4/23/10

Twins' Season Recap: The Good, The Bad and the Ugly

The Twins are 5 series into the 2010 season and here is a brief, short attention span bullet list of my random thoughts about young Twins' season, Spaghetti Western Style:



The Good:

  • The Twins are 11-5 so far; if they continue at this rate, they will win 111 games

  • The Twins have won every single series so far; if they continue at this rate, they will be World Champions

  • Only one error in the season

  • Five Twins hitters have equal or more walks than strikeouts

  • Jon Rauch has been as effective as Joe Nathan in converting save opportunities

  • The best uniforms in baseball (Saturday home and everyday road)

  • The best outdoor park in the majors (Did I mention OUTDOOR?)

  • Kevin Slowey and Fransisco Liriano solidifying the top 2 spots in the rotation

  • 114 Team OPS+, 117 Team ERA+, easily translating to 81-56 Run Differential

  • .357/.493/.554: Justin Morneau's slash line

  • .310/.368/.519: Twins' team slash line, the second time they face an opposing starting pitcher

  • .242/.292/.395: Twins' opponents' slash line with Runners In Scoring Position


The Bad:


  • 4-4: The Twins' record in day games

  • Injuries (Condrey, Blackburn, Neshek, Mijares, Punto)

  • 20 out of 40: times runners at 3rd with less than 2 outs scored

  • .228/.290/.351: J.J. Hardy's slashline vs. .262/.311/.452: Carlos Gomez' slashline with Milwaukee


The Ugly:


  • Drew Butera's game calling (Twins' pichers have 1.11 K/BB and .779 Opponent OPS when Butera is catching vs 3.32 K/BB and .702 Opponent OPS when Mauer is catching)

  • Cuddyer playing the bounces off the OF walls at Target Field

  • The alternative home uniforms

  • .180/.317/.320: Jason Kubel's slashline

  • 40-man roster management



Lots of Good and much fewer Bad and Ugly. What are your thoughts about the Twins' season so far?

7 comments:

BW said...

.242/.292/.395: Twins' opponents' slash line with Runners In Scoring Position

How did this end up in the good?

thrylos98 said...

Ben, the AL average in 2010 with RISP is .243/.340/.379, so the Twins' pitchers are doing better that the average AL pitchers in this situation. Additionally, the number is inflated because of yesterday's game.

Unknown said...

I was surprised to see the RISP slash line was above the league average too.

You don't like the '61 throwbacks? I'm surprised. I love the classic look. Or are you talking about the blues?

thrylos98 said...

I love the throw backs. They were mentioned in the "good" part :) The alt.home.blues are the ones that I cannot stand any more, but thankfully only Slowey seems to pick them these days. I wish they came back with an alt red jersey like the Nationals'

Anonymous said...

Great stuff.

Love the theme.

BW said...

Sorry, I posted too fast - thought it was OUR slashline.

Ours should be in the bad or ugly. How many times have we had the bases loaded now? I can't wait for the hitting to come around there, we can't count on a fielders choice winning us games. On the other hand, it has worked out so far.

Marv said...

Perhaps your expectations were higher than mine, but I'd list Pavano as a GOOD. He is looking better than I expected.
And Liriano.... wow.
We should get our hitting coach to see if he can do something about Hardy, Kubel and Span. That would be helpful. (OK, maybe not an original thought)