2005 Minnesota Twins season

Last updated

2005  Minnesota Twins
League American League
Division Central
Ballpark Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
City Minneapolis
Record83–79 (.512)
Divisional place3rd
Owners Carl Pohlad
General managers Terry Ryan
Managers Ron Gardenhire
Television WFTC
FSN North
(Bert Blyleven, Dick Bremer)
Radio 830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, John Gordon, Dan Gladden)
←  2004 Seasons 2006  →

The 2005 Minnesota Twins Season was the franchise's 45th season playing in the Twin Cities and the 105th season in its history. The team was managed by Ron Gardenhire in his fourth year as the Twins' manager. They played their home games in the Metrodome.

Contents

The Twins' final record was 83–79. They finished third in the American League Central, behind the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Indians, and they missed the playoffs. [1]

Regular season

The Twins got off to an average start. However, the Chicago White Sox had a fantastic start to the season. The Twins tried to stay close in the standings, but their offense was insufficient. The Twins (83-79) finished in 3rd place behind the Chicago White Sox and the Cleveland Indians, and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2001. The White Sox went on to earn the division title, their first trip to the playoffs since 2000, and their first World Series title since 1917.

Standings

AL Central
Team W L Pct. GB Home Road
Chicago White Sox 9963.611—47‍–‍3452‍–‍29
Cleveland Indians 9369.574643‍–‍3850‍–‍31
Minnesota Twins 8379.5121645‍–‍3638‍–‍43
Detroit Tigers 7191.4382839‍–‍4232‍–‍49
Kansas City Royals 56106.3464334‍–‍4722‍–‍59

Record vs. opponents

2005 American League record

Sources:
TeamBALBOSCWSCLEDETKCLAAMINNYYOAKSEATBTEXTORNL 
Baltimore —8–102–61–63–54–22–43–37–114–67–312–64–69–108–10
Boston 10–8—4–34–26–44–26–44–29–106–43–313–67–27–1112–6
Chicago 6–23–4—14–514–513–54–611–73–32–76–34–23–64–212–6
Cleveland 6–12–45–14—12–613–63–510–93–46–37–34–63–34–215–3
Detroit 5–34–65–146–12—10–94–68–111–51–55–45–24–24–39–9
Kansas City 2–42–45–136–139–10—2–76–133–32–42–73–52–83–69–9
Los Angeles 4–24–66–45–36–47–2—6–46–410–99–94–515–41–512–6
Minnesota 3–32–47–119–1011–813–64–6—3–34–66–46–03–64–28–10
New York 11–710–93–34–35–13–34–63–3—7–27–38–117–312–611–7
Oakland 6–44–67–23–65–14–29–106–42–7—12–64–511–85–510–8
Seattle 3–73–33–63–74–57–29–94–63–76–12—4–26–134–610–8
Tampa Bay 6–126–132–46–42–55–35–40–611–85–42–4—6–28–113–15
Texas 6–42–76–33–32–48–24–156–33–78–1113–62–6—7–39–9
Toronto 10–911–72–42–43–46–35–12–46–125–56–411–83–7—8–10

Roster

2005 Minnesota Twins
Roster
PitchersCatchers

Infielders

OutfieldersManager

Coaches

Offense

Australian Glenn Williams came up for his cup of coffee and played in thirteen games from June 7 to June 28. He hit safely in every game, earning the Twins record for the longest hitting streak to start a career. When he was sent back down, he took with him 17 hits and a .425 batting average. He'd never return to the major leagues, but is working on an active 13-game hitting streak...

Joe Mauer led the team with a .294 batting average, Justin Morneau led the team in runs batted in with 79, but Mauer hit only 9 home runs and 55 RBI, while Morneau hit only .239.

These problems were endemic to the team. No starter batted over .300 or hit over 25 home runs; however, Matthew LeCroy managed to hit 17 home runs in part-time duty.

The team's offensive struggles led to an uncertain lineup, with many defensive positions lacking regular starters. The team experimented by bringing in Seattle Mariners infielder Bret Boone to fill the void at second base, but he lasted for only 53 at-bats, hitting .170. The weak hitting led to hitting coach Scott Ullger being reassigned to third base coach after the season was over.

Team Leaders
Statistic PlayerQuantity
HR Jacque Jones 23
RBI Justin Morneau 79
Avg. Joe Mauer .294
Runs Jacque Jones 74

Pitching

Twins pitchers performed well in 2005. The staff was led by All-Star Johan Santana (16-7, 2.87 ERA, 238 strikeouts) and All-Star closer Joe Nathan (43 saves, 2.70 ERA). However, the weak hitting prevented any other starter from winning ten games. (Jesse Crain, in a stellar year out of the bullpen, did go 12-5.) The anemic offense also may have cost Santana a second Cy Young Award, [2] as he finished with only sixteen victories.

The top end of the rotation—Santana, Brad Radke, Kyle Lohse, and Carlos Silva—pitched well. Many bullpen pitchers had outstanding years, in particular Crain, Juan Rincón (2.45 ERA), J. C. Romero (3.47), and Matt Guerrier (3.39).

Silva in particular had what seemed to be a breakout year, walking only nine batters during the entire season to set a modern-era record (over 188.1 innings, a 0.43 rate). Silva induced 34 double plays to lead the majors, and won a May 20 game throwing just 74 pitches over nine innings. No pitcher has thrown as few pitches in a nine-inning win since 1957.

In early May, the pitching staff was shaken when Major League Baseball announced that Juan Rincón would be suspended for ten days for violating the sport's policy on performance-enhancing drugs. Rincón pitched well both before and after this occurred.

Team Leaders
Statistic PlayerQuantity
ERA Johan Santana 2.87
Wins Johan Santana 16
Saves Joe Nathan 43
Strikeouts Johan Santana 238

Defense

Like his predecessor Tom Kelly, Gardenhire emphasized baseball fundamentals like defense. Despite Hunter's injury, he still won a Gold Glove in center field. Joe Mauer established a reputation as an outstanding defensive catcher, with a .993 fielding percentage. Morneau, not known for his defense, surprised many with a .994 average at first. Luis Rivas was a solid defensive second baseman, but his offensive shortcomings became too much to bear, leading the team to experiment with Boone and Nick Punto at the position. In contrast to Rivas, Michael Cuddyer saw a majority of the time at third base. Jason Bartlett and Juan Castro split time at shortstop, with Castro being the superior defensive player. Shannon Stewart and Jacque Jones both had .985 fielding percentages in the corner outfield positions. Lew Ford saw time at all three outfield positions.

Player stats

Batting

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; R = Runs; H = Hits; 2B = Doubles; 3B = Triples; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in; SB = Stolen bases; BB = Walks; AVG = Batting average; SLG = Slugging average

PlayerGABRH2B3BHRRBISBBBAVGSLG
Shannon Stewart 132551691512731056734.274.388
Jacque Jones 1425237413022423731351.249.438
Lew Ford 147522701383047531345.264.377
Justin Morneau 141490621172342279044.239.437
Joe Mauer 131489611442629551361.294.411
Michael Cuddyer 126422551112531242341.263.422
Nick Punto 11239445941844261336.239.335
Torii Hunter 983726310024114562334.269.452
Matt LeCroy 1013043379501750041.260.444
Juan Castro 97272277018153309.257.386
Jason Bartlett 742243354101316421.241.335
Luis Rodríguez 791752147102220218.269.383
Terry Tiffee 541509318111518.207.293
Mike Redmond 4514817469012606.311.392
Luis Rivas 5913621353111249.257.316
Michael Ryan 571177275021319.231.325
Brent Abernathy 2467516101627.239.299
Jason Tyner 1856818110524.321.375
Bret Boone 145339000304.170.170
Glenn Williams 1340317100312.425.450
Chris Heintz 82515300201.200.320
Corky Miller 51200000000.000.000
Pitcher Totals1622212000000.091.091
Team Totals1625564688144126932134644102485.259.391

Source:

Pitching

Note: W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; G = Games pitched; GS = Games started; SV = Saves; IP = Innings pitched; H = Hits allowed; R = Runs allowed; ER = Earned runs allowed; BB = Walks allowed; SO = Strikeouts

PlayerWLERAGGSSVIPHRERBBSO
Johan Santana 1672.8733330231.1180777445238
Brad Radke 9124.0431310200.2214989023117
Carlos Silva 983.4427270188.12128372971
Kyle Lohse 9134.1831300178.2211858344186
Joe Mays 6105.6531260156.0203109984159
Jesse Crain 1252.71750179.261282429125
Juan Rincón 662.45750077.06326213084
Matt Guerrier 033.39430071.27129272446
Joe Nathan 742.706904370.04622212294
Terry Mulholland 024.27490059.06130281718
J.C. Romero 433.47680057.05026223948
Scott Baker 333.35109053.24821201432
Francisco Liriano 125.7064023.2191515733
Travis Bowyer 015.598009.21066312
Dave Gassner 105.872207.297512
Team Totals83793.71162162441464.11458662604348965

Source:

Notable transactions

Miscellaneous

Twins 40th Anniversary of 1965 World Series. Twins 40.png
Twins 40th Anniversary of 1965 World Series.

Other post-season awards

Farm system

LevelTeamLeagueManager
AAA Rochester Red Wings International League Phil Roof and Rich Miller
AA New Britain Rock Cats Eastern League Stan Cliburn
A Fort Myers Miracle Florida State League Riccardo Ingram
A Beloit Snappers Midwest League Kevin Boles
Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Ray Smith
Rookie GCL Twins Gulf Coast League Nelson Prada

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Elizabethton [5]

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References

  1. ↑ "2005 Minnesota Twins Statistics". Baseball Reference. Retrieved March 20, 2021.
  2. ↑ Hayes, Dan. "Johan Santana's Hall of Fame 'what if': 2005 Cy Young Award". The Athletic. Retrieved May 16, 2023.
  3. ↑ "Bret Boone Stats - Baseball-Reference.com". Baseball-Reference.com.
  4. ↑ Associated Press (July 10, 2005). "Twins 3, Royals 2, 12 innings". CBSSports.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved May 12, 2009.
  5. ↑ Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed., The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 3rd edition. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007
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