Twins try to avoid 100 losses

The good news: if the Twins could have chosen anybody in the entire league to pitch against them tonight, they would have picked Sean O'Sullivan.

The bad news: the Twins are a terrible team.

O'Sullivan has thrown 53.1 innings this season, and has a WHIP of 1.78 and an ERA of 6.92.  That ERA is the worst in the Majors among anyone who's pitched more than 50 innings, as are his xFIP and FIP.  He's also collected just 18 strikeouts in his time on the mound, a rate of 3.04 K/9.  Not surprisingly, that ranks last among the same group, as does his K% and his utterly embarrassing 0.69 K:BB ratio.  And his career numbers don't paint a much better picture: 6.01 ERA, 1.55 WHIP, and 1.23 K/BB.

Of course, if the Royals could pick any team to play against, it would probably be the Twins.  While the Astros have a worse record on the season, Minnesota has won 3 of their last 23 games, 5 of their last 34, and 20 of their 71 games since the All-Star break.  Anyone who thinks the Red Sox have been playing badly of late should take a look at the Twins' performance.  Sure, Boston has won just fewer than a quarter of their games in September, but Minnesota has won only one-sixth of their games.


On an unrelated note, the Adam Dunn watch has taken a turn for the better.  Since my original post, Dunn has played in all 3 games and is in the lineup again tonight.  He's gotten 12 more plate appearances, including 8 hitless at bats, which puts him at 493, nine away from history.  I'll be intently keeping an eye on the White Sox's matchups with Toronto these next two days.