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Slow Start? What Slow Start?
OK, time to stop the MLB nonsense about whether the Indians are for real.
They’re as real as Justin Masterson’s sinker, Shin-Soo Choo’s right arm, Carlos Santana’s batting eye, Orlando Cabrera’s experience and Asdrubal Cabrera’s talent.
Try this for real: The Indians own a majors-best 66 run differential and an MLB best 18-4 home record. They’ve scored the second-most runs in the A.L. and have the fourth-best ERA. They’re 7-2 against the A.L. East with the revived Red Sox returning to Cleveland looking for revenge after that three-game sweep they absorbed in the season’s first week.
Ron Washington knows they’re for real. Asked if he knew the Indians would be in first place when in spring training he asked Manny Acta to be an MLB All-Star coach, the Rangers managed replied, “I knew the Indians would be tough. They have some talent.”
Washington might have been one of the few to believe that two months ago. But he’s no longer alone. The Indians sit atop the MLB Power Poll for the fourth consecutive week. The Poll is convinced.
1. Indians (1). You can ask the Reds if the Tribe is for real. The Indians’ weekend sweep was first over Reds since 2004.
2. Cardinals (14). When talking about N.L. MVP candidates, Matt Holliday would be the place to start. Unless you started with Lance Berkman.
3. Red Sox (13). About that 2-10 start, perhaps the Red Sox just wanted to play fair and give the rest of the league a head start.
Adrian Gonzalez has provided the offensive punch the Red Sox were hoping for when they traded for him this offseason. (AP Photo)
4. Giants (6). Latest wrist injury to Mark DeRosa could be the end, making his the saddest in a season that has seen more than its share of injuries.
5. Phillies (4). Chase Utley is back in time for rematch of last year’s divisional series against the Reds. Time for the rest of the Phillies’ offense to return, too.
6. Yankees (15). What a debut: Right-hander Hector Noesi gives Yankees four scoreless innings to win 15-inning marathon in Baltimore, providing the difference between a so-so and a good week for the club.
Not Happy With Distance of Fences
When the TWINS announced earlier this week that bringing insome of the deeper fences would not be among the changes they were making to Target Field
this offseason, Justin Morneau was not pleased. He’s actually so displeased with the new park’s fences that he e-mailed The Star-Tribune to tell them he was “very disappointed,” with the club’s decision to leave the fences unchanged.
He also went on to call the park’s dimensions “ridiculous,” especially the span from right-center to left-center. The middle part of the park is quite a bit deeper than other stadiums; while most clubs have the center-field fence about 400 feet away, it’s between 403 and 411 feet in Target Field. That extra distance helped contribute to Target being the hardest place anywhere in baseball to hit a home run in 2010.
Minnesota Twins Continue to Win Despite Injuries
Why will the Twins win? Simple, because they’re not supposed to. This is a team that loves to prove everybody wrong. Before the season started they lost their All-Star closer, Joe Nathan, for the season, and were written off. All they did was ride a monster effort from Justin Morneau for the first three months of the season, before losing him to a concussion.
Surely losing Morneau would bury these Minnesota Twins, but no, since Morneau’s last game on July 7 the Twins have gone 49-28. They were only 45-40 with him. In other words, this Twins team is one that feeds off adversity and the underdog role.
Offensively, this team has a lineup that, while not as powerful as the Yankees’, isn’t exactly easy for a pitcher to deal with. From top to bottom it’s filled with bats that can hurt you. Joe Mauer is still one of the best hitters in the game, Delmon Young has had a career year, setting career highs in OPS (.829), slugging percentage (.495), home runs (21), RBI (112) and even a low in strikeouts (81).
Still, as impressive as the Twins’ offense was all season, the real key behind their success was their pitching staff — particularly a bullpen that received some late-season help when the team picked up both Matt Capps and Brian Fuentes at the trade deadline. Both of those acquisitions allowed the rest of the bullpen to go back to roles that were a lot more familiar to them, and once that happened, the Twins’ ‘pen became one of the best in the league.
It’s a bullpen that will have to be at the top of its game against the Yankees for the Twins to have a legitimate shot to get to their first ALCS since 2002.
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