Sunday, April 25, 2010

Twins at Royals - This Is Good. Honest.

Recap: 
Friday -- Twins 8 - Royals 3
Saturday -- Twins 9 - Royals 7 (12)
Sunday -- Twins 3 - Royals 4

Twins take series 2-1 -- That's SIX straight series!

Record 13 - 6

~~~

Now one would think that looking at the recap above, folks would feel pretty good about this team. A string of series wins and a nice winning record (.684 to be exact) should make any fan happy. It does make me happy. I'm really beginning to think this is a very good team. Unfortunately, when things are going well, it becomes easier and easier to seek out and find the flaws.

Yes, the Twins need to improve on some aspects. The starting pitching needs to demonstrate more consistency. Jason Kubel needs to warm up his bat. And, although he's seeing a lot of pitches and taking walks, Denard Span needs to start hitting more. And so do Hardy and Harris. Most importantly, the whole lineup needs to start taking advantage of opportunities: they're stranding way too many men on base, especially in scoring position (Fri: 10 LOB, 3/11 RISP; Sat: LOB 13, 5/17 RISP; Sun: 12 LOB, 1/11 RISP).

Um, so, wow, yeah, they really need to work on that situational hitting thing.

But, I'm not worried. Despite the hitches in their giddyups, they're winning. They're pulling it together and doing whatever it takes to get it done. Saturday's game, for as hard and frustrating as it was to watch, was a perfect example of how they're able to make adjustments and, as Gardy would say, keep battling their tails off. The Royals' starter pitched well; the Twins' starter, um, didn't. But the Twins kept plugging away. And, thanks to determination, and a little bad luck for the Royals, the Twins came out on top. And they showed some flashes of hope on Sunday, but they just didn't take advantage.

So, as long as the Twins can keep it up and win most series, I won't care if they don't complete a sweep all season. As long as the Twins can keep it up, they'll be very, very good and I'll be very, very happy.

4 comments:

Louie Schuth said...

Wait, did k-bro use stats?

k-bro said...

Louie,

I know, right? Shocker.

Jim H. said...

Joe Posnanski did a column last month (or sometime) on the curious fact that teams who leave lots of runners on base win lots of games. Wierd, you say? Yes, it is, but here's the thing: getting lots of runners on leads to runs even when some (or many) of the runners are stranded. So it's a problem, but a good problem.

linda said...

I'm late to read this, but I felt bad seeing Redmond catch for the Indians too. It just did not seem right.......