The Homestretch, Day 8: Twin Killing

In case you hadn't noticed, the Minnesota Twins are the third best team in baseball, by record. Just four games behind the Yankees for the best record in the majors, the Twins have dominated opponents since the All-Star break on their way to notching 83 wins here at September 9. Winners of six in a row, the Twins have jumped to a six-game division lead over the White Sox, who simply cannot keep up.

The pitching of Francisco Liriano is a big reason why the Twins have had so much success in the second half. Liriano has not lost a decision since July 9, posting a 7-0 record since then, with two of those wins coming against the White Sox and one against the Texas Rangers. Liriano's ERA has not been above 3.9 since his first start back in April - undoubtedly, he is the Twins ace and will be expected to take on the likes of CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee, and David Price in the playoffs.

Notice how, in the American League at least, all aces of pitching staffs that belong to playoff teams are southpaws. This is very interesting to think about. Over in the NL, you have left-handed starters like Jaime Garcia of the Cardinals, Clayton Richard of the Padres, Cole Hamels of the Phillies. But none of these guys have the same sort of impact on their teams that the AL lefty aces do, and these are guys pitching for possible playoff teams. From this standpoint, it seems the NL has the dominant right-handed starters (Roy Halladay, Ubaldo Jimenez, Josh Johnson, Tim Lincecum, Mat Latos), while the AL features dominance from the left side of the rubber.

And speaking of lefties, I get to see two of the better ones in the National League tomorrow when I take a trip down to San Diego for Game 2 of the crucial series between the Padres and Giants at Petco Park. Jonathan Sanchez takes the hill and faces Clayton Richard, which should make for a great pitching matchup. You can be sure that tomorrow's post will chronicle the events of that game, especially after the Giants took Game 1 tonight. Another win by the Giants tomorrow puts them in a tie for first with San Diego, and would be the first time in a few months that San Diego is not alone in first place.