Road Warriors

It looks as though the Twins bench will continue to change in the coming days, thanks to nagging injuries and inconsistent performances. But despite his recent struggles, Tolbert still deserves a spot on the roster, and I'm glad to see he's kept it. His poor overall batting numbers (.265 OBP, .522 OPS) hurt his case, but he's batting much better in clutch situations than his potential replacements at second base. His .788 OPS with runners in scoring position dwarfs that of Casilla (.409), Punto (.591), and Harris (.693), and his 5.38 Range Factor / 9 (consistent with his 5.40 in 2008) at second trumps Harris's 4.54 (4.42 in 2008) and is comparable to Casilla's 5.74 (which may be considered an outlier when compared with his 2008 4.78 and career 4.97). Simply put, he's good when he needs to be. Plus, he's versatile, fast, and a switch hitter. Hopefully continued time in the field will bring him back to last year's form at the plate.

Weekend Notes:

• The Twins stuck out 15 times on Saturday, the most since 2000.

• Garza is still a talented head case.

• Jason Kubel has struck out in half of his plate appearances since the win against the Sox on Wednesday.
  

• Justin Morneau has 47 RBI (3rd in AL) and 13 home runs (4th in AL) and it's not even June. At this point (after 52 games) in 2006 - his MVP season - he had 38 RBI and 11 home runs. He was batting just .237 (.751 OPS), however, and brought his average up to .321 (.934 OPS) by the end of the season. All of these numbers suggest he's playing T-Ball this year.

Finally, here are the GameDay images from the HRs given up by Baker and Liriano in their losses. Blue balls are home runs and painful.

Baker:










Liriano:










And here's my "Guide to Not Giving Up Home Runs":
Step:1 Don't leave the ball middle-in.


The Twins have an off-day tomorrow before heading back to the Dome.