Slain by Giants; Beaten by Brewers
As I write this, on Sunday morning, the Minnesota Twins prepare to take on the Milwaukee Brewers in the last game of a three-game series. The big question at this point is, “Will they be swept by the Brewers?” If the last four lost games are any indication, the odds don’t seem good.
After, for the third of three months, losing the first game of the month, the Twins roared into June with a five-game winning streak that included a sweep of the Kansas City Royals. After losing one game (out of three) to the Cleveland Indians and one game (out of four) to the Texas Rangers, the Twins put together a eight-game winning streak that included a sweep of the San Diego Padres and the amazing first inning eight-run ambush in the first game in San Francisco against the Giants.
But then the fun ended, and the Twins lost the final two games to the Giants and went on to Milwaukee to lose the first two of three games to the Brewers. The third game is this afternoon, and hence the question cited above. If they lose, it will be their fifth straight loss, and it will be the first series sweep against them.
It may simply be that the Twins have finally run up against serious competition—teams that are just superior. Our former opponents in June have all arguably been teams we could beat; teams arguably more on our level. But San Francisco is a top team, last year’s World Series Champs and top of the National League West Division with a win-loss record of 43-34 (.558). And Milwaukee is at the top of the National League Central Division with a win-loss of 43-35 (.551). (We’re just lucky we didn’t have to play the Philadelphia Phillies, top team in the NL East with their 48-30 (.615) record!)
On the other hand, one can point to some bad luck—and maybe even some bad choices—for the Twins. Some of that bad luck was evident in yesterday’s game in Milwaukee when left fielder Delmon Young suffered a painful ankle sprain fielding a long fly ball. Young’s foot got jammed at the bottom of the outfield fence, and he went down in pain (resulting in an “in the park” home run for the Brewers). Young had to be carted off the field. The only good news, if you want to call it that, is that nothing broke, no ligaments snapped, and he was placed on the 15-day disabled list.
That was bad luck, although some fans have been unhappy with Delmon Young’s apparent sometimes lack of situational awareness. Out fielders do need a strong sense of where the wall is and how much warning track they have once they leave the grass. A possible irony is that I’ve also heard fans mention a perception that Young is timid with regard to the wall. How sad if, in trying to overcome the alleged timidness, he over-compensated. But such speculation, both about the supposed lack of awareness or the timidity, is pure guesswork.
What is inescapable fact is that Delmon Young joins Jason Kubel, Justin Morneau and Denard Span currently on the Disabled List shortly after the return of Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Joe Mauer and Jim Thome from same. What is also inescapable is that the Twins have been plagued with devastating injuries this season. Among their original starters, only Alexi Casilla (68 games), Michael Cuddyer (70 games) and Danny Valencia (73 games) have avoided time on the DL (the Twins have played 75 games so far).
It’s hard not to be concerned about two key players recently returned from the Disabled List: Tsuyoshi Nishioka and Joe Mauer. Nishioka, in his MLB rookie season, was a top player in Japan. Mauer, of course, is one of the famous Twins “M&M” boys (the other “M” is Justin Morneau) and has played with the Twins since 2004. Neither player seems to be adding a great deal to the Twins this season so far.
Nishioka struggled with a low batting average and a high error rate from opening day and suffered a broken leg in the sixth game of the season. He returned June 16 (game #67). His record thus far is underwhelming. He leads the team in strike outs per at bat (0.327), and he leads the team in errors per game (0.357, more than twice second-place Trevor Plouffe with 0.167). His decidedly tepid batting average places him 20th of 25 players with at least one AB, and 17th of 20 players with at least 10 AB. He has played only 15 games at the major league level, and had recovered from serious injury, so the jury is still out, but so far he’s not helping the Twins much.
Joe Mauer also seems less helpful to the Twins than he has been in the past. Make no mistake, Mauer is All-Star material, or has been in the past, but he also has returned from serious—if somewhat vague—injury. Mauer, as with Nishioka, also didn’t make it far into the season. His last game was April 12 (game #10) when he was diagnosed with “flu-like” symptoms. Ultimately he was listed with “bilateral leg weakness”. (If you search the web for that, it turns up some scary possibilities. Many causes are seriously neurological!) Mauer returned to active play on June 17 (game #68).
Back in April, prior to his exit, Mauer’s batting average was up to .235, but since his return it has trended downward to its current .190. In the eight games he’s played in recently, he’s only had four hits in 29 at bats, giving him a sorry BA of .137.
Mauer also figures prominently in the blown first game against the Brewers Friday night. The Twins were up by one run until bullpen pitcher Jose Mijares and catcher Joe Mauer allowed Brewers slugger Prince Fielder to smash a double to the right field corner in the bottom of the seventh. Adding insult to injury, both players pointed fingers at the other. Mauer cited Mijares’ lack of location on the fastball he called for; Mijares cited Mauer for calling for a fastball in the first place.
Not that my opinion is worth much, but while Mauer may have erred in calling for those fastballs, Mijares was the pitcher and could have shaken off the call(s). Mijares’ comments after the game make it clear he knew they were the wrong calls, so I assign the lion’s share of the blame to him. What concerns me about Mauer is his judgement in calling for the fastballs (especially on that final 3-2 pitch) and—moreso—for not owning up to that error and blaming Mijares. Technically correct, maybe, but not worthy of a Team Leader, one of the key “faces of the team.”
And now… Game #3 against the Brewers!
“No matter how good you are, you’re going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you’re going to win one-third of your games. It’s the other third that makes the difference.” —Tommy Lasorda
New To The Game 