The Season Thus Far, Part 1

It's been a long, strange couple of months, my friends. Tomorrow, when it is June, I'll pick May apart. Today, let's look back at April, for comparison.

Twins team stats for April 2006:

Category	Stat	Value	AL Rank (of 14)	ML Rank (of 30)
Hitting	BA - Batting Avg	.250	10	22
	OBP - On-Base %	.311	12	26
	OPS - On-Base + Slugging %	.675	14	29
	H - Hits	203	11	23
	R - Runs	97	13	27
	HR - Home Runs	20	12	25 (3 tied)
	XBH - Extra-Base Hits	51	14	30
	GIDP - Ground Into Double Play	19	8	13 (3 tied)
	K - Strikeouts	138	6	9
	BB - Walks	69	10	24
Pitching	ERA - Earned Run Average	6.28	14	30
	IP - Innings Pitched	205.0	n/a	n/a
	H - Hits	276	14	30
	R - Runs	148	12	28
	ER - Earned Runs	143	14	30
	HR - Home Runs	35	12	26
	BB - Walks Allowed	57	2	2
	K - Strikeouts	136	12	26
	WHIP - Walks & Hits Per Inning	1.62	13	28
	K/BB - Strikeouts Per Walk	2.40	1 (3 tied)	1 (3 tied)
	P/IP - Pitches Per Inning	16.3	5	13
Fielding	FPCT - Fielding %	.992	1	n/a
	E - Errors	7	1	n/a
	DER - Defense Efficiency Rating	.655	14	n/a
	SB - Stolen Bases Allowed	9	2	n/a
	CS - Caught Stealing	6	5	n/a
	% Caught Stealing	40%	6	n/a

Analysis: At the plate

The thing about the hitting that jumps out at me right away is that the ONLY thing our boys were above the median in was striking out. They didn't do a lot of that. Good for them. They also didn't walk, hit, homer or do much of anything else.

They stole a nice bunch of bases (15 of 19 attempts were successful), I'll give them that, but stealing is only useful when there's some slim chance that one of your teammates could then bring you home. They put a lot of balls in play, but flailing around up there like an overcaffeinated baboon will do that.

Analysis: On the mound

What the [BLEEP] happened here?! It's been nearly a month, and I still feel woozy when I think about April and pitching at the same time.

Here's a breakdown. Bullpen April ERA: 4.47. Starters April ERA: 7.30. Neither is very good, but the starters were just awful. Our pitching staff was worse than the Royals. Chew on that for a minute.

Like the hitters, they did only one thing well, and that was actually a matter of not doing something. Not giving up walks, in this case. They sure found lots of other ways to put guys on base, though, didn't they? Wham, bam, boom! After the first week, they were probably too dizzy from watching all the circling runners to pitch well.

Analysis: In the field

At least we're still great with the glove, right? Look again.

See that stat, "Defensive Efficiency Rating"? It basically measures the percentage of balls in play the defense "gets to"--prevents from becoming a hit. And, um...wow. We kind of suck. Enough so that this blogger really wonders how much of the pitching staff's inflated ERA is due to fielders' failure to convert balls in play into outs. I mean, the pitching was atrocious, but maybe it got a little unwanted assistance, too?

Having a great fielding percent and a crappy DER strongly suggests that while the Twins handle the balls they get to very well, they don't get to nearly enough of them. This, in turn, suggests a team full of fielders with a very limited range (or very limited effort) leaving large parts of the field essentially undefended.

Say you have two players with limited range playing next to each other. Third base and shortstop, for example. (I'm not ragging on anyone, this really IS hypothetical. Mostly.) And your pitcher gives up a ground ball to his right. Let's say this isn't a screamer or a ball that takes a weird hop, just your standard grounder. With me? Good.

Now, let's say that this ball zips along through a part of the field that could be covered by either the shortstop or the third baseman. If both have normal (not even above-average) range, the chance that this ball will be fielded for an out are pretty good. The lower the range of either of those two players, however, the lower the chances. And when both players have a below-average range, you've basically opened up a corridor on your field where balls can trundle along with very little risk of being stopped. That, my friends, is some very basic fielding range theory. Makes sense, right?

And honestly, how many times lately have you found yourself saying and/or thinking, "Why didn't somebody GET THAT DAMN BALL????"

I'm going to guess: too many.

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On deck: The merry month of May