MLB: Minnesota Twins are nothing more than mediocre
- Thread starter RING4CY
- Start date
In 1987 I got my picture taken with Bert Blyleven and Tim Laudner and it was over for me. Lifer.
I was sitting here trying to recall the '87 squad from memory. I want to say it was Gladden, Puckett, Bruno in the outfield. Gagne, Gaetti, Hrbek in the infield, Laudner was catcher, Blyleven, Viola, Reardon were two of the pitchers that stood out the most. Was Al Newman second base then?
Now I'm trying to remember 1991 - Gladden, Puckett, Shane Mack, Gagne, Gaetti, knoblauch, Hrbek, Black Jack, Tapani, Aguilera, Erickson, Brian Harper catching. Chili Davis was a DH too.
Probably depends on when his headaches go away. They are not messing around with this concussion that he has, simply because of his history of concussions, and the Twins have been playing so well without him that there's no need to rush him back.
I remember an argument from earlier this year - whether Mauer or Morneau was the MVP of the Twins. This picked up especially after Mauer's slow start to the season and the Twins seeming to ride what early on was a breakout year for Morneau. But considering how the Twins have played since the All Star Break without Morneau, I think it is pretty obvious at this point that Mauer is the Twins' MVP.
I don't think there's any question that it's Mauer. He's the foundation that the team has been built around. Not that Morneau isn't a valuable cog in that wheel, but he's not the MAN, so to speak, on the team.
I don't know. But I don't know if we'll call him in unless we really need him.
Anyway, first priority is to make this division out of reach. Clinch it with a bunch of games to go, and rest up guys. Last year we won the 163rd game, in extra innings, only to have to fly out to NYC for the first game like later that day against the Yankees. Not the way you want to go, IMO.
Our lineup is fine, if our batting was a bit more consistent...especially with guys on base/scoring position. We leave too many runs off the board, to be honest. Can't do that against the likes of the Yankees or Rays. Especially in close games.
Or just finish ahead of the East champ.
And if you think it isn't impossible for the Twins to win 100 games, I would say its probably more likely to finish as AL #1 seed.
Have to lock down the division before they can even remotely start to think about that scenario.
White Sox are playing too good of ball to count them out right now.
Very true. Though I was talking to my dad today about that very scenario.
If the Twins can lock up the division next week with a good series in Chicago and the Twins come down to the final week with the Central in had, it will be interesting to see how much of a dance the Twins play between resting everyone and trying to lock up home field if they're within a game or two.
My guess will be they basically ignore it but there could potentially be some big impact games for the B and C-squad against Toronto at the end of the year.
The question on who is more valuable I think somewhat depends on who else Gardy has available in the lineup. When we were playing more smallball it was really crucial to have Justin hitting the pharanas in....conversely, now that we have added more power, especially big Jim, its really important to have Joe in there. To me Joe's the most important piece though all else being equal because he does everything well, including running the bases and keeping opposing runners from stealing.
You only have to go back one year ago today to find the Twins trailing by 6 1/2 games. That said, I will be both surprised and disappointed if the Sox end up catching them this year.
For whatever reason I thought you were talking World Series, in which the only way the Twins could secure home field advantage would be to win game 1 and/or game 2.
If things stay relatively the same until the Sox series (ie 4.5 game lead), only a sweep in either direction would really impact the race a great deal. Either team only wins 2, the swing in the division race is only 1 game.
Then you have yourself either a 3, 4, or 5 game lead with 16 left to play. Still a lot of ball.
The difference being a year ago today we still had 7 games left with the Tigers (who were in first place at the time), whereas the White Sox only have 3 games left with us this year. On top of that, our schedule last year is practically identical to our schedule this year (Toronto, Oakland, KC and Cleveland), whereas down the stretch the White Sox have a lot of Oakland, Boston, and Los Angeles on the schedule.
Like I said, though - last year we had 7 games left with the Tigers, whereas the White Sox only have 3 games left with the Twins. It's a lot more difficult to make up ground if you don't face the team in front of you head-to-head.
