"Now Kielty, Mohr and Michael Cuddyer give the Twins what might be the most productive right field in the majors."

-- Minneapolis Star Tribune

Geez, aren't there a couple guys named Sosa and Guerrero who are pretty good?

While the hometown paper may have gone a little overboard plugging their locals, here are two players to consider:

           AB  H   R 2B 3B HR RBI SB  AVG  OBP  SLG  OPS   
Player A  394 120 67 21  2 18  66  5 .305 .379 .505  884 
Player B  429 150 75 22  6  6  35 25 .350 .416 .471  887

Player B is Ichiro Suzuki, the reigning American League MVP, who is playing even better this season. And Player A? That's the collective efforts of Bobby Kielty, Dustan Mohr, Cuddyer and a couple others while playing right field for the Twins.

The point isn't the Kielmoyer is as good as Ichiro -- who, after all, plays in a tougher home park to hit in and has more defensive value -- but that the Minnesota trio has been among the best right fielders in baseball. Overall, Twins' right fielders rank eighth in the majors in OPS, ninth in RBI and eighth in runs scored. Considering right field may be the most talent-laden position in the majors, Kielmoyer has been one of the Twins' secret weapons.

That's the good news from Minnesota. The bad news? Ron Gardenhire's batting lineups.

For instance, Cristian Guzman continues to hit second, despite the fact that's he been horrible this season. Of 166 major-league regulars, he ranks 161st in on-base percentage. Why have somebody who can't get on base hit in front of the meat of the order?

Jacque Jones has had a surprising year from the leadoff spot, but can't hit left-handers (.171, 528 OPS); only recently has Gardenhire finally started benching him. Trouble is, Luis Rivas has hit leadoff the last two games against left-handers ... and he's even worse! Rivas is hitting .161 with a 485 OPS vs. left-handers. (He didn't hit southpaws last year, either: 241.) And while David Ortiz was one of baseball's hottest hitters in July, he shouldn't be hitting cleanup against left-handers (.215, 669 OPS). You're not going to win playoff games with Rivas, Guzman and Ortiz hitting one-two-four against the likes of Andy Pettitte or Jamie Moyer or Barry Zito.

Then there's Doug Mientkiewicz. He's spent most of the year hitting third, although has lately been hitting down in the order. He has no power. His chief asset is drawing walks; thus, he's third on the team in on-base percentage behind Kielty (.453 in 199 at-bats) and Corey Koskie (.401). Maybe he should be hitting second instead of Guzman, since his OBP is nearly 100 points higher?

True, batting order is nowhere near as significant as people believe. But it's guaranteed the Twins would score more runs with a more efficient lineup: hit the on-base guys in front of the power guys and the crappy guys at the bottom.

So, here's what the Twins should do (with on-base percentage and OPS):

vs. right-handers            vs. left-handers
3B Koskie        .410  917   3B Koskie       .381  781    
LF Jones         .367  915   1B Mientkiewicz .375  756
CF Hunter        .370  987   RF Kielty       .419  829 
DH Ortiz         .386  935   CF Hunter       .336  853
RF Kielty        .468 1048   DH LeCroy       .348  897
1B Mientkiewicz  .377  754   LF Mohr         .315  679
C  Pierzynski    .354  807   C  Prince       .352  702    
2B Rivas         .376  786   2B Hocking      .456  956
SS Guzman        .285  639   SS Guzman       .271  656

As you can see, the Twins are much more productive against right-handed pitchers. Overall, Minnesota has an 820 OPS vs. righties and 724 vs. lefties. If you want to beat Minnesota in the playoffs, throw as many lefty starters as possible.

You can monkey with the lineups. Koskie is the team's best proven OBP guy and has decent speed. Hit him leadoff. Michael Cuddyer may end up as the left or right fielder against lefties. Denny Hocking isn't really a .456 OBP guy, but he probably deserves to play ahead of Rivas. And Kielty should be in the lineup everyday.

Cold in July

          Avg.    Runs
April     .283    5.80
May       .275    5.48
June      .279    4.64
July      .256    4.04

          Damon   Garciaparra
April     .360       .330
May       .298       .318
June      .274       .300
July      .250       .270