July 3, 2003
Bi-Weekly Review: American League Central
By Aaron Gleeman
(***All stats and standings through June 30th***)
TEAM W L GB HM RD RS RA PYTH 1-RUN
MINNESOTA 43 38 --- 21-20 22-18 393 388 41-40 10-10
KANSAS CITY 42 38 0.5 21-19 21-19 411 431 38-42 11-13
CHICAGO 40 42 3.5 24-18 16-24 339 359 39-43 12-14
CLEVELAND 34 47 9.0 18-22 16-25 341 397 34-47 5-14
DETROIT 19 61 23.5 7-32 12-29 253 419 21-59 8-10
Since the last Bi-Weekly Review:
TEAM W L Notes
MINNESOTA 5 7 Twins 5-11 since June 14th, 12-15 in June overall
KANSAS CITY 7 6 Royals keep rolling without Sweeney
CHICAGO 8 4 Back in race, with 2 Alomars and 1 Crazy Carl
CLEVELAND 7 6 Playing better, dealt Garcia, Miceli to Yanks
DETROIT 2 11 Hey, the Pistons got Darko!
MINNESOTA TWINS (43-38 - 1st Place)
MINNESOTA PITCHING
MONTH RA/G AVG OBP SLG AB/HR AB/2B AB/BB AB/SO
April 4.52 .235 .302 .427 23.3 17.1 11.3 4.9
May 4.17 .267 .311 .393 50.7 17.2 15.4 7.0
June 5.81 .291 .343 .452 32.5 17.7 12.8 5.6
Minnesota's starting pitching in June was absolutely horrendous:
GS IP ERA SO BB HR OAVG RA/G
Brad Radke 5 34.1 5.50 19 5 3 .263 5.76
Kenny Rogers 6 32.1 6.12 17 9 3 .321 6.12
Joe Mays 6 30.1 8.01 10 10 6 .339 8.31
Kyle Lohse 5 29.0 6.21 22 6 7 .303 6.52
Rick Reed 3 16.2 6.48 9 6 0 .309 7.02
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TOTAL 25 142.2 6.44 77 36 19 .306 6.68
And it's not just June. For the season overall, those five pitchers have combined to make 78 starts and pitch 469.1 innings with a 5.12 ERA. They have allowed 66 homers and have struck out a total of 264 batters - 5.06 per nine innings.
Meanwhile, Johan Santana made two spot-starts in June when Rick Reed went on the DL with a bum back and went 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA and had a 14/2 K/BB ratio in 13 innings. Overall for the year, Santana is 3-0 with a 1.00 ERA in three starts and, including his time in the bullpen, is 4-1 with a 2.41 ERA in 59.2 innings pitched. He has a 68/22 K/BB ratio and has allowed just three homers and an opponent's batting average of .209.
Over the last two years, Santana has made a total of 17 starts and has a 10-5 record and a 2.83 ERA in 98.1 innings pitched. As long as the Twins continue to keep their best pitcher in the bullpen to pitch 1.2 innings when their starter gets shelled twice a week, it's hard to have any sympathy for their pitching woes.
At this point, Joe Mays is living off his excellent 2001 season, in which he went 17-13 with a 3.16 ERA. Taking out that incredible (read: fluky) season, Mays has a 5.27 ERA and a 25-39 record in 521 career innings pitched, including a 5.87 ERA in 189.2 innings pitched over the last two seasons. He has struck out just 76 batters in those 189.2 innings, which works out to just 3.6 batters per nine innings. In that same span, he has given up 30 homers and allowed 55 walks.
It's not very difficult to put two and two together and see that the Twins seriously need to FREE JOHAN SANTANA!
MINNESOTA HITTING
MONTH RA/G AVG OBP SLG AB/HR AB/2B AB/BB AB/SO
April 3.92 .247 .309 .388 44.6 19.7 12.5 5.0
May 5.43 .292 .349 .470 28.4 18.4 12.3 5.9
June 5.22 .294 .352 .455 34.9 17.1 11.0 5.2
While the Twins had a bad month courtesy of their horrible pitching, the offense has taken quite a bit of undeserved heat. Since starting the season slowly, Minnesota's hitters have been very good over the last two months. In May and June combined, the Twins scored 5.33 runs per game and batted .293 as a team. Over the course of the entire season, only the Red Sox, Blue Jays and Yankees have scored more runs per game than the Twins did in May/June and only the Red Sox have a higher batting average.
Corey Koskie was particularly hot in June, hitting .408/.483/.663 in 28 games. Very quietly, Koskie has put together the best first-half of any third baseman in the American League. He is hitting .309/.401/.507 and is on pace to hit 24 homers and 36 doubles, score 92 runs and drive in 100, and walk 90 times and steal 12 bases. Plus, he is one of the best defensive third basemen in baseball.
Fun with paces:
Corey Koskie - 152 games, 24 homers, 36 doubles, 100 RBIs, 92 runs, 90 walks, 12 steals
Cristian Guzman - 144 games, 0 homers, 18 doubles, 18 triples, 22 walks, 88 strikeouts
Jacque Jones - 144 games, 20 homers, 40 doubles, 92 runs, 14 walks, 126 strikeouts
Torii Hunter - 156 games, 22 homers, 34 doubles, 100 RBIs, 62 walks, 110 strikeouts
Doug Mientkiewicz - 144 games, 14 homers, 40 doubles, 44 walks, 58 strikeouts
A.J. Pierzynski - 132 games, 18 homers, 24 doubles, 94 RBIs, 20 walks, 46 strikeouts
Brad Radke - 32 starts, 198 innings, 242 hits, 104 strikeouts, 36 walks, 34 homers
Johan Santana - 54 games, 6 starts, 119 innings, 136 strikeouts, 44 walks, 6 homers
Latroy Hawkins - 76 games, 81 innings, 96 strikeouts, 18 walks, 4 homers
Eddie Guardado - 66 games, 65 innings, 58 strikeouts, 12 walks, 6 homers, 40 saves
Coming up:
7/3-7/6 - Cleveland
7/7 - Off Day
7/8-7/10 - @Texas
7/11-7/13 - @Anaheim
The Twins play three teams that they have yet to play this season, including the first four of 19 games against the Indians from here on out. Yes, that's right, 19 of their final 79 games (24%) are against Cleveland. Gotta love that MLB schedule.
