2004 Minnesota Twins season

Last updated

2004  Minnesota Twins
American league Central Champions
League American League
Division Central Division
Ballpark Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
City Minneapolis
Record92–70 (.568)
Divisional place1st
Owners Carl Pohlad
General managers Terry Ryan
Managers Ron Gardenhire
Television KSTC-TV/KSTP-TV
FSN North
(Bert Blyleven, Dick Bremer)
Radio 830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, John Gordon, Dan Gladden, Jack Morris)
←  2003 Seasons 2005  →

The 2004 Minnesota Twins season was the 104th season in the franchise's history and its 44th season in the Twin Cities. The Twins were managed by Ron Gardenhire and played in the Metrodome.

Contents

The Twins finished with a 92-70 record and won the American League Central division. They advanced to the American League Division Series, but they lost the series to the New York Yankees in four games. It was the second year in a row in which the Yankees eliminated the Twins in the ALDS. [1]

Twins pitcher Johan Santana won the 2004 Cy Young Award on a unanimous vote. [2]

Offseason

Spring training

The Twins posted a 20–10 record in spring training, the best of any major league team in 2004. [4] This includes split-squad games but not ties or exhibition games.

Regular season

Offense

For a playoff team, the offense was not strong. This was partly due to injuries and starters absent from the lineup. Lew Ford surprised many by batting .299 in his first full year in the major leagues. Free agent acquisition José Offerman saw a majority of time in the designated hitter spot, but hit only .256 with two home runs. Shannon Stewart did hit .304, but injuries limited him to 378 at bats. In 107 at bats, Mauer was able to hit .307. In his absence, catcher Henry Blanco hit only .206. First baseman Doug Mientkiewicz's hitting continued to decline, as he hit .246 with five home runs before being dealt to the Boston Red Sox.

Nine players hit ten or more home runs. When the Twins hit their record 225 homers in 1963, only eight players reached double figures.

Team Leaders
Statistic PlayerQuantity
HR Corey Koskie 25
RBI Torii Hunter 81
BA Lew Ford .299
Runs Lew Ford 89

Pitching

Brad Radke was the opening day starter, but he was soon overshadowed by Johan Santana's Cy Young year. Radke, Santana, and Carlos Silva anchored the starting rotation. Unfortunately, Kyle Lohse had a bad year that saw his ERA balloon to 5.34, while the fifth spot in the rotation was nebulous. (41-year-old Terry Mulholland made 15 starts, while Seth Greisinger made nine.)

The Twins set their club record of 32 consecutive scoreless innings in June, which included back-to-back-to-back shutouts by Radke, Santana and Lohse.

In the bullpen, Joe Nathan blew everyone away during his first year as a closer at any level, earning 44 saves with a 1.62 ERA. Juan Rincón and J. C. Romero continued playing as excellent set-up men, while the rest of the bullpen was weaker. Romero set a Twins record by going 36 innings over 32 appearances without allowing a run to score.

Santana finished the year with 13 straight wins without a loss, then went 1-0 with a no-decision in the American League Division Series. He set the Twins record with 265 strikeouts this season.

Team Leaders
Statistic PlayerQuantity
ERA Johan Santana 2.61
Wins Johan Santana 20
Saves Joe Nathan 44
Strikeouts Johan Santana 265

Defense

Blanco and Mauer (when he played) were solid catchers, both with .991 fielding percentages. Mientkiewicz was a one-time Gold Glove winner, but his successor Justin Morneau surprised people with his .995 fielding percentage. Luis Rivas was dependable at second base, while Cristian Guzmán could turn exceptional plays at shortstop. (It was the routine ones that fooled him.) Corey Koskie was defensively average, while the outfield quartet of Hunter, Jacque Jones, Shannon Stewart and Ford were solid – especially Hunter, who won a Gold Glove.

Season standings

AL Central 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Minnesota Twins 92700.568—49–3243–38
Chicago White Sox 83790.512946–3537–44
Cleveland Indians 80820.4941244–3736–45
Detroit Tigers 72900.4442038–4334–47
Kansas City Royals 581040.3583433–4725–57

Record vs. opponents

2004 American League record

Sources:
TeamANABALBOSCWSCLEDETKCMINNYYOAKSEATBTEXTORNL 
Anaheim —6–34–55–44–57–27–05–45–410–913–76–19–104–57–11
Baltimore 3–6—10–92–43–36–06–34–55–140–77–211–85–211–85–13
Boston 5–49–10—4–23–46–14–22–411–88–15–414–54–514–59–9
Chicago 4–54–22–4—10–98–1113–69–103–42–77–24–26–33–48–10
Cleveland 5–43–34–39–10—9–1011–87–122–46–35–43–31–85–210–8
Detroit 2–70–61–611–810–9—8–117–124–34–55–43–34–54–29–9
Kansas City 0–73–62–46–138–1111–8—7–121–52–72–53–64–53–36–12
Minnesota 4–55–44–210–912–712–712–7—2–42–55–44–55–24–211–7
New York 4–514–58–114–34–23–45–14–2—7–26–315–45–412–710–8
Oakland 9–107–01–87–23–65–47–25–22–7—11–87–211–96–310–8
Seattle 7–132–74–52–74–54–55–24–53–68–11—2–57–122–79–9
Tampa Bay 1–68–115–142–43–33–36–35–44–152–75–2—2–79–915–3
Texas 10–92–55–43–68–15–45–42–54–59–1112–77–2—7–210–8
Toronto 5–48–115–144–32–52–43–32–47–123–67–29–92–7—8–10

Notable Transactions

Roster

2004 Minnesota Twins
Roster
PitchersCatchers

Infielders

OutfieldersManager

Coaches

Postseason

The Twins entered and exited the postseason nearly the same as the previous season, losing to the Yankees, 3 games to 1 in the Division Series. The Twins won the first game by a score of 2-0, with starting pitcher Johan Santana getting the win. However, the Twins lost the next three games, with the Yankees taking the series 3 games to 1. Game 1 of this series represented the last postseason victory for the Twins until 2023. Game 2 began a 18 game postseason losing streak for the team, tied with the 1975-79 Chicago Blackhawks for the longest such losing streak in North American sports history. [6] The Yankees would go on to be upset by the Boston Red Sox on their way to breaking the curse.

See 2004 American League Division Series.

Player stats

Batting

Starters by position

Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

PosPlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
C Henry Blanco 11431565.2061037
1B Doug Mientkiewicz 7828470.246525
2B Luis Rivas 10933686.2561034
SS Cristian Guzmán 145576158.274846
3B Corey Koskie 118422106.2512571
LF Lew Ford 154569170.2991572
CF Torii Hunter 138520141.2712381
RF Jacque Jones 151555141.2542480
DH José Offerman 7717244.256222

Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in

PlayerGABHAvg.HRRBI
Shannon Stewart 92378115.3041147
Michael Cuddyer 11533989.2631245
Justin Morneau 7428076.2711958
Matt LeCroy 8826471.269939
Joe Mauer 3510733.308617
Nick Punto 389123.253212
Michael Ryan 367117.23907
Jason Kubel 236018.30027
Augie Ojeda 305920.33927
Michael Restovich 294712.25526
Terry Tiffee 174412.27328
Pat Borders 194212.28605
Alex Prieto 16328.25014
Rob Bowen 17273.11112
Jason Bartlett 8121.08301

Pitching

Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Johan Santana 34228.02062.61265
Brad Radke 34219.21183.48143
Carlos Silva 33203.01484.2176
Kyle Lohse 35194.09135.34111

Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

PlayerGIPWLERASO
Terry Mulholland 39123.1595.1860
Seth Greisinger 1251.0256.1836
Matt Guerrier 919.0015.6811
J.D. Durbin 47.1017.366

Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts

PlayerGWLSVERASO
Joe Nathan 7312441.6289
Juan Rincón 7711622.63106
J.C. Romero 747413.5169
Aaron Fultz 553315.0437
Joe Roa 482304.5047
Grant Balfour 364104.3542
Jesse Crain 223002.0014
Carlos Pulido 60008.749
Brad Thomas 300016.880
Joe Beimel 300043.202

Miscellaneous

2004 AL Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana. Santana1.jpg
2004 AL Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana.

Other post-season awards

Farm system

LevelTeamLeagueManager
AAA Rochester Red Wings International League Phil Roof
AA New Britain Rock Cats Eastern League Stan Cliburn
A Fort Myers Miracle Florida State League Jose Marzan
A Quad Cities River Bandits Midwest League Kevin Boles
Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Ray Smith
Rookie GCL Twins Gulf Coast League Riccardo Ingram

[7] [8]

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References

  1. ↑ "2004 Minnesota Twins Statistics". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Twins' Johan Santana wins AL Cy Young Award". Minnesota Public Radio. November 11, 2004. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  3. ↑ A. J. Pierzynski Statistics Baseball-Reference.com
  4. ↑ "MLB Spring Training Standings – 2004". ESPN. Retrieved July 23, 2017.
  5. ↑ "Doug Mientkiewicz Stats".
  6. ↑ "Twins tie record for longest playoff losing streak in North American sports after ALDS sweep by Yankees". CBSSports.com. Retrieved October 8, 2019.
  7. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
  8. ↑ Baseball America 2005 Annual Directory
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