twins are on a 6 game win streak after starting out 2-3, all 6 games have been against division opponents and they still have 11 more to go before they finally get a break and play The LA Dodgers in interleague play at the end of the month. But before we get ahead of ourselves we still have one more game against the Indians and we'll have Joe Mays out on the mound against hated rival C.C. Sabathia. This will be Sabathia's first start of the year after starting the season on the DL. Someone who knows alot about being injured is Joe Mays who will be making his 2nd start of the year. Sabathia will be shaking off no cobwebs as he pitched in the minors just 4 days ago going 5 shutout innings. This will be a tough matchup for Joe Mays but if he just stays calm out there he can give us the chance to win.

Check out the Top Plays of the game Here

The season so far

Johan Santana and the Twins won again today beating the Cleveland Indians 3-2 which gave Johan his 16th straight win and put him at 3-0 on the season. It also put the Twins at 7-3, tied for 1st in the division with the Chicago White Sox. While the pitching gets the most praise the hitting has been key so far this season. The twins have been hitting great and I think they can keep up both the AVG(3) and the OBP(1), We knew coming into the season we were getting better at 1st and I believe short aswell for hitting but most people have been shocked so far at how good we have hit. We may slow down when we start playing some better competition but I feel we have a better chance this season on the offensive side than we have had in a long time. I say that we end up in the Top 5 for both AVG and OBP aswell as Top 6 in runs. I know we placed 10th in runs and 8th in OBP last year but I think with the "new" additions (Bartlett,Mauer,Morneau) we can get some better recognition in our hitting department.


We know our pitching is great and it will remain great this year, Johan is no fluke and Brad Radke has been consistent over the years(even if he is off to a so-so start). The loss of Carlos Silva hurts but I feel it won't make as big an impact as some think. Joe Mays made his return after having not played since 2003, in his first start he went 5 innings allowing 4 hits,3 runs and walking 4. While not a very good outing it was his first start in over a year. I think after he shakes off the cobwebs he will return and take the place of Silva and maybe even shock some people with his performance. While I don't think he will return to All-Star form I think he can atleast pitch better than Terry Mulholland or Kyle Lohse. Our bullpen is also great with Juan Rincon(2.63 ERA,106 SO in 82 innings), Joe Nathan(1.62 ERA,89 SO in 72 innings) and Jesse Crain(2.00 ERA,allowing 6 runs in 27 innings). I think Crain will keep up with his great pitching into this year and show that he is the future and I'm confident that J.C. Romero will step it up and get that ERA at or below 3.

Test

Hey, just testing this out. My thoughts on the Twins to come...