Minnesota Twins

T.S. Eliot once famously wrote that April is the cruelest month, and for the Twins that adage has held true over the past two years. Between 2011 and 2012, the team went 15-33 during the season's first month while watching devastating injuries pile up – from Tsuyoshi Nishioka's broken leg and Joe Mauer's bilateral leg weakness to Scott Baker's unscheduled Tommy John surgery.

Against that backdrop, the first four weeks of this 2013 campaign have been blissful, even if the club's performance has been more solid than great and the game-viewing conditions have been mostly horrible. ...

The Minnesota Twins actually got all their games in so far this week. Texas is in town for the weekend and it sounds like the weather is actually going to start acting like spring. Daily high temperatures will continue to rise and we all hope the Twins can continue to play .500 baseball. The weekend is almost here so make sure to check out some of the top stories from the last week. Enjoy!
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Just a month removed from being celebrated for his amazingly quick recovery from Tommy John surgery less than 11 months ago, Mike Pelfrey’s numbers through his first four starts in a Twins uniform have been extremely disappointing.

This raises the question of whether or not Pelfrey is completely ready for re-introduction into the major leagues. After all, this is in line with the plight of Joe Nathan in 2010 who rushed through his rehab only to hit a wall a month into the season. Despite being the owner of a 7.94 ERA through 17 innings in 2013, the notion of removing Pelfrey from the rotation at this point appears moot. ...

The history of Twins switch-hitters goes back to the first game the Twins played, but it was the last guy you would expect.

In baseball, a switch-hitter is a batter who can bat from the right side or the left side, depending on whether the pitcher is right- or left-handed. Most curveballs break away from batters hitting from the same side as the opposing pitcher, so they're often harder to hit than those from the opposite side. History tells us that most right-handed batters hit better against lefty pitchers and left-handed batters hit better against right handers. This so-called platoon benefit is why managers use pinch-hitters and LOOGY's and why some players want to become switch-hitters. ...

"Strike two, you're out," seems to be the current mantra for most of baseball. Unless you're Joe Mauer.

One of the biggest challenges for batters in recent years has been their ability to come back in an at-bat after falling into a two-strike count. Since 2006, there has been a steady decrease in players' ability to hit with two strikes. Last year, two-strike hitting dropped to a new low, as batters were able to muster only a .178 batting average.

How do pitchers have so much of an advantage when it comes to throwing to batters with two strikes? ...

It's April 22 and we're experiencing another snowstorm. The Twins were postponed and will play a split-doubleheader tomorrow (hopefully; I wouldn't bet on it). And despite having a day-off Wednesday, there won't be a game because the Marlins have 20 straight days with games beginning Thursday, so they can't play Wednesday.

Only three affiliates were in action today, let's see how they did:

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