At the beginning of the season, I thought this was a different Minnesota Twins team. The Twins had added some veterans and I thought they had an edge to themselves. You know? The edge to drive in a couple runs when they were up by 10, steal a base in a late game, or slam the door in the 9th and jump up and down and start screaming about it. However, I was wrong. Your Minnesota Twins are just as cute and cuddly as they've ever been.
There are many reasons for this. I don't even know where to start. How about 3rd base, for example. On most major league teams, the third baseman is a guy that can mash home runs, play great defense, and be a leader on the team. On the Twins, they have Nick Punto. Punto can't hit, but he plays defense. (My uncle texted me that he plays "Gold Glove" defense...debatable...) However, between the two who primarily get the time at third, there is no offense to speak of at all.
Brendan Harris was supposed to be an offensive force after coming in the Delmon Young trade. He hit 12 bombs the year before and the Twins would have loved to see him doing what Orlando Hudson is doing now for the Twins. Instead, Harris has become very methodical in analyzing his stats. A couple weeks ago, Harris was asked how it felt to have a three hit game. Harris mentioned that his average went up about 40 points. Uh oh. The baseball player that keeps track of his own stats isn't very likely to succeed. Harris currently is hitting .181 better than myself and the reader of this blog. While Punto is hitting about .250, he's not an everyday third baseman. The only problem is that the Twins don't have anyone else to replace Punto as the current third baseman of the future, Danny Valencia, is hitting .302 in AAA...problem is he has ZERO bombs. Needs a little bit more seasoning before a callup is in his future.
The other troubling thing is that the Twins can not hit with the bases loaded. The lone highlight in this situation this year was Jason Kubel's grand slam off Mariano Rivera at Yankee Stadium. A lot of people have been blaming Trevor Plouffe for striking out with the bases loaded on Sunday, but the Twins also blew many chances to drive in runs earlier in the game. So what's the problem here?
Well, I think there's a lot of pressure on the Twins to crank bombs at will. Don't get me wrong, it's deserved pressure, but guys are going up there trying to crank grand slams when a single will get the job done and drive in a run or two. The results show as the Twins have grounded into 19 double plays this season...and Michael "Big Poppa Pump" Cuddyer has grounded into SEVEN of those double plays by the way. (By comparison, Justin Morneau has yet to GIDP this season.)
There's one last thing that I think this team is missing, and as Jim Souhan beat me to the punch in saying, that's a killer instinct. The Twins simply are too nice. Look at a team like the Rays. They got good when they told the Yankees to @#$% off. The Twins haven't done anything like that. I would pay to see Justin Morneau to sock Mark Teixeria in the face and scream "I SHOULD BE STARTING THE ALL-STAR GAME!!! I'M HITTING ABOUT .400 FOR GOD SAKE!!!" Or maybe see Scott Baker send a heat seeker at Jeter's head. Hell, even Nick Punto can get into the act by taking a hard slide into second base...well, assuming he can get on base.
This lack of an edge is showing in opportunities to sweep an opponent. The Twins have had 6 opportunities to sweep, but have only done it once. The Twins need to get on a streak at some point during the season, because every team will have a stretch where they play well over a 162 game season, and if the Twins can't get on a roll, the Detroit Tigers, who are currently one game back in the Central, will come sneaking up like the bad guy in a slasher flick.
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