I Dislike Your Favorite Team

That was a rhetorical question. I've been paying attention to the Twins, and Holy Shit, ya'll, it must SUCK to win 14 out of 15 games, and still be 11 games back, right where you were before. Stupid Detroit and Chicago need to fall over. Detroit needs to realize they are Detroit, like when Wylie E. Coyote ran out over a cliff, and kept running until he looked down? Detroit needs to look the fuck down already.

Chicago--hey great work. How about Jim Thome and Paul Konerko, despondent over Ozzie Guillen's "fag" comment, commit a homosexual suicide pact? I'm not saying they are gay, or that I want them dead. I just want Chicago to fall over, and this seems like a pretty good way. It could be two separate season ending injuries, too. I don't care. Note to those guys, though: feel free to bring A.J. along with you.

But, hey, let's not focus on that. The Twins have been playing some great ball, against some shitty teams (Pittsburgh, Cubs) and some great ones (Red Sox). They have won their last five series. The series against the Dodgers put Mauer in the spotlight he's deserved for quite a few weeks. I guess going 11 for 13 will do that. Not to mention hitting .394 for the friggin season. So justifiably, people are talking about Maurer hitting for contact and RBI's, and Morneau hitting for crazy power, and basically everybody taking their offense up a few notches over the past few weeks.

But truth be told, they didn't need to take it up two notches. Just one notch would have been enough, because the Twins pitchers, like I said at the beginning of season, really only need about 4 runs of support to win. They are that dominant. They've been pitching well for a lot longer than the Twins have been hitting well.

Let's look at the last few starts, shall we?

Starting Pitchers Against the Dodgers:
Johan Santana: 7 IP, 2 Hits, 0 Runs, 3 BB, 9 K
Francisco Liriano: 7 IP, 5 Hits, 2 Runs, 0 BB, 8 K
Carlos Silva: 8 IP, 6 Hits, 2 Runs, 0 BB, 3 K

So, that should be a sweep, right? And it was. 3 Games, 22 Innings from your SPs, who give up a combined 4 runs, and strike out 20 batters? And we're talking about the hitting? Maybe that was a fluke, though.

Starting Pitchers Against the Cubs:
Brad Radke: 7 IP, 7 Hits, 0 Runs, 1 BB, 6 K
Boof Bonser: 6.1 IP, 6 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BB, 1 K

Another mini-sweep there. But surely, the Twins were playing shaky opponents won't don't hit that well. Well, this recent streak they are on began with a series against the Red Sox (6/13-6/16), and their starters came through there, too. In fact, this is the series that started this great run of starting pitching, and it seems appropriate that it was a game that the starter didn't win the game, but Santana and Schilling had a great pitching duel.

Starting Pitchers Against the BoSox:
Santana: 8 IP, 5 Hits, 1 Run, 0 BB, 13 K
Radke: 6 IP, 5 Hits, 1 Run, 2 BB, 3 K
Silva: 6 IP, 7 Hits, 0 Runs, 0 BB, 2 K

So there is a sampling of the 3 series the Twins have swept in the past couple of weeks, and while yes, Joe Maurer and Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel and Torii Hunter have been hitting, it is worth noting that in those 3 series, not one pitcher did not have a quality start. 8 Games, 8 Quality Starts. That's what we refer to as giving the other team "the business."

Oh, and Garwood B. Jones needs someone to mow his lawn.