There Went That Theory...

Who forgot to tell the Twins that the Nationals suck?

Twins 5, Nationals 8
Twins 1, Nationals 3
Twins 6, Nationals 3

The Baby Jesus has returned! And in his first series, he went 1-for-9!

So, yeah...not so much with the saving of the team there, Joe. Not that TBL blames you--there is rust to be shaken off, naturally--but she got pretty tired of hearing about how the winning would commence the instant you returned. Glad to put that theory to bed.

Hunter continued to hit like he's in a contract year (which, funnily enough, he is) and Bartlett and Punto, both of whom have struggled mightily to start the season, did quite well. In more limited action, Ford and Redmond smacked the ball around nicely, and of course Morneau hit a homer. Is it even an official series if Morneau doesn't hit a homer? TBL believes it is not.

The rest of the hitters, however, kind of stunk.

The pitching staff, on the other hand, was brilliant. Except for Carlos Silva, who had a really bad day. Seven earned runs in three innings. TBL recommends Tullamore Dew after an outing like that.

Bonser tossed five innings for three runs (neither great nor terrible) for a win, while Santana lost with two earned runs in seven innings. Alas, poor Johan...

The only relief pitcher to give up a run over the weekend was Ramon Ortiz, and since that run scored as he pitched six innings in relief of Silva, TBL is inclined to call that a superb effort.

What is it with this team and the hitting this year? They've got seven guys who hit over .290 last year, four of them over .300. You want OPS? Six guys who were over the league average of .768 last season are still with the team this year. Two thirty-plus home run hitters. The AL MVP and batting champ, fercryinoutloud.

And right at this very moment we've got four regular players hitting over .300, and four with an OPS over .768. That's almost half the starting lineup! Why, praytell, are runs not being scored? Digging in...

	Team		League
Situation	Avg	OPS	Avg	OPS
Bases empty	.263	.700	.260	.736
Runners on	.278	.763	.275	.779
RISP	.266	.731	.272	.776

Well, now, that doesn't look too bad. Except...check out the OPS. The Twins are way behind in every category, especially runners in scoring position. All those infield singles are fun to watch, but they don't score the runner from second, now do they?

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Probables - Atlanta @ Minnesota

6/12, 7:10:
Kyle Davies, RHP (3-4, 5.31) vs. Kevin Slowey, RHP (1-0, 4.09)

Notes: Davies is wildly inconsistent and Slowey is making his third major league appearance. This could get interesting.

6/13, 7:10:
Chuck James, LHP (5-5, 3.66) vs. Carlos Silva, RHP (3-7, 4.58)

Notes: Both pitchers have been very good this year overall. Silva is coming off his worst outing of the season and would like to whitewash over it with an excellent performance in front of the home crowd.

6/14, 7:10:
Tim Hudson, RHP (6-4, 3.51) vs. Johan Santana, LHP (6-6, 3.24)

Notes: Hudson versus Santana. It's enough to give an honest fan heart palpitations. You don't get to see a matchup like this every day.