The All-Star break is generally considered the halfway point of the 162-game MLB season (even though most teams have played closer to 90-plus games at that point).
Since that break is coming up this Monday, it seemed appropriate to review what has transpired so far this year and take a look towards the second half of this 2008 Twins season.
What follows is a list of questions about the team and my breakdown/answers to those questions. If you have anything to add or a different opinion on something, feel free to get that comment section going.
Record
Is the Twins' record (51-41 as of Friday) an indication that this team is better than most people thought, or the product of favorable schedule?
At this point in the season, most “experts” had the Twins penciled in for roughly 40-43 wins. Sitting 10 games above .500 with three games left until the break should be considered a major success.
Of course, part of the reason for that record is the run the team just went on where they won 18 of 21 games. Did we take advantage of a weak interleague schedule? You bet.
But that shouldn’t take away from anything the team has accomplished so far. Going 14-4 against inferior competition is what good baseball teams do. It is funny to me how a couple of games can change everyone’s perspective in a very short amount of time.
Before the Boston series, everyone was talking about us winning the division/wild card and discussing potential trade deadline moves that should be made. A three-game sweep later (in which, it should be noted, we could/should have won at least two if not all three) and suddenly the team has been “exposed” and the naysayers feel that we’re done. Not me.
If you had told me, or any other Twins fan, that we would have at least 50 wins at the All Star break, I would have been ecstatic. I’m going to say that this team is good and will be in contention for both the division and the wild card throughout the rest of the season.
Pitching
Is the starting staff this good?
This might be the toughest part of this Twins team to figure out. The season started with Livan Hernandez, of all people, leading the way for our otherwise young staff.
The young guys got knocked around a little bit, but they gained experience. As the season progressed, especially during the recent hot streak, all four of them (Baker, Blackburn, Perkins, Slowey) have showed signs of being capable, if not very good, major league starting pitchers.
During that same stretch, Livan has shown signs of being the 5-plus ERA pitcher that he’s been for quite some time now. Those shifts make this staff a bit tricky to figure out.
So is the emergence of the young starters a sign of things to come?
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