2006 Minnesota Twins season

MLB yearly infobox
name = Minnesota Twins
season = 2006
misc = AL Central Champions

current league = American League
y1 = 1901
division = Central Division
y2 = 1994
Uniform
ballpark = Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
y4 = 1982
city = Minneapolis
y5 = 1982
owners = Carl Pohlad
managers = Ron Gardenhire
television = WFTC
FSN North
(Bert Blyleven, Dick Bremer)
radio = 830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal,John Gordon, Dan Gladden, Jack Morris)|

The Minnesota Twins 2006 season ended with Minnesota finishing the regular season as champions of the American League Central Division, but were swept in three games by the Oakland Athletics in the 2006 American League Division Series.

Offense: Power and the Piranhas

For the first time since 1987, the Twins had legitimate power hitters in Justin Morneau, Torii Hunter, and Michael Cuddyer. On August 9, Morneau became the first Twin to hit 30 or more home runs since 1987, when Tom Brunansky, Gary Gaetti, and Kent Hrbek did it.

During the same span:
*Every other team in the majors had at least three 30-homer hitters.
*Nine teams had 20 or more 30-homer hitters.
*478 players, including 14 in 2006, hit 30 or more home runs in a season.
*138 players hit 40 or more homers. Twenty of those reached 50. [http://www.startribune.com/509/story/605847.html] Morneau finished the season with 34 home runs, 130 runs batted in, and a .321 average and was named American League MVP.

Hunter enjoyed a late season surge to also reach the 30 home run mark. On September 25, he homered off Kansas City Royals pitcher Zack Greinke in the bottom of the 7th inning and became the second Twin to hit 30 home runs in 2006. He finished the season with 31 home runs and 98 runs batted in.

Michael Cuddyer also had a breakout season as the Twins' cleanup hitter. He did not start the season as a regular player, but eventually replaced the ineffective opening day right fielder, Jason Kubel. By June, he was hitting fourth in the lineup, and he finished the season with 24 home runs, 109 runs batted in, scored 102 runs, and hit for a .284 average.

Morneau and catcher Joe Mauer may have finally earned the nickname "The M&M Boys", that had been prematurely applied to them early in the 2005 season. (This was the nickname applied to Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris in the early 1960s.) Not only did Mauer win the American League batting title, but he led the major leagues with a .347 average, finishing ahead of National League champion Freddy Sanchez. Mauer was the first catcher to lead either the American League or the majors in hitting. Two catchers did win the National League batting title. Bubbles Hargrave of the Cincinnati Reds did it in 1926. Ernie Lombardi led the National League twice: once for the Reds in 1938 and once for the Boston Braves in 1942. However, neither catcher won the major league title.

These strong hitters were complemented by the top and bottom of the Twins' order, where the players gave the hitters plenty of opportunities to drive in runs. Midway through the season, the Twins opted for a lineup that included Jason Tyner batting eighth, Jason Bartlett ninth, Luis Castillo first, and Nick Punto second. Manager Ron Gardenhire said that these players are like four leadoff hitters: all are fast and hit for average but not power. All four hit between .290 (Punto) and .312 (Tyner), but hit a combined six home runs. [ [http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/teams/min/stats/bycategory;_ylt=AsTDgZUTE0zfV8xlQetTF3Af0bYF Yahoo! Sports - MLB - Minnesota Twins - Stats ] ]

Players like this caused Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén to dub the team "the Little Piranhas." [http://www.startribune.com/souhan/story/624549.html] Quoth Guillen: "All those piranhas -- blooper here, blooper here, beat out a ground ball, hit a home run, they're up by four. They get up by four with that bullpen? See you at the national anthem tomorrow. When I sit down and look at the lineup, give me the New York Yankees. Give me those guys because they've got holes. You can pitch around them, you can pitch to them. These little guys? Castillo and all of them? People worry about the catcher, what's his name, Mauer? Fine, yeah, a good hitter, but worry about the little [guys] , they're on base all the time."

The Twins led the Major Leagues in batting average with a team average of .287.

:::::::::::::"Number indicates playoff seeding":::::::::::::"* indicates AL Wild Card team"

Roster

Playoffs

After the Twins won the division, the American League playoff matchups were decided as follows: number two seed Minnesota hosting number three seed Oakland, and number one seed New York hosting the wild card Detroit.

The Twins were defeated by Oakland in a three-game sweep, ending their playoff run for 2006. The Twins got great starts from both Johan Santana and Boof Bonser (who made his first post season appearance) at the Metrodome. After losing game 1 by the score of 3-2, the Twins came back to even the score at 2 in game 2. With two outs and a runner on first in the top of the 7th inning, Mark Kotsay hit a line drive to center field that Torii Hunter made a valiant dive for. Unfortunately, the ball sailed past him all the way to the wall, resulting in an inside-the-park home run for Kotsay. This play seemed to take all the momentum away from the Twins. The Twins never led in any game in this series.

Notable transactions

*January 31: Signed Tim Raines, Jr. and Rubén Sierra as free agents. Sierra would be released on July 10 and clear waivers two days later.
*March 29: Rob Bowen selected off waivers by the Detroit Tigers.
*June 14: Tony Batista designated for assignment. He was released on the 19th and cleared waivers on the 21st.
*June 15: Juan Castro traded to the Cincinnati Reds for outfielder Brandon Roberts.
*July 31: Kyle Lohse traded to the Cincinnati Reds for Minor League RHP Zach Ward.
*August 31: The Twins acquired veteran Phil Nevin from the Chicago Cubs for a player to be named later (Adam Harben).

Miscellaneous

*The representatives of the Twins in the All-Star Game were Johan Santana, Joe Mauer, and Francisco Liriano.

*The highest paid Twin in 2006 is Torii Hunter at $10,750,000.00.

*The motto for the 2006 Twins has been "Smell 'em." Backup catcher Mike Redmond coined the phrase, saying the hitters have to "smell those RBIs" when they see runners in scoring position in key situations. Hitters will tap their noses when they come through. After a 9-5 victory over the Detroit Tigers on September 8 that followed a two-week long hitting drought, hitting coach Joe Vavra remarked: "The 'smell 'ems' were out again tonight. That's the good feeling we were missing." [ [http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=260908109 MLB - Detroit Tigers/Minnesota Twins Recap Friday September 8, 2006 - Yahoo! Sports ] ]
*In reference to the scrappy, fleet-footed hitters that make up almost half of their lineup, many of the Twins' players have been referred to by Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillén as "little piranhas". [ [http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060819&content_id=1618497&vkey=news_min&fext=.jsp&c_id=min The Official Site of The Minnesota Twins: News: Notes: Ozzie praises Twins 'piranhas' ] ] The moniker has stuck, and the team has printed and markets T-shirts bearing the nickname.
*Johan Santana won his second Cy Young Award, a unanimous decision. He also won the pitching triple crown, leading the majors in wins, strikeouts, and ERA. The last pitcher to lead both leagues in all 3 categories was Dwight Gooden in 1985.
*Justin Morneau won his first AL MVP Award, a decision won narrowly over New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter 320 points to 306 points, with 15 of a possible 28 first place votes. He was the first Twins MVP since Rod Carew in 1977.
*Joe Mauer was the first catcher ever to win the Major League Baseball batting crown.

External links

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIN/2006.shtml Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com]
* [http://baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=2006&t=MIN Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com]
* [http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/standings/index.jsp Up to date standings from MLB.com]
* [http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/teams/min Team leaders from Yahoo!]

Notes and explanations

succession box
title = AL Central Championship Season
years = 2006
before =Chicago White Sox
2005
after = Cleveland Indians
2007