Series Preview in Blog: Chicago White Sox (4/29-4/30)
Posted by Big Mak on Tuesday, April 29th, 2008 at 8:00 am
Short post for a short series, the Twins play two against the White Sox to begin the week. The White Sox come into this game on a ... well ... it's hard to explain, but they're not on a winning streak, or a losing streak. We won't be able to figure that one out until June 12, when the Sox and the Orioles resume the game that was postponed in the 12th inning yesterday due to weather. The Sox had won two out of three from the O's thus far in the series, and they remain on top of the AL Central early in the season with a 14-10 record. An early AL Central lead is enough for some to try to sell this team as a contender this season (I can't have a Sox series preview without a Palehose 8 link. It wouldn't be right).
The Sox have been scoring a lot of runs, they lead the AL with 5.29 R/G, but they haven't been doing it with the benefit of a great batting average. The Twins have the advantage in that category (.261 to .243 - lowest in the AL), but the rest of the line tips pretty heavily in the Sox favor (MIN - .261/.303/.361, CHI - .243/.336/.418). Chicago has got a lot of their offense from the long ball (AL-best 32 HR), but they've also found an unconventional way to score runs, the bases-loaded hit-by-pitch, perfectly executed several times by Carlos Quentin. The HBP is probably gritty enough to count as Ozzie's much ballyhooed "small ball", but almost all other vestiges of that strategy seem to have disappeared. Quentin has been off to a fantastic start this season, solidifying his place on the roster.
Probable Pitchers:
Bonser v. Floyd
Floyd has pitched well so far, in 2 of his 4 starts he hasn't allowed a run. Results like that make some people think that maybe GM Kenny Williams had a plan all along. Personally, I'm not ready to jump to that conclusion, but anything is possible I guess.
In his last three starts Floyd has walked 10 and allowed 8 hits in 19.1 IP. Not that this will change the Twins approach at the plate, but it's worth noting that they might close the gap betwixt their AL-worst 51 walks and the next worst (Angels - 76 BB, that's an extra BB per game played so far this season).
Blackburn v. Masset
Blackburn comes off his only bad start of the year, while Masset makes a spot start due to the weather that continually interrupted the last series against Baltimore. Masset has only appeared in five games this year, but he's held opponent's scoreless in four of those outings. The Twins are the only team to solve him so far, scoring 5 runs in 3.2 innings against him earlier this month.
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Oh, God. The Twins' .664 OPS is unsightly.
But it is an aggressive .664
Gotta love that team .226 GPA too. Only KC (.225), Washington (.223) and SD (.214) are worse. And their .303 OBP is the worst in the Majors.
Worst in the majors and 16 teams have their pitchers hit.
who would you rather send to the plate: Johan Santana or Adam Everett?
Doesn't really matter--you can only DH for the pitcher.
Think of the question this way then - if Everett was for some strange reason the only player available to DH, and Johan was on the mound, would you bother?
I don't know. What are Santana's splits against righties/lefties?
220/276/365 vs righties
222/281/370 vs lefties
Everett:
246/294/356 vs righties
248/313/352 vs lefties
I'm taking Johan
Yeah, just to keep Johan's legs fresh when he's out on the mound and reduce his chance of injury, but it's pretty crazy that it's even a semi-legitimate question.
Of course, Everett is probably a better bunter, and we all know that bunting is the key to big innings!
He's so bad that it doesn't bother me that Punto is playing instead of him.
Gotta love that team .226 GPA
They need to take Basket Weaving or something to boost that up.
Low enough to get a phone call home, maybe even set up a parent-teacher conference.
Through 25 games, the Twins have, collectively, a VORP of 1.8.
Your 2008 Minnesota Twins: "We're barely above replacement level!"
I thought Ozzie always claimed to be playing "smart ball" in 2005 when people brought up the subject of small ball.
ubelmann is right (of course). It should have been "smart ball". On the other hand, I worked in "ballyhooed" and "vestiges" in the same sentence, so that's got to be worth something, right?
At this point I'd be happy if the Twins just started playing "base ball."
I thought only the opponents were allowed to use the bases. It would make more sense if both teams were allowed to...I just haven't noticed the Twins using them.