No Free Passes

The Twins fell to the Royals 3-1 in the series finale. Boof Bonser provided a quality start, but the offense struggled to get anything going. From the two double plays to Carlos Gomez's base-running gaffe (trying to stretch a single into a double with no one out), they couldn't muster quite enough to push runs across. Matt Tolbert and Justin Morneau each had two hits, and one of Morneau's was his second home run in as many days. It seems like someone has finally realized that the season was underway! Also of note, Denard Span went 0-2 with a walk in his Major League debut; he barely missed an extra base hit in his first at bat.

Onto the topic of the week, however. Twins' pitchers have now given up only six walks on the season, this being in the first seven games. Just as a comparison, Dontrelle Willis walked seven batters in one five-inning start on Saturday! In four games, including the last three, they have allowed no walks. I was listening to the radio broadcast, and I believe they said that there have only been six games of that sort on the whole season. Whether or not that includes the Twins games isn't important; either way, it is an amazing stat. I'm going to assume it doesn't because that would make the stat just that much more absurd. But still, assuming this, the Twins have accounted for four of the eleven zero-walk performances in the majors this year. That's 44.4% of them. Each team has averaged .37 such games and the Twins already have four!

In total, the Twins lead the majors with only six walks. The Twins also lead the majors in innings pitched, with 63. There is a three-way tie for second place in walks between Tampa Bay, Los Angeles (Dodgers), and Chicago (Cubs) with 11. They have pitched 43, 44, and 55 innings respectively. Sure, it will most likely end up being an early season statistical anomaly, but it is still interesting to look at.

Tomorrow the Twins head on the road for the first time as they play the Chicago White Sox, where Nick Blackburn will make his second start.