Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
After starting the season 17-24, the Twins moved 22-year-old lefty über-prospect Francisco Liriano from the bullpen into the rotation on May 19. They then played .500 ball over their next twenty games before catching fire in mid-June, winning 18 of 19 games, 15 of which came against National League teams, specifically the Dodgers and the four weakest teams in the NL Central. After dropping a pair of series to the Royals and Rangers, they again went on a tear after the All-Star Break, winning 12 of their first 14 games of the second half, a stretch that concluded with a three-game sweep of the White Sox.
Those streaks obviously weren't all Liriano's doing, but the decision to move Liriano into the rotation was a lynchpin for the team, which started the season with Tony Batista at third, Juan Castro at shortstop and with plans to carry Ruben Sierra. Not long after Twins got wise on Liriano, they dumped Batista (.236/.303/.388), Castro (.231/.258/.308), Sierra (5 for 28 with one extra base hit and four walks) and Kyle Lohse (7.07 ERA), replacing them with Nick Punto (a surprising .307/.383/.405), Jason Bartlett (finally living up to his minor league track record with a .342/.409/.447 line), Jason Tyner (ditto, hitting .314/.343/.346 in place of the injured Shannon Stewart's .293/.347/.368 in left field), and, of course, Liriano (12-3, 2.19 ERA, 10.74 K/9). Add in a tremendous two months from Justin Morneau (.387/.415/.719 with 18 homers in June and July) and you get a Twins team that went 42-17 (.712) from May 19 until July 28.
It was that later date when Liriano suffered a hard luck loss against the Tigers after which he complained of pain in his pitching elbow. He's made just one abbreviated start since then and the Twins have gone 18-13 in his absence. That's a .580 record, an almost exact match with the team's overall record, but a considerable drop from the dominant two months in which Liriano took the hill every fifth day, and not enough to push them past the White Sox, who currently sport a .586 winning percentage.
Once again, Liriano has been the lynchpin as the team has started to regress without him. Brad Radke, who has said he will retire after this season, has been pitching with a torn labrum and a shredded rotator cuff, figuring there's no reason to save his arm. It worked in August, when he posted a 2.48 ERA, but his shoulder is deteriorating faster than expected and didn't respond to his latest cortisone shot. As a result, Radke won't start Saturday, and could be done for the season, and thus his career. That's bad news for a rotation that's still without Liriano and is still carrying tonight's starter Carlos Silva, who has a 6.50 ERA on the year. While rookies Boof Bonser and Sunday's starter Matt Garza appear to be rounding into shape, Scott Baker, who will take Radke's turn tomorrow, has been on the Richmond express all year and sports a 6.93 ERA in 12 starts.
To make matters worse, the offense is experiencing some correction, with MVP candidates Morneau and Joe Mauer cooling off and Punto coming back to earth. It doesn't help matters that Luis Castillo sprained his ankle and could miss the entire series this weekend. Thus, despite the continued excellence of Johan Santana and the bullpen (which has added dominant rookie Pat Neshek to the Big Three of Nathan, Rincon and LOOGY Dennys Reyes), the recent surge of surprise clean-up hitter Michael Cuddyer (.311/.398/.594 in August), and last night's addition of Phil Nevin (who will replace the Rondell White's miserable .215/.242/.308 at DH), I'm just not convinced that this team can overtake the White Sox, despite the two teams being tied in the loss column, without getting Liriano back, and soon.
The latest report from Will Carroll is that Liriano is throwing "sneaker sessions" (meaning he's throwing off a mound, but in sneakers rather than cleats, the unproven theory being that the reduced traction also reduces effort and strain on the arm) and could return mid-month. Unless Bonser and Garza maintain their improvements and Nevin hits like he did in Chicago rather than the way he didn't in Texas, that might not be soon enough
Minnesota Twins
2006 Record: 77-55 (.583)
2006 Pythagorean Record: 75-57 (.565)
Manager: Ron Gardenhire
General Manager: Terry Ryan
Home Ballpark (2005 Park Factors): Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (101/101)
Who's New?
Current Roster
1B – Justin Morneau (L)
2B – Luis Castillo (S)
SS – Jason Bartlett (R)
3B – Nick Punto (S)
C – Joe Mauer (L)
RF – Michael Cuddyer (R)
CF – Torii Hunter (R)
LF – Jason Tyner (L)
DH – Phil Nevin (R)
Bench:
R – Rondell White (OF)
L – Jason Kubel (OF)
R – Lew Ford (OF)
S – Luis O. Rodriguez (IF)
R – Mike Redmond (C)
S – Alexi Casilla (IF)*
R – Chris Heintz (C)*
Rotation:
L – Johan Santana
R – Carlos Silva
R – Scott Baker*
R – Matt Garza
R – Boof Bonser
R – Brad Radke**
Bullpen:
R – Joe Nathan
R – Juan Rincon
R – Jesse Crain
R – Pat Neshek
L – Dennys Reyes
R – Willie Eyre
R – Matt Guerrier
15-day DL: L – Francisco Liriano, L – Dave Gassner
60-day DL: R – Shannon Stewart (OF),
*September call-ups
**Injured
Typical Lineup
S – Luis Castillo (2B)
S – Nick Punto (3B)
L – Joe Mauer (C)
R – Michael Cuddyer (RF)
L – Justin Morneau (1B)
R – Torii Hunter (CF)
R – Phil Nevin (DH)
L – Jason Tyner (LF)
R – Jason Bartlett (SS)
Sox's Lester diagnosed with lymphoma. Man, thats scary stuff for a young guy. More bad news for the Sox,its been pretty much snakes on a plane for them this last month. Although it looks like Ortiz is just fine, which is good...
On another note, Peter Abraham is reporting that Mo is unavailable for the game tonight and will be rested more in the coming week. I still wonder why Joe didn't try to use Dotel last night instead of Randy in the 9th, but maybe Dotel is more hurt than we think?
Johnny Damon CF
Derek Jeter SS
Bobby Abreu RF
Jason Giambi DH
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Jorge Posada C
Robinson Cano 2B
Aaron Guiel 1B
Melky Cabrera LF
Cory Lidle P
I agree, although I'm not sure hes still not worth signing. Never can have enough pitching, and knowing how unrelaiable Wright is, nevermind the possibilities of a 43 year old Johnson and a 39 year old Moose.
I don't expect Hughes to start the season with the club, though I fully expect him to be there by June.
I suppose it was more me combining Joe's love for vets and the generally uncertainty of the rotation after Wang/Johnson. But, on the other hand, Lidle ain't really an ace...
Pavano, try and get out of that contract. That's $20 mil right there. In '98 & '99 the Yanks were able to juggle 6-7 starters.
Guess who's back?
Given that many people are discussing a possible Subway Series, is the proper term for New York's one team the Mankees or the Yets?
Robbie is KILLING ME. I LOVE his pure hitting ability. But Robbie, please, I beg you, find some plate discipline.
41 Friday's always slow.
40 Yeah, he nailed that.
(See, I kind of have a life on Friday night!)
By the way, is that Dwight Yokam in the preview?
Just enjoying a quiet Saturday morning coffee with the game makes it hard to type.
3 outs to an official game! Then, bring on the showers.
Anybody here see Mantle play?
Any Mantle stories?
Hi Alex and Cliff. Nice to see you both here tonight.
http://www.clippersbaseball.com/
One that I thought was interesting in Barra's A Rod piece for the Voice, was biographer Ray Robinson's quote that Mantle handled the vicious booing he received in the late fifites much worse than Rodriguez has. What's mind boggling is that he had already won MVPs and numerous rings and was still getting killed. So as Barra points out, it's only when guys haven't won a ring with the Yanks that Yankee fans have booed 'em.
Beautiful job by Lidle. Way to make it official broham...
Win the Batting Title!
YOU DA MAN!
Mantle was not DiMaggio and he also struck out a lot and at the time people didn't realize that the strikeouts were a byproduct of Mantle's ability to hit the tar out of the ball when he connected.
OK, My Plan: Giambi Walks, A-Rod hits a Grand Slam.
Thanks Bob 68
(Of course, other guys are hitting Silva too, and Silva's not good, so it doesn't count.)
Genius. Pure Genius!
84 Doesn't look too bad. Not bad out here in Jersey either.
And then there was his 5-for-5 game (two home runs, two doubles, a single) which I listened to on the radio. Anyone have the retrosheet reference for that one?
Enough Small-Ball. Step on their throats and hit a Grand Slam Johnny.
That was a STRIKE!
Hunter ran TOO FAR and it dropped like 10 feet in front of him for a double!
Ice cold, and he's still hitting .331. We should all be so lucky.
Oh, that's right, class is cancelled tomorrow. Maybe I'll stay up and they can serve a nice heaping plate of crow to Steve Philips.
I had a Little League game that day, listened to it on a transistor radio.
I was just checking out the Melkman's splits.
Night -- .316/.389/.486
but . . . Day -- .237/.318/.304
That's pretty crazy, no?
That was a strike when the Twins pitched.
Did he injure himself or something?
The curse of the crow continues?
This is getting crazy.
Or is it payback for whatever black magic they used in 04?
I'd rather we beat a 100% healthy Sox team on the field, fair and square!
Against Boston this season:
11 games: .452/.589/.738
That's a 1.327 ops for those scoring at home.
The pinstripes need to be tattooed on this man.
Double whammy courtesy of the Gimpy Crow!
(Actually I think I saw somewhere that the crow died shortly after casting its spell)
186 That means The Curse of the Gimpy Crow is now irreversable — unless the hawk is captured and eaten alive by El Guapo in front of Buckner's old locker.
Curious that they decided to DFA Jones. They could have put Kevin Reese on the 60-day DL instead. Are they hoping Reese will be back this year after all? Or are they planning to call up Crosby, Sardinha, or some other player not on the 40-man on Monday?
FWIW, Papelbon says he's okay. Dunno if I believe that.
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