Quote:
Originally Posted by Dru Edwards
What's the turn around with the Twins this year. I know they're hitting a record number of HRs but did they make major additions to their team?
Nothing worse for a Red Sox fan getting beat by a Yankees team that is ahead of them in the standings.
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They made some off season free agent acquisitions that went unnoticed and those guys are paying dividends including a pitcher with a lifetime ERA of mid 4's who added a cutter in the off season and is doing much better than expected (Perez). Hired a new manager (youngest in baseball) and everything just seems to be coming together. They are also leading the league in batting. Polanco is leading the league in average.
Home runs make it so much easier to win and the power game has been lacking for many years, really since the 91 world series team. The first five batters in today's lineup have a combined 50 homers this year, 4 of them have 48! Maybe more importantly the 6th through ninth spots have 27! That kind of home run production completely changes a close game into a blow out with one swing. For years the Twins have been a low run team trying to win with pitching and defense alone. They have 2 games this year where they have hit 8 home runs in a single game, the last time they did that even once in a year was 55 years ago!