Twins-Athletics: Bats Can't Support BOOF! in Oakland

So it was pointed out to me that the usual hook for my post-game notes was a popular feature on Baseball Tonight's web page, and while I have a certain amount of love for BBTN, it isn't nearly enough to want to emulate them.

So, a new hook for these notes is still pending, but the analysis remains intact.

For two teams that play each other a paltry 10 times a year, the A's and Twins have quite a history. It stems largely from a few tense playoff series, as well as the fact that nearly every national pundit wants badly to say that the Twins and A's are the same team.

They are both smaller market teams who have faced each other in the playoffs without having "playoff caliber rosters", a term which more often than not can be re-translated as "rosters that closely resemble last year's all-star team and cost slightly more than NASA's proposed Mars Missions". This MUST mean they operate the same way, right?!

The truth is that the A's and Twins are vastly different teams.

The A', led by Billy Beane are savvy shoppers during free agency, looking for undervalued players and prospects who are blocked by existing stars on other teams.

They generally pitch well and get enough offense to support their staff, but little more. They tend not to field teams stocked with overwhelming talent, but with guys who have a great sense of the game and know how to win games aside from hitting lots of home runs.

They plate runs on two walks and a double, or a single, a walk and an error. It isn't always the most elegant of games to watch, but the A's have been more than effective in the last 8-10 years.  

The Twins, by contrast, rarely act as major players in free agency. They prefer to deal established players for prospects and continually draw from their farm teams until they find a gem. They scout well, but tend not to draft well due to financial constraints.

The Twins also rely on their pitching, but offensively prefer a finesse style to anything resembling the power game. The Twins tend to score runs, when they do, by an infield single, a sac bunt, and a single down the line. Manufactured runs, they used to be called in the days before Sabremetrics. 

Why is this relevant in a season where neither team looks like they will seriously contend for a Pennant? The answer is simple: the two games in the series so far have perfectly exemplified these two teams.

The first game was won by a few timely hits, a hot night from Craig Monroe (its about time), and a decent start from Livan Hernandez.

The second game was won by lights-out pitching from Chad Gaudin and enough A's runs to provide Gaudin a decent lead for most of the evening. 

Pitching was the story of the evening, as Gaudin completely shut down the Twins bats. He and Bonser both pitched well, but Gaudin did one thing which Bonser did not: He limited his walks. 

Gaudin didn't walk a single batter, and the Twins only got four hits, which makes scoring runs nearly impossible. Bonser walked more hitters than he allowed hits, four to three, which was the difference in the game. Both of the A's first two runs were scored by men who had reached base via the free pass.

Bonser pitched around the trouble for the most part, which he has had to do in a number of his starts, but it won't always work out well for him. Fortunately, all he really needs to do is throw strikes early in the count and walk fewer hitters. Unfortunately, if Liriano pitches well tomorrow, Bonser may well find himself the odd man out when Kevin Slowey returns. 

Producer:  Jason Kubel: 2-4.

Kubel is showing good discipline at the plate of late, and it is starting to translate into hits, finally. Hopefully, if he continues to see the ball well, the hits will soon follow. 

Passable: Boof Bonser: 6IP, 3H, 2ER, 4BB, 2K.

The walks were what killed Bonser, but he really didn't pitch all that poorly. He has been better than his 1-4 record indicates.

Poor: Craig Monroe: 0-3, 2K.

A night after hitting his first home run as a Twin, Monroe reverted to his old ways. His only non-strike out was an inning ending pop to short with the tying run in scoring position. Not exactly the type of production the Twins should be getting from their DH.