MIN 17, KC 0: What Negative Run Differential?

The run differential reflected the kind of team we were in the first half.   It was overcome by winning our share of close games and when getting beat often getting beat by a wide margin which mostly reflected the lack of depth of our bullpen.    This is a different and better team right now but don't get fooled into thinking this is who we are or that we don't need Sano.   Mauer isn't going to bat .438 and Polanco is going to come back to earth also.     Please lets win tomorrow.   If we lost another one run game we would have lost 2 of three while outscoring them  by 15.  Would that be a record also?  Certainly not the kind I want to see.

That was awesome. Really fun to watch.

Get the series win tomorrow, and hopefully get a game in the Yankees and/or Angels.

Angels hit a two run shot in the ninth to tie tonight, then won in extras. Tough break.

We were also leaving the most men on base in the league. If you're good enough to get them on, you should be good enough to get them in. Now we are. I think having several black holes in the line up led to a lot of strands. Now those black holes are carrying the team, or nursing a concussion.

How would you like to be Esco today? He has 2 HRs, a triple and 6 rbi and he gets 5th billing after run differential, Gibson, Mauer and Buxton. 

As you say, Tom, plenty of notable performances. These guys are spoiling us. Thanks for the nice recap!

Lately Gibby's cut 2-3 seconds off between pitches, and the faster pace helps him throw more strikes and keeps the defense limber. Me likey.

Oh, and the hitting's amazing. It never feels like we're out of any game now. Gotta feel great for these players to come to work every day.

So.......can we all like Joe Mauer again?

I never stopped. The transition away from catcher was a little rough, but the drop off was more about the injuries than anything else. I never blamed him for the contract. It's great to see the bat returning to form and coupled with the Gold Glove defense he's giving us it's been a lot of fun to watch.

Still not sold on Gibson, but it is good to see him turn in a strong performance against a better team. He's been much better the second half of the season, but he was brutal in the first half. Even now, he's still only had a game score more than 50 in 7 out of 24 starts. That ain't good.

Never bought in to the run differential idea. To paraphrase a line from Bull Durham: "we measure everything in baseball." The problem is, despite measuring everything, there are statistics, and there is reality. Pick apart this team all you want to. Bleed dry numbers and observations and holes here and there, beat as many dead carcasses as you will, this is a pretty good baseball team. Sure there is room for improvement from within and out to make it better and more complete. But they have been in the thick of things for most of the season, still are, and have been above .500 for most all season long.

You win games...you blow out some games...you get blown up some games. Said it before and will say it again; you lose badly 2 games out of 5 but win the other 3 games, guess What? You are still 3-2.
 

I like it as a general stat and also as a long term one.   In your example, it obviously means nothing but over the course of 162 games those kinds of series tend to even out and when there is the kind of negative differential we had with a winning record it is interesting to try to figure out why.    As TheJackKmp said we have not had the blow out losses in the 2nd half so if our run differential had continued in the deficit column we would not have had the success  in the win column.  Over the long haul you cannot keep running a 60 run deficit.    Many run differentials vs win/loss are pretty close over a full season with the occasional out flier.   Way too lazy but if you ran any teams's  10 year run differential I am guessing it would come out very close.

I heard a rumor that Gibson stopped by and said "Bite Me".

I heard it was Gibson, Mauer, Dozier, Polanco and Buxton.   Molitor might have been there also.  

One thing I've noticed on Joe is he looks like he's running with ease around the bases. His legs must feel good and strong which is important for his hitting base.  

I seem to recall the run differential being mentioned most often in conjunction with opinions that the Twins couldn't get back into contention or stay in contention without making significant roster additions. I doubt very many people not employed within the Twins organization thought players on the current roster  might improve enough to turn this team into a different team. It wasn't foreseeable to them or to anyone, but it happened. What an amazing season! And kudos to the field staff for their patience while so many of these players endured very serious and lengthy periods of not just minor performance deficits, but in many cases, really putrid results.

I wonder if Colon "trusting his stuff" and succeeding is such the example that it is helping the others to do the same and now were seeing them succeed too.