Notebook Dump (06.26.08)

Game: Twinks 9, Friars 3

Box Score

Record: 42-36, 2^nd, .5 games out

Streak: 8 wins

The Quote: "I don't go by results; I go by how I pitch. I didn't locate my fastball well... I did blow a three-run lead. You blow a three-run lead, you're not supposed to win anyway” – Greg Maddux

The Inning: After cruising through the Twins batting order in the first and second innings, iconic right-hander Greg Maddux with his stereotypical pin-point control. The future Hall of Famer, from his commanding post on the mound at Petco, appeared comfortably in the driver’s seat with Mauer’s flyball to left field being the only ball that had left the infield. Like Minnesota’s Livan Hernandez, Maddux relies on location rather than velocity. In fact, Maddux’s 83.3-mph fastball average comes in slightly slower than Hernandez’s “blazing” 83.9 fastball (but Maddux boasts 12.2% strikeout rate to Livan’s 7.2%). Spotted with a three-run lead Maddux began the inning by erasing second baseman Brendan Harris with a strike out looking. "He starts it off the plate, and you see it early and say, 'Oh, that's a ball,'" Harris told the press after the game. "Then it just comes back, and it's frustrating because you sit there and drop a few curse words and say it's going to be a long night if he keeps putting the ball right there.”

With Harris disposed of this brought Brian Buscher to the plate. Buscher had been carving up right-handed pitching, looking very much like the answer to the Twins’ left-handed batting platoon option at third leaving Brendan Harris or Matt Macri (if the Twins find a way to make room) to handle the portsiders. In Buscher’s 38 plate appearances against right-handed pitching, he’s batting a manimal-like .424/.447/.576 in his short time with the big club. Since his recall, he is hitting .414 on base put in play thanks to a line drive rate of 32%. Of course, this output is not sustainable as the season progresses, but for now he has done everything possible to help the club including going 9-22 since the Twins winning streak began. Maddux began Buscher with two 84-mph fastball’s that were south of the k-zone. The third was up in the zone, out over the plate. Buscher laced it on a line between first and second for the Twins first base-runner of the game.

The defense, with the pitcher, Glen Perkins, coming to the plate with just the one out, pulled the corner infielders in to field the obvious sacrifice bunt. The Twin Cities native did his job amicably, pushing one to Padres first baseman Adrian Gonzalez and advanced Buscher to second. Carlos Gomez followed by allowing himself to be hit by a blistering 86-mph (!!!) fastball, and trotted down to occupy first.

With two-outs and now Buscher in scoring position the Twins and Alexi Casilla have found themselves in a situation they have performed very well in. In 365 occasions the Twins as a team have come up to bat with runs in scoring position with 2-outs only to drive in 120 runs while hitting .278/.378/.425. Casilla, in his 24 plate appearances in that situation had driven in 13 runs while hitting .400/.500/.750. Then again, Casilla has had a rollercoaster month of June. On June 6^th, Casilla was flirting with .350 for a batting average only to go 13-for-55 and witnessed his average drop 51 points by June 21^st, 14 games later. Nevertheless, Casilla honed in on Maddux’s 1-1 cutter that cut the plate in half, pulling it on the ground to the right-side of the infield to watch it bleed through to score Buscher from second, Gomez, checked in at second.

This brought up Joe Mauer. Mauer, of course, has been hitting the ball well in every and any situation this year. Drudge up any circumstance and Mauer has succeeded. Versus right-handers? .303/.411/.399. Versus lefties? .368/.398/.500. Bases empty? .314/.390/.445. Runners in scoring position? .317/.427/.381. Runners in scoring position with 2-outs? .324/.378/.382. Runners in scoring position with 2-outs, Greg Maddux on the mound in Petco Park with the temperature at 88 degrees after 9:05 central standard time? 1.000/1.000/2.000. At least it was following his opposite field double on Maddux’s fastball that caught too much of the plate. Gomez scored easily and the speedy Casilla was right on his heals. "I couldn't locate my fastball tonight. I was wild up," Maddux said later. "Some other pitchers can do that, but I can't."

Who's the Filthiest?

Dirty. Nasty. Wicked. Sick. Filthy. Whatever the lingo maybe on the field some pitches will simply leave opponents muttering to themselves on the way back to the dugout following a foolishly empty swing. In June 2007 Stats Inc analyzed Boof Bonser's WHIFF profile to find that through that month of the season, Bonser had the necessary pitches that made some batters feel shame. To that point Bonser's curveball had a .388 WHIFF average - making batters swing and miss nearly 40% of the time. His slider boasted a .310 WHIFF average. As the season progressed and his pitch totals increased his ability to maintain that WHIFF average decreased. Bonser witnessed his WHIFF average on his curve plummet to .247 while his slider dropped to .204. Up until June 27th when the Stats articled was penned Bonser had been striking out 21% of batters faced (83 of 379) but the rest of the season Bonser's strikeout rate dropped to 13% (53 of 393 batters faced). This may because of advance scouting recognizing Bonser's pitch sequencing or simply that his curve and slider lost their bite as the season wore on. Conversely, Johan Santana's December 2007 WHIFF profile indicated that his change-up, as obvious as it is to Twins fans that spent years watching it be delivered, had a WHIFF average of .399 - a well-above average rate on a change-up (.277 MLB change-up average) that he sustained all season long. For the 2007 season, the righty Bonser and the lefty Santana finished with a 17.6% and 26.8% strikeout rates, respectively.

This year's rotation is not a strikeout rotation. Currently the team's starters boast a collective strikeout rate of 13%. This is below the American League average (16%) as a staff for the first time in three years. In 2007, the Twins had a 17% strikeout rate as the league had a 16% strikeout rate. Prior to that in 2006, the Twins had a 18% strikeout rate as the league maintained a 15% strikeout rate. Needless to say it does not hurt when your rotation has Johan Santana and his .399 WHIFF average change-up. In 2006 the Twins not only had Johan Santana, but also had a healthy Francisco Liriano and Brad Radke interspersed with Matt Garza, Boof Bonser and Scott Baker. Who on the 2008 Twins staff has the pitch that is generating the most swing and misses so far this season?

Top 5 in the Rotation	Pitch	Usage	Thrown	WHIFF
Scott Baker	Slider	31.2%	182	.223
Nick Blackburn	Cutter	27.4%	261	.215
Scott Baker	Fastball	60.3%	350	.173
Livan Hernandez	Slider	16.1%	183	.169
Nick Blackburn	Change-Up	10.0%	95	.164

Scott Baker's slider at .223 is leading the staff as the highest WHIFF pitch. Baker, in fact, has two of the best pitches among the staff with his fastball (.173 WHIFF) as he is the only true "strikeout pitcher" on the staff. Not surprising he is leading the staff in with a 20% strikeout rate. Nick Blackburn, on the other hand, also has two pitches in the top five which is probably more indicative of the make-up of the staff rather than his stuff. True, his cutter is registering a .215 WHIFF average but Blackburn has a below American League average strikeout rate. While AL starters are striking out 16% of batters they face, Blackburn is striking out 12.6%. Strikeout rate aside, Blackburn has seen success because he uses an assortment of pitches and does not rely on just one. For example, Blackburn throws five pitches: the fastball (15%), sinker (36%), curveball (11%), change-up (10%), and a cutter (27%). It is this ability to change his sequencing with pitches that he throws with impeccable control, all in the k-zone nearly 70% of the time, that has given him an era of 3.68 well below the AL average of 4.25 in spite of his low strikeout rate.

Top 5 in the Bullpen	Pitch	Usage	Thrown	WHIFF
Matt Guerrier	Slider	16.7%	118	.439
Dennys Reyes	Slider	64.4%	154	.378
Joe Nathan	Slider	28.6%	107	.328
Boof Bonser	Curveball	16.1%	183	.323
Jesse Crain	Splitter	29.5%	104	.259

Matt Guerrier has the honor of having the best WHIFF pitch in the entire stable of very good arms. When the Twins bandied the notion of life without Joe Nathan during this past offseason, Guerrier's name was one on the top of the list. "With his big breaking ball," Gardenhire said, "as a starter he'd get through two times through the lineup. But now you put him in the pen and let him go through the lineup once, and he eats them up." The accolade was for the curveball, as it is the most visually prominent of his pitches with its textbook 12-6 break, but it is his slider that has benefited him to most. That isn't to say that his curveball isn't very good. In fact, the curveball (.167) has been far inferior to his slider (.439) yet it would be the 5th best pitch among those in the rotation. Guerrier has seen his strikeout rate slip for a high of 19% last season to 14% this year which could have something to do with his fastball. He is throwing his fastball in the k-zone less than 50% of the time (42%) which is a problem since he is using it nearly 70% of the time. Logically enough, his walk rate has increased from 6% in 2007 to 10% in 2008.

Notebook Dump (6.23.08)

Game: Twins 5, D-Backs 3

Box Score

Record: 40-36, 2nd place, 1.5 games out

Streak: 6 wins

The Quote: "Most of the balls that are hit, you are going to lose it for the most part but they'll come back to you. I was just sitting there hoping that it would come back into view and it never did." - Conor Jackson, Diamondbacks leftfielder

The Inning: Delmon Young had been manned left field like a stranger in a strange land. In the third inning of Sunday's game, Young pussy-footed his way in on Conor Jackson's fly ball after a few steps backwards that eventually fell in for a single. Fortunately, Livan Hernandez was able to strand Jackson aiding his own plummeting left-on-base rate (67.0%). In the top of the fourth, with two out and Mark Reynolds on 1st and Conor Jackson on 2nd, Diamondbacks catcher Chris Snyder pulled a Hernandez 77-mph curveball through the hole on the right-side. With two outs, Reynolds had his sights set on the plate and was rounding third. Young, a strong outfield arm that had thrown out 11 base-runners last year, charged hard on the bouncing ball, highly capable of throwing out the Diamondbacks third baseman. Only Young didn't come up with the ball. The ball scooted under Young's glove when he tried to position himself for a throw home and the ball bounded towards the padded left-field wall with center fielder Carlos Gomez giving chase. Reynolds and Jackson scored easily has Snyder pulled into third. One wild curveball later from Hernandez and Snyder trotted home for a 3-0 Diamondbacks lead.

At the conclusion of Sunday's game, Delmon Young fielding statistics in left field took significant hits. In terms of range factor, Young's 2.15 was better than the league average left fielder at 2.09. His revised zone rating of .865, fourth among American League left fielders, put him closer to Carl Crawford (.877) than Raul Ibanez (.843). In spite of his "clunky feet" when he runs, Young covers decent ground in comparison to the rest of the league's left fielders. Coverage hasn't been his problem. His problem is that his approach has been off. According the Fielding Bible statistics, Young is currently ranking 28th among Major League left fielders when you consider expected outs and total outs make for a -8 rating. Even the slow-footed, noodle-armed Shannon Stewart managed to produce a +3 rating in Toronto. It is visually evident with his choppy steps towards plays. Admittedly, Young is fast. He is tied with Michael Cuddyer for team lead in triples (4) in addition to nine stolen bases so his approach to fly balls is worrisome, borderline clueless at times. Following the Snyder mishap, the boos were audible within the Dome. And with just cause. The hype and potential surrounding Delmon Young was substantial but Twins fans have yet to see any of that. His right handed bat was expected to replace Torii Hunter's displaced bat and give the Twins a defensive upgrade over Jason Kubel. The results have been wildly different. True, Young's .275 batting average has been better than the league average .264 (11 points better), but his on-base percentage (.323) and slugging (.363) are well below the average left fielder (.337 and .421).

Thankfully, the Diamondbacks matched Young's defensive ineptitude in left field. Without Eric Byrnes the Diamondbacks had been short one outfielder. Manager Bob Melvin penciled in Conor Jackson, the 26-year-old who had spent 65.7 of his 2628 innings in the outfield. All the Twins had to do was expose the inexperience. "Not being a true outfielder and then playing in this dome -- it's going to be even tougher," Delmon Young said regarding Jackson. In the fifth inning, Jason Kubel hit an 86-mph Brandon Webb sinking fastball to left that Jackson later claimed he never saw. With Kubel at first, Delmon Young, who had grounded out to Stephen Drew in the second inning, strode to the plate. In the past ten games and 41 plate appearances, Young had been hitting .308/.341/.385. Young fouled off Webb's first pitch, an 87-mph fastball. His next offering, a 86-mph change, Young lofted to left field for what appeared to be a certain can-of-corn out. The local broadcast would show Conor Jackson blankly staring towards the Teflon sky. "I saw it off the bat and that's about it," Jackson said. "I'm sure I'm not the first person to do it here, sure I won't be the last. I didn't want to throw my hands up because if I throw my hands up, he's probably going to score." The blank look instead of throwing up the hands in efforts to show the rest of the field that he had no clue where the ball was probably saved a run for the moment. Kubel hovered near second until the moment appeared that Jackson was not going to catch the ball. Young checked into second.

Brian Buscher followed. Since his early June call up, Buscher had been hitting .364/.333/.409 in 24 plate appearances with nine rbis. In the third inning Buscher had pulled a grounder through the right side for his first base hit of the game. Webb had gone up 0-2 on Buscher after starting him with two curveballs but failed to close on two subsequent sinking fastballs. In his second plate appearance, Webb started him with a fastball for a ball then Webb went to his change-up, a pitch that Webb confessed was his out-pitch. Buscher sent a 1-1 change-up back up the middle to score both Kubel and Young. Branden Harris then followed with a groundball single to left field (one that Jackson evidently tracked) moving Buscher to second. Next came Carlos Gomez, the man who had been 17-34 in bunts prior to Sundays game - a .515 average, one of the best in the league. With Buscher and Harris on the bases, a sacrifice was transparent. Gomez laid down a good one that Reynolds, the man who had rolled his ankle less than 24 hours before in an apparent sprain, made a close play on Gomez at first.

This brought up Alexi Casilla. In 61 plate appearances in May, Casilla had hit .340/.410/.520, a line that competed with most sluggers, not slap hitters. In June, Casilla's line dropped considerably. In 85 June plate appearances, Casilla was hitting .267/.282/.347. Part of the reason was his pitch selection. In May, Casilla walked 13.1% of the time. In June he walked in just 3.5% of his plate appearances. This suggests that Casilla has been swinging at weaker pitches. His batting average on balls in play went from .366 in May to .292 in June. His last ten games Casilla's average had been .216/.279/.243 in 46 plate appearances. Still in the first inning Casilla had worked the NL Cy Young runner-up for six pitches before lining a single to Conor Jackson in left. Webb began Casilla off with the same sinking fastball that he lined to opposite field only this time Casilla grounded this back up the middle to score Buscher and Harris. Harris would ultimately being the winning run. "The Dome gods helped us out a little bit," Gardenhire told the Star Tribune.

What's Wrong with Boof?

Not too long ago, Bonser was one of the pitching crown jewels of the Twins organization, blasting through double-A and triple-A ball after being acquired in the AJ Pierzynski trade with San Francisco. In 2005 with the Rochester Red Wings, Bonser racked up 168 strike outs in 160.1 innings (24.5% k%) finishing 11-9 with a 3.99 era. The following season, Bonser began back in triple-A and was producing similarly - 83 strikeouts in 86 innings pitched (22.9%) – when in late May the Twins desperately needed his help. In his debut in Milwaukee gave Twins fans a glimpse of the last of the Pierzynski dividends as Bonser finished six innings while striking out 8 and surrendering just the one run. His subsequent starts were less successful as in his next six starts Bonser tossed 29.2 innings only to have a 6.07 era in that duration with opponents hitting .299/.354/.556 off of him. From August on, Bonser pitched significantly better, starting 11 games and throwing 64.2 innings with a 3.62 era. This end of the year performance earned him the Game 2 start in the ALDS against the Oakland Athletics. Esteban Loaiza and Bonser matched each other with two runs a piece. The Twins bullpen conceded three more runs after Bonser left the game and the offense could generate anything against the Oakland relievers.

As Twins long-time rotation fixture Brad Radke retired after the 2006 season, a lot of attention was placed on Bonser hoping that he could stabilize the Twins rotation with his 19 starts of experience. With high hopes in 2007, Bonser failed to live up to vaunted expectations, finishing the season with 8-12 in 30 starts with a 5.10 era (4.98 fip) and an eventual demotion to the bullpen. The had gone 14 and 17 in his starts a big disappointment from management and the front office who were hoping that Bonser would improve on his 10-8 appearance record in 2006. This performance set off a whirlwind offseason in which Bonser was determined to loss weight, attributing the disappointing season to being overweight. "I know last year was a wake up call for him," Gardenhire

said this past spring. "We took him out of the rotation, and I think he was pretty disappointed. I expected that and hoped for that. I think it kind of lit a fire under him, hopefully."

In his first six starts of the 2008 season, Bonser performed much better than his 2-4 record reflects. In 36 innings Bonser struck out 22 and walked just 9. Opponents were hitting just .250/.293/.379 off of him. In his final six starts of the season (so far) Bonser had tossed 30.1 innings and had struck out 20 and walked 11. Opponents increased their batting line to .286/.340/.459 in that time capping it off with an 8.60 era. "I want to be in the starting rotation,'' Bonser told the press after getting shellacked by the New York Yankees on May 30th, on what would be his last start to date, "I know guys are pitching better than me. Whatever their decision is, is their decision. It's just unfortunate that I had such a bad month. I would like to say that, hopefully, this [outing] would be a game to turn me around and get things rolling. It just stinks to be at this point and not getting production I know I can do.''

For the record, Bonser had not been all bad. His 4.09 fip is an indication that he is throwing much better than his 6.48 era would suggest. This is his lowest FIP to date at the major league level. As a starter he was only being supported with 3.65 runs per start. Since his second demotion to the bullpen in as many seasons, Bonser has made six appearances and has given up runs in all but one of those outings. As a reliever, Bonser has contributed an 10.38 era as opponents were smashing him with a .452/.489/.571 batting line. "I was throwing strikes; that's what's weird," Bonser told the Pioneer Press after the May 24th outing in Detroit in which he gave up 8 earned runs in 3 innings of work and allowed Magglio Ordonez to crush a home run that cleared the Tigers bullpen. "I was throwing off-speed pitches, and they weren't getting fooled."

2007	Usage%	Speed	WHIFF	BABIP		2008	Usage%	Speed	WHIFF	BABIP
Fastball	54%	91.9	.071	.408		Fastball	58%	90.7	.118	.289
Curve	19%	79.5	.247	.389		Curve	15%	79.1	.323	.353
Slider	20%	85.6	.204	.324		Slider	17%	85.9	.172	.356
Change	6%	82.2	.068	.294		Change	6%	82.7	.194	.429

The first reason for Bonser’s 2008 decline is his self-diagnosed off-speed pitches: batters are just not getting fooled as he mentioned in May. According to pitch f/x data supplied by Josh Kalk seminal website From Small Ball to the Long Ball, we can analyze and visually see in the chart above that Bonser is indeed having some issues with his breaking stuff. In 2007, Bonser alternated between his curveball, which he preferred for left-handed batters (23% of the time), and slider, his right-handed batter’s weapon of choice (31% of the time), to off-set his fastball. His 91.9-mph average fastball, one that sinks (~90) and one that was straight (~93), was hit hard. Opponents swung and missed on the fastball just 7.1% of the time (as indicated by his .071 WHIFF average) and had a hefty .408 average on balls in play. His curveball proved to be the most effective pitch in his repertoire as it had a .247 WHIFF average. The slider wasn’t far behind with a .204 WHIFF average. Both the curveball and the slider, two pitches very capable of inducing a strikeout, also had high averages when put into play.

Lefties absolutely mashed Bonser in 2007. In 411 plate appearances, left-handed opponents hit .349/.407/.563 though he struck out his fair share of them as well (17.7% k% vs lhb) more so than right-handed batters (17.4% k%). This is evident because Bonser relied strictly on his fastball (58%) and curveball (23%) two pitches that were extremely hittable (the fastball more so) but he also was able to strike out that many because his curveball had the highest WHIFF average AND called strike average (32%). The righties, however, had a more difficult time scratching out hits off of Bonser. In 361 plate appearances the right-side opponents managed just a .214/.285/.360 batting line. Bonser had been feeding them steady diets of fastballs (49%) and sliders (31%) with greater results than the left-handed counterparts, mostly because his slider was less likely to succumb to a base hit when put into play.

His approach to hitters shifted somewhat in 2008 in terms of pitch distribution. Left-handed batters are now seeing more fastballs (64%) while Bonser hasn't used one particular offspeed pitch to the group. Seeing as that his swing-and-miss rate had improved on his fastball (.118 vs. .071) and that the contact made was creating more outs (.289 vs .408) the reliance on the fastball was the reason left-handed opponent average declined to .297/.322/.441. Right-handed batters on the other hand still saw the same dosage of fastballs (53%) and sliders (23%) only now Bonser has begun tossing the curve at them as well (17%). This has resulted in an increased opponents batting line from the low .214/.285/.360 in 2007 to a hefty .288/.322/.441 in 2008. One possible explanation for this is that his slider has flattened out. What was his second most dominating pitch last year is now arguably his least successful one. The WHIFF average has decreased to .172 and opponents are hitting .356 when they put the ball in play.

The second reason is due to one of Bonser’s 2008 resolutions. The first of which we have all seen was him shedding 25 pounds to increase the yet-to-be-seen endurance. The other, more subtle resolution was to use his change-up more frequently. "Last year, I threw like maybe one or two a game,'' Bonser said discussing his 2007 usage of the change, "and that was amazing." So far Bonser has interspersed his change-up along with his other off-speed weapons into the game with as much frequency as he did last year (6%) only this time the results are significantly different. Last season Bonser had fewer swings-and-misses with his change-up (.068 WHIFF) than his fastball (.070 WHIFF) but saw the pitch be the hardest pitch to reach base with (.294 babip). This season he has been able to get more bats to miss (.194 WHIFF) with the pitch but only to find it very hittable (.429 babip).

What is reassuring is that Bonser's fastball is solid. Not only because of the velocity and the lack of hits produced by it, but also Bonser's control of the pitch. Last season Bonser threw his fastball in the zone 63% of the time and this year he has been around the plate 70% of the time. Like Scott Baker, Boof Bonser should take a lesson and rely on his two best pitches and disperse a third to change a hitter's eye line. Baker is a two trick pony using the fastball liberally (63%) and following that with his slider (21%). On occasion, Baker tosses in a good curve (10%). Bonser, as he is trying to regain his form in the bullpen, should begin by eliminating the change for the time being. True Bonser has only thrown it approximately once an inning, but when you consider that this pitch is detrimental when put into play, the idea of forcing it in for having a "fourth pitch" is not helping. Even throwing this pitch once an inning creates the possibility of continuation of said inning, more so than any other of his pitches. 42% of the time a batter makes contact with it that batter reaches base safely, prolonging the inning. In 16 different innings this year Bonser has thrown 20 or more pitches. Furthermore, his change's rate of speed (82.7) only varies it from his slider by 3 miles per hour on average - the pitch must appear to be a hanging slider to the batter - Bonser could easily obtain the same effect with his curveball which has a 6.8 mile per hour difference plus has a greater WHIFF average. The second measure he should take is to downshift the usage of the slider. I am not suggesting the pitch be discarded but rather take a back seat to his existing fastball (sinker/two seamer) and curveball. Instead of combating right-handed batters with a pitch that has been hit far too often, Bonser needs to concentrate once again on throwing his curveball, one that has a .323 WHIFF average.

Notebook Dump (6.18.08)

Game: Twinks 2, Nats 1

Box Score

Record: 35-36, 2^nd place, 4.5 games back

Streak: 1 win

The Quote: “I don’t think that’s where that guy wanted to throw that ball.” - Ron Gardenhire

The Inning: The 23-year-old John Lannan has been a lightening rod for bad luck. In his past three starts his offense has generated one run per game. The three before that, they scored two-runs per game. That’s a measly 1.5 runs of support in those games (a number that is qualifying of a "Deadbeat Dad" offense). Lannan, meanwhile, was allowing just 2.0 runs per game in those previous six outings. Somehow, he managed to win one. The Nats are 4-10 in his starts providing the young left-hander with 2.49 runs per start so far this season. He has lost games with game scores amounting to 53, 73, 56, 52, 53 and as of last night, 60. For five innings the sophomore pitcher cruised against the Twins, relinquishing just the one hit – a double to Joe Mauer that could have just as well been caught by left fielder Kory Casto - there were essentially no well hit balls by the Twins line-up.

Lannan entered the bottom of the sixth inning with just three runners reaching base. With the top of the Twins order coming up, Nationals manager Manny Acta was expecting his young hurler to pacify the Twins for as long as he could fully aware that the Nationals had a bullpen with a combined 4.19 era. Lannan began the inning by getting Carlos Gomez to pop weakly to second and then followed with a groundout by right-handed batting Alexi Casilla. Throughout the game, Lannan had induced groundballs nearly 70% of the time keeping his infielders busy. On the season, Lannan had been an extreme groundball pitcher, getting batters to hit gounders 57% of the balls put in play. This is significantly higher than the National League average of 44%. "His ball kind of gets on you,” said Joe Mauer, “I don't know if it's something with his delivery. He had a good angle on his pitches. He had some good stuff working tonight." Fortunately for the Twins, Joe Mauer has proven success against groundball-type pitchers. In 127 plate appearances against groundball pitchers, Mauer is hitting .336/.394/.425. Mauer then proceeded to fend off one of Lannan’s good pitches following Casilla’s ground out and almost Charlie Browned Lannan with a grounder back through the box.

By keeping the inning alive, Mauer’s single brought Justin Morneau to the plate. For 16 games Morneau’s bat had not created a home run. Lannan had all the intention in the world of keeping it that way when he released the curveball. "I figured if I threw the same kind of pitch..." Lannan began reminiscing about his first inning double-play inducing curveball, "I shouldn't have thrown that pitch in that same situation. It was a mistake." The mistake pitch, clocked at 72-mph by pitch f/x data, left Morneau’s bat at 107-mph landing over the baggy and 10 rows deep. Hittrackeronline.com categorized Morneau’s 403-foot true distance home run (the Dome estimator says 421) as a No-Doubter, clearing any stadium in professional baseball. "I was looking for something offspeed, he threw it over and I wasn't trying to hit a home run, but I'll take it," the Canadian said.

Some will credit Livan Hernandez for matching Lannan (for the most part) frame by frame, only giving up the double to Paul LoDuca and the subsequent infield hit to Cristian Guzman for the solitary Nationals run. "He's always amazing," Lannan said. "He just throws strikes, and he mixes it up well. He's not overpowering, but he knows how to pitch, and he always has known how to pitch. You always learn something when you watch a guy like that." True, it was a good outing that only required 77 pitches to obtain a victory with a game score of 63, but credit is also deserving of the anemic National offense which is last in the National League with 3.71 runs per game.