Phil Watch: More Twins Love

Just a couple of juicy bits from Phil's offerings this weekend.

The rest was something akin to a shelf full of tchotchkes.

Like how people didn't know who Carl Crawford was until this year, Chase Utley is serious about the All-Star game and Omar Vizquel owns kangaroos.  

Let's get started.

Don't overlook the Twins as a possible playoff team. They are 13-9 against the six teams in first place at the break. Only the Rays (10-6) had a better record, with no one else more than two games better than .500. ... 

Twins reference #465,992 for Phil.

So...we're dealing with Boston, Detroit, the Angels, Philly, St. Louis and the Dodgers.

Here's a list of the starting pitchers the Twins faced in their 13 wins:

Dustin Moseley (bad)

Darren Oliver (not a starter)

Shane Loux (Triple A pitcher)

Edwin Jackson x 2 (good)

Armando Galarraga (bad this year)

Dontrelle Willis (bad for eternity)

Justin Verlander (struck out 13 in 6 1/3)

Lon Lester (had an ERA of 6.07 at the time) 

Daisuke Matsusaka (real bad this year - second best game he pitched)

Adam Wainwright (good)

Joel Piniero (has been good this year)

Rick Porcello (has a 5.09 ERA since the beginning of June)

Now...should it matter that they got three of those wins in early April against the Angels when they had 28 out of a possible 25 players on the DL?

Or that they got the unbelievable fortune of facing Willis and Matsusaka?

Or that they're 0-7 against the Yankees?

Or taking out Edwin Jackson who, to their credit, they beat up, the top 10 guys in ERA in the AL have a 1.98 ERA against the Twins (yeah, I did the work)?  

Or that in the six games against the Royals, they never faced the AL ERA leader Greinke (Sox faced him three times)?

Does all this matter?  Probably not.  Because it's 22 freakin' games!  And as you see, when you get into the details, there are loads of qualifiers that are entirely relevant to the equation.

The Twins are good.  Nobody's "overlooked" the Twins.  But c'mon.  Gotta go beyond 'record against' if you want to make a salient point.

Aaaaand then there's more masturbation to the Twins' Twinsiness.

Count Twins first baseman Justin Morneau among the majority of players unafraid to ask for help. He chose a clever way to prod GM Bill Smith into trying to add reinforcements, saying the "aggressiveness" of the front office could have an impact on Joe Mauer staying in Minnesota after his contract ends in 2010.

"It's frustrating going out every day and hearing that 'We want to win a World Series' and then not seeing more aggressiveness," Morneau said. "Something like that is going to affect his decision more than the value of the contract. We already have all the money we're ever going to need."

Justin Morneau is unafraid and clever for saying such things.

But, in Phil's world, Ryan Braun committed a sin and 'put a bullseye on his GM's back' for doing the EXACT SAME THING two weeks ago:

2. Quick question: Did Ryan Braun send Doug Melvin a thank-you note when the Brewers GM traded for CC Sabathia last season? Has he patted owner Mark Attanasio on the back, both for Braun’s own eight-year, $45-million contract and the team’s willingness to spend to compete? He should have, especially if he’s going to put a bullseye on his GM’s back, saying the team needs more pitching to compete.

Braun was right when he said that Milwaukee doesn’t have the starting pitching to stay with the Cubs. But he didn’t need to point that out, at least not to Melvin. He’s been trying to improve the Brewers’ shaky rotation but doesn’t have a lot of money to spend. There also are not many pitchers on the market, and the teams that have pitching to trade are looking for a lot in return.

Ryan Braun.  You are not nearly Twinsy enough.  At least not as much as the dreamy Justin Morneau.

Phil's flagship column tells us midseason trades rarely pay off, using Rich Harden as case #1 but mentions no others.  Then, toward the end of the column, mentions three that paid off just last year, including one on the World Series winner but says 'most' didn't.  

That's Phil-tastic!