Monday, August 25, 2008

Everyday Eddie for Hamburger


Today the Twins acquired Eddie Guardado from the Texas Rangers in exchange for minor league pitcher Mark Hamburger. Now that is a cool name! Guardado is 3-3 with a 3.65 ERA and four saves in 55 appearances with Texas this season. Not a bad pickup and the Twins needed bullpen help. I wonder who will be sent down, there are a few choices like Mike Lamb or Adam Everett. A week or two ago the Twins also resigned former Twin OF Bobby Kielty to a minor-league deal. Looks like the Twins are bringing back some of the old Twins.

20 in a row?

I hate the statistic for pitcher's known as a win. It is perhaps the dumbest, most meaningless, most overrated statistic in baseball. A pitcher could give up 9 runs and if his team scored 10 while he was in the game than he gets a win, but at the same time if he gives up just 1 run and his team scores zero he doesn't get a win, but instead could get the loss. In short, it has little to do with how the pitcher performs, instead on how his teammates perform. That being said Francisco Liriano has won 14 games in a row (including games at AAA Rochester) and he goes for #15 tonight.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

minneSTOa

No this photo has not been photoshopped. That is Adam Everett vs the Angels in last night's game.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Twins Notes

-Carlos Gomez has 25 bunt singles this year. He has more bunt singles than any other team in the major leagues. Houston has 24 on the year. The Twins lead the majors with 50 bunt singles. Gomez, Span, and Casilla are some of the fastest players in baseball.

-Scouts have been saying that Justin Morneau has the potential to become one of the greatest players ever to play baseball. Since July 7, Morneau has hit safely in 17 of 20 games, is batting .380 with 10 doubles, 17 runs, 17 walks, six home runs and 21 RBI. In those 20 games, he has a .494 on-base percentage and a .775 slugging percentage. In the Chicago series, Morneau hit .357 with two homers and 10 RBI. He was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer in the fifth inning in last Thursday night's 10-6 victory over Chicago.

-Francisco Liriano, Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, Nick Blackburn, and Glen Perkins could be the Minnesota Twins starting five for years to come. The young 5 man rotation is the envy of the league. It reminds me of what Atlanta assembled in the early 90's with Glavine, Smoltz, Avery, and Maddux.

Liriano had a 2.16 ERA in 2006, Blackburn has a 3.56 ERA, Baker -3.86, Slowey - 4.21, Perkins - 4.38. They are all 26 or younger. Liriano is still just 24. Just imagine if the Twins had kept Santana and Garza... Santana/Liriano/Garza/Baker/Blackburn would be the best rotation in the majors.

Monday, August 4, 2008

The Return Of Liriano

This is what first place looks like:


Liriano's final line:
6 IP
3 Hits
0 Earned Runs
5 Strikeouts
3 Walks
96 Pitches


I can't complain that the Twins moved into 1st place on the same day Liriano made his comeback. Coincidence? No. Best day of the year for the Twins? Yes.