Fun With Ridiculous Stats, Series Recaps, and More Notes

The Twins have completed two series now, and after completely embarrassing themselves from the gate, they've rallied to make their record somewhat more respectable.

I'm going to ignore the Orioles series because, frankly, I was unable to pay a lot of attention to it. I had to watch the three games in bits-and-pieces. Apparently, I didn't miss much.

I was lucky enough to attend the Twins home opener. I was happy to be back at Target Field, even though I didn't partake in any of the new food items (I stuck with a good old reliable brat). I did partake in some delightful hot chocolate. Twice. Because it was damn cold.

Here's a picture I took from our new season ticket seats.

It was fun to see the 2006 Division Champ Twins throwing out the first pitch, especially Brad Radke, but as you can tell from the picture, I didn't really get a good look. I did, however, get enough of a look at the actual game. It wasn't my favorite.

What is my favorite? Twins wins, of course. And, I was beginning to get a nagging feeling that that they didn't remember how to do that. I'm so glad that they didn't forget.

Notes From the Series:

• I'm glad to see Justin and Joey finally hitting. Things are exciting when they're both in the lineup and hitting well.
• I think Josh Willingham wants me to love him; that's why he keeps hitting all those huge homeruns. I'm also not too worried about his defense; I think he'll get better at that.
• I also think that Glen Perkins wants me to love him. Did you see how he made a fool out of Albert Pujols? O...M...G...
• I wish that Matt Capps wanted me to love him. I'm trying as hard as I can to give him a chance, but he's making it really hard. He's serving up way too much interesting.
• I can't think of anything bad to say about Chris Parmelee. Not that I want to or anything, but I just thought I'd note that. Keep it up, rook.

~~~
Jeff Gray Knows How to Win

Right-handed reliever Jeff Gray leads the club in wins. In fact, he has all of them. Well, both of them.

And the amazing fact is that his combined pitch count for his two wins is ... three. He earned the win on Wednesday after recording an out with a single pitch. On Thursday, it took him twice as many pitches to complete the same feat.

Obviously, the Twins batters sitting in the dugout while he's on the mound are so inspired by his efficient pitching that when they finally come to the plate, they are compelled to take the lead and not let go.

Or, it could be that the pitchers' win stat is really dumb.

~~~
Injury Update

Scott Baker announced that he will have surgery to repair his flexor pronator tendon, an injury that has been bothering him since last season.

This is not the same injury that requires Tommy John surgery. That is a ligament replacement. This is a tendon.

Ligaments connect bone to bone; tendons connect bone to muscle. Also, tendons communicate with the brain causing the muscles to react. This particular tendon allows the forearm to rotate while the arm is flexed (imagine flexing your arm, keeping your shoulder and elbow still, and rotating your palm).

The recovery time for this is likely to be six months, so his season is over. And his tenure with the Twins is likely over too. The Twins have a team option on his contract for 2013, but it's for $9.25 million, which is probably too spendy for a guy just coming off a significant injury. So he'll be a free agent trying to convince teams he's fine. Bummer.

Quick Notes: Nov. 6, 2011

Catching up with the week's events and news:

Welcome Gray and Maloney
The Twins did not take long at all to keep with their long-standing tradition and signed, not one but two, pitchers I've never heard of. RHP Jeff Gray from the Seattle Mariners and LHP Matt Maloney from the Cincinnati Reds join the Twins 40-man roster. I expect both these guys will have to compete in Spring Training for bull pen spots on the 25-man roster.

You're Staying Put, Mr. Radcliff
The Baltimore Orioles requested permission from the Twins to interview Vice President of Player Personnel Mike Radcliff for their open General Manager position. The Twins declined, which kind of goes against what they usually do. They don't typically deny permission for people to interview for promotions. I joked on Twitter that Radcliff didn't want to go to Balitmore and begged Dave St. Peter to get him out of it. I don't really believe that. I suspect the reality is that after a 99-loss season, the Twins can ill afford to lose key personnel when they have so much work to do. Bill Smith really needs to keep all the help he can.

Welcome Back, Krivsky?
Speaking of surrounding Bill Smith with help, the Twins are trying to bring back former assistant GM Wayne Krivsky. Krivsky was the GM for the Reds, and worked in the Orioles and Mets front offices.

Our Old Friend Jim
Former Twin Jim Thome signed a one-year deal with the Philadelphia Phillies. I'm happy for him that he was able to sign on with someone so quickly. I suspect that he'll be used mostly as a bench pinch-hitter (just like Matt Stairs -- able to randomly come off the bench and hit a go-ahead home run), but I did read somewhere that he's going to work on fielding first base this off-season so he can fill in from time to time.

So, hmm. Thome played for Cleveland  at the end of 2011, and will play for the Phillies in 2012. Those are the first two teams he played with. Do you think he's doing a reunion tour of his former teams? White Sox next, the Dodgers for like 15 minutes, then back to the Twins. I could live with that, but I think I'd prefer it if he just skipped the White Sox part.

And the Phillies May Not Be Done
The latest rumor is, now that the Phillies locked up Thome, they're going hot and heavy after Michael Cuddyer. I don't want that to happen. Nope, not at all. So I'm not going to stress about it too much until he actually signs his name on someone's dotted line (be forewarned: there will be a tirade in this space if he signs with anyone other than the Twins).

However, I can certainly understand the Phillies' interest in Cuddyer. Their first baseman, Ryan Howard, blew his Achilles tendon on the last plate appearance of the NLDS and will likely be out a huge portion of the 2012 season. So the Phillies need a right-handed bat who can play first base but isn't really exclusively a first baseman (so he can play somewhere else when Howard comes back). And the Phillies may make sense for Cuddyer too. For one, I expect Jim Thome to be somewhat relentless texting him begging him to come. And Cuddy is apt to sign any early offer as long as it's fair since he wants to have it all figured out before his wife delivers the twins they're expecting (due in December). Plus, he kind of hinted that he wants to play for a winner (and really, who doesn't?).

Quick Movie Review -- Moneyball
I finally got around to seeing Moneyball. I went in with pretty low expectations because many baseball writers kind of panned it. I liked it, but I didn't love it. I thought Brad Pitt was very good; I wasn't so impressed with Jonah Hill (he takes looking star-struck, nerdy, and nervous to new levels). It had good parts, but it also slow parts (gotta expect slow parts; it is a movie about baseball stats after all).

If you haven't seen it yet, don't pay full price, or, better yet, wait for the DVD (there's nothing really big-screen-worthy about it anyway).