News and Notes

Hello, SBG, The Mag fans. The Twins continue to play well, taking three of four from the Mariners. Only King Felix was able to stop the Twins from an eight game winning streak. Naturally, that's the game that Lucy and I attended. I posted photos of our experience at the park on Saturday. Check it out by scrolling down.

I also updated the contest results. BEM is in the lead, and your best buddy SBG has surged into second place on the strength of a 6-0 week. Check out the updated standings here. I also talked about the 'tool and Lew Ford a couple of times here and here this weekend. I'll talk about Mr. Ford again tonight. Oh, and did I tell you I have a subscription to Baseball Prospectus?

The Twins have gone 12-10 since the Hunter injury, including a 12-8 run in August. The Twins have scored 48 runs over their last 10 games, going 8-2. The pitching has been fantastic, allowing just 28 runs over the same ten. That's how you win. You score two more runs than you give up every game. They've only had two one run games over the last ten (winning both). Score runs, and you don't have to complain about one run losses.

Let's talk a little bit about who has been hitting in August. Lew Ford is hitting .329/.397/.486/.883 in the month of August. Lew has played every day in August (he got in at the end of that one game "suspension." In addition, he's been playing in the field every day. I'm going to suggest that Lew plays better when he's out in the field. The stats don't back me up over the course of the whole season -- he's hitting .265/.339/.400/.739 as a DH and just .252/.325/.378/.704 as an outfielder this season. My feeling -- totally unsupported -- is that he's been jerked around. I mean, he should be playing in the outfield every day. Have you seen him in center? He's pretty damned good. It is absolutely ridiculous that he spent any time at DH, what with Skates out there in left. Who would ever think that was a good idea? I think you know.

I was listening to the game today and Dick Bremer suggested that perhaps Ford's recent streak (he's homered in three straight games) is related to the 'tool's disciplining of him last week. To be fair, Bremer said maybe it was a coincidence. You know, I'm sure a lot of people buy that crap. Man, that 'tool is a real good manager. He knows when to put a foot in a player's ass. My theory is this. With Hunter and Jones (and Punto, that great centerfielder) hurt, 'tool hasn't been able to screw around with the lineup. Has has to put Ford in centerfield every day. The result? Ford produces. And the 'tool gets credit for getting the most out of his players.

Who else is hitting? How about Matty LeCroy. He's hitting .292/.378/.492/.871. All year long, I've been screaming that he should replace Jones when the pitcher is left handed. Of course, the manager doesn't see it that way. My proposed opening day lineup had Hunter in center, Ford in right, and Jones in right with Stewart DHing. When the pitcher is left handed, put Stewart in left and DH LeCroy. Now, with Hunter hurt, the 'tool is forced to play LeCroy. And he's responded, just like I thought he would. On the day of Hunter's injury, here's what I had to say about the whole deal.

The mainstream press, and the Twins themselves, will tell you that Torii Hunter's injury will be a terrible blow to the Twins. I'm not buying it.

Yes, Hunter is a gold glove outfielder. Losing his defense will hurt a little. In his place will be Lew Ford. Lew's not a terrible outfielder, in fact he's a pretty good defensive outfielder. He's certainly better than Shannon Stewart, who's been stinking it up in left field for the Twins for years now. I'll grant that there will be a little bit of a drop off in the field.

But, SBG, Hunter's the clean up hitter. His bat will be sorely missed! In a word: bullshit.

...

The DH spot can now be manned on a full time basis (except when [Joe Mauer] does it) by Matthew LeCroy. LeCroy is hitting .277/.376/.473/.849. Substituting LeCroy into the lineup for Hunter is a substantial improvement, probably more of a benefit than the detriment of losing Hunter's excellent play in the field.

Ford has made play after play in the outfield (and he's hitting) and LeCroy has hit a lot better than Hunter did. And lookee here. The Twins are playing a whole lot better. Without their leader.

Souhan. I read Souhan's column today. Remind me not to do that anymore. What does Top Jimmy have to say today? In Minnesota, we don't take kindly to athletes with attitudes. If you don't "behave" we will ship you out. I'm nearly speechless. On second thought, I'm not.

Let's start with the most egregious part of the article. Souhan, making the case that clubhouse harmony is so vitally important to winning, goes to THE authority on such matters, Al Newman.

"When Jack Morris came over, we didn't like him much, because of the way he acted with Detroit," said Twins third base coach Al Newman, a member of the Twins' two World Series winners. "We didn't start well in '91. Jack wasn't happy with us, and we weren't playing well for him.

"It got to a point where TK [manager Tom Kelly] called a meeting and told Jack, 'These guys know how to play, but they're probably not going to play very well behind you unless you treat them better.' Jack eventually fit in, and we had a pretty good ending."

According to Al (and Top Jimmy), the important thing wasn't that Jack Morris pitched his ass off, it was that he fit in with the guys. Or more accurately, he didn't pitch well or the team didn't play very well behind him until he played nice in the sandbox.

This is plain ridiculous. Is Al suggesting that the team wasn't playing hard behind Morris because they didn't like him? That to me smacks of a lack of professionalism. It also doesn't sound like the truth. The 1991 Twins started out not playing well in front of anyone. They were 2-9 after eleven games. They were 23-25 at the end of play on May 31. Then, they turned the calendar in June. They won 15 straight, 22 of 28 and had winning months the rest of the season. Maybe TK and Morris had that talk on May 31. Here's how I see it. Morris is a prickly guy. He's also a tremendous competitor. A lot of guys who are high achievers are not nice guys. They are tough and mean and not all touchy feely. But Souhan is going with Al.

Of course Al's a winner. Souhan tells us so.

"Teammates may have problems off the field," said Newman, who has two more rings than Sammy Sosa, Giambi, Palmeiro, Owens, Moss and Barry Bonds combined. "You may not like them that much. But if you're going to win, it's got to work on the field. And we got to that point with Jack, and now he's one of my favorite people to talk to."

This is laughable! Newman has more rings that all those guys! He must have been better! And look at that quote. He says you don't even have to get along! Just do it on the field!!!! Isn't this really not supporting what Souhan is saying? Isn't Newman saying hey, Bonds [or whoever] can be as big of an ass as he wants to as long as he works on the field. Newman is contradicting himself and undermining Souhan's point. That shouldn't be surprising. The whole piece is so much drivel.

But even more laughable is validating Newman by mentioning his World Series rings. I'm of the opinion that Al Newman is one of the very worst players to have a career of his length, ever. In 1989, Newman hit .253/.341/.303/.644. For his career, Luis Rivas has hit .261/.306/.382/.688. Rivas has been generally considered a failure. So, Newman had a tough year in 1989, SBG, what's your point? My point is this. That was Newman's best season in the bigs. For his career, over eight seasons, he hit .226/.304/.266/.560. That's right, Newman had a career .560 OPS. Rivas got sent down and probably washed out of the league with his .250/.293/.287/.580 OPS. That's right. Newman was worse for his entire career than Rivas was this year. In 1991, the year that Jack Morris needed to fit in, Newman hit .191/.260/.211/.471. That's worse than Cristian Guzman's 2005 season (.194/.235/.277/.532). But, hey, he's got two rings. He fit in. If I had a .471 OPS, I'd have kissed Jack Morris' ass for the rest of my life for allowing me to get that World Series ring.

Yes, Souhan takes shots at a lot of guys. How about this shot?

The Yankee teams that dominated the '90s relied on grinders, such as Paul O'Neill and Scott Brosius. Since signing the wondrous Alex Rodriguez, the Yankees haven't added another ring.

Good one. A-Rod has played in one whole postseason with the Yanks. And oh, by the way, if the Yanks get to the playoffs, it's on the back of A-Rod, who's leading the league in home runs, slugging, OPS, and is third in OBP. And is he some sort of problem? Only in the bizarro world that can't stand anyone outshining Derek Jeter on the Yanks. And those "grinders" had great pitching (Clemens, Cone, Rivera, Pettitte et al.), Bernie Williams, Tino Martinez, Jorge Posada, and yes, Jeter. And since when is Paul O'Neill a "grinder"? He had an OPS+ of 120 for his career! From 1994 to 1999 O'Neill's OPS+ numbers were 177, 138, 122, 138, 129, and 114. Those are the numbers of a thoroughbred, not a grinder. By comparison, Kirby Puckett's career OPS+ was 124 and his high OPS+ for a season? 152. And oh yeah. Wasn't O'Neill about the biggest complainer you ever saw on a baseball field? Always complaining about calls and throwing tantrums. The guy was so annoying! And didn't Boomer Wells play on those teams? Isn't he somewhat of a problem child? Ah, don't think about it, SBG.

What does Minnesota do with players that are annoying? According to Jimmy, we trade them away. Says Jimmy, "A.J. Pierzynski got traded just for being annoying." No, Jim. A.J. got traded because he was about to make $3 million and we had Joe Mauer waiting in the wings. But, hey, if you don't have any real support for what you are saying, just make stuff up. That's what you did when you called O'Neill a "grinder" and when you alleged that Morris had to fit in to get his team to play behind him.

Of course, the inspiration for this column is the trade of Sam Cassell to the Clippers. Sammy was a bit of a malcontent and he complained about his contract. But, without Sam Cassell, the T-Wolves would never made it to the Western Conference finals. But, Sammy is old, he's hurt, and he doesn't play defense. So, it makes sense to get rid of him. And Spree's gone, too. He said some stupid things about his contract last fall. But, more egregiously, he got old, fast. And Moss is gone too. The best player this franchise has ever seen has taken his unique skills to Oakland. I for one will miss that.

As far as the Timberwolves are concerned, who thinks they'll be any good this year? Who else would rather have the 2003-04 team with KG, Sammy, and Spree sprinting to the best record in the West and nearly bringing home a championship (only an injury to Cassell kept them from beating the Lakers, remember KG playing point?). And really, did Moss' antics really disturb you? I loved watching him play. And, before he got hurt last year, he WAS the most valuable player in the NFL. Don't believe me? Just how well did the Vikings run the ball after he was no longer there to take two guys out of every running play?

But, no, all that talent has flowed out of Minnesota and, according to Souhan, that a "welcome" trend. Count me as one who doesn't quite agree.

The great thing about this article was that on the opposing page, Sid had his column. Here's the last sentence of Sid's column:

Former Twins pitcher Jack Morris talking about the importance of team chemistry: "At Detroit we had two of our best seasons, and we didn't get along too good."

Put that in your pipe and smoke it.