Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
June 26, 2008
Buscher of Runs

The Minnesota Twins extended their winning streak to eight games, defeating the San Diego Padres Wednesday night 9-3. They're rolling through Cy Young award winners:

Randy Johnson. Brandon Webb. Jake Peavy. Greg Maddux.

When it comes to National League pitching, that's Mount Rushmore.

Between them, they've won 11 Cy Young Awards. But in a span of five games, the Twins have handled all four, without taking a loss.

Brian Buscher

Brian Buscher bats against the Padres on 6/25/2008.
Photo: Icon SMI

One reason for the Twins surge is the play of Brian Buscher. The veteran minor leaguer started playing regularly on June 14, and posted excellent numbers since. He's turned an offensive hole at third base into a positive:

Twins Third Basemen, 2008
StatAll Twins 3BBuscher as 3B
Batting Average.273.405
On-Base Average.307.415
Slugging Percentage.369.541

It's a very small sample size for Buscher, but his recent years in the minors show a big upturn in his OBA numbers. If he does nothing else but put up an above average OBA the rest of the season, that will be a big boost to the Twins offense. He scored three runs last night, and ten in eight games since being recalled. Overall for 2008, Minnesota is 9-3 when Buscher plays.


Posted by David Pinto at 07:25 AM | Players | TrackBack (0)
Comments

The Twins are benefiting from the Sox' underuse of their +71 run diff. So a very average Minnesota team (run diff +6) is staying close.

Does Gardenhire's steady-as-she-goes approach pay off more consistently than Guillen's sturm und drang? I'll let you decide. But if Gardenhire drags this so-so team to the postseason, he's manager of the year.

Posted by: Casey Abell at June 26, 2008 01:12 PM
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