The Rake Magazine

When Scott Baker pitches a game like that, dammit all to hell, you have to find a way to win.

Hell, when anybody pitches a game like that for you, you have to find a way to win.

The Twins have won eight of their last twelve, and just went in and won two of three in Detroit, and they've still somehow managed to lose ground in the standings.

Not somehow, actually; Cleveland just keeps winning.

"We have a game plan and we're sticking to it. Guys are walking, guys are getting in hitting counts. Not being defensive." So said Michael Cuddyer after Saturday afternoon's game. Yeah? Really? Where was this game plan against Jeremy Bonderman? The guy was throwing his slider out of the strike zone all night and the Twins were flailing away at it like there was no tomorrow.

By the way: Sunday was the thirteenth time this season the Twins have scored one or fewer runs.

If you're the sort of fan who has an appreciation for both the home team and the history of the sport, today's Twins/Jays finale was a pretty fabulous proposition all around, particularly if you were one of the 31,038 folks in attendance at the Dome to see Frank Thomas' 500th home run in an 8-5 loss to the home club.

I still get a little thrill out of baseball's statistical milestones. For those of us who grew up with a Baseball Encyclopedia next to the bed, who lived for the annual arrival of the Bill James' Baseball Abstract, and who felt that our lives would never be truly complete without a visit to Cooperstown, that short list of individual achievements that, regardless of team success, conferred immediate baseball immortality were firmly cemented in our brains: 3000 hits, 500 home runs, 300 wins.

There is now considerable argument regarding whether 500 homers should still be regarded the benchmark for inclusion in the Hall of Fame. When you really think hard about that number, though, it's difficult not to dismiss the grousing of those who would pooh-pooh the credentials of the latest members of the club. Granted, the steroid issue has cast a rather large shadow over the game's relatively recent power explosion, and though Thomas was just the 21st Major Leaguer to reach 500, there are a number of guys --Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, and Alex Rodriguez-- who are likely to join Thomas on that list this season.

Still, shit, 500 home runs. That's ten fifty-homer seasons, or twenty seasons of twenty-five. I guess when you're a Twins fan those numbers still seem mind boggling. 600 may be, as some claim, the new 500, but not right now it's not, and I say 500 remains a mighty impressive feat, even with all the question marks --juice, juiced balls, diluted pitching, smaller parks.

It's also pretty fabulous that on the same day that Thomas hit number 500, Craig Biggio became the 27th player in history to reach 3000 hits. Again, when you break that number down into single-season benchmarks, it's pretty impressive: 3000 hits translates into fifteen 200-hit seasons. In other words, a guy has to play a long time, and be pretty damn consistent and pretty damn good to get there. Biggio, of course, has long been a favorite of stat-heads, and there should be no real argument about his Hall of Fame credentials; he's always played a key defensive position, for one thing, and is the only player in major-league history to have 600 doubles, 250 home runs (286), 3,000 hits, and 400 stolen bases.

Barry Bonds will probably reach 3000 hits as well, but after that we might be waiting a long time for another player to reach 3000. The active career leaders list is filled with old guys --following Biggio and Bonds on the list are Julio Franco, Steve Finley, Omar Vizquel, Ken Griffey, Gary Sheffield, and Luis Gonzalez, and all of those guys are somewhere in the range of 400-600 hits away. Derek Jeter had 2150 hits going into this season, and Alex Rodriquez had 2067.

The most impressive --and likely the most increasingly elusive-- number at this point is 300 wins. Tom Glavine will get there this year. Randy Johnson is next on the active list with 284 wins, and after him there's a huge drop off to Mike Mussina, with 242 wins. Assuming Johnson eventually reaches 300 --and that's assuming quite a lot right now-- I think it's possible we'll never see another 300-game winner. Glavine will be the 23rd player to achieve the milestone, and in this era of pitch counts, relief specialists, band boxes, and explosive offense, 300 wins is all the more impressive. Again, to break it down by single-season achievement, that number translates to fifteen twenty-win seasons. How many starters even manage to stay healthy and productive enough to last fifteen seasons in the Major Leagues anymore?

Maybe this will put it in perspective: at the age of 28, Johan Santana has 86 wins. If he pitches another ten years and manages to win 20 games a season that would leave him with 286 victories. How likely do you think that is to happen?

How messed up is it that a guy --Pat Neshek in this instance-- can come in with runners at second and third and nobody out, give up a sacrifice fly, yet nonetheless retire every batter he faces, and get a blown save out of the deal?

That whole game was sort of messed up, really. The older I get the more I've come to despise pitcher's duels; or maybe it's just that the Twins seem to find themselves turning up on the losing end of pitcher's duels on a fairly regular basis, and these days the very term "pitcher's duel" usually just means the Twins aren't scoring any runs. Which is frustrating and entirely too common of late.

Still, you have to tip your hat to Scott Baker and the club's bullpen: twelve innings pitched, four hits, fifteen strikeouts, and one walk. The bullpen's line was pretty staggering: five IP, zero hits, zero walks, and six strikeouts. Ron Gardenhire and Rick Anderson are going to have to cross their fingers, though, for a solid (and long) outing from Boof Bonser tomorrow, because the entire bullpen's pretty tapped out after the first two games against the Blue Jays.

The really good news tonight is that the Tigers lost, allowing the Twins to gain a game in the Central standings.

I'm starting to wonder about which Twins might be All Star selections, and am beginning to suspect that this might be one of those years where, despite a bunch of pretty worthy candidates, Minnesota might end up with only one or two picks. Johan Santana's on track to pitch the last game in Chicago before the break, and as deserving as he is, I can't imagine Jim Leyland taking a guy he can't really use. And given how much time he missed, should Mauer get serious consideration?

Right now I think you could make a case for any of the following (in descending order of merit, and throwing out Santana's scheduling conflict): Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau, Santana, Pat Neshek (a dark horse, I realize, but I really think set-up guys should get full consideration), Joe Nathan, Mauer, and Luis Castillo.

I'm guessing Hunter and Morneau will go, and, if Leyland thinks he can afford a symbolic pick based entirely on respect, Santana.

That one felt...I don't know, it felt bad, I guess, like a game in late September with hope sliding away with every pitch and a cold autumn rain beating the leaves from the trees along the boulevards (cue Barber's "Adagio for Strings").

Maybe that's just because it was a Friday night, and Friday nights don't mean much when you get to be a sour old bastard who doesn't go anywhere and depends on baseball to get him through the otherwise blank stretch of another weekend.

Those games in the eastern time zone are also a sort of panicky proposition; you know that once the game is over there is still going to be a whole lot of hobbled Friday night clock to kill.

It was a grim game all around, I suppose, or at least feels that way after the fact. The Twins actually managed to score first --an increasing rarity-- but then in characteristic fashion proceeded to scuffle their way through six scoreless innings as Boof Bonser let the Marlins chip away and build a 4-1 lead. As has so often been the case with Minnesota's starters, Bonser pitched well enough to win but also just poorly enough to lose. Most nights of late that usually means the latter proposition, and Boof was yanked after six innings despite having thrown only 66 pitches --fucking National League rules.

I'm not quite sure why Juan Rincon was in the game in the first place, but I really have no idea why he was sent out to the mound for a second inning after the Twins managed to tie the score in the eighth. From what I understand Ron Gardenhire admitted he fucked up in his post-game remarks. That's big of him, and I understand a manager might be a tad bit preoccupied when his MVP first baseman is coughing up blood in the dugout.

Still. Juan Rincon? After his last couple outings? When the entire bullpen was rested and ready to go? Big mistake. Costly mistake.

I have no idea how severe the Morneau situation is (a bruised lung, I just heard), but when a guy is wheeled away on a stretcher with an oxygen mask over his face that can never be much of a good thing for a team's morale or prospects. Particularly on the night Kenny Rogers returned to the Detroit rotation and pitched like he'd never missed a start, pushing the Twins six-and-a-half back in the Central.

Finally, should the Twins trade Torii Hunter? All of sudden that's all anyone wants to talk about, and the whole thing just depresses me at this point, so I'll just say, sure, why not? Trade the man. Let's get it over with. I'm tired of hearing about it.

The first two games of the Mets series were a perfect snapshot of the Twins' see-saw season to date: An 8-1 loss and a 9-0 victory in the span of 24 hours. Five hits one night, thirteen the next. Go figure.

Actually, if the season ended today, you could put the last eleven games in a time capsule as a condensed version of the sort of maddening team the Twins have been all year. They lost two-of-three to a dreadful Washington club (and, in typical fashion, looked hopeless against a couple of stiffs in the process), swept a decent Atlanta team, lost two-of-three to Milwaukee, and then split the first two games of the New York series in absolutely schizoid fashion.

What was the difference tonight?

Beats the hell out of me. Gardenhire swapped Jeff Cirillo for Nick Punto, and Cirillo proceeded to go 3-5 with a run and an rbi. At least for one night that looked like a pretty smart move, and given that Cirillo is a career .298 hitter you kind of wonder why it took so long to give it a shot.

And the Mets, of course, committed four errors and looked anxious all night against Santana.

This much seems certain: We're not likely to see Santana put together such a strange --if nonetheless very attractive-- pitching line (complete game shutout, four hits, 92 pitches, and one strike out) any time soon.