¡VIVA RIVAS!

Torii Hunter reads Twins blogs. How else to explain his singular focus at the plate? Ever since he was named one of the Twins worst players last month according to a baseball geek formula, he's been coming up with clutch hit after clutch hit. This weekend was no different. He drove in 7 RBIs and hit 2 HR, and is on his way to 30 HR. Hunter has an outside shot at 100 RBIs (currently 84) if his run production hits the stratosphere. Sure he still flails occasionally at the slider in the dirt, but more often than not he's scorching the ball as only Torii can. (His Sept. so far, .290, 5 HR, 16 RBI) I guess it sometimes pays off to swing as hard as you can at every pitch. Fun fact: Hunter's career highs are 29 HR (2002) and 102 RBI (2003).

Twins bizzaro world

With 5 double plays, the Twins must have slipped a little bit of their patented double play juice into the Indians' Gatorade today. As a Twins fan, there's nothing more cathartic than seeing other teams hit into rally-kalling double plays. But it's also disorienting. Today I rubbed my eyes and blinked repeatedly after each Cleveland DP to make sure I hadn't switched the uniforms in my mind after a heavy night of Tang-drinking. Get this: The Indians hit into more DPs this series than the Twins (7-6).

Series recap

The Twins dominated the series offensively, outscoring the Indians 23-11 and outhitting them 46-28. Unfortunately, the Twins also produced prodigious numbers of runners left on base, out LOBing the opposition a whopping 46-23. Minnesota was fortunate to only be stung once by this, when they lost on Friday in 10 inn. That's right, the only game the Twins lost was the one in which Johan Santana started. Bizarro.

Near record

In leaving 16 men on base Thursday, the Twins was dangerously close to some all-time records. The all-time high for an AL 9-inning game is 20 runners LOB by the 1956 Yankees. Several NL times are tied with 18 LOB, the last being the 1986 Braves. View the entire list here.

Notes:

"This is a must-win game." -- Hawk Harrelson, pre-game show of 9-17 telecast.
"We don't deserve to be playing winning baseball" -- Harrelson 1 hour later after ex-White Sox player Frank Thomas hits a 3-run HR. The Sox lost. Shoulda tuned in for the post game.

Is there are a worse catcher than the Indians' Victor Martinez? He hurt his team several times this weekend, especially in the first two games, by allowing runners to advance when he failed to block simple balls in the dirt. The Indians have played him at 1B a few times this season, and I'd be shocked if he's not there full time next season.