The Rake Magazine

Johan Santana had a 6.35 earned run average after the season opener, and then proceeded to lower his ERA in nine straight starts. From May 17-28 he suffered a little hiccup --during that span he went from an ERA of 3.23 to 3.47-- but since then he has lowered it again in six consecutive starts.

When you consider that Santana's ERA stood at 5.71 on April 15, and is now at an American League-leading 2.59, it's pretty astonishing. The guy has shaved more than three runs off his earned run average in two-and-a-half months.

This is pretty telling, from Jayson Stark at ESPN:

Normally, it's not quite we-interrupt-this-program news when a DH hits a home run. But when Twins DH Jason Kubel homered June 13, that was a major development.

Why? Because it was the first home run all year by any Twins starting DH. Michael Cuddyer homered, while pinch-hitting for the DH, on April 19. But it took a mind-boggling 63 games for a starting DH to make a trot. Which caused loyal reader Kris Breuing to wonder if that set some kind of record for "DH wimpiness."

Turns out: Did it ever.

According to Elias, that's the most consecutive homerless games by any team's starting DHs since the invention of DH-ness in 1973. The old record was held by...the Twins (who needed 47 games in 1990). Elsewhere in the division, White Sox starting DHs (i.e. Jim Thome) hit 21 homers before Twins DHs hit any.

Jim Souhan pretty much nailed it.

And you know all of this, but it bears repeating nonetheless:

The Twins have now won fourteen out of fifteen, and six straight. Nine straight wins at home. Six straight series wins. 12-2 in interleague play.

Francisco Liriano is 8-1, with four straight wins.

Joe Mauer's five hits last night --and nine in the last two games-- raised his Major League best batting average to .389 and gave him one hundred hits in sixty-eight games.

Meanwhile, the five teams in the mighty AL Central have won seventeen straight games, and all three clubs at the top of the division are 10-1 in their last eleven.

It would be discouraging if it wasn't so damn amazing and so much fun to watch.

Also, how do you explain the Tigers, who limped in at 71-91 in 2005? They're 53-25 so far in 2006, and have won fifteen of their last seventeen. Kenny Rogers, who gave the Twins the same sort of boost in 2003, is 10-3 with a 3.44 ERA. The guy has now won at least ten games in a season fourteen times in his career.

All five of Detroit's starting pitchers have ERAs under four, and the team has six guys on a pace to hit at least twenty homeruns.

Like I said, and like people all over the place are saying, it's absolutely amazing.

The Hidden Ball trick (from the fabulous Retrosheet), via The Hardball Times.

Check out Frank Crosetti's impressive run from 1936 to 1940.

The Twins, by the way, have been victimized three times.

Justin doesn't cut it.

Every high school football and soccer team in America has a half dozen Justins on its roster, and the name reeks of suburban privilege. It's a boy-band name, and I'd love to see Justin Morneau go in a different direction.

Granted, the big Canuck seems to be doing just fine right now, but he does have other options in the name department. He was, after all, born Justin Ernest George Morneau, and either of the lad's two middle names would be preferable to his current handle.

George Morneau is decent, certainly, if a bit flat-faced and bland. And Ernest Morneau would be a solid name for a Canadian novelist or outdoor columnist, but is perhaps a little too stolid for a modern day slugger.

Ernie, though, Ernie Morneau; there's a good baseball name. It has a nice throwback ring to it, and would be perfectly suitable for a heavyweight boxer, a barroom brawler, or a Major League masher.

I'm guessing Ernie Morneau would hit ten to fifteen more homeruns a year than Justin Morneau.

Easily.

Guillen also told Couch that he has gay friends, attends WNBA games, went to a Madonna concert and plans to go to the Gay Games in Chicago.