2011 Game Balls

How incredibly timely.  Within a week after the season ended, I've already totaled up the game balls from 2011.  Consider that I posted 2010's game ball tally in mid-July and it seems incomprehensible that I've already done it.

Michael Cuddyer - 18
Scott Baker, Jason Kubel, Trevor Plouffe - 9
Carl Pavano, Jim Thome, Danny Valencia - 8
Brian Duensing, Francisco Liriano, Joe Mauer - 7
Nick Blackburn - 6
Alexi Casilla, Luke Hughes, Justin Morneau, Denard Span, Anthony Swarzak - 5
Drew Butera, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Ben Revere, Rene Tosoni, Delmon Young - 4
Chris Parmelee, Matt Tolbert - 3
Scott Diamond, Jose Mijares, Joe Nathan, Glen Perkins, Kevin Slowey - 2
Joe Benson, Alex Burnett, Brian Dinkelman, Liam Hendriks, Jim Hoey - 1

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CAREER LEADERBOARD

1. Mauer - 60
2. Cuddyer, Kubel - 47
4. Morneau - 39
5. Blackburn, Young - 38
7. Baker - 34
8. Liriano - 33
9. Span - 29
10. Pavano - 26
11. Slowey - 25
12. Thome - 21
13. Casilla - 18
14. Duensing, Valencia - 15
16. Carlos Gomez - 14
17. Perkins - 12
18. Nick Punto - 11
19. Orlando Hudson, Plouffe - 9
21. Swarzak - 7
22. Brendan Harris, L Hughes, Craig Monroe, Tolbert - 6
26. Orlando Cabrera, Mike Lamb, Mijares - 5
29. Boof Bonser, Burnett, Brian Buscher, Butera, Joe Crede, Livan Hernandez, Nathan, Nishioka, Revere - 4
38. R.A. Dickey, Matt Guerrier, Parmelee, Mike Redmond - 3
42. Craig Breslow, Jesse Crain, Diamond, Matt Macri, Jose Morales - 2
47. Luis Ayala, Brian Bass, Benson, Matt Capps, Dinkelman, Matt Fox, Matt Garza, Hendriks, Hoey, Torii Hunter, Bobby Keppel, Bobby Korecky, Jeff Manship, Wilson Ramos, Randy Ruiz, Johan Santana, Carlos Silva, Rondell White - 1

Game Ball Tally, 2010

So late.  So so late.  But I did it.  I tallied up the game balls from the 2010 season.  The results are as follows:

Delmon Young - 17
Carl Pavano - 15
Francisco Liriano - 14
Joe Mauer, Jim Thome - 13
Kevin Slowey - 10
Orlando Hudson, Jason Kubel, Denard Span - 9
Michael Cuddyer - 8
Nick Blackburn, Justin Morneau, Danny Valencia - 7
Scott Baker - 6
Brian Duensing - 5
Alex Burnett - 3
Alexi Casilla, Matt Guerrier, Nick Punto - 2
Matt Capps, Jesse Crain, Matt Fox, Luke Hughes, Jeff Manship, Jose Morales, Wilson Ramos - 1

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CAREER LEADERBOARD

1. Mauer - 53
2. Kubel - 38
3. Morneau, Young - 34
5. Blackburn - 32
6. Cuddyer - 29
7. Liriano - 26
8. Baker - 25
9. Span - 24
10. Slowey - 23
11. Pavano - 18
12. Carlos Gomez - 14
13. Casilla, Thome - 13
15. Punto - 11
16. Glen Perkins - 10
17. Hudson - 9
18. Duensing - 8
19. Valencia - 7
20. Brendan Harris, Craig Monroe - 6
22. Orlando Cabrera, Mike Lamb - 5
24. Boof Bonser, Brian Buscher, Joe Crede, Livan Hernandez - 4
28. Burnett, R.A. Dickey, Guerrier, Jose Mijares, Mike Redmond, Matt Tolbert - 3
34. Craig Breslow, Crain, Matt Macri, Morales, Joe Nathan, Anthony Swarzak - 2
40. Luis Ayala, Brian Bass, Matt Capps, Matt Fox, Matt Garza, Luke Hughes, Torii Hunter, Bobby Keppel, Bobby Korecky, Jeff Manship, Wilson Ramos, Randy Ruiz, Johan Santana, Carlos Silva, Rondell White - 1

2009 Game Balls

And now, a month and a half after the end of the Twins' season, I'm starting the season-in-review. Keep in mind, of course, that last year I didn't do this until after the new year. Similar to last year, I'll start it with a look at the number of Game Balls that each player earned.

Joe Mauer- 20
Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel- 16
Nick Blackburn- 14
Justin Morneau- 12
Scott Baker- 8
Francisco Liriano, Nick Punto, Denard Span, Delmon Young- 6
Orlando Cabrera, Alexi Casilla, Glen Perkins- 5
Joe Crede- 4
R.A. Dickey, Brian Duensing, Carlos Gomez, Brendan Harris, Carl Pavano, Kevin Slowey- 3
Jose Mijares, Mike Redmond, Anthony Swarzak- 2
Luis Ayala, Craig Breslow, Brian Buscher, Matt Guerrier, Bobby Keppel, Jose Morales, Joe Nathan, Matt Tolbert- 1


-----------------And the career leaderboard...--------------------

Mauer- 40
Kubel- 29
Morneau- 27
Blackburn- 25
Cuddyer- 21
Baker- 19
Young- 17
Span- 15
Gomez- 14
Liriano, Slowey- 13
Casilla- 11
Perkins- 10
Punto- 9
Harris, Craig Monroe- 6
Cabrera, Mike Lamb- 5
Boof Bonser, Buscher, Crede, Livan Hernandez- 4
Dickey, Duensing, Mijares, Pavano, Redmond, Tolbert- 3
Breslow, Matt Macri, Nathan, Swarzak- 2
Ayala, Brian Bass, Jesse Crain, Matt Garza, Guerrier, Torii Hunter, Keppel, Bobby Korecky, Morales, Randy Ruiz, Johan Santana, Carlos Silva, Rondell White- 1

Game Ball Tally

Well... the season ended more than three months ago, but I've just gotten around to starting the year in review. This is just a record of game balls awarded for the year, ordered from most to least. The number in parentheses is each player's total number of game balls for all of this blog's existence.

Joe Mauer (20)- 18
Justin Morneau (15)- 14
Carlos Gomez (11), Delmon Young (11), Nick Blackburn (11)- 11
Jason Kubel (13), Scott Baker (11)- 10
Denard Span (9)- 9
Kevin Slowey (10)- 8
Francisco Liriano (7)- 7
Craig Monroe (6), Alexi Casilla (6)- 6
Mike Lamb (5), Glen Perkins (5)- 5
Boof Bonser (4), Michael Cuddyer (5), Livan Hernandez (4)- 4
Brendan Harris (3), Brian Buscher (3), Nick Punto (3)- 3
Matt Tolbert (2), Matt Macri (2)- 2
Brian Bass (1), Jesse Crain (1), Bobby Korecky (1), Craig Breslow (1), Mike Redmond (1), Randy Ruiz (1), Jose Mijares (1)- 1

Some More Statistics

Now that we've wrapped up the players' seasons in the typical, cliche manner with grades and statistics, I wanted to dig a little deeper and look at some stats that most people wouldn't consider. This is in no way a judgment of how well the players performed, but merely some statistics I found interesting and which you would not normally see. So enjoy!


I'll start with a simple tally of Game Balls for the short time of this blog's existence.

Jason Kubel- 3
Kevin Slowey, Joe Mauer- 2
Justin Morneau, Johan Santana, Scott Baker, Matt Garza, Carlos Silva, Michael Cuddyer, Rondell White, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter- 1


And now I'll move on to official statistics. If there aren't five for a certain category, it means there were a lot tied at the next number and I didn't feel the need to include everyone.

Longest Hit Streaks:
Torii Hunter- 23, 4/11-5/9
Hunter- 13, 8/13-8/26
Jason Bartlett- 11, 6/18-6/30
Joe Mauer- 10, 7/14-7/24
Justin Morneau- 10, 5/17-5/27
Michael Cuddyer- 10, 4/14-4/24
Cuddyer- 10, 6/9-6/19

Longest Hitless Streaks:
Luis Rodriguez- 8, 6/5-6/28
Nick Punto- 6, 7/27-8/5
Punto- 6, 6/28-7/4
Jason Kubel- 6, 7/7-7/18
Kubel- 5, 5/4-5/9
Bartlett- 5, 4/4-4/10
Garrett Jones- 5, 9/9-9/17

Most Multi-Hit Games:
Hunter- 49
Morneau- 44
Bartlett- 35
Mauer- 34
Cuddyer- 33

Hits in a month:
Luis Castillo- 39, May
Hunter- 37, August
Morneau- 35, July
Hunter- 33, May
Morneau- 33, May

Home Runs in a month:
Morneau- 10, May
Morneau- 8, July
Morneau- 6, April
Hunter- 6, May
Hunter- 6, June

RBIs in a month:
Morneau- 29, May
Morneau- 28, July
Hunter- 27, May
Hunter- 21, August
Cuddyer- 20, May

Extra Base Hits in a month:
Hunter- 18, April
Morneau- 16, May
Hunter- 16, August
Morneau- 14, July
Kubel- 13, September

Stolen bases in a month:
Bartlett- 10, June
Punto- 7, May
Hunter- 5, May
Alexi Casilla- 5, August

RBIs in a game:
Hunter- 7, 5/13
Kubel- 7, 7/6
Morneau- 6, 7/6
Morneau- 5, 5/22
Cuddyer- 5, 5/26
Mauer- 5, 7/6

Consecutive Wins:
Johan Santana- 5, 6/19-7/13
BoofBonser- 4, 5/13-5/29
Scott Baker- 4, 6/1-9/23

Consecutive Losses:
Bonser- 8, 6/16-8/18
Ramon Ortiz- 4/22-5/15
Carlos Silva- 4, 5/4-5/21

Consecutive scoreless outings:
PatNeshek- 15, 4/21-5/25
Dennys Reyes- 14, 6/18-7/22
Joe Nathan-11, 5/5-5/30
Neshek- 11, 5/29-6/22
Matt Guerrier- 10, 5/30-6/24
Guerrier- 10, 6/27-7/19

Consecutive Quality starts:
Santana- 8, 6/9-7/18
Ortiz- 5, 4/4-4/27
Silva- 5, 7/31-8/22
Baker- 4, 8/15-8/31

Strikeouts in a month:
Santana- 45, April
Santana- 44, August
Santana- 42, May
Bonser- 38, May
Santana- 36, July

Quality Starts:
Silva- 20
Santana- 19
Baker- 11
Bonser- 9
Ortiz- 5
Matt Garza- 5

Strikeouts in a game:
Santana- 17, 8/19
Santana- 13, 5/22
Santana- 12, 7/28
Santana- 11, 5/17
Garza- 11, 7/29
Santana- 11, 9/21

Walks in a game:
Bonser- 7, 4/26

Walks in a month:
Bonser- 16, April
Bonser- 14, May
Garza- 12, September