Note that these stats do not include yesterday’s afternoon game.

 

Player ABs 2B R HR RBI BB SO OPS
Carlos Gomez 102 6 14 1 7 2 25 .651
Brendan Harris 87 5 13 1 5 6 22 .716
Jason Kubel 97 2 11 4 16 3 20 .639
Mike Lamb 79 6 4 0 11 3 9 .502
Joe Mauer 88 6 16 0 10 9 7 .744
Craig Monroe 47 5 4 1 7 3 15 .726
Justin Morneau 97 4 12 6 22 11 16 .840
Denard Span 31 0 4 0 2 3 6 .582
Matt Tolbert 50 3 5 0 2 3 7 .700
Delmon Young 102 3 13 0 8 6 19 .619

 

 

Surprises: Young with 0 homers, Joe Mauer leading the team in runs, batting average, and tied for the lead in doubles, Lamb with 6 doubles and third on the team with 11 RBI but still having a .502 OPS, Kubel’s low OPS.

I knew Gomez had a bad K/BB ratio so it didn’t surprise me to see that it was 25/2. His 11 stolen bases really help, though. I honestly don’t think it’d help him any to ship him to Rochester.

 

Not on that list is Michael Cuddyer who, despite playing in just 8 games, already has a double, a homer, and 5 RBI. It seems like his injury didn’t really affect his hitting that much, which obviously helps because frankly Kubel hasn’t produced like he should be. Kubel’s 4 homers are nice but his average should be higher than the .239 it is and he should be hitting more doubles. But, things will all even out as the season grows older.

 

Player Games started W IP ER BB SO ERA
Nick Blackburn 5 1 31.3 12 4 15 3.45
Boof Bonser 6 2 36 15 9 22 3.75
Scott Baker 5 2 30 15 5 27 4.50
Livan Hernandez 6 3 35.6 20 7 13 5.05
Francisco Liriano 3 0 10.3 13 13 7 11.32
Kevin Slowey 1 0 3.3 3 0 2 8.10

 

 

Note for innings pitched, a .3 means 1/3 and .6 stands for 2/3 of an inning pitched.

Blackburn has been the team’s “ace” thus far, but I really like Baker’s numbers and if Boof could get run support he could be 5-0. Livan had a few bogus starts and has come back to earth with his 5.05 ERA. Liriano obviously was disappointing but I never expected him to come back and blow everyone away this year. It’s going to be a rough year for him, there’s no doubt about it. He gave up 4 runs and walked more than he struck out in his most recent start, this one at AAA Rochester. Basically expect him to struggle wherever he pitches. Slowey hasn’t pitched enough to really judge.

 

Player ERA IP ER BB SO WHIP
Pat Neshek 3.97 11.3 5 3 11 1.06
Matt Guerrier 4.40 14.3 7 6 8 1.60
Juan Rincon 4.82 9.3 5 3 9 1.29
Jesse Crain 5.40 8.3 5 3 7 1.20
Dennys Reyes 0 8.6 0 2 4 .69
Bobby Korecky 3.38 2.6 1 3 1 1.88
Brian Bass 4.67 17.3 9 6 8 1.56
Joe Nathan .82 11 1 2 11 1.00

 

 

To no surprise, Neshek is our most solid reliever thus far, aside from Nathan (who is 9-9 in save opportunities.) Reyes has also been really good, but nobody else really stands out. Bass has pitched better than his numbers show, in my opinion, as a long reliever/mop up option. Crain and Rincon should get better; their strikeout numbers are normal. Guerrier has been worse than expected, and his nearly even K/BB ratio is cause for a little concern.

 

The Twins are off today before hosting the Tigers on Friday. Hopefully I’ll have a minor league update post for tomorrow, I haven’t really decided yet.