Ups and Downs Add Up to Mediocre Start for Twins

Considering how uneven the Twins have looked this season, it's no surprise to me that they are hovering around .500 after roughly 2.5 months. One night they look incredible, the next ... a different story. The following are some main points I want to address in relation to Minnesota's standing in a mediocre division.

The Good

The M & M Boys

Even though I detest it when analysts say the Twins only have two good hitters, I admit they are half right. The Twins only have two perennial All-Star hitters.

Joe Mauer is currently hitting a shade under .400 at the hardest position in the AL to be a productive hitter. Not only that, he passed his career high in home runs after only 45 games. Home runs were the only possible thing Twins fans could ask for more of from their catcher, and now even they are coming in at an incredible pace.

Justin Morneau, who is third in the AL in RBI at 58, is also hitting .315 this year. He is a fantastic situational power hitter who hits lefties just as well as righties. Unless he falls into another September slump, I imagine Morneau will be in the top five for MVP voting as he was in 2006 and 2008.

Power Hitting

Don't get me wrong, this isn't the Rangers of the late '90's or anything, but the 2009 Twins are a far cry from 2008's team, which was led by Morneau's 23 HRs. At this point, with a little more than half the year to go, Morneau has 16 bombs, Mauer has 14, Jason Kubel has 13, and Joe Crede and Michael Cuddyer check in at 11.

With Denard Span, Brendan Harris and Mauer reaching base at solid clips, the Twins still have a wide array of table-setters. The difference this year is that there are more than one or two guys who can clean up the paths.

The Defense

The Twins are tied with the Blue Jays and Phillies for the fewest errors in the Majors, and are only percentage points behind the Blue Jays in fielding percentage.

Defense has long been a staple of the Twins' success, and after signing free agent Joe Crede, is as strong as it has ever been. Harris is average at shortstop, and Delmon Young and Kubel can give people headaches, but Minnesota has Gold Glove contenders at every other spot.

Of the 27 errors the Twins have made, five have come from former starter Alexi Casilla (again, former), two from third-string catcher Jose Morales, one from reserve Matt Tolbert, and three from Michael Cuddyer when he was playing first base. So among starters playing their normal positions, the Twins have made a paltry 16 errors.

The Bad

Young, Gomez, and Punto at the Plate

These are the OPS's of these three, respectively: .594, .621, .570. All three have received a healthy number of at-bats, and all three have done virtually nothing with them.

Delmon Young, who I continue to fight a losing battle for, has an incredible seven extra-base hits. I still believe Young will turn it around as he did last year, but it's looking a little grim at the moment. Young shares the team lead with 54 strikeouts and has walked a grand total of five times.

Gomez, who I feel should be reminded that Johan Santana was given up for him, has become a defensive specialist with little other value. Even as a base runner, he is only seven for 11 in stolen base attempts. If I were Gomez, I would study tape of Span, who is currently doing everything on offense the Twins only wish Gomez would do.

As far as Punto goes, it has long been understood that the poor offensive production is just as consistent as the Web Gems. Since Tolbert and Casilla are even worse at the plate this year, I'm actually more than OK with Punto's underwhelming production.

Inconsistent Starting Pitching

At one point or another, every single starter the Twins have had this year has struggled. Nick Blackburn and Kevin Slowey, who have been incredible for most of the year, each got touched up in their first three starts.

Luckily, Glen Perkins got off to a scorching start, but his season resembles a roller coaster more than anyone's. He had an April ERA of 2.48, a May ERA of 10.00, and a June ERA of 3.15. If Perk has a bad July, he will be the perfect poster boy for the rotation's year.

Scott Baker looked like Charlie Brown on the mound for the first month and a half, but he is five for five in quality starts in June and is quietly looking like the same guy who took a perfect game into the ninth in 2007.

Liriano, who matched Baker bad outing for bad outing earlier in the year, might have it under control as well. He has been at or close to a quality start every time in June and is just a few good starts in a row from returning to true Liriano form.

Even Anthony Swarzak, the guy who filled in for Perkins during his DL trip, has fit the inconsistent mold. His outings, in order, went amazing, OK, bad, bad, amazing. All of his pitches have movement, and he has good timing in terms of when to throw off-speed pitches, but his inexperience made him yet another inconsistent starter.

Bullpen

A big question before the season began, the bullpen seemed as though it would be a year-long sore spot. Though it's still nothing to brag about, it has definitely improved. Matt Guerrier and Jose Mijares have sub-3.00 ERAs, giving the Twins a good righty-lefty set-up for the always-stellar Joe Nathan.

R.A. Dickey, whose track record is awful, has been a God-send as a long reliever, pitching four innings or more in three effective relief outings and even made a spot start. I was hardly a fan of the acquisition when the season started, but Dickey has made a believer of me.

As far as Sean Henn and Bobby Keppel are concerned, Henn has been no good and Keppel is too new to the team to tell.

I would say starting pitching is the ultimate key for the team's success or failure this season. Slowey and Blackburn were never projected to be a one-two punch, and Liriano and Baker should never have ERAs above 5.00, so if the latter two can recapture their ability to get guys out and the former two can continue to pitch effectively, expect the Twins to capture the weak AL Central.

If not, let's hope Mauer, Morneau & Co. have enough juice in their bats to sink Detroit.