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| Minnesota Twins Dynasty |
| Hi and welcome to my Twins Dynasty page. Using the great computer game, Out of the Park 4, I will start off a 2002 career with the Twins, giving you weekly updates. I have yet to see a Twins dynasty report, so I decided to do one of my own. Check back frequently for updates! Thanks for checkin' this out! |
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| Introduction When the 2002 season rolled around, new manager and GM, Chris Muller, knew that Minnesota had the talent to take it all home. Whether it be having the talent to trade for better talent or having our own home-grown talent, Chris was bound to find out. With over three million dollars to work with before the 2002 season will even begin, Chris is very excited about the new position. "I am glad to finally run my own professional baseball team," said Chris, "it's been my dream ever since I was a little boy." In case you haven't heard, old GM Terry Ryan decided to retire and spend time with his family, and handed the job to close friend, Muller. Muller felt that Gardenhire, the Twinkies' current manager just wasn't cuttin the cake in Minnesota so he demoted him to a minor league management job and appointed himself as the new manager. "I sort of saw it coming when Muller was hired as the new GM," said Gardenhire "let's just hope his desicion doesn't backfire on him." The Dream Begins... With less than a month to go before the season's start, Chris knew that he had to make no immediate changes with the team, because the talent level was already so high. Also, with prospects such as Mike Cuddyer down in AAA, Chris also knew he had the un-developed talent to last for awhile. The coaching staff, however, just was't up to par, so he made some changes - signing who he felt were better coaches to coach his new talented team. The 2002 Pre-Season Without making any transactions, I decided to begin the pre-season. Here is how my starters look... C - A.J. Pierzynski 1B - Doug Mientkiewicz 2B - Luis Rivas SS - Cristian Guzman 3B - Corey Koskie LF - Jaque Jones CF - Torii Hunter RF - Brian Buchanan DH - David Ortiz And the pitching staff... 1 - Joe Mays (R) 2 - Brad Radke (R) 3 - Rick Reed (R) 4 - Eric Milton (L) 5 - Kyle Lohse (R) MR - Mike Jackson (R) MR - Bob Wells (R) MR - Johan Santana (L) MR - Tony Fiore (R) SU - Jack Cressend (R) SU - Travis Miller (L) CL - Eddie Guardado (L) Overall, I think I had a solid team to begin the season. The 2002 Season Begins April 4/1/02 - 4/7/02 The opening week was sort of a disappointment for the Twins and new GM Chris Muller. Joe Mays opened the season with a decent performance, giving up 5 runs in 8 innings and nabbing his first win of the year in an 8-6 victory over Jeff Suppan and the Royals. Guardado came into the game in the 9th, giving up a run, but still getting his first save of the year. The Twins suffered a HUGE setback on 4/5/02, however. A.J. Pierzynski broke his finger in a home-plate collision during the 8-0 loss to Toronto, he will miss 7 weeks. Matt LeCroy was brought up from AAA to fill in his spot in the lineup - he will be playing backup catcher for Tom Prince for the next 7 weeks. On the positive side, Kyle Lohse pitched a beautiful 7.1 innings the following day, giving up only 3 runs, walking none, and striking out 4 to pick up his first win of the year. To end the week, however, Joe Mays went 5.1 innings against the Blue Jays, giving up 6 earned runs, bringing his ERA to over 7.00. Bob Wells was not enough to wiggle Mays outta this one, as he himself gave up 2 runs, getting himself the loss in the 9-6 game. Week record: 2-4. 4/8/02 - 4/14/02 This was a much better week for the Twins. Cristian Guzman batted .370 over the course of the week, hitting 2 bombs with 11 RBI. On the other hand, Bob Wells was just awful. He went 0-2, giving up 6 earned runs through 1.2 innings of work. I am glad to say there were no major injuries this week, and Kyle Lohse turned in yet another great performance against the Indians. He went 5.1 innings and gave up 3 runs, getting the win against Sabathia in the 18-8 game. Joe Mays rebounded nicely off his last poor start going 7.2 innings, giving up 4 runs and getting his second win of the season against the Tigers. Week record: 4-3. 4/15/02 - 4/22/02 Well, the week started off nicely. Eric Milton picked up his first win of the season against Kansas City, going 8 strong innings, giving up only 2 runs and striking out 5. Kyle Lohse, who is now 3-0, turned in yet another fantastic outing, doubling what Milton did - going 8 innings while giving up 2 runs, only he struck out 4 batters in only 99 pitches. Then came the bad news. In the 9-3 loss against the Royals, Joe Mays ruptured a bicep tendon and he will miss 4-5 weeks. The Twins then signed free agent Rod Beck to a one-year deal and put him right in the lineup in place of Mays. Johan Santana will now be the 5th starter in the rotation until Mays returns. Kyle Lohse then ended the week nicely with another start against the Indians. He went 6 innings and gave up only 1 run, striking out 5, bringing his record to 4-0 with a 3.04 ERA. Corey Koskie also played nicely this week, batting .300 while hitting 2 doubles, 1 triple, and 1 homerun - all combined for 3 RBI and 3 Runs. Week record: 3-3. 4/22/02 - 4/28/02 This was an excellent week for the Twins, all because of the pitching. Johan Santana made two great starts, proving he has what it takes to stay in the Twins rotation. Santana went 2-0 over 11.2 innings, giving up only 2 runs, while striking out 5. Brad Radke had an excellent start against the ever-so-old David Cone and the Devil Rays. He went 9 innings, giving up only 1 un-earned run, striking out 6, and getting his first win of the season. Rick Reed turned in a great performace against the Devil Rays, going 7 innings, giving up no runs, while striking out 10! Kyle Lohse picked up his 5th win of the year, going 8 innings against the Tigers while giving up 2 runs and striking out 7. Doug Mientkiewicz had a great week at the plate, batting .389 with 2 doubles, 4 RBI, and 3 Runs. Week record: 6-0. We finished up the month with a win and a loss, bringing the record after April to 16-11, one game ahead of the White Sox for 1st in the AL Central. The Twins fought through two major injuries in April to sustain a solid record, mainly relying on the help of the pitching staff. April Record: 16-11. Here are the stats of my starters after April... Red font indicates team leader (qualifying) in that category. C - Tom Prince - .230 avg, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 1 SB 1B - Doug Mientkiewicz - .226 avg, 0 HR, 13 RBI, 1 SB 2B - Luis Rivas - .281 avg, 1 HR, 10 RBI, 10 SB SS - Cristian Guzman - .287 avg, 4 HR, 18 RBI, 4 SB 3B - Corey Koskie - .276 avg, 7 HR, 25 RBI, 5 SB LF - Jaque Jones - .252 avg, 3 HR, 15 RBI, 0 SB CF - Torii Hunter - .255 avg, 6 HR, 13 RBI, 5 SB RF - Brian Buchanan - .267 avg, 4 HR, 14 RBI, 0 SB DH - David Ortiz - .200 avg, 4 HR, 18 RBI, 0 SB DL C - A.J. Pierzynski - .250 avg, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 0 SB (12 AB) 1 - Brad Radke (R) - 2-2, 2.83 ERA, 22 K 2 - Rick Reed (R) - 2-2, 3.57 ERA, 39 K 3 - Eric Milton (L) - 2-1, 5.58 ERA, 16 K 4 - Kyle Lohse (R) - 5-0, 2.86 ERA, 24 K 5 - Johan Santana (L) - 2-0, 1.93 ERA, 7 K MR - Mike Jackson (R) - 0-1, 4.15 ERA (17.1 IP), 8 K MR - Bob Wells (R) - 0-3, 19.64 ERA (3.2 IP). 0 K MR - Rod Beck (R) - 0-0, 54.05 ERA (0.1 IP), 0 K MR - Tony Fiore (R) - 0-0, 8.10 ERA (3.1 IP), 3 K SU - Jack Cressend (R) - 1-1, 2.16 (8.1 IP), 7 K, 2 SV SU - Travis Miller (L) - 0-0, 5.40 ERA (3.1 IP), 3 K CL - Eddie Guardado (L) - 0-0, 1.59 ERA, 9 SV DL Joe Mays (R) - 2-1, 7.24 ERA, 8 K So as you can see the wins mainly relied on starting pitching, because of the 2 major injuries, the crappy bullpen work, and the weak offense. May 5/1/02 - 5/5/02 This week went decent for the Twins. Eric Milton started the month off right by pitching an awesome game against Tampa Bay. He went 8.1 innings, striking out 6, while giving up no runs to earn his third win of the season. On the downside, Corey Koskie was injured, running the bases, in that game. He will miss one week with a tight knee. Prospect Mike Cuddyer was brought up to replace Koskie while he is hurt (Cuddyer served basically no purpose by the way, going 1-for-14, striking out 3 times). Rod Beck was also released this week after going 0-1, giving up 6 earned runs over the course of a total of 1 inning through a couple of days, the Twins signed veteran Rodney Myers to a short-term deal until Mays returns. Kyle Lohse pitched yet another beauty, going 7 innings while giving up only 1 run. It looked like he had the win in place, but then Rod Beck came in (this was right before the Twins released him) and gave up a huge run, facing only one batter, getting himself the loss. Batting was great this week. David Ortiz batted .346, hitting 2 blasts, 4 RBI, and scoring 3 runs. He also had a career-high, 4-hit game. Torii Hunter had the biggest week, however. He batted .478, hitting 3 homeruns, while driving in 8 RBI and scoring 7 runs of his own - which brought his season average to .300. Week record: 3-2. 5/6/02 - 5/12/02 Another solid week of play for the Twins. Johan Santana continues to prove he has what it takes to stay in the Twins rotation by picking up his third win of the season over Jeff Suppan and the Royals. The soft-tosser Santana, who went 5.1 innings, giving up a run and striking out only 1, brought his season record to a solid 3-0. Rick Reed was also solid this week, going 1-0 with an ERA of 1.08, while striking out 4. It was not so much the pitching, but the hitting was incredible for the Twins this week. Doug Mientkiewicz hit .417 with 3 RBI and 5 runs. Brian Buchanan also hit 2 homeruns over the course of the week, including a grand-slam - which earned him a player of the game award. The newly signed veteran, Rodney Meyers, was released because J.C. Romero finally made it from AA to AAA and he was immediately brought to the big leagues to replace Meyers. When Koskie came back, it was not Mike Cuddyer, but Bobby Kielty (who was batting just .200 on the season as Brian Buchanan's primary backup) who was sent to AAA. Cuddyer will serve as a backup to Koskie and Buchanan. Week record: 5-1. 5/13/02 - 5/19/02 The week started off by handing the starting catching job to Matt LeCroy, who, at the time was batting over .320 as a platoon to Tom Prince. Kyle Lohse just wasn't the player he has been this week. He went 10 innings in two starts, giving up 8 earned runs, walking 6, and striking out only 3. He had a 7.20 ERA for the week, with 2 no-desicions. Brad Radke had a solid outing this week, going 7 innings, giving up only one run, striking out 3, and walking one - picking up the win. Johan Santana got his 4th win of the year and also earning his 1st loss of the year this week (against Mike Mussina and the Yankees), going 1-1 with a 3.75 ERA, while walking 6 and striking out 8. Rick Reed had a little trouble this week in his one start. He lasted only 3.1 innings because of a rain delay, giving up 4 runs, however, Mike Jackson and the Twins bullpen bailed him out and Jackson picked up the win. Torii Hunter was a machine this week, batting .292 but hitting 3 homeruns and getting 7 RBI. David Ortiz seems to have finally found his stroke, batting .318 and hitting 2 homeruns. Jaque Jones also contributed, hitting .345 with 2 homeruns and 6 RBI. At the end of the week Joe Mays was finally activated from the disabled list, and middle reliever Tony Fiore was sent down to AAA. Johan Santana will now be helping the Twins from the bullpen to make room for Mays in the rotation. "I hated to see [Johan] Santana go back to the 'pen because he was pitching so well, but we needed to make room for Joe Mays and it only made sense to bump our number 5 starter. Johan can be sure to get the first call if any other starter goes down this year, however." stated GM Chris Muller after sending Johan to the bullpen on Sunday night. Week record: 4-3. |