The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Part Small Ball and Part Big Bats

The Twins have never been a team that relied on big hits to score their runs. When Justin Morneau hit 30 home runs in 2006, it was the first time in nearly 20 years that the Twins had a player hit that many.

Even then, that team was known for the nickname White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen gave them: The Piranhas. Nick Punto, Luis Castillo, Jason Bartlett and Jason Tyner consistently got on base, got into scoring position via the hit-and-run or sac bunt, and then scored on one of Joe Mauer's many singles. No more power needed than to hit the ball just out of the infield. 

The Twins reputation for fundamentally sound small ball is well known, and its games like tonight's that reinforce it. The Twins took a big lead early, thanks to a four run second inning that featured: two walks, a steal, a wild pitch, two singles, and Carlos Gomez's double.

Nothing was hit very hard, but everything fell where it needed to to continue the inning, and best of all, every run was scored with two outs. The Twins had more two out RBI than runners left in scoring position with two out, a vast change from a few of their earlier losses.

The Twins iced the game the very next inning when Justin Morneau led off the inning with a long home run. As nice as it is to manufacture runs, there is a lot to be said for instant offense. 

The game also featured two of the biggest surprises for the Twins so far this season: Matt Tolbert and Livan Hernandez.

Tolbert continued his superb hitting out of the #2 spot in the order going 3-4 with a walk. While he probably won't continue to hit .556 all season, if he can be an effective hitter, he is likely to steal some ABs from both Harris and Everett, especially if the latter continues to make errors.

The Livan Hernandez signing was widely panned, but the Twins front office believed that a veteran pitcher who could throw 200 innings was worth the risk. Most fans believed that this was the 2008 version of Syndey Ponson.

So far, the front office looks like the smarter bunch. Livan went seven innings without giving up a run. He finally walked his first batter of the year (in this his third outing) along with seven hits, but he scattered them and avoided damge.

As usual, he had a problem inning along the way, loading the bases in the fifth inning with only one out. He struck out the Royals major off-season acquisition Jose Guillen and got out of the inning on a Billy Butler ground out. 

Livan has done an outstanding job taking pressure off of the bullpen, and has been as good as necessary to win his three outings so far. He's already off to a better start than Ponson, but even Ramon Ortiz, the other terrible signing that off-season, had a great start.

The true test of Livan's prowess will be how he does as the season progresses. If he can maintain his run of strong outings, he will be a huge asset to a very young pitching staff.

The Good: Matt Tolbert: 3-4, BB, SB, RBI. Carlos Gomez: 2-5, 2B, 3B, R, 2RBI.

The Bad: Joe Mauer: 0-5, 5 LOB

The Ugly: Jason Kubel and Delmon Young: 0-7, R, BB, SB, SO, GIDP. These two young hitters are crucial to this club, and both are going to have to become more consistent at the plate before anyone takes them seriously. In some games they are lights out, but in too many others they are nearly dead spots in the lineup. 

Oh, and in case you didn't recognize him, that's Matt Tolbert in the picture.