With sluggers such as Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau unable to stay healthy, and with most of their other hitters scuffling, the Minnesota Twins have struggled to score runs.
At an epically glacial rate.
The Twins have failed to reach six runs scored in any of their 19 games. The Elias Sports Bureau reports that Minnesota's streak is the longest since the Washington Senators ? in 1909 (!) ? went their first 18 games without scoring at least six runs.
Pity poor Walter Johnson then; Scott Baker today.
At least the Twinkies are keeping it in the family; The Senators used to be the Twins until 1961. Other than that, this record is pretty sad ? even acknowledging the Twins' injuries and illnesses, along with the small sample size.
That's got to upset the pitchers, at least a little. Nick Blackburn says it does.
"I think we're to a point where we are tired of it, too," Blackburn said. "We're obviously not excited about what is going on, but we haven't been playing just absolutely awful baseball, either. A couple breaks here and there, we could get some more wins."
The offense is last overall with 57 runs, a .607 team OPS and eight home runs collectively. Troy Tulowitzki, by himself, leads the majors with seven homers. The pitching hasn't been all that hot, either, and it adds up to a 7-12 record.
Keep this in mind: It was a lot harder to score runs in 1909. That was the prime of the "Dead Ball Era," when baseballs were like soggy pillows ? filled with peanut butter, eggs, dice ? whatever kind of stuffing Mr. Rawlings could reclaim from trash dumps.
The Detroit Tigers (Ty Cobb and "Wahoo!" Sam Crawford in all of their glory) led the AL in runs scored at 4.2 per games. The Sens, bless them, finished at the bottom with 380 runs scored (2.4 per game) and went 42-110. Yikes.
The Twins, though they obviously are flawed, are not that bad. (Right?) Despite the unexpectedly strong starts by Cleveland and Kansas City, it's not like the Twins' goose is cooked in the AL Central. A strong July, for example, can fix a lot.
But when your offense is operating at 100-year lows, and the "Senators" nickname is kicked around, well, it's an unhappy April.
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