Kuzul

The Twins closed out the unofficial first half of the season salvaging the third game against Detroit with a 46-42 record.

Good enough for third place in the AL Central.

One definition for ‘frustration’ is when expectations exceed reality.  For Twins’ fans the first half of 2010 has been a lesson in dealing with frustration.

Even before the first pitch was thrown in 2010 the expectations were high.

The opening of Target Field came on the heels of an unprecedented surge to win the 2009 AL Central Division by forcing, and winning, game 163 to break a tie with the Detroit Tigers.

Expectations were made greater with the signing of hometown hero, three-time batting champion, and reigning AL MVP, Joe Mauer to a contract extension that will keep him in Minnesota for a long time.  

Once the season began the expectations were cranked even higher.

The Twins started by winning the first six series they played, and eight of the first nine, giving them a 19-9 record, good enough for a three and half game lead in the division. Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau were among the top hitters in the league, and Jon Rauch had eight saves in place of Joe Nathan who was lost before the season began. Francisco Liariano was named AL Pitcher of the Month in April with a 3-0 record and a 0.93 ERA.

Then reality set in.

Mauer’s average is currently at .293—equal to the lowest in his career.

Due to complications from a concussion, Morneau has missed the last two games and will miss the All-Star Game in Anaheim this week.     

Since April, Liariano is 3-7 with a 4.94 ERA.

This is Ron Gardenhire’s ninth season as the Twins’ Manager and he has found himself in this situation before. Gardenhire has never finished lower than third in the American League Central Division, winning five of the last eight division titles.

Twice the Twins have gone into the break with the third best record in the division.

In 2003, the Twins finished the first half of the season losing 11 of 12 games.

They saw a half game lead on June 30 fall to a third place finish at the break, down seven and a half games behind the Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox, by July 13.  

The starting pitching ignited the team in the second half to win the division by four games.

Brad Radke (9-1), Johan Santana (8-1) and Kyle Lohse (9-2) lead the way as the team cruised to a 46-23 second half record.

Contrast that with 2007.

The Twins went into the Mid-Season Classic with a 45-43 record, again good for third place in the division, eight games behind the Detroit Tigers and the Cleveland Indians.

This time, however, there was no one to lead them to a division title. They went 34-40 to finish with Gardenhire’s only losing season at 79-83.

Carlos Silva led the starters with a 7-4 record. Santana and Scott Baker were the next best with 6-6 records.

If the Twins are going to repeat the accomplishments of 2003, they need a starting pitcher to step up and carry the team past the Tigers and White Sox.

Right now that pitcher appears to be Carl Pavano. His win against the Tigers ended a five game slide for the club and has him leading the team with a 10-6 record and a 3.58 ERA.

A peek at the stats for the Twins’ starters for the second half of 2009 does not bode well for a 2010 comeback.

Baker ended strong in 2009 going 8-2 to in the second half after starting the season at 7-7. 

Pavano was acquired in the second half from Cleveland and went 5-4.

Nick Blackburn went 3-7. He’s currently 7-7, but his 6.40 ERA is the worst on the team. He has not shown any indications he will be able to turn things around in the second half.

Liriano only went 1-4 last year. His 2010 record does not accurately reflect how good he is pitching. Exclude is last appearance (1.2 innings and seven earned runs) and his record would be a serviceable 6-6 with 4.22 ERA, more than two runs better than Blackburn’s.

That leaves Kevin Slowey, who did not pitch after the All-Star break in 2009 and has not regained the dominance he showed opening the 2009 season 10-3 with a 4.86 ERA.

If Gardenhire is to duplicate the type of success the Twins had in 2003, they will need to find at least one more starting pitcher to join Pavano, Liariano and Baker. There does not appear to be anyone ready to make the jump from AA or AAA to the majors.

In Rochester, the Twins’ AAA affiliate, Anthony Swarzak (1-5, 6.84 ERA) and Jeff Manship (3-5, 5.11 ERA) have both made spot starts for the Twins, but neither appear ready for major league hitters.

With Cliff Lee going to the Texas Rangers, that leaves few options for trades.

Unless the Twins’ find an ace-in-waiting or can trade for one, 2010 looks like it will be going the way of 2007—a third place finish in the AL Central.

Look at the bright side—there at least won’t be another playoff loss to the Yankees.

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The baseball season has been full of pleasant surprises thus far. Not only are teams like San Diego surprising fans, but many players, good and bad, are shocking spectators to the bone.

Young and old players alike are playing above and beyond expectations.

This slideshow is dedicated to the veteran oldies that have made an end-of-career surge.

The following five players are the biggest surprises of this season, with Vlad being No. 1.

Begin Slideshow

This is a weekly focus on the hurlers that dominated their adversaries. These pitchers put up nasty numbers and made big league hitters wish they were playing T-Ball again.

1)    Edwin Jackson Ari

9 IP, 8 BB, 6 K, 1 W, 0.00 ERA

Edwin Jackson is yet another pitcher to join the list of no-hitters this year. He tossed 149 pitches against the Rays to put his name in the history books.

Jackson ’s outings leading up to his no-hitter weren’t spectacular. He was dragging around a 5.05 ERA before that night. The previous game against Detroit, he gave up nine hits in seven innings.

It would appear that fantasy owners aren’t biting on his recent success, either. He is only owned by 51.1 percent of owners with a slight increase of 2.5 percent in ESPN leagues. His current record of 5-6 and a 4.63 ERA isn’t exactly something that makes you jump out of your chair.

Much like Dallas Braden, the fantasy owners’ look at your total work and not one game.

He has posted a 1.62 ERA with two consecutive wins with 16 innings pitched in the last two weeks.

Regardless of his lack of success in the weeks prior, Jackson pitched a no-hitter and deserves the top spot for his performance last week.

2)    Chris Carpenter StL

8 IP, 3 H, 4 BB, 7 K, 1 W, 0.00 ERA

Carpenter took a line drive off his forearm and is listed day-to-day. He is still likely to make his next scheduled start.

He is currently 9-1 with a 2.70 ERA. He already has 100 strike outs in 116 innings pitched.

3)    Mariano Rivera NYY

5 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 8 K, 2 W, 0.00 ERA

Whenever there is talk about him getting old, he puts up phenomenal numbers. He was able to pick up two wins and sit down eight with strikeouts last week.           

Rivera has a 2-1 record with 17 saves and a 0.92 ERA for the season so far.

4)    Yovani Gallardo Mil

9 IP, 5 H, 0 BB, 12 K, 1 W, 0.00 ERA

Gallardo is a killer on the mound. He was sitting down batters like an usher at a wedding.

He is 8-3 with a 2.56 ERA and 120 strike outs for the season.

5)    Carl Pavano Min

9 IP, 3 H, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 W, 0.00 ERA

Pavano got the shut out victory after a grueling nine innings last week.

Pavano is one of the hottest players in fantasy free agency. His ownership sky rocketed by 26 percent in ESPN leagues.

He has a 9-6 record and has a nice 3.33 ERA with 59 strikeouts for the season.

6)    Jamie Moyer Phi

15 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 12 K, 2 W, 1.80 ERA

Moyer simply spot on last week with two wins and only a 1.80 ERA in 15 innings pitched.

The fantasy world still has no respect for Moyer. His ownership only jumped 5 percent to a total ownership of 12 percent in ESPN leagues. His high season ERA is keeping owners from taking a chance on him despite his recent success.

He is 3-0 for the last two weeks and touted a nice 1.96 ERA since mid-June.

He has a 9-6 record with a 4.30 ERA with 51 strike outs this season.

7)    Trevor Cahill Oak

7.2 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 10 K, 1 W, 0.00 ERA

          He has a 0.99 WHIP and is undefeated in June.

Cahill is fantasy baseball’s sexy waiver pick up with 35 percent increase in ownership in ESPN leagues.

He has a 7-2 record with a 2.88 ERA and 1.08 WHIP this season.

8)    Jon Lester Bos

15 IP, 11 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 15 K, 1 W, 1 L, 1.20 ERA

Boston has been bitten by the injury bug. With Beckett, Pedroia, Martinez, and Ellsbury on the DL it is amazing that they are nipping at the heels of the first place Yankees.

Lester’s performances on the hill would have a lot to do with their recent success.

Lester only allowed one run against the Giants in a complete game earning him the win with nine strikeouts.

He ended up with a loss despite a fantastic outing against the Rockies, giving up only one run.

He is 9-3 with a 2.86 ERA and 111 strikeouts for the season.

9)    Jake Peavy CWS

7 IP, 3 H, 2 BB, 9 K, 1 W, 0.00 ERA

In June, Peavy was excellent with a 1.75 ERA and 0.92 WHIP.

He has a 1.23 ERA with 21 strikeouts in the last two weeks.

It would appear most of the fantasy owners who dropped Peavy during his early season struggles have picked him back up.

He is 7-6 with a 4.70 ERA and 91 strike outs.

10) J.J. Putz CWS

3 IP, 1 K, 2 W, 0.00 ERA

Putz pitched only three innings last week but was able to pick up two wins and a save. Bobby Jenks was on the shelf, but looks to be returning soon which would push Putz back into his set up role.

There is no reason to pick him up off waivers, as his fantasy value after this week will dwindle.

Putz is simply being recognized for the job he did while Jenks was away.

Honorable Mentions*

Roy Halladay Phi 7 IP, 6 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 W, 0.00 ERA

Gavin Floyd CWS 7 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 9 K, No Decision, 0.00 ERA

Derek Lowe Atl 7 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 K, 0.00 ERA

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NEW YORK– He spent eight seasons as a member of the Minnesota Twins. Now, three years later, Johan Santana faces his old club for the first time ever.

Santana was quite a dominant pitcher in Minnesota. He came up in 2000 and became a full-time starter in 2004, when he won 20 games and his first of two Cy Young Awards.

He was just unbelievable. He had one of the nastiest changeups the game had seen in over 50 years, and he was as big a strikeout pitcher as there was at the time.

Take a look at these numbers from his 2004 Cy Young season— they’re jaw-dropping. That season, as a 25-year-old, Santana not only went 20-6 with a 2.61 ERA, but he allowed 72 less hits than innings pitched (156 to 228). He walked 54 and struck out an unbelievable 265 batters.

Since coming to the Mets in 2008, Santana has had his flashes of Minnesota dominance, but he hasn’t been what those numbers show. He didn’t have a bad first season, as he went 16-7 with a career-low 2.53 ERA, but his strikeouts have gone down every season since 2006.

His signature game as a New York Met came on September 27, 2008 when the Mets were on the brink of elimination. He threw a complete game against the Marlins to keep them alive for another day. That was done while pitching with a torn meniscus.

He missed his last nine starts of last season with elbow problems, and he has had surgery after both seasons with the Mets (2008 with the meniscus tear and 2009 with elbow chips).

Since he has been a Met, he has either gotten no run support, been taken out of games too early, or has blown leads in big games. Santana has also had his two worst career starts as a Met, last season against the Yankees and this season against the Phillies. The bottom line is the Mets haven’t and, at this stage in his career, will never get the Santana of his heyday in Minnesota.

They will hope, though, that he can relive his Twins days today, as the Mets will go for another home series victory when they face former Yankee Carl Pavano.

Yankees fans despise Carl Pavano, and for good reason. After a dominating 2004 season with the Marlins, going 18-8 with a 3.00 ERA, the Yankees signed him that offseason to become a big part of their rotation.

He was injured at times in 2005 with the Yankees and when he pitched, he wasn’t that great. He missed the entire 2006 season due to Tommy John surgery. When he came back in 2007, he made a grand total of two starts and missed the remainder of that season. He came back towards the end of 2008 and was horrible in his final seven starts as a Yankee. In his four seasons in the Bronx, Pavano went 9-8, with an ERA of 5.00.

After splitting time between the Indians and Twins last season, Pavano has done a good job this season. He pitched for the Twins in the 2009 playoffs.

It was clear, based on the quick turnaround, that Pavano used injuries as an excuse with the Yankees. He made all of his starts last season and is on his way to making them all this season.

So, this game is built with all sorts of pitching drama. Santana is facing the Twins for the first time ever and Pavano is back in New York as a rejuvenated pitcher. It will be intriguing, and for the Mets, they’d love to take this game to lock up another winning home stand.

Johan Santana this season (15 starts)
5-4, 3.31 ERA, 98 IP, 89 H, 31 BB, 62 SO

Carl Pavano vs. New York (career)
7-7, 3.60 ERA, 122.1 IP, 121 H, 29 BB, 65 SO

2010 season series (New York vs. Minnesota)
June 25: New York 5, Minnesota 2
Mets lead series 1-0

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