As we near graduation, I suppose it's that time of the year where I should A) Be cranking out resume's relentlessly and B) writing more blog posts. A has been taken care of today, so I suppose that I'll take a look at B. B is a good thing to do right now when you talk about your Minnesota Twins. Your American League Central Champions of the World Minnesota Twins.
This week figures to be rivalry week for the Twins as they'll take on the Chicago White Sox for two games at Target Field, and three games against the New York Yankees, at their personal house of horrors, Yankee Stadium. I'll take a look at the Yankee series later in the week, but here's what we should be looking at.
"Kill a mesquito with an axe."
The White Sox are struggling a bit right now as they are already 8 games behind the Twins for first place in the Central. Almost nobody is hitting and the pitching staff is really struggling right now. The Sox were able to take a 7-5 lead in the 9th inning against Toronto yesterday, but Bobby "Triple Cheeseburger Buffet Buster" Jenks served up a juicy three run bomb to Fred Lewis and did not record an out yesterday. If you want a good laugh this morning. Here you go. If the Twins can sweep this two game series, it would put the Sox at 10 games back of first. Remember that the Twins were about 12 games back of first place on June 1st, 2006 and we all know how that wound up, however, you have to kick a team when they're down.
The White Sox debut at Target Field
Ozzie Guillen was asked by FSN commentator Dick Bremer his initial thoughts of Target Field when the Twins visited the Sox in the second series of the season. His response was, "If it was built in Mexico it would have been nicer than the Metrodome." Ozzie will finally get to see Target Field this week, as will White Sox General Manager "Captain Arrogance" Kenny Williams. Williams had some harsh words after the Twins swept the White Sox on the last week in 2008 saying "I will not attend another game in that dump until the new place is done." Hopefully, they like what they see.
Throwback Mode
While most of the Sox lineup isn't hitting, Alex Rios and Andruw Jones are. After two miserable seasons for Jones in which he flirted with the Mendoza Line, Jones has gotten off to a respectable start for the Sox. As of today, he's hitting .261 with 9 HR and 17 runs batted in. Rios on the other hand is hitting out of his mind as well (.324, 6 HR, 17 RBI). Jones and Rios have been exiled from their previous places of employment and while Jones is consistent with the numbers he has put up with the Braves (we'll forget about the Dodgers and Rangers for a second), Rios is reversing the trend of his notorious slow starts.
Hellen Keller
Which brings me to the rest of the White Sox lineup. Alexi Ramierez usually is a slow starter, but this is ridiculous. Alexei is hitting .217 with 2 HR and 9 RBI and just one stolen base. This guy was compared to Alfonso Soriano a year ago...wait...he IS playing like Soriano!!! Never mind. The real shock is 2B Gordon Beckham (.193 avg, 1 HR, 6 RBI) who the White Sox moved back to his natural position of second, thinking he would excel off his decent rookie campaign. Instead Beckham has not looked like the phenom that the Sox shot through the minors. Remember, he had 14 home runs playing a foreign position last year, and if you don't think that's a big deal, talk to Michael Cuddyer, who struggled in his 3rd baseman role with the Twins in 2005.
Jenks on the Hot Seat
I talked about Jenks earlier, and while the Chicago pitching has been anything but lights out, Jenks is struggling. Yes, yesterday was his first blown save of the year, but he's posted a 6.75 ERA in 12 innings this season. He hasn't been the lights out closer that the South Side has known and loved, but Ozzie started grumbling about making a change. The one logical replacement would be Matt Thornton who throws just as hard as Jenks does, but has a 2.35 ERA in 15 1/3 innings. I think this is a Chris Kluwe situation (Remember the whole "Don't kick it to Reggie Bush" thing?) and no change will be made...yet. At least nothing that will affect this series.
HE HAS RISEN!!!
Too much? Joe Mauer made a pinch hitting appearance on Saturday, and then went 1-3 as the designated hitter on Sunday. Ron Gardenhire is expecting that Mauer starts at catcher on Tuesday and everything will go back to normal, and Wilson Ramos (who is 1 for his last 18 since starting 7 for 9) will be sent back to Rochester. It will be interesting to see how much Mauer will play at catcher over the next week as the Twins don't want his bruised heel to get re-injured. However, this is great news for the Twins pitching staff as Ramos has struggled calling games behind the plate recently. Taking Saturday into context, Liriano, who also "struggled" when Ramos called his game at Cleveland, got too many pitches up and wound up getting dunked to death by the struggling Orioles. Not helping his cause, Baltimore got two stolen bases when Ramos forgot to flash multiple signs when there was a runner on base. So, when he flashed the curveball sign, the O's took off and got a pair of easy stolen bases. In the nightcap, Drew Butera started and Scott Baker was lights out over 8 innings. Not to mention that Butera (2) has more RBI than Ramos at this point (1). Ramos will be a solid major league player, he's just not ready to be an everyday force to be reckoned with at the major league level yet.
Remember, this is the appetizer for the main course this weekend as the Twins will face the Yankees inside a steel cage. It will be interesting to see if the Twins will look past the lowly White Sox, or if they will, like I said, kill a mesquito with an ax.
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