September 25, 2002
Jim F-ing Thome (aka The Twin Killer)
The Twins/Indians game is in the 5th inning and Jim Thome has already gone deep twice (after going deep once last night).
And when I say he went deep, I mean it.
Both of Thome's homers hit the white curtain that is in the upperdeck in right field.
The same curtain that holds all the Twins' retired numbers and championship banners.
The first one was "estimated" at 455 feet and the second one was said to be 447 feet.
I don't know how they figure out those numbers, so I'm not sure if they are right or wrong, but my god those were two absolute bombs!
Jim Thome is one of my 5 favorite baseball players and has been for years.
That is in spite of the fact that he plays for the hated (by me anyway) Cleveland Indians.
I like the high socks and the weird stance.
I like the tons of walks, strikeouts and homers.
About the only thing I don't like about Jim Thome is that he completely kills the Twins.
No matter if the Indians are in first place or last place, Jim Thome murders just about every Twins pitcher he sees.
So far in 2002 Thome is hitting .382/.493/.909 with 9 homers in 55 ABs against Minnesota.
And those were his numbers before tonight's game.
My math is a little (actually a lot) shaky, but here are his updated 2002 numbers against the Twins, including his first 3 at bats in tonight's game:
.404/.515/1.018
WOW.
But wait, Thome's dominance over Minnesota doesn't stop there...
Last year he hit .338/.413/.718 against Minnesota.
In 1999 he hit .370/.453/.717.
In 1997 he hit .424/.500/.970.
In 1996 he hit .306/.382/.571.
In 1995 he hit .412/.500/.627.
In 1994 he hit .444/.556/.556.
Get the general idea?
For his career, Jim Thome, against the Minnesota Twins (before tonight):
124 games
450 at bats
.333 batting average
.423 on-base percentage
.653 slugging percentage
39 home runs
21 doubles
2 triples
67 walks
150 hits
92 runs batted in
97 runs scored
At this point I am just hoping the Indians don't resign him.
I'm sure Red Sox fans would agree with me that he would look real nice playing with his old Indians teammate, Manny Ramirez, in Fenway.
