A typical line from the ESPN play-by-play feed of today’s Twins game (for context, this is from the bottom of the eighth inning with one out):
“J. Mauer doubled to deep center. …
“J. Willingham struck out swinging. …
“J. Morneau fouled out to catcher.”
Add ’em up from the rest of the game, and you get an oh-for-10 performance with runners in scoring position for the home team. And 2 for 18 in the past two games. And 6 for 49 in the past four games. That’s a .122 batting average. The Twins scored their only run today by the grace, or lack thereof, of an error by the Mets.
I couldn’t pretend to know why Twins batters choke like Billy Buckner lining up the laces on a ground ball hit right at him. But for as inept as the Twins were a year ago with runners in scoring position (.252, ranking 11th in the American League), they have bridged the gap from inept to putrid a year later.
A few stats:
— Before Monday’s game, the Twins were batting .231 with runners in scoring position, ranking 15th and last in the American League. (Add 10 more oh-fers on Monday, and this might be the only statistical category in which the Twins have a chance to lock up the league title before Labor Day.)
— They were batting .223 with two outs and runners in scoring position, 12th in the league.
— “Situational hitting,” once considered a Twins staple, is situationally awful. With a runner on third and less than two out, the Twins were batting .258 entering Monday’s game, last in the AL by 13 points.
— As reported by Mike Berardino of the St. Paul Pioneer Press, the Twins struck out nine times Monday and now have whiffed 1,044 times this season, on pace to set a team record.
Individually, almost everyone without the initials “J.M.” has been brutal. No, wait. Almost everyone without the initials “J.M.” and without sideburns has been brutal (cutting Brian Dozier a little slack here for looking like a major league hitter since the all-star break):
— Joe Mauer is the only Twin batting over .300, or anywhere near it. He had two hits Monday and raised his average to .324 — though he struck out once to raise his season total to a career-high 89, topping the 88 he had last year. Also, he is batting only .239 with runners in scoring position.
— After Mauer, the batting averages tumble like somebody put the numbers in a pail and dumped them over Gooseberry Falls. Entering Monday, Justin Morneau ranked No. 2 among everyday Twins batters with a .261 average. After that, the averages were .247, .243, .231, .223, .222, .222 and .219.
Miserable numbers of epic proportion.
It’s becoming awfully difficult to say or write anything good about this team. And don’t get me started on pitching.
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