My American League All-Star Picks

With the midseason break approaching, time to give my picks for the American League All-Star team starters.

Catcher
Joe Mauer (MIN) - Mauer is the real easy choice here. He currently sits 2nd in the AL in batting average, he's showed his usual great plate patience (.410 OBP is also second in the AL), and he's been a solid doubles hitter. We're still waiting for the homerun power to come on a semi-consistent basis, but he's still indisputably the best catcher in the AL.
Other Options: Dioner Navarro (TB)
Actual Pick: Joe Mauer

First Base
Kevin Youkilis (BOS) - I feel much less sure on this one... Jason Giambi has been a better hitter, but he has a lot less ABs and less value in the field. Youkilis has been a little better hitter than Justin Morneau, but Morneau has almost 40 more PAs. In the end, Youkilis is my choice... he's been his typical self getting on base at a .375 clip, and he's hitting for good power this year, with 13 HR and 22 2B. Plus, as always, he plays solid defense at 1B.
Other Options: Justin Morneau (MIN), Jason Giambi (NYY)
Actual Pick: Kevin Youkilis

Second Base
Ian Kinsler (TEX) - Again, a pretty easy choice here. Of all regular 2B in the AL, Kinsler has the highest average, gets on base the most, and has hit for (easily) the most power. He's even stolen 23 bases while only getting thrown out once. Brian Roberts has been very good as well, but Kinsler is hitting for a lot more power and stealing bases more effectively.
Other Options: Brian Roberts (BAL)
Actual Pick: Dustin Pedroia (BOS)

Third Base
Alex Rodriguez (NYY) - No surprise that A-Rod is once again the best 3B in the AL. The man in a machine, and continues to be one of (if not the) top all-around players in the MLB. He's in the top 6 in lots of major offensive categories, including #2 in OPS.
Other Options: Mike Lowell (BOS), Evan Longoria (TB)
Actual Pick: Alex Rodriguez

Shortstop
Michael Young (TEX) - Honestly, not a lot of inspiring choices for AL SS. I think Young has probably been the best of a pretty mediocre bunch of AL SS's this year.
Other Options: Derek Jeter (NYY), Jhonny Peralta (CLE)
Actual Pick: Derek Jeter (NYY)

Outfield
Grady Sizemore (CLE) - Sizemore continues to be one of the best all-around players in the MLB, despite playing for an underachieving Indians team. Sizemore's average is down a bit this year, but he is still working the count to get on base, and is leading the AL in HR as of this writing. He combines that with good defense in CF, and 20 SB (only caught 3 times). Sizemore does it all on the baseball field.

Josh Hamilton (TEX) - Hamilton is one of the best stories in the MLB, and he's made it even better by becoming one of the most dangerous hitters in the AL. He's hitting for average (top 10 in AL) and power (2nd in HR, top 5 in SLG), and is far and away leading the AL in RBI with 85 as of this writing. His numbers are skewed a bit because of the ballpark he plays in (his home/road splits are pretty ugly), but he's still my choice.

JD Drew (BOS) - Drew is playing like he finally deserves that big contract, as he's been one of the best hitters in the AL so far this year. His OPS easily is tops among AL OFs with enough ABs to qualify. He's 3rd in the League in SLG, and he's getting on base at an excellent clip, also 3rd in the American League.

Other Options: Carlos Quentin (CHI), Jermaine Dye (CHI), Nick Markakis (BAL)
Actual Picks: Josh Hamilton, Manny Ramirez (BOS), Ichiro Suzuki (SEA)

Designated Hitter
Milton Bradley (TEX) - No contest here whatsoever. Bradley has likely been the best hitter in the American League so far this season, and is definitely far and away above the other DH candidates. If you were going to bet on baseball, what were the odds you could have gotten if you would have picked Milton Bradley to be leading the AL in OPS at the midway point?
Actual Pick: David Ortiz (BOS)

What would your picks be?

Grading the Fan Vote - American League

Now that that rosters are [mostly] picked, it's time to evaluate how the fans did in voting for the starters. I'll use the A-F grading scale, using my very subjective analysis.

Catcher: Ivan Rodriguez
Grade: F
Explanation: These days, Pudge isn't even one of the 5 best catchers in the AL. His AVG is still a respectable .280, but his OBP is less than .300 (thanks to a pathetic 4 BB on the year), and he's not hitting for that much power either. Jorge Posada, Victor Martinez, Joe Mauer, Kenji Johjima, and Jason Varitek all would have been better choices.

First Base: David Ortiz
Grade: A
Explanation: He's not really a first basemen, but he qualifies there on the ballot and he is deserving of this spot. You could certainly make a case for his teammate Kevin Youkilis (maybe the biggest snub), Casey Kotchman, Justin Morneau, or maybe even Mark Teixeira (though he has missed time), but Ortiz has been very good at the plate, as usual. I have no problems with this choice.

Second Base: Placido Polanco
Grade: C
Explanation: I don't think Polanco was the right choice, but it's not as bad as the choice of Pudge. Polanco has at least been above average. BJ Upton and Dustin Pedroia have both been better than Polanco, but they have considerably less ABs than him. The best choice, I think, would have been Brian Roberts, who is getting on base at a better than .400 clip and hitting for more power than Polanco.

Third Base: Alex Rodriguez
Grade: A
Explanation: It's simply not even close.

Shortstop: Derek Jeter
Grade: B
Explanation: I think Carlos Guillen has clearly been the best SS in the AL so far this year, but Jeter has probably been 2nd best, so he's not a terrible choice. You could probably make a case that Jeter has been more valuable overall, as he is getting on base more and has nearly 60 more ABs. So I'd take Guillen definitely, but Jeter is at least a rational choice.

Outfield: Magglio Ordonez
Grade: A
Explanation: He's been one of the top 2 hitters in the AL all season long (along with A-Rod), so he is the obvious and right choice here. He's getting on base at a great rate and has a ton of doubles. He's one of the top candidates for MVP of the first half of the year.

Outfield: Vladimir Guerrero
Grade: A
Explanation: Among AL outfielders in terms of hitting, there is Magglio and Vlad, and then there is everyone else. Vlad has shown surprisingly good patience, giving him a .423 OBP at this point, and continues to hit for solid power.

Outfield: Ichiro Suzuki
Grade: A-
Explanation: There are a couple other possibilities here, such as Torii Hunter or Curtis Granderson (another large snub), but Ichiro is a pretty good choice. He's getting on base a ton and playing very good defense in CF. It's be nice if he would hit for more power, but he has been very valuable so far.

So overall, pretty nice picks. I would say 2 picks were blatantly wrong, and maybe 2-3 more were questionable. All in all, that's pretty good.

What are your thoughts on the picks?

My American League All-Stars (so far)

We're a little over a third of the way through the season, so I figured it was a good time to post my AL All-Stars if the game were today. I'll try to post the NL ones in a couple days, but for now, well, hopefully this is enough.

Catcher: Jorge Posada (NYY)
Victor Martinez has been good as well, but the mini-Renaissance from Posada puts him in front. Martinez has more HR and RBI than Posada, but Posada has a huge doubles edge which actually gives him the advantage in SLG, to go along with a 30 point edge in OBP. Joe Mauer would have been his recent injury knocks him out of it.

First Base: Kevin Youkilis (BOS)
This was a bit of shocker for me when I was doing research, but Youkilis has been outstanding (if only I could have bet on that at the sportsbook). I imagine there could be some disagreement because he doesn't have the HR and RBI numbers of some other guys (such as reigning MVP Justin Morneau), but Youkilis gets on base at an excellent .428 clip, and his .536 SLG is nothing to sneeze at. He is actually 6th in the AL in OPS.

Second Base: BJ Upton (TB)
He's not quite a defensive whiz at 2B, but his offensive effort has been quite sterling. His OBP is nearly .400, his SLG is in the mid 500s, and he's even stole 13 bases. Maybe he's not a Gold Glover defensively, but his offense more than makes up for it.

Third Base: Alex Rodriguez (NYY)
This one doesn't even really need any explanation. A-Rod has been far and away the best 3B in the AL so far.

Shortstop: Carlos Guillen (DET)
The talent in the AL at SS is not nearly as strong as the NL talent, but the cupboard is not totally bare. Really, any of Carlos Guillen, Jhonny Peralta, Derek Jeter, and Orlando Cabrera are viable choices here, but I go with Guillen. Jeter gets on base more, Peralta hits more HR, and Cabrera plays better defense, but Guillen combines them all the best.

Outfield: Magglio Ordonez (DET)
Magglio has been the best hitter in the MLB so far, so of course he gets the nod in one of the OF spots. His average is great, he's getting on base a ton, and he's hitting for lots of power (over 40 XBH). At age 33 Ordonez is having by far his best year and is the AL MVP at this point.

Outfield: Vladimir Guerrero (LAA)
Magglio has been the bestr, but Guerrero isn't too far behind. Guerrero has been very patient at the plate so far, and surprisingly is first in the AL in OBP right now. Of course, he's still hitting for power, just not as much as Ordonez.

Outfield: Torii Hunter (MIN)
Gary Sheffield's recent surge has him way up there, but Hunter gets the nod for his offense and defense. He's having a career year at the plate, and as his foot has healed from last year he has returned to his great form in CF. He doesn't get on base as well as Sheffield, but has hit for more power than him so far this year and has made up the rest of the difference in the field.

Designated Hitter: David Ortiz (BOS)
Regular readers of this blog might know I'm a big fan of Travis Hafner, but Ortiz has just been clearly better so far. His power is down a little bit from last year, but he is 2nd in the AL in OBP and is still slugging over .600. He has been excellent in picking up the slack for Manny Ramirez.

Starting Pitcher: Dan Haren (OAK)
Haren's the easy choice here, with his ERA currently sitting at 1.70. He has a very good 3.33 K/BB ratio, is striking out 7 hitters per 9 innings, and is just not giving up many hits. His DIPS ERA suggests that this won't quite last, but he's been really good so far, best in the AL.

Any disagreements?

Fantasy Baseball Ranking: Catchers

There's a good chance that eventually I will group some positions together, but for now let's just look exclusively at the Catchers. For brevity's sake, I'll just give my top 15 with a short comment for each. Feel free to interject at any time (by leaving a comment, or even an email, if I offend you too much).

1. Joe Mauer (MIN) - Quite simply, Mauer is the best catcher in the MLB. He was the MLB batting champ last season, and should just be coming into his own as far as power is concerned. He had 36 2B and 13 HR, and both of those should go up as he gets closer to his prime. He's also the #3 hitter in the order, meaning plenty of chances to get RBI or get knocked in by Justin Morneau and Mike Cuddyer. And if all of that is not enough, Ron Gardenhire frequently makes Mauer the DH on the days he's not catching. That's really good for fantasy purposes.
2. Victor Martinez (CLE) - I feel Mauer is the #1 fantasy catcher, but if you like Martinez more, I can't argue too much. At this point he doesn't get on base as much as Mauer, but maybe has a slight, slight power edge. Another thing you have to like with Martinez is that he sucks defensively... meaning the Indians will play him more at 1B, which helps to stop wear and tear.
3. Brian McCann (ATL) - McCann was pretty awesome last year, batting .333 while hitting for very good power (24 HR). He's like 1C for fantasy catching purposes... you can't go wrong with Mauer, Martinez, or McCann, because both are excellent and are young enough that they could be even better this year.
4. Kenji Johjima (SEA) - Johjima quietly put together a nice rookie campaign last season, batting .291 with 44 XBH and 76 RBI. Now that he's more acclimated to the MLB, he should be even better in year 2.
5. Mike Piazza (OAK) - Piazza is obviously not the hitter he used to be, but that's ok. He should be doing a lot of DHing in Oak-town, which will be great since he still has catcher eligibility. He hit .283 with 22 HR last year in 400 ABs in an extreme pitcher's park in a pitcher's league. People are overlooking him some because of his age, but I think he'll be excellent this year.
6. Ivan Rodriguez (DET) - He's another guy that's getting older, but he did hit .300 once again last season. Also, with guys like Magglio Ordonez and the extremely underrated Carlos Guillen near him in the lineup, he should be able to provide another solid season of production.
7. Ramon Hernandez (BAL) - Hernandez adapted very well to Baltimore last season, with 23 HR, 91 RBI, and a solid .275 AVG. With the lineup around him and the fact the hitter's ballpark in Baltimore, good things should again be in store.
8. Michael Barrett (CHIN) - Barrett hit over .300 last year with 16 HR, a respectable amount. With some improvements to the Cubs offense (overrated as Soriano may be), it's not inconceivable to see a little boost for Barrett, which puts him definitely in the top 10.
9. Jorge Posada (NYY) - Posada has been around seemingly forever, but he's still productive for now. He hit 23 HR last year and racked up 93 RBI. He was much better in 2006 than 2005, so we'll see if that's just a one-year final gasp, or if he's still a top 5 catcher. I'm betting somewhere in between.
10. AJ Pierzynski (CHIA) - I feel like I'm repeating myself here... near .300 average for Pierzynski, mid-teens in HR, and mid twenties for doubles. He should also get solid RBI opportunities because there are some superb hitters in front of him in the Sox lineup.
11. Russell Martin (LAD) - Martin had a very nice rookie year for the Dodgers, with 26 2B, 65 R, and 65 RBI in only 121 games. Barring a sophomore slump, he could be a nice sleeper here.
12. Paul Lo Duca (NYM) - I still think Lo Duca is a little overrated, but he hit for a high average, had a good amount of doubles, and scored a lot of runs due to batting 2nd in a good lineup. I suspect that .318 average will drop some, but he sure does have a lot of protection in that lineup.
13. Jason Varitek (BOS) - Varitek may be a great gamecaller, but he was really bad at the plate last season. He only batted .238 and his power numbers were down. He was battling some injuries, so I'm sure that contributed, but he needs to bounce back offensively.
14. Johnny Estrada (MIL) - Estrada's always been a guy to hit for a pretty good average and get in the mid-20s in doubles. We pretty much know what to expect from him.
15. Javy Lopez (COL) - I know his numbers from last year aren't all that inspiring, but playing half your games in Coors Field tends to be a big help to offensive stats.

What changes would you make to these rankings?

This is why I place no significance in MLB Awards

Here's a quote from Aarom Gleeman that pretty much tells me all I need to know about the MVP Awards process:

The single most ridiculous of those five Mauer-less ballots without question comes from Joe Cowley, who covers the White Sox for the Chicago Sun-Times. Cowley somehow couldn't find a place for the MLB batting champion on his ballot, but did see fit to include a different catcher: Chicago's own A.J. Pierzynski (whom Cowley no doubt relied upon for juicy quotes throughout the season). For those of you wondering, here's how the two catchers compare:

Mauer beat Pierzynski by 52 points in batting average, 96 points in on-base percentage, and 71 points in slugging percentage, all while coming to the plate 65 more times. Mauer also caught the league's second-best pitching staff and threw out 38 percent of would-be basestealers, while Pierzynski caught a staff that surrendered 111 more runs and threw out just 22 percent of basestealers. Faced with that overwhelming evidence, Cowley gave Pierzynski a 10th-place vote and left Mauer off his ballot.

John Hickey of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer also left Mauer off his ballot, yet found room for Mariners left fielder Raul Ibanez, whose OPS was 67 points lower than Mauer's without even accounting for the massive difference in their defensive value. Joe Roderick, who covers the A's for the Contra Costa Times, left Mauer off his ballot while giving a second-place vote to Oakland's Frank Thomas and a 10th-place vote to Tejada, who won his aforementioned 2002 AL MVP with the A's.

Even Jason Williams, who covered Mauer all season for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, narrowly found room for him on his ballot with a 10th-place vote. Among the nine players Williams deemed more valuable than Mauer were four designated hitters. That's right, one of two Twins beat writers given a vote for AL MVP felt that four guys who didn't even play defense were more valuable than a Gold Glove-caliber catcher who batted .347. For better or worse, these are the people who made Morneau MVP.

2006 American League Awards

I don't have the energy to put all this all in one post, and it would get very long, so I'll just cut it in half, and go for the American League awards now:

MVP
More than any other year, there are lots and lots of legitimate candidates. Heck, I've seen guys that are as high as 1 and as low as 8 or 9 on some ballots... the class is that strong. Before he got hurt, I would have put Travis Hafner as my MVP. Obviously he doesn't play defense, but he was the best hitter in the American League this year when he was healthy. Manny Ramirez was also fantastic at the plate, but he had even less ABs than Hafner.

The toughest thing about this crop of candidates is that all of them are so similiar... Hafner, David Ortiz, Justin Morneau, Jim Thome, Frank Thomas, etc. For the most part, they're very good hitting 1B/DH. Other than Morneau, none of those guys contributes at all in the field.

Then there's the guys that contribute greatly not only at the plate but in the field. Joe Mauer is a gold-glove caliaber backstop, Derek Jeter plays an average SS, Grady Sizemore is a great defensive CF, and Jermaine Dye has a cannon in right. Personally I tend to favor these guys a bit (as you'll notice).

So who's my MVP? I'll give you a hint, he put up a .429 OBP while playing catcher. To a lot of Twins fans, Joe Mauer wasn't even the MVP of the Twins... but I'd obviously disagree. Mauer was the rock in the lineup, posting a great OBP at #3. Also, while he didn't hit a lot of HR, he did hit a good amount of doubles, which helped contribute to a solid SLG. He finished 7th in the league in OPS (right above Morneau). Oh yeah, and he played great defense at the most demanding defensive position.

1. Joe Mauer
2. Derek Jeter
3. Grady Sizemore
4. Jermaine Dye
5. Johan Santana

Cy Young
There's really no debate up top. Johan led the league in Wins, ERA, Ks, and IP. If he doesn't win the Cy, we'll know for sure the award is a sham. This should be his 3rd straight, but I guess I'll have to settle for #2.

After that is where things start to get real hazy. Kelvim Escobar (11-14) is 6th in the league in ERA. CC Sabathia, John Lackey, and Mike Mussina also deserve some consideration.

But the other factor is closers. Normally, I would say closers don't deserve to be in the discussion. Pitching 70 innings is just not as valuable as pitching 200 innings. However, some things are at work here. For one, there were a lot of legitimately great closers this year. K-Rod, Mariano Rivera, Jonathon Papelbon, Joe Nathan, BJ Ryan, and JJ Putz were all unvelievable this year. Combine that with mediocre starting pitching, and I think some closers deserve to at least be in the discussion.

1. Johan Santana
2. Roy Halladay
3. Mike Mussina
4. JJ Putz
5. CC Sabathia

Rookie of the Year
If only Francisco Liriano hadn't gotten hurt. Then we'd be talking about him as the easy ROY and a Cy Young candidate. He was that dominant this year. But there's no need to dwell on the past. Health was a big issue for the class... Papelbon also missed extensive time. Which I why I like Verlander the one pitcher to throw over 125 innings, and he threw 186. That's a huge margin.

After that, Liriano and Weaver were great in about 120 innings. Papelbon was lights out in the pen. Ditto for Joel Zumaya. In any other year, these guys are worthy winners. Nick Markakis was excellent as well. But I think the top 5 spots all belong to pitchers this year, who, if healthy, can wreak havoc in the AL for year.

1. Justin Verlander
2. Jonathon Papelbon
3. Francisco Liriano
4. Jered Weaver
5. Joel Zumaya

Any egregious errors?

Who should be starting in the All-Star Game: American League

And I'm back from my mini-break, fresh with my AL list of who should be starting the All-Star game.

But before I give that, let me say some words. Despite some obviously poor choices at some spots by the fans, I'm ok with the fans voting for the starters. After all, it should be about what the fans want to see. The only problem is that if you do that, you can't have the All-Star game count for anything. Including home-field adantage for the winning team. On one hand, you're sending the message that it's an exhibition by letting the fans vote who they want, but then on the other hand you're making it count for something. You can't have your cake and eat it too.

On another note, I liked the point that Harold Reynolds made on Baseball Tonight... maybe it's time to stop having the managers pick the teams. Let them manage the game (Ozzie earned that right with winning the World Series), but some of the choices are so bad that they really shouldn't be picking the team. /rant

Now let's get on with it. Here's the guys that should be starting at each position:

Catcher
Who it is: Ivan Rodriguez
Who it should be: Joe Mauer
Why? Ok, I admit that I am unbashed Mauer guy, but really, this one is obvious. I wrote earlier that he's the best catcher in the MLB, and he hasn't really done anything to change my mind. Let me just put it this way, Mauer's Batting AVG is 66 points better than Pudge's OBP. Oh yeah, and he slugs better as well. Not even close.

First Base
Who it is: David Ortiz
Who it should be: Travis Hafner
Why? If you consider David Ortiz a 1B, then so is Hafner. And Hafner has probably been the best hitter in the AL so far this year. Hafner's AVG, OBP, and SLG are all well above Ortiz', and he doesn't even play in a big hitter's park like Fenway. It's a shame when the best hitter in the League doesn't make the All-Star team (barring the 32nd man vote)

Second Base
Who it is: Mark Loretta
Who it should be: Brian Roberts
Why? Well, Roberts has simply been the 2B so far this year in the AL. Of course, he was injured so he doesn't have the AB that some other guys do, and I could certainly buy that argument for not putting him on there. Jose Lopez is slugging a lot better, but Roberts' .378 OBP is tops among 2B in the AL.

Third Base
Who it is: Alex Rodriguez
Who it should be: Alex Rodriguez
Why? You could make a case for Troy Glaus because of the power numbers, but the nod goes to Alex Rodriguez. He's not having quite his normal power year, but he still gets on base at a nice rate, and he plays good defense at the hot corner. The fans got it right here.

Shortstop
Who it is: Derek Jeter
Who it should be: Derek Jeter
Why? I could definitely see an argument for guys like Carlos Guillen or Miguel Tejada (don't look now, but Guillen has the highest OPS of the group), but I'd stick with Jeter. No, he doesn't play good defense, and he hasn't hit for a ton of power, but he does get on base. His .425 OBP is 6th in the American League, which is superb for a SS.

Outfield
Who it is: Manny Ramirez
Who it should be: Manny Ramirez
Why? Manny's just Manny, which is to say he's been one of the top hitters in the American League this year. He's getting on base at a great clip, and his .621 SLG is 4th in the American League. No, the defense isn't really up to par, but he's been more than good enough at the plate to make up for it.

Who it is: Vladimir Guerrero
Who it should be: Jermaine Dye
Why? Vlad got in strictly on reputation here, because he is not having an All-Star type year (18th in AL in OPS among OF). Meanwhile, Jermaine Dye has been superb for the Sox, as he's 5th in the AL in SLG at .606. He's cranked out 20 HR, his OBP is almost .400, and he's been one of the 3 best OF in the AL so far.

Who it is: Ichiro Suzuki
Who it should be: Vernon Wells
Why? Like Vlad, Ichiro gets in here because of his reputation. He's a great singles hitter and gets on base at a very good rate (and plays great defense), but the power gap between him and a guy like Vernon Wells is too much to ignore. Wells is slugging over 150 points higher than Ichiro, and is playing top notch defense in CF. He deserves the starting nod.

National League tomorrow!

The best catcher in the MLB? 23 year-old Joe Mauer

At age 23, his 3rd year in the MLB, one thing is clear about Joe Mauer - he has become the best all-around catcher in the MLB.

The proof is in the pudding. With a batting average of .384, he leads the MLB. After Friday's game, he has a .984 OPS, which is almost .100 points better than any other catcher in the MLB. That number is also #8 in AL.

His homerun power is not great at this point - he has 5 HR this year and is on pace for 14, but he has hit 117 doubles, which puts him at 7th in the AL, and on pace to hit 49 for the year. Showing his athleticism, he's even gotten 6 SB this year. He's got a great eye at the plate, with 24 BB against 21 K, which has his OBP sitting at .440, #3 in the American League behind Jason Giambi and Travis Hafner.

Defensively, he's thrown out 11 of 27 base stealers for a 40.7% clip, which is 5th in the MLB. He's got a RF of 8.02 (2nd in the MLB, which gives a little taste for how mobile he is behind the plate.

Put it all together, and at age 23, Joe Mauer is the best catcher in the MLB.

Twins Update: Good Pitching + Good Hitting = Success

And just like that, the Twins are in 3rd place. With an 8-4 win over the White Sox, the Twins haved moved to 17-19, 7 games behind the Sox. Today, a hit by Justin Morneau (Bat-Girl's Boyfriend of the Day) in the fifth put the Twins up 5-4, and they obviously never looked back.

Radke was very shaky early on, but he did get the win despite giving up 4 runs in 5 2/3. Franciso Liriano pitched 2.1 solid innings, giving up just 1 hit and striking out 4. Juan Rincon pitched the final inning for the Twins.

Yesterday, in Game 1 of a 4-game set between the Twins and White Sox, the Twins took it to the Sox 10-1, getting 7 strong innings from Johan "Cytana" (1 ER, 10 K), and getting HR from Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer, and Tony Batista.

These two wins guarantee the Twins at least a split of the series, but hopefully they can finish the job and take at least 3 out of 4. On Sunday, Carlos Silva will pitch against Mark Buehrle. On Monday, Scott Baker will take on Freddy Garcia. Let's go Twins!