Weekend Buzz: Tale of two AL Central rivals
"That's basically when we took off as a team," Gardenhire says. "That part was pretty good. With Alexi and Gomez in the top two (lineup spots) for a month-and-a-half, that was fun baseball. Loose Cannon One and Loose Cannon Two. We never took our eyes off of them."
The freeway flier Gomez, acquired from the Mets in the Santana trade, leads the majors in both infield hits (46) and bunt hits (27).
Meanwhile, the nearby thunder is emanating from Chicago, where the White Sox have walloped four or more homers in a game 10 times this season, best in the majors. And they're mashing now, producing six of those four-homer games in August, a franchise-record for one month.
Yet while the White Sox ranked second in the AL with 666 runs scored, the don't-swing-for-the-fences Twins were ... fourth, at 657. Closer than expected, huh? Minnesota led the league in the oh-so-sexy categories of sacrifice hits (the White Sox were 11th) and sacrifice flies (the White Sox were sixth).
What the Twins lack in power, they also make up for in clutch hitting. Their .318 batting average with runners in scoring position entering the weekend was the best in baseball, and their .277 average with two out and runners in scoring position also is the best in baseball.
This from a team that last year hit just .276 with runners in scoring position.
Difference? Very Twins-like: Hard work, attention to detail and sheer determination, beginning with, Gardenhire says, hitting coach Joe Vavra.
"We talked to death over the winter that one thing we wanted to do in spring training was (emphasize) situational hitting," Gardenhire says. "We were terrible at it last year."
Among other things, Vavra instituted a program this spring that the Twins continue to use daily during batting practice: With a player in the cage, he'll call out "Man on first, infield in" or "Man on third, none out" and the Twins hitter must respond accordingly.
"It's good at-bats with runners in scoring position, and it's a thought process," Gardenhire says. "It's having a good plan and putting it to use."
There is little margin for error, partly because the Twins don't have the personnel to camouflage their mistakes with three-run homers, and partly because they've played far better at home (46-23) than they have on the road (28-32).
That's why these next two weeks are the next crucial step in the AL Central race. Partly because the Republican National Convention is due in the Twin Cities the week of Labor Day, Minnesota this weekend started its long-awaited 14-game, 15-day trip.
The Twins won the first two in Anaheim and were in excellent shape to take three of four or even sweep, but they became uncharacteristically sloppy and wound up with a split.
"We have to get off to a good start," says starter -- and Minnesota native -- Glen Perkins, who was masterful in the Twins' 9-0 win on Friday. "You want to win early so we don't get into a position where we're forced to salvage the trip."
With stops in Seattle, Oakland and Toronto still awaiting, a whole lot could change before they return home on Sept. 5.
"The more we win early on, the less pressure there is on us," Perkins says.
2. Jim Thome is Foxx-y: The White Sox designated hitter tied Hall of Famer Jimmy Foxx on the all-time home run list by blasting his 534th on Sunday against Tampa Bay. 'Bout time the slumping Thome gave Sox fans a different look at 534: He was in a 5-for-34 slump when he launched the homer. Swear.
3. Ex-Twins factor: It's lots different than the ex-Cubs factor, legendary Chicago columnist Mike Royko's old theorem that essentially said big league clubs with too many former Cubs are sunk. Look around this year: Former Twin Torii Hunter is playing center field in Anaheim, and the Angels lead the AL West. Shortstop Jason Bartlett and pitcher Matt Garza are in Tampa Bay, and the Rays are running away with the AL East. And the Twins continue to hang in there in the AL Central.
4. Rocco Baldelli rocks The Cell: And in Tampa Bay's sweetest season, Baldelli's two homers in Chicago over the weekend may be the two sweetest moments. After chronic hamstring injuries ruined most of his past three seasons, the class act missed 116 games this summer because of mitochondrial disorder -- a condition that slows muscle recovery and causes fatigue. And is darned hard to type.
5. American Idle Carl Pavano pitches, wins Saturday: Damn. I had my money on Mordecai "Three-Finger" Brown earning his next victory before Pavano. And Brown has been dead since 1948.
6. The overrated July trade deadline: Add 'em up: The Yankees are 5-8 in games in which Pudge Rodriguez has started, reliever Damaso Marte surrendered nine earned runs and six walks in his first 10 games with the Yankees, Kyle Farnsworth has helped pitch Detroit out of contention and the Dodgers are 11-10 since acquiring Manny Ramirez and have fallen to three games behind Arizona in the NL West.
7. Best way to cover bullpen holes: Is to do what the first-place New York Mets are doing. With closer Billy Wagner on the shelf, Mets starters, buoyed especially by Santana and John Maine, went 8-1 with a 2.64 ERA during an 11-start run ending Sunday against Houston. Amazin'.
8. Toronto: Though they lost two of three against Boston over the weekend, the Blue Jays have won five of their past eight and think they have a pulse. Maybe they do, and here's why: They're fourth in the wild-card chase, eight games out, but beginning with the weekend series in Boston, the Jays play 28 consecutive games -- and 34 of their final 40 -- against clubs ahead of them in the AL wild-card scramble. And why not? Jesse Litsch is back, and over an 11-game stretch through Sunday, Marco Scutaro, Joe Inglett, Alex Rios, Adam Lind and John McDonald had combined to bat .355. Oh, wait, maybe that's WHY it's going to be an uphill battle for the Jays the rest of the way.
9. Comfortably numb: Because of numbness in his pitching arm, Josh Beckett will miss what would have been a final start in Yankee Stadium on Tuesday, Boston's last trip in to the old cathedral. But because the Red Sox soon will be numb if Beckett can't contribute, they're hoping to start him Friday against the White Sox.
10. Hank Steinbrenner: National media hates the Yankees: Yeah, but we loooove you, Hank.
