Minnesota - The Mauer Years

Re: Minnesota - The Mauer Years

League-Wide Standings at the Half

American League

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National League

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Wild Card

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Re: Minnesota - The Mauer Years

Minnesota Twins ASB Review

High points

Zack Greinke is having a legendary season and is the run-away favorite for AL Cy Young. He is 10-5 with a 2.00 ERA, 127 K's to 22 BB's in 130.2 IP, and a BAA of just .215. We haven't seen an ERA number like that since Pedro was in his prime with the Red Sox in the late 90's and early 00's.
Greinke's ranks in the AL/MLB:

ERA 1/1
K's 1/3
Wins 3/3
IP 1/1
R/9IP 1/2
BB/9IP 1/3
BAA 1/7 (only pitcher in the AL in the top 10)
OOBP 1/1
OOPS 1/1
OSLG% 2/2
H/9IP (only pitcher in the AL in the top 10).

Thomas Neal's phenomenal rookie season. He is hitting .303/.449/.478 with 11 homers, 44 RBI, 49 runs, and 68 walks, which is good for 4th in baseball. He has been one of the team's top two hitters for the better portion of the season, and is running away with the RotY.

Low points

We've been in fourth place or lower the better part of the season.
We're below .500.
The only guys that are hitting are Mauer, Neal, Span, and Kubel.
We have virtually no shot at winning the division.
Kevin Slowey's ERA is over 6.
We only have an outside shot at the playoffs.

Thoughts

Suffice it to say that this is not where I thought we'd be at this stage of the season. I had envisioned a much more successful season than this. I thought we'd be running away with the division at this point, but instead the division is running away from us. It's not all bad, though. Greinke is having a phenomenally exciting season, and we do still have a shot at the Wild Card. We're gonna have to make some moves to get there, though. Right now the most likely thing to happen will be me trading Kevin Slowey for an outfielder (Travis Snider of the Jays and Hunter Pence of the Red Sox are the two guys we're looking at), and then I'll flip Cuddyer and perhaps some other pieces for a starter to replace Slowey (Trevor Cahill of Oakland, Brad Lincoln of Pittsburgh, and even guys like Mat Latos of San Diego and Michael Ynoa of Oakland have been discussed in more complex trade packages.).

Re: Minnesota - The Mauer Years

Twins send Cuddyer, prospects, to Atlanta for ace Hanson; swap Slowey for Pence to replace Cuddyer

Today we agreed to a move that even I didn't see coming. We sent Michael Cuddyer 81 (9.5 mil through end of season), Oswaldo Arcia 65/83, Max Kepler 63/79, and our #1 prospect Efrain Solando 64/92, along with $7,000,000 to the Atlanta Braves for Tommy Hanson 89. The trade makes a lot of sense for both sides. The Braves are not even remotely in contention and they were able to use Hanson and their financial flexibility to pick up a couple B/B- prospects and an A prospect. On the flip-side, we still have fascinations of making a run at the Tigers for the AL Central, and even if we are unable to do that we're only five or so games back of the Mariners for the Wild Card.

This trade gives us one of the strongest 1-2-3's in the league with Greinke, Hanson, and Baker. All of them sport ERA's under 4.00, have over 110 innings pitched on the season, and combine for a 24-13 win-loss record.

After we completed the Hanson trade we swapped our struggling starting pitcher, Kevin Slowey 89, for Boston's struggling starting outfielder, Hunter Pence 86. Slowey had an ERA over 6.00 and was gonna be due a pretty fair raise at the end of the season. Pence is signed through 2013 at a modest 5.2 per season, and on the season he was hitting a measly (by corner outfielder standards) .266/.314/.418.

Re: Minnesota - The Mauer Years

July 16, 2011

Angels 4 - Twins 12

Hunter Pence homered and drove in three runs in his first game as a Twinkie. Meanwhile, on the mound, Liriano was baffling hitters the whole game. Liriano went seven, allowed only two runs, and struck out seven.

POTG - F. Liriano 7 IP, 8 H, BB, 2 ER, 7 K

July 17, 2011

Angels 6 - Twins 7

Greinke didn't have his best start, allowing five runs in 5.2 innings to the Angels, but we managed to win in spite of that. The (literally) killing blow came when Jemile Weeks sent a Fernando Rodney fastball into the seats with two outs in the ninth inning with two men on for the three-run walk-off home-run.

POTG - J. Weeks 2-5, walk-off 3-R HR

July 18, 2011

Angels 0 - Twins 2 (in extras)

Tommy Hanson pitched 8.1 shutout innings in his Twins debut, but this game to extras to resolve and he was unfortunately unable to get the 'W'. This game also ended in walk-off fashion, only this time it was recently acquired Hunter Pence hitting the walk-off two-run bomb in the bottom of the 10th inning.

POTG - H. Pence 1-4, walk-off 2-R HR

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Minnesota Twins 46-45
9.5 GB of Detroit Tigers for first place in AL Central
4.0 GB of New York Yankees for first place in AL Wild Card
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

July 19, 2011

Orioles 1 - Twins 6

Baker pitched six innings of one-run ball on 105 pitches, earning his eighth win of the season. At the plate Kubel hit his team-leading 15th home-run of the season off Orioles starter Brandon Erbe.

POTG - S. Baker 6 IP, 9 H, 3 BB, ER, 4 K

July 20, 2011

Orioles 10 - Twins 6

Our winning streak comes to an end at four games. Liriano went six innings but allowed six earned runs, and the bullpen couldn't do much to stop the bleeding, allowing three runs of their own.

POTG - N. Markakis 2-4, HR, 3 RBI

July 21, 2011

Orioles 3 - Twins 4

We improve our W-L in the month of July to 11-4 with this win. Blackburn goes seven innings without allowing an earned run (he did allow one unearned run). Jose Morales contributed on offense by knocking home two runs and scoring two runs.

POTG - N. Blackburn 7 IP, 4 H, BB, 0 ER, 2 K

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Minnesota Twins 48-46
7.5 GB of Detroit Tigers for first place in AL Central
3.5 GB of New York Yankees for first place in AL Wild Card
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Thoughts

We're making a run! We're 11-4 in July, 7-3 in our last ten games (Tigers are 2-8) and 14-6 in our last 20 games (Tigers are 9-11). We have a big four-game series up next against the Yankees in the Bronx. Due to the magnitude of this series I'm going to cover it a little more in-depth and closely than I would if I were 16 games back, or what have you.

Re: Minnesota - The Mauer Years

Greinke shuts Yank's Down!

We get off to a fast start in the series with Greinke pitching the opener. Greinke went eight innings and allowed no runs on five hits and two walks, while striking out nine. After Greinke's time was done Jose Mijares came in and pitched a perfect ninth for his 11th save of the season. Hunter Pence hit his third homer since coming over from the Red Sox to power the offense.

Burnett pitched a solid game in his own right, six innings, three runs, two K's, but that's rarely good enough when going toe-to-toe with a pitcher of Greinke's caliber.

Game two of this four-gamer will feature recently acquired Twins starter Tommy Hanson facing off against Yankees rookie Jeremy Bleich. The 23 year-old rookie left-hander Bleich is 4-2 in ten starts with a 3.70 ERA for the Yankees this season.

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Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees July 22, 2011 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 + R H E Twins (MIN) 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 8 0 Yankees (NYY) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 1 MINNESOTA ab h bb r hr bi k sb avg Denard Span (CF) 4 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 .301 Jemile Weeks (2B) 4 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 .306 Hunter Pence (RF) 3 1 0 1 1 2 0 0 .261 Thomas Neal (LF) 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .300 Jason Kubel (DH) 3 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 .298 Adrian Beltre (3B) 4 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .252 Aubrey Huff (1B) 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .265 J.J. Hardy (SS) 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .265 Jose Morales (C) 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .258 TOTALS 34 8 2 3 1 3 5 0 2B: Denard Span (24), Jason Kubel (19) 3B: Thomas Neal (1) HR: Hunter Pence (11) GDP: J.J. Hardy DP: Adrian Beltre, Thomas Neal MINNESOTA ip h bb hr r er k pit ERA Zack Greinke 8.0 5 2 0 0 0 9 120 2.12 Jose Mijares 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 9 3.73 TOTALS 9.0 6 2 0 0 0 9 129 NEW YORK ab h bb r hr bi k sb avg Brett Gardner (LF) 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .225 Curtis Granderson (CF) 4 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 .204 Alex Rodriguez (3B) 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .285 Mark Teixeira (1B) 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 .286 Jesus Montero (DH) 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 .268 Nick Swisher (RF) 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .204 Jeff Baker (2B) 4 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .282 Francisco Cervelli (C) 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .228 Ramiro Pena (SS) 2 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 .252 TOTALS 31 6 2 0 0 0 9 0 2B: Curtis Granderson (14) DP: Mark Teixeira, Jeff Baker, Alex Rodriguez E: Mark Teixeira NEW YORK ip h bb hr r er k pit ERA A.J. Burnett 6.0 7 2 1 3 3 2 89 5.26 Joe Nathan 2.0 0 0 0 0 0 2 30 4.50 Royce Ring 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 1 16 5.24 TOTALS 9.0 8 2 1 3 3 5 135 WP: Zack Greinke (11-5) LP: A.J. Burnett (8-6) SV: Jose Mijares (11)

Re: Minnesota - The Mauer Years

The first win of Hanson's Twins career is a big One!

Hanson made the first win of his Twins career a big one. Hanson went seven innings, allowed only two runs, and struck out five Yankee hitters en route to the win. Conversely, Jeremy Bleich lasted only four innings before giving up five runs to our offense.

Jason Kubel and Joe Mauer shouldered the load offensively. Kubel hit his 17th home-run of the season and drove in three runs, while Mauer drove in two runs on two hits in four AB's.

Sergio Romo pitched two innings and allowed just one hit to end the game.

In game three of the series we'll turn to Scott Baker to try to guarantee ourselves at least a series win, with the chance at a four-game sweep over the Wild Card leading Yank's.

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Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees July 23, 2011 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 + R H E Twins (MIN) 1 0 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 6 10 1 Yankees (NYY) 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 6 0 MINNESOTA ab h bb r hr bi k sb avg Denard Span (CF) 5 2 0 2 0 0 1 2 .303 Jemile Weeks (2B) 3 0 2 1 0 0 2 0 .299 Joe Mauer (C) 4 2 1 1 0 2 0 0 .311 Thomas Neal (LF) 4 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 .296 Jason Kubel (DH) 4 2 1 2 1 3 0 0 .301 Adrian Beltre (3B) 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .249 Hunter Pence (RF) 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 .264 J.J. Hardy (SS) 4 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 .265 Aubrey Huff (1B) 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 .266 TOTALS 35 10 6 6 1 6 6 3 HR: Jason Kubel (17) GDP: Adrian Beltre, Jason Kubel E: Adrian Beltre MINNESOTA ip h bb hr r er k pit ERA Tommy Hanson 7.0 5 1 0 2 2 5 109 3.10 Sergio Romo 2.0 1 0 0 0 0 1 22 4.58 TOTALS 9.0 6 1 0 2 2 6 131 NEW YORK ab h bb r hr bi k sb avg Brett Gardner (LF) 4 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 .228 Curtis Granderson (CF) 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .202 Alex Rodriguez (3B) 3 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 .286 Mark Teixeira (1B) 4 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 .285 Jesus Montero (DH) 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .267 Nick Swisher (RF) 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .201 Jeff Baker (2B) 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .279 Francisco Cervelli (C) 4 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 .229 Ramiro Pena (SS) 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .248 TOTALS 34 6 1 2 0 2 6 1 2B: Mark Teixeira (20), Alex Rodriguez (22) 3B: Brett Gardner (5) HBP: Jeff Baker DP: Mark Teixeira 2, Jeff Baker 2, Ramiro Pena 2 NEW YORK ip h bb hr r er k pit ERA Jeremy Bleich 4.0 7 2 0 5 5 1 83 4.19 Mark Melancon 1.1 1 1 1 1 1 0 21 2.31 Royce Ring 1.0 2 0 0 0 0 2 23 5.09 David Robertson 1.2 0 0 0 0 0 2 12 2.85 Joe Nathan 0.1 0 3 0 0 0 1 20 4.45 Ivan Nova 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2.70 TOTALS 9.0 10 6 1 6 6 6 162 WP: Tommy Hanson (8-4) LP: Jeremy Bleich (4-3) Temperature: 61F Wind: 6 MPH (out to center) Attendance: 52,325 Time: 3:08

Re: Minnesota - The Mauer Years

Nail-biter in New York ends with Twins on Top!

This game came down to the ninth inning. It was tied 5-5 going into the top of the ninth. The inning did not start very promising, with Jason Kubel striking out, but the wheels came off pretty quickly after that. Royce Ring plunked Adrian Beltre for the next batter, and then Hunter Pence capitalized on Ring's error by tearing a triple to the left-field gap to plate Beltre. We were stymied after that, but fortunately we didn't need any more than what we got!

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Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees July 24, 2011 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 + R H E Twins (MIN) 1 0 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 6 5 0 Yankees (NYY) 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 1 0 5 8 0 MINNESOTA ab h bb r hr bi k sb avg Denard Span (CF) 3 1 0 1 0 0 0 2 .303 Jemile Weeks (2B) 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 .292 Joe Mauer (C) 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .306 Thomas Neal (LF) 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 .293 Jason Kubel (DH) 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .297 Adrian Beltre (3B) 3 1 0 2 1 1 0 0 .250 Hunter Pence (RF) 4 1 0 0 0 1 2 0 .264 J.J. Hardy (SS) 3 1 1 2 0 0 0 0 .266 Aubrey Huff (1B) 4 1 0 1 1 3 0 0 .265 TOTALS 31 5 2 6 2 6 9 2 3B: J.J. Hardy (2), Hunter Pence (1) HR: Aubrey Huff (12), Adrian Beltre (15) HBP: Adrian Beltre, Denard Span MINNESOTA ip h bb hr r er k pit ERA Scott Baker 4.2 5 2 2 4 4 5 94 3.70 Pat Neshek 2.1 0 0 0 0 0 2 30 4.40 Will Ohman 0.1 2 1 0 1 1 0 16 5.94 Sergio Romo 0.1 1 0 0 0 0 0 9 4.55 Jesse Crain 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 3.14 Jose Mijares 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 2 13 3.64 TOTALS 9.0 8 3 2 5 5 9 167 NEW YORK ab h bb r hr bi k sb avg Brett Gardner (LF) 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .225 Curtis Granderson (CF) 5 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 .202 Alex Rodriguez (3B) 3 2 1 2 1 2 0 0 .289 Mark Teixeira (1B) 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 .283 Jesus Montero (C) 4 2 0 1 1 2 1 0 .276 Nick Swisher (RF) 3 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 .206 Jeff Baker (2B) 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .274 Jorge Posada (DH) 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .238 Ramiro Pena (SS) 4 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 .248 TOTALS 35 8 3 5 2 5 9 0 2B: Ramiro Pena (16), Curtis Granderson (15) HR: Alex Rodriguez (21), Jesus Montero (4) NEW YORK ip h bb hr r er k pit ERA Andrew Brackman 6.1 4 2 2 5 5 7 111 5.51 Royce Ring 2.0 1 0 0 1 1 2 30 5.06 Brandon Lyon 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 11 4.28 TOTALS 9.0 5 2 2 6 6 9 152 WP: Jesse Crain (3-3) LP: Royce Ring (1-3) SV: Jose Mijares (12) Temperature: 79F Wind: 8 MPH (in from left) Attendance: 52,325 Time: 3:37

Re: Minnesota - The Mauer Years

Yankees salvage game four win in otherwise forgettable Series

Unfortunately, despite our best efforts, we were unable to complete the four-game sweep and take control of the Wild Card. Liriano turned in a brilliant start, going 7.2 innings and allowing just one run on two hits while striking out nine, but we were unable to touch Zach McAllister. McAllister went eight shutout innings and struck out four, and Brandon Lyon pitched a perfect ninth inning with two strikeouts to lock-down his 21st save of the season.

In spite of the loss we sit six games back of the reeling Tigers for the division, and we knocked the Yankees out of first place in the Wild Card and now sit three games back of our division rival Indians for that distinction.

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Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees July 25, 2011 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 + R H E Twins (MIN) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 Yankees (NYY) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 x 1 2 0 MINNESOTA ab h bb r hr bi k sb avg Denard Span (CF) 4 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .302 Jemile Weeks (2B) 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .291 Joe Mauer (C) 3 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 .303 Thomas Neal (LF) 4 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .289 Jason Kubel (DH) 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .297 Adrian Beltre (3B) 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .247 Hunter Pence (RF) 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .265 J.J. Hardy (SS) 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 .267 Aubrey Huff (1B) 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .263 TOTALS 31 5 2 0 0 0 6 0 CS: Hunter Pence MINNESOTA ip h bb hr r er k pit ERA Francisco Liriano 7.2 2 2 1 1 1 9 110 4.73 Will Ohman 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 5.88 TOTALS 8.0 2 2 1 1 1 9 116 NEW YORK ab h bb r hr bi k sb avg Brett Gardner (LF) 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .222 Curtis Granderson (CF) 3 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .201 Alex Rodriguez (3B) 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .287 Mark Teixeira (1B) 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 .281 Jesus Montero (C) 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .269 Nick Swisher (RF) 3 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 .207 Jeff Baker (2B) 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .270 David Adams (DH) 3 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 .333 Eduardo Nunez (SS) 2 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 .297 TOTALS 26 2 2 1 1 1 9 0 HR: Nick Swisher (13) NEW YORK ip h bb hr r er k pit ERA Zach McAllister 8.0 5 2 0 0 0 4 120 3.07 Brandon Lyon 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 2 14 4.15 TOTALS 9.0 5 2 0 0 0 6 134 WP: Zach McAllister (6-2) LP: Francisco Liriano (8-9) SV: Brandon Lyon (21) Temperature: 70F Wind: Calm Attendance: 52,325 Time: 2:43

Re: Minnesota - The Mauer Years

July 26, 2011

Royals 2 - Twins 3

Nick Blackburn puts forth another 7 inning, 1 run performance, and drops his ERA to a measly 3.63 in the process. More than adequate for the man whose been our #5 starter all year.

POTG - N. Blackburn 7 IP, 5 H, 0 BB, ER, K

July 27, 2011

Royals 1 - Twins 5

Greinke nearly pitched his fourth complete game shutout of the season, but that was ended when Gabe Gross homered in the top of the ninth. As it was Greinke went all nine innings, allowed only three hits, two walks, and just the one run while striking out seven. Neal provided the fatal blow, launching a Noel Arguelles offering into the stands for a three-run homer in the sixth.

POTG - Z. Greinke CG, ER, 3 H, 2 BB, 7 K

July 28, 2011

Royals 0 - Twins 8

Hanson threw a complete game, 3-hit, shutout in just his third start with the Twins, striking out seven in the process. Beltre tied Kubel for the team-lead in homers by hitting his 17th of the season, while Hardy knocked home three runs.

POTG - T. Hanson CG, SHO, 3 H, BB, 7 K

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Minnesota Twins 54-47
6.0 GB of Detroit Tigers for first place in AL Central
Tied with Cleveland Indians for first place in AL Wild Card
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

July 29, 2011

Rays 1 - Twins 2

The hot streak continues! Baker pitches seven innings of one-run ball for his 9th win of the season. Both the runs came from the bottom of the lineup, with Hardy and Huff driving in a run each.

POTG - S. Baker 7 IP, 4 H, 0 BB, ER, 8 K

July 30, 2011

Rays 3 - Twins 5

Liriano evens up his record at 9-9 with this start. He went only five innings, but allowed only two runs despite giving up nine hits. J.J. Hardy cracked his 15th homer of the season and drove in two runs and scored two runs.

POTG - P. Neshek 3 IP, H, 4 K

July 31, 2011

Rays 7 - Twins 10

Blackburn allowed five runs in the first five innings, but fortunately the bullpen was able to stop the bleeding and we were able to push across enough runs to win the game! Neal, Huff, and Denard Span all hit two-run homers to supply most of the offense.

POTG - T. Neal 4-4, BB, 2 R, HR, 2 RBI

August 1, 2011

Rays 4 - Twins 5

Nieve makes the spot start and allows only two runs over five innings. Weeks and Huff drove in a pair of runs each, and Neal went hitless but walked three times in four PA's.

POTG - J. Weeks 2-4, 2 RBI

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Minnesota Twins 58-47
4.0 GB of Detroit Tigers for first place in AL Central
2.0 GA of Cleveland Indians for first place in AL Wild Card
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Thoughts

Woo-hoo! We posted a 20-5 mark in July, got ourselves back in the division race with the struggling Tigers, and took control of the Wild Card lead! The additions of Tommy Hanson and Hunter Pence definitely helped greatly, but I, for one, think that a run like this was inevitable for us. The team could not be playing better right now. Everyone is picking each other up, and that is what is really making this hot streak happen.

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ERA Z. Greinke 2.05 Wins Z. Greinke 12 Saves J. Mijares 15 AVG T. Neal .303 HR 2 tied 17 SB D. Span 20

Stats

Batting

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Player Name Team AB H HR RBI Avg OBP SLG SB CS Beltre, Adrian MIN 422 104 17 59 .246 .299 .412 3 1 Span, Denard MIN 417 126 6 39 .302 .370 .427 20 4 Huff, Aubrey MIN 382 102 15 56 .267 .316 .437 0 2 Kubel, Jason MIN 363 105 17 71 .289 .349 .482 1 0 Neal, Thomas MIN 333 101 13 54 .303 .444 .480 1 1 Hardy, J.J. MIN 330 87 15 47 .264 .330 .461 1 0 Pence, Hunter MIN 328 86 11 48 .262 .306 .436 3 5 Mauer, Joe MIN 309 89 10 51 .288 .393 .453 2 0 Weeks, Jemile MIN 160 48 1 19 .300 .360 .394 5 0 Morales, Jose MIN 100 26 2 9 .260 .327 .360 1 0 Hanson, Tommy MIN 38 7 0 1 .184 .244 .184 0 0 Thome, Jim MIN 30 5 1 3 .167 .286 .300 0 0 Punto, Nick MIN 26 7 0 4 .269 .387 .346 3 0 Harris, Brendan MIN 25 7 0 2 .280 .357 .360 0 0 Parmelee, Chris MIN 22 6 0 3 .273 .360 .364 0 0 Greinke, Zack MIN 6 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0 Baker, Scott MIN 3 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0 Liriano, Francisco MIN 1 1 0 1 1.000 1.000 2.000 0 0 Blackburn, Nick MIN 1 0 0 0 .000 .500 .000 0 0 Neshek, Pat MIN 1 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0 Ohman, Will MIN 1 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0 Nieve, Fernando MIN 1 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0 Mijares, Jose MIN 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0 Romo, Sergio MIN 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0 Crain, Jesse MIN 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 0 0

Pitching

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Player Name Team Starts W L ERA IP K SV CG OBA Hanson, Tommy MIN 22 9 4 2.90 142.2 145 0 1 .200 Greinke, Zack MIN 21 12 5 2.05 153.1 146 0 4 .209 Baker, Scott MIN 21 9 4 3.57 131.0 105 0 3 .249 Liriano, Francisco MIN 21 9 9 4.69 121.0 104 0 0 .268 Blackburn, Nick MIN 16 6 6 3.90 101.2 44 0 0 .272 Neshek, Pat MIN 3 3 2 4.38 61.2 49 0 0 .257 Ohman, Will MIN 2 2 2 5.59 38.2 37 1 0 .295 Nieve, Fernando MIN 1 2 1 4.98 59.2 47 2 0 .301 Mijares, Jose MIN 0 3 3 3.72 46.0 28 15 0 .260 Romo, Sergio MIN 1 3 5 4.45 58.2 67 3 0 .236 Crain, Jesse MIN 1 3 3 3.07 58.2 34 4 0 .225

Re: Minnesota - The Mauer Years

Holy cow, what a run! Keep it up... and stay tuned to my dynasty!

Re: Minnesota - The Mauer Years

NICELY DONE, sir! Your Twins might have pulled it off!

Re: Minnesota - The Mauer Years

your on fire!!!! I also like the dynasty ;)

Re: Minnesota - The Mauer Years

I love this dynasty, on a side note I would be ecstatic if the Royals actually made that trade for Greinke. You gave up alot but it looks to be worth it

Re: Minnesota - The Mauer Years

Quote:

Originally Posted by Francoeurstein

Holy cow, what a run! Keep it up... and stay tuned to my dynasty!

Thanks, and I have been ;).

Quote:

Originally Posted by CatKnight

NICELY DONE, sir! Your Twins might have pulled it off!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ewing6

your on fire!!!! I also like the dynasty ;)

Thanks guys :). I definitely expected this team to make a run (it's just too talented to play .480-.500 ball all season), but I don't know that I expected anything quite like what I've seen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by titanqb3

I love this dynasty, on a side note I would be ecstatic if the Royals actually made that trade for Greinke. You gave up alot but it looks to be worth it

The Royals are definitely reaping the benefits of the trade too - Kyle Gibson has turned out quite nicely for them. Next season, on the anniversary of the trade, I'm planning on doing a small article to see how it came out for both sides. I almost did it this season, but I decided to put it off a season since it's still a little early to see what Gibson is really gonna do, and because Hicks should be in the majors by next season to give an idea of the type of player he's gonna be. Wilson Ramos also hasn't gotten the playing time to showcase his skills yet.

I don't want to say too much about the players the Royals got until I do the article I'm planning for next season, but I will say this: this trade is looking like it's going to end up coming out very even, which is saying quite a bit when Greinke is posting numbers the likes of which we haven't seen since Pedro was dominating the AL with the Red Sox in the late-90's and early-2000's.

Re: Minnesota - The Mauer Years

August 2, 2011

Twins 6 - Angels 4 (in extras)

Some late-inning drama was necessary for us to eke out the win in this game. We tied the game in the ninth on Jason Kubel's RBI triple, and then we won it in extras when Thomas Neal deposited a Fernando Rodney change-up into the seats for a three-run home-run.

POTG - T. Neal 2-4, BB, 2 R, GW 3-R HR

August 3, 2011

Twins 7 - Angels 2

Neal handled every pitcher the Angels threw at him, going 3-5 with a home-run and three RBI. On the mound, Scott Baker and one of his typical starts. He went seven innings, allowed just two runs, and struck out three.

POTG - S. Baker 7 IP, 7 H, 2 BB, 2 ER, 3 K

August 4, 2011

Twins 10 - Angels 2

Denard Span, Joe Mauer, and Thomas Neal put on an offensive clinic all on their own in this game. Each one of them hit two home-runs and drove home three runs. Mauer also drew two walks and scored three times, while Span and Neal scored only twice each.

POTG - D. Span + J. Mauer + T. Neal 2 HR, 3 RBI each

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Minnesota Twins 61-47
3.0 GB of Detroit Tigers for first place in AL Central
3.5 GA of Seattle Mariners for first place in AL Wild Card
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Thoughts

I can't believe how well we're playing. We're 18-2 in our last 20 games and we're riding a 10-game winning streak. And it's not like we're beating up on helpless teams either. The Rays are leading the AL East, the Yankees are in the Wild Card and division hunt, and the Mariners are right on our tail in the Wild Card chase. The best part of this is that it's not one player that's carrying us right now, everyone is just doing their job and the results are finally showing in the W-L column